2014 Year In Review

I haven’t blogged a whole lot this year, but it’s Year in Review time!

2014 was a very good year, my first full year as an Oregonian (which I can call myself now) and 2015 is going to start with a bang, but I’ll get to that later.

Fitness:

Well, fitness kind of took a back seat this year, but that’s something Lisa and I are working very hard to fix.  Since before Thanksgiving we’ve ramped our workout routine back to 4-5 days a week and are being better about what we eat.  Summer was a blur with planning and executing the wedding and things got set aside.  I’ve “lost” about 10 pounds over the course of the year, but in reality I’ve yo-yo’d up and down by a good 30 pounds several times.  Right now the better exercise routine has stabilized that and I’ve held the same weight for a couple months but it’s not moving down again quite yet.  Hopefully that will come in the new year, and not in a resolution type way, more in a “change of schedule” type way.

Races:

Well, we didn’t have a lot going on race wise this year, especially in the second half of the year but we still managed to complete three more half marathons.  January 1st saw us ringing in the New Year with another 5K, this time in Portland.  The Portland “First Run” which starts at midnight just like the Tanglewood race and then circles the waterfront and crosses a couple bridges in true Portland fashion. In March I participated in a much beloved Portland institution, the Shamrock run.  Lisa wasn’t able to join me for this one, but I was itching for a medium sized race, longer than a 5K but less than a half.  I originally signed up for the 15K (9Miles) but ended up dropping to the 8K(five miles).  It was great fun and I hope both of us can do it in 2015.  Our last organized races of the season were a 3 in 62 days set of Half Marathons designed to qualify Lisa for the Half Fanatics.  We started with the Oregon Spring Half on May 3rd.  This was an interesting race for both good and bad reasons.  On doctors orders I wasn’t allowed to run long distances for this race, so I devised a run/walk method to allow me to complete the race safely.  Lisa and I ran together for the first mile, and then after than she took off while I walked 2 miles before my next running mile.  About 3/4 of the race (mile 8 or so) I was absolutely sapped of energy. I tried to run my run miles and I just couldn’t.  I managed to finish the race with my slowest time ever (getting passed in the last 1/4 mile by a woman with a cane who was BOOKING it!) and then only to get home and discover I had a fever! I didn’t know I was sick before the race. Also, Lisa PR’d this race!  Next was the Vancouver USA Half on June 15th.  This was a fun race and a great course.  Unfortunately I cramped up yet again at around mile 11 and we had to run/walk/limp/shuffle to the finish.  We finished with the July 4th Sauvies Island half that I watched Lisa at last year.  For this race I can say, well we finished.  We ran really well for the first 6 miles or so and then a couple walk breaks stretched into walking a mile stretched into walking all the way to the finish.  We were both crashing hard, but we made sure to finish.  We may be crazy half marathon runners, but 2 races within 2 weeks was too much for us to handle.

Homebrew:

I picked up a new hobby this year, homebrewing beer! I’ve made 4 batches and the first 3 turned out pretty good.  Still waiting on the 4th one, but so far it’s not looking promising.  We’ll see how it goes.  I got a Mr Beer kit from my sister in law for Christmas and then Lisa immediately encouraged me to jump in with both feet and I started brewing away.  She’s biased, but she likes my homemade beer.  It’s a lot of fun and I get to geek out with all my food science stuff.  I joined a homebrew club as well where I can share that geekiness with others! It’s great.  I’ll actually do some writing for the club next year, but whether that will inspire me to start blogging again, or rather eat up all my writing time is yet to be determined.

Travel:

Lisa and I didn’t do as much traveling this year, but we had a couple good memorable trips.  We went to San Francisco to visit some of her friends who live down there and that was a whole lot of fun.  So much good food and cool sites to visit.  Lisa says San Fran is the only place other than Portland she’d ever want to live.  We also made our second trip to Seattle for a friends graduation.  We only got in one hike this year, but it was a good one.  We drove down to Molalla and hiked up to the top of Table Rock.  It was an interesting and challenging climb, but the reward was an amazing vista in all directions.  Sadly it was too hazy from the wild fires to see very far, but we could faintly make out Mt Hood and Mt St Helens.  We went out to the coast for a couple days after the wedding (see below) and that was great and relaxing.  As much as you love having your family in town, a week surrounded by 100 people all vying for your attention is pretty insane! Weddings are great but they can be a lot of work!

Life:

Well, of course the big thing this year is Lisa and I got married! We tied the knot on August, 23rd and my whole family made it out from the East coast which was a great thing!  She moved into my apartment in SE Portland and now we have a cute, little (emphasis on little!) house together.  Things are great and it helps us stay motivated with our exercise and eating now that we are spending more time together.

Future:

Well, as I promised 2015 is starting with a bang! In, oh, about 36 hours from right now Lisa and I will be headed to Disney for our honeymoon! We’re super excited and we both need some time to “unplug” so it will be great.  We’re spending 3 days at the Parks and then a 4 night Disney cruise to the Bahamas, so the other great thing (as it dips well below freezing tonight) is that we’re going somewhere warm! We are taking workout clothes with us, and along with a lot of walking at the Parks we’re hoping to get in some kind of workout while we’re on the ship.  Elliptical, swimming, something like that.  We’re going on a nature hike and then kayaking while we’re on Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay, so that will be a decent day’s work.

Drink Local

Since I’ve moved to the Pacific Northwest I’ve discovered the joy of eating local and cutting out the middle man and long trips that pollute the oceans and air.  Organic lettuce isn’t that expensive when you’re not trucking it in from China. But what about the other side of that coin? What should we have with our wonderful local dinner? Just crack open a Budweiser or a California wine and call it a day? HELL NO!

