This is one of  my favorite meals. The recipe was inspired by an appetizer we ate at Ivar's restaurant in Mulkilteo Washington. I serve it with sushi rice and stir fried veggies.
Fresh Ahi steak, cut into 4 squares. I cut the steak into squares because it is easier to turn them after searing, and because the slices I make after cooking come out more uniform.
Glaze: 
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
4 tsp. lemon rind
2 tsp. lime rind
1 1/2 tsp shiracha
Combine glaze ingredients in a small sauce pan over low heat and cook until it thickens. Cool.
Sear Ahi over very high heat. Slice and drizzle with glaze.

​We’re not supposed to say, “I told you so.” It isn’t polite. Is isn’t nice. But it is oh so hard to resist:
When your child falls and skins her knee and wails after you warned her not to run in the street
When too much laughing leads to crying
When the vase breaks and children scatter after being told not to throw the ball in the house
When the milk spills after you’ve warned them not to put the glass so close to the edge of the table
When the delicate tip of the knife breaks after you’ve asked your husband not to use your good knife as a screwdriver
When you’ve reminded and nagged your daughter to hurry up or she’ll miss the school bus – and she does
Oh, how I want to say, “I told you so!” But No. I don’t. Instead I ask, “what did you learn?” It’s sneaky, I know. But, they agree – I told them so.

Uncooked red bell pepper sauce
This is really yummy. It tastes fresh and is delicious over grilled fish, mashed potatoes, hummus, just about anything you can think of.
½ jar of fire roasted red bell peppers plus about a tablespoon of liquid from the jar
¼ cup of fresh lime juice
1 or 2 garlic cloves roughly chopped (I have been thinking about using roasted garlic in this recipe)
1/4 cup olive oil (I like Mission Olive Oil from the Olive Press in Sonoma)
A few sprinkles of red pepper flakes
A couple drops (or more) sriracha 
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Put all ingredients in a blender and whir until combined.
Not for my lovely sister-in-law who can’t eat bell peppers – actually any peppers, and is afraid of eating at my house!

Marc and I were in Phoenix last fall and stayed downtown at the Found:RE hotel. It is a beautiful property and has a fantastic restaurant. I ate a beet salad there and below is my version. Enjoy!
​3 large or 4 small beets, any color
1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion
¼ cup toasted pistachios
4 cups arugula
Dressing:
¼ cup while balsamic vinegar
¼ cup blood orange juice (other orange juice works, but the blood orange juice adds a great flavor)
1 tsp agave nectar
1 T diced shallots
¼ cup avocado oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil for cooking
Note: this makes more dressing than you need – it will keep in the refrigerator, or reduce the amounts of vinegar, oil, and orange juice. You can also play with the ratios. I’m not sure they are perfect.
Serves 4

1. Cut the top and bottom off the beets and place them on a baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil over the beets and bake in a 400 degree oven until fork-tender – about 30 to 45 minutes depending on the size of the beets. Let cool, peel and cut in a 1-inch dice.
2. Shell and toast pistachios in a dry skillet until fragrant. Cool.
3. Make dressing: assemble dressing ingredients and whisk. If you don’t like raw shallots (I don’t), you can cook them in a little olive oil until translucent. If you do so, reduce the amount of avocado oil in the dressing.
4. Assemble salad and drizzle with dressing.
5. If desired, shaved Manchego cheese would be good on this salad. 

​

Our north side garden is a magical place. I go there when I am sad or troubled, and I find peace. Marc and I eat dinner there on warm evenings. Fairies live in the Green Japanese Maple Tree planted near the fence. This is their story.
“Look, there they are again – the giants!” Pindi exclaimed. “I’m going to fly over for a closer look.” She spread her sparkling wings and flew away from the chartreuse leaves of the Green Japanese Maple Tree the fairies called home. Pindi and her twin sister Mindi had just turned 10.
“Don’t go!” Mindi, cried. “They kill fairies.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be careful. They’re just so BIG. They don’t even have wings. I’m much faster than they are.”
“I’ll tell Father. He won’t like it” Mindi threatened. Pindi and Mindi’s father Bran was the King of the Green Japanese Maple Tree fairies.
“Go ahead – I don’t care. Tattle Tale.”
“You’re such a trouble maker!” Mindi unfurled her long tongue and stuck it out at Pindi as she flew by.
 
