Oopsie Bread

I think this "bread" recipe must have been discovered by accident.  That would explain how it got it's fairly descriptive name!  When Rich came across the recipe on the internet, I knew I HAD to try it.  I like bread and, since we no longer eat grains, the idea of having some was too tempting not to try!  I asked him what the ingredients were and I lost all hope that I was going to have bread:  eggs, cream cheese, and baking powder.  There is just no way that is going to make bread!  However, I felt like I should try it.  They did have some pictures of bread to go with the recipe, after all.

First, I gathered everything together that I needed.  It wasn't much!

 Step one was to separate the eggs.  I realized that with that particular list of ingredients, air was probably going to play a big part in this "bread"...and I was right!

(A little disappointed that the third yolk broke...I was doing so well!)

Next, I whipped the egg whites.  The directions stated that I would know they were stiff enough if I could turn the bowl over without having them move.  I HAD to try that!

It worked!  nothing fell out!  No, that's not a camera trick! :)

After having success with the egg whites, I had to thoroughly mix the egg yolks, cream cheese, and baking powder!  I almost forgot the baking powder!  Since I didn't include it in the picture where I gathered all the ingredients...it had to take a solo shot!

Look at that artistic trickle of baking powder falling into the bowl... ;)  

Now we're getting somewhere!

Last is the most confusing part.  I'm going to take the egg whites and fold them into the other mixture, keeping the air in the eggs....and then that mess is going to turn into bread?!  Unbelievable.  

It was surprisingly difficult to keep the air in the eggs AND make it mix together.  I also didn't have any idea what it was supposed to look like or how thoroughly mixed it should be.  So I guessed!  I ladled it out onto the baking tray and smirked my way over to the couch to wait my 25 minutes and pronounce this a ridiculous (and failed!) experiment.

But, lo and behold!  I pulled it out and they were browned on top and solid all the way through.  Airy and light, but dry and I thought that was a good sign.  I put some butter on top (that Kerrygold Irish butter in the first picture...the best I've ever had!) and it's delicious!  Would I call it bread?  I'm not sure.  It's bread-like, very fluffy, with a slight egg flavor (naturally).  The article suggested that it could be used for strawberry shortcake.  Since we were having guests for dinner, I figured I'd better whip some cream and see how it tasted spread on top.  You know what?  Delicious!  

Oopsie bread = success!

The Hills are Alive...with black-tailed deer.

About three weeks ago, Rich and I drove out to the Olympic Mountains to Hurricane Ridge.  We were so excited to get our National Park pass, which we did at the Visitor's Center before driving into the park, and head up to the views at the top.  Rich had never been before.  It's not a place we can go very often between the long-ish car ride and the fact that the dogs aren't allowed beyond the parking area.  It's not open in the winter due to snow and so, during the short season that it is open, it would be too hot to leave them in the car.  Anyway, we started up the mountain and pulled off into a scenic viewpoint only to have the battery light come on.  Hmmm..  Rich thought maybe it came on because he reversed into the parking spot and it got jarred or something.  Sounded good to me, so we headed back out.  As soon as we got out into the road, the light came back on.  Darn it!  Rich said we had to turn around because it could be the alternator.  Sure enough, it was, and, after a harrowing ride towards home, hoping that the car wouldn't break down (it did) or be expensive to repair (it was).

Last Sunday, we had friends visiting from Massachusetts.  We really thought they would enjoy the expansive mountain views.  Rich still wanted to see them as well!  So, we struck out in a borrowed car (even though our alternator is now in tip top condition!).  The weather report was for partly cloudy skies.  As is often the case, that report wasn't even close to accurate as we arrived in fog as thick as pea soup.  It was so thick that it was an adventure to walk from the car to the visitor's center!  Luckily, we had a picnic and an educational movie to watch to entertain us for a little while before the somewhat harrowing ride down through the fog.

