Holladays, Approaching

Right now in Portland, Oregon, it is snowing. The ground is not frozen yet, instead it is wet and muddy. The chickens are confused, the dogs are restless, and I am coming down with a cold. In short, the holidays are here! Despite my list of seemingly complain-y things, I couldn't be much more excited this year. I am thrilled that it is snowing! I heard Christmas music on the radio today and I turned it up! 

Part of the reason I am so excited is that my brother and his girl are coming to visit for thanksgiving. The other part is all the cooking and being together that I know is about to take place. I love the idea of christmasy cheer and decorations but really it's thanksgiving that holds my heart. No pressure, just eating. No wrapping paper, just pie crust. I need to dig out my eatin' pants.

This year I am making: 

-Roasted cauliflower salad with beets, pomegranates and a broken olive vinaigrette

-Mashed celery root with lemon

-Sparkling sherry punch 

-Ants on a log

and Kevin is making:

-Turkey stuffed with chanterelle and sweet potato biscuit dressing (I'm hoping he will include chestnuts) 

-Boozy pumpkin pies 

I know these dishes are in the works from other family members: 

-Cranberry bread

-Creamed oninos

-Grilled turkey

-Apple pie

-Butter beans done up southern

I'm on tenterhooks wondering what else we will have.

What are you having?

Definitely Not Still In Spain

I'm sorry gentle readers. I have just not felt like blerging since I got home. It has been great getting back into the swing of things- hanging out with Kevin and our doggies, visiting with my friends, cooking, working, working and working. I came home to business cards, so my list of responsibilities has grown quite a bit. It is great, but lots of changes have my head spinning. 

A quick news update (but mostly just a list of things I need advice on):

-The quail were brutally murdered by a rat. We are looking for rat killing options that do not put the chickens or dogs at risk of poisoning or injury. Ideas? Also, how sad is that???

-I just bought that beautiful savoy cabbage! Now what?

-I will write about Spain someday, but not yet. 

I am not sure how this blogging thing will go. I think I will try to write more, but I'm not sure. I thought a lot about it while I was away and couldn't quite decide if it makes sense to me anymore or not. A small voice says, "write!" Then another small voice says "why?". But for now, I'm going to try to at least put up some photos of the glory that is November in Portland (rainy, cold, grey).

Still Spain!!!

Hello! Is anyone out there? I'm on Mallorca- an island covered with olive trees, full of secret beaches and spreadable salami. Today we drove to the west coast and explored some tiny coves and cities. We also drove down one of the most frightening and beautiful cliff roads I have ever seen!
I am returning to the states this week and will share some photos of the food I have been cooking, eating and admiring. I can't believe my trip is almost over, but I am ready to go home. I miss Oregon!

Can you believe this beach? We swam here all day long, even into that cave you can see in the middle of the frame!

spain!

As you can tell I am not blogging much these days. I have made it to spain and am in the midst of my journey. I will be back in October with a full report. Please, eat some fall fruit for me. I am stuffed with blackberries from the trail and chroizo from the markets!

The Garden is Giving

I did not expect to see one of Patsy Cline's eggs before I left for spain, so you can imagine my delight when I went out this morning and she was still in the roost. I thought, perhaps she is laying a blue egg! I opened the door to the roost and she hopped up from a spot in the corner. She laid her egg right on top of Wynonna's egg, except that hers was GREEN! I am so excited that I am going to bring the green egg down to Pine State and see if Kevin can't fix me up a little green eggs and ham. 

All those potatoes and shallots and beans and carrots and tomatoes and eggs are from yesterdays harvest. I made hashbrowns with everything you see there. The carrots are earthy and bitter raw, but cooking them brought out the sweetness I was hoping for.

Also pictured is a fried quail egg. I find it hard to eat the quail eggs because they are so cute and precious, but I accidentally cracked this one with excitement so I had to eat it! It was absurdly tasty. 

Thunder Eggs

Not only were there two chicken eggs in the coop today (Loretta's first, Wynonna's third!) but there was also a TINY QUAIL EGG!!!!!!!!! It was there, on the railing where the quail are always hanging out. I don't know why she didn't go into her tiny quail condo to lay, but I guess that's how teen moms do it these days. I am going to eat it because I accidentally cracked it- such a fragile egg it was! 

My heart explodes.

If you were wondering where I went

As you can see, we picked 60 pounds of blueberries. Today, Wynonna laid her first egg. That is all.

Tommy is Trouble

Tommy is making quite the ruckus around here. Yesterday one neighbor told me he has been cockadoodledooing for over a month, which I am sure is a lie. But still. Last night we went to a party at another neighbors house, and I felt we had to fess up. I announced upon our arrival that we were the people with the illegal tranny rooster and if anyone had anything to say about it they should talk to Kevin cause I was going to hit the cupcake table pretty hard for a while. Which I indeed did. With frosting all over my face and a sloshing beer in hand, I also managed to start a conversation with one of the other guests about the time our naturopath told Kevin about his previous patient's vagina boil. You're welcome neighbors! Please invite me to your next gathering and I will tell more stories that include the words "vagina" and "boil". Poor Kevin, having to go to parties with me. It must be just terrifying.

