Europe

It's been too long. I will be back with more comestible criticisms soon. Meanwhile, here's what I was eating in Europe; I wish I had captured more.

4.13.2010 - The Woodrose (Garberville, CA)

I am definitely on a lucky streak pertaining to dining out these days (thanks to great and knowledgeable friends and family) and having been dining out often and am probably paying the proverbial dietary price.

The Woodrose is a quaint little cafe nestled in the drug induced affluence of Garberville. They serve hearty, organic style fare for breakfast and lunch only. Their menu was large and diverse, but pretty darn pricey so that you may have to decide between eating there or purchasing that new bulb for your lighting system. The food was good though; I had the ABC Omelet. The eggs were fresh tasting, there was plenty of avocado, the Niman Ranch bacon was delicious (of course), and the white cheddar a nice touch. The omelet also came with some great homefries and wheat bread (not straight out of the bag). Oh, and not to sound like I'm gushing, but the coffee was awesome (which is crucial).

Ok, so it sounds like I kind of like this place, right? Right. But remember, it's pricey. That omelet I so enjoyed? $14.95. Worth it? I don't know. So go with warning, but know your food will be yummy.

911 Redwood Dr.
Garberville, CA

http://www.woodrosecafe.com/

4.2.2010 - Milo's City Cafe (Portland, OR)

We came here for breakfast and it was a solid choice. I had the Carbonara Hash (pepper bacon, onions, bell peppers, garlic and potatoes) which is served with two eggs and toast. I feel it was a pretty original and unique twist on regular corned beef hash (which is also served and was tough not to order) and was quite satisfying especially on a cold, rainy Portland morning. The coffee was good and the atmosphere was relaxed and comfortable.

http://miloscitycafe.com/default.aspx

Milo's City Cafe

1325 NE Broadway

Portland, OR 97232

4.1 AND 4.5.2010 - La Hacienda (Orick, CA)

Surprise yum. I couldn't care less if this place is a drug front or an elaborate way to launder money, but something weird is going on here. As far as I can tell the owners and employees all live in Eureka and commute the 45 miles north to Orick with a population of 487 (compared to the over 26,000 people in Eureka) to run a small Mexican restaurant. The town definitely gets a good amount of traffic as highway 101 runs through it, but then again, so does Eureka. Anyway, regardless of the "why?" aspect, the food is good. The three salsas served with the house-made chips (fried corn strips which are sprayed with a salty solution as soon as they are removed from the fryer so that the whole chip has a ton of flavor) are all made fresh everyday and are excellent.

The first time I went, I ordered the carnitas sopes. The carnitas is, as my friend Jamey says, by far the best around. It is crispy yet succulent, sweet yet tangy, and delicious. The base of the sopes- a griddle cooked corn cake slightly thicker than a tortilla- is also house-made and the freshness is apparent. Beans are smeared atop the corn cake and topped with cheese, lettuce, tomato, and guacamole. Really good.

The second time (a mere four days after the first time), I ordered the pollo asado taco salad. Served in a crispy fried tortilla shell, the taco salad was served with a hefty portion of chicken, rice, whole beans, lettuce, tomatoes, guacamole, and sour cream. The pollo asado - BBQ chicken - was cooked perfectly and had good flavor, but in my opinion was too bbq-saucy. I am now very interested in trying the pollo a la plancha- grilled chicken- but it may be tough to order anything but the carnitas

La Hacienda

121137 Hwy 101

Orick, CA 95555

3.24.2010 - Luke's Joint (Arcata, CA)

I had the pleasure of going to Luke's Joint for the first time today. I had only heard good things about the place and had been dying to go and try what looked like some pretty succulent fare.

I got what was cleverly titled the Great Cornbowlio. Essentially, it was a piece of their homemade cornbread topped with coleslaw which is then topped with pulled pork. This is served with the soup du jour (that day it was a broth-based beef soup with vegetables). The cornbread and coleslaw were fantastic, but the pork was a bit dry, however flavorful. I couldn't quite tell if the pork had been cooked to perfection and then left out in a warming pan all day or if it had been dry from the beginning; I suspect, and hope for, the former. I got the chance to also taste their biscuits in gravy. They were good though I would probably never order them. The biscuits were light and tasty, but the gravy was too busy with bits of vegetable and the like. It seemed to be trying to be something it's not; sometimes really good basic gravy is indeed best. My friend and I went on to share the chocolate mouse with white chocolate and raspberry sauce. Though I don't normally like anything about white chocolate, there is nothing bad I can say about this mousse. It was delicious. In fact, all their baked items looked really good.

