Are Heirloom Tomatoes Better?

Aug 242011
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are heir­loom toma­toes really bet­ter than reg­u­lar ones? If you had asked me before this sum­mer, I would’ve said, not sig­nif­i­cantly. Well, I’ve changed my mind. They don’t even taste like the toma­toes I’ve been use to eat­ing the last 21 years! (ok, maybe it’s a few more than 21 years…) Any­way, they are absolutely divine. Some are as sweet as candy. Oth­ers might even have a smokey fla­vor. Tex­tures can vary from being firm to melt­ing in your mouth. My sis­ter, a.k.a. Mrs. Green Thumb, made us a beau­ti­ful tomato appe­tizer plat­ter with her home grown heir­looms. She just sliced her col­or­ful beau­ties, driz­zled them with some St. Helena Olive Oil (basi­cally use a good one if you have any) and bal­samic vine­gar. Then she fin­ished it off with a chif­fon­ade of fresh basil leaves. (salt and pep­per to your liking)

Right now you can find an abun­dance of heir­loom toma­toes at local farmer’s mar­kets along with other great organic pro­duce. Hav­ing trou­ble get­ting your chil­dren to eat fruits and veg­gies? Maybe you should try organic/fresh locally grown pro­duce. You may be pleas­antly sur­prised to find just how much bet­ter they taste. As an added bonus, they’re bet­ter for you too!

Where I Go:

Cal State San Marcos/Wednesday: 3 p m –7 pm

333 S.Twin Oaks Val­ley Rd.
San Mar­cos, CA 92096–0001
Park­ing Lot “B“
Accepts EBT, Credit & Debit

 

 

 

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Turn Ordinary Pancakes Into Extraordinary Pancakes!

Jul 272011
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pan­cakes with fresh straw­berry sauce! Divinely deli­cious! So you get to cheat and use Bisquick or what­ever your choice of instant pan­cake mix is. Take these would be ordi­nary pan­cakes and make them into some­thing week­end wor­thy. Straw­ber­ries are still in sea­son and can be found eas­ily. So let’s make a home­made straw­berry sauce…it’s so easy you can do it with your eyes closed! (okay, don’t try that since we’re using a stove and all)

Straw­berry sauce recipe:

1. wash and slice a bas­ket of strawberries

2. squeeze fresh orange juice from a whole orange

3. heat the orange juice in a small sauce pan on medium heat and then add the straw­ber­ries stir­ring often (optional: add 1 tsp sugar or 1 tsp maple syrup to make it sweeter)

4. after about 4–5 min­utes shut off the stove and blend the straw­ber­ries with an immer­sion blender (it you pre­fer a lit­tle chunky tex­ture don’t blend too much)

5. pour straw­berry sauce into a glass gravy boat or creamer and serve with pan­cakes immediately

–Don’t for­get to sprin­kle pow­dered sugar on top and maybe add some fresh mint to pretty your plate.

–If you’d really like to make it extra, extra spe­cial, serve mimosas too! mmmmmm…

 

 

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Hummus Dip With Vegetable Crudites

Jul 222011
 

 

Look­ing for the per­fect appe­tizer for this week­end? I’ve got it, hum­mus dip with veg­etable cru­dites. If you’ve never made it before you’ll be shocked at how easy it is. You will never buy it pre-made again! Not only is it healthy for you, it tastes amaz­ing, and is so inex­pen­sive to make. ($1 for the beans, $2 for the veg­gies assum­ing you have the basic pantry items like olive oil, s&p, etc…) Whether you’ve been asked to bring some­thing to a casual cock­tail shin dig or you’re pack­ing a pic­nic to the beach, this would be per­fect. Hum­mus recipe here.

