I Love My Ducks - HT: R. Sullivan
via youtube.com
This basically rules. Go Ducks. Here's a little taste of Autzen Stadium:
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"Picture of the Day: November 17, 2009" | Brian Davies Photojournalist | The Register-Guard
Picture of the Day: November 17, 2009 Climbing the columns at Skinner Butte
Nice shot of a climber on the columns by Brian Davies.
Oregon vs. USC College Game Day Gallery
A gallery of awesomeness!
Green Thai Silk Duck
We spotted this very unusual all-green'Thai silk' duck yesterday in one of the ponds next to the bicycle path along the Willamette River in Eugene, Oregon. I went back today with my DSLR and a 400mm lens to see if I could get a photo. I am interested to know if anyone has seen anything like this before, and can identify it. It is a bit smaller than the mallards that it hangs around with.
Any ideas would be most appreciated!
Field Trip to Center for Appropriate Transport (CAT): Maker Faire Meets the Local Bike Shop
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You are invited to view Liza's photo album: CAT Center for Appropriate Transport, Eugene, OR
During my visit to Eugene, OR, I decided to take a field trip. A friend told me about a bike shop that cannot be missed, a one of a kind bike workshop with a Maker Faire attitude and an impressive sustainability mission. This sums up Eugene's culture in general, so when in Rome...
What I discovered was beyond words, even beyond photos, but until you make it there yourself, these images will have to do. If you are having problems viewing this email, copy and paste the following into your browser:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=lizasperling&target=ALBUM&id=5343607886285385777&authkey=Gv1sRgCK6fk9bdzZ7sIg&feat=email To share your photos or receive notification when your friends share photos, get your own free Picasa Web Albums account.
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Pens re-sign Staal, Melnyk issues statement
First off, let me correct the rumor I posted yesterday. Shortly after I approved my blog yesterday, Euguene Melnyk, the owner of the Ottawa Senators, released a statement that he had made no decisions to fire either general manager Bryan Murray or head coach Craig Hartsburg (yet). So it was purely speculation and no, Pat Quinn is not taking over the Sens.
I thought it sounded fishy.
The Pittsburgh Penguins have re-signed forward Jordan Staal to a 4-year contract. However, this does not put an end to the Staal rumors that have been going around. In fact, I'm hearing that the contract was signed to increase his trade value. We'll see what happens.
Thomas (apparently I've been spelling his name wrong this whole time) Kaberle may very soon issue permission to Toronto GM Brian Burke to seek out a team that will take him. Kaberle doesn't want to leave Toronto, but will if it means a chance at a Stanley Cup, which means it's likely he won't be moved until the Deadline. Early contenders are Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Vancouver, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Washington, and New Jersey. Carolina and Columbus are reportedly on the fence about the defenseman. Another source has informed me that Dallas is also interested.
I was recently informed of the possibility that the Avs could be sending winger Marek Svatos and offensive D-man John-Michael Liles to Ottawa for something. While I know for a fact that the Avs have inquired about Spezza on some level, I don't believe this to be a possibility. Liles has been their most offensive D-man this season and still has 3 years on his contract and does not want to leave Colorado. Svatos being dealt is more likely, however the only way they both leave is if they somehow sweeten the deal to get Bouwmeester out of Florida.
Something else out of Colorado: Captain Joe Sakic had back surgery to repair the herniated disc in his back. Add 10 weeks to his time on the Injured List.
An update on Schneider: Minnesota have put their hat in the ring for the veteran defenseman. Could it be they're sweetening the deal for that rumored Kovalchuk-for-Gaborik swap? Hmm.... another hit tells me that Boston is in the mix.
As I've reported previously, Mike Comrie is becoming quite popular. He could be dealt at the Deadline (or even before). Front runners are Minnesota, New Jersey, and Edmonton while I've also heard rumors about him going to the Rangers.
Update: Colorado and Calgary are apparently interested.
Vancouver has had their eye on Doug Weight recently. Doubt anything will happen, but I'll keep an eye of my own on that.
Nik Antropov has been inquired about lately, too. I reported earlier this week about Columbus being sweet on him. Add L.A., Vancouver, and the Avs to that list.
Minnesota and Edmonton are looking at Mark Recchi. I'm told it would be a young(er) player going the other way.
Ottawa and Minnesota are also supposedly looking at Phoenix center Olli Jokinen. I don't see anything happening, though. The 'Yotes love that guy.
listening to:
Andrew W.K. "I Get Wet"
Altaria "The Fallen Empire"
Allen - Lande "The Battle"
Alice Cooper "Trash"
(all A's... that's eerie.)
