boxing day

a sneak peek at the much talked about creative room; or, a pic in which the kitties prove that they do in fact own every room in the houseI have the "Christmas Time is Here" theme from Charlie Brown Christmas running through my head. I was never a fan of that soundtrack when I was a kid, but it's one of my favorites for Christmas now. (It also contains the only version of 'O Tannebaum' I have ever liked.) I love the introspective, melancholic feel of the music, even though I don't feel that way at all. It seems to suit a grown-up Christmas mood more than a kid's; maybe that's why I didn't like it then and love it now.

We've had quite a vacation so far. We finished the creative room a week ago Friday, amidst other obligations -- including an evening dinner party down in Oregon City -- and have been spending pretty much all our time since then in there, playing. I need to finish updating on the work from three years ago and then I'll have posts and pictures about the work we just finished. I'm so excited to show it to you! I have a gazillion pictures, so be prepared.

We've also been to the movie (Voyage of the Dawn Treader) tried a couple new restaurants (Little Big Burger in the Pearl and Tasty & Sons on North Williams), mainlined more of S2 of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, made gifts for each other and Sister and Guy (we exchanged homemade gifts this year), shopped for the Fabulous Miss M, passed new levels of Zelda on the Wii, slept in a lot, and traveled to Salem and back to celebrate Christmas with our beloved Smiley family.

We headed to Salem Friday afternoon, to arrive to a warm house that smelled yummy and smiles and hugs from Sister, Guy, and Miss M. We had seafood chowder for Christmas Eve dinner, then bundled up and headed to their church for the candlelight service. (And oh man, talk about Charlie Brown Christmas...I can never listen to someone reading the traditional passage from Luke without thinking of Linus' KJV reading.) Then it was home again to get Miss M in her jammies and off to bed, set the coffee table with plates of cookies, and relax on the couch to visit. We brought our Wii controllers so we could do a fun foursome of Wii Sports Resort, but just never got around to it. No complaints here...I love just visiting, and especially around the Christmas tree. Guy read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, we shared our favorite Christmas memories, stuffed each others' stockings, and went to bed waaaay too late.

Christmas morning was opening our stockings, then breakfast of egg dish (a traditional casserole-type dish from Sister's family), orange sweet rolls and pecan sweet rolls (all homemade, of course!), and then we opened gifts from under the tree. Miss M was commendably patient for a three year-old, waiting her turn to open packages in between the opening of the homemade gifts among the adults. (More about the gifts in the next post.) After a bit of play, it was time for a much-needed nap for everyone, Miss M to her bed and the adults crashed on the couches and recliner in the living room.

We enjoyed a late afternoon snack-lunch of cold honey-baked ham, cheeses, veggies, bread, and cookies, and watched a couple of the old Rankin/Bass Christmas classics together with Miss M while we ate. (You forget how scary the Abominable Snowman was to you as a little kid until you watch it with another little kid for the first time. Miss M had to check a few times that Sal was still sitting beside her during those parts, in case she needed protection from the monster.) Before we knew it, it was time to head home to be sure the cats hadn't burned the house down, with Sister cramming plastic containers with leftovers for us to take with us and Guy making sure the beer was all packed safely for the trip home, and Miss M refusing to say goodbye because she didn't want us to leave. A good visit all around!

Hobbes is exhausted after a long day of sleepingWe came home to a house still standing and no immediate signs of destruction, which was perhaps the best Christmas gift of all, considering the state we've come home to at times in the past. The kitties were glad to see us instead of refusing to get near us as punishment for being gone, there wasn't a lot of unpacking to be done (we'd packed light and of course there weren't a lot of gifts to be unloaded) so we were able to just kick back on the couch in contented weariness to watch a couple of movies and then go to bed.

So today is a play day, a do-whatever-we-want day, a this-is-an-awesome-thing-about-being-an-adult-because-you-can-do-anything day, and then ProcrastiGirl arrives tomorrow to watch the cats and the house while we head to Oceanside for our winter coast vacation, a much-needed dose of Oregon Coast. It's supposed to be rainy and yucky, which means it will be awesome. The New Seasons grocery delivery arrives later today so we'll have plenty of deliciousness to munch on (along with everything Sister sent with us), we have a couple of shows to marathon, a new book to read, another to write :), and of course wi-fi and our laptops to keep us entertained if we need it (no seriously: what did we do before the internet??) in between walking the beach, visiting Cape Meares, or simply staring out the window at the beauty of waves crashing on the sand. God bless us, every one.

for home and hearth and ever-giving hand

pumpkin pie made by Chef Salvatore; you can't see it well in the pic, but the banners say "Hall" and "Smiley", respectively

Thank ye the gods, O dwellers in the land,
For home and hearth and ever-giving hand.

     -- excerpted from "The Seeker in the Marshes" by Daniel Lewis Dawson

Wow, a week since the last post? Where does the time go?

Well, into the busy activity of the holidays, obviously. Not that we get too wound up in the holidays per se, and we are staunch supporters of the stay-in-your-pajamas-all-day tradition of celebration, but even a relaxed holiday is a change of routine that can turn things upside down a bit.

Uncle Sal and Miss M clearly making up for lost timeThankfully, Guy and Sister both subscribe to the same celebratory philosophy, which meant that our family Thanksgiving was delightful and fun with none of that pesky stress nonsense that no one needs anyway. We ate a ridiculous amount of food, visited and laughed and played, took naps, ate some more, watched a bunch of Friday Night Lights (which they loved, because hello, awesome), and ate some more. (Cute moment of the holiday: when they arrived Wednesday night and Miss M was eating a bit of dinner before bedtime, she asked Sister, "Where's Uncle Sal?" Sister explained he was at work and wouldn't be home until after she was in bed but he would see her the next morning. To which Miss M asked, "Why isn't he here to play with me?")

Before they left Friday, Guy very graciously helped move the guest room furniture (my old bedroom set) to the basement where it will be stored until Miss M is ready for it*. Getting the room cleared out was important to getting started on the work in that room, since we pretty much can't do anything until the room is emptied out. We don't have to completely repaint the room, thankfully, but we are going to be doing some painting, and of course putting up new furniture and decorations.

