Spring Break, Part 1: Coronado Island

Love, Love, LOVE, LOVE this island!! I would love to live here someday (though I don't think that will happen)

Someday I will stay here...but this week Hayden had a friend saying there so it was pretty darn close!! They even had a pool cabana...

Oh and this was the view from their room...

Yep!

We had a good few days in Coronado and San Diego area. We of course had to eat at CBC, probably my favorite place on the whole island. Their boneless wings are amazing, best ever!!

Loving my dad's fashion sense at the pool, aren't you??

This is Hayden and his friend, there room is in the buildings behind them. Hayden's friend, Eric, is from Sweden and Hayden gets to go with him this summer for five weeks!! How come I don't have friends with homes in really cool places that want me to come visit!?!? Someday I would love to live somewhere else, only for a while though.

Ah, the beach. So gorgeous. Hayden, Eric, and I went seashell hunting. We found a few baby sand dollars, a couple big ones that were broken, half an oyster shell, and this...

Not sure where or what those carvings are from. Eric said they looked Asian...it was pretty neat though. 

I also thought the lines in the sand that seem to be coming out of this rock were neat. Looked like veins or something.

Mike had a rough flight while I was out of town, and since I couldn't be there to comfort him this was the best I could do...

So I did and took a pic to send to him!!

Spring Break, Part 1: Lemoore and Santa Barbara

Mom and Hayden came to lovely Lemoore for a few days on their Spring Break road trip...Not too exciting. We did get to go to the flight line, and Hayden got to fly in one of the simulators which he loved.

So on the way to flight lines there is this nice little parking lot with benches, set up right in front of where the planes land. There are no sign that say no photos, however apparently this little spot is set up just so that you can "watch" the jets land, not so that you can take photos. Mom, Hayden and I found this out by the Military Police coming up behind our car. We had to delete all the really good pics we had taken. Out of spite, and only after the MP had left the lot, as we were leaving I pulled out slowly and Mom rolled down her window and snapped this one shot. Unfortunately it is not nearly as good as the others, but we got one anyway!

After a few relaxing days in Lemoore, they headed down the coast to Santa Barbara. As I am currently not working I hopped in the car with Mom and Hayden and joined them on the remainder of their CA road trip.

John Ronan (our cousin) had just got this marble roller coaster set...Hayden had fun making really long tracks and sending the marbles down it. 

John Ronan also is dressing himself now. It's hard to see in this photo but he is wearing blue plaid pants and a bluish patchwork blazer, and a red shirt. At least he was able to get colors that were in the same family for the pant and jacket, and a coordinating color for the shirt!!

Mom, Hayden and I walked down State St, which down by the water is the main shopping center and downtown area of Santa Barbara. I would say all in all the walk was close to two miles. It was a warmish day, but gorgeous in the shade. Hayden had his longboard so he would get in front of Mom and I, and then we would find him patiently waiting for us to walk to where he is. He would then take off again.

After walking down State Street, and doing a little shopping, we walked along the waterfront or to the marina and to Brophy Brothers for lunch, best clam chowder in the area!! There was a bit of a wait, we were told a half hour, but we were hungry now. Luckily there was a little sushi stand underneath Brophy Brothers...

So we got some sushi as an appetizer. A basic california roll and a dragon roll, with eel. Hayden wasn't too keen on the eel one. He like to peer at it say "Ewww" We had a wonderful lunch of clam chowder and salads. After that we walked to the fish market to pick up some fresh caught shrimp for shrimp pasta that evening. It would be awesome to live in a town with a working harbor/marina where you could always get fresh caught fish (even though I'm not a big fish person). 

While we were waiting for the heads to be cut off the shrimp (that's how fresh they were) we saw this huge monstrosity roll through...

And although it is illegal to drive your car while talking on your phone apparently it is not illegal to operate heavy machinery moving a very expensive sail boat...

I have to say he was pretty talented though. Talking on the phone while driving this thing through a parking lot, not even looking where he was going. And not hitting a single car. 

And as a parting thought...on our way down State Street we saw this homeless woman...on a laptop!! She was sitting outside Borders books, we came to the conclusion that she was using their wifi!!

Baking Bread

Mike and I have started to make our own bread. We don't do it all the time, though we have been doing it a little more often lately. It is so yummy to have fresh baked french bread with an italian dinner, or a pot of soup.

This was one of our first batches we ever made. It got a little bit burnt but such is trial and error. It still tasted yummy. We had this with a big pot of spaghetti. One of them we even sliced and rubbed olive oil and garlic to make some toasted garlic bread, yum!!

