It's been a long — and short — summer

Found in a box of photos.

Obviously, I've been away. We left Seattle June 30 and headed east to Madison, Wis. to clean out our beloved house in preparation for selling it. We had been renting it out the past five years while we adjusted to life in Seattle, but after a particularly gnarly and stressful winter, We decided we just couldn't do it anymore. Our tenants left the house unattended for two weeks during the polar vortex, and the day they left the house, the heat went off causing all the radiators and pipes to freeze and crack. (The house was heated by fuel oil, and a delivery was made the day the tenants left. Three weeks later when the oil company returned to deliver another load, the tank was still full.) We don't know if they turned the heat too low, accidentally turned it off, or what, but by the time they returned two weeks later, the house was a disaster requiring $72,000 in repairs.

To make the situation even more disheartening, the tenants not only took no responsibility, they demanded to be paid for time and effort spent mopping up water after the radiators began to warm up. We didn't blame the tenants for the destruction, and our insurance paid for most of the repairs (though not the two trips Ken made to the house), but we were harassed and sent degrading emails during the three-month restoration ordeal. They called us bullies and dishonest, and if anything describes us as landlords, it's not that. (They must have forgotten that we let them pay $200 less per month for two years, and no rent at all for a month last summer while they went to their family lake house up North. Duh.) We chose to have a new gas-fired high-efficiency heating system installed at our expense even though the heating company could find nothing wrong with the existing boiler. When the house was ready for occupancy in mid-April, we told the tenants they could live free for two weeks and begin paying again on May 1, but for various trumped-up reasons, they felt the $700+ they would not have to pay was inadequate compensation for the three days of mopping floors. There is much more to the story, of course, but that's all I can stand to retell.

The house sold without going on the market, and at first that seemed great, but the buyers have been very demanding, and the drama continues. On Aug. 25, we close on the house, and it will no longer be ours — for better or worse. It was a wrenching experience clearing our lives from the house and parting with so much "stuff," but it had to be done. We had an estate sale run by a church, and their share of the profits went to supporting homeless shelters and food banks, so I feel happy about that, but it sure was hard to say goodbye to so many things connected with my life.

We used the large basket on the right for storing out-of-season clothes.

We sold nearly all of the furniture and household items, including loads of baskets and other collections from around the world. I think there are now African baskets decorating the homes of many of my former neighbors. As I looked at each piece of furniture, I could remember where I had gotten it and who I was with when I'd found it. Lots of the pieces were antiques found at auctions and estate sales long ago, objects gathered from world travels, or pieces connected to late family members, and all were attached to fond memories.

We happened upon a jazz concert on a street corner near our house.

Letting go of 'things' was hard enough, but letting go of Madison was also hard. Madison is such a great place to live — in spite of the 'complicated' weather and prevalence of summer mosquitoes. I love it there, and will miss the city and the many, many wonderful people I've come to know and love.

Callie came with us on the trip, and I think she got a little tired of the incessant sorting and packing. I'm pretty sure she wasn't as emotional when we finally hit the road as we were.

We didn't do much cooking while we were working on the house. Wait, what am I saying — we didn't do ANY cooking. We usually ate fruit for breakfast and a big salad for either lunch or dinner, depending on which meal we ate outside the house. We bought bags of arugula, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and toasted sunflower seeds from Trader Joe's and heaped those items into our large enamel camping bowls at least once a day. The best meals were provided by friends, but we also ate in a number of vegan-friendly restaurants. Although I always asked for gluten-free food, I had stomach pains on many occasions following dinner. One place I never felt sick was Maharaja Indian restaurant, and we enjoyed many meals there.

Sweet potato hash with tofu scramble, fresh fruit and a side of broccoli (instead of toast).

Another restaurant where we ate a couple of times was Monty's Blue Plate — a comfort food style restaurant with vegan and gluten-free menu options clearly marked on the menu. I love when restaurants identify which items are vegan and gf. The food tastes really good at Monty's, but sometimes my husband and I both feel stomach distress after eating there. Their tofu scramble is pretty great, though. Oh well.

Much to my surprise, we've come to depend on Chipotlé while traveling. Believe it or not, I'd never tasted Chipotlé food before, but it was really handy to be able to have a sofrito salad bowl when everything else seemed too heavy, or making our own dinner seemed too hard. I like the ease with which I can customize my order, and I've never felt sick after eating the food. One order of salad was enough for two meals for me.

My friend and neighbor, Claudia, overcame her fear of feeding vegans and prepared an amazing, elegant supper of quinoa pilaf, roasted veggies and salad. It was delicious.

Eating at friends' houses was the best, and we're grateful for folks like Betsy, and Gary and Lanette for inviting us to share delicious meals with them.

A hiking trail at Gov. Dodge State Park.

In addition to seeing friends, we took time out from our work schedule to visit beautiful places — my friend Mari introduced me to a natural area just outside the city where I'd never been before. And we hiked at Gov. Dodge State Park. We were pretty surprised to find that about half the trails, including our favorite, were closed because of tornado damage in June.

Along The Lakeshore Path.

We walked out to Picnic Point and in the Lakeshore Nature Preserve, as well as Allen Centennial Gardens, Olbrich Gardens and other points of beauty and respite.

