In-Laws Arrive Today!

Look forward to seeing them. Kinley is going to get lots of attention.

Parents Visit Recap

My parents left yesterday - bound for California, Zion National Park, Vegas, Denver, etc. They plan to get back to Pennsylvania on Friday. We had a great trip. Lots of chatting and catching up, mainly over plants or while sitting outside. Some of my highlights include:

Their arrival & hats
Friday. It was great to see them pull up. My mom soon pulled out three very sweet hats that she knitted herself. One yellow, one yellow/white stripes, one white. They are in increasing sizes -- the largest fit me, the smallest fits a newborn. Very sweet.

Maternity shopping
Saturday. My mom took me to do one of the things I hate the most. But we had fun. We went to a very sweet little resale shop on 26th & Clinton called Piccolina. They have maternity & baby clothes. It made shopping so much less scary.

Indian Night
The joys of many containers of Indian food and the family all around the table enjoying it.

The Big Reveal
On Monday morning, we found out we're having a girl. My folks were on their way to Seattle, Vancouver Island and Vancouver BC. When they found out it was a girl, they stopped at the Space Needle in Seattle and toasted with champagne. They sent me the following picture. The joys of being new grandparents-to-be:


Mask Night
Thursday. My folks came to our dodgeball game after spending the day in wine country. Our team had made luchador masks for the evening from our team t-shirts. (If anyone wants the pattern, I can get it for you from my friend. It took our entire team 5 hours to make them one night using two sewing machines and lots of beer). Anyway, it was great having my folks there to see us all. (Note: Ken's in black, I'm #3 under the flag)


Work Visit, New Clothes & Plant Night
My folks took a ride on the new Portland Aerial Tram and visited me at work. They said I was blushing as I showed them my office, etc. After they left, they stopped by Piccolina on the way home (my mom was dying to go back since she found out it was going to be a girl). When I got home, she had purchased several very sweet outfits in varying sizes (onesie, a blanket/sleeping bag-zipper thing that I would like to wear for cold nights, a couple of sweet outfits and an adorable pair of shoes that are probably my favorite of the bunch). Everything is so little. After the "fashion show", my mom and I went around the yard and dug up lots of "friends" for her to take home to her yard. I think she has 20 gallons of perennials in the back of the car. Now we'll be able to look at the same plants when we look out of our windows.

Golf Day
My mom, dad, brother, Ken and I went to Edgefield to play 20 holes of golf on Saturday (par 3 course with lots of beer). It was a beautiful day. We got to relax while mom and Ken competed against each other to be the first to get par. Mom was the first, though Ken is quick to point out he was the first to get birdie (albeit after Mom's par). I almost got a hole-in-one which would have allowed me to have chickens (per Ken's and my standard bet). As a result, Ken almost had a heart attack on the course.

Mother's Day
Brunch of dutch babies and bacon. More plant "friends" for my mom. Watched Ken's kickball game. My folks packed for their next day departure. Then we grilled out and had homemade strawberry shortcake for dessert. A simple, but delicious mother's day.

Departure Day
Not really a highlight, but they're happy to be heading back to their house with lots of wine and "friends". They'll be back for 2 weeks in October, just after the baby is born. Due date is Oct 4th, they're arriving on the 8th. I can't believe that we'll have a kid in less than five months.

Weekend in Preview

My parents arrive today!

Looking forward to seeing them. They're driving cross country and will get in sometime between 3-5 pm. Andrew's meeting us for dinner and drinks at our place. Grilling and hanging out on the porch. I'm happy it's supposed to be sunny.

Haven't fully determined plans yet, but possibilities for the weekend include:

• Going to the Belgian Beer fest at Lucky Lab
  
• Going to Edgefield to play golf (and drink beer)
• I would love to take my dad to the Rebuilding Center
• I would love to take my mom to Portland Nursery
• I think my mom wants to go maternity clothes shopping at some point
• I know they want to see where my brother lives, works, etc.
  

They're in town for the next 10 days or so -- minus their weekday excursions to Vancouver BC, Seattle and Oregon wine country.

I can hardly wait to get off of work.

Projects to Distract Me

Ken was out of town yesterday for work, so it seemed a great time to get busy on some projects to take my mind off of things.

The three I wanted to accomplish:
1. Sand the drywall (the last of it in the basement!)
2. Paint the second coat of the soon-to-be office wall
3. Make laundry detergent.

I'm happy to say that all were accomplished. I even found two awesome old windows when I was walking Kinley that I grabbed. I'll refinish them at some point -- maybe put in some leaded glass or build them into a cabinet.

