Good Doug

Good Doug

November 25, 2009 9:53 PM
by Doug Whitmore

Thai influenced Chicken Zucchini and Carrots

It's been a little while since I've done a recipe for this experiment. We've been a little busy. But, I'm back with what I think will be the last recipe in this grand experiment. This is a variation on a dish I do often. It is inspired by Thai Panang, a peanut and coconut curry. On a spiciness scale of 1-10, this is a twelve... it hurts so good.

Ingredients

  • 4-5 chicken thighs
  • 3-4 small zucchini cut into 2 inch long strips
  • 4-5 carrots cut into 2 inch long strips
  • 1 onion, halved and sliced
  • 12 basil leaves, cut in chiffonade
  • 1 can coconut milk
  • 4 tablespoons peanut butter (creamy)
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 5 splashes fish sauce
  • 6-10 habañero peppers, sliced
  • 6 jalapeño peppers, sliced
  • juice of one lime
  • zest of one lime
  • cumin, turmeric and cayenne pepper

Steps

First, make sure you've got everything prepped beforehand. Set the oven at about 180ºF to keep things warm. Heat oil in a large skillet, add carrots and toss to coat, then add zucchini and toss to coat. Let them cook at medium high heat until they're cooked but still crispy. Let your nose be your guide. Remove those to a bowl and place those in the warm oven to wait. Season the chicken pieces with salt, cumin, turmeric and cayenne pepper. Place the chicken in the hot oil and let it sear and get good color on one side before flipping the meat to cook all the way through on the other side. Remove the chicken to the bowl in the oven. Reduce the heat to medium low and add the onions. Once the onions are soft, raise the heat and add the peppers. Once those are just starting to cook, add the lime zest and the basil and let those get really aromatic (should take less than a minute). Lower the heat to medium and add the peanut butter, stir it around to let it just start to get warm before adding the soy sauce, fish sauce and lime juice. Scrape up all the great stuck on bits on the pan, if it is too dry, add a tablespoon of water. Add the coconut milk, and stir to combine. Once it is all up to temperature and a fairly smooth consistency, bring the chicken and veggies out of the oven and start plating. I serve this in a bowl with rice. Start with a generous portion of rice, top with chicken to one side and carrots and zucchini to the other then ladle a very generous helping of sauce over the whole thing, you want to drown it in sauce. You can garnish each plate with a small sprig of basil and a lime wedge if you desire.
The crispy vegetables and well seasoned chicken do well with the firey peanut coconut sauce.

Notes

As written, this is spicy... as in nuclear reactor spicy. Have plenty of beer on hand. Also, the lime and basil are surprisingly important in this dish. They are what really take it up a couple of notches, and help keep it from just becoming spicy and nothing else.
This dish does well having most of it prepared beforehand, and being assembled after reheating. Which means it's also great as leftovers, assuming you've recovered from the flames in your gullet from the first run.

Variations

The first variation is to tone down the heat... you wimp. The simplest way to do that would be to forgo the habeñero peppers and just do jalapeño peppers or just do a couple of thai chiles instead. I've also done this dish using saté pepper sauce instead of the peppers. That gives a it a very different flavor, but I would do that when peppers aren't in season, which means zucchini isn't in season either, so I switch the zucchini out for broccoli.

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September 28, 2009 4:08 PM
by Doug Whitmore

Baby Kallista

Kallista was born Spet 22, 2009. We've got some pictures up.

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September 16, 2009 10:47 AM
by Doug Whitmore

Simple Pasta - Zucchini and Carrots

OK, for this recipe, we're forgoing the chicken. Just this once, but I liked the result so much I wanted to share. This is pasta with a really simple pan sauce. For those days when you want something light, simple and really flavorful. Make sure to get good quality import pasta, as it won't get covered up with a thick sauce.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup diced onion
  • 1 diced medium sized zucchini (shoulda picked it sooner, but it works)
  • 3 diced farm fresh carrots
  • 1 diced farm fresh green pepper
  • 1 fresno pepper seeded and sliced
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • olive oil
  • good quality pasta
  • zest of one lime
  • juice of half that lime
  • 6-7 leaves of basil
  • a pinch of fresh ground nutmeg
  • lots of salt for pasta water
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • parmesan cheese to taste

