San Carlos Summer Concerts 2010

Be sure to attend one of the summer concerts this year at Burton Park! They take place on Friday evenings starting at 6:00 PM, and the first concert is this coming Friday! Here is the schedule so you can plan in advance:

July 9
The Distractions- Rock 'n Roll Classics

July 16
Big Bang Beat- Ultimate Party Classics

July 23
The Bell Brothers-Country Rock

July 30

The Refugees- Tom Petty Tribute

August 6

E-Ticket Band -Oldies Rock n' Roll

Fresh recipe of the month: Meyer lemonade

Our Meyer lemon tree produces fruit year-round, leaving us with too many lemons. And what do you do with too many lemons? Make lemonade of course! In these summer months lemonade is particularly popular and today we are bringing it along to a July 4th barbecue.

- 3 cups of water

- 1 cup sugar

- 1/4 cup honey

- 1.5 cups meyer lemon juice

Boil the water and add the rest of the ingredients. Pour in a pitcher with ice and add cold water until it reaches the desired level of tartness. For fun, you can also squeeze in the fruit of a few blackberries to change the color!

San Francisco family-friendly museums

San Francisco is full of great museums for your family to enjoy. Here are some of my favorites:

California Academy of Sciences
55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park
The recently-reopened California Academy of Sciences is in one word phenomenal. It is located within Golden Gate Park, and is home to an aquarium, a planetarium, many natural history and science exhibits and more. Most extraordinary of all, the roof of the California Academy of Sciences is actually a living roof with California native plants and a drainage and daylighting engineering system!

de Young Museum
50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive
Golden Gate Park is home to another great museum, the de Young Musuem. The building itself is architecturally beautiful and the collection of contemporary art is fantastic as well.

Exploratorium
3601 Lyon Street
A second great science museum in San Francisco is the Exploratorium, located in the Northern part of the city. It holds many exciting exhibits that explore science with a hands-on approach.

Aquarium of the Bay
The Embarcadero and Beach Street
To enjoy marine life you can head to Aquarium of the Bay on Pier 39. Some highlights include the touch pool and the tunnels that take you directly underneath the San Francisco Bay. Don't be surprised if you see several sharks lurking around the Bay!

Zeum
221 Fourth Street, San Francisco, California
Finally, Zeum is a great place for children to enjoy hands-on activities, like making their own music video, designing digital art, or making their own claymation film.

As you can see, there are many great museums to enjoy with your family!

Fresh recipe of the month: Blueberry muffins

With all the fresh blueberries from our yard, we decided to make a batch of blueberry muffins.

- 1/2 cup butter

- 2 cups flour

- 1 cup sugar

- 2 eggs

- 1/2 cup milk

- 2 teaspoon baking powder

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 2-1/2 cup blueberries

- 2 teaspoon sugar (for topping)

- 1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream butter and sugar and add eggs. Sift dry ingredients and add alternating with milk. Mash 1/2 cup berries and stir in. Add the rest of the berries whole. Pour in muffin pans and sprinkle sugar on top. Bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees F. Cool for at least 30 minutes.

Jack- the newest addition to our family!

Jonathan William Gosse (better known as Jack) arrived last Monday evening (June 14th), weighing 7 lbs 15 oz, and measuring 19.5 inches long.

Almost due: spending the day at Half Moon Bay

I'm due in less than two weeks, but starting to feel a little home-bound. Nate and I decided to get out of the house and spend the day at Half Moon Bay.

We first took a stroll along the Half Moon Bay State Beach. It was our first time visiting this particular beach, and we found it to be really nice. There were several families out playing frisbee and volleyball. We just soaked in the sun and read for a bit on a blanket.

After enjoying the sand, we head to Barbara's Fish Trap for a bite to eat. I'd been here once before with my parents and really enjoyed it. It has a typical seafood shack feel, casual yet with delicious food. I ordered the salmon burger and Nate had traditional fish and chips. Both of our meals were tasty! We made the mistake of forgetting to bring cash however (they don't accept credit cards), so Nate had to sprint across the street to hit an ATM.