The laundry detergent was the easiest and most fun. There are plenty of recipes online -- most use borax, washing soda and bar soap (all available in the laundry aisle of the grocery store). From what I've read, it lasts a while, works great and costs $0.02/load rather than $0.30/load for storebought. There are recipes for liquid or powdered versions, so you can make whatever suits your needs. Looks pretty easy. I tried a small batch first.

Homemade Laundry Soap

1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap... Read More
½ cup washing soda
½ cup borax powder

~2 gallon size bucket~

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. You use ½ cup per load.

And the result?

It worked! I thought grating hard soap would be a pain, but it was super simple. Other tasks including boiling water, stirring and measuring out two 1/2 cup ingredients, so it was really, really simple and made the whole house smell amazing.

My brother came to visit just as I was about to add the soap and I got the "what are you doing?" look, but he quickly got into it too. It's too simple and fun not to enjoy. Kids would love to see this being made... soap, bubbles and stirring. Fun.

We put the warm mixture into a glass pickle jar and only used the original 6 cups of water. So it's super concentrated and solidified into a gelatinous mass within 2 hours (probably why they add more water). But all it needs is diluting, so I'm not going to worry about it. I can just use less of it in the wash (or I can dilute it -- I haven't decided which path to take yet)....

So, so far, highly recommended. I gave Andrew a jar of it and he's going to test it out tonight since he has to do laundry.

4.875 gallons of beer on the wall...

We always get a k-egg for Easter. This year we got Deschutes Brewery's Green Lakes Organic Amber. Ken had to return the keg tap today, but wanted to save whatever was left in the keg since it was pretty good. He asked me if I had any jars, to which I smiled and gave him access to my lovelies... twelve 1/2 gallon mason jars that he got me for Christmas.

And out to the porch he went. We bet on how many jars he'd be able to fill -- I thought they'd be 2 jars worth, he thought 5. We were both wrong. A total of 4.875 gallons were pulled from the tap. So delectable. I took a sip when we tapped the keg and it was delicious, so I am sad that I won't get to help drink the rest of it, but I'm sure my brother will oblige and take one for the team. And whatever goes flat, I will use for cooking.

Behold, the beauty of our kitchen island (before it went in the fridge):

Plans tonight

Heading to the Merle Haggard/Kris Kristofferson show tonight with my brother. He loves them and got two tickets. I'm the lucky recipient of the other ticket.

I'm excited that they're playing at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, a beautiful site with lots of seating for pathetic pregnant women as they sing along. I've always wanted to go inside but never have. So i'm pretty excited. Plus I like the music. Show starts at 8:30. Andrew asked if that will be a problem for me since it's past my bedtime. Sadly, he's right.

Looking forward to it.

What would you do: Car Edition

Ken and I are trying to decide what to do about our car, which had a massive heart attack of sorts over the weekend. Here's Ken's email to me. What would you do? Any advice is very much appreciated.

So here's the deal: The connecting rod was broken in several pieces and damaged, obviously, the piston in question but apparently other pistons have been damaged in the process when it broke. Basically it would need an engine overhaul which is the approx. $5000+.

In thinking about this, I am slightly torn as to whether this repair is worth it or not.

1. On the one hand, we would be looking at the cost of a new car (or used) which in either case will be considerably more than this $5000+ that we're talking about. Considering the monthly payment, we may well be looking at about a year's (maybe less) worth of payments. If we keep the car for longer than a year, then we've saved ourselves money from there out until we decide to sell the car.

2. On the other hand, we are looking at an up front expense that, when compared to the potential book value of the car, may not seem financially tenable. If the car were worth $30000, then maybe it would be, but given the $4615-11050 (assuming the low end), we may well be spending equal to or more than the value of the car. This is obviously a strike against doing the repairs.

If we were to consider to NOT do the repairs (#2 above), I already have an offer for the car as-is of $1100. This tells me that the car is worth at least $6100 and probably more considering that the person who buys it would want to make a tidy profit on it. It may well be worth about $8000+

Considering my distaste for years of monthly payments on a vehicle that will only depreciate in value and my anticipation of increased expenses with our potential little one, I am leaning somewhat toward actually doing the repairs and holding the car for as long as we can.

Anyone have any thoughts on the matter. I would certainly appreciate anyone's comments on the above or other options that I have not mentioned.

My family

From this year's Santacon (December 2008). Mindy took this picture slightly before they got kicked out of the bar.

Game Results

The sibling rivalry game went great. Our team had two plans going into the game:

1. Ken offered: "Free beer for every two times anyone gets Andrew out. I'd say every time, but given he's a rookie and it's a 40 minute match.....that could get pricey."

