If you ever wondered

if Danny Halperin had a twin, look no further.

A feast for the eyes

The first coat of re-paint is on in our bedroom.

It looks a ton better. This morning that room was green -- not an impromptu decision as we actually planned that color... testing 3-4 greens before we decided on the one we liked for our room and the guest room. We've been sleeping in our room for about a month now and that color has gotten worse and worse. The color makes you want to stay in bed in the morning. That color also makes you want to leave the room as soon as you walk in. You know it's bad when you have no desire to hang any pictures or make things cozy.

But now it is gone.

Good riddens.

However as a prize to the first out-of-town guests who stay with us, we offer you the treat of experiencing that green first-hand. Yes, that green is still in the guest room. Yes, you are one lucky person. And as a reward for being that lucky person, Ken and I offer you the power of deciding whether that green stays or goes. Yes, the choice is all yours. Congratulations. You will wield the power of room color. Future guests will either love your or hate you.

If we can keep it on the walls that long.

Hurry while supplies last.

Weeding and Seeding

I have spent many hours weeding the front lawn. It was up to 80% pure weeds in some areas. I have been pulling them out by the taproots for three weeks now. My hands just hurt. However, I've met a ton of neighbors and people walking by. Most have been very friendly although my worst person saw my struggles yet still said "if you keep pulling them up, you'll have nothing left." Grrr.

Anyway, the weeds are up and it's supposed to shower all week. Perfect timing. So this morning I laid my fertilizer and the grass seed. I'm so excited.

As a side note, I've been watching This Old House and some other fixer type shows. In one episode I saw, they laid grass seed and first prepared the soil with a fertilizer high in the middle number. I've never been too good with knowing what each NPK ratio means. I looked it up this morning for all you trusty blog readers.

Per Dave's Garden: These numbers represent the percentage of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium (N-P-K) contained in fertilizer. Nitrogen (always the first number) is important to stimulate growth rate and to "green up" the foliage so that it can process nutrients more efficiently. Phosphorus, the middle number, stimulates root growth. And Potassium, the last number, stimulates flowering and fruiting.

Good to know. In case you were wondering, the fertilizer mix I used was a slow release 20-27-5. 7 days to germination.

Ken, stop sleeping around

This weekend was beautiful... sunny and around 60-65. On Friday night we decided to go down to Newport the next morning for the Seafood & Wine Festival. Drove 2.5 hours and got there around 2:30.... plenty of time to eat and drink before they closed at 6. When we got there, we saw an insane line twisting as far as we could see. A guy towards the front of the line said they've been waiting for THREE hours. And that was just to get in. We couldn't rationalize it... wait three hours to pay $12 each -- and then we still had to pay for our food. Retarded. We got back in the car and headed up the coast.

Instead of the festival we stopped in Depoe Bay for lunch -- clam chowder, oyster shooters, oyster sandwich for ken, halibut sandwich for me. Ken got a beer while I had the glass of wine that I'd promised my body along the 2.5 hour drive down. I owed myself some seafood and wine. What a fun lunch. Originally, we were going to camp that night next to the festival. But since it was 3:30 and we had no festival to attend we decided to head north towards Netarts Bay near Tillamook (where Sara's family is building a house. By the way, we saw the property and were very jealous. Simply beautiful and peaceful). I'd never taken the seaside road to get there -- Ken had before. Seemed like every little nook we were visiting, he'd been there before. When we get to our campsite, Ken goes "oh, I've been here before". Grrr.

I wanted it to be the first time for both of us.

"But honey, it was only one night. It didn't mean anything to me. I was thinking of you the whole time."

Ridiculous.

We walked on the beach and talked about our plans while looking for sand dollars (we found one; I was very excited). It was awesome to see everyone walking along the beach, some sitting in chairs watching the sunset. What a cool experience. Next time we'll definitely bring chairs and get there with the whole day to spend just lounging on the beach. I can envision summers there easily -- with friends and/or dogs.

