17 minute read
NO PASSPORT REQUIRED
no matter where you live, you can find experiences within a reasonable distance by car that will provide you with new insights and new landscapes—and all without the need of a passport!
A good place to look for exciting travel ideas is a tourism bureau. Every state, including Washington, has one. To start you off, here are four directions on which to set your sights. Think of them as the North, East, South, and West of easy and fun discovery!
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In these pandemic times, if you’re reluctant to travel abroad but still yearn to explore the world, opportunities to expand your horizons are nearer to home than you think.
There’s no doubt about it: The COVID pandemic has made many of us, regardless of our vaccination and booster status, reluctant to travel on vacation via plane or other form of mass transportation. This can make visiting many foreign locations out of the question. And yet, we still want to explore unfamiliar places and cultures. Perhaps you feel this way, too.
So what can you do?
As the French author Marcel Proust once wrote, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” Fortunately,
North: New Terrain
One of the most obvious options for exploration is to visit a place that’s geographically different from where you live.
Are you a city dweller? Then consider venturing out to rural areas, especially those orchards and farms where you can pick your own fruits and vegetables. You might also check out some of the more than 1,000 wineries in the state where you can see how the local grape varieties are grown and harvested—and taste the results.
If you live along the coast, take a trip to the mountains, or vice versa. In other words, literally seek out a change of scenery. Washington’s state and national parks offer countless opportunities for camping, fishing, hiking, and other kinds of outdoor recreation. And if you feel particularly adventurous, you can tour Gardner Cave in Crawford State Park or bike the Cascade Trail.
Of course, if you already live in a rural area, treat yourself to a day trip or a stay in Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, or another city, where artistic, cultural, and culinary experiences await to delight you.
Photo courtesy American Car Museum
South: Specialty Museums & Fairs
Of course, you may want to do a different kind of long-distance exploration—traveling back in time. If that strikes your fancy, you can catch the last weekend of the Washington Midsummer Renaissance Fair in Bonney Lake and enjoy jousting, dancing, and other revelry in the fantasy town of Merriwick.
For a living history experience closer to home, consider a visit to Tacoma’s Fort Nisqually to experience what life was like at a fur-trading outpost in 1855. Or visit the Maritime Heritage Center in Anacortes and climb aboard the W.T. Preston, the last sternwheeler to work in Puget Sound. If you enjoy viewing collections of one kind or another, depending on your interests, there may be a nearby specialty museum with you in mind. Consider these examples: Are vintage cars your thing? If so, you’ll want to visit LeMay–America’s Car Museum in Tacoma, housing 300+ domestic and foreign cars going back as far as a century.
Are you a Bing Crosby fan? Check out the crooner’s boyhood house in Spokane on the campus of his alma mater, Gonzaga University, where you can view more than 200 objects, including photos, paintings, his gold records, and the Oscar he won for the 1944 film, Going My Way.
For the handicrafter in you, there’s the Pacific Northwest Quilt and Fiber Arts Museum, housed in the 1891 Gaches Mansion in La Conner, which exhibits work by national and international fiber artists, and hosts the Quilt & Fiber Arts Festival each October.
East: Ethnic Festivals
If for now you are opting not to venture to foreign lands, that doesn’t mean you can’t explore their art, music, dance, customs, and food. Going to ethnic festivals is a great way to bring those cultural gems to you.
As it turns out, one place offers a cornucopia of such experiences. The Seattle Center Festál presents 24 free in-person, virtual, or hybrid festivals throughout the year, including Arabian, Brazilian, Tibetan, Italian, Latin American, Hmong, and Irish celebrations. Needless to say, its 2022 theme, “Where the World Gathers,” is an understatement.
West: Worship Experiences
Visiting any of the aforementioned places most likely requires you to get in your car and drive at least some distance. But one form of exploration—of the spiritual kind—may be within walking distance of your home.
This may sound like a strange option, but think about this: We will eagerly make plans to spend our time, money, and energy traveling to other countries
and, upon our return, (CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE)
Jeanette Leardi is a Portland-based social gerontologist, writer, editor, and community educator who has a passion for older adult empowerment. She gives popular presentations and workshops in journaling, memoir writing, ethical will creation, brain fitness, creativity, ageism, intergenerational communication, and caregiver support to people of all ages. Learn more about her work at jeanetteleardi.com.
(CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE) eagerly share our experiences with family and friends. But attend services in unfamiliar houses of worship and make such visits an occasional or regular practice? That thought may never enter our minds.
Yet, if the point of travel is to expand our understanding of the world, setting foot inside a church, temple, mosque, shrine, or other form of sanctuary can be a fascinating, insightful, and rewarding experience. All one needs is a curious mind and an open heart.
In addition to houses of worship in your area, you might want to consider other Washington sites and organizations such as the Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America, a Jinja Shinto sacred site in Granite Falls; the Sravasti Abbey, a Buddhist monastery in Newport; the Muslim Association of Puget Sound in Redmond; and the Hindu Temple and Cultural Center in Bothell.
It goes without saying that this kind of journey involves an awareness of etiquette, more than the basic kind that we should display when we are visitors in a foreign country. Spiritual places require greater conscientiousness and respect. It’s helpful to contact in advance the house of worship you are planning to visit. Ask about any specific requirements of clothing and behavior. To make the visit extra special as an educational experience, consider attending the service with someone you know who practices that religion.
So there you have it, four directions to ponder as you navigate planning your current travel. Wherever your not-so-distant explorations take you in these ever-challenging times, know that there are lots of enriching experiences awaiting you. And the great news is, you don’t need a passport. All that’s required is the Proustian adventurous urge to see these landscapes through “new eyes.”
Happy travels!
Want to Know More?
For additional information about the places mentioned, check out these websites: State of Washington Tourism www.stateofwatourism.com/ Washington State U-Pick Farms www.pickyourown.org/WA.htm Washington Wine www.washingtonwine.org/ Washington State Parks www.parks.wa.gov/ Rails-to-Trails Conservancy–Trail Link www.traillink.com/trail/cascade-trail/ Visit Seattle www.visitseattle.org/ Visit Spokane www.visitspokane.com/ Travel Tacoma www.traveltacoma.com/ Seattle Center Festál www.seattlecenter.com Bing Crosby House www.gonzaga.edu Pacific Northwest Quilt and Fiber Arts Museum www.qfamuseum.org/ Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America www.tsubakishrine.org/ Sravasti Abbey ravastiabbey.org Muslim Association of Puget Sound mapsredmond.org/
Every Walk a Discovery
BY JANICE KING
During the recent years of pandemic constraints and travel wariness, we learned to satisfy our exploratory spirit with walks close to home. But how can we find the joy of discovery in territory that has become too familiar? As I walked through this time, several tips made for an engaging and renewing experience.
Walk with full attention. Have you noticed some people treat walking as just a chore to get done while they scroll through their phones? Carry your phone for safety, but keep it in a pocket so you can remain fully present in your walk. It will also be easier to enjoy the benefits of relaxation, meditation, creative inspiration, and deeper connection to places that walking brings.
Consciously connect. If you are walking with a companion, it’s easy to get caught up in the conversation. Take a break at a bench or picnic table to simply enjoy the day, notice what is around you, and appreciate the experience of being together.
Learn about the nature you see, hear, and smell. You will find a wide variety of trees and plants to explore along neighborhood streets and nature trails, or in a city park. Check for local guidebooks or identification apps to help you understand the many natural elements that can be found in your area.
Discover public art. Many communities place murals, sculptures, and other artworks on government buildings, parks, and transit centers—even parking garages! Commercial buildings may have their own art installations or interesting architectural features. Enjoy viewing these artworks as if at an outdoor gallery or museum.
Read the history signs and plaques. This tip can feel a bit like a scavenger hunt, as history signs often escape notice. Yet, their stories and photos offer an interesting sense of life in earlier times, and they may help you spot aspects of that life that remain today.
Get to know a local small business. An independent coffee shop, an owner-run retail store, a restaurant built from the work of family—all are businesses that help you connect with community on a walk.
