OSU Pets Day

It's all happening in Corvallis this weekend. It's Mothers Day tomorrow, so the town is overrun by visiting families and women in these tshirts. Since we don't have any familial visitors, we decided to forgo the motherly celebrations and attend OSU Pets Day, a kind of show day put on by the Vet Science department. Many friends were made, although to my great disappointment there were no Groobs :(

Bunnehs

Chicken rooster thingo

The pygmy goat agility competition

LLAMMMMMAAAAS

A cranky looking tortoise

Tiny cactus-dwelling lizard

More goats

And finally, greyhounds in matching argyle sweaters

A strange collection of objects

Spotted in a front garden along NW 35th St yesterday

Don't mind if I do

 A pleasing diversion on my downtown trip today was a visit to the two op shops in that part of the world. It's fortunate for my luggage allowance that I don't go down there too often, but since I was in the area I couldn't resist a bit of light rummaging. Blessedly, they're still priced like real op shops, not like Sydney "vintage" shops, so you can walk away with a couple of nice things and change from $10.

Instagrammed Afternoon Wanderings

Although Corvallis is not a big place, we tend to spend most of our time around our apartment and the uni, rarely venturing outside that 5 or 10 block radius on normal weekdays. Some errands took me downtown today, for the first time in a week or two, and fortunately the rain and miserable weather took a break for the few hours I was out walking. I love the walk from our apartment downtown - one of the great things about this place is the way the landscape moves seamlessly from low density business areas around the uni or downtown to beautifully maintained, green and quiet residential streets. I think I'll need to do a "Front Gardens of Corvallis" post before we go, so you know what I'm talking about!

The cherry blossoms have turned from pale to rich pink in the past couple of weeks, and are already starting to drop. There is a fabulous and huge pink house on the corner of Jackson Ave and NW 8th St, and today the rest of the block had very obligingly coordinated: 

 

I did cheat and Instagram these pictures, but the fake Lomo candy colours above are actually much closer to the real thing than the original washed out iPhone snaps.

Another thing I love about Corvallis is the way the freight train tracks run right down the middle of a leafy residential street. There are only a couple of trains a day, and today I was on the right corner at the right time.

Doughnut Aftermath: The Shari's Edition

In an attempt to cure my doughnut hangover (or at least in the spirit of penance), we hit the gym first thing on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, 40 vigorous minutes on some strange stair-climbing machine couldn't heal the psychological or physical trama of the night before - I think I'd need to run a marathon with the Stairmaster on my back to fully atone for my doughnut sins.

Not wanting my queasiness to spoil the day though, we decided to stick to our Easter lunch plan, at least in part. We initially planned to have some lunch and pie (of course!) at Shari's for Easter, but when this plan was hatched I don't think we took into consideration the fact that we'd spend all of the previous day stuffing ourselves stupid in a festival of wild Bacchanalian doughnut frenzy. Bravely though, we headed to Shari's to enjoy some of their *ahem* lighter menu items.

While Eggs Benedict may not be the healthiest breakfast in the world, I insist you note how much plate is visible here compared to yesterday's breakfast! Also, I resisted the siren call of the home fries and stuck to the tiny fruit plate.

When it came time for dessert, we opted to built milk towers instead. Healthy and educational!

Gravity won in the end, and I slunk home to spend the afternoon with RuPaul.

Meeting My Match in Eugene

Since we had the car on Saturday, we drove to Eugene (about an hour away) for dinner at Sushi Domo.

 They do a big selection of interesting and imaginatively named vegie rolls, as you can see below:

I think The Guido and Crop Burning were tied for the favourite of the evening.

There was a Wal Mart across the road that, of course, was still open when we finished dinner at 9pm. Having never been into a Wal Mart, and being curious about strange retail experiences in this country, I insisted we venture inside.

 

 Look, a wall of Jillian products! 

Unfortunately for my common sense (and my digestive system), the influence of Jillian wore off as the Desserting Hour approached. Loyal followers of the blog will recall that dessert in Eugene means... 

 

 

Here is a handsome man with a very sensibly proportioned doughnut.

 And here I am with a monster as big as my head.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Memphis Mafia - described on the Voodoo Doughnut website as:  

Fried dough with banana chunks and cinnamon sugar covered in a glaze with chocolate frosting, peanut butter, peanuts and chocolate chips on top!

 How could I resist?!

With a little help (and some cajoling) from Paul, I finished the whole thing, but this bad boy pretty quickly turned from incredibly delicious to completely nauseating, and I spent all day yesterday lying on the couch, watching back to back episodes of RuPaul's Drag Race and nursing my doughnut hangover. I am two days late to write this post because the thought of even looking at the photos turned my stomach, which, by the way, has still not quite forgiven me despite litres of digestive tea and a healthy dose of probiotic yoghurt this morning. Needless to say, I will be going easy on the eating for at least a few days so my poor internals can recover!

