As a quick departure from the words-heavy posts that I’ll be making, regarding my preparations and move out of the United States, here are a few quick pictures of some of the more interesting meals I’ve been having during the days while I’m not at work.
I have a lot of planning to do, but I’ve learned that cerebral work like that requires time away from the screen to succeed. Time for my brain to process what I’m working on, notice patterns, and connect dots to find inconsistencies or weak links in the plan. When I don’t, things go wrong. To make sure they go right, I take walks and eat sandwiches. Or gorge on dinosaur chicken nuggets.
I sip Lattes too, of course. I am still in Oregon, after all.
Simple and Delicious, right? Grilled cheese… yeah, I have good memories of Grilled Cheese sandwiches, mainly from the early days of NUHOC. Cleaning up the loj, stacking firewood, cleaning chimneys just for the excuse to climb up the roof and practice rope-work to rig up a safety system… then everyone running inside to gorge on massive piles of grilled cheese sandwiches, stacked next to a huge vat of tomato soup.
Good times.
I found a new recipe, though – this one, instead of sticking with the traditional American Cheese, mixes it up by making a custom blend. I was a bit intimidated, I admit, which is why it took me this long to actually make the sandwich.
And dang, I wish I hadn’t waited this long. It was GOOD!
The cheese mix:
12 ounces cheese, fresh grated: 4 ounces sharp cheddar, 3 ounces of guiere, 3 ounces young gouda, and 2 ounces of parmesan. Melted with 1 tablespoon powdered gelatin, 1 tablespoon water, and 4oz of evaporated milk. Then cooled on a baking tray and sliced into squares.
Weekend of 04-Sept-2023 – Friday, 01-Sept-2023 through Monday, 04-Sept-2023
I didn’t really labor, over labor day. I’d spent the last few weekends in the woods exploring, and felt the need to relax and recenter myself a bit before the coming few backpacking adventures. I had three big backpacking trips lined up – two days in Goat Rocks, then three days in the Alpine Lakes, then four days in the Wallowas.
It’s important to balance rest and adventure, so thus – a weekend of rest.
I didn’t stay in the whole time, of course. I mean… I’m kinda antsy, so laying on the couch wasn’t quite in the cards… though I did try to maximize the couch time as best I could, to give myself some legit rest time before the next few weekends.
I started off with Brunch, because clearly Brunch is the best way to start a long weekend… as evinced by the capitalization of Brunch.
Then a long roadtrip, driving south past Salem, around Bend, to Mt. Hood, and back to Wilsonville. I stopped to fly the drone a bit, stretch my legs, and even swing the sword around. I explored, appreciated the rumble of the engine, saw a beautiful sunset, and alternated between listening to music and embracing the silence.
Saturday I rested, hit the gym a bit, and went out to dinner. I couldn’t tell you exactly why, but Labor Day weekend marked a turning point for me in Wilsonville… I felt the drive to explore some nearby restaurants, and Saturday felt like a Mexican day… which found me staring down a massive plate of enchiladas paired with a margarita the size of my head and a delicious bowl of fried ice cream for the little sweet tooth I have.
Sunday and Monday brought more relaxation and more fun meals – I painted one of the figurines that I’d bought ages back, walked to the grocery store to pick up some steak, and even did dinner with my neighbors – finally watching Stand By Me with them! Such a great movie… and definitely helped prepare me for backpacking (and avoiding leeches)!
