Granola

Per my New Years resolution, I have been spending much of my spare time in the kitchen. I've decided that each week I will pick up at the grocery store, Farmer's Market, etc. some type of food I've never cooked with before. I've been wanting to make my own granola for a while, so this week I experimented with rolled and steel oats. I found a recipe in one of my cookbooks, The Candle Cafe Cookbook. It turned out amazing! I've always gotten pre-made granola at the store but from now on I will definitely be making it myself.

Heat oven to 350. Combine everything minus raisins and coconut. Spread out over a backing sheet and bake for 20 mins, stirring every 5 mins. After cooling, add the rasins and coconut.

*1 cup steel-cut oats

* 1/2 cup rolled oats

*1/4 cup slivered almonds

*3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

*1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds

* 1/3 cup maple syrup

* 1/4 cup safflower or coconut oil

* 1 tbsp vanilla extract

* 1/4 tsp sea salt

* 1/2 cup rasins

* 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

INGREDIENTS: BEFORE: AFTER: I doubled the recipe and it made a ton. They also suggest adding some dried fruit. I was so surprised it turned out so well, I think it was all I ate the next day haha. Also on Sunday, I managed to make it the Farmer's Market in Hillcrest. Not sure if I've mentioned this before but there is a farmer's market (sometimes more than one) every day somewhere in San Diego. I typically go to the one in Hillcrest because it's right down the street and I typically have Sundays off which is when they have theirs. Farmer's Market And because I'm talking so much about food, here is a pic of the most delicious muffin (Chocolate Chip Banana Bran) from my favorite coffee shop down the street Mystic Mocha:

Dogs

Andy and I have been having a difficult time finding a new place to live. Apparently, while everyone owns dogs, no one rents to people that have them. I'm still not really sure how this works but it hasn't been in our favor. We finally managed to locate a house (not an apartment or condo!!) that was in a great location, great space, good price and advertised that they would house dogs. We were super excited until we talked to the current tenants who mentioned there was a problem with their dog and the mailman.....Apparently, mailmen can stop delivering your mail out here without giving you a reason. You get two warnings and then they can stop delivering mail to you FOREVER. The house we were looking at already had a warning so the owner was hesitant about having new tenants with dogs. We decided to apply anyway and Andy volunteered to write a strongly worded letter in support of why they should rent to us (and the dogs). Andy is quite verbose, so the letter is pretty entertaining and I thought I would share.

To Whom It May Concern:

It is my understanding that the potential leaser has experienced hardship in terms of mail delivery through the inattentiveness of a previous tenant coupled with skittish mannerisms of the mail carrier regarding the presence of intimidating animals. The purpose of this letter is to communicate the demeanor of Elbe and Gracie Edmondson, two 8 year old dogs, owned and cared for by potential tenants, Andrew Edmondson and Laura Heedick.

Laura and I are gainfully employed and take great interest in Elbe and Gracie. I am a Systems Engineer for a software company based in San Diego, while Laura is a Retail Professional with a prominent women’s clothing and accessory chain. As a former homeowner in Richmond, VA, I am sensitive to the impacts pets and their owners have on the world around them. As such, I take every precaution to reduce those impacts to the structures, landscaping and people. Knowing that landlords and managers can be hyper-sensitive to issues with pets, I strive to leave a property in better shape than when initially occupied.

Elbe, then Gracie, entered the Edmondson home during the fall and winter of 2002 as lab-mix puppies. Elbe was an abandoned puppy (<> Both dogs were immediately crate trained and house-broken. Crate training acclimates a dog to being closed into a crate that he or she can safely be left in it for a few hours at a time. This greatly reduces the opportunity for mischief and provides a ‘personal space’ for the dog. Elbe and Gracie have unique personalities and docile demeanors. Both animals are child safe and have been requested to serve as ‘petting animals’ for kindergarten classes. Currently, Elbe and Gracie are approximately 8 years old, 40 lbs, obedient, and sleep a lot.

Elbe and Gracie have a standing history of good behavior and positive rental experiences, with references available upon request. Additionally, character references are also available.

I appreciate your time and hope to conduct business with you in the near future.

Thanks.

