Check the new grill at the Smith Casa. Cool retro color, not obnoxiously big but yet noticeably bigger then my old one.
May need some help christening her.??
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Cow De-construction.
Vegetarian warning: Meaty (and overly long) posting
I wrote this a couple months ago and never posted it but with this in the news; well here goes...
The last two days were more eventful then I care to have any time soon. I had to make a last minute business trip to Colorado on Thursday, booking the flight on Wednesday close to quitting time.
Trip prep consisted of dumping a bunch of past presentation, video and pictures on my hard drive printing out a few things before running out the door.
I arrive at home to see that my son has a little blood drool running out of his mouth. Peered in the best I could but did not see any cuts or anything. He also apparently had to be separated from the other children at daycare earlier as he was hitting and kicking them (he is a 22 month old) throwing tantrums in the process. C later discovered the problem. One of his front teeth was missing. While C called the dentist I looked through some recent photos to verify in fact it was missing from his smile. The tooth was not actually missing as we could see a little tooth between adjacent teeth.
The next morning C stayed home with him while I went to work for awhile before my flight left. Got a call at work that Eli’s face was swollen and red around the eye and they were off to the dentist. Not knowing how serious it was I went home to pack, and then met them at the dentist. They gave him a prescription and to bring down the swelling. He seemed no worse for the wear so I headed off to the airport. Running tight on time I parked in short term parking and huffed it through security with barely enough time to grab a sandwich before boarding. The flight was uneventful with just a minor hassle with Fastbreak car rental as my reservation didn’t show up in their system. With that resolved I was offered the choice of three American made crappy cars. How do you choose between a PT cruiser, HHR and a Dodge product? Are you kidding me? Behind the wheel of said crappy dodge and sat nav dialed in to my destination I was off to wonderful Greeley, CO.
I called my contact when I got into town and he offered to take me to dinner. He picked me up and took me to a Mexican restaurant. Since I was going to a beef plant I ordered the steak fajitas while Mohammed had the shrimp fajitas and he discussed the project to me while I pondered what a guy from India is doing working in cattle processing industry. After our meals arrived I asked him if he ate cow. He said that he was Hindu and could eat cow but not pork or drink alcohol. He said his family was still a little freaked out about as it is one thing to eat cow but quite another to be a little responsible for thousands of cattle being killed a day.
Midway through dinner I got several frantic calls from C so I excused myself and learned that Eli was not getting any better and was taking him to the ER. Trying to stay engaged with my Indian buddy through the rest of dinner while thinking about how I can cancel my trip and go to the hospital.
Back at the hotel after looking at my options of catching an earlier flight home C informed me that Eli seemed to be doing ok so I decided to stay and I left to go find an open hardware store to pick up a tape measure as in the rush leaving I managed to forget my tape and my camera. I managed to score one at a grocery store of all places and picked up some juice and a banana for in the morning. By now it was after 10:00 and I still needed to finish my presentation and iron my shirt and trousers. I got out the iron and started going to town on my trousers which were wrinkled beyond belief before I even left home. Admitting defeat I threw them back in my bag and decided to wear the same jeans I left in. I finished my presentation around midnight and tried to go to sleep.
After a night of not sleeping over being worried about Eli and getting updates from the hospital from time to time I got up and started my day. Mohammed picked me up and took me to the plant. We had to park across the street with all the other workers. It was just now 8:00 AM and the parking lot was already full. This was a huge parking lot reminding me of a shopping mall during xmas circling for a place to park. After driving around for what seemed like an hour we scored a spot and went up to the guard shack where everyone entering the plant is required to go through. After signing a bunch of crap I was giving a visitor sticker to wear… Then things got weird. From the guard shack we went underground which passed underneath the street above and came out to what reminded me of a prison during the one hour of being outside or something. Mostly Hispanic workers were standing around outside talking and smoking or whatever which I thought was a break but turned out to be an unscheduled downtime from a blown transformer, which turned out to be the main transformer coming into the plant. Inside the plant was a lobby area where more workers were standing around spreading the latest gossip or something. I later learned that downtime was costing them company $300 a minute. Power was restored in about three hours but they were required to wash-down the whole plant so it was more like 5 hours so that was costing them a measly $90,000. The workers were union and getting paid whether they were working or not. Some actually seemed anxious to get back to the cow killin’.
After getting dressed in rubber boots (to keep blood off my loafers I guessed) frock, hair net, beard net, ear plugs, safety glasses and hard hat I was ready to see some serious cow killin’. But that had to wait as while they were washing down no one was admitted onto the kill floor. My presentation wasn’t until 1:00 so I had 5 hours to kill with Mohammed. We headed to the cafeteria where there were hundreds of people sitting around just like being in a high school cafeteria only almost everyone was wearing metal mesh clothing, knives in scabbards and thick coats and rubber boots. We grabbed some coffee and talked about the project some more, learned how he got the job and had to work in each dept. kill floor through fab etc. He told me they kill 5,000 cattle a day at this plant and world wide they kill 65,000 animals a day. A DAY!
The main area I needed to see for this project was finally cleared for us to access. I verified some measurements talked some more about our requirements and went back to the conference room to set-up my presentation. Presentation went all right I would say considering I was still wearing rubber boots and frock.
The plant tour was one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen. Now I have been around butchering animals before. Growing up on the farm we killed a cow about ever year for food; where we called the local butcher who came out shot the cow, hung the beast and cleaned out the guts and stuff and he left to custom cut your order for amount of roasts, steaks, percentage of fat for hamburger etc. The whole process took probably a couple hours and he left us with a nice pile of the contents of the cows stomachs and other remnants. Sounds very organic right? I calculated this place was killing a cow every 5 seconds. WTF?!
Shift change was happening so there was a flurry of activity near the walls in long sinks that resembled a trough with hose sprayers for cleaning yourself and equipment. Workers were busy spraying there boots and steel mesh etc. From there we went pretty close to the start of the line. This was right after being rendered unconscious via stunning them with a captive bolt, from there they are hung upside down by one of their hind legs as they enter the processing line. The carotid artery and jugular vein are severed with a knife, causing death through exsanguination. The hooves are removed prior to entering hide removal. I was led to another area having to pass between the conveyor line of dead cows. I waited for one to pass and quickly ducked through between them as another one bumped me from behind. The carcass then enters the hide removal area; head twisted sideways tongue dragging across the conveyor line. A petite Hispanic woman using a pole pushes an area of hanging hide toward powered rollers that pull the whole hide off the body right over the head just like taking off a sweater only your face goes with it. The 400+ pound carcass thrusts into the air as the skin is torn off the head. Next the internal organs are removed and inspected for signs of disease. The next area I saw was an oval conveyor line of what look like a large dog or lamb carcass. I finally saw some molars and realized this was the head minus the lower jaw and eye balls. This was the “head rack” where heads are hung to remove tongue, eyeballs etc. I think about the source of high school biology eyeball dissection comes from as one head still has one of the eye balls attached (though hanging a little to the right). The carcass still hanging upside down is sent to a cooler for I think 16 hours before going into the Fab.
