San Diego

We've been to San Diego before, for Comic Con, but never got a chance to see anywhere outside the Gaslamp Quarter. So last week we decided to go - booked a hotel (motel?) on Tuesday and drove to it on Friday. I did my first stint of long driving on the interstate. It was really fun. I was way more excited than lordkilljoy who's all "I've done this a million times." Anyway - I didn't crash, which is good. I'm very indecisive, though. I'd come up behind a car going a little slower than me and be all "should I overtake them?" Eventually I got sick of it and just slowed down so that all the cars were going faster than me. Except for some and then they'd speed up when I'd go to overtake and it was all very annoying. I even overtook a truck on a normal road (ie, no divide to keep cars on their own side of things). You have to go well out of your way to find one of them around here - a normal road, not a truck.

So we got in and went for dinner in Little Italy (which was just up the hill). Dinner was amazing. I've never been disappointed going out in San Diego. All the restaurants we've been to (this trip and the last) have been top class. We strolled around a bit, me dithering between wanting to live in San Diego because it's beautiful and the weather is perfect and not wanting to live there because it's a bit intimidating at night.

Saturday we went around the USS Midway (an aircraft carrier museum) which was incredible. Huge and full of metal and cool things and stuff you could touch. I spent the whole trip dreaming about being an engineer driving the ship, an enlisted naval person, an officer and a fighter pilot. I don't know if I've ever mentioned that I wanted (along with twenty billion other things (every time we passed a train on the road I'd express my desire to be a train diver)) to be a fighter pilot... I could say when I was younger, but I still daydream about it. Living on a ship, getting catapulted into the air and flying around. I don't think I could deal with the actual killing people part, though. So, we spent 4 hours wandering around and listening to the audio tour - it was a really cool morning.

That afternoon we went to the zoo, which we spent another 4 hours wandering around. It's amazing how you fit stuff in when you only have a short amount of time. The zoo was lovely, though. I'm so impressionable. Every time we go to a zoo, or park or something I wander around going: I want my garden to look like this. And as we sat in the aviary watching the birds flit around, was was like: I could totally build an aviary in my back garden. I don't even have a garden :/ Ah, imagination - I suppose I can have everything I want through you.

So anyway, the zoo was cool. There's a cable car that goes from one end to the other and takes you up above everything for a pretty unique view of the animals. And there were loads of acrobatics and shows on the evening we went (not sure if this is what it's like all the time). That night we went out again, for another amazing meal. Even though we were both exhausted, we still enjoyed it.

And on Sunday morning we went off to the beach for an hour or so. It was packed. We drove up to La Jolla and spent ages looking for parking. The beach was beautiful, though. White sand, blue-green sea, half metre waves. I tried to resist and only dip my feet in, but I couldn't. The water was warm (compared to Irish sea water) and the waves were inviting and with only a little encouragement from lordkilljoy I'd changed into my swimming things and was jumping around in the surf. It was brilliant.

And then we drove home - again I didn't crash. Go me!

I made crackers today. They are delicious - not dry at all. I've eaten about 10 (probably more) since they came out of the oven. And they're so crackery. They snap when you bite into them. And they are lovely with cheese. I'd say they are very successful. I used my new pasta maker to roll out the dough thin enough. Only I'm not very good at it yet, so some of my crackers are more thin and snappy than others.

I think that's it. I'm still playing Skyrim. I've clocked up a rather frightening number of hours at this stage. Still not as many as Oblivion, though and no where near as much as Morrowind or Daggerfall.

I crocheted a doily-coaster for the glass of water that sits on my desk. I was getting a bit fed up of having a water ring where it sits, so I did something about it. Now that I'm done with that I'm making a cute crochet robot.

I definitely think that's that.

P.S. Hey, Lj, what's going on with line breaks not auto-formatting?

Weekly News (or something)

For the first time in 11½ years I cleaned up my friends page. Anyone whose name I didn't recognise is gone (because if I don't know your name it means we didn't interact much). I also got rid of a bunch of old communities that hadn't had activity in 3 or 4 years. I don't know why I didn't do this sooner. My profile page looks so much lighter now.

Anyway.

What news? I made caramel squares on Friday night. They are delicious. The caramel is more like toffee, but it is absolutely yummy. They come out of the fridge and they are so hard to bite into. I've taken to leaving them warm up for a bit. They are also horrendously bad for you. I think they are the most fatty sweet I've ever made. So I have to seriously control myself and only eat 1 per day. Yesterday I nibbled away on one square for the whole day and it was great. A nibble is all you need, really, to get the taste and satisfy the desire for yumminess.

What else? I'm back playing Skyrim again and after one day I was totally addicted. I just want to play all the time. I started with a new character (a destruction mage) and she is so much fun to play. I always thought stealth was the most fun way to go, but there's something delightfully chaotic about laying down fire runes (which are like magical traps that set off an explosion when they are triggered) and waiting for foes to walk into them, then shocking them with lightning as they stumble around on fire. That sounded so evil. But it's so much fun. Bethesda are really good at making games. I don't think I've stumbled into any of the same quests as last time and I'm doing things completely differently.

River went to the vet on Thursday to get 3yearly injections. She was fine afterward.

Ooh - last weekend we went tubing on Salt River. It was so much fun. They give you rubber tubes and a bus trip up to the start point, then let you off to drift back to the main area. It sounds really boring, but every so often the water gets shallow and fast and that is when it gets really fun. And just watching the desert drift by was great too.

We went to see Prometheus on Wednesday. I really enjoyed it. There were some super gory bits in the middle, but overall it was a fun story about a girl whose faith is challenged.

nomnible

Banana bread is cooked and cooled and it is so delicious. I think it is the best banana bread I've ever had. It's so moist and delicate. Not at all dense, like most banana breads. There are banana-y pieces and chocolaty pieces and it is oh-so-difficult to have just one slice (but at 250 calories per slice (decent slice - about an inch), that's about all I should eat). I can post the recipe if anyone's interested.

I was just out walking River (in the 36° heat) and thought to myself, "I'd be quite happy if this weather went on forever." We'll see how I feel in five months' time.
I'm still getting up at half five to walk her. I think I've discovered that going back to bed straight after the walk (and sleeping until 9ish) works best for me. Napping in the middle of the day doesn't work because, apart from River barking, I sleep very lightly and wake up every few minutes.

We went to see Men in Black 3 last night. I really enjoyed it. Will Smith is his usual funny self, and the capers and character interaction are fun and harmless.

Did I mention lordkilljoy and I are playing Diablo 3? We're almost finished, just the last act to go. It's fun. I'm playing a wizard and I don't think I'll ever get bored of shooting a massive disintegration ray out of my hands.

beee-na-na

I think I just found the secret to good banana bread (possibly - it's not out of the oven yet, but the batter tastes yummy out). People say to use ripe bananas, but they never quite describe just how ripe they should be.
I've discovered that the best kind of ripe* is when the outside of the banana feels squishy, and the inside has sort of melted a little bit, and there may possibly be the start of some fermentation going on (bananas never tasted of rum before). You don't even need to mash them before throwing them into the batter, they sort of fall apart all by themselves.
I shall update again in an hour when this is cooked.

*I have a suspicion that this kind of ripe only happens at about 30°C (the ambient temperature of our apartment).

I may have thrown some chocolate chips in there too :)