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!