grief bacon & forest loneliness

this ist how i look saying things like "kummerspeck"

& "wald ein samkeit"

hipster burger joint uneeda burger in fremont

 a bunch of last little things from seattle:

1.  uneeda burger:  great fries, poutine, salad with locally grown asparagus and peas, burger topped with fried egg.  yum.

2.  ingrid is more hilarious than i ever knew.  i'm soooooo happy to have her back.  from the back seat of the mini-van, she cracked us up for 16 hours of road trip hell.  she also taught me the words kummerspeck (grief bacon--the weight you gain when you're depressed) and wald ein samkeit (the loneliness you feel in a forest).

i don't know the feeling of that kind of loneliness, not being of the forest but of the desert,  rather. yesterday i did experience the kind of loneliness you feel whilst driving through southern idaho for what feels like many days, though in normative temporal measurements it actually only lasts a few (desolate, barren, existentially harsh) hours.

the german language makes me happy that i can have context-specific loneliness and weight gain.  this makes me want to be more specific about everything.

also, did you realize that ingrid is frequently a top-rated commenter on youtube?  yep.  she is.  and that's a thing.  we worked on how to fit that into a resume line on our long drive home.

how can someone who looks so much like betty page be so wickedly funny?

greg taping scores backstage at the chapel

3.  greg is amazing.  i think i already said that.

i heard that thomas might cut his hair.  crazy.

4. thomas is amazing, too.  i think i already said that, too.  and we really, really missed eliza.  thomas plans to cut his hair and go on an lds mission soon, too, so we'll soon be missing him.

5. also, marni is amazing, but you already knew that.

memorial jam session outside cafe racer on sunday.  greg in hat.

6. the cafe racer tragedy hit close to home.  the fact that creative music is so integrated into the seattle community, and the fact that two of the victims were active bookers and supportive of this music made it especially poignant for us, though we've been gone from seattle for more than ten years now.  this letter kinda says it.

i love their matching eyes and mimi's white headband/red lipstick/striped shirt combo

7. mimi is amazing.  little girl is big now.  so smart and talented.  i heard her play grieg beautifully on friday night, and watched her study her head off.  another brilliant, talented campbell kid.

one more thing:

8. donuts.

artisinal donuts are huge everywhere, and very much so in seattle.  i've spent a lot of time at top pot, which i love for it's tall library, it's hot ovaltine, and it's rad airstream trailer.  downside is that it seems poised for corporatization and branding.  i'm sure that was in the plan all along.

mighty o, the organic vegan donut shop, has bright, unique flavors and are made with real fruit.  i watched marni charm the pants off a german guy in mighty o last week whilst buying 4 dozen donuts for her many young charges.  i thought he was going to ask her to run away with him.  he resisted, barely. 

at golden beetle, we had a little parchment paper cone set in a bourbon glass full of spiced donuts with a cardamom dipping sauce.  the dough had a creamy texture and was pleasingly spiced.  cardomom in dipping sauce almost (or completely?) indetectable.

may i speak freely?

okay, i like donuts as much as the next gal, but really, i mean, it's fried dough.  it's pretty hard to screw up, unless you insist on drenching in gosh awful poorly made glaze or filling it with a chemistry project of a lemon curd or bavarian cream (yeah, i know, too many bakeries are guilty of that).  but seriously.  artisinal donuts?  let's make those at home and let the fancy schmancy people make us something else.

i got a little tired of eating really good food in seattle that i could easily make myself at home.  i love you alice waters, and what you stand for, but i'm ready for a little virtuosity in my restaurants again.

9.  thanks for listening to my miniature food editorial.

10.  and p.s. if you've never made donuts at home, you should try it some time.

legwear:  yoga pants for unpacking and doing laundry post-trip.

inspiration:  miss ingrid & her german accent--also being home again and back in my routine

looking forward: to watching this week's dvr'd mad men right after i finish posting.