Busted

On our way home from a ski trip this past weekend, we heard a loud "boom" and our car started shaking violently. We pulled off the road to check things out. Things looked fine. We could shift between gears so it wasn't the transmission. The vibrations continued in park and neutral, so it wasn't the tires/steering. The temperature/oil lights didn't rise dramatically, so the car was driveable.

So we continued the our 1.5 hour journey home. In overdrive to minimize the vibrations that cause the "check engine light" to come on. And in the right lane. We figured it was an engine mount that blew. We looked up repair costs and they run around $26.

Instead, we learned it was a piston that blew. (Manufacturer's defect that just took this long). I have a 2000 Toyota with 104K miles. Cost to fix? $5000. Cost to sell car "in rough condition"? $5500. I think you're getting the idea of what this means. Looks like my beloved car is toast.

There is an option C... there may be a bad connection rod that blew. If this is the case, they can work on just the one piston instead of the whole thing. That will be considerably less expensive and may give us a lot more miles on the car. Diagnostics are being performed now. Stay tuned...

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!
  
  
  

Hood to Coast 2008

Ken's team finished the sub-200 mile relay race in 30 hours, 56 minutes and 39 seconds. They had a great time. There are 12 people on a team and they break into two groups/vans. Van 1 runs while Van 2 rests and vice versa. They started at 8:55 on Friday morning and arrived in Seaside, Oregon at 6:30ish on Saturday evening.

All of the runners play dodgeball with us, so they were the Dodgeball Run Kids (or DRUNKS for short). All of the photos are here, but here are a few to get you started.

Ken's van before the race on top of Mt Hood:


Here's Ken leaving the Timberline start on Friday morning:


Ken flying down Mt Hood at a 6:37 pace. Apparently he checked an incoming text message as he was running.


While one van runs, the other sleeps. Imagine this times thousands, scattered along the Oregon woods and roads.


Here is the finish line in Seaside. Kinley got to run around the beach and play fetch in the ocean while we were waiting for the runners to arrive.


And here is the team leaving with their medals of completion. It was a long day. Everyone should be very proud of themselves.



I watched Ken's transition under Portland's Hawthorne bridge on Friday night before driving to the coast with Kinley. We rented a house on the beach and a few of us went down early to go crabbing on Saturday morning. We woke up before 5 AM and hit the road. We rented a boat, traps and got bait (fish carcasses and chicken -- crabs looovvvee chicken) and were on the bay near Rockaway Beach shortly after 6 AM (high tide that day).

There were six of us and our first pull brought up at least 30 crabs, about 6 inches deep in the trap. Most were females or too small to keep. At the end of our 3 hours, we caught 7 Dungeness crabs. The boat outfitters cleaned and cooked the crabs for us on the spot. We ate for brunch and drank a beer by the fire while we dried our stinking wet clothes.



On our way back, we decided to do a shellfish tour. We went hunting for mussels and clams but there was a red tide advisory so we decided to not eat any mussels. And our clam hunt was a muddy bust.

Overall, we had a great time. Crabbing was great* and the trip was terrific. We got back around 4 pm. Ken watched a movie and I drywalled the basement some more since it was raining.


* I have washed my shoes out twice by hand and they've gone through the washing machine twice. Nasty crab water and clammy mud is a difficult smell to remove.

Rafting Photos 2008

Just got the rafting photos from last weekend. Thought you'd like to see them since Ken is guiding and Kinley is in the back of the boat, too. I'm front left.

Here is our descent over Oak Springs:

1. Heading in



2. Lisa is submerged, Kinley is in the back of the boat looking over


3. Lisa is out of the water but thrown back. Kinley and Ken submerged.


4 And we're all up. Phew!



What a blast!

And here is the town of Maupin, Oregon. It is a small town in Oregon's high desert. You can see Mt Hood in the background.

Bailing in the Middle of the Night

We went rafting this weekend. It was the hottest weekend of the year in Portland, so we decided to spend it in the high desert.

