The Brass Paperclip Project

Get Your Frock On

Frocked out at Frock Shop last weekend for the debut trunk show of glam.spoon's new line of Saturday Market Dresses.  I'm serious...the dresses were FROCKING awesome!   Check out all that color!  My favorite was the grey one shown below...mostly because I'm addicted to grey, but also because of the awesome story behind that fabric.

Tina, the designer, created the fabric herself using Spoonflower...a very cool website where you can design and have your own fabric printed.  The print is based on a photo of a rose that Tina grew in her yard and photographed.  She manipulated the image to come up with that gorgeous print.  Then she had it printed and made a dress out of it.  To quote her..."Talk about homegrown!"  The accent fabric on the cuffs and the hems are recycled.  Love!

Here's Tina looking adorable modeling one of her dressed with a gorgeous headpiece right off the shelves of the Frock Shop.

And here's another great head piece by Frock Shop's very own Suzy Fairchild. 

As if the frocks themselves weren't awesome enough...here are some adorable mixed media pieces by artist Stephanie Schultz featuring vintage patterns...love this whole series!

Here's another outfit I loved...the whole sh-bang...crisp little cardi tucked into a vintage-inspired dress with awesome jewelry. Yes, that's a deer head pendant...I would love to wear it and see how many people compliment me on my nice rack!  wink.

And speaking of a nice rack...check out this rack of one-of-a-kind glam.spoon pieces...all on sale too!

The details really make the pieces...I love love love the ruffles.

After the trunk show, I was starving, so I detoured on my way home and hit Burgermaster for a big  ol' burgermaster with cheese....it's a real drive-in, so they actually clip a tray to your car window and play old-timey music...great way to end the night!  (And really, what's a blog post without some mention of food???)

If you've never been to Frock Shop, check it out.  It's adorable.  The clothes are awesome.  And Suzy, the owner, is super nice.  She's got great taste and can help you find the perfect frock.  Now go on...get off the computer and Frock On!   XOXO, Cindi

Farmer's Market Fresh: No. 2

I don't know what it is about strolling through the stalls at the farmer's market that relaxes me so completely.  Maybe it's the sounds of street musicians creating a party-vibe from a block away or the wafting smells of mouth-watering street food or the lush piles of rainbow-hued produce laying in wait... chock full of potential.  Maybe it's taking the time to chat with the vendors and explain what I did with their ingredients last week or what I'm planning to do with them this week.  Maybe it's just shopping outside.  Whatever it is, the combinaton makes me smile each week. 

Interesting ingredients continue to appear, so here's what I cooked for the family last week...farmer's market ingredients are listed after the day of the week.  You can click on the links for recipes and vendor info.

 

MONDAY :: stinging nettles | rainbow chard

I never got to my stinging nettle quiche from last week, so I whipped it up for Monday night dinner. Using tongs and scissors, I was able to cut all the leaves from the stems and get them into the dish without getting stung. Booya!  The recipe called for puff pastry, but I had planned to use a frozen pie crust instead.  At the last minute, I went with the puff pastry and loved it!  Totally easy to do and it was d'lish.  I will definitely be using more puff-pastry when I want to impress.  The quiche itself was ok.  I would use less greens and switch to a goat cheese if I make it again.

Just in case the quiche was a flop, I also made one of my favorite salads, introduced to me by my good friend Brandi Olden, registered dietician from Creating Peace with Food. 

Massaged Kale Salad

This recipe calls for kale, but I made it with rainbow chard.  I've made it many times with all different kinds of greens and it always works beautifully.  It's one of the recipes that gets better the longer it sits in the fridge, so you can make a big batch and enjoy if for a few days. Brandi taught me her trick to make it even more nutritious by adding 2 cups of cooked quinoa to the recipe.  LOVE it!

TUESDAY :: lion's mane mushrooms | kamut | cauliflower

Tuesday's dinner was all about the side dishes, so I made it easy on myself and picked up a roast chicken from PCC for our main course.  That way I could focus my attention on these two amazing sides...

How cool are these Lion's Mane mushrooms I scooped up from Cascadia Mushrooms?  I love mushrooms and make a point to seek out unusual ones whenever I can.  These were totally new to me.  Look at that texture!  The grower told me his favorite way to prepare them is to tear them into pieces and gently cook them over medium heat in a dry pan to release some of their moisture.  Then add butter and garlic and sautee until soft.  He informed me they have a dungeness crab-like texture when cooked, but I didn't quite get that.  They were delicious though.