I want to and will go back.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Arcata-CA/Lukes-Joint/418854965446?ref=ts

Luke's Joint

887 H Street
Arcata, CA 95521

3.23.2010 - Whiskey Tasting

Yes! This was great! Somehow I convinced some friends to come with me to a whiskey tasting at one of the local casinos, Cher-ae Heights. The tasting itself was put on by Myrtlewood Liquors and John's Fine Cigars and featured a "Whiskey Master" (one of, apparently, only 17 in the world) who is pretty much a liquor distributing company representative who- through that distributing company- represents the drinks giant Diageo, which, in turn, owns brands like Johnnie Walker, Bushmills, Oban, Dalwhinnie and Lagavulin, among many others. Nontheless, he seemed very nonpartisan about which whiskeys to drink; he thought they were all good. He was definitely a good speaker and was knowledgeable; he provided some clever anecdotes and witticisms and guided us through some of the whiskey making and tasting processes. The tasting also included a five course meal that consisted of grilled shrimp with risotto, Brie en croute with microgreens, crispy duck springrolls, roasted lamb chops with coffee and chocolate, and bread pudding with a whiskey caramel sauce. The food was good, but relatively uninspired and was scant and sparse. Notably my favorites were the Brie and bread pudding.

Below is the list of the whiskey we were able to taste. Surprises included serving chilled Johnnie Walker Gold at 28 degrees- it was great and delicious, mellowed the flavors and smoothed out the feel- and how much the bourbon stood out from the others. I came overly enthusiastic about tasting the Johnnie Walker Blue and left largely the same way about how great it was, but intrigued me further were the Oban, Dalwhinnie, and Talisker Distiller's Editions. They were all complex, but different and drinkable.

Johnnie Walker Blue

Johnnie Walker Gold 18 Year

Dalwhinnie 15 Year

Dalwhinnie Distiller's Edition

Oban 14 Year

Oban Distiller's Edition

Bushmill's 16 Year

Glenkinchie 12 Year

Talisker 10 Year

Talisker Distiller's Edition

Bulleit Bourbon

Crown Royal Cask 16

Newest dinner idea

Fillet of salmon on braised leeks with a rhubarb reduction. Could be good...

5.22.09-5.26.09

One of the absolute best weekends ever! I went to Montana to play in a tournament with some awesome people (the Flycoons). There is way to much awesomeness to write about here (my computer may crash, your computer may crash, this website may crash, or some strange combination of the three if I put it all into words). Let's just say I was shown an excellent time and feel like I have twenty new friends.

Word of the weekend: Awkweird
Product of the weekend: George Dickel Whiskey
Resultant quote of the weekend: "A little Dickel do her."
People of the weekend: Lampshade, Hugh, A-Lo, and JR

5.20.09

In the morning we ate breakfast, drank black coffee (so naturally I felt like a badass), continued sampling for a couple of hours and picked up the copious amounts of trash around the lake (unfortunatley most was fishing related). Ian caught one steelhead, while the rest of us were left wanting.

What did we find? Basically, bass are on the rise and steelhead are falling. Boo. Options? Possiblity of getting more fishermen to fish out the bass and/or gill net for bass, and restock the steelhead. There are, however, downsides to stocking wilderness lakes with fish that were never naturally there. It adds more visitor pressure to the area and changes things from "pristine" to disturbed. There are also ecosystem shifts that result that are still poorly understood.

I do not remember what went on after we packed up and hiked out. The rest of the day paled in comparison to the trip to the lake!

5.19.09

Time to play catch up...

Today was the beginning of the two best days of "work" ever.

First, we did some Port Orford Cedar surveying. Port Orford Cedars have recently (in the lsat couple of decades) been deccimated by a root disease caused by a fungal pathogen. Recently, a resistant strain of POC was found and an experiment was set up to see just how resistant they are. So we surveyed a couple of hundred trees on several treatment plots to see which trees have survived or perished since they were planted by volunteers a year ago.

Then, four of us from the Forest Service and one guy from ODFW (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife) hiked into Babyfoot Lake to do some fish "monitoring." An explanation of the quotes to come... Babyfoot is a mountain lake located in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, west of Cave Junction. The Kalmiopsis was engulfed by the Biscuit Fire back in 2002, so it is just starting to rebound from that disturbance and there are thousands of standing dead pine (pictured below) that eerily hung over us for the easyish mile and a half hike in. Babyfoot is (I believe) the only stocked lake in the Kalmiopsis. It was stocked with steelhead several years ago by the local chapter of the Steelheaders Club. These members (the youngest of which is something like 48 years old, but most being in their sixties) carried one year old smolts in five gallon buckets full of water and ice strapped to their chests all the way to the lake. Ian told me that one stocking year there was a foot of snow on the trail and another was swelteringly hot. Impressive. Anyway, sometime recently someone took it upon themselves to bring largemouth bass into the lake the same way and do a little stocking of their own. Unfortunately, the bass can outcompete the steelhead and also predate upon them, so dramatically decrease the steelhead population.