*Miss M thinks of the guest room as hers, since she sleeps there when she stays the night. She (and we) call it her room. So we were a tad concerned what the reaction would be when we started dismantling it. Sister kept her occupied in the kitchen as we started taking the bed apart, but the jig was up when Guy passed through on the way to the basement carrying the headboard and footboard. Which elicited an alarmed cry of "You broke my bed!" from Miss M and sent her scurrying to the guest room to find the other furniture already dismantled and ready to hauled downstairs. "What did you do to my room?!" she asked anxiously. But the opportunity to run and slide across the now wide-open wood floor seemed to ease her distress.

Saturday, we spent a wonderful few hours with ProcrastiGirl, enjoying a quick brunch before catching a matinee showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1. The three of us seeing the newest Harry Potter installment at the theater has become something of a tradition; it'll be sad when we'll do it for the last time this summer. We enjoyed the movie, especially the animated "Three Brothers" sequence in the middle. (If you've seen it, you know why.) But I think my favorite part was a scene when Harry tells Hermione, "You're brilliant, Hermione," and she replies, "No, I'm just highly logical with an ability to see past the extraneous details." At which point, ProcrastiGirl and Sally patted each of my knees from either side as a way to say, "Yep, that's our Bitty", and then we all started whisper-giggling. I am, apparently, the Hermione.

After we said goodbye, we figured it was late enough in the day to brave the holiday weekend hordes at IKEA, who were hopefully dissipating enough to not chew our faces off like starved zombies while we gathered the numerous flat packs of furniture we'll need for the creative room. I compiled this list after many hours of careful research and measurement and...yes, I admit it, some 3-D modeling with Google Sketchup. Shut up. Okay, go ahead and mock me, but it meant that we could make a beeline for the warehouse area make a list of the aisle and bins for each of the items on our list, and load up the three pallet carts with our various flat packs, all in the space of about 45 minutes in the midst of a only-slightly-diminished-from-peak-shopping-hours swarm of people. The checkout line was long and the wait at the delivery reservation desk, too, which is why our total trip was about an hour and a half, but considering it was 20 minutes there and back, that's pretty darn efficient.

just a glimpse of the stack of boxes full of furniture waiting to be assembled...Even though we won't start the project for two more weeks, we wanted to get the IKEA trip out of the way as soon as possible since the crowds will only get worse the close we get to the holidays. And, we figured if there was a waiting list for having things delivered, we'd have plenty of time. Turns out, however, that they prefer to get deliver sooner rather than later so they don't have to store stuff, so we ended up having our stuff delivered first thing Sunday morning. Good thing the room was already emptied out! Otherwise, there wouldn't have been anywhere to put all those big, heavy boxes.

So the guest room has been emptied of old furniture, with a few odds and ends to be put away still, and there is now a big stack of furniture-to-be occupying the middle of the room. I'll make a trip to the paint store this week for the bit of paint we'll need and we may even get a head start this weekend and next. Which means...it's coming together!

Guess I'd better hurry up and finish updating the guest room and library renovations. So here, have the next installments: scraping the trim! Oooh, exciting!

Guest & Creative Room, part 3: scraping the trim

Library, part 3: scraping the trim

This is another case of the text for both being the same but the pictures are different so be sure to at least check out the two different picture galleries. (Future phase updates will have different text for each, since the projects began to diverge after this point even though they were done at the same time.)

I have the pictures done for the next couple of phases but haven't yet done the write-ups; hopefully those will be up in the next couple of days so keep an eye open.

i cleaned all the things!

courtesy of the always spectacularly hilarious Hyperbole and a Half, taken from the all-time best post ever (except possibly The God of Cake) and you absolutely must click to read or an asteroid will hit the earthWhat a jam-packed and productive weekend!

Friday, I worked a half day and then spent the afternoon poking around downtown, splurging on a few art supplies for me and Sal and then playing with my supplies when I got home for the rest of the evening. Saturday, we got our New Seasons delivery of all our groceries for our part of the Thanksgiving menu (more about this later in the post), which means yet another year where we do not have to brave the scary grocery store crowds for the last can of Who Hash. So because we didn't have to play Killer Shopping Cart Grand Prix, we instead did some straightening and made a great dinner in honor of our dear friend Kurt who was visiting from out of town.

Kurt is the bestest. He shares my geeky love for intricately programmed Excel spreadsheets and has the best joke delivery of anyone I know, except possibly Sal. He and his wife, Sylvia, are from South Africa so he has the most wonderful accent, and he says delightful things like "Cheers!" instead of "goodbye" and "Howzit!" instead of "hello", which is my favoritest Kurt-expression ever.

Sal (who was taking the picture one-handed with my cameraphone, which is tricky as hell), Kurt, and meKurt and Sylvia share our love for pretty much the greatest TV shows in existence, and Kurt will gladly fan-squee with me over whatever show they're currently watching. And he and Sylvia's stories about their kids are not to be missed. Oh, every parent tells their funny kid stories, and some of them are funny (and some, I'm sure we can agree, are only funny to the parents). But Kurt and Sylvia's kid stories are the stuff of stand-up comedy.

So over another excellent meal courtesy of Chef Salvatore of dry-rubbed pork chops, roasted parsnips pureed with leeks and fresh parsley, and creamed brussel sprouts*, and later, a dessert of tart tatin, we talked non-stop for hours and laughed enough to come close to someone snorting a liquid through their nose at several points. We talked about the awesomeness of Portland, and the good things that Texas has, after all (that's where they live now), despite not being Oregon, and politics and the housing crisis and Arrested Development and the merits of Buffy vs. Angel. Goodbye came too soon, of course, but we were glad to get to see him for a bit.

(Kurt, upon hearing we were having brussel sprouts, proclaimed he would try them but admitted that he'd always hated them since he was a kid. I'll note for the record, as proof to Sylvia since she was on the phone with him when we said that there'd be brussel sprouts, that Kurt did indeed have seconds on them.)

Yesterday, with the prospect of the lowest temps of the year and the forecast of snow, we were finally motivated enough to get outside and do some kind of nominal winterizing. We have seriously been the most procrastinatory (NEW WORD AHOY!) slugs ever for the last few months, blithely ignoring the lovely fall weekends we could've been working outside and not freezing our fingers off, opting instead to go to apple festivals and walks in the park and concerts in the middle of the city square. So waiting until the last possible minute, when it was colder than hell outside and starting to rain, was probably our due punishment for being so lazy.

