The Weekend Update

Where to start.... we have been so crazy busy.

Lots of time at the barn lately. Natalie is testing for her C1 rating next Saturday and has so much to finish up. Not only is she tested on different aspects of her riding (ie. jumping 2'9 courses, flatwork, cross country, etc.), she is also tested on bandaging and horse management knowledge. She also has to show her record book which has detailed information about Memo, her care, feed, vet stuff, vaccinations, you name it. Lots of work. C1 is a big step up. I pray that Memo behaves herself, and that we do not have the oppressive heat of this weekend. Memo loves the heat, Nat does not. She just wilts like a flower.

Jim took off for Shelton, WA for a motorcycle rally/ride for the weekend. He made it up there safe and sound, and was scoping out a shady spot for his tent when he called. Tonight is a dinner and presentation on an Indo-China motorcycle trip by a well-known NW motorcycle traveler guy. Tomorrow is an organized ride.

Nat is at her second birthday party for the weekend. She was so thrilled to see her friends from school again. I barely got a "good-bye" out of her! So grateful that she has such a wonderful group of friends. Really good kids.

I spent a lot of time getting ready for a scrapbook garage sale at my friend Laura's house today. We had a really low turnout :( Everyone was out enjoying the sun I guess. If anyone needs some scrapbook supplies, I'm your gal. Email me and I'll make you a deal :)

I didn't end up having allergy shots. I have been fighting off some kind of cold or maybe even a sinus infection so they didn't want to take any chances of me having a reaction again since it is the peak season. Didn't hurt my feelings at all ;) I feel okay so I must have had a little bug of some kind. Personally, I think it was just my allergies acting up.

I just made artichoke dip with the chard from the CSA box. Oh my was that good. I ate it for dinner! Also had some Rainier cherries. Heaven. And white wine. The perfect summer supper for me.

Next week we are looking forward to visitors: Jim's parents and their Westie Izzi are coming up from Las Vegas. It will be great to have them here for the holiday weekend. I hope they don't mind if my house is not spotless ;) Just not enough hours in a day...

Speaking of a clean house, I guess I better get off the computer and do something about that.

Proud Momma

Gotta post a brag... sorry.  Nat got her report card today. 

4.0, baby! 

Way to go, Nat Nat. So proud of you!!

She always works so hard, and it really paid off. Four of her classes are with high schoolers, and her other 4 classes are a combo of 7th and 8th graders. The kids really have to work hard to keep up. I think it really helps her to rise to the occasion and show her stuff. Man, do I love her school. And the even better part... she loves her school too :)

In other news, I went to a cancer support group for family and friends tonight. Why oh why didn't I start this two years ago? Definitely kicking myself. I think it will be very good for me. I'm going to work hard to make this a priority.

Tomorrow I'm off to the allergist. Have to see the doc because of my reaction last month. I'm really hoping that they will reduce the dosage of my shots for awhile. I read that the Willamette Valley has the highest pollen count in the country right now. I believe it. I'm pretty miserable, but I cannot imagine how bad I would be if I hadn't started these shots. Here's to no epi shots tomorrow ;) Anaphalactic shock really cramps my style!

CSA: week 2

Much more stuff this week: 3 boxes of strawberries, more rhubarb, chard, leaf lettuce, broccoli, Italian parsley and a marigold plant. Lots-o-green.

The strawberries were ultra ripe. Had to use them tonight or lose them. We each had a bowl of ice cream with the berries for dessert and used the rest to make a few small batches of jam.

Instant Berry Jam

1 1/2 cups berries, whole

3/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon butter

Wash berries, remove stems or hulls, and crush evenly in a bowl. You should have 1 cup crushed berries. In a 3 qt. casserole or pyrex bowl, stir together berries with remaining ingredients. Cook uncovered in microwave on high for 8 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes. Serve warm or cool. Store in covered jar in refrigerator.

Nat and I made one batch of the jam with just strawberries, and one with 1 cup of strawberries and 1/2 cup of finely chopped rhubarb. Yum. It will definitely be a PB&J day tomorrow.

