Steak and Berries all of the meat. none of the fat.

A lot has happened since I last posted because, well, I haven’t posted in quite a while. I promise I was thinking of you folks the whole time though… So I’ll start where I left off and try to only include the really good stuff.

After summer camp ended, which was amazing yet again, I headed back to San Francisco where I met up with Gavin and a couple of friends before we made the journey to Mendocino to join our dear friends, Eve & Jesse, at their wedding. It was beautiful. Lots of love, beautiful views of the luscious California North Coast, and plenty of good dance moves. Eve & Jesse are clearly very happy and we are so happy for them because they’re pretty much the raddest. Congratulations again to Evie Waffles & Jesse Blue Eyes!

Here’s a quick craft project for you that I came up with in putting together their wedding gift… To go along with the funky-delicious cookbook we gave them, I picked up a couple of sweet oven mitts and decided to personalize them. To do that, I stitched an ‘E’ into one and a ‘J’ into the other (for the first letters of their first names, in case you didn’t catch that) with colored embroidery floss and a good stitching needle, all of which you can find at any basic craft store. Upon witnessing the oven mit high five that took place after they opened their gift, I decided it was a good one. But it’s also a great, simple way to personalize pretty much anything made out of fabric.

I left San Francisco and drove back down to LA for an extremely short but very sweet visit with my loved ones before embarking on a journey to the Midwest that I had been anticipating for quite some time. I went to visit one of my best girlfriends from college, who is living in Des Moines, Iowa. It was my first trip to the Midwest and, consequently, would be my first State Fair… I just happened to be there while the ten-day Iowa State Fair was in full effect. And I loved it. It was a gigantic whirlwind of fascinating Midwesterners, a variety of artery-clogging food on a stick, and stunning contest displays (think quilts, lots of cows, dollhouses, butter sculptures, very fat pigs, and so on). Instead of trying to describe it further, I will simply say that if you have not yet attended a state fair, you must. And if you have, well, you know just what I’m thinking.

The State Fair was not the only thing I enjoyed during my trip to Iowa. At the top of the list is the time spent with Stephany at her beautiful Des Moines apartment, particularly the chatting on the balcony overlooking the tree-lined street that hosted a handful of beautiful, old, colonial-looking, brick houses while listening to the symphony of cicadas that characterizes an Iowan summer. And then there was the Des Moines Art Center, which houses a small but impressive collection of amazing prints by Japanese printmakers, a unique Lichtenstein piece called Three Pyramids, and much more.  Joined on this list by a picnic, swimming in the very hot&humid weather, a visit to the farmer’s market, dinners with family, a bladder bust at an awesome dive bar, and a stroll in downtown Des Moines (Highlight: East Village and it’s many, very cool boutique stores. Favorite Store: Smash, a t-shirt store with an attitude, check out their website.)

So to wrap this all up, my visit to Iowa was everything I’d hoped it would be and I feel better about myself now after having had a proper Midwest experience. I left Des Moines a couple of days ago and am now back in Oregon with Gavin and his family. We’ve got several fun things on our agenda for the coming days that I won’t reveal just yet but I’ll give you one: the Oregon State Fair. And with that, I’ll leave you with one of my favorite photos from the Iowa State Fair…

So, as it turns out, I totally lied in my last post. I do have internet. Though i’m still hoping that my guest writer will have something for you soon but in the meantime, here’s where I’m at…

I arrived in Santa Cruz two weeks ago to start the three weeks of Summer Drama Camp that I am in the midst of right now. My official job here is to teach a film-making workshop, alongside two other lovely and talented staff members, ‘Iceman’ and ‘Zula, and to capture documentary footage of the goings-on around camp. Note: we all have camp names… I am ‘Guatemala.’ But the overall experience of this camp goes far beyond that job description… I am, after all, living here for three weeks. And even though it can be pretty exhausting, it’s something I look forward to all year long and an experience for which I am incredibly grateful. Here’s why: The campers are creative, enthusiastic and highly talented. The staff here is made up of a group of people I admire, respect and love – many of which have become dear friends of mine over the last few years. Sometimes I look at the things going on around me and think, how did I get here? (The answer: Craigslist & a good interview). Basically, at the end of the day, even if i’m totally overwhelmed, I know that I am lucky to be here and am mostly just having a lot of fun!