 

Kamut and Roasted Cauliflower Risotto

The starch and veg component of dinner came from this Whole Foods risotto recipe.  As luck would have it, I recently purchased a small bag of locally grown kamut from Whidbey Island Prairie Grains .  (I know how ridiculously "foodie" that sounds, but if I hadn't just bought the grains, I probably would not have noticed the recipe.)

Hadn't planned on being able to find cauliflower yet, so I was very excited to spot a huge pile of overwintered cauliflower at Nash's Organic Produce.  I snapped up two small heads and finished off the last bag of frozen cauliflower from my garden last year.  Roasted cauliflower is amazing by itself...almost seemed wasted in this risotto.  I did like the risotto though and would make it again with asparagus or broccoli to give the dish more color.

After dinner, the chicken bones went into a pot along with an onion, some carrot and celery stalks, a few bay leaves, peppercorns, parsley, thyme and water to simmer overnight.  (I always simmer bone stock for at least 12 hours to get the full flavor from the bones.)  The stock was ready in the morning to be used later in the week.

 

WEDNESDAY :: fresh beet pasta | asparagus

Fresh Beet Pasta & Sauteed Cod

One of my favorite stops at the farmer's market is La Pasta.  They always have a nice assortment of different flavored pasta including beet, red pepper, spinach and sometimes even squid ink, among others.  And don't get me started about their ravioli flavors!  Mmmm.  For this recipe I chose a gorgeous fresh beet pasta that featured fresh beets from Full Circle Farm.    I also went with halibut instead of cod, because that's what was fresh and local...lucky me!  The leek topping was amazing...probably my favorite part of the dish, after the pasta.  (P.S. Gratuitous food porn photo below from bell'alimento.)

On the side, I served a hefty portion of locally grown asparagus...check out that gorgeous purple color...I had envisioned it being so gorgeous with the pink pasta, but it faded to green and my pasta wasn't that pink either. Oh well!  Was still pretty and yummy.

 

THURSDAY :: andouille sausage | scallions

Dirty Rice with Andouille Sausage

This was the big hit of the week.  OMG - so good!  I picked up some locally made andouille sausage from Olsen Farms.  Their beef is naturally raised, 100% grass and potato fed.  (The farm also grows potatos, so they feed their cattle what they grow.) Mixed up with local green onions, leftover leeks (instead of onions b/c somehow I ran out of onions) and homemade chicken stock (made from the chicken I'm served on Tuesday) it was d'lish!  Thick slices of crusty bread slathered with butter turned out to be the perfect accompaniment...the dish was HOT!  The bread and butter helped put out the fire a bit between bites.

 

FRIDAY :: take-out

Friday night turned out to be burger night.  Seattle is blessed with numerous local burger joints...most of which use high-quality, locally raised beef, potatos, etc. to make really good burgers and fries.  My husband and daughter had a "date-night" at Dick's while I helped out my friend Tina of glam.spoon fame at her first ever trunk show at Frock Shop.  (Watch for my trunk show recap post coming soon!  Was a fun night!!) After the trunk show, I had a hankering for a burger, so I stopped at Burgermaster  on the way home.  So good!

Saturday and Sunday were date night and Mother's Day, so I did not cook.  As much as I love to cook, having someone else cook for me is such a treat!  This week, I'll be working on some recipes from one of my favorite cook books, so I hope you'll check back next Monday for Farmer's Market Fresh No. 3 with the scoop from the farmers market, plus recipe reviews. 

If you're not already following me somewhere, here's how you can stay in touch so you don't miss a thing...

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 XOXO, Cindi

P.S. If you've never been to a farmer's market, you are missing out!  You can find one near you by visiting LocalHarvest.org.  All you need to do is put in your zip code and they will tell you what's closest to you.

Something Old, Something New...and a glam.spoon Trunk Show Too

I frequently chat about my friend Tina Witherspoon of glam.spoon, a local fashion designer and style blogger whom I met at Urban Craft Uprising a few years ago.  I stumbled into her glam.spoon booth and instantly fell in love with her re-fashioned designs.  After "flirting" on Twitter for a few months, we finally met again for coffee and didn't stop talking for hours.  We have wildly different lifestyles, so we don't often get the chance to see each other, but we try to keep in touch via FB, Twitter, Pinterest...all those places we both love to hang out. 

