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.

Alexander

As a lot of you may already know, late on Thursday night, Alexander was hit by a car on Harrison Blvd in front of my house. He passed very quickly, and that gives me hope that he didn't suffer. He was such a blast to have as a friend and companion. Even my Blogger profile mentions my life in this cottage with him as my buddy. I don't think I even felt too lonely in the two years I have lived here (June 13th is two years exactly). When I brought him home for the first time, he hunkered down under the bed for a while, but I remember Phil coaxing him out with leftover meat, and Alex was an easy win.
I have probably written more blog posts about Alex than anything else, and I think I'm lucky to have documented the little guy so well.
On Sunday, Josh, Mom and I happened across an adorable kitten outside a pet supply store in Portland. I picked her up and within ten minutes had decided she would be mine. Yesterday the vet confirmed that she is about six-seven weeks old and in good health. If she's not running up and down the furniture, doing flips in the air, or shamelessly chasing her tail, she is sound asleep and purring somewhere near me. Like Alex, she likes to be with me whatever it is I am doing, and like Alex she is super talkative. I know I cannot ever replace Alex, but I am glad that I quickly found another buddy to share my house with (when Phil isn't in town visiting!).
Thank you to everyone for all of your support. I have had some wonderful, yet tearful conversations with many of you, and my heart is still aching quite a bit. I know I have many shoulders to cry on though, and now a new little purr machine to cry with too. She needs a name! But right now, I'm stressing out with finals, so I will name her when it feels appropriate.

How would you like your meatloaf? Wrapped in bacon.

Ahhhh.... Food in Portltand. Amazingly satisfying when you never leave Corvallis. Not that I don't love some of my regular places in Corvallis - like La Conga - but it's the beauty of the food that Corvallis lacks. Here are a few of the delicacies from this weekend.

Cute Italian cafe off of Broadway in SE Portland. Mom had the lunch deal (above), $10 for fresh mozzarella and tomato on a bed of basil and a glass of wine. I ordered a formaggio panini with a cup of Italian Wedding soup (below). Ooooooh, yum.

For lunch yesterday, Josh ordered the stuffed meatloaf, wrapped in bacon, with mushroom gravy. Daaaaaaaaaamn. Who ever thought of wrapping meatloaf in bacon is clearly a genius.

For Josh. And Phil.....

White & Nerdy from waymoby on Vimeo.

Stir Fry

I've been making stir fry a lot. Maybe twice a week. These snow peas will not stop growing! Anybody have any other snow pea suggestions besides stir fry with tofu and noodles?

How much do I love my job?

I'm working on writing up my protocols at the lab I've been working at the past year and a half since I am about to move on. One of the nifty machines I LOVE using is the Spectrophotometer. It has many different uses, but I use it for measuring how much DNA i have extracted out of a plant sample. While looking for product literature to write up my protocol today, I came across this video that the manufacturers made. It is SUPER nerdy and hilariously fun. Note: this will only be funny to Ashley and Desiree, or anyone else who has lab experience who reads my blog... The rest of you will probably want to skip it ;)

Scrabulous

Just a cute little screenshot of me kicking Josh's behind in Scrabble. Meanwhile, I typed a six page paper on couples who "swing" - and I don't mean on the playground - and made a gigantic pot of minestrone soup. Yum! Why is it still soup weather and it's almost June?

Success!

Bagels for the win.

Sorry for the super crappy camera phone pictures.... I have no batteries for my digital and this was too cool not to blog. On Monday i tried making bagels and failed pretty badly. They were totally flat. Even though they had crispy outsides and bubbly, spongy insides, it still did not seem bagelish at all. Tonight I motivated myself to try again. Yeast, flour, sugar and salt for 25 bagels are cheaper than six bagels at the store. So here is my second attempt and they are looking awesome so far. They are still in the oven but smell delish. I combined a few recipes to get a feel for how I should do it this time - thinking that I killed the yeast and also didn't boil long enough on try one. I'll let you know how it goes.

