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Pumpkin Beer Fest, 2018

Posted by Carolyn on October 14, 2018 Leave a Comment

I know that this is post everyone has been waiting for! Let’s get right to it!

This year, we had all the original tasters together again! Yay! No wind storms kept people from Bend, no family birthday parties kept people away, no gut issues kept people from imbibing! It was darn near perfect to have our best friends all in one place.

As with 2017, 2016, and 2015, we used a 5 point scale (allowing for half points, thus rendering it into an effective 10 point scale) using the following rubric:

5 points: I would drink more of this RIGHT NOW, and never want to drink anything else.
4 points: I would totally drink this again and again.
3 points: I would drink this if someone offered it to me, but probably wouldn’t buy it.
2 points: Would drink if the only choices were this and Bud.
1 point: Nope. Not ever again.

Again, we discussed if we rate on a pumpkin-ness scale, and again, we decided to leave it up to the taster.

This year we had 10 beers and threw 2 ciders in for the heck of it. We’re wild like that.

Here we go… CHEERS!

1st Place- The Great Pumpkin by Elysian Brewing: 4.5 points. This is a classic pumpkin beer that has been in our top 4 (earning 1st place in 2015, even!) every single year we do this. As always, Elysian was a stand-out in the pumpkin beer universe. This is just a good, smooth pumpkin beer. Spiced but not too much, pumpkin but not too much.

2nd Place- Voodoo Ranger Atomic Pumpkin by New Belgium: 4.0 points. This one was spicy! I didn’t actually really like it, but everyone else did and the score reflects this. I think some people actually gave it a 5. This beer is brewed with habanero and other chilies and spices. It isn’t kick you in the face spicy, but it does leave a hot feeling down the back of your throat. It’s different that the usual pumpkin pie spice beer and that’s fun.

3rd Place- Night Owl by Elysian: 4 points, then 3.5 points, so an average of 3.75 points. This was the beer we used to test our rating system and our tasting apparatus – we tatsed it at the beginning of the night and rated it at a 4, then again and it scored a 3.5. I still like this one. It’s a good pumpkin pie, good spiced taste. Any way you look at it, this beer placed 3rd.

4th Place- Punkuccino by Elysian Brewing: 3.3888 points. This is a darker beer with a good hint of Stumptown coffee to it. You can taste the roast, but it didn’t taste burned and bitter. Elysian does it again with a good batch of Punkuccino.

5th Place (tie)- Dark Knife by Elysian: 2.9375 Points. At 4.3% ABV, this is a smooth drinking pumpkin beer. It was unique to our test as a German Schwarzbier, and I liked it. Elysian does it again for 2018, rounding it out with four of our top 5 beers!

5th Place (tie)- Pumpkin Spice by Portland Cider Company: 2.9375. This was the good cider of the year. It tasted like a good, crisp, apple cider, with just a hint of all the pumpkin spices. It wasn’t too sweet, and our team seemed to really appreciate that about it. While I wouldn’t really say it was on the same level of the pumpkin beers, according to our scale, we would all drink this with no problem.

6th Place (tie)- Imperial Pumpkin Porter by Epic Brewing: 2.8125. I think I sort of liked this one, but it didn’t knock our socks off. I don’t remember much about it, which tells me it wasn’t amazing and wasn’t gross. So that’s good I guess.

6th Place (tie)- Jamaica Me Pumpkin by 10 Barrel: 2.8125. Again, I was disappointed by how difficult this beer was to open/ the end result of all our hard work opening the ridiculous bottle. Too syrupy sweet and weird. I don’t like rum in my pumpkin beer, thank you very much.

7th Place- Imperial Pumpkin Porter by Alaskan Brewing: 2.6875. This one tasted burnt to me. I still say that I don’t much like pumpkin porters, and I think this is why. You know when you leave the candle burning in your jack-0-lantern and it starts to burn the pumpkin and it has that really distinct smell? That’s what this tasted like to me, but with the spices added to it.

8th Place- Great Gourds of Fire by Hopworks Urban Brewery: 2.5. This was another beer that added spice, as in spicy spice, and it wasn’t as good as Atomic Pumpkin. Last year this got 2nd place and this is what I wrote, “It was also our first, so perhaps that’s why it scores so well. We’ll never know.” Maybe we do know now.

9th Place- Big Black Jack by Oakshire: 2.444444. Oh, Oakshire, how much do I want to say about you? Last year this beer got 10th place, in 2016 it got 8th, in 2015 it got 4th. What has changed so much since 2015? Well, it might have something to do with Alesong Brewing opening in 2015. Who knows.

