Beach Day

Yesterday after work I drove out to Half Moon Bay to meet a group of friends from work and head to the beach.  It was a gorgeous drive, on my own, with the sunroof and the back windows of the car open, winding my way over via the 92 through the hills and eucalyptus groves.  It was sunny right up to the point that I pulled into the beach parking lot, which was under a cloud of fog.  I met one of my friends there and we ambled along the gravel trail down to the beach.  

We set up camp near the back of the beach as the tide was coming in and the waves were crashing in.  Some friends were recovering from a rough day, so it fit the mood.  It was actually comforting, enveloping with the fog and the sound of the crashing waves.  Wine, blankets, sandwiches, and kites were produced.  I discovered the sand was riddled with little bits of sea glass and spent about an hour collecting a pocket full varying shades of brown, green, blue, clear, and aqua.  We stayed on the beach for hours watching the ocean calm and the fog get thicker and thicker, talking about the day and future plans, teasing each other and giggling before getting chilled and making the trek back to our cars.  

 

Hard at work

Pedro hard at work.

Obsessed

I have been totally obsessed this week with reading the Twighlight Saga by Stephenie Meyer.  All 4 books.  All 2,444 pages.  I was way late to jump on this bandwagon, thinking, teenage vampire books?  Really?  What could all the fuss be about?  But really, these are wonderful reads.  Different material but same sort of obsession as the Harry Potter series.  Anything that can make you read 2,444 pages in 7 days is worth it.  Other highlights of the week?

- Tuesday night hiking with co-workers at Rancho San Antonio Park for 2 1/2 hours

- Attempting to do an hour long yoga class on a newly washed and not nearly dry enough yoga mat (slippery and wet)

- A successful asparagus, potato, tomato, goat cheese quiche in a home-made savory cheddar cheese and cracked pepper pastry shell, yum!

- Farmer's marketing 2x in one week

- Arranging a houseful of flowers for a friend suprising his girlfriend returning home from a week long trip

-Friday night in with Chris, movies, and take out pizza

SLO

We arrived in San Luis Obispo at about 11 pm last night and collapsed at Chris's parents house. Our dog Dusty greeted us at the door and came and cuddled with us in bed all night.  We slept in today until.... 8:30!!!  I remember when 8:30 was early and I slept in until 11:30 or 12 on the weekends, seems like a long time ago.  So far today we have lounged around in bed, done a load of laundry (no quarters needed here), stared out at the vineyards and chickens in the backyard, meet our friends JE&L for bagels, done some light shopping for clothes and books, and have returned to Chris's parents house to lounge around some more in their courtyard.  Plans for the rest of today include more lounging under the red umbrella in the courtyard, drinking another rum and coke, scratching the dog behind the ears, napping, then meeting friends for dinner.

 It's a tough life, but someone has to do it. 

Refuge

Another fantastic farmer's market in San Carlos.  This time I walked up from home to the Market and met a few friends to shop.  We all wandered the market, stopping here and there, never quite at the same place at the same time.  We connected at the end with exclamations of 'potatoes!' and 'strawberries!' with nods of agreement and peeks in bags all around.  As Chris and I are headed out of town for the weekend I gathered mostly longer lasting goods like carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, and corn that I am hoping to get through when we return next week.  I could not resist a three pack of huge red strawberries that I am planning to munch on all day tomorrow, breakfast, snack, and on the road to SLO.  After the market we walked and met Chris at Refuge, a great restaurant a couple of blocks down from the farmer's market that specializes in belgian beer and pastrami.  We stood on the street for a while as the place was packed and enjoyed the cool weather and people watching before getting seated at a huge library style table made of dark and highly polished wood.  I of course was forced to indulge in a Chimay and a reuben (go on, twist my arm) which was pure heaven.  If you get a chance to eat here, please do, at least once.

School

It is Chris's first night back in class today and I am partly enjoying having a quite house and relaxing, and partly missing having him around.  I ended up working late today and Chris was long gone when I got home.  I heated up some of Sunday nights leftovers, the Jamie Oliver chicken, potatoes, and tomatoes, poured a glass of wine, and settled in to watch total chick drivel (The Bachelorette, how could I watch that silliness?!).  I also had a piece of olive bread left from my Farmer's market outing with my Mom, and it was still sooooo gooooood.  I can't wait to get back to the market on Thursday as I am totally out of fresh veggies, fruit, and nearly out of bread, and am excited to see what is in the stalls this week.  Now what other drivel silly show can I watch before Chris gets home, hmmmm.....

Mummy Weekend

Yesterday we all loaded on to the train and headed up to SF.  After a lovely lunch at Lulu, we went up to the SF MOMA and saw the Ansel Adams and Georia O'Keeffe show which was extraordinary but very crowded.  We all met up at the rooftop garden at the top of the MOMA which is filled with interesting sculpture, plants, amazing sky and building views, and lots of good people watching.  It was a lovely surprise as I had forgotten completely that they would be opening that this year and it was a good place to process everything from the exhibit.
This morning we lounged about for a while nibbling on farmer's market strawberries, peaches, and cherries before heading to breakfast at the Ingelside Cafe in San Carlos.  We each had an egg dish in some form or another and then split a stack of sinfully good chocolate chip pancakes.  
Then mom and I packed up and went for a lovely long walk on the beach out at Half Moon Bay, which was absolutely perfect.  The water was cool, sand clean and firm, a slight breeze was blowing.  There were interesting sights like this purple kite tied to a log flying on it's own with no owner around, children running and playing near the water's edge, jellyfish, and a few lonely surfers.
We walked about half-way down the beach, sat and enjoyed the sights for a long while, then walked back to the car.  We are mid-way through fixing dinner now.  Another Jamie Oliver recipe, this time for chicken, potatoes, and tomatoes, and Mom is creating a squash and garlic sauté that smells heavenly.  One last night sitting around the dinner table, chatting away, then Mom is headed home tomorrow.  What a good visit.  

