Great trail in the forest.
Great view.
Great Company.
The rest of the pictures can be found here.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Angel's Rest
Last weekend I had a visitor at home and took him on a hike on Saturday with a group of local friends (while M. was slaving away working on our escort and table cards in Seattle with K.). I picked Angel's rest because it was one of the few short hikes I had not done in the gorges and the view from atop was supposed to be beautiful. I wasn't disappointed, the weather was amazingly sunny and warm, the trail up nice and steep and the view... amazing. Only downside: it was a bit too popular.
Great trail in the forest.
Great view.
Great Company.
The rest of the pictures can be found here.
Great trail in the forest.
Great view.
Great Company.
The rest of the pictures can be found here.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Daylight saving time
Last week has been pretty busy at work but the main event is that we switched to summer time. The benefits are two-fold, first we're getting to see sunrises again in the morning, second it is still bright daylight when we drive back from work and that is very nice !
Last week we started receiving some of our wedding presents. Among them was a nice "terrine" from Le Creuset that I put to good use last weekend and baked my first pate ! We had visitors over for dinner and they seemed to enjoy it, we did and after distributing slices around to other friends it's already almost finished. It was such a success that I'll do more.
The recipe was as following:
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 2 shallots shopped
- parsley chopped
- juniper berries (genievre)
- 1 nutmeg grated
- 1 glass Calvados
- 1 glass white wine
- 0.5kg chicken livers
- 0.5kg ground chicken meat
- 0.5kg ground pork meat
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp sour cream
- salt, pepper
Mix ground meats, vegs and spices with the wine and calvados and marinate them, marinate the livers separately. Let it rest for a bit (1 day would probably be better but I didn't). Mix everything together and fill the terrine, let it rest again (goal is to get things well packed). Prepare a "bain marie" in the oven at 400C (a large pan filled of water that you heat before putting the terrine in). Cook it for 90 min. Let it cool down slowly with weights sitting on it to pack it tightly, refrigerate. Serve the next day (it was actually better 2 days after than the next day). Yumm.
Last week we started receiving some of our wedding presents. Among them was a nice "terrine" from Le Creuset that I put to good use last weekend and baked my first pate ! We had visitors over for dinner and they seemed to enjoy it, we did and after distributing slices around to other friends it's already almost finished. It was such a success that I'll do more.
The recipe was as following:
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 2 shallots shopped
- parsley chopped
- juniper berries (genievre)
- 1 nutmeg grated
- 1 glass Calvados
- 1 glass white wine
- 0.5kg chicken livers
- 0.5kg ground chicken meat
- 0.5kg ground pork meat
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp sour cream
- salt, pepper
Mix ground meats, vegs and spices with the wine and calvados and marinate them, marinate the livers separately. Let it rest for a bit (1 day would probably be better but I didn't). Mix everything together and fill the terrine, let it rest again (goal is to get things well packed). Prepare a "bain marie" in the oven at 400C (a large pan filled of water that you heat before putting the terrine in). Cook it for 90 min. Let it cool down slowly with weights sitting on it to pack it tightly, refrigerate. Serve the next day (it was actually better 2 days after than the next day). Yumm.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Portland Japanese Garden
Yesterday was a beautiful spring day in Portland, the warm sunshine was enticing us to spend more time out. We had convinced Ian and Janel to tag come with us to the Japanese Garden in the hope to see the Sakura trees all pink (they were originally headed for the Chinese Garden). Once we got there I was a bit disappointed because there was only one Sakura flowering in the entire garden, but it seemed we came during the most popular day of the year. The garden was swarmed by photographers with tripods and SLR, snapping every corner of the peaceful garden to death. Ian and myself proceeded to imitate them while M and J were going around enjoying the place.
The light was great in the shady areas. It looks quieter on the pictures than it actually was unfortunately.
The Camelias were all out flowering.
We finished the afternoon in the Rose Garden, unfortunately the roses had just been pruned, but it was still enjoyable as we were surrounded by all the other flowers.
We finished the day going to the theater to watch Alice in Wonderland (Johnny Depp is great there, as usual).
The light was great in the shady areas. It looks quieter on the pictures than it actually was unfortunately.
The Camelias were all out flowering.
We finished the afternoon in the Rose Garden, unfortunately the roses had just been pruned, but it was still enjoyable as we were surrounded by all the other flowers.
We finished the day going to the theater to watch Alice in Wonderland (Johnny Depp is great there, as usual).
Monday, March 01, 2010
Already Spring ?