Not too long ago, she rescued me from a serious fashion dilemma and I have been remiss in not blogging about it sooner.  It was January.  The holidays were over.  I needed a black, full-length, formal evening gown and there were none to be found.  What's a girl to do?  Feeling rather clever, I hit Tina up for ideas about where to find a black, full-length, formal evening gown in January.  Duh.  Then I remembered she could probably design one for me. 

So...I just happened to have this vintage wedding dress hanging in my closet:

And it fit.  I hoped, fingers crossed, that Tina would be able to transform it into a black, full-length formal evening gown....not too tall of an order, is it?  We started by looking at an LBD inspiration board I put together on Pinterest of dresses and details that I liked.  I also showed her some of the dresses in my closet, so she could get an idea of what styles I like and what I think looks good on me.  Ultimately, the dress sort of revealed to us what it could be as Tina deftly peeled away the layers of paper lining in the skirt and stripped off the lace bodice. 

A fan of fabric dye, Tina soaked the dress in three dye baths to get it to a deep black.  What used to be the outer skirt fabric became the lining after she added sheer black fabric over the top to create some movement and depth.  The bodice features some fantastic fabric that Tina created herself by stitching and pleating black tulle.  Amazing what this gal can do with a needle and thread!

Here is the bodice in process:

And here I am wearing the final design.  (Excuse the crazy hair...was windy on the balcony!) 

The transformation was remarkable!  You simply can not tell this was ever a wedding dress.  I accented the neckline with a vintage brooch that I love and a shoe splurge that I had to have.  The whole look was vintage elegance...exactly what we were going for. 

And so, this brings me to the second point of this post.  Tina is having her very first trunk sale this Friday night at Frock Shop on Phinney Ave. N.  It's being held in conjunction with the monthly Phinneywood Art Walk, which is also a fabulous event.  I'm so excited that Tina has asked me to come help out with her show, so I'll be at Frock Shop with her meeting, greeting, styling and cheering her on.  If you live in the area, definitely put it on your calendar and come make a night of it.  Tina will be featuring her new spring/summer line starting at 6pm.  She usually only makes one-of-a-kind pieces from recycled materials, but at her show she's introducing a specially designed, limited-run, locally manufactured "Saturday Market Dress" in a range of sizes and a variety of prints...she has even designed some of the prints herself. 

It's going to be a lot of fun, so don't miss out!  Come meet Tina and check out her amazing work.  Hope to see you there!

Farmer's Market Fresh: No. 1

Happy Monday!  I hope everyone had a nice weekend...ours went by too quickly, as usual.  No oyster picking adventures this week, but my husband made some good progress on our chicken coop and I enjoyed my weekly shopping adventure at the farmer's market.  Eating local has become very important to me over the past few years, so I've really fallen in love with Seattle's farmer's markets. I love shopping there, supporting our local farmers and building relationships with the people who grow, catch, harvest and produce my food. 

One of my favorite things about shopping at the farmer's market is finding unusual ingredients and then asking the vendors about their favorite ways to prepare them.  This week I scored a pile of fresh, local, spring edibles that I've never cooked with before and had a blast planning my menus for the week.

My go-to sources for recipes online are usually Pinterest, Foodgawker and All Recipes. I'm a sucker for the food porn photos on Pinterest and Foodgawker, but I really like the ratings system and comments on All Recipes.  Between those three sites, I came up with this amazing menu plan for the week featuring all the farmer's market goodies I picked up:

 

MONDAY :: spot prawn | rainbow radish | fiddlehead fern

Spot Prawns on Rainbow Radish Fiddlehead Potato Salad

This gorgeous recipe comes from Gourmet Fury and features three of the ingredients I picked up at the market: Hama Hama spot prawns, rainbow radishes and foraged fiddlehead ferns.  (I was lucky to get the prawns from Dan The Oyster Man at the Hama Hama Oyster Co. booth...he had sold almost his entire allotment for the weekend and it was only Saturay morning.)  The fiddleheads came from one of my favorite booths...Foraged and Found Edibles.  Even their signage is amazing!

As an added bonus, I'm going to toss in a few sauteed morel mushrooms we found growing in our back yard.  I know!  Lucky us!