As it was getting dark, we headed back towards our camp. It was 5:30ish and we realized we didn't bring any food for that night or the next morning. No hats. Coffee pot but forgot the coffee. Nothing to read. No games. We're better campers than that, but apparently we just spaced. Instead we decided to head back towards Portland with a stop at the ice cream/cheese factory on the way home (closed when we got there; drats). Felt insane leaving the serenity of the beach for a dark drive home, but we wanted the whole day to play the next day and some hoopla concerning a developer owning half our backyard was on our minds (but that's another story).

So we're back and we got to enjoy yet another beautiful day of sunshine. Now we're watching the Oscars and thinking of Julie Miller. Can't wait until next weekend.

PS We decided we're going to repaint our bedroom since nighttime makes it looks like a dinner mint threw up all over the walls. Argh.

Where does loyalty lie?

I'm a sports fan. Have you noticed? It's a part of me. I watch it a lot, especially football, March Madness, playoff times, Olympics, etc.

There are teams that I like and have liked for some time:

Baseball - Yankees c.1977
Football - Vikings c.1987
Hockey - Islanders c.1980
Basketball - Jazz c.1990

There were reasons back then for why I started to like these teams and it usually had to do with admiring one or two of the players. But what happens when those players leave, get traded or retire. Should my loyalty go with the player or stay with the team?

You may be asking what brought this up. I look at the Utah Jazz and I can't find anything I like about this team. I recognize the names but I don't have that fire stirred up within me when I see them play. What am I doing rooting for them? Should I even consider myself a Jazz fan if I don't really care if they win or lose? Should I even consider myself a basketball fan at all?

And about the Vikings. They were recently sold and, if not given a new stadium, might possibly be Los Angeles bound. This may or may not happen but should I feel some sort of obligation to root for the LA Vikings? COULD I root for the LA Vikings?

I just not so sure I can do that.

HMMMMM......perhaps I should auction off my fan loyalty on eBay. Bet that would fetch a nickel or two.

Playing in the Dirt

What a great weekend. We actually didn't do any of the things we planned on doing (per our last post) but it was productive, fun & relaxing. You can't ask for much more.

On Friday night we were supposed to join a coworker & his wife for drinks after work, but Ken wasn't feeling well that morning so we cancelled just to be sure. He ended up feeling fine, but they already adjusted their plans. Instead we went home and I finished installing the hooks in our new GEAR ROOM -- this is a dream room. All of our camping, skiing, backpacking, snorkelling, raquetball, softball, frisbee, etc. equipment in one room. Backpacks & camelbaks hanging on the wall. Sleeping backs airing from ceiling hooks -- sleepie, our double sleeping bag included. Our coolers and tents arranged neatly on shelves. Our skis and snowboards on wall hooks. Separate bins for separate sports. It's gorgeous. I'll take a picture at some point. Meanwhile, Ken cut a shelf for our bathroom that will go above the toilet. When we bought the place, they originally had an over-the-toilet shelf deal going on that made our only bathroom look really small. We took that out, have since painted, hung new recycled curtains and new shower curtain. Feels much more open. Ken painted & installed it yesterday. Looks great. Makes more room on the vanity which opens things up a bit.

On Saturday, I made a good latte made from beans Ken picked up from Stumptown, around the corner from his office. Sara recommended this place and I agree; I like their coffee -- and I'm not usually picky. But I've actually started to develop a taste for it. Taste for it meaning I can discern ones I like and ones I don't. Pretty good for a girl who loves Miller Lite. Paul Etter would be proud. We let the people behind the counter pick three-four different kinds in 1/4 lb batches.

Finca el Injerto has been my favorite thus far. They have a full story about it, but their description calls it complex with a full body (able to put the sleeper hold on any other coffee in its weight class). It has a lush and fragrant aroma with flavors of milk chocolate, butterscotch, fruit and a long, juicy finish.

The one I made this Saturday was good but didn't beat Finca. However, the lattes I made yesterday and today from beans below may have given Finca a run for its money:

Rwanda Karaba (fair trade)The 600 members of the Karaba Co-op live and grow their coffee on tiny plantations in this district of the Ginkongoro Province in southern Rwanda. Nearly 30% of the farmers in this cooperative are women, survivors of the 1994 genocide. Under the leadership of Angelique Karekezi, Karaba's general manager, the co-op utilizes the ideal growing conditions that have encouraged coffee production here for generations. Berry blossom dominates the aroma of the cup before giving way to a remarkably assertive and delicate acidity, followed by flavors of dark chocolate covered raspberry, cranberry, vanilla and cedar.

