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We busted out a bunch of new and different recipes and a ton of landscaping the past two weeks. We started with kimchi miso ramen.

We decided to stay home over the long weekend and tackle a project we’ve been putting off for a while. The front yard. The grass was full of weeds, ugly, and used lots of water. It had to go. This is what the yard looked like at the beginning of Memorial Day weekend.

The Bigs and I removed the sod by hand. Not fun, not efficient, and very hard.

At some point, I decided my skills would be better put to use making refreshing beverages for The Bigs as they worked away in the heat. I made blueberry basil limeade.

Refreshed, The Bigs were able to finish the sod and unload 4.5 yards of dirt.

We all looked like coalminers when we were done. For example.

There is no rest for The Emmett, so after a hard day of landscape, I made one pot shrimp piccata.

Day 2. We had a large pile of dirt and all the landscape places with rock were closed…

except one in the middle of nowhere. We bought some rocks. It seems weird to buy rocks but they had them and we needed them, so there you are.

Lifting all those rocks wasn’t enough physical activity, so we went out for a bike ride. We rode the Twin Bridges loop. It is a ~30 mile ride from Bend to Tumalo and back.

For dinner, Dad made Pork Belly Okonomiyaki (okonomiyaki is a savory Japanese pancake that roughly translates to “grilled how you like it”)

On Tuesday, it was back to school. I got a new road bike from the Horner Cycling crew and I just wanted to try it out, but it was my night to make dinner. I was very much the grumpy gourmet while preparing my fish taco dinner.

When the weekend rolled around again, The Bigs were ready to finish the yard. We got more rocks and made a wall.

We got a cool tree. A little gem spruce:

We are almost done. We still need to plant a bit more and mulch. But for now. Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Dad made a Shrimp Okonomiyaki after all this hard work.

Last weekend, we went for a road ride near Madras. It was beautiful:

That night, I made pesto tortellini and a caprese salad for dinner:

Sunday, of course, was the Day of the Mother. I made an awesome banner to celebrate:

The Mother requested cottage cheese pancakes for breakfast:

and pizza for dinner (this is just one of four):

The Mother made some “ice cream” for desert. It had silken tofu and a lot of nuts in it, but it was delicious:

We filled our planters with rosemary plants from Costco this year:

I’ve been really into road biking lately, Check out my drawing of Tadej Pogacar:

This weekend was the Pole Pedal Paddle race. The mountain closed very early this year, so the ski legs (alpine and Nordic) were replaced with two additional running legs. To top it off, following a week of 80+ degree weather, it SNOWED on race day! Not cool (cold, but not cool)!

Dad did the first leg, a running loop part way up the mountain. Here we are at the hand off:

I did the second leg, a run from West Village Lodge to Sunrise Lodge:

I handed off to Dad, who rode his bike to town, then tagged me to start yet another run. This one along the river. I was fast:

After my run, Dad did the paddle board leg, followed by a sprint to the finish:

We got mugs for finishing in the top three in our category:

And we won the Family Pairs category, so we got a really nice bag full of prizes and gift cards:

Papa and Yaya were in town for the weekend. On Friday, we spent some time in town, and played mini-golf and went to the arcade. They watched the race on Saturday, and on Sunday we went to Shevlin Park:

Peterson Rock Garden:

and the alpaca farm:

followed by dinner at the Yacht Club:

I’ve been pretty busy biking and cooking.

Last week, for dinner, I made shrimp bowls. Rice, avocado, watermelon radish, shrimp, and an Asian sauce.

The Mother went to another one of her ‘art’ classes. This time she made a silk scarf dyed with botanical dyes. She used marigolds and logwood bark.

I’ve been doing a lot of biking – both road and mountain. I’m getting fast and I never get tired. The Mother is getting used to this view.

My buddy Jameson B, not to be confused with Jameson G, had his birthday party at BMX park. AWESOME.

The Mother made lemon raspberry pancakes with raspberry compote for breakfast last Sunday. The secret ingredient? Cottage cheese. At least it wasn’t kale.

I demanded a haircut this week. I was starting to look like a Muppet. I went to a new barbershop. They were not impressed with my previous haircut.

Dad made Super Savory Mushroom Bacon Dashi Spaghetti for dinner last Sunday. The Bigs loved it. I thought it was OK. Still not a fan of mushrooms.

MBSEF had its annual award ceremony this past Friday. I won the Sportsmanship Award. My prize? A mug. The Mother is not pleased – she was pleased about my sportsmanship, but not the mug. So many mugs. So little cabinet space.

This weekend both days were 70+ and beautiful. On Saturday we did an awesome mountain bike ride with lots and lots of climbing.

When we got home, I made Chicken Marbella for dinner (chicken, capers, olives, dates, oregano, wine, and pomegranate molasses)…

and a caprese salad.

The Mother made za’atar bread. I did not like it – turmeric, oregano, and feta. No thank you.

On Sunday we rode up McKenzie Pass. It is still closed to cars and freshly paved, so it makes for a really nice ride. When I was little, The Bigs called it the Castle of Dragons ride…because there is a cool observatory at the top that looks like it could be inhabited by dragons…and they thought I needed encouragement to get to the top. I am too big for that now…I mean shoot, I was passing adults on the way up.