2. Brian organized: "Also, in the first game we should do our best to make sure he only plays for a few seconds by teaming up with all 3 of our first balls without any regard for our own personal safety. "


Andrew warmed up with his team. He was a nervous cat because he hadn't worn shorts in so long. Teams lined up. 3 shots fired immediately at Andrew. Andrew's out (by Ken) but so are two of our players. Game was good overall. We were tied 2-2 and then we came back to win 6 in a row, making the score 8-2. Andrew did very well, he dodged, had a good arm and even attempted a catch (very hard for rookies to try -- especially their first time out).

After the game, he rode to the bar with his teammates. We met them there and bought them a few pitchers. At one point he had 5 pitchers on the table in front of him. He was happy.

There were 40 teams playing last night. Most have ~10 on the roster. Assume 1/2 go to the bar on any given night, so we're talking 200 people. Plenty of people for him to meet over the next few weeks. So, a great start for him. We're glad he's connected with the sport. He even seemed to enjoy it a bit.

Head to Head

Tomorrow is the first night of league dodgeball since November. My brother has decided to give it a try and was looking for a team. He found a great one when he met a bunch of people at the Holiday Ale Festival. They asked him to join, he said yes. They are a great group of people, so I'm especially excited for him.

So tomorrow kicks off the season. And which team do you think his team plays first? If you said Ken's and mine, then you've guessed correctly.

So mark your watches. 7:55 tomorrow night. 40 minutes of Andrew vs Lisa, dodgeball edition.

Should be fun. Don't worry, mom. We'll take him to the bar afterwards so he can drown his sorrows in cheap beer.

December Flashback

Wow, a month since I last posted. Sorry about that. Luckily, only good news on the Roko front. Here are some of the things that have been going on:

• My brother Andrew arrived and has been living with us since early December. He got a job near our house as the manager of an art supply store. He's very happy -- he likes the people he works with, he's on salary, has benefits and he can bike to work. He's getting accustomed to Portland, some things he really likes (art and music scene, friendly people, bike lanes everywhere) but other things he's still figuring out (girlfriend is long distance, there's more rain here than in Denver, disbelief that he signed up for dodgeball and is responsible for a business). I've been cooking a lot with Andrew. He's learned to make different breads, gravy, pancetta, etc. He likes baking bread the most and even made some when we were out of town for a week.

• Christmas was fun, especially because it was very white this year. Portland got a crazy winter storm and my work was closed for a week (just before xmas). We had snow drifts 2 feet in places around our house. Kinley was very excited. Ken snowshoed to work everyday. I skied to my dentist appointment! Here are a few pictures from the holidays:


Watching Ken's childhood train go around the tree

Waking up on Christmas morning to realize Andrew and I put on the same clothes




• The homebrew Ken and I made turned out! It's a hoppy amber and uses hops that we grew in our backyard. Pretty exciting! In contrast, the sauerkraut and tomato pickles that we were fermenting didn't work. Both had a not-so-lovely layer of mold. We threw both in the compost. I'd rather have beer than pickles, so I'm ok with this.



• Ken and I went to Mexico for Dave & Kristen's wedding. We left for Puerto Vallarta on December 30th. We stayed there for New Year's and then took a 45 minute water taxi to Yelapa, a town on the beach that has no roads/cars. D&K were married in a lovely, small ceremony on January 3rd. We were in Mexico a week. Here are some pictures of Mexico and their wedding:
  
  
  We went to a mojito bar one night in Puerto Vallarta. They had glasses upon glasses of them lined up, ready to go
  
  
  The group at the mojito bar.
  
  
  We ate cricket tacos one night
  
  
  Dave & Kristen rented a big boat to take all of us from Puerto Vallarta to Yelapa. We had to transfer boats (in middle of the bay!) so that we could get ashore. Imagine all the people, baggage and even Kristen's wedding dress being transferred to this smaller boat. It took 3 trips to get us all there. Tim, our tallest guy, carried Kristen's dress so it wouldn't get wet. Here we are arriving on the beach of Yelapa.
  
  
  They had our casita keys ready for us on the beach. Here is the beach of Yelapa with the mist coming down the mountains. It was a beautiful, quiet beach with mountains all around. Taryn took this one. We went ashore smack in the center of that beach.
  
  
  
  The casitas of the hotel. Ours was the 2nd from the left. You can see our beach chairs where we sat in the morning/evening.
  
  
  Their pool overlooking the Pacific. The pool had giant boulders in it -- you could sit in the pool on various rocks and look out onto the beach or water.
  