Portland is known as Beervana, home of the highest concentration of microbreweries on the planet.  However, Portland is also home to several micro distilleries and the areas to the southwest and north of Portland are prime wine regions (Williamette Valley, Columbia River Valley, Horse Heaven Hills to name a few of the AVA Regions). The choices are endless, although what grows best in this region is Pinot grapes.  Both Pinot Noir (Red) and Pinot Gris/Grigio (White) are world class in this area.

Just as an example of what a plethora of choices we have, here is a partial list of the breweries, wineries and distilleries in the area, and this is JUST the one’s I’ve tried or visited.  All in the Portland area unless otherwise noted.

Breweries:

McMenamins
Portland Brewing
Laurelwood Brewing
Red Hook Brewing (Seattle)
Full Sail Brewing
Deshutes Brewing
Rogue Brewery (Newport, OR)
Widmer Brothers Brewing
Hopworks Urban Brewery
Lucky Labrador Brewpub
Burnside Brewing
Occidental Brewing Co
Fearless Brewing (Estacada, OR)
10 Barrel Brewing (Bend, OR)
Caldera Brewing (Ashland, OR)

Wineries:

A to Z Winery
Dobbes Family Estate
Columbia Winery (Seattle/Yakima Valley)
Chateau Ste Michelle (Seattle/Yakima Valley)
King Estate/Acronym
McMenamin’s Edgefield
Christopher Bridge
Erath Winery
Willamette Valley Vineyards

I feel like I’m missing several, but this is still a good list.

Distilleries:

Eastside Distilling
Rogue Spirits (Newport, OR)
New Deal Distillery
McMenamin’s Edgefield Distillery
McMenamin’s CPR Distillery
Distilling Head

You see, the choices are endless.  Why anyone in this town would drink a Bud Light or a Kendall Jackson is beyond me…

 

I made Beer… and it was easy.

My first batch of home brewed beer is now finished and aging (conditioning) in bottles in the fridge.  It was fairly easy, but it was not fast.  I started on May 5th when I created the wort (young beer) and pitched the yeast.  Two weeks of primary fermentation in the barrel and then on May 20th it was ready to bottle.  Done right? Well, not quite.  At this point I had to add more sugar for a secondary fermentation to create the carbonation we all know and love.  The carbonation serves multiple purposes.  First it gives us the fizzy crisp mouth feel we are used to in beer, but more importantly Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in the bottle as well as pressure inside prevents oxygen from getting inside the bottle and ruining the beer.  Oxidation and sunlight are what cause a beer to go “skunky”.  That’s why good beer (not Corona or Miller High Life) comes in brown or green glass bottles, or aluminum cans.

Here’s how it went down.  First the easy part.  The Mr Beer kit is self contained and really easy to use.  The beer ingredient can is what’s know as “Hopped Malt Extract”.  This is essentially wort that’s been boiled and then concentrated into a syrup.  It includes all of the malt sugars needed for fermentation and flavor as well as hop extracts for bittering, flavor and preservation.

You can’t really see anything but Lisa took a picture of me pouring the malt extract from the can into a pot of boiling water to dissolve it into the wort.  Behind me you can see the Mr Beer fermentation take (designed to look like a barrel) and a large pitcher full of water to fill the keg with.  After I poured the hot wort in the keg (half full already with cold water to cool the wort) I filled it the rest of the way with water, placed it in a safe place and pitched the yeast.  The yeast in the kit is a dry yeast you simply sprinkle on top.  I was unable to take an initial gravity reading with my hydrometer, which at first I thought was not a big deal, but later realized it was indeed a big deal.  More on that later.

It’s hard to see, even with the flashlight but this is what the keg looked like after about three days.  This thick foam is known as “krausen”, which if you ask me sounds like a sea creature, and the first 2-4 days are when the yeast are most active and this period is known as “high krausen”.  After that the yeast die down and the foam goes away, but they aren’t done.  After the easiest to ferment sugars are gone, the yeast keep working for another 2-3 weeks depending on the beer style and alcohol level desired, they just slow down after their initial binge.  The Mr Beer kit recommends fermentation for 2 weeks.

About halfway through the fermentation I began to notice a strong smell of apples in the room where my brewing kit was.  I didn’t have a clue what this could signify so I googled it.  Now, searching the internet for brewing problems is like looking at WebMD when you have a cold.  It’s going to tell you a whole bunch of stuff that is wrong with you, like having 12 different kinds of cancer.  Turns out the apple smell is caused by acetaldahyde.  On the one hand, this is a normal byproduct of yeast fermentation, so that’s not so bad.  On the other hand if it doesn’t go away, it can be a telltale sign of all kinds of things that went wrong including dead yeast, poor temperature control etc.  So what I’m reading is basically “Your yeast is dead, and your beer is ruined”.  *sigh* Not a great start to my homebrewing career.  So I start a post-mortem to find out what went wrong and I turn to the only test I have at my disposal.  I check the specific gravity with my hydrometer now that I had acquired a “hydrometer jar”, essentially a tall glass tube tall enough to accommodate the hydrometer.  I didn’t have this the day I made the wort which is why I wasn’t able to get an initial gravity reading.  The gravity reading I get is 1.012 (water is 1.000).  This is low.. very low.  This is bad.. very bad.  Or is it?  I pull out my Brewmaster’s Bible and flip to the potential alcohol tables.  My specific gravity relates to a ABV of about 1.7%.  This is way too low and something has gone horribly wrong.  I mull this over in my head for a little while and then I read how the alcohol levels are calculated.  You take the ABV of the initial gravity and subtract it from the ABV of the final gravity and this is the approximate alcohol content of your beer.  Having not thought about relative densities of alcohol and water I have to read through this a couple times before it clicks.  Alcohol is less dense than water, therefore the gravity of the wort (sugar solution) will be HIGHER than the gravity of the final beer.  The gravity starts high and then drops.  EUREKA! I used an online tool to estimate the starting gravity of my wort which it tells me is about 1.030.  Subtracting the data from the table gives me an ABV of 3.2%.  This is lower than the 3.7% that Mr Beer lists on the can, but at this point my beer is not done yet.  I’ve still got about 5 days left to go.  Maybe my beer is not dead after all!

