Can you be chillin' if it gets too warm?

September 28, 2010
Woodland, WA

It's been a relaxing few days here along the Columbia River. The weather has turned unseasonably warm.  We've seen a few interesting boats go by, more than just the routine river barge traffic. We had another family visit. And, we had a chance to visit someplace we've seen on TV.

Picking up where we left off last Friday, Geri's reasonably happy with her hair (not cut exactly the way she likes but "way better than it was"). Since we hadn't planned anything for dinner, we both thought of Chinese take-out (that's what all the years we've had together causes), and stopped by the local "China Garden" for a take-out menu. Later, Geri phoned the order in and I went to pick it up. Hmmm; 6:30 on a Friday evening and the dining room is empty. Should have been a clue; the food was passable but not great. No leftovers. I found out later that the place to go is about 5 miles north, in Kalama. Oh, well.

Saturday was a beautiful day, with clearing skies and warmer temperatures. We relaxed around the Park and enjoyed the day. I made Lamb Shanks with Toasted Orzo, doing the preparation work in the morning and searing the shanks and then braising them in the crock-pot for half a day. They came out fine but the sauce wasn't something we'll make again (it called for 2:1 Port to red wine ratio in the braising liquid, and the Port just wasn't a happy addition). The Orzo was prepared similar to a Risotto and was pretty good, except that the recipe called for a splash of the braising liquid to be mixed in, and it wasn't any better there than on the lamb. I'll stick to my traditional Lamb Shank recipe next time, I think.

Sunday was a more normal weather day, with clouds and seasonable temperatures. We caught up with Geri's great-nephew, Michael again for the third time this year. This time, we got to catch up with his wife and boys (Leslie, Brendan, and Cameron) as well; they drove down from their place in Puyallup, near Tacoma, for the day. After they checked out the beach and the over-sized chess set, we went to a pizza shop in Vancouver (WA) that's known for their over-the-top pies, and were we ever surprised! The waitress looked at us funny when we ordered a "large" for Geri and I; we just assumed we'd take some home for a lunch. Well, out came the biggest pie I've ever seen, vertically speaking. The crust was relatively thin, like we prefer, but there had to be three pounds of mushroom-green pepper-sausage-pepperoni-black olive toppings on there, plus two whole thick-sliced fresh tomatoes on top. I was defeated by two slices. We had leftovers, all right!

No way could we even make a dent in this monster pizza!

Yesterday was bright and sunny again, and downright warm. No, it wasn't "Arizona hot", and it certainly wasn't "LA hot", where new all-time high temperature records were set in southern California, but upper-80s is way above average for this area. The air conditioning got exercised, to boot.  We took advantage of the nice day to get out, once again driving into Portland to check out a different neighborhood (Woodstock). We made a visit to Otto's Sausage House, "as seen on TV" (we heard about the place on a recent Triple-D episode) and loaded up. Weiners, Frankfurters, Chorizo, Linguica, bulk Italian, etc. Fortunately, a) we have enough room in the freezer and b) we have some of Geri's Famous Sauerkraut ready for reheating. Chili, Kraut, diced onions - Mmmm. We'll make our own "dirty water dogs" later in the week. That didn't stop us from enjoying the last of Geri's Famous Meatloaf for dinner, though.

Today, we had a mix of sun and clouds, and basically stayed around the Park, making ourselves productive. Geri got dog food made and did laundry. I got a rack-and-a-half of ribs on the grill to cook low and slow and did a few small projects around the coach. I realized late in the day that we didn't have any barbeque sauce on board (we finished the Dreamland!), so a quick Internet search yielded a few recipes that I was able to use as a guide to whip up something pretty good. Now, if I could just remember what I did to recreate it!

This one sailed up-river early one morning.  It's a car carrier, bringing vehicles from Asia.

Container ship, probably from China, probably Wal-Mart Christmas items...

OK; I was a little late getting the camera on this one.  It's "Turmoil", the 17th largest private yacht in the US at 209', and is owned by the family of the guy who started Lands End.  Over 14,000 gallons of fuel capacity - ouch!