Redwood Highway & Jake's Crawfish........... Perfect

Allison and I enjoyed a great afternoon; first by going to see "Redwood Highway" at the Living Room Theater and then, Happy Hour at Jake's Crawfish Restaurant.

 We shared a spinach, artichoke appetizer ($2.95) and a cheeseburger and fries ($3.95) so if we don't count my $9 Manhattan, it was a cheap and entertaining afternoon....................

Fresh Basil Pesto with Pistachios............

This morning was my annual ritual of preparing pesto for the freezer.  The basil at the Farmer's Market was gorgeous so I bought five bunches.  After making two batches, I realized that I had enough basil for two more but the pine nuts were gone so I found some shelled pistachios and figured they would be just as good.  I toasted them in the oven and, because they are a hard nut, I put them into the food processor alone to chop them before adding the other ingredients.  The taste is really delicious so I thought that I'd pass this idea on to you.  The pistachios give the pesto a completely different flavor.  I'm thinking of making a pasta dish with the pesto and sprinkling toasted pistachios on top with some fresh grated parmigiano-reggiano.  Sounds good, doesn't it ?

Family Day..........

Today Brian, Carolyn and Rachael joined us for lunch - but I need to clarify what an Iranian "lunch" really is.  This one featured chicken, beef, rice with dates and lentils and another rice with "sour cherry", a preserve that has whole cherries in a syrup.  I made a fresh melon salad so the table was filled with delicious food.  The best part is that Roger did all of the cooking.

Rachael and Bella are pals so Bella got lots of love and attention.

It was a great day and now, we have enough leftovers to last at least another two days...............

ANOTHER Farmer's Market - This one in Irvington District

This morning after breakfast, Bella and I checked out another Farmer's Market in the Irvington District (about 4 miles from where I live).  It's a quaint neighborhood and the market only fills one city block but it has a nice variety of local, fresh produce and flowers.  Callie invited me to come over because she and Silky were providing live music for the market.  Silky plays a lot of Latin rhythm which I love so it was great sitting under an umbrella, listening to some great music.

 

Bella, of course, is always the "star" when we go out so she got lots of petting and attention. 

Shooting in Manual Mode..............

 

Today I finally found the courage to set my camera on Manual mode to practice setting shutter speed and aperture.  The photo at the top is actually three shots; one to the left, one to the center and one to the right and then fused together on Photoshop.  Then I removed the skate board marks from the retaining wall with my "clone" tool.  (I think that I may actually be able to learn how to use this crazy software..........)  I was trying to capture water that looked fuzzy but I didn't quite achieve that look and the tree photo is much too dark but I truly love it that way.  In order to get these three pictures, I took 60 shots - some way too light - some so dark I can't tell what I was pointing at and some in-betweeners that just plain don't look good.  SO - - more practice, practice, practice.....

3 Hour Asian Cooking Class in Lake Oswego

I just returned home from a great evening, attending an Asian cooking class.  The school is new and they feature recipes from Vietnam and Mongolia.  Tonight the most important ingredient that I learned about is called "fuAsian black magic sauce".  It's a sauce created by the cooking school that has the following ingredients:

• Soy sauce
• Crushed ginger
• Crushed garlic
• Crushed green onions
• Fish sauce
• Oyster sauce
• Water and Palm sugar

Fortunately, they sell it at the school so now we'll be using this mixture for marinade and an occasional stir fry.  Asian cuisine is something that I know nothing about but now I'm inspired to try a few recipes.  Tonight we enjoyed pork short ribs, lemon grass chicken and drunken noodle/pad kee mao/pad see ew (all using the magic sauce).  My new grocery list will include Asian greens Thai basil, palm sugar and extra large rice noodles.


Pictured on the right is the school's owner and teacher and the lady at the left was one of the students who volunteered to prepare the stir fry.  There were twelve in the class and everyone was energetic and enthusiastic about learning new recipes.  Every student was seen walking out with one or two of the "magic sauces".  This stuff is really delicious!

From Smart to Stupid in One Easy Lesson............

Last night was the first lesson, of a series of five, to learn how to use my digital SLR creatively. I've had the camera for over a year and I've taken some great photos using it - but - all my settings were on "automatic" so I was using it as a "point and shoot".  Last night a big dose of reality hit me - because I learned that I don't have a clue what I'm doing with that camera.  I still remember the basic technology from my old "film days" when lenses were relatively simple in design and everything was manually operated.  My challenge now is to learn how to navigate through all the menus and settings and make sure that the camera is set correctly for each photo.

