a dutch oven experience

we had our first dutch oven cooking experience last weekend. we opted to go with something easy...just a little peach cobbler. actually it turned out to be a whole lot of peach cobbler (i think we tripled the batch), but we wanted to have enough. it turned out really well, and was very tasty. this weekend, we're going to try our hand at teriyaki chicken. i'm excited about that one!

escalante memorial day weekend take 3

Friday
We left town around 4 and headed south. The drive seemed quicker than I remembered it being, but it also might have helped that we stopped in Torrey for dinner. We found an affordable burger place, which isn’t easy to find around those parts. They even had 99 cent ice cream cones. So, after eating our burgers and fries, we each had an ice cream cone. Then we each had a second ice cream cone!
We found out about a cowboy poetry event going on in town, but it wasn’t really happening by the time we moseyed over there. We opted to keep going on down the road.

We stayed the night at our trusty off-the-side-of-the-road place right inside Escalante. We pulled in after dark and got things set up in the dark, which is trickier, but not too difficult. The stars were bright and beautiful. We got to bed around 10:30.


Saturday
We woke up around 6:30 and got things packed up. W ran up the nearby slick rock mountain for awhile while we got the tent put away. He’s quite a mountain goat. We drove in to Escalante town to enjoy the community flag-raising ceremony, but mostly the Sons of the Pioneers pancake breakfast. The flag raising was actually pretty interesting. Apparently, when the pioneers first settled Escalante they didn’t have a US flag, but they wanted to celebrate the 4th of July properly. They were at a loss until one of them decided they could raise an Indian blanket as their flag.
The pancake breakfast was good (although there were a lot of people there this year—so no seconds). We chatted with some of the locals for awhile, including the couple who let us stay in their basement two years ago.

Once breakfast was over, we drove over through the monument again with the hope we’d be able to (finally) score a campsite at the Calf Creek Campground. Shortly before we arrived, B felt positive we’d get a site…and he was right. We’ve never been able to get a site there, and it’s such a beautiful campground. We happily set up our tent and then headed out again.

This time, it was time for fishing. B had figured out a fairly unmarked shortcut down to Boulder Creek. We heard there was good trout fishing down there, but were a bit nervous about the shortcut. The alternative was hiking 6.5 miles along sandy trails to arrive at Boulder Creek. So we parked alongside the highway and just started off. On the way, we did see some cairns, but we set up others to help us get back. The hike was a little tricky since a lot of it was on slick rock, but it was only about a mile and surprisingly easy. I can’t believe anyone hikes the 6.5 miles to get to where we went when this was so easy.

The spot was nice: the creek running through sandstone rock walls with trees and shrubbery alongside the creek. B and W had good fishing luck pretty much from the beginning; I, on the other hand, did not. We fished for probably 2 hours before I had any luck. I really enjoy fishing, but I really enjoy it when I’m catching something. When everyone is catching fish, and I’m not, it’s not as fun. But, on our way back, I found a spot with some big rocks in the creek. I positioned myself on the rocks and cast. Not surprisingly, I didn’t have a bite. Then I decided to walk out in to the creek and fish from there into a turbulent pool. I did that, and almost immediately caught three fish—and two of them were pretty big! Oh it felt good, and the water felt amazing—not too cold, just calming and fresh.


the tadpoles that b and w caught in one of the bathtubs (see above picture).






So were able to head back with 8 fish, and with all of us having caught enough to feel good. We went back to the campsite and had a lovely fish fry (we cooked the fish in foil actually). And the fish were good. We also decided to but some bananas in foil and cook them, and that was delicious too. We put nutella on top of the cooked bananas.

That night, we drove back in to Escalante the town to attend their annual community play. This one was about the Hole in the Rock—how it came to pass and the group who made it down that crazy passageway. The play was not done especially well, and the sound system often didn’t work, but that’s all part of the charm of their plays. We had a good time and enjoyed the community spirit of it all. One of our favorite lines from the play was “Stick-i-titoody, that’s our duty!”If you can imagine, too, they sang a song with that as the main line in it. So good.





Sunday
We got up and went to an hour of church in Escalante town, and then drove off to see the other part of the monument (the whole part past Escalante town). It was good to explore that area, and good to realize that we always go to the best parts of the monument. We drove all the way to Bryce NP, but opted not to go in since we didn’t have much time and it was $25. We did see some amazing red stone hoodoos though. We opted, instead, to go to Kodachrome State Park and do some poking around there. We went into a couple box canyons, hiked around some, William looked for lizards to catch, etc. We also walked out to an arch—Shakespeare Arch, and I’m still not sure why it’s called that. It did make me wonder.

On our way back to the campsite, B and W looked for rocks while I regained vision in my eyes (the sand blowing in the air can do a number on your vision), and then I took a nap or a rest. I didn’t sleep so much as have a nice relaxing rest. B and W found a geocaching box on their adventures, which they thought was cool.

