Thursday, June 13, 2013

New Blog

Please follow my new blog at http://andyandalisonkangas.blogspot.com/.

Andy and I will both share our joint adventures together now on one blog.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Coffee Shops in SE Portland on the 205 Corridor-Post #1

So Thursday nights are becoming "Try A New Coffee Shop Night" while I am waiting for class to start. My classes take place in South East Portland and needless to say, I do not know this neighborhood at all! Here's a post devoted to 2 new coffee shops I've tried.

A few notes about me and coffee: I love the stuff. Caramel lattes are my all time favorite drink. Insomnia Coffee Co in Hillsboro Oregon make the very best ones so everything I taste, I rate against the Real Caramel Latte (RCL) with light whip.

SoZo Coffee House
This place is an Asian run bubble tea joint that just so happens to make a kickbutt latte. Seriously. I have consumed a lot of caramel lattes hoping to find one as good as Insomnia's. While this just isn't quite an RCL, it is the closest coffee I have ever had to one! Yes folks, I've found a #2! The downside to SoZo is the atmosphere. I'm not into cheap Ikea furniture that is falling apart. And, I was the only non mandarin speaking person in the place. All this aside, I will totally be back seeing as though it's only 2 minutes from my school.

Coffees On-Mall 205
This is a strip mall coffee joint if I've ever seen one. Typical tiled floor with an office tiled ceiling. The barista was nice enough. The coffee was also good. It's not my #2 or my #1 but it's a solid coffee (latte). I would go back but I wouldn't drive across town just to get a drink here.

Well, look for more posts to come about my coffee adventures in SE Portland. So far, Portland has not made a bad cup!

Thursday, February 7, 2013

a NEW school

Today marks the start of my academic career at Warner Pacific College. I am starting the last 18 months of my undergrad in the Adult Degree Program to earn my Bachelors degree in Business Administration.



After much runaround, I decided that I will attend classes at the 205 Campus in South East Portland. My first choice of campus was the Westside one that was located only 7 short miles from my work. The classes were scheduled to start in January but due to low enrollment were pushed back to start in March. The March start date meant that I would not meet the mandatory degree-in-hand deadlines for my internship at Intel...so a once a week drive to South East Portland it is!

Standing on this side of this new thing, I am a little nervous yet very excited to see what this new adventure holds.

Friday, January 18, 2013

1 Year Down...Many More to Go!

Last weekend we celebrated our 1st anniversary in Sin City, USA...Las Vegas. This wasn't my first choice of place to go but since I was already there for work at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) so it made sense. I flew down on January 6th and worked all week. Andy came down on January 11 to celebrate over the weekend.

This was the first time that we had been apart longer than 24 hours since we started dating in August of 2011! It was a long 6 days but when Andy finally arrived, I was so glad to see him.


We stayed at the Bellagio Hotel on the strip. It was a little ritzier than our liking but none the less, a very nice hotel. Our room had a view of the "lake" so we could see the fountains go off every 15 minutes. This was pretty cool. We could turn our TV on to channel 22 and hear music that the fountains were programmed to.

We weren't like most Vegas goers, staying up late at clubs and sleeping in till noon. We spent time relaxing at the hotel and on the morning of January 13, our anniversary, we ate at the Fountains brunch at the Jasmine. The food was soo tasty. Lots of fresh seafood, sushi, eggs, 3 types of prime rib and an entire room devoted to deserts complete with a floor to ceiling fondue fountain. We spent 3 hours eating here and watching the fountains.

On our last day we decided to gamble a little. I was VERY hesitant to do this but I gave in and we decided that $20 was our spending limit. We tried a slot machine and had no clue what we were doing and lost $2. Then we slide over to a video black jack machine and we found our niche. Here we spent 2 hours and won $25.



Las Vegas was a fun and I am glad to say I went there but I don't think it is on my list of must travel again. It is just not quite my style. I'm not a party girl but it was fun to celebrate 1 year married in a new place!

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Slow Cooker Veggie Soup




Slow Cooker Veggie Soup




2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 small zucchini, chopped
2 medium carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, chopped
28 ounces tomatoes, undrained
2 (14 ounce) cans red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
4 cups chicken broth or 4 cups vegetable broth
4 cups tomato juice
2 teaspoons basil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 -2 drop hot sauce



Directions:

1.) Combine all ingredients in crockpot and cook on low 10-12 hours. Easy!