Another bike ride today. We decided to see if we could bike around Mission Bay. We knew there were good bike paths on part of the way, but the whole ride amounts to 14 miles. We took the clockwise direction, biked out of our house straight to Sail Bay, then biked along the bay bike path as far as we could, that is to the big part at the end of Crown Point. Actually, just before we even got to the park, we had to veer of the bike path because a whole trailer camp had been set up there to service the big speed boat race that's going on in San Diego right now. We stopped for a while to watch the races, they're pretty crazy, they go sooo fast and they're sooo loud!
We biked on some side streets around Campland camp site, up to Grand Avenue, over Rose Creek and then down on a semi bike path that led us onto the path around East Mission Bay. From there there's a perfect path along the bay through one recreational park after the other. I had just not realized there were so many parks in San Diego. But if you wanta have a picnic or a barbecue or just let your kid run around or play, I would say you have quite a choice!
At the end of the East Mission Bay Drive, we crossed the creek that comes out from Mission Valley, came around Fiesta Island and then onto Sea World Drive, along which there is a street bike path but also a wide empty sidewalk. A path goes all around Sea World onto Ingraham, where we crossed the highway before the bridge. We then biked around the marina up to the Mission Bay bridge, where instead of crossing right away we checked out the Fish Market. They vow to have the best Fish and Chips in town and we shared one of those, with a lemonade, to verify their claims. It's one of those ancient, no-frills places that is kinda fun to visit.
Biking over the bridge on West Mission Bay you get a real nice view of the channel (that I by the way sailed out on my last sailing lesson), so we hung out there for a little while, then biked down to the Bahia Hotel and again around the bay back to our starting point. All in all the bike ride probably took about three hours, out of which we probably stopped for one. There was still time to go sailing, so we went quick back to the house to get my Rec Card for the boat rental.
We ran into Jan as he was coming in, but we didn't wanta loose any time as the boat rental now shuts an hour earlier than in summer. Today I was gonna have C sail me around. The wind was nothing like yesterday, it was very mellow. We sailed out of the cove and just cruised gently back and forth. It was so gentle that I could just lean back and put my legs out on the bow. It was heavenly. So heavenly that just before we started sailing back in, the wind completely died on us. Well, we struggled (or C did, to be exact) for an hour tacking into the cove without ever getting that much closer. We realized we were gonna need a few more hours still to make it all the way, when Jenny, the dockmaster, finally came out to us in a motorboat and most thankfully pulled us in. Sort of shameful, I guess. And no. At least we didn't break anything today!
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Drifting away (or What Do You Do With a Broken Rudder ...)
We have now picked up again our weekly bike-down-to-the-farmer's-market saturday routine. At the market we usually get avocados (because we found a stand there we can really trust), eggs (from a sweet old lady that also recycles our egg cartons for us) and fresh orange juice (from this grumpy guy whom we still can't bypass 'cause his pricy orange juice is still just SO good). Otherwise we usually just pick out some seasonal stuff that we seem to need or that looks tasty, sweet corn, tomatoes, grape fruits, oranges, zuccinis, strawberries ... The market's not all that great really, but it does complement the super market nicely sometimes.
After breakfast and stuff we went sailing because it was really to windy to go to the beach. Well, it was almost too windy to sail our little boat too. We realized that while we were rigging the boat already. The wind pulled on the sails alot and it was hard just to hold the boom in place. To top it, after we had put the boat in the water we noticed that our main sheet was too short to let the sail out all the way and that we were gonna have to sail with a tight sail even downwind. This is not ideal if you wanta be able to depower the boat when necessary.
As we took off, I was glad that I have been getting some exposure lately, because sailing the boat was not terribly relaxing. I managed ok though and we did some fun sailing for a while and got plenty of speed. We would get gusts though that would really make our boat lean and make it try to go into the wind, so I would have to hang on to the tiller extra hard to keep the course. We had sailed for a couple of hours already and were just going back and forth on little Sail Bay, across from the Catamarin hotel, when we got one of those gusts. Once we had righted the boat again I suddenly saw this white thing floating in the water. I moved the tiller and got no response! Holy cow, that was our rudder floating out there!
How do you sail without a rudder?? Fortunately, C had some notion of exactly that! He took control of both the sails now, and pulling and letting the sheets he managed to beach us. We then walked the boat around the beach over to the aquatic center. I probably would have been pissed if our rental hours hadn't almost been out anyway. At least we managed to get back and weren't stuck somewhere out in the bay for who-knows-how-long. In a way, this was something of an adventure!
