We’ve been living with COVID-19 restrictions for five months now. I’m pretty sure that everyone knows this isn’t something going away in a week or two now. Sure there are the minority of people who still think it is fake but there are also people who don’t think the Earth is round. As my old boss used to say “You can’t fix stupid”.

Couple the current virus conditions with a weekend forecasted to have temperatures hitting 100 degrees fahrenheit and we’ve got a recipe for further spread. Beaches are packed and even the docks along the Willamette River in PDX are fairly crowded (with people not wearing masks…..). Again….I understand the frustration of everyone but come on people!

Mia and I both got our exercising done early on both days this weekend. I opted for a 32 mile road ride on Saturday and a mixed surface 32 mile jaunt on Sunday that took in the gravel roads between Gaston and Cherry Grove. Clouds moved in later Sunday afternoon to keep temps down to around 94F out our way. I’m curious to see what it topped out at closer to the city center. I think it was cloudier to the east so maybe PDX didn’t hit 100 either.

The heat and dry weather isn’t helping with wildfires either. Out near Mosier and now just northeast of Bend there are two fires burning. Fingers crossed that things don’t get worse.

Cookies!

I opted to keep the recipe this week simple and more in line with a classic (with a twist of course).

If I have the choice I will almost always choose dark chocolate over any other kind. Baking some chocolate chip cookies is no exception.

I used chopped pecans and, as I’ve mentioned in almost every recipe that doesn’t already include it, I added cinnamon to the dry ingredients to add some warmth to the flavor.

That is about it for this week. Mia and I have some vacation time coming up. Nothing major this year. No trip to Methow Valley (AKA Paradise) this year. Just day trips and stuff.

Thanks for reading,

-Pete