We had a great time. We made Kung Pow Chicken the first night (yum, see post below in comments under Camping Food: Lessons Learned). We went rafting on Saturday with a fun group of people. We had a great time; Ken hit the rapids better than he ever has. We finished around 3. That's when we started overheating. We sat in the river for a few hours. Nice but hot. Ken went and got us milkshakes. Delicious but still hot. We tried to eat dinner. Too hot to eat.

We tried to sit back in the river. We tried sitting still. Neither cooled us down, so we decided to go to bed. It was 9:45. We were in as few clothes as possible but neither of us could sleep. Our neighbors played loud music. Each song kept reminding us that we were still hot and couldn't sleep.

At 1 AM, Ken shook me up. "I packed up the car. I'm ready to go home if you are".

"Huh? OK." (We have a standing rule in our house that the person who cares more gets to decide.)

I didn't care if we stayed until the next morning or left now, so I got dressed and packed my sleeping bag. We were on the road within 15 minutes. Ken told me in the car that the straw that broke his hot camel's back was when Kinley woke him up by panting heavily on his face. By 3:30 we were home and turned on the A/C to cool down our burning hot bedroom.

We slept until 10. I kissed Ken in the morning for making a good decision for us. We slept well. And more importantly, we slept. Ken spent the day working on his Fantasy Football draft that afternoon. I cleaned the basement a little bit and, as soon as he left, I started drywalling my craft area of the basement (hey, it was too hot to scrape paint outside). I finished the second coat yesterday and am happy. We both feel like we got two weekends by (unexpectedly) coming home early.

Win, win.

Bitter Holidays

They were wonderful. The bitter part comes from my very sweet mother-in-law, who took me to their small town's (surprisingly large) herb store in New Hampshire. When she saw my eyes open wide at the jars of gentian and burdock roots, she sweetly smiled. Like my mom, she is patient and kind. She asked why I was so excited and I explained that I've been interested in making my own bitters (for drinks, a la Angostura or Peychaud's) and that burdock and gentian roots are two of the strange ingredients of yore that I've never heard of nor seen before. She nodded sweetly and waited patiently for me to check out, then she purchased said ingredients for me for Christmas. I was thankful and excited. I can't wait to make them. And thanks to Alyson for first showing me the site that has bitter recipes here and here.

Ken and I went to New Hampshire for the holidays to visit Ken's folks. We had a great time and took Kinley along, too. He loved playing in the snow with the other dogs and to follow our tracks while we snowshoed through the woods. At one point, Kinley fell and got stuck in a tree well... just like I did on my first date with Ken. He is my dog.

I got to ride on a backhoe/tractor down to the barn and play in the snow. I got to sleep. Ken watched football and went on hikes with the dogs. We got to spend time with family. We were happy.



We got back on Thursday night and left Friday morning for Bend, Oregon. 30 people in two cabins for New Year's weekend. It was fun. Ken and I skied Mt. Bachelor on Saturday. It was the worst day of skiing of my life. White-out conditions; 50-mile-an-hour winds. I felt nauseated with every turn. I couldn't tell what was high or low. Ken stopped for wait for me, only to realize he couldn't move. Turns out there was a snowbank 3-feet tall within arms reach of him and he couldn't see it without putting out his arm to see why he wasn't moving. Monday was clear and gorgeous. I made pot roast for 30 people. Many thanks to my mom and mother-in-law for teaching me how to make pot roast in the first place, let alone pot roast for 30. As an added bonus, Bon Appetit published almost the exact recipe I made. I read it the day after. PS Parsnips and sweet potatoes are amazing in pot roast. We ran out of veggies; an impressive feat considering the carniverous crew in the house.

Holiday odds and ends

I just got the go-ahead that I am volunteering at the Science in the Kitchen gala at OMSI on Saturday, January 18th. I'm pretty excited and love their event logo. So cool.

Sara and Drew are in town right now and are staying at our house this week and while we're gone. We're meeting for sushi tonight. Tomorrow is a packing day after work and then we head to Ken's folks' place in New Hampshire on Saturday morning. As an interesting twist, Kinley will be going with us. He'll love it and will get to run in the snow with all their dogs (n=10ish). We'll be bringing our snowshoes so we can walk through the snowy woods. We're looking forward to seeing his family and relaxing with them.

