Actually, This Might Be Tastier

The previous post may have led you to believe that I woke up every morning in a tent, with narly hair and pillow face, ready to eat my Morning Dog to start the day. The truth is we only camped two days and the rest we slept warm and safe indoors and ate at great restaurants, ordering lavish desserts every single time. Since one of my favorite parts of traveling is eating out and ordering anything I want, I wanted to show you a bit of what we ate.

We rolled into Portland around noon and were ready to eat. We asked the nearest Asian to recommend the best sushi place in town. We were lead to this dive that featured a sushi train. Toot toot! I was ready to hop on. Mmm. It was dirt cheap and decent fare. But the best part was our first taste of the typical Portland resident (the place was packed with them): piercings, blue hair, shorts with stockings, maybe some suspenders -- any combination to make you look completely mismatched and psychotic. I love the place already!! {See sushi train in action below.}

Below features our last meal in Portland. By this time we have actually found THE best sushi in town and we're ready to spend more money, having consulted the trusty guidebook and ready to reward ourselves for being frugal the whole trip. Edamame and some rolls, we have the trusty California roll and spicy tuna roll (our two mainstays), then we have the Portland roll, the Sunshine roll and the Dragon roll.

Jake's Seafood, the best known for seafood in Portland, didn't let us down. This unique dish was really rich and I couldn't finish it. Dungeness crab tortellini with gargonzola cheese sauce. I kept the leftovers in the car for another day, hoping I could enjoy some gourmet delight while camping ... but cheese sauce out in the sun all day didn't sound appetizing by the time I got to it. A Dog sounded good, though. Always does when I'm around a camp fire...

Mo's clam chowder saved me in many ways. More about that later.

Adam and I nearly moved to Trout Lake, WA, when we discovered this cute little cafe on the side of a gas station one Saturday morning. Just before breakfast we had enjoyed a jog through the area, passing the Trout Lake school, and got to ask the locals gathered at the cafe (I'm sure it was the local hang out although it couldn't have been bigger than 20'x20'), including some of the kids about their 2007 state champion track team (the sign was still up). Turns out the school houses 130 kids, K-12. And there is no track. Why do you need a track when you've got miles and miles of empty roads? We LOVED the place. And I LOVED this simple breakfast of raspberry shake and sausage, egg and cheese biscuit.

And here's a sampling of just some of the amazing desserts we had. In my opinion, the whole point I eat dinner is so I can have dessert. After the trip, I thought I'd never wish for dessert again, I had eaten MORE than my share. But just today I made a huge carrot cake with cream cheese pecan frosting. I guess I have not found the cure for my dessert tooth.

Below is the Triple Chocolate Suicide. There was a scary, spiky, crusty type thing for decor on top and Adam tried to stab me in the throat with it. He thought the dessert was called Triple Chocolate Homicide. He just wanted to have it all to himself. I can't blame him. You pour that little pitcher of fudge sauce on top. And then you jump out the window and drown yourself in the Columbia River, which the restaurant overlooks. How handy!

We toured the Tillamook cheese factory in Tillamook, OR, yes we SHORE did! And did you know that Tillamook does not just make cheese? They also make ice cream. People come from far and wide for it because I believe it is the only place they sell it. Adam almost changed our trip plans twice just to re-visit the stinky cow town of Tillamook to have his double scoop of cookies and cream ice cream in a waffle cone. I had a scoop of German chocolate cake and a scoop of something else really chocolatey. Oh, and the cheese curds were great, too.

This is my little dessert trio from Jake's. Berry cobbler, chocolate pots de creme, and creme brulee. Adam finished his banana cream pie before me and watched me intently as I devoured my three ramekin's full. He said he had never seen such uninterrupted determination and concentration in me before. It's true, I scraped them clean.

This is a chocolate mousse I will not soon forget. It followed an amazing lunch of French dip sandwiches at the Multnomah Falls lodge. I never expect much from restaurants housed in lodges, but this meal just knocked me out. The mousse was fluffy chocolate wonder up top, something more mild in the middle - maybe white chocolate cream pudding - and then a near-solid dark chocolate triangle had us (we shared it) spoon fighting at the end.

