Rain at inopportune moments

One of the great things about being here is that we sleep with the windows open so we can hear the ocean (and also so it’s cold, which I like). Last night we also heard lots of rain and wind – there was quite a storm. So when I woke up at 6:30 and thought about doing the walk from Indian beach, it didn’t seem very appealing. So I got up and went to yoga instead, which was warm and dry and very enjoyable. We did a lot of plank, which was maybe less enjoyable than it could have been. Also I forgot to mention that yesterday with Claire she pointed out that my hips aren’t level in downward dog, which I could feel as soon as she said it and am trying to be more aware of.

When I got back to the house Dave was down on the beach on a conference call (organizational changes at work), so I moved laundry from place to place and then put together 4 exercises for a BodyFit class focused on strength rather than cardio, which I then did with Dreamwalker in the background. (Cross body single arm snatch, lunges with torso rotation, clean and press squats, and get-ups), Instead of the abs section I did the last two songs of Dreamwalker, which made for a nice workout. While I did that, Dave continued to work on travel plans.

Once I was done and showered we woke Tim up and headed down to Manzanita for lunch at Bread and Ocean, a sandwich shop that’s been a favorite place for several years, and has also been for sale for much of that time. Dave had checked on the web to see if they were still open, and they were. But when we got there we found that they’d gutted their menu and all of the interesting sandwiches (like the very yummy Banh Mi) were gone, and all they had was cold sandwiches and really mediocre soup. So that was disappointing. Then we’d planned to walk around town a bit but while we were eating lunch it started to pour down rain. We were undaunted – after all, we’re Oregonians and we had rain jackets. So we put them on and headed up the street towards the Neah Kah Nie Bistro which we’d seen on the way in to town. It’s at the very top end of the street and by the time we got there we were completely soaked, and the menu and place didn’t look that interesting. We headed back down but it was pretty miserable, so Dave and I stopped in at a store I like while Tim went down to get the car. I found two blue dresses, blue earrings, and pirate earrings, so the whole trip was worth it. Also we passed a new dinner restaurant called Blackbird that looks very interesting and has very good yelp reviews (unlike the bistro, which apparently smells funny). We’re booked for our remaining nights here, but we will try it next time.

So we came back to the house for a resting afternoon with a fire in the fireplace, which is a very nice way to spend a cool rainy afternoon. Also more laundry, which is not so nice but has to be done. Dave and Tim had some quality time on the couch working on the growler of coffee stout that Dave got at Bill’s a couple days ago. Then suddenly it was time to get ready to go to the dinner show at EVOO, which is celebrating its 10^th year this year. We’ve been going there since 2007, when Dave & I went for dinner and loved it so much that we took the boys to their omelet class later that week. Neither boy has ever wanted to go before, but this year Tim said he’d like to try it, so the three of us went. Tonight’s highlight was a deconstructed pasta carbonara with purple kale, preserved lemon, and a lot of caramelized garlic and shallots. It had wonderful flavors and textures, and all of us chose it as our favorite course. A new thing is that you can now choose a beer pairing instead of the standard wine pairing, which I didn’t know when I made the reservation or Dave probably would have done it. For Tim they poured Vignette soda, which is grape soda made out of real wine grapes that is very flavorful and not too sweet. So while we were drinking Boedecker pinot noir, he was drinking pinot noir soda. The other thing I love about EVOO is that they always make a nut or seed brittle to go with dessert. Tonight it was almond; my favorite was when they made it with popcorn. I’m not a big fan of brittle generally, but I’m completely addicted to the fresh stuff.

The thing about the dinner show is that it says it is 3 hours, but it’s always closer to 4, so it was 10:00 by the time we got home. And it was pouring down rain when we left the restaurant, so we ended up getting pretty wet as we ran to the car which was parked in the lot behind the Coaster. But other than that it was a very good day, except we forgot to take pictures. So I’ve put in some pictures from earlier in the week… or before.