And so, today, July 19th, 2012, we tried for the third (and possibly final!) time, with Rich proclaiming that if we weren't successful today, he would just accept the fact that his bad luck would forever keep him from the summit.  The dogs went back to the dog sitter and we headed out.  About twenty minutes before the park, Rich looked at me and said "Wait, do we have the park pass?"  NO!  After a fleeting moment of panic, I assured him that military gets in for free.  Surely they wouldn't turn us away!  Actually, they would turn us away.  We lucked out and the nice park ranger took pity on us but she said we were naughty and we better have it next time (we will!).  And so began our ascent up the beautiful, windy road into the mountains.  My eyes were peeled for mountain goats.  We had learned from the educational video that, though mountain goats did not naturally live in the Olympics, at some point someone introduced them and there were, indeed, goats in them thar hills.  I quickly realized that scanning the steep cliffs next to the car with super-strong binoculars, while driving around a curvy terrain was a TERRIBLE idea!  Car sick city!  So, if there were goats on the way up, we didn't see them.  We were lucky, though, because it was mostly a clear day and we did get to see the views, finally.

After a stop at the restroom, we headed out into the meadow.  Our first greeter was a charming black-tailed deer that willingly posed for a picture with Rich, standing only about five feet away from him.

Rich and Bambi.

The park requires that you stay on the paved trails through the meadow and up into the hills in order to protect the plant life.  As we wandered around, the deer walked among us and the many other visitors, as though they were the hosts.  At first I snapped a bunch of pictures of them.  Then I realized that if I continued to show how close the deer were, I wouldn't have any pictures of anything else!

It's fun to see/touch/walk through snow in July while wearing just t-shirts!

Anyway, so there were some deer.  As we drove in, before I realized binocs and driving don't work well together, I had seen some hikers along what looked like a narrow ridge.  Soon, we too found ourselves heading up this narrow ridge.  The views were spectacular!

In one direction, the Olympics.  Another direction, far off on the horizon, the Cascades.  And, through the binoculars and some haze, Victoria BC AND (we believe, based on the schedule it follows) the Rhapsody of the Seas!  That was too far away to take pictures but was very exciting to discover!

The Olympics:

The Cascades:

You'll have to enlarge this or look closely to see the "floating" mountains.

A helpful sign to identify what I'm seeing!

My fellow hiker!

Here are a few shots of the trail we followed.  I'm guessing it won't show just how steep, narrow, or ridge-like it was in real life.  Exciting!

Looking up the ridge.

And to the side...

Looking back at the beginning (Visitors Center way far off)

The middle of the ridge trail.

The video we watched at the visitor's center last weekend told us about the plant and animal species that we would see on the mountain and how they adapt from their normal form into something that can survive the conditions on top of a mountain.  The only one I knew by name was Queen Anne's Lace and it had the thickest stem I've ever seen!  Since I didn't know the others, I took the pictures of the signs so I can try to remember what I saw.

Oh, I recognized the phlox too.  It seems more sparse than the phlox we had in our yard growing up.  

Check out that stem!

I didn't get much of the plant in this one, it's next to the lower left corner of the sign.

This is my favorite.

Broadleaf Lupine.

Finally, we headed back to the visitor's center.  I had to wait for Rich for a few minutes and I ran across a ranger giving a talk on the mountain goats.  Apparently they were so plentiful in 1985, that the local towns and the rangers had to create a plan of action.  They decided to do live capture over the next three years and relocate as many as possible.  In the fourth year, they would shoot the rest.  Year one went well with a very low mortality rate in capture and they caught the 88 that they had hoped for.  The goal in year two was 100 but they only caught 80 (I think they already got the easy ones!).  By the third year, the goats were very hard to catch.  Helicopters were used to get into tricky places and the mortality rate was higher (20% vs. the 5% rate of the two previous years). When the fourth year came, the animal conservationists protested the shooting.  The plan conservationists protested NOT shooting them.  After several years of meetings with various groups and writing of plan after plan, they decided in 1995 to move forward with the shooting.  However, the ranger said that not even one goat has been shot because when it came right down to it, people couldn't go through with it.  In the past few years, the population has been on the rise and two years ago (I remember reading this when it happened) for the first time ever, a mountain goat gored a human on the trail that we had just walked (glad I heard about that AFTER the walk!).  Anyway, she said that you can often see them in the hills.  Despite our best work (and a possible glimpse I caught of one...which I lost because I dropped the binoculars while cheering and yelling and wasn't able to find again) we are still on the hunt to see these goats.  We did have an ok view of Mount Baker and the spit, although not as clear as the first visit I made.  The pictures aren't great but this was our final view on the descent.

Enlarge this one and you won't mistake Mount Baker's peak for a cloud...probably.