 

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A Simple Way To Bring Spain To You This Summer

Jun 242011
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

San­gria I say! The beauty of San­gria lies in the fact that in spite of being exotic and deli­cious, it is incred­i­bly easy to make. There are thou­sands of dif­fer­ent recipes. No joke! Almost every restau­rant has it’s own “secret san­gria”. Through trial and error I have come up with my own sim­ple recipe. It’s so refresh­ing, fruity and light. Once you make this you’ll won­der why you haven’t before. Not only does it taste amaz­ing, it is very easy on your wal­let as well. I promise this is going to become your “go to” party drink!

Nellene’s san­gria recipe here

Warn­ing: Sip slowly…it can knock you off your feet! The alco­hol con­tent is much higher than just hav­ing a glass of wine. Overnight the sug­ars, wine and gin/vodka fer­ment get­ting stronger mak­ing a pitcher of WOW!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun Facts:

–Rioja region, the wine region of Spain is con­sid­ered to be the place where San­gria was born.

–It first became pop­u­lar in the 1800´s when fruit punch was served at most aris­to­cratic parties.

–San­gria has become word’s pop­u­lar drink since it was intro­duced to the world at New York World’s trade fair held in 1964.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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What’s Better Than a Five Dollar Footlong?

Jun 162011
 

 

 

 

Five things to do in San Diego under five bucks!

“Money doesn’t buy hap­pi­ness.” I’d like to add “it doesn’t buy fun either”! (ok, maybe it does, haha, but it doesn’t have too) Here are some great ways to enjoy your week­end for under $5 in the San Diego area. Get inspired to spend more time with fam­ily and friends  with­out break­ing the bank. Whether you live in SD or not, get a lit­tle cre­ative and search out fun things in your area to do. You might be sur­prised how many neat gems you find.

Tips:

–Google your city name with words like, free, fun, week­end, enter­tain­ment, movies, music, etc…and you will find a ton of cool stuff. You might have to sift through the junk a little.

–Have a con­test with your friends or fam­ily mem­bers (kids espe­cially) to see who comes up with the best idea/option. Then you’ll have a stock pile for the summer!

 

 

 

 

 

1. San Diego Food Truck Fes­ti­val At Lib­erty Sta­tion June 19th. Be sure to buy your ticket on my attached link for the $5 deal. For all you food­ies this is a great way to sam­ple San Die­gos food truck craze…

 

 

 

 

2. Sum­mer movies in the park is a fam­ily friendly venue that is com­pletely free! Movies start at dusk so be sure to get there in plenty of time to set up your cozy blan­kets, chairs and pic­nic goodies.

 

 

 

 

3. Vital Climing Gym is a great way to get your boul­der on! The first visit is free and shoe rental is $2. Warn­ing: it is addic­tive so you may end up going all the time!

 

 

 

 

 

4. Keys Creek Laven­der Farm in Val­ley Cen­ter give free tours. June is peak bloom so this is the per­fect time to go! Times are at 10:30 and 1:30 every Fri­day, Sat­ur­day and Sun­day. It is a walk­ing tour that cir­cles the fields near­est the gift store. It includes a view­ing of the dis­tillery and a dis­cus­sion on how we dis­till essen­tial oil. We talk about the dif­fer­ent types of laven­der that we have on the prop­erty and the home­o­pathic ben­e­fits of laven­der. The walk includes steps and slight inclines so it may not suit­able for those with sig­nif­i­cant mobil­ity restric­tions. No reser­va­tions are required. We meet at the gift store and the tour takes approx­i­mately 30–40 min­utes. Great place to take a fam­ily photo too!

 

 

 

 

5. CB Cup­cake Shop in San Mar­cos is a cool lit­tle spot to “build your own” cup­cake. You pick the cake, then the frost­ing and then the top­ping! It’s $3.50 for muf­fin size cup­cake and $1.50 for a mini. Great for a date night or a treat for the lit­tle ones…

*Feel free to add your sug­ges­tions on my comments!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ten Things To Do In San Diego This Weekend

May 202011
 

Hip, hip, hur­ray for the week­end! What is every­one up to? Con­sid­er­ing I live in a top tourist des­ti­na­tion area (I totally take it for granted!) there is plenty to do here. The weather fore­cast is primo btw! I won’t bore you by sug­gest­ing the “San Diego Safari Park”(although that’s one of my favorite touristy places). Here are a few ran­dom sug­ges­tions of what to do, where to go and of most impor­tantly what to eat and drink!