If you head to this restaurant, be sure to take a stop in the bathroom (if you are a woman). The walls are painted with a beautiful underwater theme, and are worth taking a look at!

After a nice day out, we head back to San Carlos for the evening.

Fresh recipe of the month: Steamed artichokes (from our garden!)

We have been growing an artichoke plant for two years now. That's right, two years and no flowers to show for it. This year, with all of the rain, the plant really took off, and for the first time we had two beautiful artichokes arise. This weekend we decided to finally enjoy them. We went with a simple recipe, steaming the artichokes and eating them with a nice lemon butter.

- 2 fresh artichokes

- 2 tablespoons meyer lemon juice

- 1 tablespoon butter

Rinse the artichokes, remove damaged leaves, and trim the stem. Steam artichokes on the stove using 6 cups of water for about 45 minutes. For the dipping sauce, melt the lemon juice and butter in the microwave. You are ready to eat and enjoy!

Mother's day dinner in Menlo Park

For Mother's Day we joined my aunt and uncle at their favorite Italian restaurant in the area-- Angelo Mio. We've been here several times before with the group and have always enjoyed the food and service. I ordered the ravioli with pink sauce, and it was delicious. We'll definitely be back.

Hot Harvest Nights in San Carlos

I love the summer months in San Carlos, because every Thursday we can head to the downtown to enjoy Hot Harvest Nights. Laurel Street is blocked from car traffic and local venders set up booths to stroll and explore. This week was the first week of the year and the fun will continue through early September.

We love to take our dogs along. They go crazy over the kettle popcorn that lands on the street! This week we decided to get some fresh flowers and tasty dates.

Fresh recipe of the month: Chicken with Meyer lemon and capers

Again with our ever-producing Meyer lemon tree we came up with a great lemony entree: sauteed chicken with lemon and capers. This resulted in very tender meat and a very tasty flavor combination.

- 2 chicken breasts

- 1/2 cup flour

- 1 teaspoon salt

- 1/4 teaspoon paprika

- 4 tablespoons white wine

- 4 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice

- 3 tablespoons capers

Flatten the chicken breasts and dredge in mixture of flour, salt and paprika. Saute in a skillet in butter, about 4 minutes per side and remove chicken from pan. Add white wine and lemon juice to skillet and simmer for 5 minutes to make sauce. Add sauce and capers to chicken and serve.

String beans in our garden

We planted some seeds for string beans this year and the plants are starting to come up fast! I just love to be able to grow fresh veggies in our yard and am so excited to have string beans!

Celery stalk

One of our celery stalks has really taken off and I think will be ready to eat soon! This is the first time we have tried growing celery, so I'm excited that it grew. We'll see how it tastes!

Fishing at Lake Chabot

We spent the day with Lynn, Bob and Sammy today up at Lake Chabot. It is a lovely lake with many places along shore to drop in a line.

Unfortunately, we have yet to have success with even a bite at this lake and today was more of the same. We ventured along the coast and found a nice spot that had a pier available. I was happy that we remembered to bring along chairs to give my pregnant body some rest in between fishing attempts. I let Sammy and Nate do most of the fishing, but they were without luck as well.

Even though we didn't catch anything, we still had a fun time and enjoyed the serene surroundings.

Fresh recipe of the month: Key lime pie

We found key limes today and had to buy them to make a key lime pie. Here is the recipe we used:

Graham cracker crust:

- 1.5 cups graham cracker crumbs

- 6 tablespoons melted butter

- 3 tablespoons white sugar

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, sugar and salt and mix. Press the mixture into a 9-inch pie pan and bake 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees F, until lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Pie filling:

- 2 eggs

- 3/4 cup fresh key lime juice

- 2-1/2 sweetened condensed milk

Beat eggs and blend in milk and lime juice. Pour into crust and bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes.

Enjoying Napa without drinking wine

We decided to celebrate my birthday by spending the day in Napa. The weather wasn't great, but we were excited to get outside and enjoy some nice scenery and tasty food. This was the first time I'd head up to wine country without the intention of tasting wine-- and it ended up being just as worthwhile!