10th Place- Hollow Jack by Two Towns Cider: 1.125. Well, this cider didn’t hit the mark at all. Way too syrupy sweet. While it had more of a pumpkin flavor than our other cider, it was hard to drink.

That’s it! Thanks for reading along again this year. I love this tradition with our friends, and I love taking the time the next day to write up all our thoughts. I didn’t realize, though, that I should start keeping tasting notes and quotes as we go to make this job a bit easier the next day. I’m getting too old to rely on my beer soaked memory. See ya next year! Happy pumpkining!

Pumpkin Beer Fest, 2017

Posted by Carolyn on October 16, 2017 2 Comments

The Twelve Pumpkin Beers of 2017.

This was another fun Pumpkin Beer Fest, for sure. This year (like the first two years: 2016 and 2015), was a night of fun, friends, snacks, laughter, and of course, beer. Everyone brought a couple (or several) bottles for everyone to try out. Like last year, some of our friends couldn’t make it, and we missed them, but the show must go on. Also, I was excited to have my college roommate with us this year!

We used our traditional scoring rubric.

5 points: I would drink more of this RIGHT NOW, and never want to drink anything else.
4 points: I would totally drink this again and again.
3 points: I would drink this if someone offered it to me, but probably wouldn’t buy it.
2 points: Would drink if the only choices were this and Bud.
1 point: Nope. Not ever again.

There are always discussions about how to rate a beer when it’s good, but not too pumpkin-y. We usually leave that up to the rater to decide, personally. Without further ado…. here are our results. Cheers!

1st Place: Night Owl, Elysian Brewing Company 4.07. Once again, Elysian seems to have the right formula for a delicious pumpkin beer. This one had just the right blend of pumpkin spice. It wasn’t syrupy or too spicy or bitter. Smooth, perfectly spiced, and wonderful.

2nd Place (tie): Great Gourds of Fire, Hopworks Urban Brewing 3.93. This one had a bit of a kick at the end. It is brewed with the typical pumpkin spices, but also with some actual spice. I didn’t really like that about this one, but the pumpkin spice was lovely, and it was a good, solid beer. It was also our first, so perhaps that’s why it scores so well. We’ll never know.

2nd Place (tie): Evan’s friend Evyn’s homebrew 3.93. This was perfectly smooth and easy to drink. It had some good pumpkinness in it and it was delicious. Good pumpkin beer, Evyn.

3rd Place: Pumpkin Pedaler, Stormbreaker Brewing 3.86. I don’t remember this one. I didn’t even remember to put this on the blog originally. I’ve edited the post to add it, but I can’t say anything about it. But it scored pretty well, so it must be good!

4th Place: The Great Pumpkin, Elysian Brewing Company 3.79. This was 2015’s winner, and still one of my favorites. This one tastes like pumpkin pie, but in a really good way. I still love this one.

5th Place: Pumpkin Bier, pFriem 3.71. This was last year’s winner and it was delicious this year, too. I think I scored it lower because I didn’t get the pumpkin spice out of this one like I wanted to. It was a delicious, easy to drink beer, but, to me, it just tasted like a delicious beer. I wanted more pumpkin. Looking back at last year, I wrote that it had a gingery finish. I didn’t get that this year.

6th Place: Imperial Pumpkin Porter, Epic Brewing 3.79. I don’t really like porters, or really pumpkin in porters. I think I like my pumpkin in lighter beers so the spices dance around, instead of just sitting there in the darkness. This was my favorite of the dark pumpkin beers, though.

7th Place: Pumpkin Smash, Cascade 3.14. Now, I love me a good sour and I love me a good pumpkin beer. But, for some reason, these just didn’t add up for me. I mean, when I was drinking it, I understood that it was good. I understood that it was delicious. I understood that it was clever and fun. But, I just couldn’t picture myself drinking much more than the taster. Maybe because I think of sours in the summer, at the pool, and I think of pumpkin beers in autumn, warm and cozy. Call me crazy.

8th Place: Pumpkin Patch Ale, Rogue 3.07. I actually really liked this one. It was good. Jesse thought it tasted too much like actual pumpkins – he compared it to pumpkins rotting in a field. I didn’t really taste that, but you know, to each their own.

9th Place: Jamaican Me Pumpkin, 10Barrel 2.29. Besides having a really dumb name and being ridiculously hard to open, this beer just wasn’t much good. It was syrupy and too sweet.

