The USS Midway Museum

On Thursday, my friend L and I drove down to San Diego for a little day trip. We arrived around noon, ate lunch, and then spent our afternoon touring the USS Midway Museum. The Midway is a former aircraft carrier, and it's now permanently docked in San Diego as a naval aircraft museum.

Here's a little photo dump of the various things spotted along the highly enjoyable and informative tour. I absolutely loved exploring the ship--we spent three hours on the ship listening to the audio tour, talking to the docents, and reading all of the plaques. If you have a few hours to kill, I would recommend visiting.

And after our tour, we decided to pull a proper Spring Break move and head to Mexico. Of course we didn't actually go to Mexico, but we drove up to the border fence and took a few pictures. Maybe next time I'll bring my passport!

We got back to LA just in time to catch Scandal, but I was far too tired to watch. I was asleep by 10:30, drained after our long day. After traveling almost five thousand miles across the country over Spring Break, I'm happy to rest my head at home. Another thing I'm excited about? Getting back to my kitchen!

We'll be back to our regularly scheduled content after this post--but I've loved sharing the week's adventures with you!

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Headed Down South...

Well, I've kind of been keeping a secret for the past few months. But now, the cat's truly out of the bag, so I can fill you all in! On account of my dad's work, my parents are relocating from Boston to Alpharetta, Georgia! My dad's been down south since January, and my mom has been splitting her time between Massachusetts and Georgia. However, they move into their new house at the end of this month!

Since it's my spring break, I figured I would fly out to spend a few days with my parents in their current digs in Alpharetta, and to see what the town's all about. I flew out on a red-eye on Friday night, and landed in Atlanta ready to boogie. Dad picked me up from the airport, and we spent a quiet morning at home with mum. Then, off we went for a busy afternoon!

We started off by walking the Big Creek Greenway. The Greenway is a trail system through the towns of Alpharetta and Roswell, meandering about eight miles through the woods along Big Creek. Apparently, we went at a pretty quiet time--however, we still saw tons of walkers, joggers, rollerskaters, and bikers traveling both ways on the trail. We only walked a few miles, but took our time enjoying the beautiful weather.

After our walk, we headed into downtown Roswell and parked along Canton Street. Downtown is a short, bustling bit of the street, packed with restaurants and little shops.

We poked around in stores like The Chandlery and The Painted Monkey, pictured above. While we didn't leave with anything, it was fun to explore some of the different things they had to offer!

We then headed across the street to Roswell Provisions, where we poked around the deli (so much cheese) and decided on a little afternoon treat! It's not a vacation without a mid-afternoon afternoon ice cream, let's be honest. My parents each got Moose Tracks, which was apparently good, but could have benefitted from more chocolate and peanut butter. I ate the coconut ice cream, which I really enjoyed. I love coconut, so this was an unexpected surprise. It was creamy, sweet, and perfectly coconut-y.

After our ice cream, we drove back home and I promptly took a nap on the couch, then groaningly rose to do some laundry, then headed off to dinner. My parents have sampled many of the local restaurants, and decided on Spice, a tapas-style restaurant. To take advantage of the nice weather and to escape the too-loud live music, we enjoyed our meal outdoors.

We started by splitting the spinach salad, which featured sun-dried tomatoes, onion, crumbled walnuts, and blue cheese. The bacon was omitted for obvious reasons, and it was dressed with a lemony vinaigrette. It was pretty darn nice! Nothing too special, but executed well. There was a minor debate over whether the nuts were bacon or not, but they turned out to just be nuts.

My parents then ate the blackened tilapia fish tacos, which were quite good, but could have done with more fish and slightly less seasoning. They both agreed that they enjoyed the tacos, which is sometimes a rare thing.

They then had the mussels fra diavalo, which were mussels in a spicy pomodoro sauce served with toasted focaccia. I nibbled on some of the focaccia, which was buttery and awesome, but mom and dad said that the mussels were somewhat drowning in the sauce.

Finally, finally, the grilled vegetable flatbread came out of the kitchen. Crispy flatbread topped with zucchini, onions, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, tomatoes, and goat cheese, this was exactly what I wanted. It just worked really well and all of the vegetables held their own flavor-wise.

And in a surprising move, we ordered dessert! We generally don't order dessert at restaurants, but we were told that the tiramisu was the kitchen's specialty... sadly, it wasn't that good. It could have done with less cream, more liqueur, and more powder atop.

We rolled on home and I immediately fell asleep, exhausted after a long day.

On Sunday, eleven hours later (yikes), I woke up to pouring rain outside of the window. We spent the morning inside watching a few Premier League matches and doing various work, and then mum and I did a spot of grocery shopping at the local Publix. I almost had a bit of a freak-out because I couldn't find any hummus in the whole store, but at the last minute, we found some tucked away in a small display. Phew, am I right?