This was my last dessert in Oregon. The Chocolate Bag. Belgian chocolate sides and bottom, filled with Bavarian cream and whipped cream, plus all those little berries. It looks much prettier standing up but we got it to go so we could enjoy our desserts (Adam got another banana cream pie) it in the park. I saved it in the fridge and had some the next morning at 5 am before we left for the airport. That is how much I love dessert.

And finally ... some of these guys actually were supposed to end up on our plate at home but we didn't want to pay for shipping to get them there ($100+). More of that story to come.

Chew on This

{Me about to enjoy my Morning Dog}

I wanted to sit down the second I got home from Oregon to blog about every single detail - our trip was THAT good - but real life has proceeded to cave in all around us and eradicate any free time we once had. Adam's staying late to work this week, I'm starting a new art class tonight (Book Arts - I have no idea what that even means, I just joined with a friend to get a discount), we have church callings calling our names, laundry a mile high (all of which smells like camp fire and fish guts), I have a freelance writing project which I totally forgot about and have to start ASAP, and our secretary at work up and vanished, so surprise! Guess who gets to fill in?

Anyway, it's kind of comforting to get back to a life where you feel needed ... or at least a life where you feel busy and thus feel important. But I hope these next few blog posts will help us all forget about jobs and traffic jams and routine, taking us to another time ... a time called last week ... a time when we were living in a beautiful world called: vacation.

Above is our first series of pictures. I have to run so this is all you get for now. But it really sums up the whole experience for me. Cold, bed head, no makeup, a bit cranky. But SURE enjoying my my Morning Dog. Let's just say this trip made me appreciate the simple, WARMER things in life.

Roughin' It

We are headed to Oregon tomorrow morning for an 8 day trip. I just discovered I have been packing for a trip to Southern California and don't have the "old tennis shoes" and "long underwear" that the river rafting preparation list metions as "necessary items for survival on this rugged, insurmountable, class XXX river."

I do, however have 7 t-shirts, 3 pairs of flip flops, 4 pairs of shorts, aviator sunglasses and a Thouroughly Modern Millie-inspired sun hat. I'm kind of freaking out at this point. Because what's worse than getting to your destination, ready to look fit for the trip, only to find that you planned all wrong and - even worse - will be cold every.single.day? Because the weather forecast says it is to be 'showers' every.single.day...

We're camping and hiking and river rafting and mountain biking and I have maybe one item of clothing that fits in the 'outdoorsy' genre. I purged all of that to save myself from ever going that route with my wardrobe again. And now I will shiver - all in the name of fashion! I'm afraid I have forgotten how to rough it and may be miserable, having traded in the simple outdoor pleasures for shopping trips.

When I'm not shivering I'll be reading in my sleeping bag, I guess. It's my first time using it - the sleeping bag - which I got as a wedding present from Adam's choice of registry: REI. This will be a week of firsts with our camping gear that we got two years ago. We thought we were campers then. I guess we'll see...

Call me Degas

Tonight's the last night of my drawing class. I have loved it THIS much.

Dear Moms: You Rock!

A Great BIG Happy Mother's Day to our mothers. Since we can't be where you are, we've decided to write a little something up for you on this here blog.

Korinne Tribute

{Martha's mom, Korinne}

{Martha's mom attending to all the left over children of the earth, as usual, and teaching them how to make homemade ice cream}

My mom is the Ultimate Mom. It didn't really occur to me that she was, though, until I was a teenager at Girl's Camp and - at the height of my being totally annoyed at her each and every day - one of the other leaders said to me, "Your mom is one of those women who just does everything well, isn't she..." I thought, "Are you crazy? She is the reason for all of my misery!!!" But then I thought about it more - it was something I'd never even half considered before because I was too busy being an impatient, ungrateful, snot-nosed teenager to notice: my mom can do and does do it all. But she's not one of THOSE moms. She's not the mom that ASPIRES to do it all and LIVES for doing it all. She is just multi-talented and she puts it to good use.

