Christmas tree round two

Today while we were running errands, we broke down and bought a tree. We decided that we shouldn't venture out into the wilderness in our two-wheel-drive truck again. I did promise Tyler that next year he could have a big burly vehicle with huge snow tires to go find his perfect tree.

Final score: Tie.

Thank you Home Depot for the Hail Mary.

Christmas tree round one

It’s that time of year when my biological holiday alarm alerts me to go find a Christmas tree. Tyler and I then go purchase a tree cutting permit from the Forest Service, and go hunt down a tree at a later date.

So on Thursday we decided to go find our tree. He promised me that we’d be back in plenty of time before I had to work, and that we’d decorate the tree the next day.

We drove out passed Minturn to find a Forest Service road that would lead us to our holiday tree. Road 731 looked promising, so we veered left and started down the road. After about 1.5 miles, we decided that we better turn around and park so we wouldn’t get stuck.

Ideas like this are great, if it’s not too late to execute them. As we backed up the truck, we slid the passenger’s side rear wheel into a snowbank. We were stuck.

At this point, I wasn’t worried to get to work because it was noon, and I didn’t have to be there until 4 p.m. We had plenty of time to get out.

After a couple hours of digging, rocking the truck, digging, and rocking the truck — we were free. We started to back down the hill.

But the front end swung around, and back in the ditch we went.

Now I’m getting worried. We don’t have cell service, we’re blocking the road, and I have to be at work in two hours. We started walking to go get help. Tyler started knocking on all the second homes to see if anyone was home. Luckily a nice woman named Lily let us use her phone. Tyler called Kent to come bail us out, and I was able to call work. A few hours later, we made it back to Vail with the Dakota around 5:30 p.m.

Final score: Us 0, Christmas tree 1.

The next round is ours for the taking.

Friendly faces

Marty, Suzette and Sandy outside our apartment.

Tyler and I were driving home from the dog park when Suzette called me. At first I thought something bad had happened back in Alaska, but it turned out Zette, Marty and Sandy were passing through on their way back to Boulder. They were out visiting their son Kevin in Fort Collins, and were tooling around with Sandy. They stopped by our place, and then we went for lunch at The Westside Cafe. I hadn't seen Sandy since I was 6 years old. Back then it was cool to play Little Mermaid on the original Nintendo, if you were wondering.

Marty summed up the impromptu meeting best: "We couldn't have planned this any better. If we had, we would've wound up missing each other somehow."

I love Alaskan pop-ins.

Schooled again

Walking up the hill from the bus stop with eight different bottles of wine isn't a leisurely trek. Neither is defending myself from Moses’ love once I walk through the door. My only concern is that the bottles don’t break for my take-home assignment.

Serving homework is tough.

At work, our sommelier hosted a wine tasting before the restaurant opened. A lot of distributors were there to sell different wines to restaurateurs. They left all the open bottles with us, which amounted to about five cases of wine. Before I left, my co-worker helped me pick out my take-home-goody-bag so I could become more acquainted with Old World varietals.

The wine bag’s weight reminded me of my sophomore year in college when I took Astronomy 102, Physics 101 and Geology 101 at the same time (I’d wanted to knock out most of my science requirements in one fell swoop). But at least with this homework it’s alright to have a mild buzz while taking notes. Plus Tyler is eager to help me with this assignment — I don’t think he’d be as enthused to figure out the stellar evolution of a high mass star.

I line up the bottles on the table. With about 10,000 known varietals out there, my wine knowledge shouldn't even be classified as knowledge at all. I recently tried Albariño, which is a white wine from Northwestern Spain. It’s known in Portugal as Alvarinho, and is one one of the varietals used to make Vinho Verde.

And I thought I was branching out with my Barberas and Viogniers.

So for my day off — and with Tyler’s help — I will reluctantly decipher the differences between French and Spanish varietals, and their appellations.

I think we’ll need some cheese.

Thanksgiving

Husband rescues toothbrush

My toothbrush fell down the drain.

Most of you are probably thinking how ridiculous that statement is, but it’s true. Our bathroom sink doesn’t have a fancy stopper for the sink, so you can actually look down and see where the pipe veers off into the wall. I’ve brushed my teeth about 75 times in this apartment so far, and never had any trouble — or near drain experiences — until now.

