This Week's Eats!

Once again, I've been riding the blog roller coaster.  5 posts in a week then 1 then 5 and then a week of nothing.  I've got to get better at spreading these things out and being more consistent.

Anywho, I'm here now and I'm linking up with Jessica Lynn to share with you what we'll be eating this week.  I am a magazine junkie and Cooking Light and Food Network Magazine are two of my favorites.  Until Pinterest came around, I almost exclusively cooked out of those two sources (and The Pioneer Woman's blog).  Since I discovered Pinterest, my magazines show up, I tear through them, eagerly dog ear marking pages with inspiring recipes then the get put on the shelf, forgotten.  This week I decided I'm not going to let all that inspiration go to waste, so everything I'm cooking this week comes from either Cooking Light or Food Network Magazine.

Here's what we're eating this week:

Sunday: Chicken and Dumplings {We love my go to recipe but want to try something different.  On a completely random note, that was one of my 1st recipe posts, I think it's about time I go back and redo it with some legit photos!}

Monday: Grilled Steak (for the husband) and veggeis {ok, so there is no recipe for this one, it was the husbands request}

Tuesday: Coconut Curry Halibut with Stir-Fried Veggies

Wednesday: Ramen {so excited to try this one, I hope my expectations aren't too high}

Thursday: Trying a new restaurant, still haven't decided which one.

Friday: Four Citrus-Herb Chicken and salad with a Warm Tomato Dressing

Saturday: We'll cook based on what we find at the farmers market that day.

Speaking of farmers market, we tried out a new one in Little Italy this weekend based on some recommendations from coworkers and friends and loved it.  It has a gorgeous view of the ocean and a great selection so we plan to make it our Saturday morning thing.

While we were there this past Saturday I had my grocery list for the week with me which included carrots for two different meals.  Jason wanted to try some of the fun, colorful carrots we always see but never try so we picked some up.

I used them in the chicken and dumplings recipe above that we had for dinner tonight....

and look what happened!  They turned the entire dish a lilac/grey color.

Luckily it tasted much better than it looked!  We both prefer the slight spice of the other recipe I use but agreed this one was also delicious!

I'd love to see what you are cooking this week!

Blog Contact Cards

In May, along with Kara and Katie, I'm attending my first blog conference, Elevate.  I want to have contact cards to hand out to all the other awesome bloggers I'm sure to meet but I can't decide if I want a photo on it or not.  I'm a visual person so I know if I came home with a pocket full of business cards it would be helpful to have a photo of the person but I just can't decide if I like how the photo looks on the card so, I'm asking for your help.  What do you think?  With photo or without and if with, black and white or color?

Anything else you think I should add?

Thanks for your help!

Surfing in the USA

This past weekend there was some awesome surf in San Diego so I made Jason go check it out with me.  Surfing is something I will never do, so it fascinates me.  If I'm being honest, I hate the ocean.  Salt water makes me want to vomit (Literally, if it gets in my mouth, I will gag & dry heave.  I hate it.  If I get in at all, I chew the strongest mint gum I can get my hands on, just in case!).  Anyways, I wanted to see the surfers take advantage of the huge swells so we biked the 4.8 miles from our house to Pacific Beach, where we had lunch at the PB Ale House, but sadly, didn't see any surfers.  So after lunch, we biked 4.3 miles to Ocean Beach, our home beach, where we knew we'd find surfers.  And we did.

Riding along the bike path in PB.

I love the way these footprints looked in the sand.

 It was fun to take some "aerial" shots from up on the Ocean Beach Fishing Pier.

This is a zoomed in version of the shot above.  Do you see the water shadow on his face that looks like a man.  It freaked me out at first but then we had fun trying to figure out who it looks like.  Go ahead and click on it to make it larger and let me know who you think it looks like. 

This gives you an idea of how huge the waves were (not Hawaii huge, but definitely huge by SD standards)

We had a fun day watching the surfers.  It reminded me of why we moved to California.  While all our friends and family are buried under massive amounts of snow and fighting through power outages, we're riding bikes, catching some rays, and watching surfers.

Pacific Beach AleHouse

First of all, thank you for all of your kind words and prayers on yesterday's post.  Suicide is not an easy topic to discuss but it's one I feel needs some attention.

