5/27/15

Winding Down from the Weekend

Oh my goodness. I have lots of ground to cover. You might want a cup of coffee for this...or not. Maybe you'll just want to scroll to the next blog. If you're still here, I'll tell you what's been going on since Friday...starting with Saturday, when we headed over to Rockaway Beach, Oregon.

To get to Rockaway, one first must drive through Tillamook. That would be the Tillamook of Tillamook Cheese. The first thing you notice driving into Tillamook is the quilt blocks of the Tillamook County Quilt Trail. I've blogged about the quilt block trail before. It seems each time we come here, there are more quilt blocks than before. There's one on the county building:


And on the Tillamook County Pioneer Museum.


And pretty much everywhere you look, you'll see a building or a business sporting its own quilt block. Some of them are very creative. 

It's about ten miles up the coast to Rockaway where we stayed in an RV park uniquely situated right on the beach. There are sea stacks all along the Oregon coast, but these are the stacks that give Rockaway its name.


You can see why we like this park. It's one of the few places we can RV and have a spot with an ocean view. You can see our RV in the image below.


The weather was cloudy and cool most of the weekend, but there were a few sun breaks and NO RAIN, which is always something to celebrate, no matter what time of the year. 

We needed a few things, and so we drove into town and happened on a kite festival. Fun!


It was late in the day when we arrived. I had some chicken pot pies already made up for dinner, and so we relaxed for the remainder of the day.

We weren't sure if fresh seafood would be available on Memorial Day. Rather than take a chance, we headed to the Garibaldi Marina on Sunday to pick up our fresh oysters and steamer clams. Here's a new quilt block I hadn't seen before.


We walked into one of the fresh seafood places and found the objects of our desire right away. 


We picked up a dozen oysters and a 1 1/2 pounds of clams. And that's Monday's dinner right there. We kept them on ice in the refrigerator overnight.


There were lots of fishermen cleaning fish and selling cooked whole crab.


After putting our seafood on ice, we walked down to where the Nehalem River flows into the ocean. The seagulls were sitting in the relatively warm water there.


I saw a quilt in these Adirondack chairs lined up on the beach. What do you think?


And this being the day of our anniversary, we headed north to Cannon Beach to EVOO for dinner and a cooking "show". The weather was nice as we drove north, and we saw some pretty views. Here you can see the clouds spilling over the mountain tops like waterfalls.


Looking in the other direction, I believe this is the tiny town of Wheeler, Oregon.


Here's the restaurant, a small place, but it's also a gift shop and cooking school. Mike found out about it using Yelp, but it's been written up in our local newspaper.


That's Josh, an intern, getting things ready to go while guests are seated.


And here's the menu, explaining what we'll be seeing them make...oh yes, and eating. Don't forget the eating. If you can't see that menu, click on the image to make it larger.


There was one other anniversary there that night, as well as a couple of birthdays. They'd decorated our glasses with a "Happy Anniversary" message.


These are the chef owners, husband and wife team of Bob and Lenore. They were very nice people, and very entertaining as they prepared our meal.


Those are some sugar snap peas and roasted cherry tomatoes to be used in the first course.


That's a slice of roasted prosciutto on top there. It's a risotto surrounded by some richly roasted veggies. Yum.


The next course was a crab souffle served up in a little cornbread cup.


Here Lenore puts some pickled onion and radish over our watercress salads.


And there it is...yum. ("Yum" is the word of the day.) That's a blood orange marmalade at the top of the plate.


Next up was chicken marsala served up for about 20 people, and that was impressive. He first put a rub on the chicken and then gave it a crust on the stove top...six skillets going at the same time.


Then it went into the oven to roast. When it was done, it was served up with some mashed potatoes and some grilled purple asparagus. Repeat after me: Yum.


And since everyone was still hungry (cough), we were served up some chocolate souffles with some strawberry ice cream and an almond brittle. Yes, yum. Here Lenore adds some whipped cream.


While Bob made the almond brittle. If you're wondering how he did that so fast, he poured the liquefied sugar into the pan and put the whole thing over ice. It set up in about ten minutes.


Then he torched the meringue.


And there it is. Ours was served with a candle since we were there to celebrate our anniversary.


Then we rolled on out the door and into our truck for the drive home. 

