Whidbey Island trip

It was kind of embarrassing: the Needs had their Whidbey Island cabin a year before we made the trip up to see it.  However, it was worth the wait.

 

Since Sandi had several days off, I took Monday off and we drove north.  We got to enjoy Keith and Julie's B&B and play with the kids; a great way to start off a vacation.

 

Then, off to Whidbey Island to meet up with the Needs.

 

Before they arrived we walked around Langley in leisurely stroll visiting galleries and shops.

 

downtown Langley

 

boarding on the Sound

Sandi highlighting a little parkway

The 'Useless' part of the sign caught my attention.  Then I realized it was not a commentary but a geographic reference.

This is the place we didn't stay



Then Kyla, Piper and Wesley came and took us by storm!  It was pretty cool to have the kids run down the sidewalk to greet us.  Denise got sticky pudding for dessert and we headed back to the cabin.  Great fun!  The kids showed us their beach and drew us pictures, we had coffee before church on Sunday and played in Mercreek Rhododendron Garden.  Dwayne even made a glass pumpkin (I wish I took a picture of the glass blowing factory).

A beautiful beach...

...complete with Kyla, Piper and Wesley playing on the swing

actually, Kyla was eating an apple while her siblings played on the swing

 

Sandi and I had a quiet night on the island Sunday evening.  We went out to a good French restaurant and split a lamb burger.  The cool part about it was the thunder and lightning storm all through dinner. 

 

Monday brought us back to the mainland where we met friends for lunch and then headed up to Mom and Dad's for dinner. Parker and Cecily joined us too!  Mom cooked a wonderful dinner complete with pecan pie and Dad was able to show us his well organized garage (with a workbench a whole lot cleaner than mine).  It was a great, quick trip up to Washington.  We'll have to do it again.

Guest room: take 14

When we last left off, Sandi and I spent much time and effort converting our spare room into a den/office/computer room.  It's a great use of space for two people who have a three-bedroom house, but its also kind of lonely.  Sandi could take her laptop anywhere, but if I needed to get on my computer, I had to isolate myself in the back room.  Occasionally, both of us would be in there at the same time so we could blow kisses across our desks, but it wasn't the romantic adventure we dreamed.

 

On a walk home from the Farmer's market one Saturday, Sandi had a great idea: let's convert our computer room back into a bedroom and bring the computers out to the family room.  Brilliant!  No longer will I trudging to the far reaches of our house (and away from a very cozy and warm fire) to check email.

It took a little effort and a couple of Saturdays, but our computer room is now a bedroom (again).

 

Our family room also underwent a transition.  Gone is the funny stereo that makes weird clicks when you turn it on.

 

In its place is our computer desk.  Now I can edit this blog while enjoying our backyard and the fire.

Before & After

Sandi was concerned that our tomato plant might fall over and we would loose whatever gained the last three months.  So she took some pruners to it.  The results:

Before

 



After

Now I think we have a shot at a few more ripe tomatoes.  Thanks, Babe!

How does your garden grow?

Our garden grows kale very well.  Lettuce too.  We expected lettuce to grow in bushes (that's how we bought it, after all).  It's neighbor, kale, must have either taught or inspired it to grow in stalks.   

 

We might need to stake our lettuce to keep it from collapsing on itself.

Green onions are trying to take over. Maybe that's why our beans and snap peas did so poorly.

After 3 years of trying, we finally are able to grow basil.  This is after Sandi took the choppers to it to make pesto.  By the way, homemade pesto is very good; much better than store-bought.

 

We might need to give the rosemary it's own space.  We can think of a rose bush or two that would be happy to volunteer its space.

The entire herb garden needs a haircut.  We'll have to buy a whole hog to use up all the sage that is growing.

These peppers look better in photos than in real life.  We are kind of bummed they haven't grown bigger or turned red yet.

Sungolds: our favorite little tomatoes.

Bummer the rain split every single ripe/almost ripe tomato....

 

The large tomatoes are out of control.  We would love to harvest them but they won't ripen.

Living in close proximity to the Rose City has its advantages.

Falafel

When I lived in Bellingham, Sam, Heidi and I would occasional make falafel.  Sam introduced it to me as an Egyptian Taco.  Basically, it is spiced garbanzo beans rolled into balls and deep fried.  Break it up into pocket pitas with veggies and sauce and it is quite good.  I read an article online that suggested it more of an Israeli meal.

 

Sandi and I invited a friend over for dinner Wednesday evening.  I thought it would be fun to relive my past and serve falafel.  In Bellingham we would buy a box of dried mix and add water.  Turns out, making it from scratch is almost as easy (providing you skip the step of soaking, drying and grinding your own beans - garbanzo bean flour works great). 

 

These are still raw.  I'll need to fry them tomorrow.

 

Sandi decided to make Tzatziki sauce (a yogurt, dill, cucumber mixture) for the falafel.

Grinding and salting the cucumber

Straining the yogurt to make 'Greek Style' yogurt

Finally, the hummus

Siouxon Creek 2013

 Last weekend was my opportunity to go backpacking with friends.  We chose the same trail Sandi and I did last year: Siouxon Creek near Battle Ground, WA.

 

It was a great trail.  It follows a creek and therefore eliminates the typical switchbacks we encounter in the Cascades.  It is well groomed and quite beautiful.

The trail brings you to a few waterfalls and many campsites.

 

We found the perfect campsite only four-miles into our trek.  We were all surprised to drop our packs at 3:00 and set up camp, but you can't mess with perfection: lots of level ground, an established fire pit and benches, just off the creek and a great pool for water, an easy bear-hang and even a little kitchen area.  We were set for the weekend.

Last year, Sandi and I hiked up to Siouxon Peak.  It was a lot of work but not much fun.  This year, my friends and I tackled Horseshoe Ridge.  It was incredibly steep (gaining 1500 feet in 3 miles) but we had nice views at the top.  By the end of Saturday, we hike 9 exhausting miles.

This is a great little camp stove - very efficient and easy to pack

This is the little kitchen area I was talking about.

Good weekend.  If it wasn't so far, it would be fun to hike more often.

Cheese! Our adventure at Tillamook

Sandi had 6-days off so I took off Monday for a quick camping trip to Tillamook on Sunday night. Our goal was to eat good food and relax.  Though I don't have a picture to prove it, we did almost all our cooking over our campfire: blue cheese skirt steak and roasted sweet potato with onions.  We sautéed our mushrooms on our camp stove because our cookware isn't designed for open flames.  It was so good.

 

The next morning, we warmed our scones over the fire but had an otherwise cold breakfast of fresh fruit.

 

We finally left our campsite at 1:00 and headed over to the cheese factory for ice cream and cheese curds.  Sandi was devastated because they discontinued 'Blueberry Cheesecake' ice cream.  After growing up with that ice cream, Tillamook Mudslide, though good, was a distant second.  I enjoyed my mocha almond fudge.

 

We didn't get the hike in that we hoped.  Instead we hiked out to Bay-Ocean spit, as you can see below.

 

Enjoying our cheese curds and veggies for lunch.