We came to the lake to deduce some things about the status of the two fish populations, to see if the bass population is increasing or decreasing and if it may need to be eradicated, and to see if it would be wise to further stock the lake with steelhead. Luckily, our sampling method consisted of fishing with rod and reel. We arrived at the lake around 5:00 pm, set up camp, and began sampling for the next three hours. Much to the two girls' chagrin, Ian and I were the only ones who caught anything. Ian caught one steelhead while I caught one steelhead and seven bass. The steelhead were recorded and, of course, released. The bass were kept, filleted, cooked in flour and butter, and eaten. Steve (the ODFW guy) brought all manner of goodness to eat as well. He brought a fillet of salmon, a hunk of elk, and some cheap corned beef hash (all of which was cooked over the fire). The bass may have actually been the best of all, but it was all awesomely delicious and an excellent way to finish an excellent day.

5.15.09

Computer work. It wsan't as bad as it sounds.

Here's some pictures of the area that I took:

5.14.09

It was a long day.

8:00 am: Arrive at work full of zest, wit, and my general good nature. Computer work (GIS) ensues.

11:30 am: Go home for a delicious lunch. I am a culinary god.

12:15 pm: Leave for Central Point (near Medford) for another gravel mining meeting.

12:55 pm: Arrive in Central Point too late. No chance to get pre-meeting coffee. I play tiny violin.

1:00 pm: Meeting begins. Boredom skyrockets.

4:00 pm: Meeting ends. Time seems to have flown by... backwards. Ian dilly-dallies.

4:30 pm: Four of us cram into Ian's Toyota Tacoma and drive an hour and a half north to Roseburg for the Jefferson Society Fish Meeting.

6:00 pm: We arrive at the Chinese restaurant where the meeting is being held. The only Asian in the building is with us.

6:01 pm: I order a beer.

6:30 pm: Meeting begins. An Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife fish biologist gives a good talk about salmonids in the Umpqua River system while we eat "Chinese" food and drink beer.

8:30 pm: Meeting ends and a group of us head to McMenamins (a cool pub chain).

9:30 pm: We head south.

9:45 pm: I fall asleep in the car.

11:15 pm: We arrive in Central Point.

12:00 am (5.15.09): We arrive back at the ranger station.

8:00 am: Arrive at work full of zest, wit, and my general good nature.

5.13.09

Today, we got to go post fishing regulation signs around Applegate Lake, so I got a chance to see parts that I hadn't yet seen. I also got to go up to the smaller Squaw Lakes to post some signs and check out the area. These little lakes were pretty cool and seemed like they had some neat campsites (walk-in and, I think, free). We then went to look for snags (dead trees) again. I have been really enjoying the chance to see the area and driving the network of forest roads. Today was no exception. I got to drive some really bad roads and have been practicing my 4-wheel-drive skills in this big Forest Service truck. I actually really like the technical aspect of driving over ruts, cobbles, and large rocks and getting to feel like I am somewhere nobody has been in a long time. The country is beautiful, but you can really see that this area was flattened for timber in the recent past. The result of this is the Forest Service feeling like they need to thin the understory for their "fuels reduction" program or, as I like to refer to it, "the great fire scare." Unfortunately, I've noticed that this has caused the following effect: a monoculture. Okay, not really a monoculture, but close. What they are keeping is the overstory; the second-growth trees that have grown since the timber industry left or that have survived the timber industry. This translates to mostly Pine and Fir species. What's removed are the hardwoods (Madrone and oaks) and shrubs that are trying to establish themselves. I understand the need to reduce the risk of fire and that this understory is the main way fire spreads, but in doing so, the Forest Service seems to be reducing the chance for forest diversity which seems pretty important to me. Hopefully I will learn more about this along the way and maybe be able to form a more concrete opinion.

Pretty good day.

5.12.09

Boring day today. More office work, organization, and reading. The highlight of the day was going to Medford to pick up our "rig" at the Forest Service mechanic. I got to go by myself and it was nice to get away from the office (and the other intern for awhile).

5.11.09

Well, I had a lot of fun over the weekend, but I had to go back sometime...

The day was spent organizing the office and looking for more trees for our stream restoration project.

5.7.09

We were all over the place today. It was great.

First thing, I had to go check the Palmer Creek gage and connectivity (only one reading this time). Still connected at pretty low flows; this is a good thing.

Next, Ian took us electrofishing to see if there were salmonids in a small stream that had a potentially ill-placed culvert. I (and Helena) had never been before so it was a good learning experience. We first electrofished the larger stream nearby to get the hang of things. We got a lot of sculpins, a cutthroat and some young steelhead. It was good to get "fish in hand," as the dweeby fish nerds say. We electrofished the smaller, potentially affected stream. There were no fish which was good (?). That doesn't mean that there were historically no fish, but it means there are none being affected now.