Mother's Day and Martinis

On Sunday mom, grandma, Uncle Doug, Uncle Daryl, Janet, Phil and I went out to dinner at Clarke's in Lake Oswego. It was stellar - all of us ordered the same two things except for Daryl. Lobster risotto or New York Strip Steak. All of our food was incredible and when the desert menu came, I jumped at the opportunity to try one of their espresso martinis. I went out last night and got ingredients to try concocting this at home it was SOOOO incredibly yummy. Now I have added an extra ingredient and perfected my own recipe.

Espresso (coffee) Martini

• 2 oz Super dark brewed coffee, cold (or espresso)
• 1 oz Vanilla Vodka
• 3/4 oz of Kahlua
• 1/2 oz of Peppermint Schnapps

Fill a 16oz drink shaker with ice cubes, add all the above ingredients and shake well. Strain into a martini glass - you'll get a beautiful creme on top from the shaking. It looks just like a freshly pulled shot of espresso.

Iraq Body Counts Exhibit

When I started college, this display went up in the spring time and one of the sections of the quad was filled with flags. The next year, the parimeter was lined with flags. This year, our ENTIRE quad is full of death. It is a sobering reminder that war is happening every single day. I think installments like this are very important for people to be exposed to, so they are forced to be reminded. (Link to OSU's exhibit on Wikipedia)

Pizza Night

Phil and I made pizzas tonight. We were going to make two and have a "Pizza Off" but we decided it's more fun to collaborate and not compete. Well, I just have to say, I won. Fresh, local pork sausage, two whole heads of roasted garlic, mozzarella and a super thin, crunchy whole wheat crust. MMmmmmm. Phil made a mango, tomato, feta, basil pizza which was also awesome. And weird. Did I mention mangos? The basil was really awesome though, and the mango went surprisingly well with the tomato sauce base.

Chicken with Mango Salsa and Quinoa

Yum yum yum! Okay, this one was invented while Phil and I roaming around the co-op looking at fresh ingredients. The final product is incredible and when I was noshing on some this morning, Phil said, "That's good enough to serve in a resturant," which I emphatically agree with!

Investigating the bundle of basil.

Furiously chopping sweet onion.

Preparing the salsa.

Mango Salsa and Qunioa (Meat Optional)

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 cup fire-roasted crushed tomatoes (or fresh tomatoes)
• 1 medium sweet onion
• 1 16 oz can of butter beans (lima beans)
• 1 large mango
• 1 avocado
• Juice of 2 limes
• 6 cloves garlic 
• Bunch of fresh basil (or fresh coriander)
• Spicy peppers
• 2 tbls EVOO
• 2 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper 
• Chicken breast

1. Coarsely chop half of the onion and finely chop the garlic.  In a large skillet, on medium heat, toss onion, garlic and EVOO for 8-10 minutes.
2. Add quinoa and 1 cup water to the skillet.  Cover and let the mixture sit for about ten minutes, then add the tomatoes and butter beans.  Lower heat to low/simmer and cover for another ten to fifteen minutes.
3. Coarsely chop the remaining onion and the mango and avocado.  Finely chop a cup of basil and the peppers.  Toss all the ingredients together with lime juice and set aside.
4. Stir the quinoa mixture and season to taste with cayenne and cumin.  If the quinoa is not quite soft enough, add a couple tablespoons of lime juice and simmer for another five minutes.
5. Dish up the quinoa with mango salsa on top and finish with chicken breast if you like.  We bought a rotisserie chicken from Safeway to go with ours. Haha. 

The best part of this recipe is the leftovers. Chill all the ingredients and serve cold for an amazing lunch.  The flavors hold themselves more independently when chilled. Yum yum!

Spring is FINALLY here

It was warm two days in a row. I think spring is maybe here? Hold your breath, it might plummet below 35 degrees again. Phil and I spent the whole day around the house with the doors and windows wide open. I had a study group meet here this afternoon because it seemed prettier than the library and more comfortable in the living room. Kitty has been napping in the sun on the porch most of the afternoon next to the sweet peas. Hopefully there will be some to eat soon!

