"Welcome Home!"

Phở = Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup

aka my family's favorite comfort food.

No, we're not Vietnamese, or even Asian for that matter, but we certainly know a good thing when we see it. Or in this case, when we smell and taste it.


We're regulars at a local Salem Phở restaurant, where we basically fill up on soup and salad. Frank orders Phở (the soup), which always comes with bean sprouts, sliced limes, sliced jalapenos, and lots of fresh basil on the side.Rachel and I usually order Bún. Bún is a salad - with noodles under the lettuce. Sometimes the lettuce is blended with chopped fresh herbs such as cilantro, basil, or mint. The Bún is usually topped with grilled meat, egg rolls, pickled carrot/daikon radish, bean sprouts, and served with Nước mắm (a sweet fish sauce, used as salad dressing) on the side.


Yesterday we had an appointment up in Portland, and afterwards we zig-zagged across downtown looking for a place to have lunch. We argued over burgers, Greek gyros, Indian food, shopping mall food courts and Voodoo Doughnuts, then backtracked to our starting point to eat at a place called "Toast and Phở."


Weird name, but it turns out Phở is a traditional Vietnamese breakfast (can you imagine a big steaming bowl of beef soup for breakfast every morning? I love it, but no. I couldn't do that for breakfast.) In the mornings they serve traditional American breakfast, Bún and some rice dishes for lunch, and Phở all day long.

We walk in and inhale. Smells like Phở: rich beef broth, star anise, basil, grilled meat... Yum.

The lady (one of the owners?) walks up to us and asks, "Family of three?"
"Yes."
"Welcome home! Right this way..."

Welcome home? I've never heard of that greeting at a restaurant before.

Welcome home.

A departing customer smiled at us and chuckled. He must have been surprised when he was welcomed home, too.


Welcome home. It stuck in my mind.
We looked at the menu out of habit, but were ready to order before we even parked the car.
"One Phở and two Bún please. Also two salad rolls and a pot of green tea please."


(Don't even get me started with the salad rolls. I don't have enough time to tell you how much we love them. Especially from Toast and Pho - where they lace the rolls with fresh basil AND fresh mint leaves. Holy moley. I will tell you about these amazing things another time - for now I'll just say that they're addicting. Rachel and I dream about them at night.)


She was absolutely right. As we dug into our favorite comfort foods, we were at home... in this new restaurant.

I can haz bubbl?

Ollie was doing some bird watching from inside our back porch. It was so gorgeous outside I wanted to go out on the deck and take advantage of the sun. 

Of course, this scares away the birds - their feeders are really close to the house - so I grabbed some bubbles and entertained Ollie while I worked on my burn.

(I don't tan; I pink!)

Back Porch

In the afternoon, the sun peeks around the side of the house and lights up the back yard and back porch.

We hung bird feeders outside the back porch windows to entertain the cats. They're both indoor cats, but Violet loves to talk to the birds when they get close to the windows. Ollie stays quiet, but is totally enchanted.

Here is Ollie, watching one of the birds take flight from the bird feeder.
Do you see the bird?

I wondered why my plant was flat...

Then I discovered Ollie on top of the plant.

Snoring.

Testing my webcam

I’ve got a webcam on my computer that I haven’t really used… because I’m a little scared to. And like many gals, I’m pretty critical of how I look so I don’t like to see pictures of myself let alone share them with other people.
Today the little voice in my head yelled “Get over it!”
So I got over it. This is me.

Now I have a question to ask you… How does the color look? I’m not sure if my camera is off or if my computer’s color settings are all wonky. This picture looks very lavender to me. I’m wearing a chartreuse t-shirt and my walls are frappuccino beige.
I’d appreciate any comments on the color… and any kind words about my picture.
Thanks!
-Pam

PS: I fiddled with it and came up with this version. It's a little better... What do you think?

Rachel's love for longboarding, part 2

Yesterday I showed you Rachel's workshop and told you how she's been building longboards. I included a video of some guys on the Ceviche longboard.

Today I have to show you the Whirling Dervish longboard. This is what got Rachel totally hooked on the sport - and the art of building these boards.

I want to mention that I talked about her building presses to create the concave and camber curves in the wood when she glues the layers of wood together. You can see at the beginning of this video that the board with the green wheels has an arching curve down the length of the board. This is the camber and it gives the rider some flex and turn control when riding the board.

Hope you enjoy the video. It's amazing how much their skating looks like an art form or some kind of modern dance. Oh - and they're not falling off. They're sliding - they wear special gloves to protect their hands and reduce friction on the pavement. That's part of the sport/art of longboarding.

Ceviche Longboards

Since moving into our house, Rachel has taken over a portion of the basement where there is a workshop.

She learned how to use all the tools and has started building longboards. She even built a press to form the concave and camber curves in the board while creating the board. I'm so impressed with what she's been doing in her workshop.

Her second longboard looks like a Ceviche. That's the black one on the right.

She has been building her third board, the longer one in the picture above, over the past few weeks and took the trucks and wheels off the Ceviche-style board so she can fit them onto the new board.

Longboards and skateboards are fully customized when built, starting with a collection of components that you purchase separately. Trucks are the metal hardware that the wheels attach to. The picture below is the belly of her first board with one set of trucks and wheels already off.

So how are longboards different from skateboards? (Here's my mom's-view explanation. You other boarders may disagree and I welcome any clarification.) Skateboards are smaller and nimble for jumps and tricks and looping in and out of skateparks and bowls. You've seen these boards on the X-Games, Tony Hawk video games, and in pictures on boys' t-shirts. Longboards are less about vertical jumps and airborne tricks and more about cruising, gliding, and horizontal maneuvers.

Skateboards to longboards is like:

Jeep Wrangler - Cadillac Escalade

barn storming - hang gliding

chihuahuas - labrador retreivers

...kinda sorta...

Here's a video of some guys using the Ceviche.
Tomorrow I'll show you a couple of guys on the Whirling Dervish longboard.

The most dangerous cake recipe in the world

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug (MicroSafe)

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well.  Add the egg and mix thoroughly.

Pour in the milk and oil and mix well..

Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.

The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!

Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT ! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous). 

And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world?
Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!  

Pam's note: You could even pre-mix several cakes worth of dry ingredients in a container and make your cake with 3/4 c of mix. Now you're only 4 minutes away from chocolate cake. Yikes!

Awkward Family Photos

A while ago, my friend Gautam emailed me a link to the funniest thing I have seen in ages. I was cleaning out some stuff on my computer when I came across this again. 

Have you ever had family portraits taken for your church directory?

We have (when I was a kid) and they were terrible.

If you know the shame I'm talking about, don't delay. Head straight over to Awkward Family Photos post haste. You'll feel much better about your own family photos.

Brace yourself.

PS: A link has been posted to the sidebar of our blog, Pam's Inbox.

The Picture of Pam & Frank

Typical.