P I C N I C

School ends on Tuesday and Kate and I wanted to have lunch at Abernethy one more time. Today was brunch for lunch, french toast with tart plum jam. Nicole groaned at this menu and said she only did it because the kids demanded. Also available, but much less popular, was lemon tyme chicken and mashed potatoes. That’s one of the major challenges with cooking food like this, the children are wary of the unexpected.

A friend of Penny’s was showing off her nasturtium flower she had taken from the salad bar. She gobbled it up in a very theatrical manner, and then chugged some milk to cool down the spicyness.

My lunch, with one of the plums from the plum jam.

Elle and I are planning to make some beer, perhaps this coming weekend. I thought I’d smoke some barley with madrone, to see how that works. I’d like to try making some whiskey, so this is the first step towards that. Next I’d like to malt some barley, then use the smoke to dry it. Perhaps I could use Joels coffee roaster, if he’d let me? Actually, I think the fire pit would work better. I was trying to look into whether there are any peet bogs in existence in the northwest. It seems likely. I think hardwoods and fruitwoods could suffice though.

Kate and I have been going to food carts every Tuesday for lunch, but today we decided to go to Abernethy and meet Riley. They cook their food from scratch at the kitchen, and the chef, Nicole Hoffmann, had just returned from the White House. Michelle Obama is making an effort to get public schools to cook better food. I asked some of the kids sitting around us what they thought of the food. “Eh, it’s pretty good,” they said. I don’t think they realize how good they have it. For an adult the meal costs $3.75. I got a hamburger, beans with cheddar cheese, roasted carrots and potatoes, and some fresh radishes from the salad bar.