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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Halloween & Bikes

Today is Halloween, and being someone who isn't much for any holiday commercial or otherwise we don't do much except go for a walk through the neighborhood in the evening to see what people are up to and shake our heads at the antics.

I do want to share two photos with you though.  I can't take credit for either, but seeing as how they are both motorcycle and Halloween related I wanted to post them today.

Little Bunny FuFu from Cornelius, Oregon was selected as the winner of PetSmart's annual Monster Cute Photo Contest Powered by GREENIES®.  He bested more than 12,500 entries for the $10,000 grand prize.  Photo courtesy of Business Wire

Photo Courtesy of Honda

Have a great day everyone and beware of ghosties, goblins, bunnies on bad motor scooters, and Hondas wearing tutus.

- Au Revoir

" I'll bet living in a nudist colony takes all the fun out of Halloween." - Author Unknown
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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Fall Food Challenge

Pam over at Helmet or Heels threw down the gauntlet this morning with a Fall Food Challenge.  It is that time of year when the weather is turning chilly in our hemisphere and we are turning to comfort foods.  Soup season has begun and so has the making of baked casseroles, hot breakfasts and warm desserts.

To read Pam's post click this ----> LINK.  The challenge in Pam's words:  
"I thought I’d throw out a challenge to see what Fall food you like too. 
If you blog, blog about it and let me know I’ll link to your post. 
If you want to submit a recipe via the comments, 
please do! I love trying new recipes."


I just happened to make some super easy Apple Dumplings for dessert last night and took pictures of the process.  Some of you may already know that I have started a second blog for recipes and foodie type stuff.  I originally took the pictures to post this recipe on that blog next week, but figured I'd post it up here first.  If you are interested you can check out my other blog by clicking this link ----> TROBAIRITZ' TABLE.


 APPLE DUMPLINGS





INGREDIENTS:


1- 8 oz tube Crescent Rolls
1 large Apple, cored and cut into 8 wedges
1/4 Cup Butter or Margarine
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp ground Cinnamon
1/3 Cup Ginger Ale soda (NOT DIET)




DIRECTIONS:

1.  Preheat oven to 350˚F.  Spray an 8x8 inch square glass pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2.  Open tube of crescent rolls (FYI - Pillsbury original are vegan) and separate the 8 dough triangles.  Place one wedge of apple on each triangle of dough, roll into crescent shape and place in dish point down.

(I left the peel on the Gala apple)


(Roll into a crescent)



3.  Repeat until all 8 rolls are done and in the pan.  Your pan should look something like this.

(waiting for the sauce)
4.  In small saucepan melt the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon until well combined and the sugar is fairly dissolved.  Add Ginger Ale and stir well.  It will foam a little bit.  Pour mixture over the dumplings.

(ready to cover with foil)
5.  Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes.  Uncover and bake for an additional 15 minutes until golden brown.

(Mmmm cinnamon - wish I had smell-o-vision)
6.  Let rest for a few minutes and serve warm drizzling the sauce left in the dish over the dumplings.  We use two crescents per serving for a total of 4 servings.  So good you'll want to toss etiquette aside and lick the bowl.

(Troubadour prefers his with Trader Joe's Vanilla Soy Ice Cream)

If you decide to participate in Pam's challenge please hop on over to her blog and leave her a comment and let her know.

ADDENDUM:  To make a double batch (good for family gatherings) use a 9x13 glass pan and the following ingredient ratios:  2 tubes Crescent Rolls, 2 apples, 1/2 Cup Butter, 3/4 Cup Brown Sugar, 3/4 Cup Ginger Ale, 1.5 tsp Cinnamon

- Au Revoir

" In Hollywood, the women are all peaches.  It makes one long for an apple occasionally." - William Sommerset Maugham
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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Flower Powered Honda

A few months ago we were wandering through the Honda/BMW dealer in Salem and saw what I thought was a pretty cool custom seat on a CBR.

(Flowered powered CBR)
If I remember the story correctly the seat was a custom one made for the wife of one of the salesmen. When she bought a new bike she put her old CBR on consignment but the person who bought it did not want the custom seat so they swapped it for a stock seat on a new bike.  This resulted in a new CBR having this way cool, far out man, custom seat.