  
  Kristen and Dave threw a welcome dinner for everyone on the night that we arrived. Here are Kristen, Ken and I at the welcome dinner
  
  
  
  Afterwards, they threw a bonfire on the beach and kept the beach bar open. Here is the bar on the beach where Jana and Paul are getting drinks after the welcome dinner.
  
  
  Taryn brought outfits for Dave and Kristen to wear at the bonfire.
  
  
  
  The old gang on the beach with big toothy grins
  
  
  
  Team Roko Demolition at the bonfire
  
  
  
  We hung out on the beach the next day. Their wedding was at sunset. Here is the wedding aisle before the ceremony, made of palm fronds, bamboo mats and bougainvilla
  
  
  The ceremony
  
  
  Dave and Kristen just after they got married
  
  
  Walking back down the aisle as the mariachis sing to them.
  
  
  Nate, Ken, Karl and I suprise the bride and groom with luchador masks we got in Puerto Vallarta
  
  
  The posada where the wedding reception was held
  
  
  The bride and groom at the reception
  
  
  Me with my bride, Ken
  
  
  
  The next day, Dave, Ken and others searched out a place where they could watch the Vikings/Eagles game. There was one place up river. The road to the sports bar is never long.
  
  
  Dave in his Eagles' luchador mask and sarape, watching the game with friends. Dave was very happy that day.
  
  
  Dave & Kristen before we all head back. What a great wedding and vacation!
  
  
  

Holiday Ale Festival

My brother has landed. We decided to celebrate his 3rd interview at one of his potential companies by going to the Holiday Ale Festival with some friends after work. Here are our reviews of the beers that they're still offering. We're going back tonight to socialize with friends, but I'm sure it will be packed so it will be more talking and less beer drinking.

Enjoy!

Must Try:

• Firestone Walker - Velvet Merkin Stout - This got consistently high reviews among all of us and other tasters. Kathy went back for more. (ranked #1 by Kathy)
• Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla beans - Wow, so great. If you like vanilla, you must try this. All five of us agreed that we really loved it. If I had to get a full mug of any of the beers, this would be one of my top picks. I'm sad Ken got it instead of me. (This was ranked #1 of the night for Lisa, Andrew & Ken; #3 for Kathy)
• Collaborator - Hallucinator (Strong Ale) I love the homebrewers' entries. This was no exception. I thought it was terrific. (ranked #2 of the night by Lisa)
• Hair of the Dog - JIM 2008. Kathy loved this one. It's a little too strong for me, but it got decent to good reviews from most tasters.
• Lagunitas Yersinia Pestis Stout - Ken likes this a lot. Wow, it's like drinking chocolate at your desk at the office. If you like chocolate, you'll be blown away. (Ranked #2 by Ken)
• Max's Fanno Creek Dopplebock - Kathy loves this one and there were a few in the crowd that definitely agreed. (Ranked #2 by Kathy)

Decent

• Golden Valley Oaken Bomb (Spice beer) - I got this later in the night. I thought it had a good flavor and was unoffensive. My brother thought it was delightful.
• New Belgium Abbey Grand Cru (Belgian strong ale) - This was Holly's favorite so she got a full mug. But by the time she got to the bottom, it was way too sweet for her. Still, if you like begians, go for a taster of the stuff.
• Redhook's Double Black Stout - Ken loved it. It was heavy like a meal and too much for me. but if you're a stout person...
• Rogue Yellow Snow IPA - Good flavor, light, full and hoppy. It's great without being a heavy IPA
• Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale - My brother loved it. It has 90 IBUs, highest of the night so if you like hoppy beers give it a try.
• Widmer Babushka's Secret Stout - It was pretty good. I got this, my brother got the Collaborator, but we liked each other's better so we traded glasses. He called this dark and stouty with a bite. It packs a punch at the end.

Interesting

• Cascade Brewing's Sang Noir (Sour Ale) We never had a sour ale before and we were split down the line whether we liked it or not. Some love the cider-y bite. Other though it was too "specific" of a taste for most. If you like malt vinegar on your french fries, give this one a try.