“Pindi, what have you done now?” The King paced the grand hall in the Green Japanese Maple Tree. “You’re my daughter. You must set a good example, not go recklessly tearing off to explore beyond our tree.”
“But Father, the giants recognized me and smiled. They won’t hurt us. They were charmed by seeing a fairy.”
“Pindi” the King said warningly. “You are forbidden from showing yourself to humans. That’s what those giants are. Humans. They’re dangerous. They think we’re wasps and they kill us.”
“These two won’t hurts us. I know they won’t!” Pindi stomped out of the room to sulk.
 
King Bran convened his war council. “I’m worried. The spiders are massing along the fence at our border. They send scouts into our tree. There are more of them every day.”
“We should attack now” cried Angus, the King’s War Chief, “before more of them arrive.”
“Too late,” panted a page as he ran through the door, out of breath. “They’ve taken Mindi. You know what they do to us! They’ll suck her dry!”
“We must march. Assemble the troops” ordered King Bran. And to the page,” Tell the women and children to stay in the grand hall. Bar the doors and guard the towers.”
 
“Why have they been gone so long? “Pindi pouted as she craned to see out. “I can’t see anything. They’ve got my sister. I can’t just stay here locked in the grand hall. I have to do something!”
“You’re just a child” chided Pindi’s mother, Queen Caelia.  “Your father will save us. Stay inside with the rest of us. Don’t do anything rash.”
“Rash! It isn’t rash to help the warriors! It isn’t rash to save my sister!” Pindi ranted. “I know how to use a spear, and a bow and arrow. I can fight. I will fight!” Pindi rushed from the grand hall.
Outside, Pindi saw and heard the fighting. Spears and arrows were being hurled overhead. The clash of swords against shields. Spiders were marching along the branches, taking prisoners as they went. Fairy warriors fought them fiercely, but they were outnumbered and were being pushed back, closer to the grand hall.
Pindi had an idea. Racing to the other side of the garden, she looked for her giants. She found one of them and flew to her ear, shouting. “We need help! The spiders are attacking our people and our home in the Green Japanese Maple Tree. We can’t fight them alone. Please help us!”
The giant grabbed a broom and raced to the north side garden with Pindi in the lead. Once there, she brushed spider webs off the fence and the tree branches, sweeping spiders along with their webs. The fairy warriors cheered as they renewed their fighting. Spiders scurried along the ground to get away from the spears and the broom. The battle was over.
Pindi rushed to Mindi and unwrapped her from the spider silk prison.
“Pindi saved the day. Hurray for Pindi. Hurray for the giant. Hurray!” cheered the fairy warriors.
“You were right, Pindi, these giants won’t hurt us. Pindi’s father, King Bran bowed before the giant wielding the broom. “We owe you our greatest thanks for saving our kingdom. As a fairy king, I can grant you whatever you wish.”
“I wish for you and your kingdom to live safely in the Green Japanese Maple Tree,” said the giant. “I like the idea of fairies living in our yard. Live in peace.”
And they did. 

​“Go ahead and fill the pond. I backwashed the pump,” my husband told me as he walked out the door.
“Ok.” I turned on the filler and went back inside to read by book. Made a mental note to watch the pond. My phone rang. I answered. Then I saw an email from my sister that I wanted to read on my computer’s big monitor, so I wandered to our home office. Then I responded. Then I thought about what I wanted to post next on my brand-new blog.
Twenty minutes later, I wandered back to the kitchen and looked out the window.
Why is there water sitting on the patio? Oh Crap! I forgot I turned on the pond filler!
I ran outside and turned off the filler. Then I put my wet socks in the laundry basket because I hadn’t taken time to put on shoes. Then I went back outside to see how the overflow pump was doing with all the excess water. The fish were hanging out at the edge of the pond. I fully expected to see a couple of them flop up to explore life outside their house. Too bad we don’t have frogs at the moment. They would have had a great escape route from hungry koi.