Happy week­end!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Sicil­ian Fes­ti­val Got a crush on Giada De Lau­ren­tiis? Well she’s doing a cook­ing demo and book sign­ing Sun­day, May 22nd in San Diego’s Lit­tle Italy. (thanks Carey for the lead on this great find!)

 

 

 

 

 

2. Happy hour at Tru­lucks Look­ing for a classy place to hit a fab­u­lous happy hour? This is def­i­nitely the spot for you! It’s in La Jolla very close to the 5 and 805 free­way, hence con­ve­nient. Last time I was there, martini’s (top shelf if I might add) were $6 along with a nice vari­ety of gourmet bar­gain bites. My favorite are the crab cake slid­ers, cala­mari and mini car­rot cake! Happy hour Fri and Sat from 5–7 p.m. and Sun­day 5-9p.m. I sug­gest call­ing in case their hours/policy changed. 858–453-2583

 

 

 

 

 

3. Top of the Hyatt Bar with a view? This is the win­ner! 40 sto­ries high over­look­ing the amaz­ing San Diego Bay and beyond to Coro­n­ado. Drinks won’t come cheap here but the view is price­less. This might be one of the best places to get a drink in San Diego. Yes, it’s a tad touristy, but it’s so worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

4. Fletcher Cove The fore­cast is low 70’s for this week­end so it may or may not be beach weather for you. If it is, this beach is great, espe­cially if you have chil­dren. There is a really cool play­ground and bas­ket­ball court over­look­ing the beach. It’s very well taken care of. You can find restrooms, park­ing and tables. The actual beach area has easy access but is very small. How­ever it is my favorite place to grab my beach chair, a sand­wich from Waters up the street and just chi­lax! I’m torn, ocean breezes or Giada book sign­ing this week­end!! What’s a girl to do?

5. Iron Fist Brew­ing Com­pany Are you in the mood for a really good beer? This is the place then! $4 gets you a sam­pler or a beer. This is a tast­ing room in an indus­trial busi­ness park so they do not sell food. How­ever you can usu­ally find a food truck in the park­ing lot. I say grab your bud­dies and just go…You’ll love the fam­ily that makes the beer and owns the place! Guar­an­teed good time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Cucina Urbana A roman­tic, but fun and whim­si­cal Ital­ian restau­rant in Bankers hill. It’s very lively but not in a bad way. Every­thing on the menu is under $20. (but tastes like it’s more$) If you want to go some­where for din­ner with­out being dis­ap­pointed, this is the place. I love the grilled octo­pus and short rib pasta! Just typ­ing this is mak­ing my mouth water…Make reser­va­tions for sure, it gets packed. 619–239-2222

 

 

 

 

 

7. North County Wine Com­pany This is a great “hole in the wall” wine shop and tast­ing bar. It’s in the North county area of San Mar­cos near restau­rant row. It’s very “low brow” so if you’re look­ing for snob­bery you won’t find it here. They have an out­side patio you can enjoy if the weather is good too. Check to see their fea­tured win­ery for Fri­day night on their web­site. Sat­ur­day is 6 for $6. Taste any 6 wines of your choice. If you wanna “fake” being in Napa for $6 this is the place to go! (sorry no breath­tak­ing vine­yards or Thomas Keller here) I think you’d be pleas­antly sur­prised by this homey wine tast­ing bar. Give it a try!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. Got Lady­bugs? San Diego Botanic Gar­dens (for­merly Quail Botan­i­cal Gar­den) presents lady­bug day this Sat­ur­day from 10–12:30. You get to count lady­bugs, do crafts and ask bug experts ques­tions. There is a lady­bug release at noon. I think this sounds like a lot fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9. Padres Game This week­end they’re home  play­ing the Seat­tle Mariners Fri, Sat and Sun­day. Even if you don’t love base­ball, Petco Park is an adven­ture in itself. What a great way to spend some time this weekend…

