Had a great time this past weekend camping with my sister. We left on Friday morning and I came back on Sunday afternoon and as I write this, she is still there with her husband and they are due to come back tomorrow. Lucky Duck! We managed to have a great time even in the short time I was there. One of the reasons is that we had this cute little girl with us! My daughters dog Chorizo! In this picture she's stressing out because my sister had gotten out of the car. Chorizo has to have all "her people" with her at all times! She's a character!
But she made it so much fun for us and kept us active because we had to walk her so much. She loves her walks! She also loved how beautiful the grass was there. Anytime she had a chance she would sit or roll around in it! She was in paradise!
When we were at the campsite she even commandeered this chair as her very own, just napping and barking at any other dogs that dared to walk in front of our space!
She always scopes out the best places and makes them her own. Here was her spot inside the RV. She could look outside and see what was going on and still see everything that we were doing inside the RV.
But her favorites place to be had to be at the edge of the ocean or anywhere that she could smell the ocean and everything that came with it...seagull poop being one of her favorites smells!
She had the best time and we had a great time. Always a pleasure to hang out with my sister, she's the greatest! Here's our campsite. It was super safe and comfortable and I wish I were there right now! Hey, I just realized Chorizo was in her chair looking back at me when I took this picture. Sorry to wake you Chorizo!
I even had a chance to get some artwork done. Just a simple page with doodles of flowers and a random little bee. I found the "Enjoy the Moment" sticker in a beach magazine and it was perfect for this weekend. I did enjoy every single moment!
Til we meet again sweet ocean Paradise...we will always have the memory!
Last weekend my sister Lisa and our friend Lupe and I had a girls camping weekend at Pismo Beach. We had a blast and I'll post separately about that and what we did and share pictures. While we were there, we attended the Stone Soup Music Festival in Grover Beach and we had such fun! I think it's going to become an annual thing for us! We didn't give a thought to what a Stone Soup Music Festival even was, it just sounded like something really fun to do and there would be music, what else did we need to know? We forgot about the Story of Stone Soup. It wasn't until we were unable to find any Stone Soup that we remembered the story! Were our faces red! In case you have never heard of the story, here you go! Stone Soup An Old Tale Retold Text by Marcia Brown Three soldiers trudged down a road in a strange country. They were on their way home from the wars. Besides being tired, they were hungry. In fact, they had eaten nothing for two days. "How I would like a good dinner tonight," said the first. "And a bed to sleep in," said the second. "But all that is impossible," said the third. "We must march on." On they marched. Suddenly ahead of them they saw the lights of a village. "Maybe we'll find a bite to eat there," said the first. "And a loft to sleep in," said the second. "No harm in asking," said the third. Now the peasants of that village feared strangers. When they heard that three soldiers were coming down the road, they talked amongst themselves. "Here come three soldiers. Soldiers are always hungry. But we have little enough for ourselves." And they hurried to hide their food. They pushed the sacks of barley under the hay in the lofts. They lowered buckets of milk down the wells. They spread old quilts over the carrot bins. They hid their cabbages and potatoes under the beds. They hung their meat in the cellars. They hid all they had to eat. Then - they waited. The soldiers stopped first at the house of Paul and Francoise. "Good evening to you," they said. "Could you spare a bit of food for three hungry soldiers?" "We have had no food for ourselves for three days," said Paul. Francoise made a sad face. "It has been a poor harvest." The three soldiers went on to the house of Albert and Louise. "Could you spare a bit of food? And have you some corner where we could sleep for the night?" "Oh no," said Albert. "We gave all we could spare to soldiers who came before you." "Our beds are full," said Louise. At Vincent and Marie's the answer was the same. It had been a poor harvest and all the grain must be kept for seed. So it went all throughout the village. Not a peasant had any food to give away. They all had good reasons. One family had to use the grain for feed. Another had an old sick father to care for. All had too many mouths to fill. The villagers stood in the street and sighed. They looked as hungry as they could. The three soldiers talked together. Then the first soldier called out, "Good People!" The peasants drew near. "We are three hungry soldiers in a strange land. We have asked you for food and you have no food. Well then, we'll have to make stone soup." The peasants stared. Stone soup? That would be something to know about. "First, we'll need a large iron pot," the soldiers said. The peasants brought them the largest pot they could find. How else to cook enough? "That's none too large," said the soldiers. "But it will have to do. And now, water to fill it and a fire to heat it." It took many buckets of water to fill the pot. A fire was built on the village square and the pot was set to boil. "And