Big Bear

Last year in April, some of my best friends got together to celebrate my 30th birthday. We rented an awesome cabin  just outside Julian overlooking Lake Cuyamaca. It was one of the best weekends of my life! We cooked great food, hiked a ton, played dominos, went wine tasting and shared lots of laughs. While the whole crew could not get together this year, a few of us (Me and Aaron and Erica and Matt) got a little cabin at Big Bear. It took us FOREVER to get there...almost 4 hours from San Diego! (It was just over 2 hours on the way home). There was lots of traffic on Friday afternoon and one of the major highways is closed too. Once we got there, we inspected our cute, albeit tiny, cabin. It was also filled with stuff...lots of knickknacks everywhere. But, it was very cute and served our needs perfectly. 

This was the room Aaron and I took. There was a big window looking out to the lake. I took a nice bath in this tub one night too.

This was Matt and Erica's room across the hall:

This is one side of the family room.

Looking to the kitchen from the family room.

Fireplace...

Dinner the first night. 

I made langoustino stew of sorts.

The recipe was almost identical to the dandelion stew I made and posted. But I did not add any greens in, and I added the langoustinos at the last moment so they would just cook and not get chewy. 

I got a kick out of these place mats because they were exactly like some we had when I was a little kid in Lake Tahoe. 

We watched Marley and Peroni chase each other a lot:

Check out my Jcrew wellies! You laugh but they were great in the snow and mud!

All of that snow melted by the time we got moving on Saturday morning. It was hot! We all got a bit sunburned. We walked a ton and explored the little town and lake. 

Here are Erica and Matt....

Notice Marley playing with that crazy dog....

We had lunch at this place called B's BBQ. It has a separate building for a bar, an outside bar, and a restaurant with a big patio. There was also the beach and a big outdoor grassy area. I bet this place goes wild in the summer. 

There were lots of other dogs there but Peroni is kind of a chicken...

Who... me?

Yay for best girl friends!

B's BBQ also had it's own dock for people to pull up to during the summer. Like I said... I bet it's wild here during the summer.....

Here is the little village where we walked around.

That night I made some black bean soup and salad. It was fun to cook in that small but well equipped kitchen with good friends. 

On Sunday, the boys went snowboarding and Erica and I hiked and did a little shopping. 

It was a relaxing weekend with friends and I came home feeling very refreshed. Just what I needed!

Gardening...

This one has to be sweet as I am off to get sculpted at yoga, but I planted a  few herbs, tomatoes, and pepper plants this weekend. Keeping my fingers crossed no bugs eat them!

This big tomato plant is from the farmers market. It already has some small fruit on it! It came all planted and tied up like this. The man that sold it to me was so sweet and said this plant grows up and bushy so it's great for a small patio. Also, the peppers came from Home Depot and there are three different varieties in one pot! Again...great for a small deck. Some of the herbs on are the outside of the patio fence, so that is a great space saver too. I have to put everything up off the ground or Peroni will get to it. 

San Francisco, People Live Here

I went to visit Lindsey in SF for her birthday weekend. We had lots of fun, ate lots of food and enjoyed a really sunny weekend.

On Friday night when I arrived, she had all kinds of treats waiting for me in her cute apartment. I took some pictures of the place, it was adorable and she was very thoughtful to get it all ready and cute for me.

Then we went bar hopping with a few of Lindsey's friends....

The next morning we were surprised by our mom who drove us to Tartine which is somewhere I have wanted to go for ages. 

Here is Lindsey in front.

Here is my sandwich:

It was goat cheese on walnut bread. The quality was awesome but it was way too greasy. :(

I did bring some brownies home for Aaron and they were amazing. I ate them all. Sorry Aaron.

While we waited for our sandwiches, we went to Bi-Rite Market

Words cannot describe this place. It was small but packed full of amazing groceries.

I bought a few treats. 

