Quote Friday...Art

So true. I need to learn to "stop and smell the roses" every day and treat all activities that I do like art. Because if I just rush through life I miss out on the beauty of everyday activities. This is one reason why travel is so important to me. You find the beauty in everyday activities in foreign lands. And for a minute you really live. Now if I could just transfer those "awe" moments of the mundane and daily tasks abroad into my home life I will be living better and appreciating the "art which is life".

Quote Friday...Finding satisfaction in jobs

“Never continue in a job you don’t enjoy. If you’re happy in what you’re doing, you’ll like yourself, you’ll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined.”

-Johnny Carson

Quote Friday...Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

"For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food, for love and friends,

For everything thy goodness sends."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends.

Quote Friday....mom

I love you mom! Happy Birthday.

Quote Friday...I love

"I love everybody. Some I love to be around, some I love to avoid, others I'd love to punch in the face." - anonymous

With that note... I am off to celebrate my special birthday...

Quote Friday...Begin

"All glory comes from daring to begin." - Eugene F. Ware

Quote Friday... things in the night

When witches go riding, 

and black cats are seen,

the moon laughs and whispers,

'tis near Halloween.

- Author Unknown

Quote Friday....Small things

"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together."  - Vincent van Gogh

Adventures in Cooking...Mariscos in Hard Cider

Last Christmas Nick's parents got me the Trader Joe's Cookbook. I have been consistently cooking through it this year and love it. Here is a recipe that I tried the other night. I didn't have every ingredient the recipe called for (original recipe was shrimp in hard cider) so here are my improvisations. Be-aware there is a fire show below!

Mariscos in Hard Cider
Ingredients:
1/2 Bag Trader Joe's Mariscos seafood mix (calamari, scallops, shrimp)
1 Tablespoon Butter
2 Cloves garlic, minced
1/4 Cup Brandy (I had EJ Gallo VSOP)
1 Cup Hard Cider (I used Trader Joe's Newtons Folly red)
Salt and Pepper

Directions:
1) In a large pan heat the butter and saute the garlic until fragrant.

2) Add the mariscos and saute until cooked through (about 5 minutes).
3) Remove mariscos to a bowl.
4) Add brandy to pan, then flambe to burn off alcohol.

5) Add the cider and bring to a boil.
6) Reduce heat and simmer until mixture is reduced to half.
7) Add back the mariscos for 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

8) Add to your favorite rice (I served this over my Roasted Corn and Basil Cauliflower rice)

Note: The meal was delicous, but as you can tell the mariscos mixture was a bit soupy. Next time I could cook the frozen mariscos first, then 2 minutes before they were ready drain the water off and add the butter and garlic to saute.

Quote Friday: Meaning of Life

What is the meaning of life? To be happy and useful.

- Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

Dogs are always happy, miss you JJ! Photo 2004

What I've been up to....

So I realize most of my reader are family and friends and I wanted to update you on my happenings in Newport. School has been going very well. I am really enjoying this semester. I still working part time at my marketing job, as well as taking 3 classes from USC (Teaching ELLs, Elementary Language Arts and Social Studies, and PE). I am also volunteering/observing a few days a week at a local elementary school in the 2nd grade. I LOVE IT. The children are amazing and the teacher is fantastic, a great master teacher. Right now I am just observing and helping out the class but in a few weeks I will actually be giving PE lessons! Yikes! But also very exciting. I have to say it is fun getting to help with the development of my students learning, I think I have finally found my career path. I have also been accepted to Substitute in the Huntington Beach City Unified school district, so if you know any teachers/principles/staff in the district pass my info along to them, I would love some experience subbing.

Moving on...life has been great. I have been playing a TON of beach volleyball. I met a great group of women who play a few times a week and have been fortunate to make my way onto the call list for games. I have to say, it's nice to be competitive again and playing group sports, especially volleyball. And since I live in So Cal the weather is perfect for outdoor games on the beach even in fall.

