Scrapper Blackwell: July 2006

Monday, July 31, 2006

World's Smallest Couch

This is our 'couch'. It is the new Herman Miller. We got it at IKEA. It comes with all sorts of accesories. Those Danes!

Trappey's Red Devil - Do not get this confused with Trappey's Louisiana Hot Sauce! Trappey's Louisiana is just a cheap rip-off of Tabasco. Trappey's Red Devil, or "The Red Devil" is a vinegary sauce similar to Tabasco but with a less familiar flavor. It is best used on cheese crisps, tortilla chips, and in homemade salsa.

Cholula - Ah, Cholula! A great sauce in a great bottle. Less vinegary than Tabasco or Red Devil, Cholula is a thicker sauce. Great on any mexican food. Cholula would be my "do everything" salsa, except it is much more expensive than others (a small 5 oz bottle goes for around 3 bucks). You pay for what you get with Cholula.

Arizona Gunslinger - "The Gunslinger", as the pioneers called it, is a spicy, smokey, Chipotle and Habanero based salsa. This stuff is goo-ood! But it'll make you sweat. The Gunslinger goes best on bean and cheese burritos (especially frozen ones).

Tabasco - Tabasco is a "gateway" salsa. Once you get hooked on Tabasco you tend to move on to the more sophisticated stuff. Tabasco is indispensable at breakfast time (eggs, hash browns) but after that it pretty much stays on my shelf.

Tapatio - Tapatio is the workingman's hot sauce. This stuff is cheap and good. You can get a quart, yes 32 oz, of the stuff for around a buck fifty at most mexican markets. Tapatio is best on breakfast burritos and pizza, but can be used in almost anything. I like putting it in veggie soup.

Panca Pepper Sauce - This Peruvian Salsa is pretty ghetto. It has one of those flavors that takes some getting used to. It is made with the Panca Pepper, which is unfamiliar to most Americans but apparently is as common as the Jalapeno in South America. This salsa is pretty mild, yet smokey. Best on...I don't know, ask a Peruano.

Friday, July 28, 2006

Seven-Up Peak Loop - Day Three

Composite shot of a big, big tree.

The guidebook claims there is no water in this valley. The guidebook is wrong.

Smiling at 7:30 in the morning. Hmmm...

Jazzercise!

One last look up at Seven-Up Peak.

Seven-Up Peak Loop - Day Two

Summit day.

Sunrise on Granite Creek on our way up to the pass.

Up Seven-Up ridge towards the peak.

The top of Seven-Up Peak with Mt. Shasta barely visible in the background. (Can you see me?)

Traversing the bowl between Seven-Up Pass and Bear Basin-- a amazing trail.

View from our camp in Bear Basin at sunset.

Seven-Up Peak Loop - Day One

We just got back from a three day, two night trek around Seven-Up Peak in the Trinity Alps Wilderness in Northern California. The trail begins near 4,000' above sea level and tops at on the top of Seven-Up Peak at 8,134'.

Granite Creek Trail on the way in.

Tiger Lilies on the trail. The area had recieved as much as 210% of the typical winter precipitation making the trail a jungle of lilies, ferns, and grasses.

Gibson meadow.

Making dinner. (Our stove broke.)

Mt. Shasta at sunset as seen from Granite Lake. Bad digizoom shot, but you get the drift.

Deformed Frog

Amphibians such as frogs are considered by many scientists to be early indicators of environmental damage caused by climate change or pollution. We found one "canary in the coalmine" on our way into the Trinity Alps Wilderness this week. Either his left front leg is really buff, or he's been recieving an unhealthy daily dose of ozone.
Check him out.