Ain't that the truth

It was a good week. I could probably stop typing right there. Because that about sums it up. But I do have a Readership or a 'fanbase' if you will. Accordingly, I do need to play to my audience. I kid, of course.

But it was a good week. A good long hard week. Plenty of work. Plenty of reward. My second job had alot more hours for me this week. For those that do not know, I work from home part time conduct research for unions. I do internet based research, build Excel sheets, edit info, so on and so forth. It is a sweet gig in that I get to work from home. And I am hoping that it leads to a full time position eventually. At the very least it is much better than my full time job. But that is another blog for another time.

I put in an extra 22 hours at that job this week. That is in addition to the 40 that I normally work. 15 of those hours come over the weekend. And it is all staring at a computer screen. I think I'm going blind. But it is worth it. I enjoy being busy with something that I can file off as being useful. As opposed to my other job, I can do so with my union work. And the money is not going to hurt us right now either. And I am thankful for that.
I spent the majority of Friday working. We had a delicious Chick pea and sweet potato casserole for dinner. Besides that, I worked and Lauren watched some episode of 'Curb you Enthusiasm' rented from the library

I was able to really maximize my time this weekend. Yesterday morning I had several varieties of loose leaf tea and got some work done while Lauren made some breakfast. We had Chocolate Chip and Banana Pancakes with Butter and Powdered Sugar. After getting a few hours of work in we headed off to Portland's Farmer's Market. The Market here is a very special treat. Portland is an Urban hub that is surround solely by Forest and Farm. The product selection and quality can not be beat. There are leafy greens both standard and exotic. The fruits and juices and ciders are mouth watering and delicious. The Vegetable selection beats that of any supermarket chain or fancy. There are cheeses and dairy products galore. That is not to mention the fresh farm raised meats and fresh line caught fish. There is also home made jams and honeys, home grown nuts and candies, breads and bakery items and just about anything else you can think of. On a nice Saturday there are thousands of people out and about there. There are politicians and canvassers, musicians and even a few bums.

I always want more than we actually get. We picked up some Kale for some Home made veggie burgers we are making this week. We got some local raw milk Cheddar. I got a local pear and a locally grown apple. That was about it. We have literally dozens of things that we aim to get before summer is over.

As a side note, this is the Market in downtown. In addition, there is a much smaller market every Sunday morning just 5 blocks from our house that will be starting soon.

After the market we went to the Downtown Library. We have been using this great resource to rent books, cd's and dvd's.

We then left Downtown and headed back to the Eastside. We stopped into the Hawthorne neighborhood hoping to walk around and grab a bite of sushi. Unfortunately, the place we were hoping to hit up was closed for that awkward time between lunch and dinner. We ended up finding another place. I got 8 piece spicy tuna roll and an 8 piece Philadelphia roll (smoked salmon, cream cheese, avocado, etc. Lauren got fresh Ramen with Tofu and rice. We ate at a little table outside and soaked up the beautiful weather. We paid $20 total. Including tip.


We headed back to the house and I got back to work. Around 730 we walked up Mt. Tabor, the scenic park in our neighborhood, to watch the sunset. We got back to the house and I continued working. I had a few beers, listened to the entire discography of the great blues singer Robert Johnson and called it a night around 1:30. It was the longest I have stayed up in months and months.

Woke up this morning and had some more tea and got some more work in. Again, Lauren prepared a delicious breakfast of Chocolate Chip and Banana pancakes, Crusted French toast, and Cheddar cheese omelettes.

We headed out for the afternoon to the Gorge. The Gorge, an extremely fertile area of land surround the Columbia river, is only a 15 minute drive from our house. We took a few small hikes saw some waterfalls, birds and nice scenery. Pictures below. After that we headed back into Hawthorne for lunch. I got a Grilled veggie Burrito with spanish rice, Pinto Beans, House made guacamole, lettuce, house made pico de gallo on a home made tortilla. Lauren had a nachos made with house made tortilla chips, pico de gallo and guacamole, cheese, and sour cream. We ate outside and let ourselves get stuffed and tired from the exercise and the delicious food. Cost us $10.


We headed back to the house, I finished up the work and then we just relaxed. We had some gin. And now it is time for dinner.

Lauren just made a Chick Pea and Ricotta gnocchi on top of a bed of mixed green with Asian Goddess dressing.