Friday, October 8th

[Beth]: As I sit on our couch and write this, it is the perfect rainy day outside.  Last night, some thunderstorms rolled through.  I am a pretty heavy sleeper and don’t wake up for much, but the thunder (and my husband!) definitely awakened me last night.  We had lightning and thunder right above – it was wonderful.  And the clouds and rain are going to stick around for a few more days.  Today I made a chicken tagine recipe in the crockpot, and our apartment smells of cinnamon and squash and raisins.  So lovely!

So, it’s time for our second (out of six) blog posts about our trip to Virginia.  We left off on Thursday, so today I’ll write about Friday.  We slept in, had a lazy morning, and took our friend Katie’s dog for a walk before we headed south.  The dog Penny is so cute and definitely made us want our own!  After a quick stop at Panera… and then lots of traffic on 95, we made our way to Richmond.

We first drove by our old apartment; it looks pretty much the same as it did – but with nicer porch furniture.  We went to Cafespresso for lunch.  It’s a hole-in-the-wall place just around the corner from the apartment.  It’s run by this Italian guy who’s really nice and makes awesome focaccia bread.  We enjoyed some delicious paninis:

After that, we drove along River Road (to gawk at the big houses) and Carytown to get to Maymont.  When we lived in Richmond, it was one of our favorite places to picnic or just spend a quiet afternoon strolling or reading.  In fact, Jared almost proposed here at the waterfall.  So it holds a special place in our hearts.  We got to spend a couple of hours just wandering, taking pictures, and reading.  Although the fall colors weren’t quite at their best just yet, we got some great pictures.

        

Once evening started to fall, we headed to visit Jim and Susan, a couple who did our pre-marital counseling and who are awesome.  We spent many an evening playing card games with them whilst in Richmond.  We had dinner on their porch, along with another couple.  Matt and Laurie were in our young married couples Bible Study, although in the year since we moved away it has become more of the young families group.  Five of the eight couples have had a baby (or are expecting) since we left.   So many cute ones!!  It was a magnificent time of fellowship and food.

And that was our Friday.  The rain is still falling, and I am going to sleep.  There is nothing I love more than falling asleep to the sound of rain!

Thursday October 7th

[Beth]: Complete.  Blog.  Fail.  Day one of our great blogging quest, and we already failed.  I blame the continued jet lag and me being sick for the past two days.  So time to play catch up!

We started our Virginia trip with a red eye flight from San Diego (through San Francisco) to Dulles, where we arrived at 7am.  Although I can sleep relatively well on planes, Jared cannot.  So we knew Thursday was going to be a long day.  We went straight to my grandfather’s house and had a quiet morning visiting with him.  After lunch with him, my aunt and cousin, we spent the early afternoon looking at old family pictures.

Then we headed into the city for the evening.  We started out near Capitol Hill at the Hawk & Dove for some drinks and an appetizer.  My friends Katie and Kristin joined us, as well as Jared’s friend Rojas.  After a fun hour of relaxing and catching up, we moved down the street to We The Pizza.  As some of you may know about us, we love the tv show Top Chef.  Spike Mendelsohn was a contestant on season 4 of the show and has since opened a burger joint and a pizza place on the Hill.  Our group increased as my friend Beth and Jared’s friend Arjun also joined us.  It was a wonderful time to see close friends and eat some delicious pizza.  After more than a year away from Virginia and so many great friends, it was encouraging and uplifting to spend an evening with them.  As is true of many events on the trip we’ll blog about, we only wish it could have lasted longer.

Back From Virginia

[Beth]: Last night we got back home after a wonderful, week-long trip to Virginia.  It was truly an amazing vacation, and we can't wait to blog about the friends and family we saw and the places we got to visit.  However, tonight (well, actually, in about 30 minutes) we are headed downtown to the San Diego Civic Theater.  We have tickets for tonight's performance of Burn The Floor.  We don't know too much about the show, but it promises to be entertaining.

