Shopping small

Posted in Adventures, Exploring Seattle by mszerwo

Today marks the start of the Christmas shopping season and I’m posting this from an outlet mall far, far away from Megan’s Island. This is the sixth or seventh year of this tradition and even though I’m not shopping for a new big screen TV or any presents really, I love spending this quality time with these friends, even if it is way too early in the morning.

I’m not against big box stores or easy ordering on Amazon, or even the medium-sized stores, but this year we’ve made a concerted effort to “shop small” when shopping for presents. We’re about halfway done with our holiday shopping and I’d encourage you think small when you shop this year.

To make shopping small easier for you, I’ve decided to highlight several businesses owned by some of my favorite people. Bookmark these links for the future, to shop beyond just the holidays!

Bottle and Bull

Bottle & Bull. This new Kirkland restaurant, run by my favorite restaurateur couple Jessi and Chad, opened this week. Stop by to fuel your shopping adventures or pick up a gift card to put in someone’s stocking! Experience the travels of Ernest Hemingway through your palette, eating and drinking your way through the cities that Hemingway loved to frequent; Havana, Paris, Florence and Pamplona (where he discovered his love for bull fighting!) to name a few.

Coloring Nature

Coloring Nature. My friend Cari and her husband own this organic landscaping company. Beyond landscaping, they offer holiday wreaths, succulent logs, floral design, corks, and occasional classes. You can find Coloring Nature online and at the Fremont Sunday Market.

Coloring Nature

Coppersmith Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy is my favorite physical therapy clinic for all that ails me. In fact, I’ve been a loyal customer for more than 30 years, since the clinic is owned by my parents. If you have physical therapy needs, I highly recommend you head to Coppersmith PT! (Thanks for being blog readers, Mom & Dad!)

Dailey Method. The Dailey Method is a unique combination of ballet barre work, core conditioning, muscle strengthening, yoga, and orthopedic exercises. Owners Brenda and Michelle are killer yet magical instructors and they offer online purchasing options as well as gift cards. They even feature local businesses (like Little Britches Bakery) in their lobby. Extra shop small points for the Dailey Method!

Davenport Cellars. I love myself some wine and Davenport Cellars is run and owned by two of my favorite winemakers. Not only are their wines fantastic, their price point can’t be beat. My “favorite” bottle of Davenport flips on a weekly basis, from the Cab-dominant Continuity to the Merlot-dominant RHD. I have recruited several friends to join the Davenport wine club and I’d encourage you to head over to Woodinville, taste some wine and support Washington winemakers and this small business.

Davenport Cellars

Style By Wendy helps those who feel outdated, frumpy, or insecure to discover more confidence in their closet. Whether it is a closet clean-out, creating outfits with your clothes, personal shopping, or determining your color wheel, Wendy makes you feel good about yourself and what you wear every single day.

Libby’s Paper Party Hats

Libby’s Paper Party Hats. My dear friend Libby (and future business partner, if everything goes as planned!) makes paper party hats, banners and more, selling her wares on Etsy. Libby’s paper party hats are beautiful and crafted with talent and love. I received a my very own University of Washington-themed paper party hat for my 31st birthday. It’s great, isn’t it!?

Me & my dead duck friend. Hat from Libby’s Paper Party Hats! Thank you, Lib!!

Little Britches Bakery. Shameless plug right here! Little Britches Bakery is my part-time gig and my creative outlet. It isn’t a real bakery, instead its completely inedible, practical and completely usable baby gifts that look like your favorite bakery treats. (They’re “too sweet to eat,” get it!?) You should for sure follow Little Britches on Etsy, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and think of Little Britches next time one of your friends announces a pregnancy. I ship anywhere in the US and offer completely customizable baby gifts!

My Little Britches Bakery onesie cupcakes

Vine Trainings. The perfect party: you, your friends, and some delicious wines. My friend Zach teaches Vine Trainings classes, including a minimum of seven wines, several hours of personalized and hands-on instruction, and a whole lot of fun. All you need is seating for 10-12 people and somewhere for the wine glasses! Prices start at $35/person, and the specific wines and styles are customizable and negotiable. I wrote about Vine Trainings earlier this year.

