A simple plan (the rare food post)

The boyfriend is away.  So, this week I eat, easy!  This week I eat cheap!  Yeah, ok.

I try to make a point of eating things he doesn't like when he's away.  I get to enjoy some of my favorite things, and not make him eat something he doesn't want to eat.  No, I'm not cooking separate meals when he's home, no way.  So it's an olives, chickpeas, and quinoa kinda week.  Quinoa, I have a ton of bags of quinoa left.  I bought it in bulk before he admitted he wasn't a fan.  We'll make a big pot of quinoa.

I had mushrooms left from last week in the fridge.  Yummy portabello mushrooms, we (yes, "we" is "me") can fry those up, yeah.  I guess I don't need too much from the supermarket.

Greens, we definitely need some kind of greens.  Broccoli?  No, brussels sprouts, fuck yeah, brussels sprouts.  Oh, what the heck, lets just do both.  Greens are good.  Give the broccoli a 10 second boil and rinse with cold water, perfect.  Longer than that?  That's why so many people hate broccoli.  Dude, it's not broccolis fault that you can't cook.

Oooh, since the oven will be on anyway, this could use some roasted tomatoes.  Yeah, grape tomatoes. Can't forget the basil!

Toss that shit with garlic-rosemary-red-pepper-olive oil that's been in the fridge for a month (try not to just drink it), sprinkle with salt and bake.  Damn.  So simple, so good.  Brussels sprouts are the best.  I should start the quinoa while all that bakes. Shoot, where's the quinoa?!  I thought, I had at least two bags left!  Sigh, well spelt will have to do, I hope it's the same.

Oh, chickpeas, I should put chickpeas in it.  I miss chickpeas.  Yeah, some protein would be good.  Corn, why not, I'll just grab a bag of frozen corn to toss in there too.  OLIVES, YES!  Since I'm roasting tomatoes with basil, olives are the perfect addition, oh and artichokes.  Artichokes go well with olives.

Oooh the tomatoes are almost done....patience...patience.  Wait until they're perfect.  Don't take them out before they're right.  I know you're hungry, just wait.

Yup, I'll just make a simple, one-pot meal while the boyfriend is away.

Passaic River Paddle

Jersey gets picked on.  Jersey gets picked on a lot.  I could've chosen some obvious spots to show you it's undeserving of its reputation..  Delaware Water Gap, Hewitt State Forest, how about the view across the Hudson from Hoboken?  But that'd be cheating.  How about a little bit of beauty smack in the middle of suburban Passaic County.  

Yeah yeah about that "armpit of America"?

Only really a funny joke if you've never gotten off the turnpike.  I've paddled this stretch a few times now.  A little peace and tranquility in the middle of suburbia.  

The perspective below I-80 is a little different than above.  We passed an unexpected farm, and ok ok a home depot.  For being 5 minutes from where I [used to] live, I really couldn't have hoped for much more.

Half Moon Bay Brewing

Type: Brewpub

Location:  390 Capistrano Rd. Half Moon Bay, CA 94019

Website: http://www.hmbbrewingco.com

Cost: Reasonably priced Menu

Visit Date: 11/05/2013

Beers: Big Break Ale

          Bootleggers Brown

          Mavericks Classic Amber

          SHS Pale

          Pacesetter Belgian Wit

          Back in the Saddle Rye Pale Ale

          Pitstop Chocolate Porter

          Hefeweizen

          Pumpkin

          Oatmeal Stout

Nearby: Half Moon Bay

Notes: I had dropped my parents at the airport and decided I didn't have a lot of sunlight to make the drive out to the Sierras so I decided to enjoy the day by the ocean.  Driving down the coast, I stopped and walked around at Mori Point.  

Lovely enough, California.  Walked around for a bit as I made my way down the coast, ending up at Half Moon Bay by sunset, convenient!  Had a veggie burger, it was eh, but the beers were nice.  The Bootlegger Brown was malty but still managed to be light.  The Oatmeal Stout was perfect.  The Chocolate porter was chocolate porter... In other words too chocolate.  Blegh to sweet in my beer.  I sat by the fireplace.  Seemed like a nice spot.  

When I got the check, I pulled out my credit card and a $20 to ask for change.  I wasn't really paying attention (yeah, I was fiddling with my phone..traveling alone and missing my boy) when the waitress came to get it. She came back; she'd deducted $20 from the bill and charged the rest.  Um, that's a really weird assumption.  Ok, I'll put your tip on the credit card if that's really what you thought I meant (and now that I don't have any cash).  Do people who aren't in groups often do it this way?  Should've said something but I didn't have a second to think when she grabbed it.

