Earl Scruggs

The world lost one of the greatest bluegrass legends today. I imagine he is sitting around playing banjo in a bluegrass circle with his family and friends.

That's my kind of heaven.

 

Excuses...excuses...excuses

Life has been busy. My deepest apologies to the five people who read this blog and check it only to go, “Really?! Still the lame chili one?!”

I thought I would do a quick catch up and then leave you with some potentially empty promises that  after my move, hopefully my computer will be unpacked and my internet up and running quickly for more regular posts.

The  MOOOOooove!

Well much to my surprise my rent was raised by $140 bucks a month and after the initial shock (is that legal?!) and panic reaction, I realized this was finally my chance to get out of the burbs and back to Portland. I did a reverse Craigslisting and the very next day my now current landlord contacted me. After some negotiating- ME: lower the rent…and pay for supplies and I will do the labor to fix the place up... HIM: Deal! I landed myself a labor of love that has turned into what feels like my whole life right now. My landlord has been awesome though! He has ordered things online, got me my subway tile for the kitchen, re-wired the bathroom for new lighting, tore up the ugly carpet and with the help of some amazing friends I have gone to work shining up the place. At the end of the month I will be living in a little 2 bedroom house with a yard, a place to park and very close to some of my very best friends. It will be a nice little place to live until I am ready to buy my own place. It has however been painful at times and there is a ton of work left to do. Not to mention I have been working so much on the new place that the current place is sitting around wondering when I am going to get packing!!

LOTS of Painting!

Unhappy Bathroom

UNHAPPY Kitchen

Paint Dipped Pony-tail

The Timbers!!

The Season has kicked off and I am officially married to the Timbers until the end of October. My season tickets have me in the second room in Section 110 and are such fun seats. The goals from my view are pretty spectacular. My section group is awesome! It consists of my brother from another mother…Sebastian (who looks like a Timbers version of Where’s Waldo with that hat he is superstitious about), our buddy Jared (the two forces of Jared and Sebastian combined are known as the Wood Brothers and have even made it on ESPN), my girl and relief from all the Wood jokes, Ann and the big, gruff, snarly (total softy who when I am not looking shields my purse from the rain because he KNOWS he loves me) Kirk.

Our boys look amazing this year and even though we got soaked during the first game it was very much worth it! The first match proved to be one of the best matches I have been too. The Great Scot Boyd is proving to live up to his reputation and of course that accent sealed the deal long ago for me. This is going to be a great season!

Half-Time...The slab of wood ended up the boy's drink holder

Seb and Jared...aka the Wood Brothers

Three-way Birthday…

With all the sad stuff that happened in February…I cancelled my bowling birthday party that was planned last month. My friend Jess’ birthday was on the day before our friend Derek died and Karie’s birthday was last week. It was decided that we would throw a make-up giant birthday party and it was a total blast! We all got together and went cosmic bowling! We broke out the glow sticks, put on the smelly bowling shoes and had a really great time! It was a nice relief getting everyone together after everything that had happened and just having fun. There was a ton of laughing, some terrible bowling and my hand only got stuck once in the bowling ball that was intended for children. Check out the super blurry...somewhat true to life...action shots below.

Cooking Class…

My cooking class is in full swing and I am teaching a group of very awesome 9 and 10 year olds. I went into it thinking I had a younger group on my hands and when I saw the group of kids walk in I had to scratch most of my lesson plans. These kids are so much fun and they want to learn how to be a chef. I can’t believe how skilled these kids are. I am also really impressed with their nutrition knowledge. It gives me some faith in the school system that they are familiar with so many health facts and have some nutrition basics. They blow all the adult classes out of the water with their knowledge. I have them for another month and then it is onto the next assignment. They exhaust me but I don’t notice until they have all left the kitchen. It’s been really fun! I can't take pictures of the kids but I will try and get some of our food soon!

Noah turned 4!

My nephew Noah had his 4th birthday and it was Superhero Themed Awesomeness! LOVE this kid! It's so fun now that he is getting older I can get him cooler gifts. He got a sketchpad and some colored pencils and I taught him how to play Go Fish with some fun Paul Frank Go Fish cards. Of course the card instructions say the game is intended for 5 years and up but my nephew is practically a genius and had it down pat!

Shamrock Run 5k

In the middle of all of that I have been attempting to continue my training for the races I have planned this year. The Shamrock Run was yesterday and it was so much fun! My girlfriends joined me for this race and they did awesome! I only got flipped off twice and it was on the up-hill part. I still have my big goal looming in the distance (Heartbreaker Half Marathon)…but after this race I have about four more fun ones in between, including a 7K women’s only race at Fort Vancouver and few more that are making me think I need to check my calendar soon.

Before

After...wanna guess who was flipping me off?? She's the one closest to the camera.

So...yep...pretty busy. I finished glazing my wood floors this evening in the new place, tomorrow I leave for Vegas for a week for a well deserved but kind of poorly timed vacation and NOW I just finished a blog post.

