Wine Tasting is Just Like the Movies, Really.

Anyone out there a wine connoisseur? I'm definitely not. Unfortunately, my knowledge of wine is limited to the $10 bottles from the grocery store and images of Keanu Reeves stomping around in grape barrels in A Walk in the Clouds.

Oh - and does it make me a total dork for adding The Parent Trap as another super cute vineyard movie? I mean, that's when Lindsey Lohan was a precocious, wide-eyed cutie, before she got all crazy and rehabilitated and stuff. And who doesn't love Dennis Quaid and the lovely late Natasha Richardson?

Anyway, what were we talking about? Oh, yeah. Booze.

So though I'm not much of a wine-buff (though I've always wanted to live amongst beautiful vineyards) I figured while my sister was in town, she might enjoy a wine tasting. She lived in Florence for a semester in college and relished the food and wine culture they have there. She's also a great cook, so that's right up her alley. I've suggested she live with me for free if she would just cook all the time, but she hasn't taken me up on that offer, yet. We're still working on the particulars.

Though the wine tasting was for her benefit, I had a good time, too. We visited some beautiful vineyards south of Portland, complete with blazing sunshine, colorful gardens, and a rolling mountain landscape that I could have sworn dropped us in the heart of California.

We sampled five different wines and chatted with the hostess (who looked and sounded just like Carol Burnett, no joke! I'm tempted to believe that running a wine shop in northern Oregon is her part-time gig in the off season) while enjoying the view. I decided that my favorite sample was the sweet, syrupy dessert wine. Nom nom nom.

I know, I'm definitely not sophisticated enough for the subtleties of wine tasting. :)

(P.S. - A special shout-out to Tanner, who was our DD for the day. If you hadn't guessed already, I'm a total lightweight.) ;)

Doesn't that hammock look like the perfect way to spend a summer afternoon?

Speaking of summer... I'm sorry to do this to you, but I'm taking another mini break from da blog (shorter than last time, I swear!) I have another visitor in town this weekend, so I'll be off gallivanting around Portland for a few days. You can't blame me. Gallivanting in the summertime is way more enticing than sitting at my computer. Plus, doesn't it make for good photos? :)

Mt. St. Helens: in the Blast Zone

While my sister was here, I took her to see Mt. St. Helens. If you recall from my last visit to the mountain, it's quite an astounding getaway. The ashy footprint of the volcanic blast still scours the landscape, and it's amazing to think that this catastrophic event happened (almost) in my lifetime.

We contemplated Mother Nature's fury as we basked in the warm sunlight and hiked past the new life that was growing in its wake.

Also, it was crazy hot. With no tree cover or water sources to speak of, it felt like a hike through the desert. Or the moon. We did a six mile loop to see the remnants of Spirit Lake (once there was an old growth-forest thriving there, and lake homes and scout camps galore... now there is nothing but debris) before bidding farewell to the mountain.

For reference, here is a shot of Mt. St Helens taken from Johnson Ridge the day before the blast:

{via national geographic}

The Enchanted Valley: Olympic National Park

While my sister was here, we went on a four day backpacking trip to Olympic National Park. I have a life list to visit all the National Parks, and Olympic was a new one for me. The park happens to be in the lovely Olympic Peninsula of Washington, near the seaside town of Port Angeles and about an hour south of the (now famous) town of Forks. (And no, we didn't run into any vampires. Sorry, Twilight fans.)

Our trip took us into the Enchanted Valley (very aptly named) and though the trek was an arduous one, the views were absolutely stunning.

With 40 pound packs each, a small bear vault to hold our thin rations of food, a tent, sleeping bags, and a sense of adventure, we drove 5 hours to the Olympic Peninsula and checked in at the ranger's station before driving 45 minutes down a very pot-holey dirt road to the trailhead. Since we arrived late in the day, we only hiked in two miles before setting up camp in a thickly lush rainforest grove.

The next day we got up at 6, packed up camp and had a quick breakfast of hard-boiled eggs, which caused Courtney and I to sing Disney songs loudly all morning: "When I was a lad I ate four dozen eggs every morning to help me get laaaaarge!"

We hiked another 11.5 miles that day to get to the heart of the Enchanted Valley. Though the massive trees and the rainforest itself was expressly beautiful (it seriously looks like Fern Gully), the hike was slowly, steadily uphill the whole way, to the tune of 2,000 feet of elevation change. (And you thought "valley" meant downhill, didn't you!)

We saw a good number of hikers during our travels, and we heard from the ones headed back the opposite direction that we were going to be hard pressed to find a campsite, since we were contending with two groups of 8+ people, plus several more groups of two and three. Courtney and I were averaging a slow, steady 2 miles an hour, but kicked it into high gear after lunch when we passed a few large groups and decided we were going to beat them to the punch. (This involved a lot of me shouting, "RUN, COURTNEY! RUUUUUN!" ala Forrest Gump.)

We emerged in the Enchanted Valley to beauty, mountains, and the most adorable little Chalet, built in 1920 as a hiker hostel and now used as a ranger station. (I'm just impressed they hauled all the building supplies 14 miles into the backcountry, personally)

My heart rate monitor told me I burned 2100 calories today, so I felt well deserving of the dehydrated dinner we whipped up at 4:00 pm, just in time for bed at 7:30. (Yeah, we're awesome.)

Day three we left our packs in camp and did some exploring north of the valley. We were told that bears were very abundant in this area, but though we saw lots of bear poop, we never did see any bears.

