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Not much blogging lately

Saturday, July 18th, 2009

It’s not because we haven’t had much to blog about. We’ve just been busy. Here are some highlights from the last couple of weeks:

July 3rd, we hiked the Ape Caves with our friends the Marths, Olsons and Rafers:

Then we went to Christi and Michael’s to have dinner before the fireworks on the 4th of July:

July 5th, it was about 90 degrees outside, so we decided it was the perfect time to hike Mt. Si. Somehow, we were able to convince Katherine to join us! After consuming great amounts of water, we made it:

All in all, we’ve been enjoying the beautiful weather and just enjoying the outdoors together.

Posted in family, marriage, photo | 3 Responses »

Sometimes you just have to consult the church cookbook.

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

I don’t know if everyone has a church cookbook, but I strongly recommend them. Along with recipes for coffee to serve 250 people, there are some gems that cannot be found in your standard Betty Crocker or Joy of Cooking.

A couple of months ago, Jonathan and I had a delightful potluck supper at the Sammamish Grange, which included, among many other things, a freshly baked rhubarb pie. I never really enjoyed rhubarb as a child, but this was amazing! I kept thinking about the delicious tartness of the rhubarb and the sweetness of the crust and thought we needed some rhubarb at our house too. Yes, rhubarb is sold in the store, but I’m cheap and I know that people around here also grow it in their yard. One quick phone call to my Momma and I had a grocery sack of rhubarb in my refrigerator. Last week, I was missing my friend April dearly. April makes the best bars in the whole wide world. I was looking through the 125th Anniversary of First Lutheran Church of Ogema, WI cookbook (which my mom snagged from my Aunt Dottie) and found a recipe for Rhubarb Dream Dessert Bars. Perfect!

Here is the recipe:

2 c. flour
8-10 T confectioner’s sugar
1 c. margarine (I use butter because margarine freaks me out, but this is really up to you)
1.5 c. sugar
1/2 c. flour
1/2 t salt
4 eggs, beaten
4 c. diced rhubarb

Mix the flour, confectioner’s sugar and margarine together like a pie crust. Save about one cup for the topping. Pat the rest into a 9×13″ pan and bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Mix together the sugar, flour, salt and eggs. Stir in the rhubarb and spread over the crust. Sprinkle on the topping and bake for an additional 35 minutes.
(Big thanks to Victoria Nelson and Rhonda Cummings for submitting this to the church cookbook!)

Here’s the final result:

I liked them so much I just took another batch out of the oven. If you happen to work with Jonathan, there’s a good chance this could be your breakfast in the morning.

Three cheers for the church cookbook. It may not be as hip or fashionable out here where we’re all connected to each other through the internet, but sometimes what you need is a recipe from Victoria Nelson and Rhonda Cummings.

Posted in photo, recipes | 6 Responses »

England, Where were we? Oh yes: More of Leeds

Friday, June 26th, 2009

We arose the morning of the 29th to a sunny sunny morning! What a treat!

When I looked out the window, I saw this in the garden:

Dad, Mom, Bara and a troublesome tree

My parents LOVE doing yard work and they did a little while we were in England. Later, Mom and Bara headed to the local garden center to get some (organic) spray for the tree.

Tim and Rachel did some work:

then we headed back into Leeds to see the Uni and generally hang out. Our first stop was the Library, (Parkinson Library? Sorry Rache, I forgot the proper name) and Rachel gave us tours. We got to see where she studies and the special collections and generally tour around. It’s a beautiful library with what I would call an art deco theme.

After the library, we walked to the English House, which is really a bunch of houses connected. I got to see the super special poster with all the photos of the students of English. Here is Rachel pointing out here photo:

We followed that up with some delicious lunch (sandwiches and milk shakes! YUM!). At this point we were walking toward a park to enjoy our lunch and Grandpa stopped and said, “I”m not walking a mile to see some damn park” so we stopped right there and ate outside the engineering building, which is about as attractive as engineering buildings are apt to be.

After lunch, Mom, Dad, Erik, Jonathan and Rachel went to Carr Mills to see her room and where she lives while Grandpa and I chilled in the Library where it was nice and cool and oh, Rachel’s dorm is over a mile away so it was probably good that we opted out of that portion. This was one of my favorite parts-hanging out with Grandpa and asking him questions about his job and what it was like when he and Grandma first got married and how it was to have seven children running around the house all the time.

