the carnies came to town

The carnival rolled into Truckee, set up, and opened it's doors a few nights ago!!  Liz, Marco and I decided to check it outtttttt.

the lights and colours are so mesmerizinggg

The great SUPER SLIDE race between marco and liz.... who's gonna win?!?!?!?!?

ohhhhhhh marco took gold, liz silver. congratulations guys

Liz was a good sport about it.

psychedelic.

SUPER psychedelic , don't even know what this is anymore!

THE ZIPPERRRRRRR !!! this ride made me regret eating spicy indian food.

attitude.

games that i will never win.

food that I should never eat....

Good times with the carnies.

Hiking, Moonlight paddling, and biking!

Another amazing week in Tahoe has flown by!!!

Everywhere we go I find myself grabbing for my camera because there is so much beauty everywhere!

Our weekend started with an intense hike in "Desolation Wilderness" up to Thelma Lake with Dane and Jasmine.  It was a LONG way up but totally worth it once we were enjoying our steak-sandwich picnic by the lake!

Our picnic spot!

Everything seems crisper and more colourful up there..... ahhh

sweet mangled dead tree

still working on my synchro skills!!  

It was a great hike with great company... another sweet day in Tahoe.

The rest of the weekend kind of flew by with packing and a wedding! BUT we managed to find some free time last night and headed over to lake tahoe to meet up with my old teammate Anne-Marie!!

We watched the colours change as the sun set.

I had to.

The reflections in the puddle and the rare red sky made for some epic pics!

this is my favourite!

It's rare to see a red sky like this in Tahoe, so I guess we chose the best night to head up there for some bbq fun.

And as it got darker, we prepared for our FULL MOON PADDLE BOARDING!!

We stand up paddled from this beach to a restaurant across the bay and back under the full moon sky.

It was amazing.  But I am a beginner so I had no camera!!! Hopefully I can get some pics because they were insane.  It was the craziest thing to be on a calm lake paddling with the full moon as our guide!

So the paddling was definitely a summer highlight!!

And then we got back to our other favourite activity this morning! Mountain Biking!

The view of the lake where we had been moonlight paddling less than 10 hours earlier! ha.

Anyway, back to packing and to the gym!! BUT amazing memories and sights and adventures this week!! Summer is flying by.

shirley lake hike!

Enjoying my massive apple after hiking up to Shirley Lake!

Marco jumped in! 

And I just posed...

twice...

And then I threw something to the fish... they didn't bite

There's still snow up there!

And some flowers!

So pretty and so relaxing.

And then some more pics from up and down the hike up to Shirley Lake.

Weird picture when Marco walked into my shot!!

What it was supposed to look like...

And then he precariously-posed!!

damn.... another phone drowned.

And a little collage of Shirley lake's natural garden!

RECIPES!

Since arriving back in Truckee, I have been re-inspired to cook!!

Plus, I got my Real Simple magazine in the mail, and it had so many tempting recipes that I could not resist trying this one!

It was REAL SIMPLE...ha ha. no joke, it took me about 20 minutes with everything to make... and YUMMY!!! Super tasty, BUT I added half a red onion, half a cup of chopped fresh mint, and half a cup of chopped fresh cilantro!  

And I tried to make mine look like the magazine picture!! hahaha. I slightly burnt one... whatev. Oh ya and I used Quinoa instead of couscous. 

And then today, I had an INDIAN FOOD craving so I made Anne Lindsay's "Curried Lentils with Coriander!" DELICIOUS!!!

To make this (with chicken added)

• 2 cups green lentils ( I only used about one cup in the end because I didn't want it to be overly lentil-ly)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 medium onions chopped
• 1 tsp each of ground ginger, coriander, cumin and turmeric
• 1tsp minced fresh garlic
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 whole cloves
• 3 whole cardamom
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 cup chopped tomatoes
• 1/3 cup chopped green onions
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander

OK, lots of ingredients and slightly more complicated than the salmon patties.

Anyway cook the lentils until tender and then drain...(30 minutes-ish)

MEANWHILE

In a large saucepan over medium heat combine oil, onions, ginger, coriander, cumin, turmeric, garlic, salt, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and red pepper flakes.  Cook for about 10 minutes, or until onions are softened.

Add tomatoes and drained lentils, simmer over low heat for a few minutes, discard cloves and cardamom, and then stir in green onions and coriander.

It took a little while for the prep and everything, but it's so yummy!  I added the cooked chicken in along with the lentils and tomatoes, but it was actually written as a veggie recipe in Anne Lindsay's cookbook.

enjoy!

And enjoy the garden!! There's new flowers popping up every month here!! 

And finally, here's a shout-out to these hilarious fun girls who I danced the night away with before leaving Tremblant!

GOOD TIMES at the caribou!

And Good times at the gym lately... I've been feeling great and I'm back onto a consistent and challenging program that keeps my knee feeling good and strong!

Another beautiful weekend in Tremblant!! 

Biking, dancing, laughing and thundershowers made it another great one!  

Here's a couple pics from yesterday.

My parents enjoying their morning coffee out on the bench.

My dad and I decided to try out a new bike route... on paper it looked good, but finding ourselves stuck on 10km of dirt road didn't feel so good. At least the views were nice along the Rouge.

Water break along the dreaded dirt road....

When the dirt road FINALLY linked up with civilization, we found ourselves at the Macaza Covered bridge!  I googled it and found out that it was built in 1904.  These typical Quebec bridges are covered because the materials used to make them tended to deteriorate quickly, so in order to prolong the life of the bridge, it was covered! 

Pretty cool construction.... no wonder it's lasted over 100 years!!

rolling.

posing with the graffiti....

my favourite graffiti.... "that party last night was offly crazy"  too bad bridges don't have spell check.

MARCO!

biking into the light!

What the bridge looks like from the outside!

A windmill that looks a lot like a painting...

Anyway, Quebec's cool... road biking around is a fun way to see things that I would otherwise overlook. 

I gotta go pack!! heading to California in HALF AN HOUR!!!! Procrastination should be my middle name.