Spring dinner

Kate had a rare night off last night and after a day of mudding and caulking at her new house, we came home to make dinner. And what a treat it was. The photo doesn't capture the true look of our food and certainly doesn't convey the smells and flavor. (I'll have to see if there are tricks to photographing food- especially at night. There must be- after all, it's a full time profession for some.)
As I prepared the onions, garlic, yellow pepper, tomatoes and pasta, she cooked the halibut. It's still another time that I'm glad that I've switched almost completely to cast iron pans. She started with a very hot pan that had both a little olive oil and canola oil in it. She tried the pan once and then waited a little longer for it to get hotter. She dried off the halibut chunks in paper towels and sprinkled them with salt and pepper. She seared them off in the skillet on top of the stove and then popped the pan into the oven- hot- to cook for a couple of minutes. When the fish was close to being done, she put the pan back up on the stove over flame and melted a pat of butter over the top. The crust on the halibut was perfect and the entire dinner was a great success.

She must be resigning herself to my blog because she suggested taking a picture of the meal plated up before we ate. The kitchen is always in a bit of disarray after she cooks- lots of spatter from the high heat and dirty potholders and towels. That comes, she says, from working in the restuarant kitchens. But then again, maybe everyone uses a kitchen differently.

This is a glimpse of sunset taken from the porch, looking through the trees and the wires. You can just see a sliver of Elliott Bay in front of the Olympic Mountains.