A few samplings of the talent: She was born to be a domestic diva, beginning with a degree in clothing and textiles. Who majors in clothing and textiles? My mom, that's who! (And sorry, not you, because that degree is long obsolete.) She sewed everything she could get her hands on, sometimes even our yapping mouths. She also sewed prom dresses and wedding dresses, including mine. The domesticity does not stop there. She enjoyed cooking and baking - they were just an extension of her being. This helped her care for all the neighborhood stragglers, the kids whose parents were at work, my friends who lived and died by her leftovers for lunch, and of course, her own kids (us) who could have been mistaken for neighborhood stragglers at any time (think: my brother falling asleep on the sidewalk right by his Big Wheel, my sister and I parading the block wearing fake mink furs and plastic high heels - we were unruly!).

My mom also used her talents to embarrass me whenever possible. She will play any musical instrument that comes across her path, and one time when I was studying with a boy I really, really liked in my room (she never had a no-boys-in-your-room rule, too! YES!!!), she came right in and proceeded to practice her BASSOON. In my room. While studying math. With a certain cute boy. I was mortified and tried to get her out while still looking cool. It didn't happen and the boy was not really amused. Which was a telltale sign that he was actually lame, and shortly thereafter I weeded him out of my life. Thanks, Mom!

Mom, this song's for you: Mamma Mia just because Abba is what binds us.

Best food from Mom: Anything baked. She had at least three baked goods in the house at any one time. Which explains why I am addicted to such things.

Mom's best words of wisdom: Her classic answer to the whine, "But Moooooooooommmm, I'm booooooooorrred" was "Only boring people get bored." Mom, how did you know that phrase would burn itself into my brain only to antagonize me nearly every day of my life? I guess that's what mothers are for. Happy Mother's Day, Mama K!!

Diane Tribute

{Adam's mom, Diane, near Coor's Stadium in Denver [with other family members in the background]; looks like she's getting an earful from Adam}

{Adam's mom plus us, his brother and dad}

Every mom loves Mother's Day right? Who wouldn't love a day made specifically for them? Well, my Mom has a love/hate relationship with Mother's Day. Love because she gets grilled salmon for dinner and hugs and kisses from all the kids. Hate because the stories told in sacrament meeting on Mother's Day are usually dramatic epics of complete self-sacrifice and limitless love. Contrast this with the lighthearted and funny stories about Dads told from the pulpit on Father's Day. So my Mother's Day present this year is a story about my Mom that will make you laugh... instead of cry.

There are so many stories about Mom that would be perfect. Like the time Mom took a basketball to the face during FHE, or when she was the only person on the rafting trip in Jackson Hole to fall out of the boat, or just the other day when she asked how many quarters are in an NBA game.

But the one I chose to share beats them all. Once when I was about 11 years-old, I was walking home from school with the "bad-boy" kid who lived up the street. He was telling me about all the PG-13 movies his parents let him watch, and all the kids at school he was planning to beat up. Then he showed me how to flip off passing cars... one of his favorite passtimes I guess. He demonstrated on two or three cars and then said "OK, now you flip off the next car to come around that corner."

When mom and her big purple Dodge Caravan came around the corner, there I was, middle finger extended, in all its exposed glory. The next few minutes were all a blur, really. Next thing I knew I was in the passenger seat, being made to understand that you do not flip people off. I think I tried the ignorance defense, and truthful though it was, it didn't seem to make much difference!

My Mom is wise, and she's taught me many lessons over the years, such as "No one has all the shoes", "You're integrity's worth more than $5", "Chocolate Chip cookies are best on Sundays", "You only buy a Steinway once so you might as well get the best" and of course "Never flip off your mother". Love you Mom!

Eco Geek

I have taken the plunge into eco-friendliness and bought some of these VERY cute Envirosax. This partly fulfills one of my New Year's resolutions and, like I said, this is all about baby steps. Becoming enviro-sensitive was never really on the docket for those of us raised Republican, so it takes some adjustments to realize: Hey! Mormons, of all people (no matter the political affiliation) should really be spearheading this Save the Earth campaign. We believe in God and his creation, so what are we waiting for? Listen to me getting all granola on you. That's what Envirosax have done to me (by the way, get them at Outdoor Balance - they're a bit cheaper). Or don't get them at Outdoor Balance. Whatever. Just try to live with yourself and your mountain of plastic bags that strangle wildlife and suffocate children and act as really great trash can liners (dang it, now what am I going to do?). Just go ahead and take shortcuts and ditch plastic and go for paper because, you justify, it 'breaks down better in nature'. Yeah, well, we'll see if there's any nature left to enjoy after it's beaten and smacked and trodden down by your discusting, filthy and indulgent lifestyle. (That was a LOT of ands.) And when you see me carrying my geeky (cute) bags all around town, bagging my own groceries at Food4Less (because I not only like to Save the Earth, I also like to Save Major Money) just remember who's putting the chicken on your table. The chicken that was saved the other day because my plastic bags didn't make it into his coop because I just bought me some (darling, amazing, oh-so-stylin') Envirosax. Yeah. Environment. Go. Yeah!