That said, I am ultimately still here to make movies with my campers. So I thought I’d share with you what we’ve done so far… Last week I worked with seven campers to make a Western (inspired by the genre game we play on day one of the week) titled ‘The Return of Wild Willy.’ We had a lot of fun making it and I hope you agree it ended up being a pretty sweet film…

Bearing in mind that I did not live in the heart of the illustrious City of Angels (I instead lived in a suburb near the coast) I am constantly stunned by the discoveries I have made and continue to make each time I visit this place. This is no dull place; there’s always something to be seen even if you insist you’ve seen it all.

Last Monday I headed to Topanga Canyon, where two of my very best friends from San Francisco, Chelsea and Kerry, have been living for the last year. There is something so great about friends from other places moving to your old stomping grounds – they explore and are open to this place you “know” in a totally different way. I also spent an evening with my dear friend Jessie from high school who lives in an amazing spot on the coast in the Pacific Palisades. And thanks to the adventurous spirits of these very cool friends of mine, the discoveries continued…

Chelsea and Kerry took me to the Will Rogers State Park, the former vacation cottage turned ranch residence of the 1930’s actor. It is now a lovely, green state park that hosts the only polo field in Los Angeles county as well as a 31-room ranch house, a stable, corrals, a riding ring, a roping arena and a two-hole golf course. Not to mention the handful of trailheads that will lead you to beautiful vistas of the area, the city and the coast. We spent a lovely afternoon there, basking in the sunshine in the stunningly quiet, nearly empty park, thinking about Mr. Will Rogers. We used a few of his many philosophies included in the park’s literature to inspire us that day. I’ll indulge you with our favorite, “Every man has wanted to be a cowboy. Why play Wall Street and die young when you play cowboy and never die?…”  The next day I headed to Jessie’s to join her and some of her lovely lady friends for a trip to Hollywood Bowl to celebrate her birthday. Equipped with wine, salads, baguettes and smiles, we boarded a bus in Westwood that carried us to the very large venue (boasting a capacity of 18,000). It was my first time there. I was astonished. I loved it. We enjoyed the Latin sounds of Eddie Palmieri, Poncho Sanchez and Sergio Mendes along with our little picnic in the warm Southern Caifornia climate… Wouldn’t you love that too? To wrap it all up, I found Chelsea and Kerry again in the morning and they took me to The Self-Realization Fellowship, one of their favorite places in the neighborhood. It is a peaceful site for meditiation and the home of Mahatma Gandhi’s World Peace Memorial, among many other things. Another lovely afternoon. And just to tie a bow on it all, we ended the afternoon at the beach and I took a refreshing dip – something I can never resist these days after realizing what a luxury it is to have warm water and sunshine so close to home (one comes to this realization after moving from the ideal Southern California coast to the much colder, unswimmable Northern California coast…).

So next time you are in this area, I would highly recommend any and all of these little adventures and be sure to always take advantage of kind friends who are willing to be your tour guides, whether they grew up there or just arrived. Just don’t forget to say thank you… so here’s a very huge thank you to chelsea, kerry and jessie. I just love you hooligans.

As for the next adventure, I am embarking on a coastal journey to the Santa Cruz mountains tomorrow morning to spend three weeks teaching film and shooting documentary footage at Summer Drama Camp. And I just can’t wait. Unfortunately, I will not have internet access during that time but do not fret! I have invited everyone’s favorite guest writer of this blog to indulge you in his Oregonian adventures for the next few weeks while I am away. I trust he will keep you interested and intrigued stunned but I will look forward to more adventure writing when I return!

Be well my lovely readers. Enjoy this month of July.

Well, we pulled it off – the engagement party in a week. I learned a lot about what it takes to throw an elegant party for more than, say, 15 people. After our trip to the farmer’s market, I spent time compiling and creating recipes, preparing dishes, decorating, gardening, crafting party favors and making flower bouquets while my mom got the house and yard ready. All that certainly kept us busy for the week but it was all worth it on Friday, when our house was filled with smiling family and friends celebrating what we all agree is a very joyful union. So in case you were wondering after reading about all the goodies I picked up at the farmer’s market, here is the “Summer Menu” I came up with:

Hors d’ouevres – Beet & Goat Cheese Crostinis, Chard & Onion Pizza

Salads – Chinese Chicken Salad (from Bon Appetit, our beloved little local cafe and catering spot where I worked in high school…), Tabouleh (prepared by my mother), and Green Salad with walnuts, avocados, caramelized onions, goat feta and mustard vinaigrette