(Way cool - far out man- flower power)
Too bad max wouldn't look cool rocking flower power.  I think that would be a little much. He already has to contend with the 1" tall Smurfette on the radiator cover as it is.

(Max with Smurfette)

- Au Revoir

"He is happiest who hath power to gather wisdom from a flower." - Mary Howitt
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Thursday, October 18, 2012

F F F Foolin'

And I don't mean the Def Leppard song, but if you are curious you can listen to it here. Click ----> LINK.  Ahhh Pyromania - one of their best albums along with Hysteria IMHO. Crap that takes me back to high school, but I digress, back on topic.

Troubadour is teaching a Team Oregon class this weekend, which mean he is also teaching tonight.  So, with some extra time on my hands I opted to fool around with a few photo manipulation apps on the iPad - Snapseed and XnView Fx.  Both are okay, but I am sure there are others out there.

Here are some of the results:

(Vintage Trobairitz?)

(Troubadour and I - a few years old but a favorite of mine)

(Moi - being a bit cheeky)


(Pencil sketch kissing - makes me think of the A-Ha video for Take on Me)
(yes everything really does lead back to music for us)

(Apocalyptic Max)

(And I couldn't forget Basil - looking almost radioactive)

Not an overly exciting post, but I had fun f f f foolin' with the pics.  Have you ever used photo manipulation apps or programs and if so which did you like or not like?

- Au Revoir

" A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool." - William Shakespeare
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Sunday, October 14, 2012

Road Trip to the In-Laws

Troubadour's mom hasn't been feeling well so last Saturday we loaded up the car and headed out at 6:30 am for a three-day weekend to visit.  Monday was the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday so Brad's brother, sister-in-law and niece were headed there as well. We knew that his mom would not be able to fuss over cooking meals so I took along fixings for Quinoa Summer Apple Salad and 'Tuna' Chickpea Salad for lunches.  We also brought along fresh ground peanut butter, a loaf of sprouted Sasquatch bread, and organic apples and bananas.

It is a 550 mile trip each way usually taking 10 hours or so depending on traffic and stops. North on I-5 until we go east on I-84 through the Columbia River Gorge.  We head east through the Gorge until turning north on Highway 395, which at some point intersects with I-90 through Spokane where we head north on 395 again.  Their summer residence is close to the Canadian border in north eastern Washington.  It is a long drive through a lot of nothing.

We watched the sun rise as we drove north on I-5.

(Sunrise along I-5 in Oregon on October 6, 2012)

We stopped in Wilsonville at Starbucks for a coffee to go with a Clif Bar for breakfast and kept on trucking.  The Starbucks stop also necessitated a stop at a rest area along I-84 at some point.  No exciting scenery to take any pictures of though.

We stopped for petrol in Umatilla before crossing over into Washington. I had packed Tofurky, avocado and spicy sprout sandwiches on Dave's Killer Bread Good Seed Bagels and a jug of homemade sweet tea so we decided to take a break and eat.  We watched people come and go across the street at the post office in Umatilla as we sat on the car bumper and ate.  No picnic tables in sight anywhere.

A ways up Highway 395 after it joined with I-90 we stopped at another rest area.  This one was by the north end of Sprague Lake and was photo worthy.

(Milepost 242 - Sprague Lake Rest Area in Washington)

(Milepost 242 - Sprague Lake Rest Area in Washington)

(At Sprague Lake looking north towards the town of Sprague)
Back into the car and north east we headed.  We did stop one more time in Spokane as we know from previous trips there is a nice Starbucks on North Division.  We figured that would be the last cup of good strong coffee before our return trip.

We arrived at 4:00 pm with no issues.  The car ran great and everyone was already there to meet us.

The summer property has a cabin built several years ago, a main house that is still slightly in the construction phase, a 'boathouse' for storage of kayaks and rowboats for the winter and the old motor home.

