Fish and Chips

Interestingly, the same day that The News Tribune published a lengthy, well-researched review of reader-suggested 'favorite' Fish and Chips destinations around Tacoma and Pierce County, one of my coworkers and I had just treated ourselves to lunch at Steamer's at Titlow Beach.  I was happy to see that Steamer's was included among the restaurants that writer Sue Kidd reviewed. http://blog.thenewstribune.com/tntdiner/2013/01/25/fish-with-crunch-on-a-quest-for-perfect-fish-and-chips/#storylink=misearch  Over the years, I've been to almost all of the ones she wrote about.  Still, Steamer's remains my favorite.

The fish is fabulously fresh and definitely has a crispy-crunch from the breading.  Portion sizes are over-the-top.  I ordered the 3-piece fish and fries with Caesar salad, and a fountain drink.  $13.14 for the total.  When the meal was served, it was so beautifully plated and colorful, I had to whip out my camera and take a picture before starting to eat it.  But look at the size of these pieces of fish!  Enormous.   So much, I couldn't finish it all.  

Steamer's has long been a favorite with my family and we've shared many special occasions there over the years.  'Back in the day' Steamer's offered a Monday night 'All You Can Eat' that was well-attended.  Even at lunchtime on Thursday the restaurant was absolutely packed.   You can't go wrong for lunch or dinner at Steamer's.

Local Russian Bakery Combines Best of Cultural Diversity!

Above: I don't know about you, but these buttery spritz cookies cross cultural, country and generations and taste equally good in any language or dialect!

An elegantly wrapped cylindrical carton of Little Russia label cookies swathed in shiny red foil loudly whistled from the table of a vendor at a holiday gift fair in Fife, WA on December 18. Three rooms along the side of the famous Poodle Dog Restaurant in Fife along the busy Pacific Highway were brimming with holiday themed merchandise, gift items and treats!

I was attracted to the latter as what comprised this year's holiday gift shopping in my household is for the most part complete, but who launch any kind of celebration without a small selection of festively decorated sweets?

So I was naturally unable to resist the aforementioned spritz cookies at a table ably manned at the time of my visit  by Barbara Lilly, operations and distribution director, Lion Market Enterprises, LLC.Lilly, elegantly clad in a festive red Russian folk costume offered me a sample of the cookies while I inspected the rest of the display featuring fresh, locally produced baked goods from this growing Northwest community.

Meanwhile Lilly went on to explain to me how it came that herself, a native of London, UK, and two area women of Russian descent have combined forces to bring these delicious and mouth-watering baked goods in the Russian tradition (including rye bread without caraway seeds) to Pacific Northwest tables.

Goods as these have been available for the most part in some area specialty markets, mostly mom and pop stores owned by first-generation Russian immigrants. For those of us not lucky enough to have relatives of Russian descent, such businesses are not usually on our  normal list of everyday suppliers whether due to shyness, a language barrier, unfamiliarity with the goods, product lines, ingredients, prices or band names.

What Lion Market Enterprises aims to do is develop and repackage these popular and traditional favorites, promote their use outside the community of their origin, and bring them into mainstream grocery stores, allowing consumers from every area of the region a greater opportunity and choice.

To further this end Lion Market Enterprises will soon be be opening a retail outlet store a few short miles up the road along Pacific Highway in Federal Way, WA by Secoma Lanes. For more details about the company and products including Little Russia cookies feel free to access the company website at www.lionmarkets.com. I think you'll be glad you did!

Monday Morning Beauty

Woke up this morning. I had a billion things on my mind... health, state of the nation,  crises here and there through out the world, loving and being loved.  Then I looked out the window.

And for a wonderful few moments, I stopped thinking and I started living.

Warm Socks, Warm Hearts - Local Drive Fosters Both

 Above: It will be fun to play Santa for others this winter. Even if budgets are tight, there's a project in the community for all of us.

Every year we're reminded during the winter holiday season about opportunities to remember less fortunate members of the community as we shop for little remembrances for friends, family and colleagues.

When my son was younger, we used to enjoy shopping for the Giving Tree project at the old Sea-Tac Mall in Federal Way. He graduated from high school some years ago and I recently realized it has been a considerable time since we have directly placed a purchased gift for a needy person.

