Tale of Teas

Since I started working at Starbucks, I've spent a lot of my time talking about coffee. However, I realized tea just isn't getting enough coverage. And you know what...it totally should! I love tea. Tea was a beverage I enjoyed even before coffee. I must attribute my enjoyment of hot tea to my sister. She taught me to add sugar and milk to my black tea - the British way.

Anyway, tea isn't just a terrific drink to have during the cold weather to keep you warm. Nay, it's also quite delicious during the summer as iced tea. Although, I must admit my preference is for hot tea. That said, let's talk about some teas I enjoy...

• Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf: This is mostly a Southern California chain and their best product is the tea lattes. Heather Richardson introduced me to these lovely tea lattes when I visited LA (a long time ago now). The first favorite was the English Breakfast tea latte. They also had a lemon chamomile tea latte in the springtime. My all-time favorite is the Winter Dream tea latte, which is only available during the winter month (shocking, Winter tea only during winter). The thing that makes the tea lattes so special is this magic vanilla (or chocolate in some) powder that you add to the brewed tea and before adding the frothy milk. Since I knew the ingredients, I thought I could whip up some up of these wonderfully delicious drinks myself at home. While down in SoCal for the holidays, I picked up some of the vanilla powder. Sadly I couldn't find the Winter Dream tea. Luckily Josh's parents came to the rescue and sent us some. My creations are very similar to the in-store drink (perhaps not quite the same, but pretty dang good).


• Starbucks Loose Teas: This is the latest and greatest at Starbucks. We just released all our teas in loose leaf tea bags. These bags are so much better than the compact, little bags we carried previously. The loose bags allow the tea to disperse and steep, so there is just more flavor burst. We had three teas available in loose bags before the release that were used for our tea lattes - these we didn't have out for purchase in boxes. Now, all teas are loose bag and available for purchase. Now, I can get my favorite tea and bring it home. My favorite is Vanilla Rooibos. It's an herbal, naturally caffeine free tea. It's decent as a latte, but I like it just brewed with a bit of sugar-free vanilla. I just bought it yesterday with my markout.


• Starbucks Chai Latte: This is still at our stores even though we had the tea bag renovation (mentioned above). It's similar to Oregon Chai in that both are basically a syrup. We add hot water to it to activate the "spices" and then top it off with steamed milk. This is one of my classic favorites, especially adding a bit of vanilla. I enjoy this more than Oregon Chai as it seems to have more spice, yet it's still sweet (you know some chai lattes can be uber spicy).


• MyChai: This is a local chai from Bend, OR. A few places offer it on their beverage line-up: Full City and Market of Choice. I even like this better than Starbucks Chai (shh, don't tell). It has a bit more bite (spicy) and still slightly sweet, but it's a perfect blend. Sadly, you cannot purchase it to bring home. A in-store enjoyment only.


• Evening Decaf Tea Options: Good Earth Decaf Vanilla Chai is my favorite. This is just a tea brand you can get at the grocery store, but it's quite good. I first had it in New Haven at Lindsay's apartment. This is great just before bed since it's decaf. I just add a drop of milk and splenda. I enjoy it almost every night. The second runner up is Celestial Seasoning's Sweet Coconut Thai Decaf tea. That's pretty good too - it's more exotic tasting. Beth and Chris had this tea at their place and that's were I discovered this option. Besides these, I've tried other decaf vanilla chai teas and they just don't quite cut it. (Caroline gave me some German teas for Christmas too which I've been enjoying, but those are a Christmas speciality and hard for me to buy for everyday consumption).

This is probably more than you ever wanted to know about my tea drinking. Let's face it though, I've got good taste (wink wink). Plus, you've now taken a step into my life and what I drink in the evenings (besides a large sparkling water).

Josh and I shared some tea during lunch on our mini-trip to Portland over the weekend. Here's a funny photo of us with the tea pot...

Sunday Stroll

This past weekend of 2010 turned out to be a the best of the year so far. Not to mention, it's the first weekend of the year, so it'd be hard to beat at this point. Just fun to say. Seriously though, it really was a great weekend. I had Saturday off and worked earlier on Sunday, so it was almost like having a full weekend. Better yet...Josh isn't back at school yet so we could do fun stuff together.

As my title suggests, Josh and I decided to take a little stroll through Eugene's Alton Baker Park on Sunday after work. It was a non-rainy day; just gloomy but that added to the winter scenery of park (i.e. trees without leaves). I got to sport my new Christmas cold weather wear. Check out the red jacket, rain boots, jeans, warm vest - okay, the whole outfit (but so comfy, so warm). Anyway, enough about clothes, the walk was very nice. I got in the picture taking spirit and captured some of our walk in photographs -- I got a snapshot of Josh in front of Autzen Stadium to commemorate his time at the law school, some attempts at artsy pictures, and then some shots Josh took of me. The one below is me with some trees. Yes, enormous trees, little itty bitty Heather. That or I'm little red riding hood.