Say hello. If it feels safe to do so, say hello to the people you pass. Not all of them will respond. But every so often, you will see how that simple act really brightens someone’s day … and yours. Walking may be the simplest exercise and it may seem to lead nowhere very interesting. But with a little attention to what you find along the way, any walk can become a wonderfully fresh experience.
Janice King is author of Eastside Seattle Walks and a leader of guided walks in Seattle’s eastern suburbs.
The Deep Taste: Explorations in Umami BY REBECCA CRICHTON
My daughter’s first step was to reach a strawberry held at her eye level 2 feet away. We clapped enthusiastically as she reached her goal. The word “more” was among her first words, accompanied by pointing at the artichoke heart soaked in melted butter on my plate after she had gobbled her own. I refused, perhaps the first rejection of her life. Her daycare teacher, British-born and proper, asked about the strange food packed in her daily lunch bag, commenting that she sometimes sniffed garlic when she bent to hug her. The foods: hummus and baba ghanoush, along with other “exotic” food. She ate anchovies straight and gobbled pickles of varying kinds long before most adults encounter those foods.
She had no choice in being introduced to foods that spanned the full range of flavors. Despite still resorting to boxed macaroni and cheese for comfort, she has become a creative and inventive cook. Before writing this issue’s column,
knowing the overall theme for the fall is “risk,” I started asking people what qualified as risk regarding food.
The answers were somewhat predictable: foods from unfamiliar cultures, so-called “weird” foods such as insects and animals’ eyes, too much hot spice or other ingredients that hindered digestion. One person mentioned prices on a menu as a risk for a tight budget.
Recently, I have thought about the risk of not knowing how to eat a particular food in settings where it is assumed you know what to do. Foods in this category include whole artichokes, fish with bones, fresh oysters, large crustaceans. It’s a subject that elicits funny and occasionally poignant stories.
The realm of “foods I don’t know how to use and think I dislike” seemed worth exploring. Thus, I chose two foods that can add to your cooking palate with surprisingly rewarding results.
Most people can reel off the original four elements of taste our tongues detect—sweet, bitter, salty and sour. Together, they combine to give the nuanced flavors to what we eat. For the past several decades what’s considered the fifth taste—umami— has become familiar to most cooks. Umami is the Japanese word that translates as “pleasant, savory taste.” English attempts at translation include “savoriness” and “yum.”
Umami is associated with meat, mushrooms, soy sauce and other ingredients that lay down a base note for other flavors to harmonize with.
Two easy ways to experiment with umami are anchovies and miso. Once you’ve begun to use them in the following recipes and suggestions, you will see why good cooks always have their umami at hand!
Rebecca Crichton is executive director of Northwest Center for Creative Aging and presents programs on that topic in the Seattle area. Many people have strong feelings about anchovies—you either love them or you hate them. While they refuse them in Caesar salads and on pizza, feeling confident that they won’t show up anywhere else, they might be wrong to discover how many ways they have enjoyed their benefit without knowing it!
Anchovy Primer
Canned in oil: Most canned anchovies are imported. Prices differ, and you’ll get a lot of flavor and use from one small tin. Bottled in olive oil: Often Italian, you can see them standing tall in their little jars. Boquerones: These white, fresh anchovies are pickled in vinegar and oil and usually need refrigeration. They are milder in flavor and terrific on an antipasto spread. Anchovy paste: Packaged in tubes, this is the no-fuss way to get a hit of anchovy in salad dressings, sauces, or compound butters. Asian fish sauce: Fish sauces use fermented anchovies as a base. A few drops in salad dressing will be transformative and nobody will know what you’ve done. The recipes below honor the Mediterranean roots of this ancient ingredient.
