Desert

While Vinnie was out here he got it in my head that I wanted to visit the desert. Unfortunately, we didn't make it out there while he was in town. So on Saturday Derek and I decided to drive out to Borrego Springs and see the desert for ourselves. It takes about two hours to get to the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park from our apartment.
Along the way out we passed huge casinos on Indian Reservations, orange tree farms, and went up into the mountains and back down again. It was a nice drive, but I could still do without long distance driving for a while.We arrived at the state park around 2:00 and I had packed a picnic lunch for us. After we ate Derek spoke to a park ranger about where to go. There are many different spots to hike and to camp out in. The guide pointed us towards Palm Canyon. It was a nice three mile hike with a stream and a waterfall. I would love to take guests out there, but it will be way to hot for anyone who comes out in the summer months, it is March and it was in the 80s. The part that amazed me the most were all the different people we saw on this hike. There were some parts that were pretty rocky and I tweaked my ankle a couple times. We saw women with babies strapped to them, at 25 I am practically injuring myself, I can't imagine having a baby strapped to my chest trying to navigate some of the areas.

Recipe

I bought an "Eating Well" magazine a few weeks ago and have made a few recipes from it. All the recipes I have tried have been good, but the one I just made tonight was awesome and I wanted to share it with everyone.

Pork Chops au Poivre

1tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt, divided
4 4-ounce boneless pork chops, 1/2" thick, trimmed
3 tbsp-purpose flour
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium shallot, minced
1/2 brandy
1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream

1. Combine pepper and 1/4 tsp salt. Pat the mixture onto both sides of each pork chop. Place flour in shallow dish and dredge the each chop, shake off any excess.

2. Heat oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Add the chops, reduce heat to medium and cook until browned and just cooked through. Transfer to plate and cover with foil.

3. Reduce heat to med-low, add shallots to pan. Stir until softened (about 1 min) and add the brandy and cook, stirring and scraping up any browned bits, until most of the liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream and remaining 1/4 tsp salt. Serve the pork chops with the sauce.

Congrats!

All of Derek's hard work has paid off, he passed part I of his CCNA test today. He is now CCENT certified!

Coronado (Part 5)

On Monday Vinnie, Sam, and I went to Coronado. We sat on the beach for a little bit and then walked around the shops, had some yummy sushi, and then ate ice cream. It was a nice relaxing day, and probably the perfect way to wrap up a vacation. I am short on pictures from this day except I have to share this one:
It is not the greatest photo, but if you look past my reflection you will notice a bunny. We were walking down the street when I noticed a van that was advertising birthday party entertainment for small children. In the front seat sat an empty bunny costume. If any children walked by that day I am sure they had nightmares that night.

Legoland (Part 4)

On Sunday Derek had to go into work for a couple hours so Vinnie and I took a drive. I took him around Carlsbad, past the center of town, and some of the beaches. After a while of aimless driving we went by In-N-Out burger. Derek came back from the office and we all left to check out Legoland.The first thing we noticed upon arrival were the prices. They were so unbelievable that I had to take a picture and share them. It's a kids park there really isn't much for adults so $63 is absolutely insane. As we found out though you can get a shoppers pass and as long as you don't spend more than an hour in the park you can look around. So we all got passes and hurried through the park.
These guys meet you outside the front gate. A nice shiny Volvo to go with the all the reserved Volvo parking they have. The kid is creepy because his left eye is missing the blue Lego piece to match the right. Loved this one. Derek was hoping for yellow legos to be pouring down the sidewalk. This is not candy. They have a "pro" shop where you can get individual pieces in many different colors. The selection isn't as extensive as I would have thought, but still cool. The best part of the park is the cities of the world section. And here we have the inaguration done in lego blocks. I didn't get a close up but they even had an Aretha Franklin lego person with a crazy hat.
Look out Lego townspeople it is Godzilla Duck!That night we drove down to La Jolla and watched the sunset over Children's Beach. We then met up with Jordan who had flown in with Vinnie and a couple of her friends. We had dinner at a place that called itself a bar but only offered two beers on tap and three bottled brands. I think you shouldn't be allowed to advertise as a bar if you only have a selection of five beers (unless maybe you brew them yourself, but then you would be a brewery.) Oh and the Blue Moon kicked when someone tried to order it so make that four beers.

Wild Animal Park (Part 3)

On Saturday I woke up and prepared some buttermilk blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Making dinner each night is great, but then you find yourself with lots of left over ingredients. Companies just don't package food so that I can buy only the amount I need. So since I had left-over buttermilk we all got pancakes. After eating we decided to head to the Wild Animal Park.

I have relied on Google driving directions for years, never had any problems with them, until we moved to California. The directions led us into a nice neighborhood in Escondido. It was a pretty place, but it didn't have any lions or elephants that I could see. We brought out the GPS and found our way to the park. When we got there I picked up a membership so when anyone comes out for a visit Derek and I are prepared to go to the zoo or the Wild Animal Park as many times as humanly possible in the next year.This park is so awesome. It seems more like you are on a safari than in a zoo. The enclosures are bigger and the animals aren't behind cages, just big moats and walls. Here are some photos. This is one crazy looking ugly bird. There were two different locations for flamingos. Both of the locations stunk, none of the other exhibits had bad smells just theirs. There was some sort of sweet nectar the park sold and you could go in holding it in a plastic cup to feed these birds. It was like crack for these birds. The tourists that were holding it were covered in them. This little girl had a few on her arms and then one decided to hop up on her head. For $20 you can go up in this balloon and see the whole park. It was windy on the day we went so they had to ground the balloon in the afternoon. When we walked up to this spot the balloon started to descend (for the last time that day) and it probably took over 10 minutes for it to finally touch the ground. The poor riders were being swung back and forth over the park and the employee kept bringing it down then would have to go back up a ways for the wind to calm and then go down and up again, exciting stuff. And of course how can you go without getting pictures of some lions?After the park we took Vinnie to the Gaslamp district. Of course we took him to the now infamous ping pong bar. We met up with Lee and Sam there and only stayed for about an hour. We then walked up and down Gaslamp looking for another place to go that was not insanely crowded or a dance club. We finaly found a tiny little Irish bar that was pretty quiet and bonus... had no cover charge! So we stayed there for the rest of the night and had a great time. They did have a drink on tap called a pear cider. It was delicious and I am sure it was dangerous as it just tasted like a fruit soda.