Part of me wants to forget about proper dental care and go to bed. I’m already extremely tired, and reached my grumpy, irritated, sleepy mood already. (This is when Tyler has to wake me up after I have fallen asleep on the couch, and then coax me to go to bed. Otherwise, I wake up on the couch and I’m grumpy for still being there.)

So to solve my toothbrush dilemma, and handle the situation like an adult, I do the only thing I can do:

“Tyler, help me!”

He promptly gets out of bed, and assesses the situation by giggling at my plight. He of course asks how I managed to drop my toothbrush straight down the drain by accident, but I let him know that’s not going to help the task at hand.

He goes to the closet, finds a metal coat hanger, and bends it so he can hook my toothbrush. He solves my problem in less than two minutes. The coat hanger contraption isn’t thrown away because he said we’d probably need it later. I know he’s right, because I’m sure this won’t be the last time I drop something down that sink.

After cleaning my toothbrush, I finally begin brushing my teeth. As I scrub in circular movements across my canines and molars, I think about how I’d probably not be brushing my teeth if Tyler hadn’t rescued my red Oral-B. I know I would have left it there, bought another toothbrush, and figured out how to get it out in a few days.

I’m so happy he puts up with me.

Death and Facebook

I just found out through Facebook that another one of my friends died. This is the second occurrence in the last four months.

Besides the obvious fact that I’m upset another person was taken suddenly without warning — I can’t help feeling strange about the late individual’s Facebook page being used as an online memorial.

It’s shocking to login to a time-killing social network site, and then find a family member posting your friend’s death as a status update. Is this going to become the new normal? When my time is up, will people go to my page and comment on my deceased status with an emoticon? Is Mark Zuckerberg coming up with a new setting for this trend as I’m typing this?

Friends and family are spread out around the country — and the world — more than they used to be. My generation is able to keep in touch with more people then ever before with a simple tweet, update, or blog post. Now when someone dies, we are able to grieve with everyone around the world at the same time. We don’t need to wait for the wake — we just login, post old pictures, retell memories, and comfort one another instantaneously. No longer will there be a need for a written obituary because there will be a living, evolving one online.

Maybe this will seem less eerie and impersonal to me as this becomes the new normal. But for now, I still prefer the old ways of celebrating a life.

Scary movies

I hate scary movies. Or at least I thought I did. When Tyler's at work, I start flipping through the channels late at night. Soon AMC's Fear Fest sucks me in, and then I'm watching either Jason or Michael Meyers hack up teenagers in small towns.

For those of you who know me, you're probably thinking this new fascination with scary movies is weird. This is the girl who couldn't watch the first half of It? The one who gets scared from watching The Exorcist previews? The little kid who wouldn't go downstairs after watching five minutes of Tremors? This can't be.

Blame it on Halloween, or growing up (which is definitely not the case, because I still get REALLY scared), but I don't think it's any of those. I still turn down the volume when the suspense is too much to handle, and my imagination still gets the best of me.

It's a good thing I start work soon so I can stop scaring myself. I have too much free time on my hands at the moment...

Not our best

Tyler and I tried to get too creative with our pumpkins this year, and here's what happened:



Tyler's pumpkin (it's supposed to be Moses).



Moses in progress...


My pumpkin. It's supposed to be an elephant holding a feather, like Dumbo. Next year we're going to stick with traditional jack-o-lantern faces.

First snow

We got five inches of snow today, and hopefully more is on the way. Before Tyler went to work, we went and played in the park by our house. The dogs really enjoyed the weather, and we enjoyed the hot chocolate when we came inside.

The first snow of the season is always exciting. Fall is leaving, and the new season is just beginning. We're happy to be starting the next phase in our life too. Tyler likes working at Kelly Liken, and I'm excited to start my job at La Tour on Thursday. Now we just need the mountain to open, and our winter can officially commence.

Here are some more pictures of our outing today — I still only have my phone for a camera, but you'll get the idea.

