My Hips Don't Lie

She makes a man wanna speak Spanish...quien esta muchacha gorda?

So three downfalls since November:

1.  Beginning with our trip to NY, I've been on a cold weather/comfort food train.
2.  The sinus infection disaster of 11-11 led me off my workout course.
3.  My Pilates instructor went on maternity leave, and although she has a replacement, I don't do well with change.

Therefore, starting today, I'm back on my healthy eating and workout track. The last couple months were not spent in vain-I had some good grub. Here's a summary:

Restaurant Q in San Fran: Blue Cheese Burger with raw onions! My breath don't lie either.

Yardhouse is officially open in Fresno. This was after a particularly rough week.

This is actually an old pic back from NY.  It's a stuffed portabello mushroom burger. I seriously think this was my favorite meal of the trip.

Deep.

Chicken Nachos from Yardhouse. Yes, I've already visited the place twice. So sue me.

"Glutten" Free pasta? Sign me up!

DiStasio's on the Bay in Morro Bay. HIGHLY RECOMMEND this place.

Miss Lola's Southside Grill in Morro Bay: homemade coconut cream pie. This place is legit! We had fish tacos of the "this guy was swimming this morning" variety, grilled cheese (with the good cheddar) on sourdough and homemade mac 'n' cheese. We will come back.

Bravo Farms in Traver. If you have kids and are traveling along the 99, you absolutely must stop here. It's a restaurant, cheese factory, petting zoo, gift shop and huge kids' treehouse all rolled into one. They also have a great variety of beers.

I made this Ricotta Egg Hole in One breakfast. It was just okay, but has potential with some changes.  Less ricotta and needs something salty added to it. Still thinking...

Tots from Restaurant Q. Need I say more?

Hard to believe I made a Giada recipe, but I did. Beef and cheese manicotti. However, I use the shells, as I learned from my husband's aunt (mother to 7 boys!) because they are much easier to fill than the manicotti tubes. I also subtituted chopped spinach for the parsley and added nutmeg (is it possible to cook spinach without nutmeg?).

Sounds good on paper, but...

California Dreamin'

So it's our annual beach house trip: my parents, my family, my siblings, along with their families, and this year my grandmother and uncle all shacked up in a nice two story house in Morro Bay. That equates to five kids ages six years to six months. Good times.
During the drive over, my high school's valley champion football team was playing in a historic football game: CIF Division III state championship game in so Cal. So we had an edge of our seat drive to the coast as we listened to the game on my laptop. Despite playing on artificial turf in the rain (an experience they have no prior experience with) against a team from an affluent bay area town that is used to the fake stuff, our Easton Panthers won: 21-16. Go Union! I actually passed on wine tasting in Paso to listen to the game. What's wrong with me???? That's a little too dedicated. But hey, maybe they'll make a movie about our football team? And Marisa Tomei will play me...and David will be portrayed by Robbie Benson and my kids will be played by those ADORABLE racially mixed child models in the J.Crew catalog! I can see it now: it's the night before the big game and the star player is failing my class. Everyone's putting unfair pressure on me to change his grade and I will not relent because I believe it's not the right thing to do. So, the coach gives me the kid's home address and suggests I check out his hood. So, Marisa Tomei, dressed like Gwen Stefani, gets into a non descript car and drives past his house-slowing down to see the boy's grandfather whittling wood on the front porch and a woman (his mother? Was she 14 when she had him?) dressed in a 1950's waitress outfit walks up the sidewalk carrying a baby on her hip. I now understand that he needs to play in the game and I let him retake the big test in a room with old fashioned desks and a real chalkboard. But I'm getting ahead of myself...
So we ate at Bayside Cafe in Morro-one of our faves. The fish tacos were perfection with an airy battered fish wrapped in crunchy lettuce, soft tortilla, cheese and salsa. That was last night. Today was lunch at Custom House in Avila. We started with appetizers of calamari and fried mushrooms (pan fried- not deep. Different and tasty) before the main course: Crab Louie. The rest of the afternoon was sunny and relaxing on the beach.
With all the kids, it's easier to hang out at the beach house and snack for dinner while involved in a seriously competitive card game of "Push." Living the dream...

'Cause that's not where I wanna be...

Rock, rock, rock 'n' roll high school....

So, a math teacher, social science teacher, an English teacher and a lawyer turned part time teacher rode in a van together to a Data Director conference in San Mateo and...that's it. That's the joke.
But wait, it get's funnier. Now I'm sitting at a table eating lunch with people from Data Director. It's a lot of sorting by tabs, building reports and a story about teachers from a school district who, while en route to a conference, got caught shopping at a porn shop in southern Utah. This only furthers my argument that public school teachers should be given sabbatical time off.
It's always nice to be out of the classroom and be a student again. Plus, they gave each of us a free harmonica! (picture below) Good times!!!
Lunch is really yummy, but tonight we go to Restaurant Q in the city. Stay tuned....