Steps

Start the water to boil with a good amount of salt (think handfuls, not teaspoons) and cut up your veggies. Once the pasta water is boiling, cook pasta as directions indicate. Oil the pan and heat it to medium heat. Add the onions, and as usual, low and slow... cook until they are just turning translucent. Add nutmeg, basil, lime zest and garlic. Turn up heat and add all the other veggies, stirring every once in a while to get everything cooked and with just the beginnings of color.
Once the pasta is cooked, turn off the heat and add about half a cup or so of the pasta water to the veggies, be careful as it should steam up and spatter a bit. Drain the pasta and stir the veggies. Let the sauce cook down just a bit and then add the pasta to the pan with the veggies, add the lime juice and give it a good stir to incorporate. Turn off the heat and stir in some parmesan cheese and serve with more parm on the side.
The lime really brings this dish up several notches.

Variations

If I had the sense to take out some chicken from the freezer earlier, I would have sautéed the chicken and done a quick glaze with fresh tomatoes and basil to have on the side. Another variation that is similar to another dish I've done is to use bacon and it's fat as the initial fat for cooking everything else in. It makes it more rich and a little heavier, but would make it feel more like a meal if you are worried about that. Feel free to substitute lemon for the lime if that's what you have on hand.

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August 31, 2009 7:00 AM
by Doug Whitmore

"Asian stir fry" - Chicken Zucchini Carrots

For this dish of our experiment, lets move away from the Southwestern US over to Asia. The keys to this dish are high heat, stir fry ingredients individually and the sauce. You don't need a wok to do stir fry (I don't have one) any high sided large sauté pan will do. If you don't have fish sauce, get out and get some right now, without it this will not taste nearly as good as it should.

Ingredients

  • 3-5 chicken thighs, boneless and skinless, salted and peppered
  • 3-4 small zucchini, cut into strips
  • 4-5 medium carrots, cut into strips
  • 1/2 onion
  • 1 clove garlic, slivered
  • 1 inch of ginger root, slivered
  • Peanut oil (or other high heat oil)
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 4 splashes fish sauce
  • 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
  • 1 Tablespoon honey
  • ~1 cup water or vegetable stock
  • corn starch

Steps

Get everything cut up and into separate bowls before starting, as once you start, you don't have time to prep anything in the middle. Stir fry the carrots, then remove from pan and set aside. Stir fry the zucchini, then remove from pan and set aside. Stir fry the chicken thighs, letting them brown and cook through, then remove from pan and set aside. Now comes the fun part. Add the onion, garlic ginger and some pepper, before that starts to burn (and it will happen quick) but not until it has had time to actually cook and release its flavor, add soy sauce, fish sauce, rice vinegar and honey. Add water to get the volume of sauce right. Stir to mix. Add cornstarch mixed with cold water and stir to thicken. Add back in all the other ingredients, stir to coat and then add the sesame oil last.
Serve over rice, maybe with a garnish of sesame seeds.

Variations

This dish would lend itself well to different cuts of chicken. Chicken breast cut into 1/2 inch wide pieces across the grain would work, the high heat and quick cooking along with the rich sauce should help keep it from getting dry and tough. You can spice this up with the addition of some smaller peppers (Thai chiles or szechwan peppers would be perfect for this.) You could quadruple the garlic, and turn down the heat at the step where you add it to make it a more garlicky dish, just cook the onions, garlic and ginger slowly, then turn up the heat and add the liquids.

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August 31, 2009 6:32 AM
by Doug Whitmore

"Southwestern Stew" - Chicken Zucchini Carrots

This third dish of our chicken, zucchini and carrots experiment is a break from the sautés of the past two. This time it is a bit more of a stew. We had some leftover corn from the night before, and that is what drove the recipe.

