So here’s my confession: I’m not very good with bird identification. I am getting better – I even used our guidebook to help me learn that one of our regular summer visitors at the B&B is the Red-Necked Grosbeak. That was an exciting moment for me. But whether I know my birds or not, I [...]
Continue reading about A River and a Refuge – The Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge
My mom has always been a good gardener. Unfortunately, we moved around a bit, and half the time we actually live in military housing where her gardening was confined to inside plants. After I left for college, however, they retired a spacious property in the northwest and when I visited them I was introduced to a new [...]
The Holy Grail for a Pinot Noir lover is to find a fine bottle of the ruby red at a price point that allows one to break open a bottle for dinner even when it’s not a special occasion. Oh sure. It’s not hard to find a great bottle of Pinot in Oregon for $70. [...]
All the rumors are true: I do need to avoid gluten. Now, if this sentence means nothing to you, here’s a little food science. Gluten is the protein found in wheat flour (and rye and barley and a few other grains) that gets gooey when mixed with a liquid. It’s what makes all the ingredients [...]
It was five years ago when Curt and I found our house. Well, “house” is a pretty lenient word for what was here. We called it the “half-house” because the guy we bought it from had to abandon construction due to finances. When started to work with our architect to redesign the interior to be our [...]
Although Curt and I have been to La Rambla countless times, I must admit that I have never had one of their Platos Principals or their renowned Paella. Without shame, I admit that we never get past the tapas. Housed in an historic building on trendy 3rd Street in McMinnville, La Rambla artfully merges Northwest ingredients [...]