10th Place: Big Black Jack, Oakshire 2.5. This porter just tasted burned. I don’t know if it’s the chocolate porter part of it, but it didn’t sit well.

11th Place: Pinchy Jeek Barl, Anderson Valley 1.43. This one was bad. It is aged in bourbon barrels and it just tasted like gross bourbon. Pumpkin beer or bourbon- pick one, ya know?

That’s all! There you have it! Our scientific, fool-proof list of which pumpkin beers to drink this year.

Also, I think it’s interesting that we were all in a more middle of the road mood this year. We usually have a much larger spread of ratings. It would be interesting to look back and see what was going on in the world when we did these ratings. Last year, everything was all about the campaign and so divided and everyone had strong opinions on everything. The first year (when we were all more innocent – in many ways), there were five beers that scored over 4 points – we were more hopeful and happy and generous. This year we’re just jaded and not willing to commit to things being good OR bad. Or something. I’m obviously not a sociologist or a beer expert, so don’t take my word for any of this.

Pumpkin Beer Fest, 2016

Posted by Carolyn on October 17, 2016 1 Comment

We had our Second Annual Pumpkin Beer Fest this past weekend. Unfortunately, Mother Nature decided to have her own fest, and two of our best friends couldn’t make it over from Bend to join in the festivities. We went on without them… it wasn’t the same but we did the best we could.

Just like last year we all brought a couple bottles of Pumpkin Beer to share and judge and rate. Our rating scale was this:

5 points: I would drink more of this RIGHT NOW, and never want to drink anything else.
4 points: I would totally drink this again and again.
3 points: I would drink this if someone offered it to me, but probably wouldn’t buy it.
2 points: Would drink if the only choices were this and Bud.
1 point: Nope. Not ever again.

Here are the results!

1. pFriem Pumpkin Bier 4.08333333. This was a really good beer. It had a really spicy finish, like fresh ginger. It was tasty and easy to drink. It had the perfect blend of pumpkin, spices, and beer. Good stuff here.

2. Elysian The Great Pumpkin 4.0 This was our winner last year, and it was impressive again! Elysian really knows how to make a good pumpkin beer. This was smooth and perfectly pumpkiny. Just exactly what I’d expect.

3. Elysian Punkuccino 3.75 I didn’t expect to like this, because I don’t usually like coffee beers that much, and this was certainly strong on the coffee. It was so smooth, and the coffee was well balanced with the sweetness of the pumpkin and the spiciness of the spices.

4. Elysian Night Owl 3.75 This one might be my personal favorite. I love this one. It is smooth and not bitter at all. Lots of spices and 7 pounds of pumpkin per barrel – which is roughly 7 pounds of pumpkin – which sounds like a lot!

5. New Belgium Pumpkick 3.666 Just like last year, we started and finished with the same beer. This score came from our first tasting of this one. This is another one of my favorites. I love the lemongrass and cranberry flavors that come through. It really just tastes like autumn to me.

6. Uinta Funk’n Patch 3.5 I liked this one a lot. It was more sour than the rest. It is brewed with Brett which made it a little funky – in a good way. It was unique and light and I liked it. It makes me want to try more beers with Brett.

7. New Belgium Pumpkick 3.333 This was the second time we tried Pumpkick, at the end of the tasting when we were feeling a little different than we were in the beginning. I like to repeat the first beer in the end to prove the efficacy of our palates and our rating system. The scores were close enough that I would consider this to be a scientific and respectable system.

8. Oakshire Big Black Jack 2.666 I always feel so bad when we score a Eugene beer so poorly. This is one of those that just doesn’t quite work for me. The chocolate didn’t meld well with the pumpkin to me. Sad.

9. Epic Imperial Pumpkin Porter 2.333 This one was disappointing because it just tasted like porter. No pumpkin or spice flavors at all.

10. Laurelwood Pumpkin Ale 1.91666 I don’t remember anything about this one. Maybe that’s good, judging by the score we gave it.

We also sampled our own pumpkin brown ale. We didn’t want to score it because people would probably lie and say it was amazing, or lie and say it was horrible, but everyone really liked it. It’s pretty good, if I do say so myself.

A Day in the Life – October 6, 2016

Posted by Carolyn on October 10, 2016 1 Comment

8:23 – I want to remember these girls and the cuddles in the mornings. Now that they share a room, it’s more likely that they will stay in their beds, or at least their room, and chat and play before they come into our room. We do all, usually, end up in bed together for a few minutes.