In the meantime, Ken's swamped at work and is trying to finish things everywhere before we leave. He has learned a new skill at work, which he loves and is right up his alley. What is it, you ask? He is rappelling down buildings as a means of inspecting them. Here he is in Seattle inspecting a 20-something story building overlooking Puget Sound from 2 weeks ago. He loves it.


I'm still loving work and have had more meetings in the past 1.5 weeks than I had in 6 months in the lab. I pulled out my old organizer from college that I haven't used since. New calendar inserts and I'm back in the swing of things. I'm pretty good with the organization stuff. Add science and creativeness to the mix and I'm a happy person. I've also met a ton of people, which I also enjoy. So the whole work front is going great.

When we get back from NH, we'll be heading to Mt. Bachelor in middle Oregon for some New Year's Eve skiing with friends. 30 of them. In two houses. Should be a blast. We haven't been skiing in quite some time.

I think that's all that's new from the Western front. We're doing well and keeping our chins above water. I'm getting used to the early morning wakeups, although I still don't like them. As a result, I went to bed at 10 last night. The second time in a week. Call me Grandma.

Vacation, Weekend and Work

The rest of my vacation (Days 4 and 5) were spent running errands, holiday shopping and finishing the things that I wanted to do but just never got to. I went to Ikea for one. Odd to go the giant store during the holidays but it's totally empty (on account of it being 2pm on a Thursday). It was also a bit weird being off from work, but still having house chores. Kind of a disconnect -- I can make a mess in the kitchen, but I have to clean it, too. Nothing different than normal life but still odd for vacation mentality. In all, it was an awesome week and I will do my best to take time off between every job, if I have the means to do so. The weekend was spent with Santacon, a Festivus party at a friend's house, Ken's football, baking bread and more chores.

And nerves.

Nerves because my new job was about to start. Nerves that Ken was gone all week in Seattle and that I'd be minding the homestead. Which also meant I'd have to wake up on my own (I do like to sleep, especially in the morning).

But everything worked out. I LOVE my new job. Love it. I heard the big picture on Monday, met everyone in the department and got settled in my office. In the past two days, I've looked a bit at website design, figured out how to work the giant Mac, worked on my first project/exhibit and learned how to splice together digital movies to create DVDs. All in the name of science and teaching. Pretty cool. Creativity, tech and science. I love it. And the people with whom I work are wonderful. In the big picture orientation, I asked if they kept a portfolio of events or stats on the number of people they've reached. They had both. As for the stats -- Here is your math question for today: How many people has my department (3 people) reached in the past year (July 1, 2006- June 30, 2007)?





Do you have your number?








Scroll down.










Almost there.











Was it 268,068 people? If so, congratulations. You've guessed right. I was shocked by the number and so excited. I don't think even 68 people read my last research paper. This is going to be a good year.

Day 3: The Quest for Citric Acid. Plus a Day of Cheese, Bread, Meat, Sidecars and Santa

It was a fun day. For once I woke at 7:30 am. A personal record. At least in recent memory. I drank my coffee and started my bread. A sweet potato sourdough, if you will. I've been working the sponge dough since Sunday, feeding it twice since. Today was the day. I started the bread. It should be ready to bake off tomorrow, but more on that later.

After the coffee and the bread, I did some chores (dishes, laundry, bathroom cleaning, house vacuuming) before tackling the 12 lbs of pancetta I had to tie. I have blisters on two fingers, but I now have four beautiful logs of meat curing in the basement.

I also ran some errands for presents of assorted sorts and did some grocery shopping to find citric acid. Citric acid you say? Yes. It's in every soda pop, bread and chinese toy imaginable, but finding a source of pure powder has been difficult. Why do I need it? Who uses it? Answer: It's ridiculous and nobody, respectively.

More embarrassing answer (and the one I told my father earlier today): I need it to make mozzarella cheese and baguettes. Seriously. I understand that anybody can buy either of these two grocery staples without making them for less than $5 combined. But what's the fun in that? Especially when you're on a cheese sabbatical. Short answer: I found it. It's cheap, I made my baguettes and they looked ridiculous but tasted good. Mozzarella is tomorrow -- conveniently timed for when Ken is away on a business trip.

