Here are the photos I pho-got to take ;)

Dear readers, I want you to know how committed I am to you and this blog. I felt terrible that I had forgotten to take a photo of the wonderful Pho I had at Saigon Grille.

To make up for this horrendous oversight, I had Matt drive us into Cleveland again to have some Pho JUST so that I could get a photo of it. I know, I'm a very selfless person... and I'd do it all again if I had to ;)

In fact, I'm going to be heading back there on Friday for lunch!

So here is the absolutely delicious Pho....

And Matt had Bun Tom ThitNuong Cha Gio ( vermicelli with marinated grilled shrimp, grilled pork slice and crispy eggroll).

Oh, and the waiter already knows me by my first name, except he pronounces it No-mee. When we entered he saw us and had a big smile and told us he was very surprised to see us and how great it was. The other waiter also welcomed us back when we had our Vietnamese coffees for desert.

Carry on Camping... or go home.

This weekend the plan was to camp for two nights at Portage Lakes State Park. We got to our campsite on Friday afternoon. It was on a nice campground and although some of the campsite was rather muddy we had plenty of room to put up our tent and tether the dogs.

For dinner that night we cooked some potatoes in the fire and served them with baked beans and cheese. We got a little distracted and so the potatoes overcooked and the skins were inedible.
But it didn't matter much because we were joined by Pippen....
.... and his owners Jennifer and Michael. Michael is one of the partners at the company Matt now works with.

After a night relaxing by the campfire Matt and I headed out to explore some of the trails around the lakes. They were rather disappointing, it seems that it is more a park for boaters as the trails were really just paths mowed through overgrowth.

After our walk we headed back to the campsite for lunch.
As the afternoon progressed it became more and more humid and muggy. We could also hear thunder in the distance heading our way. So we decided that we would rather pack up and head home for a date night instead of deal with bad weather and lots of mud.

We went to Saigon Grille for dinner where I had THE BEST PHO IN CLEVELAND!!!!!! It was soooooo good. I didn't take a photo because I was too busy shoving it in my face.

I did manage to take a photo of Matt's Vietnamese coffee, as it arrived before the Pho. The coffee drips into the cup which contains a small amount of sweetened condensed milk. The waiter was very kind explaining what Matt needed to do with the drink. The service there was great and they were very happy when I told them they have the best Pho :) Hopefully they'll remember us the next time we go back.

Matt was so impressed with the coffee that he is presently out on a search for some sweetened condensed milk to use with some homemade percolated coffee :)
This morning we headed out to Cuyahoga to walk a couple of trails (3 1/2 miles). We got to see some pretty neat rock formations

This photo is taken next to 'Ice Box Cave', which lives up to it's name: as you cross the bridge you get a nice blast of cold air from inside the cave.
The trail took us over a couple of bridges
and to an overlook.

For the afternoon Matt is going to work on a talk he wants to give and I am going to do some reading. You know, it's a real shame that I didn't take a photo of that wonderful Pho.... maybe we should go back so that I can get a photo????

OH Pho goodness sake!!!

This weekend has been great :) I got my Matt back on Friday evening and so early on Saturday morning we headed out with the dogs to show him one of our favorite trails. It follows along a bridle trail and we saw 2 beautiful horses on a ride.

Here are Lucy and Matt crossing a Ford.
After the walk Matt and I headed into downtown Cleveland for lunch to try.... you guessed it, a Vietnamese restaurant. We had some baked salted squid as an appetizer. It was soooooo good, the seasoning was pitch perfect. The veggies were cooked to perfection and the squid had a little bit of a crunch on the very outside, but was nice and succulent on the inside. I also had a papaya bubble tea.

I had ordered some Pho and after the quality of the appetizer I was anxiously hopeful that the quality of the Pho would be the same. I was not disappointed!!!!!!!!!!!!

The broth was darker and more fragrant than the others I have had here. It still isn't on par with Gold Mountain but it was far beyond any of the others so far and I gobbled it up :D I was soooo happy to have found it, I shall definitely be heading back there SOON.