Everybody in the Pot Chili

I am in the excruciating process of moving. I hate it. The packing, the de-cluttering, the cleaning and of course the actual moving part. It’s an exciting move because I am finally getting over to North Portland and I am pretty sure I got really lucky on my digs. It’s closer to work, closer to some good friends, a fun part of town and I get to garden in my new place. (YAY!) Those new digs come with a lot of work attached though, so on top of all the normal headaches that come with a move, I am also doing a baby re-model of my new place. The place I am moving into is in that…”a lot of potential” phase. Thankfully I have some amazing friends and family that are clever, talented and clearly crazy. They are all pitching in to help me make the place more livable. My first big work weekend on the new place is coming up and we will see what I am really in for.

Because of the move, I have been trying to clean out my pantry. I pulled out some frozen ground turkey and decided that with some of the cans I had in the pantry that it was time to make an interpretation of a veggie/turkey chili. This is the "throw everything into the pot chili". This is NOT your traditional "take it to the fair to win a blue ribbon chili". HOWEVER, this is delicious, very healthy and a great way to get those veggies out of the fridge that look like they are on the verge of being thrown out soon. The ingredients are not measured exactly. Just go with what you got. Season and taste everything. If you have an extra veggie you want to throw in (corn is yummy!)…do it. If you dont' have celery, don't worry about it. You don’t have turkey but you have beef or you don’t have ANY meat…no problem. If you don't have garlic...go out and buy some...everyone should have fresh garlic on hand. (I have to draw the line at some point) Just make sure that you let all the seasonings come together on the stove for a while and taste as you go so you can adjust your seasonings and acid levels (that’s where the sugar comes in).  Also… chili powder is mild, but please wait for it when tasting your soup. Chili powder hits just a few seconds after you first taste it. Let it hit your palate. I know a lot of people who taste quickly, spoon in one hand and seasoning in the other. They then immediately start to add more of an ingredient before they let it hit properly. That burn…can creep up slowly, so you have been warned.

Veggie/Turkey Chili

1lb of ground turkey meat

1 onion chopped

3 stalks of celery chopped

3-4 carrots chopped (peeled)

1 green bell pepper chopped (seeds removed)

3 cloves of garlic minced

Olive oil

1 14.5 oz can of chicken broth

2 15 oz cans of beans, rinsed (any kind will do)

1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes

1 tablespoon of tomato paste

Cumin (to taste, I recommend starting with at least 1 tablespoon)

Chili powder (to taste, I recommend starting with at least 3 tablespoons)

Red pepper flakes (if you want some heat)

Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Sugar (to taste, I recommend starting with at least 1 tablespoon)

Heat your pan on med-high. Coat the bottom of the pan with some olive oil. Put in your ground turkey. Season with salt and pepper. While your meat is cooking add all of your chopped veggies except for your garlic. Watch the heat on the stove and cook until the veggies become tender.  Add your garlic and spices and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.

Add your chicken broth and can of diced tomatoes with the juice/water from the can. Rinse your beans and add them to the chili. Stir in your tomato paste. Add a little bit of sugar. (1 tablespoon to start) Bring the chili to a simmer and then lower the heat, simmering for about 45 minutes to an hour. Taste and season if needed.

Garnish with whatever makes you happy! Sour cream, cheese and onions are always a nice start.

Cook the ground meat and veggies

Add garlic and spice and cook for 1 to 2 minutes

Add chicken broth, tomatoes, and beans

Add tomato paste (LOVE THIS from TJs) and season

Done! (Wanna know a secret..I grabbed grass instead of chives. Yum.)

Brunching it in Portland- Tasty n Sons

For a belated birthday treat, my girlfriends toughed out one of Portland’s most notoriously long wait brunch destinations...Tasty n Sons. Typically my girlfriends and I are pretty good planners. One or two of us usually gets to our Portland brunch destination about an hour ahead of time to get on the list, then the text messages fly and the rest follow.  Shout out (do people still do shout outs?) to Trina and Elizabeth who are usually our early birds. Seriously…I don’t know what I would do without them. I can roll out of bed…put my hair up, throw on a giant $3.00 pair of sunglasses and show up just in time for the coffee to be poured and to disclose to the waiter that our table loves coffee and loves cream and sugar even more.  (Love my girls!)

In this particular case though this was a marathon wait, longer than the  typical 1 hour wait in Portland and I am happy to report it was 98% worth it. How long you ask? Well…I showed up about 45 minutes after the first of us arrived and I am pretty sure we waited at least another hour after that. They are kind enough though to call your cell when you table is ALMOST ready, so you can bum around a bit in the neighborhood.

We were all seated at the big, family table in front of the windowed garage door that was, at this time of year, closed. I have never minded family style, it’s pretty popular in a lot of Portland restaurants and I like the camaraderie of it. I know people who hate it though. So fair warning.