First CSA a Hit So Far
I only learned about CSA's (Community Supported Agriculture) this year. They are beyond plentiful in Eugene, with I think something like 40-60 providers. We signed up for a fall CSA with Groundwork Organics. What this is, is a weekly delivery of locally, and with our choice, organically grown produce. In the spring we will likely sign up for multiple of them, with potentially one doing dairy and/or meat as well. Anyway, it's been really great so far. They provide a bunch of things that we wouldn't usually buy, or in some cases, have never even heard of!
We've had I think 3 deliveries now. Each week we've gotten 1-2 pounds of lettuce/greens (lots of spinach, field greens), a bunch or three of carrots, and then things like parsnips, beets, dill, Italian parsley, watercress, squash, potatos, onions, arugala, garlic, leeks, and more. The apples we got last week are the most flavorful apples I've had in a long time (they were "Liberty" apples I believe).The delivery we got today included leeks, red potatos, and dill, with a recipe to go along with it (they always include recipes). It also included "Delicata squash" (roughly 8-10" long, white with green veins, and tubular, maybe 4" in diameter), with a recipe, and we'll try that out. I don't think we've bought salad greens at the market for a month due to this, which is great.We've tried several things we have either never had, or needed to go find recipes to figure out what to do with it, etc. (the roasted parsnips were yummy). We used a bunch of the salad greens, carrots, etc. tonight, and I roasted up 4 heads of garlic as well.I can't wait to see what the next one brings us, as well as what we sign up for in the spring (when the real CSA season occurs).
Eugene Restaurant Review: Marché
I had been told that Eugene had a lot of great restaurants. We've been here for a few months now, and I hadn't really felt that Eugene had lived up to that, in fact, I'd been fairly disappointed so far. Tonight changed that in a big way. My wife, parents, and I had dinner at Marché.
Dinner was superb! All of us thoroughly enjoyed it. The atmosphere was great - clean, crisp, yet warm, and relatively casual. We had reservations and were seated promptly at a nice corner table. Our waitress was great, and was helpful with the wine choices. She knew the wines on their list quite well, as well as knew California vs. Oregon characteristic differences and other points that helped.
We started off with some great cocktails, and placed our order:
- My mom: Heirloom tomato and goat cheese salad, side of chard to split with my dad, and the fresh, Chinook salmon.
- My dad: Heirloom tomato and goat cheese salad, and the pork chops.
- My wife: Trio of bruschetta for appetizer, and then she went for the heirloom tomato salad, side of onion rings, and side of beans with bleu cheese, for her entrée.
- Myself: Breaded/fried oysters, and the duck.
First off, the heirloom tomato salad was absolutely outstanding, all of us couldn't stop raving. The tomatoes were perfect, the goat cheese was outstanding, and at the proper temperature, and the light dressing was killer (so good we asked how they made it, and plan to try to reproduce it at home :) I ate a chunk of my wife's salad, and again, just stellar.
The fried oysters were ok, and are something sort of unusual for me anyway. I think slightly lacking in flavor, but honestly, with all the other awesome food we had, it was fine, and we ate them all.
As for the entree's, all of them were excellent. My mom loved her salmon, and I tried the pork which was very good - very juicy and tender, so often restaurants dry out pork, but not at all in this case. Also, the grilled peaches that went with it were a really great match, and a nice change from the the more typical apples.
The duck I had was hands down the best duck I've had in as long as I can recall. I don't order duck all that often, but had it recently in the Bay area, and it was pretty average on that occasion. The duck came sliced, rare, with a extremely tasty crust around the edges, and in the most wonderful sauce! Everyone was going nuts for the sauce, and in fact, we had them bring a little extra bowl for dipping the onion rings, as we found that a great combo :) The sauce was the perfect amount too - by no means swimming in it, but also, enough to coat some of the potatoes and chard.
Speaking of chard, yes, we had a lot, given two of our entrees came with it, and we had two sides. It was so darn good though that we ate nearly all of it, and took the remainder home. Perfectly cooked, great seasoning, oh, just so good. I wish I had more room, as I'd have finished it off.