OK enough about coffee. Just thought I would share given some of your loves of the stuff (read: you would mainline the stuff if you could).

On Saturday, Ken and I went to town on our backyard (aka weedland). We moved the composting bin they left us which was full of great soil to another (less visible) spot in the yard. Pulled up a ton of dandelions, random philodendrons and dill plants growing in the middle of the yard. Transplanted some to a "garden" area and mixed some of the dirt with fresh compost. Also planted sugar snap peas and snow peas in three areas. We'll see if they grow. We still have a big mound of dirt (seriously) to level. Some hyacinths and daffodils are slowly coming up. We also have a thorny bush/vine that resembles a berry bush of some kind. Will keep my eye on that too. I dreeeaaam of blackberries in the backyard.

On Sunday I had that great Rwandan latte. Ken ate his breakfast in his rocking chair on the front porch in the sunshine. sigh. I love it so far. Very peaceful. After my coffee, I continued to weed the front yard (I think I'm on day 4-5 with no end in the near future). I've already refilled the compost bin and have enough to fill another bin. Ken went for an afternoon hike in Forest Park, the largest city park in the US, while I went to the Yard & Garden show. I've been eyeing gladioli bulbs in the stores. 25 cents a piece. 20 cents a piece. Behold the garden show selling them for 10 cents a piece in a 50 bulb pack. 5 bucks. Perfect. And if you spend $5 or more, you get a free 4" pot of tulips. Hooray. In all, I bought 50 gladioli bulbs, 20 ixis bulbs and 20 freesia bulbs. I planted them all when I got home, bringing the grand total of bulbs planted in our front yard to just shy of 400. They should bloom between early spring and late summer. I love it.

Yesterday I had another Rwanadan latte and re-stained the inside and out of the front door that Willie (the dog of the renters) had scratched the bejeezus out of. Looks beautiful now. Afterwards, I spar urethaned the window sills on the first floor to protect them from UV damage. You could see the wood starting to dry out before. Now things look a lot healthier. Aired out the house while I weeded... again. Ken went to a casino in Washington state to play poker while I trimmed the eight rose bushes in the backyard for spring. I think of Rob & Jana everytime I trim those bushes since I was talking to them on the phone when a thorny branch fell on my head.

Took a shower, drank a cranberry & vodka with a bit of ginger ale (takes off the hard alcohol bite) and made Brian Hawkins' gnocchi recipe for dinner. Yum. I love that recipe. (Brian, did you know you can freeze the uncooked formed gnocchi for later? Freeze them in a single layer and then when hard you can transfer them to a labelled ziploc bag -- can have homemade gnocchi in the time it takes to boil water).

What a great weekend.

Tucson weakened me....

...or at least my immune system. Damn you!!!!

Living back in New York I rarely got sick. Seriously. It was maybe once every two years that I caught a cold. Now this is pretty remarkable considering my potential exposure to germs. Long Island Railroad, subways, city streets. I potentially came in contact with thousands of people each day. Have you ever been on a 'packed to the gills' subway in the dead of winter only to have someone who is clearly sick sneeze in your face? Well I have and it sucks....but I didn't catch the cold.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is that for the second time this winter season I caught a cold. Yes, there may be other factors involved here but I'm attributing this second occurence to the idea that living in a warm climate somehow lowered my resistance to germs......and I can't help despising Tucson for that.

Hello Ny-Quil, my friend.

This week

has been pretty uneventful, yet I haven't gotten to writing. Here's an update nonetheless:

This past weekend, one Ken's good buddies from NY called (Eddie; one of his groomsmen) and said that he and his wife were looking to come out this weekend. Very fun. Our first real houseguests -- at least ones that could sleep in a bed in our guestroom (rather than on a mattress in the middle of the dining room floor). Started thinking about curtains and what to do. The kind of things that make me so excited yet frazzled at the same time. They'd come out Thursday and leave on Monday, since that's when flights were the cheapest. Just needed to clear Thursday with his boss.

