VQ: YES

We went to VQ last night with Perrie and Matthew (Canadians both) to exercise our gullets. None of us had had a substantive dining experience at the restaurant. Carley went to as a recent, poor college grad with a party of other like-financed folks and ordered a round of salads, earning the emnity of the server. Last night was different, though. Being the lucky recipients of a gift certificate for dinner for four we told our server we would have one of everything, and were only kind of joking. My dinner consisted of rabbit pate, seafood stew, rack of lamb, chocolate souffle, truffles, and of course some Stunptown coffee. Carley had a mushroom salad and the sturgeon. It was pretty decadent, our server complimented us on our joie de diner.  

The restaurant wasn't very busy, so please remember to support V--they are probably the premier supplier of rabbit pate in the area. They also have a full array of video lottery games to compliment your high end dining experience. I know addiction is a hard thing for restaurants to overcome, but was surprised to see video crack at VQ.

latest random pictures

We're feeling very Christmasy at home, especially since we got to put up a tree during the first weekend in December. Since we'll be gone the week before Christmas (a live tree dilemma), we decided to borrow my grandma's best artificial tree this year. We are quite pleased with it, especially the nice size and shape, and how the decorations really stand out on the Noble-like limbs. Will this become a tradition?? Saves money, clean up, and one less dead tree!


On a walk this weekend, we were surprised to find this large fellow showing us who is boss. At first he was stone still in the backyard, and we stopped to see if it was real! Then it suddenly charged the fence, then jumped up there are crowed at us!! We could still hear him over block away!








Wags is a very lucky dog. He gets tucked in each night with his own blanket. He had a good Christmas last year (new bed and blanket). What will Santa bring him this year? Stay tuned for pictures!

Basement Project Update

It's been a nice Tuesday--watched some Weeds, ate some eggs, studied some strategic HR management.

In the last few weeks we have made major progress on the basement office. Couple things left to do--need to wire in a couple outlets and switches for the lights, need to paint the remaining concrete wall, few finish projects. It's hard to overstate how different it feels to sit here and type this out in a comfortable, mostly finished basement.

Saturday Night

My favorite time of the year has begun!  Autumn, well, yes that is lovely, but what I'm really talking about is that Chaba Thai is once again serving their special "Three Flavors Halibut"!!  :)   If you like lightly fried fish, sweet and sour sauce, and blend of produce like tomatoes, pineapple, cucumber, mushrooms, and onion, then you need to try this dish. Did I mention that it is topped with fried basil leaves?  It's a perfect dish to share.  Dave and I each had an order of fresh rolls with peanut sauce (always delicious), and we split the Tom Yum soup with tofu and the Three Flavors Halibut - it was a great meal!

After that, we watched Burn After Reading at the newly renovated Roseway Theater at 72nd/Sandy.  The latest Cohen brothers movie was funny, weird, and very entertaining (yet not for the faint of heart).  Brad Pitt's character made my laugh out loud, while George Clooney's performance reminded me how great an actor he is~  We were also delighted about the renovation of Roseway - it's kept some of the old theater looks, but it also has nice new seats, good sound, and AC which it didn't have before.  If only they had pizza and drinks.  But with the $6 admission, and it's close to our house - we'll be back!  

A great evening!

Oh, to top of the evening, we caught the first part of SNL where Tina Fey plays Sara Palin in the debate - you must watch this!

my last day in the lab

Carley, Sam, Perrie, and Natasha

Friday was my last day of work in the Thornburg lab, and so we spent the day having fun together!  I was met with a large balloon bouquet and voodoo donuts that morning, followed by lunch at Bambuza (their veggie pho is great!). 

 After that, just to round out the day, I did a final experiment on the ultrasound - Kent wanted to see some images of the atria-ventricular canal of the chick, and so a bunch of us huddled around the machine to watch the blood flow through the tiny hearts.

Once my desk was cleared and cleaned, and my notebooks carefully filed away (hopefully not just to accumulate dust!), we set off for happy hour at McCormick and Schmicks.  They've got a great/cheap HH menu, and Kent kindly treated us all!  We had a fun time chatting and reminiscing.  I'm sure we'll be meeting there again soon since it's very close to my new lab and the CHH.  We'll definitely keep up with each other - I expect to be kept up on all of the news!

With that, I start my new position on Monday morning!  I'll be the Assistant Technical Director of the Laboratory of Immunogenetics and Transplantation ~ whew, that is long!  I'll keep you all informed of my progress there - I'm very excited for this new and exciting opportunity~  C*

Confluence Project

Dave and I were both pretty tired after work on Monday (following busy weekends), but since it was such a beautiful day, we needed to get out and enjoy it! So after picking up our CSA farm box, I suggested that we visit the new a interpretive art installation at the Sandy River Delta. It is part of the Confluence Project, and designed by Maya Lin, to explore the effect of the Lewis and Clark Expedition on this area.