Andrew D. Edmondson

Update

It's been exactly three weeks since I've moved to San Diego and things have been off to a good start. Shortly after my last entry, my transfer went through with work and I started working at Anthropologie in Fashion Valley. I really like it there and everyone is super nice. Not to mention my first week as a part timer, I worked about 35 hours which was awesome! And then just this week, I was promoted to Senior Sales which was great news!

I think my body is finally starting to adjust to working that many hours on my feet. It definitely takes it out of you! That first week I worked, I would just come home and collapse. It's taken some getting used to but I can finally say this week has been much better. It may have something to do with the new Mephisto's I've been wearing (thanks Mom and Dad!).

I also had some friends from Charlotte come out for a week. Cassie and Chad hung out and also managed to squeeze in a cruise during their stay. It was nice to see some familiar faces, especially since I haven't been able to get in touch with anyone back east since I've been here. They even knew someone out here who happened to live down the street (crazy!) so I'm slowly meeting people.

Chad and Cassie waiting for their food at the cafe on the pier at Ocean Beach

Fish tacos are pretty much one of the best things out here in CA. This is actually a lobster taco but you get the idea. There's this great mexican place a few blocks down the road that has fish tacos for only $.99!!

There is a dog beach in San Diego, actually I think there are a few but the only one I've been to is in Ocean Beach. Even if you only like dogs just a little bit, it is the cutest thing to see dogs playing around in the sand and splashing in the water.

Cassie and I on the pier

Sunset Cliffs in Ocean Beach

I've been spending a lot of time in Ocean Beach on my days off. It's only about 10 minutes away which is really great. On Wednesdays I found they have a Farmer's Market so this past week I decided to check it out. I brought back a few goodies and meanwhile, wished I was doing more cooking. I just found out that North Park, the area right beside University Heights (where Andy and I live) is going to start having a Farmer's Market! This will be much closer, and hopefully offer a variety of things as well.

Andy and I went on another mountain bike ride with our friend Orlando that we met during the group ride. We rode a trail around Lake Hodges and I had a lot of fun!

Some of the trail

Andy bought me some sweet biking shorts so here I am in my biking attire:

Andy and I went to a Padres game at Petco Park the other week for free, 14 rows behind 1st base. It was really fun and hopefully we can catch a few more before the end of the season.

the Weekend

I managed to survive my very first mountain bike ride! I had such a great time and think the ride was a great way to introduce me to riding on something besides pavement.

The ride took place in Mission Trails (http://www.mtrp.org/), which is a huge 5,800 acre regional park, and was sponsored by San Diego Mountain Biking Association (http://sdmba.com). There were three groups: Advanced, Intermediate, and Mellow. Andy signed us both up for the Mellow group but if he had gone without me, would have probably gone with the Advanced group (yikes!). There were about 15 of us in the group and everyone was relatively new to mountain biking.

Andy has warned me that every time he's gone out riding in CA, it's like going to a fancy bicycle showroom. And I don't know that much about bikes at all, I've only picked up on things because of Andy but I noticed that he may actually be onto something. Even in our mellow group, everyone had forks and suspension which are nice to have riding off road, but not necessary especially if you're just a beginner (those things alone can cost thousands of dollars, not to mention the frames can cost just as much).

I decided to ride one of Andy's bikes known as the Salsa. I felt pretty comfortable on the bike during most of the ride. There were definitely parts that I feel were NOT mellow and were maybe a bit more on the intermediate side but that's when I would just hop off my bike and walk it. There were other parts though that sort of snuck up on me and when you're at a certain speed, you can't really stop because if you do, you'll eat it all over the trail so you just have to hold onto your handle bars with a death grip and ride on through. This is how I went down/through some spots that I was a little uncomfortable with.

We rode around the trails for about an hour and a half on a loop that was about 6-8 miles. Afterwards we met up with all the other groups and had FREE Chipotle and beer from Stone Brewery. Overall, it was a great evening and I even saw a rattlesnake on the trail!

We exchanged contact info with a few people from the ride in hopes of getting together in the future. One of the guys got in touch with us Saturday and offered us free tickets to the Padres game. Andy and I had just been talking about how it'd be fun to check out one of the games so we were both really excited. We get to the game only to find out we're by first base, 14 rows from the field. Pretty awesome!

It was Pride weekend last weekend, so Andy and I woke up, made some strawberry and chocolate pancakes, and rode bikes down to Hillcrest. We met up with some of his friends and hung out on the street, watching the parade. There were some crazy floats and lots of people hanging out having a great time!