Happy 28th, A-Ware!

Adam biking in Brazil.
Adam with his mom and brother.

Adam biking in Boston.

28 Reasons Why Adam is Awesome:

1. He doesn't let a dish sit in the sink longer than 3 seconds.
2. He is a clean freak.
3. He makes the bed every morning.
4. He carries the laundry to the far away laundry room.

5. He folds garments with department store-like precision.
6. He is obsessed w/biking.
7. He looks great in Spandex.
8. He likes service. Well, only on the days that I hate it. Like the other day we volunteered for Habitat for Humanity. I had to paint and complained all day; he had to shovel dirt and was happy as a little dirt shoveling clam.
9. He loves everything I cook, bake or concoct.
10. With his mouth full, he grunts things like "Oh, Marth, this is the best thing I've EVER tasted!!!!!!!!!" when he eats things I cook, bake or concoct. And he means it.
11. He saves us a lot of money on gas by biking everywhere.
12. He budgets every penny we have. In a detailed Excel spreadsheet. And he LIKES it.
13. He's a good planner.
14. He's enthusiastic.
15. He is NEVER down. I mean NEVER. Unless he gets a flat tire ... on his bike.
16. He knows how to relax.
17. He loves to read.
18. He wins every argument. Like last night, I pointed out that, "Isn't it crazy how car seats weren't even invented when we were little?" and my next line was going to be, "So why the crap do we even need ...?" but he cut in with "Yeah. And a lot of little kids got killed in car accidents." ...Case closed.
19. He {sometimes} lets me pop his zits.

20. He is a really good storyteller.

21. He's good to his mom.

22. He calls grocery store checkers by their first name to say thanks.

23. He nods and smiles softly - not menacingly - when I ramble on about things that I think make my life really, ridiculously hard.

24. He has an amazing singing voice but it's never below him to go off tune to sing with me.

25. He lets me listen to Coast 103.5 in the car, a station he affectionately calls "The Cheese Station." Until he can't take it anymore and his driving becomes impaired by one-too-many Peter Cetera songs.

26. He's a minimalist.

27. He always has a good exit strategy for when any sort of meeting gets too drawn out.

28. He keeps getting awesomer every year.

Where is Bobby Dunbar? Introducing TAL

When my brother Allen came to stay a few visits ago, Adam asked him, "Do you know what happened to Bobby Dunbar?" And I was like, "Yeah. Don't you know what happened to Bobby Dunbar?" And Allen's mind was officially boggled. He hadn't yet heard the story of Bobby Dunbar because he hadn't yet heard of This American Life. If we still had radios in the house, we'd hover around it every Sundee night to have a listen. They're stories that make you cry (like the story I listened to on the way home from work today on my iPod - driving with an iPod - is that bad?), stories that make you think twice, stories about types of people you didn't know existed, stories about the common threads that bind us. Get the free download every week here and let me know if you think.

We Found It!

We've been perpetually celebrating our anniversary all week long, eating out and staying out and doing all manner of expensive things but probably the most exciting part was finding OUR sushi place. We've been searching for awhile now - others have been too loud, too expensive, menus too confusing, sushi too gross - but on Tuesday we found IT. We felt good upon arrival. It was nice, quiet, had enough people to make you think "hey, this is place is popular enough." The servers, all 4 of them, were nice, with painted on smiles. You know those painted on Asian smiles that say: "Save face no matter what! Even if the customer spits wasabi in my eye." They brought out our rolls and we were in heaven. Mmmm, raw fish. THAT was my favorite anniversary present.