 

TUESDAY :: wood sorrel

Sorrel and Yukon Gold Potato Soup

One of my favorite farmer's market treasures this week was a gorgeous bag of wood sorrel that I picked up from Foraged and Found Edibles.  It looks like shamrocks and has a bright lemony flavor.  I was excited when I found this recipe from The Vintage Mixer because it uses a fair amount of sorrel. Many wood sorrel recipes I've found only call for a handful of leaves, but I've got a whole bag to use up. I believe she's using a different variety of sorrel than what I have, but I'm going to try it anyway.  I picked up a nice bag of local organic Yukon Gold potatoes this morning and will serve this with warm crusty bread and butter.

WEDNESDAY :: mizuna

Orechiette with Mizuna Pesto

I've been hearing a lot about mizuna lately, but have never used it in my cooking.  I found a few bunches of both regular and red mizuna at the market, so I bought one of each.  This recipe from Burp! looks so simple and fresh.  Look at that green! My husband and I both love traditional pesto, but haven't spread our wings to try any new variations...looking forward to this one!

Instead of orechiette, I'll be using a gorgeous Girella pasta I picked up at a cooking class at ChefShop last week. (More about that cooking class in a separate post this week.)

THURSDAY :: salmon | rhubarb

Sauteed Salmon and Rhubarb Marmalade

I love Strawberry-Rhubarb pie as much as the next person, but there's only so much pie a gal can eat.  (Full disclosure: I once ate an entire strawberry-rhubarb pie by myself during a rare break in my morning sickness while pregnant with my daughter!)  But back to the story...I bought some rhubarb from Stony Plains this week hoping to find a way to work it into a sweet and savory entree. 

The recipe I found from Food & Wine fit the bill perfectly...especially since I had also purchsed a nice piece of salmon from Seattle's own Loki Fish Co.  My only regret is that my own peas aren't big enough to sacrifice a few shoots for the topping.  Guess I'll have to make this again later in the spring.  (wink.) As a side to this dish, I'll be sauteeing up some rapini that I also picked up at the market.  I love it in quiche, but this week it shall stand alone. 

 

FRIDAY :: take-out

Friday night is not usually a cooking night for me.  Happy hour happens with our friends down the street and we take turns springing for take-out.  Gotta love Fridays!

 

WEEKEND :: stinging nettles | red mizuna

Weekends are tricky for meal planning around here.  We never seem to know what we'll be doing and with weather as flaky as it is in the northwest, we jump on the sun whenever it shines...leaving no desire to be in the kitchen.  As a result, I've been trying to plan ahead to make quiches, casseroles, etc. that can just be popped in the over for a quick and easy weekend meal. This plan also helps me extend the life of tender greens from the market and is giving me lots of ideas for how to use up all the eggs our chicks will soon be laying!

This week I'll be making two:

Stinging Nettle Quiche

This quiche from Babyccino Kids is super easy and sounds d'lish.  I'll be skipping the puffed pastry and using whole wheat pie shells from my freezer.  I've never cooked with stinging nettles, but have been told that with gloves or tongs, I should be able to escape the stinging part...once they are cooked, they are harmless.  We'll see...

Bacon Mizuna Frittata

We're pretty much obsessed with bacon around here, so I'm very excited to try this recipe from The Paelo Periodical.  I'll be using the red mizuna I picked up at the market, so I'm hoping it will add a nice splash of color to the dish.

So that's the week.  What do you think?  Got a favorite recipe for spring edibles?  I'd love to hear about it, so please feel free to leave some comments.  I'll shoot out some photos and recipe feedback throughout the week, so feel free to follow me on Facebook or Twitter for the extras.  :) 

Seattle Flash Mob...and a Marriage Proposal

Hot Damn!  This is how to get engaged...

 

Here is the flash mob I chickend out of joining last week.  It's one of my bucket list "things to do", but for some reason, I was scared to join the rehearsals...next time for sure!  Turned out to be a HUGE event...800+ people at Westlake Park...right smack in the heart of downtown Seattle.  Kicking myself now for not being braver.  If you live in Seattle and want to get involved with a flash mob, check out Mob The World for more info.  Let me know if you're going and maybe you can hold my hand...pretty please?  And congrats to the happy couple! 