Today, the Mother made a loaf of spelt bread.

And, I made cheesy polenta bars.

The Mother made za’atar turkey meatballs for dinner. They were okay.

What was good about the meal? It was our first dinner on the back deck!

It’s winter here and it’s spring. I roll with it. Sometimes I bike. Sometimes I ski.

I’ve been doing lots of road biking.

Some cooking. I made NY strip steaks using a sous vide and prepared a caprese side salad to go along with it.

Here is the steak prior to being put in the sous vide.

The caprese salad.

The final, delicious meal.

The Mother made Italian beans and kale. Kale. Always kale.

I took matters into my own hands and made another meal (kaleless). This time I made manchego and harissa omelettes. I grumbled a good bit while preparing this…so The Bigs have taken to calling me the Grumpy Gourmet and threatening to buy me an apron that says ‘Kiss The Cook’. They think they are funny. They are not.

I had a cross country ski camp this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. On Saturday afternoon we got to roller ski! So cool.

Much to The Mother’s annoyance, I keep growing. Which means I needed yet another new bike. It came this week. Awesome.

The Bigs also made Artichoke and Anchovy Pasta. I am going to have character in spades growing up with these people.

The Mother also made pita. They, I liked.

We had a few days off from skiing over spring break, so we headed to the Oregon Outback to camp and soak at Summer Lake Hot Springs:

Soaking in one of the pools:

Followed by a cold plunge. Water in the tubs was maybe 40 degrees, but I don’t think it was that warm:

………30 seconds later.

Reading in the camper.

At the end of spring break, I had the Buddy Werner race. It is three-day race for U-12s., and has one day of Skillsquest, one day of GS, and a day of slalom. Skillsquest is basically doing drills while being judged.

One Skillsquest drill is the Pole Jumpers. You have to jump over a series of poles without hitting any of them:

After Skillsquest on Friday, the team went to a food truck pod that also has pickleball courts:

I had a Detroit-style pizza, The Gabbagool:

Here I am after the G.S. race on Saturday with my friend Easton.

I’ll be doing some road biking this spring with the Horner Cycling Foundation. They gave me a road bike to use – for free!. This was my first time ever on a road bike:

First day was in the rain, and one of my shifters didn’t work. We got the shifter working, and the next day was warm and sunny. You can see the jersey and shorts they gave me – also free!

This last weekend, we all did the Cascade Crest Nordic Race at the Nordic Center. I was the one and only 5K competitor. I raced the clock though and my 5K time was less than half The Mother’s 10K time…just saying…

Dad finishing the 20K:

The Easter bunny has good taste.

After an easter egg hunt at home this morning, we headed up to the mountain for some skiing and another egg hunt at the Nordic center. They also hid Yeti mugs. I got one. Hunting for eggs and mugs:

The mug. Awesome.

Some things The Bigs made recently.

Chocolate bark.

New focaccia recipe. It is extraordinary:

Also very good, but much too expensive ($13 for a 4 oz sausage?), was the ‘nduja with beans and greens. (‘Nduja (pronounced en-DOO-ya) is a spicy, spreadable cured pork sausage originating from Calabria, Italy.)

For Easter dinner we had:

Freekah salad with pickled onions, feta, and herbs, some air-fryed asparagus, and brisket with the world famous focaccia.

‘Healthy’ carrot cake for The Bigs, solid dark chocolate bunny for me.

Last weekend brought more crazy weather. My race was delayed because the lifts could not run because of wind. It was a bit icy over night as well.

While waiting for the lifts to start turning, MBSEF gave out the overall awards. This was a little strange because we had not done the last race yet…so how could they give the overall award with knowing how we would do in the final race? Also, the awards were inside, so it was crowded, hot, and no one could hear. They gave me third. More on this in a bit. I also won the Mayor of Arc City award for my excellent carving skills.

The Bigs drive by this billboard every day. It gives them anxiety.

I really enjoy board games (Monopoly anyone?). The Mother does not. Too much sitting still…Nan gene? We compromise and play backgammon. I usually win.

It is spring break, so I pace around the house a lot complaining of being bored. The Bigs pace around the house a lot too…but they complain about global warming and apocolypses – it has been in the 70s all week. That’s about 20 degrees warmer than it should be and we are looking at the SHORTEST ski season we have ever had. Anyway, Dad took me mountain biking because it was so nice out and because I NEEDED TO GET OUT OF THE HOUSE. I wore my cool new shirt from Stio (The Mother cannot understand why STIO has not asked me to be a model for their kids line yet).

In my boredom, I also built a proximity sensor and speed gun. Many of you received the complementary presentation I created to go along with my circuitry and programming wizardry. I wonder – how many of you (besides Uncle Chris, of course) picked up on my War Games references?

This week, they gave out the awards for our last race. I placed 2nd, which I believe would have moved me up in the overall standings, but, as you’ll remember, they already gave the overall award…sigh.