Taking a step backwards, Saturday was also a nice day. Saturday I got the entire day off. I started it with a much needed trip to my favorite grocery store: Trader Joes. Our house was in much need of food after being down in SoCal for the holidays. With food in the house, Josh and I opted to go out for lunch - HA! I've been feeling under the weather, so we got some pho (sorta like chicken noodle soup). Then off to Target. Did I mention I love Target? I could spend a long time just roaming around. There is so much to buy and so little money - sigh.

Saturday night we enjoyed a get-together at a Starbucks co-worker's apartment. She is leaving Starbucks for a local coffee shop. It makes me sad that she's leaving, but she's still in the area so we might actually get to hang out more not working together (for instance, shift schedules might not conflict as much). It was a fun night - we all brought different wines and cheeses. Just hung out and chatted it up. It was great to hang out outside of work - we were all wearing stuff other than black, white or tan too!

Over the weekend, we also hit up TCBY for my froyo fix. I can no longer say I haven't had it all year (I can say I haven't had Yumi all year though, tear). We also headed to Barnes and Noble (my wall in the office is lonely. I'm looking for a calendar - unsuccessful so far), Cost Plus (just a few odds & ends), and Sports Authority (JB cold weather running wear). It was almost like the scene in Old School where Will Ferrell talks about Bed, Bath, and Beyond - see seconds 23 to 40 on the video.

Now, I'm sitting on the couch with a cold. The sore throat from New Years went, but then a stuffy nose and all-around achy head cold came last night to replace it. Thankfully I have today off, but I don't like colds. I don't like just sitting around - it drives me crazy. I need to get up and do stuff. Err.

Let's end on a food note since Julie and Julia inspired me. I cooked a new dish yesterday for dinner. It was from a Martha Steward magazine I bought for the plane trip home (I don't like Martha much - good things, etc - but I do like some of her stuff and ideas). It was Pork Paillards with Sour Cream Paprika Sauce. I added some roasted potatoes and a salad. It turned out great! Earlier this week my when-in-doubt, safety meatloaf meal and turkey ragu were on the menu. Tonight (assuming the cold doesn't get the best of me), it's Eggplant Lasagna (remember that from last year? I did a posted on it).

Little Red Heather Hood

Party Hardy, Napa Style

AKA: Mom's 60th Birthday Napa Trip Extravaganza

I knew this weekend's trip to Napa to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday was not going to be a simple wine tasting affair the minute I received an email from my father. This email was a minute-to-minute itinerary of our trip with maps, reviews, and reservations - a 33 page document (and I'm not kidding). Usually this sort of itinerary is for our mega Europe trips and the itinerary is neatly organized into a white binder which we've all come to know as the bible. This was not in a white binder, but it was awful close especially considering we were gone for only 3 days.

It all began after my morning shift on Thursday. I dashed home, de-coffeed (I have to do this now b/c after work I smell like fresh brewed cup of coffee), and rushed to the Eugene Airport. I flew to Oakland with a stop-over in Portland. Actually, as I was waiting to take off on the Eugene to Portland segment, the flight attendant came up to me and asked if I worked at the Starbucks near the mall. Why yes I said. Well, they enjoyed a wonderful cup this morning from us. Too funny! I got good service on that portion of the trip. The rest of the trip went well, and I arrived to Oakland where I was picked up by Don & Sue Hartley and Pat Richardson. We all drove together to met up with the rest of the entourage already in Napa (or I should say, St Helena's). With us all there (albeit late in the evening), the celebrations began!

This celebration involved the gathering of family and friends (friends that are so close their family now really)--The Harleys, The Richardsons, The Troglers, and our little immediate O'Neill fam (we missed you Chicago fam!). The majority of us stayed together in a house that the Ink House B&B rents out for big parties like us, a place called the Carriage House. It's a very cute little B&B up in the St. Helena area.

But really the weekend was about two things: Mom/Jan and Wine. My mom was in high spirits the entire weekend (in fact, those of us in the B&B know from the singing from the shower) and the wine was plentiful. Now, I'm not a wine fanatic like some in the group, but we did taste some very fine wines. And how could we not? We visited practically all the wineries in the area, so we were bound to get some good ones. Here's the run down on the vineyards:

• Friday Wineries: Spottswood, Quixote, Cliff Lede, Vine Cliff, Robert Mondavi, Alpha Omega


• Saturday Wineries: Chappellet, Schramsberg Sparkling Winery, Duckhorn

We toured almost at each winery, so now we are all highly educated in the Napa wines and vines. We all thought it funny, and very accurate, when I called my dad Teacher's Pet. He was in his element--walking ahead with the winery's tour guide, asking questions (edging on interrogation), and giving his input. A classic pose is displayed on my Flickr site (fyi-I created an album for this trip). My mom was just happy drinking the wine and enjoying the company.