My other plans for the week are to make an artichoke dip using the chard (subbing for spinach), and a salad with roasted beets, goat cheese and candied walnuts. I'm sure I will use the broccoli in a stir-fry of some kind, and the parsley in about everything (maybe a minestrone that will also use the chard?)! I cut the rhubarb into small pieces and threw it in the freezer so I can add it to recipes later on. Natalie is researching rhubarb recipes for me... I told her it had to be something that she would eat. I'm thinking rhubarb muffins would be good.

Really excited about this whole CSA thing right now. It is definitely keeping me out of the grocery store which is saving us money. It has really forced me to be creative and healthy with my cooking.

Nice Weekend

Jim and I had a great weekend. We dropped off Nat at Grandma and Grandpa's yesterday morning, and headed out on back roads toward the coast. We stopped and had lunch at a cute Italian restaurant in Carlton, out in the wine country. The sandwiches were made on homemade bread! Yum!

We drove up the coast, and hit sections of it that we hadn't visited in years or at all. We stopped for a walk on the beach north of Rockaway Beach. Jim found a perfect sand dollar for Nat.

Next we walked down the main street of Manzanita. What a cool little town. I cannot believe we have not been there. We scoped out some cool places to stay next time!

We headed farther north to Oswald Beach, which is a prime surfing spot. It was awesome watching the surfers catching waves. Can't imagine that cold water! They were all wearing wet suits! Definitely a party spot... Jim and I felt kinda old ;) Definitely a heart tug every time we saw a young couple with a toddler. That was us... dragging Natalie everywhere with us. We were not surfers, but we sure did drag Nat along on some big hikes and to the beach a lot. What incredible memories we have of that time in our lives.

We checked into the Nehalem River Inn late afternoon. What a charming little place! They upgraded us to a suite since it was our anniversary. It was so cozy! The perfect place to relax. And dinner there... JUST incredible. I was in heaven (isn't it sad how excited I get about good food??!!). Corn soup with basil oil. Antipasti plate with a new fave: dates stuffed with blue cheese! New York Steaks with a balsamic reduction, wild mushroom risotto and asparagus. And for dessert, Peach Brioche Bread Pudding with berry preserves. The wine was fabulous. We managed to polish off almost an entire bottle of a local Pinot Noir. I would go back there in a heartbeat. GREAT place! The service was impeccable too. I just love finding places like this!

After dinner we snuggled in for a movie. We watched La vie en Rose. Have to admit that I slept through part of it, but what I saw was really well-acted. All of that fresh air really did a number on my eyes... just couldn't keep up with the subtitles.

This morning after sleeping in and having a lazy morning, we headed back into Manzanita for breakfast at the Big Wave Cafe. We grabbed a mocha at a local espresso bar and then headed south. We stopped at this waterfall:

Munson Falls is south of Tillamook. It was just a short hike, and surprisingly big! Can't believe we have never stopped there. We were surprised at all of the downed trees from the winter's big storms. Part of the trail was closed down.

We took different back roads home... through a really remote area along the Nestucca River. Just gorgeous! Once again, the trees damaged in the wind storm were just unreal. 

What a relaxing and wonderful weekend. We need to do that more often. It was so great to spend one-on-one time with Jim. What can I say... I'm still head-over-heels even after 18 years :)

Must.Stop.Baking.

I swear the butter, flour and sugar just call out my name. I just can't stop. Especially with these amazing Oregon Hood Strawberries in the house. How can I NOT make shortcakes???!!! 

This recipe is super easy and really good! I came across it on a local Portland foodie website. It received rave reviews here... we topped it with the strawberries and whipped cream.