The fabrication department is by far the busiest area. A guy using a big ass saw (highest paid guy on the line I might ad) cuts the carcass into two sides from there goes in a variety of directions to be cut up into boxed meats. The noise from the saws, blood on the floor, and humidity from the hot water spray nearby answer why I was wearing all this personal protection equipment. A hierarchy of workers working at super fast pace cutting meat while supervisors are watching the workers while QC people watch both of them while inspectors hopefully are watching the meat. (that is my take on it anyway)
Next was the trim department and near as I can tell is where the remaining carcass is further processed to remove any residual traces of meat. Nearby are 40 x 48 boxes filled with fat and stuff presumably waiting to be mixed into the meat for making hamburger or sent off to the renderer. A huge freezer freezes the hamburger within seconds as it is formed into tubes then put in a box for palletizing.
After the tour Mohammed and I go back to the conference room to take off my gear and reclaim my shoes and head back under the street and to the car. Since it was recently shift change it takes almost 30 minutes to get out of the parking lot. I couldn’t imagine having to go through parking hell everyday just to cut up some cow. He dropped me off back at my hotel to fetch my car and I race back to DEN cutting it ever so close. I manage to have just enough spare time to order some Quiznos (vegetarian) and tank two beers before hopping on the plane.
Back at home Eli was doing much better. Swelling had gone down and redness was less obvious. Exhausted I went to bed right after Eli did and pondered if I could/should eat cow again.
I was back on the cow within a week or so and have to admit I enjoy a good burger now and then and also love a thick tenderloin cooked to a nice medium rare perfection. Other then the workers working at a super fast pace I saw nothing wrong with the operation from a safety stand point. They are just fulfilling the demand for beef. However I think everyone who eats animals should see where there food comes from. Me thinks many would stop eating it if they saw what I saw and that is why they try to keep it all contained as a cow going in and box going out.
I wrote this a couple months ago and never posted it but with this in the news; well here goes...
The last two days were more eventful then I care to have any time soon. I had to make a last minute business trip to Colorado on Thursday, booking the flight on Wednesday close to quitting time.
Trip prep consisted of dumping a bunch of past presentation, video and pictures on my hard drive printing out a few things before running out the door.
I arrive at home to see that my son has a little blood drool running out of his mouth. Peered in the best I could but did not see any cuts or anything. He also apparently had to be separated from the other children at daycare earlier as he was hitting and kicking them (he is a 22 month old) throwing tantrums in the process. C later discovered the problem. One of his front teeth was missing. While C called the dentist I looked through some recent photos to verify in fact it was missing from his smile. The tooth was not actually missing as we could see a little tooth between adjacent teeth.
The next morning C stayed home with him while I went to work for awhile before my flight left. Got a call at work that Eli’s face was swollen and red around the eye and they were off to the dentist. Not knowing how serious it was I went home to pack, and then met them at the dentist. They gave him a prescription and to bring down the swelling. He seemed no worse for the wear so I headed off to the airport. Running tight on time I parked in short term parking and huffed it through security with barely enough time to grab a sandwich before boarding. The flight was uneventful with just a minor hassle with Fastbreak car rental as my reservation didn’t show up in their system. With that resolved I was offered the choice of three American made crappy cars. How do you choose between a PT cruiser, HHR and a Dodge product? Are you kidding me? Behind the wheel of said crappy dodge and sat nav dialed in to my destination I was off to wonderful Greeley, CO.
I called my contact when I got into town and he offered to take me to dinner. He picked me up and took me to a Mexican restaurant. Since I was going to a beef plant I ordered the steak fajitas while Mohammed had the shrimp fajitas and he discussed the project to me while I pondered what a guy from India is doing working in cattle processing industry. After our meals arrived I asked him if he ate cow. He said that he was Hindu and could eat cow but not pork or drink alcohol. He said his family was still a little freaked out about as it is one thing to eat cow but quite another to be a little responsible for thousands of cattle being killed a day.
Midway through dinner I got several frantic calls from C so I excused myself and learned that Eli was not getting any better and was taking him to the ER. Trying to stay engaged with my Indian buddy through the rest of dinner while thinking about how I can cancel my trip and go to the hospital.
Back at the hotel after looking at my options of catching an earlier flight home C informed me that Eli seemed to be doing ok so I decided to stay and I left to go find an open hardware store to pick up a tape measure as in the rush leaving I managed to forget my tape and my camera. I managed to score one at a grocery store of all places and picked up some juice and a banana for in the morning. By now it was after 10:00 and I still needed to finish my presentation and iron my shirt and trousers. I got out the iron and started going to town on my trousers which were wrinkled beyond belief before I even left home. Admitting defeat I threw them back in my bag and decided to wear the same jeans I left in. I finished my presentation around midnight and tried to go to sleep.
After a night of not sleeping over being worried about Eli and getting updates from the hospital from time to time I got up and started my day. Mohammed picked me up and took me to the plant. We had to park across the street with all the other workers. It was just now 8:00 AM and the parking lot was already full. This was a huge parking lot reminding me of a shopping mall during xmas circling for a place to park. After driving around for what seemed like an hour we scored a spot and went up to the guard shack where everyone entering the plant is required to go through. After signing a bunch of crap I was giving a visitor sticker to wear… Then things got weird. From the guard shack we went underground which passed underneath the street above and came out to what reminded me of a prison during the one hour of being outside or something. Mostly Hispanic workers were standing around outside talking and smoking or whatever which I thought was a break but turned out to be an unscheduled downtime from a blown transformer, which turned out to be the main transformer coming into the plant. Inside the plant was a lobby area where more workers were standing around spreading the latest gossip or something. I later learned that downtime was costing them company $300 a minute. Power was restored in about three hours but they were required to wash-down the whole plant so it was more like 5 hours so that was costing them a measly $90,000. The workers were union and getting paid whether they were working or not. Some actually seemed anxious to get back to the cow killin’.
After getting dressed in rubber boots (to keep blood off my loafers I guessed) frock, hair net, beard net, ear plugs, safety glasses and hard hat I was ready to see some serious cow killin’. But that had to wait as while they were washing down no one was admitted onto the kill floor. My presentation wasn’t until 1:00 so I had 5 hours to kill with Mohammed. We headed to the cafeteria where there were hundreds of people sitting around just like being in a high school cafeteria only almost everyone was wearing metal mesh clothing, knives in scabbards and thick coats and rubber boots. We grabbed some coffee and talked about the project some more, learned how he got the job and had to work in each dept. kill floor through fab etc. He told me they kill 5,000 cattle a day at this plant and world wide they kill 65,000 animals a day. A DAY!
The main area I needed to see for this project was finally cleared for us to access. I verified some measurements talked some more about our requirements and went back to the conference room to set-up my presentation. Presentation went all right I would say considering I was still wearing rubber boots and frock.
The plant tour was one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen. Now I have been around butchering animals before. Growing up on the farm we killed a cow about ever year for food; where we called the local butcher who came out shot the cow, hung the beast and cleaned out the guts and stuff and he left to custom cut your order for amount of roasts, steaks, percentage of fat for hamburger etc. The whole process took probably a couple hours and he left us with a nice pile of the contents of the cows stomachs and other remnants. Sounds very organic right? I calculated this place was killing a cow every 5 seconds. WTF?!