To go with the wine, we had some very tasty food. The big birthday dinner was at Auberge Du Soleil, a fancy restaurant. shmancy were you get courses and such. The other delicious meal was at a Don Giovannis, a nice Italian restaurant. A other fun spots were Taylor's Refresher, Dean and Deluccas, and the Model Bakery. Yum!

I think this was the first time I've spent in Napa were I tasted the wine and found some were my usual "hum" (as in, it's ok) was like more of a ohh, hmm (as in, actually not bad & might drink 1/2 a glass). My favorite was Quixote with it's neat architecture. It reminded me of Sintra, Portugal and a castle there with lots of color and interesting shapes. Others said it reminded them of Barcelona and Gaudi.

The end of our trip was a half day in SF before our flights. We did a quick stop at the Ferry Building. Then we did a mini walk at the Land's End & Cliff House area, which was beautiful as ever. And as we headed back to Oakland, I made a pit stop at Yumi. Heather Returns! It was heaven again (I haven't hyped it up in my mind, it's still just that good).

Spottswood Winery

Gobble Goodness

Josh and I no longer have problems with those dang turkeys that roam around our front yard now that Thanksgiving has come and gone. Did you think I was serious? I mean that last picture I shared earlier in the year had them eating off the road...YUCK! Like we'd eat those turkeys. We did, however, make our first Thanksgiving turkey this year. Okay, it was only part of a turkey, but it was a whomping 6 Ib bone-in turkey breast.

Since I worked everyday during the Thanksgiving weekend with the longest hours on Thursday, we decided to celebrate on Friday instead when I only worked until 2pm. I prepped everything in advance, so Friday went smoothly. I followed a combination of two recipes - Alton Brown and Ina Garten. We decided to brine the turkey (which we've decided that we'll always do from now on since it makes it so delicious). And the herbs from Ina's recipes really added a nice touch. In fact, I would consider doing this same herb rub technique with a chicken or pork too! We did have some troubles with the roasting time since our little thermometer was apparently broken. But not to worry, we just popped it back in the oven and it turned out perfectly. Overall, the turkey came out a success - moist and flavorful.

We didn't just have turkey. I also made a sweet potato casserole I made with rave reviews last Christmas (everyone wanted the recipes). It didn't let me down this year either. Then one of our guests said that it wasn't Thanksgiving without green bean casserole, so I whipped up one of those as well. I'd never made one before so I tried another Alton Brown recipe - another keeper. The other food was brought by our guests - cornbread stuffing, creamy cauliflower, roasted carrots, chocolate bourbon cake, pecan bars, and more. A feast indeed!

Since Thanksgiving is full of friends and family, we were excited to be able to see some friends from the Bay Area over the weekend as well. Jeff and Melissa, some very special friends, have family up on Roseburg, OR (about 1.25 hours south of Eugene). They were up seeing family for the holiday, so Josh and I drove down to Roseburg on Saturday to have brunch. It was incredibly great to see them - it had been since early summer when I left the bay area! For all you friends that are reading this...we miss you!

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's on to Christmas. Bring out the music, the movies, the decorations!! And a movie review post is in the works too.

Thanksgiving Feasting

Molasses Spice & Everything Nice

Oh my goodness, I just had to share this recipe with you all...these cookies are scrumptious. I decided to get my kitchen going today (not to mention it warms up the house) and try out a new Molasses Spice Cookies recipe. They are crispy on the edge and softer in the center. For my twist I used turbinado sugar for the rolling. This really gave them texture and an extra pazaow of sweetness.

For some insight on the secret: the recipe is from a blog I follow called Simply Recipes. I think the writer, Elise Bauer, is quite well known in the blog world. And I would agree as I made many successful dishes from her (btw, I follow a bunch of blogs--many of which are food/recipes blogs).

After the cookies were out of the oven, I moved on to dinner making. Tonight was Rachael Ray's Straw and Hay pasta. Which turned out to be yet another success of the evening. We really enjoyed this quick, simple yet tasty dish. I got this one from watching the Rachael Ray Show. It's on every weekday morning from 9-10am. I know, I know, the Rachael Ray Show, really Heather? However, I must say that I'm learning (since I have more time in the day with Starbuck shift schedule) that daytime TV is not great. And early in the mornings, even Food Networks doesn't have much but paid programming (and it's worse at 4:30am or 6am..bah).

More cooking later this week cuz it's Turkey time!
(we're doing it Friday instead though)

Molasses Spice & Everything Nice

Home for the pre-Holidays

I just returned from a nice, long weekend trip to Encinitas, my other home. It was a busy, but fabulous weekend with my family. Sadly I won't be home for Thanksgiving, so this was a good pre-holiday visit and I got some quality family time. Because it was such a busy-busy weekend, I'm going bullet style on this one...