I was thinking about making some changes to my beer, letting it ferment longer, adding more yeast, or just throwing it out when Lisa reminded me of a good point.  For good or for ill I had stated I was going to make the first batch exactly by the Mr Beer recipe and let the chips fall where they may.  If it’s good so be it, if it got messed up along the way, so be it.  We can assess it at the end if something goes wrong.

On May 20th my beer was ready to bottle.  My kit came with 11 750ml plastic bottles.  This is roughly equivalent to 22 12 ounce bottles.  So for 14-17$ depending on the style, my kit makes nearly a 24-pack of beer.  So it’s not dirt cheap, in fact you can get some beers for cheaper than that, but it’s going to be low alcohol, flavorless beer like Michelob Light.  Supposedly the homebrew should be much better than that.

Getting ready to start bottling.  The pitcher contains a sanitizing solution to clean the bottles with.

Bottled beer, but it’s not ready yet.  Now it takes another 2 weeks for carbonation, and some websites even suggest another 2-4 weeks of “conditioning” after that for the flavors to mellow.

So we wait.. and we wait.. then comes to moment of truth.

May 30th.  Two of my bottles (the last two filled) got a little extra yeast in the bottles.  So they ended up getting fully carbonated first and I stuck them in the fridge for a couple days.  One day when Lisa was over we cracked one open and we tried it.

Well, it looks like beer, it smells like beer, what does it taste like?

Turns out, it tastes pretty good.  It has a very light, crisp taste and a dry finish.  The Mr Beer American Light Lager is exactly what it sounds like, it’s their version of the style that includes Bud Light, Miller Light, Coors Light etc.  Light flavor, light body, low alcohol.  Lisa really liked it.  I think I was trying too hard to describe it or compare it to something to appreciate it fully, but I have 10 more bottles of it.  Some of which will be shared around, especially to Lisa’s family who has been waiting since Christmas!

So, I did it! I successfully made beer! After we start making a dent in this batch and getting some empty bottles back I’ll start the second batch.  Lisa is requesting a stout.  We’ll see. 🙂

WalMart Organic and Food Insecurity

I haven’t had a lot of time to blog lately, but a couple of stories have popped up recently that caught my attention and I just had to say something about them.

The first one involved Wal Mart partnering with Wild Oats Marketplace to offer affordable organic food to carry in Wal Mart stores.  Here is a link to the press release. With the promise of offering consumers more healthy choices and blah blah blah… Bullcrap.  The quote in the release tells you exactly what this is.

“We know our customers are interested in purchasing organic products and, traditionally, those customers have had to pay more,” said Jack Sinclair, executive vice president of grocery at Walmart U.S. “We are changing that and creating a new price position for organic groceries that increases access. This is part of our ongoing effort to use our scale to deliver quality, affordable groceries to our customers.” 

Cheap organic food.. Give Wal Mart a chance to cash in on a trend (10 years too late) and further an attempt to put places like Whole Foods and Trader Joes out of business.  Looking into Wild Oats at the bottom of the page, they are essentially a holding company that owns the brand name, and they are “relaunching” at Wal Mart.  I’m almost willing to bet that mean for all intents and purposes Wal Mart will own the brand and make it one of their exclusives.

I don’t like this at all.  First off, looking at Wild Oat’s product line, while they may be “organic” they certainly don’t look particularly healthy.  Canned vegetables? Canned sauces and condiments? Potato chips and snacks? Everything loaded with salt and probably a lot of fat too.  Second, to be able to produce organic vegetables at that price point will involve a massive commercial farm, and not in the US.  Large scale organic farming is no better for the environment than conventional farming.  These fruits and vegetables will be grown in Chile on 10,000 acres of what USED to be rainforest.  Lastly I just don’t trust Wal Mart to have anyone’s interests in mind.  True confession, I used to love Wal Mart, I used to exclusively shop there, I used to own stock in the company.  As their stores got bigger, dirtier, more crowded and less staffed I started shopping there less and less.  Shortly before I moved out here I sold my stock and no longer have a stake in the company.  Now I won’t go within 100 yards of a Wal Mart, which works out well since there’s not 5 of them here in Portland like other places.  There is one on the NE edge of town right by the interstate and there is one down in Clackamas.  That’s it.  Lisa has told me people here have resisted Wal Mart and with good reason.  Plus with Fred Meyer and Trader Joes in town we don’t need a Wal Mart.  This is simply a move to pressure other companies, both individual food manufacturers and other grocery stores, and how long will it be before Wal Mart is pressuring the USDA to change the requirements for Organic labeling? This stinks bad and I don’t like it.