Birthday visit

We ventured off the mountain to Boulder for Tracy's birthday. For her present, Tyler prepared a five-course dinner at her house. I didn't take any pictures because he was making me work too hard, but here's the menu that will make you salivate:

Mom's Birthday Dinner

First course
pumpkin soup, curried pumpkin seeds, maple syrup
New Belgium 1554 Enlightened Black Ale reduction

Second course
steamed mussels, smoked tomato sauce, quinoa cake
shaved fennel and grilled pear salad

Third course
asparagus, cinnamon cap mushrooms, parmesean, truffle oil
poached quail egg

Fourth course
seared coho salmon, Brussels sprouts, bourbon soaked raisins
fingerling potato salad, brown butter mustard vinaigrette, bacon

Fifth course
pound cake pain perdu, blackberry cabernet sorbet
crème fraîche foam

Not bad for a dinner at home, eh?

Flying monkey

Don't you hate it when a parachuting monkey flies by your window when you're trying to watch football?

I do because then I become distracted, and can no longer focus on the game at hand. Because of Tyler, I'm trying to become a Broncos fan — but I'm only succeeding as a pseudo-fan. My real team is the 49ers (way to go 1-5 ), and so far the only conflict is that London game, or if we happen to meet in the Super Bowl.

So to get back to the monkey: I was watching the Broncos' game — at the point when pass interference was called in the fourth quarter — when I saw something fly by the window. After further investigation, I determined that drunk Broncos fans were throwing a stuffed animal monkey attached to a homemade parachute off the top floor. This excited Aspen and Moses because it looked like a flying squirrel.

After a handful of tosses to see how far the monkey could drift, the plastered posse picked up the parachuting primate and went on their merry way to another place to drink.

Vail Broncos' fans mourn heartbreaking losses rather oddly...

The move to Vail

Moses checking out Arches National Park on the way to Vail.

Well we made it, but it wasn't an easy start to our journey.

We planned to leave Bellingham bright and early on Wednesday morning last week, but we had one little problem: our new Subaru could barely tow the trailer to Steve's and Karen's house. We should have realized this was going to be a problem when we were packing up the trailer with Eric and CJ, but hindsight is 20/20.

After reviewing our options, we decided to sell the Subaru and buy a truck to tow the trailer. Luckily our friend Roger had a truck he was planning on selling, so we sold our car to Steve and Karen and purchased Roger's truck. We left Bellingham around 3ish p.m. — just six hours behind our goal.

The bottom line is we couldn't have left Bellingham at all if it weren't for the amazing support system our friends and family provide for us. My dad said one of the coolest things about our wedding was meeting all the people we have in our lives, and that we should proud of who we surround ourselves with. I still can't believe how many people rallied to help us move here, and I can't thank them enough.

Those are the words, but here are the pictures of our journey and of our new home. Don't judge them too harshly — I only have my iPhone for a camera right now.

Bellingham state of mind

Ode to the Pathfinder

Camping on the Lost Coast — one of our first trips in the Pathfinder.

I know there's no good timing for an accident, but I do think totaling our only car right when we're planning to move is definitely not great timing. But since no undo-quick-command exists in reality, we just have to deal with it.

The shock of my accident has worn off, and I started thinking about all the great adventures we had in that car:

- Our Lost Coast camping trip after we first got Aspen.
- Camping at Point Reyes, and then driving back to San Fransisco to see Katie, Caleb and Mazie.
- Our trip to Cambria, where we fell in love with California's Central Coast.
- Driving out Highway 4 to take Logan camping at Bull Run Lake.
- Picking up, and dropping Zack off at the airport over Thanksgiving when he missed the airport shuttle.
- Numerous trips around Lake Tahoe when we felt like exploring the North Shore.
- And finally, moving back up to Bellingham.

I know I'm forgetting a lot of other events, and I'll try to add to the list if I remember more. Hopefully the next vehicle we get will give us as many – or more — great memories as the Pathfinder did.

Our wedding revisited

Sweet...



...but also party animals...

Antsy

Since we got back from Mexico, we've been working a lot to achieve one goal: earn enough money to move so we can start the next phase in our lives.