At this location, a 1.2 mile path takes you to a bird blind that is very near the Columbia River. The blind is created by tall wood slats sides around an oval platform. On each wood slat, there is an inscription with the date and entry from L&C's diaries, and the name and the scientific name of the native plant or animal that they observed. It's an interesting spot, very beautiful and peaceful.

Along the way, Wags got to run off leash nearly the whole way. It's always fun to see him frolic, especially with the other dogs on the trail. Plus, the sunset was amazing last night, on fire! We got to the blind at dusk, and so it was quite dark by the time we got back to our car. We didn't see many birds, but it was very relaxing and beautiful for an evening walk. We'll definitely be back, maybe with a picnic, and definitely with the Wags.~

Our trip to the Wallowas

We were in the Wallowa Mts last week (NE OR). Really beautiful. Here are the pics...

Our CSA Farm

Our weekly CSA veggie boxes are really picking up now that the late summer is here. Our last share included: lettuce, mixed greens, yellow wax beans, dill, cilantro, tomatoes, jalepeno peppers, squash, kale, fingerling potatoes, eggplant, beets, and kohlrabi. A few weeks ago, I toured the farm and picked some blackberries, and snapped a few photos.

OR State Fair

Made our way to Salem for the state fair. We took Perrie and Sam along, and it was most everyone's first time at the fair (except for the true oregonian, of course). We were foiled by some rain and bad scheduling (no dog or goat agility, as planned - boo!), but we still had some fun seeing the animals and eating fair faire. Goats are cuter than I thought, especially the pygmy goats. And we all thought that the different types of chickens were amusing.

Last Thursday in Alberta

We went to Last Thursday Alberta Art Walk last month with Val and Grant. Where do all of these hipsters come from?? Maybe it was the fact that it was August, a beautiful evening, end of summer event - it was packed! Fortunately, they now close down the Alberta between ~15th-33rd for the event. It was definitely more about people-watching than seeing art, but whatevs. It was amusing, and great to see friends~

Check out my cans

Carley and I continue to toil in the mines (basement). We are making good progress--getting things organized, finishing the drywall etc. Carley was sorting family pictures and artifacts. Tonight she found these cans (headphones) from Carley's grandpa Howard time in the army. They are pretty sweet. I was tempted to rewire them and use them for my ipod but they are not at all comfortable.

What's for dinner?

Maybe pesto and veggie pasta? Sounds great to me! The tomato harvest is finally here, and with 7 plants, soon our kitchen will be buried in them! I'm going to try freezing tomato sauce this year -- after I get tired of Italian tomato soup, salsa, and Caprese salad.

Funny/Good Show

On Friday Carley and I went to the Doug Fir to see Nellie McKay. I have a couple of her albums--she is an oddity who composes songs that could be part of Broadway musicals from the '50s but with a contemporary sensibility. We love shows at the Doug Fir because the room is so small--we were even able to get a table while we were waiting for the show to start. The crowd was NPR-diverse: turbo music dorks, oldsters, drunk sorority-types. The show was good--her banter reminded us of a politically-minded grama with a Judy Garland-affectation, which is funny because she is 23.
Live Performance
Fresh Air Interview

Leatherman Hack

I saw a cool post about a way to integrate your keys into a multitool. While Carley was in Philly I put mine together. It was fun to Dremel and grind the keys into shape.

Borscht.

I saw a recipe in the paper of record and decided to try it. While I was making it I expected to be disappointed, but the cold borscht turned out to be really good.
recipe

Berry Picking on Sauvie Island

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We went and got in touch with our fruit--picked marionberries, blueberries and peaches.

Carley tries out the new yard debris container

We are all excited to have new recycling and yard debris containers. Some people are more excited than others.

Cornhole--not as dirty as you think.

Cornhole is a new thing in Ohio--beanbag toss for the inebriated. My parents convinced me that it is fun, so I made one for our party this weekend. I decorated it with some spray paint leaf stencils.. Get ready--we'll be cornholing on Friday!

Thanks for coming!

Mom and Dad were in town last week. We did lots of fun things, and had time to hang out. We rented bikes from Clever Cycles and rode across the Hawthorne Bridge, north to the Steele Bridge, then south to Sellwood on the Springwater Trail. It was nice--here is a pic:

my favorite things

My most favorite time of the year - strawberry season! This is the first harvest of the year from our backyard strawberry patch, and the recent sun and warming weather really helped them this week. I hope to get about a pint a day for the next couple of weeks.

C*

Perfect Bike Storm

Just finished my ride home from work. My current bike commute strategy is carpool in with Carley with my bike on the rack and then pedal home. The morning ride can feel rewarding but more often than not I don't get stuff together and end up driving. We carpooled three times last week and this was the second time this week. The weather is perfect, gas prices are high, and I'm seeing more bikes than ever, especially closer to Parkrose. On Prescott between NE 72nd and Sandy I saw a dozen bikes. The cool thing is that it looks like more people are riding, not just the roadies and hardcore bike commuters. I'm seeing a wider range of ages and equipment. Pretty cool--we're proving that the Platinum rating is well deserved. I'm also getting stronger--rode most of the way in my big ring.

