Rode to Skyline BLVD at lunch today

I want to see if this link works...

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Mount Jefferson wild flowers

eating well in Illinois

I'm going back to Illinois in a couple weeks. I miss the food I grew up eating. Above is some of mom's beef dinner. I miss Li'l Porgy's and Papa Dell's. There are lots of apostrophes in central Illinois food.

Megan in the Columbia Gorge on the way up Dog Mountain

Christmas Tree Hunting in central Oregon

Although we were outnumbered by the trees, it was a successful hunt. Everyone came away with their needs met for another Christmas season. The trees didn't stand a chance.

More Anomaly

It can't be too long before I post another picture of Anomaly. She's running behind the four wheeler in this picture from southern Oregon.

Scott and Jennifer

I like this picture of my sister and I. She's been really good to my wife and I. Thanks Jennifer!

Scott, Mike, and Josh in Umpqua, Oregon

Myself, Mike, and Josh are lined up for some shooting in Umpqua. I like that lever action .22 in this photo. I don't know too much about rifles. Denny taught me on this gun, and I think it's pretty cool.

another great Thanksgiving weekend in southern Oregon

Megan and I had another great weekend in Umpqua Oregon. Of course, Anomaly did, too. She ran over 20 miles in three days with the four wheelers. Sometimes, I'm not sure who has more fun.

Ross is on the left of this picture. Mike is the first person on the railing.

boiling wort for the dark German ale

You can see the Cascade hops from Ian's garden in the hop sock at the top of the boil.

Germish Cascadian- A German Ale brewed with British grains using Ian's Cascade hops in Portland Oregon

I brewed five gallons of a dark, German Ale last weekend. I didn't follow a recipe, and I have not checked this recipe in ProMash, yet. I was excited to use Ian's hops, and I didn't want to make another IPA or English IPA. I've never used the 1007 German ale yeast. It will still ferment at lower temperatures, and my fermenting space is about 57F right now. Adding the chocolate malt and black patent should give a little flavor and make it really dark. The OG is 1.075. If we can obtain a final gravity of 1.015, then ABV% would be 7.95. That's beefy. We'll see what happens...

I added 7 lbs. of liquid malt extract. I also steeped 3 lbs. of grain at 160F for 30 minutes to add more flavor. Here's a list of the ingredients:

7 lbs. light liquid malt extract (not pictured)

1 lb. dry malt extract

2 lbs. British Crystal malt (steeped at 160F for 30 minutes)

.5 lb. British Chocolate malt (steeped at 160F for 30 minutes)

.5 lb. Black Patent malt (steeped at 160F for 30 minutes)

.5 ounce Centennial hops (60 minutes)

1 ounce cascade hops from Ian's garden (60 minutes)

1 ounce cascade hops from Ian's garden (15 minutes)

.5 teaspoon of irish moss (15 minutes)

.5 ounce chinook hops (dry hopping in secondary carboy)

1007 German Ale yest from Activator smack pack

Edit:

I transferred the ale into the second carboy. I dry hopped with .5 ounce of chinook hops.

This is a German ale that uses British grains. Maybe it should be called Germish. Maybe it should be called Germish Cascadian. The Cascadian comes from cascade hops and Ian.

Anomaly in the backyard

Anomaly on the beach

Below is another picture of Anomaly on the beach. This was taken at Oswald West State Park on the Oregon coast.

Megan shooting film

:)

Steel Bridge, Broadway Bridge, and Freemont Bridge down Willamette River in Portland Oregon

Oswald West State Park on the Oregon Coast

The video below is form Oswald West State Park on the Oregon coast. The beach is located several miles south of Cannon Beach. You can see Anomaly and Megan at the end.

The Fabulous Megan on Mount Jefferson

This picture is from this summer at Mount Jefferson in Oregon.

Dad and Scott at Multnomah Falls in Oregon

Dad came through Oregon for a visit last weekend, and we had a really good time. While he was here, we went to Multnomah Falls.

Burnside Bridge from the Eastside Esplanade on the Willamette River in Portland

Megan and I ride bikes around Portland and take pictures. This one is from a summer night a few years ago. Thanks for the fun, Megan!

Patrick on Woodruff Mountain

Patrick and I rode up to Woodruff Mountain.

Four Wheeling Patrick from Illinois

Patrick is in Oregon from Illinois. We rode around on four wheelers in southern Oregon. He's with Anomaly the Famous in this picture.

Anomaly in the backyard

Summer is here. It's been 80 degrees F for the last few days, and the doggie loves it.

Bike Polo at Alberta Park in Portland

People play bike polo on Sunday afternoons in Alberta Park in Portland.

Umpqua Street Rod

Denny, my father-in-law, and two of his grandchildren with his street rod in southern Oregon. Check out those suicide doors!

The Umpqa 500

This video is Megan and I racing on big wheels down a half mile strip in Umpqua, Oregon. Big wheels at 25+ MPH are really fun. We wear helmets now.

Butternut squash in the crock pot

Fancy winter food, folks.

Head on the star

Anomaly with her head on her new favorite toy, the Star.

Bikes in the snow

Megan and I are cooking a stuffed cornish hen on the grill in the
garage. The snow is drifting on the side of the garage. These three
bikes have a difficult time commuting in this weather, but that's the
spice of life, right?

Have fun and Happy Holidays.

Doggie and the snow man.

Grilling beef kabobs in the garage with nine inches of snow in Portland.

Snow fort on Christmas

Anomaly and I found a snow fort at the park.