I've been making/ re-purposing some jewelry for myself and my mom (shoot I just ruined the birthday surprise, sorry). It's been a challenging experience since I lack patience and the jewelry making fine motor skills. But I have enjoyed it (even if I threw away a whole bag of beads just minutes after I bought them, ugh, bad Scottish luck). Here is what I have been working on:

Nick and I checked out a fantastic new restaurant on a date night. Mario Batali's Pizzeria Mozza. It.....was....DELICIOUS! A bit pricey for pizza, but the pizza was so worth it. The crust was like a buttery crisp sourdough, the ingredients imaginative and fresh, and the wine list was fantastic (all the wines are from Italy). I have to say if you are in LA or Newport you MUST check out this restaurant.

I'll wrap up with photos from a much needed girls night. My friend Melissa made some fantastic pumpkin-coconut soup and pumpkin snicker doodles. I contributed the roasted cauliflower with melted parmasian and the green beans with butter and bacon. While Rachel provided the bruchetta and was a fantastic sue-chef! We have a wonderful evening cooking, sipping champagne, eating, and chatting. Thanks girls!

Quote Friday...Beautiful Life

My Life Works Beautifully

 Believe it, even in the down times, everything happens for a reason.

Adventures in Cooking...Rudy's and Beer Chicken

I am constantly looking for easy to do quick dinners that are tasty. I am not sure how to cook a whole chicken yet. One day I will try, but here is my version of Beer Can Chicken.

Ingredients:

1 Can American Beer (we had the Bud's left over from the 4th, sorry dad I know it's not tasty beer)

1/8 Cup Rudy's Poultry Seasoning (only available in Texas but any seasoning will do)

Chicken breasts or thighs (this was an old, very frozen pack of costco chicken thighs)

Directions:

Heat oven to 425 degrees F

Place frozen chicken directly in baking pan

Pour the whole can of beer over the chicken

Sprinkle the meat with the seasoning

Bake for about 50 minutes, or until chicken is done

Serve with your choice of sides. Here I made cauliflower mashed potatoes (recipe to come) and corn. I found that cooking the chicken this way really gets the beer flavor, next time I might try it with a nice flavored wheat beer, since you really do get the beer taste even after cooking.

Enjoy!

Quote Friday...Little Things

Don't get angry over tiny things. Always put things into perspective. ~ To be a Lady no. 124

Image of Mirror Lakes, New Zealand (2006)

Adventures in Cooking...Gluten Free Apricot, Cherry, Walnut Muffins

First I have to say, it is SO nice to have my gifted Kitchen Aid mixer back.

Isn't she a beauty?

Okay, maybe she looks a bit sad, and odd colored. Well she is, she was the HOT Kitchen Aid for the 70s. My mom received it as a wedding present and I was informed that the cream color was the IT color of the time and the only color my dad wanted. I think it's fantastic and totally retro. I just love it. In college I was misdiagnosed as having celiac disease. At the time it was just becoming known and there were not many baked goods around. So my mom gifted me her mixer so that I could at least make some baked goods from the meager supply of mixes stores offered. Over the years it has moved with me and gone back to my mom's at least once, until now. I finally have the room to have it and am so excited.

After 5 years of eating gluten free, and many doctor's tests later I found out that I'm only slightly intolorent, yay! However, the past few years have been hard, as I went back fairly quickly to a gluten heavy diet and noticed that I was sluggish again. So I have decided that I will try to be gluten free with my baked goods at home (mostly) and in home made sandwiches and only eat gluten out. Since I got the mixer I decided to start with some muffins. Plus, now I don't have to buy one when I'm at a coffee shop studying, I can just pack in my own and save some money.

Here is my recipe for Gluten Free Apricot, Cherry, Walnut Muffins

Ingredients:
1 Box King Arthur Flower Gluten Free Muffin Mix (this one happened to have a vanilla base)
6 Tbs Melted Butter
3/4 Cup Milk
3 Eggs
1 Cup dried Apricots, Cherries, Walnuts, diced, evenly split (1/3 each)

Directions:
1) Prepare muffin tin (spray or put in muffin cups)
2) Preheat oven to 375
3) Mix Eggs, Melted butter, Mix in mixer on medium
4) Slowly pour in milk
5) Add in Apricots, Cherries, and Walnuts
6) Pour into muffin pan
7) Bake for 18-22 minutes
8) Let cool and enjoy
This recipe makes 12 large muffins

Note: Next time I would make 16 smaller muffins as there was a lot of mix and I like smaller muffins. You can add in fresh fruit like blueberries or raspberries or other dried fruit or poppy seeds.