Monday we get the call that they can't make it afterall since his boss said the big N-O. Too bad. My thoughts of voodoo doughnut and Mt Hood and the beach went bye bye for now. Valentine's day was rather uneventful yet peaceful. Nothing says 'I love you' quite like the poker tournament we went to that night. Seriously. 60+ people. I went out after 2 hours, Ken after 2:45. And there were still 30+ people in it. $10 buy in; located in an old warehouse near the airport. Can buy a slice of pizza for a buck; piece of hoagie for $2. Kyle and Lent would have loved it. By the time we left (at 9:45), I was emotionally and physically wiped out. I don't know how some of those guys can play everynight. When we got home, Ken started packing because

Tuesday he left for San Jose, CA for a business trip. My husband went on a business trip. Weird. Only for the day though so no meeting up with Rachel (who is still pretty far away) nor Arthur (who was closer but had to "help" his girlfriend that night). I get a call last night at 12:30 am from him saying "honey I won $100." Huh? Apparently he 'found' a casino about 5 minutes from his hotel. I went back to sleep dreaming about the seeds I bought at the store to plant in a few weeks.

Wednesday is today. Took my car to get an oil change and then went to work. Pretty exciting. Especially since I'm still here. Try to hold onto your hats. It's been an exciting week. Not as exciting as Sara & Drew's (who just moved in together) or even Brian & Marsha's, but it's been a good week nonetheless.

Tomorrow we have our blood & urine tests for our life insurance policy. A nurse comes to our house tomorrow night. Strange.

Possibilities for this weekend include some drinking Friday night at Sara's favorite watering hole, the Brazen Bean, the Yard, Garden & Patio show on Saturday and maybe some camping or daytrip somewhere around Oregon on Saturday night/Sunday/Monday.

Hooray for the long weekend.

Drool

Got this email today. Too bad Kristen and Rachel don't live here; this seems right up their alleys.

DIM SUM YUM YUM: The next notorious feast of mini desserts will be on Monday, February 21st. Enjoy carts of overflowing miniature desserts and rich chocolates paired with one of many dessert wines or fancy Belgian beers. There’ll be two seatings, one at 6 pm and the other at 8 pm. Seats are limited, so pick up your ticket today @ Pix. $15.00 (includes 6 desserts). (Location: Pix Patisserie, 3402 SE Division. For more details: 503.232.4407.)

The Incredibles

We saw the movie for the first time tonight in the $3 theater across the street. Very good -- I can't believe that was animation. They've gotten so amazing; quite a long way from Snorks and The Last Unicorn, which were mindblowing to me at one point in time. My best of the movie was picking up on the similarity between Edna Mode, the costume designer in the movie to Hitchcock's long-time favorite costume designer, Edith Head. If you ask me, the similarities are uncanny.

I'm all in!!!

Played poker last night as Lisa mentioned below. I love this game. The trill of bluffing someone when you don't have squat. Show them the cards and then, when they think you're doin it again, you throw down full house or better to beat them. HA!!!

Well, I made it to about the same point as last week, 20th place out of 60. On my last hand, I was the big blind, $1,000 (bear in mind, it cost only $20 to get $3500 in chips and get in the game). The first to act raised to $2,000 and by the time it came around to me someone had gone all in with about $12,000 in chips. I had about $11,000 in chips and sitting on pocket kings (the same hand I lost with last week). I sat there for about a minute and said "I call". There were a bunch of people standing around who suddenly roared. We turned our cards over and I had a slight edge.....K(spades)-K(clubs) vs. A(clubs)-Q(clubs). Somewhat ballsy move for him to go all in with that. In the end, he got his fifth club on the GOD DAMN RIVER!!!! Argh!! Bitten with KK on the river again. I sat there dejected for a moment. I can't believe I lost that.

Alas, pocket kings is my ever unlucky hand.

Nine Chickens and Other Assorted Tales

Those who know me understand I that have just a teensy bit of OCD in me. Most often manifested in the form of travel manifestos, a rather large computerized recipe collection and not being able to throw away food. With regard to the latter, it is probably the part of my behavior that gets teased most often.