After tonight and another day to get over some jet lag, we have an ambitious blog schedule planned.  Because we have so many things to share about our Virginia trip, we are going to take it day by day.  Tomorrow (Thursday) we will blog about last Thursday in DC.  Then on Friday, a blog about last Friday.  And so on until we get around to yesterday and our trip home.  Stay tuned, dear readers!

(A preview of one of the fantastic pictures Jared took on our trip!)

Cheesecake and Virginia

[Beth]: There is nothing like a deadline to get one to post.  In this case, the deadline is an airplane flight to Virginia.  We are so very excited to be headed to DC, Richmond, and Charlottesville for about a week.  The original purpose of the trip is a college friend's wedding at UVA.  And once we committed to that trip, we decided to make our first return to Virginia in over a year a real, true vacation.  We definitely DO promise to blog about that trip upon our return.

In the remaining 2.3 minutes I have, I will share some of my latest culinary adventures.  On Sunday, we made chili, along with some sour cream cornbread in our new cast iron skillet. By the way, the skillet is my new best friend.  We are still working on the non-stick aspect of the seasoning, but it is getting there.  And it makes cooking scrambled (or fried) eggs for breakfast a lot more fun.  Then on Monday I made a Tuscan cheese tortellini stew in the crock pot.  I can't decide which is a better friend: the skillet or crock pot.  Hmmmm....  And least, but definitely the best: a cheesecake.  I made it for the first time, and I think it turned out really tasty.  Check it out:

Virginia, here we come!!

Hello, Starlight

[Beth]: In the year or so that we have been in San Diego, Jared and I have covered most of the major tourist attractions: Zoo, Wild Animal Park, Balboa Park, etc.  However, we have yet to fully explore one of our passions: theater.  While Jared is the actual actor, I love being in the audience (what's an actor without a fan section, right?)  This past weekend we went down to Balboa Park to the Starlight Theater.  A week or so ago, we bought tickets on Groupon.

Quick aside, if you haven't gotten on the Groupon fad, it is definitely time.  Especially if you are female.  :-)  Each day, the groupon website brings you a deal for your city, often at a very discounted price.  For example, we got $40 theater tickets for $20.

We took a picnic to the park and enjoyed beautiful weather, tasty food and wine, and wonderful conversation.

The play of the evening was Hello, Dolly.  For all of our theater-mongering (ha ha!), neither Jared nor I had seen Hello, Dolly.  Jared has sung some of the numbers in his musical career, and we are familiar with several other of the songs thanks to Wall-E.  But it was a fabulous evening.  The Starlight Theater is a mid-sized amphitheater within Balboa Park.  What makes it unique from probably any other amphitheater anywhere is its proximity to the San Diego airport.   In fact, the theater is in the direct flight path of planes about to land; and the airport is only about two miles away.  So the planes overhead create quite a roar every ten minutes or so.  In response to this phenomenon, the theater company has devised a clever system to work around the planes.  They have a watchman (or watchwoman, I suppose) and a serious of warning lights in green, yellow, and red.  When the watchman spies a plane approaching, the yellow light is turned on to warn the actors.  Once the plane gets close to the theater, the red light is illuminated.  And all the action stops.  The actors freeze, the orchestra pauses, and the audience glances skyward as the plane passes by.  Then the green light comes on, and the action resumes.  The actors and orchestra handled the interruptions quite well, and it made for unusually entertaining theater.  We had a lovely evening and must admit we have had "It Takes a Woman" in our heads for the past four days.

More on our theater goings up next...

We Do Do

"The world is made by those who control their own destiny. It isn't made by those who don't do, It's made by those who do do. Which is what made me the man I am - I do do."

