So Where Was I? Oh Yeah.

So I have been lazy about the walking the dog and writing the blog lately. I admit it and plan to do better. You fall down - you get back up, right?

Today the Doggess Athena took me for a 6.7 mile walk. She was a little disappointed in my pace, but we did manage 4.7+ MPH so she wasn't too upset.

We have been in full harvest mode around here. I have so many larger ones right now that I will have to skin and store some. I just do a quick blanching - 25 or 30 seconds and then the skin comes right off. I dice them and toss them in a vacuum seal bag with  a basil leaf. They store great like that.

The cherry tomatoes have been fantastic as well. If you've been to the store you know how much they get for them and these are all organic which would be even more. I'm not looking forward to buying them again when our crops are all gone.

Our peppers also have done really well. I have dried plenty for my chili powder and hot sauce needs for the next year. This batch will be a little smokier than in the past because I have had a ton of Thai chilis as well as a very productive Purira chili plant. That bad boy brings some nice heat.

We have some young kale growing still. That stuff will grow through the winter and we eat a lot of kale around here. I already have some ideas to expand what and where we grow stuff next year. It has reached sickness level for me now.

My next post I'm going to report on the stuff that my fast food buddies have been advertising lately.

Be well and more soon...

Where We're At Right Now

First, I have been letting a cold and other crap keep me from any real exercise for the better part of 2 weeks.

That out of the way, we sit at an important time in food history. California has Proposition 37 on the ballot that would require any product with genetically modified organisms (GMO) in them to be labeled. They are not asking for a warning label - just a label that says that they contain GMOs'

93% of the population of the US wants their food so labeled. Over 40 countries either ban GMOs completely or require labeling. If this proposition passes in California it would likely mean we will all get the labeling since are not state specific usually.

That means we get to know what is in our foods so we can make our own decisions about what we eat. This might not be an issue if the companies didn't also control any research done on the crops. If they allowed for open, peer reviewed studies of the crops we could see the evidence that they either are or are not safe.

I wouldn't eat them in either case as long as there is another choice. Since they began controlling seeds the available variety of many seeds has gone down dramatically. That can be very bad if there is ever a disease that takes out one of these limited varieties. Seed diversity allows for a safer long term food supply.

If you vote in California or know someone who does please ask them to help you get the right to know what is in your food by voting for Proposition 37.

Be well and more soon....

A Perfect Little Mistake

So off we headed for Gobbler's Knob fire lookout on Saturday after the big sale at Whitaker's in Ashford. We got a late start because of the sale and headed up the trail.

The road to the trailhead is very bad - about 8 miles of very bad. We headed up the trail and it was up. This trail really had no flat with the exception of a little chunk by a little lake about 3/4 mile into the hike.

 At about 1.25 we came to a sign that pointed to the summit of something to the left.

 

 

We obeyed and went left to whatever summit it was. In less than half a mile we were at the summit of Mt. Beljika - not where we were heading, but a nice place for some lunch and photography.

 

That is Gobbler's Knob. At least we got a picture of it.





After our break we headed back down the trail and had some grub and beer at the Mountain Festival at Whitcker's. One day we will actually do the Gobbler's Knob hike.

 

 

Be well and more soon....

An Extra Four Days As Predicted

As I descended from Mt St Helens Saturday I had already figured that my punishment for climbing while sick would be a 4 day extension of my cold. It turns out that I was right. I sniffled and coughed my way through the week and didn't get Athena out for any walks at all.

She is hip to the program, however and didn't push too hard. Instead, she went with her empathic caretaker program and did her best to make me better. Now we are planning a hike Saturday after we shop at Whitackers big sale in Ashford. There are a couple of things we can use to fill out our hiking/backpacking/climbing gear.

It has been a great week weather wise and the tomatoes and peppers have been coming in bunches. Tonight I will make some Marinara from tomatoes we grew. The basil and other herbs will, likewise, be from our crops. I LOVE PICKING DINNER! It takes a little work to get going, but when the prizes start coming it is fantastic.

I am currently drying some seeds for next years' starts. I am even drying some from my mutant volunteer summer squash plants. The meat is a little sweet, but not butternut squash sweet, so I have found lots of uses. Yesterday I stuffed Chili Rellanos with it. They were great!

If it's not too smoky from fires in central Washington tomorrow, I'll post some pictures. We are heading to Gobbler's Knob which is a fire lookout just inside Mt Rainier National Park.