Upon the return of the rest of the group, Mom, Dad, Erik and Grandpa headed back to Bara’s while Rachel, Jonathan and I walked back to her dorm for my official tour and to hang out with Tim and get some groceries. After our adventure, we arrived back to Bara’s where we corralled everyone and walked to the nearest fish and chip shop and got our supper. Erik liked it immediately:

Erik digs in!

The men finished out the night with a rousing game of Settlers of Catan

It's about as exciting to watch as Risk

Meanwhile, Rachel and Terry enjoyed some good old fashined “rock, paper, scissors”

1, 2, 3, Go!

It was a very good day.

Posted in England, family, photo, travel | 2 Responses »

England: York

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

The day began with some sweet hanging out of the laundry and hoping it was dry by the end of the day. I REALLY enjoy line drying our laundry and will be a happy girl when we get our own clothesline (after the yard project is complete).
Here is what our stuff looked like in England:

Out to dry

Maddy made delicious porridge for breakfast. Good job Maddy!

Then we went back to our favorite train stop at Woodlesford and caught the train to York! This was maybe my favorite day of the whole trip! Grandpa decided he’d rather stay back and finish a book he’d started the day before so it was a bit sad that he ditched us, but otherwise it was most enjoyable.

We arrived to York and walked along the old city walls. Jonathan was able to use the gorillapod to set up a sweet shot of all of us:

We went to York minster and decided we’d like to climb to the top! It’s not everyday you’re able to climb to the top of a cathedral! Regrettably, the line was long so we bought our tickets and then headed out to explore a bit more. We visited shops and looked around, the men went to a shop that really only sold meat and then we all took tea at Betty’s tea shop.

After we were filled to the gills with tea and food, we went to the Jorvich Viking Centre and learned of the Viking history of York! It was very interesting and a little creepy and maybe smelled a bit dodgy, but it was great! After the Vikings, we climbed the tower (which was really two towers) to the top of Yorkminster.

Mom and Dad-almost half way!

The view from the top was beautiful

After getting over the fact that we climbed hundreds of stairs while confined within a spiral staircase made of stone, we headed to one of the squares for the Historic Pub Tour of York (can you tell who picked which activities for the day? Mom and Kelly and Rachel=tea, Mom and Dad=climb the tower, Dad Dad Dad=pub tour). Oddly enough, the pub tour was very enjoyable, though I did ask for a coca-cola classic rather than ale. Because who wants ale when you can have a delicious coke? Not me.
It was just our family on the tour, which made it very nice and a little bit hilarious.

First stop on the pub tour-The Lion and the Lamb

The Lion and The Lamb was our first stop and the pub in closest proximity to Yorkminster. The church ran the pubs at one time, which must have made its location convenient!

It was very nice to sit and rest after all that walking:

And Dad and Jonathan enjoyed some bonding time:

Thankfully, the glasses of ale were small so everyone had their sample without incident (Big E and I skipped out on this one)

More pub tour photos:

After our historic pub tour it was time for dinner and since Grandpa wasn’t with us, we had Italian! It was delicious.
We were able to catch a glimpse of the sunset as we headed back to the train station for our train to Leeds.

Sunset in York

J&K with York sunset

Posted in England, family, marriage, photo, travel | 4 Responses »

England: Leeds and Kirkstall Abbey followed by dinner with Rachel’s friends

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

We awoke to a beautiful day in Oulton (the village outside of Leeds in which we stayed) and I enjoyed trying to keep up with Bara on a short run in the morning. Then Rachel, Jonathan and I went to the nearby Cottage Bakery to pick up some delicious bread for breakfast:

Inside the Cottage Bakery, photo by Jonathan

One of the funniest things about the bakery is that everything had a label, just not what you could expect, and the labels were not readable from the distance at which we were standing. We just asked for a loaf of bread, yeah that one with the hatch marks on the top and some delicious ham to make this for breakfast:

Photo by Jonathan

Then we decided to head into town. One of the difficulties in traveling and staying in a place where one has only been taken by car is that the public transport is maybe not like a big city. In fact, it is more like Seattle in its frequency. So we waited for the bus we thought would take us into town, but the bus never did seem to show up. Dad bravely ran up to another bus and asked the driver which route we needed and where it stopped so we moved across the street and around the corner. After awhile of waiting, Rachel was able to send a text message and receive info from the transit authority that the next bus would not be for another thirty minutes. At this point, Grandpa decided he’d rather hang out in the garden for the day and the rest of us hoofed it to the train station.

Photo by Jonathan

The train station was called Woodlesford! It was really fun to say! We were on our way to Leeds for some fun in town! Once we arrived in Leeds, we headed to get some lunch (and a new mobile for Rachel as hers was busted). After lunch, we took the number 33a bus out to Kirkstall Abbey and toured the grounds a bit. It was kind of rainy and chilly by this point, so we didn’t stay long. We arrived back to Bara’s and had an adventure at the grocery store followed by dinner with Rachel’s Uni friends so we could all meet them and hang out. It was a delight! In addition to the beautiful house, there is a newer barn in the garden and we were able to dine outside for the evening:

Fiona, Tim, Rachel, Maddie and Terry just before we dive into dinner

Grandpa, Erik, Bara and Dad before dinner (Jim joined us later)

The food was delicious and the company very enjoyable. It was good to meet Rachel’s friends and know that she’s in good company while she’s away from us!

Posted in England, family, fun, photo, travel | No Responses »

England: London Part One

Friday, June 12th, 2009

Okay, here’s the follow up to Eskepherson Family Funtimes 2009 England!

Monday morning we awoke and took the tube to Bethnal Green to meet Rachel, who was staying with some friends in that area. The cafe her friends recommended for breakfast was closed for the bank holiday, but we did see a sign that said “Cafe Open” so we went to Cafe Open, which was really called something else and run by a delightful Turkish couple. We had delicious coffee (not Nescafe!) and our first taste of traditional English breakfast.

Mom and Dad and Grandpa with their breakfast plates (please notice the beans, black pudding, fried tomatoes and the bubble and squeak-mashed potatoes, peas, carrot and cabbage all mixed together then fried up):

Jonathan won the prize for most beans consumed at breakfast (please also note Erik and Rachel in the background enjoying their breakfast):

Then we headed to Piccadilly Circus to buy our tickets for the hop on hop off bus tour. We were also able to purchase our tickets for the Tower of London from the guide, which saved us one line!

We took the original tour route, which gave us a pretty good idea of our bearings in the city and we were able to see Hyde Park, St. James Park, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Victoria, the London Eye, Houses of Parliament, Marble Arch, Shakespeare’s Globe, the back of Buckingham Palace and hear quite a bit of history. Since it’s hard to take photos from a moving bus, we don’t have much from this. But here are photos of us on the bus!

We hopped off the bus tour at the Tower of London and toured around there a bit. Here are some photos:

(Just as we’re going into the Tower of London. This is one of my favorites from the trip)

Mom and me with Tower Bridge behind us. Mom caught on with British smiling!

Jonathan and a Yeoman right after we saw the crown jewels.

After the Tower of London, we got onto a boat to Greenwich (it was included in our bus tour) and went to the Prime Meridian Line. Erik and Grandpa stayed closer to the pier where they didn’t have to hike up a steep hill and bought some figs and probably picked up girls.

Mom, Dad and Rachel at the Royal Observatory at the Prime Meridian Line.

Then we hopped the boat back toward Westminster Pier.

Mom had tea on The Thames.

Then everyone took naps. I’d forgotten we saw so much stuff our first day. No wonder we all wanted to nap!

Grandpa yawning, Mom and Rachel resting. Hilarious.

Posted in family, fun, photo, travel | No Responses »

Reunited

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

Remember this gem from last summer?

Eskephersons livin' it up

Well, more good times are soon to be had with this crew. Needless to say, one of us who happens to lean more to the type A side of the spectrum has been busy planning, packing and communicating. No specifics until we can show you photos later, but rest assured I’m ending my 20′s with a bang my friends. More later!

Posted in family, fun, marriage, photo, travel | 1 Response »

For posterity

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

Part of the reason we’ve got the blog is to document our lives and look back later and realize what sweet times we’ve had. As many of you know, Carrie and I were roommates before we’d ever heard the names Jonathan McPherson or Dan Potter and she found some real photographic gems from our roommate time together that I would like to share with you here.