I’m in the middle of a four-day spring-break training camp. The first two days were devoted to teaching us to shin slalom gates. I’m getting the hang of it:

In honor of St Patrick’s Day, we made Irish food all week using recipes we found at NY Times Cooking and the ATK app. We kicked things off with corned beef and fried cabbage (contains bacon – oh, and The Mother thought she could sneak some kale in too, I noticed).

Up next. Boxty. From the NY TIMES: “Boxty, breadlike potato pancakes that originated in Ireland as early as the late 18th century, were created as a resourceful way to transform less-than-stellar potatoes into a hearty side dish. “

They were supposed to be topped with sour cream, smoked salmon, and pickled onions but SOMEONE forgot to pickle the onions, so we threw some pepperoncini on. Overall…yum.

Up next, Guinness Irish Stew with Horseradish Cream…would have been more enjoyable had it not been 70 outside…

For this one, I made an Irish Soda Bread…perfect from sopping up the stew!

With our corned beef leftovers we made reubens and had some NA Guinness.

We rounded things out with a Dublin Coddle (sausage and potatoes)

Dad also made skillet poached cod with spinach (kale) and butter beans. Not Irish, but yummy.

I’ve been doing a lot of skiing lately. Here I am in my super fast race suit:

While I was training up on the mountain on Saturday, Mom and Dad went to the Nordic Center for a skiathlon race – one lap of classic, switch skis, one lap of skate. It was way, way too warm, almost 60 degrees! It’s like May skiing in March. Not okay. Here’s Mom, finishing up her race:

We made some calamari in the air fryer this week. It came from Town Dock out of Point Judith, RI. It was delicious:

We have made some good new dishes lately, though most have not been terribly photogenic. Winter citrus salad:

Enchilada casserole:

Smashed lamb kebab with tzatziki and Brussels sprouts salad:

Savory cheddar apple muffins:

I keep adding to my medal hanger. Third in the GS this time.

February 14 is Valentine’s Day but more importantly, it is my half birthday! We celebrated with an Emmett approved meal. Caprese salad and heart shaped and colored raviolis (Costco is amazing) with truffle oil sauce and shaved Parmesan.

We are finally getting snow on a regular basis. It is still thin, but conditions are improving.

Let’s be honest. I am a complete and utter Olympics couch potato. I watch it all….but I’m still getting things done. Like making this amazing lunch for The Bigs.

Cleaning my room without being asked.

And, constructing.

After spending some time on the library’s website, I found this book, put it on hold, and asked The Mother to pick it up for me.

I had it for a day or two and then I started disappearing to the garage in the afternoons and constructing.

After several days of hard work and a few setbacks…I built a very successful mousetrap race car with NO help from The Bigs…(OK, maybe Dad drove me to the hardware store, but can I help it if they won’t let me drive?! And, the long lecture from The Mother about how the Wright brothers had a lot of failures before flying was really no help at all).

I built an aptly named race track.

And performed testing of my design…Nan, look…you can use paper towels for something other than cleaning…a crash barrier!

I’ve been recording my testing results.

The snow continued this weekend. I trained GS on Saturday…and The Bigs demoed telemark skis in fresh powder.

And, inspired by Klaebo’s amazing Olympic performance…I busted out about a major cross country day on Sunday. Perhaps I’ll give him a run for his money in 2034 (2030 possibly). I definitely dropped The Mother but that’s not much of an accomplishment :). Don’t I look the part?!

This week, The Mother made krispy rice peanut butter bars,

labneh balls,

and trail mix popcorn.

Award ceremony from last week’s race, I got fourth.

Hear is my medal.

Here is my medal rack, it’s getting full.

This is me tuning my skis for an epic day of cliff jumping/classic skiing.

Race day, eating breakfast in the camper.

Mom took this picture I think that she was trying to capture the amount of snow coming down.(no offence but she failed) ,HA HA HA. https://www.mtbachelor.com/

Here’s some food. White beans and kale with sausage:

Lemon chia muffins:

Cheesy egg bites with sausage and kale:

It has been in the 40s and 50s at the mountain. With gorgeous sunrises and sunsets.

We try to enjoy the warm, sunny days and beauty, but this is starting to get troubling.

While there isn’t much snow, what there is, is very good for training. I’ve had a lot of great practice days this month and we finally had a race this weekend. I was a little uncomfortable wearing a race suit…but my baggy jacket and ski pants are not aerodynamic.

It was a slalom race. I had two solid runs.

The Bigs have new cookbooks. Some things they made include: liege waffles (yum),

Italian sausages with kale and farro pilaf (hmm),

Hassan’s easy eggs with za’atar and lemon (so good, thank you Auntie Cheryl for Falastin),

winter tabbouleh with a blood orange dressing (this one was all Bigs),

and braised greens and beans (why did Dad buy Mom a cookbook called ‘Food for Life’? Sigh).

I asked The Bigs to take me for sushi, I’ve never had it before, so we went this week after ski practice. We used a gift card from Uncle Martin and went to Mio Sushi. We had fried octopus balls

and a lot of different rolls and nigiri. It was OK but I think I prefer the food trucks at the Yacht Club or Podskis.