Peter Beagle and company had a special showing of The Last Unicorn last night—and while the event went well—weather did not cooperate. We’re hoping everybody got to Seattle this morning: they had to get there by nine, because a mis-shipment of the film for a showing tonight in Seattle resulted in THEM having the only copy of the remastered film they could lay hands on…weather slowed them getting here from Seattle and set up last night, so Jane and friends and I had a little scramble getting Peter over to a restaurant and back.
Night’s adventure started when Jane and I made the mistake of walking the sidewalk between the theater and the parking lot and got splashed with freezing water by 3 large trucks—it had been raining and still was coming down. So Jane and I were soaked below the waist, she just after anaethetic yesterday and me still recovering from the flu. We drove to the restaurant to hold down our reservation: she stayed there, and I went back to the theater hoping Peter would have made it in.
He had. I picked him up and drove to the restaurant…
Meanwhile Connor et al, who were setting up, had the weather setting in: ice water was turning (though thankfully briefly) to snow…and they had found out their Seattle film had been misaddressed, so they were going to have to leave at oh-God-thirty to get back over there to handle that…
We heard this when we got Peter back (on time) for the signing and reception, which was well-attended despite the weather—and I meanwhile was so rocky with coughing I opted not to go into the movie, but just to go out to the car and wait it through. Jane and I are still soaking wet, fortunately only where we sit, so that can be kept warm, if not dry. And the weather is not as bad as could be in Spokane, but the pass between Spokane and Seattle is due for 18 inches of snow, with freezing rain; and Ritzville, a town on a hump between us and Seattle, is above freezing, but always iffy in weather like this: it’s notorious. Not to mention the mile long descent to the Columbia bridge and the mile long climb out, though that’s not usually the weather-chokepoint that the aforementioned two places are. Snoqualmie Pass is well-maintained, but if it gets badly dumped on, you can sit in a line for a very long time while the plows do their work, and we’ve been on it when cars were spinning out and going topside down around us, even when it was just snow involved, and not ice…
So we’re hoping Peter and crew did get there ok. They’d planned to stay the night in Spokane, and it was looking like they were just going to have to pack back up and drive back at least as far as the foot of the pass, to be there in the morning.
Winter is arriving. I can see blue sky through holes in the cloud this morning, but they’re forecasting as much as 5 inches this weekend.
Ritzville has that reputation in my family! One winter, on the trip from Lethbridge to Eugene/Springfield, he spun off the road at Ritzville in his VW. Unfortunately the tow truck’s tow chain hook broke the bottom of the radiator as it pulled him out. It’s PLASTIC! He had a devil of a time finding anyone around there who could “weld” plastic for the repair.
Oops, “He” was my Dad. 🙁
And typical of Spokane during this transitional season, the heights may be getting snow, as in—atop Mt. Spokane—but the city saw a few flakes last night, and now the 5″ forecast has evaporated in favor of a general overcast and drizzle for a week. Daytime temperatures are going to be around 42 for a week. Jane still wants to get that gravel moved, and she’s still on no-activity restriction, so she’s glad of the forecast. I’m hoping to be better-enough to help her come, say, Wednesday, when we make about 44 for a high. When you’re shoveling gravel, you may not even need a coat at 44 degrees.
WSDOT Pass cameras, however, showed a nasty mess this morning at Snoqualmie summit, but the lanes are open. Here’s hoping our friends got there in good order. If you live in WA, you have to figure everything based on the passes that lie between you and wherever you’re going. Cayuse Pass flat closes for the winter, but that’s not major; White Pass is not always passable in winter: Blewett and Stevens are iffy during winter. Snoqualmie is the most reliable: that’s I-90, and there are times you can get stuck for significant time (carry a blanket) in a line of cars, while they clear a mess off it…but ultimately they get it open. They’ve fixed the rock-slide area, so that’s less a worry now, but it has been, in the past, a serious concern, especially in the transitional melt seasons. Boulders have come down on cars in that zone: but they’ve worked several seasons now and put up chain and reinforcement to get that whole area less a problem, including removing a significant amount of rock. Going the other direction, through Idaho’s panhandle, you have Fourth of July Pass, which we’ve never met in snow.
We seem to have started our wet season early this year (touch wood); we have had 2 good rains in the last 10 days, even on the dry side of our island. We need a lot of rain to make up for the last several years that have been abnormally dry. Maybe this year, we will see snow on top of Haleakala.
