Yes, it's hard to make. I appreciated that anew when my friend Ian came over for a ballgame and some paella tonight. I had chicken, pork chops, and leftover ham from Easter in the fridge. Ian brought cannelini beans, limas, and frozen cut green beans. I had onion. I had lots of saffron. I had smoked Spanish paprika. I had garlic. Ok. Let's get started.

You can't cut stock enough, in my view. Even homemade, but the commercial stuff has way too much sodium, so I started at 4:1 water to stock. I put in one bay leaf (love 'em, totally not necessary) and put in a triple shot of saffron. No one has ever commented on the subtle taste of saffron. It's a waste of $10 to put in one "serving" of saffron. Go for three to four. [Ian, I still have your ten bucks, btw.] Also, tomatoes need alcohol, so put in 1/3 cup dry white wine or white port. Or good sherry, if you have it, which I didn't.

OK. I liked the idea of adding grape tomatoes to the onions, putting in a little garlic, quartered, for a subtle flavor. We sweated those for 30 minutes. Half way through I added about 1 tsp. of Chili de Arbol, for just a little heat. Next time I might double it. It was really subtle.

Off comes the lid and cubed meat goes in with the stock (less the bay) and is brought to a boil for 10 minutes. I grilled all my meat for extra smoke, then added a 1/2 tsp. of smoked paprika. Basically, it's a sin. I can't keep my hands off that stuff. Still, I think a little is a good addition. After the caramelization of the meats has been liquified by a boil of broth, add the beans and then the rice. I forgot to salt at this point, which is actually a huge error. Be sure to remember. You can cheat like I did with a garnish of Fleur de Sel after, if you mess up.

We also added oil cured kalamata olives, but I wish I had had oil-cured black olives. Throw in a tbsp. of chopped, fresh rosemary, too. Stir in the rosemary and olives both, is my recommendation. Don't skimp on the olives.

Then I set the whole thing to stew. Once the rice is in, so goes the wisdom, don't stir again. We had about 1.5 cups of residual liquid and at medium heat, it was mostly gone in 20 minutes. My error here was that I forgot to account for the thermal capacity of the pan. I would say that after about 10 minutes, or when you are down to a 1/3 cup of liquid, switch off the heat (under electric, the a 15 for gas). After 15 more minutes, remove the pan from the burner. If you burn the bottom, as I did, use a teaspoon to test and once you determine your error, scrape gently while serving. I avoided the worst of it in this way.

The olives and the rosemary make this dish a natural match for the wines of the Northern Rhone. I picked the 1999 Alain Voge Les Vielles Vignes, which is mostly subdued now and doesn't have much of its original sauvage left. Still, a beautifully constructed wine and one well worth drinking. I think I'll hit that magnum of the Vielles Fontaines soon, as well. Maybe on another Paella run. Or that Chave Hermitage. Who can say?

Excelsior!!

I just spent that last weekend in Mazama at a fantastic ski clinic put on by the Methow Valley Nordic Ski Association.
It was fantastic stuff, with one day of classic lessons and drills and skating drills and lessons the next. I learned a ton and really only improved. Clearly there is a lot to work on and I'll be back next year for sure.

The weather was super dry and cold. Laurel and I came in from skiing Jack's Trail to the Cassal Cuttoff. When we got back to the car, it was -2F. Brrr.

Turns out, of course, that I came home to more of the same. We are snowed in the house today, which means work, calorie counting, and doing laundry all at once. Hell, my office might even get cleaned.
Some joker skied by this morning, which is funny, but hardly appropriate as jack-knifing buses and traffic accidents notwithstanding, we're fully able to walk around. Judge for yourself.

In the meantime, we'll duck the weather and pull the "good wine" out of the cellar and huddle all 'round the tree. Kelly beat us at Sequence again last night, but I think I'll take her tonight, I betcha.

Pictures will be added to our so-called Smart Album as they evolve, so play along at home here.

Love to one and all!

Lori and Julie built an amazingly beautiful fence around their backyard and the guy who built it was looking for new work, so we had him stop by. His name is Blake and he does all kinds of handy work, which is really nice.