We didn't get the veggie garden cleared out (I KNOW), nor the leaves raked and put into the raised beds (I KNOW OKAY), and the zebra grasses still need to be chopped back (YES I GET IT WE SUCK AT PLANT CARE) but! We did get all of the various decorations brought in, the twinkle lights in the trees taken down, the potted plants that are still blooming sheltered on the back porch, the porch swing and rocker removed to the basement, and all the stuff that gets stored on the back porch packed away in the steel bins or covered with plastic sheeting as appropriate. We also got the three potted trees on the patio and the two potted shrubs on the front porch covered for the next few days of below freezing temps, so we're feeling pretty proud of ourselves for being actually on top of things for once. Sort of.

I carried that sense of accomplishment inside with me and folded and put away the four (!) overflowing baskets of laundry while Sal ran more loads (I refrained from pointing out that Sisyphus and I have something in common, lest I seem to be an ungrateful wretch). And then! We made a full pan of enchiladas to freeze for Wednesday night's dinner, when the Hall-Smiley Family Thanksgiving Extravaganza officially commences.

For those just joining our program, the H-SFTE is an annual family celebration of food, slothfulness, and inappropriate humor, in which obscene quantities of good food are cooked and consumed continuously, games are played, Wii records are shattered, laughter is heard, dishes are washed, and new shows are marathoned. In pajamas. It is the very best holiday ever invented.

Sister, Guy, and the Fabulous Miss M arrive on Wednesday night (hence the enchiladas, which can be thrown into the oven for a quick and yummy dinner), Miss M is put to bed in the princess bed (aka my old canopy bed*), and pies and casseroles are baked while we wait for Sally to get home from a long day. Beer is consumed by Guy and Sally and we all stay up way too late, the aero bed is put up in the living room, and we all finally go to bed at some ridiculously late hour.

*(this will become her bed later this year, but it will be the last time she sleeps in it at our house...awww)

On Thanksgiving Day, we have a simple breakfast and get started cooking, but there's none of that putting-the-turkey-in-at-5-AM nonsense. No ma'am, we sleep in and get cooking when we damn well feel like it, as god and nature intended. Other dishes are prepared while we nosh on bread and cheese plates and then crudites, all while playing with Miss M and watching movies. And usually, there's a walk in the park somewhere in there. A literal walk in the park. Hee.

We eat late, depending on Miss M's schedule and whatever's easiest. We laugh and we play and then her bedtime comes and we either eat after that if we haven't already, or we eat again if we're hungry (we usually are). And then comes the marathon of whatever new show we're introducing them to (Friday Night Lights this year). When Sister starts to get a little droopy, we liven things up with a Wii tournament (Wii Sports, Wii Resort, and Raving Rabids are the family favorites) and end up eating and drinking even more, and then at some point we realize that Miss M will be up in a few hours and we all finally say good night.

Friday is the late morning brunch of some wonderful elaborate family breakfast usually involving pancakes or waffles, and dishes are done, and leftovers are packed up, and at some point in the early afternoon, goodbyes are said. And thus, another fabulous H-SFTE comes to a close.

(I'd normally stick a pic of today's bento here, and I actually did have it all written up last night after I packed it, but ended up coming home early to get a jump on the inevitable traffic snarl that happens when snow starts to fall. Since I knew I was going to come home before lunch when I left this morning, I ended up not bringing my bento with me. I could've eaten it here, but opted instead for leftover enchiladas so I guess I'll eat it tomorrow.)

these memories we make, these bonds we forge

Had the best, best weekend. Sister arrived Friday evening for one of our famous Girls' Weekends, in which much sleeping in is accomplished, much delicious food is consumed, much conversation is shared, much laughter is heard, and much fun is had.

While eating pizza in our PJs Friday night, we caught up on our most recent goings on, squee'd about the creative room, talked excitedly about decorating ideas for the Fabulous Miss M's room when the time comes to give her my old furniture and convert it from a nursery to a little girl's room, and rounded out our healthy meal of pizza with big bowls of Tillamook Mudslide ice cream. As one does.

She got a Droid X for her birthday in August, so I showed her some neat features and applications she hadn't yet discovered on her awesome new tricorder phone. Including Swype, which I seem to be on a personal mission to evangelize about because hello, it is brilliant. We practiced with it by texting and Google Talking until a late bedtime.

We got up late (a real luxury for her!) and were treated to a brunch of potatoes O'Brian thanks to Chef Salvatore. We'd had some different ideas for how to spend our day, including knocking around with a bit of window shopping followed by a spot of lunch someplace. But since it was drizzly and foggy out, we opted to stay in and do arty crafty things in our comfy clothes. Which was lovely, because it gave us some time to really visit and enjoy just being together. (I mean, we obviously would've done that no matter what, but it was nice to do so without any other distractions.) We both love that kind of gray, misty weather, which is why we're sisters, because we both understand that the proper thing to do in such weather is to be cozy and have fun.

I worked in my art journal while she made a card for a friend's birthday, then worked on a neat little collage piece for herself (that I unfortunately forgot to snap a pic of). When we were done, we weren't quite ready to quit playing with art supplies, so we played around with watercolors and crayons for a bit and then markers and pens. Grand fun all around.

We headed to New Seasons to get nummy smorgasbord-type items for the evening's activity of movie watching. By eight o'clock, we were snuggly ensconced on the couch in our PJs with blankets and cuddly cats, the coffee table spread with more food than two people could possibly eat (though we were going to do our best to put a big dent in it). We hugged and kissed Sally goodbye (who was off to meet a friend at the neighborhood bar for drinks) and then proceeded to watch Auntie Mame (the Rosalind Russell version, of course!), which Sister had never seen. I KNOW RIGHT. Obviously, that tragedy had to be corrected. And then we started her indoctrination into Pushing Daisies. She loved it, which I knew she would, and is well on her way to another fandom that we can share.

We slept in again this morning, and again were treated to brunch made by Chef Salvatore (omelets this time), which we ate while squeezing in one more episode of Pushing Daisies before she had to go. Goodbye came too soon, but it was so, so wonderful to get to spend some quality time together and we're very thankful to Guy and the Fabulous Miss M (and Sally!) for making these Girls' Weekends possible.

