No Reservations

Oddly enough, one of my favorite memories from this past summer's cross country road trip was sitting round the campfire reading aloud Anthony Bourdain's Medium Raw for both Wojc and I to enjoy. We had some internet/tv/phone withdrawals deep in the Smokey Mountains and what a replacement this was. If you haven't read Bourdain I suggest you run out and pick up Kitchen Confidential or Medium Raw now.  I adore his wit, foul mouth and to the point style...and I'm a vegetarian so that's saying something.
Now go build a campfire and start reading!

On an unrelated note, I really want to drape my future apartment with maps and globes. There's a reason I was a geography minor; I could stare at maps for hours on end.

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings

To kill some restlessness and jitters last week, my brother and I decided to make the trek up Humbug Mountain. Humbug is part of the state park about 7 miles south of Port Orford. The mountain is notorious for its steep trail to the summit which is a killer both going up and coming down. We started out in the cold and dreary day. 

As we started up the trail we were taken by surprise by the out of this world misty fog and beauty.

 Environment so lush and ripe that every inch of ground is taken up by ferns, trees and plants. So fertile and untouched you expect to see saplings shoot up and grow before your very eyes.

Imagine a real life Jumanji and this is what you will see. So rich and vibrant it is only magnified by the fog and drizzle.  Lucky for us the trees provided such good coverage we barely go damp.

 By the time you reach the top your legs are like jello and the descent isn't much better for bad knees like my own, but it is all worth it in the end. Mission kill anxiety? Complete.

So Spectacular You Can See The Earth’s Curvature

It is as close to the end of the Earth you can get.  A place so enormous, so profound you can see the curve of the Earth, the swell of the see and the horizon  stretching as far as the eye can see.

The trail around the Coast Guard Hill Heads in Port Orford is the most beautiful couple miles I’ve had the privilege of seeing in all my 27 years.  Every visitor to our house, everyone of my visits home (and there have been many), every holiday, a hike on the Heads is in order. 

I am not a religious person, but these cliffs looming over the powerful Pacific ocean are a spiritual experience.  I guess I just worship at the church of the great outdoors. 

I went to the Heads on two separate occasions.  The first with my brother and the second with my mom and brother.  Both were different and both spectacular.  And in case you were wondering, these pictures are not edited.  Oh the beauty of my home state!

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!

Thanks to my mom I was introduced to the best flash mob yet. This is so beautiful it brings tears to my eyes. I'm hoping to see the Seattle Symphony perform Handel's Messiah in a few weeks. What a beautiful piece.

I'm on a bus.

J and I woke early and hit the road after a 72 hour delay (mainly to watch the Ducks win the civil war) and drove straight through to Eugene.  The highway cutting over to I5 is so beautiful and changes season to season.  We made it to the train station early for me to buy my ticket and headed out to a Mexican market to get some of the best burritos I've had.  

After a saying by to my brother I awaited my chance to board the bus to Portland (where I will transfer to train to Seattle).  I watched a Japanese exchange student bid farewell to her host family and friends that ran up at the last minute and finally board the bus in tears.  Oh how I hate good byes.  I'm so thankful to be back on the west coast and spared the painful departures I endured these past years.  

Now I'm on the bus and in 7 hours I'll be reunited with Wojc and Seattle, the first city I fell in love with.  I'm getting more and more excited about possibly moving back to Seattle.  I lived there for about a year and  a half as an undergrad at the University of Washington.  I little piece of my soul turned dark the day I moved down to Eugene (dramatic much?) and the thought of heading back is getting more and more exciting.  

On another retrospective note, Eugene grows more and more appealing each year that passes.  As a student there, I liked it but I was a little more jaded; now, post New York? It seems like a liberal paradise. Either way, I'm excited to be heading off on adventure and I see really positive things in the coming month.  

Teach Me How To Duckie

If you are from Oregon then you probably know by now that the University of Oregon Ducks are heading to the National Championship. Which is amazing.
I'm not usually a huge sports fan unless it's the Olympics, the World Cup or the Yankees (be still my heart); but as a proud University of Oregon alumnus, ever since my first football game I've been loyal to the Ducks.  Sure, I might not really watch all of the games but how can you not get behind such a good team, rowdy crowd and sleazy mascot? In celebration of the recent victory over the Oregon State Beavers, here's a little homage to the Ducks.




These clips make me miss UO and the crazy people who live in Eugene.  A creative bunch to say the least.

Lovin' From The Oven

Shockingly, my brother and I did not go on a hike today. I don't know if it was the previous days trek up Humbug Mt (pics shortly) that left me embarrassingly sore or the fact that it was really quite cold, but I spent the first part of my day stressing about life, the middle listening to my dad's Detroit firefighting stories and the end preparing a vegan feast for my family that got me out of my funk.

That's my dad second from left

My mom and brother had decided earlier in the week to eat vegan for a few days and in honor of that (and my own desire to cut out animal products) I decided to try a vegan mac n cheese recipe I've seen in the blogging world for the past year or so.  Unlike most recipes, this doesn't contain nutritional yeast (also known as hippie crack) and is really pretty healthy for a traditionally cheesy pasta dish.
Cooking at my mom's house is so wonderful with her stocked cupboards and equipment.  These days it's even better with her weekly CSA share from a local farm.  Today's share was full of acorn squash, turnips, red and yellow peppers and carrots.  Amazing.
To start the meal I halved the acorn squash and tossed them in the oven along with whole red peppers.  To prepare the mac n cheese I followed VegNews recipe as closely as my ingredients would let me though I only made a half batch.  I was afraid it wouldn't be that great and I didn't want to waste food so I cut it in half.  We only had whole wheat past so I used that, next time I think I will "splurge" and use white pasta. Since Port Orford has limited stores, there were no raw cashews so I substituted tahini. Also, I didn't have a vegan butter substitute so I just added a tablespoon of oil in lieu of butter.  Overall, it was pretty good; in fact, it grows on you so much you want more and more.  Next time when I try it with cashews and white pasta and a little more liquid I think it will be delicious.  And come on, does mac n cheese get any healthier than this?

It doesn't photograph great, but it's good!

 Also? Roasted squash and peppers and tempeh are delicious with the pasta.
To continue my vegan cooking spree I followed Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Carrot and Raisin Muffin recipe and they were delicious: not too sweet but totally satisfying.  Isa is by far one of my most trusted vegan cooks and she's pretty darn cool too.

Apparently that wasn't enough for one day so I whipped up a double batch of chocolate chip cookies for my mom to take to work tomorrow to pass out to the volunteers and inmates out on work-release (isn't my mom the sweetest?).