What's good?

What a series of amazing, bizarre good luck.  Its a great week I've been having.  The best one in two years maybe?

Saturday morning our neighbor made us these:

Monte Cristo...It could probably tunnel out of prison?

The Monte Cristo is a Double-decker French toast sandwich containing ham, turkey, smoked Gouda and Swiss cheeses, fried then crisped in the oven.  Normally I avoid foods like this due to the amount of treadmill time it takes to work off the calories, but when someone offers to brunch you, it is unwise to say no.

Jesse hard at work in my kitchen working his sandwich magic.

...And yesterday I received a package.  And I'm pleased to say that this is all that is left of it:

Tart Nenas for my wedding?  

It took me 10 minutes to devour exaclty half of Ms. T's cookies and all my strength to save the other half for Zach.  

...And in case you were worried that all my great times revolve around junk food: tomorrow I have a test and an interview to work for the US Census bureau doing ongoing survey work.  And then an interview to be a volunteer at OMSI.  And then next week an interview with H&M.  And if those don't work...Walgreens?  Tomorrow I move into a new apartment.  This should be good.  I should also mention that it is one month exactly until I leave for Pittsburgh to visit friends, family, and to get legally married, and see four other people get legally married!  I can't wait, the third week in October is the best all year in Pittsburgh!  Then there's hockey season, sweater season, I could go on.................

Turn of luck?  Maybe, but I'd love to pin it on this free coffee I've been drinking from the leasing office....

First Fall...

This month I actually finished a knitting project!  Here are the "I Love You, Chuck Taylor" Legwarmers.  I started them in green before I realized I was going to buy red boots.  But thankfully, at least my rain boots are plaid and should match nicely.  They look easy but the mini cables every four rows were MADDENING by the end.  I might make them again, as soon as I forget how much I hate to cable.  I just have one more sweater to finish (I've been working on it since July!) until X-mas knitting begins.  What does everyone want?

For lack of better things to do, I have started collecting teacups.  My collection has a few criteria:  they must be "bone china", they must be made in either England or Japan (though I have considered ones from the US before) and they must have gilded edges. Each cup with matching saucer is about 5 dollars at the Powell St. Goodwill, but they bring endless joy during tea time.  Here they wait anxiously for a future tea time with friends.  I think I'll look for some fancy little spoons to go with them...they should have something like that at Marshall's...

A Sand Dune is a Real Thing....The best time you've ever had at a Fred Meyer.

This weekend we went to the coast.  While the Oregon Coast is pretty amazing, there was one part that we found quite unbelievable.  We pulled up to Fred Meyer to find this behind it:

Sand dunes.  Really, we parked in the parking lot and there they were.  Here's a picture in case you don't believe me:

 There I am for scale, and there's Fred Meyer in the background.  Walking on them was incredibly surreal...We couldn't believe there was a small part of the Sahara just behind a department store....but just as a reality check, what was on the other side of the massive dunes? A golf course.  sigh.

Where's a dune buggy when you need one?

 Just for reference:


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Handmade Pendants

I've been experimenting a bit with making ceramic pendants...I got a few back today so here is one I strung up already....

I have more to get back yet, and I also have other ones like this one so I was thinking of selling them. Not this one though, its mine mine mine!

Any Thoughts?

Pictures: Portland's Rose Test Garden

Lady of Megginch

"Honey Perfume"

"Honey Perfume"

"Rosie O' Donnell"

"Sundance"

"Sundance"

"Strike it Rich"

"Voluptuous"

"Moondance"

"Scentimental"

"Scentimental"

"Eden"

"Black Baracca"  It does really look black!

"Eden"

"Julia Child"

"Julia Child"

2010 Winner "Easy Does It"

2010 Winner "Easy Does It"

Rhapsody in Blue

Rhapsody in Blue

a little break...

"Rouge Royale" (My Favorite!)

"Rouge Royale"

 

 

 

 

Cold-brewed coffee

For a long time I've been making iced tea by letting tea bags soak for a long time in warm or room-temperature water.  Recently though, I found out that this could also be done with coffee grounds. The cold brewing process supposedly produces a flavorful cup of coffee that is not acidic, and I really hate acidic coffee. I've been meaning to try it out, but since Betsey is in town this week and she bought some good coffee, I finally got to try it out and the results are fantastic!

Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of the process, but I did follow these instructions, which are pretty clearly laid out, with images included.  The result is a very flavorful cup of coffee that can be enjoyed hot or cold.

This was the best picture I could get before guzzling this down.  

The only change I made to the instructions was to skip diluting the coffee by half with water, and simply added the brewed coffee liquid 1 to 1 with almond milk.  I feel this would be just as delicious as adding condensed milk, and who has that sitting around, anyway?  At this point, I added sweetener and either microwaved it or added ice.  Yum.

Oneonta Falls + A log jam is a real thing

This weekend we went here:

But to get there we had to climb over this:

What is it?  Its a log jam.  Trees along the Oneonta Gorge die and fall down into the stream.  Water carries them to the end where there are large rocks that trap the logs.  They don't block the water, just the entrance to the gorge.  There is no way around except to climb...its quite a challenge.

When the log jam is conquered there's nothing left to do but wade in ice-cold water that gets waist deep at some points.  No you can't remove your shoes, but you can ruin them by getting them wet.

Sigh.  I actually am a little depressed about that.  Should have worn sandals.  I'm sure I'll find another pair of fuchsia New Balance.  Maybe.

 Don't bother holding up those shorts, it gets way deeper upstream....Sam and Betsey are going to be surprised next week!

The kiln is being fired this Thursday. Ceramics updates soon!