• Flying: Luckily I was able to fly instead of drive. The drive would be something like 18-20 hours (I think), so this way I got much more time with the family instead of time in the car. Since Eugene is such a tiny airport, there are not too many direct flights. Usually you have to fly to Portland, Seattle, or San Francisco and then onto your final destination. Yes, I could go to Portland airport, but that is another 2 hour drive and then you need to park, yada yada. Anyhoo, my flight layover was in San Francisco. Landing and seeing all the familiar sites brought back all sorts of good memories--made me miss the bay area. I even saw the green roofs of the storage building next door to my old apartment. Not to mention, the very common SFO delay.


• Pre-Thanksgiving Turkey: I'm not lying in my blog title, it really was an early holiday celebration. When I arrived home on Thursday evening, my mom had put together all the works: roast turkey, salad, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and butternut squash. Oh how I love turkey - gobble gobble goodness.


• Usuals: Every trip home is full of usual, must-do activities. To start, I got my hair cut at my favorite salon, Entourage. Nada, Josh's mom, introduced me to these wonderful ladies a few years ago. Nikki did my hair this time and we added some dark blond under-tones and a bit longer on the sides. Also, my mom and I went and had our oh-so-relaxing pedicures. I picked a fun Christmas color called Glove You So Much (aren't nail polish names fun--interesting job, nail color decider).


• Discovery: As I was betraying my Starbucks and getting a Winter Dream Tea Latte at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in the Forum, I spied a "coming soon" for the Counter Burger. Yes, one of my favorite restaurants from the bay is coming to Encinitas. If only it were open now! They say December - let's certainly hope so I can eat it on my next visit home.


• Dogs:  Not just Keely, but many dogs. Many, many dogs. In fact, I counted about 25 dogs. And all at the Vista Sun "Dog" Park. This is my mom's dream come true, while I was reminded of the movie All Dogs go to Heaven. On week nights, the neighborhood dog owners all come out and let their dogs lose at Sun Vista, a "new" park down the street from our house (the area below the former "dirt area" off La Posta and I say "new" because it's not really new but still seems new to me since it was build after I moved to the bay area). The dog people were talking about walking at the Encinitas Christmas Parade - HA, that'd be hilarious.


• Olivenhain Craft Fair: Bummer for mankind, no scrunchies or Judy's pies this year at the fair (many of you may know the story of Jessica and I hosting a stand at the fair when we were kids). Saturday morning, Sue, Pat, my mom, and I were dropped off at the fair (dad=taxi). Mom and I used to go to this fair every year, so I was line memory lane walking around. I got a fuzzy, soft scarf to help battled the cold Oregon weather. FYI - Olivenhain Meeting Hall is the area were Lindsay and I used to ride horses!


• Oregon Influences: I made a comment at the hair salon how nice the weather was that day--they all looked at my weirdly. Good weather? It's like mid 60s and it hit me that this is SoCal, not Oregon and this is cold. Here I am all happy it's warm; my SoCal roots are failing me! Then I had to get gas for my mom's car, and I was actually happy to pump my own gas (rather than awkward instruct the gas person "uh full tank, filler 'er up, regular, uhhh...).


• Food: O'Neills are big on food, so I am obligated to write about some highlights on where and what was eaten. Qe'ro, a super delicious Peruvian restaurant on 101 in downtown Encinitas. I had tasty sweet potatoes, sage roasted mushrooms, and swiss chard dish. All caramelized goodness. I even sneaked a few bites of my mom's chicken and quinoa. Roy's La Jolla, always a favorite with the melt-in-your-mouth misoyaki butterfish and Hawaiian Martini. Chicks, my hole-in-the-wall chicken rice bowl favorite.


• Froyo: Back to California means back to froyo land. Hurray! Of course I had to indulge daily. Sadly former favorite, La Costa Yogurt Shack was a bit of a disappointment since they apparently changed ownership and yogurt brands a few months ago (yes, I asked). However, Golden Spoon came through as usual (must say they are consistent there and never fail to please). Plus more seem to be popping up--just too little time! Most notable flavor of the visit: cinnamon.


• Lindsay: Lindsay has been crazy busy with applications and the end of the semester, so we decided to meet halfway between Encinitas and Pasadena - at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. We made Grandma Ruth jealous and had lunch at Claim Jumper (that's one of Grandma's favs). Lindsay opened her b-day gift from me (btw her actual b-day is 11/18 which happens to be my parent's anniversary as well). Then we shopped around the mall for some early Christmas gifts. Last, we ended up at Starbucks for a tea break--apparently I just can't get enough (that or my family found out about my discount).

And that concludes my wonderful (and sunny/warm) weekend at home. Next trip coming soon...Napa for my mom's 60th B-day in December! Oh, and don't forget to check out more pictures on Flickr!