OK but not worth much mentioning

• Anchor Brewing - Old Foghorn (Strong Ale) - Good, tastes like a thin IPA
• Brasserie Dupont - Avec Les Bon Vouex ( Belgian/french ale) - Cleans the palette, light and estery
• Deschutes Mirror Mirror 2005 (Strong Ale) - other people at the festival liked, Andrew and I thought it was ok. It tasted a little past its prime and skunky to me.
• Eugene City TrackTown Shotput Stout - Ken got it. thought it was ok to good, but I preferred other stouts at the party.
• Hazeldell Weihnachten (Spice beer) - unoffensive, ok but nothing great. Not to be confused with the other Weihedkdiakidfijekahdieafeffest
• Hopworks Noggin Floggiin Barleywinee - Was described as generic but I thought it was pretty hoppy and strong. There was something missiing from it though so the flavors didn't truly shine.
• Ninkasi Sleigh'r (Amber) - I love Ninkasi so my hopes were high and left me disappointed. Others felt that it was good.
• Yakima Craft Twin Stag Oaked Scottish Atle - I have litte memory of this beer but I wrote that I liked it better than the Ninkasi, so it's going in this category.
• Pyramid's Snow Capn' and Tenille - We loved the name. Beer was good though I can't remember much about it since I was in spreadsheet land.

Avoid:

• Laurelwood Weihnachtfest (Bock). We all agreed that this was the worst of the night. Dirty socks of a hobo says Kathy.
• North Coast Old Stock Ale - Horrible aftertaste
• Off the Rail Brewing - Blizzard of Ozz - We did not taste it but were told it was completely broken with a bad chloraseptic taste.
• Eel River Climax Noel - we didn't taste it but another said "too syrupy and not as ineresting as I hoped"

Andrew

My brother is moving to Portland on December 2nd. He's looking for a change of scene and I think Portland will work out well for him. He'll be moving in with us until he gets settled. It will be fun to have him around for the holidays and such. We've lived in different cities since I left for college in '99.

He's working on getting a job lined up. He had a second interview today in Seattle (they flew him in for it) and they already arranged for a third interview when he arrives in Portland in a few weeks. I'm proud of him. Here he is as a lamp from when he came to visit this summer.

So stay tuned, there will be more stories ahead as the testosterone to estrogen ratio in our house climbs to 4:1.

Plant it in your orchard

Work
Lots of work at our house lately, and sadly not the kind at home. Ken has been staying late for weeks now and I'll have spent three saturdays at work out of the last 5. Usually, I'd be a bit fussy about it, but I like my job so I don't mind so much. Plus it's not a regular occurrence. Things are busy for me though -- one coworker just left since she's moving out of the country and another left in March for a (permanent) maternity leave. So now I'm spending time between two offices but getting more experience in a short period of time than I ever dreamed. I'm going to DC for a meeting in a week and a half. Plus, I'll be going back in November for SfN! How fun! Can't wait to see everyone.

Family
Other than work, we spent the last week in April in Hawley, PA for Ken's family reunion. It took us 12 hours to get there -- the closest town is Scranton, PA if that tells you anything. We had a great time and it was wonderful to see everyone. There were ~30 of us -- very fun to get everyone together at one time -- especially since nobody has to host. Or cook. Or drive. Or organize activities. You just hang out, play games, eat meals and drink together. It was great to catch up -- I hadn't seen most of them for two years.

"Friends"
I finished the rock border in the backyard this weekend, but my biggest update is that I planted a peach tree in the backyard. He gets 12' tall, is self-fertile and disease-resistant. I love him dearly and took a picture of him, but it's on Ken's camera so this one that I found on the internet will have to do. Plus, there's a chicken in the picture so it was the hands-down winner. Anyway, the peach tree is awesome. Reddish bark. Bright pink flowers. I can't wait to pick peaches in my own backyard. For drinks. To grill. To eat from the tree. Awesome.

The most hilarious part is that when we first moved into our house and planted our $5 cherry tree, the lady told us to "plant it in [our] orchard". Of course, our orchard! Now, 3 years later, our small 50x100 foot lot in the middle of Portland has the following perennial edibles (none of which were there before we moved in):

Peach tree
Apple tree (5 varieties)
Asian pear tree (5 varieties)
Bing cherry tree
Yuzu citrus tree
Blueberries (3 varieties)
Strawberries (100+ plants, 5 varieties)
Gooseberry (Captivator)
Red Currant (Cherry)
Black Currant (Crandall)
Lingonberries (4 plants, 2 varieties)
Rhubarb (Victoria)
Hops (4 varieties)

I feel very lucky. Dwarfing, disease-resistant trees make me so happy. They're not expensive (especially in bare-root form) and they give back so much. Even Ken is excited! I think my pressure canner will be very busy this summer.

Rachel and Justin's Wedding

Last weekend was Rachel and Justin's wedding in San Francisco. We had a great time and it was awesome to see them. We got in on Friday afternoon and spent some time with Whitney and Greg at Rachel & Justin's apartment before the rehearsal dinner. Whit is a good friend from college who lives in Virginia, so I don't get to see her and Greg very often. They're super fun so it was great to catch up.