The second story was posted on Facebook by a friend of mine and it involved high school students who were posting twitter pictures of pitiful school lunches and mocking Michelle Obama for destroying the lunches and for the schools for “starving” them.  First, Mrs Obama has been a vocal champion of healthier food for school kids, but she doesn’t make the decisions about the programs.  She has not control over what is going on.  Second, a little deeper digging and it turns out what was pictured was not what the kids had ONLY been served.  They were throwing half of it away, and what were they throwing out? The fruits and vegetables! So in reality what you have going on is kids having tantrums and hissyfits and WASTING FOOD! What a bunch of brats.  They certainly aren’t helping anything with the image of modern kids as spoiled, entitled brats.  This article from a conservative blog which is attempting to shame Mrs Obama actually has some pretty telling quotes in it.

“The new standards led to kids throwing out their fruits and vegetables, ”  They are voluntarily not eating what is offered them.  That is not “starving” them.

“The standards forced some schools to stop serving peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and led middle school and high school students to opt for vending machines or buying food off campus to avoid the lunch line…” Once again, the kids are making choices to eat junk.

What these kids need is a lesson in food insecurity.  For those who may not be familiar with the term, food insecurity is not just going hungry, but literally not knowing when and where you will get your next meal.  People in Asia, India and elsewhere may have access to a pound of rice but it might have to last them 2-3 days, or 2-3 weeks depending on what they can get access too.  Plenty of places in the world don’t even have access to clean water, much less soda and candy bars.  These kids are not starving, they aren’t even remotely close to starving.  Their parents ought to be ashamed of them.  They think they are making a “political statement” but all they are doing is being idiotic and making themselves look incredibly stupid and foolish.

My Beer Journey

Runners love beer.  It’s refreshing and cold and a lot of races hand it out for free. What’s not to like?

I had my first beer at a Civil War re-enactment when I was… well let’s just say I was underage.  That first beer was a Coors Light.  It was essentially fizzy water, when it was ice cold it was pretty much flavorless.  We all start here right? Something light (and usually cheap) like Coors, Beast, PBR etc.  Beer for a lot of people is an acquired taste like many things, coffee, wine, etc.  Start light and work your way up.  A couple years later (again at a re-enactment) I was introduced to a lovely Canadian lager LaBatt Blue which put me on my butt, literally, with a much stronger taste and much higher alcohol content.  I liked it though, for a long time in college this was my beer of choice.

Fast forward through several years of whatever was on sale, on special on draft, or whatever was in the keg and I end up in Greensboro NC.  Here I am introduced to a locally made red ale known as Red Oak.  I fell in love with this beer, and to this day it is one of my favorites, although sadly I can’t get it anymore.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but this was my first taste of local craft brewing.  I went through a period, like many people I’m sure, thinking that some of the “special” brands like Shock Top and Blue Moon were “micro-brews”.. they aren’t.  They are made in the same factory as Budweiser. Microbrews are made in a place where you can walk in and see the fermenting tanks.  Red Oak was made at the Greensboro Ale House and it was only available on draft in a few places around town.  No cans.  No bottles.  They have since opened a new brewery and a cannery and you can get the beer at grocery stores in bottles.  I never got around to trying it before I moved away so I don’t know if it was as good.

A couple years later I end up in Winston Salem and get introduced to several more local beers.  It’s here I discover my first brewpub, Foothills Brewing.  They made their own beer on site! They had several year round brews including three IPAs, a Pilsner, a Porter and an American Pale Ale, plus all kinds of crazy seasonal and one off beers.   It was at this point I was starting to experiment and discover that I liked certain styles of beer, not just certain brands.  I don’t like overly hopped beers.  IPA (India Pale Ale) is usually out, and even some normal Pale Ales are too hoppy.  I like wheat beers a lot (both Belgian Style like Blue Moon, and German style Hefewiezens which are very similar), I like my Red Ales and I like brown ales like Newcastle, Nut Brown Ale etc.  I’m ok with Porters and Stouts but they aren’t my favorite.

Speaking of moving, then I moved to Beervana.  In case you didn’t know Portland, Oregon and most of the whole state of Oregon to be honest is the beer brewing capitol of the planet.  There’s several reasons for this.  First is access to fresh clean water.  A lot of the municipal water around here from from lakes and rivers that are fed by snowmelt.  Very pure and clean and they don’t put any chemicals in it, at all.  The tap water here is awesome.  Also, all of the beer ingredients grow here and grow well.  Hops flourish in this area and in fact a lot of the best hops are from this area.  Cascade, Mt Hood, Williamette etc.  The area south of Portland grows enough hops it’s probably second only to maybe Germany.

EVERYONE here makes beer.  And I mean everyone.  There are brewpubs and microbrews everywhere.  Why anyone would drink “name brand” beer (Bud, Coors, Miller etc) in this town is beyond me.  There’s a couple of fairly big local breweries around here that distribute nationwide, Rogue and Full Sail to name two that I could get back on the East Coast.  McMenamins makes their own beer (and wine and spirits) and not only is that all they carry at their locations, you can only get their beer at their locations.  Laurelwood is a local brewpub with two restaurant locations and their beer is also available at grocery stores.  There’s too many to name but there are so many, I’ve rarely had the same beer twice since I’ve been here.  Every time I go to the store I want to try something new.

Now, since hops grow so well here, Northwest beers tend to be VERY hoppy.  The NWPA (Northwest Pale Ale) tends to be hoppier than most IPAs elsewhere, and the IPAs here will blow the top of your head off.  This proves to be troublesome for me, since I don’t like overhopped beers, but there is still plenty here I can drink.  Widmer makes a great Hefeweisen.  Rogue makes an amazing Hazelnut Brown Ale that I just tried the other day. Laurelwood makes a good Red Ale.  I have plenty of choices.