The other part of my day was spent looking for a Santa suit (with no luck; they were sold out) for Santacon, a 400+ person drinkfest comprising of all sorts of people dressed in Santa suits. Ken went last year while I made bacon. But this year, I think I'll join. Afterwards is a party at a friend's house for Festivus. Should be a fun weekend before I start my new job.

I got things ready for some friends to come over tonight -- the bread and cheese I made, plus the recent spread of smoked/unsmoked pepperoni and spanish chorizo. I made sidecars, my favorite drink recently, and we watched some tube and relaxed. Now I'm ready to hit Day 4. I am still excited. It has been a wonderful week.

Sidenote: the cheese turned out, albeit much softer than I imagined. I mixed some of the plain queso blanco with honey and cayenne. It was good but the pancetta and roasted garlic demolished the plain or the doctored plain.

Day 2: Paperwork and Animal Fights

On the second day of my week of nothing awesomeness, I slept until 11:15 and then made a cup of coffee. I decided to brave the piles of recipes and clippings that were starting to overrun my bookcase -- so I delved into that around noon. At 4:30, I was still up to my elbows in cooking paperwork and out of sheet protectors so I finished up putting everything together and will slide in the last of the pages when I venture out of the house to get groceries/supplies/social interaction.

Took Kinley to the park for some mud wrestling with other dogs and then cleaned the basement when I got back. Ken went to pickup dodgeball after work, so I made a lasagna while he was gone with the ricotta cheese I made the day before. I also used my homemade garlic sausage, some homemade andouille and used the tomato sauce I harvested from the garden. The only thing I didn't make were the noodles. That was pretty cool. As things were cooking, I watched a little tube while having a glass of wine when I heard animals screaming.

Mute the TV.

Screaming continues. Kinley is on the floor next to me and Hughes is beside me. Check. OK, not our animals. Screaming continues.

I went to the back door and opened it (screen door still closed) to hear the screaming even louder. Something was losing a fight. And it was in pain. Screaming and now moaning continue. I sent this to my friend who was on gmail at the time:

8:45 PM me: I just heard an animal die outside in the backyard (or next door). Screaming fight and then whimpering moans until it stopped. I'm too afraid to go outside and check it out though. And Ken's not home. I feel helpless and weak.

I went back downstairs, got the flashlight and went outside on the porch. The maglite revealed no critters, dead or alive. And I was still too chicken to walk down the deck stairs into the yard, so I went back to the couch, poured myself a big glass of wine and hugged Kinley. Ken got home and I rattled off the tale above. Outside he went with the flashlight. I followed behind. Here's the story I told my friend who was still on gmail

9:21 PM me: Oooh, Ken just got home and we checked it out. There's a raccoon in our backyard. Up in a tree. Above Ken's head as he had the flashlight

We never saw the dead/hurting animal. I figure he skulked off to die in private. But that raccoon with his beady yellow eyes and ringed tail was still there. Up in the pine tree above the rose bushes.

We finished dinner (it was excellent) and went to bed. Day 3 continues tomorrow. I will take out the trash then, when it is daytime and raccoons are asleep.

Sara and Drew's Wedding

Ken has lots of pictures and I know Bevin downloaded all the pictures, so I'm sure they'll be available soon. But for now, here's how it went:

The wedding was really beautiful. It was overlooking Netarts Bay at Sara's parents' house. They had the rehearsal dinner there too. The rehearsal dinner for ~40 and was amazing. They had a local fisherman's daughter (who used to run a catering company in seattle) do the cooking. She's our age and is wonderful. She made mini crabcakes, fresh ahi tuna in a lemon/olive oil/rosemary marinade (1/2 c each lemon juice and olive oil + 1/3 c rosemary; soak for a minute or two before searing; amazing). She also did beef kabobs, a coleslawish smoked salmon salad, these amazing fresh-out-of-the-water shrimp and then some other side dishes. The food was amazing.

