Too Good Not to Share...

When we were up in Squamish this summer we found the most amazing crackers:  Lesley Stowe's Raincoast Crisps - Cranberry Hazelnut.  We hadn't seen them in the States so we bought like 7 boxes to bring home...we liked them that much.  After ringing them up at the register we realized that they were quite expensive crackers and so we needed to pace ourselves.  When we got back home we were surprised to find them at Whole Foods, and even more surprised that they were $9.99 a box!!!  I just cannot quite justify a $10 box of crackers.  I decided I would try and find a recipe and make crackers similar to these to feed the cravings.  Luckily, I was able to hunt down a recipe that is pretty darn close!  I made them for the first time this morning and mmmmmmmm are they delicious.  They are great for appetizers or any time.  Tommy and I even bring them with us cragging.  Plain goat cheese is such the perfect complement. Here's the recipe I found online.  They're just too good not to share.  Enjoy!!

****I used 5- 3/4"x3" pans, and baked everything at the original temperatures, and on the second bake I ended up baking them for about 15 minutes on each side.  I also only cut up and baked 2 of the loaves right now and put the other 3 in the freezer...hopefully that will work for when we are ready for more crackers or having company.****

YUMMM!!!

The one of the left is mine, the one on the right is the original.

Hueco Tanks Update...

“Did you know there are eight murders a day in Juarez!” My dad's voice boomed out of the speaker on my Phone as Becca and I jumped in the van and started driving south.

“Really dad? You don’t seem too concerned about me running it out above dodgy gear on El Cap, or multiple day pushes high in the mountains in Patgonia. It’s El Paso, it will be fine.”

12 hours later we sped past the barbed wire and smoke stacks that line the US/ Mexico border. Pollution kept the visibility to just a few miles, and teams of Harleys crowded the streets; the riders wearing bandanas over their faces with skulls and ghosts printed on them. “Maybe we should keep the doors locked...just in case.”

We turned left at the space ship shaped real estate office, drove past the run down shacks, domes and trailers, and I started to feel strangely nostalgic.

“Ahhhh, tailer park life, lard filled Mexican food, margaritas, and LOTS of climbing.”

I used to spend my winters climbing in places like The Virgin River Gorge where trucks speed down interstate 15 in such close proximity to the climbing that your belayer can't hear your shrieks of fear as you sail off the notoriously run out routes. Back then climbing the hardest routes around dominated everything. I didn’t care if they were in the arm pit of the southern US. I would spend months on the road sleeping in the back of my Honda Civic and eating canned foot that I had pilfered from my parents pantry.

Hueco Tanks is one of the few places where a truly “dirt bag” culture thrives. The climbers here live in trailers and tents braving frequent dust storms. Showers are about as rare as bear sightings in Texas and gaining access to the boulders requires rolling up your pants and wading through an ankle deep sludge of Texas fees, regulations and bureaucracy. For the dedicated few that stick it out, the rewards are pretty sweet.

The boulder problems are unlike anywhere in the world. The rock is steep, solid, and perfectly featured. The moves are complicated and powerful. As Becca and I wandered around our first day I felt that familiar surge of excitement. There really is a beauty here. The rock is masterfully sculpted with a chaotic pattern of huecos and chicken heads. The boulder problems sit amongst water polished slabs and intricate corridors. The people that dedicate their winters to climbing here are muscle bound, hunched backed apes that climb with no hesitation. I have found no other place on earth that is as good for getting strong. Every trip I have made to Hueco has been followed by a big breakthrough in my climbing. I guess that’s why I came in the first place.

On our way to the park we stopped by Adam and Melissa Strong's land where a few dozen dirty climbers park their trucks. “Field Day” (an all day party dedicated to beer drinking, horse shoes, and hillbilly golf) was just getting under way and at 10am a few climbers were already looking a bit tipsy. We decided to skip field day go climbing. We met up with a long time friend Cory Dwan and a group of Aussies that we know from a trip to South Africa two years ago. Throughout our time there I attempted many of the classic test pieces like Slashface and Esperanza, completing none and realizing that all that El Cap slab climbing really has not prepared me for Hueco all that well. Becca learned to love steep climbing and we both did a lot of falling. After a few days I realized why some people dedicate much of their lives to climbing here. The bouldering is inspiring in a way that invades your brain. I was kept up at night by visions of moves running through my head. Each day I saw dozens of problems that I would love to do someday…..when I get much better at bouldering. We both left feeling much stronger and psyched to keep training.

Concrete Countertops

Here's a few photos of the kitchen with the countertops.  We had our friend Justin make them out of concrete for us.  I think they look awesome, love them and they were about half the price of granite and most other stone options.  They were heavier than heavy though...2 inches thick and some big slabs.  Tommy and Justin were able to lift most of the pieces with a lot of straining, and had help from our friend Steve on the biggest slab.  Now all we have left is to tile the floors with slate my parents gave us that was leftover from their house.

CHECK IT OUT!!

Patagonia is one of Tommy's main sponsors, and they are doing some cool stuff!!

Log on to www.patagonia.com.

Click on the "video & music" tab.

Choose "video gallery" and scroll down to check out these videos:

Journey to Keketuohai (or click here)
and
Climbing in Keketuohai (or click here)

Then...after checking out the videos on our China trip, go back up to the "video & music" tab and click on "Patagonia Music".  View the different "categories" on the left and listen to some great music while you browse the website or do your other internet stuff.  Buy benefit tracks or albums and help the environment!

