Travel & revelations

So, I've been crazy busy this spring - in a span of six weeks I hosted my parents, went to Puerto Rico, went to Seattle for a weekend with my parents & sister, worked the last week of a nearly nine-year job, went to San Francisco & started a new job, went to Paris, and had friends in town. And I didn't get sick!

It's been great. Paris was nothing short of amazing; I have ten billion pictures but will have some restraint here...

Suffice to say, my friend and I spent at least 10-12 hours on the go every day. He had a very long and ambitious list of things for us to see & do, and we hit almost every single item!

Sometimes when I travel I have something of an epiphany. Three years ago I was in Amsterdam and the thought crossed my mind, "I don't want to figure out how to travel constantly; I want to figure out how to get back to Portland!" And lo, shortly after my return from that trip I started the process that got me where I wanted to be just a few months later.

I don't know that I had any major revelations this time (except that I am hopelessly NOT chic, though I faked it reasonably well for a few days). I was waiting for the train with my friend and he joked "If you were a runner, this trip would have had an entirely different to-do list!" and without thinking about it, I shot back "But I AM a runner!"

So, maybe that's the thing I've learned this time. I've become a runner, much to my shock. I didn't run in Paris - I was focused on traveling light - but I picked up where I left off on my return. I lost some of my conditioning, and I still don't have a clue about setting and maintaining a pace, but I've run nearly 100 miles this year, and it's time for me to get some new shoes. I've managed to squish the weekday runs into my new-work-training schedule, which hasn't been easy but has felt really necessary.

Busy weekend!

This weekend was super busy. On Saturday I rode 55 miles on my bicycle as part of an organized event called Reach the Beach. I rode this several times in the early 2000s and it's always been my favorite ride. For the most part, it's super beautiful, and it's very well organized with rest stops every 12-15 miles. May can be a risky time to do a bike ride in Oregon, but we got crazy lucky with the weather this time!

Saturday at the coast

I was riding with a friend who's been dealing with a pretty big range of life, work, and medical issues, so she didn't have a lot of energy and hadn't been able to ride much lately. She tried so so so hard and managed to ride 40 miles. She decided to stop at the third rest stop, since she'd been reduced to stopping every mile to try to gather some energy. I felt badly for her but agreed it was definitely the right call!

That left me to do the final 15 miles solo, but I didn't mind very much. At least it was sunny and warm, not rainy and cold like it's been on previous rides! There are some stretches of really hideous headwind in that final leg of the ride, and my butt and legs were sore from already being on the bike nearly 5 hours, but I dug out my last bits of energy and actually finished the last leg in 75 minutes, which was quicker than I'd estimated. It remains clear I have a LONG way to go before Cycle Oregon.

Sunday at the work party

Yesterday I spent three hours on a work crew in that same friend's yard - for the same pile of life, work, medical issues, her massive yard has gotten well and truly out of hand. About ten of us turned out and spent time in the cloudy rainy day taming that land! It's more yardwork than I've even done at my place! I didn't mind working in the rain at all - way better than biking in it!

A try-athlete

I've been a cyclist for a long time - I was fortunate enough to work with biking-obsessed friends in the late 90s, and they pulled me along into that world. I certainly have many years of relatively few miles, but this year will be more high-mileage as I train for and ride in Cycle Oregon in September. Including the 400 miles ridden during that week, I should do more than 1500 this year - one of my highest-mileage years!

I've already been training some this year, though I've also been a bit busy. I'm doing a 55-mile organized ride this weekend which may be interesting, as my longest ride so far was a few weeks ago and was 30 miles. So.. we'll see. It's my favorite ride, I'll be with a friend, the weather looks acceptable, and we can take lots of breaks if we need to!

But I'll admit, Cycle Oregon has me worried. Add to that the fact I have lots of weekends when I will not be in town, and only some of them will be road trips where I can bring my bike... I've got to do something else to help increase my fitness!

Enter: running. I've never run before (I like to joke that I run when chased) but it's appealing in its simplicity - strap on the shoes and head out! However, like so many things in this life, I'm finding that it's not quite as simple as that. I've been following the Couch to 5k program and completed week 3 on Saturday. Just as I hoped, I did two of the workouts while traveling for work. However, apparently it's not right if your lower legs are on fire while running, so today I got fitted for different shoes. I'm hoping this will make it easier and more enjoyable! I haven't minded the time at the track, and I get a kick out of watching the insanely fit and speedy teenagers who are there working on various skills with their coaches. I don't really know how to figure out pace and form, but I think the most important part is to learn to run without my legs aching after thirty seconds - I can worry about technique after that. 

Finally, because I'm not being complicated enough, I've started doing a little bit of lap swimming. Wow is that good exercise - my app that I use says 30 minutes of swimming is about 500 calories, vs about 200 for my slow run/walk or about 300 for my non-speedy biking. Not that I actually swim continuously for 30 minutes, mind you! But I can do a full lap, stop and breathe, and then do another. I'm almost always doing the breast stroke with some side stroke or crawl mixed in.

