Your time starts…NOW!

Each timed elimination round of our favorite cooking show, Chopped, begins with that familiar cue. Four chefs compete for a $10K prize by outperforming their peers in the creation of an appetizer, an entrée and a dessert. The catch? No one knows what ingredients they will be using from the mystery basket placed before them. The clock starts and mayhem ensues. I confess to having invested too many evenings learning more than I need to know about strange food. But if you ever need to prepare rattlesnake meat, feel free to call!

The morning light begins to illumine the Eastern sky. I can hear the waves of the Strait of Juan de Fuca pounding upon Dungenness Spit and then off in the distance is the haunting call of an eagle. This morning there is only a slit through the gray clouds allowing the yellow and golden colors of the morning sun to shine forth. Other mornings the sky is alive with color, with beauty, with grandeur. Off in the distance is the baritone voice of a seal and the squawking of seagulls playing in the wind.