It's been a few days that we've noticed on the side of the roads that trees seemed to believe spring has started. We can see all over the place cherry trees fully flourishing, almost insulting the winter with their pinkness. This afternoon I decided I would go on a walk around the neighborhood to try to capture some of the spring spirit. I didn't have to go very far, right around the corner there was this little plaza with a modern urban "art" sculpture surrounded by cherry blossoms. A woman and her dog were reading there enjoying the view.
You can even see our apartment in the background, we're living on the facing corner at the 10th floor of the greenish tower in the background.
The sculpture is entitled Leland #1, and I have to admit I'd never have thought of taking its picture if it weren't for the surrounding pink.
Everybody was walking their dog around or were enjoying the air there and felt quite chatty so I ended up in more than one conversation. I probably chatted 15 minutes with that 88 years old tomorrow man that was telling me how he had never seen spring that early here and he had been around for quite a while (he talked me about his first memories of Oregon when he came from Ohio in the 1940s). Like him, I find it hard to imagine living in Portland without a view on Mount Hood...
You can even see our apartment in the background, we're living on the facing corner at the 10th floor of the greenish tower in the background.
The sculpture is entitled Leland #1, and I have to admit I'd never have thought of taking its picture if it weren't for the surrounding pink.
Everybody was walking their dog around or were enjoying the air there and felt quite chatty so I ended up in more than one conversation. I probably chatted 15 minutes with that 88 years old tomorrow man that was telling me how he had never seen spring that early here and he had been around for quite a while (he talked me about his first memories of Oregon when he came from Ohio in the 1940s). Like him, I find it hard to imagine living in Portland without a view on Mount Hood...
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Walden Pond and Freedom Trail
We had planned for a long Saturday doing some tourism near and in Boston. We decided to start the day by a stop at Walden Pond, where H.D. Thoreau wrote his most known book entitled "Walden". I had never heard of it, but all the Americans with me knew who he was and most had read the book. He seems indeed like a very interesting character and maybe I'll get around to read Walden, who knows. Anyways, the place was a quiet and nice park, with fishermen ice fishing on the frozen lake and a nice trail going around to the site of Thoreau's hut.
After enjoying the weather during our short hike we headed towards downtown Boston to start the "freedom trail" at Boston Common. The trail is a mostly red brick 4km long path that goes around the 16 main historic monuments of the city. They all have a pretty strong significance in the history of the creation of the country and it was very interesting for me as I was barely remembering my superficial American history courses from High school. Compared to Portland where all we can see is less than a century old, here most of the points of interest were 3 or 4 centuries old.
The freedom trail, as if you were there.
The path starts at Boston Common the oldest Park in Town and favorite protest place and heads to the Massachusetts state House, the state capitol and seat of government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Just opposite to the state house, we stopped to look at the monument to R. Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts infantry which was the first African American regiment in the union army.
Continuing the trail we stopped at the Granary Burying Ground where several signers of the declaration of independence are buried. There are quite a few interesting stories around that cemetery but what was the most marking for me was the shape of the tombstones and what was engraved on them. Stylized skull-heads were very common and were making the place quite special.
Our next stop was King's chapel and we actually spent quite some time going around and reading about its history. It was the first time I was visiting a church that had pews organized this way in "family boxes" (and I had no idea what that word meant before as well).
After going through another adjacent graveyard and passed quickly a few monuments as hunger was starting to strike. We headed to Faneuil Hall and the Quincy market for lunch, just passing by the place of the Boston massacre, the old south meeting house, and the old state house.
After lunch we stopped at the Holocaust memorial which was, as expected quite moving. I was surprised to realize how little our companions knew about it so I ended up talking quite a bit to it. I suggest watching Night and Fog to know more than you'd actually would have wanted... I realized how much importance this took in my history courses in middle school and after and that it is not taught to the same extent here; I guess we feel a lot closer to it as we participated... The monument is made of several aligned glass chimneys all engraved with the numbers that the victims that disappeared were tattooed with. As the weather was cold, there was some smoke going up from the vents at the bottom of the chimneys making it even more if not too explicit.
Not my picture, I was probably too touched and didn't get any good one. 5 Years living in Israel probably made me more sensitive to the subject than I was before.
Union street, and classical Boston brick architecture.
More bricks and the Massachusetts bridge while headed towards north end, the Italian quarter. There we visited the Paul Revere house. This was probably our longest visit of the day and it was great to see all the details of a house from the independence period. Most of the visit was more about ethnology rather than the patriot hero himself and what he did for the country, but it was nonetheless very interesting. No pictures there, it was forbidden (and I didn't buy their postcards either).