Adventures on Hotwire

Tired from a handful of mountains and canyons in Kings Canyon and Sequoia National parks, I planned the biggest adventure of the trip.  I booked a room in the Good Nite Inn in Redwood City, so I could get a shower in and sleep in a real bed before my flight home.

I had no idea it would be so creeptacular.

Horror movie chic, eh?

So yeah, if cheap is what you're going for.  ...well, actually it wasn't all that cheap.  But it was the cheapest thing on hotwire, within 20 minutes of the airport.  The hallway was the creepiest, and the room was falling apart.  Holes in the walls patched but not painted over.  Holes in the walls not patched.  A whole corner of the room with tiny bugs smashed into the wall.  

Both the shower and the sink dripped all night, and the room smelled like cheap perfume.  

The blanket had a lot of holes in it but the sheets seemed clean enough.  Yes, I checked for bed bugs.  And then I checked again.  When I didn't find any, I checked again because I was sure this was a hotel that should have bed bugs.  The balcony door looked like it'd been broken into before.  Yeah, it took awhile to fall asleep.  At five AM a lovely couple in the hallway woke me up with screaming and cursing, that continued for an hour.  They went away, and then they came back.  I woke up and packed up my suitcase for the flight home.  Then took another shower.

I did find good coffee in town though, and stumbled across an incredible farmers market.  Too bad I was flying.  

Lookout Peak

If I'd seen any other humans, I probably would have looked silly.

But having seen no other humans, it was probably wise to carry the ice axe.

After a family visit in San Francisco, I took 3 days to myself and drove out to Kings Canyon.  Its been a couple years since I crossed paths with the Mountain Lion but I was still a little nervous to be out in the California woods alone.  Maps and guides said there were mountain lions here.  I was a little nervous in general because it was November.  But the weather reports looked good.  0% chance of precipitation and the road into the canyon was open!  I told myself there might be ice on top of the mountain, but I didn't bother to carry my snowshoes.  The axe was really for peace of mind, even if I told myself otherwise

The woods were pretty relaxing.  A couple times my mind thought I was being watched.  But it wasn't bad.  I made the 10 mile hike without any major issues.  In the drive into, and then out of the canyon, the only other car I saw was a park ranger.  The only creatures I saw on the trail were birds.  Chirpy little birds.

It's on the map as a trail to the summit, but the main trail doesn't go that way.  Near the peak, the trail to the summit becomes very hard to follow.  Eventually, I gave up, marked a waypoint so I could find my way back and just went for it.  


A couple times, I thought I'd found the trail again, but I didn't find it until I saw a cairn near the summit.  The push to the top was a scramble up rocks.  Another waypoint got marked, and my pack was dropped.  At this point I didn't care that the ice axe stayed with it.

Oh, I know that even if i needed to use it, it probably wouldn't do much against a Mountain Lion, but shhh, it gave me peace of mind up until this point.  So the pack got tossed down.  I took a gulp of water, and started climbing.  

Quickly emerged from tree cover, and wow.   The view down the canyon was spectacular. I love that hazy - blue Sierra Nevada view.  Damn, California.

Unreal, and so very worth the 10 mile walk.

The trail was pretty had to follow going back down too.  I followed it for a good while, but eventually gave up when it wasn't leading me back to my waypoint.  Looked down at my trusty Colorado and found my way back to the trail, and then safely to the car.

Shakespeare Brewery and Hotel

Type: Brewery

Location: Auckland, South Island, New Zealand

Website: http://www.shakespearehotel.co.nz
Cost: $8.50 pints
Visit Date: 02/26/2012
Beers: Wheat

Nearby: Auckland

Notes: This seemed like the perfect spot for our last night in New Zealand.  We stayed in a nice, tiny, but tidy room.  OMGYAYSHOWER.  The only house beer they had was a wheat.  It was ok.

The Brewery Britomart

Type: Brewery

Location: Auckland, North Island, New Zealand

Website: http://www.thebrewerybritomart.co.nz
Cost: $9 pints, $7 Happy Hour, $14 4-beer sampler
Visit Date: 02/26/2012

Beers: Gold Rush- Golden Ale
           Anchors Aweigh - "California" Lager
           Witful- Belgian Wheat
           Element 5 - Pale Ale
           Customs 69 - IPA
           Old Fort - "Old Style Ale"
           Black Rose

Nearby: Auckland, short walk to the ferry to Rangitoto Island

Notes: This brewery was in a neat old building.  Seemed like a good spot, all the beers were very good.  The IPA was the best I'd had in New Zealand.  The Anchors Aweigh was dark for a lager, but still light in flavor.  Very smooth, and clean.  The Old Fort was a rich malty brown, and the Black Rose was very good, malty and yum.