Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Grampa’s Dog Damien

Jeff_and_Damien

When Damien was a puppy, he learned the joys of sitting in someone’s lap. This is something he never grew out of, even as he grew larger than 100 lbs. Unfortunately for him, most people didn’t want him to sit on their lap. I was the only one small enough that he could knock me over and sit in my lap. See how happy he is?

I visited Grampa Slim this past weekend and he gave me this picture. We had a good time.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Rice, Rice, & Coconut Cream

Who ever knew that coconut milk separates into milk and cream just like cow’s milk does?20100913 095

Today I made rice balls with General Tso beef inside them. The black rice speckled balls are no different from the white balls; they just have added black rice for fanciness. These turned out really well. All you do is make Onigiri like I’ve posted the recipe for before and form the ball in a mug so you can make a hole for the meat before putting in the last of the rice and closing up the ball. Then dump into your hand and shape it. It really is sticky when you’re done. It might be best to grill it afterward or just plan on eating it with utensils.

The black rice desert with coconut cream turned out ok, but I would do it more traditionally next time. I just used the first recipe I found and didn’t do enough research. It would have tasted better. I’ll post the recipe the way I would make it next time.

I ended up spending hours in the kitchen, but that’s because I wasn’t so organized and I was doing other things in the middle, like dishes. In the future, it won’t take me so long to make these things.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Rock Climbing with an Owl

2010-09-04 08.38.52

Pictured on the right are my friends John and Jardan. John is clinging to the cliff for dear life while Jardan belays for him. I did the lead climbing, which means I got to go up the face of the mountain and attach the rope to eyelets every few feet until I got to the top and attached the rope there. I didn’t fall while I was lead climbing but I did fall on my second time going up. I try riskier holds when I’m only going to fall a few inches instead of falling a few feet past my last eyelet.

You might remember our friend the owl who used to visit sometimes when Tamara and I lived in an apartment a few miles south of this mountain. He was hanging out in the hollow of a rock watching us climb. I only had my phone and not my camera, so I didn’t get a very good picture of him. The guys said that he was peeking out of his hollow trying to figure out what I was doing when I went up the first time.

Below the ledge where we belay, there is a lot of gravel and loose rocks down the slope. I decided to go down there to pick up a water bottle we had dropped, but the closer I got the fa

rther it slid down the gravel. Soon I was riding a rock slide down the side of the mountain in pursuit of this bottle. I did grab the bottle and a couple of other pieces of trash besides, but by that point it was much easier to go down the mountain to the next trail than to fight a rock slide up to our trail. Resume the rock slide ride.

At one point I lost my balance. You know there might be something wrong with you if while losing your balance in a rock slide your first thought is, “Oh no! My trash…” I fell on my trash, but I wasn’t hurt. Neither was it, though it was soon to be thrown away. I slid to the trail after that without further incident.

These are my pictures of the owl. He’s near the upper-center of the picture, just to the right of where we were climbing.