Answer to Riddle #1

Well, I never thought anyone would get it, but this morning Josh e.mailed me and said all he could think of was, "Yo-yo." That was the answer!!! Whooo hoooo Joji!!! Buh-gok.

Recipe: Curried Quinoa

Yum yum... Spicy curry quinoa. Super quick side dish or snack. Quinoa is an extremely healthy grain with lots of nutrients and fiber.  Google it!  Choose your curry powder as spicy (not not at all) as you like...

1 cup quinoa

1 cup water

1/2 cup chopped onion

4 cloves chopped garlic

frozen veggies, I used corn and peas

1-2 tlbs of curry paste/powder/mixture of tumeric, spices, etc.

1-2 tlbs EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

• In a tight mesh strainer, rinse your quinoa in cold water. If the mesh isn't tight enough, you'll lose the quinoa down the drain!
• Heat up a medium skillet on medium heat with a bit of olive oil to coat the bottom.
• Add chopped onion and garlic to the skillet and toss until onions are soft and translucent.
• Add quinoa, water and curry. Mix well, then raise heat until boiling.
• Add vegetables, turn heat down to low and cover. Simmer for 15-18 minutes until water is absorbed. 
• Serve hot and enjoy! 

This would probably be really yummy with some shaved parmesan on top or maybe a dollop of sour cream.  You can also add some chunks of chicken, beef, tofu, or tempeh for a protein kick.

Riddle #1

Josh got me a really cool webcam for Christmas, and I just pulled it back out to play with it last night.  I made all these creepy videos of animal caricatures of myself telling jokes. Here's my first Riddle of the Week!

Mary Mary, quite contrary....

How does your garden grow?... with little radishes, all in a row!  

I bought a salad pack of mixed baby greens to plant a while back. I've been happily noshing on the greenery and enjoying the spicy mix, when all the sudden this morning, I noticed big red bulges coming out of the soil!!! Apparently some of my luscious greens were radish tops. Phil and I decided to pull 'em and put them with the salad.

Chicken Soup Sunday

This weekend....
Phil and I went to the coast for a beautiful day of beach combing. We had fish and chips in Waldport then took a very long, gravelly, sketch road back home through the Siuslaw Forest. The TT handled it like a champ.

Last night we went to a punk rock show at the Fox and Firkin. The Angries, our neighbor's band was entertaining and highly energetic. We were pleasantly surprised by their talent. Today we're laying low with the kittens next door and Alex, enjoying the 70 degree sunshine.
I threw a couple pounds of vegetables and herbs into my new stock pot (from Christmas!!!) with a chicken, and we're going to enjoy a homegrown, homestewed chicken noodle soup for dinner. Yum!

Beaver Freezer 2008

Hot off the presses, Jake just finished his race about 40 minutes ago and although many of them were too blurry to post, I did get a few good action shots of him. For those of you who don't know, the Beaver Freezer details are here.


Go to www.flickr.com/mollyelliott to see all of his shots!

Oh my...... Leafy greens!

YUM! Phil has been in town for a few weeks, and tonight I wanted to share with him one of my favorite recipes I picked up over the winter, but I couldn't find it on the internet again. That was probably good luck, because I ended up improvising instead and just tossing things in the pan until it wouldn't stir anymore without slopping food all over the stove.

Banzo Bean, Brown Rice Bru-haha:
1 16oz Can Garbanzo Beans
1.5 cups dry brown rice, cooked
1 package of whole grain tempeh
1/2 of a sweet onion chopped coarsly
9 cloves of garlic, finely chopped(maybe you want to use like 1 or 2???)
Greeeeeeens! (we used red kale, green collards, and green cabbage)
3 tbsp tahini
2 lemons
Soy sauce or Bragg's liquid aminos
Extra virgin olive oil
Sesame Oil

Heat a large skillet on med-high and coat with a couple table spoons EVOO. Cut tempeh into bitesize pieces and cook until browned on all sides. Add garbanzo beans and onion to skillet. Toss and cook on medium heat until onions are soft and become translucent. Add cooked rice and toss for a minute or two, then add finely chopped greens and garlic. I put the kale and collards in at this point, but held off on the cabbage because I wanted a little more crunch. Stir frequently and cook for another five minutes. Add the cabbage if you're using it. In a bowl, stir together soy sauce, tamari and lemon juice. Stir until homogeneous. Remove skillet from heat and serve up right away. Add a couple dollops of tamari mixture on top and stir in. The heat will decrease the viscosity of the sauce and spread nicely into the rice and bean dish.

