There’s a spot on the Upper Deschutes river that has become a favorite of Tip’s for swimming / fetching. On exiting the car he will locate a stick and lead the way down the trail. Then it’s game on!
Summer Salad part IV
This final installment of our Summer Salad Series is Salsa (try saying that five times fast).
Considered a sauce, we’ve chosen to elevate our salsa to it’s proper status … Tomato Salad Extraordinaire. The moment summer tomatoes begin to make their appearance, our fridge always has a deli cup full of fresh salsa. It’s importance can not be underestimated .. so we’re including it.
The ingredients need to be chopped fine and we think a mince of fresh cilantro is important, however not critical, Nan. What you don’t want to omit is the jalapeño and needless to say, the quality of your tomatoes plays a huge role in the final product.
Also not a salad … the one egg omelet has become a staple breakfast at our house and salsa must always be included on the plate. This video is an experiment in food photography style, rather than thinking you need a tutorial on cooking an omelet … but we hope you enjoy.
Super Simple Salsa
Ingredients
- 4-5 Compari vine ripened tomatoes
- 1/3 cup fresh cilantro or parsley, chopped
- 1/2 cup red onion, diced
- 1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
- 1/2 lime, freshly squeezed
Instructions
- Chop tomatoes and fresh herbs of your choice.
- Dice red onion.
- Seed jalapeno and dice.
- Squeeze 1/2 fresh lime.
- Combine ingredients and stir. Place in container and refrigerate. Use within 2-3 days.
A Bug Hunt
With any hobby there are varying levels of involvement. We tend to be involved. So when it comes to fly fishing, aquatic entomology is part of the process.
Streams are much more alive with insect activity subsurface than you might expect. The best way to know what fish are eating is to sieve up some information … literally.
Three types of insects make up a majority of food sources, caddis, mayfly and stoneflys. The best imitation for an aquatic invertebrate is part latin name and part fisher folklore. Mostly you’re looking at size and color. Information obtained from the sample tray is taken to the tying bench and applied to a standard pattern.
It’s not clear if all this leads to more fish. The immersive nature is part of the fun. Plus you get to see lots of interesting creatures. Lately we’ve been pointing the macro lens at the collection tray and the videos are otherworldly, but a bug hunt is also part of the fun.
Cascade Loop
Blazed by early explorers like John Fremont, a mostly two-lane road winds south out of Bend onto the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains. This nearly 100 mile stretch started out as a dirt trail linking the city to a southern route over those rugged peaks. It’s those peaks that draw most of the traffic these days.
We regularly access the upper Deschutes River and Davis Lake along a stretch of FS 47, Cascade Lakes Scenic Highway. Though at least once a year we make the loop from the southern edge of Bend to it’s junction at Highway 58 because it’s a really beautiful drive.
South from Bend you climb to the base of Mt Bachelor. A major section of the highway is closed until late May but by mid-June it’s lined with wildflowers and snow capped peaks. There are many places to pull off and explore but we never just pass the meadow on the western edge of Sparks Lake.
Soda Creek Campground caught our attention this trip. Only ten sites but all with views across the meadow.
We will very likely be back for an overnight, to hopefully catch some wild life that venture onto the grassy flats that the creek meanders through.
From June to September the lakes and their resort beaches are filled with swimmers, kayaks, even powerboats … places we mostly avoid in the summer. We do however frequent a couple of turnoffs between Lava Lake and Crane Prairie Reservoir. A crystal clear stream, headwaters of the Deschutes River cuts a channel through the pines and offers great picnic sites.
Thunder and rain
Summer camping got into full swing this week. We are doing short one and two day trips to fine tune the systems in our Eurovan camper. We will eventually do longer trips but for now we are working out kinks.
On a recent Crooked River trip we were treated to an afternoon summer storm. Watched it roll over the canyon walls and in about 30 minutes it was gone.
It took the muggy warm day and left us with a very pleasant evening. Fishing wasn’t all that good but we did get caught up on our reading.