Outlet shopping

I met a friend for breakfast yesterday and it just happened to be right next to the outlet mall so I did some shopping. I finally indulged myself and bought a "second" Le Creuset 5 quart "French" oven from the Le Creuset store and pasta bowls from Harry & David.
We actually used them for dinner tonight.

A close up of my kiwi pan.

Ogling it as I watched it cook dinner!

Makes me wonder why I waited so long to buy one.....oh yeah, the price. Thank goodness for seconds and outlet malls.

Earth Day

I think we all may remember my voyage into community supported agriculture (CSA) last year. I liked it but it was more than I could eat because the kids wouldn't eat most of it so....the neighbors ate well! ;)

Anyway, for Earth Day at work, they supported CSA baskets so my girlfriend and I split one. PERFECT! So, here is a sampling....1/2 a head of romaine, cantelope (she took the pineapple since I had one at home), red potatos, bananas (not shown), apples and tomatoes.

Tonight I decided to use the Swiss Chard......using this recipe.

Add red pepper, garlic, olive oil to saute then at the end, add parmesan, salt and pepper.
A good dinner.

Miss Finny...she may not agree (she is part of the One Yard Wonders craft along...and dislikes Chard).

Heres hoping I can continue to share the CSA basket!

Random Sunday...

I had a busy Saturday of errands, bike ride, buying dressers (finally!) for my master bedroom (still have to put them together) and house cleaning.

However, on Friday, Hannah and her friends decided wear something fun to school on Friday. This was her Friday outfit. I got nothing to say, since my Mom used to swear I put on my "worst" (coolest in my mind) outfit to go out with her. She put up with it and I still may have my own sense of style, although a wee bit older, I enjoy Hannah's personal expression.

Today, with a morning (weekend) to myself, I thought I should make a real meal instead of eating junk. Sometimes I do that on my non-kid weekends but today I made a 1 person breakfast that started with a cubed slice of bread.
And ended with a very nice egg, cheese and bread bake.

I also have a couple of salads floating around in the fridge. This one is for the One Yard Wonder Craft Along April project. Since I haven't really been sewing, I can ALWAYS cook. :) This is Finny's Fennel Citrus Salad.

The salad includeds fennel, red onion, red grapefruit (can I tell you I LOVE the pre-cut packages from Dole I bought at Sam's Club!), rice vinegar, orange juice and olive oil. Her recipe called for black olives but I had none so skipped them.

I also have a carrot salad that has shredded carrots, orange juice, cumin, cinnamon, salt, pepper and then add a little feta cheese before eating. Yum! I think there is enough food for me until I leave for Sacramento on Tuesday. Hmmm....now what to feed the kids?

A day of rest(ish)

Here is a photo of the rental. We had the upstairs.
We saw a good number of crew teams practicing in the bay.

I also saw quite a few sea lions in the bay. I saw this one floating and was worried something was wrong with it but, after an internet search, I learned that the behavior below is called jug handling where the sea lion is raising their fins above water to warm themselves. Learn something new every day.

We rented bikes for an hour and road up and down the beach front.

Enjoyed watching the surfers off the pier....

And then took a 45 minute boat ride in the harbor and out into the ocean just a wee bit. The weather was perfect!

We saw some sea lions up close and personal on the bouy.

Thankfully, the kids went on the small ferris wheel without me. ;) I don't like heights and I really don't like the part where you have to sit at the top while the equal the weight by loading someon on the bottom.

We spent some time at the beach and building sand castles.

A friend came down from the LA area and took us up the Laguna Beach.

We'd hope to hit the tide pools....but it was high tide. I know where to go next time we visit and the tide is out.

We wound down the day by watching the world go by on the patio.

And one last visit to the fat cat down the way.

We are definitely headed back in August. Warm weather, bikes we bring from home and the ocean.

Old California Post

I found that I had uploaded these photos but didn't finish the post.

We went to Laguna Beach. I love this photo of Simon.
A new family photo on the beach.
This photo tells me Simon would love to visit the tide pools when the tide is out.

Watching the world go by in the harbor from our deck.

The kids absolutely loved seeing this fat cat by our rental.

It was a great vacation.

California Day 2: Knott's Berry Farm

On day 2 of our trip we visited Knott's Berry Farm.
Waiting for the Sidewinder.....

Going up the hill on the Jaguar!

Getting our kicks on Route 66.

And the Pony Express.

Here is Simon getting sucked in by the snake.

My hot dogs at the end of the day. I don't know about them, but I was tired!!!!

Newport Beach

The kids and I took a long weekend visit to California. We rented the top floor of this house.
We visited the beach......

I love the ocean! That is one of the things I miss living in the desert....natural water.

More playing in the cold ocean waves.

Simon planted his feet in the sand and waited for the waves to dig him further into the sand.

A view of crewing teams practicing in the bay.

There was a very friendly, fat cat that lived down the street. She was incredibly friendly.

Sunset on the first day....absolutely beautiful!