So it's back to the grindstone today with many urgent tasks needing to be done. Aren't Mondays always like that? Mine are, at any rate.

lunch, Ms. Bento:

• garden vegetable soup
• rainbow carrot sticks, hard boiled egg wrapped in a French sorrel leaf, honey peanut butter in the cup for dipping the carrots and apple
• Pinova apple slices, dark chocolate covered raisins

Also, I posted the next round of entries about the work we did on the library and guest & creative room. Because both write-ups were about refinishing the floors, the text is the same for both but the pictures obviously aren't.

guest & creative room, part 02: refinishing the floor

PHOTOS

library, part 02: refinishing the floor

PHOTOS

a personal plea on behalf of a friend

My dear and delightful friend, Neva, who does very sweet artwork with cut paper, as well as wee paintings and delicate PMC jewelry and meticulous beaded bracelets, is raising money by selling some of her creations at her Etsy shop. She rescues animals, you see, and devotes considerable time and personal resources to these efforts, as well as the ongoing care for a whole menagerie of animals she and her husband have rescued, all of them with special needs.

Since they moved into their house several years ago, they embarked on a mission to care for the feral cats in their neighborhood, feeding them all and systematically trapping as many as they could to have them spayed and neutered, and to provide care for those who were suffering. They've even managed to find loving, adoptive homes for those in the colony who were tame. In all, she and her husband have cared for and provided food and veterinary assistance to <em>dozens</em> of cats since they began this mission. And though she already had her hands and home full with animals, when one of the ferals, Deedee, was hit by a car, Neva took her and her companion, Leelee, to the vet and into her home for recovery afterward.

Deedee and Leelee (and another feral, Pookie) have received the same loving care that all of Neva's other animals do, and have flourished since they were taken in. But Deedee's lingering health problems, including those from the car accident, have necessitated expensive bloodwork tests and anesthesia for dental care. (And if you've ever had a cat, you know that problems with their teeth can quickly lead to dire health consequences, especially if they stop eating.) The really great news is that the bloodwork came back today and Deedee is suffering from an infection and not a horrible feline virus, which means that with some (expensive) antibiotics and lots of special food to coax her to eat, she'll be okay.

The bills add up fast, as you no doubt know if you have pets of your own. So I encourage you to stop by her Etsy shop and pick out a special little something for yourself and in the process, do something that will help out a very wonderful and amazing person who does the work of saints.

each of us was created for it

No breakfast today so I was extra grateful to have such a pleasing and yummy lunch waiting for me.

lunch, blue bunny & moons:

• hazelnut-crusted chicken breast
• jasmine rice with peas, carrot flowers for garnish
• Cortland apple with carrot pieces as gap fillers
• walnuts and dark chocolate covered raisins

the view from the library to the back yard, through the back porch

I'm so in love with our home I can hardly contain myself some days. There's still a lot to be done, but we've reached a point where we can enjoy it as it is, even with the bathroom in its semi-demolished state and the kitchen looking like something right out of Good Housekeeping circa 1966. And in the fall, my favorite season, in my favorite city, it's like falling in love every day, this house. I took a few random pictures to remind me of that.

spider web on the front porch, with Sal's Japanese maple in the backgroundIt was another whirlwind of activity at Hall House this weekend, so it was nice to have the steadying comfort of home throughout. Saturday was another OCI graduation, which meant Chef Salvatore gave another graduation speech. He gives the same one each time so he's had time to refine it, but he changes it every time, too, so he stays fresh and funny when he gives it. I've decided I'm going to video it next time.

a close-up of the crape myrtle I posted about last weekThe ceremony takes place in the morning and then there's a reception for the students and family afterward, so it takes most of the day. Things finished up just in time for the arrival of our Smiley family, who were coming to spend the night. We had a roast and veggies going in the crockpot all day to keep dinner easy, they arrived bearing a loaf of sourdough and a pan full of chocolate chip bar cookies. This is the reason our family is awesome. Well, one of the many, anyway.

We spent some time with the Fabulous Miss M before her bedtime, then had a late dinner catching up with Sister and Guy. (Late, at least in part, because Miss M insisted there was a ghost in the guest room. We promised her it was friendly.)

Sal and the Fabulous Miss M watching a movie on the inflatable bedThey had come for a race in town they wanted to go to and we would watch Miss M while they were gone. It meant an early start Sunday, but Miss M and I snuggled under the blankets while we watched Finding Nemo and that's not such a bad way to start the day. The three of us played and colored and had a tea party and ate breakfast, and next thing we knew Sister and Guy were back and it was time to say goodbye. But it was okay...we have Thanksgiving to look forward to next month, and Christmas after that, and I'm sure some get togethers in between.

just looking at them makes you want to take a nap, doesn't it?After they left, Sunday was a lazy day to recharge before the week starts up. We spent the day on creative stuff and naps and not being as productive as we ought to be and taking ten million more pictures of the cats because we needed still more of those.

view from the front porchBut mostly, we spent the day watching all the ways the light turns Hall House into an illustration from a storybook and thinking there's magic in the world if you know where to look for it.

the corner of my desk (yes, the decoupaged table), which happened to be lighted very prettily; it's part of a map of the Oregon Coast, with an arrow pointed to Oceanside; the full Maya Angelou quote is here

a feeling of fall in the air...

It's not even September yet and already it feels like fall. Last week's heat wave came (thankfully) to a halt with the cooler weather of the PNW that we know and love, and it seems like the switch has been flipped into fall, even if the calendar doesn't say so. This happens to me every year, the feeling that fall is coming by the end of August, and with it, a deep-seated drive to get the winterizing done before the first frost in September.

Which is hilarious, really, because if we get any frost at all, it won't be until November/December, and we have months of warm weather and beautiful days ahead of us still. What can I say, 27 years in Wyoming, those old instincts die hard. But the vine maples do start changing right around this time, so it's not entirely without premise that I would be sensing that autumnal feeling in the air. Although I did hear on the news last night that we're not done with the heat yet...another 90 degree day coming up tomorrow, supposedly....

Regardless, a roast/stew in the crockpot yesterday seemed just the thing. And I did a bit of baking to use up the zucchini and summer squash that've been in our share for the last few weeks now. So I'm ready for fall, even if the mercury has decided to make a few more jumps upward.

lunch, Ms. Bento:

• stew: potatos, carrots, onions, green & royal burgundy beans, chard, and tomato with a pork shoulder roast
• onion sesame crackers and some gouda
• fresh-picked blackberries* (with a few leaves of greens for contrast)
• homemade zucchini bread

*We had a wonderful, wonderful family weekend with Sister, Guy, and the Fabulous Miss M, which included berry picking at a nearby farm. More about that hopefully tomorrow, when I have a couple of pictures that we took together.