Easiest shortcake recipe ever, no rolling, no fuss:

2 cups all-purpose bleached flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
5 tablespoons sugar, divided
1/2 cup butter, frozen
1 egg, beaten
1 egg white (optional)
1/2 cup cold half-and-half (or milk, even evaporated milk will do)

Oven rack to lower-middle position, preheat to 425. Mix flour, salt, baking powder and 3 Tbs. sugar in a medium bowl. Grate 2 Tbs. of the butter on the coarse holes of a box grater into dry ingredients; toss to coat. Repeat grating and tossing with remaining butter. Combine egg and half-and-half; pour into flour mixture. Toss with a fork to form large clumps. Lightly press clumps into a ball; add a teaspoon more half-and-half to the bowl if dough won't come together.

Turn dough onto work surface; press into an 8-by-4- to 5-inch rectangle. Cut into 6 squares, placing them 1 inch apart on a small baking sheet. (Can be refrigerated up to 2 hours before baking.) Before baking, brush tops with optional egg white for a particularly attractive sheen. Sprinkle with remaining 2 Tbs. sugar. Bake until golden brown, about 12 - 14 minutes. Let cool until warm, 5 to 10 minutes. 

Notes: Instead of topping them with regular sugar, I often top them with turbinado sugar (larger crystals and I like the crunch). Also, I often make half a recipe and use the other half of the egg to brush on the shortcakes before baking. If you like your shortcakes sweeter add a bit more than 3 tablespoons to the dough...an extra tablespoon should do it and not ruin the recipe.

Recipe Reviews

Since I pulled the recipes in my CSA post off of the internet and had never tried them, I thought I better give you all the scoop how they turned out.

The risotto was good. Loved the fava beans. I used regular old bacon and it overpowered the dish. I would stick to the recipe next time. I also added more of the parmesan because cheese rocks ;)

The strawberry-rhubarb crisp was pretty darn good. I ended up doing the first part in the microwave as directed, but finished it up in the oven for about 25 minutes at 350. It wasn't the traditional crisp that I am used to but a nice, easy, healthy alternative. I probably ruined all that healthy part by adding a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream though ;)

The cashew chicken was easy. I added some low-sodium soy sauce. I think it still needed something for extra flavor. Next time I would add onions and garlic. Maybe some sesame oil. The pea pods from the CSA were so fresh and yummy! I served this over rice.

We have eaten everything from our CSA box already, except for the leaf lettuce. We will have that tomorrow. I'm hoping we will get a bigger quantity of items next week.

Totally looking forward to the weekend. Jim and I are going to the Nehalem River Inn to have a belated anniversary celebration. Nat will be hanging out with her grandma and grandpa. Memo gets a vacation standing out in the sun.

Tag, I'm it!

So, I've been tagged by my friend Shauna.

Five Things About Me

The rules:

1. Post the rules of the game at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog.
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.


What were you doing five years ago?

In 2003, the Hillsboro school district cut 17 days from the end of their school year. Budget constraints also took away our school's librarian, PE teacher, computer teacher and so much more. I started a huge volunteer movement of parents to fill in the gaps. Oh yeah, I also worked about 20-25 hours a week at Hot Off the Press as a Designer. We took trips to Bend to go skiing, to the Oregon Caves and California Redwood Nat'l Park, to Chicago, and to Colorado (where Nat was a flower girl in Ben and Annie's wedding). I got my VW Passat wagon (and I'm still driving it 90K miles later!!). Nat won her first ever horse championship. Whew!

What are five things on your to-do list for today?

1) Take Nat to the barn to ride Memo and to attend a Lameness Clinic by our Vet. Check.
2) Go to the Grocery store. Check. (Also stopped at the local farm store for a flat of local strawberries.) 
3) Finish laundry.
4) Clean all those strawberries and make a strawberry-rhubarb crisp.
5) Make dinner.

What are five snacks you enjoy?

1) Artichoke dip and pita chips
2) Seattle's Best Coffee/Caramel Javakulas with no whip
3) fresh fruit (especially berries, cherries) 
4) smoothies
5) cheese

What are five things you would do if you were a billionaire?