Whit and Greg



My folks were also in town for the wedding, so we had breakfast with them on Saturday before Ken and I went looking for a replacement wallet for yours truly (since I dropped mine in the toilet). I found a new one that I love. Red and awesome.

Ken and me after breakfast



The wedding was held at the Presidio overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. That was their theme for the wedding -- Whit made the invitations with it, one of their friends had a giant lego replica of it in the cocktail hour room and Rachel asked me to make the cake topper, so I also used the bridge (using their colors of orange and pale green).

Rachel and her dad going down the aisle



They had a super fun wedding. Lots of dancing and merriment. Rachel's brother made a promise to her over 10 years when he was 14 that he'd sing "Gettin' jiggy with it" at her wedding. He did not disappoint. It was hilarious.

Jeff getting jiggy


Rachel and Justin dancing


My family


My mom and me


The cake topper I made



The next day, my folks, Ken and I went on a bike ride across the Golden Gate bridge, into Sausalito and took the ferry back across the bay. It was fun.

Biking the golden gate


Then it was time to us to fly home. A super busy weekend. Sad we didn't catch up with Arthur and Liz while we were there but there just wasn't enough time this go around.

Happy wedding Rachel and Justin!

Is it naptime yet?

We've been going, going, going for several weeks now. Lots of good stuff -- but even lots of good stuff is exhausting. In the past few weeks:

* Ken's softball tournament in Washington was the 2nd weekend of June. It poured the entire time. I mean POURED. Yuck. I went for a few of his games after I picked up 700 lbs of basalt to build a garden border. I am still in the process of building it.

* Had another Top Chef showdown. A potato battle. I wasn't in it, I just ate. Among the dishes were: scalloped potatoes with a truffle oil (my #1 dish), a red thai curry with udon noodles, a grilled skirt steak with mashed potatoes and chimichurri sauce, 3 kinds of kabobs: a potato chicken, an apricot potato chicken and a red potato/shrimp/mango, and lastly, a sweet potato phyllo dish that was excellent. It was a close competition with just one point separating the two.

* Dodgeball every monday night

* Ken's men's softball league every tuesday night

* Ken's co-ed softball league every sunday night

* Tom and Amy visited from San Francisco for the weekend of June 15/17th

* Last weekend was my 30th birthday; we went camping at Olallie Lake (south of Mt. Hood, about 10 miles north of Mt. Jefferson). We were going to go to Horseshoe Lake, but there was still snow on the ground. Yes, it is June. I made eggs benedict for breakfast on my birthday with mimosas and bloody marys. One of my best camp breakfasts, if I do say so myself. Turns out it's easier to make than one would think. I even cured and smoked my own canadian bacon. That was exciting. In all, we had a great time but camping is always exhausting.

* For said camping trip, I was looking for a breakfast idea that I could make ahead... something like a coffee cake (so I could sleep in a bit and not feel guilty about the hungry early risers). I ended up finding my favorite recipe for coffee cake yet. A nice change from the cinnamon varieties that are everywhere. I made it Thursday night and it was awesome (and demolished) when we cut into it on Saturday:

Cherry Almond Coffee Cake
White Rose Inn, Emporia, KS; Bon Appétit, November
1995; Serves 12

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream

1/2 21-ounce can cherry pie filling (I used some cherry jam with whole cherries)
1/2 cup thinly sliced almonds (about 2 ounces) (didn't add due to friend's allergies)

Streusel topping: 1/4 cup butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 cup flour. Mix together and crumble on top.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 10-inch-diameter springform pan. Beat sugar and butter in large bowl until light. Add eggs, vanilla extract and almond extract and beat well. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into medium bowl. Mix half of dry ingredients into butter mixture. Mix in sour cream, then remaining dry ingredients. Pour 2/3 of batter (about 2 cups) into prepared pan. Drop pie filling by tablespoons evenly over batter. Drop remaining batter by spoonfuls over pie filling. Using back of spoon, carefully spread batter over filling. Sprinkle with almonds. Bake until tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 5 minutes. Cool in pan on rack. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover with foil and store at room temperature.) Cut around sides of pan. Remove pan.

* We ordered and received new siding for the garage (we have yet to install it; Ken took off the old stuff last night. The old usable stuff will be donated to the Rebuilding Center.)

* We are struggling to hold everything together in our lives. They're putting up the fence between our house and the lot next door this weekend. That means we have to install the siding pronto. We also are building 7 ft high tomato cages since that's how big our tomatoes got last year before they toppled over the measly old 4' cages. Only we've been swamped and have only finished 5 of 15. The tomatoes continue to grow. It will be a photo finish to see if we can get the cages in the ground in time before the plants get too big.