Ingredients

  • 4-6 chicken thighs, boneless and skinless
  • 3-4 small zucchini
  • 4-5 medium carrots
  • 1/2 onion sliced into small wedges
  • 1 clove garlic
  • fresh oregano
  • fresh basil
  • ground cumin
  • about a cup or more of fresh tomato
  • 1-2 cups of cooked corn (whatever is left over)
  • 1/4 cup of peppers (pepper type determines spiciness)
  • chicken stock
  • oil for sautéing
  • cornstarch as thickener if needed

Steps

We start by sautéing most ingredients and then finishing it as a stew. Heat the oil in a medium to large dutch oven or medium size pot. Cut your zucchini and carrots into 1/2 inch rounds. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and sauté them over medium high briefly until they just begin to smell really good. Remove them to a bowl. Salt and pepper the chicken thighs and add them to the pot and sauté turning when browned nicely. Remove to bowl.
Turn down the heat to medium low and add the onions with some salt and pepper. Let these cook down for a while, scraping the pan as you go. Once these are getting nicely golden brown, turn up the heat, add the garlic, corn and peppers and let them just get warm before adding the cumin, oregano and basil (reserving a little of the basil and oregano to finish with.) Add salt and pepper and cook until they just start to smell really good. Add the tomatoes and let them cook down. Add chicken stock, scraping up the good stuff off the bottom and let it come up to temperature before tasting for salt. Dump the chicken back into the pot and make sure you have enough liquid to cover. Keep it at a simmer until the chicken is cooked through, then add the zucchini and carrots for the last couple of minutes to heat through and finish cooking. If you want it thicker, go ahead and add some cornstarch mixed with cold water to thicken. Serve in bowls, with a side of sour cream. Guests can add sour cream and stir it in.

Notes

The keys to this particular recipe are the corn and long slow cooking of the onions. If you can manage to take your time with the onions, this dish will have a sweet, rich and satisfying feel. As before, your choice of peppers will influence the spiciness of the dish. Chipotle peppers would be a nice addition to this as well, lending their unique smokiness to the overall taste of the dish.

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August 12, 2009 12:27 PM
by Doug Whitmore

"Southwestern" sauté - Chicken Zucchini Carrots

Here we are at the second dish of the experiment. Bolstered by my success at the French version, I thought I'd vary the theme with a Southwestern flair. My son helped me with this dish, he had fun chopping herbs, stirring in ingredients and changing the heat on the burner. We had to keep the spice down so that my daughter would actually eat it, but I think it was nummy all the same.

Ingredients

  • 4-6 chicken thighs, boneless and skinless
  • 3-4 small zucchini and crookneck squash
  • 2-3 medium carrots
  • 1/2 onion chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, chopped
  • fresh oregano
  • fresh thyme
  • fresh basil
  • fresh cilantro (optional of course)
  • ground cumin
  • 2 T tomato paste
  • Red pepper flakes (to taste)
  • oil for sautéing
  • 1/4 c lime juice
  • 2 t honey or agave nectar as sweetener
  • (or replace the previous two with some cheap margarita mix, I won't tell)
  • water or chicken stock
  • optional - cornstarch in cold water to thicken

Steps

Like before, you will heat up the oil in a nice big skillet over medium heat. I cut the zucchini and carrots into 1/2 inch half rounds, sprinkled with salt and a little pepper and sautéed them until they were still crisp. Again, remove to a bowl.
Season the chicken thighs with salt pepper and ground cumin. It is imperative that you season before you start cooking. Otherwise, the chicken won't get any of the flavor. Don't skimp on the seasoning here, you want this to sing. Sauté the chicken thighs until they are cooked through and nicely browned on each side. Remove the chicken thighs to a bowl.
The sauce is similar to the one we did previously, turn down the heat and add the onion, seasoning with salt and pepper. Once it has just barely started to get some color, turn the heat up to just past medium and add the garlic, herbs, red pepper and some more cumin (I like cumin, especially in Southwest style dishes) and let that just get aromatic. Add water or chicken stock to deglaze the pan, stirring up all the good stuck on bits and incorporating it. Stir in tomato paste. Stir in lime juice and sweetener and let it simmer down just a bit. Taste for salt.
At this point, you need to decide how you want your sauce. Do you like it runny like this? You can serve it just like this over rice and it will be really nice. Or you can mix about a teaspoon or so of cornstarch into some cold water, then stir while drizzling it into the pan. Stir to incorporate and let it simmer down. Now it can be served on its own or with rice to the side.
I added the vegetables and chicken back to the sauce and let it warm up. Serve this with simple rice, corn on the cob and some sour cream and guacamole on the side and you've got a meal, add margaritas and you've got a dinner party.