Had to share...pretty cool!  Images and update from Hueco to come.

Hueco Tanks...

I tried to count up the years since i have been to Hueco Tanks this morning. 12..13..14.. I lost count. The last time I was there overhanging climbing was a relatively new discovery, there were basically no climbing regulations, and I didn't have any chest hair (shoot, I still don't). I am super psyched to get back there and get after it. After a month of skiing, home remodeling, and gym climbing, I am feeling pretty strong. I hope to build some finger strength and callus for the El Cap Proj as well as have a nice relaxing climbing trip with my wife. No portaledges, crazy logistical strategizing, or big hikes with sole crushing loads. Just pure pulling on crimpers in the sun! Heck yeah, bring on the bloody fingertips!

Almost Finished!!

The kitchen has come a LONNNGGG way from the last photos I posted.  It is looking better than I thought, and I'm really excited.  We are just waiting on hardware for the cabinets, countertops (our friend is making concrete countertops for us), and we need to do the flooring. It's amazing how a few items make the kitchen look really nice....almost too nice for us!  I am excited though, and really enjoying having the house mostly back together!  Yay!

Painting.

Some cabinets in.

Installing this hood was a nightmare!!  We had to get one though because we didn't want to do cabinets and a microwave on this wall in an effort to keep things open between the kitchen and living room.  It works though!

Mostly final product...just need different flooring, countertops, and cabinet hardware!  I love that we switched from an electric range to a gas range too.  Definitely prefer that for cooking.

A glimpse at the living room....more work to be done there at some point!!  

Remodeling...

Tommy and I bought a house last year, and when we were figuring out finance stuff we made sure to leave some buffer room for some remodeling that we wanted to do.  We loved the location of the house (views of the Diamond on Long's Peak and our backyard is adjacent to National Park land) and the fact that it could be a single house or a duplex made it even better.  It had water solar panels on top to help with utility bills, and was really just what we were looking for when it came to big things.  The interior, however, needed a little work.  With traveling the past 6 months straight, we still managed to get a lot of remodeling done, but now since we are home we are really getting after it.  Tommy has remodeled a cabin that he had bought by saving money during his dirtbag days, and then built a house in Yosemite, so he has acquired the necessary skills to do most of the remodeling that we have want to do. 

Currently our big project is the kitchen.  That was the one thing when we were looking at the house that I really wanted to change.  I love cooking and spending time in the kitchen, and I feel that its the place where people tend to congregate.  We knocked down a stairwell into the basement and covered it up to open up the kitchen and the living room.  We ordered cabinets for that area to make it more usable, but of course, then there was part plywood on the floor and no matching cabinets throughout the kitchen, and no countertops on the new peninsula cabinets.  When we came home from Argentina we knew it was time to get things done.  We agreed that we would work on the kitchen first because it would be the most work, and make the biggest difference, and it was the most in pieces.  First we needed to put in new lighting in the "breakfast nook" while the cabinets were being made for the kitchen.  We figured this would be a quick job, but it resulted in us mudding the whole room to get rid of the textured walls and re-dry walling the ceiling (and of course putting in new lighting).  We got a call less than a week ago that our cabinets for the kitchen were coming a week early, which meant we had a lot of work to do.  The house was built in 1935 and has had many facelifts throughout its life....which means for a lot of surprises when you are fixing things up.  Everything we have attempted to do has ended up taking 5 times the time it should.  We opened up one part of the wall that needed to come down to find a junction box.  Things were put together unevenly, and it seemed like a lot of short cuts had been taken.  We have had our work cut out.  However, with Tommy's skills and my ability to help and pick up on things relatively well we are making progress and I have a lot of hope that it will work out.  The pieces are coming together and the other day the cabinets were dropped off and are stacked high to the ceiling, waiting to be installed!

Here's a lot of documentation of our construction projects since we've owned the house!  Sometime soon there might be a finished picture of the kitchen!

The wall between the kitchen and the living room.  Notice the paneling on the walls.

The stairway to the basement, and we are ripping this down!

Making progress.  Oops, Tommy cut a wire that went to the light in the breakfast nook!

And the wall is down!!  And a hole in the floor!  (The basement stairs)

Covered up the basement stairs...now to close up the ceiling and that back wall.

Careful with those tools Tommy!!  Don't want to lose any more body parts!

Painted walls (mostly)...making progress.

Look at the walls...no paneling!  Now it's painted drywall.  Yea!

TC cutting into the ceiling into the "breakfast nook" to make recessed lighting.

The holes don't look so promising.

Oops...that one got a little too big!

Tearing down the corner shelves.

The "breakfast nook" under construction.

Mudding all the walls to get rid of the texture and make them smooth.

We re-drywalled the ceiling to get rid of the ceiling texture.  Tommy mudding up the seams.

Making progress...ceiling looks good!

The finished "breakfast nook"!

Beginning to shift things for the big kitchen remodel.

Taking down the cabinets and everything else.

The back pantry area.

Ripping down the back splash tile.

Redoing electrical stuff...

One of the many surprises we find when we rip things down...a junction box!

And awkward ceiling support = ceiling almost caving in!!  Notice the crack across the drywall and the support to the right?  Tommy reinforced the structure.

Thinking about the mess and what to do.

Screwing on the drywall.

New cabinets waiting to be installed!!

CHAOS!!

Progress...or something like that.

All of the different flooring we have going on...there is one missing (weird wood floor looking linoleum).