Jens Visits Seattle 2024
It’s not summer without a visit from my brother, Jens. who is a kindred spirit. We enjoy reading a book a day and dining at all levels at home and around town. People watching at the Seattle Center is always good. We took in two exciting exhibits at the Seattle Art Museum, Calder in Motion and Poke in the Eye. We took a brief stroll through the Pike Place Market to buy vegetables from our favorite vendor, Sosio. We had a few memorable meals out at Cafe Campagna, Atoma, and The Flint Creek Cattle Co. restaurants. Each venue delivered a good experience with service and food. I look forward to going back to all three of them.
Here’s an excerpt from The Seattle Times about the ceramic pool: “Arneson liked to mess around with the relationship between form and function, an ongoing debate within ceramics with its lineage of well-crafted, useful items. Funk artists pushed back against the assumption that ceramics had to have a utilitarian purpose in contrast with other sculptural mediums like marble or bronze.
“Pool with Splash” sprawls across the floor as a glistening, nonfunctional swimming spot. Not only did Arneson create the whole thing out of ceramic tiles, a typical pool construction material, he could also have been joking about the minimalist movement’s penchant for taking prefabricated industrial materials and laying them directly on the floor of art spaces, eliminating pedestals and other fine art signifiers.
From the Amazon sales page: “The Salmon House is a historical novel that brings the reader into the lives of a Georgia family in the post-civil-war era, when the South was broken and wounded, both economically and emotionally. Samuel, an artist who is now head of the Cable family, is also broken; a wounded, traumatized veteran dealing with the disrespect of his disgruntled wife, the sociopathic behavior of his teenage son, and his hopes for the young daughter he cherishes. It was a time when most people were wedded to old ideas as a new social landscape was dramatically changing around them. The Western expansion was underway, opening up both peril and opportunity. The Cable family’s declining fortunes push them to transition from bankrupt lumber mill owners in Georgia to entrepreneurs in the Pacific Northwest, where abundant salmon, timber and Klondike gold provide vast new opportunities. The Freeman family, their Black servants, come west as well, fleeing the repression and brutality of the Jim Crow South.
As the story evolves in the raw new city of Seattle, we meet capitalists, con-men, prostitutes, Native Americans and recent immigrants, each in pursuit of prosperity. We witness their triumphs and tragedies as they grapple with a new land and changing times.
In the words of the author, “Historical novels are first about people, with the same human foibles and conflicts we have today, but set in a different time and facing different challenges. In this story, I tried to capture the historical moments-in-time of one family who experience the social, racial and economic adjustments to the post-Civil War south, and the expansion of the Pacific Northwest economy via the lumber industry, commercial fishing, and the big boom of the Klondike and Alaska gold rushes.” Buy the book from Amazon.
Mostly we cooked at home. Good friends came over one night for my favorite summer rotisserie project, Pok Pok Chickens. The recipe is perfect for a crowd or creates leftovers essential to feeding houseguests. We served a fabulous green mango salad with the birds and plain brown rice. Another night we were happy with Sosocio’s heirloom tomatoes and corn. The Mediterranean platter of fruits and vegetables roasted for 10 minutes at 400 degrees (F) that I frequently make with Sockeye or Halibut, featured Black Cod.
Here are a few standout dishes from the current menus at Atoma and Flint Creek Cattle Co. When we arrived at Atoma in Wallingford, I said, “Wow. this is Maria Hines old place, Tilth.” Chef Hines was a stalwart on the restaurant scene for many years, at one time running three establishments I liked. She always did good work. The couple who own the space now are following in big footsteps and doing their own very good job.