I don't want you all to think that all we do is eat.  We also do things.  A quick review of the past few weekends:

We hiked up nearby Black Mountain to see the scenic radar towers and such:

We went to a Padres-Marlins game on a cold Friday evening (yes... cold).  We had major parking issues and didn't manage to meet anyone from our church (the reason for going to the game in the first place), but enjoyed the evening nevertheless:

We walked along Peñasquitos Canyon and discovered a beautiful little waterfall/swimmin' hole.  The sea breeze was especially pleasant that afternoon:

We attended the US Open Sand Castle Competition down at Imperial Beach.  The drive was hot, but the beach was ideal.  We weren't quite prepared for such a large crowd, but we made the most of the day just the same.  Most of the "castles" were excellently constructed.  Many were downright impressive.  I also got a kick out of how many teams took the opportunity to make a "statement" about the BP oil spill.  While I may be sympathetic to their message, I couldn't help but think some of the exhibits were awfully preachy for a sand castle competition.  A few of our favorites:

This one featured monuments from all over the globe including the St. Louis Arch (not seen here).

Merlin's Magic Castle has some impressive curvature.

BP is an evil sea monster. Get it?.... GET IT?

Finally, we hiked up Bernardo Mountain.  Have you recognized that we quite like to hike?  We try to hit one per weekend if we can.  It's great exercise, offers great views, and we enjoy the conversation and time away from technologies (but I still love technology).  Actually most of the time I end up talking Beth's ear off about nothing.

When your CSA gives you cucumbers...

[Beth]: Make pickles!  Which is what we did yesterday.  I have a strong feeling that this blog may very soon feel like it has turned into a food blog.  I have been baking up a storm in the past few weeks, but more about that in a bit.

Like I said, we recently got a large batch of cucumbers from our CSA.  We use them in salads, but it was clear that we couldn't finish these before they went bad.  As it happened, we also got a bunch of dill.  So, cucumbers + dill = pickles.  At least we hope so.  I bought some Ball jars at the store, and we got everything ready.  After sterilizing the jars, we loaded them with dill, peppercorns, garlic, and the cucumbers.  To that we poured in some brine (simply water, vinegar, and salt), and then boiled the jars for 15 minutes.  As they cooled, we got to hear the jars "popping" as the sealing process occurred.  Supposedly that means we did it right.  We should find out in a week or so!

For some reason, I have gotten on a baking streak lately.  Well, actually, I know the reason: I am back in the job hunt and need something besides looking at boring job boards to occupy my days.  I am splitting my time between cross-stitching and baking.  That combo suddenly makes me feel like a 1940's housewife.  And I embrace that.  :-)  My first endeavor was cinnamon raisin bread, utilizing our bread maker.  Although we have had it for two years and used it a fair number of times, I still feel like bread is hit-or-miss in it.  The loaf turned out pretty well, although most of the raisins did fall to the bottom half of the loaf.  (Btw, I sadly have no pictures of my baking - must remember to take some in the future!).  Second, peanut butter brownies.  I got the recipe from a gigantic cookie cookbook from my mother-in-law.  It has about 500 recipes, all of which make me wish I could eat dessert for every meal.  These brownies took a bit of time and labor, but were well worth the effort.  Jared and his coworkers will attest to this.  The base is basic brownie batter, but with the addition of chocolate chips; then comes a peanut butter and cream cheese fluffiness on top.  Finally, some more brownie batter on top, and the mix swirled together a bit.  So heavenly!  If any readers are motivated enough to email me, I will send you the recipe.  And third, this past Friday I made banana nut bread, again using the bread maker.  I LOVE banana nut bread, but Jared isn't a fan.  This was supposed to be another concoction that I made, we sampled, and then Jared took to work to pawn off on his coworkers.  Well, that did not happen.  We ended up eating the entire loaf between Friday and tonight - and Jared doesn't even like banana nut bread!

I am debating what to try next: cookies? more bread? pie?  I am sort of intrigued about the idea of making a cheesecake.  I hear it's challenging, and besides we don't have a spring-form pan.  So maybe in the future.  But check back soon to hear how the pickles turned out!

