Category Archives: food

food, friends, London, UK

Catch up

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It was yet another trip up to London last, New Year’s, weekend. This time to drop Mum off at Heathrow for her return to NZ & see if I could find something to do for my completely unplanned New Year’s. For some reason, Levi & Marki didn’t make it to Krakow to see in the New Year. Actually that reason was it was too difficult to get from where ever they were skiing near Salzburg to Poland. But that worked out in my favour as they had a little gathering at theirs, so I braved the trains into the city. As always with Marki & Levi’s hospitality, I was extremely well fed & it was a good evening – even if I didn’t understand any of the multitude of eastern-European languages (but then no-one but Levi & I understood the Te Puke stories). We wandered up to the building’s roof to get a view of many of the various fireworks displays dotted around London as we opened champagne that kept multiplying.

Some sort of Czech food that was very tasty

Levi & Marki – on the remote chance any TP people are interested

Sunday I made the trek back home to Sidcup & generally sifted around seeing if a) Mum would fit all her things in her suitcase & b) how late we would be leaving for the airport. She did, & it was only 45 minutes – which I was quite impressed with. But we had plenty of time up our sleeves for a trying wet drive around the M25 before a tearful goodbye as Mum flew back to the other side of the world. As it turns out, it was well timed as a couple of days after Mum arrived home I got the sad news that my much-loved Grandma passed away after a prolonged slide into dementia. For me, I had about three years of being far removed to deal with the fact that I wouldn’t be seeing Grandma again. Still, as I said during all those earthquakes, it’s times like these that make one feel the furtherest from home.

On a note that will cut closer to the bone, I have a date for my shoulder op – February 21. It will be so nice to get it much more stable – although I’m sure it will come with a lot of sacrifices. Driving, riding & generally being armless come to mind.

family, food, history, roadtrip, travel, USA

Following (a bit of) the Oregon Trail

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Regrettably, as with a roadtrip, we had to leave Boise yesterday.  Maybe we caught it in its best light, but we really enjoyed our brief visit to Idaho & its capital. We were aiming towards Hood River – which is on the Columbia River – in central north Oregon, but didn’t want to do all the drive in one day so just pottered along.  Along the freeway we saw much more cropping, an old tumbledown cement factory at Lime, a still-operating cement factory (only one kiln though) just down the road & the return of the big trains.  We popped into Baker City, a town that had taken great delight in proclaiming from most Main St windows that some publication had voted it the most beautiful small town of America in a Best of the Road competition.

It was pretty nice & we spent a little while wandering the main street, reading plaques, looking in buildings & just enjoying the sunshine. There was also a big leafy park just down the road where we had another relaxing lunch. Further down the freeway & a bit east was the National Oregon Trail Interpretive Center – with time up our sleeves, it was well worth a look. Being the national center, it was far & away the most comprehensive display that we have seen yet on that mass-migration – we easily spent a couple of hours there reading & listening & pondering the hardship of the months endured & the landscape encountered (bits of which we’ve seen from the comfort of the car).

We’re clearly getting on in the trip as we opted for the nice easy route down I-84 instead of backroads through the hills. But there were still the Blue Mountains to get over (glad I wasn’t walking beside a wagon) before descending to the Columbia River plateau. It was clear we were back near a big river as more & more irrigation & nice looking fields popped up. Hermiston was a little off the freeway & a bit of a nothing town from what we could see (although it did have a gigantic WalMart distribution center on the outskirts – that must count for something), but it was a convenient place to rest for the evening. With a quick trip down to & across the Columbia River (quite a while since I last crossed that in Revelstoke, BC) we were in Washington – our third state for the day. The river is of course really high & we were impressed by the volume (in both senses) of the water pouring through the spillways at McNary dam.

Back in Hermiston, we struggled to find anywhere to eat dinner. But we struck a jackpot when we came across the Pheasant Cafe. Apparently more of a dance/clubbing venue later in the evening (it was a large complex), the restaurant was empty when we went in & the only guy working it was rather spookily named Brandon! He was super friendly & really interested in where we’ve come from (particularly Australia) & he cooked a mean prime rib.

bikes, food, friends, GPS, MTB, roadtrip, travel, USA

Bike cleaning, great food & a big ride

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Coronado was well worth a look, as the bridge over is not far from where we are staying in San Diego. We moseyed around late Friday morning, found some great ginger beer in a Scottish shop (not quite sure what that was doing there, but the accent was great) & generally looked over the harbour at the city while chatting with a very talkative gallery owner.

The afternoon had been long ago handed over to bike maintenance at Chip’s place. My bike was still filthy from its Utah & Colorado muddy adventures & just altogether greasy. So it was great to hang out with Chip (I met & rode with him a bit last time I was here, we’ve obviously kept in touch) & pull various parts of my bike to bits. A short trip to the LBS (local bike shop) later I had been converted to a Geax Saguaro on the rear (back to tubeless, the tire was so hard to get on the rim I don’t see it coming off any time soon).  After riding on it for a day, I’m not entirely won over – it didn’t seem to give as much climbing traction as the Crossmark.

All the time I was tinkering with my bike Chip & Dale (a coincidence I assure you) had been preparing a feast for us. Over the last two years I’d got the impression that the food served around here is fantastic, so I was pleased to see this great looking barbecue in action.

The homemade bread was delicious, the barbecued chicken & ribs absolutely fantastic and the homemade strudel so good Valerie managed to down a whole one. With some good wine & a lot of travel & bike stories it was definitely the most memorable meal of the trip so far. Thanks so much for having us in your home,, Chip & Dale – I can’t say much more, I don’t want it going to your heads.

It wasn’t a late night, however, as Chip had organised a big ride for early Saturday morning. With most of an hour’s driving out of the way, nineteen of us were on our bikes by 7.45. We were riding a big loop around the Cuyamacas – I’d done this same loop (or a similar one) with a few of the same people last time, but in reverse. I’m not quite sure how we ended up with so many people, but it was fun – even if it did end up breaking up into two or three smaller groups at times.

It was a nice morning for a ride, not too hot, clear & usually there was enough breeze to keep the annoying bugs away. We ended up doing 50km/31 miles & there was a fair bit of climbing involved (1200m). I mostly sat in the back group just hanging out & cruising along in the middle ring pretending I was slower than I am – was good fun. Although a long ride, it wasn’t too technical (some short sections up required a little pushing) so I wasn’t as tired by the end of it as I expected – hungry though. I think because I’d ridden it before I didn’t end taking a lot of photos, but here are a few.

Despite having been told by many that riding the loop anti-clockwise was better, I’m not so sure. The climbing was definitely easier, but the way we went yesterday had a big downhill on a fireroad – reading my post of last time I rode here, I was definitely more excited about the down sections going clockwise. Still, it was wonderful ride – the longest of the trip so far, so that’s got to be good for the legs.

I wasn’t long home & showered & I got a text from Andrea, so I spent the evening in PB (Pacific Beach) with her & some of her friends – very nice to catch up & see a familiar Kiwi face. It was great just to be driving back into the area; the scenery is always good in PB. It turned into a bigger night than I’ve had for quite sometime (which is not altogether difficult), so I’m not sure if I’m tired from the ride or not getting to bed (couch) until late. Best thing was the lack of mugging. But the sun is out now, so we should go & explore San Diego a little more.