Bill’s Blog

I recently read “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan.  He had spoken at the Web 2.0 conference I attended last November and it was a compelling talk.  After reading the book and hearing about Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farms I decided to sample some Grass Fed Beef.

Having taken this objective, my first task was to find out where I could buy grass fed beef.  I looked online and found a few local farms that would sell me a whole or half cow.  That was more than I needed.  A friend told me that New Season’s Market carried it.  I packed the family in the car and took a trip out to the store.  They carried one cut, a New York Steak.  I bought it.

To prepare the meat, I marinaded it in a Yoshida’s marinade overnight.  I then cooked the steaks on the BBQ, carefully using tongs rather than a fork (no holes).  You can see the finished product below.

Now it was time to sample the meat.  Typically I am not a fan of steak.  I’ll eat it in a pinch and think it tastes ok.  This steak was fantastic!  It was tender and moist and full of flavor.  I’d say it was the best steak I’ve ever had (including the Kobe Beef I ate in Japan).  I’ll definitely be back for more.

In case you’re looking for local sources of Grass Fed Beef and other meats, here are a few places I’ve found (mostly through my friend Holly).  Let me know of other places in Oregon.  I’d love to try them out.

Kookoolan Farms – Heirloom Breed Chickens

Abundant Life Farm

Mossback Farm

North Valley Farm – Lamb

This weekend Forest Grove held it’s 44th annual Founder’s Day Corn Roast.  One of the great things about small towns like Forest Grove are these type of events.  It was a small street fair like event held at Pacific University.  There was food (of course), entertainment (my favorite was Forest Grove Dance Arts), and plenty of community spirit.  I’d also like to say thank you to 1360 Talk Radio (KUIK) for their SafeAssured ID booth.

We took a walk along the new walkingtrail near our house.  There’s a project to put a trail around the entire city.  That would be cool!

It seems that blackberries are the only thing in season right now.  Still, the trail is beautiful.

On the walk home from the trail, I spotted these flowers.

I heard about the book The Way to Tea from a podcast.  Jennifer Leigh Sauer is a photographer.  After hearing her talk about the book, I decided to read it.  It’s a guide to San Francisco tea culture.  There are reviews of tea houses, complete with locations, hours, and photos.  At the end of the book, Jennifer describes the various types of tea.  One interesting note was about a teapot made from special clay from the city of Yixing.  It is appropriately called Yixing Clay.  Teapots made from this clay absorb the flavor from the tea made in them.  Over time they taste better and better.  I set out to find one.

In my quest (i.e. google search), I found that Portland has a tea house called the Tao of Tea.  On their website it said that they sold Yixing Clay teapots.  We decided to pay them a visit.  We chose to visit the location inside Portland’s Chinese Garden.  This was a good choice.  The garden is amazing!  The tea experience was similar to the one I had in Hangzhou, China.  And we picked up a Yixing Clay teapot.

Photos are here for your viewing pleasure…

It’s almost summertime here in Oregon.  We’ve had a few warm, sunny days.  A few more would be nice.  Anyway, one of my favorite things about summertime is watching the tractors and other equipment in the fields.  Some local farmers have taken to parking their tractors in ways the make for great pictures.  This picture is one of those.  I shot this on the way home from work one day.  I had seen it there the previous day, so I brought my camera with me.  I had the top down, so was easily able to stop, pick up the camera, and shoot away.

We took a little trip to Sunriver. It is an awesome place.

There were a ton of things to do there, even in the snow. We went swimming, for pony rides, ice skating, and exploring.

You can see all of my Sunriver pics here, or read on for my favorites.

After all these years, I am still not used to the Northwest. Spring is supposed to mean sunny and warm!

Karen’s been on me for a while about posting all of our pictures.  For some reason, things have been busy lately.  So tonight I finally uploaded a boatload of pictures.

• Getting Ready for Christmas – with Christmas decorations and baking Holiday treats
• Thanksgiving – Our Thanksgiving Trip
  
• Fall Leaves – More pictures from the Fall Leaves photo shoot
• Family Pics – Many many photos of various people
• JimB Portraits – Some of the best pics from Jim’s latest photo shoot
• Riley & Bailey’s Birthday -  A few friends
• The Hippo – A few more shots of the Hippo at the zoo
  
• The Girls

Enjoy!

It snowed today! This is the first snow we’ve had this season. We left the house around 5 PM and noticed the rain was flirting with snow. It was a slushly wet snow and then it was raining again. As we were driving into Hillsboro, it starting pouring puckets of rain. We left Hillsboro around 6 PM and started heading home. Almost immediately it started snowing. It was great to see the snow and the girls were very excited.

As neat as it was to see the snow, it made getting home quite difficult. We turned into our neighborhood and noticed it was covered with snow. As we drove up the first hill, the car slipped a little. We turned up the usual way to get to our house and found the road had not been traveled on and was covered with fresh snow. Our car would not make it up the hill. The wheels spun, the traction control kicked in, but it would not go up the hill. Putting it in reverse was a special treat. A little backward motion started us slipping and sliding down the hill. Putting on the brakes slowed the car down and we eventually made it down. We thought we’d try the other way home…

As we continued slowly up the hill on the alternate route, the tires completely lost their grip. They spun and spun, but did very little. Eventually, we put the car in low gear and crawled up the hill. Spin, spin, then inch forward. Soon we were moving again! Yeah! We made it all the way to the bottom of the alternate hill. We started up. About half way up, the wheels started spinning again. I was determined to make it home though, so I kept the wheels turning and every so often the car would grab the road and we’d move up the hill. It was like going up hill in low gear on a bicycle. You peddle hard, but you move slow. Finally we made it! We had just one more leg left to get home – down the hill to our house.

Knowing what was coming, I hugged the curb. Going down the hill wasn’t so much driving as it was sliding. The curb kept us from freefalling. The whole time I was thinking I was going to hit that SUV at the bottom of the hill. We did manage to make it home and into the garage (after shoveling the driveway).

I’m not sure what the morning will bring. I may be working from home rather than braving the hills one more time. I now officially miss my SUV.