(NOTE: I fixed the issue that was making the small pictures unclickable. Now when you click it, the small image above should open up a larger version.)

weekend fun, then back to the grind

I purposefully chose the Ms. Bento this morning as a motivator to get myself out the door at lunch and eat at the park. I haven't had a chance in awhile to do that. It's so easy each day for me to get to a point where I just can't get away and end up eating at my desk, so sometimes I just have to Have A Plan. And the only way I could drag myself out of my comfy bed this morning, after such a fun weekend, was to promise myself that I would eat lunch at the park today, dammit.

lunch, Ms. Bento

• stir fry -- kale, rainbow chard, bok choy, onion, garlic, chicken, broccoli, snow peas, peanuts, secret special sauce ;)
• jasmine rice
• half a Jazz apple (the other half, along with some blueberries, served as breakfast)
• chocolate covered raisins

So Cat arrived Friday evening and we headed over to Screen Door, which was her suggestion. She'd heard about it online somewhere -- she has a love and fascination for all things Southern -- and we'd never been there, so it was perfect. Always love trying a new place, but especially with someone who's as interested in a new culinary adventure as we are.

There was a half hour wait, so we walked down the block for iced tea/coffee until our turn for a table came up. We were lucky to get a table on the patio, and the evening was just absolutely PNW perfect: mid-70s, no wind, sunny with a few high clouds. So glad it wasn't hot, because I just have no appetite in the heat and nothing on the menu would've sounded good to me. When she was here this time last year, we were in the midst of 100 degree temperatures, and it sucked.

Unhampered by heat, then, we proceeded to order a gazillion different things: hush puppies and fritters, corn on the cob and buttermilk fried chicken, and a banana and caramel and shortbread pie thing that we probably would've sold ourselves into indentured servitude for. Sally had to work, so we decided early on we'd start a box of leftovers to take home for him, which freed us up to oder so many dishes...win/win!

We rolled out of there stuffed and content and headed home to relax and visit until Sally got home. We probably could've talked well into the wee hours, but since we were planning to spend our Saturday in the Gorge, we decided to be responsible adults and turn in for a good night's rest.

Saturday started out cool and overcast, then cleared and warmed up later, which seems to be the pattern for the last week or so. Cat had never been to the Gorge, nor seen Multnomah Falls, so we decided this had to be rectified immediately.

So we spent the day on a leisurely drive on the Historic Columbia River Highway, stopping at different view points and landmarks along the way, as well as each of the falls that lead up to Multnomah. While we were up on the ridges portion of the highway, there was no wind at all -- unusual for the Gorge -- so it made the stop at Vista House in particular especially nice.

We stopped for a picnic at Wahkeena Falls, then on to Multnomah at last. Which...well, the sky had cleared and it was a beautiful day by then, but we were reminded why we've never been there on a Saturday at the height of tourist season. HOLY CRAP! People everywhere, and the bridge across the falls was packed, and it eliminated any desire we normally have to linger and enjoy the view the way we usually do when we're there. Despite the hordes of people, however, we did still get lots of beautiful pictures.

We kept going east to Hood River, where one of Sal's former students had recently opened a bakery and he was hoping we'd be able to stop in for a bit. Except he couldn't remember the name. So Cat and I both googled madly with the vague clues for some hint of what the place was called and where we'd find it. Thank goodness that man has passengers with unstoppable google-fu or he'd never find anything....

But find it, we did. Unfortunately, the bakery was closed for the day, but he could see someone (not his studen) inside working some dough. He didn't want to disturb them, but Cat and I insisted that we knock on some windows, find a back door, something. Which earned us designations as rabblerousers, like that was a bad thing. Joke's on him.

We were let inside and got an after hours tour of his former student's bakery, met both her and one of her pastry chefs, talked about the challenges of opening a bakery in a small town, providing product for less traditional-pastry-educated palates, the differences between East Coast and West Coast, and the surprising things that do and don't sell. It was a great experience to see the effect of Sal's work, and how much he inspires his students, and how much they look up to him.

We ended up back at home later than originally planned so scrapped our original dinner plans and instead (thanks to the gracious suggestion of Cat, who is the most thoughful house guest imaginable), opted for pizzas from Pizza Fino and a homemade salad. We were able to eat outside on the patio, then once the mosquitos drove us inside, changed into our jammies and curled up on the couch to visit until bedtime.

Her departure on Sunday morning came all too soon, but such is the way of things when you have a dear friend visiting. We're so fortuante to have friends who visit as often as they do, and who welcome us for visits, too. Now if we could just get that whole "independently wealthy" gig going so we didn't have to limit ourselves to weekends in between job obligations, we'd be able to make those visits far more frequent....

lunch reminder of family fun at the farm

Enjoying veggies and the last egg from last week's share and it's got me in mind of the terrific day we had at the farm on Sunday. (More about that -- including pictures! -- below.)

lunch, Fit 'n Fresh:

• salad greens: red oak leaf lettuce, red leaf butter lettuce, romaine lettuce
• snap pea pods, carrots, broccoli; Jarlsberg and smoked gouda cheeses
• more of the mini pound cake Sally made and blueberries from our bushes

Sunday was Kids' Day at Wealth Underground (our CSA) so I invited Sister, Guy, and the Fabulous Miss M to come up for some fun at the farm. We hadn't seen them since Sally's birthday -- far too long! -- so it was nice to get to see each other. And of course to get a refill of Miss M loves and cuddles! We had lunch when they arrived and did some catching up, then headed to the farm.

I know I've mentioned before how much I love the drive out there, but it bears repeating. It's just a few miles from the house, but any time we go north past the bridge, it's like driving backwards in time a little bit. Usually I'm driving from work, so it's a longer trip, but no matter how long my work day is on Tuesdays, I know I have that drive waiting for me at the end of the day, and I know that there's peace waiting for me at the end of the road. I was so excited to share that with our little family.

We were the first to arrive so we got to visit with both Chris and Nolan at length. We got to see the chickens and geese, feed the goats, meet the turkeys (that will be our Thanksgiving birds), and pet the rabbits. We learned that the geese have separated into two cliques and they get into rumbles like any respectable rival gangs should -- they're the Sharks and the Jets of geese! And even though we were conflicting with Miss M's normal afternoon nap, she was a real trooper, content to catnap in mom's arms for a bit while we visited. 