Adventures in Oyster Picking

Wow!  What a gorgeous weekend we had in Seattle.  I'm still reeling from all the sun and fun.  What does one do when the sun shines in Seattle, you ask?  Well...we had a really unique opportunity on Saturday to visit Hama Hama Oyster Co. for a U-pick oyster event.  I had never done that before, but I am now officially hooked!

Hama Hama Oyster Co. is a commercial oyster farm based in Lilliwaup, WA at the mouth of the Hama Hama River.  At low tide, the banks extend almost a mile into the Hood Canal.  They are quite well known for their amazing oysters, so it was exciting to step out onto their oyster flats at low tide and literally pluck our dinner from the sand.  Added bonus: The company has been family run since it started in 1922, so we had a chance to meet a few family members...never a bad thing to know your local oyster farmers!

Our wonderful guide took us out to the flats and taught us a lot about oysters, how they grow, what to look for when picking along with lots of other interesting facts about the ecology and other creatures living and feasting on the bounty of the Hama Hama and Hood Canal waters.

One of the first things our guide pointed out on the flats were bags of shells that had been inocculated with baby oysters...see all the tiny dots on the shell below?  Baby oysters.  The shells will be spread out all over the flats to grow the next generation of oysters for the farm.

We also got a quick lesson in how to spot a healthy oyster based on it's new growth.  These are Pacific oysters which were brought to the west coast from Japan.  Their new growth appears as a frill around the edge of the shell and has a gorgeous purple-pink iridescent sheen to it.  So pretty!You can easily spot a Pacific oyster by it's ruffles and frills.  (Washington's native oyster, the Olympia, is smaller and has nearly been replaced by Pacifics. It is only found in a handful of bays along the coast.)

In addition to oysters, there were plenty of other creatures to see...most of which were trying to eat the oysters too!  We saw several kinds of sea stars, snails and even a pile of eggs resting on some seaweed.

By the end of our visit, we had given up counting how many oysters we had picked...the basket got heavy so we figured we had plenty.  As it turned out, we had picked over five dozen oysters, a couple of butter clams and a few random mussels (mostly attached to our oysters!)  To round out our purchase, we also picked up 3 kinds of smoked oysters, 3 crab cakes (made on-site by mom) and a jar of locally made pickled herring from their seafood shop.  The smoked oysters didn't even make it to the car...we gobbled them all up in the parking lot.

The farm has a few picnic shelters with BBQs you can use to cook your oysters on the spot, but we opted to put ours on ice and take them home for dinner.  I was so proud of myself for shucking my first oysters...not an easy task!  After opening a bottle of champagne to go with them, we decided to invite some friends over to share.  We shucked all the raw ones we could open and eat and put the rest on the grill.  I had never done that before, but wow, were they great!  We threw that last of the cooked oysters into a stew the next day.  Yum!

The trick to successfully grilling the oysters, so they don't dry out, is to put them bowl side down over very low heat and close the lid on the grill.  It takes about 8-10 minutes for the first oyster to open and that's when you take them all off.  If the oysters are sputtering and sizzling, but not opening, the heat is too high.  Another good tip is to put them on the grill with their hinges facing towards you, so that when they open, they shoot any liquid towards the back of the grill instead of on you.  (Tips were courtesy of our oyster guide at Hama Hama.)

The remaining shells are now drying out in the sun...to be pulverized later as a calcium supplement for our chickens.

 

Hama Hama is having another U-pick day in May, so we are planning to go again.  If you live in the Seattle area and like oysters, I highly recommend checking it out and making a day of it.  They are also hosting an Oyster Rama on May 5th that sounds like a great time with oyster and wine tastings, seminars and a chance to dig for wild geoduck.  Be sure to check out their blog for ticket info and more details.

Now that we are oyster picking pros, we're looking forward to many more shellfish picking excursions and are looking into getting a WA shellfish license, so we can forage our public beaches.  The main difference with picking from public beaches is that you have to shuck them on the beach and leave the shells because baby oysters like to attach themselves to larger oyster shells.  Leaving the shells allows the population to continue growing. 

Have you ever picked your own oysters?  Have a favorite recipe for fresh oysters?  Hope you'll share some tips if you have them! 

