back in the saddle again

mountains reflecting in the lake
Originally uploaded by kitty.pants

I am pretty sure I only update when either Katie or my sister bug me about it, so good thing I have them. Last time I graced you all with my presence, it was five million degrees outside. Now, we are apparently facing a storm of unprecedented force (for September in LA). That means...rain! I just read the weather alert and it said it will be "more like January than September," which I think means it will be 55 degrees and drizzling.

I had a lovely little time while I was at home en vacances. Spent some time at the beach, witnessed Dad catching a chinook salmon while I read Gourmet. I had to cringe and look away at the whole part where the fish gets sent to a better place. Not to be too graphic, but there was definitely some fish blood in the boat. My main thought was that this never happened at the goofy trout farm my parents used to take us to when we were little. I'm pretty sure the fish just expired the minute you reeled them up out of the water.

Mom and I also took a trip out to Joseph, OR, which is in the northeast part of the state. Practically Idaho! There are some beautiful mountains, a lake, and lots of varying scenery. We overheard one woman say "this is just like Lake Tahoe," which is true in that there were trees and a lake and not true in that there is not one casino. Sadly, we just had to settle for taking walks, reading, driving to scenic locations, putting our feet in the river, watching trout swim upriver to spawn, learning about the Nez Perce's effort to return to their land, and checking out the very small public library.

For the final portion of my vacation, Dad took us to his new favorite Portland taco truck, Mom and I went to a plant show, and we all went out to a yummy dinner.

Back in the real world, the world of impending stormy doom, I'm on a kick of making dinner. My mother has successfully nagged me enough to get me to do this. I mean, I always ate dinner but it was not necessarily anything I slaved over for very long. So far this week I've made rosemary chicken drumsticks and a broccoli mushroom casserole with wild rice on the side. Anyone want to come help me eat all this food?