Variations

If you want (or for some of you, need) a little more heat (or a lot more heat) then you can either go to town on the red pepper flakes. Or better yet, chop up your favorite fresh hot peppers and add them with garlic and herbs. Two jalapeños in this would be a nice pleasant heat. Three habaneros and you'll be reaching for the margarita pitcher.
Consider using 1/4 cup of Tequila to deglaze the pan as well, but add the spirit with the pan off the fire, as nothing spoils dinner more than the scent of singed eyebrows.

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August 12, 2009 11:55 AM
by Doug Whitmore

French sauté - Chicken Zucchini and Carrots

The first stop in my summer cooking odyssey (see how I quickly I move into hyperbole? It's only the first dish!) is a classic French sauté. For French sautés I don't use straight butter, I mix a little veggie oil withe the butter so I don't have to be so careful with it.

Ingredients

  • 6 chicken thighs, boneless and skinless
  • 3-4 small zucchini and crookneck squash
  • 2-3 medium carrots
  • 1 shallot, minced
  • 1/2 clove garlic, minced
  • fresh oregano
  • fresh thyme
  • fresh parsley
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup white wine
  • 1/2 to 1 cup water or chicken stock
  • 1 T all purpose flour
  • oil and butter for sautéing

Steps

Heat up oil in a nice big skillet to a little over medium heat. A nonstick skillet won't brown stuff up as well, but it is fine to use it. Cut the zucchini and carrots into 1/4 inch rounds, sprinkle with salt. Throw the cut veggies into the skillet and let them just cook. You want them to still be solid, but not uncooked feeling. Remove to a bowl. Salt and pepper chicken thighs and add them to the still hot pan (if you need to add more oil, do so). You want them to brown and cook all the way through, turing once. The key here is to get a nice crust going. Once they are cooked thoroughly (don't undercook, no sense getting sick) remove them to a bowl. I use the same bowl to hold the chicken and veggies, since the chicken is now completely cooked.
Turn down the heat to medium low and add the shallot, with a sprinkle of salt and a grind of pepper.
When cooking onion or shallot, I like to do it low and slow as it brings out the sweetness. It takes a few minutes, but if you do it right, they will start to get a little color without burning and they will really add some richness to your dish.
Once the shallot has just started to turn color, turn up the heat, quickly add the garlic, oregano, thyme and parsley. Give it a quick stir and wait for the room to smell heavenly. I then add the flour and a little more butter. Stir it all up, it will look a mess, but don't worry, it will get much better very soon. Give the flour a moment to cook so it won't taste raw, but don't cook so long that stuff begins to really burn, the shallot and garlic are a bit touchy on that front.
Now add the wine, and start scraping the pan with your wooden spoon, get all that flavor up and into that sauce. The wine will be cooking down as you do this, and it should really start to thicken up so start adding your stock (or water if you don't have some stock handy) while stirring and scraping. Add liquid until it is just a little runny for your tastes and let it cook down for a moment and thicken up. You could keep the chicken and veggies in the oven to keep them warm and then make a really pretty presentation on the plate with the thigh placed just so, the zucchini and carrots placed artfully around it and the sauce drizzled on with so much flair...
Or you can do what I did. Turn the heat down and throw the chicken zucchini and carrots back into the saute pan (with all the juices) and stir them around with the sauce and let them come up to temperature. Then turn off the heat and drop a good Tablespoon of butter into it and stir it around just before serving over rice.

Variations

The herbs for this recipe were simply what I had on hand that sounded good in this. It would be fun to try the same thing with a completely different set of herbs to see how it changed everything.

Go and cook this for your loved ones.

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August 12, 2009 11:22 AM
by Doug Whitmore

Chicken, Zucchini and Carrots

We've been stockpiling some organic chicken thighs for a while. Also, as it is summer, we've got zucchini coming out of our ears. Add to that, I love carrots and we have an abundance of these things. I'm going to try an experiment to see how different I can make dishes with those three ingredients as the main players. There are the obvious themes: sautes, stir fries and stews, and lots of variations within each of those. I've also made some sourdough starter recently and am hoping to make a pot pie with a bread-y crust.

Why?

