Category Archives: Drinks

A long bike ride

August 8, 2013

This past weekend I really wanted to go on an adventure. I was hoping it would involve camping but Walker is back on his study schedule so he gave me all of Saturday but we had to be home that night.

Saturday morning we rode our bikes to the ferry downtown and hopped on the one to Bainbridge island. We visited their farmer’s market and got a few things to add to our picnic lunch and started to bike the 7 miles to Fay Bainbridge state park on the more northern part of the island. It was not an easy ride. The island is full of really big hills and I kept having to take breaks. We also stopped at a garage sale and an estate sale along the way. Finally we made it and after the ride we were hungry!

walker and jessica ohsoantsy.com

We explored a bit, almost took a nap, and then headed back south on our bikes. We stopped at a winery about half way back and then rode another 2 miles to another winery, brewery, and a distillery (they are all in the same business park) and did a bit more tasting. Then we biked back into town for dinner before heading back on the ferry. By the time we got to downtown Seattle my legs felt like rubber and we still had just under 2 miles to go but all uphill of course. Walker was encouraging and I was wanting to give up. I walked at one point and was like I can’t make it, but I got back on my bike and pushed on.

When I got home I was sweaty and dead tired but you know what?! I did it! I biked all day and I didn’t give up even when I wanted to so badly. It felt good in a sore kind of way. Ha! I would do it again, I think.

Walker’s 28th birthday!

July 3, 2013

Walker turned 28 last Wednesday. We didn’t really make any plans (that he knew of) since it was during the week so when he left for work I just said that we’d figure something out when he got home. Then I got to work because I had a lot to do!

I hung a curtain from the entry way into the living room so he couldn’t see that I had set up the tent where his birthday evening would take place. I got all the groceries I needed and baked and did a lot of prep work. I made his birthday surprise book and wrote all the clues and hid things around the house. I set up appetizers and cocktails in the tent and waited for Walker to get home.

^curtain for Walker to see when he walked in the door

^birthday surprise book. I got this “book” from atly because they are sponsoring Alt Summit in San Francisco (and I’m going!) with information about their company but I reused it as a clue book for Walker. It was perfect!

^inside the book. An overall explanation and 6 clues to start. I also had extra clues with some of the initial surprises that comprised round 2 of the clues. Some of them were to go to a certain place (the tent), some were little gifts, some were parts of the meal (beer).

^Walker finding the tent. ha!

^appetizers in the tent.

^clue reading. I had such a hard time not blurting out the answers. It’s possible I enjoyed it even more than he did.

^I hung little stars in the tent, you know since we were “camping”.

^course 1: arugula and spinach salad with beets, walnuts, balsamic soaked strawberries, with a grapefruit vinaigrette. course 2 was pizza with pesto and toppings.

^course 3 or the dessert course. strawberry shortcake, coconut chocolate ice cream, cupcake, homemade vegan peanut butter cup, and a chocolate bar. It might have been overkill but it was all really good! also the entire meal and all desserts were vegan.

^after all the food, games, and watching the sunset we ended in the tent listening to night sounds I captured last time I was home (featuring a whippoorwill, spring peepers-frogs, and various bugs).

I think it turned out pretty great!

Rhubarb-ade-a fun summer drink

June 19, 2013

I spent the last week and a half in Michigan with family and visiting friends (hence my absence from the blog-my apologies) and while there I had a drink called rhubarb-ade at a food co-op. Basically it’s a lemonade type drink but it’s made with rhubarb instead of lemons! It’s perfect for this time of year when people’s rhubarb plants are going wild. Lucky for me my mom’s rhubarb plants were growing like mad when I was there so we tested out a recipe and it was oh so good!

Rhubarb-ade recipe:

8 cups of chopped rhubard
4 cups of water
1 TBSP of lemon juice
1/2 cup of sweetener (I recommend agave, organic cane sugar, or maybe even maple syrup-I go light on the sweetener that way everyone can sweeten to their liking)

Put all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer until the rhubarb is very tender and can be mashed easily. You can let it cool a bit if you want but then use a fine mesh sieve to separate the solid rhubarb mash from the liquid. Add maybe 3 or 4 cups of cold water to the liquid depending on how diluted you want it (taste along the way). Then fill a glass with ice cubes and fill with rhubarb-ade!

Variation:

I also made a rhubarb-ade cocktail that was quite tasty but I could imagine a lot more recipes. I’d love to hear if you try any.

Fill a cup with ice, add a shot or a shot and a half of tequila, and fill the glass the rest of the way with rhubarb-ade.

Enjoy!

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