Right now my biggest problem is figuring out when to do all the activity! Since I'm so new at it, I always want to run on fresh legs, so I can't do it after any volume of biking. Biking is most important because of Cycle O. Swimming is a good rainy-day exercise, but we're moving into our better weather. I ought to be running 3x/week, but it's already having to slide a little for cycling. I'm mostly going to do the best I can and take it from there.

I'll be in Hawaii for two weeks in a little while, and will definitely continue the running and swimming - I already found a community pool a mile from where I'll be staying that offers lap swimming, and perhaps I'll get to test that theory about the simplicity of running. September is coming! Gotta be fit!

May summary

Well, this makes 25 posts in the month of May. Not bad! I didn't do this for a particular reason - I thought it would be nice to blog a little bit more often. I didn't have so very much to say, it turns out, but I like taking the time to think for a minute and see if there is something I want to share with the blogosphere.

I don't know how full time bloggers do it, that's for sure.

Final rhubarb update

Remember the pickled rhubarb that turned out kind of gross?

It's now been pureed:

And I tried it on toast with some turkey on top:

 It was pretty tasty! I don't know that I'd deliberately do it again, but it's way better than it was.

Waiting for an epiphany

Last spring when I was traveling in Europe, I remember very clearly having an epiphany while in Amsterdam (no drugs involved!). I was reflecting on a conversation I'd had with someone back home in the Bay Area, who had just returned from six months of continuous travel. I expressed some puzzlement over how he managed to do it, and he said: you just have to set up your life so you can travel!

In other words, decide what you want and make it happen. Thinking about that conversation, and in the middle of a fifteen-day European trip, I realized that what I wanted most was not to travel for months at a stretch, but to make my home in Portland. That was the ONE BIG THING I wanted.

That epiphany was the beginning of a chain of events that resulted in just that, and I'm grateful and amazed every day that I figured out what I wanted and I made it happen.

Is it selfish to ask for more? Like so many others I know, I'm wrestling with the work question. There was one time in my life when I was passionate about my job, but it was over a decade ago, and it was the first time I'd found a job that really tapped a lot of my skills AND let me work with fun people. I know if I were still there I would be far far over it by now.

Now here I am, with about 20 years of work behind me and facing the next 20, and I can't figure out what exactly I am looking for. It's frustrating. Don't get me wrong, I'm asking from a very positive space, and know I'm lucky to feel like I'm appreciated and my skills get used on a daily basis. So maybe I just won't ever be super stoked about work, but it seems like that would be oh so nice to have.

Pickle news

Remember those rhubarb pickles I made earlier this month? I brought them to a book group meeting last night to try them out.

Ooh boy. The good news is, the flavor was quite nice. Unfortunately the texture was very very very bad. I guess processing them in boiling water cooked any trace of crispness out of them - they were somewhere between limp and mushy. Yuk.

I'll puree them and call it a savory sandwich spread (it would be quite nice with chicken or turkey!), and if I see rhubarb the next time I'm at the store, I will try making a batch of refrigerator pickles in hopes of maintaining any level of crunch.

I haven't tried the asparagus pickles yet but am rather gloomily expecting they'll be equally bad. I don't think I really want pureed pickled asparagus for my sandwiches, though. Ah well, live and learn!

New booze

Well! I had a terrific summer drink last night at local fave the Tin Shed. This lovely goodness was cucumber-infused gin + limeade, over a lot of ice, in a pint glass. So now I'm on a rampage to find out how to make it myself.

Okay, that's not exactly true: I googled 'cucumber infused gin recipe' and found out it's... gin, plus some cucumber. Sure, people have shaken it up some (ha!) by slicing, or peeling, or mashing, but basically  you combine the two in a jar for a couple of days, taste it to see how you like it, and strain out the cukes when you're satisfied. It takes very little time.

All I have to do now is pick the gin; I emailed a gin-loving friend to get tips on the most cucumber-friendly option. Another friend and I are each going to try a different type of gin and compare notes/get sozzled in the quest for Knowledge. 

It won't be all that warm here this weekend, but I recommend it to anyone expecting a gorgeous three-day weekend!

Service with a smile

One of my San Francisco friends was visiting me last night, so we were looking for a good place to eat. She's recently stopped eating gluten, and was happy to find a great online resource, Gluten Free PDX. (pdx is the airport code for Portland, and is often used as shorthand around here)

We decided to go to Tasty n Sons, which is one of many highly-regarded spots in town. I ate there once this winter, so I was glad to be able to vouch for the place. They serve their food in small plates style, with the intent that the diners share their food. When we got there, my friend asked the hostess if they had a gluten-free list of foods, and what happened next was amazing - the hostess grabbed a pencil and proceeded to mark up the menu for my friend's use. She slashed out the items that relied on gluten (like pasta, for example), starred the items that were naturally gluten-free (polenta, steak), and then wrote "w/o" next to all the items that could be made gluten-free (by omitting croutons, crackers, bread crumbs, etc.).