Main Dishes – Maui Salmon cooked in banana leaves with pineapple (also from Bon Appetit),  and Pasta Casserole with penne pasta, homemade tomato sauce, sauteed leeks, garlic, gruyere and parmesan

Desserts – Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, Fresh Fruit and Fresh Whipped Cream

Unfortunately, in the midst of the kitchen flurry that ensued as the party took off, I failed to get photos of all this food. But I’m hoping you’ll use your imagination or even try to make some of it yourself… That said, I thought I’d share with you one of my own recipes from this menu – I’m going with the Chard & Onion Pizza, which seemed to be the most popular. Luckily, it also happens to be pretty easy.

You will need:

• Pizza Dough ~ make it yourself or check out a nearby Trader Joe’s, they’ve got some very yummy already-made pizza doughs
• Olive Oil
• Onions ~ For 1 pizza, I used 1 large white onion and about 10 little spring onions
• 1 bunch Swiss Chard
• 2-3 cloves Garlic
• 3 sprigs Rosemary
  
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 block White Cheese ~ I used handmade Goat Sage Cheddar & White Cheddar from the farmer’s market

***Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Begin by slicing all your onions lengthwise, leaving the slices fairly large. Next, chop the garlic, grate the cheese and pluck the leaves off the sprigs of rosemary. Set these prepared ingredients aside. Blanch chard in boiling water for two minutes. Set aside. Sauté garlic in olive oil for less than a minute, add onions to pan and sauté until they begin to brown and caramelize. Remove from pan. Roll pizza dough out to one medium sized pizza round (toss some flour on to your surface to avoid sticking dough).

**Sprinkle salt, pepper, rosemary and just a bit of cheese all over unbaked pizza dough. Spread chard leaves to cover dough, leaving about an inch at the edge (for crust). Cover chard with caramelized onions. Next, cover onions, with remaining cheese. Put your pizza on a pizza pan and throw it in the oven until the cheese melts and the dough begins to golden.

*Remove from oven, pour yourself a delicious drink and enjoy with good company.

At the end of the day, champagne glass in hand, I was very happy with what we had done. Our family and friends seemed full and content and Gannon and Andrea were sure to let me know how much they loved their party. I had a great time too and was so happy to be a part of such a nice celebration. Recently, I’ve though about something my mom asked me during our preparation – While I was making tomato sauce the day before the party, she asked me if I was sure I didn’t want to be a chef. I said yes, I’m sure… You see, if I became a ‘real’ chef, I wouldn’t be able to shop for ingredients at the local farmer’s market with my dad and my mom, I wouldn’t have three of my best girlfriends and my wonderful boyfriend as my sous chefs, I wouldn’t have my brother and his fiancée stopping in the kitchen to tell me they love me, I wouldn’t be able to serve dinner late or make mistakes and I wouldn’t be able to sit down and eat my own food with a crowd of people I love at the end of the night. So to all the people I know and love, I’ll be your chef anytime, but I think I’ll pass on culinary school for now.

And, once more, congratulations to Gannon and Andrea!

In the last month, we have spent one weekend in Tahoe, one week camping and three weeks doing an internship at StoneLake Farm. The weekend of the Summer Solstice (june 21) marked the end of our  internship where, each day, we worked in their organic garden and cared for their farm animals. Clearly, we were constantly reminded of the extraordinary workings of nature that I think we overlook all too often. I can’t begin to explain how much I learned from that experience but I can say that I’ve come out of it feeling great, with a whole new perspective on the land around me and perhaps a better idea of who I might like to be in this world.

**To be clear, Gavin is now in Oregon taking math and science classes and brewing lots of beer, the first in a handful of steps to him becoming a real-deal Brewmaster. I am in Torrance for a couple of weeks before I head to the Santa Cruz mountains to teach film at SDC summer camp for my third year.**

Naturally, the thing that stands at the center of everything I’ve learned in the past month is food – how it’s grown, where it comes from and what I ought to be eating. So you can imagine my excitement for the plan I had made with my dad to head to the Torrance Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning. We went to get almost everything we’ll need to feed the 60+ people that will be coming to our house on Friday evening for the engagement party we are hosting for my dear brother, Gannon, and his lovely fiancée, Andrea. I must admit that, until now, I have not been in the habit of going to Farmer’s Markets for my food (Although I had been receiving produce from a local CSA called Planet Organics for my last year and a half in San Francisco). But now that I realize the value of regular visits to the Farmer’s Market, I’ll never turn back.