But now I have one other choice.. My beer journey has now come full circle.  Very soon, within the next couple weeks, I’ll be making my own beer.  Lisa’s sister got us a homebrew kit for Christmas last year and the only reason I haven’t started yet is it’s been too cold for the fermentation to take place, but it’s finally getting warm enough.  Now if I can’t find something I like I can just make it.  I can take something similar to something I like and tweak it to be even better.  I can experiment with different flavors and combos of ingredients and just make stuff up as I go along.  It’s a small kit, only 2 gallons, so if I make something that’s terrible and undrinkable it’s not a huge waste.

Stay tuned as I’m about to seriously get my food science geek on.  There will be updates!

For the Love of Running

The story of how me and Lisa met is remarkable and, even still, a little unbelievable.  We’ve known each other now for nearly two years and I’ve been living in Oregon now for 8 months and both of us still have moments of “How in the world did this happen?”.  It all started with a simple question of advice,she asked how to transition from a 100% indoor, treadmill runner to running outside.  This led to several days of talking about future races and training plans and then when she told me she was running the Tinkerbell and we’re both Disney nuts, the conversation turned to other topics a shocking number of which we had in common.  Food, beer, wine, travel, Disney, humor, movies, books etc one right after the other rang bells with both of us.  As Lisa so eloquently puts it “We started talking and just never stopped”.

This past Saturday was a big day for both sides of the coin, Love and Running.  First the running.

Foot Traffic was hosting an “Event Expo” on Saturday morning.  Like a race expo where vendors get together to sell their wares to the race crowd, this expo was a group of event managers who were plugging their events.  We had several races we were going to register for anyway and the expo advertised discounts we were sold. The three races we were going to sign up for were:

Oregon Spring Half – May 3, 2013 (Canby, Oregon)
Vancouver USA Half – June 15, 2013 (Vancouver, Washington)
Foot Traffic Flat Half – July 4, 2013 (Portland, Oregon)

We got discounts of 10-15$ off each race and saved almost 50$ on registrations. One of the tables had a prize wheel you could spin for various prizes, most were trinkets like a water bottle, a pack of Gu, a beanie (which is what I won) but one was a free entry.  It was a tiny slice sandwiched between the Water Bottle slice which was split in two.  Lo and behold, Lisa landed on free entry.  This continues her string of prize luck after she won a free entry to the New Years 5K while we were at the Holiday Half.  The event she choice to use her free registration on is the Columbia River Gorge half in October of this year.  If I join her for that one (and I surely will) that will be 4 half marathons this year which will be most in a year for both of us, and the possibility of a 5th if repeat the Holiday Half (which we would like to).   This also presents me with an interesting scenario since there were a few races I had looked at in August and September and that would present the opportunity to complete 6 in 6 months.  This would “moon me up” to the next level of the Half Fanatics and earn my second moon.  Lisa may or may not be able to complete those with me depending on her fall class schedule, but her 3 in 90 days (May, June, July) will qualify her for the Fanatics at the first moon level.

To finish the day a new chapter was opened up on the Love side of the coin.  I surprised Lisa with a trip to McMenamins Edgefield property out in Troutdale where I had made us reservations at the pretty swanky Black Rabbit Restaurant.  This isn’t your normal beer and burger McMenamins, here they serve steak and fish and wild boar and fancy salads and all the usual Five Star items.  We walked around the property and visited all the outlying bars and got our stamps for our Passports and then headed downstairs to the Winery to do a tasting flight.  All of the wines we tasted were fantastic! Then, right before dinner, when the opportunity presented itself and we were alone, I pulled out her Grandmother’s engagement ring which I had secretly obtained from her family, dropped to a knee and asked her to marry me.  She said yes (well.. nodded and cried, but that’s universal right?) and we hugged for a while and then headed down to dinner.  For me the nerves were over and I was relaxed, for her it was time for butterflies and nerves and head spinning.  Dinner was impeccable and it was an enchanted evening.

From a simple email about running styles to being engaged to be running partners for life.  It’s amazing what a run can do for you.

I don’t know how this happened.. and I’m not sure I ever will.. but I am so thankful it did.  I didn’t realize it two years ago, but I know now I am well and truly blessed.

Homemade Egg Salad

It’s been a while since I’ve made one of my homemade creations and this one was based in necessity.  I had forgotten to pull anything out to thaw for dinner and I didn’t know what I was going to make, but I realized I had eggs, mayo, mustard and pickles so therefore I could make egg salad!

First I had to do a little research, I had to refresh myself on how to hard boil eggs, something I’m not sure I’ve ever done before to be honest, and then to find a simple recipe that I could adapt to what I had on hand.

Here is the recipe I used as my springboard – Chow Egg Salad and then made the following changes:

• No celery – I don’t like it and I didn’t have any anyway.
• Yellow mustard since I didn’t have any whole grain (and I’ve always had it with yellow anyway)
• Chopped up dill pickles instead of relish
• Salt, pepper and garlic powder to season

I only had 5 eggs instead of 6, but I figured it would still turn out mostly the same.  So first things first, I hard boiled the eggs.

 

(Funny how the bright red coil looks purple in the picure).

I pulled the eggs out to cool when they were done and whipped up the sauce to go with it.  Pretty simple, just chopped up the pickles and then tossed in the mayo, mustard, salt, pepper and garlic powder.  I meant to add paprika and forgot, but may add that to the leftovers.