The next day we drove back north to Cannon Beach. On the way we spied two quilt shops. I'll tell you about those in separate posts. This one is Creative Fabrics in Wheeler. That one wasn't on my quilt shop app, and so I just happened to notice it as we drove by.


This one, Center Diamond Fabric, was in Cannon Beach.


They had this funny little garden growing in their parking lot with these amazing poppies growing right next to the red chard behind. 


On the way home, we stopped off at this lookout. Our daughter Holly's ashes are buried out there on the promontory on the right. It was possible to hike out there at one time, but everything is overgrown now, and the path has become impassable.


We got Smitty out for a walk when we got back to the trailer.


"Have a nice time at the beach...I'm heading for home."

He wasn't a very happy camper this trip. There were too many mans walking on the beach with woofies. We could see boats out on the ocean, and we were pretty sure there were woofies on those boats too. 


Nevertheless, he did sit on the step with Mike and talk about RV stuff with our weekend neighbor.


He has a spiffy new harness.


Gracie came out of the closet a few times. She doesn't mind the trailer. She has her own private bedroom in our closet.


Monday evening, we cooked our fresh seafood. This has become a tradition when we're at the beach. We make Linguine with Clams and Fresh Herbs. It's super simple and light. 


Also our own concoction of grilled oysters that we call Oysters Rockaway.


While we were there, I finished up the whole left side of my latest stitchery. The stitching on this side is more dense than on the right, so I'm thinking it's fair to say that this one is about half done. 


We arrived home yesterday afternoon and went right over to pick up our second CSA share. In this week's share:


I've already made kale chips with the kale. I'm still working on the perfect way to do this, but this batch wasn't bad. The leaves are crunchy like a chip, but the center stems are still chewy. I've decided the best way to eat them is to fold them up until you can pop the whole thing in your mouth. I like the chew, which is a little like eating kale jerky.


And I'm pickling the stems from the turnip greens and the kale in some rice vinegar and a few other things. I saw this idea on Marisa McClellan's website, Food in Jars. She also has a recipe for a turkey meatloaf that will use my bundle of chard.


For dinner last night, I sauteed the turnip greens and beet greens. This is actually quite good. The beet stems are started first to tenderize them a little. I still think they could benefit from blanching. They're a little chewy, but the leaves are very tasty. And don't you know all that fiber will keep things moving along! You know..."things" that shall remain unnamed.


And that brings me up to today. Before I end though, I wanted to show you a couple of little things from Friday. 

For one thing, I added the label to Baby Zevee's quilt and sent that off to her. I left my own name off the label as the quiltmaker. What do you do? It just seemed a little weird to me to put my name on this quilt for a baby whose parents I've never met.


And I promised to let you know about the Lemon Creme Brulee for two I made Friday evening. These were so simple, I could do them in the trailer. You can find the recipe right here. You need some sort of torch to give the topping its nice creme brulee crunch. I happen to have this small one, but you can do this with the big industrial ones. You might even have one in your garage. (Check out the one Bob is using in the image up above.)


Mike is a great fan of creme brulee and of lemon, and so these were really his cup of tea.


And that's all I have to tell you. Today I'm going to try to get organized again. I still need to unpack the trailer, but that won't take long. Then I'm getting a badly-needed perm this afternoon. Things are about to get kind of crazy because we're taking off for a 10-day trip to Whistler, B.C., a week from tomorrow. There's lots to do before then, and so I'm not sure I'll have much time for sewing. I'll actually be happy to get back to my paper piecing, if you can imagine that.

It was a great weekend, and we had a really nice celebration for our 40th. I hope you had a good weekend too.

16 comments:

Carole in Nebraska said...

I am in awe of your trip! Thanks for taking me along although its hard to get the sound and smell of the ocean through the computer. Those rock formations are amazing. I'm only used to the Atlantic Ocean off southern New England and the Mid Atlantic states where you don't see anything like that. And as for the dinner ... I don't think "yum" is anywhere near superlative enough. LOL Everything is to drool for !!!! Smitty looks ever so dapper in his new harness. I showed the picture to Rudy but he said that he's pass ... it would crease his furs (very long and abundant) and might make him look a tad chubby. What a beautiful place for your daughter to rest. I am so sorry for your loss. No one should have to speak of a child in the past tense. (My parents did, too.) God bless.

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Thank you for sharing your special weekend.

