Handelbar Coffee Roasters

We have a new coffee house in town. Handlebar Roasters owned by Aaron and Kim who are ex-professional cyclist and both competed in the Tour de France. They have awesome coffee and everything is setup very European which has attracted both cyclist doing group rides and motorcyclist including my Vespa mechanic Bobby and his Moto Guzzi.

Surfboard Maintenance

Had to do a little surfboard maintenance for the up coming winter season. Re-wax of the boards and a new True Ames fin setup for the Hoyte longboard.

Inovation, then and now.

John Britten created this amazing v-twin superbike at his home in 1990. The chassis is built onto the engine and is made from carbon fiber. The current Ducati GP 11.1 MotoGP bike uses the same technology today 2011. Amazing!

Hoyte Mini Symster

RR

Russell made me a 5'7" version of a Mini Simmons. At 44 , it took a while to adapt to it being so small and fast. But it is going to be a fun summer board on those days that you need speed on a slow wave.

Santa Barbara's Farmers Market

 I went to the farmers market on Easter weekend to pick up a little produce. The market is always amazing and inspires me to cook more than ever!

Russell's new Twin Fynzer

Russell has a new custom twin fin called the "Twin Fynzer" I'm hoping to scrape up a little money to get one soon .This one has glass on bamboo fins from Marlin Bacon and Fins 101.

New laminating aprons

I have been making aprons for my friends that make surfboards and use fiberglass and epoxy resins. This is the first apron I made for Russell Hoyte. He's styling now!

World Superbike Donington.

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2011/Mar/110326a.htm

 Max is fast again! Superpole to follow.
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2011/Mar/110326b.htm
Checa on pole!
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2011/Mar/110327a.htm
Melandri wins race1!
http://www.worldsbk.com/en/news/5/6932.html
Checa in race 2.
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2011/Mar/110327c.htm
Melandri, Checa share spoils!
Really great that Melandri got his first win in WSBK. He really is a good rider and a really tough few years in MotoGP. It's gonna be a great year of racing!

When I was at the Oregon Fly Fishing Expo this March, there was a dutch oven cooking demo hosted by the Northwest Dutch oven Society {http://www.nwdos.org/ } and the had amazing chicken jambalaya and baked focaccia  bread. Their sites has really cool recipes including sourdough pancakes. I'm trying that next!

Good micro brews in Oregon!

Stopped in Ashland Oregon for a quick bite at the Wild Goose Cafe. The food was excellent along with their choice of local beers. The Monkey Face Porter was very good. But next time I really want to try the 20 inch Brown.

Oregon Fly fishing Expo 2011.

Had a great time tying flies for the Oregon Fly Fishing Expo. It was good to see so much talent along with good friends. Pictures included are a Salmon fly plate for the auction. My father in law Doug Fear, The famous hackle grower Henry Hoffman and my fly tying vice with the famous "Larry Minnow" pattern.

Gyu-Kaku Japanese Barbecue.

Tina and I had Japanese barbecue in Irvine, Ca .

Very similar to Korean Barbecue, with the gas grill placed in the center of the table. This seemed to be a very popular restaurant with the locals. Very busy place on a Saturday night! It re mined me of camping indoors. I  can only blame myself for burning my food. 

Peters Inspiration.

Peter St. Pierre of Moonlight Glassing has some incredible pictures of hot rods and Von Dutch pictures in his work area to draw inspiration from when he pin lines and airbrushes your custom shaped surfboards.

Shrimp Risotto

• This is a shrimp risotto I made from the fish stock I made last weekend . Risotto was made with olive oil , garlic , diced onions and alborio rice sauteed in a risotto pan. Stock was brought up to a simmer and ladled into risotto. Shrimp was shelled and deveined,marinated in olive oil and salt and pepper then sauteed with red pepper infused oil. After risotto was made the sauteed shrimp , chopped parsley  and butter added. Salt and pepper and a bit of sauteed shrimp oil from the pan was added to the risotto gave it a great taste.

Fish head soup!

I tried making fish stock for the first time this weekend. Went out to the Santa Barbara Seafood and picked up Salmon and Halibut bones. Added white wine and dry vermouth , root veggies, peppercorns,allspice berries, shallots and fennel. Smelled and tasted awesome! First dish will be shrimp risotto.

Fresh Bread!

Fresh loaves of multi-grain and wheat sandwich bread that has been outstanding. A new loaf is made every week in a attempt to stay away from commercial bread that have preservatives in them. Here are a couple of whole wheat loaves.

Dinner with Tina at Jullienne. Roasted duck from the prefix menu.

New Board #2

This is a 6'6" egg shape 2+1 I made. My first idea was to make a single fin hull but this ended up being a egg with single concave to a vee. It works awesome and is one of my favorite boards. Russell again helped out of a few problems  with the bottom and gave me ideas for the paint job. I also did the glassing.

Board Bags

This year I got a new Brother sewing machine for Christmas. So far I've made two covers with it using duck canvas for material. Here they are.