Our Vine Trainings set up

Seafood Lover’s Pacific Northwest. I may link to Amazon, but you can find this at a local independent book seller. (We bought our copy at the University Bookstore.) This is my friend Karen’s first book and she set the bar high for her upcoming projects! Her book is great– it has a little bit of everything: recipe, recommendations, lore, and more! The book has inspired Brandon and I to explore the well-known gems and the diamonds in the rough that we had no idea about. After hearing about all of Karen’s oyster experiences, I’m going to give them another shot! Spoiler alert: we bought extra copies for Christmas presents!

Seafood Lover’s Pacific Northwest

I have several photographer friends and would recommend any and all of them. Here are the local Seattle-area photogs: Erin Schedler Photography, Kristi Waite Photography, and Mike Fiechtner Photography (you’ll see our wedding photos on the home page!).

Tomorrow is Small Business Saturday and I hope you take some time to “shop small” this holiday season!

27Nov2014

Happy Thanksgiving {2014}

Posted in Food, Holidays, Parties! by mszerwo

Hello and happy Thanksgiving from Megan’s Island! We’re thankful for YOU!

We’ve already feasted and now we’re relaxing and cheering on the Seahawks.

I took last year’s turkey-shaped vegetable tray to a whole new level with this beauty:

Our turkey-shaped antipasti plate

It contains:

The lemon/carrot/broccoli/sugar-eyed head
Cubes of triple-cream brie
Reduced-fat smoked gouda “feathers”
Marinated artichokes
Three types of cured meats
Black olives
Marinated mushrooms with garlic
Whole baby corn
Extra-long asparagus

And a couple more photos, since I love this thing and there isn’t too much left to look at– it got devoured!

Thanksgiving appetizer platter

I used tacky glue to attach the head features this year. I’d recommend the super glue we used last year, but the tacky glue worked

I love this thing! So cute AND delicious!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

26Nov2014

{Wine Wednesday} Thanksgiving wine pairings

Posted in Drinky drinky, Food, Holidays, Wine Wednesdays by mszerwo

Lucky us: Vine Pair came through again (Halloween candy-booze pairings) and created this infographic pairing wine, beer and booze with almost every Thanksgiving dish option:

If your Thanksgiving drinking plans call for wine, keep the corks and bottles! I’m working on some fun holiday wine bottle and cork crafts that I’ll showcase next week! Three cheers for Thanksgiving!

23Nov2014

Thanksgiving appetizers

Posted in Food, Holidays, Parties! by mszerwo

Sorry for the lack of posts this past week– I caught the crud that seems to be going around and it settled in for awhile. I hope I start feeling better soon! I’d like to be close to 100% for Thanksgiving and my annual Black Friday shop-a-thon.

My Thanksgiving vegetable tray turned out so well last year, my parents have asked me to bring an appetizer again this year for our festivities.

Thanksgiving vegetable tray | Megan’s Island Blog

I’ve scoured the internet (twist my arm!) and found some great new ideas. I won’t have a photo until Thursday, when I actually build the thing, but I’ve decided to take last year’s veggie tray and add olives, cheeses, and cured meats and make it a full-on antipasti platter, shaped as a turkey! Genius, right? And surprisingly, it doesn’t really exist on the internet. There is a first time for everything!

If turkey-shaped veggie and antipasti platters aren’t your thing, here are some other great ideas for Thanksgiving appetizers. I hope you have a great {short!} week!

Turkey cheese and cracker platter

Prosciutto cups with pear

Baked brie with cranberries and pistachios

Cranberry baked brie bites

Happy Thanksgiving week!

18Nov2014

Autumn apple and sausage scramble

Posted in 2014 Themed eating, Food by mszerwo

More often than not, our dinners involve sauteing some meats and veggies on the stove with olive oil, salt and pepper. I call these “scrambles.” I also call scrambled egg dishes scrambles, but this one didn’t involve eggs. It was just a mishmash of ingredients.

For this week’s “theme eating,” we’re enjoying apples. All sorts of apples. I found several different recipes (here, here and here) via Pinterest and last night we tried out our first one.

This Autumn Apple Sausage Couscous looked good and piqued my interest.

The inspiration for our dinner

I love couscous, but it didn’t seem right for this dish. I opted for faro instead. (It was a good move on my part!)

The recipe called for chicken sausage with Gouda, which I couldn’t find at the Trader Joe’s I was shopping at. (Plus Brandon doesn’t like cheese, so that would’ve been a no-go for him. Yes, he’s crazy for not liking cheese!) Instead I bought the Sweet Apple chicken sausages, which had some brown sugar and maple flavoring. I also picked up some reduced fat Gouda for my portions. All of the ingredients for this dish came from Trader Joe’s. I love grocery shopping and visiting lots of stores, but I also love one-stop shopping.