1) Rescue Jim from his job! Hello retirement!!
2) Buy my Mini Cooper and a new BMW motorcycle for Jim.
3) Travel the world!!
4) Donate $ to build ACMA (Nat's school) a cafeteria and hire a healthy/gourmet chef. They need that desperately!
5) Buy Nat a fancy eventing horse, as well as a motorhome and horse trailer so we can go to the shows in style :)


What are five of your bad habits?

1) Coffee/Tea-Caffeine
2) surfing the internet
3) Not flossing my teeth very often
4) cheese
5) Impatience & perfectionism

What are five places where you have lived? 

1) Storm Lake and Sioux Rapids, Iowa
2) Maynard and on a farm near Montevideo, Minnesota
3) Tucson, Arizona
4) Las Vegas and Henderson, Nevada
5) Hillsboro and Beaverton, Oregon 

What are five jobs you’ve had?

1) Customer Service Rep. (gate and ticketing agent), America West Airlines
2) Legal Assistant, Morton L. Galane Law Offices
3) Employee Benefits Legal Assistant, Stoel Rives
4) In-house Designer, Hot Off the Press
5) Owner, Dukes Equestrian Designs

Five people I tag:

NO Clue!!!

Anyone that wants to play along! Tag, you're it!!!!

CSA: Week One

Here is the contents of our first CSA (community supported agriculture) box:

fava beans

pea pods

leaf lettuce

rhubarb

strawberries

calendula plant (edible flowers)

One box of the strawberries is GONE! They were incredible! The second box will be lucky to make it until breakfast ;)

Natalie and I have already shelled and blanched the fava beans. She had a real knack for taking off the skins of the beans once they were blanched. The real test will be to see if she will eat them. We will be making fava bean risotto for our dinner tomorrow night.

And for dessert: strawberry rhubarb crisp!! Yum!

Nat already had a stalk of the rhubarb for dessert. As kids, we always used to dip a stalk into sugar and eat it. Better than any sour candy out there. She thought that was just the coolest thing and now loves to eat rhubarb like that.

We will probably make some kind of Asian dish with the pea pods. Maybe Cashew Chicken with Pea Pods? 

Looking forward to a nice fresh salad with the leaf lettuce. Not so sure about the edible flowers though. Hmmm. Not to worry... I will probably kill the poor plant before it ever flowers anyway ;) I'll put Nat in charge of it!

I was kind of expecting more in the bag, but this was the first box and it is so early in the growing season. I'm predicting each bag will be fuller as the season goes on. Didn't help that it has been June-uary around here!

I'm really excited to be eating locally grown, fresh produce. It can't help but be a healthier way of eating, and it will be so fun exposing Natalie to new recipes and foods.

Go USPC!

USPC = United States Pony Club. We just got home from the Oregon Region Dressage Rally at DevonWood. It was a rockin' weekend.

Our club, Chehalem Mountain Pony Club, was originally going to have two teams at the Rally. Unfortunately, a few of the riders were unable to ride so we were only able to fill one team. One extra rider was left, so Natalie was chosen/decided to be a "catch rider". She was snatched up by one of the Oregon Trail teams, who was short one rider. Oregon Trail often uses Janice as their trainer, so they are kind of our "sister" club. 

The weather was perfect, sunny and warm with a light breeze both days. Perfect horse show weather. I was so excited to see the sun... since it has been such a rare event these days. I ended up getting burned to a crisp, despite putting on sunscreen several times. My ghostly white skin just couldn't take all those hours in the sun. That was really the only bad part of the weekend.

Memo was a nice, calm, relaxed horse. Nat rode some of her best dressage tests yet, and received great scores. She was in the 60's all rides, with her scores going up 2 points each ride. It was a great confidence booster for her, especially after all of the cross-country drama lately.

Nat clicked with her new teammates quickly! They were a force to be reckoned with. Nat received an "exceeding standards" on her formal inspection. Memo was glistening like a copper penny in the sun. Her white socks were sparkling. The tack was polished and perfect.

