The North American Organic Beer Festival

Last weekend, Phil was in town, and we made it over to Overlook Park for the North American Organic Beer Festival with my friends Saba, Owen and Kira. While there were a lot of beers (FULL beer list here), and we tried as many as we could, there were a couple that really stood out. The Widmer, Teaser XPA was innnnnnncredibly refreshing and crisp, and had a ton of floral aromas that I normally don't like, but fell in love with. So that was the light - the dark one that I really loved was from Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing. Their People's Porter was delicious, though I don't remember why. I just kept a notepad of all the beers I tried, and rated them on a scale of 1-10, and I gave that particular porter an 8, so I must have really enjoyed it.

Sunday flower walk winner

Bakery Bar - yummmmm

Woke up this morning and had a lazy walk around my neighborhood taking pictures of beautiful things. I wound up at Bakery Bar for coffee and one of my favorite scones - cheddar scallion (sans the bacon today).  The place was packed, as usual, so I asked to share a table with a guy and his son outside. After chatting for a while, he identified himself as the owner. Him and his wife opened the NE Glisan location this November, and you might have remembered how excited I was... They now have an expanded breakfast menu, and I can't wait to try a brekkie sandwich with egg and bacon.

 

 

Riding my new bike

Riding my new bike to work. I've started taking a longer route so I can ride my bike mooooooore.

itty bitty pillow hog

Somebody new to my home became very accustomed very fast. Yoshimi is almost exactly one tenth the size Alex was and she can hog ten times more the space he did. It's okay though, sharing my pillow with her isn't that bad...

This morning I went out to help bottle wine at Nuthatch. John and Jane always have a fun bunch of people helping out and today was no exception. I met some interesting folks and had a really awesome time learning more about wine. Today we bottled a syrah, and a temparnillo - both of which I helped with in the fall. It's super pleasing to taste it and see it get labeled and packed into boxes. Jane made an incredible spread for lunch, including three fritattas with chard and peppers in them. Yummmmy!

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.