Here is me very happy with a great Pho! I couldn't stop grinning and giggling!

Here is the outside of the restaurant. Right next door to it we saw another Pho restaurant and joked that we should go there for dinner later on in the day.

For the afternoon we went paddling at Bedford reservation

And then when it came to dinner time, WE HEADED BACK TO THAT RESTAURANT NEXT DOOR!
We had some salted fried shrimp for starters and then I had Pho and matt had something else. I don't remember what it was because I was so taken with having my second bowl of great Pho in a day. It too was more dark and fragrant. The other Pho have reminded me of the Pho that I made when my sister sent some Pho cubes over from Vietnam. They just weren't as good as the Pho that she had sent another time. The two Pho I had this day were not as sweet as the others, and more savory.
There was a little shrine for something or other in the doorway into the restaurant.
After dinner we walked around downtown and came across a scene of The Avengers movie that is being filmed in cleveland. Those are New York police cars and taxis. Even the posters on the road work are from New York.


Sunday morning, after a bad night of very loud thunderstorms, we headed out for a bike ride. The bike trail is about a 5 minute bike ride from our house and once onto the trail you will often see deer crossing back and forth. It's really so nice to be able to be so close to nature.
We cycled to Brandywine waterfall.


And then we packed up to take the dogs for a walk and have a picnic. But the heavens opened and so we had to eat in the car. We did take the dogs for a little walk in the rain but we turned around when we couldn't see a clear outline of Lucy, she was shivering so much.
Now we are sitting in a Starbucks, drinking hot coffee and watching the rain pour down.

I have done some thinking about Omaha. I don't have any issues with the city itself, it has great shops, restaurants etc. My problem is what is (or more to point what isn't) outside of the city. I am a country girl and so if I have to live in a city I need to be able to 'escape' into the countryside where I feel more in the presence of God than anywhere else. I was not able to find that in Omaha's surrounding 'country side'. I shall look forward to returning to see friends when we are done here in 2 1/2 months, but I could never EVER live there again. This is not a dig to anyone who DOES live in Omaha, different strokes for different folks, I just realize now just how much more than good restaurants, shops etc I need.

It's been nice to also see that I do like this kind of stuff as much as I thought I did. I had been somewhat worried that I was suffering from some 'the grass is always greener' and that it was possible that when we moved I'd still not be happy. But I am, and I shall cherish every single wrinkle I get from all this smiling :)

I would recommend Cleveland to anyone who wants a holiday of trail walking, picnics, bike rides as an alternative to someplace like Estes Park which gets VERY overcrowded during the summer. Granted, you don't get the mountain views, but the trails here are awesome!!!! Don't forget there is also Lake Erie for swimming etc. And the townships help create a feeling that you are not as close to as big a city as Cleveland.

If Matt decides that he needs to stay in Cleveland area he will not get any tears from me. BUT I am looking forward to trying Maine still :)

Life is an adventure!! This week we are hoping to explore the shores of Lake Erie.

Wednesday is Asian food day!

Wednesday, after a lovely walk with the dogs, I headed into Cleveland to try a vietnamese restaurant Minh Anh. I got the Pho Saigon, a rare cinnamon beef soup.

It was yummy, but....... not Gold Mountain yummy! I'm beginning to feel that perhaps the Pho that Gold Mountain serves is not 'normal pho'. The broth is darker and less sweet than the other Pho I have had. Any insight readers?? It's called Pho Ta'i. I have found a recipe for it here, I might have to try making it.

The restaurant was in an older part of the town and wasn't much to look at from the outside, but in the back where I parked they had some lovely flowers. I'll try and get some closer shots next time I'm there, they were very unusual looking.I had a very friendly waiter, originally from Ho Chi Minh city, but lived here for the last 13 years. He was very chatty and I'll be honest I didn't understand much of what he said, but I know he loves soccer!

