This weekend things were a little bit different as J and I had to go down to Seattle in order for him to complete another phase of his journey towards ordination with the Free Methodists. For him that meant a six hour psychological exam, both oral and written. For me that meant a lovely day to myself in one of my all time favorite spots – Edmonds! It is such a cute little town – I don’t know why we didn’t spend more time there when we were living in Seattle. Oh well, maybe we’ll get to live in the Pacific Northwest again one day (fingers crossed and knocking loudly on wood…). Anyway, because we weren’t home to make up a big batch of soup, J and I decided to treat ourselves to the best chowder anywhere at our local Duke’s. For any of you lucky enough to live in Seattle, you know what I’m talking about. And for those of you that have never had the privilege, feel free to drool over the bowl of yumminess below. I must admit, however, that the best part of our meal was getting to share it with J’s brother and his lovely wife! We don’t get to see those two nearly enough, so it was a real treat to get to hang out with them – thanks guys!
I always order Duke’s Dungeness Crab & Bourbon Chowder – and in my opinion it is the best chowder made by humankind. Unfortunately, the recipe is a closely guarded secret. Luckily, several years back Duke’s posted their recipe for clam chowder that also gets rave reviews, so I thought I’d share that with you today. If you want to try the Dungeness Crab & Bourbon Chowder you’ll need to book the next flight to Seattle.
Duke’s Clam Chowder
Ingredients
•   4 slices bacon, diced
•   1 medium onion, diced
•   3 stalks celery, diced
•   1/4 lb new potato, blanched and diced
•   4 cups heavy cream
•   1 1/2 cups clams, chopped
•   1/3 cup flour
•   1/2 cup half-and-half
•   3 ounces butter
•   2 ounces clam base
•   1 1/4 cups clam juice
•   1 pinch garlic, chopped
•   1 pinch white pepper
•   1 pinch black pepper
•   1 pinch cayenne, to taste
•   1 teaspoon marjoram
•   2 teaspoons fresh basil, chopped
•   1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
•   1/4 teaspoon dill
•   1/2 teaspoon thyme
•   2 bay leaves
•   1/8 cup fresh parsley, chopped
Directions
•   Cook bacon until transparent.
•   Add butter, onions, celery and all the seasoning except dill and parsley.
•   Cook until tender. Add flour and cook 3 to 4 minutes over low heat.
•   Add all dairy products, clam nectar and base. Heat just under boiling point.
•   Steam potatoes and cool.
•   Add chopped clams and potatoes. Bring to a boil slowly and cook 2 to 3 minutes. Add dill and parsley and serve.
My project this week is a little toiletry bag. I’ve been tweaking a pattern that I made up a few years back for a while now, and am getting closer to a finished product that I really like. The trickiest part about making these types of bags is putting in the zipper. I’ve learned the hard way that to do this successfully you need two things.
1) A zipper foot. If you don’t have one, stop what you’re doing, go to the store and buy one immediately, you will not be sorry!
2) You must read this tutorial! Twelve22 explains sewing in a zipper in a very clear, concise and easy to follow way. Bookmark the link and I bet you’ll come back to it again and again.
Okay, now for the bag… I call it my my Posie Bag, because it’s the perfect place to store a pocketfull of your favorite treasures.
Posie Bag
