Mount hood as seen from a hazelnut orchard in Dundee |
Although
it's not snowing (yet) winter is definitely here. We've had frost for
about 5 nights in a row now with temperatures around 27/29F (-2/-3C)!
As
you can see above, the days are gorgeous though, bright blue and sunny
skies with temperatures in the high 40s. I've been sitting outside for a
little every day where that sun even feels hot on your face!
My hummingbird feeder even freezes at night, I keep forgetting to bring it in so I have to thaw it every morning.
I keep re-filling all my other feeders too, everybody is extra hungry with this cold!
And the squirrels are now coming over with the whole family in tow ...
If
you look closely you can see 4 of them on the tree (2 below and 2
above) but I've seen as many as six, all trying to get their share of
peanuts and corn!
I have very little to
show or talk about for this last week I'm afraid. Everybody is holed up
and bundled up and January always seems such a quiet month, after all
the hustle and bustle of the holidays of November and December.
We
did go out for an excellent dinner though! Doug to took us all to the
Joe Palmer House restaurant in Dayton for the yearly 'employee
appreciation dinner'.
We'd been there once before with him and really enjoyed it but it's a little above our pay-grade to go there by ourselves.
One of the fun things about this restaurant is that all recipes are made with mushrooms.
Yes. All. Even the desserts!
It's a set menu of 5 (or 10) courses but you have a choice of two for each:
Mushroom Madness Tasting Menu
5 courses, $95 per person
First Course
Heidi’s Three Mushroom Tart* Slippery Jacks, Porcini (Boletus edulis), and Button Mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus)
or
Joe’s Wild Mushroom Soup*purée of Slippery Jack Mushrooms (Suillus luteus) with a sunken quenelle of mushroom risotto
Second Course
Escargots with truffle garlic butter, Black Trumpet Mushrooms (Craterellus cornucopioides), and lemon-lime emulsion
or
Beef Tartare** Truffle-infused with house-baked brioche and pickled straw mushrooms (Volvariella volvacea)
Third Course
Angel Hair oPasta Dungeness Crab, & Lobster Mushrooms (Hypomyces lactifluorum) in mushrooms and cream
or
Beef Stroganoff* with wild mushrooms over seasoned rice
Fourth Course
Duck Breast
Chinese 5 spice scented with Marion Berry & foie gras purée, and seared apple (add pan-seared foie gras $20)
or
Sturgeon marinated in cilantro and lime juice, with chanterelle mushrooms and served over curry quinoa & cayenne aioli
Dessert
Candy Cap Mushroom Crème Brûlée (Lactarius fragilis)
or
Trio of Seasonal Sorbets
or
”Mushroom Hunting on a plate” (Chocolate Mousse)
Every dish is beautifully prepared and served. I forgot to take pictures but the soup and tart and dessert looked like this:
And to top everything off, we all received an envelope at parting that contained a very nice bonus. No complaints about this 'boss'!
And look at this colorful bunch, aren't they cute?
Every time I open the cupboard, I'm greeted by this cheerful lot ..
Of course they look even better with something on it. Like home-made Blueberry-raspberry Crisp!
Of course we really don't need the calories, especially after all the holiday extravagances, but what to do with all those frozen berries. Right?
I wish I could walk it off, but my foot is still not cooperating so I'm still 'landlocked.
My mom told me a story though about her neighbor who had similar symptoms and who got rid of it by doing some specific exercises (related to SI or sacroiliac joints), so thus encouraged I've started to do some.
I also bought some 'better' (more expensive) insoles from Dr Scholl. They are somewhat 'costume-made', that is to say you step on one of those Foot Mapping machines in the pharmacy of the grocery store, and after 5 minutes of measuring the machine spews out which soles to get.
I actually really dodged a bullet there because when I googled the store later I found out that the soles this 'chain' sells you are no better (or worse) than any $50 sole available anywhere.
I call that criminal! Once again .. buyer beware!
OK. That's it for this week. If the weather stays nice we might drive up to the lodge at Mt Hood for a day in the snow, but there's a storm coming in on Sunday so it all depends when the weather turns. We'll see ..