It's Gorgeous. What should we do?

Gallivant around the PNW.

I’m still working on the How to Have the Best Time With My Mom in Chiang Mai (working title,) in my Thailand series, which should be shiny and ready along with a recipe for Kao Soi which is TO DIE FOR by next Thursday. Meanwhile, right here in Seattle we are experiencing an April from another land this weekend, and without thinking too hard about the environmental frog-pot of it all, I am looking forward to replenishing my Vitamin D stores.

So, without further ado, the things I think we should do, what with spring springing:

Early Morel Mushroom Hunting

My reliable spots are all east of the Cascades, but the rumor is morels can be found right now on the Olympic Peninsula. So, I’m going to try to find them, because it’s gorgeous. Asparagus is going to appear any minute, and I’m just really, really, excited to get out into the mountains. It’s been a long time, (probably since last summer,) that my Terry and I took a long drive and we always seem to have really good breakthroughs when it’s just us and the radio. I prepare for these outings like an event: breakfast sandwiches for the road, (ham, egg, cheese, and Mama Lil’s peppers on Trader Joe’s crumpets are about the only good application of a Trader Joe’s bread item.) Sometimes we stop for sandwiches, (at Bakery Nouveau the veggie sandwich for me, the chicken salad for Terry,) or I make a pressed Italian picnic sandwich. (Basically, slice an Italian loaf in half, slather it with meats, cheeses, pickled things, and a little crunch romaine, and put it at the bottom of the cooler to smash and soak up the oil, vinegar, mayo and mustard. Divine.) I give us a 30% chance of success at finding the elusive mushrooms, but we will smell trees and proverbially “touch grass” as the kids say. It will be a good day.

The Things Around Us

I saw “Now I’m Fine,” Ahamefule J. Oluo’s one man with a band show years ago and it was one of the best things I’ve seen in a decade, so I’m excited to check out his new show at The Intiman. I expect great storytelling, great music, and to be touched and moved in all the ways only good theater can. Tickets here.

Cooking for a Crowd

I was back at the Georgetown Steam Plant last night to see the dress rehearsal of The Shape of the Night, a new immersive experience from a very cool company out of LA. Since we did Ghosts of Nebula there, they have changed their policy about self-guided shows, so the audience is able to wander around the steam plant, follow stories and clues, and create their own experience. This is the kind of work I’m most excited for, the expansiveness, the follow your bliss of it all, and there are so many surprises. It took me a bit to get into the groove of it, (I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it started at 8:30 and I was tired. Ugh. Age.) I wasn’t in the mood for puzzles. But I ended up ignoring the puzzle part, (which is absolutely an option,) and just wandered, catching things I was curious about. I ended up having four different increasingly spooky experiences, the art is great, and I’m going to go back and see it again in a couple of weeks. I can’t encourage you enough to go and support this team and this work. They gave us a discount code to share for this weekend only for 20% off: Rehearsal20

Meanwhile, we’re having some of the team over for dinner, so I’m making food for a band of hungry, traveling artists. I’m thinking about my Short Rib Potato Cake now that I have the Black Garlic Frosting completely dialed, but with the weather so warm that might be too heavy…I’ll report back! (Also, I’m working on a full tip-to-tail tutorial on how to put this showstopper of an entrée together, and I should finish that up in the next couple of weeks.)

Beyond that:

I will be reading in my yard and planting some shade-friendly wildflowers in the tiny patch of dirt between our house and the neighbors. What are you doing?