Slow Cooker Fritattas, Thanks to Michele Scicolone - Author The Italian Slow Cooker

Slow Cooker and Breakfast or Brunch...what can be bad about that?  I've tried the first recipe and it is delicious.  I will try the second at some point, I am sure.  So easy!

From Michele Scicolone's The Italian Slow Cookbook

From The Italian Slow Cooker by Michele Scicolone

Another Tweed Kettle Pie

Bubby's in New York City - Recipe is in Bubby's Homemade Pies - A Fabulous Book

Check out the cook book here: http://www.amazon.com/Bubbys-Homemade-Pies-Ron-Silver/dp/0764576348 

Zucchini Sauce

Zucchini Sauce

For 4

from Pasta! by Evelyn Gendel, Pasta!, 1966, New York: Simon & Schuster, p. 42

1 pound zucchini

4 TBS butter

1 cup hot bouillon

1-2 tsp lemon juice

pepper, nutmeg

a handful of chopped parsley

1-2 TBS cream (optional)

1. Thinly slice or chop the zucchini. 
2. Heat the butter in a saucepan, add the zucchini and stew gently over a low heat until they are very soft, nearly melted (15-20 minutes).
3. Stir in the hot bouillon, and season with lemon juice, pepper, and a dash or two of nutmeg.
4. Add parley and simmer, covered, for another 5 minutes.
5. If you like, stir in a spoonful or so of cream, and serve at once over hot, drained egg pasta.

Food Mystery Solved!

Mid-nineties or so I visited a British Tea Shop in New York City with Marta, who knew about such interesting places; the shop is called Tea & Sympathy and although I don't remember what she ordered, I tried the Tweed Kettle Pie, which I remembered over the years as tweed pie.  Who doesn't love a protein pie topped with mashed potatoes?  This one included fish, maybe a little veggie like pea, or that was served as a side, and the toasty mashed potato top.  I loved it.  This was the same visit, by the way, where Petula Clark and her brother were in the shop having tea, because apparently if famous British people are in New York City, this is where they show up because it is so much like their home; this slide show indicates how cozy it is there. Here's an example of their menu.

So just a few years back, I went on the search for a "tweed pie" recipe because I wanted to make it.  Never found one.  Googled tweed fish pie which also didn't catch it.  There are lots of recipes out there now for fish pie - British and Irish origins. But I stayed curious about the Tea & Sympathy version.  Voila!  Turns out the name is Tweed Kettle Pie, and I found the Tea & Sympathy recipe...fish pie here I come!

Tweed Kettle Pie

Serves 6-8
Preparation Time: 1 hour

• 1 lb. fresh salmon, skinned, boned and filleted
• 1 lb. fresh cod, skinned, boned and filleted
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 ½ cups whole milk 
• 2 bay leaves
• ¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter
• ½ cup flour
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• Salt and pepper
• 1 portion of Mashed Potato
• Grated Cheese

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Cut both fish into small pieces, and place in a large saucepan. Add the onions, milk and bay leaves; simmer over low heat for 10-15 minutes, until the fish is cooked.
Strain the mixture, reserve the liquid and discard the bay leaves.
Heat the butter in a saucepan and gradually add the flour, stirring constantly until it becomes a thick paste, 2-3 minutes.
Slowly add the milk stock, stirring constantly, then the heavy cream. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat.
Add the chopped parsley and remove the pan from the heat.
Add the fish and salt and pepper to taste. Pour the mixture into a 10- 12-inch pie dish and top with the mashed potato. Sprinkle with grated cheese, if you like.
Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden brown. We suggest you serve it with peas.

So it turns out that Tweed is a large river in Scotland, and a great river for catching salmon.  Tweed kettle is a dish originating in Edinburgh, Scotland, honoring the river and includes poached cubed salmon, white wine, and mushrooms.  Tweed Kettle Pie is a lovely fish pie with salmon and cod or halibut, sometimes shrimp. And those mashed potatoes on top.  Try it!

The Aerial Views of Where I Live and Work

These are photos by Jason Kloster, a WWU alumnus who was flying and taking photos last week.  He is a friend of mine.  When he was a student, he was my first leadership student and volunteer to Western's Leadership Advantage program on the the co-curricular side, the program which I direct on a day to day basis.  These photos are wonderful and give a different flavor for where it is I live and work.

This is Lake Whatcom.  My condo is in Sudden Valley which adjoins this lake.  Over half of my commute each day is along the shore of this lake, there to the right.

This is where I live. That's the golf course to the right.  Part of Lake Whatcom, which is a really big lake, is showing there to the left. That little lake off to the lower right is called Lake Louise, probably named after the big Lake Louise in BC, Canada, so the Canadians who were buying homes and condos here in the seventies, would feel like they arrived home on the weekend or in the summer after driving down from Vancouver to their second place.

You see Lake Louise better in this shot. I go by it daily going in and out of my neighborhood. If you look closely, here by the bottom of the picture, you can see the blue dot that is the pool amidst the condos where I live.  My unit is maybe three buildings away from that pool.

This is a view of some of Bellingham.  That forest to the right is the Arboretum, and the WWU campus adjoins it. Campus sits up on a hill and there's good views of Bellingham Bay, and on clear days, the San Juan Islands and Lummi Tribal Lands. That's B.C., Canada very nearby, in the top of the picture.

This gives you an idea of how campus sits up over the bay.

Wish I could draw an arrow on the photo.  The Viking Union where I work in is in the upper left near the top end of campus.

Views of Mount Baker in the North Cascades near Bellingham are pretty much breath-taking regardless.  So too with this aerial shot that Jason took.

Report from the Klondike Highway in the Yukon

View on the Klondike Highway in the Yukon - Skagway Expedition to White Pass and then the Yukon.

It's was my first cruise, on the Holland America Line (HAL), M.S. Zuiderdam - 7 day inside passage to Alaska.  What a wonderful trip!  Other than a bump in the middle when I got sick, the 5 days up and running were great.  Lots to see and do even at sea.  Favorites include tai chi (qigong for detox was especially great), cooking class, movie, crow's nest, ipod art tour of the ship, the Juneau drive through/ Glacier Gardens and Mendenhall Glacier of the Tongass National Forest, Twisted Fish for dinner in Juneau, the Skagway to Emerald Lake and Yukon territory tour on the Klondike Highway, ambling on Creek Street in Ketchikan and the little museum of history there, brews from Alaska, shipboard dining, and all the walks all over the ship!

OK, we know cruise = food.  So for the religious foodies out there, not to disappoint!
I've brought back a couple of recipes and snagged some from various sources, so here goes:

My favorite tops the list:

• The Dungeness Crabcakes with the Thai Sweet Chili Sauce from the Pinnacle Grill on board
• Halibut Caddy Ganty from the onboard cooking class
• Chocolate and Raisin Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce, also from the onboard cooking class
• The regular HAL Bread Pudding
• Creme Brulee
• People raved about the morning Muesli, though I stuck to smoked lox, poached eggs florentine, and omelettes.
• Good soups on board - Roasted Shallot and Butternut Squash Soup with Beet Crisps (I'd probably skip the beets steps for ease)

Mangia! Some photos from the week!

Emerald Lake, Klondike Highway, Yukon, Canada

Glacier Gardens, Juneau, AK

Dungeness Crabcake Appetizer at the Pinnacle Grill on board

3 Kinds of Creme Brulee at Pinnacle Grill on board

Baked Alaska before the flame

Baked Alaska being served

Baked Alaska delivered

Cod Provencal or in my case Sole

So easy...so good.  I substituted sole.  The recipe is here!