Feasting With Friends

Yesterday two of our favorite people in the whole world came down to visit.  Kathy and Jill are on spring break this week so they came to Eugene for a night to hang out.  I lived with Kathy all four years of college so it is always nice when we get to have a sleep over.  It makes me feel like we are back at our apartment on 17 Cummings.  Ahhh....memories.

In honor of their visit we decided to make a home cooked Indian feast!  I got Cliff an Indian cookbook a few years ago for his birthday.  We were never able to find all of the spices we needed so we didn't really cook anything out of it...until recently.  Between the Market of Choice bulk spice section and the Asian grocery by our house we can finally crack into the book and try our hand at Indian fare.  Cliff has been making dahl recipes for the past two weeks.  I think we have tried all of them.  They are so tasty and filling.  Plus they make for a super economical meal which is a bonus.  Feeling good about all of his recent culinary successes Cliff was ready to take his game to the next level.  He decided to cook a feast for Kathy and Jill.

The menu included:

• Homemade chai tea
• Potato stuffed parathas
• Chana dahl with fresh ginger, green chiles, and cilantro 
• Ground beef with spinach and mint
• Cardamon basmati rice 
• Total Domination IPA and Renewal Porter from Ninkasi Brewing Co.
• Banana Chocolate Malt Milkshakes

It was a good night.  I always talk about all of our options for after dinner activities: drinks, dollar movies, etc.   We never make it out the door.  Last night wasn't any different.  We just hung out and laughed.  Rudy showed them all of his new tricks (he can now jump on command...impressive...we know) and snuggled with whomever was willing.  Cliff and I have been fighting off allergies or maybe a cold for the last few days so we were totally hoarse by the time we went to bed.  So good.

This morning we got up and went to Off the Waffle.  I know I have mentioned this spot a few times before but it's a fun place to take people when they visit.  Fun music, solid coffee, oddball atmosphere, and tasty Liege waffles.  You can't go wrong.   Cliff had five cups of coffee.  He really likes their coffee. 

We feasted again.  We each got our own savory waffle and then we split a sweet one for a breakfast dessert.  I got one with a fried egg, bacon, and maple syrup on top (the one in the photo ------>).  Jill got one with pear, smoked gouda, applesauce, walnuts, and coriander.  Cliff and Kathy got waffles with pear, gorgonzola, local honey, and cinnamon. Cliff added a fried egg.  Our dessert waffle was decked out with Belgian chocolate chips, sliced bananas, housemade dark chocolate sauce and fresh whipped cream.  It was oddly crowded in there for a Thursday morning.  After about 20 minutes I totally understood why.  Kids are on spring break and waffles are amazing.

Spring Snow

That's right, we got hit with snow on the 2nd day of spring.  We knew that the snow lines were going to be down around 500 feet so we expected maybe a dusting to an inch or so around our house.
Not even close.  Cliff got up early and woke me up to look outside.  In the dark everything looked like it was glowing.  It was so quiet out at 6:00 am.  It was really beautiful. 

In the hills we got between 9 1/2 - 10 inches.  Honestly, that amount of snow is crazy for this area.  It rarely happens.  From what we understand the city pretty much shut down for the day.  We didn't know the extent of the storm as we lost power for about 48 hours.  We were totally fine.  We have city water, a wood stove, and we used a can of evaporated milk to make chocolate show ice cream.   Good times.

The snow was the heavy wet kind so it brought down all kinds of trees and limbs.  The laurels behind our house are now all broken and bent.  In our yard alone there are probably ten trees that are damaged.  You could hear them falling all over the place.  It was like hurricane Irene all over again.  At one point I gasped when I heard/saw one fall.  My reaction really freaked Rudy out and he ran around the house barking and cowering.  Cliff told me that I needed to get it together and be brave for Rudy.  I chilled out and eventually Rudy did too.

Today was absolutely beautiful outside.  It was 60 degrees and sunny so the snow is disappearing.  So far spring has been pretty crazy.  The flowers really have no clue what to do.  Who knows what will happen next week.

Shamrock 5K

This weekend Cliff and I traveled up to Portland to visit Brie and run with her in the Shamrock Run.  We've been excited about this race for months and it did not disappoint.   Before I tell you how awesome it was I wanted to give you a little Kim and Cliff 5K background information. 