Yes, I've even opened the manual and now it's time to learn the terminology, icons and settings........................

The Perfect Get-a-way...........

Sunday morning we took a drive to Timberline Lodge for their Father's Day buffet lunch.  We started out in Portland with mild spring weather and rapidly progressed into winter.  The last three miles of the drive add 4,000 feet to the elevation so when we arrived we were at 6,000 feet.  We were met with a freezing cold rain and skiers of every age, getting ready to hit the mountain.  The lodge is huge with massive two story fireplaces and lots of lounging areas.  Typically, buffets aren't my favorite way to eat but, I'll have to admit that this one was the finest that I've ever experienced.  All the food was beautifully prepared and delicious!

 

After lunch we returned to spring weather while driving over to Hood River, a cute village that rests on the Hood River and the Columbia River.  It's usually windy there so it's a wind surfer's haven.  The downtown is very quiet with little shops and cafes (reminding me of Healdsburg about 40 years ago).  There are many wineries in the area and this is where much of the farm produce is grown.  They were busy harvesting cherries when we were there.

We stayed downtown at the Hood River Historic Hotel that offers several rooms for dogs.  We ended up in a suite with kitchen, living room and bedroom and Bella was greeted with a big sign at the front desk with "Welcome Bella" and a bag of doggy treats, a ball, stuffed toy, water dish and a blanket.   She received a genuine VIP treatment the whole time we were there.  With Futbol on the TV, Roger headed straight for the flat screen while Bella and I did some exploration so it was a leisurely and pleasant day.

Iran is playing today in the World Cup so, after breakfast, it was just a short one hour drive back home in time for the game.  Even better, this afternoon U.S. has a

match, so you'll find both of us in front of the tube.

Happy Saturday !

FIFA Futbol World Cup and Other Stuff.............

OK, the laundry issue has been solved with a new "space age" washer and drier installed.  It wasn't an easy event, in that we had to give a 48 hour notice to the management company that the water would have to be turned off for one hour.  No big deal - right?  Well, unfortunately, in our condo it is a big deal because any time the water has to be turned off it affects eight floors of the building (about 32 condos) and they need a 48 hour notice.  Then, getting the delivery people here an exact time was the next problem.  "All is well that ends well" so the drama has ended and it's nice to have home laundry service again.

Yesterday was the beginning of a month of the Futbol World Cup and, so far, we've seen all four matches.  Roger loves the game so we're watching as many as we have time for.  Tomorrow his favorite will be England vs. Italy.  Monday, we'll be in Hood River so, before I reserved a hotel room, I made sure they had a big flat screen so he can watch the match between Iran and Nigeria.

Sunday, we'll be taking a drive to Timberline (Mount Hood) for brunch and then to Hood River for the night - and the weather report is perfect - so something nice to look forward to.................

Home

Sunday in Portland

 



Bella and I made an early start to the day by taking the streetcar downtown for brunch at Brasserie Montmartre. They have outdoor tables and little critters like Bella are welcomed with open arms so we both had a great time and enjoyed delicious food.  From there, it was a short walk to Pioneer Square where they are featuring a fresh flower maze.

After relaxing there for awhile we hopped onto the MAX and went down to RiverFront to view the floats from yesterday's parade.  I've only lived here seven years but I'm already seeing how the professionalism and techniques are improving each year.  The floats are really beautiful and I'm thinking that it would be fun to volunteer next year to work on one of them.  Professionals design and direct the operation but the actual painting and décor is mostly done by people who volunteer.

Here are pictures of my two favorites:

Rose Festival Weekend in Portland

The morning started out with the annual Rose parade, close to where we live.  Why don't we go to see it "live" ?  Because............. people put out tents the night before and camp along the sidewalks and we're just too old for that foolishness. Instead, it's easier to just click on the TV and enjoy some coffee and tea while watching.  What I miss is seeing the floats up close as they are decorated pretty much like the Pasadena Rose Parade - using natural grasses, fresh flowers, seeds, herbs and nothing plastic or artificial.  SO - what I'll do tomorrow is take the MAX downtown and walk over to see the floats that will be displayed until mid-afternoon.  Bella gets to go with me and we likely will want to find a sidewalk café for brunch or lunch.  Hopefully, we'll have time to see the finals of the Dragon Boat races down at Riverfront.

Tonight is the naked bike ride that, last year, had 10,000 participants.  I'll let you know if I get to check it out.

