4th of July weekend

The 4th of July weekend in Seattle arrived with glorious weather. We walked down to a nearby neighborhood park to observe 240 goats foraging through blackberry bushes and brambles. They were brought in from Spokane to spend 4 days in the meadow as a natural weed control mechanism. I would guess that they could have easily had 40 days of work ahead of them on the expansive acreage of the park, but alas, they were soon scheduled to be elsewhere in the state. The owner of the goats used to work in high technology but decided he wanted to be free from the confines of an office and spend more time outdoors. I like the idea of pesticide free weed eradication, especially since we live above Lake Sammamish and Coal Creek which provide run off to areas critical for salmon survival.

We had a wonderful 4th of July picnic that included one of my favorite recipes for potato salad. This recipe comes from the "Pacific Northwest - The Beautiful Cookbook" which was given to us by Ann Alesna-McClellan (high school chum) at the time Rob and I were married. The gathering of truly unique recipes, magnificent photography, historic narrative and illustrations makes it one of my favorite cookbooks of all time. Too bad the cookbook is out of print, since it is filled with delicious, easy to prepare using fresh Northwest produce in categories such as fish/shellfish, meats, fruits, vegetables and grains.

I have made the following recipe from this cookbook several times - for picnics, summer barbeques, and my mom's 70th birthday party. The magic ingredient is the dried savory. I get the ground version at Pike Place Market Spices but I'm sure it can be purchased at any grocery store.

Island Picnic Potato Salad

8 large (2 lb) unpeeled Nordland or other red potatoes, cooked and cut in 1 in cubes
8 hard cooked eggs, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1 large dill pickle, chopped
1 tsp dried savory
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
4 tablespoons American yellow mustard
fresh parsley sprigs and paprika for garnish

Place the potatoes, eggs, onion, celery, pickle, herbs and salt in a large bowl. Toss gently. Add the mayonnaise and mustard and fold with a large rubber spatula until well blended. Chill until ready to serve. Garnish the salad with parsley springs and dust lightly with paprika.
Serves 6-8


In the evening, Rob wanted to go to the main city park to watch fireworks and listen to the live Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestra. We gathered up lawn chairs, a blanket, my essential knitting for Nihon Vogue Project 8 and headed to downtown Bellevue. It was a wonderful display accompanied by beautiful, patriotic music. The park was filled with people of all ages and nationalities. I heard at least 4 different languages (Spanish, Russian, English, Chinese) in the small vicinity where I was sitting and that made me proud.

Fridrik Fridriksson's birthday is on the 4th of July. I'm not sure why I remember that tidbit but his parents and mine were close friends when we were living on Adak and the kids in my family grew up with the kids in his family (all truly amazing boys... now men) He is an officer in the Marine Corps and I recently heard he was going to be deployed from Camp David to Iraq soon. Happy Birthday Fridrik. Stay safe and come home soon.