Vintage Volkswagen Weekend

Friday night, my husband came home from work and suggested we go to Burgermaster for dinner.  This seemed like an odd request from a man who is on a strict no-cholesterol diet, but we hadn't been there in ages, so I was totally game. Who doesn't love Burgermaster??  Turned out, he had spotted the Cascade Kombis Vintage VW Meet going on in the parking lot.  A-ha!

We piled into our own VW wagon and headed to Burgermaster.  I couldn't have been more surprised or pleased at what awaited us.  It was like we had walked into a "Cars" movie...

There were more VW Bugs and vans in one place than I had ever seen before and each one was cooler than the next.  Growing up, I lusted after my next door neighbor's vintage black convertible VW bug, so seeing all these vintage bugs in one place was making my heart sing!  Not to mention all the buses.  I really like this wind-up model...

Can you just imagine hitting the open road with your luggage stacked up on the back, top down, wind in your hair...

Suicide door...notice which direction it opens...

Hippies use backdoor...no exceptions!

Had to laugh at this one...came from one of my old stomping grounds on the east coast...it's been a long time since I partied at Fell's Point.

After chowing down on lower-cholesterol Chickenmaster sandwiches we noticed a sign on the way out that said there was going to be an even bigger VW show and swap meet on Saturday...apparently, this was just the pre-show "Burger Meat."  And the Saturday show was being held at the same time and place as the NW Solar Fest...serendipity!  We were so there!  (I'll talk solar in another post.)

Pics from Saturday's show...check out my dream bus...

and dream camper set-up...

My 5-year-old gazing appreciatively at the engine of her dream bug...the pink and white Tinkerbug...

Bad-ass bug...

Artsy bugs...

Love bug...

And last, but not least...spotted on the way out...gotta love it when Etsy earns a spot at a car show!  I don't even know what this bumper sticker means, but it made me laugh to see it there anyway.

Sunday brings VW drag racing at Bremerton Speedway, so I'm sure that will be a hoot.  If we end up going, I'll be sure to share more pics.  That's all for now.  Hope you enjoyed the pics!  XOXO, Cindi

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shop Local: Wedgwood Arts Festival

One of the great things about Seattle in the summertime is the abundance of outdoor activities.  Usually that means hiking, camping, boating, etc.  But many times it involves a festival.   Last Sunday, I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon hanging out with friends and neighbors at the 6th Annual Wedgwood Arts Festival.  If there's one thing I love, it's a good outdoor festival.  This one, in particular, was special because it was held in my neighborhood.  All of the artists were neighbors from my community, so I enjoyed getting to meet and support some really talented locals.

The first vendor I met was Katie Galbraith of KG Crafts.  She had a gorgeous booth chock full of vintage inspired goodies from her line Hazel's Vintage Pretties. I purchased two of her adorable bibs as gifts.  Unfortunately, my photo of her booth did not turn out well, so you will just have to imagine how shabby fabulous it really was!

Katie's partner, Paul Kidder, also had a rack of gorgeous block-print cards available...all hand-printed and signed.  Each card was literally a work of art.  I am particularly smitten with his Seattle landscape prints.  You can find his cards online at  KG Crafts on Etsy or on his website, Kidder Graphics.  I'm seriously thinking I may need to start a collection...check out this gorgeous print of my most favorite Seattle beach, Golden Gardens.  (For more scoop about Golden Gardens, check out my post about the chicken coop tour!)

I also really enjoyed talking with artist Emily Burnette, who as it turns out, lives just a few blocks from me. We laughed over our shared obsession with Pinterest.  Emily has a gorgeous blog, so definitely check that out.  She is an amazing illustrator and also had the most adorable felt flower hair clips...if I wasn't already a "flower clip designer", I surely would have stock edup.  Alas, it's so hard to justify buying things when I have a studio full of supplies all waiting to be put to use.  Sorry Emily!!  ;)

Next up was face painting.  After a looooong wait, my little one happily sat still while artist Lynn Brevig painted a very cool fish on her tiny little cheek...complete with bubbles bubbling across her nose. 

When we weren't shopping, we were eating.  There were plenty of tasty options to choose from including two of my favorite Seattle street food vendors, Patty Pan Grill and Viraci Pizza. 

I'm pretty nearly addicted to Patty Pan's homemade vegetarian tamales.  I usually gobble a 3-pack a week...so good. One of these days I'll have to resist the urge for tamales and try out their quesadillas which look and smell insanely good, as well.  If you aren't able to catch up with them at one of the many outdoor markets they do each summer, you should definitely try out one of their Humble Feasts...local, sustainable, farm-fresh food presented in rotating seasonal menus.

