How to host a shower when your sister is the "Broom"

I had the honor of hosting a bridal shower for my sweet little sister this weekend. She has taken on the title of "Broom" and allowed her beautiful wedding-dress-wearing future-spouse to have sole reign over the title of Bride.

summer theme

My sister is not the lingerie & cookbook type so I wanted to host something that reflected her personality. I settled on a theme of summertime recreation and guests brought gifts for camping trips, backyard cocktail parties and future hiking expeditions.

prizes!

We played a few games and gave away prizes in colorful metal sand pails. My favorite game asked each guest to complete an old saying (such as "Behind every great man is..." or "A woman's place is...") with a new ending and my sister assigned points for the best answer. Among the best were my grandmothers answer to "A woman's work...is a load of crap" and a friend's response to "Behind every great man is...a man's behind."

sushi platter and summer rolls

I filled a metal tub with cold bottles of beer, root beer and hard lemonade. My grandma filled a hollowed watermelon with fruit salad and my mom put out plates of brownies and lemon bars. I ordered a platter of sushi and built a menu around it. I rolled vegetables that I had harvested that morning in rice paper and served the rolls with a sweet chili dipping sauce (those are broccoli raab blossoms you see peeking out of each one). I also made a salad with sliced red onion, red cabbage and iceberg lettuce, tossed with cooked shrimp and a bottle of wasabi flavored ranch dressing.

Grandma's handiwork

The food was enjoyed by everyone, the weather was perfect. Most importantly, my sister said it was exactly the shower that she had wanted.

New Frozen Yogurt Shop in Edmonds

Summer is here and Edmonds is making it official with the opening of a new frozen yogurt shop on Main Street. Revelations Yogurt is owned by a local couple and managed by their teenage daughter, Devon Duvall. Children and adults alike lined up on opening day to fill their cups with their choice of frozen yogurt flavors and make important choices at the toppings bar.

I did the difficult work of making my way down the aisle to taste each flavor. With over 100 flavors available to order, Revelations Yogurt plans on changing the flavors on tap every few weeks. My favorite was the Original Tart, providing a slightly tangy base (I could have enjoyed it even more tangy) for a load up of sweet toppings.

The topping bar is the showpiece of the yogurt shop. Bin after bin of crushed candies, fresh fruit and berries - not frozen! - and crushed candy bars tempt customers to load up. Those with allergies will appreciate the extra care that Revelations takes by placing all of the chopped nuts and crushed candy containing nuts at a separate station from the other toppings.

My creation totaled 4 ounces in weight and cost less than $2 before the opening day $1 discount was applied. All creations cost $0.44 per ounce, a good value for the quality of toppings and variety of choices.

I look forward to many return trips this summer!

527 Main Street, Edmonds

11 am to 10 pm weekdays

11 am to 11 pm weekends

Keeping Salad Interesting

I do not want to believe the local weather expert when he says that we may be in a 30 year cooling trend in the Pacific Northwest. That is just horrible to contemplate. Thirty years is the bulk of my adult life. If it is true, it's a good thing that I like greens, because they will continue to be the most reliable producer in the garden of cold nights and wet days.

I grow a lot of different greens, so as to keep my salads interesting. There are spicy greens, tender-sweet greens, bitter greens, red-greens and purple-greens. There are curly greens, flowering greens, salty greens, earthy flavored greens.

Whenever I have seeds leftover from a packet of beets or spinach other other potential salad green, I add it to a small spice container that I keep in my garden basket. When I have more room in the garden for salad, I sprinkle this seed mix in and wait to see what pops up. I have dozens of varieties mixed in by now.

I took a photo (above) of this week's salad deconstructed. Clockwise from the top right: kale blossoms, sorrel, red lettuce, curly parsley, chive blossom, mizuna (mustard), chard, spinach. In the middle: thinned baby beets and mint.

I do not want to believe the local weather expert when he says that we may be in a 30 year cooling trend in the Pacific Northwest. That is just horrible to contemplate. Thirty years is the bulk of my adult life. If it is true, it's a good thing that I like greens, because they will continue to be the most reliable producer in the garden of cold nights and wet days.

I grow a lot of different greens, so as to keep my salads interesting. There are spicy greens, tender-sweet greens, bitter greens, red-greens and purple-greens. There are curly greens, flowering greens, salty greens, earthy flavored greens.

Whenever I have seeds leftover from a packet of beets or spinach other other potential salad green, I add it to a small spice container that I keep in my garden basket. When I have more room in the garden for salad, I sprinkle this seed mix in and wait to see what pops up. I have dozens of varieties mixed in by now.

I took a photo (above) of this week's salad deconstructed. Clockwise from the top right: kale blossoms, sorrel, red lettuce, curly parsley, chive blossom, mizuna (mustard), chard, spinach. In the middle: thinned baby beets and mint.

Renegade Garden: Growing food with out a yard

On sunny days when I am driving around town, my eyes wander to parking strips, those three-foot wide strips of grass that run between the street and the sidewalk. They are seldom landscaped or otherwise even noticed. Because of rules limiting anything that could block a driver's view as they back out of their driveway, these parking strips are often in full sun. I think the same thing every time I contemplate these parking strips, "Just think how much food could be grown right there!"

There are some neighborhoods around Seattle where you can see examples of parking strip gardens overflowing with zucchini, kale, tomatoes and beans. As long as you don't block visibility for drivers, the city is very tolerant of the space being used for something other than grass.

My brother is an apartment dweller in Oakland, California with a green thumb and has found a few ways to grow food without a yard. He has converted a tiny sidewalk spot into raised beds and has a collection of pots filling his patio and greeting him at the front door. He says that he has had little problem with people helping themselves to the bounty.

He was skeptical of the patch of the litter filled dirt between the stairs and the garage, so he lined the inside of the raised bed and brought in clean soil. Considering Seattle's cold spring, I am a bit envious of his basil.