now, if you please, three round, smooth stones." Those were easy enough to find. The peasants' eyes grew round as they watched the soldiers drop the stones into the pot. "Any soup needs salt and pepper," said the soldiers, as they began to stir. Children ran to fetch salt and pepper. "Stones like these generally make good soup, but oh, if there were carrots, it would be much better." "Why, I think I have a carrot or two," said Francoise, and off she ran. She came back with her apron full of carrots from the bin beneath the red quilt. "A good stone soup should have cabbage, " said the soldiers as they sliced the carrots into the pot. "But no use asking for what you don't have." "I think I could find a cabbage somewhere," said Marie and she hurried home. She came back with three cabbages from the cupboard under the bed. "If we only had a bit of beef and a few potatoes, this soup would be good enough for a rich man's table." The peasants thought that over. They remembered their potatoes and the side of beef hanging in the cellars. They ran to fetch them. A rich man's soup - and all from a few stones! It seemed like magic! "Ah," sighed the soldiers as they stirred in the beef and potatoes. "if we only had a little barley and a cup of milk! This would be fit for the King himself. Indeed he asked for just such a soup when last he dined with us." The peasants looked at each other. These soldiers had entertained the king! Well! "But - no use asking for what you don't have." the soldiers sighed. The peasants brought their barley from the lofts, they brought their milk from the wells. The soldiers stirred the barley and milk into the steaming broth while the peasants stared. At last the soup was ready. "All of you shall taste," the soldiers said. "But first a table must be set." Great tables were placed in the square. And all around were lighted torches. Such a soup! How good it smelled! Truly fit for a king! But then the peasants asked themselves, "Would not such a soup require bread and a roast - and cider?" Soon a banquet was spread and everyone sat down to eat. Never had there been such a feast. Never had the peasants tasted such soup. And fancy, made from stones!
They ate and drank and ate and drank. And after that they dance. They danced and sang far into the night. At last they were tired. Then the three soldiers asked, "Is there not a loft where we could sleep?" "Let three such wise and splendid gentlemen sleep in a loft? Indeed! they must have the best beds in the village!" So the first soldier slept in the priest's house. The second soldier slept in the baker's house and the third soldier slept in the mayor's house. In the morning, the whole village gathered in the square to give them a send-off. "Many thanks for what you have taught us," the peasants said to the soldiers. "We shall never go hungry, now that we know how to make soup from stones." "Oh, it's all in knowing how," said the soldiers, and off they went down the road. Great story right? And a good lesson. So although we didn't find any soup at this festival, we remembered a great story!
This weekend was a girl's camping weekend that had been planned for several months. I'll be honest...I had been dreading this weekend. Not because I didn't think I would have fun, oh I knew there would be lots of fun involved in a camping trip that included my sister Lisa and our friend Lupe. I was dreading trying to stick to a Low Carb/High Fat way of eating while not being at home where I have all my special foods and snacks available. But necessity is the mother of invention and I succeeded in making this a LCHF WOE weekend without too much of a struggle. We left after work on Thursday evening and stopped at McDonald's before we got to the campsite. I had two McDoubles without bread or ketchup. Just the meat, cheese, pickles, onions and I added jalapeno because hot stuff is in my blood! We got to the campsite, unpacked, set up and then just talked girl talk until about 1 am. Friday morning we awoke bright and early to the scent of the coffee my sister was brewing. Nothing better than the smell of coffee at the beach! Lupe had brought some Almond Biscotti to have with our coffee. I love Biscotti. Love how sweet and soft it gets when you dip it into your coffee. But just one Biscotti has 18 net carbs. I try to eat onlybetween 20 to 24 carbs per day, so to eat one cookie that has 18 is just out of the question. Luckily the day before I had purchased a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Quest Bar. One whole bar has 3 net carbs. The WHOLE BAR has 3 net carbs. It was so rich and delicious that I cut that bar in three pieces and enjoyed for two mornings and one evening. Was it Biscotti? No. But was it enjoyable and satisfying? YES!
We had several errands to run so we got ready and headed out. We stopped for breakfast at a cute little coffee shop called The Pantry on Park in Santa Maria. I figured I would just have a couple of eggs and bacon. Easy-peasy. But I was intrigued by the sound of a Bell Pepper, Onion, Ham and Egg Scramble. I asked the waitress what I could have instead of the hash browns and toast. She offered sliced tomatoes, cottage cheese or fresh fruit. I opted for the tomatoes and the fruit which consisted of sliced bananas, pineapple, cantaloupe and strawberries. I took out all the strawberries and put them on my plate (strawberries are lower in sugar) and offered the rest of the fruit to my sister Lisa and Lupe to share. It was one of the best breakfasts I've had in a long time!