(The main house)

(The boathouse - the silver roof seen through the trees on the right is the cabin) 
Our home for the weekend was the motor home.  It was cozy but was a chilly walk in 29˚F (-1.6˚C) night air to use the bathroom in the boathouse.

I took the following picture the next day after the tractor was moved and you can see the motor home and our car in the background.  The red building beyond our car is the cabin.

(300 International Tractor for Keith of Twists and Leanings)

(The other side of the tractor)

(Artsy tractor picture)
On Sunday while the guys were out riding dirt bikes I took a few picture of the peaceful scenery.

(Looking upriver - you can see smoke from a forest fire in the center of the photo)

(The fire is on both the Washington and British Columbia side of the mountain)
By evening the flames had flared up and the fire spread further down the mountain.

(Fires flaring up in the evening winds)

(Looking down the extremely low river - abandoned house across the river)

(The abandoned house)

(Abandoned house - local legend says a relative of Chuck Norris built the house)

I couldn't resist a picture of this lonely tree stump.

(Lonely tree stump)
There were three pooches hanging around the property for the weekend.  A black lab named Turbo, a little mutt named Winston and a visiting Canadian mix named Bailey.  You can tell the Canadian by his safety vest.

(Turbo - I always want to sing Judas Priest when I say his name - how 80's of me)

(Winston - needs a haircut)

(Bailey in his hi-vis finery)

(Winston & Bailey - finally looking at the camera)

Sunday evening we were helping Chip (Troubadour's step-dad) get things closed up so they can soon make their trip south to Palm Springs.  This entailed moving his 1967 Dodge Charger out of the garage to get the dirt bikes tucked into the back.  I took the opportunity to take a few pictures.

(1967 Dodge Charger)

(1967 Dodge Charger)

We stayed up way late into the night looking at old photographs that Troubadour found in the attic.  Some he took digital pictures of.  I thought I'd share this gem.

(Troubadour back in the day)

We were up at 6:00 am on Monday and on the road by 8:00 am.  We stopped in Chewelah for petrol - ask Troubadour how much he enjoys pumping his own gas when the pumps don't work right. We then stopped in Spokane at Starbucks for some wi-fi access and a yummy coffee drink before pointing the car towards home.

We stopped at a rest area at the east end of the Gorge for a bathroom break and also a chance to stretch our legs and have a snack.  It was the cleanest rest room at a rest area I've ever seen.  Really nice tiled walls and floor and it even had automatic water taps and soap dispensers.

As we headed west down the Gorge I took a few pictures of the windmills along the north side of the Columbia River.

(Windmills along the Columbia Gorge)

(Windmills along the Columbia Gorge)

We made one more stop for petrol in The Dalles.  Troubadour was about done in from all the driving so we switched it up and I drove the rest of the way home and I didn't stop once.  You know how it is, as you get closer you just want to hurry up and get there.  We managed to drive through Portland during Monday rush hour but it wasn't too bad as I opted for the I-205 cut-off.

We made it home by 6:00 pm.  We found Basil snuggled into our bed sleeping, but even though we woke him he was happy to see us.  It was a long weekend, but worth it to see family we hadn't seen in so long.  I didn't take any family pictures.  Some people might not like to be photographed or have their pictures on the internet so I left them alone.  And no, I didn't ask the dogs their permission.

- Au Revoir

"When our relatives are at home, we have to think of all of their good points or it would be impossible to endure them." - George Bernard Shaw
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Saturday, October 6, 2012

Corvallis Overlook

On our way home from the covered bridge ride last Tuesday Troubadour asked if I wanted to take a quick run up to the city overlook.  Not a favorite road of mine as it is short, steep, and very twisty up and down through a residential neighborhood, but the view is worth it.

(Looking southeast towards Corvallis)

(Max checking out the scenery)

(Troubadour and Lucy)

(She gave him that come hither look and he couldn't resist)

(Me and Max)
I was hoping to go for a ride this weekend but forces have conspired against us to keep us off the bikes and in the car.  Oh well, no rain in sight so maybe next weekend.

- Au Revoir

"The perfect man? A poet on a motorcycle." - Lucinda Williams
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