I stopped by the pet store on the way to pick up some more food for Lucy. I saw another 'Mr. Flowers'. He was her first toy and she still loves snuggling with his remains (you can see them at the bottom of the next photo). She was ecstatic when she saw Mr Flowers II and has been giving him lots of love since his arrival.
Penny still doesn't get what all the fuss is about with dog toys!
For dinner I ordered take out from the local chinese restaurant, Smiles. I was uber happy to find that the shrimp chips were indeed prawn crackers, of the multicoloured variety :)

The food was ok, nothing special. I had the hot and spicy shrimp, which had about 23 onions with it and 4 strips of bell pepper. The flavor was great, but the abundance of onion makes me feel like I'm being duped by being giving cheap veggies.
Matt gets back from Utah tomorrow night. If the weather stays nice we're going to go camping on Saturday, so I'm off now to try and research some good campgrounds :)

More walks, workouts and wacky weekday meals

Baked beans on toast!!!!!!!! Enough said.

Monday, the dogs and I headed to Bedford reservation, a 10 minute drive away. It looked like it might be a good place to go paddling and climbing along rocks. I think I'll take Matt there this weekend and I'll take some photos. This time we stopped at the bridal veil falls trail, which starts following a creek...
... which flows down some small 'falls'.
The trail then goes off into the woodland. I didn't get to go too far, as Penny hadn't eaten ANY of her last 3 meals. I didn't want to overdo it with her. After a good suggestion from a friend I gave her a meal while I was also eating and hey presto she ate :)

Today we headed back to Brecksville reservation (my fave so far) and walked along the top of the gorge cut out by the river.
Tonight for dinner I had Mustgoes (food in the fridge that 'must go').

I started with sauteing red onion, yellow and green squash in a little olive oil and chili pepper flakes. I then added some portobello mushrooms.

Things got a little strange when I added some tuna and.....wait for it...... baked beans!!!

Finally I added some whole grain pasta and a small amount of cheddar cheese and feta cheese. There's something about Tuna which allows you add half the amount of cheese you think you're going to need. It seems to be able to spread it around more, I wonder if it has anything to do with the protein in tuna....

Anyhoo, the final product which looks like cat vomit...
was actually really really tasty! I'm looking forward to having left overs tomorrow. I made a large bulk of it so that I can freeze some for Matt's lunches next week.

As I can't kiss myself I kissed the dogs instead.

Don't forget to kiss YOUR cook!

What a weekend :)

This weekend started off with some baking on Friday. I made an orange and sweet potato cake. It is a recipe I got from Matt's Dad's wife Katy :)

It's a great recipe! All you do is use a box of orange cake mix, but instead of adding 11oz of oil and 2 cups of water you just add a tin of sweet potatoes with their juices. Add 3 eggs and hey presto you have a cake batter. The final result is scrumdiddlyumptious!! So a big thank you to Katy for giving me this recipe.

If any of my europe friends/family want to try it but can't get the orange cake/sweet potatoes just let me know and I'll send you some: that's how good this stuff is!!!

Friday night Matt took me to the circus for date night :) I think I might have annoyed him singing the childrens song "you've got to be strong to work in the circus"

He bought me candy floss and popcorn. Isn't he the best!

Saturday morning I dropped Matt off at the airport, he's in Utah for the week at a conference. So I found myself driving to a town 30 minutes away to buy some mushy peas, heinz baked beans, marmite and hob nobs! I had this for dinner, it was awesome!

Sunday morning I headed out to the horse show. I don't know how they grade showing over here, but from what I could tell it was a novice competition, the jumps were pretty lame and the riding left something to be desired, but it was fun to be around horses and here the talk of horsey competition going on. It's made me even more excited to start riding again. I found myself mentally urging the competitors to 'get more impulsion', 'have the horse focus on the jump, not outside of the ring' etc....

Today the carpet is being replaced in the bedroom :) Then, when that is done, I'm going to take the dogs out for a long walk through some trails.

Penny isn't eating again and I may have to make an appointment at the vets for her to make sure everything is ok. She has kidney/bladder issues and I want to make sure it's nothing to do with that.

I swear I don't have munchausen by proxy!!!!!!