8:47 – I want to remember how the girls love to play with new things. They made this goo the night before at a Science Fair at the university and were really excited to play with it first thing in the morning.

8:56 – I want to remember this view, with the gorgeous yellow birch, the flaming red dogwood, the landscaping growing up and getting bigger. The junky car that’s been parked across the street for a few months, I’m happy to forget that, if only it would go away.

9:03 – I want to remember how great it feels to wake up to a mostly clean kitchen. I never want to do it at night, but it’s always worth it in the morning.

9:08 – I want to remember these autumn breakfasts. Oatmeal with frozen blueberries for them, tea with orange oil for me.

9:14 – I want to remember how Harriet says “hot cococo” for hot chocolate. I don’t want to remember how she threw a huge fit because I gave it to her in the wrong cup – I’ll just choose to remember that she eventually accepted the cococo in the Santa mug (the one she usually wants).

9:25 – I want to remember that this was not a normal day for us. My To Do List isn’t usually a bunch of chores around the house. We usually actually leave the house. I don’t usually spend the entire day cleaning the house. I do want to remember how good it feels to clean up our messes and be able to have such a wonderful home to take care of. I also want to remember how using the essential oils to clean the house makes it all so much more fun.

9:48 – I want to remember how the girls are actually eager to help me these days. Harriet loves to help me cook dinner. Alma likes to help with the dishes, dusting, and sweeping. I’m working on giving them daily and weekly chores.

9:52 – I want to remember these eggs and these chickens. I love that my chores include getting eggs, taking out food scraps, and giving them water.

10:07 – I want to remember the corner of our kitchen where things build up. Art projects from school, mail that needs attention, empty shoe boxes. These are the things that show our busy existence. I especially love when this corner of our kitchen gets sorted and put where it all goes. That was my job this day.

10:12 – I want to remember how these girls play together. They use their imaginations and really work well together. They used these boxes as houses, horse stalls, tunnels, who knows what else. I also want to remember Harriet’s love for her new boots and her tutu.

10:25 – I want to remember the imaginations in these girls. They had a full conversation between these two candlesticks.

10:31 – I want to remember these candlelit meals and snacks. Candles, while eating, are pure magic.

10:49 – I want to remember the love and care that goes into keeping a house. These wood floors shine thanks to me and my care for them. And essential oils.

11:56 – I want to remember these plates and the little hands that made them. I want to remember these peanut butter sandwiches – honey for Harriet, homemade strawberry jam for me and Alma.

12:59 – I want to remember all the sewing. I haven’t sewn in a couple months, so it feels great to get back to it. I finished Alma’s witch dress, fixed my sweater, and got started on Harriet’s much needed big bed quilt. I love giving my girls quilts so they can always be wrapped up in my love – and a tangible representation of that love.

2:03 – I want to remember how much I love Christmas and how much I love making good things for our family. These blend perfectly when I use Christmas Spirit oil (Orange, Cinnamon, Spruce) in my homemade hand soap.

3:13 – I want to remember how Harriet is the queen of the pout. She will sit down and pout, or just stand in the middle of the room and pout. Here, Alma is her horse who ran away. The pout went away once the horse came back.

3:20 – I want to remember these colors and snacks. Pink and honey for Harriet. Blue and jam for Alma.

3:52 – I want to remember these slow, cloudy days when I don’t get around to taking my shower until well into the afternoon. And my old Cal Young tie dye t-shirt that I use for my hair after my showers.

4:15 – I want to remember these days of forts, and make believe, and reading corners.

5:31 – I want to remember how our friends came over, bringing us a fake Christmas gift for an upcoming music video, and how it was fun to wish them Merry Christmas in October. I also want to remember how they all came inside and hung around for a little bit. Surprise guests and good conversations fill my bucket in a big way. Even if I forget to take any photos. Especially when I forget to take any photos.

6:11 – I want to remember this season and the comfort food that it brings. This was a baked potato bar, using lots of things we happened to have on hand.

6:18 – I want to remember “Come Lord Jesus, be our guest; let this food to us be blessed. Amen,” and how Alma and Harriet say “Come Lord Jesus, be our guest; let this family to us be blessed. Allmen.”

6:49 – I want to remember the chaos that falls at bedtime. It is a constant battle to get them going in the right direction to get their teeth brushed, jammies on, and everything else that needs to be done when there are so many other things that they’d rather be doing.