When we got back to the house, I started preparing dinner big-time! I took out the frozen spring roll wraps and to further make use of all the good stuff we got at the vietnamese market last weekend, I decided to make three different dishes: spring rolls, samosas and a kofta recipe. This involved three different meat blends and a hell of a lot of cutting, chopping and shredding, aside from rolling and folding the spring rolls and samosas. Then, the meat ball dough had to sit for an hour before being cooked, the vermicelli had to be soaked and the samosas baked in the oven. All in all, the cooking took a whole two hours. But it was worth it, we thought we had a nice, exotic meal there ...
After breakfast and stuff we went sailing because it was really to windy to go to the beach. Well, it was almost too windy to sail our little boat too. We realized that while we were rigging the boat already. The wind pulled on the sails alot and it was hard just to hold the boom in place. To top it, after we had put the boat in the water we noticed that our main sheet was too short to let the sail out all the way and that we were gonna have to sail with a tight sail even downwind. This is not ideal if you wanta be able to depower the boat when necessary.
As we took off, I was glad that I have been getting some exposure lately, because sailing the boat was not terribly relaxing. I managed ok though and we did some fun sailing for a while and got plenty of speed. We would get gusts though that would really make our boat lean and make it try to go into the wind, so I would have to hang on to the tiller extra hard to keep the course. We had sailed for a couple of hours already and were just going back and forth on little Sail Bay, across from the Catamarin hotel, when we got one of those gusts. Once we had righted the boat again I suddenly saw this white thing floating in the water. I moved the tiller and got no response! Holy cow, that was our rudder floating out there!
How do you sail without a rudder?? Fortunately, C had some notion of exactly that! He took control of both the sails now, and pulling and letting the sheets he managed to beach us. We then walked the boat around the beach over to the aquatic center. I probably would have been pissed if our rental hours hadn't almost been out anyway. At least we managed to get back and weren't stuck somewhere out in the bay for who-knows-how-long. In a way, this was something of an adventure!
When we got back to the house, I started preparing dinner big-time! I took out the frozen spring roll wraps and to further make use of all the good stuff we got at the vietnamese market last weekend, I decided to make three different dishes: spring rolls, samosas and a kofta recipe. This involved three different meat blends and a hell of a lot of cutting, chopping and shredding, aside from rolling and folding the spring rolls and samosas. Then, the meat ball dough had to sit for an hour before being cooked, the vermicelli had to be soaked and the samosas baked in the oven. All in all, the cooking took a whole two hours. But it was worth it, we thought we had a nice, exotic meal there ...
Thursday, September 14, 2006
The Asian Market
Last weekend I talked C into exploring one of the asian food markets here in San Diego, because I have been on the lookout for some products that might not be available except at one of those markets, such as rice paper, galangal root, tamarind and lime kaffir leaves. We found one in Linda Vista, the wonderful Vien Dong, which to be exact is not an Asian market but Vietnamese. We stuffed our cart with interesting foods (yet found no kaffir lime leaves this time), then headed home to try out new recipes. Since the weekend then, we have had Fried Mini Spring Rolls, Spicy Stir Fry Chicken, Grilled Thai Trout and Fragrant Curry Chicken. All have been pretty yum, yum, but none is a favorite as of yet. But there's a whole list of recipes that we are getting ready to try still.
Monday, September 11, 2006
Sailing Again on my Own
To catch up, we rented a boat two times this weekend, and sailed around the bay. If I may say so myself, I think I'm getting better at it. The wind was moderate, and it wasn't terribly crowded on the bay although there was a fair number of sailboats out. I met both Oskar and José, from my sailing class. They were each taking a Hobie Cat out. José said they were so much more fun than the Holder's. I don't know, the catamarins look kinda scary to me, they go so fast and they heel so much. But J said they were actually easier to sail, more stable but more responsive. I guess I might try to take a Hobie Cat class later this fall, if I manage to do more sailing in the meantime.
I'm getting much better at using the extension to control the tiller. (That's kind of fundamental for sailing the catamarins, because you have to lean out of them so much ...) I had one accidental jibe on Sunday, when sailing wing-on-wing. I think it was due to a gust, but I was actually quite confused about what happened. I must learn to be better prepared for this type of situation and better control the boat at all times. I also almost ran into a boat twice (and it was the same boat each time, but in completely different parts of the bay!). In both cases I had the right of way; the first time the other skipper visibly didn't see me, the second time I didn't see him because he appeared suddenly from behind us. But right-of-way is not the most important, but to be able to avoid collisions! So, it's good experience to do some sailing on the bay when it is fairly crowded with boats.