South Coast Plaza Xmas Tree

Olivenhain Craft Fair

Bring it Indoors

Who says s'mores is just for camping and bonfires? Not Josh and me! We decided tonight's snack would be marshmallows roasted over the stovetop. Yes, that's right, we roasted them over an electric stove on high. And the results were...wait for it...heavenly.

Josh made his s'mores the traditional way with graham cracker, chocolate, and roasted marshmallow. However, I decided to add a twist to mine by adding some delicious and nutritious bananas. I couldn't believe the success. Guess who added bananas onto their second serving?! Yup, that's right, Josh (never doubt my creations again mwahahaha).

Another yummy, gooey snack (not to mention also a nice & warm snack--perfect in our 58 degree living room).

S'more Fun: Roasting Marshmallows

Heather's Banana S'more

Happy National Sandwich Day!

I just thought it was funny that there is a National Sandwich Day. Check it out! (Man, I should have planned on sandwiches for dinner, but I did have one for lunch!).

VIA Brownies

Not the road to brownies, but good brownies made with Via...
(note: Via is the Latin name for a Roman road)

I stepped away from muffin making for just a moment to try out a recipe I've had on file for a few years now and never tried. You might ask, why did it take me so long to make them. Well, I've never wanted to buy a whole jar of instant coffee and with Via I don't have to (plus I got some free samples). And no, I'm not trying to trick you with promo talk--it's totally cool stuff. So, I finally made Fudgy Mocha-Toffee Brownies last night. It's a recipe is from my favorite magazine, Cooking Light. They were in the words of Rachael Ray...Yummo! Even my co-workers enjoyed them.

Oh, and I also made some biscuits for Josh. He was in heaven with biscuits, bacon, and eggs this morning. (Thanks Don & Nada!)

Fudgy Mocha-Toffee Brownies

Biscuits

Keeping Busy

With the former email job finished and the new job yet to come, I found myself with some free time. This lent the perfect opportunity to finally get to some some long awaited projects. Sadly, I start work again tomorrow, and so far I've only touched upon these projects--I've really just brushed the surface. And there is still so much I can do on them! If only I had all the time in the world and no worries. But hey, perhaps there is hope for these projects as I should only be working 20-25 hours a week (to start). We'll see.

What are these projects you ask? Well, here are a few:

Cooking/Baking: Considering I watch The Food Network practically 24/7, I thought I should actually go into the kitchen and try some of the recipes. Generally I make a bunch of Rachel Ray dinners because they are quick, easy, and usually turn out pretty good. I wanted to try some new food network folks. The past couple weeks I've tried some Melissa d'Arabian (the newest show as she just won The Next Food Network Star show) as well as Ellie Krieger who is the nutritionist on the network. All came out pretty dang good. To name a few recipes: Carrot Cupcakes, Curried Chicken Salad, Zucchini Roll-ups, Lemony Shrimp Scampi, Stuffed Zucchini and Red Bell Peppers, and Florentine Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken. Two picture below. And more recipes to try out to come!

Recipe Consolidation: Another cooking themed project. By the way, I really enjoy baking over cooking I think. But both are fun. Cooking is a bit more of an every-day necessity though. Anyway, I digress. I got this program for my Mac called Sous Chef. It's a way to add and organize my recipes. I've been trying to import my recipes (currently both online and offline--i.e. books or saved in "my recipes" folders of places like FoodNetwork.com or allrecipes.com). You also can add a picture to the recipe. It's a big project! Every time I made something lately, I try to also add it to Sous Chef.

iPhoto: I upgraded to Mac's Snow Leopard (Josh recommended - he's my in-house IT guy). With this upgrade, I opted for some program updates which included iPhoto. The new iPhoto has events and faces you can add to each picture. I'm trying to go through all my pictures to add the photo's location as well as add names to each person in the picture.

Contacts: And now another computer project. Computers and Cooking. HA! This is coordinating my GMail address book with my Mac address book. Ugh. If you've moved recently or changed your email...let me know!

Okay, that's only a few projects. I always have ways to keep myself busy. Not a problem. Guess what another big one is...this blog! Or taking all my Cooking Light magazines and picking out recipes to save, cut it out, put in a binder, and then perhaps into Sous Chef. There are also some I avoid too like reading the DMV book to get my Oregon license. Okay, I better stop; the list is never ending. Busy Busy me!

Carrot Cupcake

Curried Chicken Salad

Traversing the Yogurt Wasteland

or: how I learned to stop eating Yumi and love alternatives

You had to expect this post from me sooner or later. Actually, probably more sooner more than later...come on, really, how could I resist? I'm in love (and/or obsessed) with the stuff. I could go on talking about it forever (so beware, this might be longer than you'd care to read). But I must spread the word & share the love for the froyo. Plus, I know you are all very curious about Oregon's options. Side Note: In case you were uninformed on the lingo, "froyo" means frozen yogurt.

To start, let's delve into some of the nearby, local Eugene options.

• TCBY: This is probably the best option in Eugene for the frozen yogurt craving fix. The reason this one beats the Sub Shop (below) is for two main reason: (1) it has a variety of flavors that change every few days, (2) and the daily specials. Josh really enjoys the daily specials and he almost asks for froyo because of them, which I can't object to. They are pretty good deals though. For example, something like $1.50 for a shiver on Thursdays, which is like a blizzard type thing. The pricing in general is actually quite good. One downside is that they lean heavier on the fruit flavors, and I prefer the candy/chocolate based flavors. Also, the yogurt doesn't keep very well in the freezer for a long time. Overall, I wouldn't go so far as to say it's The Country's Best Yogurt and definitely no Yumi Yogurt, but it does help satisfy my yogurt addiction. BTW, another point earned this week from TCBY by serving Pumpkin!


• Campus Sub Shop: I don't think I would have ever known about this place (well, my froyo radar probably would have kicked in at some point) if it weren't for my friend Jessica Geller. This may lead you to ask: how did she know there was froyo at a tiny sub shop in Eugene? Well, Jessica went to U of O and we meet while I studied abroad in Madrid. And we talked much about our froyo cravings. Anyway, this is really like the name of the establishment indicated, a sandwich joint. They do have 4 standard machines (yields 8 flavors) and have the YoCream brand. However, they never change flavors. Luckily, they have peanut butter, chocolate, and vanilla. I get this mix as a quarter once a week to keep as "safety stock" in our freezer. Someone did mention they get pumpkin in the late fall though...only time will tell. For that, I'll ignore the funny smell in the store (yes, a funky store smell).


• All American Frozen Yogurt: This is at the bottom of the list. I've been only a few times, as it's not the best. The flavor and texture just doesn't compare. Plus it's inside the mall, so it's funky hours and not the most accessible. It is close to the movie theaters though, so it might work out for a pre-show treat. I ought to give it a few more chances especially since the Starbucks I will work at is in a center just across from the mall. Still, I'd probably try to head out to TCBY or Sub Shop even it is more out of the way...worth it.

And there are more options in Oregon, but not as close as the above.

• YoCream: YoCream is probably the most widely distributed frozen yogurt mix to all the froyo stores. Most stores don't actually make their own yogurt, but rather get it from distributors like YoCream, Wow Cow, or Carbolite. Anyway, YoCream recently opened their own store in Portland airport PDX at Cascade Station (next door to IKEA). They opened very trendy self-serve shop. It's like a mini-yogurt heaven with 5 machines, tons of toppings, and other yummy goodies. I am also able to purchase the mix, bring it home, and put it into my Cuisinart machine. It's not the same, but it works. This probably ties for best option in all of Oregon (alongside A.C. below) that I know of at the moment. Still, I think Yumi is the best. Yumi just knows how to mix the flavors and get the best texture. However, don't pass this up if you're near PDX. It's a hip, and lively place with great froyo!


• Active Culture: Here's the kicker on this one...the owner of this shop was a former Yumi Yogurt employee down at the Santa Clara location! He was inspired and opened his own shop, trying to follow many of Yumi's methods. I really liked this place as the temperatures seem to be set right to get a great consistency. The only probably is that the flavors change only weekly, and sometimes I've gone and they had only fruity type flavors (boo--give me cookies n cream, give me graham cracker cheesecake!). And it seemed on the pricy side. All things considered, I rank this right up there with YoCream as an Oregon top option.


• Yogurt Hut: This shop is located in Ashland (Southern Oregon) and is yet another ever-so-popular self-serve option. It serves the YoCream brand, so it's pretty good. I don't think they have the temperature quite right, so it loses a few points there. Again, a bit pricey (or maybe I just don't know when to stop!). I don't get down to Ashland too often, but it's there if I travel back to CA by car or go to a play.

And for the yogurt alternatives, I'll leave out descriptions since they are froyo after all...

• Coffee: Lots of shops in Pacific NW for this tasty alternative


• Ice Shack: Shaved Ice in Grants Pass


• Homemade Baked Fruit: Better for cooler weather--apples and bananas mostly

If you are in Oregon or know of any other Oregon options, please let me know with a comment or email!

P.S. Josh says I should actually watch Dr. Strangelove

Tingly Fingers and Oven Doors

Woo-wee! Lots of cooking today...

Every Thursday (more or less), a bunch of Josh's law friends get together for dinner. I'm the recent addition to the gatherings. Tomorrow will be our first time hosting at our new Shasta home. I designated the evening as prep time.

