You get the September look a little early because of the holiday weekend. That and my latest trial of my ftp program expires in 3 days.
Now will you guys get off my back about the black.
Elle: Time to come to dinner little boy
Boy: No, I don’t want to come to dinner, I’m tired.
Elle: Well if you’re so tired I guess you better go to bed without a bath, book or dinner.
Boy: Oh, alright.
*family sits down to eat dinner*
Boy: Pray song!
Elle and trusty husband: not tonight
*Elle and trusty husband proceed with family dinner prayer*
Come Lord Jesus. Be our guest.
and…
Boy: I don’t want to pray
let thy gifts to us be blessed. Amen.
Trusty husband: when you don’t pray, you make the baby Jesus cry.
If you’ve been reading my blog for some time (or anytime for that matter) you will know that I rarely, if ever, do reviews. Not because I’m snooty like that, but because if I think a place is good or bad I’ll come right out and say it. Or rather I’ll work it into a long involved story that in a round about way ends up being a review but without the boring star rating system. Kinda like this post will likely turn out. And as with all of my stories you need a little background.
I bake bread. I’m not supposed to eat the bread, but there is something therapeutic in baking bread. So I bake it and sneak bites when no one is looking. However, I get lazy. Honestly, who doesn’t. Isn’t it so much easier just to run down to the store and pick up a loaf? Especially when I am snooty about what kind of bread can enter our home. Preferably a local bakery (there are none) or at least handish made. Unfortunately the one we found that fits our criteria is over $4 at the super market and the same loaf is over $6 at the vegetable store I shop at. Six bucks for a loaf of bread? Good lord.
Sadly, Tacoma lacks in the artisan bread department. As in (until recently) there were none. At one point I wanted to build a wood fired oven in my backyard and make artisan bread to sell at the farmers market just so this town could have decent bread.
*End of back story*
This afternoon the trusty family decided to take a trip to the Tuesday Farmer’s Market. (we had to bribe the boy with a cookie to get him out of the house. I think he secretly knew his pants were on backwards and didn’t want to go anywhere nor fix them… we knew… we didn’t fix them) As we wandered through our little Tuesday market we (I) spied a bread vendor called the Upper Crust. Now there are a few bread vendors at the Thursday market, but they sell loaf bread. Wholly different than true artisan bread. I’ve thrown my gluten free life right out the window because of the SAD (it’s a side effect, carb craving).
I told the trusty husband I wanted a loaf of bread and the choice came down to Sourdough Baguette or French Baguette. I picked Sourdough. I shelled out my $5 (I know, but hand crafted bread is worth the price). We planned to eat our bread with artisan cheese from Estrella Cheeses.
I’ve seen the Upper Crust Bistro before. They are next door to Dwell on 21st. When we were shopping there earlier this year I noticed the bistro and though we should stop in at some point. We didn’t and the thought passed my mind, like many.
Now here’s where the review part comes in. My $5 loaf of Sourdough Baguette… not so much with the goodness. In fact, the pieces that we both took bites of were promptly fed to the worms and the remainder will be turned into bread crumbs as soon as it goes stale. Why? As a bread maker I know good bread when I taste it and I also know what ingredients have been left out. And my friends… salt is a major ingredient in the creation of bread. This bread lacked any salt. at. all. I am so disappointed.
I was hoping Tacoma had finally risen out of it’s chain bakery doldrums to produce a quality bakery. I guess I will have to continue my quest for delicious bread or fire up my own oven. Maybe I can start in on wishing for that wood fired oven again. Who knows. I just know that The Upper Crust wasn’t the place.
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I tried to find an email address or website for the bistro, but they don’t have one (or I couldn’t find one). I was going to email to complain, but this will have to suffice.
You hear all of these rumors about how it rains 365 days a year here in the northwest right. Then the Californians move here and they screw it all up by telling everyone that, “no, it’s really nice here.” Damn them all. We tell people it rains all year long to keep the Californians away. But they insist on moving up here and snatching up all of the affordable housing and then they cut down all the tress.
Truth is it rains 10 months out of the year in Washington. More specifically the Puget Sound area. We get a reprieve from mid July through mid September. It never rains (with the exception of the third weekend) in August. Bone dry. So dry and “hot*” that I usually have to water my window boxes 2-3 times a day in a futile attempt to keep them looking better than the neighbors who have a watering system.
We typically have to pull out every fan we own and cause our house to sound like a wind tunnel in order to get a few hours of sleep each night.
All that sun and hot recharges me. It gets me through the first few bleak months of fall and winter.
Only this year… not so much. The lovely weather guy told us that we’ve had more rain this August than June and July combined. So much that my grass is starting to green back up. It’s kinda like mother nature giving me that big ol’ middle finger again. Ha Ha bitch. I don’t really want you to have a handle on life. I want you to wallow in your own self pity for a little while longer. And while we’re at it make that 8 more months of pity.
Bitch.
Add a slight bladder irritation and you’ve got yourself one out of sorts woman. I’m kinda floating through life right now. Half there and half distracted by something shiny. I thought I’d get to come back from California, spend my mornings at the pool, going to the zoo in the afternoon and having a good ol’ time. Evidently not. I was so not prepared for this.
I’ll get over this. I always do. It’s just going to take switching some herbs around and finding the combo of vitamins that doesn’t make me want to throw up in the morning. I’m also researching light options that don’t include an expensive plane ticket to Fiji.
And just to warn you… I’m going to follow this post up with “Frustrating to be me” later this week. And if anyone mentions Lexapro I will cut you like Chicken Tikka.
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*hot as in lower 90s
Thank you for all of your great comments on my work. I am usually happy with products that I produce, but it feels good to have other people give you that validation. I’d like to think that everyone that has and Elle or Free Range design is happy with the outcome. That is always the goal.
Sure there are a few designs that I’ve done that in the end I look at it and think… this really isn’t what I had in mind, but the client is happy. Works for me. And if you have an Elle design that is up and I didn’t include it in the portfolio don’t think it’s because I don’t like it. I’ve done designs for people that have password protected sites or posting isn’t that frequent. These are a few other sites that I’ve done.
If you want a Free Range design just ask. I do charge for a site now (it takes too long and I do create all of the graphics by hand) so free designs are out. But my queue is shorter these days so I can fit a few people in. In addition to doing a whole site I can just create a header for you. That is what I did for Beth at I should be folding laundry. Beth and I loved that header, but circumstances as they were it was right for her to take it down. (long story not going to relive it here) I also did a header only for Liza at Liza’s Eyeview. So see, you have options.
As far as that family crest goes, thank you so much on the compliments on that. That thing took me hours and hours to complete. It is all hand drawn with the exception of the rope. The rope was a brush, but the rest I drew. It is a far cry from the sketch I was originally given. Problem is the family didn’t buy it. That’s why I put the watermark back into it. I love that drawing. Someday I’ll create a family crest for my own family. The idea is fantastic.
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