CANstruction

Every year my company, KPFF, participates in CANstruction.  CANstruction is a sculpture design competition, where the sculptures are made out of canned goods.  Awards will be given in several categories, such as "Structural Ingenuity", "Best Use of Labels" and "Best Meal."

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Our sculpture this year is called "A Bridge Over Troubled Waters."  The sculpture features a suspension bridge over water.  In the water the word "HUNGER" is spelled out.  At one end of the bridge the land is green, representing a land of plenty, while at the other end the land is tan, representing a barren desert.  On the bridge we have a little truck with a can of green beans in the back, heading from the green side over to the tan side. 

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The sculptures will be on display in the Pioneer Place Mall through the weekend.  If you get a chance stop by and vote for your favorite sculpture for the "People's Choice" award.  (Umm . . . obviously that would be this one!)

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Garden Wall

For being so small, our back yard slopes quite a bit.  In order to make our garden a little more level, we built a wall.  Well, mostly David built a wall.

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Now all we need is a bunch of dirt!

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Long Walk

It's been a while since I've posted.  You might be thinking that nothing exciting has happened.  But actually, I keep on taking pictures, intending to post them, but then I forget.  So I'm going to post several posts to catch up! 

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A few weeks ago Sprocket and I took a long walk in a park near our house.  The park doesn't really have a name.  I call it: the-park-next-to-the-waste-water-treatment-plant, which makes it sounds kind of lame.  It's really nice though, and usually not crowded.  (This is probably because it doesn't have a name, so people can't really talk about it effectively!)

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Here's Sprocket, all ready for a nice long walk!

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A view of Mt. Hood over the Columbia Slough.

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Sprocket contemplating a sculpture in the park.

Autumn or Spring

There are more and more signs of spring as the neighborhood trees start blooming.

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However some of the trees on our street are a little confused.  They hang on to the previous year's dead leaves until new ones start to grow, and push them off.

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It's kind of weird to see the trees down the block all green and in bloom, and the tree in the foreground looking like it's still autumn!

Flowers for me!

My mother-in-law, Lettie, had David get me flowers to celebrate passing the PE.

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Aren't they lovely!

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Thanks Lettie!

Bananas Foster

Over the weekend, we tried a new dessert recipe: Bananas Foster.

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It was very exciting!

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Bananas Foster is basically bananas in a caramel sauce. 

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At the end of cooking, you add rum and then set it on fire.

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Yep.  That's right.  You set it on fire.

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It was pretty cool.

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And delicious, too!

Boeuf Bourguignon

Over the weekend, David and I watched the movie "Julie and Julia", and then made Boeuf Bourguignon.  Boeuf Bourguignon is a beef stew from Julia Child's cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

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I even remembered to take a "before" picture!

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It was very tasty, but also very time consuming.  Once you stick it in the oven, it has to cook for 2.5 to 3 hours.  It's a good think that we made this on a weekend, rather than a week night!