A cool July

[Beth]: Well, dear blog readers, somehow it is August 1st.  And our good intentions of blogging more often have not been carried out.  But we are back and actually have a few topics to blog about.  Yay!

After feeling like June flew by with trips and the family visit, we figured July would be nice and slow.  Especially since the only thing we really had on the calendar was our 2nd anniversary (more about that later).  We kept busy with work events, making some new friends, and seeing old friends.  We also finally finished a puzzle we started back in May.  Jared bought it since it reminded us of our honeymoon in Jamaica, and it provided a great way to relax in the evenings.  The 1500-piece puzzle took a while, but it was well worth the effort!

We have also watched a lot of baseball (thanks to DirecTV and most games starting at 5pm our time).  Which means we saw lots of commercials for Wheaties with Albert Pujols.  To say that Jared thinks Pujols is the greatest baseball player of our generation is an understatement.  This household LOVES #5.  So needless to say, we had to get that Wheaties box with Pujols on it.  I usually take pride in our ability to resist advertising and such obvious marketing ploys, but this time we caved.  Big time.  I went to the grocery, headed straight for the cereal aisle, and quickly found that glorious box.  Only to pull it off the shelf and find a second, wonderous must-have behind it: a box of Wheaties with Peyton Manning!!  To say that I think Manning is the greatest football... well, you get it.  So for the past week, we have been eating lots of Wheaties, the breakfast of, um, puzzle champions.

P.S. Not only was July cool in the sense of being relatively social and busy, it was literally a cool month.  It was the coolest July since 1933 and a full 5 degrees cooler than the "average" July.  Anyone needing a break from the summer heat knows where to come!

San Diego > Wisconsin Dells

[Jared]: Annnnnd....we're back!  Four weeks ago today my family arrived to spend a week in San Diego.  They left three weeks ago.  You might say a new post is overdue.  But that's you.  I would say that it took three weeks to recover from all the fun we crammed into that week.  And since it's my blog, what I say goes.  Even so, let's take a quick look back at Family Vacation 2010:

For reasons unbeknownst to you (but knownst to me),  my family arrived in three shifts.  Wednesday afternoon the parents arrived.  This worked out great since they were the ones bunking at our apartment that week.  It also gave us time to have a nice quiet dinner for four.  We even busted out the china.  The meal included pecorino-stuffed-bacon-wrapped-dates, spicy seared tuna with avocado (one of our favorite dishes to make for guests), jicama & black bean salad, and crème brulée for dessert!  It was a relaxing evening.  I wish I were able to cook meals like that for my family more often.

Thursday morning we four headed to the San Diego Zoo and were treated to quite a show.  Zoos, as you know, can be hit or miss re: animal activity.  We got a barrel of monkeys (well, not literally). The pandas were awake and playful, including the "baby".  The sea otters antagonized one another.  A couple of black bears went claw to claw.  The elephants took a swim right in front of us.  And best of all, we watched two polar bears wrestle underwater literally right in front of us (we watched through glass).  These guys were having a blast and it was incredible to watch them.  After the zoo we headed to the airport to pick up B^2 and Kaya, our 2-year old niece.

That night we hung at our apartment and had a couple of muy delicioso rotisserie chickens.  The birds were organic, free-range, and sustainably raised.  Or, in the words of my brother... hippie food.  :-)  It was a mostly chill evening - though it was clear our darling niece would be dealing with jet lag for the following few days.

Friday morning we rose relatively early to catch low tide at Cabrillo National Monument's tide pools.  It was a grey, grey morning but pleasant for climbing rocks and exploring the tide pools.  Everyone had a great time, including Kaya who splashed a little, played with rocks and sand, and continued forth unabated in her cuteness.

After a quick stop at the monument and lighthouse, we headed to another San Diego favorite, Ortiz's Taco Shop for some California burritos.  For the uninitiated, perhaps Urban Dictionary says it the best:

California Burrito: A delicious and mythical burrito found in Mexican eateries, also known as a Cali Burrito. It is native to Southern California, especially San Diego. The California Burrito consists of carne asada, cheese, sour cream and French fries or potatoes rolled into a flour tortilla.  "I almost had a heart attack while eating a massive California burrito last night!"