Over the last week, I raked up the downed leaves that were so attractive to the feral chickens. Half of them went into the compost heap, and the other half I laid out in a thick blanket in the front yard and covered with plastic sheeting. With luck, they will smother the weeds there, and I can plant creeping thyme as a ground cover once they decay.
Peter beagle is another of my all time favorites. I have probably reread the last unicorn and a fine and private place nearly as often as I have reread Heavy Time (and others of that ilk). I didn’t know there was a movie of the last unicorn. Is it good? I assume so from the above. Where might one find it? It has made me sad over the years that he has not written more. I have read and loved all of what I could find. If you think it would be of any moment at all to him, please convey my very very warm regards and appreciation for his wonderful work.
Los Angeles had a small Santa Ana and about 90 degrees on Wednesday; yesterday it was overcast and generally comfortable, and today it’s cool and drizzly. You can get whiplash from the weather here.
And the ice rink in Pershing Square is open for the season. (It closes MLK weekend.)
Many think LA has no seasons. Native Angelinos know it has about six, but they’re very subtle, e.g. late spring’s (May/June) “low clouds and fog along the coast, hazy afternoon sunshine.”
When I was living at March Field, we used to say that it had two; summer and green.
It snowed in the Sierra Nevada and Mammoth is already open. That probably means the only pass open is I-40 (Sacramento to Reno) until you get down to the deserts, LA to Vegas. In SoCal, we get Washington’s wet about Thursday.
The long range forecasts I’ve seen have the NW extra cold and wet. Down here, just on the cool side. One insisted November was going to be warm, but no sign of it outside of those few days mentioned above.
I hope you’re through with your flu-symptom cold or flu-shot reaction or whatever it was. One good thing for a sick day, now that it’s getting cool, is Earl Grey tea. I think the oil of bergamot, from a particular orange, helps sooth the throat. Which reminds me, I need to order another five pound bag of loose Earl Gray from New Jersey.
Seriously. Best Earl Grey I’ve found, possibly excepting T2 Sydney Breakfast from Australia (I guess Oz is too egalitarian to call it Earl Grey.) Ouch! Up 10%.
My favorite lately has been Stash Moroccan Mint: a blend of green tea and peppermint. It manages to avoid the weedy taste a lot of the purely mint teas have. Various Bigelow blends are also nice.
Very, very partial to Bigelow’s Plantation Mint.
I tend toward herbals on fast days since I’m used to Earl Grey with milk and sugar, sometimes one of several alternative black teas, English Breakfast or one of many an Aussie friend gave me. The whole milk and sugar bit ends up being quite a few Calories (over a 1.5L pot), more than I can stand if I’m to hit my protein target without overshooting on Calories.
Herbals I can just have with a sweetener. Most often I have cinnamon-orange tea from Roger’s Family. The cinnamon dominates; it smells like one of those Trader Joe’s cinnamon brooms. I haven’t been able to find anything close to it in loose tea, though one or two cinnamon bag teas are as close as bag tea can get–not very. I also have a variety of other loose herbal tea, peppermint, orange (Constant Comment, I guess is the prototype),… I’ve haven’t cared for white or oolong or rooibos at all. I have some green tea around, including Earl Grey Green, but it’s kind of meh. I usually want something stronger tasting, especially on fast days.
Nearly all are loose tea. Loose tea just mixes better, strong without bitterness. I use bag tea only for ice tea or the random single mug of herbal tea. But I usually make a pot.
A really good cinnamon & black tea that is even better with just a touch of sweetener is Harney’s Hot Cinnamon Spice. It comes loose in several sizes as well as tea bags.
https://www.harney.com/hot-cinnamon-spice-tea.html
Thank you! I’ll check that out!
My favorite usually is Constant Comment, but I want to try Walt’s and ‘Horse’s suggestions. I’ll order online; I haven’t seen either of those locally, though they may be at other stores.
Paul’s suggestion reminds me I haven’t had any Plantation Mint in a while. I have it on hand. I like it hot instead of cold, and it’s now (semi-) cool enough to want some hot tea.
You can put loose tea in the filter on a coffee pot and brew it that way. Ditto with the contents of cut open tea bags. Of course, I started doing this when was using a french drip coffee pot, which brews much more slowly than an electric.
I use a coffee maker to heat the water. I didn’t like the result using the coffee basket to make tea; it wouldn’t steep long enough. Putting the tea in the coffee maker’s pot works well enough, maybe better than the press maker I use now; but the press is a cinch to clean, and you can push down the press to stop the tea getting stronger.
