Mom's birthday

My mother was able to celebrate her birthday in San Diego this year.  For fun, she got to run errands and take care of her post-op daughter (me).  But we did manage to get in some fun things, which I thought were on the list, but as it turns out, were not.  But I'll add them anyway.

After running a few errands, we headed over to Extraordinary Desserts for lunch. We each ordered a pot of tea, Mom had a salad, but unfortunately I can't remember which one.  I had the aged cheddar grilled cheese sandwich and I added avocado.  It was fabulous.  For dessert, Mom had a lemon bar and I had a strawberry shortcake.  The "cake" part of both of these desserts was not what we expected, but I guess that's what makes them extraordinary, and we both LOVED our desserts.

Next stop, the Wangenheim Room at San Diego's Central Library.  The Wangenheim Room houses the San Diego Library's rare book collection.  The collection includes media dating back 4000 years and even includes Babylonian clay tablets from 2300BCE.  There is also a substantial collection of miniature books.  The room is named after Julius Wangenheim who donated much of the collection.  As a bibliophile, many of the books relate to the history of writing and bookmaking. 

One interesting thing I learned was the origins of the term pulp fiction.  Early written documents were made of animal products or linen, but when a technique for incorporating wood pulp into the paper making (or perhaps page making) process, it created a cheaper, easier to mass produce, surface on which to write.  This surface was especially popular with a particular niche of fiction writers, thus the term.

And I learned a new vocabulary word: incunabula, or items printed before 1500AD.

Then we moved on to Balboa Park, where I took a nap and Mom enjoyed the artist's village.  We even signed her up for a glass class when she's back next week.  Balboa Park has a lot to offer, including gardens, museums, a carousel, the Zoo, and theaters, in addition to the artist's village. 

Finally, we picked up Sister and took Mom to The Merk for dinner.

Also while Mom was here helping me convalesce, Captain America took us to La Jolla Cove, where I sat on the beach and read while Mom and Captain America went kayaking.  They had a blast, and although Mom got soaking wet, she did not fall into the ocean.

All in all, I think she had a pretty good visit, and as bizarre as it is to say, it's definitely better when the visit begins with general anesthesia, than when it ends with it.

Party Time!

Tonight, Barbie and I are throwing Ken and Captain America a joint birthday party.  Ken and Captain America both have birthdays in March, and since they work together, they know a lot of the same people.  And from a practical standpoint, this way there's only one keg, and one mess to clean up. 

Barbie and I are rockstars at this sort of thing.  The only thing the men were in charge of were hanging lights and getting the keg. 

We're going to have homemade mac and cheese, pulled pork sandwiches, spinach and artichoke dip, Pubcakes, brownies, and the ubiquitous fruit and veggie platters. We're going to have a beer pong tournament, with official beer pong rules.  We have sleeping arrangements for out-of-town-guests, contingency plans if it rains, and fun non-alcoholic drinks for the designated drivers.  We've even arranged for the maid for tomorrow.  Yup, we should do this for a living!

The best tortellini soup ever!

I really thought I had "host a dinner party" on my list of Saturday Night activities, but the closest I could find was "invite friends over," and that's exactly what happened this weekend.  When I had surgery in February, my mom made tortellini soup, and it was easy, tasty, and a 1-dish meal.  So, I thought, I'll invite some girlfriends over (since Captain America was spending the weekend watching the Big Dance), and I'll make soup and we'll have some wine and chit-chat, and it'll be good fun.  This is a great soup to serve a bunch of people because it makes a lot, but it doesn't keep quite so well because the tortellinis continue to retain water (I'm not sure that's the best culinary wording) and start to expand and get soggy and fall apart if you keep it in the fridge too long.  So all of my girlfriends were sent home with lunch for the next day!  Everybody wins!

Here's the recipe:
1 can chick peas, drained
2 small cans stewed tomatoes with juice
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
32 oz chicken broth (I used vegetable broth)
5 cups water
1 package fresh baby spinach
1 package cheese tortellini
minced garlic
1 package sweet and 1 package hot sausage (or, 32oz sausage)

Method:

1. Cook sausage out of casing with garlic in large stockpot, crumbling the sausage while cooking.  Drain the sausage.
2. Add stewed tomatoes, chick peas, mustard, chicken broth, and water to stock pot.
3. Add tortellini and baby spinach to stock pot, and cook until spinach is wilted and tortellini is done (don't bring to a boil).

Ta da! That's it.  I used all sweet sausage because I don't like too much spice, but if I had a cold, I would use medium or hot sausage to help clear out my sinuses.  And everyone will thing you're a genius!

Some weekends just are...

...less exciting than others.  I had big plans for February 18-20.  BIG plans.  (Men in skirts BIG!)  But then Captain America and I both had to work on Saturday, and something was happening on Sunday morning.  Maybe sleeping.  I don't even remember any more, and somehow about all that happened is that we went to Ethan Allen and picked out a sleeper chair. 

Which is about as different from a sleeper cell as things can get.  This is what I call a cuddle chair.  Y'know, you and your sweetie can cuddle just fine, but your sweetie and his buddy won't go near it.  Ethan Allen sells these cool ones that are like sofa beds, except they are twin-sized, and you can order them with an air mattress on top, which decidedly makes a sofa bed more comfortable. 

So instead of having an exciting weekend, we had a domestic one.  These things happen sometimes.

A weekend off

Captain America and I both had the weekend before my surgery off.  This shouldn't be surprising because we both work Monday-Friday, but between my work being crazy and the way he can re-arrange his weekends, somehow it hasn't felt like we've had a weekend to be together in a while.

So what did we do?  He went to a bar to watch the Aztecs game with some friends and I went to the gym with Barbie.  Hey, at least we had the option of spending time together.  On the other hand, I would have hated watching the game (I don't even know which sport it was), and going to the gym with Barbie killed two birds.  We got to spend time together, and we both have to fit into bikinis in about 10 minutes because Easter is the official start to summer here in San Diego. 

In other news, I had a week off from work to recover from my surgery, and Mom can't sit still, so we did a number of slow-moving activities.  But you'll have to check back to read about them because I'm supposed to be drinking champagne with my husband in celebration of paying off my car, a successful surgery, and buying art for the living room!