Month: July 2015

New Tricks with Old Friends- Aqua Hiking and Kung Pao Calamari (Bonus! Make a Friend Try Ahi Poke)

Friends visiting us from out of town? A visit to Torrey Pines is mandatory.

Torrey Pines State Preserve this Friday… so lovely:

Stunning blue sky, green pines, and red cliffs, two days ago...
Stunning blue sky, green pines, and red cliffs, two days ago…

Southern California is experiencing a severe drought right now. So, when the friends from Indiana are visiting, what do we get for the weather? Two days of steady rain thanks to Hurricane Dolores. I didn’t snap any pictures of the ominous grey and black clouds as they rushed up on us, but did find this lovely photo online. Imagine the fog like this… just coming down in buckets:

This is the closest photo I could come up with- Torrey Pines in the fog... (photo credit to andrewharper.com)
This is the closest photo I could come up with- Torrey Pines in the fog… (photo credit to andrewharper.com)

Our hike today started with clear skies, but by mid-morning, the hurricane bands started coming up from the south. And fast. By the time we started the return hike, the skies opened up and we enjoyed (!?!) the rest of the walk along the water’s edge and the base of the cliffs in the pouring rain. At least we had the warm rain and beach to walk along!

Very VERY wet hikers make it to the car...
Very VERY wet hikers make it to the car…

By the time we made it back to the car we were soaked to the skin. I amazed that we managed to keep the cameras and phones dry. The hair dryers and styling products were a waste of time this morning. We looked (and felt) like we had jumped in a pool.

We finished the evening at a favorite fish restaurant, Bay Park Fish Company, where we talked two of the most unlikely of diners to try ahi poke- they didn’t die nor did they hate it! I had to try something new to eat since hiking in a total downpour wasn’t good enough for my New Thing o’ the Day. Kung Pao Calamari- yum. It is on the appetizer list, but with a side of rice, voilà- dinner.

Here you go, Scott, proof of your wife trying the ahi poke:

OHMYGOSH DEBBIE IS EATING RAW FISH!!!
OHMYGOSH DEBBIE IS EATING RAW FISH!!!
Kung Pao Calamari with a side of rice- delish.
Kung Pao Calamari with a side of rice- delish.

Holy Yum Cheese Tasting- Cypress Grove Chèvre “Humboldt Fog”

Got a new cheese the other day,  I’ve been wanting to try this for quite a while. There is some fabulous goat cheese in America, people, you have to try this stuff. From Capriole Goat Cheese in Indiana to Cypress Grove in Arcata, California, we have really delicious artisanal products available.

Want a good place to learn about some of these fine cheeses? Read this: “Serious Cheese: Have You Tried These 6 Great U.S. Goat Cheeses?” is a great article to bring you up to speed. The good people at SeriousEats.com can get you up to speed on chèvre in its many forms.

Tonight we tried Cypress Grove Chèvre “Humboldt Fog.” It was creamy, smooth, with a bit of the tang of a bleu but with a wonderful taste that goat cheese is known for. It was delicious.

And it gets better- you can get this cheese in Costco right now! Or at least, we can in California.

I hope you can, too, because Costco has Humboldt Fog for a great price. It is available at other fine cheese shops, check their web page for purchase info. Go get some- try a new cheese.

Cypress Grove Chèvre "Humboldt Fog" is delicious.
Cypress Grove Chèvre “Humboldt Fog” is delicious.

THANK YOU Berkeley Breathed -or- Opus Wakes Up

“I will go to my grave in a state of abject endless fascination that we all have the capacity to become emotionally involved with a personality that doesn’t exist.”
Berkeley Breathed
found on BrainyQuotes.com

There are those of us stuck in a generational limbo, smushed between the loopy Baby Boomers and the entitled Gen-Xers, that  got a blast from our past with the return of Bloom County this week, yea!!!

#1 It's back!
1st strip of Bloom County 2015…    It’s back!

Twenty-five years ago Berkeley Breathed didn’t pass the comic on to a relative, like Family Circus or Blondie, neither did he have newspapers rerun his strips as we see with the beloved Peanuts. He just stopped, for his own reasons.

My kids have read all of the Bloom County comic strips; we own all of them. They are equally excited with this weeks reemergence, too. My son would read them on the half hour ride home from school, asking me about the period based humor that he didn’t get… he now knows who Jean Kirkpatrick is, and Mikhail Gorbachev, and he even knows what a Turnip Twaddler is and why late-night infomercials can be hazardous to your bank account.

Today I read through the fresh, first four 2015 comics that Breathed has shared on Facebook and man, oh, MAN. It sure took me back. Thanks, BB, I’ve missed Opus.

swiped from a comment left on Berkeley Breathed's Facebook page
swiped from a comment left on Berkeley Breathed’s Facebook page

Mike Hess Brewing of San Diego- Orange Honey Wheat

Want to try a craft brew from San Diego but don’t care for the double, triple, or quadruple hopped varieties that this area is known for? I’m not crazy about hoppy beers, but I wanted something other than wine to go with the pan fried dorado we had for dinner tonight- yea for my freezer and The Husband’s catch o’ the day from several months ago!

Mike Hess Brewing Jucundus is an Orange Honey Wheat beer that I cannot pronounce. So what If I can’t? What I can do is drink this brew. There’s not a lot of hops, it’s not overly bitter, it is just a nice, summer brew.

The beer snobs of San Diego can sacrifice me to the High Hops Goddess for saying this, but I think that this beer tastes like a better version of the basic supermarket beers. Now, excuse me while I duck and run for cover before an angry mob forms to pelt me with local, line caught fish tacos.

IMG_7463

Comedy Outing with Your Teen- Big Laugh or Big Mistake…

It was a hit, whew!

A couple months ago, I took The Boy to an R rated movie that I thought would be all right… That was kind of not a smart thing to do.

Clearly, I have not learned my lesson- we took The Girl to see a bunch of comedians downtown since the headliner is a friend of The Husband. This is a first for us… The Mad House Comedy Club downtown in Horton Plaza is an 18 and up and some of the comedy can be pretty crass and off-colored.

What saved us was missing a few of the acts since one of us forgot her ID and we had to drive all the heck the way back home to get it (insert epic eye roll and long suffering parental sigh here). We missed a couple of the more outrageously raunchy acts this way. Am I a good parent, or what?!?

Fortunately, Johnny Cardinale does a show that isn’t cringe-worthy at all for a parent to see with their (college-aged) kid. The music set he does complete with guitar is fabulous and particularly why we wanted The Girl to see his act.

Thanks for a another great evening, Johnny!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfJUbYNDiSk