I’m in Carlsbad, CA at my timeshare this week with Marissa and my cousin, Michelle Lorts. Michelle and I drove over on Saturday and picked up Marissa, who flew in from Austin, TX.

This is the view from our balcony. Not too shabby. We’ve had a wonderful, relaxing, and cool week thus far. Not missing the 110+ degree AZ days one single bit!

Here are Michelle and Marissa out in the front of the resort under an African tulip tree. Isn’t it gorgeous?

But the real news I have to share is the amazing deal I got on wine at Von’s (Safeway in AZ) grocery store. We went in to buy some orange juice and a couple of bottles of Michelle’s favorite Sauvignon Blanc, Brancott Estate. When we strolled down the wine aisles, we immediately noticed that all the wine was on sale with yellow tags on every shelf. The Brancott was regularly $13.99 a bottle and was on sale for $9.99. Sweet! Michelle grabbed 2 bottles.

Then I looked a little farther down the aisle and saw a couple of red tags among all the yellow. Upon further inspection, I saw that the Robert Mondavi Oakville Fum Blanc which was regularly $34.99 a bottle was on clearance for ….. wait for it…

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We spent the day at the Del Mar Racetrack on Wednesday. The most that was bet by any one of us on any one race was $3. Big spenders or gamblers, we are not. But we had fun! Our seats were right in front of the finish line. If not for that pole in front of us, they would have been perfect. Darn structural engineering.

We arrived back too late to cook, so we had leftovers and watched a movie. The next morning, I woke up early and took a 5-mile walk up the beach, to the Oceanside Pier, while Peggy and Anne slept in.

I don’t generally find many shells along the beach in Carlsbad, but the tide was low and I filled my pockets. I wanted to go out again this morning, but with the internet getting busy in the late morning and constantly kicking me off, I decided to get this post up instead. I’ll go out again on Saturday and take a bag with me to collect more.

Since we hung around the resort all day yesterday, Anne had time to cook us a delicious dinner! The recipe is one she found on allrecipes.com. But she switched it up and made it her own, in true Annie-style.

One great twist she made was switching out the regular pasta for a chickpea variety. It was fantastic!

She found the Banza brand pasta at Sprouts (in the Phoenix area you can also find it at Whole Foods and Target) and although we didn’t have wheat pasta available to do a side-by-side tasting, I’m certain I would not be able to taste the difference if we had.

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This deliciousness was Tuesday night’s dinner. Peggy not only manned the grill but was master of the kitchen as well.

Since it was my night off, it didn’t even cross my mind to take any preparation photos. Sorry, but I’m on vacation! I will try to do better when Anne takes over the duties tonight.

We spent Tuesday afternoon having lunch at Stone Brewery and wine tasting at Orfila Vineyards & Winery, with a little T*J*Maxx on the side.

We were ultimate Maxxinistas. Peggy was looking for a swimsuit and I was looking for a barstool. The Carlsbad patio has only two stools. There are three of us. I had no choice but to find another stool!

I was successful, Peggy was not. I picked up this industrial-style barstool for $29.99. I’m keeping the tag on it in case I decide to return it after the week is over, although I’m leaning towards keeping it for future visits. Decisions, decisions.

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Peggy, Anne and I are at my timeshare in Carlsbad, CA for the week.

We arrived on Saturday afternoon.

Upon our arrival, I opened the hatch of my car … and this happened. We may have over-packed a tad.

My intention was to post daily. Turns out that the WiFi is easily overworked here at the resort. This is the first day I have not been kicked off before I could at least load the photos. I’ll post as often as the network will allow.

We had a planning session before we left town, each taking a night or two to cook dinner. I was up first with a ravioli dish that I was inspired to make from an Instagram photo my friend, Gwen, posted last week. Gwen has a gorgeous blog called Pen & Fork. You can always get to it over in the “Foodie Blogroll” on the right side of the page.

For the mushroom ravioli, I used the Trader Joe’s brand. It comes with truffle sauce, which you do not want to use in this recipe.

These are the truffle sauce frozen squares. They are easily picked out and removed from the ravioli squares. You can throw them back in the freezer and use them for another pasta night or you can throw them in the trash. That’s what I do because I’m not a huge truffle fan. I’ll eat it if it’s served to me but I don’t go out of my way to put it in my mouth.

The spinach is cut into thin strips. When cutting leafy greens, the technique to do so is called chiffonade. It is easy to do, just stack the leaves, roll them up tightly and slice. The word is French and translates to “little ribbons.”

“Brothy Situation” Mushroom Ravioli with Shredded Chicken

• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
• 8 to 10 sprigs fresh thyme
• 5 sprigs fresh oregano
• 5 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
• 4 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms; cleaned, stems removed and thinly sliced
• 1 cup baby spinach leaves, chiffonade
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced
• 1 pound package frozen mushroom ravioli
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, garnish
• Roughly chopped fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary and oregano)

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We own a week at a timeshare in California. In Carlsbad, which is north of San Diego, to be specific. We haven’t used our week there the last several years, having rented it out instead. The main reason we haven’t used it is that we’ve either been vacationing elsewhere that same week or have just returned home from a big trip, such as Hawaii last year and Alaska the summer before.

It was the same situation again this year, having returned from Ireland only a week before our Carlsbad week began.

Well, this time around, I decided to use it anyway. Dave and Connor both had to return to work but since I don’t have classes to teach, I asked Peggy to come with me and we are here and we’re having a ball.

The week is from Saturday to Saturday, but since we both had commitments on Saturday, we drove out early on Sunday morning. Here is my day-by-day account of our trip so far:

Sunday – Friends and Family Day

We were on the road a little after 7:00 and it was smooth sailing as we crossed the Arizona/California border. The California desert skies were cloudy, gray, and beautiful!

Then things got a little more serious as the clouds were so low and so thick that this is what we encountered.

A bit of rain and very low visibility! We made it through all that and arrived at “The Inn” just before 2:00.  Marissa was in town, visiting high school and college friends, Kaley and Petra. Elementary school friends, Lindsey and Alyse, also came to town for the girlfriend’s summer reunion.

Add to that, high school friend, Julie, who is pregnant with her second, is staying right here at “The Inn” with her entire family… and you have not only a girlfriend reunion but a brief mother and child reunion too!

When the girls arrived, they came up to our room for a “welcome” glass of wine before going down to the beach to meet up with Julie.

After beach time we all had dinner at Norte Mexican Food, which is adjacent to the property. Then the girls were off, insert sad face here.

We’ll end Sunday with a beautiful California ocean sunset, a photo courtesy of Peggy.

Monday – Foreign Adventure Day

Peggy’s had an itch to go to Mexico for a while now. She just bought a new house and it has a lot of Mexican/Southwest flair. We decided it made sense to drive from Carlsbad to Tijuana (56 miles, 1-hour drive) instead of from Scottsdale to Nogales (183 miles, nearly 3 hours) so off we went.

We had fun shopping and eating and drinking, especially eating and drinking! I always forget just how great Mexican food is in Mexico. Go Figure! The Mexican flag guacamole was outstanding and pretty darn cute and the shrimp ceviche – was delicious!

All was good until we decided it was time to leave Mexico. We sat in the line of cars at the border for FOUR (4) hours, I kid you not. It was horrible!

You move so slowly that there are vendors set up between the lanes of cars and they are selling everything you can imagine; ceramics, churros, dulces, tostilocos, burritos, elote, lawn ornaments, purses, toys, everything you can imagine! There are hundreds of them and even more of you, sitting trapped like prisoners in your own car. Let me say that four hours is a long time to sit after drinking beer all afternoon if you know what I mean. It was torture!

We were happy when we finally saw the border, but it still took nearly 35 minutes from this spot. My advice? NEVER drive into Tijuana. Park your car and walk across! Live and learn.

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The idea for this pizza came from the Corkscrew Cafe in Carmel Valley, California.

I’ve never been there. I have never had their pizza, but as you well know, I have Meyer lemons… so it is this pizza that I made!

I read the description on the menu, and the plethora of raves about it on Yelp, and I came up with my own Meyer Lemon Pizza.

Are you worried that you may not like this pizza because of the full lemon slices on there? Peel and all! Please don’t be. Meyer lemon peel is thinner and sweeter and it is delicious!

In addition, just yesterday, my friend, Amy (Amy’s Famous Taco Soup) sent me an email with all kinds of amazing information about lemon peels.

Did you know that lemon peels contain as much as 10 times more vitamins than the lemon juice itself? Lemon peels eradicate toxic elements in the body. The peel is an antimicrobial agent that fights against bacterial infections and fungi, effective against internal parasites and worms, it regulates blood pressure, and is an antidepressant, that combats stress and nervous disorders. And according to the email Amy sent me, lemon kills cancer cells and is 10,000 times stronger than chemotherapy.

Now, I haven’t done an ounce of research to back up any of the information in that email, it could be “internet truth.” But if even 1/10th of that is true… well get out there and eat your lemons, peels and all… and start with this pizza! If you still are not convinced, you can always look to have pizza delivered to you through a simple online order.

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Our trip to California last weekend wasn’t all that we expected it to be. Several of the vendors we hoped to see were not there, including “the boys” Dustin and Christian who own Uber Chic Home, and Martin and Trinidad of Atelier de Campagne. Turns out they were at the Three Speckled Hens Antiques Show in Paso Robles. In addition to that, it was HOT! You know how I hate to travel away from hot Arizona to where it should be cooler and end up still being HOT somewhere else!

Although the Rose Bowl Flea Market was a bit of a disappointment this time around, Sheila and I still came home with plenty of happy finds. Some were found at the Rose Bowl, others at various shops along Main Street in Ocean Beach. Where, by the way, you can also find this sketchy Hippy Hostel, just in case you are looking for lodging,

On to the Happy Finds… (plus a fun bonus at the end of the post)

Four seriously awesome antique English crocks. These things are all the rage and often very expensive. Mine was a steal. The vendor told me that he has a guy who digs them up out of the River Thames. Seriously, it’s common practice. Read THIS little blog post to learn more.

I purposely picked out the most aged and crackly ones he had.

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Not only did Sheila and I enjoy our Vootbeer Cocktails on Friday night, we also scarfed down some salty spicy-sweet little snacks … ummm … as our dinner.  Hey, we’re on a vacation shopping trip – do not judge!

Additionally, this is a “do as I say, not as I do” sort of recipe. We didn’t have any foil, or a rack, so the photos don’t exactly match the instructions. I had to make do with what was available in Sheila’s adorable drool-worthy cottage kitchen.

The kitchen is actually very well equipped, as Sheila is a fabulous cook, but things are sometimes just a bit smaller than I am used to. If you have foil and a rack, which I’m sure you do, then follow the directions and you will be set!

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