Sunday, May 11, 2008

St. Johns Weekend


What a week! No news on my dream job at OHSU, but this could take awhile to pan out. I am patient! In the meantime I have been busy with school (taking mostly online courses this term to save tuition costs and transportation, which has been working out well.) and still working part time at my Mom's office. Happy Mother's Day, by the way, to anyone who may read this that is a mother!!!
My Zojirushi Home Bakery is not letting me down, bread is happily consumed in this house daily.... I decided to try out the Cake mode, and the first time I did, I accidentally pushed the "Cake" button twice, which sets it to "Jams and Jellies" mode. So the first cake was a failure! It really wasn't my day, I was trying to make Matcha Swirl Poundcake, and I knocked my expensive tin of Matcha that i bought in Seattle on the floor, I tried to sweep it up and there was too much dog hair and ickyness for it to be saved. Somedays are just like that in the kitchen, I suppose, where nothing goes as planned. The next day was a new day and I started over, and my Matcha Swirl Poundcake was a success, and I was happy!

Friday was the start of our weekend together and I decided to throw us a little party, By "party" I mean the two of us, but it was still fun! We had mini bottles of Champagne w/ frozen strawberries and Fondue! My Mother-in-Law, Betty gave me her fondue pot last time we visited her, so we were able to finally try it out. I used a mixture of Gruyere and Swiss cheese, and used homemade crusty French Bread from the bread machine. It was our first time using Canned Heat before and when Casey lit it, the flame got huge and scorched the cheese. A few frantic minutes later, we dug out tea lights and all was saved, and there was no fire, thank goodness!


The next day we headed out to St. John's (a little neighborhood community that we live on the edge of) St. John's is such a sweet area of Portland, it still has a quaint small town vibe to it, with old restaurants and diners, cute little shops, and my favorite bridge in Portland, the historic St. Johns Bridge that leads you to Forest Park. St John's Was celebrating their annual festival, with a carnival and music, bier gardens, and the local shops were having sidewalk sales.

All very cute. We perused the festival, had some coffee, then continued our destination to forest park. I love the St. John's bridge, it is beautiful, it has a view that looks like it heads straight into the forest, and it is taller than most bridges in Portland, which makes me kinda dizzy and weird when I cross it, but I still love it!



We headed to Forest Park and hiked about 15 miles.

We had packed a picnic of sandwiches (w/ leftover french bread) and my favorite Sake, so it was a great day!


The wild flowers are beautiful right now, and we saw many birds and chipmunks.



This hike really revitalized us, i think we needed it. Times have been great for us, but we had both agreed that time was moving way too fast lately, so the hike helped slow things down for us (I hope I am explaining that accurately.) We headed back into St. John's, this time the bridge cross didn't make me weird, thanks to a little bit of Sake!

The festival was still going strong, so we had a little bit of food and watched a band play. We were both feeling great a decided to walk home from there. Boy, we were tired when we got home, but in a great way!!! Now I feel rested and prepared for the week ahead!

22 comments:

Unknown said...

Very pretty Hello Kitty...how did you make it stand on the cake?

Oiyi said...

I love matcha flavored baked goods! I make a matcha marbled pound cake with yogurt in it.

That hike sounded wonderful

Oiyi said...

I love matcha flavored baked goods! I make a matcha marbled pound cake with yogurt in it.

That hike sounded wonderful

bunbun said...

Emily:
They are picks (like cake decorations that say happy birthday) that my sister in law bought for me at a cake supply shop here in my hometown.

Oiyi: I knew I have seen marbled matcha cake on your page before! I found it and I am def. trying next time! I need to start bookmarking recipes because I make them on a whim. I love baking w/ yogurt, it is my favorite because it doesn't weigh down cakes. Thank you!

mushroommeadows said...

ohhhh Lovely pictures!!!

Hey Harriet said...

OMG! What a fantastic sounding weekend you had! Geez...my was very dull in comparison to yours! I've gotta move to Portland :D
Great photos. I always love your photos!!!

Anonymous said...

i love matcha...hello kitty so cute...