Finally, we managed to save enough room to have some dessert. My dad and I split the cheese plate, and my wife had the creme brulee. First, thank you Marché for not putting berries in the creme brulee! Very good. The cheese plate had a small serving of the same goat cheese used on the heirloom tomato salad, and a Camembert I particularly liked. Given the intent for this to be a dessert for one person, it was a good portion, but since we split it, I'd probably have liked to have one more cheese (not that our stomachs needed it!). We also had some espresso.
The food was so good, I almost forgot we had wine. Aside from a glass of malbec we sent back (and indeed, the waitress had told us it wasn't the best), the cab was good. We had wound up going with just wine by the glass, as honestly, their wine prices are quite high - even by California standards. They had a fair number of good wines, but with cocktails, and the prices of the wine, we just decided to skip it. I guess that would be about my only knock. Aside from that, outstanding. Definitely the best meal I've had in Eugene, and Marché gets my vote as the best restaurant in town (that I've been to so far anyway). I would highly recommend it.
Ultimate Espresso
The other day I talked with Michael at Wandering Goat in Eugene for a while. We'd had some discussions in email, and I headed down to buy some Chupacabra beans from them, and say hi. I did that, but we also talked quite a while about espresso, machines, and grinders. He gave me some great tips.
First, Wandering Goat is my favorite choice of coffee beans right now. They are also simply an awesome company that is well comitted to organic, fair trade coffee, as well as super environmental preparation (their roaster is the only one of its kind in the Pacific Northwest, producing I think they said 80% less biproduct/polutants, etc.). The shop is also cool. It's a little off the beaten path, but in downtown (on Madison between 2nd and 4th). And, I had a truly, truly, superb macchiato there yesterday (and yes, the real kind, not that abomination Starbucks makes).I've been wanting to get a serious espresso machine, that is not a super-auto like I have now. I have the best super auto at the moment, but you just can't tweak it further, and they don't generate the same pressure levels as a semi-auto. I had been eyeing an Rancilio Silvia, but Michael turned me on to the Expobar Brewtus II, which in checking appears to be the absolute finest home machine on the planet (and the only one with a double boiler). As he mentioned, your abilities will not exceed this machine. It ain't cheap, although it's less than my super auto! But then you factor in a grinder.I have an ok grinder, but was eyeing a Mazzer Mini. He suggested getting a Mazzer Super Jolly instead of the mini, and said to check eBay (or eBay Tagex). It's awesome, because you can pick up a Super Jolly, normally a $1000 grinder, for like $250, and then buy new burr heads for it for $50. So, that's a $1000 grinder for $300. I just checked and there are two Super Jolly's up there right now. Also, you can put the Mini's bean holder on a Super Jolly to cut down on size, but still have the larger burr heads of the Super Jolly.
Eugene (Oregon) People are So Nice!
It's really interesting to see how different people are here in Eugene/Oregon. Everyone is so nice and friendly. It's quite different than California. After my flight home from the Bay area on Thursday, I talked to three people at some length, while getting off the plane, walking over to baggage, waiting for bags, etc.
Rich was also a CA transplant, and had in fact come from the same place as we had. We talked for quite some time about kids, his grandkids, golf (and the crazy Bandon, OR golf scene and real estate situation), etc.After talking to Rich, I talked to Karen who is the director of emergency services for the Red Cross (for 7 counties here). She mentioned the kids ID event that was happening this weekend, which is great, as we'll go do that. Prior to Rich and Karen, at the end of my flight I talked to the man sitting next to me (he slept during the flight, and I worked). He has a crazy job, where he works on construction projects in Vegas (currently on the Venetian plaza). He is in Vegas for 6 weeks, then home for 5 days, then back - all the time. He's been doing this for 15 years! He loves Oregon, and has grown very tired of Vegas (where I believe he said there is now a shooting every 8 hours!). Yesterday I also talked to one of my neighbors, Dino, who I hadn't met yet. He's the owner/builder of one of the houses next to us. Good guy, and he took some time out to talk about some house stuff. For example, after I saw his outdoor fireplace (which I'd love!), he talked about how we could do that on our deck, costs, options, etc. It wasn't a sales pitch (wouldn't be something he, as the "builder", would do anyway), just nice neighborly chatter.What struck me about these folks was simply has easy going, nice, friendly, etc. they were. The conversations simply flowed with no effort. Sure I've had talks like this with people in CA (you'd hope so given I grew up there, and have lived there all but 5 years of my life). But it's just different. You can "feel" the difference. At times it's also weird. I think we've grown used to being sometimes suspicious, guarded with our kids, etc. So we're learning the more pleasant openness of the Oregon culture.
