San Diego

One of the fantastic perks of our jobs is R&R. During our four years in the Philippines we are eligible for two paid trips basically anywhere, as long as it is not more expensive than a ticket to Sydney. In 2012 we went to San Diego and had such an amazing trip that we decided to go back. This time for 26 days in a rental house in Encinitas. It was a perfect home base, with Moonlight Beach and a playground just two blocks away.

After living in Manila for three years, the best part of San Diego was just being outside in the fresh cool air. In the words of this little one, "There's so much space!"

The entire family was able to spend a week together, and although it was crazy, it was really fun.

Towards the end of the trip we spent three days in Joshua Tree.

Other Highlights

Holiday Wonderland at Petco Park
Nutcracker at the Civic Theater
Garden of Lights at the San Diego Botanic Gardens
San Diego Zoo
Best fish tacos at Haggo's Organic Tacos
Siblings Brewery Tour
Sunsets at Moonlight Beach
The baby really learning how to walk
Playgrounds at Balboa Park

R&R in numbers

Mountains hiked: 5; 26 miles total
Breweries visited: 8
Miles ran: 27
Yoga classes: 3

Until next time San Diego!

Sunday Cooking

Good yogurt is hard to come by in Manila, but please correct me if I am wrong because I would love to send Toto to college, but can't because she loves yogurt and eats it everyday. We end up buying the 1kg Total Fage greek yogurt from S&R that costs $25. Yes, you read that right. I looked online and found it for about $7. As we try and budget in order to save for a down payment on a house in DC (more on that later), we are looking for ways to save money. And no, weekend Starbucks lattes are not on the table. 

On Friday, a colleague received a yogurt maker she had ordered and when she saw me staring longingly at it, let me borrow it during her 2-week vacation. All you need is a liter of boxed UHT milk (in Manila, but in America I would use fresh) and some yogurt or yogurt starter. After boiling and then cooling the milk, I mixed in some yogurt, then poured it in the 7 jars. The machine is currently plugged in and after 8 hours we should have delicious yogurt - for about $10.

Cheap-er yogurt.

New Year, new recipes. I am getting sick of all the old recipes we used last year, so The Shark suggested this one - warm quinoa salad with tarragon and edamame. Had to make some substitutions because you can never find everything you need for a recipe in Manila, even if you go to 10 different stores. So, in stead of roasted red peppers, I used sweet pickled bell peppers. And there was no edamame to be found (I thought we were in Asia?!), so I used green garbanzos. That I didn't even know existed. In the end it was delicious.

My sister whipped up a quick and easy veggie lasagna in San Diego, so we threw together our own version. Layer one was brocoli, garlic and Japanese spinach (there are so many green leafy vegetables at the market that I had no idea which one to pick. A friendly Japanese woman told me the Japanese spinach was the best. She's probably biased, but I went with it anyway), and layer 2 was yellow zucchini and roasted tomatoes. Instead of pricey ricotta and parmesan, I went with less pricey mozzarella and cottage cheese. Perfect for a Sunday night.

Guess I gave away that the sauce wasn't homemade.

A day's worth of veggies in one meal.

Hiking San Diego

My sister's copy of Afoot and Afield in San Diego County was an awesome resource for hiking. We managed to do four hikes while on vacation. Toto's performance on the first hike meant she stayed home for the last three. She refuses to be carried in a carrier (or ride in a stroller), preferring to squat on the ground and play with rocks or hunt for flowers. Adorable, yes. Practical, no. And the only way to keep her quiet was to run while carrying her. At least it was a great workout.

The East Rim Trail of Black Mountain was about a 1.5 hour round trip hike. A lot of the trail was steep, and like the other hikes we did in SD the trail was pretty rocky with no tree cover.

Toto the Explorer

Mt. Woodson was a challenging hike of about 6 miles, with huge boulders along the way and the "potato chip rock" near the summit. While pretty to look at, the thin rock should actually be called the "dangerous rock shard." Of course The Shark and my sister's husband insisted on terrifying us by dangling their legs off the edge.

Viejas Mountain was a beautiful 3-mile hike, with great views enjoyed even more so with some Rubicon sandwiches.

Pack your sunscreen.

Unfortunately we did not get any pictures on Iron Mountain because we ran/hiked it. It took my sister and I about 1 hr 24 mins to finish 6 miles, and The Shark did it in about 1 hr.

We also took Toto to Torrey Pines State Reserve and did a short walk hoping to see some whales. No whales, but still beautiful.

San Diego reminded us of New Mexico - moutains, desert, dry climate, but it was surprising that there were so few trees on the trails. On most NM hikes, parts of the mountains were covered in gorgeous pines. But San Diego wins with the ocean.

Back in the olden days. In 2005.

Holiday Baking

The main reason I run is so that I can eat what I want. Not preservative-filled, chemical-laden, dyed and processed crap, but good, wholesome, and often a little too fatty foods. Like most people, my memories of holidays revolve around food (or maybe that's just me?). While I am the first one to dig into some mashed potatoes and stuffing, I prefer to do the baking. Peanut butter kiss cookies and snowball cookies are two of my favorites, and pumpkin pie is a must. 

I used this recipe for the kiss cookies, however, I recommend using an all-natural flour like Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur because your average flour is bleached with potassium bromate (according to the interwebs, potassium bromate has been linked to thyroid dysfunction.) I couldn't find an all-natural Hershey Kiss, so we ate some soya lecithin, vanilin, and artificial flavoring - note to self to order some real chocolate next year. For the snowball or Russian teacake cookies, I followed this recipe. Next time, I would add a little more flour to make the cookies more dense. For the pumpkin pies, I followed the recipe I have been using for years and used my brother-in-law's famous pie crust recipe. Sorry, can't reveal the family secret here. 

The Shark's brother made the famous kolachi. This Czech dessert has been a staple in The Shark's family for as long as he can remember, and it is so delicious with coffee. I also love sugar cookies, but since we had already made them in Manila I couldn't muster the energy for all that work.

A New Perspective

Oh, hi. We are in California. And it is awesome. Because you can do things like yoga on a paddleboard. And go to Target. Surprisingly, it is not as hard as it sounds to keep your balance on a paddleboard. Most poses kept you pretty steady, but I could not manage to do the headstand on open water - more fear than capability. The coolest part was staring at the sky during shavasana and the shore during down dog. 

BTW - Toto was amazing on the plane. We were nervous based on her previous flight from CA to Manila when she was 7 weeks old and literally cried for 10 hours straight. This time from MNL to NRT, she kept herself busy playing in the bulk head area with a series of new, small toys purchased to keep her quiet. Fortunately there was a children's play area in the Narita airport to keep her occupied for the 2-hour layover. Then came the big one - 10 hours from Narita to LAX. She kept her cool during the dinner service, and once they dimmed the lights we changed her into pj's and put her to sleep on a million airline pillows on the floor. Knowing that the friendly Delta stewardesses might have a problem with that, we made a blanket tent to hide her. That little girl slept for 6 hours. And when they came around in the morning with her breakfast, Yaya pretended the toddler meal was for her so they wouldn't get suspicious - which after 10 hours on the plane managed to slip by the stewardess. Oh, I didn't mention Yaya was with us? Well, we wanted a real vacation. And we are having one.