Shift change was happening so there was a flurry of activity near the walls in long sinks that resembled a trough with hose sprayers for cleaning yourself and equipment. Workers were busy spraying there boots and steel mesh etc. From there we went pretty close to the start of the line. This was right after being rendered unconscious via stunning them with a captive bolt, from there they are hung upside down by one of their hind legs as they enter the processing line. The carotid artery and jugular vein are severed with a knife, causing death through exsanguination. The hooves are removed prior to entering hide removal. I was led to another area having to pass between the conveyor line of dead cows. I waited for one to pass and quickly ducked through between them as another one bumped me from behind. The carcass then enters the hide removal area; head twisted sideways tongue dragging across the conveyor line. A petite Hispanic woman using a pole pushes an area of hanging hide toward powered rollers that pull the whole hide off the body right over the head just like taking off a sweater only your face goes with it. The 400+ pound carcass thrusts into the air as the skin is torn off the head. Next the internal organs are removed and inspected for signs of disease. The next area I saw was an oval conveyor line of what look like a large dog or lamb carcass. I finally saw some molars and realized this was the head minus the lower jaw and eye balls. This was the “head rack” where heads are hung to remove tongue, eyeballs etc. I think about the source of high school biology eyeball dissection comes from as one head still has one of the eye balls attached (though hanging a little to the right). The carcass still hanging upside down is sent to a cooler for I think 16 hours before going into the Fab.
The fabrication department is by far the busiest area. A guy using a big ass saw (highest paid guy on the line I might ad) cuts the carcass into two sides from there goes in a variety of directions to be cut up into boxed meats. The noise from the saws, blood on the floor, and humidity from the hot water spray nearby answer why I was wearing all this personal protection equipment. A hierarchy of workers working at super fast pace cutting meat while supervisors are watching the workers while QC people watch both of them while inspectors hopefully are watching the meat. (that is my take on it anyway)
Next was the trim department and near as I can tell is where the remaining carcass is further processed to remove any residual traces of meat. Nearby are 40 x 48 boxes filled with fat and stuff presumably waiting to be mixed into the meat for making hamburger or sent off to the renderer. A huge freezer freezes the hamburger within seconds as it is formed into tubes then put in a box for palletizing.
After the tour Mohammed and I go back to the conference room to take off my gear and reclaim my shoes and head back under the street and to the car. Since it was recently shift change it takes almost 30 minutes to get out of the parking lot. I couldn’t imagine having to go through parking hell everyday just to cut up some cow. He dropped me off back at my hotel to fetch my car and I race back to DEN cutting it ever so close. I manage to have just enough spare time to order some Quiznos (vegetarian) and tank two beers before hopping on the plane.
Back at home Eli was doing much better. Swelling had gone down and redness was less obvious. Exhausted I went to bed right after Eli did and pondered if I could/should eat cow again.
I was back on the cow within a week or so and have to admit I enjoy a good burger now and then and also love a thick tenderloin cooked to a nice medium rare perfection. Other then the workers working at a super fast pace I saw nothing wrong with the operation from a safety stand point. They are just fulfilling the demand for beef. However I think everyone who eats animals should see where there food comes from. Me thinks many would stop eating it if they saw what I saw and that is why they try to keep it all contained as a cow going in and box going out.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Trip Report
Up at 4:55 AM five minutes before the alarm was to go off; killed the alarm. Got dressed, stuffed my food bag with the chilled food items ate my yogurt and a banana ready to go by 5:30. Now wait for Jim to pick me up at 6:00.
With that out of the way we applied our skins, put on our packs and headed up the trail. About a mile in I noticed my foot moving around in the binding. I took a few more steps and took off my boards and investigated. Almost all of the screws holding my binding to the adapter plate were loose and the side with my foot moving around had two missing nuts with the screws not attached to anything. Good times. Luckily one of the nuts was still sitting on my board but the other was long gone. Using my Leatherman I managed to tighten them all back down with my right side only using three screws. Did the tech who set up my board forget to tighten them or did they come loose from touring? This prompted me to check them frequently for awhile and they stayed tight for the most part so I think the tech did not tighten them. I should have checked them before heading up like I normally when going to a ski area.
We both got to the top of the ridge about the same time with Jim reunited with his ski pole. The
ride back to tree-line from there was pretty straight forward made for some pretty nice turns giving the soft conditions.
I was dreading the 2+ mile run through the trees figuring the straight run without turning would seriously cramp my legs. I used one of my ski poles to “push off” some and balance me through the slow spots, but I felt pretty good all the way down actually was pretty fun. Sure beats postholing!
Check these pic out. Don't have ant of me yet until Jim gets off his ass and send me his pictures.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
St. Helens
This Sunday I plan to ascend to the rim of
I have climbed
Check back next week for a trip report.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Monotonix
I am not going to write about last nights Monotonix show at the Wonder Ballroom because it was crazier then bat shit on rye bread. Nope. I am because I have zippo to do at work today and I at least like to look busy. Monotonix is an Israeli band from Tel Aviv The trio reminded me of typical 70’s rock bands with the long hair and larger stache’s.
I can’t quite reconstruct everything accurately as it happened so quick. Monotonix does not use the stage they just set-up on the floor. About one minute into their first song the guitarist plowed down both fence dividers that separated the all ages crowd (all 5 of them) and the over 21 crowd and fell down right in front of me knocking down a lady next to me. I helped the guitarist back up to his feet then helped the chick who never let go of her Pabst that was now mangled and the contents foaming out all over her clothes. Turning back around to the front of the stage (on the floor) I had a massive bass drum coming right at me crowd surfing style. The bass drum was re-situated in the over 21 area with the guitar player now also keeping the beat. Meanwhile the singer was busy hugging people, pulling his shorts into his butt crack and knocking down the dividers. I couldn’t decide what to watch the band or the staff/security trying to keep the dividers standing up as soon as they got it back up they would knock it down again. The next song the entire drum kit was slid around towards the middle of the room. Other highlights include someone grabbing a full 55 gallon garbage can from the bar and dumping it on the band or the further re-location of the drum kit up in balcony with the singer jumping off the balcony into the crowd for a finale.
The Silver Jews headlined the show so I stuck around for a few songs not really getting into them so I bailed. All I can say is a tobaccoburst SG just looks weird and why an SG would be selected for this slow a tempo of music?
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Oba!
I took my amazing and lovely wife to Oba! for her birthday last Friday. Oba! is a restaurant in the Pearl District that features great Caribbean/Cuban cuisine and even better Mojitos and Cucumber martinis we put in our drink order with the waiter and started going over the menu in detail as I promptly set my menu on fire. While unaware of said fire I was notified by the guests at the table next to us as “Hey your menu is on fire.” I thanked her graciously and calmly tried to blow it out but the waxy coating of the paper and my blowing on it only fueled it into a small inferno. This situation required water and fast so I began the process rolling the now fully engulfed menu so it would fit into my water glass but just then the waiter arrived with our drinks and serenely asked that I please place the burning menu on his tray. Not wanting to disobey him even though I would have had it doused in my water glass I put it on his serving tray and off he went. He came back a short time later to gave me a new menu and relit the candle which was the one thing I was able to blow out. After all the excitement died down I was able to dive into the wine list searching for something that would go with our dinner selections. I narrowed it down to a short list of wines from Spain and with guidance from the waiter I selected a 2004 Navarra Alzania 21 del 10 which was fantastic. I must find this wine and buy a case.
We ordered two tapas the Spanish cheese plate and the Chipotle calamari both very tasty. For our dinner entrees I chose the Cuban pulled flank steak and Christine got the Butternut squash Enchiladas both were tasty although we switched plate’s midway way through and ended up liking each others entrées better.