After the eggs had cooled for a while I set about peeling them, which didn’t go exact smoothly but I got it done.  Not sure it if was the eggs or maybe I cooked them wrong.  They were a little soft when I cut them up, so possible didn’t cook them long enough or let them cool long enough, but I was hungry man! Coming home from the gym is not the time to try to make something time intensive. Chopped up the eggs and tossed them in the sauce and TADA!

 

Based on how much I used to make my first sandwich this will end up being about 3 servings worth.

According to MyFitnessPal this recipe is about 300 calories per serving.  Of course all of the calories are from the eggs and mayo.  The yellow mustard has like 5 calories and the pickles have none. Here’s the layout.

293 Cals – 1 gm carb – 27 gm fat (only 6 grams saturated fat) – 12 gm Protein – 440 mg Sodium

High fat as you would expect, but a lot of it is “good” fat.  You can cut a lot of sodium by leaving out the pickles, but I really like them.

Verdict: This turned out well, the sauce was thin and messy because I didn’t let it sit in the fridge before I served it.  The eggs may have been ever so slightly undercooked but still turned out well. Had good flavor, but of course if you like things like onions and celery those are good additions.

Doesn’t this look good?

Weekly Recap – Jan 13 – Jan 20

Documenting progress, even if it’s “bad” (such as a low mileage week or a weight gain) is a very useful tool, so I am going to try to get back into the habit of my weekly recap posts to keep myself on track.  I have to lose 20 pounds (or try as close as I can) in the next 23 weeks (Doctor’s orders!!) so I’m hitting the ground running, so to speak.

Starting Weight – 272 (275) – The doctor weighed me at 275 with my normal clothes on, jeans, shoes etc.  I weighed myself at the gym the next day in my running shorts at 272.

Monday – Ellipitical – 60 minutes
Tuesday – Run – 3 miles
Wednesday – Rest
Thursday – Rest
Friday – Run – 3 miles
Saturday – Rest
Sunday – Rest (Football party!!)

Total mileage – 6 miles
Ending weight – 270 (2 pounds lost)

Whenever you make a change you’re always going to see a pretty big shift to start with.  The key is to stick with the program when next week this turns into no loss or even a gain.  Your body will fluctuate wildly for a while until it settles into the new routine.  Some of that could also be water weight lost since I’m working on drastically slashing my sodium intake and so therefore should retain less water.

Off to a good start!

2013 Year in Review

Last year I had this to say about 2012.

“2012 was such an amazing year I’m not sure how I’m going to prevent 2013 from being a letdown.  How do you follow up that act?”

Well, needless to say 2013 blew 2012 out of the water.

The Move:

This was the biggest thing that happened this year so I might as well mention it first.  On May 28th, 2013 (a day after my birthday) I got in my car and started driving.  I would drive for the next 4 days nonstop through 10 states and all four time zones.  Until that day I had lived in North Carolina for my entire life.  I arrived in Portland on Friday May 31st at about 7PM local time (by that point I had no clue what time it was anymore, my body still thought it was 10PM).

There are two major “life changing” aspects of this move.  The first is that somewhere (and I still don’t know where it came from) I found the guts to uproot everything and leave everything behind, for all intents and purposes jumping off a cliff and hoping someone at the bottom would catch me.  The fact that a multitude of people, including Lisa’s family, friends and church community did catch me is astonishing and leads me into the second aspect.

From June until November I was essentially “homeless”.  Yes, I was not the traditional “sleeping on the streets” form of homeless, but I had no place to call my own and very few possessions.  I cycled through a series of “foster” homes and couch surfed while I looked for jobs and looked for places to live on my own.  If it weren’t for the people who opened their homes to me I wouldn’t be here.  To know that everything you have at a certain moment in your life, food, warmth, roof, bed, access to a phone to call loved ones, is provided by someone out of only the goodness of their hearts is incredibly humbling.  It is a debt I can never repay, and one that will never be called upon.  No repayment was asked or is ever expected from these amazing people.  Lisa’s church preaches to help the poor and those less fortunate.  These people surely took that to heart and “practice what they preach”.

You can read about the Westward Journey HERE.

Races:

After “The Year of the Race” in 2012 with 15 races in four different distances, 2013 was certainly a step back, but not in a bad way and certainly for good reasons.  2013 featured 7 races including 3 half marathons stretching from Florida to Oregon.

2013 started the same as 2012 with the Running of the Lights 5K at Tanglewood park.  The run through the Christmas lights that started at midnight on New Years day was a repeat for me.  However, this year Lisa had flown out from Portland to come visit me and happened to be here on race day and so she ran this one with me and this was our first race together.

A few weeks later I would travel down to Orlando Florida to run in the Walt Disney World half marathon.  This was a pretty amazing race but unfortunately was marred by a serious knee injury.  I was able to finish the race, but had to walk from mile 9 to the finish in the surprisingly hot Florida sun.  My parents and brother and sister were there to support me and cheer me on and also cheer me up after my disappointing finish.  3:36 was my worst finish ever, but I finished.  I suppose I had plenty of points where I could have dropped out and told the race crew I quit, but I plodded along and made my way to the finish.

In February, I would suffer my first DNS (Did Not Start).  I had signed up for the Pilot Mountain Payback “Heavy” half marathon before I was injured at Disney and I decided I was going to try my best to still complete it.  I had completed the 3 in 3 months I needed to qualify for the Half Fanatics, but now was going to try for 6 in 6 months.  Due to my injury I was not able to run for several weeks and not able to put in any serious mileage at all.  The “Heavy” was about 14 miles so longer than a half and would have been my longest run to date.  I was still dead set on running it until the night before the race.  I was literally in a panic.  I wasn’t sure I could do the distance, it was snowing that night and conditions on the course were going to be horrible.  After a long conversation with Lisa, who told me that if I was so upset about the race I should skip it, I decided not to go.   A few days later, I found out how awful the course was, with creek crossing that were waist deep, and how many people skipped and how many people did not finish and I knew I had made the right choice.  I wasn’t happy with it, but I was at peace with it.

