Spring Break 2014-Day Three

Day three was going to be a breeze. I had one thing to check off my list while Hubby spent a half day at the conference.

I was going to visit Sunnylands  while Hubby "worked". Well, I made the much anticipated drive out there. Only to find out it was open Thursday through Sunday. I was there on Wednesday. I was disappointed, but what could I do? Oh well.

When Hubby was done for the day we looked forward to massages in the hotel spa. All I can say was, it was odd. Hubby and I did a couples massage. The spa had given Hubby the female masseuse and I had a male masseuse. I was ok with Hubby having a female. I wasn't quite comfortable with having a male. He was rough. I felt a little on edge the entire time with another man touching me. Plus, he used a little too much force. I thought I was giving off enough symbols to let him know that was too hard, but I guess not.

After leaving the spa and going back to our rooms, we passed by a couple that was fairly good looking. They knew it. But they also seemed to ooze porn. They gave off a sleazy vibe*.

Hubby has some silly goal to visit every Apple store in every town that we visit. So back to El Paseo we go. That led to dinner at a seafood restaurant called Pacifica. We ate on the rooftop patio overlooking the shops of El Paseo and the mountains. The food was fabulous! It was just a very neat experience!

Daylight was fading and it was time to get back to the hotel to pack up for the drive to Vegas, baby.



*Plus, it didn't help that she was getting him off right there at the pool.

Spring Break 2014-Day Two

After a night of recouping some rest and gaining a fresh perspective, we were waking up at Central Time, but that was ok. The weather was grand! We heard birds chirping in a not so distant tree*. Breakfast was our name. While Hubby went for a run, I started getting ready for the day.

We were able to enjoy breakfast together, then Hubby was off doing his work stuff. I went back to our room to kill a little bit of time before the shops opened. I wanted to head down to the downtown area of Palm Springs and hit some sights.

I was able to find the Palm Springs Museum of Art and saw some interesting things.

Seriously? This is what I paid $10 to see? I know art museums are sort of "iffy" when it comes to what is considered art these days, but this is just stupid. In another section there were canvases painted in solid colors. The only redeeming piece was this.

Oh well. Now on to downtown Palm Springs. There is retail therapy to be had! On my way I encounter this.

She's 26ft tall. Done by Johnson & Johnson heir Seward Johnson. Inspired by the famous photo from the movie The Seven Year Itch. It's sort of fitting since Palm Springs is where Norma Jean Baker was "discovered" and spent time there with former husband Joe DiMaggio.

There were a few souvenir shops sprinkled in between art galleries and other retail**. There was one store that had a tag line that said, "the cure for the humorless". Well, when I tried to take a picture of an item because I knew I would never remember to tell some friends about it, the sales guy tells me not to take any pictures. Talk about not having any sense of humor. I put my items for purchase down and walked out. Eh.

After lunch and the speech that Hubby and his team member were giving, the team member wanted to go down to El Paseo for more retail therapy***.  It was visually pleasing. I've never seen so many luxury cars. And when I say luxury, I mean LUXURY cars****.

After a while, there's only so much to see, when everything costs an arm and a leg. It's time to start thinking about heading back to the hotel and dinner. Hubby and I went to a hamburger joint back in downtown Palm Springs. It was called Hamburger Mary's. It was awesome! We were able to sit on the patio and enjoy eating dinner in perfect weather. 

Another day in the bag!


*We have been dying for the birds to come back this Spring.
**With as many art galleries that I saw, these people must change their art like they change their underwear.
***El Paseo is known as the "Rodeo Drive" of Palm Springs.
****A Lexus might have been considered as lowly as a Ford in this part of town.

What's For Dinner?

Anybody that knows me on Pinterest, knows that I am a pinning fool! Well, I got tired of  looking at a board full of pretty pictures. With my house on the market I couldn't break out any craft projects so I decided it was time to start making some of those fabulous recipes on my "What's For Dinner" board.

I sat down and made a menu for a few days. I already had in my head what we were having Monday night, so that was nothing new*.

Tuesday Night-The article says, "It's the best pork chop recipe you'll ever have"
Wednesday Night-Tempura chicken
Thursday Night-Baked penna with spinach, roasted red peppers and bacon
Friday Night-leftovers
Saturday Night-Chicken bacon pasta

Tuesday nights dinner with the pork chops rocked! I'd have to agree with the article that it IS the best pork chop recipe I've had. Of course, the parmesan cheese sure didn't hurt!

This recipe even brought raves from my kids! It had such a great flavor. Would I change anything? Nope! The article did say to avoid "soggy" porkchops to put pork chops on a rack inside the pan so it won't sit in the juices. Definitely going to try that next time.

I was looking forward to Wednesday nights recipe. Wednesday night was Tempura chicken. It was just a few items, and super easy! I cut chicken into strips and dipped it into the mixture then bathed in a very hot oil for 5 minutes**. Did I mention it was super easy? And super delicious!!
 
Would I change anything? I just might try a little more seasoning next time. Maybe. When I get into a rut with chicken, I'm going to this recipe!! The little "crispies" that the batter made were good to munch on as well. I even had to tempt (and torture a little) Hubby who was still at work during dinner time and told him what he was missing!

Thursday night was not such a hit. Was it the tomato soup? Frozen spinach? Not enough protein? The recipe called for penna pasta. I had every type of pasta in the house but penne. Maybe it could have been the rotini. Hhmm...This house will never know. The Bacon Penne with Spinach and Red Roasted Peppers did not go over well. Hubby was kind enough to at least finish his plate. My older daughter took one bite. My younger didn't touch it. I even told Hubby that if he wanted to throw away what was leftover it was okay if he did. He did. Which was a shame because I had an entire 9x13 pan. I threw this recipe away.

Since volleyball practice runs until 6pm and by Friday night there are enough leftovers to feed a village, that's what we had.

Saturday night I had scheduled a dish that I hadn't tried yet. But, as things turn out we sold our house and we had to go look at my first choice again and get the paperwork rolling. We were there for an exorbitant amount of time. Hubby and I were cranky, so you KNOW the kids weren't doing well. We didn't leave the agent's office til 7:30.

There was no way I was cooking anything. Mama's Pizza here we come!

Chicken Bacon Pasta was on the menu.  How could you go wrong when the recipe calls for cream cheese and cream? This one didn't go over well with the kids. It went over well enough for me and Hubby. We had enough protein in this one to satisfy Hubby. Would I change anything? Nothing I could think of.

So here's to making my pinterest board more than a bunch of pretty pictures. Here's to some new recipes worth keeping and some others that we at least tried.

I look forward to the next bunch!



Recipe Links:
Pork Chops
Tempura Chicken
Baked Penne with Bacon and Spinach
Chicken Bacon Pasta




*Salisbury steak. An old standby
**So if you've sworn off fried foods, this aint for you! I've never claimed to be a total health food fanatic.