Our bellies (and arteries) full, we bolted for the beach on Coronado Island.  By this point, the sun made its debut.  Kaya had passed out on the 20 minute ride to the beach and remained passed out as we walked from the parking lot to the waterfront.  But the minute we laid her down on a beach towel, she woke up and shrieked, "Sand!!!"  She had a ball and we had a ball with her.  She played in the sand and jumped in the waves until her tiny teeth chattered.  Super cute.  The folks took a stroll down to see the famous Hotel Del Coronado.  And just as we had had our fill of beach for the day, we packed back into the cars and headed to pick up the last two members of our entourage from the airport.

Now that the whole gang was in town, I had to shift the menu from kill to stun.  Friday night was burger night.  In addition to the burgers we made some hummus (remind me to post my recipe some time), bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers on the grill, and enjoyed more of the never-ending-bowl of jicama salad.  Family, food, brews, and the Cardinals game on the tele.  What more could a man ask for?  How about a trip to....

Disneyland!  Saturday the family made our way to Disney for the first time in 19 years.  Thanks to our super-incredible friends Heather & Brian - who are recently engaged - 6 of the 8 of us got in for free!  Seriously, just so so nice of them.  It was a great day at Disney, if a bit on the hot side, and we covered a lot of ground.  Bri, Kevin, Beth, and I even got to stick around for the new World of Color water show.  But the Moment of The Day goes unarguably to Briana for her side-splittingly funny picture on Space Mountain.

Sunday we took a bit easier.  Slept a little later.  Skipped church.  Then drove up to Riverside to visit some old friends for lunch.  It was a beautiful and cool afternoon and a great time to reminisce with a family with whom we spent many holidays during our previous tenure in southern California.  Before departing we swung by our old house and chatted with some neighbors for about an hour.

Monday was spent at the Wild Animal Park.  If Thursday's trip to the Zoo was a boom, this one was the bust.  Don't get me wrong, it was nice to stroll through the park.  And the safari ride is always enjoyable (even Kaya liked most of it).  But in general, it felt like nap time in Africa.

Monday night, however, was much more enjoyable.  We headed to one of my and Beth's favorite restaurants, Stone Brewery.  The setting is so peaceful.  The gardens are lovely and the open-air dining room inviting.  And obviously, the food is great (though I wish the menu varied a bit more frequently).  In addition to the food itself, Beth and I also really love the philosophy of the restaurant.  I would encourage you to read their philosophy statement which captures much of how we have grown to feel about food over the past few years.  Now if only Stone's beers weren't so blasted hoppy.

After Monday evening's festivities, 4am Tuesday came mighty early.  Yes, 4am.  I got up on the last day of my vacation at 4am... to go deep sea fishing!  Everyone other than Beth, Kaya, and my mother headed down to Seaforth Fishing for a half-day fishing trip to the La Jolla kelp beds.  It was another grey morning (i.e. cold boat ride) but a fun day on the boat.  I caught the first fish of the day, a delicious bass.  Briana became known on the boat as Queen Mackerel.  Dad aimed for the big fish by using what he caught as bait.  And Kevin did his best not to throw up.  It was a successful trip I think, and we greatly enjoyed some grilled barracuda later that evening.

Tuesday night was our final night together.  So in the tradition of years past we had a Nacho Night.  Chips, cheese, beans, house made guacamole, queso fundido, grilled carne asada, and yes, more jicama salad.  I had planned to make some salsas from scratch as well as a couple of ceviches, but after such a long day on the boat, I was too exhausted.  Next time!  We chowed down on the nachos, but thankfully saved just enough room in our dessert boxes for Beth's incredibly delicious strawberry and blackberry pie.  The berries were fresh, local, and organic and the crumb topping was the best!  It was a delicious way to end a delicious trip.

