Strawberry Fields Forever

Walking far along the unpaved road into the fields of strawberries, the three of us take turns rolling the bouncy red wagon behind us. The red wagon wobbles unsteadily while the wheels bicker and squeak, protesting the dirt beneath them.  We can hardly hear ourselves speak during such a racket so we pause in brief moments of rest to share our observations and memories.

The noisy Red Wagon holding our  juicy treasures!

While Susie and I scour one field, Jeff wanders to another and finds a kid-sized,  painted wooden-plank replica of a scarecrow complete with cardboard shotgun. This field seems untouched and holds rounder and more robust strawberries. We pick here. The strawberries we snap off the plants make crisp popping sounds if done just so.  Sugary scents are inhaled as we hold red berries up to our noses. "Smells sweeter than candy," we chime. 

Fresh out of the field, some U-pick Strawberries from Sauvie's Island

This year we go earlier in the season. Our picking experience is greatly different than last year. There are more strawberries, and bigger ones too!  We are pickier about what we decide to pluck. 

Small waves of sunshine coupled with light breezes and cloud cover make for ideal weather. We have a fun afternoon picking strawberries. 

This summer I am bound to make strawberry ice cream and strawberry-chocolate-chip pancakes. We have been known to plop a strawberry or two in a glass of sparkling (or white) wine for a refreshing weekend treat.  And of course, we will be adding them to our spinach (green) smoothies!

Other ideas of what to make with our U-pick strawberries are welcome! :0)

Week in Review!

This week was hectic at work as I was supposed to get Monday and Tuesday nights off. I worked on Monday night because the scheduled B shift person didn't show up and the scheduled C shift person had to work the B shift instead. So then, I was going to get Tuesday and Wednesday off but worked on Wednesday night because the girl who was supposed to work the C shift got into a car accident on her way to work and was taken to emergency. So I got Tuesday and Thursday off instead. This worked out beautifully as Jeff had Friday off so we could go out with Josh and Carolyn on Thursday night without worrying about me getting back for work... more on Thursday evening later.

On Tuesday we went to eat at Burgerville and were excited to discover a cheaper menu that had been hidden from us on previous outings to Burgerville- maybe we just weren't as observant or the more expensive options called out to us louder than the cheaper ones. So instead of the usual $20.00 we spend when we eat there, we spent less than $9.00 and had just as much food. Our budget was glad and our tummies were full!!

We went to McMenamins on Thursday night and saw the movie Inception with Josh and Carolyn. It was fabulous! We got a big pizza to share all really enjoyed watching the movie together.

On Friday I got a new library card and put some books on hold! :0) After going to the Library, we decided to drive through Damascus (a rural gem just outside of Portland) -although we didn't quite know how to get there. So we drove around the rural parts of Gresham first until we miraculously came upon a highway with a sign pointing us towards Damascus. It was so random that we found it. The fields filled with vibrant autumn colors were absolutely indescribable. I attempted to describe parts of what we saw in a poem I wrote which will be posted not this Tuesday but the next (11/30.) We ooo'd and ahhh'd our way through the countryside and have come to the conclusion we want to buy a home on one acre of land. On our way back, we stopped at this little farmer's stand on the side of the road. It was raining slightly which added to its charm. We bought a big bag of lettuce, red potatoes, a jalapeno pepper, an apple (it tasted like cherries!), and a juicy red pear.

Also on Friday, we went out to lunch at Chu's with Carolyn and played Rock Band in the basement.

Jeff and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary this week (Saturday)! We are celebrating by making our favorite meals together this next week. Saturday morning we made pancakes, eggs, bacon, potatoes, pears, and had peach champagne to drink :0) Jeff requested the day off but unfortunately i had to work that night so I slept most of the day away. We opted not to got to our favorite Restaurant (Bread and Ink), which supports both local farms and grass-fed meat, because we had already celebrated in the restaurant category quite a bit already this month and had exceeded our restaurant budget 3 times over! There is really nothing like home-cooked meals where we both participate in the preparations so we were happy to stay home. :0)

First frost of the season came this morning, Sunday, which meant I had to scrape ice off my car for the first time ever which was both exciting and exhausting. Thankfully my coworker, (the one who got in the car accident) offered to help! It would have taken 4 times as long by myself. I'm such a California girl when it comes to stuff like this and have absolutely no clue. The weatherman forecasted the first snow of the season today but I've slept for most of it so thankfully I am unaware of the weather conditions outside. Brrrrr.