With the meal theme as Mexican cuisine, Josh and I thought we'd contribute Goat Cheese-Stuffed Jalapenos with Ranchero Sauce and Spiced Shrimp - both from my Cooking Light magazines. However, first tonight's dinner needed to be cooked. On the menu tonight was a Eggplant Lasagna from Real Simple (yes, I like magazine recipes & thanks Nada for the magazine!). Unfortunately I had quite time getting things to work. Although its a new home to us, the oven is not quite so new. Today it decided to dislodge and not close without careful maneuvering and some rather interesting sparks. After tackling the oven, I discovered a leak under the sink. Sigh. These difficulties aside, dinner turned out yummy on the positive side.

Dinner eaten and cleaned up, now on to tomorrow's food. Josh was super and got the shrimp deveined and ready  earlier, so the shrimp was quick & easy. The jalapenos were a painful though! After crying with the onions, I got tingly fingers (and still feeling it as I type now) from jalapenos. In fact, I think the jalapenos have permeated the apartment. Poor fingers! Not sure if I'll be working with jalapenos again for awhile (or perhaps with gloves). FYI - a home remedy is lime (works okay) and bleach (didn't have it).

I'd say today was a Culinary Success!

Heather in the Kitchen

Adventures in Oregonland

This past weekend was the Labor day weekend and my parents were in town visiting. And not just any visit, but the first visit to Oregon with me as an Oregonian in my new Shasta home with Josh. To help acquaint my parents, we planned some fun adventures around Oregon and hit up the local Eugene favorite spots.

• Thursday: My parents arrived in the afternoon. First order of business was lunch. And what better place than the Beir Stein, a fun German pub-type restaurant. After our tummies were full, Mom and I abandoned dad at the hotel (btw, Josh at classes all day) and got our pedi's at the Pearl Day Spa...Ahh relaxing! To wrap up the day, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Belly.


• Friday: Josh had to get some school work done, so I took my parents out to the Eugene Wineries. My dad was able to quiz the local wine makers on their knowledge of French wines and bottles (yup, the favorite one was asked: why the different bottle shapes). We started at Silveran Ridge then headed over to Sweet Cheeks (my favorite since it has a very sweet wine option). We rounded out the winery tour at King Estate for lunch. I think my wine-loving dad would say "not so bad" about Eugene wines...that translates to: success! To finish the day, we headed over to Red Agave, which Josh has wanted to try ever since coming to Eugene.


• Saturday: A day of...rain! Well, the first part at least. I drove through the downpour to get us safely to Ashland where luckily the rain ended. Before arriving we made a pit-stop at Rogue Creamery to taste some blue cheeses. Not my favorite cheese (go goats), but for blue cheese not bad! Upon arriving to Ashland, my froyo radar went off. I found the ever-so-popular self-serve type froyo spot (dangerous stuff man, I tell ya). The Yogurt Hut is decent, but it ain't no Yumi Yogurt. But I'll take it! After some Heather indulgence, we roamed the cute town. The big event of the day though, was the play (Ashland is the Shakespeare "capital"). We opted for one of Shakespeare's lighter plays, Much Ado About Nothing. If you haven't seen the movie version, you should! Great play, no rain (outdoor theatre in true Old Globe style), and great company.


• Sunday: We headed out of our Medford's lodging, and picked up breakfast and some shopping/walking in the cute historic downtown of Jacksonville. We saw art and llamas at the Sunday (no sarcastic talking llamas sadly - that would be a Emperors New Groove reference). Next we ventured into Applegate. Don and Nada's old home was looking great and peaceful as ever. We also tasted the local Southern wines at Woolridge and Schmidt. Then a leisure (late) lunch along the Rogue River. A quick stop for a shaved ice (ahhh Kauai days) at the Ice Shack in Grant's Pass and then the rest of the day was driving home (better weather of course with Josh behind the wheel).

Historic Jacksonville

• Monday: Let's go to the beach! Monday was a fun day in Florence, our closest beach town from Eugene. We walked along the water, grabbed lunch at the local fish restaurant, and then roamed the cute old town. The highlight for me, was the Heceta Lighthouse, just up the coast a few miles. We hiked the 1/2 mile up to the lighthouse for some spectacular views.

View from Heceta Light House

Tuesday my parents were supposed to have a little morning time in Eugene, but unfortunately there was some flight issues (their later flight was delayed so they needed to grab an earlier flight to ensure their SF connection). So good-byes were quickly said, but the great weekend was remembered!

August: A Post-Mortem

Okay, so I really need to stop the Corporate lingo talk. Really, a post-mortem in the blog title Heather? I've always thought it sounds so morbid. I do think I'll keep the bullet point stuff though - that's a real keeper.

Anyway, this is really just a quick look back at August. I didn't have the blog rolling in August, so I'm going to do one big update for the month. From this point on, I'm going to attempt to keep the blog updated with frequent updates, so avoid the massive entires/emails. You can already see some posts now in fact.