Bikes

I've been playing around with Andy's fancy 50D and will probably never be able to shoot with any lesser camera again. The quality on that thing is unbelievable! If you click on any one of the pictures in any of my posts, you can get a larger version of the picture and see what I'm talking about.

This is the condo/townhouse Andy and I are currently living in. It's in University

Heights which is a fun area with lots to do and see. Across the street is a park with a playground, a dog park, and a killer overlook all in one. People are always over there hanging out, doing group exercise classes, or playing with their dogs. During the summers they have a free concert every Friday night. It gets really crowded in the neighborhood but Andy and I just hang out on the balcony and can see/hear everything. Best seats on the block!

The dogs also love the balcony and can be seen doing this pretty much all day.

Andy entered us in a mountain bike 'race' tomorrow evening. I've ridden my fair share of bikes but never anywhere off road and quite frankly it scares me. On the other hand, mountain biking is Andy's absolute favorite thing to do and he's been trying to get me out there with him for a while. This race sounds like fun and we signed up for the beginners race which is actually more like a group ride. It's sponsored by Chipotle and Stone Brewery so there is a burrito and a beer waiting for everyone at the end and that's pretty much enough motivation to get me on a bike!

Here are a few of Andy's bikes and their scary components.

We're going to see Harry Potter this evening which I'm really excited about!

If you don't hear from me anymore, it means the mountain bike race wasn't such a good idea.

San Diego, finally!

I thought it'd be a neat idea to start a blog for my family and friends so they would be able to keep up with me now that I'm 2,500 miles away. I figure this would be easier than sending a ton of individual emails and pictures. Don't worry, I'll still call!

So far, everything has been going great. It started out exceptionally well considering right when I landed late Friday night in San Diego, Andy asked me if I'd like to accompany him on a work trip for 60 days in Europe. I told him even though I just got back from from overseas, OF COURSE I'd be willing to go again! He would be traveling around Germany, Spain, Bahrain, Turkey, the Netherlands, Italy, and the UK. There is still a really slight chance that his company may not win the contract but I'm really hoping everything works out! We would be leaving Aug. 3 and getting back Sept. 31 so it's coming up really soon!

In other news, it has actually been hot here in San Diego. We broke down and had to turn the AC on the other evening! It is still really nice in the mornings until about 10am (low 70's) and in the evenings around 7 it starts to get chilly. But during the middle of the day it gets pretty warm.

While Andy's at work, I've been making it out to the beaches. It's unbelievable how many different ones there are out here. I was going to one this morning and ended up getting a little lost but found another really pretty one. The nice thing is, they're all only about 10 minutes away. According to Andy, there are some really beautiful beaches up north near Solana. I think I'll venture up that way soon (I also hear they have great outlet malls with a Le Creuset store!) but it's a good 20-30 minutes. Other than that, I've been running around trying to keep myself busy.

I cooked some dinner the other night for Andy and I, it was delicious.

Linguine with Shrimp Scampi (courtesy of the Barefoot Contessa)

It's REALLY easy and tastes like an authentic Italian meal

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil
• Kosher salt
• 3/4 pound linguine
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 1/2 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
• 1 pound large shrimp (about 16 shrimp), peeled and deveined
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1/2 lemon, zest grated
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
• 1/4 lemon, thinly sliced in half-rounds
• 1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

Directions

Drizzle some oil in a large pot of boiling salted water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the linguine, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or according to the directions on the package.

Meanwhile, in another large (12-inch), heavy-bottomed pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic. Saute for 1 minute. Be careful, the garlic burns easily! Add the shrimp, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and the pepper and saute until the shrimp have just turned pink, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat, add the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon slices, and red pepper flakes. Toss to combine.

When the pasta is done, drain the cooked linguine and then put it back in the pot. Immediately add the shrimp and sauce, toss well, and serve.

Here's Elbe, doing what she does best: laying around

The condo has a little balcony that overlooks a small park. It's nice to sit on and the dogs love to sunbathe on it as well.

This is a cool looking picture Andy took one evening on the balcony.

I'm trying to find Andy's other waterproof point and shoot camera so I can take it to the beach and take pictures. So that's pretty much it for now!