Mostly because it's easy for me to get into a cooking rut, and to focus on a particular style for too long. This is a way to explore styles and themes.
I look at the challenge like a sonnet (or limerick if you don't think I'm sophisticated enough for a sonnet). I have my ingredients, and I must come up with valuable expressions within that framework.

I've already done a couple of these, I'll have entries on those soon.

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May 8, 2009 12:51 PM
by Doug Whitmore

The five senses of Risotto

Risotto is a dish that you cook using all of your senses.

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January 24, 2009 2:33 PM
by Doug Whitmore

Pumpkin bread recipe

I've been perfecting a recipe for pumpkin bread. It comes from taking the best parts of other recipes, adding science (Shirley Corriher style). It's a great way to use all of the pumpkins from the garden and it's pretty easy to do.

1 cup butter

  • 3 cups sugar
  • 2 cups cooked pumpkin
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 3 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon ginger

Preheat oven to 350F and prepare 6 4"x2" bread pans by buttering and flouring them. In a stand mixer, beat the sugar and butter together for 5 minutes. This is what gets the air into the batter. Add the eggs one at a time and then add the pumpkin. Once that is incorporated, add the milk. Sift together all of the remaining ingredients and add them to the mixer. Mix just until combined.

Divide batter into pans and place pans on a jelly roll pan (just in case the loaves go Mt Vesuvius on you) and place in the oven for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer loaves to a wire rack to cool for ten minutes and then turn the loaves out onto the wire rack to cool completely.

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January 4, 2009 9:45 AM
by Doug Whitmore

Server is back up

Had issues after the upgrade, but now it is all happy again.

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September 2, 2008 10:50 AM
by Doug Whitmore

Link to pictures from trip to the Azores

Our trip to the Azores was pretty cool, and we have the pictures to prove it. I'll try and write up more later.

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June 26, 2008 8:41 AM
by Doug Whitmore

Finished a scarf for Phoebe

A while ago I finished making a scarf for Phoebe. This was a project to try out a basket weave type of pattern, and, other than some sizing issues, it turned out pretty well. I ended up using some yarn that my mom had given me around Christmas that had a really bright color pattern to it.

Scarf for Phoebe

I started by casting on 30 stitches, long tail method. Though I should have only done 20 stitches as I'll get to later. The first five rows were done in garter stitch, so knit on rs and purl on ws. After the five rows I did the following pattern:

  1. Knit *5, Knit *5, Purl*5, Knit *5, Purl*5, Knit*5
  2. repeat 1 until you have 5 rows
  3. Knit *5, Purl *5, Knit*5, Purl *5, Knit*5, Knit*5
  4. repeat 3 until you have 5 rows
  5. repeat 1 through 4 until scarf is the length you want, then
  6. 5 rows of stockinette stitch and bind off.
As you can see, it is a repeating pattern of alternating squares of stockinette stitch with the rs and ws switched every five stitches. The pattern is much more evident in the detail view. This was a great project for me to try out something other than garter or stockinette stitch. The garter stitched edges help keep the edges from curling, giving it a nice straight edge with no blocking.
This was also my first design of my own making, and I learned a bit from it. One thing I should have done was make some test swatches to gauge the correct width. The pattern as is makes a really wide scarf. Phoebe is going to have to have it folded in half to wear it, and because I didn't want to make it too long for her, it ended up looking too short (though it is the perfect size for a 5 year old). I would suggest changing the pattern to casting on 24 stitches, and making the repeats be 4 stitches long instead. Though again, this time I'd do a test swatch of the width to make sure that is what I wanted, as that might still be too wide. Maybe a lighter yarn and smaller needles would have been the correct fix for this.

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May 13, 2008 7:02 PM
by Doug Whitmore

The fruits (vegetables) of my labor

My garden is now producing somewhat regularly. I can get enough lettuce for two salads about 3 times a week, I'm pulling radishes like crazy, and I've even started getting some spinach and strawberries.

The radishes especially remind me of Spring. When I was young, i remember biting into fresh radishes with their super pungent and aromatically spicy flavor. I love just washing the dirt off, grabbing it by the top, shaking a little salt on it and taking a big bite. They are also really good in salads.