Another sharemember family soon arrived so they joined us as we began the garden part of the activities. Chris and Nolan led us through the old wood door that acts as the gateway to the planting area of the farm. We got to pick and taste flowers, try out our sour faces with some sorrel (which has featured in previous weeks' shares), munch on a bit of dill, water some plant starts, duck through the hothouse to check on the progress of the tomatoes and peppers, climb the sod mountain, and pick (and eat, of course!) pea pods and broccoli. Along the way, we met Eric and Katherine, who also work at the farm.

We were then given the solemn duty of scooping a handful of compost and choosing our favorite plant to feed. Miss M decided we should feed the peas, so we did as ordered. She got a little boost from Dad to reach them.

Our tour ended with the awarding of "garden badges" in recognition of our mad farm skillz in the form of comfrey leaves, which stick to your shirt like magic! (Well, magic to an almost-three-year-old, anyway.)

Oh what a lovely day we had! We talked sustainability and small farming and kids becoming vegetarian when they realize where chicken really comes from and plans for future plantings and childhood memories. We met a rooster named Milton Freewater and delighted in a trampoline repurposed into a turkey pen (coop? enclosure?). And oh my, all the wonderful things that are yet to come in our shares! The weather was perfectly Oregon -- clear and comfortable -- and everything about the day was the stuff of good memories with family. Miss M had lots of fun and the adults had a pretty terrific time, too. As we settled into the car for the ride back to our house, Miss M declared from the backseat, "That was way fun!"

Yes, yes it was.

happy birthday, sally!

I'm excited about the prospect of all the produce we'll be getting this summer, what with our regular bin delivery, our vegetable garden, and the CSA we signed up for this year. May have to scale back our bin delivery until the garden and CSA peter out in the fall, as it's entirely possible we'll be overrun with fruit and veggies, but that's a good problem to have, no? Still a few weeks yet until we'll see anything from the CSA, though, and it'll be a couple of months before the garden gets going, so no need to panic just yet.

But it does mean that every other Monday, my bentos tend to be a little forlorn as they await the arrival of the next delivery. While we had the grill going last night, I had Sally throw on a couple of chicken basil sausages to use in lunches this week.

Breakfast, cute animals sidecar:

• oatmeal, with Braeburn apple chunks underneath
• butter, brown sugar, and raisins in the mini-sidecar to mix in

Lunch, black strawberry box:

• chicken basil sausage
• julienne cucumber and carrot strips from the weekend's sushi party (see below)
• grilled potato with butter, sour cream, and green onion, leftover from last night's dinner
• Braeburn apple slices
• yogurt and dark chocolate covered raisins
• garlic dill cheese curds

Is there anything better than a gorgeous weekend in the Pacific Northwest? NO NO THERE IS NOT.

All weekend we had temps in the mid/high 70s, blue or mildly cloudy skies, and not a breath of wind. Our roses exploded all over the place in the last few days, and combined with the rhododendrons and azaleas and irises, I'm so in love with our house and our neighborhood I could burst. Next weekend we'll be doing some yard work -- weeding the back bed so the plants my mom put in don't get clogged into oblivion, trimming back the lilacs, pruning the apple tree, planting a few new and replacement things, and putting up the twinkle lights in the trees -- but the yard is in good enough shape already that when Sister, Guy, and the Fabulous Miss M came for the weekend, all that was needed was to set the patio chairs out for us to while away some time soaking up the gorgeous, gorgeous weather.

They came for Sal's birthday -- which is actually today; Happy Birthday, Sally!! -- and we had a nice, easy-going time with family to celebrate. Did a bit of running around Saturday-- to Portland Nursery to pick up the gift certificate and two black and blue salvia my mom had reserved for his gift -- then to Steinbart's so the boys could get all atwitter over brewing supplies. We stopped for lunch at Grilled Cheese Grill, which Guy hadn't yet been to, and though we had to wait in line thanks to the street fair going on down the block, we managed to have a yummy lunch all around. Back home to put Miss M down for her nap, and we passed the time at our wonderful table under the apple tree, which is all you really need in life, frankly.

After a run to New Seasons for supplies, and back home for a snacky interlude of bread and cheese while Miss M ate her dinner, she was off to the pre-bedtime ritual of jammies, storytime, and a goodnight song. Meanwhile, we got things ready for Sal's requested birthday activity: a sushi-rolling party! Great, great fun and lots of laughs while hoovering up plates of sushi in every combination we could think of. When the last of the sushi rice was rolled up, we retired to the living room to finish off our plates and watch Louis C.K.'s most recent stand-up show and finished off the evening with four mini-cakes, complete with candles and a rendition of "Happy Birthday".

The next morning, Guy treated the chef (and the rest of us) to a fabulous breakfast -- yeasted waffles with lemon-poppyseed creme -- and then it was time for them to head home. Afterward, I retired to the nook for a bit to edit while Sally read some of his brewing books out on the front porch. We moved to the patio, where I did so more editing, though mostly I just kind of sat there in contented silence, trying to absorb just how absolutely perfect the day was. We grilled for dinner -- steaks and potatoes, with some steamed broccoli and green onions from our bin. And though I had website work to do, I did absolutely none of it, opting instead to watch a movie and fold clothes (I am determined to stay on top of the laundry, dammit!), get to bed relatively early, read for a bit, and get a good night's rest. Website work will be there tomorrow, and anyway, I knew it was supposed to rain today. How's that for procrastination?

back from vacation and i need another one

Whew! Home after a long (but awesome, relaxing, and productive) weekend with Cat. I went up Friday morning, came back last night, and in between, we holed up in her cozy condo with WAY more yummy food than we could possibly eat, talked, worked on edits of my manuscript, talked, watched movies, talked, discussed possible home improvement ideas for her kitchen, talked...oh, and talked! It was a great, great weekend and the only downside was missing Sally and the kitties. But we are definitely doing that again.

I took the afternoon train, which meant not getting home until evening, and that meant rushing home to get the kitties fed in time, picking up dinner on the way (since I had more work to do for website clients and no time to make something for dinner), putting away the organics bin (which was waiting for me on my front step), getting at least some of my unpacking done, and all those niggling little tasks that by themselves don't take long but add up quickly.

Needless to say, there wasn't a whole lot of time for packing today's lunch. Nothing glamorous here but it'll do.

