Dine Cloud Nine

If you’re looking for a one of a kind restaurant experience, stop by the beautiful riverfront strip. Cloud 9 Restaurant offers the best in local organic and sustainable ingredients. They combine to create a fabulous menu, featuring dishes such as bourbon prawn pasta and Oregon Berry Salad. Cloud 9 offers an “off the beaten path” wine selection and a unique experience in an authentically homegrown Corvallis establishment.
Attached to Cloud 9 is the newly opened Downward Dog. Technically a bar, this chic establishment is laid back yet special at the same time. I could see this being a really great place for a Birthday Party! Downward Dog serves comfort food with a twist like gourmet three cheese mac and cheese and portabella quesadillas! Visit dinecloud9.com or drinkthedog.com for more information!
P.S. The Lotus Blossom drink is very spendy at 6.75, but worth it. It's a good thing Cloud runs such great late night specials!

Walking Tours

Sometimes being green does not mean spending money on expensive products or restaurants, but simply finding a part of the day to go outside and take a walk. Two places to do this are the Avery-Helm and College Hill West Historic Districts, which are offered as walking tours through Corvallis Tourism.
Avery-Helm: This area is located in the southwest corner of Corvallis. The walking area consists of nine full blocks and ten partial blocks on a laid out grid system and highlights a fantastic history of this downtown section of Corvallis. Starting with the history of J.C Avery in the 1840's, this tour takes the walker through a whirlwind history while offering some views of classic architecture and wonderful river scenes.
College Hill West: This small section of housing lies adjacent to oregon State University and is currently occupied by college students and familes alike. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 and contains over 250 historic homes. It is more of a community of pragmatic, middleclass homes, rather than a showcase of a few grand buildings. The homes reflect the incomes of professionals, rather than the fortune of lumber or mining barons who built at other Oregon hitoric sites. This tour takes the walker back to the early 1910's and provides an exciting history regarding the progression of Corvallis through the 1900's until modern day.
Detailed information and maps of these tours can be obtained through Corvallis Tourism. They include a full walking area map, historical facts, and provide examples of what the houses are and a brief history of them. Remember, being green can sometimes be just as easy as taking a walk.

Hull-Oakes Lumber Company

Hull-Oakes Lumber, one of the last steam-powered sawmills in the United States. The wood boilers burn so clean that smoke is barely visible, even on a sunny day. This makes it one of the most eco-friendly wood mills in the country. The mill was built at the end of a power line where there was just enough electricity to run lights and small motors, but not enough for a sawmill. Today, 60 years later, it is still operating that way. The boilers are fired up at midnight to build up a head of steam prior to the start of the single shift mill. Although it is open on two sides, the sawmill never closes because of cold weather. The water lines are drained at the end of the shift whenever frost threatens. Thousands of people from around the world tour the mill every year. Tom Hull (owner of the mill) will sometimes lead the tour. The tour is free, but an appointment is recommended. At the age of 87, Ralph Hull is still active today. He and his grandson Todd Nystrom are responsible for the day-to-day operation. For an appointment, telephone 541/424-3112 or fax 541/424-3012. Most of this information has been provided by at http://www.armstrongblue.com/Articles/hull_oakes.htm

Corvallis Tourism Website

One of the best places to find out information about Corvallis is the general visitors page at www.visitcorvallis.com This site is simply fantastic. they have a live event area where you can post upcoming activities or simply find something to do on a Saturday afternoon. They also have a comprehensive list of places to eat, stay, and a section for suggestion on things to do. The reason I write about the is because they recently updated the old website into a snazy new format. this new site is even easier to navigate and has added several new features. Click on the link in this posting to check it out.

Beautiful Nature Walks, Peavy Arboretum/McDonald Research Forest

Last weekend I decided that with the leaves changing, it would be a wonderful time to go for a mid-day walk. I hoped in the car and drove out to Peavy and I was amazed. It is that time of year when leaves blow across the trail and a swirling spiral of red and yellow leaves can be seen in all directions. For those of you that don't know, the forest is located right off of Highway 99. If you are in class and stressed like me, or just a passer-by I would highly recommend getting out to the woods sometime in the next week.

Stuffed Grape Leaves

so the following post has nothing to do with Corvallis, but rather is a food recipe that all my friends CONSTANTLY ask me about. This is my family list for amazing stuffed grap leaves. Make sure to actually try them before you say it sounds disguisting

What you need:
1 jar, or about 15 grape leaves
1 can of tomato paste
2-3 cups or rice
1-2 lbs of ground meat
allspice
mint
a whole lemon

Start by soaking the grape leaves in water over night to soften them. If they came from a jar at the store, feel free to skip this step (Oasis restaurant in Corvallis sells grape leaves). Next cook the rice, it is easier to do in a rice cooker but a pot works just as well. After the rice is cooked, mix it together with the ground meat and pour in the can of tomoto paste. Add a good bit fo allspice and a little mint so that you can smell it, but it is not overwhelmingly strong. Stir the mixture up with your hands, careful not to burn yourself (the rice will still be hot).
Take the grape leaves and lay them on a plate with the vein of the stem facing your direction. Place one to two spoonfuls of the meat and rice mixture on to the grap leaves and proceed to wrap them up (check out a video or tutorial online as to how best to do this). After all the grap leaves are wrapped, line the bottom of a pot with grape leaves so that the stuffed ones do not burn. Next stack the grap leaves in the pot, placement is not an issue, just make sure that stack rises near the top of the pot. Next, fill the pot with water and cut some lemon slices to place on top of the water (use the whole lemon in my opinion). Place a plate or other heavy object over top of the pot to prevent the leaves from rising to the top. Set the stove to the highest setting and once boiling occurs, reduce to a heavy simmer for about 20-30 minutes.
Grape leaves are best served with pita bread and dipped in hommus, but that of course is a matter of opinion. NO, you do not remove the meat from the leave, the whole mix is eaten as one. Hope a few of you actually try this out, I made it for my roommates a few days ago and there skepticisms soon turned into making yummy sounds.

da Vinvi days

So the 20th annual da Vinci days festival is going to be back in Corvallis on July 18th-20th. For those of you have never gone to this before it is pretty spectacular. they have art exhibits, live music, and all sorts of other crazy creations that people have come up with. There website is http://www.davinci-days.org/ for those of you that are interested in checking out what is going to be there this year. I forgot to mention that they have robots this year.....and who doesn't want to go play around with robots, come one don't lie to yourself. Anyways, I am going to be there for sure so hopefully all you will do the same and head on out. I think the tickets are fairly cheap to. 15 for all day and like 8 for one day. Last year I bought mine at Corvallis Tourism on Harrison. So anyways, hope you can all go out and enjoy the festivities.