August was a busy month, I was traveling around or visiting with friends and family each weekend. Here we go (this is a long one folks, hang in there)...

Caroline and Gerald Visit - Part 1
The first weekend of August, Josh and I hopped into a plane and flew up to Seattle, WA. We arrived Thursday night in time for a nice dinner at a little fish restaurant in downtown's Belltown called the Flying Fish. Our arrival also was timely in that it was the end of the record-breaking heat wave in Seattle (actually, we got to experience that in our own home in Eugene).

Friday we roamed all over the city exploring the many districts and sites. Our favorite spot being Pike's Marketplace with the hustle and bustle of the different stands and fish throwing. We also got to visit Josh's family friends, Vince and Jonita. They live in the heart of the city and have a spectacular view of the city and Space Needle. But at last, in the evening, the main point of the trip arrived...Caroline and Gerald (fyi-Caroline is my best friend from Germany). After a fun dinner near Pike's Market, we headed up to the Space Needle for a sunset view of the city. Did I use the word spectacular already? Dangit! Well, it was, in fact, a spectacular view. We took this Monorail out to the needle which was a blast as well (which also made me feel like I was at Disneyland).

Seattle's Pikes Market

Saturday we spent some more time at Pike's Market in the morning, but then headed out to Vancouver. Caroline and Gerald drove, so we got to see the beautiful countryside on the way up (song of the trip: Fireflies). We even made a stop at the Seattle Premium Outlets, where we hit up some great deals. We arrived Vancouver in the evening and grabbed some grub in Yaletown and consumed some of my favorite cuisine, Thai food.

Sunday we had a introduction to Vancouver (at least, that's what the guide book said) at Canada Place. It was really just a cruise terminal, but it was neat to see the big ships in the harbor as well as watch the sea planes taking off and landing nearby. Then we hopped back in the car and headed into nature. We opted for Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge over Capilano (which is the more popular tourist spot and costs money, Lynn is free). The bridge was a rickety wood and wire bridge that goes over a deep gorge and river. Luckily no need to drop to hands and knees and crawl though. Then to beat the heat, we headed to the Museum of Anthropology and saw all the Native American totem poles and artwork. To round up the day, we went to the Granville Island where there was yet another marketplace (what's up with the Pacific NW and marketplaces? at least I like them!).

Monday Caroline and Gerald headed out to Victoria while Josh and I stayed in Vancouver (we met up the following weekend, but Josh and I had to go head home for work/school). I'm surprised I still have feet after all the walking we did Monday. We practically walked the entire city! For instance, we walked from our hotel to Stanley Park where we then took a walk - a walk to go take a walk, go figure.

Caroline and Gerald Visit - Part 2
After a great weekend in Seattle & Vancouver, we headed home for a few days of work/school. Then more fun the following weekend. We meet up with Caroline and Gerald on the tail end of their trip in Portland. The highlight was the pedicure with Caroline along the Portland riverwalk area. Girl talk time! And also some froyo at the Portland frozen yogurt find, Active Culture.

Girl Pedi Time in Portland

Irene in Portland
The next weekend, which was the middle of August, my good friend Irene from Holland come out to Portland. We varied up the Portland activities by trying out some new spots. We got a great view of the city and some history mixed in too at the Pittock Mansion. We also headed outside of town to the Columbia Gorge where the Hood River runs. Along the gorge, you hit waterfall after waterfall. The most famous waterfall being Multonomah Falls. This, as well as a cute Inn we stopped at, was made even more popular by the Twilight movie (it's perfect Vampire scenery if you ask me. I fit well since I don't tan and always have cold feet and hands...hmm). If you keep driving, you hit a totally different type of area, The Dalles. It's basically high mountain desert area and incredibly windy. This day was probably the highlight (besides seeing Irene of course!). We also tried out the Aerial Tram for some awesome views of Portland, and of course a stop at YoCream near PDX (whoops, drool on the computer there). By the way, there are 2 froyo spots in PDX in case you're wondering (froyo radar still going strong!).

Multnomah Falls with Irene

Sacramento Wedding
Getting tired yet? Well, Josh and I were certainly tired of all the traveling, but onward to more fun! And we wouldn't have missed this for the world; our good, college friend, Andrew Deller was getting married. Josh was a groomsman in the wedding and it was a very lovely ceremony and reception. Good times!

Browns in Town
After the wedding, Josh's parents happened to be heading through town on their way home to Palm Desert from Seattle. We spent a wonderful day with his parents around Eugene. We hit up some great shopping at Costco, Borders, and HomeGoods. And we introduced Don and Nada to our favorite, funky pizza joint called Pizza Research Institute (PRI) - if only it had meat, then it'd be perfect.

Well, that closes up the big month of August. My parents were the next and last visitors for us. There is a separate entry for that visit. If you want some more pictures, go to Flickr or FaceBook.