For round 2 of San Diego Restaurant Week we decided to check out PB AleHouse.  Too bad I massively failed at the research on this location.  When we arrived we were informed that the Ale House only participated in SDRW for the 1st 5 days and, well, the day we went was day 6.  OOPS.  Since we had biked the 5 miles to the restaurant and were already seated when we found out, we decided to stick around.

We had hoped to have this view from our table but the upper deck was completely full and it didn't look like anyone was going to be leaving any time soon...

So we settled for this view.

I big, pink, puffy heart reflections!

We started with fried pickles, one of my appetizers ever.  I'll order these every time they're on the menu.  Jason and I agreed these fried pickles were some of the best we'd ever had.  (And a beer sampler for Jason, we were at an "ale house" after all)

Jason had the sausage plate for his meal and he loved it!  The pretzel bread was super fresh and the pickled veggies in the middle were fabulous. 

I ordered the bbq chicken flat bread and it was...ok.  A little dry, it could have used more sauce.

(If you're keeping track, that's twice now that Jason's made a better choice than me!  Maybe I'll just start letting him choose what I eat.)

I couldn't finish all of my flat bread so we decided to share the leftovers with someone who would appreciate it more than we would.

Overall we loved this place.  If there weren't so many other great places to check out in SD, we'd probably return.  And who knows, maybe we'll return anyways.  Don't take my word for it though, check out what Katie thought of the PB Ale House when she visited last week for SDRW.

Adam's Song

Last week we received some news that shook me to my core.  A friend of Jason's, who was stationed in Japan with us and left the Army just a few months before us, took his own life here in SoCal.  I didn't know him very well but we lived in the same small community for 3 years and he was my husband's peer and friend.  I know suicide is, sadly, a rampant problem in the military and among veterans but this is the first time it has closely touched my life (unfortunately I cannot say the same for Jason).  This is not the first time I've been effected by suicide, but for some reason, this one seems to be more difficult to wrap my head around.  I think that in some irrational way, I feel like, what if it had been my husband?  We don't know why Chris made the decision he made but my mind immediately goes to the possiblity that years at war, on some level, had an affect on him. (These are my own personal thoughts and assumptions, not based on any known facts, but this is my blog so I'm sharing what I feel)  What if war had affected Jason in that way?  What if he was in a dark, lonely place?  I've never been so grateful for my husband and every day I share with him.  If you believe in the power of prayer, please pray for Chris's family (he was unmarried and didn't have any children).

The WHO (World Health Organization) estimates that over 1 million people die from suicide each year.  It is believed by some that suicide is preventable.  Here are some signs that you can look for in someone that may be considering ending their life:

Suicide Warning Signs
Talking about suicide	Any talk about suicide, dying, or self-harm, such as "I wish I hadn't been born," "If I see you again..." and "I'd be better off dead."
Seeking out lethal means	Seeking access to guns, pills, knives, or other objects that could be used in a suicide attempt.
Preoccupation with death	Unusual focus on death, dying, or violence. Writing poems or stories about death.
No hope for the future	Feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, and being trapped ("There's no way out"). Belief that things will never get better or change.
Self-loathing, self-hatred	Feelings of worthlessness, guilt, shame, and self-hatred. Feeling like a burden ("Everyone would be better off without me").
Getting affairs in order	Making out a will. Giving away prized possessions. Making arrangements for family members.
Saying goodbye	Unusual or unexpected visits or calls to family and friends. Saying goodbye to people as if they won't be seen again.
Withdrawing from others	Withdrawing from friends and family. Increasing social isolation. Desire to be left alone.
Self-destructive behavior	Increased alcohol or drug use, reckless driving, unsafe sex. Taking unnecessary risks as if they have a "death wish."
Sudden sense of calm	A sudden sense of calm and happiness after being extremely depressed can mean that the person has made a decision to commit suicide.

In college, I had a friend who decided one day that he was going to give away everything he owned.  He literally put all of his belongings on the lawn in front of his house.  3 days later he attempted to take his own life.  I didn't know then that he had been displaying outwards signs of desperation for weeks.

Please take the time to educate yourself and be vigilant of the signs others are putting out there.  You never know when a friendly gesture can change someones life.

We hadn't seen Chris for a couple months and looking back, I don't remember seeing any of these signs.  I don't know that there was any indication this was going to happen, and perhaps then there wasn't any, at least not then.  No one will ever know.

Chris, your radiant smile will be missed by many.  May you rest in eternal peace.