We visited North end old church, sat in the same pew as Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 and then headed for the end of the path to see the USS Constitution on the docks and climb on Bunker Hill to see the Obelisk. It was starting to be late and the visit of the boat was closed. We could still enjoy the sunset on the docks.
Captain Prescott, near Bunker Hill's monument. Quite a few fun facts about this one, even though the battle is called bunker hill's battle, it took place on another hill ! Additionally the British won the battle, so it is a monument to a lost battle (it's funny how Waterloo monuments are in England and Austerlitz monuments are in France ;). Anyways even though the British forces won the battle, they were weakened enough after it that it did them more bad than good and eventually led them to their defeat.
After a really long day visiting, we were starting to be quite tired and decided it was time for a stop at Mike's pastry shop. I was not overly impressed by what we tasted but the pistachio macaroons (they're different from our real French macarons though). They were absolutely amazing and we ended up buying a big box and bringing it back to Portland with us. After dusk we decided to have a relaxing evening and spent the rest of our time on top of the Prudential tower in a very nice bar with live music and the kind of view you'd expect from the last floor of the tallest building of an American city with large windows. We were in great company, enjoyed the spectacular scenery, the good music and drinks and called it a night only quite late.
The rest of the picture selection is here.
After enjoying the weather during our short hike we headed towards downtown Boston to start the "freedom trail" at Boston Common. The trail is a mostly red brick 4km long path that goes around the 16 main historic monuments of the city. They all have a pretty strong significance in the history of the creation of the country and it was very interesting for me as I was barely remembering my superficial American history courses from High school. Compared to Portland where all we can see is less than a century old, here most of the points of interest were 3 or 4 centuries old.
The freedom trail, as if you were there.
The path starts at Boston Common the oldest Park in Town and favorite protest place and heads to the Massachusetts state House, the state capitol and seat of government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Just opposite to the state house, we stopped to look at the monument to R. Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts infantry which was the first African American regiment in the union army.
Continuing the trail we stopped at the Granary Burying Ground where several signers of the declaration of independence are buried. There are quite a few interesting stories around that cemetery but what was the most marking for me was the shape of the tombstones and what was engraved on them. Stylized skull-heads were very common and were making the place quite special.
Our next stop was King's chapel and we actually spent quite some time going around and reading about its history. It was the first time I was visiting a church that had pews organized this way in "family boxes" (and I had no idea what that word meant before as well).
After going through another adjacent graveyard and passed quickly a few monuments as hunger was starting to strike. We headed to Faneuil Hall and the Quincy market for lunch, just passing by the place of the Boston massacre, the old south meeting house, and the old state house.
After lunch we stopped at the Holocaust memorial which was, as expected quite moving. I was surprised to realize how little our companions knew about it so I ended up talking quite a bit to it. I suggest watching Night and Fog to know more than you'd actually would have wanted... I realized how much importance this took in my history courses in middle school and after and that it is not taught to the same extent here; I guess we feel a lot closer to it as we participated... The monument is made of several aligned glass chimneys all engraved with the numbers that the victims that disappeared were tattooed with. As the weather was cold, there was some smoke going up from the vents at the bottom of the chimneys making it even more if not too explicit.
Not my picture, I was probably too touched and didn't get any good one. 5 Years living in Israel probably made me more sensitive to the subject than I was before.
Union street, and classical Boston brick architecture.
More bricks and the Massachusetts bridge while headed towards north end, the Italian quarter. There we visited the Paul Revere house. This was probably our longest visit of the day and it was great to see all the details of a house from the independence period. Most of the visit was more about ethnology rather than the patriot hero himself and what he did for the country, but it was nonetheless very interesting. No pictures there, it was forbidden (and I didn't buy their postcards either).
We visited North end old church, sat in the same pew as Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 and then headed for the end of the path to see the USS Constitution on the docks and climb on Bunker Hill to see the Obelisk. It was starting to be late and the visit of the boat was closed. We could still enjoy the sunset on the docks.
Captain Prescott, near Bunker Hill's monument. Quite a few fun facts about this one, even though the battle is called bunker hill's battle, it took place on another hill ! Additionally the British won the battle, so it is a monument to a lost battle (it's funny how Waterloo monuments are in England and Austerlitz monuments are in France ;). Anyways even though the British forces won the battle, they were weakened enough after it that it did them more bad than good and eventually led them to their defeat.