Quote Friday: To be a lady

Never assume that someone else will do something for you. - To Be A Lady No. 093

College "adopted" sorority sisters (seeing that I was AXO and they were EK) 2010

Getaway in Cabo!

Nick and I love to travel. And if you haven't been able to tell from many of my Friday quotes, we have been getting a bit restless in the travel department. However it's tough to plan a trip when you are in school (damn Masters loans) but I did have some savings and we were able to get a great flight/hotel deal from Pleasant Holidays with AAA, last minute, even. So off to the land of surf, sand, sun, Corona's, Margaritas, it was...

We arrived Friday afternoon and spent the whole afternoon/evening in the pool having coronas, cazadores on the rocks, and pleasant conversation with some brothers from Huntington and a couple from Laguna (yes we flew 1,000 miles to Mexico and ran into people who are practically neighbors to us).  It was a great first day to vacation followed by the best burgers and fries room service could provide.

Saturday morning it was up early to participate in the Cabo timeshare shark trap. Everyone has to go through a Cabo timeshare presentation or you haven't been to Cabo. On the plus side, we got a great breakfast, got to see a cool hotel, and the town of Cabo del San Jose. We also learned that if you say NO, you have to say it a million times and if you do want to purchase one (we did NOT) then wait till the last guy, he will give you the best deal to "try it out". Just an FYI. That afternoon was spent laying in hammocks on the beach with a bucket of Tecate, followed by lunch at the pool, a margarita cruise, and a night out on the town. You have to check out Cabo Wabo and El  Squid Roe (we missed the Giggling Marlin on this trip) if you are in Cabo. We even ran into one of Nick's vendors from work on a bachelor party trip. Glad we did, we ordered a yard of beer and needed people to help finish it off. We ended the evening with more burgers from room service (did I mention they were delicious?)

Sunday we lounged around the pool then rented a car and it was off to Cabo del San Jose for some surfing at Old Mans and some lunch at Zippers. I have to say the surf was great, a bit intimidating. I don't know why they were head high looping waves, not like the pitching waves we have here, but still I am always a bit nervous in new water. Plus right as we got out a clean up set came through and during my turtle dive I hit myself in the face with my board, no fun. But after an hour I got comfortable and had a few good rides even. Was sad to have only rented the boards for 2 hours. Will have to to back sometime. That evening we strolled on the beach by our hotel and then hit up the marina area for some drinks, a tequila tasting, and some dessert. I think we got chicken fingers this night for room service. They were delish too. I have never ordered so much room service in my life.

Monday we got up early and drove down to Cabo del San Jose to check the surf again, then it was back to the hotel to catch a water taxi over to the public beach for some jet skiing and lunch. We did the tourist thing on the way home and picked up some Mexican souvenirs ( you know, wrestling masks, genuine Mexican ray bans and Rolex, a great woven fish tapestry, and some silver). Back at the hotel we took a walk along the beach and found a local who would "guide" us over the boulders to Lover's Beach at Land's End. I have to say it was the highlight of the trip, and a reason that I am so glad I speak Spanish, otherwise we would not have met him and done the trek. For about $2 (wish I had had more on me) the guy took Nick and I over some boulders and onto Lover's Beach, took a million photos of us, and brought us back safely home. Brilliant! That evening we had a nice dinner at the hotel overlooking the Pacific Ocean and sunset.

Tuesday morning we swam, read books, and headed back home. It's always sad to come home from a vacation but then I woke up early Wednesday (thanks to the time change in my favor from Cabo) to walk on my own beach and witness the sunrise (as a plus I got to see the sunset this day too). It's kind of nice to leave one vacation behind for a beautiful place like home, especially when your home is near a beach as well... I just have to remember that I live in a vacation spot and to stop at times and witness the beauty that is around me. It will remind me of how lucky I am.