The salads we've had so far are seriously yummy, the lettuce is still warm from the sun, just a quick rinse to get any bugs and dirt off and a quick tear into a salad bowl, throw some thinly sliced radishes on... sprinkle with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil, lemon juice and white wine vinegar and dig in.

The strawberries started out watery, so I cut down on watering them. From every day to every other day or so. It seems to have made the fruits that much sweeter, while still being juicy. I don't know that we'll ever get more than half a dozen ripe at once with the six plants we have, so we'll still be buying them at the Farmer Market.

The tomato plants are in the ground and seem to be growing well. I need to finish the drip irrigation around them. I sowed a bunch of basil seeds among the tomato plants and am hoping I can get those to germinate and thrive under the tomatoes. They're supposed to help keep insects out, and a good tomato salad can't be without fresh basil... right? I've just had such bad luck with basil this year, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

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April 24, 2008 6:04 PM
by Doug Whitmore

"How does your garden grow?"

Very well, thank you for asking!

This is just a quick update on my garden (check out the photos!). The tomatoes I have left are doing very well. I'm going to need to get them in the ground soon, I only hope the average daily temperature warms up a little in the next week. I'm shooting for a May 1st date of getting them in the ground. Then I have to make the cages for them.

I installed a drip irrigation system in the first bed, it seems to be working very well so far, now I just need to add another mainline and water up the second bed. I only worry, because the second bed has some lettuces in it... I think I'll leave the lettuce section dry and water it as needed, rather than try and get all fancy to keep the lettuces drier.


Squash

In the first bed, we have the onions and spinach and radishes we planted earlier, all of which are doing well... the radishes are flourishing. To those we've added yellow squash and pumpkins (sugar pumpkins for more soup next fall and winter) which are doing really well having been transplanted from the seed trays. In the photo to the right, you can see the squash and the radishes are in the background. I've put bird netting over the top, and that seems to have really cut down on leaves disappearing from these tiny plants.

In the second bed, we have the aforementioned lettuces which have really benefitted from the bird netting, as well as some anaheim peppers and a cayenne pepper I've transplanted from the seed tray. I've also planted a row of carrots and a couple of hills of zucchini. I planted the zucchini just before the temperatures dropped again, so I'm hoping they'll bounce back up again soon so the zucchini can germinate. I'm leaving room in that bed for a couple more peppers, another row or two of carrots and the broccoli.

Broccoli, just transplanted

Speaking of broccoli, I just this morning transplanted them from the seed tray to their own rose pots. I have to admit I've never seen broccoli actually growing, so this will be an eye opener for me. I've been really happy with how well the seeds have germinated, and hope to have some real success with this particular vegetable, as nothing beats fresh broccoli... except for maybe fresh carrots... and fresh peas. I can hardly wait for the first salad of the year from our garden. 

So far (knock on wood) we've had very little problem with gophers. I have a little sonic annoyer in the ground that seems to be mostly working. However, if the gophers start wreaking havoc, I'm gonna have to go medieval on them and hire professional hitmen to take them out. It wasn't until they ransacked swaths of my garden last year that I understood Bill Murray's character in Caddy Shack. Carl Spackler, I feel your pain.

I've also just started on vermicomposting. The city of Santa Cruz has a subsidy for composting kits and I chose the Worm Factory and a half pound of Red Wrigglers. They seem to be doing well after a week in there. We'll see if they're still kicking after a month.

So, wish me luck on my gardening endeavors. Maybe we'll invite you over to dinner once we start harvesting!

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April 10, 2008 4:03 PM
by Doug Whitmore

I'm not the only one...

My great uncle Joel sent this to me. And I realized this might explain to many of you why I am the way I am.

You Know You're an Oregonian if....


