Islands in the Stream, That is Where I Am

Let's face it: it's winter. Even here on the Oregon Coast where our weather is relatively mundane (although, any local will tell you, don't like the weather, give it fifteen minutes), we are still experiencing winter-like conditions. On New Year's Day, I welcomed in the new year with a run. Even with what felt like enough layers to keep a polar bear warm, I almost froze my Puerto Rican coconuts off. When I came back inside, my cheeks and lips were so cold, that as they thawed, I could not talk. I could not talk because I could not move any muscles on my face.

The only thing that kept me going through that very cold run was the image I had of warm Mediterranean beaches. Crystal blue water, white stone buildings, big bright sun. Lately I've been obsessed with the thought of vacationing in Greece or some other warm beachy place in that region. Someplace that I can stuff my face with amazing local cuisine and then lay like a bloated beached whale, sizzling in the sun while my son covers me in sand and my husband pokes me in the bum because he likes to see it jiggle. In my dreams, though, the sand never sticks to your feet and the second you step off the beach, it magically disappears never to be tracked into your car, house, or butt crack.

I plan another trip to those near perfection beaches very soon because the girls need walked and Husband is thoroughly ensconced in NCIS:New Orleans. He will soon be replaced with a tanned golden cabana boy holding a fruity drink with a cute little umbrella.

Dream...(Source)

Reality. I'm pretty sure this accurately sums it up. Source

I would love to hear where your dream vacation destination is. Extra points if includes cabana boys.

**Food Friday** Rain, Rain Go Away...

Any coastal Oregonian knows that this time of year is synonymous with rain. By rain, I mean torrential down pours that can go on for hours and carry away small dogs (yes, Melodie that means you).

 

Since it will be another six months before we see the sun, I thought I'd share a grilling recipe. Note the beautiful green grass in the grill picture and lack of puddles everywhere.

 

These burgers are another one of my recipe mash ups, where I thought, hmmm, what if I did this recipe but added this, this and that? Ninety-nine percent of the time it ends with us ordering take out, but this one was actually rather edible.

 I think barbecue sauce makes everything better.

 

*drool**sniffle**drool**sniffle* I don't think I've ever made something so tasty looking. Will be breaking out this recipe the first sunny day we have. Even if that's in May.
 

Barbecue Ranch Turkey Burgers
Printable Version

1 lb ground turkey

1/2 Tbl minced onion

1 package ranch dressing mix

1 minced clove garlic

1 Tbl seasoned bread crumbs

1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce

BBQ sauce

Sliced cheese

Mix first six ingredients thoroughly and let sit at least an hour (I do an hour in the fridge and then a half hour at room temp-I think because Rachael Ray told me so). Preheat grill over who knows what temperature. Not a very high one or a very low one, somewhere in the middle (medium perhaps?). Form 4 to 6 patties depending on size preference. Grill 5-7 minutes and flip coating done side with BBQ sauce. Grill another 5-7 minutes and flip to coat other side. Let grill another two minutes before adding cheese of your choice.




What's your favorite thing to throw on the grill??

Oregon Trail

As we settle into life in Oregon, I can't help but wonder how the eff we got here. I mean really, two kids who met in high school in Michigan, dated, broke up, ended up three thousand miles apart only to then get married in California after 5 years have moved to Oregon.

It has finally struck me that we're not in Kansas anymore. There are no more lunch dates with Binky or Sunday bbqs with the Sunday Brunch Bunch. What the heck did we do?! Is this really adulthood?? Going where the money is, leaving behind the family you've knit together for yourself, getting excited when you find change in the seat cushions? Sometimes I want to go back to the days of sleepovers and Candy Land, when the most adventure you had was dragging your parents thru the Berenstein Bears house at Cedar Point (if you're unfamiliar with this late 80s-early 90s child paradise, google it. I'll wait...Pretty friggin' awesome, right?). Now adventure includes dramatic life changes that could alter the course of your future. And buying appliances.

Still, it all seems a little surreal. Doesn't seem possible that in ten minutes I can walk to the beach or have clam chowder in every restaurant I step into. Sure it's a little cold now and it drizzles, constantly, but I think it's safe to say that our new little town, with its weird-ass quirky people and sidewalks (seriously city planners of Redding, what do you have against sidewalks?!), feels very much like home, as well as humid, but mostly like home.

Mandie likes our new home too.

So tell me, any big adventures in your life recently? Or am I the only risking life and limb here?

News flash

After a nine and half hour trip with a car sick puppy, we arrived in Lincoln City. After a nine and a half hour trip, *I* unloaded the truck. Me. Myself. How the eff did that happen?

Today was the first day I unpacked a box. Actually, I unpacked several boxes. All of them for the kitchen. Which is smaller than my last one. Per-fect.

Still haven't grocery shopped but I do have a list. I also have a very unsettling amount of nervous nausea. I've performed on stage, read in public and dealt with screamers. Nothing. Put me in a situation where I don't know the outcome and I make what Linda Blair did look like baby spit up.

So now I think I'll go to bed. After I process the fact that Husband just peed with the door open.

Glutton for Punishment

Driving home for lunch today behind a car from Oregon, I realized that I am about to move to a state full of Oregon drivers. You know these drivers even before you see their license plate; they drive 80-90 mph or 45-50 mph in a 65 zone; they never yield and love to try to get in your trunk from behind; they stop at the light when it's green and honk at you for not going when it's red. I know, I know, most of you are thinking, but you live in California the land of too many cars in too many lanes. Right, but at least we know how to navigate around each other. I mean, Washington drivers are somewhat better; don't get me wrong, they're still bad but tolerable compared to Oregon's.

The things we do for love.

Don't Be Bitter Debra...

I am cranky. Very very cranky. It may have something to do with the fact that it's almost July in Redding, where it averages triple digit heat, and our a/c is broken. Or it may that I haven't run in a while. Maybe it's because I can't eat this everyday for the rest of my life.

Clam Chowder from McMenamin's in Lincoln City, OR

Or maybe, just maybe, it's because I spent the best weekend ever with Husband and now we're apart again. We saw the Kite Festival, walked on the beach, went to an Aaron Lewis concert and slept in the same bed in the same room in the same city.

And so I am cranky. I feel the urge to snap at people, give them dirty looks and just be a general all around curmudgeon. Oh and it's raining, which is kind of good because it keeps everything cooler but annoying in the fact that the girls treat rain like I'm pouring hot acid on their bodies and refuse to stay outside long enough to poop but instead leave me treasures by the front door. Effing rain.

P.S. Can anyone name the movie the title of the post came from??