Be well and more soon....

How About The Recipe Numb Nuts?

Okay, I deserved that. I tell you that you can make pesto without oil, but not really how since I didn't supply the recipe for it.

First, this recipe will make 4 batches of pesto. I use the one and then freeze the rest in single use packages. I use regular zip lock sandwich bags for each batch and put the three into a quart freezer bag. That way I can grab one out when I need it. They thaw in no time. I will use them for adding to a tomato sauce when I am feeling lazy in the winter.

Oil-Free Pesto on Organic Gimele Pasta with Sauteed Red Onion and Criminis Topped with Diced Tomatoes. (Man that's a long name)

Fresh Basil - 4 cups of leaves
Fresh Rosemary - 1 large sprig
Garlic- 1 head roasted (directions follow)
Salt and Papper to taste
Pan toasted Walnuts or Pine Nuts - 1/3 cup (directions follow)
Green Tomatoes (or ripe yellow pear tomatoes - or soaked sun dried tomatoes)
Parmesan or Romano Cheese (or a mixture)
Red Onion 1/2 large onion thinly sliced
Crimini Mushrooms 1 cup thinly sliced
Olive oil for sauteing the onion and mushrooms

1- 16 oz pkg Organic Gimele Pasta (Or Rotini or other small thin shape)

Fresh diced tomato and cheese for garnish.

Roasted Garlic - I do mine in a toaster oven. You cut the very top off of the entire head and drizzle just a little Olive Oil on the top. Wrap in Foil and raost at 350 -375 for 35-45 minutes until soft.

Pan Toasted nuts - in a dry pan - NOT NONSTICK - heat the nuts stirring for 5 or six minutes until the oils are released.

Pesto - In a food processor add the basil and rosemary until well chopped. Add the toasted nuts after they have cooled and mix well with the herbs. Once the garlic is cool squeeze all of the cloves out and add them to the processor. Now is when you add the tomatoes. You are going for a smooth paste. It will take a different amount depending on the moisture content. Start with a little and add until the consistency is right.

Taste. Add some pepper to taste and then a pinch of salt. Add 1/3 cup of cheese and stir by hand. Taste. Is it salty enough? add a little more if necessary.

Boil water for the pasta. Add the pasta to the water.

In a saute pan add the onion and mushroom and 1 tbsp Olive oil - Really - 1 tbsp will do it. The onions will sweat and the mushrooms will feed on that. Salt and pepper the onions and mushrooms as you saute. By the time the pasta is done the saute will be as well.

Drain the pasta and ass to a large bowl. Toss in the Onions and Mushrooms until mixed. Add 4 - 6 tbsp of the pesto and toss until covered evenly.

Serve with some diced fresh tomatoes and a sprinkle of cheese.

If you use the soaked Sundried tomatoes the pesto with be the color of baby poop. It will taste great, but that is a tough color.

Be well and more soon...

Pesto With No Oil? Yep.

I wondered if I could make pesto without the olive oil. Since oil is 120 calories per table spoon and 100% fat, I thought "How would you make it without oil?" I have made hummus without oil by saving some of the cooking water from the beans and blending it in, but there is no such liquid in making pesto.

Then it hit me, what if I used roasted garlic instead of raw and a whole head of garlic instead of a couple of cloves. I set to it and it was still a little stiff when I was done. I considered giving in and adding oil, but there's no blog post in that so I thought "I have all of these green tomatoes from my trimming back the plants so they'd ripen faster. Maybe I'll add some of them." It worked great.

This pesto still has some fats. It has pan toasted walnuts and about 4 tbsp of grated Parmesan and Romano cheese, but it would normally also have 4-6 tbsp of olive oil for 500 -700 calories and 100% of those from fat.

You don't have green tomatoes sitting around, you say? Add some firmer ripe tomatoes instead. If you want the color to stay green use yellow pear tomatoes. You could also use some water, but I would use some water from the pasta you are going to use. It will be a little more starchy and not tend to just leak out on your plate later.

It's a sin not to play with your food.

Be well and more soon....

Showing Up At The Trailhead Again

I have used this analogy a lot in this blog in the past. If you don't go to the trailhead you have no chance in doing the hike. That is a good rule for life. Just show up for yourself and generally good things will happen.