I know I have a problem. I have made shrimp stock on vacation.

Multiple times.

A person would think I grew up during the depression, saving every little scrap for those 'harder times'. My mother does not do this. I don't know where it comes from. All the same, it's become a part of me and those around me have learned to giggle about it (I hope). I also have gotten into the habit of buying things on sale -- kind of difficult when you have limited freezer space. However, we bought a fridge before we moved into our house since the house didn't come with one. When we got here... tah dah, there's another fridge in the kitchen that they didn't take (or tell us about) afterall. No complaints, but hmmmm. Lent helped Ken move the old fridge to the basement and put the new one in... which has an icemaker. Fancy. Anyway, now we have two fridge/freezers. My dream come true. I just turned it on this past week and moved our fridge & freezer's extra contents downstairs tonight. So now if you open the door, you'll see:

9 frozen roasting chickens (on super sale)
6 bags of turkey stock (2 cup aliquots)
3 bags of beef stock (2c aliquots)
2 bags spaghetti sauce (2c aqts)
6 cans frozen OJ (left from previous tenants)
and in the fridge is two 12 packs of PBR (on sale for under $5 each)
2 bottles wine
3 bottles champagne (Mmm-Mimosas)

I can't wait to stock the fridge with microbeers and/or homebrews when people come to visit. Put a turkey in that sucker come Thanksgiving time. Hell, I can even brine the whole thing in a stockpot IN the fridge. Wow. I'm excited. The possibilities are endless.

With regard to the chickens, we've actually already eaten three... meaning we had (gulp) twelve at one time. Roast those suckers up with a digital thermometer set for 165 and you've got an awesome meal with minimal work. Ken started cooking them for me. He even learned to make a killer gravy out of the giblets. A man after my own heart. Oh wait, I married him. Hooray! Anyway, it's been awesome. But what to do with those chicken carcasses since we work during the week and don't want to be bothered with making stock on weekends.

Behold, the crockpot.

After carving up the bird, throw the carcass in the crockpot with an onion, some garlic, carrots, celery, a bay leaf & fill with water. Cover and put in the fridge. In the morning, we'll pull out the filled crockpot and set it on low for 10 hours. Strain it when you get home and you're ready to go... make chicken & dumplings or just freeze the stock. It makes me so happy.

Thus instead of cooking I get to drink lemon drop martinis now while Ken is playing poker. And never fear, I used the zest of the lemon to flavor a third of a batch of ice cream I'm making from some whole milk I bought last week to make soup. Making three flavors: 1/3 French Vanilla; 1/3 Lemon Zest; 1/3 Chocolate.

Life is good.

Home sweet home

We're back after a long weekend of skiing in Utah. Beautiful weather -- 32+ degrees and sunny. No slush. Perfect. Skied in sunglasses and my windbreaker. It doesn't get much better than that for me. Ken, on the other hand, is a powder hound and missed the fresh white stuff. Lo and behold, it snowed 8-11 inches the night before we left, meaning Ken was very sad that the only day of fresh powder skiing was getting left behind (Mt Hood is already closed for the year due to lack of snowfall).

Skied the trees and bowls of Park City for free the first day. Took the first flight out and we were on the slopes by noon and drinking in the bar by 3:30. Now that's my definition of jumpstarting your vacation. Did Park City the second day with an all mountain tour with everyone.

From left: Lent, random fred, Dave, Kristen, Paul, Taryn, me & Ken 


Skied Solitude with Lent, Dave & Ken the third day. I love that place. It beats Deer Valley, Brighton, Snowbird & the Canyons in my book. Reminds me of a smaller Alta and is a great all-around mountain -- easy to meet up with friends who choose to ski different stuff. (I was telemarking, meaning Ken could snowboard the trees while I figured things out on my leisurely green/blue runs and could still meet him at the bottom of the lift). The fourth day was my day of rest (aka superbowl). Slept in, went to try on ski boots in town since mine are on their last legs. I actually found a pair I like and will be getting them come the end of the season. Also found a pair of googles I love: Smith Anthem's, which are perfect for smaller faces. Yet another thing that will be purchased in the end of the season sales, since my old ones cracked this weekend. Got some great mileage out of both my boots and googles though, as I've had both since high school... a good 10 years of use, including when I was racing in college. Goodbye pain. It's now time for the Judy Marriott school of skiing -- enjoy yourself. No more of my boots being too small that they cut off the circulation to my toes. Next year will be a beautiful season.