7:03 – I want to remember the calm that settles when we’re all in our bed, reading a story before they head to their own beds. A few final cuddles and they race to their room.

7:04 – I want to remember how the girls need just a little bit more chaos before they can settle into their beds and eventually fall asleep.

I want to remember the time that Jesse and I get after the kids are in bed. We watch shows, get stuff done, clean up a little, read books, and eventually fall asleep ourselves.

Other Days In The Life:
May 12, 2015
September 9, 2015
November 11, 2015
January 3, 2016

Soothing Tea Drops with Thieves – Giveaway 6/36

Posted by Carolyn on May 12, 2016 2 Comments

I sort of stumbled upon my new favorite way to drink tea with soothing tea drops with Thieves. This has been the worst winter with everyone in our family being sick over and over again. I started looking for recipes to make some natural cough drops when Alma had an especially bad cough. I found this recipe and made a batch of drops. I added in a few drops of Young Living’s Thieves Vitality oil to up the immune support that honey and coconut oil naturally provide.

Alma’s doctor suggested giving her a spoonful of honey to help her cough. In fact, it’s the only cough treatment that’s approved for the little ones. The honey coats and soothes their little throats, while coconut oil is shown to have antiviral and antibacterial properties. Thieves is also great at supporting our own immune systems as they fight off any bugs that might be getting us down.

I made a batch of the drops and put them in the fridge. A while later, I was thinking a cup of tea with honey sounded good. I’ve been adding a little bit of coconut oil to my coffee and tea, along with a drop of Thieves for a while. I remembered the little drops in the back of the fridge and realized that I could just drop one of them into my tea for an instant, ready made boost.

Here’s what I do:

Soothing Tea Drops with Thieves
(modified from The Coconut Mama’s homemade cough drop recipe)

1/2 cup organic, unrefined, cold-pressed , virgin coconut oil.
1/2 cup raw, organic, local honey.
5-10 drops Thieves Vitality oil.

Mix all ingredients together in a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer. Whip it all together until it’s smooth and well incorporated and fluffy.

Put a couple teaspoons into mini muffin tins. I’m sure there are molds that would make beautifully smooth drops, but I’m more about using what I have and what I have is a mini muffin tray. You could even just scoop onto a cookie sheet. Note: Since there are essential oils in here, you should use metal, glass, or silicone since oils and plastic don’t play well together.

Stick it in a freezer for about a half hour, just long enough for everything to solidify again. The drops should slide right out. Pop them in a jar and keep in the fridge for a long time.

When you’re ready to make the tea, start by steeping your favorite tea as you normally would. Add one soothing tea drop to your tea. Sometimes I add another drop of Thieves, just to enhance the flavor and immunity support.

Mix it all up. My favorite way to mix is with a few pulses with my immersion blender. It really gets it all blended together, and even makes it a little bit frothy.

For this giveaway, I’m going to give away this Mug Rug (or one like it). I’ve been working on a quilt for a while, and have lots of scraps left over. I’ve started making these fun, scrappy coasters and I’m planning on adding them to my Etsy shop later this month – along with some other oily accessories!

Head over to my Instagram account for a giveaway of a handmade, quilted mug rug! This is part six of my 36 Things for 36 Years project. I’m giving away 36 things this year, and this week will be a whole week of oily giveaways! Details on how to enter here!

Also, make sure you enter my other Essential Oil Giveaways this week! Essential Oil Sugar Scrub can be found here! Bath Bombs can be found here! Green Smoothie with a bottle of Citrus Fresh can be found here!

My Essential Green Smoothie – Giveaway 5/36

Posted by Carolyn on May 11, 2016 1 Comment

This week I’m giving away lots of fun ‘oily’ goodies. On Monday I posted a sugar scrub, on Tuesday, I posted bath bombs. Today you can enter to win a bottle of Citrus Fresh Vitality essential oil. Make sure you read the bottom of this post to find out how to enter (hint: entering is super easy!).

I love starting my day with an essential green smoothie. I figure that I start my day with something full of the good stuff, even if the rest of my day goes off the rails, at least I got some veggies and fruits and water in.

I’ve been having a smoothie a day for a long, long time, but I’ve recently begun adding essential oils and it’s really upped the smoothie game. Young Living has an incredible line of Vitality oils that are FDA approved for using in foods and drinks. I love adding a drop or two of these oils to my smoothies for a flavor boost, along with the support they provide!

I will share my basic smoothie recipe here, but know that you can do whatever you want. I have figured out what I like, and what works for me, but feel free to experiment or use another smoothie recipe you already love.

