Don Quixote

I read this during lunch today and it made me laugh.

"In short, he so immersed himself in those romances that he spent whole days and nights over his books; and then with little sleeping and much reading, his brains dried up to such a degree that he lost the use of his reason." Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes Saaverdra

I might be in trouble of losing my own reason. heehee!!!

Random Stuff

Cheese...so we had a chili cook off yesterday at work and I volunteered to bring cheese and sour cream. Sometimes I can be picky about my food. (Okay, maybe more than just sometimes.) So my concern was the cheese--grate it myself or buy pre-grated cheese. Well, I decided to grate it myself and everyone was happy to have "queso bueno". I thought it was so funny that I was going crazy over the cheese.

I was asked to be the group leader for our ward's book club. I'm really excited about getting it started and meeting with everyone. I chose Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage. A lady from the other book club I go to suggested a few books and that was the one that sounded like everyone would enjoy. I'm also nervous because even though I like reading books it's hard for me to have intellectual conversation about them. It will go well, though. I'm not planning on leading the discussion for all the books we decide to read.

Oregon/Washington Trip

I just got back today from Seattle, WA. Last Friday, Ariana and I met up with our parents in Portland, OR. We spend one night in Portland, one in Astoria and two in Seattle. We ate lots of yummy food, so much that I still feel full. One of my favorite dishes was a chanterelle mushroom ravioli in a creamy hazelnut sauce. At the bed and breakfast we stayed at we were served fresh fruit, bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon, and a pumpkin muffin. At the Silver Salmon I had a seafood Caesar salad with crab and shrimp. The blackened steak tip appetizer we had there was also very good. We also sampled pastries everywhere we went. One of my favorite things to do was buy hot chocolate. Moonstruck Chocolate was my favorite place. I had a dark hot chocolate with whipping cream and it was perfectly smooth chocolate, not too sweat or bitter.

It rained most of the time. We were very lucky for a non-rainy day in Seattle. It made the sights there really pretty.

I made hotel reservations and did an amazing job of booking us in two places there were being refurbished. Both of them had phones that didn't work. That didn't matter too much, but it was still funny all the same. Also, in the hotel in Portland we found the sign below in the elevator.

While in Astoria we saw the Goonie house. It's amazing to see how everything is located differently than what you think. We saw the monolith Haystack in Cannon Beach. It is the third largest. We were driving along the road, wondering where to find it and then all of a sudden it appeared in front of us. The size of it surprised me.

I took tons of pictures and there are just a few here for you to see. I hope you enjoy

Also, check out the video I took of our drive through the Ecola State Park. I think we drove about 20 mph, but it felt like we were going much faster as I was recording. Don't get sick....

The Season's First Snow

Technically, yesterday was the first snow, but nothing stuck. This morning when I went to the club house to go running it had just started to snow. The ground was only wet, so I was hoping the snow would be light. However, when I came out of the club house there was a blanket of snow on everything. Above you can see a view from my balcony. The snowflakes were still pretty big when I took the picture. Last winter I had snow up to my mid-calf (or a little higher) collect on my balcony. I probably should have shoveled the snow away. Below you can see the snow from February earlier this year. Crazy!

Cowboy Cookies

If you want a cookie for a chocolate fix, this is what you want. They don't come out too sweet, so you really get to enjoy the chocolate goodness. You can quickly mix everything together and bake it in no time at all. After making the cookie I thought it might be funny to call them "Cow patty" or "Cow pie" Cookies. heehee!!!

Cowboy Cookie

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup uncooked rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 375°. Lightly grease coolie sheets or line with parchment paper. Beat butter with sugars in large bowl until blended. Add egg and vanilla; beat until fluffy. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda in small bowl; stir into butter mixture. Add oats, chocolate chips, raisins and nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned around edges. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies, but I got about 3 dozen out of the recipe.