Author: jstv

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The new norm

Today we start our third week of quarantine with a bit of social distancing at the hardware store … masks on.

Like most we’re feeling frustration over the jumble of instructions, while still trying to remain healthy and sane. Just what do they mean by social distancing …because I’m always at least six feet from anyone on the trout stream.

It was a bit of a blow to our “social distancing” plans when two weeks ago, while on the Crooked River, our idyllic spot was overrun by people. Within a few short hours our quiet campground was filled. We knew then we would need to adjust our “get out, get away” plans. I guess no road trips for a while.

I’ve managed to get a couple dozen spring patterns tied, euro-nymph and dry fly. Now to start on the summer collection of caddis, stoneflies, and terrestrials.

The space between tying and cooking is filled with reading and video viewing. Glad for the Kindle, Apple TV and a DVD collection.

I love our quiet moments at home, but really miss our adventures on the road. I knew we would go stir crazy without some way to get out and move. Our gym is off limits, so walking the neighborhood is our best bet.

Luckily, we have lovely trails through forest and high desert just outside our home.

Our routine includes several walks a day, with plenty of fetching for Tip.

For better than a decade we’ve kept an emergency supply pantry, as well as a stocked freezer, extra fuel, water and paper product. Prepped? Maybe. But for us it was the memory of how fast the Mount St Helen’s eruption made a mess of life in the PNW and the threat of Mt Hood’s regular awakenings. This global pandemic thing wasn’t even on my radar.

Thank goodness for Tip’s exuberance.

He is a daily reminder to be joyful, anticipate good things, live in the moment, and be grateful.These have been added to our Rules to live by.

If social distancing means avoiding people (and for the most part it does) we’ve been doing that for years.

Being on the most ‘vulnerable’ list for COVID-19 made it pretty easy to enhance that distance.

We live in a neighborhood where folks lift a hand in greeting and pause to visit. I love how friendly everyone is. That said, we do have a terrible time remembering names … we usually recognize people by their dogs. “Oh, there’s the guy with the old dog that sits on the bench.” We always stop to visit, but now we do it from across the field. Its a small thing … a moment of connection which always lifts our spirits.

We are ready for months of isolation, quarantine and social distancing.

As long as the Internet doesn’t fail … we’ve got this.

Hope you are all getting by and washing your hands.

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A Peanut Butter Cookie

If you don’t like peanut butter … well that’s just wrong … but also you won’t like this post much either.

We’ve long been fans of Alton Brown and “Good Eats” … even saw his stage show in PDX a few years ago.

Brown’s take on cooking and food is unique and always entertaining. Check out his YouTube channel.

As the days at home stretch out, you might be looking for a treat and this recipe has five ingredients, is quick, flourless and full of peanut goodness. Enjoy!

Print Recipe

Alton Brown's Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

  • 268 g smooth peanut butter
  • 120 g brown sugar
  • 120 g white sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp soda
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350º and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • Cream peanut butter together with sugar(s) until fully incorporated.
  • Add egg, soda, vanilla, and salt. Beat until smooth.
  • With a 1 ½ Tbsp scoop (1 oz), measure and transfer balls of dough to cookie sheet. Leave 2 to 3 inches of space - that is 8 dough balls on each sheet.

With a fork press to flatten the balls and then slide the fork off, first in one direction and then 90º to those indents to create the classic cross hatch pattern.

  • Place both sheets roughly in center of oven and bake for 5 minutes. Turn the pans and bake an additional 5 minutes (10 minutes total).

Cool on sheets for 5 minutes and transfer to racks. Allow to cool completely before storing in cookie jar.

    Notes

    Here is the YouTube video with Alton making these cookies.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nalyEGpuSs&t=0s
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    Gear Up: Spring Edition

    With the second installment of this quarterly feature we are going to talk about keeping it together. Working with digital tools means there are lots of bits and pieces that you need to have handy. That is not an easy task.

    Peak Design out of San Francisco has become our go to supplier for camera bags and gear pouches. The center of this system is their Everyday Tote. The model we have has been updated and isn’t available anymore. However, these multi-pocket tote bags, regardless of the model, are extremely handy in keeping essential gear organized and at your finger tips.

    The other piece of gear from Peak Design is their Anchor Link system. We started with a camera strap and clip from Peak Design. The anchor link system is a method of tethering a piece of gear to a strap or lanyard.