Sara's folks rented a house on the beach for all the bridesmaids and groomsmen (+ their sig others). We had a bonfire on thursday night where everyone met each other. Then the girls and sara's mom went out for manicures and pedicures on friday afternoon followed by lunch and wine at a local cheese shop. We helped set up for rehearsal dinner and went back to take showers. Rehearsal dinner was at 6 at sara's family house followed by beer pong and silly drinking games at the rented house where we were staying. Then Saturday was the wedding. There was an organized run up the "hill of death" at 9 for those that wanted. Then the bridemaids met at sara's house to set up for the wedding at 3. It looked lovely. Simple glass vases with hydrangeas, wildflower seeds as favors, small tissue paper flowers as napkin rings, pale buttery yellow tablecloths. Gorgeous. The officiant called to say she got stuck in traffic and was going to be late to which sara replied 'there's still plenty of water in the bay". She was very calm and happy all weekend. So the bridesmaids hung out upstairs while the guests mingled below. They had beer and wine available before the ceremony -- I don't think they were planning on it, but when the officiant said she was late, that's when I heard the bottles start opening. Everyone was really happy; it was a sunny day, warm but not hot, breezy but not windy. Completely stunning and sweet.

The next day was drew's birthday so she had a brunch at the house in his honor. French toast casserole, bacon and lots of awesome alcohol-soaking sausage links. It was a lovely wedding. Probably one of my favorites in its casualness yet how special it made everyone feel.

Congratulations Sara and Drew!

Bachelorette and Rafting

Two fun trips.

Ken took Brian and Drew rafting on the Deschutes River with 20+ of our dodgeball friends. Kinley went, too. They had a blast. Kinley loves rafting and the water, but was exhausted afterwards. Can you blame him? Look at him hitting the bottle!



Ken has some other staged pictures that are hilarious. And some really great ones of them all in the river. We'll try to get them up soon.

Meanwhile, six of us went down to Yachats (about 3.5 hours SW on the coast).
We played lots of games, spent all day Saturday reading and hanging out on the beach and went out on Saturday night to the local bar. There was a group of seven 14 year old boys who were camping in the yard next door. They took off their shirts to impress us (per the mom) and even had a dance routine planned for us. Hilarious. I bet they were sad when we closed the curtains before they could perform their routine. We're kind of sad we missed it, too. I bet it would have been funny. We reminisced how happy we were that we weren't 14 anymore. And in all, we had a great time. We got home around 6:30 last night and we all crashed around 10.

There are 6 people staying at our house right now (Ken and myself not included). Plus two additional dogs. Everyone but brian and marsha head to Netarts tomorrow and then the four of us and kinley will head down on Thursday night for Sara and Drew's wedding. Should be a blast. They're expecting 86 people. And they're doing pies instead of wedding cake which is awesome. Many of Sara's friends and family are making the pies (15-20 pies total). I'm thinking about doing a chocolate cream pie. Marsha's doing a lemon one. And Brian (who doesn't know it yet) is making an apple one with a salt crust that is apparently fantastic.

Potlatch and Friends

Karl arrived in Portland on Thursday night. We put him to work on coffee cake and the garage that night. Then, we left mid-day Friday for the Potlatch frisbee tournament in Seattle. It poured most of the way up but cleared by the time we pitched our tents on the field. Taryn and Paul arrived later that night and we hung out and drank some beer. Chuck and Dana stayed at a hotel the first night but joined us the next morning.

There were about 1000 people at Potlatch. Most camped on the fields. There were port-o-potties and nalgenes everywhere. They supplied bagels, oranges, bananas and apples for breakfast as well as some jars of PB & J for lunch. It was sunny, which was great, but that also meant it was a bit hot. I watched 3-4 games out of 5 before the heat made me a little fussy. I went to lay down and read a gardening magazine in the shade of our tent. I also took a nap. Both were nice. Frisbee was fun to watch, but seeing our friends from Tucson was by far my favorite part. Taryn and Karl are both super thin and seem to be doing great. Paul is having a hard time with his knee (just had surgery) so I imagine watching people play one of his favorite sports must have been tough. Chuck and Dana were specators like me. They watched some and went to do other things around Seattle, too.

