The Fake Four Mile Hike

Last Saturday Kevin busted out the VT dog hiking book (yes we have one) and found a great four mile hike about an hour away in the Green Mountains. We thought that this would be an excellent first weekend of spring activity, so we gathered up the dog and set out.

Being from California, the first day of spring generally means that it's time to start planting for the growing season. In Vermont, spring kick-off does not mean planting anything! To me, it means taking a hike and trying to make sure that you don't get stuck in the left over snow, or slip on the ice!

Our four mile hike to the reportedly beautiful Abbey Pond was cut short due to a very high flowing "stream" that we were unable to cross. No, I take that back. Kevin crossed it just fine, and I had high hopes of shimming across a fallen tree, but our fearless dog refused to get her puppy paws wet in the water. I don't blame her, it was really fast flowing COLD water! So, half way into our hike we turned around and never got to see the pond. Hopefully soon the water will go down so we can finish our hike.

Here is a picture of me taming a wild beast!

Abbey Trail Hike

Spring Kick-off!

Here's how it all started...

Yup, that's right, last weekend was the first weekend of spring, and in true Vermont fashion Friday was 65 degrees, and it snowed on Sunday.... Welcome Spring!

Starr Farm Bike Ride

A few weekends ago we decided to strike out and get some biking in. Originally Kevin was just going to take a ride by himself, but we decided that it would be more fun to go all together. So, we decided to bike to the dog park. It turned out to be about eight miles one way. When we got to the park, Norma Jean was very excited to get out of the Burley and play with all her friends (including one cute little corgi that Kevin ooggled over the whole time).

After playing in the dog park for awhile, we hopped back on our bikes, swung by the bagel shop, and then headed home.

Here is a little sampling of the ride. Notice the lack of snow...

Pasta!

Here is a kind of long (four minute) video of our first pasta making experience. Enjoy!

Hello to all of our faithful blog reading fans.

I've been meaning to add more posts recently, but haven't had a chance to sit down and upload all the movies and pictures that we've taken recently, so I have a lot of catching up to do!

Today is the day, so I'll start with a blog about our most recent kitchen gadget, the pasta maker! While my parents were here we took a pasta making class and had so much fun that my mom got us a pasta smooshing machine. I call it a smooshing machine, because it's one of those old fashioned hand crank things, it doesn't actually make the pasta dough for you, it just smooshes it out. It's pretty cool, and we have made ravioli and parpadelle (free-form pasta) with it so far. Our next endeavor will be linguini.

Here are some pictures from the first night that we used it. I forgot to take pictures of our ravioli last night, but if you just imagine really fancy awesome looking ravioli stuffed with butternut squash, that's pretty much what we made.

Our pasta (and everything else) table!

Kevin, putting his best face forward.

Here is the sauce that I made. It was surprisingly easy, although not as easy as opening a jar...