Tag Archives: Vodka

More flowers and growing things

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June, 2023


More flowers and growing things!

From walks through Portland, to my own balcony, everything seems to be growing wild this year. It’s been sunny, it’s been hot, there’s been rain and cold days… the weather’s been all over the place, but the one constant is that the plants keep struggling upward to the sky.

My hops vines weren’t even sprouted when I went to Dublin, and on my return they’d shot up nearly 3ft. By May, I’d already had to re-layer them at least once… and now in June, they’ve created a thick wall between me and the rest of the world… exactly as planned.

Roses are crowning, the sky is staying bright later, and the sunsets are as glorious as ever.


It’s going to be a beautiful year.

20-Feb-2016, A fancy dinner in Hood River

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Saturday night, 20-Feb-2016

 

I’d spend the day puttering around Portland.  Stopping in at some restaurants, some shops, and generally working to get some random stuff done and some errands dealt with.  Most of those errands revolved around making a fancy-ass dinner.

Why?  Why not?  That’s basically all I can say, since I didn’t have a specific reason for wanting to go full ham on dinner.  But really – what sort of reason do you need?

Since real fun of the dinner was prepping and eating, I’ll give a quick list-off of the menu and plan…

 

Appetizer: Stirling Caviar, served on small biscuits with two flavors of Vodka (a Polish wheatgrass, and a Portland dry)

Entree: Filet Mignon in a heavy cream sauce, per a recipe I’ve already posted.  This is actually the second time I’ve tried to cook this in Oregon… but the first time kind of ended poorly, when I misjudged how hot the pan had gotten and thus flambe’d a bit hotter than I should have…

On the side, we had zucchini and sauteed kale.  Though really, after the Caviar and steak it was just secondary 😛

Dessert: We didn’t really have room for dessert, but I think there was ice cream or something?  Or wait!  No!  I had picked up a bottle of Scotch – 12 year Macallan single malt, to be precise.  Fancy dinner calls for a fancy digestif 🙂

(Ed note: See https://talesfromthehutt.com/2015/02/28/cooking-a-new-recipe-flambe-included/)

 

Hanging out in Tulsa with Dave and Jigs!

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Hanging out in Tulsa with Dave and Jigs!

02-Jun, 03-Jun & 04-Jun, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday

 

 

Tuesday, 02-Jun-2015

  • Arrive after the long drive, and meet up with Dave at the house – he got out of work early, so we can hang out and chill. Once Jigs gets home, we pile into the car and head out onto the town… it’s crazy, but I’ve still never really been “out on the town” in Tulsa.
  • So, we head into town! Dinner is some excellent BBQ from a food truck, then we meet up with a friend of theirs and hang out at “The Yeti”, which is an awesome bar right near the food truck. We get pictures of us taken with the yeti (which is a huge statue) by a group of really cute girls… damn. I should have asked them to come with us. I always choke at the last minute…
  • But so we move along to a Vodka bar, where Jig and Dave know the owner. We have a drink there and play connect 4 – I lose the first, then win 2 in a row. Because I’m awesome, and learned. The trick to the game? Distract them! Talk and talk and gesture and make noises, ’till they don’t notice the patterns!
  • There’s an 80s arcade bar! Ohh man! I freaking love arcades! Yeah, ok, we stopped at another bar first but who cares? The arcade one is my favorite: they’ve got skee ball, fighting games, even TRON. Which is super hard, I learn. I could not beat Tron. But they have free tokens if you’re drinking, so we play as many games as we want. Baller.
  • Now that it’s super late and I’m dying, we head back home, and I crash. In a solid bed, finally!!!

 

 

Wednesday, 03-Jun-2015

  • By the time I wake up, Jig and Dave have already headed to work. Or, I should say that they’ve left by the time I get out of bed. They did wake me up to say goodbye, but I went back to sleep pretty immediately. So I relax and chill for a bit and put together everything that needs to get put together.
  • Snack and some coffee! I’ve missed having a kitchen so much…
  • I start the “day off” by heading to Home Depot, to fix up the back window a bit better. Gorilla tape out the wazoo! One roll of heavy-duty, four rolls of clear Maritime sealing tape seal the deal (heh, get it?)… but it does take over 2 hours of taping to deal with it all.
  • But with my main chore finished, I head back to the house and make a few calls to finish up my to-do list. Then I just relax for a while ’till Dave gets home from drill.
  • Since she had to work late, we meet Jigs at a Sushi place for dinner… which is amazing! Great view of downtown Tulsa, and excellent sushi. Softshell crab, spicy, everything that you could want; they have. Seriously… why does the midwest always have the best sushi? I don’t get it…

  • Finish up eating, and then head downtown for some other bars! Hit up Woodys… which is an ok place. Not ideal though, a little too bro-ish. But we have a drink, and then move along.
  • Head across the street to Arnie’s bar – it’s an “Irish Pub” that actually does a pretty good job of it. Though the shuffleboard table is a little strange. We meet up with a friend of theirs, and hang out for a while; It’s got a back porch, so we’re outside… and that makes it amazing, in my book.
  • The party lasts a while, but it does have to wind down eventually… so we do head out.
  • Back at the ranch, Jig, Dave and I do our final toasts – I’m leaving in the morning, though it’ll probably be after they’ve left for work. So this is the last chance… We don’t crash though – I hang out with Jigs on the back porch. We chat, chill, and catch up with everything. Life keeps moving, but it’s always amazing to me how well I still get along with my best friends. Everything in the world can change, but we still all synch up pretty damn well.
  • Sleep

 

Thursday, 04-Jun-2015

  • Up and at ’em! Dave and Jig did get out of the house before me, but I pack the car up quickly to make up for the time lost to napping.
  • But now that it’s all set up, I’m not actually in much of a rush. So I slow up, and hang out for a bit. Have a cup of coffee and a Bean burger. Enjoy the road, so to speak. And THEN I head out onto the open road again.