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!

The Goldfinches have finally discovered the Thistle seeds! It's their kryptonite!
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: 

James and I split all choices between us and they were all delicious! What a treat!
And to top everything off, we all received an envelope at parting that contained a very nice bonus. No complaints about this 'boss'!

Eh, lets see, what else? Oh yeah, I got new dishes! I know, not quite world-shattering but in our little world every little thing counts.
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 went to a special foot-store first but after an hour of measuring and giving me their sales-spiel, they wanted to charge me $1200 for some insoles!! Well, no-way-Jose! Hence the 'expensive' Dr Scholls who cost me a whopping $49.
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 ..

It was a foggy day last Saturday when we went to Sheridan, a small town about 45 minutes south of us, for a visit to Bret and Serena, our landlords, who had invited us for lunch.
They moved there about a year ago from the house that Doug and Brenda are now renting, although they kept their business in Newberg, at the property we're parked at right now.
Sheridan is a very small, rural town and they live on the outskirts, at the top of a 34 acres (!) piece of land sloping down in front of them, which gives them a beautiful view of rolling pastures and woodlands and even a distant view of the mountains!



We had a great time visiting, got a tour of their beautiful house (very reminiscent of our house in Skyforest, but a lot larger), had a great lunch (pull-apart pork with a layered salad and peach pie for desert!) and talked for a long time about everything and anything.

This is the view towards the house (it's only just visible there, a little right from the middle) from one of the ponds, about halfway down the slope

Afterwards Bret took us for  a tour of their beautiful property in their quad. There are several ponds, barns and large meadows, one of which they planted with Christmas trees last spring. It's something Bret wants to continue to 'do' when he retires from his roofing business.
Unfortunately, because of the drought they lost almost all of them! They'll try again this year, although getting seedlings is a little bit of a problem due to the recent forest fires ...

OK, what else .. oh, right, there was this .. James' Birthday!

Look at that handsome old fart!

We went for happy hour to the Golden Valley Brewery and Restaurant in McMinnville, which is advertized as a 'sprawling brewpub with its own garden & cattle ranch, serving housemade beers & upscale pub grub'.