These Merino Wool socks pictured above will go into a box of donations being collected at the Fife office of the Pierce County Community Newspaper Group, 2588 Pacific Highway, (253) 922-5317, who are participating in a drive to bring homeless men, women and children warm pairs of socks for our neighbors who don't have the luxury of coming home every night to regular roof over their heads.

Last week I read about the drive when I stopped to read a delightful pull-out section devoted to gift giving ideas in the current issue of the Tacoma Weekly over a cup of coffee. When I say "delightful", I truly mean just that, as a veteran reader of such sections for more years than I want to admit!

The very first piece in the section on what you might not want to give say, from your mother's point of view will bring a broad smile and wink - to anyone who has secretly has had just a little too much of their own, their siblings, friends or even a total strangers darling children. Top quality research from an enterprising local journalist! Oops Santa! Can you forgive me - just this once?

Thanksgiving Meal

Folks in my house, all priests, will be in and out this weekend. They will be visiting family and friends, or leading prayers experiences in their parishes or other prayer centers. We came together this evening for prayer, fod, and conversation. conversation.
     We gathererd around the chapel altar

first to join each other in thanking God for loving us and asking God to bless the people we know, love, and serve. I was so happy that a member of the community at the time during the Eucharistic Service (Mass) asked the Lord to quickly bring peace to the Middle East.
       After that we went to our dining room and took time to hear about our joys, aches and pains, and future plans. Those conversations continued around wonderful food.

The evening went by quickly,  lots of laughter, good food, great company.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

   

A Very Good Day

  Saturday, November 17-- one of those days I was glad to say I am going to get some much needed R and R. Wet and windy outside.

Dry and cozy inside.
 I am no Superperson, that is for sure, going like so many folks have to do, five to seven days a week, from "It is much too dark in the morning" to I am not too numb to care at night. Working two days a week, eight hours a day as a hospital chaplain like I do would, if she/he made enough to cover home, food, safety, insurance, travel, clothing, and entertainment, would delight a whole lot of folks.
   My salary does not cover the best of what I listed. All I can say is one day as a chaplain puts me emotionally away for another day. Those who know me would say that is because I put my whole self into listening and feeling. 
    I have four positive things to say about my ministry at the hospital.  First, I am very, very pleased to have  a position that requires that I give all that I have to offer emotionally and mentally. Second, I am humbled to be able to support patients and their families during some very hard times. Third, I am so pleased to work in a situation where I feel known, accepted, and cared for. Four, I am so pleased to be a member of a team, the pastoral care team, where I feel affirmed, listened to, and challenged to be a sensitive and compassionate human being.
       So this evening I am so happy... lots of quiet time, some great phone conversations with friends, and  I
 am so grateful that I did not have to hit the asphalt and keep my eyes on the cars in front of me or behind me. I give the folks out there working and shopping and playing and praying all the credit. I am so glad I was not one of them.

The Wrong Man

       If you have not read John Katzenbach's mystery novel, The Wrong Man, I would strongly recommend you get on the waiting list at the Tacoma Public Library now! This novel had me going through all kind of emotional changes... now putting the book aside because I did not want to experience what would happen in the next few paragraphs, then wanting desperately to say to one of the heroines (I liked  the four women characters in the novel a great deal)  "get moving, get out of there," and every now and then feeling angry and possessive with the villain.
       When I was a boy in short pants in Houston, I used to enjoy playing the villain when my friends and I would go running through the neighborhood doing the sheriff and the robbers thing. As an adult I have spent a lot of time trying to be the loving, rational, loyal African American male.  Katzenbach just grabbed me and put me right inside the arrogant, manipulative, obsessive villain in this one. I am convinced I needed to have his help to look again at the negative, hidden side of myself.  I hope that makes sense.

         Then the author dragged me into the final hard choices that had to be made in this book. And I found myself thinking of the hard choices you and I make daily in our personal, professional, and civic lives.
         I have become a John Katzenbach groupie! He helped me to look at  my vices and my virtues a little more closely and accept myself a little more humbly.
         Try this book. I think you will like it.