Romantic Picnic

Today was excellent! First off I got 12 hours of sleep last night! Waking up at 1:30 this afternoon to find that I had slept that long was shocking, especially after I got 10 hours of sleep yesterday some time between the hours of 9:30 am and 7:30 pm. 22 hours of sleep does the body good! I made a new loaf of bread today with the bread machine. It was a semi- french bread with flaxseed meal tossed in. It is really moist- perfect for sandwiches which is what I was going for. I made pepper bacon, turkey, spinach, cheddar, tomato SANDWICHES, home made asiago and bacon PASTA SALAD, ripe CANTALOUPE, chopped CARROT STICKS dipped in ranch, cheetos for crunching, moscato-spumunte-(wine) and ice cream infused green SMOOTHIE and water to drink. Jeff and I took this food to the Laurelhurst park and picnicked together under the trees. It was quite enjoyable... just the two of us talking and stuffing our faces together. The whole day was so fun... even the preparations were enjoyable. The picnic was even better because we had finally invested in some bug spray and were not "bugged" at all during our picnic. :0)

Life goes on

So, things have been going well for us in the past month... We celebrated out 7 1/2 month anniversary. (Jeff's dad's "Dutch Tradition".) We had cake and ice cream to celebrate. I finally got my bread machine working again- we replaced the bread pan- and was able to make a loaf of whole grain bread, we made more tortillas and burritos, and even experimented with left over Tillamook ice cream in our green smoothies. Also we've been eating out a lot more than we should be. Jeff has decided to remove refined sugars from his diet so I am trying my best to be supportive by joining him... although today we failed because it was FREE slurpee day at 7/11 and the 90+ degree weather was getting to us. Jeff is jogging again and I have been sleeping a ton. We went hiking last week and unfortunately 20 bug bites have joined my body. One of them is infected. It feels numb and really warm (to the touch and on its own) and is surrounded by a puffy patch of inflammation the size of a folded bill. My arm even feels nauseous at times if there is even such a sensation for a limb.

Jeff's maternal Grandma passed away on July 10th. We were able to see her one last time the day before. Her living room was packed with her family members. Josh and Jeff, their dad and I drove up together. When we arrived there were over 15 cars parked in her drive way and I'm sure many people walked. Her 5 children and tons of grandchildren and great grandchildren were there sitting by her side. The living room was so packed you had to literally step over people to get to her bed just to see her. We sang songs to her from the Old Apostolic Lutheran hymnal and you could feel the love in the room for her.
She was a sweet sweet woman. I remember meeting her for the first time and liking her right away. The funeral is on Tuesday July 13th at 1:00pm. Jeff was able to get off work and I will hopefully be able to sleep before and on the drive up to Washington.

My parents are visiting in 18 days! I am really looking forward to visiting with them. Jeff and I are trying to think of lots of fun things to do with them so that they will have to stay a long time! While they are here I have a cardiology appointment scheduled up at OHSU. No one at Kaiser wanted to take my case so they sent a referral for me to go else where. For now, this is neither good nor bad. All I know is I have an appointment at one of the finest Teaching Medical Institutions in the country and I am hopeful for a clean bill of health. We might even be able to take the ski-lift-like- tram-thingy up to OHSU which would be a really cool experience.

Jeff is up for another pay raise after working 2 more days. With his 40 hour per week schedule this past month he's been working really hard. I think he likes doing go backs because of the set schedule but it probably gets monotonous and is overwhelming because he never really sees any day to day progress as he goes in and starts the process all over again each day. I know I like his schedule because we are guaranteed to see each other at least 5 hours before I start getting ready for work and for a while our days off coordinated. He has been talking for some time now about transferring to Winco's Meat department as a meat clerk first and then become a meat cutter. This would be cool because he could potentially make more money as a meat cutter and its a line of work he might enjoy. But he might get less hours and probably won't have a set schedule. His brother is currently working as a meat packer so maybe instead of opening up a coffee shop when they retire, their parents could open up a meat shop called "The Dekker Brothers Carvery". :0)

Work for me is going fine. Its gotten easier and I'm getting quicker at checking people in and out. I'm continuing to learn a lot about myself and others, and the hotel business in general. I am enjoying working with the software they use and have developed a new breakfast inventory checklist and a new breakfast menu. I like that I get to work with the computer on things like that. This is my favorite part of the job.

Birthday Boy!

Jeff turned 25 this past week!


I had a busy but fun time preparing for his birthday. I made for the main course: basil, parmesan and onion meatballs, corn, red potatoes mashed with rosemary and gruyere cheese; funfetti birthday cake for dessert; and sweet riesling wine to sip. I didn't use any one recipe for either the meatballs or the mashed potatoes.

Tasted better than it looks.

I also made a trip down town to Powell's Book store and bought a few books for his birthday.
* The happiness Project
*A couple's cook book
* Born to Run