After a really long day visiting, we were starting to be quite tired and decided it was time for a stop at Mike's pastry shop. I was not overly impressed by what we tasted but the pistachio macaroons (they're different from our real French macarons though). They were absolutely amazing and we ended up buying a big box and bringing it back to Portland with us. After dusk we decided to have a relaxing evening and spent the rest of our time on top of the Prudential tower in a very nice bar with live music and the kind of view you'd expect from the last floor of the tallest building of an American city with large windows. We were in great company, enjoyed the spectacular scenery, the good music and drinks and called it a night only quite late.
The rest of the picture selection is here.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Arrived in Boston
Monday we traveled to Boston for work and got caught in a snowstorm. Our plane circled the area for almost 2 hours until it found a window of better weather to land. On our way to the hotel we stopped in a nice oyster bar to taste all the great northeast seafood, then drove to Hudson by night in the storm. It had been quite a while I hadn't driven in so much snow, it was falling so fast that the salt was not enough to keep highways clean. The next morning, the sun was shining and our hotel parking was looking like that:
We're pretty much working all week, but are taking advantage of the evenings to hang out with Aamer. Hopefully saturday we'll get some nice weather to enjoy the visit of Boston and the Freedom Trail.
We're pretty much working all week, but are taking advantage of the evenings to hang out with Aamer. Hopefully saturday we'll get some nice weather to enjoy the visit of Boston and the Freedom Trail.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Weekend in the mountain
We just spent a 3 days weekend with a group of friends up in the mountain in Rhododendron. We skied, enjoyed the company, drank some beer while relaxing in the hot tub of the nice house we rented, and warmed up around a large fire.
There wasn't any snow at the base, but their was a lot of fresh snow up at Meadows. I guess all that rain we endured the past week actually was good for something.
We were right by the river, in the middle of the forest.
There wasn't any snow at the base, but their was a lot of fresh snow up at Meadows. I guess all that rain we endured the past week actually was good for something.
We were right by the river, in the middle of the forest.
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Gray Portland
Today was a winter day like the other, the weather was gray, the temperature was comfortable and it was not even raining. I decided to have a walk around town and decided to follow the river. I ended up mostly taking pictures of the ugly industrial part of old town. It has a different kind of charm than the rest of town. I liked the series so here it is.
Perfect location for a run.
Crack Press really ?
Finally a mood change, not...
Here I learned that Japan was next to Sweden and Germany.
Loading cement
Is it Steel Bridge or rusty bridge ?
Perfect location for a run.
Crack Press really ?
Finally a mood change, not...
Here I learned that Japan was next to Sweden and Germany.
Loading cement
Is it Steel Bridge or rusty bridge ?
Friday, February 05, 2010
HDR
This morning when I woke up and looked through the window I thought that it would be a perfect background for an HDR photo of our living room. I kind of hate the HDR (High Dynamic Range + tone mapping) effect, I usually associate it to kitsch but after someone sent me to stuckincustoms I thought I still should try as it doesn't have to be always horrible and it would entertain me for a bit. I'm not super happy with the results, but I still think it's quite interesting and it shows how our place is.
Stormy weather outside
Preparing for the Zombies attack ;).
Stormy weather outside
Preparing for the Zombies attack ;).
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Simpatica Dining Hall
Yesterday after a long and tough day I felt like doing something nice to start the weekend well, and I had received a few "dining out coupons" for my birthday so it was a perfect occasion.
Last week when looking for a brunch place I happened to learn about Simpatica dining hall, we didn't go for brunch last week because they serve it only on Sundays but I remembered they were serving dinners on Fridays and Saturdays evenings so we could try it. We also liked the concept of a restaurant that operates only for 3 meals a week, where everybody sits at the same table and where there is no menu. You arrive at 7:30 and everybody will be served the same thing at the same time. In more than 4 years of existence they've never served the same meal twice and you can know ahead the menu of the day by checking their website or subscribing to their mailing list. We were lucky to get a sit as we called barely one hour ahead.
The hall is located on the east side, kind of hidden at the end of a corridor in a building. The room is L shaped, one side is an open kitchen and the other side has the 2 tables. We were sited right next to a very friendly couple which we happened to have so much in common with that it made for fantastic company throughout the dinner. The food was simple, fresh and delicious. Their wine recommendations with each of the 4 courses was very appropriate and they were willing to split the wine glasses between each of us so we could have the perfect match for each course. I won't describe the meal as anyways you won't have the same one if you go but it was worth it. The price at 35$ a meal is not cheap, but for what you get is quite reasonable, same thing for the wines at 8$ a glass.
