gravy and meatballs at christopher's house

dateline: san anselmo, california


here's the happy ending to a relaxing day off on the road spent cooking a little italian food for my hosts. left to right it's christopher smith, his mom mary lou, wife sabrina and son matthew...

how did we get here?  well, first off i gathered the ingredients for the gravy...

1 28 oz can crushed tomato

1/2 cup dry red wine (at least)

1/2 cup water

1 tsp oregano (or so)

3 TBS chopped parsley

1/2 tsp basil (or so)

4 cloves garlic (minced)

1/2 cop chopped onion

1 large piece salt pork (1 pkg)

3/4 tsp salt

3 TBS grated Parmesan

1/4 tsp ground pepper

1/4 - 1/2 tsp sugar (to taste)

1 bay leaf

start by browning the salt pork in 2 TBS good olive oil

add the onion and cook over medium heat til soft, then add the garlic...cook til it get's nice and aromatic (careful, don't burn it!), then add the rest of the ingredients...bring to a near boil then set it to simmer on low for as long as you can, at least a couple of hours...3 or 4 is better...

now relax, enjoy the aromas....watch the sunset reflected in the pool...

have a little wine...

OK!  time to make the meatballs.  again, gather the ingredients...

1 lb ground beef
1/2 lb ground pork
1 1/2 cups torn Italian bread (no crust)
1/4 cup milk 
2 eggs 
3 TBS chopped parsley
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper
3 TBS grated Parmesan 

combine bread and milk in a large bowl. let stand for 5 minutes. add ground

beef, ground pork, eggs, 3 TBS parsley, 3 TBS Parmesan, the 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper.  blend well.  form into the meatball size of your choice.  

it's all in the fingertips...

now, just brown the meatballs in a little olive oil in a skillet, add them to the gravy (with some browned hot italian sausage links if you like)...cook for another half hour or three, discard the salt pork, fix your favorite pasta...pour some more wine and, TA DA!...

mmmmmmmmm........

listening to michael hedges breakfast in the field

what in the sam hill?....

dateline:  maryhill, oregon


well, for starters, as much as we'd like him to be, sam is NOT the origin of the saying.  he was, however, one interesting cat...

sam was the son of a civil war era abolitionist physician.  after attending harvard, he became a successful lawyer and ultimately became obsessed with building roads in the northwest.  he built what was basically a versailles-like home on a bluff overlooking the columbia river gorge, naming it after his daughter, mary.  his wife apparently wasn't too enamored of the northwestern weather so sam, along with queen marie of rumania, a famous dancer named loie fuller and san francisco sugar heiress alma de bretteville spreckels turned the property into the art museum it is today.  (for the longer story, and there's a lot more, click here)

when you first pull into the grounds you encounter this beautiful sculpture garden.  from the warning signs, ("be careful, they bite!"), i gather that there are quite a few peacocks  wandering the premises in the warmer weather.  didn't see any, although the signs did remind me that i was once chased around the grounds of an inn in vermont by a couple of pissed off geese....anyway, on to the sculptures...

next time:  turns out sam liked to collect these extraordinary chess sets from around the world and was also good buddies with auguste rodin.......not to mention the 3/4 size replica of stonehenge...

listening to michael troy mill town boy

what a day!

dateline: columbia river gorge


this is how the day ended...tune in tomorrow for pictures from the maryville museum and the stonehenge monument...i'd post the photos now but there's a jacuzzi in my hotel room and i'm whipped...

listening to jim reilley the return of buddy cruel

WHAT THE...???

dateline: wenatchee, washington


what i've learned about wenatchee:


they like flying cars here

and they have some very interesting signs

and apparently the beatles played here last night at the local eagles aire...wait, what???  oh, a tribute band...still, the sign was rather startling...oh, how the mighty have fallen...at least they were billed above the prime rib dinner...

oh, and i survived another birthday on the road...

listening to the  remastered beatles revolver...only seems right...

round and round and round we go...

dateline: highway 99 north to portland


some days start with a field of pumpkins...

then you drive some more and come upon albany, oregon and a sign for the carousel museum.  when i was a kid, there was a beautifully restored italian carousel at roger williams park in providence.  i loved it, the sounds, the lights, the ornately carved animals...didn't care much for the horses that went up and down...


turns out there is a project going on in albany to build a victorian carousel.  it's an all volunteer project with carvers and painters and sanders and fundraisers all donating their time.  it's called "the albany brass ring carousel and museum"... too cool!

here's a model of the finished carousel...projected finish date around 2015...

the new carousel is being built around a mechanism from 1909 built by a famous carousel maker named william dentzel...supposedly the last one he made.  it was donated to the project by the dentzel family.

of course they will need music

some of the carvings in progress

my favorite...the more ornate carvings are on the right side of the animals, the side facing out...

you can see the laminated pieces of wood these figures start with on this soon to be 

dragon...that's the carver's hand...these folks LOVE what they're doing!

the museum part had carousel figures from the 19th century

here's a link to the museum's web site ~ www.albanybrassring.com

listening to jimmy webb ~ just across the river

over the river and through...the parking lot

decided to walk over the bridge into town...a little exercise, a little view....told
the desk clerk i was waiting to walk over til the weather was nice.  "this
is the nice weather."  oh.

and on the other side on the docks, the hatch of the good ship "sea wynd"...

on halloween there was this kid...he was having a blast. iIt was like he had reached the age where he finally understood the IMPLICATION of this whole costume/trick or treat/candy thing...he was laughing and thanking everyone on the street...i think, thanking them for INVENTING this thing...."WOW, who came up with THIS idea?"

listening to aimee mann ~ @#%&*! smilers