Cold Beaches and Spicy Bloody Marys!

I was lucky enough to spend the last days of 2010 and the first of 2011 at one of the quietest, most refreshing and magical places I've been to in a very long time, Rockaway Beach at the Oregon coast. It was the first time Johnny had ever seen the difference between a Southern California beach and the majestic coastline waters of the Pacific Northwest. It never topped more than a frigid 34 degrees most of the time, but there were a few unforgettable things about those 3 days that I wanted to share with my followers who take inspiration from the little things in life:

On the drive out from Portland, about a two hour drive in snowy weather... we went from cloudy and gray weather, to snowy and icy, to sunny and clear!

I had to stop and show Johnny the Tillamook Cheese Factory,  known for making famously great cheese and ice cream from "Happy Cows". These folks really know how to do dairy, and a lot of it! I'll be doing another post soon about our factory tour- there's a lot to see.

The first unforgettable happening was... the sun! We awoke on day one to gorgeous, sunny skies and with hot coffee in hand, took a chilly walk on the beach. Here are some snaps you can rarely catch on a winter morning in Oregon:

The town of Rockaway is small with one main drag. I fell in love with an old, empty restaurant... (just the perfect place to start my own good food shop, right?!) I needed to capture that moment in time too. The peeling, white painted letters read Chicken and Dumplings. Ultimate comfort food. Happiness.

 

Upon finishing our cold, windy walk we needed to warm up! But since we'd already had our morning java, what better can you do then go for a gourmet bloody mary? Jimmilea and Dad brought her favorite mix, Lyle Style Bloody Mary Mix - the best stuff ever! With some quality potato vodka, Lyle mix, carrot, celery, olive, tomato, horseradish, and a jumbo prawn... life just got a little better. Let me show you just how much:

Dad and I ready to dive in! 

And here's the label and Nutrition Facts for Lyle Style mix, made in Lyle, WA. For a bloody mary mix this is definitely low sodium. FYI for all of us, sodium intake should be less than 2300 mg/day or less than 1500 mg/day if you have high blood pressure.  Generally speaking, you don't want to be drinking your sodium so if you can go low on the salt and high on flavor - great! I swear, you can't even taste that it's low sodium which is even better.

It is available in Mild or Spicy, only 20 calories per serving

!

Extra bonus: Provides 35% of your Daily Vitamin C

Considering many popular brands of bloody mary mix contain around 1200-1500 mg of sodium per serving, 340 mg for 4 oz or 680 mg for 8 oz is quite low. 

Happy New Year! We started 2011 off with a hike up Nea-kah-nee Mountain and were rewarded with stunning views and even got to see a pod of whales out in the big blue. What a treat!

And to finish off the trip, we stopped at a small seafood bar in Wheeler, the Sea Shack, in a town so small you might miss it if you blink. We enjoyed frosty microbrews and piping hot clam chowder. The best part was the view from the back deck. Driving back we saw, for real... the Green Flash! The sun disappearing beyond the ocean horizon and for a second or two it became a bright green ball of light. It was stunning. We'll just consider that to be a sign of good luck to come this year.

This trip was a reminder that there is so much life beyond the work, stress, traffic, and business we tend to be consumed with these days. Perhaps is was the fresh air that did it for me. Keep in mind that your health is a concert of self care; from eating right and exercising, to minimizing stress, and striving for balance. Don't aim for perfection, aim to be mindful and learn from your experiences. There's no room for dieting with those goals in mind. Wishing you all a happy year - full of love, hope, and good food!