So Friday there I was  faced an opportunity not to show up and bail on what has become one of my favorite hike - Mt St Helens. I have been fighting my first cold in almost 3 years and I was ear plugged and nose plugged and energy-less when we arrived at the Lone Fir Cafe in Cougar to pick up our climbing permits.

 

Sherrie, Pam and I were there together and I decided that I couldn't do the climb the next day and that we should have them re-sell the permit to someone who could use it. That lasted until we were done eating with Pam and Sherrie asking me whether I was sure. They'd say "What if you feel better tomorrow?" We grabbed my permit back and headed for the Climber's Bivouac to set up camp.

I didn't sleep more than about an hour all night. I was miserable. Luckily, it was a clear night and we had our fly pulled back for star-gazing. That was fantastic! The milky way was thick up there away from any lights. And at about 4 AM the moon developed these ray arms that I have never seen before.

I got up and set to making coffee for the gang and ate a little breakfast. I was still quite sick and really without any energy and had decided I would hang around camp and read while the gang climbed. Again, Pam and Sherrie were like "Maybe you could just hike up out of the tree line with us" (about 2.5 miles) and other subtle and not so subtle urgings.

I relented and donned my boots and hiking gear and decided to see what I could do. At 7:20 we hit the trail.

 

 

We were trucking along and I felt slow. Everyone was right on my tail so I was sure I was going slow. We went up to just before the outhouse (2.14 miles) and stopped to wait for Pam and Gary to join back up. I checked the mileage and my watch and realized that we did that mileage in 45 minutes - decidedly NOT slow.

It isn't far from the outhouse that you leave the tree line and begin the nearly 2.5 miles of bouldering and scree. There is no in between to be had - not nice chunk of trail. You are either climbing over boulders or struggling in the scree.

Oh, did I mention it's steep too? So the only way I know to beat such a beast is head down hiking. You just look where your next step is and try not to look to the summit. You really don't get a view of the summit until you get past the 3 walls of boulders that lay just before the final scree field anyway.

Once over the boulders and into the scree it is a lot like trying to climb up a mountain covered with pumice marbles. Every step you take you lose half of or more to sliding back down. Somehow or another Gary and I reached the rim at 11:05. The weather wasn't perfect, but Mt Rainier, Mt Adams, and Mt Hood were visible. With the brush fires going on in the Gorge everything was a little hazy. The wind was blowing close to 25 MPH which was great to get cooled off.

We didn't stay long at the summit. We headed down after 15 or 20 minutes and ran into Pam and Sherrie along with our 3 new friends Adam, Steve and Matt. Perfect timing for a group picture.

 

 

Pam and Sherrie continued up and the rest of us headed down. Gay and I arrived back at camp at 1:45 and I started in on my second beer of the day. I had one in my pack as you can see in the picture above. Our new friends were less than 10 minutes behind us. We equipped them with beers and sat looking back at the mountain. From our camp area you could see most of the climbing route and we could even see climbers nearing the top - pretty cool!

 

 

 

Just before Pam and Sherrie walked back into camp a large group that had permits to climb Sunday arrived and were having trouble finding a spot to accommodate them. Pam and Sherrie arrived and got a drink and a chair and we decided the right thing to do was decamp and let the next day's climbers have our site. We headed to Centralia to McMenamin's Olympic Club for dinner and then on to home where a hot shower and a familiar bed was a perfect ending to a fun and challenging day.

 

 

I learned that I am right when I say you have to tell yourself yes even when every part of you body is saying no. I am confident that fitness doesn't get you through difficult tasks as much as your ability to turn nos into yeses. I will likely get to enjoy another 4 extra days of this cold for deciding to climb yesterday, but it was worth that price and more.

 

Be well and more soon.

My Muse Calls Me

As Mt Rainier is Pam's girlfriend, Mt St Helens is my muse. here is something there that I can't escape. I have been involved in 5 summit attempts and have been lucky enough to summit 3 times.

Of those attempts, 2 have been the Summer route from the Climber's Bivouac which is shorter by a mile each way and has less elevation gain as well. My first attempt we were turned around by weather but returned to Beaver Bay campground and had what can only be described as an epic party. We had a huge group camping and had a blast.

The second attempt was the next year and we summited with no problem. We had a pretty great party after that as well. This year it looks like only 4 of us plan to stay Saturday night so the party will be smaller, but that doesn't always dictate the quality. We'll see.

My other three attempts have been the Winter route from Marble Mt Snow park and I am 2 out of three from there. This time will give me a chance to even my Winter and Summer records at 2 for 3 for both.

The reason I think I am so drawn to St Helens is that it was the first difficult hike I ever attempted and the first mountain I ever summited. The stats don't seem too bad, but when a large part of the route requires climbing over boulders and struggling through deep scree it becomes a better challenge. I actually prefer the winter route because the snow is easier to climb on than the scree and you get to slide halfway down on your butt.

We always talk about doing something different net year, but honestly I would miss climbing St Helens if we took it off of the list. I guess we'll see.

Hopefully I'll have some great pictures to post when we get back. I'm also hoping this cold subsides soon. I guess now I know why I was having trouble breathing on our Camp Muir hike. Oh, well.

Be well and more soon....

A Necessary Recipe

So for the first time in almost 3 years I have a bit of a cold. When I used to get them they hit like a ton of bricks, but this one is like a little concrete packed into my sinuses. I decided to go to the past and do some spicy soup to help ease the symptoms.

I was a Hot and Sour Soup fan, but MSG, GMO soy, and chicken stock are not high on my ingredient list these days so I came up with a Spicy Tomato Curry Soup with Kale instead.

All you need is a 16 oz can of an Organic Tomato Soup. You DON'T want a creamy one because the dairy will make your symptoms worse. All you do is chop up about 4-5 oz of kale (A rather large pile) about 8 good size basil leaves and toss them in a pan with the soup. Add 1 Tbsp of a medium spicy curry, 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, and one finely diced Thai chili. Add about 1/4 cup additional water to the mix, bring it to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium low for 10 -15 minutes.

The spicy curry and chili pepper will clear your sinuses and provide some relief so you won't be a whiny butt pee pee pants when your spouse or whoever you might live with comes home. 

Athena and I did get a 6.7 mile walk in yesterday in 1:20. We didn't do much Monday or today so far.

Be well and more soon.....

No Equipment Failure This Time

Since the weather decided to stay nice we decided to finish what we started last week and hike up to Camp Muir. Pam and I were joined by Sherrie and Gary for our hike. We arrived at Paradise and were on the trail at 8 AM. We seem to do this hike on the winter route a lot so it was nice to actually see the trail instead of snowshoe tracks.

 

 

It is pretty hard to argue with John Muir on this one. The wildflowers were still in full bloom as we made our way to the Muir snowfield. We have been very lucky along the way to have some fantastic weather for our adventures even when it is raining at home. I think the old adage is the fortune favors the bold or something like that and I agree.

 

We screamed along getting in more than 2 miles in the first hour. We took a little break to take in some food and pose for pictures.

 





After our little break we headed up into the snowfield. the next almost 3 miles took the better part of 3 hours as we made our way through the snowfield to Camp Muir. Along the way we were discussing the altitude at Camp Muir. We were split because I remembered reading 10,188 and everyone else was sure it was 10,080 feet. When we arrived at the main camp it was 10,080 but to the right there is a rocky scramble. Sherrie suggested that she take the GPS up and see what it read. Gary and I decided that we might as well be dumb and climb the thing as well and Pam decided to remain sane and take the necessary picture of the fools on the rock so up we went.

 

 

Predictably, the GPS read 10,188 on the top. There is actually a highest rock for a memorial of some sort. We made our way back to the main camp and got a couple of shots before heading down. I had some trouble on the way up after about 9600 feet drawing breath. I think it was mostly that I needed some calories. I'll be more careful next time.

 

Mt Adams

Mt Hood

Mt St Helens
 

Pam did  a little minstrel show

 

 

As we descended so did some fog. We didn't get too far down before we were making our way through the fog bank. We got in a couple of glissades, but not too much. The snow remained too firm to plunge step or as Sherrie likes to call it running down the mountain like a 2 legged deer. We did make it down in less than 2.5 hours. There were tons of tourists on the lower part of the trail. I must have heard 10 different languages as I hiked down. I just need to learn the universal language of get out of my way I want pizza for situations like that.

 

I had a zipper failure on one leg of my hiking pants.

 

 

We did eventually get our pizza at Whitacker's Basecamp Grill. We left home at 5:45 and got home after 7:30 to an unstressed and waiting Athena. She amazes us regularly with her ability to sleep all day when she knows we will be gone a while. 

 

Be well and more soon....