The trail north takes you to Anderson Glacier and onward to O'Neil pass for a total of 60 miles of trail back to the trailhead. We only did four miles outside the Valley since Anderson Glacier was still frozen and without ice axes and crampons we couldn't get further along the trail.

Plus, those four miles outside camp gained another 1,500 feet of elevation, so by the time we got to the washed out bridge at White Creek, I was STARVING.

Since the amount of food we brought for lunch/snacks was minimal, Courtney decided it was her duty to be food monitor. Unfortunately for her, I become like a small toddler when tired or hungry: I get irritable, cranky, and prone to lash out irrationally. (Ask Tanner. He knows this all too well.)

So when my heart rate monitor told me I had burned 600 calories before 10 am, and I started getting all stumbly and weird, I asked for trail mix.

"It's not lunch time, yet," Courtney said.
"But I'm hungry now," I said.
"Well, you'll have to wait. We only have one bag and we can't eat it all."
"I just want one or two handfuls..."
"But we won't have any left for lunch."
"I don't care, I'm HUNGRY. I want trail mix!"
"But there's not enough and --"
"GIVE ME TRAIL MIX NOW, DAMMIT!"

This is what happens when you mess with my eating habits.

Interestingly, I found that I became more in tune with my body during these few days. By checking my heart rate monitor when I got hungry or tired, I started recognizing the changes and began to understand them better. I started to know (without looking at my monitor) exactly what my heart rate was by how out of breath I was. Similarly, like clockwork, I knew exactly when I had burned 500 calories because I suddenly got disoriented, lethargic, tired and absolutely NEEDED something to eat.

You know those days where you burn 2100 calories and eat nothing but a couple handfuls of trail mix in 6 hours? Oh, you don't do that? Well, let me tell you that those handfuls of trail mix become the most amazing thing you have ever tasted. EVER.

After our "little jaunt" up a giant mountain (and the four mile hike back to camp.... whew), we packed up camp and hiked another seven miles back to O'Neil camp, where we found a picturesque site next to the river (and some other friendly hiker neighbors) and gobbled down some delightful dinner.

Now, at this point in our trip we were running pretty scant on toilet paper. For some reason, both Courtney and I thought the other person had taken the "big roll", so neither of us brought very much. By day three we were down to a few squares. Most of the campsites had privies near them, but no TP to speak of.

When I went to the privy later that evening, I passed a kid just leaving it. And he had a whole roll of toilet paper. I'm talking giant, fluffy, double-roll, triple-ply, quilted amazing kind of toilet paper. He could barely hold the thing, it was so big. I very nearly cried. And then I considered holding him down and fighting him for it, since he was a pretty skinny 10 year old and I definitely could have taken him.

But I didn't.
Instead, I plucked a couple large-leaf fronds in substitute and hoped they wouldn't give me some weird rash later in the day.
When I got back to the campsite, the first thing Courtney said to me was: "did you see that kid with the giant roll of toilet paper?!"
I said, "I know! I've never been so jealous of anything in my WHOLE LIFE!"

Take a tip from me, kids. Always bring enough toilet paper when you go backpacking. (And I recommend biodegradable wet wipes, too.) It's the little things that count the most.

We were asleep again by 8 pm, although I spent most of that night in a half-awake, half-asleep state, hearing some sort of animal bumbling around the campsite and convinced it was going to eat me. (It didn't.)

Day four we hiked out six miles, drove home five hours, and stopped to get the biggest veggie bean burgers and fries we could find. And then we went home and delighted over small conveniences like showers and toilets and toilet paper. It was awesome.

Lemon Bread

How was everyone's Fourth of July? My vacation was pretty stellar. I thought I only had four days off work and somehow, miraculously, got a full seven days off to spend some time with my sister while she was in town. We saw fireworks, went backpacking, biking, hiking, camping, exploring... it was awesome. It was also 90 degrees and sunny for two weeks, which means summer has officially hit Oregon. And since no one in the Pacific Northwest has air conditioning, it also means our apartment is 87 degrees every night. BLUGGHHHHHH. Even with fans running full blast, it's pretty gross.

Anyway, there will be lots of photos and stories to come, but I'm still trying to edit them all, so hang tight. In the meantime, I'm going to share an awesome recipe with you.

The best part about my sister visiting is that she's a waaaay better cook than me, so I got to eat some real meals for a change.

She also likes to bake. And since I like to eat, it worked out really well.

This particular recipe falls in my two favorite food groups: bread and lemony things. (Totally a food group.) If you get midnight cravings for citrus and carbohydrates like I do... you'll love this one.

As my sister says: "I'd make it again." (And again... and again...)

{lemon bread}

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoon lemon extract
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup oil
Zest of one lemon
1-2 tbsp poppyseeds

To make the glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour a 6 x 9 loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, combine eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla extract, lemon extract and lemon juice with a mixer until blended.

Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and blend until smooth.

Add oil, poppyseeds and zest and mix well. Pour into loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. (My oven is hot so I had to cook it for much shorter. Keep an eye on it so you don't burn the edges.)

Remove from oven and let cool. To make glaze, simmer ingredients until reduced by half, then pour glaze over bread and let cool.

Then... enjoy the awesomeness. It's seriously delicious. Tanner calls it "cake," but I call it "bread" so that I feel slightly better about eating the whole loaf in one sitting. Mmmmmm.