Month: January 2015

Change of Plans and Tuna Salad Needs Jalapeños

I love helping drive the field trip carpools for my kid’s school- I love these kids! The morning trip to the courthouse and afternoon doctor appointment left me with having to change today’s plans… but as one of the teachers who trained me used to say, “Tomorrow is another day!”

Instead of my go-to favorite sandwich I tried something different today- a Tuna Salad on Whole Wheat with Jalapeños.

The jalapeños made me suspicious… I like chilis, but don’t like food that hurts! I went ahead and tried the tuna instead of my favorite ham and cheese on a croissant… Tuna Salad Needs Jalapeños!!! The blackberry iced tea was nice, too, freshly brewed and not fake fountain tea. This was a huge sandwich and I was so glad to find that one of my friends was happy to take the other half off of my hands.

Tuna Salad with Jalepeños from Pannikin Coffee and Tea
Tuna Salad with Jalapeños from Pannikin Coffee and Tea

http://www.pannikincoffeeandtea.com/

Pannikin Coffee and Tea has two locations- Encinitas and La Jolla, and a third if you count San Diego Int’l Airport…

New Menu Monday- Herbed Salmon with Artichokes

In trying to stick with the goal of serving up our favorite meals in different ways, today I made the family switch from this:

Baked Salmon with Dill Sauce, Buttered Spinach, Brown Basmati Rice
Baked Salmon with Dill Sauce, Buttered Spinach, Brown Basmati Rice

and try this instead:

Salmon Baked with Olive Oil and French Herbs, Steamed Artichokes, Green Salad, and Whole Wheat Rolls
Salmon Baked with Olive Oil and French Herbs, Steamed Artichokes, Green Salad, and Whole Wheat Rolls

The family LOVES brown basmati rice, and somewhat willingly chokes down the spinach, but we always serve these same sides with our salmon. So, I decided to up the torture for my son- I made the kid eat an artichoke. He complained so little that I suspect he secretly liked it. My daughter and I not only really like artichokes, but think that they make a great excuse to get more butter into our faces, yeah!

Three out of five of us think that we need to eat artichokes more often- the spare 5th person was the boyfriend… he redeemed himself because even though he can’t stand the artichokes, at least he’s a salmon lover… so he can stay.

Meyer Lemon Muffins for a Rainy Day

It is amazing how many lemons even one little potted Meyer lemon tree can crank out. There are blossoms on it continuously, providing a non-stop supply of my favorite floral scent. Heavenly!

This tree keeps me in need of recipes to use up all of the lemons, and a quick Pinterest search turned up one calling for the entire lemon- score! A great treat to bake on a rare rainy day in the Southland.

Here’s the original recipe:

http://www.aminglingoftastes.com/2008/01/meyer-lemon-muffins.html

At first, I wondered why the blogger went with photos of this batch of her muffins… they turned out so flat. Then I made her same recipe and got the same results. It has to be all of the acid from the whole lemons.

Meyer Lemon Muffin prep
Meyer Lemon Muffin prep

Here’s the finished muffins! They taste great, and I will be using this recipe again- I will monkey with the flour and levening ratios, and the 1 teaspoon of salt called for is too much, in my opinion, but great overall!

Meyer Lemon Muffins
Meyer Lemon Muffins

Balboa Park- Walking Tour

Today we ended up walking all around Balboa Park- something that we really haven’t ever taken the time to do. We have visited the San Diego Zoo,  the Air and Space Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Old Globe Theater for a play, and the Ruben H Fleet Science Center, all great venues! But today we took the time to really walk most of the park.

We saw wedding parties posing for photos, wandered through the 35 International Cottages, saw artists working on their creations in the Spanish Village, viewed the improvements being made to the Japanese Friendship Garden (deciding that we need to eat at the Tea Pavillon!), and watched enormous koi swimming in the lily ponds in front of the Botanical Building. I snapped a few photos about upcoming events that we saw on kiosks so save for future reference, too… What a great day! I don’t recommend trying to walk the park and taking in more than one museum on the same day, at least not with smaller children. Definitely a two day visit, at least.

San Diego Youth Symphony has free weekend rehearsal performances!
San Diego Youth Symphony has free weekend rehearsal performances!
Tea Pavilion hours and offerings...
Tea Pavilion hours and offerings…