what we found.

[gfrancie]

Today we walked along Madison and ended up at the Madison Park Cafe for a kind of brunch/lunch meal. All of the outdoor tables were taken since it was such a lovely day out. (Like a total git I didn't wear sunscreen, no burns but plenty of skin damage I am sure) We ate in doors which was quite alright and had some orange juice, quiche and a scone. While the service was slightly distracted at times the food was fairly decent. The orange juice was freshly squeezed and had a nice amount of pulp. I do like a bit of pulp in my juice. But not so much that I have to chew my beverage. The quiche was a tomato, basil and cheese quiche that really didn't impress me all that much. It seemed weak. The pastry was good and wasn't soggy but it just lacked something. The scone on the other hand was pretty damn delicious. It was classic, not too light, not too heavy it wasn't dry and the jam went well with it. I may not try the quiche again but I will have to have their scones if I go there for brunch again. I just might. I think next we will explore their dinner menu. I understand their french onion soup is incredibly appealing.

After that nice meal Mr. Jenner and I wandered down to the lake and watched small people float in the water and Mr. Jenner dipped his toes in the water. I sat in the shade hoping to avoid dying of skin cancer for the day.

Besides having a nice afternoon meal we went to a book shop that is going to close and I picked up a Delia Smith cookbook for a very low price. It is a companion book from a Summer food series she did about 10-12 years ago. There are a number of exciting things in there that I have to try like a summer fruit terrine and a dish of sauteed asparagus with eggs and parmesan. I also found a tempting roasted tomato salad. The real find in this book is a recipe for rhubarb ice cream. I think I have found some inspiration once again.
Tonight for dinner we are just having omelets and a spinach salad. It is very warm out and I want to have the stove on for a very short period of time. Otherwise I might become irritable. We don't want that.

I do think it is the perfect time for some rhubarb.

Comments

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Rhubarb...yum! It grows well in Seattle. My grandfather has a strange trick for making good rhubarb. Right before you harvest it, cover it with an upturned garbage can. I guess that keeping it in the dark for a little while makes it more tender or something. We have a hard time getting good produce in Arizona, but oh well.

My dad visited the Madison Park Bakery on one of his coffee shop bike rides a while ago. He has an amusing rating system for the coffee shops that he bikes to each Friday, based on a 0-5 scale that depends on "correct" answers to the following questions:

1. Do they have bike parking nearby? (yes=1, no=0)
2. Do they serve food in reuseable dishes? (yes=1, no=0)
3. Do they serve whole-wheat pastries? (yes=1, no=0)
4. Do they ask him what kind of milk he wants? (a personal pet peeve of his; no=1, yes=0)
5. Is their coffee shade-grown, organic, or fair-trade? (1 point if any of these criteria are met)

He's been keeping track of his visits for quite a while now, and I thought you would find his review system amusing--I certainly do. :)

where I rag on your Dad for a moment.

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

We walked past the Madison Park bakery and I liked the look of their cakes. I may have to try their pastries.

I suppose whole-wheat pastries might be better for you but (to totally rag on all hippie baby boomers for a moment) it shows a complete lack of understanding of cooking, baking and the art of making pastries if they think that whole-wheat pastries make something better. The very fact that one is eating a pastry means they should set aside the interest in health. When making a good piece of pastry you need your flour as light as possible (you don't need bleached flour of course) and so you are sifting that flour a lot to get it light. When you dump in whole-wheat flour it will make the pastry much more heavy. It works sometimes and everyone needs some proper wheat to stay healthy but you should point this out sometime.

Also apparently I was reading recently that fair-trade coffee doesn't really help the farmer out all that much in the end and they tend to get less money for their efforts. Which is kind of intriguing. I like the idea of fair-trade coffe though. Coffee is a rich man's crop anyways because it takes five years for it to develop to a harvesting point so you have to have something else to live on in the mean time.

I like him rating on their using reusable dishes and being asked about milk choices. That is kind of funny.

Yep, hippies are bizarre.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

You are right about the creation of delicious pastries. I think that whole-wheat croissants illustrate the point most clearly, as they are a completely different food from the regular, delicious croissants that come from places such as Le Fournil.

Extremely skilled bakers can nonetheless successfully incorporate different types of flour into scones and cinnamon rolls (so even if it's not 100% whole wheat, it at least has some wheat flavor), and I must confess that I think my dad has developed a taste for whole wheat in general, as he is most definitely a hippie. But it can be like asking for a skim-milk latte--if you're going to have a latte, enjoy the damn thing and get one made with good milk! And don't get a 20-ouncer vente or whatever Starbucks calls those ridiculously oversized and overpriced atrocities.

My dad's pet peeve about milk has made me tempted to reply to baristas who foolishly inquire about milk, "Yeah, do you have any yak's milk? I only drink yak's milk."

There used to be a fantastic coffeeshop in the Montlake neighborhood called The Daily Grind that made incredibly good whole wheat pastries, so I think it is achievable, but much more difficult than making light, flaky, white-flour goodies. Lots of fresh fruits incorporated into the scones. Unfortunately, the two original owners sold the place and their replacements weren't as good about pastry quality control, so it went out of business. Another local business down the toilet.

Anyway--did you read the article in The Stranger about shitty pastries? Apparently even the non-whole-wheat variety suck in a lot of places. But they're still better than what you can find in Arizona. :)

Re: Yep, hippies are bizarre.

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

I do think it is feasible but any thought that somehow anything whole-wheat is superior is one that I find to be amusing. I don't think too much of the people who get the giant-ass coffee drinks. Especially when they come into my bookstore, purchase one of those and a diet book. I look at them and think, "make the connection." Also for all those people downing dairy in hopes of getting calcium you don't get any of the calcium unless there is fat in the milk. Same goes for yogurt.
Coffee and all variations should be had in small doses. But because a good portion of people in the United States gave up smoking they switched over to coffee. No one gets enough sleep, they are highly stressed, they gain some weight and then down their giant coffees and dry muffins. This is why everyone isn't doing so well.

[rfjason.livejournal.com]

I can't believe you voted to ban me :'(

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

*laughs*

[rfjason.livejournal.com]

You suck :'(

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

You should be begging your case to the mods. Besides I like to be contrary now and then. Do you really want to be a part of a community where people ask where there might be a 24 hour kinkos in Seattle?

[rfjason.livejournal.com]

I'm willing to sacrifice myself for the greater good.

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

You are the Saint Sebastian of the internet!

[rfjason.livejournal.com]

Damn straight, nigga!

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

That is octaroon thank you.

[carrieann.livejournal.com]

Jason, are you following people to their personal journals and harassing them? Do I need to get out the leash and ball gag? Because I will, mister! >:|

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

we have now found your profession.

[carrieann.livejournal.com]

It's actually my old profession. Gave it up years ago, but I can still dabble in it when the situation calls for such.

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

Keep it sexy!

[rfjason.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't call it harassment so much as unbridled stalking.

I'm a stalker. STALK STALK STALK.

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

Just like celery.

[rfjason.livejournal.com]

I'm a celery killah!

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

Is it a multi-stalking effort today?

[rfjason.livejournal.com]

I will have your humility.

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

with eggs?