ENJOY!

Obama on Race and Politics

If you have not yet seen the full coverage of Barack's speech on race, you really should watch it. The news casts will surely have their way with excerpts, creating what ever stance they would like to spin out of it, but remember, the speech is 37 minutes long and you should make your own decision about its outcomes. The excerpt above is the last 10:08 of the full speech.

Hoe Down, Down South

On Friday night my coworker Cecily and I were looking for fun and our friend, Wes who is a graduate student really needed a break from his office and tests. We piled into the Suby and went down to Eugene to see Jackstraw do a show at Sam Bond's Garage. I called Jake when we hit the beltway and he met us about 9p.m. when the band was just setting up. We had a great time watching hippie flailing and were lucking enough to get the front table in the bar. A super cool venue, with a veggie/vegan menu and amazing West Coast brews served in mason jars. We got back to Corvallis around 2a.m. in time to hit the books again for Saturday and Sunday. It was nice to get out for a night though!

 

Kitty playing with our neighbor, Jack

PK Visits Corvallis

 

Phil came for a short weekend visit on Friday night and we had a super lazy weekend. For the short time that we did stretch our legs out in the fresh air, we went for a walk around Alsea Falls. I had only seen it in the summer time and was really amazed at the amount of water that goes through there during the winter. More pictures here
On Sunday night we cooked a delicious Elk roast and some mashed potatoes. And of course, I totally owned him at Scrabble before he had to fly back to the Bay.

Scottsdale, AZ

A little sun therapy in the desert for a mid-winter term break. I made a super quick trip to Scottsdale this weekend to visit with mom and Pat while Doug, Janet and Grandma were also in town. Although a very short trip, I had an unbelievable time seeing the desert cacti, mountains, and canyons from horseback!

I had some really extreme anxiety about riding horses.... But as it turned out, Grandma showed me how to do it like an old pro and I felt great within a half hour or so of taking the saddle. My horse was extremely gentle and his name was Diamond. I was warned that he's a "kicker" meaning mom wasn't supposed to get too close to me with her horse, Brandy, or she'd get kicked.
To see LOTS more gorgeous pictures, check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/mollyelliott

Phil's gotta blog

Check it out! Phil finally got a blog up and running. It's beautiful, and he has the raddest website address.... http://philkast.com/

Looks gross, tastes great!

I'm taking exercise sports science this term, and also just being a public health major, I am subjected to daily discussion regarding obesity and cardiovascular disease. I actually really love it because every time I find myself eating a LaConga burrito, I feel as guilty as I justifiably should! Anyway, here is one of my more healthy recipes to pass along, although it is by no means, the prettiest.
Spicey Curried Lentils with Winter Vegetables
Cooked brown rice
2 cups french lentils
1 liter box of vegetable stock
1 bunch of greens (kale, collards, chard, cabbage)
1 head of cauliflower
3 cloves of garlic
1 medium onion
Nutritional yeast
Bragg's liquid aminos (or soy sauce)
Spicey curry powder (or regular curry powder and cayanne to taste)
Olive oil

Add a couple tablespoons of olive oil to pan and heat on medium. Thinly slice onion and dice garlic; add to warm olive oil. Cook over medium heat until onions are translucent (about 15 minutes). Thinly slice greens, chop cauliflower, and add to garlic and onion. Add curry powder, Bragg's and nutritional yeast to taste - about 2 tbls curry powder, 1 tbls Bragg's, and 2 tbls nurtitional yeast. I never put salt in anything, but this recipe probably needs it. Add vegetable stock to pan and bring to a boil. Add lentils and lower to a simmer. Cook until lentils are tender, about 20 minutes. Scoop over brown rice and enjoy complete protein, green glop :)