* Karl arrives tonight from Tucson.

* Driving to Seattle tomorrow for the potlatch tournament (ultimate frisbee). We'll be camping on the fields -- along with the 1000 or so other people that will be attending. Taryn organized the team. Chuck and Dana are meeting us all there (although I got a call this morning saying they may not make it because rain cancelled most flights out of NYC. They slept in the airport last night - yuck. The first "guarateed" flight leaves July 1. They were on standby as of this morning and if they didn't get it, they were bailing on their trip. I don't blame them. I haven't heard from them since.... does that mean that they are in the air?).

* June 20th was Ken's mom's birthday. Yesterday was my parents' 37th anniversary. And Taryn's 31st birthday. Tomorrow is my mom's birthday. Congratulations to all.

* Also congratulations to Rob and Jana -- I just heard that they are expecting their second child.


I think that's about it. At least I hope that's it. I can hardly keep track of everything. My only saving grace is that Ken is feeling the same way. It's nice that even though we're stretched so thin, we are still on the same page. That's a great feeling. Hope you're all doing well. Lots of love, Lisa

Catch Up

My folks and brother were in town last week. We had a great time and went to wine country and out to the coast for a couple of days. They left on Tuesday, but not before we made my mother and father help pour a concrete foundation for our garage. Ken is doing the sill plate and lowering the whole structure this weekend. I'm going to lay a couple yards of mulch and finish the irrigation for the front yard (the small leaders and drippers). It feels good not to have any major plans or having to fight traffic to get out of town.

I'm just about to submit my second paper (the last one left from grad school that I've added to since i've been here). I am excited that it will be off my plate. It had started to "talk to me" (not literally, but it was always in my thoughts). I also found out yesterday that I got a small fellowship that will help pay for my research this summer. Always a plus. Also submitted my abstract for SfN last week so I will see you folks out in San Diego this fall.

Busy. Busy.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

When we went home to see my folks for Christmas, we spent a lot of time in the kitchen chatting. In the process, Ken's mom and I convinced my mom that giving the kitchen some color may look beautiful. (Both Ann and I have painted our kitchens and really enjoy the vibrance and change from a dull white). My mom got excited by the prospect; my dad was not excited for any change. But after we left, they started looking at paint chips and picking out colors and, over time, my dad started to be uneasy about painting (rather than flat-out hating the idea).

Well, today's the day.

They are painting the kitchen a beautiful rich rusty-red. I think it looks great -- and they've only done one coat so far. I am very proud of them for going for it. As an added bonus, I think it looks beautiful and I would much rather sit in their new red kitchen than their old white one. Especially on a cold white, snowy day. I'm excited. See the change for yourself:

Holiday Travel, check!

Ken just booked our tickets to fly to New Hampshire... for Christmas. In 10 months. He said it's the earliest he's ever booked travel. Wanted to use our miles before all the spaces were booked. At least it's finished.

Christmas Surprise

Like many other couples, Ken and I have to split holiday time between our parents' houses -- not easy when one set lives in Pennsylvania and the other set lives in New Hampshire. We decided to have this year with my folks, next year with Ken's folks and the following year at our house. We left last Saturday morning for six days.

My folks live right next to a ski resort about an hour SW of Pittsburgh. We spent many winters up there when my brother and I were growing up. Lots of skiing and lots of friends. And now my folks live there permanently and are retired so they have all the time in the world to enjoy it. Needless to say, they love it there.

Saturday
We arrived on Saturday afternoon and my dad came to pick us up from the airport. Andrew was delayed about 2.5 hours but, seeing as he was coming from Denver, we were just happy that he could make it. My mom had a party waiting for us when we arrived. 27 people. 5 sets of my parents' friends and all their kids who we knew growing up and are now adults. Weird that they always tried to keep us away from the beer, now they're actually having a party for us to drink it.


Sunday
Christmas Eve. My dad called earlier that week to tell us that there was no snow so we shouldn't bring our skis (shocker that he said that, for anyone who knows him). In light of these events, I did not get out of my pajamas until 4 pm. It was a good day. I took a shower and then helped mom prep our family tradition for Christmas Eve dinner -- seafood fondue and twice baked potatoes. Seafood fondue is a whole platter of raw seafood (scallops, shrimp, lobster, tuna) that we cook in a fondue pot using chicken broth. Pretty fun. She also made a plate of sauteed mussels in a garlic white wine sauce and also some clams cooked the same way. Yum.

