Pluto Part II

Okay, so I was just joking about the "Save Pluto" bumper sticker...check this out...

http://www.votepluto.com/

I gotta get me one of those signs!

Comfort Food

Macaroni & Cheese, Mashed Potatoes, Meat Loaf - you name it - comfort food. My comfort food is a little out of reach - my mom's cooking. It's been more than 20 years now since I had my mom's Smoor Kip or Sayur Lodeh, these foods are comfort for me. Our menu consisted mainly of indonesian cuisine. I begged for spaghetti on occasion, but these days, if I had a choice, I would probably pick food from my youth over pasta.

Meal time at our house was always at the table and always together. Dinner was ready at 5pm when my dad arrived home from work. Meals were always home cooked and sometimes, not often, one meal would stretch over 2 or 3 nights in a row - this explains why I do not care for left-overs very much. I miss those meals though, my mom really was a good cook. I learned about cooking and how to cook by spending time in the kitchen with her and watching her cook and sometimes helping out. At 16 I made my first indo dish, Smoor, which turned out pretty well.

This last weekend Tom and I chunked up a pork roast and put the chunks into a marinade of Ketjap (sweet soy sauce), djintan (cumin), onions and salt & pepper. It wasn't exactly like mom's, but it worked. The house smelled just like home and it was heavenly. Last night I tried a recipe for yellow rice. My goodness was that good! The flavor comes from the coconut milk and the color from Turmeric. I found out yesterday that if you get turmeric on anything it will stain...oh well - the kitchen counters are not that special anyway. I have most of the ingredients for the Sayur Lodeh, that may be the next dish I whip up!

Here's to cooking like my mom! The best cook ever!

Here is the site that I found some recipes from...

http://www.rugebregt.com/index.html

NEWSFLASH...Pluto no longer a planet

It is amazing how a bunch of scientists can get together and decide to "demote" a planet. It goes to prove that nothing is sacred and those of us that learned that there were 9 planets in the solar system will be forever scarred over this. In my book, Pluto is a planet. I see "Save Pluto" bumper stickers....

What have we done this year...

I was looking at my pictures that we have taken through the year...lots of cycling and some Napa photos. Maybe we should diversify a little or my Christmas letter will be very boring!

Oh well, here is a favorite Napa winery called Clos du Val. It was nesting time for the swallows and when we rode our bikes up to take a look around there were a zillion of birds flying around! It was pretty cool and Tom got the story from the Wine Consultant about it being nesting time. This was the only vineyard that we visited that had that many swallows flying around! Also, Clos du Val has a VERY good sangiovese that I might have to pick up again while we are there in September.

Vine Ride 2006

On Saturday, August 19 we participated in our second Vine Ride which goes thru Yamhill County. The day was perfect if not a little on the warm side. We started out of George Fox University to start the 65 mile route and ended 71.16 miles later. No, we didn't get lost...the route ended up being that long!

www.vineride.com

This ride should do us for the year. We'll just be enjoying our weekends out on the road around town and hopefully connecting with our friends who are just as much maniacs on road bikes as we are...there are not many of those people in our circle of friends.

My bike is going in for a tune-up and a new chain this week! I'll be ready to go by the end of the week. My hope is to start riding to work a couple of days a week thru the end of the year.

Nothing like a bike ride to get my attitude all straight!

Ghost Rider

Friday, August 11 Tom and I went to the Health Net Criterium in the Park Blocks in front of the Portland Art Museum. This is a picture of a couple of riders flying past us at about 30 mph and it is cool feeling the wind that they create! Congratulations to the Health Net team for taking the top 4 spots! www.teamhealthnet.com

Cycling Weekend!

We had a cycling weekend last weekend!

Tom and I went to the Health Net Twilight Criterium Friday night to watch some exciting racing thru the Park Blocks in front of the Art Museum in downtown PDX. It's really cool to watch Elite level riders racing thru the streets at 30 mph! Team Health Net took the top 4 places and actually lapped the group about 2/3 of the way into the race, now that is pretty fast riding! 30 mph for 60 minutes...OUCH! I'm lucky to go 30 mph coasting downhill.