Wednesday morning, the clan departed.  It was sad to see them go but so joyous to have had them. Beth and I are so fortunate to have families that we love and that love us and each other.  Hopefully we won't always be so far removed from them, but until then, such visits are truly cherished.  Thanks!

New Awlins (Part 3)

[Jared]: Before my family arrives today, I thought we should try to finish up our exciting tale of a weekend in New Orleans.  I promise this post won't be entirely about food.  But that's where we'll begin...

After Friday night's dinner at Restaurant August, you wouldn't think we'd have needed to eat the rest of the weekend.  But what fun would that be?  Saturday afternoon we had some solid sandwiches at a place recommended by some locals.  It was good.  I especially enjoyed their surprisingly tasty cucumber gazpacho.

After lunch we headed to the park to play (or in my case, watch) some Frisbee with the bridal party.  By the way, has it been mentioned how absurdly humid it gets in New Orleans?  I mean, I lived in the Midwest for a long time, but this was pretty suffocating.  I suppose living in San Diego has made me soft.  Seriously though, the heat index over the weekend ranged from 105 to 115.  And on afternoons such as these we did what most people would prefer to do - but which only New Orlean-ites are able to do: we went to a drive through daiquiri place.  They had nothing but daiquiris.  A dozen or so different flavors.  Not a bad business model.

Saturday night was the rehearsal dinner to which we were kindly invited.  This dinner provided yet another new experience: a craw-fish boil. It was something else :-)

Sunday after church we headed to Dante's Kitchen.  This was another recommendation by a local.  It was right up Beth's and my alley too as they focus pretty heavily on local, seasonal cooking.  Beth and I split a BLT&E and the just-as-awesome-as-it-sounds: Alligator Sausage Sliders with Habañero Jelly!  Oh man.  So so so good.  The jelly was good and spicy, but still sweet enough to make it delicious.  And the alligator sausage was quite good too!

Our last meal in town was at the wedding reception that night and it too kept the spicy coming.  I particularly enjoyed the jambalaya and corn bread.  Oh, and the green beans almondine!  They were great.... and spicy!  I'm sensing that Cajun food is predisposed to being spicy...hmm.

Ok.  Enough on food (for now).  Let's rewind and cover another important aspect of the trip: the music.  Obviously when one heads to New Orleans, one naturally expects to encounter a variety of good old dixieland jazz.  I'm glad to report that we had ample opportunity to enjoy the fine musical tradition of New Orleans.  It started with a few tunes over lunch at the street cafe on Friday.  And yes, they did play "When the Saints Go Marching In".  We heard that one a half dozen or so times during the weekend.  Unfortunately not long after we sat down to eat, the band took a break.  Ah well.  The real deal came on Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday night after the boil, we headed down to the Quarter with Beth's parents, her brother, and his wife.  First stop, more beignets.  Second stop, Preservation Hall.

Preservation Hall is a super cool old building where the band plays traditional New Orleans jazz.  The inside is hard to describe.  It's run down, to be sure.  But it also feels authentic.  Seating is very limited.  And the place is hot as Hades.  I love being able to put a musical style in its proper context.  And the lyrics and rhythms of the music (especially the down tempo tunes) made more sense than ever in a setting such as this.

After catching the last set of the night, the elders retired for the evening and Beth and I headed to Rue Bourbon.  This was my first stroll along the famed street and it was...well... what you'd expect it to be.  Crowded.  Loud.  Gritty.  Sweaty.  Smelly.  Dirty.  And let's be honest, fun.  We walked a little ways and then decided to whet our whistles at another jazz hall.  We grabbed a table up front and enjoyed some more classic jazz.  I should add that at one point, a police-person on horseback directed about half of the enormous horse into the bar.  Finally I can say that I've been to Bourbon Street and listened to New Orleans jazz music with a horse!