Later in the afternoon, we went to see The Monuments Men. It's a movie based on the true groups of art historians and scholars rushing to save stolen European artwork during WWII and the fall of Nazi Germany. While it may have been a bit lacking in terms of historical accuracy, it was certainly a fun watch! I would definitely recommend it--there's some serious acting talent represented and the true story it's based on is absolutely fascinating.

We're cooking dinner on Monday to avoid the St. Patrick's Day crowds, so we ate out at PURE tacqueria following the movie. It's this cool little converted gas station, and it now has five locations throughout Atlanta. Ours is the original though!

We were greeted with some really dang salty chips. Nevertheless, we inhaled the first basket and were immediately given a second basket without question... unnecessary, but the second batch were fresh, hot, and less salty, so they were a lot better.

I thought I ordered one of the specials, the vegetable quesadilla, but I'm pretty sure this was the vegetable enchilada. I didn't realize it wasn't what I had ordered until about halfway through, but I had thought about the enchilada anyways, so whatever. It was filled with cheese, spinach, mushrooms, and onions, and had a pretty serious kick to it! The corn salsa atop was also a nice touch. It wasn't what I had wanted, but I'm glad I got it!

Mum ordered the chicken burrito, which was easily larger than her head. It came with black beans and rice on the side, and the (apparently tasty) burrito was topped with green sauce, onions, lettuce, guacamole, and cheese. She said the guacamole was nothing special, but she did get the uneaten half of the burrito wrapped up for lunch tomorrow, so I'm assuming she liked it quite a lot!

Last but not least, my dad ordered the fish tacos. I'm not sure he thought it would be a DIY operation, but he said they were alright. He didn't like the tortillas, since they allegedly tasted "like cardboard" and had a bit of a strange texture, but the fish and vegetables were nice.

A huge part of the charm of PURE was definitely the atmosphere. It has a funky, almost Los Angeles vibe to it, and the restaurant proudly proclaims their reliance on sustainable and organic ingredients. The restaurant felt like it could have been in Venice, not the South!

So that's a little summary of the weekend! I'm here through Wednesday morning, so expect a few more posts from the south detailing our various shenanigans. I'm making dinner tomorrow, and on Tuesday my mom and I are exploring Atlanta itself, so stay tuned!

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Mammoth

Although my Spring Break ended last Saturday, the week has run away from me in terms of class, working out, and seeing my friends! I like being busy, but man, I was exhausted by the time I was done everything at night. So without any further ado, here's a quick (mostly photographic) recap of our four days skiing in Mammoth.

My parents lived in LA throughout the 80s and early 90s; they used to go up to Mammoth for weekend trips all the time. Since I'm not going to be home until the middle of May, I suggested to them that they come out for my break and take me skiing. You already saw our brief adventure in Topanga Canyon; after we left the Canyon around noon on Sunday, we drove up through the Mojave desert with a brief pit stop for food.

We then took another few hours through the mountains. The former Japanese Internment camp of Manzanar is en route to Mammoth... The site has been preserved as a historic museum and a solitary watchtower remains standing. It was very sobering to drive past and remember such a dark spot in American history. 

We got to our hotel, the Village Lodge, around seven. We checked in and went to our little apartment--emphasis on the "little". While it wasn't badly decorated, there was definitely not enough room for three adults. I cannot imagine packing yet another person into that room.

Another problem? The heating was disgustingly high and there was no way to make the room colder, except to open the door to the balcony. Therefore, our windows and door were open almost all the time we were in the room.

Once we'd successfully complained about everything in the room, it was too late to do much else but grab a quick bite to eat at Sushi Rei and go to bed.

Here are some photos from the four days of skiing we had:

There's my mom in the yellow helmet--the only way we can spot her in a crowd.

The above are all from our first day. Definitely a nice introduction to the mountain. We ate lunch at the midway lodge, McCoy's, and dinner that night at Gomez's, in the Village.

Heading up to ski the bowl.

Of course, a selfie was mandatory.

There's my dad, only four months post-knee surgery. He's nothing if not determined to ski.

Pictures from our second day. Once again, beautiful sunny day. We ate lunch at McCoy's, and cooked our own dinner.

I have no pictures from our third day, Wednesday. It had snowed overnight, but it didn't stick and the wind blew everything around. It continued to snow on Wednesday, but it was wet snow, the wind was howling, and the visibility was low. We stopped skiing at lunch, ate in the Village (at the Side Door Cafe and Wine Bar), and went back to our room for a nap. That night, we went to Campo.

Our last day was beautiful. Absolutely clear skies, little wind, and some trails with relatively deep snow. We rode Chair 5 and skiied under the lift for about four runs in a row--lots of snow there! My dad and I ventured to ski the Cornice one last time, and we called it a day around noon to head back to LA.