I like my eggs "Easy Like Sunday Morning"

For those of you who are thoroughly grossed out by my pictures of oozy eggs "over easily" (as Jett orders them), you now know how I feel sitting next to you eating your cheeseburger loaded with pickles. Trust me when I say we are even.
Sometimes on Sunday (but never on Saturday) we ride our bikes to downtown Kingsburg for breakfast. David, a Kingsburg transplant, was introduced to Swedish pancakes when we first met and has loved them ever since. I once made them for my visiting brother and sister in law and had to make three batches!!!
So if you're looking to eat Swedish pancakes the logical place to dine is Dala Horse. However, the last time we ate there we swore never to revisit as they were sloooooow. Don't get me wrong; they greet you when you come in, smile and swiftly take your order but by the time my food comes I'm old enough to retire. Which makes sense since most of their customers are retired: Caucasian, elderly, very tall people (and they've already shrunk a few inches-Valkommen to the Swedish Village!). They don't mind waiting, but I've a lot to do at home! Today we beat the after church rush so decided to stay.
David and Jorja ordered their Swedish pancakes, that come with bacon, eggs and lingonberry jam (you know you're from Kingsburg if you did NOT just ask yourself, "what is a lingonberry?). Jett and I dined on the same, but make those pancakes the oatmeal variety: a slightly cinnamon, textured and not so sweet concoction. I'm not a big pancake fan, but I love these!
God Morgan and Adjo!

My, my at Waterloo/Napoleon did surrender...

"Oh yeah and I have met my destiny in quite a similar way."

At Sandrini's in Bakersfield eating Eggplant Napoleon. Sort of a hole in the wall Italian restaurant downtown on Eye Street. The kind of place you walk by and have no idea what's inside unless you walk down the stairs to check it out. It's always better to support small business over slick and generic chain restaurants.
The bruschetta trio was unique with a traditional bruschetta and two different types of tapenade. An in-house made sun dried tomato vinaigrette was served over greens and topped with Gorgonzola! Chianti was a mild enough red for all at the table to enjoy. It's a little loud for visiting (pool table in the bar!), but maybe that's best when dining with in-laws...ha ha
Now for the entrees: the kids' linguini and meatballs was a big enough portion for a lumberjack! My eggplant Napoleon was a tower of fried eggplant plastered together with mozzarella and a marinara with a bit of zip. I was so STUFFED I actually could not finish my plate! I surrender!!!!
WATERLOO! I feel like I win when I looooooose! Couldn't escape if I wanted to....

Green Onions (the only song I could find about onions)

I'm sick.
Yes, I have the entire week off and instead of having fun or crossing tasks off my "To Do" list I'm battling a cold and puttering around the house or napping. I puttered at my sewing machine and that about wore me out. However, prior to getting sick, I planned and purchased all the ingredients for French Onion Soup and I wasn't going to let sinus pressure come between me and my crock of cheesy happiness. It's a puttering type of recipe (Nigella would be proud) and so my hazy state of mind might have been perfect for watching onions cook for an hour.
This was my first attempt at making this soup and it was easy (although time consuming) and I was told it tasted "perfect." Even the kiddos loved it (of course we called it "French NOODLE Soup" and let them make false assumptions).
I combined Julia Child's and Ina Garten's recipes. Here it goes:

Sauté the following for a couple minutes and then lower heat to low-med, put lid on and cook for 15 minutes:

6 or 7 large YELLOW onions, halved and sliced 1/4 inch thick (8 cups)

One T. olive oil and one stick unsalted butter (Hi Paula! Hey gurl!)

One (or 2 or 3) bay leaves

Now, off comes the lid and stir in 1 tsp. kosher salt and 1/4 tsp. sugar (browns the onions). Raise heat to med-high and cook for 30 minutes, stirring often, until onions are a deep, golden brown.

Deglaze pan with 3/4 cup sherry and 3/4 cup cognac/brandy. Simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Add one cup dry white wine and simmer uncovered for an additional 15 minutes.

But wait, you're not done!

Add 8 cups beef stock, plus more kosher salt and white pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Take out bay leaf (oops, I forgot-surprise!) and taste to adjust seasoning.

Here comes the fun part:
Using broiler safe soup crocks, ladle soup into bowls. Shove in stale (or toasted) French bread and top with 3 slices baby Swiss cheese. I'm sure Gruyere will taste better, but I wasn't willing to spend the $. Put all crocks on a cookie sheet and broil for exactly 6 minutes.

Three days later (figuratively speaking) and YUM!

Come together...right now...

Hollywood would lead you to believe that an ethnically and racially diverse school can only come together in unity by singing oldies in the locker room before the big game...or worse yet, students can only work together when a self sacrificing teacher gives up her personal life, savings, evenings and weekends (of course Hollywood doesn't tell you these teachers work in a classroom for only four years and then they become "motivational speakers"). I'm here to tell you, that in a diverse school we come together for Food Fair!!!!!
I now have Food Fair Indigestion, but it was worth it at the time!

Take a Walk on the Wild Side

Our last day in NY: time to cram in all the unchecked items on our "To Do" list.
Shopping for fabric in the garment district..found Metro Textiles after reading about it on several sewing blogs. Patricio (sp?) knew where to find anything I was looking for. Double knits? Silks? Cottons? No problem! Although I'm excited about all my fabrics, I'm particularly stoked about a blue/yellow taffeta that looks like a dupioni silk.
South Seaport...such beautiful views of the harbor, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Brooklyn Bridge and historic Brooklyn Heights. We had a seafood lunch overlooking the harbor and I had my favorite mussels and Brooklyn Lager. Jett asked for a bite of my mussels and he LOVED them. That's my boy!
Great shopping prices...David found great deals on suits he really needed. Now to bring them home. Yikes! Where will they fit?
Of course we crammed in a couple more playgrounds...David needed the exercise.
Ice skating in Central Park...Jett really wanted to ice skate, but it wasn't as easy as it looked. You can take the six year old out of Cali, but you can't teach him to ice skate in one hour. Poor guy will be feeling it tomorrow.
Then it was more thin crust, NY pizza and off to bed...good night NY!