New stuff all over again....

Well well well... It's been a long time again, and boy do I have a lot to report. Not going to go into a lot of detail, because I want to get back to posting some beautiful pictures of edibles. I quit my job at WebMD (finally!) am happily employed as a Research Assistant now at Oregon Health & Science University. Woot. Pretty excited to be back in research, and also doing research that is now more related to what I went to school for.

Last night, Grandma Davis went out in the rain and cold and started picking concord grapes in the driveway before I came over for dinner. By the time I got there, she had gotten about ten pounds already done, if not more. I added a bit more to it, and now I have tons of grapes to do god knows what with.... Between Grandma and mom, and I, we decided I'm going to make grape juice and can it. So that involved me bringing grandmas canner home too. I'll let you know how it goes.

Father's Day Weekend

Josh and I both got to dad's house within fifteen minutes of each other on Friday. We got to spend the whole weekend making dad's puppy forget everything she's been trained to learn the past six months and teasing my kitten with salmon chunks. On Friday night we rode the boat up to Oregon City to have dinner (see Dorkus Maximus posing below), and on Saturday we managed to pump up a bunch of tires and head out for a cruise in the sunshine.

We didn't really have a destiny in mind, so I took Josh and Dad to Oak's Bottom Public House. A fun little hole in the wall as dad would call it in Sellwood. Desiree took me there last year and I've been craving tatchos ever since.

If you love nachos, and you love tater tots, why not make a nacho but use tater tots instead of chips? That's exactly what these guys thought, and the result is something amazing and worth trying out.

It was awesome to get to hang out with dad and Josh for so long, and we really wished Wes could have been there with us. All and all, we had a really gorgeous Father's Day weekend and completed it with an outdoor brunch made by me. I didn't take any pictures, but I made english muffins, eggs benedict, chocolate chip banana bread, mini quiches, kefir smoothies, and a big big mess. It was delicious.

Summer. For real.

FINALLY summer has brought itself to stay. I hesitated to celebrate towards the end of last week, since usually a whisper of joy will bring the clouds back out. This has been the longest, grayest winter/spring I can ever remember in Oregon and the greater northwest. We have had record breaking cold temperatures and horrible delays in crops this year. Speaking of, the only thing doing well in my garden are my cold crops - broccoli and peas. I will have to replant my basil since it was too cold after I put it in and it has all rotted from the ground up now.

What really marks the beginning of summer is the absence of noise. It is Monday after graduation and the bike ride to campus this morning was pleasantly solitary. Corvallis is being infiltrated by chain, shit-hole stores, so I used my "Free Smoothie" coupon for Jamba Juice that we all get in the mail to mark a new opening. They only time I have ever gone there has been to use a free coupon. It's alright tasting stuff, but I hate the blood glucose spike I get from the 100+ grams of carbohydrates in the 500 calorie drink. Ick.

I am in my last week of working at the lab. It has been a really really great experience the past two years. Next week I start my internship at the Benton County Health Department. New leaf. Always turning.