Ward Street Bistro: Behind the Apron

Mostly, my goal is to keep this blog 100% focused on recipes and cooking. But, after reading about Behind the Apron, I decided to participate. So, here it goes...

Hawaii2

Here Drake and I are enjoying Hawaii - a trip we took with his folks, his brother, and his two kids (who were then 11 and 14 years old). Believe it or not, I was somewhat lukewarm on a trip to Hawaii. I'd never taken a "fun-in-the-sun" vacation, thinking it might be, well, kind of boring. Ha. That attitude lasted about 10 minutes. We had a fabulous time and I can't wait to go back.

Some more randomness, since I've been tagged by Sookie's Kitchen to write 6 random things about myself...

My undergraduate degree is in anthropology and after college I worked full-time as an archaeologist (which is how I met Drake). It's a hard life, though, with summers spent away from home in the field. And to really make a career of it you need at least a Master's degree, preferably at Ph.D. After a few years, I just wasn't committed enough to it, so I went to cooking school and became a chef.

Since moving to Seattle in 1983, we've lived in three different places, all located within a few blocks. We joke that our next residence will be the retirement home that is located just down the street from us.

Between time spent doing archeology in remote rural locations and Drake's folks being farmers, I am more familiar rural life than people might expect. Though I love our life in Seattle, I think I could easily adapt to living in the country.

My mother, who passed away in 1993, was a very accomplished knitter. She taught me to knit when I was a girl, and after she moved to Seattle in 1986, we used to knit together. When she passed away, I put away my knitting needles for 12+ years. Something prompted me to pick knitting back up again a couple of years ago. My favorite way to unwind at the end of the day is to sit down and knit for an hour.

My mother was also a huge opera fan. Though I studied classical guitar growing up and had an on-going appreciation of classical music, I had a harder time warming up to opera. When she passed away, I decided to pick up her subscription to Seattle Opera. I figured Drake and I could go for a year and if we didn't enjoy it, we'd just consider it a donation to Seattle Opera in her memory. What happen instead is that the season ignited in both of us a huge passion for opera.

So, that's a little about me. To continue a bit with more with the idea of "behind the apron" I've set up a Twitter stream (which appears in the sidebar). Feel free to follow - or not.

------

Back to the regularly-scheduled programming. This week I'll have a new recipe - something great for summer picnics!