We also looked at some cute dogs:

Then we went to Dolores park. It was amazing. It was a real scene. People were setting up BBQ's, coolers, music, games, all kinds of stuff. It was pretty cool.

Here is my mom eating her open faced Tartine sammie:

This guy showed up and was my hero. He was selling oysters and fish tacos. I got one oyster. OMG. It was the best. 

This little girl wanted to share her ice cream:

This dog is enormous:

This is me trying to fit in (everyone was pretty trendy)

Then we walked around and shopped and went to a few cool places. One was called Zeitgeist

Lindsey said their bloody mary's were legendary. The majority of the place was outside with big communal tables. Lindsey didn't want me to take pictures, but it was a really cool place.

Later that night we went out for dinner and I took food pictures but it was too dark and they did not come out.

We also went to another park on Sunday and did more poking around. We had breakfast at the The Tipsy Pig and before Lindsey took me to the airport we went to Quinn's Lighthouse in Oakland. The Tipsy Pig was amazing and Quinn's is an old favorite.

We had a very nice time. I am jealous of Lindsey living in SF...its such a nice city with lots to do and lots of interesting people. So many great restaurants too!

I'm BAAACK...a dandelion green recipe and I am a hippee...

Hi Bloggies!

I told you I would be busy and my have I been!

Well I am back with some fun posts.

First of all, I just want you to lay your eyes on all of this gorgeous citrus fruit. Some is from my CSA and some is from this cute little stand in Lakeside by Aaron's Dad's House.

Just so you can get an idea about how big this grapefruit is, I put it by Peroni's head. Peroni only weighs 16 lbs, so you get the idea:

I received some dandelion greens in my CSA package about a month ago and wasn't sure what to do with them. You can actually pick dandelion greens around your yard and neighborhood and eat them! They are really bitter, so you if they are young you need to sauté or braise them for a while or if they are more mature, you should boil them for a couple of minutes to get the bitter taste out. I made a gumbo of sorts, inspired by Raechel Ray with lots of twists:

Sauté in 1-2 tablespoons olive oil: 

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 small sweet white onion, chopped

2-4 carrots, chopped

1 bell pepper, green or red, roughly chopped

2 small zucchini, cut into half moons

Salt and Pepper

Fresh Herbs (I used thyme and parsley)

After veggies soften (5-7 minutes) , add in one bunch dandelion greens (stemmed, rinsed, and roughly chopped) and saute until soft (2-3 minutes).

Stir in one tablespoon of flour and let it cook out (this is for thickening) for about 2 minutes.

Add a 1/2 cup of white wine. Let that cook off for about 2-3 minutes.

Add in one large can of chopped tomatoes, or diced (I used Trader Joe's canned marinara sauce)Add in 2 cups of stock or water. (I used a vegetarian bullion cube with some water).

Add in as much liquid as you want...more for a thinner texture or less for a thicker texture.

This made about 5 servings for us. 

We served ours topped with some Israeli Cous Cous mixed with chopped fresh parsley and lemon. 

This was delish! Even Aaron liked it. It would be good with any kind of greens and I think you could use rice, regular cous cous, some orzo pasta, etc. You can also use whatever veggies you have on hand. Everything in mine was from the CSA with the exception of the onions and garlic. Yum!

OK, and here is why I am a hippee:

I bought some reusable silverware (which I am just leaving at my desk at work for lunches, etc.) and a little sandwich bag. It's wasteful to use baggies all the time and plastic silver wear is expensive and wasteful. This little bamboo set works great!

I haven't tried the sandwich bag yet. It's washable, which is nice.

Last, I tried oats in a jar. It's all the rage in the blog world. You basically take your nut butter jar that is basically empty but has some remnants leftover and add hot oats to it. I also added some strawberries in mine.

Verdict

I am NOT a fan. I had oats and almond butter all over my hand by the time I was done and had more oats left over in the jar than I did nut butter in my stomach. Waste of time. I will stick to eating my oats in bowl. 

More to come!