Here’s the ingredient list:

(1) chopped Granny Smith apple (I could’ve used two)
(1) package of sliced Sweet Apple chicken sausage
(1) package of 10 minute quick-cooking farro (or couscous, or quinoa, or whatever!)
1/2 chopped red onion
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup whole pecans, lightly toasted
Salt, pepper to taste

And the instructions:

Brown the sausage with a light drizzle of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Cook the farro according to the package instructions. (We use the “boil” technique listed on the side of the package.)
Add the chopped apple and chopped onion to the frying pan. Continue heating over medium heat. Stir occasionally, for about 10-15 minutes. Add cranberries and pecans to pan, with about 2-5 minutes remaining.
Add cheese if you’d like and voila! Dinner is served!

Our dinner

It totally slipped my mind but I was going to add my favorite apple cider vinegar and shallot dressing (reprinted from FitSugar) to this dish (below). This is a delicious recipe with or without the dressing and would make an excellent Thanksgiving side dish!

Apple Cider Vinegar & Shallot Dressing

1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 small shallot, minced
Juice from 1 lemon
Salt and pepper

Directions

Whisk together honey, apple cider vinegar, shallot, lemon juice, mustard powder, and dried basil.
Slowly pour in olive oil while whisking to emulsify.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Pour into jar with lid and refrigerate. Makes about 1 cup of dressing.

14Nov2014

{Gone Pinning} Big Island bound!

Posted in Adventures by mszerwo

Brrrrr! The polar vortex is back and Seattle is pretty chilly these days. We’re staying warm by dreaming about the sun and planning the itinerary for our December trip to the Big Island of Hawaii. We’ll be splitting our time on both the Kona and Hilo coasts and we’ll likely spend a night in the volcano part of the island.

Here are some of the exciting excursions that we have in mind. Click on the photos for more information:

We’ve secured a twilight tour of the Gemini telescope and we’re SO excited about it! The stars are going to be amazing!!

Gemini telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory

The manta ray dive company we heard really good things about is unfortunately not operating while we’re in Hawaii, but we’re looking at alternative tours! This looks so cool!

Manta ray snorkel tour

We’re planning on seeing a lot of lava on our trip. These sights are pretty awesome in photos like this and I’ve heard they’re even better after dark. We’re looking into night-time tours now!

Lava meets water

This is where Captain James Cook moored when he visited the Island in 1778 and where he died the following year. The snorkeling here, at Kealakakua Bay, is reportedly some of the best in the islands. This link also has what appear-to-be great tips for the Big Island:

Captain Cook monument

I’ve never seen so many unique sand beaches in my life! We’ll hit up the black sand beach and the GREEN sand beach! Green!!! How fun!

Green Sand beach

I’ve discussed the sites, and now it’s on to the food. This link has some great suggestions and we’ll definitely hit up this malasada place. (Brandon loves them!)

Malasadas! Yes, please.

It’s not a true vacation of ours without a visit to a winery. The Volcano Winery will do!

We love wine! This one appears to be an award winner!

We’re still taking recommendations, so share some of your favorite tips for fun on the Big Island!

11Nov2014

Happy birthday, Washington!

Posted in General, Holidays by mszerwo

The wonderful state of Washington turned 125 today! Happy birthday! (Washington became the 42nd state in the United States on November 11, 1889.)

We celebrated with a bottle of Washington wine: the 2009 Cave B XXIV Merlot. It needed to breathe a bit but is drinking wonderfully as I type this post. (We paired it with a big bowl of “pasta:” spaghetti squash, chicken Italian sausage, kale, mushrooms and onions. Now that I think about it, we totally should have made something more “Washington”… Maybe next year!)