Blake and his buddy Jim were able to place all of the posts on a Saturday. It sure was nice to see the project take root.

Sometimes, though, you need to hire some day labor to augment the crew.

And the person the city sent out was super familiar, too. ;-)

The Sunday that weekend was the Kitsap Color Classic, which we rode. When we came home, we talked through some design questions and then Blake spent the next weekend finishing it out.

We have a new fence.

With Copper Caps.

With Mission-style lattice.

And two matching gates!

The roofers promise a Monday start date. Stay tuned!

Taking up that motto, I set out last week with Laurel and our road bikes for the San Juans. We were based out of Lopez, where Hitch was good enough to let us hang out. The ferry ride was easy and beautiful. Baker was out in force, too.

Hitch's spread is very quiet and very close to Nature. It's hard to distinguish from camping, especially in good weather, which we had endless amounts of (save for foggy mornings).

Our first day was full of us riding all of Lopez. And I mean all of Lopez. We missed maybe 3 miles of road down the center, but went out to every bluff and every shoreline road. It's a cool island, very laid back and easy to navigate. The locals were plenty unfriendly, but hey, it's the end of summer and they're probably tired. It's like we used to say on Catalina, "F* off and come back soon!" You need their money, but it can get to be too much.

We also made a good survey of the two campgrounds on the Island, Odlin County Park and Spencer Spit (WA State). Spencer Spit is peaceful and well positioned, but it is far more of an RV site than you might like. Many sites did not have tent beds, presumably because there is no demand. Odlin, on the other hand, is fantastic. The primitive sites on the other hand are absolutely idealic. Views of the islands and the straits; hidden, but not far from the main camp area or toilets.

The ride was a whopping 39.1 miles and we found our way back easily, thanks to Laurel's excellent sense of navigation. I decided that it was a good idea for me to bash my leg.

Lots of ice and an overlong happy hour in front of the sunset over Mt. Baker did a lot to heal me, though.

The next day it was time for Island hopping. We debated the merits of San Juan (larger, less familiar) and Orcas (gorgeous, well-known, and hilly) and in the end, the ferry scheduled decided it for San Juan. We left a little early and stopped in at Lopez Village. It's very sleepy. After walking for 10 minutes, Laurel announces, "If I lived here, I'd blow my f*ing brains out!" It's probably true. Kinda slow -- it takes a special kind of fella.

We cruised down to the ferry and we dressed, pulled the bikes off the rack, and set sail. Ferries, by the way, are both free between islands and, much easier to board without a car. I highly recommend it.

San Juan was great. We had awesome weather, there were constant, constant rollers and though the mid-point of the island was kind of "same-y", the north end and in particular Westside Dr. (southbound) is stunning. We cruised along, watching the sun beat down on the endless golden water and visited Lime Kiln (itself a stunner of a campsite) and English Camp. After stopping at English Camp, Laurel noted he had another National Park under his belt. I was asking him to list the others when a wasp stung him, giving birth to a splendid cursing streak and an additional installment in Lola's pantheon of Bee Sting Stories.

Lots of nice way-finding and an unexpectedly nice cross-island road and then we even had time to stop at the Brewpub just in front of the ferry. I attribute our good luck there again to being able to board the ferry without ticket or hassle.

We made it home, and had a longer night of hanging out that the previous night when Laurel fell asleep at 9:30. I observe that Papa work is hard work.

Just before Laurel went to bed, I tried to cajole him into finishing off the Scotch with me, but he wouldn't. He told me I could get my $10 loss at backgammon the night before back if I finished on my own. I sat there and tried for another hour, but then decided it would be a bad idea to finish it entirely. So, I cleaned out a used beer bottle and put the remainder of the Scotch into it, leaving the empty bottle and empty glass on the table for him to find the following morning. It worked like a charm: he woke up with ever deepening surprise (and suspicion) that anyone could drink that much whiskey without suffering more than I was. I did, however, take advantage of him enough to get him to excuse my debt. Good sport.