Last week when looking for a brunch place I happened to learn about Simpatica dining hall, we didn't go for brunch last week because they serve it only on Sundays but I remembered they were serving dinners on Fridays and Saturdays evenings so we could try it. We also liked the concept of a restaurant that operates only for 3 meals a week, where everybody sits at the same table and where there is no menu. You arrive at 7:30 and everybody will be served the same thing at the same time. In more than 4 years of existence they've never served the same meal twice and you can know ahead the menu of the day by checking their website or subscribing to their mailing list. We were lucky to get a sit as we called barely one hour ahead.
The hall is located on the east side, kind of hidden at the end of a corridor in a building. The room is L shaped, one side is an open kitchen and the other side has the 2 tables. We were sited right next to a very friendly couple which we happened to have so much in common with that it made for fantastic company throughout the dinner. The food was simple, fresh and delicious. Their wine recommendations with each of the 4 courses was very appropriate and they were willing to split the wine glasses between each of us so we could have the perfect match for each course. I won't describe the meal as anyways you won't have the same one if you go but it was worth it. The price at 35$ a meal is not cheap, but for what you get is quite reasonable, same thing for the wines at 8$ a glass.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Broder
This morning we slacked quite a bit in bed, once we finally got out we decided to go for a brunch and try out some new place. Not that we're getting tired of VQ, but some diversity never hurts. After a bit of browsing on Yelp, I settled on Broder, a Scandinavian Brunch and Breakfast place on the east side not far from our New Seasons grocery store. We headed there just before noon and found a tiny place that was packed with a gigantic waiting list. We took advantage of the nice weather to take a walk around the pretty neighborhood. We really like this area, the only inconvenient for us is that commute from their to work would probably be a bit too long :(. Anyway, after like 30 minutes we got our seats to try some pretty decent brunch. Michelle's dish was a bit too salty but mine was totally worth it.
The place was quite nice and packed with east side hipsters (my pictures aren't showing it, I was feeling uncomfortable stuffing my lens in their faces). The kitchen was just behind the bar so we could enjoy the sight of the hyperactive cooks. It was quite a relaxing time enjoying Stumptown coffee.
Once done, we stopped by next door where I got a long due haircut, then shopped at New Seasons on our way home. Quite a nice low key Saturday after a long and busy week.
The place was quite nice and packed with east side hipsters (my pictures aren't showing it, I was feeling uncomfortable stuffing my lens in their faces). The kitchen was just behind the bar so we could enjoy the sight of the hyperactive cooks. It was quite a relaxing time enjoying Stumptown coffee.
Once done, we stopped by next door where I got a long due haircut, then shopped at New Seasons on our way home. Quite a nice low key Saturday after a long and busy week.
Monday, January 04, 2010
Ski at Meadows
We originally wanted to go to ski on the 2nd but we felt kind of lazy so we postponed it. Sunday morning we weren't that much more enthusiastic but we still ended up going. We drove to Mt Hood Meadows, taking an unoptimal route for the first time (kind of wasted 20 min but it won't happen again) and realized the drive was really not bad.
Once there I was surprised by the organization of things, which is quite efficient compared to French ski resorts. You end up buying your pass and renting your gear at the same place, things are pipelined and rather fast, and very conveniently located to take the lifts. It took us probably just 15-20 minutes to get ready. We started at 11 and stopped at 5 and had a great day skiing and trying the various slopes. The resort isn't very big but it's big enough to not get bored (especially that the hardest tracks were closed so we still have a lot to see in further visits).
The landscape was quite nice, with the sun peaking once in a while from under the clouds. Here you can see Mt Adams. You can see the pictures of the happy skiers here.
Once there I was surprised by the organization of things, which is quite efficient compared to French ski resorts. You end up buying your pass and renting your gear at the same place, things are pipelined and rather fast, and very conveniently located to take the lifts. It took us probably just 15-20 minutes to get ready. We started at 11 and stopped at 5 and had a great day skiing and trying the various slopes. The resort isn't very big but it's big enough to not get bored (especially that the hardest tracks were closed so we still have a lot to see in further visits).
The landscape was quite nice, with the sun peaking once in a while from under the clouds. Here you can see Mt Adams. You can see the pictures of the happy skiers here.