1.  You know the State Flower (Mildew) 
2. You feel guilty throwing aluminum cans or paper in the trash. 
3. Use the statement "sun break" and know what it means. 
4. You know more than 10 ways to order coffee.
5.  You know more people who own boats than air conditioners.
6. You feel overdressed wearing a suit to a nice restaurant. 
7. You stand on a deserted corner in the rain waiting for the "Walk" Signal. 
8. You consider that if it has no snow or has not recently erupted, is not a real mountain. 
9. You can taste the difference between Starbucks, Seattle's Best, and Dutch Brothers. 
10. You know the difference between Chinook, Coho, and Sockeye Salmon. 
11. You know how to pronounce Sequim, Puyallup, Issaquah, Oregon, Yakima, and Willamette. 
12. You consider swimming an indoor sport. 
13. You can tell the difference between Japanese, Chinese and Thai food. 
14. In winter, you go to work in the dark and come home in the dark-while only working eight hour days. 
15. You never go camping without waterproof  matches and a poncho.
16.  You are not faxed by Today's forecast:  "Showers followed by rain," and Tomorrow's forecast:  "Rain followed by showers."
17. You have no concept of humidity without precipitation. 
18. You know that Boring is a town in Oregon and not just a state of mind. 
19. You can point to at least two volcanoes, even if  you cannot see through the cloud cover. 
20. You announce, "The mountain is out" when it is a pretty day and you can actually see it. 
21. You put on your shorts when the temperature gets above 50, but still wear your hiking boots and parka. 
22. You switch to your sandals when it gets about 60, but keep the socks on. 
23. You have actually used your mountain bike on a mountain. 
24. You think people who use umbrellas are either wimps or tourists. 
25. You buy new sunglasses every year, because you  cannot find the old ones after such a long time.
26.  You measure distance in hours.
27. You often switch from "heat" to "a/c" in the same day.
28. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit under a raincoat.  
29. You know all the important seasons: Almost Winter - Raining; Winter - still raining; Spring - Still raining; Summer - Road construction and Fall - Deer and Elk season.
30. You actually understood these jokes and will probably forward them.

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March 27, 2008 10:04 AM
by Doug Whitmore

Sorry about the downtime

Just noticed that the latest Software Update had hosed the blog server. I've fixed it, obviously.

I'll have some new photos to put up soon, so stay tuned!

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February 21, 2008 2:02 PM
by Doug Whitmore

Getting my garden geek on

Gardening is my new geek focus, my Big Project. As I've blogged recently, I've got a flat of tomato seedlings gaining strength for when the ground gets warmer. Oh, you didn't know that tomatoes need the soil to maintain 60º F in order to thrive? That's the kind of information that really gets my geek on with gardening.

It turns out there are a lot of places on the web to get great information about gardening. I've been following and even took the tomato class from Cynthia at growbetterveggies.com, which was great. I encourage you to sign up for the next class if you think you have a little gardening geek in you. Cynthia understands gardening (especially tomatoes) in a way only someone with a real inquisitiveness can. She studies and experiments every year and encourages others to do the same.

Gardening is one of those pastimes that can return huge dividends based on how much attention you are willing to give it. Since I am focussing my energy on it fully this year, I expect to get a better than average garden.

For my tomato seedlings, I spent quite a bit of effort looking for a fan. Having the fan blow on them for a few hours a day stimulates stem thickness and strengthens the plants. Sandy finally found one at an artists supply store. I built a little stand for a grow light (basically, an under cabinet fluorescent fixture with a plant bulb in it). This allows them to grow strong despite the fact that we don't have a great place for direct sunlight in our house.

Last week, I spent four days creating and amending raised beds in the garden. I grabbed a bunch of 1 by 8 fencing in 6 foot lengths. I knew I wanted 10 foot by 3 foot beds, so I used 5 boards for each bed. One board I cut in half as the ends, the others, I took a foot off of the end. I used two of those foot long pieces to join together two of the 5 foot sections each. I then took some 2 by 2 that I cut to match the width of the other boards and used those to connect at the corners. I used zinc plated screws, so if something goes wrong, I might be able to just pop off some screws and screw down a new board. I haven't treated the boards with anything, and I just used common redwood, why spend for the expensive heart redwood?

To put them into place, Sandy and I dug down a little and created a level trench that the beds would sit in. We removed some soil from between the beds and added a good 3 inches of mulch between and around all of the beds. I then added, in order, humic acid, chicken poop (about 2 inches worth), Dr. Earth's fertilizer with a bit more P and K, to make up for all the N in the chicken poop, topsoil from what we took out, and some soil building compost (about an inch and a half's worth). Needless to say, that was quite a few trips to The Garden Co and OSH. I then gave all that new soil a quick turn. I had bought a manure fork for that, but it broke on the second turn, so we had to return it and get the more expensive one.