My Essential Green Smoothie

1 or two big handfuls of organic baby spinach. Spinach is incredible – high in niacin, zinc, protein, fiber, vitamins A, C, E and K, thiamin, vitamin B6, folate, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, copper, and manganese. I buy a pound each week, and it lasts for the whole week.
1 organic banana. This is important for a few reasons. They are sweet, and adding sugar or another sweetener would negate all the good effects of having a smoothie for breakfast – add a banana to skip the added sugar. Bananas also have antioxidants, lots of potassium, and other vitamins and nutrients.
A handful or two of organic frozen fruit. If you want the beautiful green color in these photos, use frozen peaches or mangoes. I also love, love, love frozen cherries (this almost tastes like dessert, it’s so sweet and lovely). Frozen blueberries, strawberries, tropical fruit, whatever you love and have on hand.
1 or 2 tablespoons of nut butter. My favorite is almond butter, but peanut butter works. This adds a bit more protein, and the oils in the butter help the essential oils distribute into the smoothie. I feel like adding the nut butter helps this feel like a full breakfast; I don’t get hungry until lunchtime with this addition.
1-3 drops of essential oil. See below for some suggestions.

Throw the spinach, banana, frozen fruit, and nut butter into your blender. Add water to your preference. I like my smoothies to be on the thin side, so I put enough water in to almost reach the top of my other ingredients. I also use this as a way to make sure I’m drinking a full glass of water in the morning. Blend away!

Put 1-3 drops of essential oil in the bottom of a glass mason jar, or glass – remember that oils and plastic don’t get along well. Pour your smoothie into the glass and give it a good stir or shake (that’s why I love using a mason jar).

Enjoy!

Oils I love to add to my smoothies:

Peppermint is an uplifting oil that can support your mood and a healthy respiratory system.
Lemon tastes great and the scent is invigorating and energizing. It can also help with detoxifying.
Thieves is a blend of Clove, Lemon, Cinnamon, Eucalyptus Radiata, and Rosemary oils that has a lovely, spicy scent. It can be used to support your immune system and just tastes wonderful.
Citrus Fresh is one of my favorite oils to add to smoothies. It is a blend of Orange, Tangerine, Grapefruit, Lemon, and Mandarin oils with a hint of Spearmint. It is refreshing and happy.

I’m giving away a bottle of Citrus Fresh Vitality to someone on Instagram.

Head over to my Instagram account for a giveaway of Citrus Fresh Vitality Essential Oil! This is part four of my 36 Things for 36 Years project. I’m giving away 36 things this year, and this week will be a whole week of oily giveaways! Details on how to enter here!

Also, make sure you enter my other Essential Oil Giveaways this week! Essential Oil Sugar Scrub can be found here! Bath Bombs can be found here!

Thanksgiving in the Mountains

Posted by Carolyn on December 1, 2015 2 Comments

First of all, please excuse how quiet andthenthey has been. I had grand plans to write a few blogs while we were away for Thanksgiving, but I dropped my phone in the toilet right when we got to our house. It spent the whole weekend in a big bowl of rice, and thankfully has made an almost full recovery.

Anyway, we had a wonderful weekend up at Sunriver for Thanksgiving with my Dad and Step-Mom and her brother and family. We went up to the mountains on Wednesday, and drove on packed snow from before Willamette Pass all the way to Sunriver. I’ve never seen that much snow, for so long. Luckily, we got to do the drive during the day, so it was sunny and clear.

We got to the house in time to play in the snow a little bit before dark. Alma loved it and would have stayed outside longer, despite her cold, wet fingers and legs. The promise of the big bathtub was the only thing that could lure her inside.

The next morning, Thanksgiving, we went to visit our great friends, the Gosses, in their new home in Bend. It was another snowy, beautiful drive. It was fun to finally get to see their house, and to get to see them!

The rest of Thanksgiving was spent playing in the snow, cooking dinner, and eating. I made the turkey this year, and everyone added something to the table. It was wonderful.

On Friday we braved the below freezing temperatures and went to the High Desert Museum. I love this place so much. It holds so many memories of my childhood. The otters (who weren’t on display), the indoor scenes of the West, the old settler’s cabin and sawmill. It’s all there, all the same, and all incredible. I loved sharing it with the girls. Plus, it was amazingly beautiful in the snow.

Alma took this photo of me and Jesse.

We went back to the house to watch the Civil War and learn how to knit. Harriet has such a sweet relationship with my dad. He’s certainly one of her favorite people. I’m pretty sure the feeling is mutual.