Cliff was apart of the running clubs at his school last year and because of this he got to run in a few 5Ks.  I went to all of the races and had a whole lot of fun taking pictures and cheering on folks while Cliff, the kids, and his coworkers ran their butts off.  It looked like fun so I even decided to participate in the action.  Last February we signed up for the Girl Scout Cookie 5K.  Actually I signed up for the one mile fun run but later upgraded to the 5K when I realized that only small, small children do these.  Embarrassing.  I know.   That race was pretty awesome as it was super small and we ended up winning cookies...both of us.  My heart smiles just thinking of it.  Despite my cookie-worthy performance my time was actually pretty terrible.  I mean some people could probably walk 5K in the time that it took me to run.  As I have said before...I am slow and steady.  Anyway, since I have been exercising more I had high hopes for improving my time.  Two weeks ago Cliff and I ran a practice 5K at a park so that I could manage my expectations.  After two months of working out (workout DVDs and jogging) I was able to shed over four minutes off my 5K time from last February.  I ran it without stopping to walk.  Big victory for me.  While I was excited about that I was still a little embarrassed as my new personal record was still slow.  Looking onward to the Shamrock 5K, Cliff was encouraging and Brie was positive that I was going to shed a few more minutes.  I was skeptical. 

We went up to Portland on Saturday and stayed with Brie at her apartment.  We got to meet her three kitties.  They are all super cute and have their own little personalities.  Cliff was in heaven as one of her cats in pretty much a cat-dog as it is super curious and cuddly.  If I wasn't so allergic (I was heavily medicated for the trip) we would have a cat in our apartment as Cliff really likes them.  Brie made vegetarian lasagna and after dinner we hung out for a while, prepped for the race, and then went to bed.  The next morning we got up early.  Anise, Brie's friend, joined our party as her dad was going to run the 15K.  It was in the high 30's with rain on and off.  It was pretty cold. 

We were ready.  While we waited at the bus stop we decided to take some pre-race photos.  As you can tell I was feeling pretty super.  The Shamrock Run is huge.  It consists of a 5K, 8K, and 15K.  In total there were 32,000 participants.  So many people!

Brie and Anise were pumped.  Anise wasn't a big fan of the picture taking process but she was a good sport.  This was Brie's second Shamrock 5K and Anise's first (she ran the fun run last year).  They did a good job telling us what to expect as we waited for the bus. 

 

We gals got St. Patrick's Day socks from Target.  I love Target.  We wanted to be festive and nothing says 'we are athletic' like themed tube socks.

I bought a St. Paddy's Day headband at Target thinking it would be warm and sunny.  Nope.  But that's ok as Mrs. Lyddane made me an awesome orange hat for Christmas a few years ago and it worked perfectly with the theme of the day.  The hat not only kept me warm but it also helped me stick out.  Cliff was able to find us after the race in the huge crowd because of the hat.  I was a orange beacon.  It was awesome.  

The run was a success!  Cliff ran ahead of us and had a good race.  He ended up coming in 404th out of the 9,059 total 5Kers and 58th out of 469 male runners in his age group.  Awesome, right?  Seriously.  As for me, I ended up cutting over another two and a half minutes off my previous best time!  Brie was right!  I was so excited and shocked.  I finished 4,797th out of the total 9,059 5Kers and 522nd out of 1,037 gals in my age group.  I now have an ok 5K time!  I can't tell you how excited I was.  I'm still excited!  I'm kinda starting to feel athletic.  It's awesome.

After the race we stopped for a group photo.  Brie and Anise were awesome.  Brie normally runs much faster but she decided to run with us instead.  We girls ran together and so was motivating and fun.  It was really wonderful.

After the race we parted ways with Anise and we were starting to get really cold so we went to claim our victory goodies.  We started with our free cups of salmon chowder.  Holy crap it was good!  I know what you are thinking: "Chowder?  After a race?  That sounds disgusting and makes my stomach turn".  We thought the same thing! Not the case.  It was warm and smoky and it hit the spot.  I wish I was eating it now just thinking about it.  Cliff liked it so much that he had to have two at the same time.

 

After victory chowder we went to get our victory beer.  What would a St. Patrick's Day race be without free victory beer?  The buddy of the guy taking the picture was being kinda ridiculous so the photo captures all of us laughing at him. Despite the chowder and beer we were starting to get really cold so we hauled tail to the bus stop.   After we got home and changed we went out for lunch.  It was a fantastic ending to a fantastic weekend. 

I wanted to leave you guys with a little thing that I am going to call "Where's Kim?"  For those of you who are "Where's Waldo" fans (I am!) you might enjoy trying to pick me out of the end of the race crowd.  Cliff did.  Happy St. Patrick's Day (a little late) and happy hunting!

Oh, Hello There

 

These days Rudy likes to hang out under our desk while we work.  Sometimes I don't even know he's there until I drop something and see his little face peeking a me.  I know...he's a little creeper sometimes.  I'm fairly positive that he spends most of his time down there trying to mind control us from a close distance.  Like right now he is under the desk staring at me and I am pretty sure he is telling me to feed him, again.  Or that maybe I should put something in his Kong, again.  Or maybe I should just stop typing and play with him.  Hum.  Whatever he's doing, it's working because now I want to stop so I can hang out with our super cute dog.  