Adventures in Cooking...Cauliflower Rice

This is one of three favorite cauliflower recipes that I have (other recipes to come soon). Cauliflower is low in fat and packed with fiber, water, and vitamin C. It's a great addition on any meal, almost. For over 20 years I thought there were only 2 ways to eat cauliflower, raw, yuck, or steamed, okay but not that great. This year I stumbled (with Nick's help) on 3 fantastic cauliflower recipes. Now we eat more of the stuff than ever.

As some of you know Nick loves listening to NPR, and one day he was listening to Splendid Table and discovered that you could make cauliflower rice. It's super simple and an easy replacement for rice in meals, and a great way to sneak in veggies to someone who doesn't like veggies.

Here is a simple way to make cauliflower rice.

What you need:
1/2 head cauliflower
Cheese grater or food processor with a grater tool (much easier, less chance of nicking the fingers since cauliflower breaks easily)
Microwave safe bowl
Saran wrap

Instructions:
1) Grate the cauliflower

You DON'T need to add any water, cauliflower is packed with water and it is enough to cause the rice to steam, if you add water you will get soggy rice :(
2) Place in microwave safe bowl
3) Cover with Saran wrap and place in microwave
4) Microwave on high for 3 minutes

5) Carefully remove (the bowl will be hot), remove Saran wrap (careful the steam can burn)
6) Add any other ingredients you want and serve as a side dish or the main meal.

Here I added Trader Joe's frozen roasted corn, basil, sea salt and pepper.

Some other ideas are chopped green onions, chives, other herbs, diced tomatoes, the possibilities are endless.

Quote Friday, I Deserve

I deserve to have a successful career and I accept it now.

We all deserve this. I found this inspiration in my esthetician's office and loved it. It's so true. I hope that all my other Millennial or Gen X friends find their career passions. Life is about Family and Friends and we are now working to live NOT living to work. Times need to change. And everyone needs a career they love.

Adventures in cooking...Butchering

Nick and I have found that if you buy a large steak (about 20lbs) from Costco and butcher it yourself you can have at least 20 meals for about $40 to $70 depending on the type of steak you buy. We like to cut it up in to steaks, cubes and carne. Here are a few photos of our (or rather Nick's butchering adventure, I just wrap it up for the freezer). When we want steak I just pull out one of the wrapped steaks (we wrap up two steaks at a time) and put it in the fridge to de-thaw.

Quote Friday: To be a lady

Don't forget to appreciate the small and simple things - To be a lady no. 070

I appreciate all the times I just get to be with my mom. Here we are in Wales in 2010.

Playing Tourist at Home

I love it when I have visitors. That means that I get to play tourist in my backyard without feeling awkward. Fantastic! And Newport has a lot to offer. A few weeks ago my friend Kathy came down from the Central Valley for a much needed sunny beach weekend. I picked her up Friday afternoon in Long Beach and headed out to Huntington Beach for lunch on the patio at Longboards. It's always good to start a trip out with margaritas. Then it was off on the beach cruisers, because you have to have and ride them here, to explore the Balboa Peninsula and Balboa Island.

We rode the boardwalk down to the wedge. Unfortunately it was not very Wedge-y, more like a wading pool than the monstrous beast it can be. If only she had come a week later, the swell was packing.

Then it was off to the Newport Fun Zone to take the ferry across to Balboa Island. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the ferry. Once on Balboa we got Balboa Bars. Here is Kathy with hers at Dads.

After a quick stroll around the island it was back to the bikes for the ferry ride back to the peninsula and our ride home. At home we had some wine before heading out to Sake Sushi to meet another college friend for some amazing Sushi followed by a night of chatting/dancing at Blue Beet.

The next morning my friend headed back to Long Beach to spend the morning with another friend while I went to Nick's company picnic at HB. That evening I headed into Long Beach and got to play tourist, but this time as the tourist not the guide. We let Jacquelyn show us around Belmont Shore (I have only been here a hand-full of times). We had delicious Thai food at a new restaurant (I forgot the name, sorry) then headed to Legends to catch the end of the Chargers game (winners!) and off to Dogz for the rest of the night.

Sunday was spent lazing out at the harbor beach in LB watching some water polo, stand up paddling, and getting tans! Being a tourist in your backyard is great.