Teresa in Music City said...

Looks like a really lovely way to enjoy your Anniversary together Barbara! And even Smitty and Gracie got to come a long :*) Even though you seem to have done a lot, I got the sense that you relaxed a lot too and enjoyed yourselves, doing exactly what you wanted to do. Congratulations!!!

Lee said...

Whew, that's a lot to take in, but it sure looks like you had a wonderful anniversary trip. I'm looking forward to your reviews/comments on the two quilt shops - I visited both in February as part of the Quilt 101 coastal run shop hop. I remember liking Center Diamond, but I think I liked Creative Fabrics even more...I have to go re-read my own post.

quiltzyx said...

Wow! Looks like you had a wonderful anniversary weekend at Rockaway! I couldn't eat at that restaurant though. I would feel bad about picking through the poisonous stuff right in front of them. But the chicken and the crab souffle and the dessert looking amazing.
I really like the crab quilt block! Looks just like the crabs you showed below it!!
I love lemon creme brulee too. I used to get it at Claim Jumper - but the one near me closed.

Junebug613 said...

Looks like a full and fun trip! I love that the town has quilt blocks all around. Very cool. I can't wait to hear the quilt shop reviews. Wow, another trip, already? You are a lucky lady. I'm looking forward to "riding" along with you!

Beth said...

We're such homebodies, it's great fun to tag along on your trips. I do get a little nervous when I see Smitty outside of the RV, though. His adventures give me nightmares! That's a pretty snazzy harness--looks like it will keep him out of trouble.

As for the labeling question, I think you handled it very modestly, and your solution was just fine, but I could also see doing something like, "A quilt for Zevee from Grandpa and Grandma, handmade by their friend Barbara Stanbro"-- sixty years from now, when she passes it along to her own grandchild, the story of her baby quilt would be preserved with all the tender details. Not about bragging, but about connections.

In any case, it's a darling quilt, a very cute label, and (unlike so many of the baby quilts I have started) it will reach her when she is still a wee lass. Way to go.

gpc said...

What a lovely way to celebrate your anniversary! Everything about it touches me. :) And I'm with Mike, lemon and brulee sound like the perfect combination!

Snoodles said...

Gorgeous beach...the stacks are so cool. Clue me in on Smitty's harness... daughter needs a new one for her furbaby. We've tried the kale, too, but not whole leaves...maybe that will make ours better. Happy anniversary!
quiltnsrep(at)yahoo(dot)com

KMSC said...

Thank you so much for the recap of your weekend. The coast is always a fun place to visit. What did you buy at the quilt shops?!! I love the pictures of your kitties, especially the one of Smitty heading home. Are they good travelers? Have a great week.

liniecat said...

What a delightful way to celebrate your anniversary and to then be close to Holly's resting place too, just perfect.
I love to see those Adirondack chairs, love the colours and yes theyd make a great quilt or painting! I do wonder are they comfy though? I mean with cushions yes but the tilt of the back makes me think theyd be uncomfortable?
I thought the poppies were tulips at first!
I have stunning deep purple, almost black tulips, parrot tulips I think they are, and their petals have been as beautifully frazzled as those poppies. You may have go back surely and collect some poppy seeds later? They are so unusual and striking!

Kate said...

Looks like an almost perfect weekend! Now I'm hungry!

sophie said...

What a wonderful anniversary trip. Thanks for sharing all the eye candy--makes me want to travel, eat well and pick up a new cat harness for Johnny Be Good. FWIW, I remove the stems from the kale before I make chips.

Lynda Halliger Otvos (Lynda M O) said...

How much fun could two folks have ?~! Your foodstuffs make me hungry. Smitty worries about woofies a lot when he's in unfamiliar territory, as well he should.

Love Lemon so much I can't tell you. Our gracious and generous neighbor's lemon tree has a Huge Crop this year and we are being blessed with its bounty. Thankful, that's us !~! Lemonade every day for all who want it.

Thank you for the reminder to read Holly's story; the lump in my throat is slowly receding.

Lyndsey said...

Thanks for writing about your trip, it's been fun to read and enjoy with you.

Brown Family said...

That was a wonderful weekend. I keep saying how much I would like to go back to the North West! I did not know about Holly, but that is a wonderful place for her ashes. Your creme brulee is beautiful