I read a sobering article in the Oregonian the other day. In summary it states that if Oregonians don’t smarten up we are going to get clobbered with new COVID cases in the coming weeks. We’ve had record daily cases for the past week and estimates project that things are going to get worse. It definitely cemented in my mind to not hand out candy for Halloween this year. I don’t need to encourage people to congregate or be out and about in general. I know my little action won’t stop parents from taking their kids out. If I had kids though there is no way I’d be brining them to strangers doors.

In less serious happenings…we are enjoying this extended nice weather. While it has rained off and on the past week or so it hasn’t turned into the dismal and dreary rainy weather of some previous Octobers. As a matter of fact it has been down right pleasant.

I rode out to Banks mid-Saturday morning for what I have termed the “On and Off Roads Loop”. I use some of the Timber Logjam loop and then partake in various parts of Stub Stewart singletrack. I highly recommend the new and improved Williams Creek Horseshoe trail. What I really like about this ride is the mix of pavement, gravel, singletrack and even rail trail. There is no perfect bike for it, but there sure is a wrong bike (road or full suspension for example). From my door it’s roughly 47 miles with almost 2,400′ of elevation. It doesn’t sound too tough until you realize the first 17 miles and last 19 miles are either dead flat or slightly downhill. So the majority of that elevation is gained in the middle 11 miles. Ouch.

Time to also share another Pete original recipe. This can be simply called Apples with cinnamon & brown sugar. It’s a multiuse recipe that is good on pancakes, oatmeal, vanilla ice cream or even just in a bowl itself with a little whipped cream to top it off.

I’ll do my best to write out the recipe but certain parts of it are best described as “to taste” or “to your liking”.

4 apples, cored and peeled
1/4 – 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (to taste)
1 1/2 tbs butter
whole nutmeg (do yourself a favor and do not buy pre-ground nutmeg)
1/4 cup brown sugar

Melt the butter in a medium size pan. Add apples and spice and mix in. I run the nutmeg over a microplane 7-10 times. You can add as much or as little as you like. Also cinnamon is to your taste. I tend to use 1/4 tsp or so.

Cook until tender or to your liking. I lower the heat after 5-8 minutes and let it sit over medium low heat for anywhere from another 5-10 minutes. It really depends on what type of apples you are using and how tender you want them. Overcooking the apples will turn this into applesauce.

Mia and I added them to our traditional Sunday morning pancakes today.

As I said earlier these apples are good mixed with oatmeal for breakfast or on top of some vanilla ice cream for dessert.

Thanks for reading,

-Pete