We arrived at the market just after 8am and I was pleased to see that there were already plenty of folks there as happy as I was to find booth after booth of fresh California produce. Let me take a moment to focus on the California part – we are blessed with a landscape and climate that enables our farmers to grow a stunning variety of delicious food with amazing timing. We started by strolling through the market to check out what our choices were before making any purchases, passing by fruits and vegetables in green, purple, red, yellow and even pink. Soon enough, we were more than ready to start filling our bags, which we did with great enthusiasm and an incredible medley of edible gems that included leafy greens, chard, asparagus, beets, heirloom tomoatoes, pluots, peaches and cheese! The samples were as delicious as the produce was beautiful and the prices took me by surprise. I imagine you are taken by surprise too when someone asks you for $8 for 6 heads of lettuce and two bunches of beets. And on that note, I felt really good about handing that money directly to the friendly farmer, or even his or her 12-year-old daughter in between her greeting her regular customers.

After getting a few incredible homemade tamales from my dad’s favorite tamale seller, we headed home with a trunk full of yummy, fresh, local ingredients for our party. As we walked away, at about 9:30am, I noticed that the crowd in the market had grown significantly since our arrival. I was even more pleased at that moment to see that all those people seemed to have made a habit of spending their Saturday mornings at the Farmer’s Market, tossing warm greetings around to sellers and other market-goers. Aside from the familiarity they shared with each other, the sunny outdoors provided an energy all it’s own and one that is far removed from the cold sterility of many grocery stores. Needless to say, our Farmer’s Market adventure was highly successful and fun and gave me hope that people might change their food-buying habits for the better. And I couldn’t be more excited about the fresh summer menu we’re preparing for the party! I’ll let you know how it goes…

written by Gavin

Producing the brew of the Gods (beer) has kind of consumed me lately.  The sound of several billion yeast cells happily processing sugar to produce a delicious elixir, that perhaps has never been brewed before, never fails to tickle me pink.  So being that it had been nearly a month (gasp!) since I’d heard that lovely sound, and that I just happen to have everything needed to brew a batch of beer with me here at StoneLake Farm, I decided to brew a farm beer.  yes.  delicious.

Giselle and I decided it fitting to brew this batch outdoors.  And seeing as there were no other options, that’s what we did.  We used an independent propane burner on a picnic bench and it went swimmingly.  I would have liked to have brewed over a campfire, but as that presents a number of issues (and it happened to be raining), I decided against it.  The brew is a liberty pale ale with a couple of twists.  The first is that, due to unforeseen circumstances, our arrival at StoneLake was postponed for a week.  I did my best to keep my little vial of pale ale yeast happy but to no avail.  Three days after pitching there was nothing doing.  Meaning that through negligence I had killed my poor defenseless little yeast.  I did not realize this though until a day or two after the beer was brewed and in the primary fermenter. Luckily, our comrade and (one) owner of this lovely farm, Melinda Stone, had some champagne yeast which I immediately pitched.  This was followed by a week of vigorous fermentation that made me very happy indeed.  The second twist on this otherwise run of the mill (although delicious) pale ale is that we made sure to include our hosts’ intuition of flavor in the recipe by adding their homemade Elderberry Syrup to the mix as well as a tincture of local herbs and spices.  yes.  delicious.

As I sit writing this the brew resides next to me bubbling away.  She sends her love, as I do mine, confident that few humans have ever produced or tasted anything like her.  We’ll bottle her in a week and after a month or so of aging, she’ll be ready for action.  We hope this letter finds you well, and know that the sound of yeast at work is keeping us tickled and pink here in the woods.

Love,
Gavin Lord, Giselle Kennedy, and The Elder Stone Pale Ale.

p.s. yes. delicious.

The sun has emerged here at StoneLake Farm and, oh, what a refreshing thing that is! Not that we’ve been anything short of content since we’ve arrived, the sunshine just presents broader possibilities – like reading in the meadow, scrambling down the creek, and washing our dirty socks&underwear.