Lunch in Albany - The Instagram Edition

The aformentioned rental car came about so we could take a couple of short trips this weekend in service of, of course, FOOOOOD. After picking up the car and battling with Gwynneveve, our once-affectionately named but now universally loathed GPS (you know that person in your office who jams the photocopier and then walks off and leaves it for someone else to fix? If she were a person, that would be Gwynneveve), we drove 20 minutes down the road to Albany. Now, having not spent very much time there, I could be wrong about this. I could be wrong, but my impression is that Albany is just full of strip malls and rednecks. The bumper sticker we drove by this morning that said "Uncle Sam Wants You to Speak English!" didn't do much to dispell that impression. One thing Albany does have though, is the very excellent roadside diner, The Original Breakfast.

Forget ristretto lattes -  rich, strong drip coffee with a splash of cream is where it's at. The best thing about diner coffee? When you drink some, the lady in the apron comes and tops it up! Thank you apron lady (they don't actually wear aprons at The Original Breakfast, that I can recall, that's just for dramatic effect).

The main event - veggie omelette with fried potatoes.Paul enjoyed a veggie scramble, also with fried potatoes.

Saving the best til last, of course!

What else is there to do in this hillbilly town? Costco tourism, of course! We aren't members of Costco so we couldn't buy anything, but you don't have to be a member to enjoy the free samples.

Here I am, about to consume a wasabi cheese sample in front of wall of heavily discounted, euphemistically named "Bath Tissue". Who really believes Americans use tissues in the bath? Come on!

Saturday Morning Perambulations

It's a beautiful Saturday here in Corvallis, and a perfect day for a morning run. Back in my old Brooks trainers today - I got a pair of these when we first got here, and I like them for the gym and cross training but the jury's still out on whether they're too bone-crunching for running on the pavement. They seem to be everywhere at the moment, so it will be amusing/awkward to see if an entire generation has the same plantar fascia injuries in 20 years time as a result!

Paul left early to get some study in before picking up our rental car (more on that later), so I decided to plan out a route that would deposit me at the Hertz office in time for a ride home. I managed to run all the way this time (just over 4k I think), apart from a brief stop to check the map when I took a wrong turn.

 

I'm sure I've said it before, but it's just so goshdarn nice here. Everyone seems to have lovingly tended gardens that are starting to bloom, and apart from a few people out tending said gardens, the only company I had on my run through the 'burbs were the many postmen (postpeople?) out on their routes. I don't think I've mentioned our postman, but suffice it to say, he is dedicated. Takes my appreciation of The Mail to a whole new level (and I don't mean for that to sound like I'm having an affair with him, which it unavoidably does. He's just a really good mail man!). Anyway, I digress. It was warm, sunny and green out on my run this morning, and for want of a better way of putting it, it just felt like a great day to have legs.

Brontosaurus Island

Our apartment has been taken over by coloured brontosauruses (brontosauri?), doing various dinosaur activities like eating, bathing and smooching:

Hangin' with the neighbours

After a pickle-enhanced night of blissful sandwich dreams, we awoke this morning to a quiet and sunny Friday. On the way to coffee and study, we had a chat with our across-the-street neighbours, who were out enjoying the sunshine:

Between the midnight sandwich, the number of friendly cats in our street, and the giant strong and delicious coffee I just had, I'm feeling very "long weekend" this morning (although it isn't actually a long weekend here, and technically, this entire semester is a long weekend for me). Folks at home, I hope you are enjoying your well-deserved days off! Pat a cat, if you can!

What a country!

Corvallis recently got its own Jimmy John's sandwich shop, who will deliver single sandwiches anywhere in Corvallis until 4 am. Coming from a country where even Pizza Hut won't take your call after 9pm, this sounded just too good to be true, so of course, we had to test it out.

Thursday night, 11:55pm. We're sitting on the couch, critiquing but secretly enjoying pop music videos on cable, and Paul starts casually browsing the Jimmy John's website. You know, just to have a look and see what it's all about. By 12:05, we had a vegetarian sandwich, a soda, and a halved pickle on the way (you get to choose how your pickle is cut. Are you screaming with joy yet? Let me say it again: YOU GET TO CHOOSE HOW YOUR PICKLE IS CUT!!!! To borrow a phrase from David Foster Wallace, can I just say, is this not pampering to the point of insanity?!). With our delivery scheduled for 12:30 am, there was nothing to do but sit there nervously, watching Katy Perry and doubting whether this sandwich was ever going to arrive.

At 12:27, a knock on the door! Lo and behold...

 Ta da!

You wouldn't think it, but eating a giant salty pickle right before you go to bed actually makes for very restful sleep.

A spot of interior decoration