Welcome to California (Part 2ish)

I forgot to add in my last post about the drive to pick up Vinnie on Thursday. I went after work so I knew there would be a ton of traffic, but I did not realize what had actually occurred a short while before I hit interstate 805. Click here to see what I mean.

This mess took place going north while I was heading south. I came upon all the lanes of traffic on both sides being stopped. After about 3 minutes the south bound lanes were able to pass again. That was when I noticed a black pick-up truck stopped in the middle of the north bound lanes with a tons of cop cars stopped behind it. I knew it had to have been part of a chase since there was no damage to the truck (and since I have been out here I am aware of two other chases.) We have only been here a month and a half and there have been 3 major police chases. It is like a sport out here. I did not find out about the money frenzy until much later, but I wanted to share with everyone this craziness.

Vinnie's Visit - Part 1

I have a lot of updates from this weekend. On Thursday Vinnie and Jordan flew into San Diego for vacation. After work I drove down and picked Vinnie up from the city and Jordan stayed with friends that she has out here. On Friday Derek worked so the two of us went to Balboa Park. We saw the same things from my last trip there, but this time the rose garden was in bloom, there were so many varieties and they were all so beautiful.We also discovered archery targets in Balboa Park. I kind want to get a bow and arrow now, not like a Ted Nugent high tech deal , but maybe one like you learned with as a kid at summer camp. After the park we decided to grab a bite to eat. We decided to go to Old Town and grab some authentic Southern California Mexican food. It is a neat little town that is exactly what you might expect from the name. It looks like a little Mexican town and they have tons of restaurants and trinket sellers. We got some combination platters, but we both got some fish tacos with them and they were yummy.Friday night was pretty quiet. Vinnie had a long flight and was pretty tired and Derek was worn out after work so were watched a movie and all went to bed. I have plenty more to share from the weekend and will add more updates soon.

Friday the 13th

While I was putting the laundry away Derek gave me a call and asked if I had any interest in going to a hard core show. Not really my type of music, but what else was I going to do? So Lee, Samantha, Nate and Kevin all went to the show with us. Lee and Sam were meeting us there and the other four of us were driving down together. We should have known it would be an interesting night when we all got lost. The directions from Google had roads listed that we never found and turns that were not possible to make. It wanted a left turn onto a street that was located on our right. Not only was it the wrong side it was also a one way pointed towards the road we were already on. After stopping at Staples AND Chick-Fil-A for directions we arrived.

We had to have been the oldest people there by at least 7 years. The show was not even located at a bar, it was just a place for young bands I guess. So we walk in and listen to the end of the second band. (Not the door opened at 7, we did not arrive until after 8 because no show actually starts when the doors open, not show that it except for this one.) This is when Nate and Kevin decided they would just go find a bar and meet up with us after the show. The last band went on and at one point the lead singer hands out sparklers. After a few comments about Great White and how bad of an idea it is the sparklers went out without any harm. The lead singer then held up the show for about 5 minutes trying to find a teenager who had never been kissed. Not sure where he was going with that as he never found anyone and more so just irritated the crowd. Next came the body slamming of audience members. One kid gave him $20 to body slam him and his friend. I have seen a lot of live music and this by far was the strangest show I have been to. It makes for a great story, but not so much for an event I will ever try to duplicate.After the show ended at promptly 10:45 we met up with Kevin and Nate. It was then off to the ping pong bar! This time I had my camera on me so I got some pictures to share. I also got a bonus, there was a group of serious ping pongers. They were stretching before they played and had on work out gear. This is not just a game to them it is a way of life! After seeing them play many patrons decided they wanted to go against them. Obviously the pros won every match, and interestingly enough all of them wanted to challenge the woman. There was only one guy in the place who challenged the guy...

La Jolla

I know the posts seem to be getting farther and farther apart, but don't worry I have not forgotten, nor I have I gotten too lazy. I simply didn't have anything to post. We had a pretty low key weekend and no pictures to share so I didn't update. Have no fear I have pictures to share now!

On Wednesday I went and met up with Samantha for lunch. For those from Catonsville who remember that would be Samantha Terry (who is now engaged to Lee.) We had some sandwiches at a local coffee shop and had a great time. After eating Sam mentioned a few local spots we could go to and take advantaged of our shared day off. We ended up going to La Jolla, Ca. This is a beautiful (very expensive) city directly north of San Diego. We visited the Children's Beach and the La Jolla Cove. Childen's Beach is know for all of the seals that hang out. It is incredible how many gather here and how much fun they are too watch even though it can be hard to tell a sleeping seal from a dead seal, some of them don't move much.Look at them all! One joining the pack.The view from Children's Beach.Mother and baby playing in the water.More spectacular view...