Our place on Sunday, December 21st at 4:30 PM

Ice coated tree

Anomaly in the snow

Brewing the Fixed Gear Ale

Riding to work in the AM

The Blue Blur is spotted in Forest park

She's still running!

The Blue Blur passed even the fastest runners.

We made it back safely.

After a little sickness and some mechanical problems with the airplanes, we made it back safely. More updates soon...

Huang Shan beauty

Cable cars into the clouds

Don't let the ride fool you. We hiked over ten miles in one day around
Huang Shan. So what if we were lost. ;)

Got a problem?

Go to the complaining service center

Drying peppers by the river

Bike with umbrella

In Tuxin, there were bikes with umbrellas. The only thing missing is
RP with a dress.

I'm young, I'm coffee

Pretty much the best motto I've seen.

Chinese Budweiser

After all the hiking, this was a tasty beverage.

Thank you!

I'll try to write more again later. It's a little difficult to find internet with a western keyboard and/or a wi-fi connection to post from my iPhone. Also, we're trying to experience as much as possible... and posting on the blog takes some time with the computer setups here.

I have so much gratitude for everyone who helped make our trip possible. Thank you everyone!

We're spoiled

We're spoiled in Portland with Stumptown Coffee. It's that simple. It's hard to find coffee in China, unless you're at a fancy hotel. We're also fat, but I'll leave that subject for another post. This morning, Megan took me to a *gasp* Starbucks. It was the best darn coffee I've had in quite some time. It is surreal to listen to Ella Fitzgerald and Jimmy Smith playing keyboards in China. I also heard a muzack version of "Stairway to Heaven" in a hotel lobby.

After the coffee, Megan and I met up with a few of her colleagues to have lunch, do a little shopping, go to dinner, and have a couple drinks. Megan's colleagues are great. Their hospitality was incredible. They couldn't have been more welcoming and friendly.

For lunch, they took us to a Sichuan restaurant. Hot spices are representative of Sichuan style food. The "meat curtain" picture I posted earlier was from this lunch. I ate the chicken feet, the meat curtain, and a variety of other noodles, veggies, and spicey goodness. At first, I was a little frightened of the heat as it has a reputation for being hot, hot, hot. However, everything was well within my range of pallatable goodness. In fact, I was able to taste the spices as it wasn't too hot. The flavor was out-of-this-world.... well, at least out of the USA.

After lunch, we took a subway to the Lu Sho (sp?) district on the border with Hong Kong to shop and hang out with with Hatty and Ryan. The "mall" where we went was about 8-10 stories tall with an open air court in the center. Most shops were the size of a small bedroom in the US. I would guess the stores were about 8' X 10'. The shops sold everything from traditional Chinese clothes to knockoff Dolce Gabana gear to paintings. There were stone/stamp carvingmanicure stations, food stalls, and more. There are no set prices here in this area, and the art of the bargain was at play. We spent a couple hours there and headed to another, more westen mall. The second mall was truly upscale with no discernible differences of high end malls in the US. We sat for about an hour at an ice rink and relaxed until we met up with the others for dinner.

More Saturday action

This morning, we woke up and walked around Shenzen. We ate a couple pastries from a street vendor. Megan went with a veggie one, and mine was filled with meat. They were about the size of a flat baseball and the crust was flaky. There are several baskets filled with different varieties. As we don't read Chinese, it's a guess at what you'll get on the inside.

Shenzen is at the heart of China's SEZ -- Special Economic Zone. It's located just on the other side of Hong Kong in Mainland China. I believe the idea of an SEZ is to limit taxes and regulations that will, in turn, spur economic growth. Shenzen has grown from a tiny fishing village to a major metropolis of 12 million people in only 20 years. Shenzen seems westernized for mainland China, and it's gown so much since I was here 10 years ago.

What day is it?

I'm a little tired and trying to adjust to the time difference. I think it's Saturday, the 13th.

I flew from Portland to Tokyo to Hong Kong. Then, Megan sent a car for me to the Hong Kong airport from Shenzen. It was so great to see her last night. When I opened the door to the hotel and saw Megan, she was more beautiful then ever. Sometimes it's difficult to comprehend how lucky I am to be with her.

At the Tokyo airport, I found an oxygen bar. I've heard of these, but I've never seen one before. I took a couple pictures of the sign and a few people getting oxygenated, too.

During my first morning, Saturday, Megan and I walked around Shenzen. I've already seen many things I wish freinds and family could have experienced with me. I saw a gigantic Chinese Warcraft sign, and I thought of Matt, Greg, and the Voodoo Posse from CMD. I've seen some really cool bicycles that are only held together by ingenuity and more welds than steel. These made me think of Kenny and Ryan. This morning, I also saw tiny little gadgets I think were phones, .mp3 players, and/or cameras that reminded me of my brother. Speaking of Andrew, I wish I had some hand sanitizer right about now. More than once, I've seen the love of a mother for her child that reminds me of my sister.

Happy Birthday Jennifer!!!

How did they do that?

We're about 6000 feet above sea level here, and I can't imagine how
people brought these rocks to this location.

Hey gorgeous!

Bridge on path

The craftsmanship on this trail is incredible. This is one of several
bridges we ran across during our journey in Huangshan. You can also
see one of many tables and chairs built from the granite.

Man made lake in Huangshan

Huangshan mountains. Anhui, China

The beauty of the land is striking here.

Beautiful granite peaks in the distance

Huangshan mountain climb

This picture is taken on the way up Huangshan mountain. The whispy
clouds, granite peaks, and pine trees are all representative of this
area in the Anhui province of central-eastern China.