    We’ve added links, a button like tether, to cameras, GPS, iPhones and knives. This makes it really simple to attach or detach a piece of gear to an anchor point. As an example we’ve put anchors on neck lanyards so our iPhones can be quickly clipped to the lanyard and you are hands free but the phone isn’t stuffed in a pocket.

    The other item we wanted to include in this quarter’s Gear Up is a pocket knife.

    This is an essential kit when you are camping. The problem JQ encountered with a folding knife is they were just too heavy to comfortably hang on the side of lightweight pants.

    Benchmade Bugout solves that with a high quality folder that is extremely light. This knife can also comfortably hang on a neck lanyard which is very convenient.

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    Scouting a cold blue ribbon

    The Deschutes River north of Maupin was, for years, a go to fishing spot. There are BLM camp sites along the river from the bridge on Highway 197 to Mack’s Canyon.

    When we moved to Central Oregon it was with a thought that we’d spend time on the lower Deschutes.

    However, we’ve since discovered the Crooked, Fall and Upper Deschutes and haven’t been to Maupin in over a year.

    This year, as we were planning camping excursions. I noticed there is an extension of the BLM land South of Maupin.

    In all those years we never even looked that way!

    This week we decided to take a day trip back to the old fishing spots and checkout this new area.

    The scouting trip was interesting.

    That stretch of the river flows through a much tighter canyon and while there are some nice stetches of water, for the most part steep banks and narrow roads make this a much less inviting area.

    We headed North, downriver, to our favorite parking spot … Oak Springs. We enjoyed a picnic lunch before heading back to home.

    Lower Deschutes is on the camping list, but we’ll be back to old haunts rather than any of these newly scouted sites.

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    If Not Cake?

    When you start to write a post about cheesecake, the first thing to do is research this tasty dessert.

    Further study reveals a startling fact … 

    Cheesecake is NOT cake!

    We’re crazy for that graham cracker crust.
    So is it pie? Round, custard filling with crumb crust …
    sounds like pie.

     

    *”Despite the confusing terminology, cheesecake is by no means a cake. Also, since cheesecake isn’t topped with pastry, it cannot be a pie. Cheesecake is, and forever will be, a tart”*.

    Our baking experiments continue with these little guys. We tried three sizes and found we liked this small cupcake shape. The ratio between graham cracker crumb to cheese filling was great!

    An early form of cheesecake was served to Olympians in 776 B.C. But it didn’t resemble what we now think of as cheesecake. Romans took the “recipe’ from the Greeks, made some changes, but all of these early forms of the dessert used a Ricotta-style cheese.

    Immigrants brought it to America.  In the late eighteen hundreds a Philadelphia Dairy man invented cream cheese which found its way into what is now commonly called the new york style cheesecake.  This is what most think of when we say cheesecake.

    It may not be cake, or pie, or a tart, but we can agree . . . it is a great dessert.

    Print Recipe

    Mini Cheesecake

    These little cheesecakes are baked in a muffin pan just like cupcakes.
    Servings: 16

    Ingredients

    CRUST

    • 6 graham crackers, broken into pieces We used cinnamon graham crackers.
    • 2 tsps sugar
    • 3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
    • 1 pinch salt

    FILLING

    • Two 8 oz pkg cream cheese, at room temperature
    • 2/3 cup sugar
    • 1/4 cup sour cream
    • 1 tsp vanilla extract
    • 2 large eggs
    • 1 tbsp flour

    Instructions

    Prep

    • Preheat oven to 325. Line 16 cups (of two muffin pans).

    To make crust

    • In bowl of food processor process the graham crackers to fine crumbs. You should have 2/3 cup.
    • Pour crumbs into bowl and add sugar, melted butter, and salt.
    • Use a fork and stir until crumbs are evenly moistened.
    • Divide mixture evenly among the prepared muffin cups (about 1 tablespoon per cup).
    • Press crumbs into bottom of cup.
    • Bake until lightly golden, about 4 minutes. Set on wire racks.

    To make filling

    • In a clean food processor bowl, process the cream cheese until smooth, about 3 minutes.
    • Add the sugar until smooth, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the bowl.
    • Add the sour cream and vanilla until combined.
    • Add the eggs one at a time, processing well after each addition.
    • Add the flour and process until combined. Scrape down the bowl and process one more time.
    • Divide the filling evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each three-fourths full.
    • Bake until the cheesecakes puff and are set, about 23 minutes. Let cool completely in the pans.
    • Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.