Project Pedal

Gorgeous documentation of a coast to coast bike touring trip in the United States. This guy has the best, haunting, narrative voice. He films insanely beautiful footage from the road, talking about what it means to try something that seems so impossible and what happens along the way. Yes, it's a film about bike touring, and no, it's not a film about bike touring. You have to watch an episode to understand what that means.

Sydney Running

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Originally uploaded by ButzLife

Yes. Her name is really Sydney Running. This is my new friend, Sydney. She has a huge mouth. She's a super badass- triathlete, marathoner, etc.... Best of all, she's just a funny lady.

A few of my favorite, or not so much, things...

A rapid-fire list of just random stuff:

1. For dinner tonite, I made tofu smothered in nutritional yeast and Bragg's liquid aminos. I tossed the tofu with kale I broiled in the oven for 8 minutes, and had slightly crunchy, red potatoes on the side. The red potatoes are one of my favorite things that mom makes. Oh boy. Yummy stuff.
2. This morning in my 8a.m. Exercise Sports Science class my super nerdy and extremely tall, gangly professor got so excited talking and backing up at the same time that he bumped into a table, causing loss of balance and a fall/sitting down on the table itself. He followed this up by saying (with a red face), "I wanted to sit here," to which we all replied with roaring laughter. Funny stuff.
3. When people see you riding your bike really fast, they think you don't see them. What I am doing is calculating in my super-sharp mind the exact anticipated trajectory of their body in motion as they are walking and I will swiftly pass them once they have safely crossed my path. But. People always FREAK out and STOP mid-walk, throwing me off, which them causes me to STOP my bike and nod my head indicating that they should keep walking, and sometimes I have to say, "GO!" Pedestrians are so passive.... Annoying stuff.
4. I came home today and accidentally stepped on kitty's tail. He screamed at me. Sad stuff.
5. Corvallis residents who are Allied Waste customers all received commingled recycling roll carts last week!!! Yeaaahhh! Now we can dump all our happy recyclables in one big can that dwarfs the garbage cans. Finally we're catching up with other parts of Oregon on these issues. RAD STUFF!
6. I bought a new bio-degradable laundry soap last week, which was also supposed to by hypoallergenic. I now have a full blown rash. I bought infant bubble bath, baby soap, and special cream that's supposed to heal itchies. I figure nothing is more hypoallergenic that infant stuff. It's awful. I talked to a friend about this on Sunday and he had a horrible itchy eye rash last year, which they finally figured out was due to the same detergent. BAD stuff.

New Years Feast

The full spread....
Josh, Ashley, her friend Amelia, Phil and I feasted on all sorts of goodies before playing a fun game of Imagine-If. We caught a taxi to the bowling alley around ten thirty and brought in the new year with cosmic bowling and champagne. I owe a lot of thanks to the above mentioned folks for cleaning up the giant loads of dishes and "molly messes".

Clockwise from bottem left: Vegetarian gyoza, jungle juice vodka stuff, spicey peanut spread, rice noodle salad, curried samosas, pineapple fried rice (in a pineapple!), fresh salad rolls, and smoked salmon sushi!!

Compuslive Scheduling

Two days until school begins again and I am refreshed. So far, I have completed my spreadsheet of my weeks for the next eleven, but I usually only stick to this until halfway through week one. I am registered for 19 hours of class and I have registered myself with myself for the following weekly activities: 17 hours of official study time; 11 hours of lab work; 5 hours of time at the gym; and 9 hours of sleep per night. One thing I'm trying that I have never tried before is scheduling time for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Hopefully this will help normalize my life and keep me healthier than I usually am around weeks 8, 9 and 10.

Caitlyn Time

A brief moment of Caitlyn being tired! What an adorable kid.... :)