At the end of the set, we decided to take a final evening constitutional along Bourbon Street to soak up the atmosphere.  We passed the night clubs, the bars, the daiquiri joints, and the strip clubs.  I don't think I can (or want to) imagine the craziness of Mardi Gras.  Honestly the whole scene made me slightly uncomfortable.  I'm all for having a good time, but Bourbon Street is pure excess.  And ultimately it is not fulfilling. It was actually sad to see so many people living so carelessly (not that I'm trying to judge anyone). 

 

In conclusion, we had an outstanding trip.  It was a wonderful time with family and friends accompanied by equally exquisite food and music, set amidst beautiful architecture.  By the way, the architecture was truly breath-taking.  I think we all would have been perfectly content to just spend the weekend driving around (or better yet, riding on the trolley with a cooler of beer) gawking at the old houses.  That said, it was incredible to see just how much devastation remains from Katrina.  The signs were everywhere.  Empty lots, houses being rebuilt, water damage.  It was heartbreaking, even five years after the storm.  New Orleans is at once both Paris and East Saint Louis.  But after spending a weekend there and meeting some of the people, I can tell it won't be long before it more closely resembles the former.

New Awlins (Part 2)

[Jared]: I thought I would take a break from eating and preparing food (yes, at the same time), to blog about food....mmmm.... food! This evening, I've been working on Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon.  It has actually been more work than I expected.  But we saw the movie Julie & Julia recently and obtained some lovely beef from our first shipment of J&J Grassfed Beef, so I figured I would take a stab at it.  Unfortunately I should have started a bit earlier in the day.  Ok, enough on that.  On to New Awlins...

As Beth already noted, it was a fun trip.  Congratulations and all that to the happy couple (half of which reads this blog!).  And since I didn't get a chance to say so to the hosts, I feel inclined to announce that that was easily the coolest wedding band I've ever heard.  Aside from the wedding and family time, I was most excited to explore the culinary delights offered by New Orleans.

Day 1: Had a nice jambalaya for lunch at a street cafe in the French Quarter.  Nice and spicy.  After lunch, it was beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde.  Those were undoubtedly some tasty doughnuts.  I surprised myself at my ability to abstain from eating two dozen.

Friday evening was the meal of the weekend.  Several months ago when we confirmed our plans to attend the wedding, we immediately made reservations at John Besh's Restaurant August (prompted primarily by Rod Dreher's blog post about the restraurant a few months back).  Besh is a super star in New Orleans (and everywhere else too), and the meal did not disappoint.  Beth had a delightful and fluffy potato gnocchi with blue crab to start (I don't even like crab and I loved her dish), while I opted for the slightly more sinful trio of foie gras.  The garlic and heirloom tomato version was nice but not earth-shattering.  The mushroom sauce bite was rich and earthy and wonderful.  But the third setting with caramelized peaches was so good that I'd fly to New Orleans for one bite.  Something about warm fruit and seared foie gras just makes me melt.

Typically at restaurants, I wait for Beth to order and then adjust my own order in response.  I tend to avoid duplication so we can try as many dishes as possible.  But when Beth ordered the spiced, glazed duckling, I didn't hesitate to order the same.  Indeed, Beth's mother made it three of four people ordering the same entree.  And I can assure you that we were each glad to not have to share!  The duckling was perfectly tender and the glaze had me ready to lick the plate.  I especially enjoyed the subtle fennel flavor in the sauce.

Finally, desert.  Goat cheese cheesecake, with local honey ice cream.  Simply decadent.  Ok, wow.  So, I've already written a lot.  My lap is overheating from the computer and I need to check on the bourguignon.

New Awlins (Part 1)

[Beth]: This past weekend we traveled to The Big Easy for my cousin's wedding.  Since it was such an amazing trip, we will split our writings into several posts.

It was my first time in the city since our family went for my brother to check out Tulane.  I was in middle school, so I don't remember much.  Mostly just driving across Lake Ponchartrain and Cafe du Monde.  Jared had never been, so we were both very excited.