Spitting Image said...

my sister, said you had the most amazing food on your blog, she wasn't kidding. Where do you come up with all these things?

ling239 said...

the cake looks yummy !!
chipmunks? o.O have not seen any in real life... took any photo of it ?

Milkberry said...

Awww such a lovely way to spend the day!

Unknown said...

ooo..more baking, glad the cake turned out fine. I wish I was there, never eaten matcha marble pound cake. Is matcha some type of green tea?

wonderful pictures as usual. How do you take the clear photo in front with the blurry image at back?

bunbun said...

Thanks everyone!!!!!
It was a great weekend! I miss it already!

Ling: We tried to get photos of the chipmunks, but they were really blurry! Hopefully when we go to more places where they are more social I can get better pics.

These ones were more wild and they were scared, I felt bad!

Mkate! Your trip looks crazy amazing! I don't even know where to start with the questions I want to ask you!

I get the photos like that by setting my camera to the flower icon (most cameras have it, it is the macro setting, then focus the camera as close as it will let you to the focal point. My camera has a measuring device. Once the focal point is clear, the camera will blur out the background.
Fancy cameras (DSLR cameras, my dream camera!) have more advanced settings that make it look even
better.

amy said...

Marty and I like to hike, we have this lovely place in WI called Devils Lake, it is so scenic and pretty. I feel so rejuvenated when we go there. I hope to go there soon (when it warms up, and I have vacation)

I wont jinx it, but I'm crossing my fingers for your OHSU career move. I know it took a very long time for them to process my application for an interview for where I work right now. It was about three months or so before I got an interview. Don't lose hope.
If you don't get it, there will be something better for you.

lovely photos as usual.

bunbun said...

Amy, thank you, that meant a lot to me today. I know the best jobs I have had to work hard to get, so we will see... The ones I have gotten hired on the spot for have been weird... but I have been lucky to have pretty good jobs. I get nervous putting myself out there to be examined, but it is good for me.
I turned down the camera store because it just seemed like a distraction, and I am looking still at my other options. But OHSU is the mothership, you know??!!!

Mkate: I am sorry, I forgot to tell you about matcha:
Matcha is high quality green tea powder that works great in baking. It is used in tea ceremonies in Japan. I also add it to smoothies, sprinkle it on ice cream,steam fish w/ it, mix it in lotions, you can do many things with matcha!

Anonymous said...

That matcha poundcake looks good!! I'm glad you guys have been having fun on the weekend, all the walks you take look so pretty!

Shell (貝殼) said...

ur matcha cake looks nice..yumyum
+ the hello kitty picks very cute oh~~

zakkalife said...

The matcha cake looks delicious, I like the flavor of matcha too.

Really like the picture of the bridge. Looks like it was lovely day.

AlasMyDear said...

wow! your cake and bread turned out looking great! congrats on scoring that lovely machine.

and the hello kitties on the top just takes the cake :) super cute!

Unknown said...

Hi Holly, just did a post on Angkor wat!!

OK, back to our business, I'm compiling some stuff so I can send it you latest by next week so i hope it reaches you safe and sound, knowing how snail-mail works.

You have a great weekend my friend and dont give up on your dream job...visualise..visualise before you sleep dear!! Lets wait for the great news, lots of love and hugs :)

Spitting Image said...

hah, not intentionally mysterious, I didn't have time to finish the blog I started until now.

amy said...

I think you would be proud of me. Today I helped host my boyfriend's older brother's fiance's wedding shower. That's a mouthful. So thanks to you, I started looking at Martha Stewart living online and I found this recipe for "shower tea sanwiches" I didn't take pictures but they turned out lovely. It had the most unusual ingredients; salmon, caviar, whole anise, tea, wasabi,etc. They were a hit.

amy said...

p.s. I play sports with my right hand too! I try to do it the other way, and it feels very akward, your're right. I had an injury to my left shoulder, so I thought that was the reason, but now I'm not so sure that I ever switched arms. I may have always used my right. My boyfriend always teases me about it and says I'm not really left handed.