Helena and I then had to drive into Medford (45 minutes away) to drop our truck off at the Forest Service mechanic (problem started before I touched the truck) and get a loaner. We went on to Central Point (10 more minutes) to meet Ian for a meeting (a continuation of the meeting concerning the possibility of a mining operation on the Applegate). We got there on time and met with Ian; we went in and found an empty room. The posted schedule said the meeting was next week. Awesome. Ian was not too happy with himself, but did go on to tell us that last year he had driven six hours to a meeting and when he arrived, learned that he was one month early. What a clown.

So, back to the station. And, out to check Palmer Creek. The stream level dropped 0.01 feet and had totally lost connectivity over the course of the day. On to Applegate Lake to post some signage and spraypaint a sign on the pavement at the boat ramp. Artsy!

5.6.09

Not a bad day; I got to have a little variety and I spent most of it in the field.

First, we posted up at the ol' Palmer Creek stream gage (yes, it is actually "gage" in this situation) for a couple of hours. Riveting stuff.

Then for the fun. We drove around looking for dead, windblown, and/or hazard trees near forest roads. We need these trees (about 40 of them) for a stream restoration project on Palmer Creek where they will be strategically added to the stream channel to add complexity and create fish habitat. So, I got to 4-wheel the big Forest Service truck around some pretty awesome country on some pretty remote and rugged roads. I may have gone on a couple of roads I shouldn't have and may have gotten us into at least one hairy situation, but it was awesome driving over, around and through deep ruts, big rocks and through the encroaching brush. At each tree, we had to record its diameter, GPS location, height, and a whole host of other information. One small road system and we're almost a quarter of the way done.

But, it can't be all fun, so we returned to the stream gage to take an hour and a half of readings. And, back to the office to meet Ian who wasn't even there...

5.5.09

Wow! What a day... (insert sarcasm here)

First, we were posted at the Palmer Creek stream gauge for four hours so we could take stream height readings every 15 minutes. This was done so we could correlate the stream height there to a nearby drainage's (Star Gulch) known and publicized output. Palmer Creek is the one that goes dry intermittently, so we are trying to figure exactly at what output it goes dry and exactly where it goes dry first so we can know where to concentrate our rehab efforts.

After, Ian brought us up to check on some possible illegal instream mining work. We went through some truly beautiful and crazy landscapes. The paved road quickly turned to gravel which we wound up following a tributary to the Applegate. The road snaked through the mountains and all of a sudden we were in an awesome mountain valley. As soon as I had a chance to look around, we were leaving the valley and back into heavy woods headed for more mountains.

Later, he gave us an introduction to and showed us how to look for dead hazard trees for a project we will do later (more on this tomorrow).

5.4.09

Thousands of concentric rings spring outward followed by thousands more. As the raindrops hit the river, they create perfect expanding circular waves crashing into one another as they are carried downstream and out of sight. The dull light dances on the river as the rain changes the surface of the water in every direction. Standing still allows you to see every falling drop and its tiny, beautiful effect on the river as its countless brethren is joined.

Today was not bad; it didn't really seem like I did much real work... So, that was cool. First thing, I got to go out (on my own!) and check the connectivity of Palmer Creek (see "4.20.09"). Unfortunately, due to some poor directions from Ian, after checking the connectivity, I couldn't find the stream gauge so that we could correlate the amount of connectivity or no connectivity to how high the stream was. I am a failure at my first solo task. Boo me. When I get back to the office, after walking a certain stretch of stream three times, Ian's other intern, Helena, has arrived which stirs up a certain level of excitement and commotion. She seems nice enough. Later, Ian takes us along on a "show-and-tell" with a woman from the Community Justice organization to elaborate on some jobs he's laying her crew of no good do-gooders out on. I had seen pretty much everything already, but it was all new to Helena and it was still nice to be away from the ranger station. On the way back, Ian showed us all the Palmer Creek gauge so I would know exactly where it was. It wasn't where he had originally directed me to, but I still felt sheepish because it was close.

It rained all day so later Helena and I went to check the level of Palmer Creek again with hopes that we could see at exactly what level the stream reaches full connectivity. It still wasn't connected, but it was close. When we returned, Ian gave us a PowerPoint presentation that he has been promising me since I got here. It was mostly about the fisheries biology division of the Forest Service.

4.30.09

Today was pretty lame. Ian was gone so I read, played with GIS and did some tutorials, and did some more research on projects we may do later. Not having my government license really restricts what I can do on my own so until the paperwork goes through, I'm reliant on Ian's whims. I did however produce something from some data that was compiled about what soils are more likely to erode and contribute fine sediments in the process. It's essentially meaningless, but at least I felt like I did something. The data is for all of Oregon but I clipped it show it's relationship to local fish bearing rivers. The map is technically part of the the Rogue River-Siskiyou Nat'l Forest.