That evening W ran around the campground (he loved doing that). We also went for a late evening walk and found ourselves surrounded by bats. They were swirling all around us, which was a little disconcerting, but also pretty cool. W also found a scorpion and caught his first lizard of the trip. Oh boy was he excited about the lizard. After spending hours trying to catch them, it was nice to finally have his efforts pay off.







Monday
W and B got up and fished around in Calf Creek. I got up shortly thereafter (after my hips couldn’t handle the hard ground anymore) and took down the tent and looked at birds. Oh the Calf Creek Campground is so nice. It’s wonderful to just sit and observe the natural environment there—the rocks, the creek, the birds, etc.

Once the fishing was over, we headed out to hike the Upper Calf Creek Falls trail. It started off very unassuming—parking along the side of the road at an unmarked trail head, slick rock with shrubbery growing in the cracks at the beginning of the trail, but it was a great hike. The falls were amazing—so lush and surprising in the middle of that desert environment. Then above the falls were two pools of water. The second one was so inviting that W and B decided to get in. Of course the water wasn’t warm and the air wasn’t all that warm either, but they got in. Once B got his full body in, he wanted to make sure I took a quick picture of him. He was quite insistent that I be quick!

We stayed alongside the pool for awhile—B drying off, me feeling warm and dry, and W running after lizards. On the hike back, W caught his second lizard—this one bigger than the first one. We carried it back to the trail head and said sayonara to it and the monument.











It’s always sad to finish a vacation, but it was a good time. There are always so many unexpected surprises when we go down there, and this year was no exception. Case in point, on the way home we stopped in Torrey to go to a rock shop for William (and maybe grab some lunch), only to find out that the power was out and basically nothing was open. So we couldn’t get the rattlesnake menu item we’d seen on our way down, and we couldn’t get W any arrowheads. We’ll have to try again next year.

10 great years!

b and i just celebrated our 10-year anniversary. to celebrate, we wanted to go up into a nearby canyon again to go hiking and fishing, but that wasn't in the cards (the water levels here are so high). so we opted to go on a di tour and then eat out at the pie in slc. brian ate there years ago, but it was my first time. it was really good pizza. we had a great time together.

we are very lucky. we are so happy together, love spending time together, and are best friends. thankfully, we met each other nearly 12 years ago...brian walking on to campus for class and me walking on to campus for breakfast. thanks to those few minutes we talked, walking to campus, brian and i got together. of course, we needed to re-meet at the punk-band show and then at the college dance and then go to the hogi yogi together...but we did. oh yes, we did!

so much

It’s been a long time so this may very well be a long blog post. A few final thoughts on Berlin, Berliner smoothies are nothing special (think juice), German chocolate is good, H&M styles now are not my style (sort-of bad 80s style), and it’s a very long flight from Berlin to SLC. It was good to get back home by the end of that flight.

The week I got back was pretty jam packed. We had a baby shower for B’s sister Whitney who is having a baby soon. B’s parents were in town for Whitney’s graduation—there were a lot of graduation festivities. There was lots of good time to talk to B’s parents. We also got to see our good friend Katy, who we haven’t seen for nearly 3 years. We got to hang out a few times and meet her daughter. It felt like old times, which was wonderful. I loved those old times. One thing I remember about that week is thinking “I’ve had Indian food the past three Fridays in a row.” That’s a delicious thought, but I do need to buckle down again. So much has centered around food lately!

The week after that is a blank to me. I think I was mostly trying to catch up on things.

The following week, I took quite a bit of time off because we had a little girl stay with us for the week. We are looking at having another child move in with us. If things progress, we’ll post an update. But it was a good week. She is a fun girl, and she and W got along famously. We went up to Logan on Saturday. We hit the zoo, the cheese factory, the DI, a surprisingly fun Cinco de Mayo festival, and a great drive in the canyon. We actually made our way all the way up to Bear Lake. It was my first time to the Caribbean of the Mountain West. It was different than I expected (I imagined a very green Oregon-type lake), but it was so blue.

b with some shaggy inkcap mushrooms we found at the cinco de mayo festival. we picked some and then spread the remains around our yard later that day.















Mother’s Day was Sunday. I still find MD a little strange, I have to admit. It was nice though. I got some treats at church, we picked some redbud blossoms, and ate enchiladas (with redbud blossoms on top!). A very good day.

Then, Wednesday was my birthday (see what I mean by it’s been a busy few weeks?). I turned 30. Brian and I went on a run in the morning, which was so nice. It was great to go out with B, and the air was just so invigorating. It was so fresh, and the mountains looked beautiful. After the run, I did some work, but then went out and did some birthday shopping. In the afternoon, I got to talk to my sisters, my good friend Liz, and my sister-in-law Whitney. Then we went out for Japanese food for dinner, which was nice. Then cards and presents. Brian got me the perfect present: a long-lost Thoreau text recently published called “Wild Fruits.” And then B’s card was perfect. I’ve always known it’s great to be with a literary, creative-writer guy. Brian read me a poem he wrote about a week after we met. He’s such a good thinker and writer. Then we closed the bday celebrations with blackberry brownies and chocolate ice cream.