Sunday was the Providence Bridge Pedal which was much better organized this year with only one minor problem. Over all, it was a good time. I had several people from work sign up for the ride and Tom had a few co-workers as well, but we rode with Scott (whose sis we got separated from after the Marquam) from the Marquam Bridge to the end. I made it up the hill to St John's Bridge much quicker than last year, so I'm pretty happy about that. The day was perfect for the 10 bridge route and afterwards we enjoyed a nice satisfying lunch at the Bite. Greek Cusina is the BEST!

I LOVE this photo...I look like a midget next to Scott!

Here's looking forward to the 2007 Health Net Criterium and Providence Bridge Pedal next August.

Providence Bridge Pedal

This Sunday will be our 3rd cycling event this month. We have signed up to do the Bridge Pedal once again along with some other co-workers from my office and Tom's office. We registered as a team and saved some $$$ and have some people to ride with if we want. Last year, I happened to bump into Scott T. from work at the registration area which was a chance thing since there were so many people milling around. This year a few others from here will be riding the 10 bridge route and afterwards we might check out the Bite of Portland.

This is such a neat event, having the opportunity to ride on the bridges that go up and down the Willamette River and not have to watch for CARS! It was a thrill to ride down the upper deck of the Marquam Bridge and realize that I wouldn't normally be doing that on a bike!

GOOD TIMES!

Go to www.orbike.com to check out what's happening in cycling around Oregon.

Clark County Fair 2006

For the first time in many years we are actually NOT going to the fair. I have to admit that I am a little sad, but the fair has made a drastic change with the grand opening of the GIANT exhibition hall last year. I just feel like our fair is not as quaint and quirky as it has been in past years with that behemoth of a building.

Favorite fair memory with Mark & Robin - about 5 years ago or so I wanted to go on the Evolution and Mark said he would ride it and Tom said he would ride also to prove that he could do it. Tom does not do twirling rides very well so I was a little surprised. We (Mark & I) were whoopin' it up screaming, yelling and laughing during the ride and Tom had his eyes closed tight the whole time!

I was proud of Tom though, he did it and didn't suffer too much from the spinning around.

Hottest Day of the Year Ride

It wasn't the hottest day, but it was pretty warm. I don't usually enjoying go for rides when the temperatures rise above 80.

Honestly, this ride will not go down in the books as a favorite. I'm a roadie deep down inside and all the miles on trails was getting a little old. Plus, the cross overs the major roads that intersected whatever trail we happened to be on at the moment...not good. The Springwater Corridor Trail is not road bike friendly, but a nice route to take. By the Time we made it to the Esplanade I was feeling a little tired and somewhat cranky.

The only saving moment was the finish at the Lucky Lab Brew Hall. Not a bad way to finish a 40 mile ride!

Tom is in the middle in the photo.

Fish Friday

Okay, no I am not Catholic, but I have taken to calling Sushi on Friday's "Fish Friday".

I was thinking back to the time that Tom and I first looked into to Sushi World on Mill Plain. It was a cold evening and I didn't have a coat and was ready to go home. We already had dinner and Tom wanted to peek into the restaurant then it happened, he spotted the conveyor belt. That did it for Tom, he was sold...any food is good food if moving in front of you on a conveyor belt. He asked if I wanted to go in, I said no. At that time I thought sushi was evil. A while later we tried it and now I always look for an opportunity to visit my favorite sushi place now called Sushi Hana.

My favorite visit to Sushi World:

Again, with our friend Daniel from Starbucks - He had been contemplating trying sushi for a little while and we finally were able to talk him into trying it once. We arrived at Sushi World and took our seats at the sushi bar and the feasting began. Daniel was so excited to see so many different choices traveling past him that he started to take plates off the belt and placing them in front of him. At one point he had 3 or 4 different plates sitting in front of him and he was happily feasting away. It was quite a day and both Tom and I were very entertained at his antics that evening. Come to think of it, this may have been the same day as the infamous "wine tasting" at Zupan's! Come in on a Friday at Sushi Hana and you might see us there!

WHAT'S SHAKIN'????

Clark County was!

We were jolted awake by an Earthquake which happened around 1:39am. The center of the quake was east of us near Battle Ground. There were several aftershocks, but I blissfully slept thru those. Nothing like a little ground shakin' to get things a little more interesting!