As I mentioned, the primary purpose of our trip was to attend my cousin's wedding.  It was wonderful to see family and spend some quality time together.  Despite the fact that us Californians suffered in the humidity, the wedding was gorgeous.  We send our best wishes, blessings, and prayers to the new Mr. and Mrs. Meinzen!

Breath

[Jared]: Hi all, my friends at Be The Groove put together a video that is in a contest to be screened at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art. It's an incredible video and I am tremendously proud to know these performers. (You may recognize them from Beth's and my wedding!) Please enjoy the clip below and then visit this link to vote for Breath. You can vote once a day!

Memorial Day Weekend

[Jared]: Beth and I have been enjoying our nice, long weekend in San Diego. My weekend actually began early since the company computer servers were shut down early on Friday in preparation for the weekend relocation to the new office. Our weekend has been relatively low key and relaxed, but as always - delicious.

Saturday night I rocked out a rotisserie chicken on the grill. This time I used some BBQ 3000 rub from Penzeys, then finished it with a little Kassebaum family barbecue sauce.  It was quite tasty.

While the chicken was on the grill, I spent the rest of the evening with a rather ambitious undertaking.  Several years ago, I was enjoying some late night drinks and appetizers at one of my favorite restaurants in Charlottesville when I successfully convinced my waitress to share with me the chef's recipe for curry corn chowder (a soup I had on every visit).  At this point the kitchen was closed and the chef had gone home, and I'm quite certain it was this fact alone which allowed the waitress to comply.  In fact, she brought out the entire restaurant cookbook - I couldn't believe it.  I wrote things down as fast as I could, sure that any moment I would be interrupted and told that I couldn't have the recipe after all.  Thankfully I escaped with a delicious recipe.

And yet, one problem remained.  The recipe was in bulk quantities.  As in, 5 pounds potatoes, 10 pounds corn, 1 carton cream, etc.  As a result, I never attempted to make the soup, until this weekend.  I finally decided to go for it.  I used the ratios of the ingredients to get as close as I could and just improvised the rest.  After about four hours, I'd say the experiment was a resounding success:

If anyone wants me to post my version of the recipe, just ask and I would be glad to. I wouldn't call it a healthy soup, but it is pretty darn good and was worth the effort.

Last night we made our first visit to 30th on 30th.  On the 30th of each month, a bunch of restaurants and bars on and near 30th Street offer specials, such as a feature appetizer for $2. This makes it easy to go on a restaurant crawl and check out all the amazing places on the 30th Street corridor. Beth and I made four stops last night and had a great time. We also discovered a few new places in North Park that we're excited to return to.

May Gray but Cards Win the Day

[Jared]: Blogs always begin with the best of intentions.  And then life gets boring for a few weeks, and suddenly you haven't posted in ages.  Sorry about that.

We did have a bit of fun this week though.  We caught two Cardinals games at Petco.  Tuesday night's game was a relatively quiet one.  Adam Wainwright struck out twelve and only gave up one run over 7 innings, and yet had to take the loss because the Cardinal offense wasted opportunity after opportunity.  We did get to see some incredible defensive plays though, particularly Ryan Ludwick's catch at (into) the wall.

Thursday afternoon's game was significantly more enjoyable.  The slumping Cardinal offense broke out of their funk.  Plus we got to see a couple of home runs.  Not to mention, it was just a beautiful afternoon in San Diego.  Sunny and 70...well, for most of the game...

Prior to moving to San Diego, I had never heard of the phenomena known as "May Gray" (see also: June Gloom).  Essentially, during May and June in San Diego, the marine layer moves inland and leads to gray skies and cool temperatures.  It's actually quite nice in my opinion, but most San Diegans prefer the sun.  Thursday afternoon's game was a picture perfect portrayal of May Gray...

1st inning view from our seats:

8th inning view from our seats:

In other news, my company is moving to a new office this weekend. Starting Tuesday I'll be walking to work!

Stick around blog readers, June is going to be a busy month!