Happy 2nd Anniversary to Us

RED Hot

Today's post is brought to you by the color: RED. And the temperature: 90 degrees. This is what last Saturday was all about. By 7:30 am we were in the sun and sweating. This is us at the MS Walk with my co-workers and boss. The ol' boss puts together a team every year called Ruby's Raiders, in honor of her mother, Ruby, who died from MS.

We chowed on some muffins and tons of fruit during the race, during which I was going for a PR (personal record): walk really slow while eating everything you see. I ate 3 muffins (mini), 1 orange, several grape bunches, 2 bottles of juice, 1/2 a bottle of water, 1/2 a banana and at the finish line I had pizza and chicken....at 9:30 am. I really regretted setting - and reaching - that PR.On the drive home from the MS Walk, windows down and still panting, it was apparent that the day was not cooling down anytime soon, and that's when we knew we had to do something about it. After checking a phone message from my mom that said, "Martha, we are picking up trash along the highway. What are you doing?" it was decided: since we live in California, we will go to the beach. It's that simple. When you live here, you go to the beach. When you live in Roosevelt, Utah, you do your duty. Good riddance, duty.

Our friend James grew up in a little place called Emerald Bay. When he said his house had a view...the guy was NOT screwing around. His entire front balcony is the ocean. Rough. This is us at Emerald Bay Beach. Again: Rough.

Adam coaxed me into my first swim of the season in a FRIGID ocean. There's only one way to coax M-Ware to take a swim in a frigid ocean: yank her from her beach chair and slap her booty all the way down. Ok, he didn't have to do that. I actually ran my own booty all the way into the ocean and didn't stop til I knew salt and sand boogers were going to be a part of my life for the next few hours.


Next red exhibit: I re-did my kitchen/dining room walls. Not terribly exciting but it's something I can finally live with. The left wall is my Christmas present to Adam: his favorite poems, framed. And the red stuff is a combo of some of my favorite things: sailboats, buildings and...red. Tell me if this combination works. The jury is still out for me and I need your opinion. REDdy, GO!

Touch My Cupcake

Right after I read that Mariah surpassed Elvis in #1 hits I've been her biggest fan again, watching all her old YouTube videos, marveling at the wonder she used to be. Which also lead me to watch all of Whitney Houston's old music videos and then Beyonce's ... and soon I was feeling all girl powered out. Until I met these cupcakes today. It all came flooding back. The sensuosity (?), the high notes, the old school delight. Irreplaceable came on the radio and I sang to my cupcakes in the passenger seat. I picked up Adam from work and started telling him an animated story about my day while taking my first bite of the Red Velvet. Everything stopped, I fell silent and, in so many words, said Give Me One Moment In Time. On our after dinner walk, Adam started gushing about the cupcakes and I agreed with some gushing of my own. Made me Wanna Dance with Somebody.

Somehow we're saving the Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chocolate for tomorrow. They're a Vision of Love sitting on my countertop til I Can't Help Myself.

General Lounging and a Flashback

This weekend, as is no surprise, was all about eating, sitting, sleeping, reading and general lounging. General Conference weekend is so great for that, plus a filling up of the ol' spiritual reserve. This morning we had the Elders over for the traditional General Conference breakfast of German pancake. Elder Shin (from Korea) and Elder Cunningham (from Sacramento) both had never tasted of it. Nothing delights me more than introducing amazing food that should not be lived without.Sometime between all the naps and Conference watching, we went on a beach walk. Salt Creek Beach. I had a picture-taking escapade involving these three palm trees.

Let's see how many times I can get these palm trees in a picture.

Oh, I guess they didn't make it into ALL the shots. Anyway, Salt Creek was cool because the ocean came with a beach AND a lawn. The perfect combination, if you ask me, because when I get tired of sand getting into the crevices of my book pages, I need a refuge not far from the ocean. The answer? Grass. Oh, and a multi-million dollar beachfront home. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

While lounging and wasting time and wondering when Priesthood session was going to be over, I came across these pictures A-Ware's mom recently sent:

Adam has always spoken fondly of the crazed night of dancing that occurred at his friend, Kurt's, wedding in the days before I knew him. Until now I had only HEARD of this night. SEEING this night made me wish we hadn't ditched out on chaperoning the stake dance last night. These are moves not to be kept within the confines of our home. His innate awesomeness really comes through, and I just wanted you all to enjoy this rare look into his real abilities and strongpoints.