Volunteer Park and the Miles Between Me and the Woman I Thought I Would Be by Now

Which is not to say that I still can't become her someday

If Green Lake park holds the stories of my past, Volunteer park may hold the hopes of my future. It’s a rich, sprawling place right in the heart of Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood and where I often spend time walking along the paths and watching my fellow Seattleites do what they do best: be outside. They play their musical instruments to an audience of trees, or Frisbee with each other. They sit and talk. They walk, together or alone. They do socially-distanced yoga and silent disco, everyone moving silently to music only they hear. And I watch them from a distance, imagining their lives outside of the park.

This neighborhood has always felt very aspirational to me, with its quiet streets that are lined by trees and flowers, unexpected views of Lake Washington and the ease with which I used to imagine life must unfold in these streets. When I was younger and starting out with a small studio in Belltown, I used to tell myself that someday I would have a modest house somewhere on Highland Drive and the park would be my neighbor. Back then, “sometime in my thirties” was faraway enough to house all these dreams, along with the kids and the kind, supportive husband. None of these things came to be and I’m still in that studio but the park is still here and the houses are still beautiful, and I still walk among them. It could be worse.

The park is home to many attractions, including a museum and several viewpoints perfectly framed by public art installations. But the highlight for me is the Conservatory, a Victorian glass house that’s home to thousands of species of common and rare plants from around the world, including my favorite jade tree that is more than a hundred years old. Hopefully soon they will reopen and I can go back to visit the jade; we would both be a year older since we last saw each other and miles from who we used to be.

Postscript:

This weekly letter is helping me slowly unlearn the debilitating belief that only perfect, completed things are worth sharing. A newsletter is by nature an iterative, incomplete thing and while I struggle every week with feelings that it’s pointless and offers no value, I am enjoying taking time to look over my notes from various walks and writing to a deadline. My hope is that it also reminds you to embrace the slow life, to look inward as a break from the endless stream of thoughts and feelings and information that is presented to us at any given time (here I am contributing). At least once a day, I hope we can go for a walk or cook something or read something or do something that helps us to take our time. And, with that, I’d like to introduce you to a new addition to these letters: Something to Cook. I’ll include it whenever I have a recipe to share.

Something to Cook: Shrimp Louie’s Mediterranean Cousin

I’d like to submit this dish as my contribution to the cannon of “shrimp Louie,” knowing that it breaks every rule of the dish except for having shrimp as a main ingredient. Essentially, this is just radicchio slightly wilted by the cooked shrimp, combined with creamy cannellini beans and lots of aromatics. The slight bitterness of the radicchio is perfectly met by the tartness of the lemon and the brine from the olives pulls everybody together into perfect harmony.

You will need:

• 5 ounces of shrimp (I used the Argentinian Red variety)

• 1 can of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

• 2 lemons

• 3 cloves of garlic (or to taste)

• 1 shallot

• a handful of cherry tomatoes

• half a head of radicchio

• a handful of flat-leaf parsley

• a handful of olives, pitted (I used kalamata)

• 2 teaspoons of smoked paprika

• a small handful of hazelnuts, chopped

• salt, freshly ground black pepper and olive oil

(note that all amounts are estimates and I cook for one so adjust as needed)

Prep your shrimp:

• Place the shrimp in a bowl and squeeze the juice of one lemon over them. Add salt, pepper and the paprika and toss to coat. Let it sit at room temperature while you prepare everything else (about 5-10 minutes).

Prep your veggies:

• Slice or tear a desired amount of radicchio. I used half a head and tore it into large pieces.

• Loosely chop the parsley, removing the tough stems and keeping the tender leaves.

• Thinly slice half of the shallot and finely chop the other half.

• Mince or slice your garlic, depending on whether or not you want to bite into pieces of garlic.

• Slice the cherry tomatoes in half

Cook the shrimp:

• To a cold pan or skillet, add olive oil, the finely chopped half of your shallot and your garlic. Slowly bring it up to medium-high heat and sauté the shallot and garlic until they bloom; about three minutes.

• Add the shrimp to the pan, along with the marinating liquid which will deglaze the pan. Stir to combine the flavors. Shrimp only take a few minutes to cook and you’ll know they’re done when they change color.

Assemble your salad:

• Add the warm shrimp to a bowl with the radicchio, sliced shallot, parsley, cannellini beans, cherry tomatoes and olives. Toss to combine.

• When serving, drizzle with more olive oil and the juice of the remaining lemon.

• Top with the chopped hazelnuts and season as needed with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

 I hope you enjoy.