Next week will be good too…our 10 year anniversary is on Tuesday. We’re going to try our hand at hiking-fishing again. It seems like the weather should be good; hopefully, the fishing will be too. Oh I’m lucky. W asked B the other day who his best friend is, and B said “Norma.” How nice is that? I'm seriously so blessed.

london berlin, but mostly berlin

i am in berlin right now. really, i should be going to bed (it's 12:36am) since i have an imporant demo with some clients tomorrow, but for now i don't feel too sleepy. and how often will i have a chance to blog whilst in germany?

last saturday i left to fly to london. it was a long trip via jfk, but thankfully i had a good book to read. i was reading "the year of magical thinking" by joan didion. and i watched two movies while flying over the atlantic.

i'll write more about the london part of things later, but right now i will focus on berlin since i'm here and i should get to bed soon.

i got to berlin on wednesday morning. my first order of business (since i didn't have any actual business i needed to attend to) was to figure out the underground and ride it to schloss charlottenberg. it's a royal residence within the city. of course, now it's a museum/site to visit. it was great. i really enjoyed walking through it and seeing the rooms. the rococo-ness of a lot of it was pretty overwhelming, but neat. i saw some original fete galante paintings by people like watteau that i studied as a stundent. i also saw the original david of napolean on his horse. it was cool. and the gardens in the back are quite striking.

walking through the schloss neighborhood was neat too. there were lots of nice buildings to look at.

then i went to new national gallery, which is a modern art museum. the current exhibit is called "modern times" (after the charlie chaplin film), and it was good. i had to go through it rather quickly, but i always enjoy modern art. they had some really great pieces. i again saw some i studied as a student (nole, picasso, etc). i liked the klee ones they had and there were some propagandistic-seeming russian ones that were interesting.



after leaving the museum i headed back to the underground station, but saw a sign that said brandenberg tor this way. i figured tor meant gate and walked over to see the brandenburg gate. it isn't as big as i imagined it would be (although it's certainly not tiny), but it is beautiful. even in the rain the statue on top is extremely bright.

i meandered a bit through the holocaust memorial on way way back to the underground. after getting a bit confused on the underground i got off and took a cab to the indonesian restaurant i wanted to go to. it was nice there. i spoke to a nice man who sounded american, but was a norwegian who had gone to college in the us and now lived in germany. he seemed self conscious of his english, but i would have guessed he was american. the food was good. i had satay, gado strips, and beef rendang (it was a combo platter). it also came with fried duck, but i have to say i didn't enjoy that--too greasy. then i had sweet black rice with coconut and banana for dessert. the rice was a little crunchy, but good. it had a good flavor. i've always wanted to eat black rice--so this was a good excuse to do so.

after that, i came to the hotel and went to bed.

today was filled with client meetings--from 9-6. there is a nato meeting here now, which means that traffic is bad (they've closed a lot of roads off). that forced the taxi to take a more scenic route--so i got to see lots more of berlin than i would have otherwise (thanks, nato). afterwards, a german colleague of mine and i went out to eat a really nice rustic german restaurant. there were old wooden tables with old carts and wagons hanging up from the ceiling and little candles at everyone's tables. it was so charming and cozy inside. we had a nice german meal--all of my colleague's choosing. i got to have some good soups, meat balls, fried potatos, and a pork with mushrooms dish. it was all really good. if i would have had any room i would have gotten a dessert, but there was no room.

we walked back to the hotel and enjoyed a nice view of the river. i don't know which river, but a river. it's been cold here, but it's still nice to be out and about.

ok, now i need to go off to bed.

student of the week

w was chosen as student of the week for his school class. he was chosen because of his good behavior and friendly and kind attitude. we're proud of him!

he chose 11 pictures to take in to hang on a board in the classroom. a lot of them involve animals: cutthroat trout, red-eared sliders, deer, lizards, and tropical fish. can you tell he likes animals? also he brought in some of his favorite things: two arrowheads, a shark's tooth, and the book of mormon (one of his favorite books). what a good kid.

a much awaited pawpaw post

brian had the good idea awhile ago that we could try our hand at growing pawpaws here. it seems it could work. with lots of hope, we're going to order 4 pawpaw trees. we're going to get the following varieties: sunflower, wells, ksu atwood, and the susquehanna.

we'll make a post once we have them (of course), but in the meantime keep us in mind when you cross your fingers. we'll need all the finger-crossing we can get.

...also, we have an idea that maybe we'll try growing a pomegranate tree too! it seems that we could just move it inside when it starts getting too cold outside. but how cool would it be to have our own pomegranates! and then a 5-6' pomegranate tree inside during the winter. life would be almost too sweet if we could have our own supply of pawpaws and pomegranates.