Ah, but I digress. Ran some other errands in town (read: bought fudge for the lady taking care of my stuff at work) and then headed back to our place for the superbowl and my 3-hr-long hot tub soak with Kristen and Miller Lite while the boys watched the superbowl. It was a great day.

Got back Monday afternoon to a freshly painted house and a lonely cat. Felt nice not to have to do anything. But then I started freaking out about the declining list of things "to do" and wanted to start on the basement. Bad mistake. Ken pulled me away and got to relax and make a leisurely dinner before going to bed at 9:00.

Sweet dreams.

Off to play!!!!!

Played in a live poker tournament tonight after quite a long hiatus. I found a rather large group of Texas Hold'em players online at Meetup.com. Needless to say, it an illegal gathering of sorts. I had visions of Tony Soprano, Chris Moltisanti and Paulie Walnuts sitting around supervising and making sure they're getting their cut.

Well, in a way it wasn't like that. Although it was weird to be playing poker at a series of six tables in the middle of a warehouse in an industrial area of Portland. Pretty cool though. The betting structure and set-up made things run smoothly. It was a $20 buy-in, no rebuys and the proceeds were split between the top eight people.

I lasted about 2/3 of the way through the tournament (56 people total), which put in around 20th place. Not bad for my first tournament. Went "all in" with pocket kings and really nothing on the board. The guy who beat me had pocket queens and pulled a third queen on the river. That sucks, but there's always next time.

We're off to Park City, UT for some fun, snow, sun, hottubs and Super Bowl this weekend. See ya'll Monday or Tuesday.

Go Patriots!!!!!!!!!!!!

Downward Spiral

I have been having a tough time this week with motivation. A ton of things to do in the lab, yet I don't know how to do them yet without getting some major help from people. I get frustrated and start getting a little depressed, which makes me oversleep in the morning. So I get in late. Then I feel guilty because I didn't get as much done as I would like, so the next morning I sleep later. More guilt. Today was day three. I got to work at 11:15. Working on my blots now, finishing up some stuff before Ken and I go away for the weekend. Started them late, meaning I'll be here late. Haven't packed yet. More guilt.

Ah, but the plot thickens.

I set up a meeting two-three weeks ago with an immunology professor who has similar interests. I get this email about a half hour ago:

Lisa,

I was waiting for you, but you did not show up. You could at least let me know.

(name deleted)

I check my calendar. Sure enough: 1-2 pm; meeting with (deleted). I haven't even met her yet. Great first impression. I email back and apolgize profusely.

I'm spiraling downward and about to cry.

Nope, I already am.

Sunny Days and Gin & Tonics

In anticipation of the nice weather to come, Ken and I have been thinking about our desired mode of relaxation. We have a full size porch now. What kind of chair do we want to watch the people walk by?

Adirondack chairs?
Cafe Table and chairs?
Porch swing?
Rocking Chairs?
Bench?

My dream has always been two adirondack chairs. They have the big arm rests that you can put your drink on. I love that. But the style of our house just didn't seem to match that. You almost need some view of water to pull of adirondack chairs. Besides, they sit so low that they don't lend themselves to peeking over the railing to see what's going on. Porch swings make me want to puke when someone else is 'driving'. So we decided on rocking chairs for the front porch. We'll each have our own -- maybe a little table in between to hold our drinks. I've been scouting them out on craigslist for about a month now... before the warm weather hits. They range in price from $30-150, depending on style and condition. Anything over $50 was too steep for me right now. So imagine my delight of finding this little friend for $40. Drove 20 minutes to see him this morning -- tried it out to discover its little arm rest curves with your arm - so comfortable. sigh. So I bought him from a little old couple and brought him home with me.

Can't wait to try him out on the next sunny day.