• PB&J sandwich (peanut butter and marionberry jam on 9-grain bread), cut to fit into the box
• carrot sticks and sweet pickles
• Fuji apple slices
• yogurt and dark chocolate covered raisins

travel bento

Took the train to Seattle this AM to visit Cat!!!!!!!!!!! We're doing a hardcore shut-in weekend of working on the final edit of my manuscript, because she is awesome. I've been looking forward to this for weeks and weeks, amen. Every aspect of it. Including the train trip. And the chance to pack a travel bento for the morning ride, all packed and ready to go.

pink "Natural Lunch" box:

• kiwi slices
• pixie tangerines
• molded egg
• yogurt and dark chocolate covered raisins

monday? again?

Back at it after a busy (but lovely) weekend. Went down to Salem Saturday to spend the day and night with family (Sister, Guy, and the Fabulous Miss M) and as usual, had a great time together. Sister wrote me earlier last week to say that Miss M had asked if she could come to Portland for a picnic with Aunt Bitty, at which point I melted all over the floor, and had we not already had plans to go down there anyway, I would've dropped whatever I was doing and immediately driven right down there and whisked her away for a full picnic at the park, replete with every treat and confection I could cram into a wicker picnic basket. Because obviously.

Came home yesterday afternoon to the house in disarray thanks mostly to Hobbes, whose freakouts at the least little change are now apparently SOP at Hall House. Sigh. (Yes, I need to get to the pet store to get some Rescue Remedy. It's my last best hope, so everyone who reminded/recommended, keep your fingers crossed for us that it actually works miracles. Otherwise my next purchase will be a kitty-sized straitjacket....)

But! Once that was dealt with, I plotted out our vegetable garden layout, then Sally, that lovely man, did the actual planting so I could squeeze in a bit of writing time. Everything's now in the ground, juuuuuust in time for a late spring cold snap that's supposed to roll in tonight.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day and evening, and very warm, so we fired up the grill and whipped up dinner together. Then watched a movie while we ate and had chocolate gelato later for dessert. Not bad for a random weekend.

Bunny box, bottom tier:

• grilled chicken from last night's dinner (marinated first in a concoction of Worcestershire, garlic, oil, red onion, leek, dijon mustard, and sea salt)
• homemade potato salad (red potatoes, hard boiled eggs, leeks, red onion, yellow mustard, whole grain dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, oil, sea salt)
• carrot sticks and sweet pickles

top tier:

• kiwi slices and supremed orange sections
• "stripes" of yogurt raisins and dark chocolate covered raisins

Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Bento:

• in my pink strawberry sidecar (which I ate for breakfast before taking a picture) was vanilla and almond granola, a mini sidecar of Greek yogurt and strawberry preserves, and Braeburn apple slices

keeping count of the good things

Yeesh, I can't remember a time when my every day wasn't runrunrunrunrun at work. It's basically just variations of hectic. Too much. It didn't help that I didn't sleep well the night before last, even though the bed was freshly made with our luxurious new sheets and I'd taken a bath just before. This accumulated stress isn't good.

But things that are in the "good" column: our organics bin delivery was yesterday so our bare fridge filled up with yummy things again, I thus have a good and healthy lunch to get me through my 4(!) hours of meetings and 2 hours of teaching today, and tomorrow is a work-from-home day. THANK GOD.

Oh, and tonight is a new episode of Lost, and watching it with ProcrastiGirl (we decided that with these final episodes, we needed the solidarity and fortitude to survive the repeated brain explosions of awesome). AND this weekend is the Hall-Smiley family fun weekend. Yes, that's quite a nice list of things to be grateful for.

• mixed greens with rainbow carrots and dried cherries, with a simple vinaigrette in my little sauce container
• sticky rice with orange-ginger Thai sauce, with steam broccoli to fill the gap
• grilled chicken skewers marinated with a Thai peanut sauce
• Fuji apple slices
• chocolate Pocky for a bit of a treat

Go by train

Hello, internets!!! We are back from our Weekend Trip of Delight and Wonders. I highly recommend such a trip if you're looking for a vacation. Of course, you'll have to find your very own sweet and awesome and funny and generous Cat to host you in order to have as great a getaway as we did, because I'm not sharing, but you know, good luck with that.

So we went by train, which was pretty nice. Not quite as roomy as I expected -- I was expecting something a little more like European trains -- but definitely WAY more comfortable and roomy than an airplane. Also, never underestimate the luxury of being able to use your cell phone whenever you'd like without the threat of somehow interfering with the vehicle's navigation and plummeting to Earth in a fiery crash. (I've always been pretty dubious about that claim anyway, but whatever.) I don't even use my phone all the time or anything, but even being able to just check my gmail account real quick was nice.

Plus, you don't have to get there nearly as early -- we arrived about 30 minutes before departure -- and the whole carry-on/baggage thing isn't at all the hassle it is with flying. It's all just very low-key and uncomplicated. (Also, I just really love the great old Union Station here in Portland, and I hope the King Street Station renovations can really return that building to its former glory. Never underestimte the romance of an old train station.) With an iPod and a book, the trip passes quite nicely.

We arrived on time in Seattle to the lovely Cat waiting for us right there -- ANOTHER lovely thing about going by train, having your loved ones able to greet you right as you get off. She whisked us off to her home so we could offload our stuff and relax for a bit before going to get lunch. Chatted, relaxed, then she took us to the Baguette Box* for delicious, delicious sandwiches. The overcast cleared a bit while we were there, so we decided to check out Discovery Park since we'd never been, which was very nice, and we stayed until it started to sprinkle again. A bit of a warm up seemed called for, and of course she had the perfect antidote, a place called Chocolati, which specializes in (you guessed it) hot chocolate and handmade chocolates. Oh lordy, am I ever spoiled for hot chocolate now. Mine had orange zest incorporated into the chocolate, and that combination is pretty much my favorite combination ever ever ever.

*(Albino: it was just down the street from that coffee shop called Bauhaus that you and I and your friend walked to from our hotel)

Then it was back to her place for the evening to relax. While Sal took a much-needed nap, we chatted while she prepared dinner -- roast chicken, spinach gratin, and pilaf. Freaking delicious, by the way, which is pretty redundant when you're talking about food Cat makes, but it bears repeating. (Oh, and dessert later on were these amazing chewy chocolate sandwich cookies with ganache in the middle for filling, the extras of which she sent home with us on the train and which I am eating at this very moment and crying a little bit from the perfection.) Anyway, we had a really great visit that was like our hours long phone conversations but better because it was in person.  We solve the problems of the world during these conversations, y'all, so be glad we have them.

