Sunriver: The land of whitewater rafting, golfing, and bread pudding

Sup?  NM? Kewl. Oh me? Yeah. I just got back from Sunriver last week.  Yeah, it was a pretty swell time.

Oh, hello there.  Thanks for checking in today!  Last week, I attended the Waste Connections annual Western Region Meeting, held in the lovely Sunriver Resort.  And this resort provided me with not one, but two(!) bread puddings to sample.

I think you will all be happy to hear that some old-time favorites will be featured in this blog post.  If you comb deep into the annals of Pudding it Out There, you may remember Super Kewl Former Office Coworker Patrick and Suck-A-Butt Derek Ranta.  Good news!  They will be featured again in this photo-filled entry.

However, even more importantly, we have another Pudding it Out There 'first'!

So, I was under the impression that everyone in the world ate bread pudding regularly or at least had consumed it some time in their lifetime.  Yet, much to my surprise, I learned the people who wear visors are the same people who don't eat bread pudding.  Clearly people as described in the previous sentence lack true kewl pointz.

So I know you're wondering two things here:
1. Who on God's Green Earth has never eaten bread pudding?
2. Who on God's Green Earth still wears visors?

I have the answer to both of those.  Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Jason Hudson:

I felt like a proud mom, who is like 15 years younger than my son, when I watched him eat bread pudding for the first time.

 So, I know Jason is not wearing a visor in the photos above, but would you wear a visor if your hair was looking that good on an average Wednesday?  That's what I thought.

Okay, okay.  Yes. I can hear you all yelling at your computer screens: "Laura! Laura! How was the BP?"

It was actually pretty good.  I mean, it's nothing to write home about, (sorry mom, I will not be writing a letter to you at home about this bread pudding,) but it was pretty good. It was butterscotch flavored (a first for me) and had a good caramel sauce and a nice whipped cream topping.  I personally enjoyed the crispy outer shell.

More importantly, what did the BP virgin, Jason Hudson think?  Well, he didn't really like it.  He said it was mushy.  But as mentioned above, people who wear visors clearly have poor judgement, so his opinion doesn't really count.

MOVING ON!

The other bread pudding we had tasted like a burnt turd. You do not ever want to eat it.  However, here are some pictures of my neat coworkers pretending to enjoy it anyway:

 
And here is the Celebrity Sighting of the Day! Super Kewl Former Coworker Patrick in his famous pose!

 For your reference, here he is in the previous Pudding it Out There entries.  You may or may not be able to see the similarities in the photos.

So anyway, boys and girls, let me leave you with this one lesson as you're out there in the world:

"You better enjoy bread pudding and eat it every chance you get.  If you don't, you'll be wearing a visor before you know it."  - Laura Hoel



Oh, and also, suck a butt, Derek Ranta.

BP During BP?!

That's right boys and girls: BP during BP with BH and a BH!

Interpretation:  Bread Pudding during Batting Practice with Ben Hoel and a Bobble Head.

Because baseball is a game of numbers, let me share some with you:

21: Years I have been a Mariners fan.
7:  Games the Mariners are out of first place at the All-Star Break
1: Times I have now eaten bread pudding at the Hit it Here Cafe

You heard it here first: On Saturday, I combined my two greatest loves (excluding Ben) into one glorious evening at Safeco.  So here's the story:  My pops has season tickets, so Ben and I go to Mariners games as often as we can find an excuse to drive the 3 hours north to Safeco.  We had this Nelson Cruz Bobble Head night on the books for practically ever.



THEN...someone owed Ben a favor, that favor-ower could get us a free meal at the Hit it Here Cafe, blah blah blah, BREAD PUDDING! That's really the story in a nutshell.  So now I would like to describe to you my feelings about the bread pudding through a series of Mariners GIFs: 

The flavor:

A nutty, cinnamon-y taste. The flavor was so comforting, it put me in a zen-like state.  You can relate, right Joe?


The texture:
WHY ARE THERE NO GIFS OF LOMO?!  I suppose I will just have to use a series of pictures that demonstrates that the happiness that LoMo brings me is the same as the happiness I felt about the BP texture. Here you go:

I feel the same way about soggy, mushy bread pudding as I do about watching Rodney waddle in from the bullpen in a bottom of the ninth save situation (e.g. not a fan at all).  The good news is that this bread pudding is not a Rodney save situation.  The Hit it Here Cafe did the texture right.  The BP had a nice hardened outer layer and a warm, mushier inner layer. It was the perfect texture contrast.  I wish all bread pudding was created this way.  I also wish I never have to see Rodney in the ninth again.




The cream:

Cream instead of ice cream was a poor choice with this one. Who made the call to use cream, here? Tony Randazzo?


Conclusion:

Okay, okay. So this Gif is from last year. But let's be honest, it's hard to find a gif of my favorite player (I'm looking at you, Farky) when he's been hanging out in Tacoma more than Seattle this year. 

So all in all, the bread pudding was solid, the game was even more solid (5-0 victory behind Iwakuma) and  to  the Japanese reporter who asked in the post-game press conference, "So is it safe to say that The Bear is back?", I say, "Hellz yeah he is, especially with Bread Pudding like that cheering him on from right field."

Bring on the second half of the 2015 season...