Over desert we chatted up with a fine drunk gentleman next to us from Barbados who said he worked for the United Nations and was in Portland for work and was looking for some of Portland’s other “nightlife” activities. To Christine’s delight I was able to rattle off a handful of titty bars within a short cab ride from downtown. As it turned out though he was looking for places with more shall we say “intimate contact”. As we paid our bill one of his other dining companions obviously seeking an opportunity to leave got up and gathered her stuff and whispered to me to take good care of him tonight. As if we would shuttle him around. Riiight… I gave him a name I saw in a Mercury advertisement once and wished him good luck and he left to presumably go find a cab who would know how to get there.
We left shortly after and since we were stuffed to the gills we decided to go for a walk around the area and found Jamison Square were we sat on a bench for awhile people watching trying to decide if the other folks there could actually afford to live in this high priced area.
Even if you hate the Pearl District and what it has become there are some great restaurants and I would put Oba! in your must try list.
We ordered two tapas the Spanish cheese plate and the Chipotle calamari both very tasty. For our dinner entrees I chose the Cuban pulled flank steak and Christine got the Butternut squash Enchiladas both were tasty although we switched plate’s midway way through and ended up liking each others entrées better.
Over desert we chatted up with a fine drunk gentleman next to us from Barbados who said he worked for the United Nations and was in Portland for work and was looking for some of Portland’s other “nightlife” activities. To Christine’s delight I was able to rattle off a handful of titty bars within a short cab ride from downtown. As it turned out though he was looking for places with more shall we say “intimate contact”. As we paid our bill one of his other dining companions obviously seeking an opportunity to leave got up and gathered her stuff and whispered to me to take good care of him tonight. As if we would shuttle him around. Riiight… I gave him a name I saw in a Mercury advertisement once and wished him good luck and he left to presumably go find a cab who would know how to get there.
We left shortly after and since we were stuffed to the gills we decided to go for a walk around the area and found Jamison Square were we sat on a bench for awhile people watching trying to decide if the other folks there could actually afford to live in this high priced area.
Even if you hate the Pearl District and what it has become there are some great restaurants and I would put Oba! in your must try list.
Berry Picking
Last Sunday afternoon we drove up to Sauvie Island to get some fresh raspberries and enjoy the scenery. Our first stop was Kruger’s farm. They only had a couple of pints left of picked raspberries but had U-pick. No thanks I will gladly pay more not to have to pick berries. (I picked a lot of berries as a child) I did buy three pints of there Kotata; basically a Marionberry but cultivated to better handle the cold. Leaving Kruger’s we headed North on the island to explore the other farms in the area. We stopped briefly at this crazy guys Lavender farm and showed Eli his chickens and sheep while briefly gazing at his lavender. I wanted to ask him about this little statue of a chicken with no head next to the chicken house but I knew we would get suckered into buying some lavender from him so we just left. The next stop was Columbia Farms which was once a large dairy operation now a large berry and vegetable farm. Of course they also were out of picked raspberries. We reluctantly decided to go pick our own as it was getting late in the day and the odds of anywhere else having any already picked was slim to none. I don’t think I have picked a flat of berries since I was a teenager on the farm. 
"This is a hoot"
"
Do I look Like I am having fun?"
Do I look Like I am having fun?"Yep, picking berries still sucks but the reward of fresh berry cobbler or shortcake makes it all worthwhile. Here is the cobbler my lovely wife made out of the blackberries. Awesome.
Now I am getting a hankering for my mom’s blackberry dumplings. They are freaking awesome.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Teresa, Give Me That Knife!
So you can eat with metal silverware after security now at least at PDX. The Laurelwood even has them for the grabbing near the door. But if you were to try and go through security with say a knife and a fork in your carry-on they would more then likely take you away somewhere and question you for an hour possibly missing your flight. I don’t see a threat from these items anyway since most anyone would jump someone trying to takeover the plane. Just an observation from my last business trip...
Friday, May 2, 2008
Local Grubs
We went over to the Portland Farmers market this past weekend to A. enjoy the day and B. get some grub for dinner. If you haven’t been I highly recommend going if you like fresh grub. The market was already bustling and it was still just the end of April.
The first thing we spotted was rhubarb my request for strawberry rhubarb pie was immediately placed with the chief pie maker. The salad makin’s looked wonderful with fresh arugula, mesculn, spinach etc. but we still had store bought organic salad to use up so we moved on. We did buy some brie from a local cheese maker in Scio, OR., bread from the Pearl bakery, and grass fed rib eye steaks from Deck Family Farm out of Junction City, OR.
The menu for dinner went like this:
Organic salad with blue cheese dressing
Bruschetta with white bean spread
Roasted Red Potatoes in garlic cloves and EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
Ribeye steak with cabernet sauce
Amavi Cabernet-sauvignon from Walla Walla Valley ‘05
Strawberry rhubarb pie and vanilla ice cream.
The first thing we spotted was rhubarb my request for strawberry rhubarb pie was immediately placed with the chief pie maker. The salad makin’s looked wonderful with fresh arugula, mesculn, spinach etc. but we still had store bought organic salad to use up so we moved on. We did buy some brie from a local cheese maker in Scio, OR., bread from the Pearl bakery, and grass fed rib eye steaks from Deck Family Farm out of Junction City, OR.
The menu for dinner went like this:
Organic salad with blue cheese dressing
Bruschetta with white bean spread
Roasted Red Potatoes in garlic cloves and EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
Ribeye steak with cabernet sauce
Amavi Cabernet-sauvignon from Walla Walla Valley ‘05
Strawberry rhubarb pie and vanilla ice cream.
Here is a couple of pic.
The Steaks.
The Cabernet Sauce
Over dinner the conversation moved to the discussion of the difference in grass fed beef vs. grain fed which was better tasting and so on. I knew that grass fed was better for you because they area eating grass duh. And feedlot cattle are not very healthy due to there close quarters to each other, large amounts of antibiotics, etc.
Whenever I travel to the Midwest everyone always brags to me about grain fed, dry aging, marbling etc. but I didn’t know if grass fed beef has/could develop the flavors from being grain fed so some research was in order. I found this link that offers somewhat of a comparison between grain vs pasture raised beef.
http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/food/beef/index2.html
Pretty interesting check it out.
Whenever I travel to the Midwest everyone always brags to me about grain fed, dry aging, marbling etc. but I didn’t know if grass fed beef has/could develop the flavors from being grain fed so some research was in order. I found this link that offers somewhat of a comparison between grain vs pasture raised beef.