BCS: I don’t think I’ve seen loose cinnamon tea. OTOH, I’ve been buying tea so long online…. The Cost Plus World Market was just too far away. Last I was there, they had a good selection of tea. It was a good place to get Twinnings and Typhoo.
Walt, I see Harney’s (thanks again, PlaysWithHorses) has their Hot Cinnamon Spice Tea available loose or in tea bags / sachets, packaged in bags or boxes or tins, in 20, 30, and 50 sachet count sizes, 4 oz. and more loose, and from there, you can get multiple packages of same if you want to buy in bulk.
But I didn’t get results when I looked on Amazon for Roger’s or Rogers Family Cinnamon Orange Tea, or Orange Spice Tea, I got flavored coffee and gift basket results. I’ll try Google. Is that the brand name on the package? Not that I’d object to cinnamon coffee, but I’m primarily a tea drinker.
That reminds me, I’d found pumpkin spice coffee from some brand, online not local from Kroger’s. I haven’t yet tried it, but with Thanksgiving soon, I will for sure.
Here you go:
https://www.gourmet-coffee.com/flavored-black-tea/
“Cinnamon Orange”
These guys use kind of minimal 1 lb bags. Reseal, and/or store in the freezer.
“TN spice” instant is pretty good, but their traditional black teas I find a cut below…
These guys have the 5 lbs. bags:
http://www.coffeebeandirect.com/index.php
This is where I get my Earl Grey and English Breakfast. “Orange Spice” is approximately Constant Comment. In the last year, they made a sub-site, Tattle Tea.
BCS, if you like spiced coffee, I’ve found that either putting a shake or two of ground spices into your filter basket along with the coffee, or grinding a couple clove buds in along with the beans, makes a nice subtle flavor when you brew.
At my office, one of my coworkers brews the coffee (bustelo) with two shakes of cinnamon. It smells and tastes delicious. Her Dominican grandmother’s recipe. I am looking forward to the thanksgiving feast 🙂 I overheard them all talking about their grandmothers’ recipes last week…..
Bet you put tofi in your gfi too! 😉
Thank you all!
I have a spice grinder. I think I know what shelf it’s stored on. Below the coffee maker, one expects. Clove buds? I was about to say I don’t have any whole cloves, then remembered I do. Nice suggestion, Chondrite, thanks.
Kokipy, apparently, cinnamon with coffee is a common preference. That reminded me a cousin’s wife, who’s Colombian, had said something about it when we were talking about holiday food and drink, a few years ago. She and her sister liked the Wassail recipe we use. She’d never heard of Wassail. Once tasting it, and finding out the ingredients in this version, she asked about adding, I think it was mango juice. I said sure, try it and see how it goes. My guess is, it would be a fine extra or substitute.
That Wassail recipe is the old Texas Commerce Bank’s Wassail recipe, which dates from at least the 50’s or 60’s. For years, a recipe card was given away at holiday time by the bank, and it was also reprinted often by the Houston Chronicle. Link:
http://www.shinyfiction.com/recipes/chapDrinks/Wassail.htm
Note I use the smaller amount of sugar in the Bank recipe, as noted there.
That wassail drink looks intriguing. I think I will bookmark it; we will be having a higher than usual volume of guests over the next couple of months, and that might be handy.
It’s easy to fix once you’ve done it a time or two, and it tastes very good. — Feel free to experiment. That one is someone’s invention or embellishment, an Anerican take on the old English tradition. The English might’ve had access to oranges, at least by Henry VIII’s time they did. But (hah) not pineapples. 🙂 That was (probably) new to the US mainland in the 50’s around when Hawaii became a state, which might explain the inclusion in the recipe. Besides, it tastes great. — So if you decide to experiment with other local juices too, I’d be curious to know what you tried and how it went. These days, mango juice is available at my local store, often, and a few others from Asia, the Pacific, and Latin America can be found occasionally, depending on where you shop. I see kiwi fruit often, and strawberry-kiwi juice blends, but others, not as often.
IIANM pineapple is from the South American mainland.
As I recall, the first pineapple to reach Europe was presented to Louis XVI, who tried to eat it. As was.
I’m sure that Louis was so distraught about not being able to eat it as was, that he lost his head over it…….
That could explain why it’s pineapple upside down cake.