I don't know why I'm so antsy this time around to move. We've done this twice before, but I wasn't this impatient. This might sound crazy, but I'm actually looking forward to packing. Tara said it's because I'm "all growed up" — meaning I want to settle down and stop hopping from place to place.

Nesting sounds wonderful to me: staying in one place for a while, finding jobs in the area that satisfy both of our goals, and being a part of a community again. Plus snowboarding almost every day doesn't sound to bad either.

Now we just need to make it happen.

Meet the Hansens

August 2, 2010

I promise to faithfully love you, and support you through your endeavors and hardships.
I promise to work with you, and continue to grow as an individual and together.
I promise to continue to enjoy dining with you, and discovering great food and wine.
I promise to be a goofball, and take the time to have fun with you and make you laugh every day.

And then we were married. So far the only things that are different now are how we file our taxes, and the new title of my blog. I thought that since we are embarking on a new phase in our lives — some might call it growing up — that it would be appropriate to give the blog a new name. I personally think it fits us rather well.

But enough about that. Here's what you've all been waiting for: the wedding pictures.

Strike a pose

And now ladies and gentlemen, Tyler presents Magnum:










We're really, really, ridiculously good looking.

While walking the dogs

I blew out my flip flop
tripped on a cement block
had to walk barefoot all the way home
so Tyler bought me a Drumstick
and some more ChapStick
but I really needed a new pair of shoes

Independence Day

Picture box

Since I have a month left until the wedding, I've been making sure I complete everything on my to-do list before all of our family and friends start arriving. I know — I'm pretty ambitious.

So today my task was to go through all of the unsorted photos that I'd sworn to glue in a scrapbook five years ago (it's amazing how well I can procrastinate). It turns out lack of enthusiasm for scrappin' is good thing, because I had plenty of old photos to choose from for the rehearsal clam bake fiesta.

As I was going through the photos, I couldn't help but relive those moments captured on film: opening Christmas stockings, a dance recital, my third grade birthday, my Girl Scout Troop, powder puff football, going to college, New Zealand, etc. I found a lot of great memories in that box, and all of my friends and family who have supported me over the years.

Now I'm getting married, and what I'm the most excited about is building new memories with Tyler. I can't wait to sort through my picture box in five years — it'll probably all be on the computer though — and relive all of our accomplishments, silly moments and adventures. We already have a great life together, and I know it will only get better.

I can't wait for the next phase to begin.

Meant to be

Tyler and I went to get our marriage license the other day. The fee was $58 and they only accepted cash. We hadn't planned ahead, so we weren't sure we had enough money. I pulled out all the cash in my wallet, and Tyler counted up everything he had too. Between the two of us, we had exactly $58. No more, no less.

I guess some things are meant to be.

L'ecole 41 wine dinner

After months of preparation and hard work, the L'ecole 41 wine dinner finally became a reality. Tyler and Eric put a lot of thought into the menu, and in the end, it's some of the best food I've ever seen come out of the kitchen. I can't wait until the next one.

Below is the menu. The food and decor are centered around a school house theme because the winery is in an old school house. If you want to see more pictures, you can go here.













Amuse Buche
Sugar snap pea & chevre ice cream, smoked tomato "caviar," potato crisp cone

Paired with 2008 Estate Luminesce, semillion/sauvignon blanc













Gravlax
Citrus-lavender cured Copper River sockeye, smoked creme fraiche,
Yukon gold blini, salmon roe
&
Quail egg
Sunny side quail egg, radish, white truffle oil, sea salt

Paired with 2008 Estate Luminesce, semillion/sauvignon blanc













Spot Prawn
Local spot prawns, brown butter poached beet,
pineapple sabayon, sweet corn-pancetta polenta
(This was my favorite)

Paired with 2008 Chardonnay













Bison carpetbagger
Bison tenderloin, local oyster, hazelnut, celeriac, manchego mashed potatoes, kale

Paired with 2007 Estate Merlot
or
2007 Apogee — a blend of cab, merlot, malbec, cab franc













And finally dessert.
raspberry & brie danish
strawberry lemon-lavender shortcake
funnel cake, rhubarb jam, blue cheese ice cream
molten chocolate cake covered Bing cherry

Paired with 2007 Apogee
or
2009 Walla Voila, chenin blanc

Big Quilcene River

We took the dogs on a trip to the Olympic Peninsula for a short getaway. Because the rain wasn't letting up, we decided to rent a cabin that was on the Big Quilcene River.