The time we found a baby carrot shaped like a witch’s finger:

And the time I convinced Christi to come with me to Starbucks and spy on Carrie and her blind date. Then we tried to take photos like we were real spies. Here is Carrie’s date. Not Dan Potter:

And here we are playing in a wheat field near Walla Walla.

We’ve had some great times as roommates and I’m continually thankful that the Lord brought you into my life Carrie. Thanks for being a wonderful friend to me always!

Posted in friends, fun, photo | 2 Responses »

Baconopolis

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

What is Baconopolis?

Baconopolis is a dream within a dream, and it is also where we went for Date Night several weeks ago. It was an event run by Mr. Tom Douglas, a Seattle-area food mogul who owns a pile of restaurants in the space of a few city blocks near the heart of downtown Seattle, all well-reviewed if not slightly unaffordable. He also owns an event space called the Palace Ballroom, where he holds events like Baconopolis.

Kelly learned of the event through Mr. Douglas’s web site. Here I have extracted the four basic principles of Baconopolis for the interested reader:

Everyone loves bacon
There are lots of different kinds of bacon
There are lots of different things you can make with bacon
Everything is better with bacon

For a mere twenty bucks a head, Baconopolis afforded the average man on the street the opportunity to sample 10 kinds of gourmet bacon and dishes prepared with that bacon. Absolutely irresistable. We snapped up a pair of tickets, and on the appointed Friday night, we took the bus into Seattle.

Our first stop was at the Palace Kitchen for happy hour while we waited for Baconopolis to start. Here we are!

Now, here is something you should try if you happen to eat at this fine establishment during happy hour: ham and cheese sandwiches. They may sound pedestrian, but they are made with Beecher’s cheese and they will knock your socks off.

When 6pm rolled around, we entered the ballroom.

Before us, there were 10 Bacon Stations. Here is one example of a Bacon Station:

Do you know what that man is doing? He is making deep tempura fried bacon. So, then, these are the primary components of the Bacon Station: you’ve got the bacon itself in sample strips under those two lamps, and he’s making sample dishes out of that bacon–in this case, deep-fried bacon. Sound amazing? It is. But I’m sure you’re wondering what else you can do with bacon besides deep-fry it. Well, here is the lovely Kelly trying some butterscotch pudding with bacon:

And here she is with another favorite–butterscotch syrup drizzled on a cube of bacon.

This went on, and on, for 10 stations. We had bacon with beans, bacon and peanut butter on banana bread, bacon with pea salad, bacon salt, and … well, by the time we had finished the rounds, we were in what you might accurately call a bacon-induced coma.

Then, like any other responsible adults who had just eaten bacon for dinner, we went out for tiramisu.

You can see the whole adventure documented with McPherson-level detail here.

Posted in fun, marriage, photo | 3 Responses »

Random

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

Well, I’m at work and waiting to get a document so I can work my magic and then send it off and then go home. While I wait, I thought I’d share with you all some of the things that are bouncing around my mind right now because well, nobody else is around.
1. I am really enjoying this website right now: http://foodgawker.com/ I don’t know what I like better, the photos or the recipes but both make me really happy.
2. We are trying a new recipe tonight that involves lining a veggie steamer basket with baby bok choy leaves to cook dumplings. The whole idea just makes me smile. And baby bok choy is so cute!
3. Saturday is the first day of the Redmond Saturday Market for the year and you betcha we’re going to be there! We may even try to be super eco-friendly and ride our bicycles. (Thanks for the bike, Krista!)
4. My shoulder hurts again. It’s making me angry. I get really upset when my body lets me down-even more so when it’s caused by my desk at work.
5. Tomorrow is denim day at the office. I am conflicted over denim day. It seems like a good idea, but the whole day I feel like I’m working on a Saturday and I end up wanting to leave at 2:00. That can’t be good.
6. I really love being married and if you are wondering, Jonathan is the best husband-I couldn’t have ever imagined I would enjoy marriage as much as I do (but who would hate high fives when you come home and someone who helps keep the house stocked with chips and queso, jelly beans and coca-cola classic? I can’t think of anyone.)

And I will leave you with a photo, chosen at random from Jonathan’s flickr page:

(This is actually titled “random guy in a field” which is probably why it came up when I searched for random)

Posted in South Africa, photo | 3 Responses »

Oatmeal for Breakfast

Or: The New Adventures of J&K