At a rally, the riders are judged on their riding as well as their stable management. Natalie's team received zero penalty points the entire weekend! It was amazing! All of the riders had very consistent, high-scoring rides as well. Their horses really behaved themselves.

Turns out that Nat's team won first place for both Stable Management and Riding! What an accomplishment for them. And the best part... Natalie made some great new horsey friends. She ended up staying the night on Saturday with the team and they had a great time having a sleepover in a horse stall together! How cool is that if you are a horsey girl? And at DevonWood no less ;)

Jim will have pics on his website soon. He was bummed about all of the shadows created by the sun. Overcast works out so much better, but oh well ;) I was glad to see the sun for a change. He still got some awesome shots.

Happy Summer, everyone!! Nat and I will be sleeping in tomorrow. Can't wait!

Grillin'

The sun finally came out this afternoon. Alleluia.

Time to do some grillin'. Here is what's for dinner on a busy weeknight after riding lessons:

Spicy Chicken Italian Sausages 

Grilled onions and bell peppers (I use one of those special pans used for doing veggies on the grill)

Serve on a grilled hoagie bun

Foil potato packet: I slice up some potatoes. Pop them in the microwave with a little bit of water and some onion for about 5-7 minutes to par-cook them. Drain the excess water. Spray some foil with cooking spray and add the potatoes. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder and some parmesan cheese. Add another layer of oiled foil on top and wrap it up.

Grill it all up until done. I like the sausages and potatoes to have some crusty stuff on them. MMM! Serve with some fresh fruit on the table. Don't forget some white wine. You're good to go.

June-uary

That word has been popping up here in Oregon a lot lately. There was a snowstorm in Eastern Oregon that closed I-84 yesterday. What the heck??!!

No snow here. Just cold and wind. And gray. A few sprinkles. Ugh.

We were supposed to give Memo a bath today. Hopefully it will warm up so we can do that on Friday before we leave for the show/rally at DevonWood. Email me if you would like Nat's ride times.

A HUGE shout-out to my girl Shauna. She celebrated her two year survivor anniversary yesterday. You rock, sista! 

Two more days of school left. Nat has her last exam today. Hopefully the last two days will be low-key and easy. I'm thinking I should save about $40 a week in gas not having to run her back and forth to/from school. Score!

Just celebrated an early Father's Day with lunch with my parents. Very nice to spend time with them.

What a random post, eh? I'll quit blathering now. I'm getting a big mailing ready to go out for my business so I will go work on that now.

Toodles!

Happy 18!

On this day 18 years ago, I married my best friend. 

We picked June 9th because it was my Grandparents' 50th anniversary... really made our day extra special having them there. You would have thought June in Las Vegas would be a safe time to have an outdoor wedding on the golf course. Turns out, it was a monsoon! Pouring rain, flash floods and high winds. Our beautiful trellis decorated with fresh flowers and ivy went flying across the golf course. The ladies in the club house playing bridge told me that it was good luck to get married on a rainy day. They were right :)

We ended up having the ceremony in the club house on the dance floor. My pastor was a bit ticked because the bar opened so the guests could have drinks... that is Las Vegas for you ;)

It was one of the most wonderful nights of my life. I married the man of my dreams, with all of my family and friends there to celebrate. Rain and all, it was the perfect night. Who else has storm clouds in their wedding photos in Las Vegas? Those were way before the days of digital... I wish I could post the pic. The photographer had us go out to the golf course between rain storms. We are holding hands in front of a huge palm tree with the most ominous black clouds behind it. Stunning pic.

I wish I had Shauna's beautiful words to convey what I am feeling today. But I'm just me... my plain and simple words will have to do. My heart is so full of emotion.

I came home from dropping off Natalie from school this morning to find two dozen red roses on the kitchen table. After 18 years, he is still bringing me flowers. I'm the luckiest lady alive. I have tears in my eyes as I type this.

Happy Anniversary, Jim. Thank you for giving me the best years of my life. Thank you for all of the adventures we have had together, for our beautiful daughter, for our wonderful life. I can't wait for the next 18 years with you. Thank you for showing me what true love is all about. All my love, P.

