San Francisco

Colin had an optics conference in San Francisco this past week and I was fortunate enough to be able to go with him. Our hotel was in downtown San Francisco near Union Square and the trolley system, so while he was at his conference, I was able to do some sightseeing. He also had a couple days of free time so we took advantage of that. My uncle Garry (my dad's older brother), lives a couple hours from San Francisco so we were able to meet up with him and my cousin Chip one day. They are two of my favorite people. My uncle Garry reminds me so much of my dad and it was great to get a big hug from him and spend some time with him again. He was kind enough to show us around where he use to live in Crockett, and drove us through the Napa Valley. My cousin Chip drove down and met us for lunch at a great Mexican restaurant (they share my love of Mexican food). The restaurant was in Napa and is called Quinto Patio Taqueria. Check it out if you are in the area. You won't be disappointed. The owner, Ramon, was nice enough to take a couple pictures of us.

It rained most of the time we were there but the temperatures were in the mid 50's, low 60's...a far cry from the 20-30 degree weather in New Hampshire! We did have a couple of days of sunshine and it was absolutely beautiful. We walked the pier one day and saw the sea lions. We drove to Monterey and Carmel another day. Colin use to work at Livermore Labs so we drove to Livermore so I could see where he use to work and live. Colin got to have dungeness crab for dinner a couple of nights. He loves the stuff and I love watching how long it takes him to crack it and eat it!

Colin with one of the crabs that he had in garlic sauce..he prefers it with drawn butter, which is how he had it the second time.


We ate at a place called the Stinking Rose. This picture is for my brother...


We rode the trolley and went to the pier and Ghiradelli Square and Fisherman's Wharf.



We saw some really cute sea lions.



Here they are making sourdough bread at Boudin's Bakery. They make them into all sorts of fun shapes. They have a great restaurant here as well which is where Colin had his second crab dinner with the drawn butter. Of course they give you some of this yummy sourdough with your meal.

We drove along the coast to Monterey and Carmel. It was a beautiful sunny day and we enjoyed seeing the Pacific ocean again. We took the scenic 17 mile drive along Pebble Beach.




In Monterey we found even more sea lions


And a beautiful sunset


Here we are in front of the Golden Gate bridge.

We had a great week in San Francisco, but all good things must come to an end. This week it is back to the real world. Back to our doggies, work, and 20 degree NH temperatures. There's no place like home.

Enchiladas!

I was hesitant to start a blog because to be honest, we don't lead very exciting lives. What would I write about? We don't have any kids to post pictures of and tell cute stories about. We work, come home, and hang with the dogs. On the weekends we like to go to the movies and out to dinner. That's about it....except we do like to cook and EAT! When we go on a trip, restaurants in the area are the first thing we research. In fact, if we ever move from New England and we have a choice of where we go, we will research the restaurants in the area and that will be a factor in our decision- I'm only half kidding here! We both grew up out west, me in Idaho and Colin in Oregon. The thing we miss the most besides our families is the food. No offense to the New Englander's, but in the almost 5 years that we have been here, we haven't found many good restaurants. When we visit our hometowns, if you want to see us, you can find us at any number of our favorites. In fact, when we were home at Thanksgiving, my best friend told her 5 year old son that Aunt Heidi was in town and he wanted to know when we were going for pizza because we always go to our favorite pizza place with them when we are there. We are ALL about the food.

We both love Mexican food, especially enchilada's, so ever since we have moved here, we have been in search of a good Mexican restaurant. We have learned that Mexican food is different on the east coast-and we don't like it. The enchilada sauce out here is more tomato based with cinnamon added in...yes, you read that right..CINNAMON! Don't get me wrong- I love cinnamon- just not in my enchilada sauce! We prefer the brown chili based sauce that you find out west. So I went in search of a recipe for it on the web one day, and after trying many, have found one that we like pretty well. It isn't the best sauce I have ever tasted, but we like it better than any of the restaurants that we have found here, so I figured I would share the recipe.

Enchilada Sauce:
2 tbs oil
3 tbs flour
2 tbs chili powder (I use ancho chili powder)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
2 cups chicken stock or water
salt & pepper to taste

Heat oil and add flour, chili powder, cumin and garlic powder. Stir until combined. Add the 2 cups of chicken stock and stir well. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat and simmer until the sauce thickens, stirring often. Salt & pepper to taste.

Filling:
1 lb ground beef, cooked then seasoned with taco seasoning. (leftover roast beef shredded is also very good if you have it)
1 can refried beans- heated
jack & cheddar cheese- add as much as you like
Mix all ingredients together

Put the filling in softened corn tortillas (I wrap 3 at a time in a paper towel and microwave them for 30 seconds and that makes them pliable enough to roll). Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and put a little enchilada sauce in the bottom of the pan before putting your rolled enchiladas in. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the top of the enchiladas, add more cheese (again, as much as you want), and bake at 375 degrees until the cheese is melted, around 15-20 minutes. These taste great with rice and beans and tortilla chips Enjoy!

Comfort Food

We got around 7 inches of snow today and it was the perfect day to stay inside and keep warm. In the frigid cold, nothing tastes better than something warm and comforting. I have a great recipe that I found on the web for broccoli cheddar soup. It is the ultimate comfort food on a cold day. This recipe will serve around 4 people, and it is easy enough to double if you need to.

Ingredients:
2 tbs. – vegetable oil
2 – broccoli crowns cut into florets
1 cup – grated carrot
2 – 10 ¾ oz. cans of Cheddar Cheese condensed soup
2 cups – milk
1 cup – chicken broth
2 cups – Sharp Cheddar Cheese (shredded)
salt and pepper to taste

On med-high heat, add the 2 tbs. vegetable oil to a large soup pot.
Next, add the broccoli and carrots and sauté for about 2 - 5 minutes (sometimes I add about a ½ cup of the chicken broth to speed along the cooking of the broccoli).
Next, add the condensed cheddar soup, milk and chicken broth. Stir until condensed soup is homogenized with the milk and broth. Bring to a simmer and then, add cheddar cheese. Stir until cheese is thoroughly combined in soup. Salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer another 5 min.
Finally, blend the soup using your blender of choice (I use a hand held blender), making sure all broccoli florets are broken down. At this point the soup is ready, but it is even better if you can let it simmer longer.

Serve with a salad and some warm crusty bread! Make this soup- you will love it!

Valentines Crafts

I know Valentine's Day is still a month away, but I have been making cards and crafts in preparation for the day. Colin has sold a few of my cards to his co- workers, and I have enjoyed making those. Here are some samples of what I have done. You can click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Marriage Advice

Shortly before Colin and I got married, my dad and I were discussing things that make a good marriage. One of the things that he told me was to treat Colin as I would my best friend Catrina. The example that he gave was that if Catrina wanted to see a movie that I didn't necessarily want to see, that I would go see it anyway because she was my best friend. He talked about give and take and compromise. I thought of that advice today as Colin wanted to go see Avatar. I was not keen on going to this sci fi movie- it's not my thing. I went with Colin to see it anyway because I love him and he does go to all the chick flicks with me and doesn't complain too much...although Colin will go see almost any movie because he loves movie theatre popcorn! In the end, a small thing like going to a movie that I didn't want to see, made my husband very happy. I even had to admit that it was a pretty good movie after all.

YO YO YO

This is the C-Dawg in his new Celtics sweatshirt trying to be "hip"....

Are you feeling it??

Looks pretty fierce with that little dog doesn't he? Hippest engineer in NH! O.k..maybe not all of NH, but the hippest one in Derry! O.k..maybe not Derry, but definitely the hippest engineer (not to mention the only one) on our street! :)