http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/food/beef/index2.html
Pretty interesting check it out.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Beer Movie
Among the long list of documentaries my wife and I have been watching lately, the latest is “American Beer ”. This was moderately interesting to watch but only if you truly love craft beers. This documentary is about a group of six guys that go on a road trip to see 38 brewpubs in 40 days. For me the main appeal with this film was the great interviews they got from the brewers/owners who threw their nuts on the dashboard and mashed the throttle to make a go at starting a microbrewery before the brewpub/craft brewing craze really got started. The exception would be the interview with the RedHook founder he was kind of a dick. There beer has gone to pot anyway since their partial sellout to AB. The 6 guys (really only 5 since the 6th was doing the filming) didn’t bring a lot to the table but was still watchable. Their selection of breweries was pretty good with the likes of Pelican, Dogfish, Anchor Steam etc. until the next to the last stop at New Belgium. Whaaa?! I cannot stand New Belgium. The beers I have tried just don’t do anything for me. The Fat Tire Amber just seems a little light in the malt area. Of course I tend to compare all ambers against Full Sail Amber in color and body. But honestly it is not the taste that bothers me as much as their graphics on the bottle. Something about it just irritates me I don’t know what it is. Could it be there successful marketing that Fat Tire is available almost everywhere? I’m sure they have plenty of beers at the brewpub that are great but I would have a hard time trying them after Fat Tire. Anyway I digress back to the movie. These guys who in my opinion spent too much time boozing on the east coast try a little too hard to be funny and made only a few stops in Oregon and one or two in Washington. I was hoping they would have hit some of my favorites although lesser known say New Old Lompoc, Roots Brewing, Lucky Lab or even Tugboat Brewing as one of the smallest brewpubs in Portland. Oh well.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Cornholio
Saw a free screening of King Corn the other night at St. John's Theater. The place was packed and people were being turned away as the place reached over capacity. Curt Ellis co-writer of the film was also in attendance to speak afterwards for a panel discussion along with the Pres. of New Seasons, Guy from the Oregon Food Bank and Sauvie Island Organics as well as a local organic farmer from the Clac. The film was well done as far as documentaries and far better then the last documentary I watched. King Corn is about two friends who decide to grow an acre of corn in a small Iowa town and see where there corn ends up. They go into detail with only two products of corn; animal feed and corn syrup. I thought they could have spent some time going into Ethanol production as well but perhaps that is another documentary in the making.
Now I already new most things they brought up about corn production and animal feed when I am working in the ag industry. One thing I didn't know which was disturbing to me was that continually feeding cattle corn makes them sick that is one of the reasons why they give cattle antibiotics. In fact the feed lots have it down so precisely by the time the cow gets the fatal nail in the head they would have died anyway soon from there diet of corn. Grass fed nuf said.
In one scene they actually pull a couple ears from there field and take a bite. The look of disgust after they tasted it reminded me of the time when I was ten years old I was in Minnesota staying for a few days with my then step moms family on there family farm. There was corn everywhere and I had a hankering for an ear of corn. So one day I snuck off not wanting to be seen stealing there corn (like they would miss an ear) I remember going through these woods and on the other side there was another huge field of corn so I went in and selected an ear based on my knowledge from picking corn from our own small field (maybe ten rows) back home. I husked it back and took a bite and about gagged. I had no idea there was corn other then sweet corn we grew back home. I tried a few more ears just to be sure yup they all tasted like dried turds. I went back to the farm house confused on why they grew all this inedible stuff. They later informed me that they grew it strictly to feed there hogs. So it is pretty amazing to me when I am in Iowa or other states in the corn belt that there growing all of this corn and none of it is edible without processing or feeding it to animals.
The panel discussion after the movie was not as lively as I thought it would be but I stuck around anway to here what they had to say. If you want to check out the film PBS will be airing it on April 15th.
Now I already new most things they brought up about corn production and animal feed when I am working in the ag industry. One thing I didn't know which was disturbing to me was that continually feeding cattle corn makes them sick that is one of the reasons why they give cattle antibiotics. In fact the feed lots have it down so precisely by the time the cow gets the fatal nail in the head they would have died anyway soon from there diet of corn. Grass fed nuf said.
In one scene they actually pull a couple ears from there field and take a bite. The look of disgust after they tasted it reminded me of the time when I was ten years old I was in Minnesota staying for a few days with my then step moms family on there family farm. There was corn everywhere and I had a hankering for an ear of corn. So one day I snuck off not wanting to be seen stealing there corn (like they would miss an ear) I remember going through these woods and on the other side there was another huge field of corn so I went in and selected an ear based on my knowledge from picking corn from our own small field (maybe ten rows) back home. I husked it back and took a bite and about gagged. I had no idea there was corn other then sweet corn we grew back home. I tried a few more ears just to be sure yup they all tasted like dried turds. I went back to the farm house confused on why they grew all this inedible stuff. They later informed me that they grew it strictly to feed there hogs. So it is pretty amazing to me when I am in Iowa or other states in the corn belt that there growing all of this corn and none of it is edible without processing or feeding it to animals.
The panel discussion after the movie was not as lively as I thought it would be but I stuck around anway to here what they had to say. If you want to check out the film PBS will be airing it on April 15th.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Loaves
I ran across the recipe my mom used to make homemade bread the other day. Instantly memories of being a child watching my mom make bread filled my head. She would use this huge no humongous green plastic bowl in which she would add the yeast, warm water, and brown sugar and let that sit for awhile to let the yeast come alive and start devouring the sugar. Next the flour (18 cups worth!) was added along with some salt and wheat germ. Then she would cut in the shortening and add more water.
Now the work started. She would flour the counter and her hands and begin working the dough kneading it for what seemed like hours. My mom did this bizarre thing where when she kneaded the dough she would lock her jaw so tight you could here her teeth creaking from the stress. After the kneading was done she would put the dough back in the bowl and cover with a towel and let the dough rise for awhile. I probably disappeared to watch Sesame Street or bust up my brothers Lego creation or something. After several repeated kneads and rises she would grease the loaf pans and form the dough into loaves and place in the pan except for one loaf which she just kept in a ball. This ball of dough is why I think I hung around to watch the process. After this ball of dough went through the final raise she would cut it into smaller balls and then roll them flat for what we called fried bread. This is basically what you get at the county fairs but they call them Elephant ears and there typically deepfried and covered in cinnamon. Anway she would poke holes in the middle of them and place 4 or 5 in a frying pan and fry them a nice golden brown. As soon as she took them out of the pan I was reaching for one I'm sure burning my hand more then once. I didn't put anything on them other then butter. These were some good eats. One time me and my brother ate too many and they made our stomach swell up from the dough rising from the inside. Don't ever do that. It hurts. Hmm I think there was an episode about that same thing on Emergency!
Her bread was fantastic and lasted the whole fam for at least a week or so. Here is the recipe in case you are interested. (the numbers in () is for tripling the recipe
(3) 1 cup warm water
(6) 2 teaspoons sugar Mix in a bowl, cover and set aside
(3) 1 pkg. Fleishmans dry yeast
(12) 4 cups whole wheat flour
(6) 2 cups white flour Measure in a large bowl, mix with hands, make well in center
(7 ½) 2 ½ teaspoons salt
handful of wheat germ
(3/4) ¼ cup shortening
(4 ½) 1 ½ cups warm water
Put in well, cut shortening with large spoon, mix slightly add yeast mixture, mix thoroughly with spoon, then grease hands and knead thoroughly.
Let rise in warm place free from drafts about 45 minutes.
Knead, let rise 30 minutes.
Knead let rise another 30 minutes
Put into loaf pans let raise 45 minutes
Bake at 375 degree oven for 40-50 minutes
Makes 2 or 3 loaves
(6-9 loaves)
I have been baking the shit out of some bread lately with on FMLA. We picked up a Cuisinart bread machine so I have been experimenting with some different recipes that was included with the machine. My fav thus far is the basic Rustic Loaf. This loaf uses the Artisan setting which does not actually bake the loaf but takes the dough on a magical trip of multiple rises and kneads for 5 1/2 hours. After the final knead the machine tells you to remove the dough by a series of annoying chimes. From there it is all manual labor of shaping it and letting it rise one more time before baking. This type of bread can be cooked in the oven but I prefer to use my gas grill with the awesome pizza stone my awesome wife got me. The stone is thicker then average to hold the heat better but also sits on an stainless steel elevated platform so the stone doesn't actually touch the rack but is a couple inches off the rack. This gives the proper air flow above so one side of the grill is cooking the top down while the side underneith the stone is cooking from the bottom. This is tricky to get the temperature adjusted just right especially with my cheap burners and temp controls but I think I finally got it dialed in.