For dinner that night, Lisa and Lupe decided to have the Fish and Chips dinner at the clubhouse of the RV park we were camping at (yes, we were at a fabulously comfortable RV park in a beautiful RV home; that is as "roughing it" as I get). Breaded Fish and French Fries are definitely not a low carb option. Luckily my beautiful, loving mother had packed us some of her homemade Chile Verde. She roasts Anaheim chile's and dices them very small with some tomato and salt, at this point we call it Chile Macho. Then she takes some steak and cuts it into bite-size pieces and browns it and then adds just a spoonful of flour to thicken and adds water and the Chile Macho and it turns into beautiful, delicious Chile Verde! Normally I would eat this with a tortilla, but again, those days are gone as I don't eat flour or wheat products. So instead I took about two cups of raw coleslaw mix, fresh out of the package and placed it in a bowl. Then I heated up the chile verde and poured it on top. The coleslaw gets a little softer but it's still crunchy and with the chile verde it tastes like a nice little vegetable soup. It was very filling and soothing and I didn't miss the fish and chips at all, even though they looked very good.
That night we headed over to a little club downtown where they have live music and dancing. We had a great time dancing and burned a lot of calories. All three of us love to dance! So ending this day I realized I had eaten some pretty great meals and stuck within my allowable carb count...not bad and so easy. Saturday morning we had the same ritual of having coffee and I had another piece of my Quest Bar with my coffee. We had decided that Saturday was going to be a relaxing day. No plans. We played the game Sorry, we worked on a puzzle, we walked to the beach, we read our books and we talked. When I got hungry I boiled some eggs and made some guacamole. Lupe and Lisa joined me in eating eggs and while they had corn tortilla chips with their guacamole I had Mac's Salsa and Limon Pork Rinds with mine. They tasted it using my pork rinds and they both agreed that it actually tasted better than using the tortilla chips! I had also taken along a jar of green olives stuffed with jalapenos...like I said, hot stuff is in my blood!
We decided to play another game called Quarters. It's a drinking game. None of us are very big drinkers, but I had taken along a bottle of tequila so we bounced quarters into a shot glass and whoever got the quarter in the glass that person would choose who would take the shot. It was fun and after we started to get too giggly we decided to stop and take a walk instead. Well Lisa and Lupe took a walk, I did my favorite thing and took a nap...a well deserved nap!
Later that evening for dinner we all just wanted salad. We went over to the local Vons store and purchased some salad in a bag and some chicken breast from the deli and made the best Asian Chicken Salad that I have ever had. Or maybe it was the rough day of camping and drinking that made us so hungry, but it was delicious!
We had just what we wanted, a day of rest, relaxation and recharging! We had coffee late in the evening while we sat outside. Lisa and Lupe had purchased some cream cheese danish at Vons and I had bought some strawberries and cream cheese. I heated about 4 ounces of cream cheese in the microwave for about 20 seconds, added cinnamon and some Splenda and used it as a dip for the strawberries with my coffee. Sunday we awoke bright and early. I was all out of Quest Bar so I ate the rest of the strawberries with the cream cheese dip for breakfast with my coffee, it was so good! I warmed up the dip and it was like having strawberry cream of wheat, very soothing and satisfying. We packed up all our stuff and remarked on how is it possible that we were taking more stuff home than what we brought with us? I think that's just how camping and/or vacations are. We were starving by the time we packed all our belongings and made the beds and prepared the RV for the RV fairies to come and take it away and place it back in storage. By the time we did all that we were hungry and I told the girls that we should go and eat at a cute little place on the pier at Avila Beach called Fat Cats Cafe. It's a cute little restaurant where you can look out at the ocean while you eat either inside or on their patio. We ate inside. I had a Bacon and Avocado Omelette. It was served with hash browns and toast but my waitress was awesome and recommended again either cottage cheese or tomatoes and again I had the tomatoes. My omelette was so huge that I could only eat half and brought the other half home with me.
On the drive home we stopped at a convenience store for snacks. I bought some peppered beef jerky and sunflower seeds and that is what I ate on the road trip home. I noticed that this weekend my sister Lisa and our friend Lupe joined me in eating low carb quite a bit. Maybe I have some low carb buddies in the making. So...a trip that I was dreading because of my new Way of Eating turned out pretty great. We had fun together and I was able to eat LCHF. It took a little planning and having the courage to ask our server for other options. I'm glad we went, I'm glad that my sister and Lupe encouraged and supported me on my WOE and I'm glad that I didn't look at this as an excuse to cheat or to stray from my WOE. It gives me the strength and determination to continue on! Plus I had a fabulous time with Lisa and Lupe. Let's do it again real soon ladies!