Kofta

Kofta was a success last night.  We used a recipe of Jamie Oliver's but did make some changes. We used pre-ground lamb, and way, way less seasoning.  He calls for a lot of spices (like a tablespoon of chili powder for a Lb of meat?!) so we reduced to a teaspoon of chili powder, a teaspoon of cumin, and 2 teaspoons of sumac.  As we cannot grill at our apartment, I made the Kofta into little meatballs, a heaping teaspoon each, and cooked them in a large pan.  We also used Tzatziki from TJ's instead of plain yogurt.  Paired with a good bottle of wine from Castoro Cellars it was a delicious and still spicy dinner.  We then also opened a bottle from Novella, and drank it all and stayed up past our bedtimes and talked about Tortola and NC memories and ate ice cream straight from the cartons.  In other words the night spiraled slightly out of control.  Poor Chris retreated to bed and watched a Muppet's movie off Netflix.  Well, it couldn't have been that bad as we are both doing just fine today!  This morning we have been relaxing and drinking coffee and munching on pumpkin muffins from Ellie Krieger's recipe, yum.  

Cupcakes

Mom and I took a nice long walk up through San Carlos's residential area to the Public Library ooohing and aaahing over peoples garden's.  I have always gone to the Library at night and always thought the entry ceiling was kind of neat, but had no idea that it was really one big skylight filter.  It was astounding, like thousands of bright stars.
We then walked down Laurel Street to Vanilla Moon Bakery, which I have been eying ever since we moved here because of their cupcake pictures.  Chris and I have been trying to go for a while but every time we have headed up there it has been closed as they are often sold out.  We got a quatro leches and a peanut butter chocolate and split the two, both were good, but the peanut butter icing was incredible.  It was busy the whole time with people coming in and out, often leaving with whole boxes filled with cupcakes!  We then walked to the local grocery and bought some needed items for dinner.  Plans tonight?  We are making Jamie Oliver's Kofta recipe, drinking wine, and staying in.

Mom's Here!

Mom's finally here!  Seems a bit odd to have her in AZ in the morning and have her arrive here at the train station by lunchtime.  Marvels of the modern world.  Well of course I had to whisk her off to eat at Mack's right away where we split ribs and a pulled pork sandwich with all the fixin's.  I know, I am a little bit obsessed with that place....  It was glorious to chat on the back patio with her for so long that I think we surprised Vicki, one of the owners, when we emerged from the back (I suspect she thought there were no more customers there).  Then we went home and chatted some more then walked up to the farmer's market to collect dinner.  San Carlos is a bit idillic on Thursday farmer's market night with everyone out with their dogs and kids and strollers toting there bags of fresh produce around, but hey, how can I really complain?  We picked up a wonderful selection of lettuce, berries, peaches, squash, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, and also bought a rotisserie chicken and potatoes from a stand in the market and bread and pastry from a bakery stand (names I will get and post later on as I forgot to even look) and had a wonderful relaxed dinner at home.  Below is the farmer's market chicken which was amazingly good, especially with the provided limes to squeeze over top, potatoes which were also really good with little caramelized bits, and fresh farmer's market salad with the first real tomatoes of the season.  Too bad the Iphone picture doesn't quite do this justice. 

This morning we had farmer's market strawberries and peaches with yogurt and that yummy farmer's market pastry that was almost like a rich flat croissant with sugar on the outside.  Something Chris snuck behind us and got when we weren't looking, thanks Chris!  

Visit

My mom is coming to visit from AZ and is arriving tomorrow!!! There are towels stacked up for her, sheets ready for her bed, and one very excited daughter waiting.  We are mostly unscheduled, but are definitely walking up to the farmer's market tomorrow evening and are going to the Ansel Adams and Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit at the SF MOMA over the weekend.  The rest of the time we will be exploring the city and hopefully doing lots of cooking, walking, and catching up. Can't wait to see you Mom!

Dusty

As there are cute posts of Pedro up, I thought it only fair to post a picture of our dog, Dusty.  This is from a recent camping trip that Dusty came on, we unfortunately do not have a dog friendly place, so Dusty is staying at the doggie haven that is Chris's parents house.  Do not feel sorry for him, he is playing with other dogs, being played fetch with several times per day, getting snuggled, and groomed regularly, and trained in obedience.  Not to mention the bits of human cookies that are 'snuck' to him by my father-in-law.  Hopefully in less than a year we will be able to find a place in the Bay Area that is reasonably priced and allows dogs.  Until then monthly visits and camping trips will have to do.

Ice Cream

June 1st always marks the first day of summer in my mind.  Partly to celebrate the summer season, and partly because I am in a sudden rotten mood we are partaking in a summer chocolate and coffee ice cream sundae with peanut butter cups on top.  Come on, any excuse will do!  Plus this was all sitting in my kitchen as left overs from entertaining on Friday-instant gratification.  So good.

Pedro's First Day of Work

It was Pedro the Guide Dog puppy's first day at work today as L, my office mate, is finally back from leave!  Isn't it horrible that I have to share my office with such a cutie?  Actually it is, as I got nearly no work done and got a crook in my neck from staring at Pedro sleep most of the day.  Hopefully the novelty will wear off and I will manage to be at least somewhat productive again sometime soon.  Of course it probably didn't help that about half of the department was squished in my office doing the same at one point or another today as well!  Pedro's first day was filled with lots of cuddles, scratches, playing, and long naps laying where-ever he pleased.

He also spent some time out doors on potty breaks in which he also snuck in rolling in the grass and attacking dandelion poofs.  Job well done Pedro, job well done.