A Week to Go...

The countdown is on. Five days of school. Summer is almost here. Despite the winter-like weather... although today is nice. The local newspaper called it "June-uary". Pretty much sums it up.

Just got back from a walk with Shauna and Simba. We got iced coffees, then headed down to the Tigard dog park. It was so cool to see Simba interact with all the cute doggies. So nice to get caught up with Shauna too. Sucky that you have to go back to chemo tomorrow, Shauna. My thoughts will be with you, and I'm just around the corner if you need anything.

We kind of survived the Inavale Event Derby. The weather could have been worse. Just kind of cold and windy. Some mist, but no pouring rain.

Nat and Memo had a great dressage round. No bucking which is always a plus. They were in 5th place after that. Cross country warm up looked good. The actual xc round... not so much. Memo had 3 refusals pretty quickly and they got the big "E"--elimination. What a bummer.

Jim got great pics. We had a great time camping with our horsey friends. 

Next weekend: Dressage Rally at DevonWood. Never a dull moment around here. Hoping for some of those once we are out of school :) Dull moments would be a good thing.

Linky Love

These websites just can't help but put a smile on my face.

For a good laugh I visit The Pioneer Woman. Ree just cracks me up. I love her recipes too. She also takes amazing horse pics. This was my favorite!!

To see pretty, frivolous cupcakes I visit this site. There is just something happy about pink frosting.

For good, midwestern scrapbook humor, I just love Cathy Z.  She is so real.

Because I'm a food nerd, I just love this website. I've never made any of her stuff but it sure does look yummy.

I really want to take a vacation here. How cool is that??? And close to home!!

Hugs

Big hugs going out to my friends at Hot Off the Press tonight. Their dear receptionist, Kate, passed away suddenly from a massive heart attack today. I can't imagine the sadness that is filling the building after today. The office will not be the same without her.

I remember Kate always having a smile, and always willing to visit. She was such a friendly lady and loved her family dearly. She was an avid gardener. Everyone always went to her with their gardening questions. I was one of her "best customers", always utilizing my employee discount to purchase scrapbook goodies for my friends and family. She was our go-to gal to purchase things, and always handed out new paper books to us when they came in. Everyone loved Kate.

This all happened so suddenly. She was at work this morning. You just never know. Give those you love extra-big hugs tonight. Hold them tight. 

Hugs to all of you. I'm so grateful to have known Kate, and I am so thankful to have so many special people in my life.

Whew!

Finally getting a moment to breathe. I think these moments will be few and far between the next two weeks. Nat is still snoozing. Boy does she need that.

It is a cloudy, quiet Sunday morning. Jim woke up early to head out to Hood River for his ride. I just got off the phone with him, and luckily it is clear and sunny out there. Finally he will get a good ride in. Last night when we got home late from Gig Harbor, he was lamenting the fact that he should stay home and mow the backyard and get stuff done. Nah. It will get done somehow. We have been going so hard that the house and lawn have been a last priority.

I hope to get motivated to get some housework done this morning, then Nat and I will head up to the barn to see Miss Memo. I hope it will be nice enough to ride outside.

Tomorrow it is back to the craziness of the last two weeks of school. Nat will miss Friday so we can go to Inavale for the Event Derby. Should be a blast, as long as Memo stays on all fours ;) Hopefully she will get new horseshoes that are drilled for studs this week. That should help a lot. We are so excited to have Sam's pop-up camper for the summer... will be so much more luxurious than our tent ;) It is always a fun time to camp with our horsey friends.

Our trip to Gig Harbor was short and sweet. We had a fab lunch at Kelly's... they have the most incredible sweet potato fries. MMM! Nat hit the cool bead store. Sam showed us some cool houses on the water. A person could definitely retire there... love it! Jim and Nat played their Wii. What a kick! They had a great time. Might have to look into one of those. It was just fun to hang out with Sam and family. They are great :)

Off to start my day. Might need another cup of tea first though ;)