The downside of this weekend was learning that repairing my seven year old clothes drier would cost almost $500.  SO - I'm thinking that I can pretty much buy a new one for that price.  Boy was I wrong.  If you haven't shopped for a washer and drier lately, you'll be in for a surprise like I was.  Nowadays, they are a technological marvel and the price matches.  Tomorrow I'm having a washer and drier delivered with so many "bells and whistles" that it will take some time to learn. 

More on Rose Festival weekend, tomorrow..............

Today we CELEBRATE Helia and Pam

Today is a special birthday day for Helia Hatefi and Pam Musante - Warmest wishes go out to you both.

Lizzie Borden is a Rock Star in Portland

I just returned home after attending a matinee production of "Lizzie" at the Gerding Theater in the Pearl District.

It was gruesome and hilarious, all at the same time.  I had a seat in the front row so I was pretty close to all the blood spattering.  The entire audience was laughing during the second act.  Rock music was live and the songs were energetic.

Truly, an unexpected surprise!

Lizzie Borden was accused of the murder of both her step-mother and father.  She was acquitted because the all male jury didn't believe a woman would commit murder with an ax (It actually was a hatchet)  The musical leaves no mystery as to who was the killer - it definitely was Lizzie !

I Googled Lizzie's name and found an interesting article on the web site "History in the headlines".  It's titled "9 Things You May Not Know About Lizzie Borden" and it's an interesting account of her story.

Another View of American Plaza

This morning, I attended the last class for the spring term, "Art and Nature" and this afternoon I've been practicing the Photoshop lesson from last night.  I'm still struggling but here are a few interpretations of the complex where I live.

 

Each photo consists of three shots that the program melds together.  Because the camera lens is curved, the beginning image has a convex shape so then I have to "stretch" and manipulate the photo to straighten the lines and create the composition.  From there I have a multitude of choices in regard to sharpness and color.

Portland Center Park at American Plaza Towers

This sculpture is located between the three American Plaza Tower buildings and it's a lovely place to sit, relax and enjoy the view.  The main feature of the park is a Cor-Ten steel sculpture with enameled panels, created by sculptor Lee Kelly and his wife, Bonnie Bronson.  It was installed in 1975 and renovated two years ago.

 

This finished photo started as two photos which I melded into one, using Photoshop.  Lincoln Tower is in the background.  Aurora, my tutor, always likes to energize me by showing me how to make unusual photos so here's my new interpretation.............

 

 

Portland's Culinary Workshop

Last night I attended a cooking class at Portland's Culinary Workshop.  This class was "Cuisine and Wine of France" and it was an exciting way to spend an evening and learn new skills.  There were 16 in the class.  Work tables were set up for teams of four with two electric burners, bowls with ingredients and large cutting boards.  Yes.............. we actually shared the prep and cooking. 

www.portlandsculinaryworkshop.com

 

The recipes that we prepared started with an appetizer; Pate a Choux tart with caramelized onions and Boursin, followed with Coq au Vin and Salmon en Papillote.  Crème Brulee was the dessert and we each had a turn with the blowtorch to caramelize the sugar.

 

French wine was served with each course, presented by Chef and Sommelier, Maxine Borcherding. 

 

Another great Portland experience !!

 



A week of good intentions...........

Where does the time go?  There were a couple of hic-ups this past week starting with contaminated water in and about 15 miles around Portland, so we had to boil our water before using it - not much of a problem for personal hygiene but - cooking was a different problem.  Trying to keep counters and hands sanitary plus the food and dishes was more complicated than I imagined.  Fortunately it was only 24 hours.  To complicate things, however, the next day my clothes drier stopped working (7 years old) so I did some research to discover that it was the control panel with an error code of F1 (which I reported to the repair people).  SO, a man comes out to "look" at it and, after one hour, tells me that he's discovered that the control panel needs to be replaced.  ($175 service fee plus $90 per hour).  He's ordered a control panel because their service department didn't have one in stock so now I'm waiting another week to hear from them so we can reschedule a return appointment.  Tomorrow I'll have a heart-to heart with the service manager................

I learned about a lot of stuff in my I-Phone camera workshop and I'd like to share the apps that I am using on my phone camera.  Each has a unique feature that makes your photos really "pop". 

1. PS Express
2. VSCOcam
3. Frametastic
4. Snapseed
5. Overgram
6. Flipagram (for videos)
7. Instagram
8. Postagram
9. CP Pro

I just got my macro/wide angle lens from PhotoJoJo for the camera and I can get within a half inch from a subject to take a photo.  In preparation for my Photoshop lesson Tuesday, I'll get outside tomorrow to take some photos.  Roger and I both have classes at PSU tomorrow and tomorrow night I'm enrolled in a French cooking class so it's a great start to a busy week.............................