Once we got comfortable with the really easy, really simple white loaves (all it is is flour, yeast, water, and salt...that's it!!) we started to experiment a bit. I made a honey whole wheat loaf. It was a first attempt. It turned out very pretty, though I don't think the taste was quite right. But we did use it for a few days as sandwich bread and then once it started to get a little stale I made french toast with it.

These were all the ingredients that went into the whole wheat bread, quite a bit more then just 4!

Here it is after it all mixed and kneaded, setting for it's first rise.

This is after it has risen once. You then mold it into whatever shape you are going to use, in this case a load into a loaf pan, and let it rise one more time while the oven is preheating.

And when it is all done this is what you get:

Pretty huh??

I have also made homemade cinnamon roles a few times. This is an old Melde family recipe, and they are quite the commodity at gift exchanges!!

I didn't get any pictures of them after they were baked. But the girls I made them for loved them! I think there were only a few left after our breakfast meet up to watch the Bachelor! (BTW: I still think Jake made the wrong decision!)

As we do the basics more we have started to experiment more. I will try to remember to take pics as we continue to expand. I need to try the whole wheat bread again...

7 wineries in 5 hours...or...My Parent's Come to Visit

Yep. My mom, my dad and aunt came to visit for President's Weekend. We went to Paso on that Saturday and went to 7 wineries in 5 hours. It was a marathon tasting! We had a great time though. Got to go to a lot of new wineries, but of course we went to Justin as well.

Stop 1: Whalebone Winery
Tasting Fee: $5 (but they did have free tri-tip sliders on Saturday...amazing!!)

They had this great sign in a few different places on their property! So cute. The place was tiny, but we were the only people there so it was nice. The wines were pretty good. I would probably go back again at some point, especially if their "free bbq" sign is down by the road!!


Stop 2: Justin Vineyard
Tasting Fee: $10, keep the glass

Of course we had to go to Justin. We are Wine Society Members, plus their wine is just amazing. We go here every time we go to Paso. This is a must if you go wine tasting in Paso!!

Stop 3: Halter Ranch Vineyard

Tasting Fee: $5

This was a great atmosphere. They had wine tastings outside at a makeshift bar as well as inside at the regular tasting bar. Their reds were pretty good, even just the red table wine was decent. This could be a return stop at one point. Their hold farmhouse and ranch house were neat to look at too.

At this point in our trip we were getting a little hungry, but way out here there are not restaurants. Luckily we had brought cheese and crackers to munch on. So being the classy people we are what did we do?? We opened the tailgate and spread out the good and did a little "tailgating" at the winery parking lot. 

Stop 4: Oso Libre Winery

Tasting Fee: $8

The atmosphere here was great too. They had a few tables set up outside where you could get a glass of wine and sit and look out over the vineyard with the sheep grazing and enjoy the beautiful sunny weather we were having that day. Their wines were also great. The owner was pouring wine for us that day and she was so friendly and nice. She told us all about the history of their winery and how they got started. This would be a place where I would enjoy one glass outside, don't know if I would do the tasting but overall great place. 

Stop 5: Four Vines Winery

Tasting Fee: $7, keep the glass

No thanks. Not up to par with some of the other amazing wines you can get in Paso Robles. It was a fun atmosphere, but it was very crowded the staff was not very friendly, it was just overall not a great experience compared to everywhere else we'd been. Their red glass chandeliers were pretty awesome though!!

Stop 6: L'Aventure

Tasting Fee: $10, keep the glass

Way out on a dirt road that ends at their property, this winery would be worth checking out. They have a very small selection, only about 4 or 5 wines I think. But they are all very good. This place though is tasting only, unless you have money to burn, all of their bottles are at $45 with the most expensive being $80. And while the wines are all very good I can't justify spending that much money when there are so many other great wines for a lot less. It was a small place, the staff was friendly, and the wines were great. If you're looking for a new one to try it could be worth it!

Stop 7: Bella Luna Estate Winery

Tasting Fee: $0

This was a great place. The owner is a retired navy pilot, who also has flown in a lot of air races. He was really nice and loved to talk about his wines. This is the home of Fighter Pilot Red, which is a good red wine. He had numerous other red wines that are also very good. If you are with someone in the military this is a great one to go visit, or even if you're not it is still worth it!!

That was the end of our wine tour. And if you noticed other than our little tailgate party and tri-tip slider we did no eating. And as we were there on the Saturday of Valentine's Day Weekend there wasn't a whole to choose from if you didn't have reservations. We did end up at this little italian restaurant in downtown Paso Robles for dinner. It was ok, but not great, and seeing as I can't even remember the name it was obviously not that memorable.

We had a great day though!!