• ½ pound spaghetti • Salt • 3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil • 4 anchovy filets, rinsed and roughly chopped • 1 tbsp. capers, rinsed and roughly chopped • ½ tsp. red pepper flakes, or to taste • 2 tbsp. chopped parsley, optional • Grated parmesan cheese, optional Put the spaghetti in a large pot of well-salted rapidly boiling water and cook only until al dente. (Depending on the brand of pasta, this will be 8 to 10 minutes, but check frequently.) While the pasta is cooking, warm the olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute, without letting it brown. Stir in the anchovies, capers, and red pepper and cook for 30 seconds more, then turn off heat. Drain the pasta and return it to the pot. Pour in the garlic mixture, add parsley, if using, and toss well to coat. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese. Serves 2
Fast Tomato Sauce with Anchovies
• 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil • 1 tsp. minced garlic • 4 to 6 anchovy fillets, with some of their oil • 1 28-ounce can tomatoes, crushed or chopped, and drained of their juice • Salt and fresh-ground black pepper Put the olive oil in a deep skillet and turn the heat to medium. A minute later, add the garlic and the anchovies, and stir. When the garlic sizzles and the anchovies break up, add the tomatoes. Turn heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture becomes saucy, about 15 minutes. Enough for 1 pound of pasta, or about 4 servings. I would also use this as topping for pizza, an addition to anything wanting a deep tomato taste.
Pissaladière (for cheaters)
If you have ever been in the South of France, you likely recall this pizza-like tart that comes out of ovens right before lunch. Here’s an easy way to make your own. • Start with a sturdy dough (focaccia, pizza dough, or a thick layer of puff pastry) • Spread thick layer of caramelized onions • A pinch of fresh thyme and rosemary adds to the flavor profile. • Arrange anchovies on top so they
are distributed evenly enough so that each piece—square or wedge—has its share. • Distribute black olives among the anchovies. • Drizzle good olive oil over everything. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes until dough is brown and top is bubbling. Optional additions: Roasted red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, or fresh tomatoes.
Miso
Miso is a fermented paste made with soybeans and rice or barley that provides a direct hit of umami to many dishes. Start with white miso, mildest of the pastes—there is also yellow and red—and you will be surprised at what it adds to marinades, salad dressings, bastes and sauces. Here’s some ways to incorporate miso into other flavors or bases. 2-3 tbsp. miso plus: Sweet element: brown sugar, maple syrup, palm sugar, marmalade Sour element: rice vinegar, balsamic vinegar, lemon, lime or orange juice Spices and herbs: ginger, cilantro, garlic, lemon or lime zest
This is a version of the famous miso glaze for black cod used by Nobu Matsuhisa, a legendary New York chef and restaurateur. It is easy and superb on other fish, as well as steamed or roasted vegetables, chicken, or tofu. • 8 ounces black cod fillet, halved • 2 tbsp. white miso paste • 1 tbsp. pure maple syrup • 1 tsp. rice vinegar • 1 tbsp. sherry, sake, or orange juice • 1 tsp. fresh grated ginger (or ₁⁄₄ tsp. powder) • Pinch red pepper flakes Slice the fish into two equal pieces. Pat dry and set aside. In a small bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients until smooth. Add the fillets and turn to coat. Place the glazed fillets on a small baking sheet, skin side down. You can marinate the fish for as little as half an hour or up to 24 hours. The longer you leave it, the deeper the flavors. Broil on high 7-8 minutes. Serves 2
Miso Salad Dressing
This is a basic miso-based salad dressing to toss with lots of things (consider shredded cabbage or bok choi—raw, it’s crunchy and fresh— carrots, or fennel). Add cut up apples or pears, sprinkle with nuts and sesame seeds, and you’ll have an easy Asian-inspired salad. • 1 tbsp. light soy sauce • 1 tbsp. rice wine • 1 tbsp. cider vinegar • 2 tbsp. white miso Mix until blended.
Miso-Compound Butter
Make a log of miso-compound butter to melt or spread over proteins and steamed vegetables. You can add garlic or chives, and lemon juice or zest. • 4 tbsp. (1/2 stick) room temperature butter • 2 tbsp. miso (white or yellow) • Ground pepper Optional add-ins: Chopped scallions or chives, minced or crushed garlic, crushed fresh ginger or chili, citrus juices or citrus zest. Cream butter and miso, adding other ingredients as you wish. Use immediately or roll into a log in plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze to cut into slices for later use. Melt onto fish, chicken or steak (lots of umami), asparagus, broccoli or carrots, or a baked potato or sweet potato.
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