Ink and Iron Picture Show

Hi Friendies,

It's Friday! Yahoo! I also found out I got some time off ok'd for the summer (next Friday for a friends visit, in two weeks I am taking three days off for my dad's visit from Maui, and I get one day off in August to go to a wedding in Tahoe). I am so happy for these 5 days off.....for my sanity! In all honesty, I have been pretty bummed about work lately and really need to recharge the batteries. I am sure from my blog it looks like I travel a lot, but it's mostly quick weekend trips which are fun but in the long run seem to make me more tired than anything else. I would love to take two straight weeks off, but things don't work like that in my world. So, in the meantime, 3 long weekends will be fantastic! I am so excited my friends Reuben and Annie are visiting from Tahoe for the 4th of July as is my sister, my dad is coming to visit....and I haven't seen him in over a year! and I get to go to Tahoe for an old friends wedding, and get to spend some summer time in Tahoe. Ahhhh.....

I wanted to share some pictures of a recent car show that Aaron and I went to called Ink and Iron. Aaron's car was entered to show, but he had some bad luck and the car is back in the shop...he actually has to rebuild the entire engine! Poor Aaron....We were also supposed to stay at the Queen Mary Hotel where the show was for the weekend, but decided against it because of the cost and because Aaron's car was not in the show. We decided to go up for the day and a glorious and interesting day it was!

The Queen Mary was at one time one of the largest ships in the world. Initially it was a cruise ship and later it was used for military purposes. It is now stationary in the Long Beach Harbor and it is quite a sight to see! I had never been and really wish we could have stayed. It reminded me of what I thought the Titanic looked must have looked like.

The car show is called Ink and Iron because there are cars (iron) and tattoos galore (ink). It was really was one of the strangest and wildest experiences I have ever had. I think I am going to just share the pictures so you can make your own assumptions. I will tell you that I met some ladies named Christy and Christine while Aaron was looking at the tattoo expo (I would have passed out if I saw the needles), we saw tons of cars, the boat was gorgeous, we saw lots of skull accessories...you know, in the middle of a flower to wear in your in your hair...greasers in training...aka BABIES in all the get-up...I kind of stood out in my Banana Republic clothes but I had a great time and although the people that attended this thing looked intimidating, they were all really friendly and accepting.

Feast your eyes......

And now we are off for camping... I hope you enjoy Ink and Iron as much as I did! 

XOXO

The Missing...

Hi Bloggies,

I have been MIA. Why?

• I have been swamped at work.
• I blog on my work computer and have not been bringing it home...because I am so tired at the end of the day the last thing I want to do is get back on my computer.
• My trusty Canon which I have had for YEARS finally bit the dust. 
• I really need a new camera and really want a new computer, the one I have at home is not really worth it's weight in pretzels. 

In other news, we have been having some fun. We went up to Orange County (San Clemente to be precise) for a night because my mom gave us a free hotel room. We ate a massive dinner at a restaurant called "The Fisherman" where we sat on a dock overlooking the Pacific. The view was amazing and dinner consisted of several kinds of crab. It was lovely. On our way home, we poked around San Juan Capistrano and found lots of cute shops and a historic district which were much cuter than I expected.

I have also been experimenting with some of the 5 minute bread recipes. Here are some sandwich buns:

Here is some focaccia 

I also met Mick Jagger and Ron Wood:

Ok, they were impersonators, but it was still fun to meet them! 

This was at a music festival called Fiesta Del Sol in Solana Beach. Aaron and I had a great time. We listened to some great bands, tried some great street food (lots of veggie options for me!) And we bought a really cool father's day gift for my dad. The theme this year was "going off the grid" so they had a ton of eco displays and green vendors. It was a great festival. There are so many in San Diego and they are all kind of the same...crap on a stick for sale, bad cover bands, etc. This was much better with unique vendors and information, great music and delicious food. We also got talked into a timeshare presentation and as a result got a free four day cruise! 

Peroni and I have been going to the beach on the weekends while Aaron works on his car. It's actually been really gloomy lately in my neighborhood. It's June Gloom! It's actually crazy, 90% of San Diego County is Sunny and then 1-2 miles east of the coastline: GREY. 

As if by miracle, the sun came out for our Memorial Day Weekend pool party! It really was unreal...gloomy Friday, gloomy Tuesday, and all three days of the weekend were perfect. 

These are my cute friends at the pool...the Jessica's! 

I made a feast! We had about 15 people. I made tacos with a choice of carne asada (I didn't eat it, I just cooked it), langoustinos, or raw veggies. I also made fresh guacamole with avocados from my CSA and we had an awesome variety of tortillas from Trader Joe's. I was going to make my own tortillas but thought that was a little overboard. :) We also had lots of beer, sangria, sparkling water, etc. I wish I would have taken more pictures of the table and set up...everything was cute and green. 

I bought these vintage green trays at an antique store in San Juan Capistrano the weekend prior. They were $18 for 10. I love them. They are sturdy and reusable...and CUTE! 

I have really been enjoying the farmer's markets here. They are just overflowing with fresh produce and flowers right now and it's been hard to restrain myself especially since I get the CSA package and don't need much else. My fridge is so packed with fresh produce right now, I just want to go home and cook! Seriously, the farmers markets in San Diego are unreal. (Some of the amazing local, organic produce I have right now includes: strawberries, two kinds of cherries, three kinds of lettuce, two kinds of cabbage, purple kale, cucumbers, zucchinis, oranges, lemons  (tons of lemons), grapefruit, sunflower sprouts, baby mixed sprouts and flower petals, watermelon, button mushrooms, asparagus, avocados, carrots, and more I can't think of...)  Hopefully I can take some pictures soon to share because my words don't do the farmer's markets here justice. 

I have been making some delish meals and try to get inspired by my CSA shipments and the farmers markets. Last night was a perfect example of this philosophy:

Fresh fish from the farmers market, mashed potatoes and turnips from the CSA, flowers and green sprouts from the farmer's market, and asparagus from the farmers market. I also made a lemon compote with lemons from Aaron's Dad's house. It was a totaly local meal! And it was wonderful. Just what Aaron and I needed after a rough Monday at work. 

Although I don't have any pictures, Aaron and I have been taking a swing dance class! Tonight is our last class. It has been so much fun! It's a great excuse to get out and dance on a Tuesday night and we usually turn it into date night by grabbing a drink or frozen yogurt on the way home. :)

Here are P-dog and I waiting for my sister and her friend that were shopping (they visited us for a while over Memorial Day weekend from SF)

I will update more and just use my Iphone pictures (that's where all of these photos came from).

Also, hopefully something fantastic will come through at work and I will have a little extra money to buy a new Canon! 

In the meantime, I am so happy to have so much fresh produce to work with in the kitchen and have been really trying to read as much as possible. I also subscribed to two new magazine with GREAT recipes: VegNews and Vegetarian Times. 

Have a lovely day, blog friends!