Cat got a fire going in the fireplace and we watched Chocolat while we ate dinner, which Sal and I had never seen. We're both kind of appalled that it took us this long to see it, frankly, and I feel like we ought to relinquish some awesomeness points for being so lame. Holy CRAP what a great movie. (I know, welcome to the world, right?) Stayed up late visiting, then finally got our bed setup in the living room and went to bed to the flickering of the fire. That was a pretty fantastic day.

Yesterday, we took our time getting going and then made our way to the International District to this great Vietnamese deli for our first banh mi sandwiches, which I've been wanting to try for some time. Love them so much that we're going to have to find a good place for banh mi here in Portland. Headed over to Uwajimaya to buy a bunch of random fun stuff for no other reason that it's a fun thing to do with a bunch of foodies. We stopped at the Daiso across the street first to see what kind of bento selection they had. A nice selection, actually, though nothing I really wanted (other than some short picks that I wish I'd gotten now, but we were going to a bigger Daiso store later so I figured I'd find them there and then didn't). We came away with about five different Pocky flavors, shrimp-flavored chips (always wanted to try them and didn't think to get a bag when I was at the one in Beaverton; pretty tasty, it turns out), crazy gummi flavors, "chocolate finger-flavored orange" treat things ("I don't think I want to find out what finger-flavored tastes like" "maybe the orange flavor makes it better?"), kimchi noodles, nori-wrapped sesame sticks, black-colored cola carbonated gum, and some other stuff I don't remember.

From there, we made our way further into the heart of downtown to go to the Daiso at Westlake Center. Along the way, we stopped at L'Occitane, where Cat introduced us to sinfully wonderful French bath and body goodies, as well as to Lush, which we'd heard about but never been to. OMG LUSH WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE. I've never been to the one in Portland, but unfortunately for my checking account, I will be a frequent visitor now.

The Daiso had some good bento stuff, and I (finally!) picked up the specific assortment of silicone cups I'd been looking for, some mini spoons/forks I needed for future boxes that won't come with utensils, and! a small box for breakfasts that will fit the bill for what I'd been looking for.

This means I won't have to order nearly as much from J-Box when I order the three other boxes I want. So even though I didn't find any more regular-size bento boxes that I wanted, it was still a successful foray. From there, we made a stop at City Kitchens, because duh. Convinced Cat to buy the perfect all-clad saucier that was on sale and that she needed because I said so, Sal found the spaghetti attachment for his pasta maker he'd been looking for, and I got some bright, pretty colored napkins to use just for my bento (both as furoshiki and napkins) that were on sale, as well as a cute, smaller stainless steel water bottle to use with my Ms. Bento and other boxes that don't have a drink bottle -- see above. (We use cloth napkins at home, but I wanted to get some specifically for my lunches because just using one from our sets of two or four means that there's always one in the laundry so we can't use it for dinners or whatever. This way, I'll have some specifically meant for my lunches. Plus, pretty colors!

So it was a fun and productive day. And by productive, I of course mean consumer-iffic! Not our normal activity, but it's fun sometimes to be happy little capitalists and buy things that strike our fancy, non?

We spent the evening all cozied up at Cat's, she and Sal cooking up a storm in the kitchen -- marinated shrimp and flank steak, both done on the grill, and cheesy grits with jalapenos, and bread pudding for dessert -- and me handing them samples from our various Uwajimaya purchases earlier. We watched the pilot episodes of "Burn Notice" and "Friday Night Lights" -- two of her latest obsessions -- while we ate and enjoyed them immensely, then visited until the wee hours until the fire finally burned completely down and we couldn't keep our eyes open any longer. (FNL has been in our queue since forever so we'll have to bump the DVDs for all the seasons that are out up to the top, along with BN. As if we didn't already have enough shows to catch up, yeesh! :)

This morning was another late and lazy morning, with a simple, civilized breakfast of toast and jam and tea, packing things up (making room in our bags for all our newly-acquired Stuff), and a stop at the Vietnamese deli for a couple of banh mi sandwiches for lunch on the train, then all too soon, our lovely vacation was over and we were saying goodbye and giving squeezy hugs to Cat.

So I'm off to pack myself something for the office tomorrow. and not really ready to go back to work, but I suppose what goes up must come down, eh? Yay for new bento stuff, at least!

Snackage

Snack bento I made for me and ProcrastiGirl Friday night to eat while we watched movies. Includes: rosemary crackers, cheeses, rolls of ham and turkey, dark chocolate-covered raisins, yogurt-covered pretzels, animal crackers, carrots, sweet pickles, and dyed molded eggs in pink and blue.


Italian birthday dinner

Definitely an Italian theme today, thanks to the (if I may say so myself) delectable dinner I made last night for ProcrastiGirl for her berfday.

clockwise from right:

• Spaghetti with a damn fine red sauce made by yours truly: caramelized tomato paste as the base, to which I added caramelized onions and garlic, sauteed mushrooms, tomato sauce, onion, green pepper, and toward the end, fresh basil and sea salt. The caramelized tomato paste turns a deep, deep burgundy, so the overall sauce looks more like a BBQ sauce than a marinara, and it has a little sweeter flavor, too.
• fresh mozz on a bit of romaine with a few slices of baguette
• simple salad in homage to the Italian flag: green=romaine lettuce, white=Marcona almonds, red=dried cranberries
• off to the side is a teensy container* of balsamic vinegar mixed with olive oil for a simple vinaigrette for the salad -- can't get more Italian than that!

*I know everyone uses those special sauce/condiment containers made specifically for bento, either the squeezy clear animal-shaped ones or the colored ones in the shapes of animal faces. They seem to take up way too much valuable space, imo, and I rarely need a sauce/condiment anyway, certainly not in those quantities. Instead, I went to Storables and got a couple of teensy containers from their bath sundries travel section meant for pills and small quantities of liquids. The one shown here is perfect for things like a vinaigrette, since I can just make the exact quantity I need right in the container and shake it up to emulsify, or squeeze ketchup into it or whatever. I have another even smaller one for sea salt or other seasonings. Both of them together cost me less than a buck.