Our Really Nice Day In PDX

The weather here, today, was really nice and warm.  Where we live in Portland (actually a small suburb called Fairview), it can be quite chilly with wind.  Today was excellent.

After Janet took Ruby for a stroll 'round the 'hood (she is getting old and can't walk very far), she and I went down to Fairview Lake for a nice hour long walk.  All of Fairview Lake is surrounded by homes, and as you walk further along you come to Interlachen Lane, which straddles between two lakes.  The other lake is Blue Lake, which has homes on one side only as the other side is a park open to the public - No Dogs Allowed in the park!  What's up with that!

A view of Fairview Lake

Some cute Duckie guys that I really wished I could have chased!

A big cabbage field we passed  There were also lots of pumpkins.

After we came home, Janet immediately picked up the car keys.  What!  Another walk?  This soon?  It was not to be.  All I know is she left the house with runners on and came home with this get up on.  What's up with this?

We Made Soup Last Night!

Hi everyone...I am Emma.  I finally get a chance to blog as Rockers has gone home.  He is the biggest of us all and thinks he is the boss!  I really miss being able to wrestle with Noodles - she comes across as cranky, but she can be a ton of fun.

I would like to suggest that Ruby helped us execute this recipe, but given her choice, she would be outside on the deck or patio all day long, literally 24/7.  So, it was pretty much up to me to give Janet a hand.

Janet wasn't feeling well last night, so we thought perhaps some nice warm, soothing soup might do the trick.  We went through a couple of blogs that Janet likes and ended up with Red Lentil Carrot Coconut Milk Soup from the Diary of a Crazed Cook.

There were a couple of small issues with this..first, Janet likes to cook, but rarely does soup beyond Corn Chowder (aka Milk Soup) that she has been making since her children were young (many, many years ago).  Recent additions have been Beef Barley Soup for the last couple of winters and about three weeks ago, Chicken Noodle Soup.

The next issue was the recipe called for a slow cooker, of which Bronwyn has a very nice one.  However, I never paid attention when Bronwyn was using it, and Janet had never used it before.  We searched high and low for the manual, without success.  Could I have devoured it in my need to keep up my daily intake of paper products?  We plunged ahead as Janet decided if the slow cooker didn't pan out (ha ha), we could resort to the stove top.

We couldn't figure out how to use the browning feature on the slow cooker, so we started on the stove top.

The slow cooker

The finished product.  It was really good.  The original recipe did not call for croutons, but Janet made some and added them.  It was a huge success for basically a non soup cook!

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch....

While we are cruising up the I-5 heading towards Port Angeles for the 2PM ferry, Janet took Pashy for a big walk around Fairview Lake.  Bronwyn told Janet the walk was 1 hour and 15 minutes, but it only took her an hour...either they didn't go for the walk Bronwyn normally goes on, or Janet walks faster, which I seriously doubt as there is a significant age difference!

Janet wore one of her new Mountain HardWear jackets, which she claims is the best money spent since her iPad.

You know you live in an area with alot of rain - these signs are all over the place!

I Was Right!

Here we are, in the car, heading back to YYJ!  Too bad we had to leave Janet behind, but that's the way the dog cookie crumbles, Sister.  We are going home!  I hope my sister behaves herself on the way home.  She was really good on the way to PDX this time, but on other recent trips she became very anxious and needy when the tires go over the lane markers on the road.  Last time, Phil had to give her a Doggie Prozac!