Photo Credit: Did not snap a pic of Patty Pan, so this one is from Flickr.

Viraci Pizza is an old favorite from my days of hitting the Freemont Market on a nearly weekly basis.  They are a traveling wood-fired pizza company...yes, they cook your pizza in just under two minutes in a nearly 1000 degree oven...outside!  Heaven. Huge slices of ultra thin crispy crust pizza loaded with the most  delicious locally produced toppings...mmmm!  (Insider tip: They cater!  If you have a wedding or big event coming up, be sure to check out their website for all the info.  Imagine having a wood-fired oven roll up all hot and fiery at the end of the night to feed your hungry friends...you would be a hero for all time!) 

Photo Credit: I didn't get a good pizza picture, so I borrowed this one from the Wedgwood Festival Facebook Page.

For dessert, I could not pass up a mojito sorbet cone from Half Pint Ice Cream.  I fancy myself a bit of a mojito fiend in the summer, so this was a splurge-worthy treat!  Half Pint is another great local vendor striving to make use of the best, freshest local ingredients whenever possible. And check out the adorable RECYCLED green striped ice cream carts below!  (P.S. Half Pint also does events...ice cream after that Viraci pizza anyone???)

We enjoyed music by YAAMBA while we ate.  The band has been together since the 80's and you can tell they enjoy what they're doing.  The music was so lively they had lots of kiddos out of their seats dancing.  They do have a CD, which you can preview here.  Heck, why not hire them for that pizza and ice cream party you're throwing?  ;)

Two other artists I enjoyed talking to were Ian Henderson and Jennifer Carroll.  Ian was sitting at his booth painting the tiniest, most detailed little landscapes.  They were so detailed, they almost looked like photos. And come to find out, Ian is one of those people who hit the artistic jackpot in life, so in addition to being a talented painter, he is also an amazing pianist.  I love that he is able to convey similar feelings through his paintings and his music.   You can see more of his work and hear his music on his website, Painted Water.

By contrast, Jennifer had some of the larger pieces at the festival.  Her American flag piece caught my eye...made of hand-painted ballet pointe shoes.  She also had quite a few mosaic pieces that were interesting...cue the Niagra Falls mosaic toilet seat cover...

Turns out Jennifer has been a dancer all her life, so she has a personal connection to those shoes... not sure about the toilet seat...LOL.   You can find out more about Jennifer and her art on her website, Apogiatura.

So, that's my post.  If you enjoy outdoor markets, you may also enjoy the posts I did last summer about the Seattle Square market... here's Part 1 and Part 2.    Until next time...  XOXO, Cindi

 

 

2011 Seattle Tilth Chicken Coop Tour

Sometime last spring, I got the idea in my head that it would be awesome to raise chickens.  For the life of me, I can't remember what prompted the idea, but I haven't been able to get it out of my head ever since.  I went to a Chicken 101 class to see if it was something I would enjoy.  Still wasn't sold after the class, so I decided to go on Seattle Tilth's Chicken Coop and Urban Farm tour. 

What a fun day!  When you buy your ticket, you get a map to all of the participating homes and then you just choose the ones to visit that sound best to you.  We visited several coops last year and were fully sold on setting up our coop.  Flash forward a year...we still don't have a coop and I still have a hankering for chickens. 

I'll share some photos from last year's tour and some more information on my own coop dilemma in another post, but in the meantime, here are some photos from this year's tour....

I had the best coop touring buddy in the world...my 5 year old daughter.  We donned our most farmer-like hats set off for an afternoon of urban farming adventure. 

The first coop we went to see was modeled after a New Orleans French Quarter home.  Having been to NOLA many times and been seduced by her many charms, I was eager to see how she would translate to backyard chicken keeping.  I was not disappointed...the coop was darling with a great run covered in jasmine-like vines.  Black shutters, gingerbread trim and wrought iron accents added lots of "curb appeal."  All of the hens also had NOLA related names...the one that sticks out is the yellow one, named Beignet. 