I'm making your analog digital

Grant, Britney, Adam and Erin were over tonight for small group. We had a garden tour, which Grant documented with his polaroid camera.
Very cool--I want one.

Dave's Birthday at Edgefield

Pics from my new camera. Had a great time, and played well until I had that second beer. Thanks to everyone who made it out--I had a great birthday.

The Coast in Spring is Fun and Brisk

Just back from a weekend in Seaside. We left on Friday not knowing how bad the pass would be--the forecast called for sleet and snow. We ran into some light snow, but nothing serious.

We stayed at a nice, new dogfriendly hotel in Seaside called River Tide Suites. Carley, her mom, Nana and aunt stayed there in January. Carley and I really needed a weekend away. Work has been hard. Being a grown up is kind of stupid sometimes. This was a nice break...even though the weather was cool, it was nice to be on the coast--always so pretty, and so much clam chowder.

These pics are from Cannon Beach, taken on Saturday. This morning before we left we hiked to one of the viewpoints on Tillamook Head on the Clatsop Trail Loop (page 3). Steady uphill walk, takes you right to the edge of the cliff. We looked for whales but couldn't find any.

Rickshaw ride to cirque du soleil

We went to Cirque du Soleil tonight. We had dinner in riverplace, then started to walk over to the big tent. It was raining buckets so we hailed a pedicab. Here is the crappy mobile phone cam coverage:



http://www.rosepedals.com/

The circus was awesome--I had never seen cirque before.

Birdwatching at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

We spent the morning driving around the Ridgefield NWR
It was beautiful spring-like weather and we saw ducks, coots, hawks, nuthatches, eagles and herons. We also saw nutria, which are ugly and stupid ROUS.

birds

In the past few days, we've had several nice and strange bird encounters (weird subject, I know!).

On Valentine's Day, when I arrived home, our next door neighbor Maurice was in his front yard looking a bit perplexed. He hesitated, but then asked "do you know anything about birds?" to which I said "YES." He pointed out this funny looking quail-ish bird laying by his garage. He was worried that it was hurt and would be found by cats, but the Audubon Society didn't have much info in the evening besides telling him to put a box over it to protect it if it seemed hurt. Anyway, from my bird book, I found out it was a Chukar, a bird not from this area, more from Eastern Oregon. We think it must be someone's odd pet that got away. Fortunately, it seemed to recover, and soon it was walking around. It spent the night on his fence, and we haven't seen it since.

This experience and the ensuing internet searches led me to discover that this weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count, a bird-identification event supported by the Cornell Lab or Ornithology and the Audubon Society. It helps raise awareness and appreciation of birds: their locations, numbers, habitat. Since I'm a fan of backyard birds, and that interest is rubbing off on Dave, I decided to contribute to this count.

On Saturday morning, it was easy to count our backyard birds within a 15 minutes timespan: 3 Anna's Hummingbirds, 2 robins, a scrub jay, and a Junco. Nothing too new, but it is nice to notice, especially on a sunny and beautiful morning! Dave watched our hummingbirds fighting with each other - so feisty! As my mom pointed out later, they are like the Chihuahuas of the bird world.

After breakfast out, we enjoyed the morning sunshine by watching for birds at Smith and Bybee lakes, a nature preserve and wetlands in North Portland. We saw 5 Great Blue Herons, a Red Tailed Hawk (we think), 2 Double-crested cormorant, lots of American coots, and various ducks and little brown birds. Beyond birds, we were amazed at the tenacity of the beavers have chew down scores of trees for their dam. Between the lakes, we spotted their dam which seemed to reach ~5 feet above the water level. Although this place is site is in the middle of industrial North Portland, it is a beautiful place to experience nature.

That's a bit about our bird-geek weekend~
C*

More six word biographies...

More of these little sub-haiku gems. Still haven't written one for me--maybe tomorrow. Thanks to Mike for leaving us a little something something in the comments.

Denver trip for Grandma's birthday!

As per Heidi's request (it's good to know a few people check this blog:), we are finally posting again! We were in Denver last weekend for Dave's grandma's 80th birthday. Dave stayed around CO to ski with his fam, and those pictures will come later, but first, here are some family/birthday pictures! We ate dinner at the White Fence Farm, an old chicken farm that does big family-style dinner and specializes in fried chicken and Americana farm kitsch. They did groups very well, and it was an enjoyable family outing~
C**

Skiing at Keystone

Last week my dad, sister and I enjoyed three days at Keystone in Colorado. Here are the pics--we had a great time. Perfect conditions...we're a lucky bunch.

Keystone Trail Map
A-Basin Trail Map

Keystone 2008

Snowshoeing at Twin Lakes

Carley and I made our first trip of the year up the mountain. We've been wanting to go snowshoeing since the first snow but have been too busy. We saw that the forecast today was perfect so headed up to the Frog Lake trail. It was really nice--here are a few pictures.

Snowshoeing at Twin Lakes