In March and April I ran a pair of 10Ks, a repeat of the St Leo’s 10K and then a new race, the Hope for Hospice 10K.  The first one I merely wanted to finish, which I did in a respectable 1:13, while the second one was part of the training for my second half marathon and I finished a tough course in 1:11 which was only 3 minutes slower than my 10K PR from last year.

In late April I ran my second half marathon of the year, the Kings Mountain Half in Kings Mountain SC.  I was excited to run this race since it ran through a Revolutionary War battlefield, but that ended up being a huge disappointment since the “cannons and monuments” portion of the battlefield was nowhere near where we ran.  An out and back on some access roads with nothing by trees to look at was a HUGE letdown.  Also, towards the end of this race my calves cramped up really bad and I ended up walking from mile 11 to the end.  My 3:08 finish was better than Disney, and slightly better than my first half in New Orleans, but nothing close to a PR.  About the only saving grace was this was my first race in South Carolina, so it was a new state for me.

At this point, the rest of my 2013 race calender got completely erased.  The races I had planned for the Fall were not going to happen and the races for May and June I needed that money for my move across the country.  It would be a while before I would race again, but me and Lisa started running together as often as we could once I got settled in Portland.

In November we ran our second race together, a 10K, and my first race in Portland.  The Cause and Event 10K was a fantastic event that supported many different causes.  The course was mostly greenway through west Portland/Beaverton neighborhoods.  Of course, being Portland in the fall, it rained on us during the race, but it was mostly just a slight drizzle.  I got to meet some of the people who help run Camp Lutherwood and raise some money for them so that was all good!

In December, we finally ran our first half together in Portland, the Foot Traffic Holiday half.  A nice run through Northeast Portland, it was COLD and rainy, but a really nice course and well supported.  Other than my bad cramps for the last two miles it was also a great run.  Lisa rocked it! We finished in exactly 3 hours which was not a PR for either of us, but not our worst finish either.

The next run for Lisa and I will be another midnight New Year’s Day race, but that’s for 2014!

Hiking:

While we didn’t do as much running over the summer as we planned, we certainly took advantage of the gorgeous weather and Lisa introduced me to one of her favorite past times.  Hiking! What else does one do in a place full of mountains and trees? I was quickly hooked.

We started out with an “easy” hike that turned out to be quite a journey.  The loop around the Trail of Ten Falls was about 7 miles or so of mostly flat terrain, but then at the end there was some steep switchback stairs and a steep uphill climb to the last falls which really took it out of me.  I was completely exhausted by the time we finished but it was totally worth it.  The scenery was unbelievable and you couldn’t believe you were just a short drive outside of the city.  It felt like we were in the middle of nowhere.

The next hike, merely a week later, was the shortest in distance, but by far the most challenging.  We drove up to Timberline Lodge, which is about halfway up Mt Hood (roughly 6000 feet elevation) and hiked out to Zig Zag Canyon.  It was only about 2 miles there and two miles back, but it including dropping down into several smaller canyons, as well as the terrain shifting as we skirted along the edge of the timberline.  At times we were deep into an old growth forest bushwhacking through underbrush and giant ferns and then at other times we were sliding through a sandy/rocky type landscape with not a tree in sight.  We lost several hundred feet of elevation on the way out to the canyon and while the way out was a nice “walk” the way back to the lodge was suddenly extremely uphill and turned into a “climb”.  This however, was an incredibly rewarding hike.

About two weeks after that we embarked on our third hike of the season which started out innocently enough but turned into quite an adventure.  We had planned on hiking up to Wahkenna Falls and then taking the trail back down along Multnomah Falls.  Unfortunately, through a combination of a poorly marked trailhead and a confusing printed map we ended up parking and starting at the wrong place.  We got onto the Angel’s Rest trail and of course we were several miles into it before we realized it but we continued on to the top of Angel’s Rest. We climbed about 1400 feet along the way and were rewarded with an amazing view up and down the Columbia River.  Across from us was Washington State and we could almost see all the way back to Portland.  At this point we continued along the trail which we thought would take us to Multnomah Falls.  We crossed a creek and then lost the trail and were a few minutes away from becoming very lost.  A couple and their dog emerged from the brush and warned us not to go that way since the trail was overgrown and faded.  It turned out they had just come from where we wanted to go, so they showed us the way.  We parted ways at the top of Wahkenna falls as they headed to Multnomah but without them we would have been seriously lost.  We made our way down the side of Wahkenna falls which was absolutely breathtaking and made our way back down to road level.  Now because of where we parked, we had about a 2 mile walk along the side of the road to get back to the car.  This was terrifying since there was no shoulder and warnings to NOT do what we were doing, but we had no choice.  What was supposed to be an easy 4 mile hike turned into a very challenging 9 mile hike, but we survived it and made it.

Travel:

Lisa loves to travel and we’ve done our fair share of it even if only in the local area.  Shortly after I arrived in Portland, we headed out to the Oregon coast and took in Cannon Beach, Tillamook, Lincoln City, Depoe Bay and Newport.  The Oregon Coast is not like anything I have ever seen before.  Rocks and cliffs and lava flows and trees right up to the water line.  It resembles close to what I expect the Northeast looks like up around Maine.  Also, a month ago we went to Seattle which was a really cool trip and a place I’ve wanted to go for a long while.  We will certainly be headed back there soon I’m sure.