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Jade Tea House and Patisserie
After a nice New Year's Eve party at the Steiner's we overslept quite a bit this morning to start the year well. I felt lazy about cooking from an empty fridge so I looked around for a place to have a late lunch at. M wanted some Thai food, and I ended up picking the Jade Tea House and Patisserie. It doesn't really sound like a place that would serve lunch but they do and it is actually really good. The place is kind of "cafe" style, you order your food at the counter and take it to your table. It is located in Sellwood, a SE neighborhood that seems quite nice and that we hadn't visited so far.
The inside of the place is very warm and felt cozy with the rain pouring outside, the staff is very nice and after chatting a bit I discovered they're coming from Vietnam and all speak French. We also tried their macarons, and I have to say that they're the best ones we tried after the ones from La Durée in Paris (but thisis kind of an unfair comparison). They have a very large selection of teas, and the one we tried under the waitress recommendation was really good !
This place gets a "we'll come back and bring friends with us" kind of recommendation from us. Thumbs up.
The inside of the place is very warm and felt cozy with the rain pouring outside, the staff is very nice and after chatting a bit I discovered they're coming from Vietnam and all speak French. We also tried their macarons, and I have to say that they're the best ones we tried after the ones from La Durée in Paris (but thisis kind of an unfair comparison). They have a very large selection of teas, and the one we tried under the waitress recommendation was really good !
This place gets a "we'll come back and bring friends with us" kind of recommendation from us. Thumbs up.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Olympic peninsula trip
We took advantage of the gorgeous (and rare) winter sunny weather during the weekend to do a one day trip to the Olympic peninsula. We took again the ferry to Bremmerton and then drove north along the coast to Gamble. There we enjoyed a very large exposition of sea shells and the coastal landscape before heading to the three crabs restaurant located in Dungeness (that seems like a good match doesn't it ?).
Abandoned pier in Gamble
Looking towards Victoria island (Canada) in Dungeness. I liked the lighthouse on the sand peninsula.
After gorging ourselves with seafood (delicious crab cakes, and yes there seems to be a pattern here), we headed towards Port Angeles where we started the climb to hurricane ridge. Hurricane ridge is in the olympic national park, a bit higher than 5000ft. We arrived before sunset on the snowy ridge and enjoyed a beautiful scenic sunset up there. There was a rope tow for skiers but I wouldn't recommend going there to ski unless it's your very first time. There is pretty much no slope that would guarantee more than 5 minutes of entertainment.
Sunset on Hurricane ridge
Again looking north towards Canada
Pretty Victoria, and Canadian Cascades in the background
We drove back by night and still enjoyed a clear view of Seattle skyline (which apparently is very rare at this season).
Abandoned pier in Gamble
Looking towards Victoria island (Canada) in Dungeness. I liked the lighthouse on the sand peninsula.
After gorging ourselves with seafood (delicious crab cakes, and yes there seems to be a pattern here), we headed towards Port Angeles where we started the climb to hurricane ridge. Hurricane ridge is in the olympic national park, a bit higher than 5000ft. We arrived before sunset on the snowy ridge and enjoyed a beautiful scenic sunset up there. There was a rope tow for skiers but I wouldn't recommend going there to ski unless it's your very first time. There is pretty much no slope that would guarantee more than 5 minutes of entertainment.
Sunset on Hurricane ridge
Again looking north towards Canada
Pretty Victoria, and Canadian Cascades in the background
We drove back by night and still enjoyed a clear view of Seattle skyline (which apparently is very rare at this season).
Sunday, December 27, 2009
X-Mas 2009
We drove to Seattle to spend this year's Christmas with M's dad. As we arrived we were welcomed by his bright decorations.
The next day we started early to prepare the dinner's feast (which was less Gargantuesque than Thanksgiving I have to admit). We started with an Avocado-shrimp-mushroom salad.
Followed by a stuffed roasted orange duck
and a chestnut-chocolate "buche" with candied orange peels
The next day we drove around to M's hometown and made a stop at the unfortunately (I've been told) closed XXX root beer stand
And we finished with a nice view on Mt Baker and Lake Samamish
Merry Christmas to all of you !
The next day we started early to prepare the dinner's feast (which was less Gargantuesque than Thanksgiving I have to admit). We started with an Avocado-shrimp-mushroom salad.
Followed by a stuffed roasted orange duck
and a chestnut-chocolate "buche" with candied orange peels
The next day we drove around to M's hometown and made a stop at the unfortunately (I've been told) closed XXX root beer stand
And we finished with a nice view on Mt Baker and Lake Samamish
Merry Christmas to all of you !
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