Celebrating Washington’s birthday with some excellent Washington wine

Back to Washington. Here are some fun state facts for you Washingtonians (and those out-of-state readers interested in our fine state):

The state of Washington is the only state to be named after a United States president. Before it became a state, the territory was called Columbia (named after the Columbia River). When it was granted statehood, the name was changed to Washington, supposedly so people wouldn’t confuse it with The District of Columbia.
Seattle is home to the first revolving restaurant, 1961. (The Space Needle)
Washington state produces more apples than any other state in the union.
Washington state has more glaciers than the other 47 contiguous states combined and eighty percent of the glacial ice in the contiguous U.S is found in Washington State. (We love you, Alaska!)
Everett is the site of the world’s largest building, Boeing’s final assembly plant
The oldest operating gas station in the United States is in Zillah.
Washington’s state insect is the Green Darner Dragonfly.
Washington’s state gem is petrified wood (We have a piece at home!)
The world’s first soft-serve ice cream machine was located in an Olympia Dairy Queen.
Starbucks, the biggest coffee chain in the world was founded in Seattle.
Puget Sound’s many islands are served by the largest ferry fleet in the United States.
The forests of the Olympic Peninsula are among the rainiest places in the world and the only rainforests (such as the Hoh Rain Forest) in the continental United States
The percentage of non-religious people in Washington is the highest of any state, and church membership is among the lowest of all states.
United Airlines was originally owned by the Boeing Airplane Company.
Popular games Pictionary, Pickle-ball, and Cranium were all invented in Washington.
Famous Washingtonians include: John Elway (football great and Brandon’s hero), Macklemore (musician), Ryan Lewis (musician/producer), Bob Barker (TV host), Ray Charles (singer/musician), Fred Couples (golf), Bing Crosby (actor/singer), Bill Gates (Microsoft Founder), Jimi Hendrix (guitarist), Quincy Jones (music producer), Gary Larson (cartoonist), Kenny Loggins (singer), Steve Miller (musician), Ahmad Rashad (football & TV host), and Adam West (actor).
Washington’s state motto is Al-Ki (Indian word meaning “by and by” — Also a neighborhood in West Seattle!)
We have six National Forests and 215 State Parks.
Washington is number one in the country in the production of hops, apples, pears, red raspberries, spearmint oil, and sweet cherries.
Washington has over 1,000 dams, including the Grand Coulee Dam, the largest dam in the United States that my Grandpa helped build!
Up to 5,000 wild horses roam the Yakima Indian Reservation.
Washington is home to four of the five longest floating bridges in the world: the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge and Homer M. Hadley Bridge over Lake Washington, and the Hood Canal Bridge connecting the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas.
Seattle was the first city in the world to pump Muzak into stores and offices.
Seattle was the first American city to put police on bicycles.
Washington is a leading lumber producer. Its rugged surface is rich in stands of Douglas fir, hemlock (the state tree!), ponderosa and white pine, spruce, larch, and cedar.

Read more about Washington and our state symbols here.

Happy birthday, Washington!!

Happy birthday, Washington!

10Nov2014

Hello, Fran’s Chocolates!

Posted in Exploring Seattle, Food by mszerwo

For Brandon’s birthday I gave him a chocolate tour of Seattle, led by yours truly. We haven’t had a chance to fully fulfill the tour, but he got a sneak peak of it a few weeks ago when we attended the grand opening of Fran’s Chocolates new space in the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle.

My friend’s fiancé is an architect who designed the outside of the space. They tipped us off to the grand opening event. Thank you, S&J!

The new Fran’s in Georgetown

Once we got inside, it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. It was classy and lovely and smelled deliciously of chocolate. I guess I was expecting more of a Willy Wonka type factory.

Inside Fran’s

I’m looking forward to returning to Fran’s during official business hours and seeing the production line in action…and eating more of these!!

Milk chocolate sea salt caramels…One of my favorites!

Visit Fran’s for yourself. All the information you’ll need can be found here: https://www.franschocolates.com/

(No, Fran’s didn’t pay for me to be there or for me to write this post. They did give me multiple samples of chocolates and caramels and didn’t judge me when I went back for seconds. Thanks, Fran’s!)

Tasting chocolate is a tough job, but some’s got to do it!

5Nov2014

{Wine Wednesday} Job well done, winemakers!

Posted in Adventures, Drinky drinky, Wine Wednesdays by mszerwo

Brandon and I had a few open hours last weekend, so we cruised up to Woodinville and did some wine tasting! We stopped by our favorites (Davenport Cellars and Robert Ramsay Cellars) where they were hard at work finishing the last of this year’s de-stemming, fermenting, and barreling. As we know firsthand (well, Brandon, but you know… royal “we”) wine making is hard work!

Our glasses are raised to you, winemakers and everyone who helps support the process. Thank you for your great work and making Wine Wednesdays possible!

Here are some fun photos I shot at Pomum Cellars and Stevens Winery, some of our new favorite spots to frequent:

Brandon sneaking a peak at the Pomum process

The warm grapes at Stevens — the fermenting actually creates heat!