 

 

 

 

 

10. Paci­fica Breeze Cafe Break­fast is always a “week­end” thing. So here’s one of my favorite spots for a really yummy break­fast. The bonus: Breath­tak­ing ocean views in Del Mar! Does it get bet­ter than this? Hardly…This is a casual, self serve place. If you’re look­ing for a fancy 5 star ser­vice brunch, this isn’t it. My favorite is the bre’ egg wrap. My hubby loves the eggs benedict.

 

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Don’t Put the “P” in Pool!

May 182011
 

 

 

 

 

 

Sum­mer is around the cor­ner and many will find them­selves hav­ing some “fun in the sun” by the pool while their cabana boy Mr. Clooney brings them a drink with a cute umbrella and all. (a girl can dream, can’t she?) So that brings me to our impor­tant topic of the day…Pool Safety. I am by no means an expert on this, but I have researched some good reminders for all of us. Espe­cially if we own a pool like myself.

Adult Super­vi­sion

-Never under any cir­cum­stance leave a child unat­tended for any amount of time by a swim­ming pool. If you need to use the restroom, answer the front door, grab a water or what­ever it might be take the child with you or move them into the home you with access to the pool locked.

–Be sure to assign an adult who is in charge of super­vi­sion espe­cially at a gath­er­ing. Often a mis­un­der­stand­ing of who is in charge can arise. To avoid this from hap­pen­ing, make a sim­ple neck­lace that the per­son in charge at the time wears. For exam­ple get some yarn and make a “par­ent on duty” tag that is large and bright. Print the emer­gency phone num­bers on it as well so in a panic they’re handy. You can even add a safety whis­tle to it. That way when you’re wear­ing that neck­lace you know it’s your respon­si­bil­ity not to take your eyes off the swim­ming pool and chil­dren no mat­ter what.

–Remem­ber no flota­tion device can be sub­sti­tuted for adult supervision.

–If you know you can­not pro­vide proper super­vi­sion you can hire a life­guard for your party or event. Be sure they have the proper credentials.

Safety

–This may seem obvi­ous but be sure every­one has plenty of sun­block on. Don’t for­get to reap­ply every few hours.

–Hydra­tion is often over­looked as hours pass by when we’re hav­ing fun in the pool. Be sure to have plenty of water. Per­haps have an ice chest filled with waters and sports drinks. If they’re handy and in site peo­ple will not for­get to drink.

–Learn to per­form CPR. (Car­diopul­monary Resus­ci­ta­tion) I highly rec­om­mend Keep the Beat for cer­ti­fi­ca­tion. They will come to what­ever loca­tion you pre­fer, which makes it very easy to have an “in-home” CPR luncheon/dinner for all your friends and fam­ily. Tiffany, the owner, is very up beat (no pun intended!) so it makes it a lot more fun!

–Enroll your chil­dren in swim­ming lessons.(remember this doesn’t replace supervision)

–Keep a phone by the pool at all times and have the emer­gency phone num­bers posted. Be sure to have a first aid kit on hand.

May is National Water Safety Month

The above link will take you to a site that has more detailed infor­ma­tion to help you and your loved ones stay safe this summer.

Tips from our “Pool Boy Roy”

1. Hire a qual­i­fied pool guy. This would mean he has a contractor’s license and insurance.

2. Glass is a “no, no” around the pool.

3. Take all mea­sures to ensure the pool gate is locked.

4. Don’t pee in the pool, we can tell when you do. ;)

5. Treat your sis­ter in-law to a day at the spa since she’s prob­a­bly really amaz­ing and deserves it!

 

Do you know any­one who puts the “p” in pool?

If you want to know if the “pool water is clean” and things like this, read here.

 

 

 

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