It made SUCH a great experience for both of us, as otherwise ordering can feel pretty stressful when there are food considerations in play.

I didn't take pictures of the food, but we got:
a green salad (a very generously-sized bowl); roasted asparagus with a farm-fresh egg served sunnyside up atop some bacon; shakshuka, which is a baked egg-and-tomato dish; and steak frites. WOW was that steak amazing. It was pretty small, but a nice finish to our meal. We ordered it medium and it was a lot more red than I'd expect, but I loved it. The fries were the way I like them - thin and very crispy - but I was too full to eat very many.

It felt like a  nice contrast to the Bay Area that we could walk into a hip restaurant at 7pm on a Thursday and were offered a few seating options. Granted if we were a party of more than two, we'd have had to wait, but it worked out great for us.

yeah, I'm not 20 anymore

Last night I decided to get wild and go to a double feature: Star Trek, and the new Star Trek: Into Darkness.

The first movie started at 9, the second some time after midnight (as only then was it the official opening day). The movie ended at 2:32am, and I was home and in bed 20 minutes later. The movie was good, but I think a second more-alert viewing is in order, perhaps when it comes to the second-run theater in a few months.

And man.. I am TIRED. I have some social things to do this evening, and I hope I manage to keep my face out of my dinner plate.

Diversification checkin

A little more than a year ago, I came up with a diversification plan for my retirement accounts. The plan was:

Large cap/broad market: 40%
Small cap: 10% 
International: 25%  
Bond: 15%
Reit: 10%

Let's check in, shall we?

Percentage increase in my accounts from March 2012 to May 2013: 34.8 %. Granted that includes my contributions, but excuse me while I say DAMN.

Account balances as a percentage of my portfolio; planned vs actual:

Large cap/broad market: planned 40%; actual 41%

Small cap:   planned 10%; actual 11.5%

International: planned 25%; actual 26%

Bond:  planned 15%; actual 15.5%

REIT: planned 10%; actual 6%

Well, I don't know what I'm doing, really, so I'm going to leave those alone and not do any rebalancing. Now that I have a mortgage to pay (notice I don't say I OWN a home...), I'm less worried about having money in a REIT.

The run-up in the market has been pretty sweet lately; I wish I knew some clever way to lock in my gains. But, I'll just keep on saving like I do.

Granola

My sister has been making lots of granola while staying with me, and I think the absolute best ingredient we've discovered is millet. It's a tiny round grain that adds a really nice crunch. It's easy to buy from the bulk section in the grocery stores here:

Tonight it's my turn to make the granola! I'll be making up my own recipe, borrowing liberally from others on the internet:

• Coconut quinoa granola 
• millet granola 
• toasted almond granola  
• healthy granola 
• and last but not least, David Lebovitz' spin on granola

I'm intrigued at the idea of adding quinoa, and I like the idea of using fruit puree instead of lots of oil. I also like the flavors of coconut and nuts and some spices. I think I'm going to try:

2 cups oats
1/2 cup millet
1/2 cup quinoa
1/4 cup wheat germ 
3/4 cup unsweetened coconut
1 cup nuts (half walnuts, half pecans, is what is currently on hand)
1 pureed banana
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1/4 cup agave nectar or honey, if the banana isn't very sweet
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch salt

Toast at 300 for ~30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes to get it crispy, but not burned. 

We'll see a) how well I stick to the recipe and b) how it comes out.

knitted goodness!

This hat was my first real foray into colorwork, and man, it was killing me. First of all, I foolishly took the advice of another knitter who used that pattern and my yarn, and used very small needles. When I followed her example, the hat was far too tiny to wear! Then when I finally got the needle size down, I had trouble with the floats, resulting in a puckery hat:

It's very  hard to get a picture of one's head...

Anyway, I finally finished the project and I'm happy with it!

I actually ran out of the blue, so finished the itty bitty top bit with green. You can sort of spot it in this picture:

Yay hat! Too bad it's feeling like summer most days here! But with any luck we'll get some more chilly/rainy days so I can bust out my springy goodness.

In which I bike

Yesterday a friend called to see if I could use a free ticket to a lecture by a visiting author, and naturally I said yes! Yesterday continued the string of amazing weather, so I decided to ride my bike downtown. The venue was 5 miles from my door, right in the center of the city.

It was so fun observing the change as I rode - first, the quiet, even suburban-feeling streets in my neighborhood, then the busier bike-laned road conducting me into the center of town, then the semi-busy bridge over the river into town, followed finally by riding along a main artery in downtown. I felt invigorated and so glad I rode.

