Brett and Debbie

Pictures from Monterey

I've uploaded more pictures from the Monterey Aquarium, and Debbie's triathalon! Debbie did great, now we're getting ready for a vacation in Montana and Wyoming in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks which we're looking forward to.

http://picasaweb.google.com/bretthall/MontereyAquarium#

http://picasaweb.google.com/bretthall/DebbieSTriathalonInPacificGroveCA2009#

Debbie finished the Triathalon!

Debbie finished the Pacific Grove Triathalon (in Monterey, CA) about an hour ago. She had a great race, and came in 5th in her class with a time of 2:54! I'll upload some photos soon, or you can see them now on brett's facebook account.Now she's relaxing, rehydrating, cheering on her teammates, eating pasta, and talking to her family. Brett enjoyed watching, trying to take photos with 2 cameras and say hi when he saw her for 15 seconds every 20 minutes!

Monterey

We arrived yesterday in Monterey, CA with Debbie's triathalon team after an uneventful trip. Most of the day was spent eating (triathletes can really eat!) and adjusting, and getting equipment together including the bikes off a truck. .

It's nice not to be working..! We started with a quick visit to the fabulous Monterey aquarium, and I got to see the seahorse exhibit for the first time which was really fascinating. The photos are going to be great when I get them all together!

Today Debbie and the rest of her team took a test-swim at the race area, but only half the distance they will do tomorrow. The surroundings are beautiful here, and the weather is perfect. After their swim, most of the swimmers were energized and talked about crawling through the kelp which seems to want to stick to you as you swim over it.

Thanks for all your support! I'll promise to update facebook with the race results as they proceed, and photos when I can get them! If you're a facebook user, add me as a friend (bretthall at gmail.com) and you can see the status updates!

An amazing Jellyfish at the Monterey aquarium:

The beautiful kelp forest at the aquarium:

Lovers point, the site where they will be swimming from a distance:

Debbie and her team off to a swimming start to try out the site:

The team all together and done with their test-swim:

Catching you up..

We've had a great year so far, although we haven't been taking as many photos since we've been so busy! We've also taken to using facebook more often, perhaps that's why we haven't posted anything on here for so long?

Here's some of the stuff we've been doing lately:

We are now cheesemakers and have made Mozzerela, Cheddar, and Derby
Brett is still brewing great beer and just started a fresh hop beer with his own hops
Debbie is training for a triathalon (olympic length!) which will be in Monterey this weekend. Stay tuned..
Rebecca and Jeff visited Portland!
We visited the Oregon Coast several times
Debbie visited Matthew & Andrew for their birthdays
Remodeling the bathrooms

These are just teaser photos from a larger set from some random events this year so far... for the rest check here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bretthall/BlogCatchup

And here's some videos of Debbie and the team at in their first open water swim:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xussN53uM4g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQo4Uft0Qh4

Brewing a Fresh Hop Beer

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've updated this blog, I need to find an easier way to compose the posts..

With the day off, I took advantage of the time to get some brewing done for this Fall. Nothing better than a fresh hop beer, one of my favorite styles of the year. So many of the local brewpubs make their own, and the variety flavors available are tremendous since the style is not clear-cut. Everyone makes up their own, which is a great conversation starter around beer-geek circles.

Today the hops were ready for picking, so with Debbie and Charlie's help we brewed our first all-grain fresh hop beer! The harvest this year is impressive, but not as much as I hoped. We're all a little envious of the massive plants that Paul grew, from cuttings I gave him this spring!

Since I didn't have a chance to go by the brew store before they closed I came up with the ingredients I had around the house, making this nearly a "kitchen sink" brew. I had to get creative roasting my own crystal malt out of some pale malt I had, used up some hops in the freezer, and found a packet of dry yeast I had stashed for exactly this occasion. This is truly going to be a home-grown homebrew, and perhaps impossible to repeat!

It's going to be a nice nutty amber ale with a powerful floral flavor and aroma since I put almost the entire harvest of hops in the last 10 minutes of the boil. I'm looking forward to it already! Give me an email in a month or two for your taste..

There are more photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bretthall/BrewingAFreshHopBeer2009#