dinner on the balcony

I had a delightful time camping over the three-day weekend and will blog about it soon, but that will take a lot of picture uploading and I'm sleepy. So, throwing chronology to the winds, Dinner on the Balcony it is.

Pela

While Mrs. Galore was off enjoying the nature on a female-only camping trip with coworkers, Mr. Galore took an opportunity to enjoy a bit of the finest music Ballard had to offer. Mr. Galore was actually invited on said camping trip, but providing the "token male" perspective and talk of clothes and nail polish (authors note: Mr. Galore doesn't actually subscribe to this stereotype) can get old.

Thanks to an introduction at last year's KEXP barbecue, I've come to love the band Pela and was even able to introduce them to a friend of the Galores at last night's show.

I think this about sums up their passion and energy for rock-n-roll:



If you have an aversion to loud noise, the following slightly tamer acoustic rendition might be better:

california, part two

After two wonderful days in Santa Barbara we drove up the coast to Pismo Beach to visit the incomparable Jack, Mary, and Vanessa. Jack was my track coach in college in Seattle; now they live in California a block from the ocean. Unfortunately we brought Seattle weather with us -- said the Californians, "We can't remember the last time it was this cold!" -- but we braved the elements to clamber about on the beach. Seen below: the Galores, Jack, monkeydog Milo, and the ever-delightful Chris, who was a walk-on freshman when I was a senior and is now training to make the Olympics in the decathlon. You know, the usual.








We spent the rest of our too-brief time there chatting, eating, and pretending Miracle Baby Vanessa was our curly-haired kid.







More pics and stories in posts by Mary and Chris, here and here. And to conclude, this brief video of a trip to the park (only family member missing: Chica the bird).

california, part one

We went to Santa Barbara to surprise my best-friend-cousin for her graduation. We had her roommate pick us up at the airport, then managed to make it into the bar where she was hanging out with friends and had the waitress bring her a beer and say it was from "those people at the table over there." And it was us! She had no idea. I love surprises!




Her brother and her mom were there too. So was Einstein.


My cousin is very smart.



Mr. Galore took the Great Minds of Psychology shot on the left, then requested a Hot Babes of Computer Science pic. The Hot Babe of English was laughing too hard to be at her hottest.




So much fun.

Cloud Cult

A quick update from Mr. and Mrs. Galore's Predominantly Food & Music Blog (PFMB)™.

We saw one of our favorites, Cloud Cult, this past Friday. Here's a snippet of their work for those that need an intro:



Mrs. Galore broke the news to the Grist crowd a few years back about their eco-cred, which sparked our original interest. They were green before it was cool. Ironically, the same Kevin from the aforementioned article was celebrating his 29th birthday, so we met up with him before attending the show.

During the show, Cloud Cult played a number of songs from their latest release. I really gained a new appreciation for their latest album, though I'll still maintain that their finest work was on Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus.

Mrs. Galore + NPR

My wife, that's Mrs. Galore for you all, is famous. Listen here (it's about 1/2 through when she starts waxing all poetically on BPA).

Mrs. Galore isn't one to brag, so I'll do it for her. You know, proud husband and all.

so behind

Oy. We just spent a fabulous four days in California, but before we can blog about that I really need to blog about our trip to Portland from ... a month ago. Oy.

We went to Portland!

We sang hymns and made nutella with Sheldon & Janis, played Guitar Hero with Lori & Jen, ate leisurely breakfasts with Jon & Francesca & Sofia, and went to the most incredible restaurant with Alison & Megan:



I am not kidding. The restaurant is called Nutshell. It changes its menu weekly, is all vegetarian, and -- well, I cannot describe. Look at pictures.



Yum.

Portland is enticing. But, if it's not yet obvious, I tend to be equally enthralled with the food we make ourselves.