It seemed like we were in Madison for a really long time — until the day we left when it suddenly seemed very short. Now that we're back in Seattle, it's hard to believe the summer is almost over.

Have you ever been in a position of having to downsize your stuff? Are you a saver or a cleaner?

I'll share more about our summer over the next couple of posts, including a getaway to Cape Cod that includes a look at the greatest wedding food surprise ever!

I Used to eat healthy food | Tandoor Chef Kofta Curry | Miss E bakes

One can get addicted to restaurant dining. Normally we eat out very little but lately we've been eating out so often — dinner with friends, lunch with friends — you know how it goes when you're on vacation. I've been trying to counter all the salt and grease with lots of fresh salads, veggies and fruit, in between the restaurants, but I'm not going to lie to you, what you see above was my breakfast on Friday. That's right, breakfast. It's the leftovers from a dinner at Monty's Blue Plate Diner a vegetarian-and-vegan-friendly greasy spoon in Madison Wis. You're looking at the remaining half of a Heathen Vegan Shoplifter's Delight: grilled portobellos, tempeh, red onions, avocado and lemon-tahini dressing on sourdough French bread. With a side of waffle fries. Extra grease? Check. Too much salt? Check. Tasty? Unhuh. My husband had the same thing but he had the "low carb" version served in a wrap, with a salad instead of fries. I felt guilty eating my crispy, greasy, spicy fries, but obviously not guilty enough to order the salad. If I could have had the yummy kale chips from The Green Owl instead of the fries I certainly would have ordered those; I would have. But clearly my behavior has become unhinged, and my ideals have taken a temporary (let us hope) vacation.

But, see here — here's the leftover Saigon salad that I made from Zoa's recipe. See, I still do eat fresh food. I had the leftovers for lunch (not on the same day as the sandwich; I was too full for lunch.), which adds up to two dinners and two lunches of Saigon salad without getting tired of it. I started with a big bed of salad greens and a small mound of soba, on top of which went the leftover salad. I topped it with peanuts and nori for the perfect lunch.

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Tandoor Chef, from Deep Foods

The folks at Deep Foods, Inc. offered to send me samples of their line of frozen, vegan Tandoor Chef foods, and thinking that they'd come in handy while we were "vacationing" in Madison, I happily accepted. They sent five different varieties, and we tried the Kofta Curry for dinner Friday night.

We had just spent two days trying to clear our nearly totally plugged bathtub drain. We tried the baking soda-vinegar-hot water routine, and endless rounds of plunging, all to no avail. (Readers of this blog know that we lived in Seattle last year, and are back in our Madison home for a few weeks getting it ready to rent again for next year.) The plunging pulled up gross black gunk and glitter (sigh) and I feared the worst. I'd earlier fished up a large elastic ponytail holder from the sink drain, and suspected a serial drain stuffer may have been living in our house. We waited all day for our plumber to call back, and when he finally did at 4:30, he recommended a rooter service. (Greg's Rite Now Rooter 279-0858 if you're in Madison!)

The happy end of the story is the drain was stuffed with the normal variety of grossness, and by 7 P.M. it was cleared. I hadn't eaten since breakfast (ahem) and we were both hungry and tired, so Indian food from the freezer seemed like a great idea. I chose the Kofta Curry because dumplings are such great comfort food, and we were feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the house stuff we've been trying to do. We don't have a microwave so used the conventional oven method of baking for about 28 minutes. We also made brown rice, salad and broccoli. The curry was spicy and delicious. The dumplings, light and flavorful. I was very impressed and thought it tasted great. Here's what the Web site says:

In the early 1970's, Mrs. Bhagwati Amin's love for good authentic cuisine gave birth to a hobby. She had a passion for sharing the cuisine and culture of her homeland, and served delicious food to friends and neighbors at every possible opportunity.
Soon, small Indian store owners sought her abilities. As a result, she worked nights and weekends to satisfy her desire to make and serve high quality foods for the broader community. Many advised her to open a restaurant, but she knew that the time required to run a restaurant would detract from her family's needs.
In just a short time, her products became very popular. In 1977, Mrs. Amin and her husband began work on what is today Deep Foods – producing a full line of Tandoor Chef frozen appetizers, entrées and side dishes that delight households across the United States. Today the Tandoor Chef brand remains a family affair, now incorporating the second generation who spends a great deal of time in the kitchen, dreaming up new entrées for you to enjoy.

The box contained two servings, 100 calories each. Each serving had 7 g of fat, 400 mg of sodium, 1 g of fiber, 2 g of sugar, 6 g total carbohydrates and 1 g of protein. The nutrition facts for the Tandoor Chef dinners vary widely depending on the variety, so I'll provide that information for each item as I review it.

I'm looking forward to trying the other meals, and will highlight them during the next couple of weeks.

Full disclosure: Tandoor Chef sent me free samples of their vegan products but did not require or influence my review.

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Miss E makes cookies

Here's a photo (taken with a phone and emailed to me) of a very serious Miss E making cookies. Although her Mama claims to have helped, Miss E says she made them "mine own self." When I spoke with her on skype, I asked if the cookies were vegan. "No," said Miss E, "chocolate chip!"

Now that Miss E knows how to bake, I'm looking forward to creating lots of kitchen masterpieces with her!