Then, we tried to go to the tree lighting. It was just too cold, and we left before Santa got there and the lights were turned on. It was still fun, and Alma got to talk to Rudolph and Frosty. Here’s my favorite exchange:

Alma: Rudolph, I saw your friends being mean to you!
Rudolph: *nod*
Alma: Do they let you play with them now?
Rudolph: *nod*

It was sweet to see her so concerned for Rudolph. She has a sweet heart in her, that’s for sure.

November 2007, A Very Azerbaijani Thanksgiving

Posted by Carolyn on November 10, 2015 Leave a Comment

The following is a blog post Jesse wrote in November 2007, while a Peace Corps volunteer in Azerbaijan. Holidays are so important to us, and it was so odd to be away from our families, friends, and traditions while we were in the Peace Corps. Looking back through this post and the photos a couple things come to mind: though things change over the years, the things we’re thankful for stay the same – friends, families, music, laughter, also it is shocking that none of us got sick from that turkey from who-knows-where, cooked in a oven with only an on/off switch.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

This year marks the first time both Carolyn and I were outside of the States for Thanksgiving. It gave us a great opportunity to see how another culture celebrates this wonderful holiday. From what we could tell Azeris treated the day like…drum roll please…the same way they treat every other day! Turns out Thanksgiving is pretty much just a Western holiday (who knew?!?), so our good friends on the Peace Corps staff and in the embassy were nice enough to put together a nice little party for us. In honor of this wonderful event I decided to write a little poem (in true Robert H. Williams style.)

Twas’ the week before thanksgiving and plans were being made
For a feast so grand that the memory would not soon fade

Volunteers were cooking and packing their food
And journeying to the capital in a festive mood

When, at last, the party had arrived
Our embassy friend flung his door open wide

All our friends came together in one great big room,
The odors of the villages cleansed and perfumed

First we told stories and caught up on old times
Then came the food and talking stopped on a dime

There was turkey and stuffing and green beans, OH MY!
We had soda and juice and even pumpkin pie!

Everyone ate ‘til they were ready to explode
And staggered back upstairs for the talent show

There was singing and dancing and stories galore
And one strange act that left everyone calling for more!

After the songs were sung and the story finally finished
The time came to go, with the spirit far from diminished

So we all made our way home, our bellies full
And everyone had good reason to be thankful.

This party took place the week before thanksgiving actually occurred, so we were left to prepare our own celebration on the day of. We all gathered at our friend Mike’s house and had our site mates Nate and Cindy over. Mike’s girlfriend Kate joined us from Ganja and our good Azeri friend Zamira joined us for her first ever Thanksgiving. We were lucky enough to find a frozen turkey at a local store (we believe it was imported from South America!) and we managed not to burn it! With some help from packages from the states we had mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, apple pie, cheesecake and green bean casserole.

Being here really has made us aware of what we should be thankful for in life. We are of course thankful for our good friends and family. We are thankful for the thoughts and prayers they send to us (not to mention packages and letters!). We are thankful for great site mates and great PC staff members. We are thankful for all the amazing friends we have made our family here in Azerbaijan. We are thankful for the little things back in the states like having a bathroom inside the house and familiar food. We are thankful for music and laughing and playing games.

Most of all I think we are finding that we are most thankful we have each other.

Halloween 2015 Was Rainy

Posted by Carolyn on November 3, 2015 Leave a Comment

The title says it all. Halloween was rainy. It didn’t stop us, though! We headed out with Jane, Rory, Poppy, and Rachel.

This was the third year we’ve spent Halloween with this crew. I hope we it was the third out of infinity. It will be fun when we go trick or treating with Rory’s kids (because obviously he will marry one of our girls and Rory’s kids will, in turn, be our grandchildren… anyway…).

Before we went trick or treating Alma said to Rachel, “We will go trick or treating, then we will come home and Mommy will take a picture of you tickling Harriet.” This girl has such an amazing memory. It blows my mind sometimes. I mean, maybe she had recently seen this photo from three years ago:

Or this photo from two years ago:

But we certainly hadn’t talked about how Rachel loves to recreate this photo. I love seeing how Alma’s and Harriet’s minds work and grow and learn.

So, we had Rachel over for dinner, then we grabbing umbrellas, boots and glowsticks and were out for about an hour. We were soaked. We had buckets full of candy. It was great.

We came home and warmed up.