Here is the dough after a few rises and kneads
Dough ready to be baked
Finished Product.
Now the work started. She would flour the counter and her hands and begin working the dough kneading it for what seemed like hours. My mom did this bizarre thing where when she kneaded the dough she would lock her jaw so tight you could here her teeth creaking from the stress. After the kneading was done she would put the dough back in the bowl and cover with a towel and let the dough rise for awhile. I probably disappeared to watch Sesame Street or bust up my brothers Lego creation or something. After several repeated kneads and rises she would grease the loaf pans and form the dough into loaves and place in the pan except for one loaf which she just kept in a ball. This ball of dough is why I think I hung around to watch the process. After this ball of dough went through the final raise she would cut it into smaller balls and then roll them flat for what we called fried bread. This is basically what you get at the county fairs but they call them Elephant ears and there typically deepfried and covered in cinnamon. Anway she would poke holes in the middle of them and place 4 or 5 in a frying pan and fry them a nice golden brown. As soon as she took them out of the pan I was reaching for one I'm sure burning my hand more then once. I didn't put anything on them other then butter. These were some good eats. One time me and my brother ate too many and they made our stomach swell up from the dough rising from the inside. Don't ever do that. It hurts. Hmm I think there was an episode about that same thing on Emergency!
Her bread was fantastic and lasted the whole fam for at least a week or so. Here is the recipe in case you are interested. (the numbers in () is for tripling the recipe
(3) 1 cup warm water
(6) 2 teaspoons sugar Mix in a bowl, cover and set aside
(3) 1 pkg. Fleishmans dry yeast
(12) 4 cups whole wheat flour
(6) 2 cups white flour Measure in a large bowl, mix with hands, make well in center
(7 ½) 2 ½ teaspoons salt
handful of wheat germ
(3/4) ¼ cup shortening
(4 ½) 1 ½ cups warm water
Put in well, cut shortening with large spoon, mix slightly add yeast mixture, mix thoroughly with spoon, then grease hands and knead thoroughly.
Let rise in warm place free from drafts about 45 minutes.
Knead, let rise 30 minutes.
Knead let rise another 30 minutes
Put into loaf pans let raise 45 minutes
Bake at 375 degree oven for 40-50 minutes
Makes 2 or 3 loaves
(6-9 loaves)
I have been baking the shit out of some bread lately with on FMLA. We picked up a Cuisinart bread machine so I have been experimenting with some different recipes that was included with the machine. My fav thus far is the basic Rustic Loaf. This loaf uses the Artisan setting which does not actually bake the loaf but takes the dough on a magical trip of multiple rises and kneads for 5 1/2 hours. After the final knead the machine tells you to remove the dough by a series of annoying chimes. From there it is all manual labor of shaping it and letting it rise one more time before baking. This type of bread can be cooked in the oven but I prefer to use my gas grill with the awesome pizza stone my awesome wife got me. The stone is thicker then average to hold the heat better but also sits on an stainless steel elevated platform so the stone doesn't actually touch the rack but is a couple inches off the rack. This gives the proper air flow above so one side of the grill is cooking the top down while the side underneith the stone is cooking from the bottom. This is tricky to get the temperature adjusted just right especially with my cheap burners and temp controls but I think I finally got it dialed in.
Here is the dough after a few rises and kneads
Dough ready to be baked
Finished Product.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Warming Hut
I have not been blogging lately. Obviously.
Here is a shot of the warming hut at Ski Bowl from the day I went boarding. There is an insane amount of snow up there. The snow level in this picture is a couple feet higher then the Eaves.
The inside is pretty cool too. Huge fireplace old wooden skis, tables and a bar. Perfect. Not perfect they only had one czech lager and I needed to quaff an IPA.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Sales call
I took a business trip to Sacramento (Los Molinos actually) the other day. The plan was to fly into SAC get picked up by one of my companies outside sales reps who is from the area and drive several hours to the plant to give a presentation to the owner, board of directors and plant personal. We get there and are greeted by the plant manager who walks us past the conference room but yet ducks in the room for just a second and then leads us into his office. Mmmkay. He was obviously considering if the conference room is appropiate. I'm thinking well maybe he thinks we are all going to try and gather in his small office. The sales rep and I gave each other a look of wtf and got our presentation stuff out anyway. I barely got my laptop turned on before he started talking about changing the layout and the need to go out and look at the area. So we go out to the production area where the equipment would go, discussed a few options and the subtle changes we needed to make, then walked back to his office to hopefully discuss the project in more detail or at least learn what happened to giving a presentation to erveryone. Nope. "I need to get a new drawing and proposal from you". That was it. We did get him to say we were "right in there" on price which means we are cheaper in sales lingo. (Otherwise he would have said we are a " little high") That was the extent of the meeting a whopping 40 minutes to have traveled several hours by airplane and car and many more hours before I got home. Crazy.
Luckily we had one more stop to make on our way back. The mighty Sierra Nevada Brewery. The sales rep had promised me we would stop to try a few if we had a good meeting. The meeting definitely did not go well but we stopped anyway because a beer was needed, and it was Sierra Nevada afterall. The brewery was much bigger then I was expecting and very industrial looking on one side more like a large commercial brewery. (I guess it kind of is) and more of your typical brew pub restaurant look on the other sides with the exception of everything was very upscale for a brewpub.
Here is a pic of the parking lot with solar panels above that also pivot with the angle of the sun. This covers the entire parking lot and it is a large parking lot. This should be a requirement for all parking lots and roofs of most commercial buildings (at least in warm climate areas). Along with the landscaping design this fits in nicely with the environment, looks cool, free energy, and a great use of space. There is also some benefit by parking there as you get some shade from the panels. The steel structure holding up the panels is not elaborate and would be inexpensive to build. The expense of the solar panels is another matter.
This is what all the ashtrays look like at each entrance.
The company logo is CNC milled into the side of the brushed stainless steel housing. As we went inside we noticed the huge polished copper brew kettles which is pretty common for brew pubs but these were a beaut. Even the HVAC ducts throughout the bar and restaurant were made out of copper. Those must have cost a fortune.
We sat down at the bar and ordered a pint. I started with there IPA which was really good but not into my top 10 list for IPA's. He had a Scotch Ale which was a seasonal and quite good. Next up was a toss up between the 20th St. Greenhop and their flagship Pale Ale. I couldn’t recall if I ever had there pale on draft before so the bartender gave us a couple samples of each. The 20th St. was delicious but was just another dry hopped IPA to me. The pale on the other hand is much better (and fresher) on draft then out of the bottle which carries a lingering but subtle bottle taste to it. We sat at the bar and rapped about what had happened earlier with the sales call; going through all the scenarios. Did they buy from someone else? Was there just a mix-up in scheduling? when we noticed this guy carrying a tap and hose with a clamping style mounting apparatus and clamped it to the side of the bar and disappeared. Then a while later he comes back rolling in a keg we find out to be special keg of Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale they have been aging for six months. We could barely contain our excitement as we ordered two pints. The bartender later told us that we shouldn't have gotten full pints because of the high ABV. I told her we can keep her mistake a secret, oh and you should probably only charge us for 1/2 pints then. This is a BIG hoppy beer and needless say we were all smiles. Better eat something.