The thing that I liked most about this coop though wasn't the architecture, it was the bedding.  When I opened the coop, I couldn't help but notice how GOOD it smelled.  I later found out the owner uses compostable cocoa shells from Theo Chocolates...what could be better??  Cocoa mulch bags are available at Theo's factory store in Fremont.  Ten dollars will get you 30-40 lbs. of mulch.  Score! (For those of you outside Seattle, Theo is the only organic, fair trade, bean-to-bar chocolate factory in the US.  Yes, we are sooo lucky to live here!)

The next coop on the tour was huge.  It had been built recently and was gorgeous.  There was a stained glass window, french doors and an attached potting shed.  Sigh...my own house should have so much charm!  This coop was home to eight gorgeous hens who were surprisingly quiet, but perhaps that was because they were gorging themselves on raspberries the whole time. 

Coop number three was a quirky little coop that the owners had adopted along with their first hen.  They added the shingles themselves and an automatic door opener.  Sweet!  In addition to the chickens the owners were avid gardeners and beekeepers.  (The bee thing intrigues me, yet scares me.  I eat honey like it's going out of style, but have historically been terrified of bees...will ponder this conundrum in another post.)  The mirror in the run was hilarious...the chickens were all gathered around it when we got there...primping for visitors maybe? 

Didn't get the scoop on the toilet bowl planter...honestly, I hope it was just filled with ornamentals...not sure I could bring myself to eat plants grown in it, but I do give them props for creative reuse.

And the award for most playful coop goes to this double decker spotted at Red Star Urban Farms.  Not only was the coop stunning, but it had a treehouse on top!  It took all the restraint my little girl  I had not to climb up and see what was there.  ;)

Built by the owners, Michael and Troy, of almost 100% recycled materials, the "gentlemen farmers" as they call themselves set the bar very high for the rest of us wanna-be chickenistas.  Be sure to click on the link above to visit their Facebook page for more photos and information about how to contact them if you need help with your coop.

But perhaps, the star of the show wasn't really the chicken coop at all...this bunny killed me!

And last, but not least, Bees City Farm.  The property was quite large and most of it was set aside for animals, bees or vegetables.  There were two goats...one very pregnant!...lots of ducks and chickens, as well as several bee hives.  Loads of veggies were growing all around...urban farming at it's very organic best!  Their chicken coop was also very cute...my husband's favorite design. 

By the end of the tour we were hot and ready to eat, so we headed over to Golden Gardens for an impromptu picnic.  We picked up some treats at Little Coney in Shilshole Bay Marina...they have my absolute favorite chili-cheese fries...then planted ourselves on the beach to watch the sailboats go by. (If you are ever in Seattle, Golden Gardens is a great place to visit...the sunsets are amazing...on the three days of the year that the sun shines...LOL)

So that was our day.  Anyone else out there take the tour, have chickens or hope to build a coop anytime soon?  I'd love to hear your thougths and experiences, so feel free to leave comments and share links to photos.   If you want to keep up with my chicken adventures, you can follow this blog via e-mail or BlogLovin.    XOXO, Cindi

Movin' on Out

Yesterday marked the start of a new chapter in Brass Paperclip's history book...I signed a lease for a very small booth in a local antique mall!  I am so excited to get into my space and get it set up, but alas, the lease does not start until November 1st.  It's probably a good thing though because I have a lot to get ready. 

The space is located in the Aurora Antique Pavillion in Edmonds, WA.  I've been shopping there for years and always enjoy spending hours sifting through the treasures in their 30,000 SF space among 200+ dealer booths. Can't believe I actually get to be a part of it now! 

I had a choice between these two spots:

Both are on the main drive aisle that goes around the mall and are situated right next to the cafe.   They are about half-way around, which is great because it gives shoppers time to get in and get into a shopping mood before they get to me.  My only fear here is that Seattle people do like their coffee...they might skip right past me on the way to get a fix!  ;)

Both spaces have flourescent lights directly over-head, but no electrical outlets, which is a bummer.  The space on the left is on an end and has an open side.  The space on the right has two side walls, but a duct running up the back.  I liked both spaces for different reasons, but chose....

TA-DA!

I really like how open it feels and it seems to get extra light from the cafe.  There is nice peg-board already on the wall...not sure how I feel about it, but will probably try to use it to keep costs down since I'm starting from scratch with fixturing. 

I've already started pulling inventory from my studio...lots of work still to do to get things packaged and ready for retail!  I'll keep you posted as opening day approaches. Wish me luck!