Sandy's parents had brought us some onions, so Zach, Phoebe and I planted those in the new soil. I'm still trying to figure out what I really want to plant in the beds this year. I know I'll do at least one hill of pumpkins, and at least a few pepper plants. Other than that, I'm still mulling it over. If you have any ideas, leave a comment.

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February 14, 2008 3:48 PM
by Doug Whitmore

My tomatoes are sprouting!

Last Sunday, I took a class on how to germinate tomato seeds with Cynthia Sandberg of Love Apple Farms. It was a great class with lots and lots of ideas for getting the most out of your garden tomatoes. During the class we sow a flat of seeds, which we take home and then are supposed to nurture into seven foot tall tomato plants, laden with so many fruits that my small garden plot will solve world hunger. Well, at least some are supposed to survive, and then hopefully thrive.

Grape Cherry germinating

I saw my first little shoots this morning, they are just the smallest little white roots sticking out. I was expecting to see them tomorrow at the earliest, so it is exciting to see the little buggers fighting their way out of the soil.

Now they are sitting uncovered, on a seedling heating mat. I still need to get a cheap grow light and a small fan in order to do what Cynthia told us to do. And since she's the "crazy tomato lady" I'm gonna listen to what she says!

In a few weeks, they should be big enough to transplant into slightly bigger pots. Then, hopefully, by May 1st, I'll have quite a few plants to put in the ground. I've promised a few starters to my in-laws as well... and with a potential (if all seeds germinate and survive) 144 tomato plants, I might be looking for homes for my babies.


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February 7, 2008 5:56 PM
by Doug Whitmore

On the slopes

Two years ago, Zach and I bought equipment for the slopes (he got skis, I got a snowboard) after the snow season. Needless to say, last year, the snowfall was miniscule. We went to the slopes once last year, right after a snowstorm... the only snowstorm of the year. It just didn't seem worth the effort to drive all the way up, pay for lift tickets just to be disappointed with few open runs and sloppy snow.

Phoebe's ready to hit the slopes

This year has almost made up for it though. We've gone to the snow two separate times now (Kirkwood). Both times we drove up the day before, rode for one or two days, and then drove home after a good night's sleep. It's been so nice that Sandy has even bought a pair of skis and boots and loves shooshing down the mountain at her own pace.

The really fun part is watching the kids take to skiing. Zach has a natural kinesthetic ability with any sport he tries, and Phoebe is so fearless they are both going to be  much better than I will ever be.

Phoebe's taken 3 lessons so far and is really taking to it. She loves going up the chair lift with the instructors and has gotten so she can really zoom down the mountain. She also enjoys throwing snowballs at her instructors and loves, loves, LOVES eating snow. Turns out the dirtier it is the better she likes it... sigh.

We bought her goggles and a helmet, which she has decorated with stickers. You can just make out the stickers in the picture to the left. We'll get her skis after she grows just a little bit more.

Zach is about ready to take on the entire mountain. The first time we went, we got him a full day lesson. By the end of that day he was confident on the bunny slopes. The next time we went, we ended up putting him in a half day lesson. Then he spent the rest of that day skiing with Danny, Raul and me. 

Ready for the slopes

After Zach's half day lesson he was excited to show us a run off of the beaten path. "It's called the Ditch of Doom," he told us matter of factly. He led us towards a green (easy) run. All of a sudden, he drops into a tree lined gully. Not wanting to seem like chickens, we all followed. We wound around through this gully, up the sides, over jumps, ducking under trees... he really showed me another side to riding on the mountain.

Zach took a few faceplants that day and the next, but almost always came up laughing. He took some real chances, and was willing to go fast, take the big jump and wipe out if it didn't work.

Sandy went with us to the "Ditch of Doom" but stayed on the green run instead of going with us. That was probably a good idea.

Sandy did, however, go to the jumping terrain area, which she enjoyed.

I've found that having gone twice, and planning to go again means that I feel like I'm actually getting better at riding. Before, with my one trip a year, I spent most of the time just getting back to the level I had ended at the previous year. Now, I'm definitely moving forward and learning more each time I go. And with Zach to push me into new areas, I can't help but feel really excited for our next trip.

See more photos of our snow trips this year.

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