Finally we headed back to Miss Barks Alot's dog sitting and picked up one of these:

And one of these:

We sure do love those dog sitter days!

Day 7- Victoria, British Columbia

Day 7- Victoria, British Columbia

We both agree that we have really enjoyed this cruise, that we are feeling really relaxed, and really ready to go home.  It was nice to wake up and see our own Olympic Mountains while we ate breakfast this morning and know that we could do whatever we wanted in Victoria but take a ferry up here another time and do something else.  Here are the views from the ship.

A little lighthouse at the end of a long pier with the Olympics in the background.

The Olympics (which I was glad to see!)

There are some famous gardens that I want to see at some point but Rich had been in downtown Victoria when he came up with the Navy Band and wanted to show me how pretty the city was.  So, we took about a forty minute walk, mostly along the harbor into the city. 

First views of the city as we walked into town next to the harbor.

Loving that sky!

Once there, we decided to go to the Royal British Museum.  I wasn’t feeling very well and it was on the expensive side so we decided to skip the exhibits and see an IMAX movie about the Canadian Pacific Railroad.  It was an interesting mix of scenery shot from helicopters to give you the IMAX experience of feeling like you were flying along (you can’t see the helicopter but you feel like you are in one), shots from cameras on the train so you can feel like you are rushing along, and the history of the building of the railroad.  It was interesting to see how much trouble they had finding a pass through the Rocky Mountains and, in fact, the most recent improvements were made as late as the 1990s because there was such rugged, steep terrain to get through.  On our way to the museum, we passed the famous Empress Hotel where you can have high tea (for a hefty price!) and the Parliament building.

The Empress.

Parliament (and our heads)

The museum.

I was feeling better after the movie and we headed out to an Irish Pub that Rich had been to in order to get some lunch.  It was an interesting area because we were in Canada, in a city that is heavily influenced by England, on a street where all the street musicians were playing Irish music and there were Irish pubs on every corner.  Where were we again?  Anyway, we had some clam chowder and seltzer and felt pretty refreshed.  We decided to try some gelato for the first time as well.  Now, it was a hot, sunny day and we each ordered two scoops in a dish.  If I had known it was a dish from a dollhouse, I would have either gotten a cone or only had one scoop!  The spoon was also dollhouse sized and you couldn’t eat it fast enough to keep from making a mess.  We realized simultaneously as we walked down the street that we had a real problem.  Somehow, Rich avoided wearing the ice cream on anything except his hands.  I, of course, dribbled it all down my shirt AND all over my hands.  It was very sticky but also delicious!  And we now understand that gelato is meant to be eaten in a cone and one scoop at a time!

(There are obviously no pictures of the gelato incident...I was WAY too sticky!)

Next we walked down to the harbor and saw the whale watch ships, the harbor tour ships, and the very cute water taxis.  In fact, they were so cute that we decided to take one part of the way back to our ship.  It was fun to be down right next to the water after having spent the whole week towering above it!  We landed in a place called Fisherman’s Wharf which had some interesting floating houses that I believe people were renting (or perhaps living in!) along with some more little shops.  We finished our sunny, beautiful day walking back to the ship.

We took the yellow cab on the left.

Rich enjoying the cab ride.

Floating houses at Fisherman's Wharf.

A better view of the floating houses.

A "paddle through" window at a little sandwich shop.

The wharf from the street.

We spent some time reading and watching the boat pull out in our favorite chairs in the lounge.  As we were leaving to go down to dinner, Rich said “Is this the last time we’re going to be up here?”  Oh.  It was.  Then we went down and had our last dinner with our favorite waiter (who had saved “our” table and watched our stuff so we could get our food at the same time and eat together) and then sat in the pool area for the last time (although a noisy bunch of other people had taken our table and proceeded to be noisy for most of the evening) and played Phase 10…which I won!!  After reading for a while, we went down and packed everything up and went to bed. 

In case you can't see it, that is a pedi-cab selling Tilly Hats!

Evening reading and Phase 10 spot with the indoor pool right behind me, sloshing around and sounding just like ocean waves breaking.

It’s sad not to have a great cruise vacation to look forward to anymore but we are both glad to be going home.  We miss the dogs and our bed (the cruise bed wasn’t very comfortable) and it’s always nice to get back to our own space.  However, it was a cruise that we enjoyed so much that we would like to do again in the future.  Any takers?