That was nothing on my return commute! On my way home I was riding with my friend, so we rode straight down to the river, over a bridge, and headed north on the Eastbank Esplanade. The Esplanade is a loop that allows users to bike, run, or walk along one bank of the Willamette River, then cross a bridge, travel along the opposite bank, and complete the loop by crossing another bridge. It was a genius idea, has been universally loved, and it's been at least seven years since I last rode it. It was such a treat to glide along at water level, looking at the lights of the city and nodding to other cyclists and runners - even at 9pm or so it was pretty well trafficked. I felt really really happy.

Pickles

About five weeks ago, a friend and I bookmarked this past Sunday for some kitchen fun - little did we know it was going to be a gorgeous day! That's okay, though, as it didn't take too long and we had a really fun time.

One thing we took a stab at was doing some pickling. I did a little bit of picklework a few years ago, but it's never been my favorite food format so I didn't get into it very deeply. However, she really wanted to pickle some rhubarb, so I decided we should throw some asparagus into the mix for fun.

We actually got so enthused that we made a mid-brine run to the grocery store to get more rhubarb! The pickles look pretty good, though maybe we should have packed the jars tighter. They SEEMED full at the time, but clearly there's a lot of room for more vegetables in there:

I'm really looking forward to comparing them in a couple of weeks.

Heat wave!

I missed two sets of lovely Portland weather when I was out of town earlier this spring (in Hawaii, then in San Francisco.. I'm not really complaining!), but I've been able to soak up the latest series of warm days! Being totally warm always feels like a minor miracle after months of being chilly...but of course ungrateful me, I start feeling a bit sticky and fretful after a while.

We've had perhaps four or five days of high 70s (which is perfect, in my opinion), veering into mid-80s (which is a bit too much of a good thing). Tonight I think I'm going to go to a movie, soak in some air conditioning, and maybe even seek out some ice cream!

Yes, I can!

I'm getting back on the canning wagon this weekend - ironically, it will be amazing out! Fortunately my friend and I are keeping it pretty simple:

Rhubarb-infused simple syrup for cocktails
Rhubarb-rosemary jam
Pickled rhubarb

I'd initially proposed also pickling asparagus, but it is going to be an AMAZING weekend and I think we'll be inclined to get out of the kitchen (and, perhaps, on to the cocktails).

I shall try to remember to take pictures - I have to say, using my phone's camera has me taking many more pictures. I'm not so diligent about tagging them, though I'm trying to get better.

Home ownership, four months in

 It's been just about four months since I moved into my house. I'm mostly unpacked, though there are some random boxes in several closets. I could really use a dresser or two, and my office has a desk but that's about it in terms of organization. I just tell myself it would be boring if I were 100% settled in already!

 

One of ten buds on my rose bush...

 I'm wrapping my head around mowing the lawn regularly, and while I don't love that task, it IS satisfying when it's all tidy and mowed. If I only had a weed whacker I could REALLY make it look good... but for now, mowed is good enough. It has been fun finding out what colors the things in my yard are when they bloom.

I still look at real estate postings on a regular basis, and I wonder if this is like someone in a new relationship who is still habitually checking out other people (either online or in person). Maybe I just haven't settled into this new state of mind? I do wish I could date like I house-shopped: I was ON it, churning through 25 houses (and four offers) in under three months. If I dated like that I imagine I would not be single!

Anyway, I've only had one stress dream about the house and haven't had any catastrophes yet. Three payments down, 357 to go! 

It's all about time

I'm going to do a blog challenge and update every day this month. Readers, take note!

Since it's May first I flipped my homemade calendar to a new month. The picture from this month is from the world's largest cuckoo clock, in Triberg, Germany. Triberg is in the southern part of Germany  known as the Black Forest, about an hour or so north of the border with Switzerland.

This particular attraction is along the road as you head into town, and we pulled in JUST before noon, as you can see on the clock face. It cost a few euros to go inside and get access to the yard, so we stood around in major anticipation of the cuckoo doing its glorious call.

Friends, that cuckoo was the most raggedy-ass thing you've ever seen. It emerged slowly from its door, then emitted twelve exhausted "coo...koo" calls. It didn't bounce in and out between cries, just sorta sighed on the end of its perch. Wretched.

Fortunately, we found it absolutely hilarious. I hope we didn't hurt the feelings of the woman inside, whose father created the clock, but I imagine she contented herself with our euros!

Summer salad

Early-summer produce has hit the markets big-time here in the Bay Area, and I was inspired to try a strawberry-basil salad dressing.

I got the strawberries at the market, and the basil and lemons from my building's garden:

My life changed for the better when I realized my immersion blender works PERFECTLY in a mason jar:

Does this look like summer, or what?