The cabin is across the river from the Rob and Jacoba VandeWeghe's home, who are also the cabin's owners. They built a bridge over the river, and a path that leads to a small cabin with a loft. It was a pretty cozy stay for all four of us, but very nice. Jacoba has even created a trail that goes to a waterfall on her property, so there was plenty of land for the dogs to explore.

The only problem with the cabin is that Moses was displeased when he could not follow us up to bed. And he wasn't shy about letting us know how he felt either (he's a pretty persistent whiner).

In the morning Jacoba brought over breakfast for us, which consisted of homemade bread and jams, fresh squeezed orange juice, and more baked goods for us to snack on later. All in all, it was a relaxing weekend for us.

Tippy Canoe and Tyler 2's revenge

The official results are in, and Tippy Canoe and Tyler 2 came in 177th out of 464 teams that competed in the 99th Ski to Sea in Bellingham. Our total time was 8:48:03 for the 90-mile relay (the winning time was 5:47:55 with some help from Olympic athletes). The competition was fierce, the water attempted to tip the canoe, but Margarito and I stayed strong and conquered the Nooksack River.

Here's the breakdown of our individual times that contributed to our awesomeness:

Frank cross-country skied a four-mile loop in 43:10 , giving him 191st place out of all the skiers.

Dan, the man, completed his 2.5 mile downhill ski loop (which consisted of hiking up the mountain too) in 27:10, putting him in 32nd place out of all the downhillers — that's damn impressive.

Steve said he ran an "acceptable" eight miles in in 55:36, ranking him 212th out of all the runners.

Eric posted an all-time personal best of biking 38.5 miles in 1:38:10, knocking off his previous record by five whole minutes. That put him at 149th place with the other cyclists.

Margarito and I were happy to just finish, and we took down the Nooksack River's 18 mile course in 2:36:58, placing us at 332nd with everyone else.

Tyler was covered in mud when he finished his 14 mile mountain bike leg, which he completed in 1:11:31, earning him 212th place.

John brought it all home in the kayak by paddling five miles in choppy waters in 1:15:28, giving him 263rd place.

Getting ready for Ski to Sea

We're gearing up for the annual Ski to Sea race. It will be the second time Tyler and I attempted the grueling 90 mile relay, and to give you a brief history I will now share an e-mail our team leader Eric sent us:

"The team is made up of 3 teammates of mine from last year: Frank(cross country skier), Dan(downhill skier), and John(kayak)...and 3 teammates from 3 years ago: Steve(runner), Sara(canoe), and Tyler(mountain bike). The 8th member is new- Mag(canoe) -and has been brought on board for his balance and buoyancy. For those of you who don't know the story, the team of 3 years ago (Piddle Down Our Legs) was steaming along at a respectable top-two-thirds-of-the-pack-pace when tragedy struck. Sara was canoeing with a renegade fisherman named Jon who tempted fate one too many times. While trying to "shoot the gap" Sara and John hooked their vessel on some LWD (large woody debris) and were tossed helplessly into the raging Nooksack. According to Jon's account, death was imminent...albeit according to Sara's account, "it was kinda scary and pretty cold." Although the canoe itself went on to finish the leg, Sara and Jon were not aboard. The team was disqualified, and Tyler's epic mountain bike ride (on a girl's bike) went unnoticed in the records. Tyler and Sara left Bellingham in shame and moved to Lake Tahoe to "get away from it all" for two years.

That brings us to today...Tippy Canoe and Tyler 2 was born out of redemption. We have Frank and Dan, the snow team from last year that helped get me away from the Shuksan DOT almost an hour before I had in any other race. We have Steve shredding his knees down the mountain. I will suck the wheels of faster riders all the way to Everson. Sara now has Mag (who grew up in a float tube) paddling with her and determined to arrive as a threesome, including canoe, in Ferndale. Tyler now has a boys bike. And John will bring it home and ring the bell in triumph. We will all hug and laugh and take pictures of each other...It's gonna be AWE-SOME!"

