. . . in the distant, early morning . . .

First: I’m still sick.

This weekend dad came down to visit.  We did a lot of Stuff.  Saturday we went to Floors with Flair to look at flooring, and Saturday night we went to Morton’s.  Dad had the prime rib which he told them was “good” but not “excellent” and ended up getting free Prime Rib; which the dogs will be happily finishing off.

Sunday we went to Cannon Beach (1h, 20min drive) and let the dogs romp on the beach.  It was a super trip.  Milton even got off-leash time, and after about 5 minutes of being excellent, took only 10 seconds to give me a heart attack - I way over-reacted.  He was perfect.  We were out there about 2 1/2 hours before heading back and getting some dinner at Old Chicago Pizza.

Monday I had to work, but we got some breakfast and headed to CFM to look at more flooring, where I fell in love with the flooring I hope to use in the master bedroom. It is completely different than what I had envisioned, but that’s a-ok.

Monday evening Chris and Wendy joined us for dinner at Red Robin’s, where I was especially well behaved, opting for a salad and eating no fries.

Milton got sick overnight and actually had a few accidents in the house; we leave here in a few minutes for a vet appointment.

Dad left at 5am this morning to head to the California leg of his trip.  Today Samantha was hear for my pre-Chris cleaning, and Mike is here working on my guest bathroom remodel.  That goes tomorrow and may finish, or go to Thursday.  Chris arrives after midnight tomorrow night and stays for about 10 days.  We have a lot of cool stuff planned, as well as a lot of downtime.

It’s a good summer; the heat wave breaks tomorrow, I can’t wait for it to be a bit more normal here in Oregon.

-Lisa, on August 17, 2010 at 1:58 pm .::. Comment (2)

Tonight I was looking at easier ways to upload videos to YouTube to share.  I opened iMovie and happened upon something I didn’t remember existing: precious videos of Kayne, and Kayne playing with Mali.

I spent some time processing and uploading these lost treasures.

Mali in 2005, healthy and before Kayne

Mali and Kayne, Kayne is approximately 14 weeks old in this video (2005)

Kitten Kayne and Mali playing with a toy (2005)

Kayne and Mali wrestling, only this time, Kayne has outgrown Mali (2007)

Mali and Kayne’s first day in Oregon (2007)

Kayne, my wonderful, sweet guy - I would have gone to the ends of the earth to keep you alive and healthy.  I’m sorry I didn’t get the chance, and I miss you.

-Lisa, on July 29, 2010 at 8:14 pm .::. Comment (1)

(sorry for the photo blur!)

Tonight I decided to experiment in the kitchen.  I don’t normally cook, so this is huge.

I picked up some fresh salmon, lemon, and garlic from New Season.  Diced up the garlic, sliced the lemon, and then sliced some mushrooms I bought yesterday for this.

I squeezed the lemon out and then put the whole concoction on my grill.  I put some canola oil on top to give it some spreadability and grilled for 10 minutes.

I ended up having to cook the middle a few minutes longer since it was very thick in the middle of my salmon piece.

The whole thing fell apart.  So I lose points for presentation.

However, it tasted delicious.  I didn’t even need to put more lemon on.  Yes, I charred the garlic a little but it still tasted delicious. 

Things I learned:

• Buy salmon that is of consistent thickness.
• 2 cloves of garlic are better than 1
• Cooking the lemon slices with the salmon is perfect, separate to serve
• Triple the mushrooms, use larger mushrooms to avoid charring
• Charred things can still taste delicious
• To clean, put on high heat for a few minutes, the sticky pieces will peel right off after (thanks Tiayr!)
• Even if you’ve never really cooked before, don’t be scared.  It’s fun and yummy!

Using fresh ingredient undoubtedly helped.  Canola oil is a healthy alternative to butter, and the garlic accented the salmon’s taste, and took the “fishy edge” off.  Fresh fish makes a humongous difference.  I would have liked more garlic - only used one clove.  And I was way skimpy on the mushrooms.

This was easily the healthiest meal I’ve ever eaten.  Nothing in it was unhealthy, and it was cooked for the correct amount and moderation.

I think I may need to cook more.

-Lisa, on July 29, 2010 at 6:50 pm .::. Comment (0)