The First of Their Kind

A couple years ago, thinking back onto a perfect vacation week James and I enjoyed on Orcas Island in Washington state I ordered a barefoot Orcas pear tree. A whim that this year has finally started to pay off with our first little crop of beautiful blushed yellow Orcas pears.
Discovered by a local horticulturist in his island yard, Orcas pears are one of the few summer pears that will ripen in just a couple days on the counter instead of weeks in cold storage. Prized for sweet buttery flesh Orcas pears are homegrown favorites for canning, drying, and eating fresh. For me the tree is a living memento, better than a postcard of happy, lazy summer days together.

Vacation Dinner

Miles away from home on the first day of our vacation.
Nothing to think about but the wind and the water and what to have for dinner.
Just off the ferry we popped into the grocery store on our beloved Island and came up with fresh dungeness crab plucked from the still icy Puget Sound waters, With onion, garlic, locally made butter, and plenty of broth that quickly became a "luxurious" (that's what James called it), easy crab meat risotto.
For a little peppery crunch I topped the rice with a salad of upland cress (watercress' dry land cousin -- quite a surprise to find in the store), Parmesan cheese (no apologies to supposed Italian purists) and tangy balsamic vinaigrette.
That's our kind of island style.