I'll let you know how our redemption pans out.

Congrats Zack

Congrats on finishing school in four years! And to top it off, you double majored in physics and math. Now you're off to Oregon State University to research and learn about stuff I barely can comprehend (thanks for all the mini physics lessons you taught me while you we here too).

I'm proud of you Bub.

Bix wins best dog award

On our last camping trip, Eric's dog Bix earned the best dog award. It wasn't hard considering how Aspen and Moses were misbehaving. The following infractions are listed below:

1) Within an hour of setting up our campsite, Moses had found some deer droppings and proceeded to roll in it because he liked the scent. Tyler, CJ and I had to tie him to a spigot and wash him off with CJ's shampoo.

2) We found out Moses likes to chase trailers, with Aspen nipping at his heels. Bix was good, and stayed right by the camp like he was instructed.

3) Aspen and Moses couldn't bear to part with Tyler when he went fishing in the float tube, which tangled fishing lines and scared the fish away.

5) Aspen ate one of the trout.

6) Moses wouldn't stop barking during the night, so Tyler had to tie him to his camp chair and make him settle. At one point, Tyler stood up to get another beer and Moses bolted away from the campsite, dragging the chair behind him. This made Moses freak out and bark even more. I didn't witness this first hand because I was off having my own adventure (Eric, CJ or Tyler can tell you about that).

So congrats Bix, you earned it.

The escape

Cat and Mo

For some time the cats have been pestering the dogs any chance they get. Whenever Moses and Aspen see, hear, smell, or think a cat is outside the house — they become crazed (the same thing happens with squirrels).

One day I came home after running some errands to find my neighbor Amy weeding her garden. She proceeded to tell me that she was keeping an eye on our front door. Apparently the wind had blown it open, which allowed for the dogs to escape and chase all the cats and squirrels they could find. Amy saw them romping around the neighborhood, so she ran inside our house and called for the dogs. Luckily they listened to her, and stormed back into the house. She said she didn't know how long they had escaped for, but when I got home they were pretty tired.

Now we make sure the door is latched properly.

Cypress Island

On Sunday we set sail for Cypress Island with Eric and CJ. Because she had to work in the morning, we sailed to the Larrabee boat ramp to rendezvous with her. As soon as Eric picked her up from with the dinghy, we caught the perfect westerly wind that took us straight to the little cove we were planning to stay for the night.



We rowed ashore, where the boys prepared the seafood boil on the beach. First they threw on the potatoes, artichokes, onions, garlic and corn, and waited a little bit before throwing on the lamb sausage, mussels, clams and crabs. During the feast, Eric and Tyler couldn't contain their euphoric giggles — all the food had been cooked perfectly. I didn't know we lived in a world where potatoes, corn and artichokes cooked at the same rate over a campfire.

The next day we just hiked around Cypress and explored a couple trails.



On Tuesday morning we set sail for La Conner to meet Steve and Karen. We had planned to drive their car back, while they sailed back to Bellingham. A full visual account of our trip can be found here.

Hugs

Slug hug...slug love dandelion (probably lamp too).


Moses hug — I don't know how Tyler can stay asleep when this happens. He does have superhuman sleep powers though...

Horseshoe Bend

We took a nice, easy hike on the Horseshoe Bend trail to enjoy the 70 degree weather. Tyler decided to make things more interesting by walking out to the sandbar in the river:




We finished the hike faster than we had anticipated, so we relaxed at a picnic site while we waited for the North Fork Brewery, Pizzeria, Beer Shrine, and Wedding Chapel to open. During that time, Margarito found the perfect log to stretch out on and watch the river:

Opening Day

For Funday Monday, We went to the Mariners' Home Opener with Eric and CJ. On the way to the game, we stopped at Bob Bailey's house (he's one of the Manor's regulars) to see his toy soldier collection. He's been collecting toys since the 1980s, and set up a room to display his collection. You can check out an article about his home here. We all enjoyed viewing the prized possesions, but my favorites were from the Civil War. Bob is a Civil War buff, so he's collected many items and primary documents over the years. My personal favorite was the letter he had from Robert E. Lee that he wrote to his oldest daughter right before the war began.