Nate chose a delicious restaurant for us to dine at -- Redd. We decided to try the glazed pork belly, braised beef shortribs, and caramelized scallops. All three dishes were divine.

After our meal the rain had let up, so we decided to wander around the town of St. Helena. We popped in a few boutiques and culinary stores (Nate's favorite), and checked out a Children's boutique called Freckles. Have you ever noticed the difference in the number of baby clothes designed for girls versus boys? I'm telling you, it is remarkable how little attention baby boys get in the consumer world.

On our way out of town, we stopped by a local vineyard to take some pictures of my ever-expanding belly. Only two months to go and we'll get to meet the little guy!

Legally Blonde the musical-- Palo Alto

This evening we attended a musical in Palo Alto at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts. It was our first time at this venue, and thought it was very nice. The play was really fun-- I'd seen the movie several times and thought it transitioned into a play quite well.

Tangerines in our yard

The tangerines on our tree are ripe, which means that for the next month and a half we will have an endless amount of tangerines. They are tart and delicious for that long, but then they start to lose their flavor. So it is a race with time! What we usually do is juice many of them and store the juice in our freezer to use in later months.

But for now, we will have tasty citrus to snack on!

Fresh recipe of the month: Asparagus quiche

Asparagus season is quite brief in California, so when we noticed some beautiful asparagus at the store yesterday we decided to make some asparagus quiche! This is a delicious recipe, combining fresh asparagus, cheeses and bacon.

- 9-inch unbaked pie crust

- 8 slices cooked and crumbled bacon

- 1 cup gruyere cheese, shredded

- 1 cup half and half

- 3 eggs

- 1 teaspoon tarragon

- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

Bake pie crust for 8-10 minutes at 400 degrees F. Remove from oven and add bacon, asparagus and cheese. Mix half and half, eggs and spices and pour over the pie. Arrange two asparagus florets in center for decoration. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Fresh recipe of the month: Meyer lemon sorbet

Meyer lemons are really special. They are so sweet that you can enjoy eating them straight. Today I decided to experiment and make sorbet with our yummy lemons.

- Juice from 4 Meyer lemons

- Zest from 1 Meyer lemon rind

- 1 cup white sugar

- 1 cup water

Boil the water and lemon juice in a saucepan. Slowly add sugar and lemon zest until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, pour into a 9-inch-square pan, and place in freezer. The mixture should only fill 1/2-1 inch high, making it freeze with the perfect consistency. Once it has frozen, you can scoop it out and keep it in a tupperware container in the freezer for several days/weeks.

Jogging spots in San Francisco

I am an avid jogger and have explored San Francisco to find the best spots to enjoy the fresh air while getting exercise. With the great weather we Californians are lucky to be able to exercise any time of the year-- so check out one of these spots.
My favorite place to go for a jog is Chrissy Fields, where you can enjoy the beautiful views of the Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. My favorite path is to actually jog across the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge. It is one of the most stunning and memorable parts of the city, which makes for a perfect spot for a jog.

The next great place is Golden Gate Park. The park is huge and is home to many fantastic trails weaving in and out of the park for jogging. These paths will take you along beautiful lakes, gardens, and trees. I particularly like running through the botanical gardens so I can enjoy the gorgeous plants and flowers. The park also goes directly up to Ocean Beach, so you can choose to finish your jog along the beach, either by jogging on the path that runs parallel to the ocean or directly on the sand. It is so nice to be able to jog with water views and the crisp ocean air.

On the opposite side of the city you can also enjoy jogging along the water-- along the Embarcedero with views of the Bay. The benefit of this jog is that you avoid the fog that forms in the Sunset district and sometimes even get some sunshine.

Finally, I like to explore all of the city neighborhoods while jogging. No matter how busy the section is, I think you can really have a good time jogging around.

Fresh recipe of the month: Banana bread

I love banana bread. It is classic but awesome.

- 1/2 cup butter

- 2 eggs

- 1 cup sugar

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 3 bananas, mashed

- 1 teaspoon cinnamon

- 1 teaspoon baking soda

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1/2 cup sour cream

- 1-1/2 cup flour