Only after a morning of solid poop duty, which consisted of digging a new hole for the outhouse, laying the 3-year-old humanure at the upper edge of the fruit trees, and clearing the chicken and goat homes of their ultra-plant-friendly poop (it becomes high-quality compost, very useful in growing things). And now it’s evening, we’ve fed the chickens, fed the goats, and watered the garden. All we have to do now is work out what we’ll be having for dinner before sunset so we can head back to the meadow to scarf it down while watching our blazing California sun dip back behind the adjacent hills, an awe-inspiring sight, every time.

Since we began our farming adventure here, I’ve thought a lot about food. I’ve mainly been reading two books – Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and Garden Anywhere by Alys Fowler. And to top that off, I’ve been involved in planting a few varieties of corn, beans, cabbage, radish, flax, wheat and a few flowers (which work in beautiful harmony with the vegetables at hand). I decided that if what I was doing right now was the curriculum for a 3-week intensive study course, it would be called The Earth’s Bounty. Because that is what I am really coming to understand, and, I dare say, it is changing my perspective on a lot of things. I knew I wanted to be a gardener but now, for real, I realize it must be a significant part of my life. It amazes me. The idea that I can grow what I eat or someone else, close to where I am, is growing some of the other things I’d like to have, is inspiring. The realization that there are thousands of vegetable varieties in this world, each with their own flavor and history, is exciting. And the fact that eating has to be a part of our everyday lives if we intend to survive, is awesome. I mean, if we have to do it, we might as well take advantage, right? Eat well. It’s good for you and the people around you. And it’s one mantra I’m more than willing to subscribe to.

Two of the things that we’ve made here have been pretty exciting. First, I made an elderberry dressing with some elderberry syrup Francis gave us for the beer we are brewing here. He keeps the berries delicious and useful past their season by making them into a syrup and jarring them. The dressing involved: elderberry syrup, olive oil, shallots, fresh oregano, fresh lemon-bud mint, lime, garlic and a bit of salt&pepper. It was quite tasty tossed in our fresh garden greens… We also made some delicious chicken soup that started with a chicken stock experiment, something I had heard about for a while and gotten a pretty good idea of how to do in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. We just tossed our leftover chicken bones, from grilled drumsticks, into a pot and boiled it until it was thick, golden, and gorgeous! Then we tossed a small myriad of veggies in the stock, cooked it for a while, and ate it for nourishment and to warm our cold bones in the chilly, rainy weather that came before this sunshine. I might also add that it was delicious.

It’s all working out pretty well here. Needless to say, we’re very content with our lives right now; the work is fulfilling, the company lovely, and the environment stunning. It’s a beautiful, productive, and peaceful place. And these few weeks are turning out to be a wonderful way to shape my dreams and ideas about the land around me, my community and what I eat.

So go to a farmer’s market this weekend, it’ll be fun and you’ll go home with some fresh, local goodies and a little knowledge about your local agricultural tapestry.
Maybe then you can head home to cook up a refreshing early summer meal with friends or family. If I may indulge, I’ll add that that the earth’s bounty might be a good topic of conversation for this meal…

Food is a very big part of my life, and of Gavin’s life (thank goodness, otherwise I’m not sure how well this would work out…) so for my first food-themed post on this blog, I’m going to talk about campfire cooking… I hope you didn’t think us being in the woods had any affect on our constant desire to make and eat delicious food? Because we are well in the woods and it was a welcome change from the eating we normally do. Turns out campfire cooking is awesome, as it keeps you outside for the preparation and consumption of a meal, the campfire seems to impart it’s own delicious smokey flavor to everything and, well, who doesn’t love a good campfire? Escpecially when there’s a good eatin’ at the end of it. So here’s our outline for a successful 5-day camping meal plan… We though it would be nice to share this because it seems hard to prepare for eating while camping before you’re actually camping. And sometimes it seems hard to imagine making much more than hot dogs and hamburgers. So here’s what we did. And let me tell you, my body was very pleased with this plan…

For MATERIALS, we suggest the following: A cooler, a small mess kit, utensils, small bowls or plates, a camping knife, small cutting board, a large dish towel, biodegradable dish soap (like Campsuds), tub or bucket, and a sponge. (Oh, and access to ice)

For INGREDIENTS, we had: A dozen eggs, 1 bag of pasta, 1 can of pasta sauce, 1 pack of sausages, buns for sausages, beans, rice, 1 loaf of bread, PB&J, cheese, 1 pack tortillas, milk&cereal, bacon, 1 stick of butter, chicken, cheap white wine, soy sauce (or soyaki, which we used), garlic, vegetables & adult beverages.