We cleaned up as best we could, did some towels, and then drove to the ferry terminal to wait through two ferries before embarking for home. It's slow getting off of Lopez, even!!

We had lunch in Mt. Vernon [thanks to Laurel for the correction] and a (for me) brief ride before turning back. Laurel rode home, out of water, and spent, but behind some curious dude turning out 19 mph, so he was at least dragged and bedraggled.

What a great trip! Can't wait to repeat it.

Not only did I get a great deal done around the house and in our personal sphere, but I also had some real fun. I'll post some of those items here, so you can live vicariously or, what may be more important, I can when I return to work tomorrow.

Working backwards, Kelly and I went to Vancouver Island this weekend, to Brentwood Bay Lodge and Spa near Sidney, BC.

It's an undeniably pretty building and wonderful setting. Check out these photos:

And it had great room service potential! ;-)

The road biking does look awesome, with lots os striping and lots of dedicated trails. I think a trip to Victoria or to explore further afield would have been nice. We'll be back to Vancouver Island, for sure. And, despite the 6 hour commute home (2 hours at the Peace Arch), we feel pretty rested and relaxed. Plus, we're home and able to make banana bread and blog. Good old America! ]]> http://www.nateg.com/2006/09/weekend_in_victoria.html http://www.nateg.com/2006/09/weekend_in_victoria.html Travel Sun, 17 Sep 2006 18:43:08 -0800 We got a dumpster for this house stuff and I have to say, it was ill-conceived.

I mean, going to the dump is no fun, right? And having the dumpster does make you feel all powerful, for nothing dares offend when there is a dumpster. If I don't like you, you're gone.

But Thursday night came around and we did a lot of little stuff and I ended up sleeping in a bunch on Friday morning. So at 7:15, I resolved that I could continue to stay in bed until 8:30 a.m., because hey, no one was going to deliver a dumpster before 9:00 a.m.. Plus, all I had to do was to move my car.

Well, I had only to hear to "backing up truck" beeps ring out from the street and I knew I was in trouble. Jeans on, then a shirt, then flying barefoot out the front door to chase the Rabanco guy down. Not pretty. He was happy to find me, in the end, because then he didn't have to take it back. I went ahead and signed his form and he said, "where do you want it?" I showed him the empty parking spots in front of the house (after I had just moved the car) and he said, "OK, what's the permit number?" Doh!

Still, I had the dumpster at least.

I guess Tim Eimann got his way with the general fund, so it's now $260 to have a dumpster street use permit. Nice. Now I could have bought a shitty truck for a grand and then sold it for 800 and come out ahead even with dump fees. No matter, though, since it's all so wonderful when it's in the dumpster.

What did we find in our shed of horror? In Don's "found materials" locker from hell?

A table that claps up with spikes on it.
A 16' 4" pipe, rusted out, with an elbow.
A wet, then dried, the hardened concrete bag.
A 50 lb. cinder block.
Lots of Z brick.
Lots of tile so ugly you thought you were in a horror film.
Dock rigging and rotted out dock rope.
2 boat anchors.
An entire, rusted out thresher.

Still, it's all cool when it's filled.

Mike and I got to do a little demo on the shed, with me ripping out the door/table monstrosity and Mike single-handedly tearing the cabinet off of the wall.

All that was needed was another 40 minutes of sweeping the ceiling (yes!) and then getting the crap out of the floor. Plus, Mike went through all of the hoses, too, and put us in good shape.

We did a follow-on trip to Fred Meyer by way of a couple of Slurpees. I bought some paint for highlighting all of the scary, but useful nails to hang things on. Don't want to put your eye out. We also bought a hose bib and some quick connectors for keeping the hoses easy to use. Plus, it's always fun to organize. Oh, and water, because the summer is fully here.

Otherwise, what a cool thing to have a new blog. I'm doing home projects, working for Cascade Bicycle Club on their IT project for a bit, and then spending time on my bike. And, of course, there will be camping and Mazama.

Stay tuned for more.