Puppy Love

Farmer's Market Dish

Didja know that Davis was named one of the 10 great places to shop at a farmer's market in the US?  Yes, not a top 10 great, or 10 best, just one of the 10 great places (randomly picked from all places considered "great," I assume).  In the very reputable Travel section of USA Today... just let me have this one, okay?  It's pretty adorable for a little town and prices are SO MUCH lower than the Ferry Building's farmer's market in SF.

So, PD and I took a trip there last week and came home with some lovely ingredients to make vegetable tian.  It's a meatless dish that not only I, but PD as well, loves.  Yes.  Meatless.  And he loves it.  The fresh farmer's market produce certainly makes it tastier, but this Trader Joe's seasoning blend that I recently discovered, subtly takes it over it top.  So far, it taken everything over the top - this vegetable tian dish, mac and cheese, eggs, and... uhm, yeah... that's pretty much all that I've cooked in the past week and a half.

Trader Joe's: 21 Seasoning Salute

The main players in this dish: Basil, this two-toned-squash-thing-that-I-thought-was-so-cute-but-don't-know-the-name-of, heirloom tomatoes, onion, potatoes, and the magical 21 Seasoning Salute.

The final result.  In one of my beloved vintage Corning Ware casserole dishes.

 I always feel so much better after having this - it's a load of veggies, olive oil, and a few seasonings.  I feel like it negates the daily bags of Pop Chips that I might possibly be slightly addicted to. 

... and since you've probably deduced from the previous picture, there are 2 other, a little less classy, "secret ingredients".

Ahh!  The secrets out.  The healthiest dish I make involves cheese from a plastic shaker jar and Cheeze-Its.

Missing the City

What I miss most about SF is that there are SO MANY different types of people and they each have their own thing going on.  There are no weirdos because EVERYONE is a weirdo.  Well, some might disagree about the no weirdos part, but you get over that pretty fast - they can do what they want,  you can do what you want, there will be no judgement (because, really, who has time for that anyway), and everyone will just be happy together doing what they want.

That's what I miss most.  By far.

The second thing I miss most is the how walkable and public transportation accessible it is.  Buses, subways (2 types - MUNI and BART), light rails, cable cars, taxis, and heck - even pedibikes galore.  Between all that and the hills, who needs a gym membership?  You don't have to consciously plan to be active, it just comes naturally with living.

A close third is the food.  Oooh my, the food.  I did not realize how much I would miss it.  There are some fancy schmancy places there, but what I find myself missing are the little, casual, even "hole-in-the-wall" places.  Fancy a fish sandwich?  The best burger ever?  Sushi (that doesn't include cream cheese or deep fried shrimp in every roll)?  Moroccan mint tea?  Freshly baked brioche bread?  I've got a place for that (read like: I've got an app for that.).

I've been feeling a twinge of homesickness.  Can you tell?  Even though it's not my home anymore.  But I'll still call it that anyway. 

Oh yeah, and I also miss being able to see the ocean (or the bay, I guess) from most places.  If anything, you are most likely a 10-15 minute walk away from an amazing view of it.

Okay.  Enough of this longing.  Good night.

Movin' to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches

At a friend's 30th birthday dinner last week, I had the best pie of my life.  FACT.  It had a tasty peach and cherry filling that was just sweet enough, without the sugar overpowering the freshness of the fruit.  And the crust... Oh, the crust!  It was the perfect balance of being both flaky and crumbly, with a subtle (actually not so subtle) hint of butter with each bite.

Dreams were had about that pie, so I thought an attempt to recreate it was in order.

I got a crust recipe from Smitten Kitchen, and googled a recipe for the filling found here.  And I got my peaches (and cherries) from Costco (rather than from a can in a factory downtown).

It didn't come out bad, but it was far from the masterpiece of last week.  I mean, it would be disrespectful to compare the two.

Changes for next time:

• Before adding the peaches to the mixture, pop the sliced peaches in the microwave (covered) for a minute or so to get it softer.
• Use the same crust recipe for the bottom half, but for the top portion, I realized that I should be using a "crisp" pie recipe.  Like from here.
• Use a deep dish pie dish.  And pack in the filling.  I only ended up using a third of the filling for the pie and used the rest to make an impromptu cobbler.

Food styling by Danabus Stecil.

Nature's candy in my hand or can or a pie..Millions of peaches, peaches for me...Millions of peaches, peaches for free...  Look out! 

Is the song now totally stuck in your head too?  No yet?  Here ya go:

It's been difficult meeting people out here.  In SF, I worked and there were always new people with similar interests to meet and chat with.  And because I lived in a very cozy and walkable neighborhood, I've never really felt like I was lacking in socialization. 

It's a different story out here.  The only person I see 5 or 6 days out of the week is PD (excluding the cashiers at Bel-Air).  So I decided to take matters into my own hands.

I made 2 friends.

After I introduced PD to them and showed him the assortment of new felt colors (for the hair) so that I can make more friends, he said that I really needed a job to come along.  Stat.

I agree. 

Friends are adapted from patterns found here.

Run Like the Wind

I got these shoes last week as a very nice present.

In the past decade, my fitness regime has turned from running, to yoga, to zilch for the past year.  Well, maybe not completely zilch -  I cut the fat off my meat now.  Just nip it at the bud, I say.

I am a shorter person (barely reaching 5'1) with a small frame (according others and this article), who tries but doesn't always eat the healthiest (Fried chicken or chips of any kind? I'll take 'em.).  It's called "skinny fat".

Urban Dictionary definition: To look slim, even with revealing clothes, but when touched, the touching hand sinks into fat before reaching muscle.

Lovely, right?

Being "skinny fat" and having three decades of life under my belt just can't be the best for my heart.  So.  I'm taking up running again, with new shoes to boot!  They simulate barefoot running without the creepy visible shoe separation of toes.  I took them for a whirl Monday on the treadmill and felt fantastic!  Instead of needing to stop because both my leg muscles are tired AND my heart is not able to keep up, it was just my heart begging me to stop while my legs felt like they can go for miles and miles!

I'm going to test them out again this afternoon to make sure it wasn't a fluke.

Disclaimer:  I might by hyping them up a tad, since my base comp was my previous pair of runners from 2006.  So these are just a big upgrade for me, to say the least.  I'm just way behind in the running shoe technology.

Boston

I went to Boston last week.  It was my first trip there and (like 90% of the places I visit), I can totally see myself living there.

Top 10 things I loved about this trip (in no particular order):

• Hanging out with family.
• The historical vibe of the city.
• The delicious abundance of fresh lobster.  Lobster sandwiches in particular.
• Dunkin' Donuts on every corner.
• The warm and humid summer weather.
• The trip to Maine for soft-shell lobsters with a successful Barbour Outlet visit on the way.
• The 7-day CharlieCard pass.
• How the amount of walking negated all the calories consumed.
• Going to the Old State House Museum.
• Walking around the campuses of impressive Ivy Leagues schools.