So…

For BREAKFAST: cereal&milk, fried egg sandwich [toast, eggs, bacon, veggies], avocado toast, scrambled eggs with sausage slices and an all-american breakfast [eggs, bacon, toast]

For LUNCH: leftovers, PB&J sandwiches, leftovers, quesadillas, leftovers (get creative with lunch)

For DINNER: Pasta Dinner [pasta, sauce, veggies], Sausages w/ veggies, Bean and Rice Burritos, Mama Lord’s Marinated Chicken [marinade = chicken legs, white wine, so sauce, minced garlic], Pasta Dinner Dos [sausages - try meat sauce this time]

So there you have it! Our meal plan. You might take a peek at some of our photos to the right as I included plenty of campfire food portraits. Now get your goods and go camping! It is, after all, summertime!

In other news, we have successfully arrived at StoneLake Farm after a couple more days of good camping. It’s amazing up here, there is no shortage of beauty, knowledge or good clean fun. I’ll tell you all about the gardening, adventuring and relaxing we’re doin’ up here in my next post… Oh, and did I mention there are five goats here?

Whit and Claire’s wedding weekend was amazing. We spent Memorial Day Weekend celebrating with them and all of their fantastic family and friends on a beautiful piece of land that sits right on beautiful Lake Tahoe. It was sunny, warm and incredibly joyful the whole time. The ceremony was almost ridiculously picturesque, on the edge of a hill that slopes right into the lake and provides an amazing view of what Mother Nature is all about. And then there was beautiful Whit and Claire and their ceremony cronies standing in front of it all… Claire looking stunning as she is in a dress that must have been made for her and Whit looking dapper in a slick grey suit-set, white suede shoes and pink tie. I could go on forever but what I’ll say is the weekend and the wedding and the couple embodied the true picture of simple elegance. The ceremony made my heart swell with the love that exuded from these two dear friends of ours and was one of those ceremonies that restores all faith in true love and marriage. Congratulations Whit and Claire and thanks for a super-lovely weekend!

As for what’s happening now… We left Lake Tahoe and headed to Lassen National Volcanic Park for a night if camping before heading to StoneLake Farm. However, the morning we were set to depart, we learned that some unexpected stuff happened up at the farm (which we did not know due to our lengthy lack of internet) and our trip was delayed until this Sunday. Gavin and I just happen to be pretty good at adapting so we looked at a map and are currently improvising a Northern California National Park/Lake Tour. A few days ago, we headed to Whiskeytown Lake and have thouroughly enjoyed the last few nights we’ve spent camping ON the lake, swimming, hiking and devising new, creative campfire meals (more on that later). And boy, it is beautiful up here! Now we’re headed for more lakes in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest for a couple more nights of our improvised camping adventure before heading to StoneLake. Don’t worryu about us though, I recently purchased the most massive map I have ever owned of just Shasta-Trinity so we know where we’re going! And now, we gotta get back on that open road…

*About the title:  When asked what they had to offer as symbols of their commitment to one another, Whit answered “Two goats and a camel.” (Correct answer: This ring, which he did have.)

Last Wednesday we returned to San Francisco to spend a packing-free week with our homies. Although these days we’re calling them our heroes because we just think they are so cool. We had a “Farewell BBQ” on Saturday to get everybody together in one place on a rare hot&sunny San Francisco day. Before the BBQ, Gavin and I came up with a plan for a photo experiment for the party. These photos will be part of an out-of-this-world photo collage that will be going up in our new Portland home and will be called ‘The Wall of Heroes.’

You can check out the photo collection on my Flickr page if you click on any of the thumbnails to the right… My dear friend JimmyJames also took some stunning photos of the afternoon and you might be able to catch them here.

The BBQ was amazing. We drank lots of beer, ate lots of food and played lots of games.  But the point here is that we love you guys, you’re the best. You’ve been such good friends to me, I’ve learned so much from each of you, had so many amazing experiences with all of you and I will miss having you around all the time. But I look forward so much to you visiting us in Portland, which I don’t hope for but expect, and to seeing what wonderful things each of you do with this life.

So, to the heroes – I love you, we love you, we’ll be friends forever.