Happy Monday folks!

A Wonderfully Odd Saturday

Yesterday morning we got up and decided to walk down the hill to get ice cream.  We have been walking places more and it has been really nice.  We wanted to check out Red Wagon Creamery as we discovered it the night before online and it sounded pretty wonderful.  They are a roving ice cream shop and they scoop at a few different places.  Originally we thought we would just be walking about 1.5 miles away.  When I check online I saw that they were in fact a little further away on Saturdays and that our trip was instead going to be 2.9 miles each way.  No problem!  No sweat.  We got on our rain jackets, hats, and put some gloves on as it was overcast and a bit chilly.

The walk into town was really nice.  We found a path through a park, walked down streets we had never been down, and commented on all the cute houses.  It was great until we got to the store.  There was a sign that said they were scooping in Springfield.  What?  They were suppose to be at Midtown!  Strike one.  After a few sad minutes of looking at their sign Cliff had a great idea.  A new brewery, Falling Sky, recently opened just a few blocks further down the road.  We had been wanting to try them out.  Sounds like a plan!  We walked a few more blocks, went inside, and consulted the menu.  Cliff noticed something funny.  They didn't have any of their beers listed on tap.  Huh?  We asked the nice guy at the counter and he explained that their first batch wouldn't be ready until this Tuesday, March 13th.  Hum.  Strike two.  I noticed that they had ice cream on their menu so I decided to try  it out.  We got their cider porter ice cream.  After all we had traveled all that way for a creamy, yummy treat.  They brought out the ice cream and it was so small!  It looked like two caramel colored golf balls in a bowl.  Cliff and I split it.  It was tasty but it just left us more hungry.  We didn't want to get anything else there as we knew we would come back later and get food and drink.  We sat at the table daydreaming about eating restaurant food.  Then we weighed our options: walk up the hill essentially with an empty stomach or travel onward to get something good to eat.  We decided to walk another mile or so to get to Little Big Burger. 

Cliff and I discovered Little Big Burger a few weeks ago.  I read about them in the Eugene Weekly as they had just opened.  It is a little chain (three in Portland and one in Eugene) that focuses on local, organic ingredients.  They have six items on their menu (hamburger, cheeseburger, veggie burger, fries, soda, and a float) plus 27 types of beer.  Their ketchup has siracha in it.  They serve the burgers on brioche buns.  They only have recycling and compost containers as nothing that they give you is trash.  Plus their food is really tasty.  Holy cow is it really tasty!   They aren't big hamburgers but they do the trick.  They are delicious.  Cliff got his burger with blue cheese and I got mine with chevre.  Amazing.  One order of their fries (with truffle oil and sea salt I might add) is more than enough for two people.  Things were looking up!

As soon as we left Little Big Burger it started to rain.  Not super hard but hard enough that my raincoat was starting to soak through.  We decided to take a totally different route back home so that we could see some different sites and walk through a fancy neighborhood.  I think we also picked the route as it passed us by Prince Puckler's Gourmet Ice Cream which is a standard in Eugene.  After all, we had come out for ice cream but we hadn't gotten our fix (the two mini scoops earlier were like an appetizer).  Stopping was a great idea as it also allowed us to get out of the rain. We split a double scoop.  One scoop chocolate oreo and one scoop mocha espresso ice cream with cinnamon.  Amazing again!

Thankfully the rain stopped for the most part as we headed back up the hill.  We walked through College Hill and oohed and ahhed over the pretty homes.  I tried to talk Cliff into going to an Open House but sadly failed.  Eugene really has a lot of character.  No matter which neighborhood you live in there is always something special and wonderful.  I like that alot about Eugene.  Besides the houses we got to see a fun painted fire hydrant.

 

We also got to see a hurling match on a field at a local high school.  I had never even heard of hurling before!  After seeing this, Cliff obviously decided to tell me all about the Gaelic games.  This is part of the reason why I like him so much.  We spent the next 20 minutes hurling our butts towards home as he talked about the different Gaelic sports.  I learned alot yesterday.  I'm sure you can imagine.

About half way home my shoes were starting to rub blisters on the backs of my heels, we both had to go to the bathroom, and we were still about 45 minutes away from home.  We tried to go down a new street and sadly we hit a dead end....a Grateful Dead End.  Thanks Eugene.

 

We pushed through and all in all we walked over 9 miles.  It was an awesome day.  It didn't go at all as we had planned but that's ok.   I think we should take long, odd-ball walks every weekend.