Job:

Changing jobs is never fun, but moving all the way across the country meant quitting my job and then trying to find a new one.  After 3 months that felt like FOREVER I landed a job in Vancouver at a company that makes vitamins and herbal supplements, so I got back into the Food Science industry to a certain degree.  I’m doing quality work but also a decent amount of paperwork and regulatory responsibilities.  They weren’t kidding that the job title “Lab Administrator” is a “little bit of everything”.

Weightloss:

This part hasn’t gone so well this year, but I’m not too terribly upset about it.  I started the year at my lowest weight ever at around 235, but my Disney injury sidelined me for a long while and I ended up putting a little weight back on, probably close to 245.  Then after I moved I’ll admit that I put on several more pounds as I ate my way around Portland (no regrets AT ALL).  I’ll be finishing this year in the 260’s so I’ve actually gained weight, but I’m still way under where I was in 2011 and most of 2012, so I’ll take that and jump into 2014 with both feet.

Can 2014 build on an incredible 2012 and then an epic 2013? Stay Tuned!!!!!!

Coffee Culture

I’ve sort of forgotten about my blog here recently as I’m still trying to find work and a place to live and get settled here in Portland.  I’m sure all four of my readers are very upset at this.  I apologize.

It’s very much cliched that the Pacific Northwest is a heavy coffee culture.  Like most cliches, there is a strong ring of truth to it.  People here love their coffee.  People are loyal to certain brands, certain coffee shops and certain baristas.  I think I mentioned in an earlier blog post that it surprises me that the “chain” stores like Starbucks and Seattle’s Best can stay in business since everyone seems to prefer their local corner shop, but apparently they do well enough.

Lisa and I got coffee yesterday evening while we were grocery shopping, jet lag for her and just a lack of caffeine for me, interestingly at a Starbucks, since that was what was available in the store, and Lisa was beside herself giddy that I ordered my coffee with no room for cream.  She said she takes enormous pride in the fact that she has (quickly) converted me to a black coffee drinker.  A combination of “pressure” from her (not really), my desire to try things, and I think the largest part is, access to fresh, good quality coffee, have contributed to this transition.  My first cup of black coffee was at Lisa’s favorite shop Rain or Shine at the corner of 60th and Division.  The store allows you to pre-order refills and knowing we were going to be there a while I ordered two cups.  They had two styles of coffee to offer and I just picked one at random and made my normal cup with milk and simple syrup.  When it came time for the second cup I wanted to try the other style and I figured if I wanted to taste the difference I should try it with nothing in it.  I figured if I didn’t like it I could take a few sips and then add the stuff to it.  Well, I ended up not needing it.  The coffee was mild and smooth, not bitter at all, and even had a little bit of natural sweetness.  Now when I go back to Rain or Shine, this is the coffee I get and it doesn’t need anything added to it.

The coffee in question that blew me away was the El Salvador coffee from Portland Roasting.  Portland Roasting, along with Stumptown Coffee Roasters, is one of several local coffee roasters that hail from the Portland area.  The fact that the coffee was roasted fresh only a few days ago and shipped locally, rather than sitting in a can on a grocery store shelf since God knows when makes all the difference in the world!  This is not Folgers.  Some coffee shops, such as the Water Avenue Coffee Company and McMenamin’s roast their own coffees in house.  The smaller local places also create a relationship with the farmers and know exactly where their coffee comes from.  Some of them will even pay a premium for a farmer to grow and supply coffee beans ONLY to them.  Higher quality coffee and higher pay for the farmers is a win-win all around.  Dealing directly with the farmers also ensures the farmers are actually getting paid and not getting ripped off by a middle man or distribution company.

On the other side of that coin of course is the fancy, expensive espresso based drinks like mochas and lattes.  Lisa doesn’t drink these very often, but I occasionally indulge.  I like a good mocha from time to time.  One of the first mochas I ever had was from a coffee stand in EPCOT and it had such a strong flavor of chocolate that I couldn’t even taste the coffee, which at the time I liked it that way.  Lisa says around here that’s just known as hot chocolate.  Since I’ve been here, I’ve had a couple other mochas and they’ve run the gamut of being very chocolatey and dressed up with whipped cream and chocolate syrup, down to the traditional drink with foam only and just a slight chocolate flavor on top of the espresso.  The mocha I had at Water Avenue (which I wish now I had taken a picture of, but that just seemed very out of sorts) kept the design in the foam all the way down to the last sip, which is a sign of a perfectly pulled espresso and well made foam.  It was delicious, and it was the one previously mentioned that only had a slight chocolate flavor, you could still very much taste the coffee.

I still don’t see any point to drink the godawful iced whatever stuff from Starbucks that’s laced with sugar syrups and milk and 2000 calories, but a good traditional mocha or latte or cappuccino can be a nice treat without breaking the waistline.  100 calories or so for the added milk is really all you’re looking at.

And yes… if you walk into a non-Starbucks and try to order a “Frappaccino” which is a nonsense drink that doesn’t exist, yes they will laugh you out the door.  For example, a macchiato is a cup of espresso with a very small amount of milk.  This will be served to you hot and in a small cup.  What they call a macchiato at Starbucks is some monstrous iced thing with milk and whipped cream and who knows what else.  Lisa’s barista friend Jeremy says depending on how nice you are, he may give you exactly what you order (which is not what they are trying to order) or he may give you what you really want, which is actually an iced caramel latte.

So when you come to the Pacific Northwest make sure to try some good fresh local coffee! You’ll be glad you did.