Tommy has crowed 15 times already today and it is only 10:21 am. He has to go. Tonight Nic is taking him to a farm where he will be the stud cock to over 100 lady chickens. I wish him luck and honor. My heart is broken.

Tammy is Tommy

I awoke to quite a ruckus yesterday and assumed it was my neighbors horrible flock- but alas, it was not. The sound was coming from my own coop, from Tammy. Tammy is a rooster. Tammy is a tranny; now Tommy. And she's not for sale, despite what my horrible friends Nic and Topher were thinking when they put this ad on Craigslist.

This explains so much about Tommy.

I can't stand all this beauty!

This blog is beautiful.

This blog is also beautiful.

This blog breaks my heart and then buys me plane tickets to Italy.

This blog told me I need a Thermomix and then got me re-excited for Spain.

This blog seems to have a good thing going on.

This blog is where the dogs live.

Chickens in the Kitchen

They are so entitled.

Pine State #3 Opens on Alberta TODAY FOLKS!

Here it is!

One hard working employee models his gloves.

Have you ever seen such love so early in the morning?

These hotties had to be removed from the premises.

The proud owner, being embarrassed by his girlfriend.

Surprise! It's open. In case the farmers market or Belmont were too far away, you can now go to Alberta street for biscuits and gravy! Stop in and tell Kevin and Walt that you love them. Trust me- you might get some extra bacon on your sandwich for it. I know I did.

The space is much bigger than Pine State #1, and capital F Fancy inside. Subway tile, exposed beams and lots of beautiful old lumber makes the space both masculine and beautiful. The menu is the same as the other locations, but soon there will be beer and hopefully cocktails, and a very exciting late night menu. I can't wait for the liquor licence to arrive so I can have a beer on the rocks with lemonade alongside my bucket of fried chicken. Just what I need.

Stop Draggin' My Heart Around

I love this song. That is all.

Practice Hike

Last week we went hiking with our friends in the woods. I was breaking my boots in a little bit and they were getting their brand new infant out for some fresh air. If a baby can do it I know it doesn't count as "training" for my trip, but I feel pretty good about it. Fit. Ready. I went for a walk! What more do I need?

Ah, the Pacific Northwest. It's finally hot out and my bff Sam and I are going to the RIVER TODAY!!!!!! It's also part of my training.

Just Walking, But Really Really Far.

At the end of August, I am walking across Spain. I heard about the Camino De Santiago last fall and couldn't get it out of my head. After enough signs from the Universe throughout the winter, I bought my tickets this spring and told my workplace that I need 2 months off. Since I bought the tickets I have kind of lapsed into a state of disbelief- me, walking 500 miles alone? Without Kevin or Jacky or Hiro or the chickens or the quail? I don't know, I might bring a quail along. But seriously, I got sore mowing the lawn a few weeks ago. I don't know what I'm thinking but I am very excited. VERY EXCITED.
I will fly home in August to get a kiss from my mom before flying to Dublin (where I get to spend 10 hours- anyone have any good ideas?) and then to Biarritz, France. There I will do some topless sunbathing (not) before hopping on a train to the small boarder town St. Jean Pied A Port. This is when the fun stops and I start walking over the Pyrenees with a bunch of nuns. Just kidding, this is when I start complaining about blisters and hire someone to carry my backpack for me. No but seriously this is where I get a flight to Italy and send fake postcards home so no one knows I wimped out but then when I come home really fat they will catch on.
OK, really, if everything goes according to plan I will walk about 28 kilometers a day (I have no idea how far that is but doesn't it sound really, really far??) and sleep in bunk houses with all the other nut jobs who are doing the same thing. It should take 5 weeks or so, depending on how many times I take cake-days. My friend who has done this walk told me that some times you just need a day to sit down and eat cake and cry it out. I have penciled in a few of these days for before my trip also.
Yesterday I bought my pack and some really stupid athletic clothing. I hate shorts and I hate sports but need stuff that dries quickly and can be worn every single day, so I had a few challenges to contend with already. I might as well just admit it- I bought a skort. I will be wearing this skort every day for almost 2 months and I feel pretty good about it. I also bought sport underpants and sport shirts. I'm wearing one right now, for practice. It's good for blogging so I figure it will be good for hiking too.
And, when it's all over, my darling Kevin is going to join me in Barcelona! We are going to stay there for two nights and then we fly over to Majorca ( Mallorca if you're nasty). We will be staying there for 6 days and hopefully it will still be warm enough for a few dips in the Mediterranean. I plan on eating a diet exclusively consisting of octopus and chorizo. This part sounds like a dream vacation so I really really need to make it through my walk. When I am laying on the dusty road, moaning and drooling on my sport outfit, I just need to picture olive oil poached octopus with pimenton, and Kevin wearing a Spanish flag. Then I will get up and keep walking. I'm not saying I will stop moaning, but hopefully those images will give me the strength to keep walking. And maybe a few emails from Jacky would help too.

Now that I wrote about my trip once, I will probably write about it a lot. I broke the seal. Maybe I will take some skort photos later.