After Bob's house, we went and had lunch at Brooklyn before the game. Tyler ordered a medium rare burger, which we all saw was cooked to perfection after he bit into it and the juice squirted out onto Eric.

Then we headed to the game with our peanuts (not Cracker Jacks) and watched the Mariners lose to Oakland, and there were only six hits all game. But it was all worth it because Randy Johnson threw out the opening pitch to Dan Wilson, with Jay Buhner, Edgar Martinez and Ken Griffey Jr. there to meet them. All the old Mariners were back together again and that made my opening day.

Wine dinner

Last night I attended the wine dinner Tyler helped create. Here's the five-course menu, with an intermezzo, he prepared:


Chilled Plum Bisque
duck prosciutto, grapefruit, basil



Fresh Penn Cove Mussels
lemon goat's milk ricotta ravioli, smoked putanesca, wild watercress, shallots


Rabbit Roulade
Lambs lettuce, mascarpone, roasted peppers, sunchoke flan, sunflower sprouts, pear, truffle oil


Intermezzo
carrot and ginger water



Herb Seared Lamb Saddle
hedgehog mushroom confit, fingerling potatoes, braised endive, beets, lamb jus


Meyer Lemon Tart
pine nut crust

The Madness

It's the most wonderful time of the year — buzzer beaters, Cinderella stories and ruined brackets. When March Madness is here, I'm glued to the television as soon as it starts.

And when No. 9 seed Northern Iowa took out No. 1 Kansas in the second round, I remembered when I first started watching the tournament.

I fell in love with the Madness in sixth grade when I watched the Arizona Wildcats — a No. 4 seed — win it all with Miles Simon leading the charge. I documented the event by cutting out newspaper clippings with headlines stating "Simon says NCAA," and tapping the collection to my bedroom door.

That year, the Wildcats beat Kentucky 84-79 in overtime to win their first national title. Arizona became the first team in the tournament's history to beat three No. 1 seeds on the road to victory. You don't get a much better underdog story than that, and from then on I was hooked.

Any team is beatable on any given day, and that's what makes the tournament so great. Northern Iowa believed this when they beat Kansas, and I hope the Huskies believe when they play West Virginia on Thursday.

Inati Bay

We took a trip to Inati Bay on Monday with Eric. We originally planned to go snowboarding, but the warm weather and the wind convinced us that sailing would be a much more fun activity.

Once we arrived, we took the Small Miracle — the dinghy Steve made — out for a spin. We rowed to shore and explored the yacht club's private beach, found two abandoned vessels, built a fire and beer-boiled brauts. After the feast, we retired back to the boat for cribbage and improvised Cranium.

The next day the wind found us on the way back to Bellingham, and we sailed home in no time at all. It was a good thing Steve was there to help us back into the slip, since the wind created some minor trouble docking that afternoon.

Bloom

Goldfish saved by heroic roommate

Our roommate Mike decided to clean out the tank for the homemade waterfall and pond we have in our backyard. We're getting ready to start gardening, so he wanted to finish the job before we started planting.

As he was pumping out water in the tank, he saw a fish swimming around in the muck. He grabbed a bowl and rescued the fish and put him in our fish tank.



Now you may be wondering how this goldfish got into our water tank. Well last summer, Mike went to the pet store and bought six goldfish to live in the pond. After a few days of living in the pond, the fish disappeared. Mike didn't think anything of it, because he figured the neighborhood cats had eaten the fish. So you can imagine his surprise finding one of the fish alive eight months later.

After rescuing the first survivor, Mike fashioned a net to find the other fish. So far he's rescued four of the original six. Our fish tank is a little cozy now, but all the survivors seem to be happy swimming in clean water with lots of food.

Picnic

On Monday Tyler and I decided to have a picnic on the beach. It worked out well because we found a flat rock that was high up, so the dogs couldn't get to our tasty cheese and wine. Moses and Aspen had a great time chasing each other in Bellingham Bay and trying to run down birds.



There was also a cool rock carving at the beach:

Will you be my Valentine?