Considering how crazy the place was the service was great. The server was so pleasant, didn’t come across as a food snob server and didn’t miss a beat.  The menu was full of tons of great options and we ordered many of them.  The style of service was what the server described as “family style”. Now this was the only thing that didn’t quite sit right with me. When I think family style, I think we all pass the plates around and take a little on our plates. Tasty n Sons version of this was…whatever is done cooking first gets put on the table for everyone to pick at until the next thing was done. Huh. Alright. “Family Style”  I couldn’t help but think “I don’t want to eat a little of everyone’s, we always take bites from each other’s plates but come on now…back away from my French Toast.”   Also…one of the most impressive things to me about brunch is the kitchen’s timing ability. I have always been impressed by a smooth running kitchen when it comes to the eggs, toast and bacon thing. Timing is everything. It kind of made the food brat in me go…”now where is the skill in that?” I could serve a dinner party and be like…okay mashed potatoes are done…coming up…turkey.  (Actually I think I have done that before.) Really though my group was down for it and we are all about sharing (guess I am the one who needs to learn) and it was not a problem. So as long as you really like the people you are eating with and don’t have deep seeded, selfish, don’t touch my food issues (ahem)…then you will be fine.

The food came out fairly quickly (well yeah…it’s not about timing so of course a plate came out quickly)…a plate here and there. Two plates, a couple bites and then the ohh and ahhhs. First the English Breakfast came out, which was two fried eggs, baked beans, bacon and an English Muffin. The baked beans were really great. Then out came the Sweet Biscuits. They fully took first prize and were only the second on stage. WOW. They were amazing. Light, fluffy and perfectly lovely.  They were drizzled with a warm berry compote and topped with a quenelle of whipped cream.  A few of us ordered the Bambino Plate, which was a small plate of scrambled eggs, bacon and a biscuit with honey butter. I also ordered a half order of French Toast. (I am always on a French Toast mission.) The French toast was good but next time I will switch out for the Sweet Biscuits.  Also served were the Potatoes Brava topped with eggs. Those potatoes were also really delicious. They were tossed in the Toro Bravo sauce. Toro Bravo is the sister restaurant to Tasty n Sons that serves Spanish tapas. The sauce is a Spanish style tomato sauce and it must be tossed in last minute because the potatoes that were either roasted or pan fried are still really crispy when they get to you.

All in all it was worth the wait. Only one more teeny tiny (or to some… BIG) complaint…the bacon. (Gasp!)  I like my bacon thick and smoky. Their bacon was thin and crispy. To each their own.

Tasty n Sons

3808 N Williams

Portland 97212

The English Breakfast

Erin's Sweet Biscuits with warm blueberry compote

Bambino Plate with scrambled eggs, bacon, biscuit & heather's honey butter

Potatoes Bravas with over easy eggs

French Toast...wait weren't we talking about the Sweet Biscuits?

Maggie aka Sunny from Lemony Snicket

D

February felt like a long month.  My friend Derek died.

Derek started experiencing symptoms a couple months ago, numbness that started to spread through his body. When it first started he was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome.  After the numbness started to spread the doctors wised up and realized that it was not carpal tunnel and tested for everything. They ruled out the “big”, “scary” stuff, like MS and brain tumors. At one point the doctors stated that it was stress related.  It started to progressively get worse and the next thing I know he is in the hospital, still getting tested. I remember hearing he was in the hospital, relieved that they were taking things seriously and working on finding out why D was going numb.  A couple days later I was shocked to find out he was having problems speaking. Then a couple days later he was not speaking at all. It was so shocking. Finally they diagnose him with an infection. A week later Derek died.

I still can’t believe that I just wrote that.  It felt like he was stolen. It went from trying to find answers to suddenly being slapped in the face with his death. It happened so quickly. This experience has been particularly hard because I am friends with his wife. It’s been heartbreaking knowing she is going through losing D. It feels really helpless knowing there isn’t much you can do or say to help her.

D and I met seven years ago when management made the mistake of sitting us in desks that faced each other.  He was a big, tall, fully tatted, shaved headed, Star Wars geek, who listened to metal and made no apologies for the things he did or said. There were many times that we laughed to the point of tears. Eventually management moved us. I suspect because we misbehaved too much.

Derek always pushed me out of my comfort zone and I never regretted it once.  Okay maybe the next day a few times but the memories were worth it. The man knew how to have fun.

Derek was the first person I texted when I got my tattoo. It was something along the lines of, “YOU LIAR!!! THAT HURT LIKE HELL!” and his reply was something like, “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA”.  He most recently helped me get my new position at work. He was the one who told me to apply for it. Prepped me for the interviews and encouraged me when I was worried about not getting it.

Derek was also crazy in love with Karie.  I envied the way he looked at her. They were inseparable. I never once heard him ever say something rude to her.  They were so perfect for each other. On more than one occasion when my friends and I would be out together, at some point during the night it would come up how lucky they both were and how we hoped to find someone to love us like Derek loved Karie. I remember watching Karie and Derek have their first dance at their wedding and just seeing how madly in love he was with her. I watched him get emotional and her sweet smile. I know a lot of people could say that about couples but anyone who knew Derek and Karie know that it was a different level with them. I am pretty sure he was born to love her. That and to go to Deftones shows.

D really was the best.  I will miss my friend and my heart breaks for Karie for losing him. We all said goodbye to him last week and it still feels really surreal.

Love you D.