After finishing our pints and an order of wings which btw were not even close to the mighty goodness of FOTM back in P-town we headed out to get me back to the airport. He had satellite radio in his car so I took over the controls and landed a classic punk rock station as we blasted down the road.
Oh, one more stop to empty my bladder. We whipped into this bankrupted prune farm to water the prunes.
He dropped me off at the airport with an hour left before my flight departed. Perfect timing. The flight was on time since Southwest rules and made it safely home by 8:30. Today was not entirely a waste.
Luckily we had one more stop to make on our way back. The mighty Sierra Nevada Brewery. The sales rep had promised me we would stop to try a few if we had a good meeting. The meeting definitely did not go well but we stopped anyway because a beer was needed, and it was Sierra Nevada afterall. The brewery was much bigger then I was expecting and very industrial looking on one side more like a large commercial brewery. (I guess it kind of is) and more of your typical brew pub restaurant look on the other sides with the exception of everything was very upscale for a brewpub.
Here is a pic of the parking lot with solar panels above that also pivot with the angle of the sun. This covers the entire parking lot and it is a large parking lot. This should be a requirement for all parking lots and roofs of most commercial buildings (at least in warm climate areas). Along with the landscaping design this fits in nicely with the environment, looks cool, free energy, and a great use of space. There is also some benefit by parking there as you get some shade from the panels. The steel structure holding up the panels is not elaborate and would be inexpensive to build. The expense of the solar panels is another matter.
This is what all the ashtrays look like at each entrance.The company logo is CNC milled into the side of the brushed stainless steel housing. As we went inside we noticed the huge polished copper brew kettles which is pretty common for brew pubs but these were a beaut. Even the HVAC ducts throughout the bar and restaurant were made out of copper. Those must have cost a fortune.
We sat down at the bar and ordered a pint. I started with there IPA which was really good but not into my top 10 list for IPA's. He had a Scotch Ale which was a seasonal and quite good. Next up was a toss up between the 20th St. Greenhop and their flagship Pale Ale. I couldn’t recall if I ever had there pale on draft before so the bartender gave us a couple samples of each. The 20th St. was delicious but was just another dry hopped IPA to me. The pale on the other hand is much better (and fresher) on draft then out of the bottle which carries a lingering but subtle bottle taste to it. We sat at the bar and rapped about what had happened earlier with the sales call; going through all the scenarios. Did they buy from someone else? Was there just a mix-up in scheduling? when we noticed this guy carrying a tap and hose with a clamping style mounting apparatus and clamped it to the side of the bar and disappeared. Then a while later he comes back rolling in a keg we find out to be special keg of Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale they have been aging for six months. We could barely contain our excitement as we ordered two pints. The bartender later told us that we shouldn't have gotten full pints because of the high ABV. I told her we can keep her mistake a secret, oh and you should probably only charge us for 1/2 pints then. This is a BIG hoppy beer and needless say we were all smiles. Better eat something.
After finishing our pints and an order of wings which btw were not even close to the mighty goodness of FOTM back in P-town we headed out to get me back to the airport. He had satellite radio in his car so I took over the controls and landed a classic punk rock station as we blasted down the road.
Oh, one more stop to empty my bladder. We whipped into this bankrupted prune farm to water the prunes.He dropped me off at the airport with an hour left before my flight departed. Perfect timing. The flight was on time since Southwest rules and made it safely home by 8:30. Today was not entirely a waste.
Interstate Drawbridge Damn Birds
I was coming home from guitar lessons and a quick stop at New Seasons for some fresh salmon and beer the other night and got stopped for a bridge lift on the Interstate bridge just 6 cars shy from making it across. If only I had not loitered at the beer aisle for so long I would have had it made. For those that don't know the Interstate bridge is bridge that spans the Columbia River and borders much of Oregon and Washington state. This is also a drawbridge where the first span was built in 1917 and the second span somewhere in the late 50’s. So do to maritime traffic regulations a large sailboat gets priority over thousands of cars which snarls up traffic for at least another hour. The only time they can't raise the bridge is 6:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. makes sense except that traffic is still pretty heavy after 6:00 pm. Anyway, I digress. I was pretty hungry and luckily I had bought a loaf of artisan sourdough for no reason other then it smelled awesome. I tore off a chunk of the bread and scarfed it down. I masticated for quite a few minutes realizing this boat will take a while to cross and I had just bought some beer. I was right in the middle of the Columbia River not sure what state I was in and what jurisdiction I would be in for an open container citation. After little contemplating a Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA got opened and I must say very tasty with the bread. I sat there for twenty some minutes enough time to make a good dent in the bread and finish my beverage so it technically wasn’t an open container but an empty one.
This experience made me come to the final conclusion that yes we need to replace the bridge. Not necessarily because it is a drawbridge, not because it gave me some free time to sit in my car and break laws, not because we need more lanes (This just creates more congestion). Nope it is because of all the GAWDAMN Birds shitting on my car! I had 6 droppings on the windshield alone. My hood was covered my mirrors got sprayed, yes the actual vertical mirror surface part. I don’t know how they do it. No framework for birds to rest on = no poop. So what we need is an open span 6 lane freeway (3 each direction) with light rail and adequate bike lanes. Can someone please make this happen soon?
Snow Fun
We finally made it up to the mountain for a day of snowshoeing, Eli shook his cold and ear infection and everyone was finally healthy enough to make the trek. We made it out of the house surprisingly by 10:00 and at the snow-park by 11:30 and that is after stopping multiple places to try and get a snow-park permit. Ended up getting one at Ski Bowl which is where I intended to get it in the first place.
After getting ourselves ready first and then strapping in Eli to the carrier we headed up. I haven’t been there since the Mt. Hood Scramble last June where there was still huge piles of debris from the White River glacial outburst of November 2006 which brought Mt. Hood Meadows to its kness btw as its main access road to the mountain. Now the parking area looks twice as big as before the washout I guesss they had some extra materials handy to use for grading. There was also plenty of other folks out enjoying the day (so much for solitude). The weather however was perfect lots of sun and not very cold maybe 30 degrees. The only thing we neglected to pack baby wise were Eli’s shades so I gave up mine.
We took the high road on a ridge where all the sledders were hiking up to get a good sledding spot which reminded me of my bro’s great sledding incident of 2005. Our annual family get together that year was a day of sledding and playing in the snow then back to the house for homemade gourmet pizzas. I had brought a couple inner tubes and along with my brother we decided to find some steeper terrain. Steep we found but also quite bumpy as my brother went airborne and when he landed he popped his shoulder out of socket and then jamming it back in. A hill clearly meant for young kids with more flexable body parts. The reason I mention this and why the memory came back to me is we did not see anyone else with inner tubes. We saw lots of toboggan style sleds and those round saucers. We saw one one kid probably 5 years old go down the hill backward on of those saucers perfectly calm, he was really picking up speed until he caught an edge which flipped him head first like a somersault only with his hands and feet spread out in the air, slamming him into the hard snow pack. His parents freaked. I freaked. I’m sure my wife freaked enough to get Eli a glass bubble to live in once he can walk. But the kid got up shook the snow off his head and grabbed his sled and started climbing back up the hill for more.
