Thursday, April 15, 2010

A gorgeous day....

Hey Bloggies! I have been super busy and just realized I have something planned every day and night for the next 30 days! There is no reprieve, I tell you. I am actually out of town three of the next four weekends too.

My posting may be limited, needless to say. I am busy, but I certainly have a gorgeous life. :)

In the meantime, I am soaking up San Diego. Last Sunday I did some really fun things!!!

First thing, I went for a walk at North Torrey Pines. Torrey Pines is a state beach and park with hiking trails overlooking the Pacific. There is also a park on the East side of the coast highway with great views and it's free! (You have to pay for the beach side if you don't find street parking.) I have been wanting to get out to Torrey Pines to take some pictures of all the wildflowers. There has been so much rain and wildflowers are everywhere! I took 80 pictures! They are all pretty, but I will just share a few of my favorites:


















Can you see my favorite bridge in the background here?















After my gorgeous walk, I got to go to Rosemary's studio for some painting lessons!!! Check In out here
Rosemary just put in bright red carpet and it was such a nice afternoon. 

Here are some pictures of the studio. We had tea, did tai chi, and painted! I really liked it. I wasn't very good, but it was relaxing and I got some supplies so I can do it at home.

Here are some of the pretty giant brushes. We just used regular Chinese brushes. These brushes are for sale and all say "Made for the Dancing Brush"












Here are some pictures of the property surrounding the studio:








And here is some of my work!





After being schooled by Rosemary, Aaron and I went for a cruise in the hotrod! We went to this cool new pub where we had a good beer and great burger. I had a veggie burger with garlic and sweet potato fries. YUM! This place is very cool....Encinitas Ale House



This burger was delish!!! It was so good.

After eating lunch at 4, we weren't really hungry for dinner so I made us a light salad with fava beans I got at the Del Mar farmers market. The fava beans were a ton of work and produced a lot of waste. I bought 2 pounds of pods for $4. Then we had to shell them, then parboil the beans, and shell them again. I would guess we ended up with about a cup and a half from a huge bag full. See:



The finished, de-podded, de-shelled beans:



Then I made them into a salad inspired by the book "A Platter of Figs"

Basically, I took the fava beans and mixed them with:
1 thinly sliced fennel bulb
Juice of 1 meyer lemon
1/4 cup chopped parsley (mint would have been better)
1 tablespoon olive oil
S&P

TASTY!


I served that with some seeded bread I made from Heidi Swanson's 101 Cookbooks Blog. This bread was very easy and turned out amazing. We have had it for breakfast with avocado from the CSA, for dinner with salad, and I made it one night with sautéed sweet potatoes on top. Make this flat bread! It made six rounds which I put in the fridge for whenever I want to pop some in the oven!



And that my friends, was a gorgeous, albeit long, day!!!!






Saturday, April 10, 2010

Alcatraz....

Having spent a large portion of my life in San Francisco...it took me until the age of 30 to get to Alcatraz! Really!!! It was AMAZING. So pretty. I can't describe in words, so I will give you pictures.....

















Does anyone else see the ghost in this picture??????
















These birds did the naughty later....










I highly recommend going to the island...whether you are a tourist or a local...it's an amazing adventure. 

XO