Monday
Christmas! A lazy but wonderful day. Ken and I got each other snowshoes as did my parents for each other. There were also all sorts of other wonderful gifts exchanged (including my beloved 6 quart all clad saute pan that was procurred by my folks at the All Clad Seconds sale. So excited). My other best was the book that Ken got me all about making, curing and smoking my own foods. I spent Christmas night making a seafood terrine -- very fun. I thinly sliced scallops and used them to wrap some tuna which enveloped a puree of lobster and shrimp mixed with an egg white to hold it all together when cooked. I poached it in some shrimp stock that I made two nights before. (Sidenote: I am now making pancetta from the book -- a week of salt curing followed by 2-3 weeks of drying by hanging in the basement.)

My brother, Andrew


We stayed up late and watched movies and relaxed. I went to bed around 1 that night. Ken came to bed about an hour later. Not 10 minutes after he came to bed, there was a knock on our bedroom door. He opened it to find his parents standing there. They had coordinated with my folks and flew down from NH to suprise us for Christmas. Mission accomplished. Ken was very very excited. We all chatted for a bit and then went to bed. It was 3 AM by then.



Tuesday

We all slept in and then lounged around the house. Around 2, we decided to go see Frank Lloyd Wright's "Falling Water" since it is about 15 minutes from my folks' place. Very cool to see. When we got back, I made a seafood stromboli to take with us to another family's party. The stromboli was a hit. (Used frozen bread dough for the stromboli dough (thanks Dave!) and then mixed the raw seafood with some cream cheese, mozzarella and hot sauce. It was devoured. )


Wednesday
We lounged around most of the morning and early afternoon. Ken's folks said they'd like to take us all out for dinner that night and we made our way down to the Black Dog Pub. Sadly, they were closed so we drove another 15 minutes to Laurel Mountain Inn. We had a great dinner, but the highlight was when we were leaving and a black stray kitten rubbed up against Ann and Randy. We pet her for a bit and my mom picked her up to hold her. (Note: my mom has been wanting a cat for a while. In an equal but opposite direction, that's how much my dad didn't want a cat.) A waitress walked by and said that the kitten was a stray, declawed, very sweet, but that the family couldn't keep her. My mom put the cat down since my dad said no and we all walked to the car. The kitten followed. That was when my mom pulled my dad to the side and must have whispered sweet nothings wrapped in bacon and gold because my dad said the cat could come home with us... "on a trial basis". By the night's end, my dad was holding Laurel in his arms. (Sidenote: Laurel went to the vet and is in great health. She knows how to use the litter box and likes to follow people around the house. My dad says the first thing he hears when he comes in the door is her little bell running towards him. Yes, they are keeping her.)


Thursday
Ken's folks left early in the morning. Sad, but what a great trip. Andrew was leaving that afternoon, so we packed up and went into Pittsburgh since there was the Louis Comfort Tiffany exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Art that we wanted to see. We got to see all sorts of stained glass and other pieces. They were gorgeous. Dropped Andrew off at the airport, checked in at our hotel (we weren't leaving until the next morning), and then went to the Strip District in Pittsburgh. Got lunch at Primanti Brothers and then walked around. I wish that place existed in Portland.... went to an Italian market with all sorts of killer meats and cheeses behind counters, plus tons of olives, oils, vinegars and even Kristen's beloved lupini/lupine beans.

Hey Lisa,

When we were in Philly I got these amazing marinated lupine beans from the deli counter of a grocer in “Little Italy”. I recently found canned lupine beans at 17th St Market but I can’t find any recipes for a marinade. Ever had anything like that?

K

The next place we stopped was a spice store (I picked up some juniper berries for my pancetta) followed by the best meat and fish store I've ever seen. I love you Wholey's. Note: this is where I had to be dragged out of the store by my loving family. This is also where I saw that they had home-cured bacon for prices cheaper than what I paid per pound for raw pork bellies. Sad.

We went up the Duquesne Incline and went to dinner overlooking Pittsburgh. We had an amazing time. Here's an old picture that shows what it looks like from the bottom (we had dinner at the top of the skyrise on the right):


And looking from the top towards downtown Pittsburgh:


Friday
We had an early flight, a free airport shuttle and few lines through security. We also found out that we got upgraded to first class (for free) for both legs of our trip. I guess Ken's flying all the time for work does have some perks. I enjoyed my two bloody marys and read my book We landed at 11 AM on Friday (awesome) which is the perfect time to arrive after a long trip... still have the whole day AND your weekend. Kinley and Hughes were very happy to see us. Thanks to Adam and Alyson/FanEric for watching them while we were gone.