We hiked on where the hill got steeper and where snowboarders who couldn’t afford a lift ticket were making jumps and assumingly tossing back some cold ones as snowboarders often do. We stopped at nice area in the trees on the ridge and had a light snack of dried fruit and granola bars, let Eli play in the snow where he made a great mini snow angel with my assistance.
We decided to turn back as Eli was starting to get a little fussy so we strapped him back in and made the descent back to the Disco. We only descended a hundred or so feet and Eli was asleep. He snored the rest of the way down. Enough so that other parties could hear him as we passed.
We were all starving so we stopped at Mt. Hood Brewing for a pint and a burger. I ordered an Ice Axe which is there IPA and is stupendous on draft especially after a day on the slopes. I traded with C though who somehow through the pregnancy or something forgot what a stout should taste like and didn’t like the nicely roasted malts of the Hogsback Oatmeal Stout she ordered. I think she referred it to tasting like a cigarette butt. I assumed not a menthol and traded with her. YUM-O as RR would say. Next I had another stout that was cask conditioned very smooth and paired well with my blue cheese burger. After a tasty lunch although a little spendy, we got back in the Disco for some off-road action in the snow. Okay just a short snow plow run-out area but still fun. We didn’t spin a tire and Eli already loves fourwheeling!
After getting ourselves ready first and then strapping in Eli to the carrier we headed up. I haven’t been there since the Mt. Hood Scramble last June where there was still huge piles of debris from the White River glacial outburst of November 2006 which brought Mt. Hood Meadows to its kness btw as its main access road to the mountain. Now the parking area looks twice as big as before the washout I guesss they had some extra materials handy to use for grading. There was also plenty of other folks out enjoying the day (so much for solitude). The weather however was perfect lots of sun and not very cold maybe 30 degrees. The only thing we neglected to pack baby wise were Eli’s shades so I gave up mine.
We took the high road on a ridge where all the sledders were hiking up to get a good sledding spot which reminded me of my bro’s great sledding incident of 2005. Our annual family get together that year was a day of sledding and playing in the snow then back to the house for homemade gourmet pizzas. I had brought a couple inner tubes and along with my brother we decided to find some steeper terrain. Steep we found but also quite bumpy as my brother went airborne and when he landed he popped his shoulder out of socket and then jamming it back in. A hill clearly meant for young kids with more flexable body parts. The reason I mention this and why the memory came back to me is we did not see anyone else with inner tubes. We saw lots of toboggan style sleds and those round saucers. We saw one one kid probably 5 years old go down the hill backward on of those saucers perfectly calm, he was really picking up speed until he caught an edge which flipped him head first like a somersault only with his hands and feet spread out in the air, slamming him into the hard snow pack. His parents freaked. I freaked. I’m sure my wife freaked enough to get Eli a glass bubble to live in once he can walk. But the kid got up shook the snow off his head and grabbed his sled and started climbing back up the hill for more.
We hiked on where the hill got steeper and where snowboarders who couldn’t afford a lift ticket were making jumps and assumingly tossing back some cold ones as snowboarders often do. We stopped at nice area in the trees on the ridge and had a light snack of dried fruit and granola bars, let Eli play in the snow where he made a great mini snow angel with my assistance.
We decided to turn back as Eli was starting to get a little fussy so we strapped him back in and made the descent back to the Disco. We only descended a hundred or so feet and Eli was asleep. He snored the rest of the way down. Enough so that other parties could hear him as we passed.
We were all starving so we stopped at Mt. Hood Brewing for a pint and a burger. I ordered an Ice Axe which is there IPA and is stupendous on draft especially after a day on the slopes. I traded with C though who somehow through the pregnancy or something forgot what a stout should taste like and didn’t like the nicely roasted malts of the Hogsback Oatmeal Stout she ordered. I think she referred it to tasting like a cigarette butt. I assumed not a menthol and traded with her. YUM-O as RR would say. Next I had another stout that was cask conditioned very smooth and paired well with my blue cheese burger. After a tasty lunch although a little spendy, we got back in the Disco for some off-road action in the snow. Okay just a short snow plow run-out area but still fun. We didn’t spin a tire and Eli already loves fourwheeling!
Monday, January 7, 2008
Dad Duty
Day 1: 7:42 AM My first day staying at home with my son. This is soo awesome, I can't wait to start spending time with Eli during my leave (FMLA). My lovely wife brought him into our bed and laid him down by me before she left for work. I wondered why she brought him in our bed if he was asleep in the crib. I had just been up at 6:00 to feed him and thought he would sleep for a couple more hours without waking up. No matter as he drifted right back asleep. Sweet, now I am going to get up to figure out this blogging thing... 8:30 AM. So much for getting up early but Eli is still sleeping peacefully. Time to get up and start my new responsibilities as a stay at home Dad.
General Events of the day:
Make Coffee.
Make Bottles. 5 of them! Make more less often that is my evil plan.
Make breakfast. Normally it is just cereal or toast and out the door, but I spotted some chicken sausage I bought almost two weeks ago that needs to be thrown out and figured I would just cook it extra long to make it safe. Of course I need some scrambled eggs to go with the sausage and oh and some leftover Vermont cheddar from the cheese and wine party. Some wheat toast and Bam! Huge ass breakfast!
Take dirty diapers outside for diaper service for pick up.
Make Eli some tasty organic cereal and carrots.
Wake Eli, change dirty diaper and clean said dirtiness from Eli's butt, taint, sac, and wiener area.
Feed Eli. Crap this takes longer then I expected. I hope I am not late for his Dr. apt.
General Events of the day:
Make Coffee.
Make Bottles. 5 of them! Make more less often that is my evil plan.
Make breakfast. Normally it is just cereal or toast and out the door, but I spotted some chicken sausage I bought almost two weeks ago that needs to be thrown out and figured I would just cook it extra long to make it safe. Of course I need some scrambled eggs to go with the sausage and oh and some leftover Vermont cheddar from the cheese and wine party. Some wheat toast and Bam! Huge ass breakfast!
Take dirty diapers outside for diaper service for pick up.
Make Eli some tasty organic cereal and carrots.
Wake Eli, change dirty diaper and clean said dirtiness from Eli's butt, taint, sac, and wiener area.
Feed Eli. Crap this takes longer then I expected. I hope I am not late for his Dr. apt.
I had exactly 30 minutes to get both of us dressed and out the door to make his Dr. apt. a feat that should take way less then 30 minutes but somehow this takes much longer. I get him in his car seat and back out of the driveway and arrive at the Dr. only one or two minutes late. Success in my book.
Back in the driveway at Noon and Eli is asleep. So back into the crib he goes for a nap that only lasts for twenty minutes tops.
Eli wakes up. Change Diaper. Eat leftover Chili
Feed Eli.
Change Diaper. More poo.
Go to Gym. Remember as I walk to the front desk that the Kid's Club is closed from 12:00-4:00. Good times.
Go back home. decide to go for a run. Get the mighty BOB jogging stroller from the garage, bundle up Eli with stocking cap, mittens and blanket and run for 15 minutes realizing that leftover chili is best after running not before. Come back early. Put Stroller away.
Feed Eli. Entertain him by playing "All of me" a few times with my acoustic before starting dinner prep and... My wife opens the door an hour earlier then I expected. I'm sure she thought I was playing the guitar all day and Eli's diaper was overflowing. Good day overall. Tomorrow I shall play guitar all day. j/k
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