Working the grapes at Stevens Winery

Happy Wine Wednesday! Cheers!

4Nov2014

Let there be light!

Posted in Around the house by mszerwo

It was a dark and stormy weekend…

…And I was home by myself and the power went out! Brandon was at the UW Homecoming game and I had to fend for myself. I was able to get by just fine. Our house and the pizza oven also fared just fine. The wind caused some of our bistro lights to come unhooked, and a lot of leaves and needles to fall in the backyard, but it wasn’t too bad. I’m so glad that no big branches fell off of the trees and that nothing came crashing down on the pizza oven. We’ve gotten great use out of it, but not enough for the effort we put into it!

Windstorm hits the backyard and the bistro lights fared just fine!

I wrote the rest of this post last Sunday night, nearly 24 hours into the power outage. (The lights came back a few hours later and then went out again all night on Monday.)

The fireplace is turned on (it’s gas), I’ve got my headlamp at the ready, and I discovered the “light my keys” function on my laptop. My laptop was fully charged last night, so I’ve got ~7 hours of uninterrupted writing time ahead of me. I’ve also been using my new Kindle PaperWhite, which is backlit, enabling me to read the one item I had gotten around to uploading. Fortunately/unfortunately it was a Jackie Collins teaser for several new romance books she has out. That’s what I get for searching the freebie books, I guess. Once the power is back on, I’m absolutely downloading some actual books.

I was thinking back to last year and I’m pretty sure that there was a power outage on Megan’s Island (Mercer Island) Halloween 2013. Seeing the ‘wind warning’ notices and driving through the sheets of rain last night tipped me off to what was to come and I charged my phone as soon as I got home. One of the best decisions I’ve ever made! This year’s outage was much longer than last year’s. Last year we blamed the lack of a single trick-or-treater on the power outage. This year, we again failed to receive even one trick-or-treater. Maybe it is the lack of sidewalks and street lamps and the dead end street.

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for the residents of Mercer Island. On Sept. 27 we had strains of e.coli found in our water and a “boil water notice” went into effect. That lasted for 11 days and was much harder on the businesses than on the residents. Businesses lost a ton of money and I’ve heard of at least one business that wasn’t able to recover. Our grocery stores had to throw out a ton of food and it was pretty slim-pickings around here for a while.

Boil-water advisory on Mercer Island

No seafood here… or veggies… or meats… or deli foods…

Bottle-water-washed veggies at QFC

The Associated Press even contacted me on Instagram and ended up using two of my photos for their articles about our e. coli.

Thankfully very few of the Mercer Island businesses were affected by this seemingly-never-ending power outage. (Yes, I’m being overly dramatic. I just want to shower, ok!?) Little Britches Bakery was ok, since I had access to my Etsy account via my phone and I filled my outstanding order before the storm rolled in.

It’s a lot more fun being stuck in dark solitude with someone else. The cats are great, but every time the wind picked up or pinecones fell on our roof, they would freak out and run and hide. I wanted to do the same, but that wasn’t in the cards for me. We’ve been closely following Puget Sound Energy on social media—not via their online outage map though, it’s virtually unusable via a mobile phone—and know what to expect. We collected all the candles, turned on the fireplace and unearthed our headlamps from Alaska.

We’ve got headlamps!

Power outage? Glassybabies are the solution!

Maddie loves the fire!

Studying by candlelight

Our power was out long enough that we had to get rid of some of the perishable foods in the fridge and freezer. We started cleaning things out and realized that the garbage disposal was electric. Whoops. Thankfully we got power back quickly after this poor decision and it wasn’t as gross as it could have been. Note to self: don’t do that again.

What not to do in a power outage

Even though they couldn’t find the source of the e.coli, I hope it’s behind us for awhile. Our water is super-chlorinated now and my skin and hair is sort-of getting used to it. Cheers to a new month, hopefully a better one for us Mercer Islanders.

Megan's Island

Welcome to my island!

Monthly Archives: November 2014

Shopping small

Happy Thanksgiving {2014}

{Wine Wednesday} Thanksgiving wine pairings

Thanksgiving appetizers

Autumn apple and sausage scramble

{Gone Pinning} Big Island bound!

Happy birthday, Washington!

Hello, Fran’s Chocolates!

{Wine Wednesday} Job well done, winemakers!

Let there be light!