Altogether, a wonderful vacation that I think of fondly. My parents enjoyed skiing Mammoth again after so many years, and I enjoyed the snow. I strangely miss some of the weather in New England! While weather consistently sunny and in the 70s is nice, it was fun to get back to snow.

Mammoth, we'll be back.

PS: If anyone's interested in seeing more Instagram snaps of my life/food/vacations, follow me @kat_herine_w

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Campo

Quick recap for anyone just joining us now: I'm on Spring Break, and my parents and I are doing a bit of a road trip through California to see family and friends. This past weekend, we were in Topanga Canyon (read about it here), and now we're at Mammoth Mountain.

But more about Mammoth later! I want to tell you about food!

Tonight was our last night in Mammoth, and I've been craving pizza lately, so we decided to go to Campo. There is another Campo in Reno, and the chef recently decided to open another in Mammoth. Good move, mister chef. Good move.

We walked in the door from Mammoth Village and immediately spotted this wood-burning pizza oven... then the smell of baking pizza hits our noses. My mouth was watering before we were even seated, which is how it should be, I think!

There were plenty of options that all sounded absolutely delicious. One of their dishes that I'd read a lot of rave reviews about was their "Bee Sting" pizza--which is salami, serrano, mozzarella, grana, and honey. Unfortunately, I don't eat meat, and my parents weren't feeling brave enough to try the honey, so we did not get to sample that.

Our waitress delivered some focaccia and olive oil/balsamic vinegar while we deliberated over the menu. While it looked delicious, the focaccia was not as flavorful as we had hoped. However, it took the edge off our hunger while we perused the menu! (That's my dad's finger sneaking into the picture, trying to nab a piece of focaccia before I was finished photographing!)

We eventually decided on two appetizers to split: the roasted cauliflower and the roasted shishito peppers.

I love cauliflower, and I especially love garlic, so I was really hoping it'd taste as good as it sounded. The verdict? I liked it, though my mother thought the garlic overpowered the cauliflower. Regardless, we ate the lot--we're plate cleaners!

Now, I had to quickly google what shishito peppers are, so I had no idea what to expect when it came to the second appetizer. Shishitos are about jalapeño-pepper sized, with a very mild kick to them.

Our peppers were served in a little cast-iron plate and they looked amazing. Part of that came from the fact that they were covered in oil... in retrospect, I think they should have been drizzled with oil, not dunked. However, we each picked one up by the stem, dunked it in the sea salt and lemon dressing (sort of like an aioli), and ate the pepper whole. They were really quite good! Not a typical appetizer at many restaurants, so it was a very nice change. There were plenty of peppers for the three of us, and I think many more could have shared.

Then, almost as soon as we finished the last peppers, our entrées arrived.

I got a Margherita pizza--pretty standard Italian food. Campo proudly claims that they are a member of the Vera Pizza Napoletana Association, which means that their pizza is authentically Italian.

The crust of my pizza was thin and cooked very well, with very little ash on the bottom. The basil was fresh, the cheese delicious, and the sauce was a great base. My only complaint was the arranging of the pizza. There wasn't quite enough basil, and there were places around the edges that could have done with more cheese. However... I still gobbled a few slices up!

My mother got the risotto of the day. It was a pretty basic risotto with camembert, sweet peppers, and a bit of bacon. She was ambivalent about it. The risotto was likened to rice pudding, but she still got her leftovers packaged up! There was a lot of rice in that bowl--every time my mom took a bite, the remaining risotto would flow and fill its place. Consequentially, it looked like she'd eaten very little, even though she took the level of the rice down about an inch. Solid food, but not-so-great presentation.

My dad ordered the wild mushroom pizza. Obviously, it had wild mushrooms on it, but it also had bacon, toma cheese, garlic, and an egg. He really enjoyed it! Of course, he really enjoys bacon and eggs on the weekend, so that was a given. My dad liked the crust a lot, as it was nice and thin, with a good crisp, while maintaining a softer inside.

Again, I'd like to note the displacement of the mushrooms and bacon... still uneven in parts! It might just be me being a nitpicker, but I think it made both pizzas seem a little thoughtless.

We soaked up the very pleasant ambiance after our plates were cleared away, politely declined dessert (boo) and got our check delivered in an old book... which, of course, my mother scoffed at. "It's a rubbish book, Katherine. Ruth Rendell is a much better writer."

Even cooler, people use the books as guestbooks. My favorite entry was one couple who wrote their name, the date of their visit, and "First Date Success!" I aww'ed and my dad scoffed. Regardless... here's to hoping it's working out for them!

Since everyone else was writing something, I thought it'd be an appropriate time for some shameless self-promotion...

With our leftovers in hand, we left Campo full and happy. If/when we're back in Mammoth, we will certainly be dining there again.

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