Rain, rain, go away!

It has been so wet in Portland this past week. By Friday we had already surpassed the average rainfall for the month of June (and for those of you not good with the calendar, Friday was the 4th!). I am tired of riding my bike in the rain - tired of gardening in the rain - tired of looking outside and seeing gray skies with nothing but RAIN!

Yesterday we got a brief break from the rain - and it was glorious! Thor and I got up bright and early (that would be 6 a.m. on a Saturday) and headed out to Mt. Hood to go mtn.biking with some friends. We rode 8-Mile, Knebel Springs and Dog River trail and they were all in PERFECT condition! No mud at all, and none of the super fine dust you get later in the summer as the trails dry out. The other people we rode with had to leave early to head back to Portland, so Thor & I puttered down to Hood River to hang out for awhile and just have a lazy afternoon. We stopped into Double Mountain Brewery for lunch (of course - since they make the best pizza ever!), and then puttered up and down the street poking into various shops - something Thor & I haven't done in ages. It felt like it was about 80 degrees, and it was soooo welcome after the dreary cold weather we have been having.

This morning we woke up to pouring rain, again. The weather report for today called for a 'chance of showers' - Thor and I have decided it should have read something more like 'Deluges of biblical proportions likely.' It has been nice - because we ended up having a lazy morning and going out to breakfast instead of getting up to go mtn. biking again, but - enough with the rain.

Thor and I were going to attempt something this weekend that we haven't done since college - 3 parties in 3 nights. Annnnnd - the verdict is that our 30's (or in my case, almost 30's) caught up with us and we only made 2 out of 3 and just couldn't motivate for a Sunday evening bbq in the rain. Laundry, work week lunch prep, and general cleaning tugged at us and we just felt like we needed an evening at home to get caught up.

I just wrapped up making a batch of granola - yum! We used to eat this growing up all the time - and it's basically just a bit batch of toasted ingredients:

• Oats
• Slivered Almonds
• Chopped Pecans
• Pepitas
• Sunflower Seeds
• Sesame Seeds
• Unsweetened Coconut
• Flax Seed Meal
• Brown Sugar
• Cinnamon

I usually toast up the oats first in a deep saucepan - then pour them into a bowl. Then I tackle the nuts, pepitas and sunflower seeds until the pepitas are popping. At that point I mix the oats back in and then add the coconut, sesame seeds and flax seed meal (since they all need less time to toast). Once everything is nice and toasted I toss in the brown sugar and cinnamon to mix in and coat everything - then the granola has just a touch of sweetness to it.