Saturday night, the Potlatch organizers bring in ~1000 lbs of salmon. Insane. They have it at the redhook brewery, so it's all the beer you can drink. We got there just before the food lines started. We ate dinner, drank a beer or two and then went home to go to sleep. Hilarious. But awesome since we were all on the same page of what we wanted to do. I slept like a baby and didn't even hear folks roll in at 1-2 am.

Watched some games on Sunday. Chuck and Dana went to the fish ladders and then to return their rental car. Ken pulled his groin, so he went with me to pick them up. We went for breakfast/lunch at a great crepes place in Capitol hill. I had one with berries and brie cheese. Yum. I also drank a bowl of latte. After the games let out, five of us crammed in my car for the 3 hour drive back to Portland. We got sushi when we arrived then took our showers and went to bed. Karl left early the next morning; Chuck and Dana stayed the week.

Tuesday, they went down to visit Taryn and Paul and their new house in Eugene. We were sad to miss it, but had to work. Chuck and Dana left us jalapeno poppers for when we got home from work. Yum. Roasted jalapenos, shredded chicken mixture, a little cream cheese and shredded jack. Yum. I mean really yum. The best poppers I've ever had.

Wednesday was the 4th of July. We went to a Top Chef Potluck challenge. Chuck KILLED the competition and won the tastiest dish with 26 points. The next closest was a three-way tie for second -- at a measly 10 points (I was one of Chuck's losers). His enchiladas were spectacular. Ken won for "Most Patriotic" with his Red, White and Blueberry Ceviche. They both won Uncle Sam hats. We have a picture of them wearing them; I'll have to get it from Dana and post it.

Thursday, Ken and I worked. Then we all went out to dinner at Pok Pok/Whiskey Soda Lounge. It was absolutely amazing and super fun. They have thai street food that is served family style. Did I say it was fantastic? Because it was. Then we went to Pix for dessert to complete our glutton tour of Division Street. It was excellent and luxurious and decadent and fattening. We loved it.

Chuck and Dana had a coffee waiting for me when I woke up (oh happy joy), then I went off to work and they went to breakfast at Zells before their flight at 1:30. Ken stopped at the butcher shop on his way home for smoked dog bones for Kinley, some pork bellies for me, as well as a bunch of steaks for the freezer. Since he spent a certain amount of money, they gave him a free summer sausage. I can't wait to see it.

And so begins our first weekend at home in a month. We still have plenty to do -- the tomato cages, re-siding the garage and a neighbor's barbecue tomorrow, but they're all done from within 100 feet of our house. And that is wonderful. We're exhausted. I hear we're home next weekend, too. I am excited.

P.S. And speaking of exhausting and exciting, Rob and Jana are having TWINS! Congratulations!

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

Reunion Weekend

Thursday
It’s been a fun but exhausting week. Brian and Marsha arrived on Thursday morning. Sara and Drew picked them up and we all met up for sushi on Thursday night, along with Rob, Jana and Jackson. Dinner was a blast and it was awesome to laugh and catch up. Ken and I went to our dodgeball game after dinner. Note: full stomachs + dodgeballs thrown at said full bellies = a bad idea. We came home and went to bed. Everyone was already asleep by the time we got home at 10:15. Well, except Sara who had to pick up her brother from the airport at 12:45 AM. That’s a nice sister. Especially since his flight was delayed until 2 AM.

Friday
I woke up at 3 AM dripping with sweat and achy. Turns out I had picked up Ken’s day-long flu from the week before. I called in sick and slept until 1 while my visiting friends enjoyed one of the prettier days this spring. Sucks. I took a shower and was on the couch by 4 pm and could walk reasonably well by 5, when we were all supposed to meet up with Sara’s family at a local restaurant. We went to a Peruvian restaurant and enjoyed lots of appetizers and tapas. Marsha had the best pina colada of her life. While we were there, Sara’s brother, Adam, riled up the feathers of Ken, Brian and Drew by mentioning playing beer pong afterwards. So we went to the house of one of Adam’s friends who has a beer pong table in the basement. The basement also has a free range pet rabbit. And carpeting. And rabbit poop -- lots of it. Please take the time to imagine beer spilling on the carpet that’s covered in rabbit poop. Now please imagine the balls that fell onto this carpet that were then thrown into beer and consumed. Sara is convinced everyone has hantavirus.