And, of course, Rachel tickled Harriet:

The one thing I didn’t realize is that in the first two photos, you can see Alma’s little feet walking in the corner of the frame. We’ll have to make sure to include that in future years.

Pumpkin Beer Fest, 2015

Posted by Carolyn on October 26, 2015 4 Comments

This past weekend, we had six of our very best friends over for a Pumpkin Beer Festival. We all provided a couple pumpkin beers, and we had a taste test. Jesse bought a bunch of snacks, the kids were all put to bed, and we all got to tasting.

We had a 5 point rating system, but we could award half points if necessary (so really a 10 point rating system, but who’s counting). As the night wore on, we discussed that it should have been a more specific scale, but it is what it is. Next year, we’ll adopt the following scoring guide:

5 points: I would drink more of this RIGHT NOW, and never want to drink anything else.
4 points: I would totally drink this again and again.
3 points: I would drink this if someone offered it to me, but probably wouldn’t buy it.
2 points: Would drink if the only choices were this and Bud.
1 point: Nope. Not ever again.

But, like I said, we didn’t use this scale, so each of us had our own individual scale, which, I suppose, would still provide accurate results, as long as each of us stuck to our own individual scale.

Here was our process:

Pour each person a taste of one beer.
Drink taste of beer.
Score beer.
Average scores.
Repeat.

As it turned out, we had two of the first beer we tried, so we went back to it in the end to ensure accuracy (given the fact that beer tasting tends to alter states of being, the more beer is tasted). This will prove to you the efficacy of our process, given the following results.

The Great Pumpkin by Elysian Brewing. Score: 4.714. This was by far our favorite beer. Elysian is doing something right with all their pumpkin beers. They should be, since they make so many of them. The pumpkin-ness was perfect, and it was easy to drink with smooth flavors and an excellent aftertaste.
Pumpkick by New Belgium. Score: 4.357. This was the first pumpkin beer that I ever liked. As a wise beer expert once said, “It tastes like Thanksgiving in a bottle.” Yes, folks, truer words were never spoken. I love the hint of cranberry, the undertones of lemongrass. This is a pumpkin beer for the people.
Pumpkin Patch Ale by Rogue. Score: 4.285714. The thing I liked most about this beer was the almost champagne-like fizziness. I also like that it’s from Oregon, making it the first of our local beers to make the list. Third place isn’t a bad finish for our beer loving state.
Big Black Jack by Oakshire. Score: 4.0714. The first Eugene beer on the list! I’ve always loved Oakshire, so I’m happy to see it doing so well on our highly prestigious Pumpkin Beer Fest List. Jesse describes this beer as “a walk down a dark, shadowy trail in the forest.” Couldn’t have said it better myself!
Punkin Ale by Dogfishhead. Score: 4.000. This was one of my favorites. It was easy to drink, and had a lovely pumpkin-ness. Jesse didn’t like it at all, but I think it’s because he had just had a handful of sour-cream and onion corn puffs (not well known as being a palate cleanser). I also really liked the label, but that didn’t factor into my scoring.
America’s Original Pumpkin Ale by Buffalo Bill’s. Score: 3.857142. This beer claims to be the original pumpkin beer (as seen in the name), and that might be true, but I would bet that some home-brewers tried it first. This was certainly the most pumpkin-pie tasting beer of the bunch. The pumpkin was very strong, but not unpleasant.
Squash Buckler by Fort George Brewery. Score: 3.5714. This was our first beer, when our palates were clean, our blood was pure, our anticipation high. It was good, but not amazing. This beer didn’t taste like pumpkin at all, oddly.
Squash Buckler by Fort George Brewery. Score: 3.07142515. This was our last beer, when our palates were buzzing, our blood was pumping, our anticipation satiated. It was still good, but still not amazing. But, our rating system was proved successful to within a half a point.
Pumpkinhead by Shipyard. Score: 2.500. Neither Jesse, nor I, can remember anything specific about this beer, so that’s a pretty good description for why it’s scored to low.02
Imperial Pumpkin Sleigh’r by Ninkasi Brewing. Score: 1.280. A disappointing finish for another Eugene beer. This was the worst beer by a landslide. Just look at that score. More than a whole point lower than the number nine beer. It didn’t taste good, and we were a bit offended by the feeling that it was a bit of a cop-out. You can’t just add pumpkin to your winter seasonal and expect people to be amazed.

There you have it, folks. What do you think of our rankings? If you hold your own Pumpkin Beer Fest, let me know how your ranking shape up!

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