My sister Lisa loves camping! She especially loves camping at the beach. It has always been her dream to own an RV and last year she was lucky enough to buy one. I say lucky, but really it's due to the hard work of her and her husband and her great juggling skills in how she handles their money. I was really happy to see her dream fulfilled but I also know that Lisa having her dream RV home could only mean one thing...that sooner or later she would want me to go camping with her.
See...I'm a hotel kinda girl. I like hot water and soft beds and room service and someone to come in and make the bed for me the next day and leave me clean towels. It's just all so civilized right? But Lisa said that I would have to go at least once with her because she just knew that I was going to LOVE it!
She set the date for February. Now while the rest of the country is in a deep freeze, here in Sunny Southern California we're in the mid 70's, but regardless it seemed crazy to me to contemplate going camping in February. I mean...it's winter!
But my sister does so much for me that I figured the least I could do is to go along with her plan and I have to tell you, I am so glad I did. Did I like camping? Yes! Do I love camping? No! Would I go camping again? Yes! Would I prefer to stay in a hotel? Yes...and No! Both have their strong points.
So I'm just going to post photos of what we did. We left home on Friday morning and stopped and did a bit of shopping along the way and finally got to the campsite which is a very fancy place. Not just a state campground with no amenities. We had amenities up the wazoo! Wifi included people! This is my kind of camping!
We took our friend Lupe with us and it was great to have a girls weekend! Here's Lupe and Lisa opening up the RV or as we kept calling it, the trailer.
Here's where we spent most of our time, the little kitchen and kitchen table.
Pretty nice right? That kitchen table there, it turns into a bed. the couch that you see on the bottom left that is blue and beige, another bed. And this trailer has it's own bathroom with a shower and a bedroom. I don't know why I didn't take pictures of that.
And this RV park was awesome. They had a heated swimming pool, a recreation room with games and books and ping pong and TV, an on site restaurant and bar and grocery store. Super nice!
So what all did we do? Well you have to know that the most important and fun thing had to do with food and drink!
We had our Margaritas! You can get this bottle already pre-mixed for just $10 at Costco! And it is delicious! It's huge too, we barely made a dent in it and I don't think we even finished half.
We had our Noshing food. Just a bit of this and a bit of that. We stopped at a fruit stand that my sister knows of and bought some Guacamole and Pico de Gallo and Chips. We also picked up a package of Cheese and Ham with Crackers. That was perfect for dinner our first night and then we had it again our second night.
We also had to have something sweet in the evening and made up a little plate of some Grapes and Strawberries we bought at the fruit stand and I just happened to have a Hershey's Chocolate Bar with Almonds. It all went perfectly together and soothed our sweet tooth. Is your mouth watering?
We had some yummy cupcakes that Lupe's daughter baked for our trip. We thought they were so cute because the bottom is red and the top is speckled! They went perfectly with our coffee. Lupe had bought me this lovely coffee cup and I noticed while we sat outside having coffee how the words were reflected in the coffee. Pretty cool huh?
The last day we ate at the Girls Restaurant and I splurged and had French Toast. Lupe had a Breakfast Burrito and Lisa had Chorizo and Egg and we all shared with each other so we got a little bit of everything. Is not your mouth watering again with this picture?
But we didn't just eat. We played games. We played Ping Pong in the Rec Room and had so much fun!
We had lunch at one of our favorite places when we go to Pismo. Zorro's Bar and Cantina. It's such a quaint little place and such nice people and the best part is it's pet friendly. If you go with your dog you can sit out on the patio with them. I had a Mimosa which is what I'm holding in the picture below. I also had half a Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich and a bowl of Chicken Tortilla Soup, it was delicious!
Here's Lupe and Lisa. Lupe had a BBQ Chicken Sandwich with Onion Rings that were to die for and Lisa had a Burger that she devoured as we were all starving. We had only had coffee and a sweet roll before we headed to the Avila Valley Barn at Avila Beach.
And we bought several goodies at the Fruit Barn, including some Maple Bacon Salt Water Taffy...
On the last day we finally stopped alongside the beach and just let the sound of the waves sooth our soul.
We really packed a lot into that last day. Not only did we walk all over downtown San Luis Obispo, but we made a quick stop first at The Madonna Inn. Lupe had never been there and she loved it!
I have to say that I like Camping and I had a great time and I'm ready to go again. So Lisa...when's the next camping trip scheduled?