Saturday
Before we knew that Sara/Drew/Brian/Marsha were coming to visit, we signed up for a weekend-long dodgeball tournament. Top prize of $1000. So while our sweet guests slept, we got up on Saturday morning to play dodgeball from 9:30 AM-6:30 PM. Our bodies were toast by the end of the day. We took showers and could barely move. Rob, Jana and Rob’s brother, David, met us at our house for drinks. We were going to go to a low-key bar and just chat, but we were slow to rally. Then Sara’s brother came over with a few friends and we all went to karaoke instead. It was within walking distance. We each had a beer and left. Sara & Drew went home while Brian, Marsha, Ken and I went to the 24h food place a couple doors down to get a bite to eat since none of us had eaten that night. I got sausage and eggs along with….

Sunday
some awesome food poisoning that woke me up at 5 AM. Sweet. My body can barely move but it knows it is super pissed AND that it has to play a couple hours worth of dodgeball that day. Sigh. I packed a bag for that day’s events: dodgeball, Sara’s bridal shower at 3 and an overnight trip to the beach afterwards. Dodgeball was fun; we ended up losing to the team who came in 2nd place. I learned a lot, got a ton of practice and am covered in bruises. I left our games early to go to Sara’s bridal shower, which was super fun. Sara’s family is great. There were 19 of us and the party centered around a “cooking/kitchen” theme. Ken, Drew and Brian picked us up around 5:30 and whisked us off to the beach along with Kinley and the Burke’s dog, Sophie. We drank some beer and played lots of games. It was fun.

Monday
We woke up to the sun shining. It was a gorgeous clear day. We drank our coffee and played dominoes. Walked around a bit and then went clamming at low tide. I had never been before; it was a blast. Your feet easily got stuck in the mud. We had 3 pair of hip waders and a two pair of knee high boots. It was a challenge to figure it out at first. Brian fell in the mud and covered. Then we figured out the good clam spots and the signs to look for. We quickly had our limit. We cooked them a couple different way: cooked under the broiler and eaten plain (amazing), same but with lime, sautéed with bacon/garlic/onion, broiled with smoked cheddar on top and then clams casino. They were killer. Ken and I went back to Portland that night. Ken had softball and we both had to work on Tuesday. The others stayed down in Netarts an extra night.

Tuesday
Work for Ken and I. My bike is in the shop for a tune-up so I used my old one with the busted low seat. I got downtown, only to realize I forgot my wallet and phone, meaning I couldn’t get on the bus to get to work. Or the tram. I rode to Ken’s office to get some money, but he was at a site visit and gone. Nuts. So I rode back home in tears, got my stuff and then made my way back to downtown and up to work. Sara, Drew, Brian and Marsha get back in a few hours. I was supposed to be in a taco eating contest tonight with Brian and Dennis, but I found a sub since it is Sara’s 30th birthday today. We are going to have “Sunday Dinner” at our house for Sara’s birthday. Sara’s folks and some of her family will be coming, too.
Everyone leaves tomorrow. It has been a crazy but super fun week. They have all been easy guests and it has been a blast to catch up. I am still sore from the weekend, tired from the activities and worn out from the remants of being sick. I am looking forward to relaxing in PJs for about a week.

Mt. Bachelor

Going to Mt. Bachelor this weekend with Taryn & Paul, Brian & Laura, and Kinley. We rented a house with a hot tub close to the mountain and the owner allows dogs provided that he's crated when we're away. No problem since that's what we always do. I'm excited that Kinley can come but want to make sure he's super sweet and doesn't bother anyone. I doubt he will, expecially since he'll be getting lots of exercise in the snow which will make him conk out on the floor within 15 minutes of getting inside. Kinley's favorite snow activities include snorting it and diving in paws first.

I am also super excited for this weekend. I'm taking Friday off since I have a dentist appt in the morning that I scheduled 3 months ago. Then I'll pack some odds & ends up since we're leaving around noon. Ken tuned his snowboard in the basement this weekend; I still have mine to do. I am excited to tele, but will bring my other skis just in case. We're also bringing our snowshoes.

Is it Thursday yet?

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.