life is good

Sam and I decided to escape over the labor day weekend up to Burney Falls. Its a great place, way way way up by Redding. It took us forever to get there, but it was way worth it! The waterfall is beautiful! the water was super aqua-blue..but was found to be extremely freezing. the hike down to the falls is very short, so i felt like I was cheating by getting such an easy view of the glorious-ness.

 That night we grilled up some goodness, and had out traditional camp dinner, burgers, fruit and potatoes. The pit they had to cook there was especially impressive since it had a slidy thing that served as not only a grill but a hot plate too. this for sure added extra points to burney falls camping.

 There was a lot of fishermen around, either fly fishermen or off the dock dudes, and I was sad i didnt bring my gear. Oh well, there is always next time. they had a 2 fish limit on catches, which i suppose is a good thing, but how are you suppose to have a good dinner with only 2 little fishy?!?!?

once again I made sam put up with my camera antics and pose for a few shots. I really need a tripod contraption or something to help/speed this effort up. it was super misty there, so thats why the shot seems a little grainy,  I kinda like it though... (I am still fiddling with settings on my newish camera, these things are complex!)

So the falls feeds into a pretty good sized lake, and all around the lake and by the designated swimming hole, there are brambles and brambles of blackberries. Obviously, I went nuts. below was my first harvest. and this is only about half of what I got on day one. the next day I came in with a mission and an idea at hand. blackberry tarts. it was hot as hell and I secured a whole large tupperware of blackberries. at one point sam had to come find me to make sure i was still alive in the blackberry brambles. hahah he made sure I was and went back to swimming in the lake, hes a good man. :) needless to say though, the blackberry tarts didnt happen.

On night two we had our regular Korean bbq. I know, its silly, but its one of our favorite things to have while camping, and has really become our little tradition when camping alone to bring at least one meal of Korean bbq. I kinda like that...

YUM. KIMCHEE. YUM. life is good, good food, good company, good places... ENJOY!

good news

about a week or two ago now I hosted a dinner/game night at my place. complete with tacos, vino and good friends (Tara was visiting from Seattle and it was amazing to see her and chat about all the wonderful things that are in her life right now). :) Chan brought over these hot peppers to saute and after trying them we instantly realized they were not done. channy instantly burned her entire mouth and had to run into the kitchen for a glass of milk. next time these buggers enter my kitchen I will turn the heat down real low, add a bit more oil and saute til completly soft, that way the seeds will bring it down a few notches and we can actually eat them.

I didnt even get a chance to take a pic of the goodness, soon as i said lets eat, the game was on and the food was demolished. I suppose that means they were good? I really want to start hosting more often at the house. a once a month thing would be pretty awesome and a fun way to chill with friends without spending a ton of dough. when it gets colder i plan to make a pot roast for the group to enjoy. i think that means i need to set a date for the next game night. :)

flower power and a weekend of fun

the parentals and cronies in tow headed down to my neck of the woods a few weeks back, they are all garden enthusiasts so i thought of no better place to take then than the conservatory of flowers. we got there a little late so we were rushed going through the exhibit, regardless, it was beautiful. we strolled around the grounds outside before going in, here is what i saw:

this was from inside the conservatory. no idea on what it is, but its cool!

how soft and pretty do these look?

and the gang chillin in the conservatory of flowers. silly little family.

after flower viewing we wanted to sit and just watch the people walk by. from my experience some of the best people watching is at hippie hill in the park. so we strolled over there, took a back seat the the action and watched the crazys be crazy.

as we were sitting there, this guy came by to say word up.

last stop of the night was at a roller derby match-up. the San Francisco Bay City Bombers v.s. some other random team i dont remember. i have never been to a match and it was REALLY fun to watch. it was such a show, much like WWE. lots of fights, lots of energy and lots of crazy. i just came to the conclusion that i like watching crazy. weird. like must attract like. hahahah!! I had a lot of fun and would recommend to anyone that hasnt seen a roller derby match to go, like now!

anything is possible

 

Ashley for sure bough happiness when she got these guys. They have grown like weeds since the last time I saw them, which was way too long ago. I dont even know the name of them, but the color is just fantastical, they are such happy dudes!

A huge tomato plant in the back yard pretty much took over things. obviously. however, no matter the mess that is there now, its still producing tomates. I am amazed at the difference in climate from my house to Ashley's. It has to be at least a 10-15 degree temp difference and the sun actually shines there! my tomate plant could use some sun, thats for sure!

 

 I spy....... a green cricket

 

and of course the bday cake! what we lacked in design, we made up for in creativity, thats for damn sure. chandra just made a simple brownie for all, which is always tasty!

So I think its the coolest thing to be able to have a backyard bbq in the middle of the city. i am slowing finding out that anything is possible in sf. gotta love that. :)

city garden goodness

a sweet harvest of lettuce. I am so proud of how well the lettuce is doing! I pretty much just wiped out the lettuce currently growing, but its not a bad thing, now I just need my lemon cucumber to grow! I suppose by the time a get a fruit from the fellow, the lettuce will be in full bloom again and I will have a complete salad...

I obviously couldnt keep the guy in that little pot he was originally, so he got an upgrade. found the rad ass pot in the backyard, I hope I get cucumbers from him...

the tomato plant isn't doing too bad, but still not the best. lettuce is cut down short due to recent dinners and the old chive failure just is chilling like always... and so the garden continues. I think I am going to try to find an artichoke plant.

cares will drop off like autumn leaves

I drove up to Tahoe, all by my lonesome to visit my Mom and Dad, who were celebrating his Birthday at Sugar Point Pines. Its a great camp spot, big sites, lots of biking trails and the lake nearby. It was a relaxing trip, filled with lots of biking, lots of good eats and beautiful flowers.... isnt that always the case in tahoe?

 how flippin cute are my parents here?! ok, now that we are past the cuteness, lets cut to the goodness: 

while on a bikeride into town, we stopped at a frozon yogurt place and i instantly knew what flavor i was getting. mountain blackberry. and here it is in all its grandeur. i have been craving the damn things since this encounter too... not good... and to the left we have pops enjoying his mountain blackberry yogurt. :)

above photo was taken while on a "bear walk", (something my dad has been forcing me to go on since i was a kid when we camp, around dark). many times these walks end up with me alone in the dark with either just my mom (who is in on the joke) or one or two of my girlfriends, and my dad sneaks off to the woods to only creep up on us later and scare the living shit out of us. this has happened many times... the worst being when i was about 12 and he told me a story of some outlandish make believe feline creature that existed only in northern California. to complete the story, later that night, he snuck off while we were on a nite walk and proceeded to make scary cat like sounds and then sneak up on me and my friends and scare the life out of us. it was very traumatizing. and i fully intend to do the same to my kids if i ever go that route. is that bad?

I love these dudes, such different looking little fellows...