Relaxed Weekend Meals: Saturday

Oh to be behind.  Yes it is currently Monday August 29th, and I am still writing about the weekend of August 14th and our relaxing meals at home.  I never realized or appreciated how hard it is for people to blog every day.  With a full time job, for me it is impossible.  Of course, being a very new blog, with very few views thus far, my absence surely did not disappoint too many.

To refresh, the weekend of August 14-15 was set aside as relaxation time.  CW and I were to spend lots of time together, doing as little as possible.  We got off to a good start with massages at The Hidden Spa in Ocean Beach, San Diego.  The Hidden Spa is a very reliably good place for a massage in San Diego.  While not dirt cheap, the prices are reasonable and the quality of the staff excellent.  Every massage I have gotten there has been extremely relaxing.  Post massage, it was 12:30 and we were starving.  Still basking in the lazy haze of post-massage trance, we headed across the street to Pizza Port.  I had never been to this restaurant before, but had always heard really good things about the beer selection.  The beer menu is large, with roughly 30 beers on tap, a third of which are brewed on site.  Being lunchtime I wanted to start with a light refreshing brew and chose a wheat ale called Witch's Wit, which I learned later is actually produced by the Lost Abbey brewery here in San Diego county (it's in San Marcos).  It was light in color and body, with a great wheat taste.  Just super refreshing.  For round two I chose the house brewed Newbreak Pale Ale, which was naturally hoppier and a bit heavier.  It was a good complement to the pizza - yes I'll get to that!  Below are the two beers, with the Witch's Wit on the left:

For lunch CW and I split the Garlic Veggie Pizza on a wholegrain crust.  A small pie has 6 slices and was plenty for the two of us (and I was very hungry).  Loaded with garlic, it also had spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, feta, and mozzarella.  While not a completely traditional pizza, it was delicious.

Now, I very rarely have pizza that I do not like.  I love pizza - all styles.  Being from New York originally, I have run across a fair number of NY pizza snobs, who shun any pie that is not in the traditional Neapolitan or Sicilian style that they grew up eating in the NY area.  Well, I think such an opinion is extremely limiting, and such people will probably go through life never eating lots of other good pizzas.  This is not to say that there isn't bad pizza out there; dough can be the wrong consistency, sauces and cheeses can be of poor quality, it can be burnt... the list of potential problems is endless.  All I want to say is that there is so much good pizza to be had, and I urge anyone out there with a narrow view of what pizza should look/taste like to open your mind to the experience of something different.

The rest of Saturday was spent resting and planning dinner.  If I recall correctly we went straight from lunch to the market to get ingredients for dinner!  Told you we like food.  CW had a hankering for a curry dish and found a recipe for a spinach, red lentil and bean curry.  Despite the long ingredient list, this was a very simple dish to put together, and the result was quite tasty, and very healthy.  Between the lentils and beans there is a ton of protein, and the fresh tomatoes and spinach add vitamins and great color (OK so color isn't a nutrient but it makes the photos better).  Here are some pics:

Chopped Onion an Garlic Cloves

Diced Tomato and Cilantro

Spinach and Yogurt/Spice Mixture

Mixing in Tomato and Cilantro

Mixed Lentils and Beans

Lentils added in

Stirred and Simmered to Meld Flavors

 

Finished Curry

The curry turned out very well.  It was flavorful without being too spicy.  It was a great dish for leftovers too.  Later in the week we spread it on tortillas with some sprinkled cheese for easy and delicious midweek meal.

A weekend entry wouldn't be complete without a sipper!  For this evening we wanted to utilize some creme de cocoa that we'd recently picked up.  I have had some cocktails combining flavors of orange and chocolate, so put together a cocktail with bourbon, creme de cocoa, fresh orange juice, and lemon juice.  It doesn't have a name but here it is (makes 2 drinks):








4 oz. Bourbon
1.5 oz. Creme de Cocoa
Juice of one Lemon
Juice of one Orange

Shake above with ice.  Strain over ice and enjoy!

It was delicious... just the right hint of sweet chocolate to balance the citrus and bourbon.


That's all for now.  Enjoy!