I'm getting much better at using the extension to control the tiller. (That's kind of fundamental for sailing the catamarins, because you have to lean out of them so much ...) I had one accidental jibe on Sunday, when sailing wing-on-wing. I think it was due to a gust, but I was actually quite confused about what happened. I must learn to be better prepared for this type of situation and better control the boat at all times. I also almost ran into a boat twice (and it was the same boat each time, but in completely different parts of the bay!). In both cases I had the right of way; the first time the other skipper visibly didn't see me, the second time I didn't see him because he appeared suddenly from behind us. But right-of-way is not the most important, but to be able to avoid collisions! So, it's good experience to do some sailing on the bay when it is fairly crowded with boats.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Labor Day Weekend
It was the lazy life this weekend. I had been apprehending the crowds and the traffic one would expect on a big holiday such as Labor Day, even if not as infernal as the Fourth of July, but it was finally kind of quiet around our neighbourhood. Sure, there were people down on the beach, there were big sun shades with tables and drinks, and there were people doing barbicues, but there were no mobs.
The big disappointment was that the Aquatic Center was closed, so there were no boat rentals possible. We had sort of planned to go sailing at least once or twice over the weekend. Well, we were down to the beach, did some boogie boarding (mostly me), and we made that bike ride. We also took advantage of a Labor Day sale to buy a DVD player to hook up to our TV. Sofar we've been watching movies on my computer screen, but this is much nicer. We got an OK deal on the DVD player, although apparently the labor day sale really ended on saturday, that is two days before the actual LD. That is something to know for next time ...
The big disappointment was that the Aquatic Center was closed, so there were no boat rentals possible. We had sort of planned to go sailing at least once or twice over the weekend. Well, we were down to the beach, did some boogie boarding (mostly me), and we made that bike ride. We also took advantage of a Labor Day sale to buy a DVD player to hook up to our TV. Sofar we've been watching movies on my computer screen, but this is much nicer. We got an OK deal on the DVD player, although apparently the labor day sale really ended on saturday, that is two days before the actual LD. That is something to know for next time ...
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Bikeride to La Jolla
Ever since I got my cruiser bike (the one we saw at a garage sale for $15), we've never been biking all that far really. What we do is bike down to the bay, along the bay, to the boardwalk and along the boardwalk, and to the Farmer's Market on Saturdays. And that is it! Apparently though, San Diego is a real Bicyclist's Paradise.
Today, I asked C how long he thought it would take to bike into downtown La Jolla. About an hour, he thought. There even was a bike path half the way or so. I decided this bikeride would be our activity for the afternoon. To make it even more appealing, I decided that the gelato store on Prospect Street would be our endpoint.
The minute we were out on our bikes, I started regretting a little bit. The sun was strong and relentless and the ride out of PB was all uphill, although only slightly, most of the time. But, it wasn't too bad. Once we reached Tourmaline, there was a bike path following side streets and hidden trails. It steered us to a quiet wide street with a bike lane, just above the La Jolla Boulevard. We took this street through the old, beautiful residential neighbourhoods of La Jolla Birdrock, then turned more into the hillside, where we continued on a bike path again. It had a steep part as we went over the edge of Mount Soledad, then went downhill again to land us on Nautilus Street. Once we had crossed Nautilus, we were on a nice quiet road again, with bike lane, that took us past La Jolla Highschool, over Pearl Street all the way into downtown. The whole ride took us just under 50 minutes.
We locked up our bikes in a side street, and walk down to the cove. I was actually too worked out to have an ice cream right away, so we just sat down on a bench overlooking the beach cliffs and did some people watching for a good while. The park was packed with picknickers and people that had visibly come to spend the day on the lawn, listening to some bands playing. Lots of families were bathing on the beach. Many looked dressed up for the occasion (Labor Day). It was actually fun to be there and watch the scene.
We hung out for almost an hour, then walked back up to Prospect and our Gelateria Frizzante. And my-oh-my was it good! We both got sherberts, C got blood orange and mango, I got lemon and green apple, then we shared. They were all great, but the blood orange probably came out on top. The milk gelatos looked pretty tasty too. That's for next time.
We biked back in about 40-45 minutes. The ride back was more downhill. Maybe not tomorrow, but we'll certainly have to do that again ...
Today, I asked C how long he thought it would take to bike into downtown La Jolla. About an hour, he thought. There even was a bike path half the way or so. I decided this bikeride would be our activity for the afternoon. To make it even more appealing, I decided that the gelato store on Prospect Street would be our endpoint.
The minute we were out on our bikes, I started regretting a little bit. The sun was strong and relentless and the ride out of PB was all uphill, although only slightly, most of the time. But, it wasn't too bad. Once we reached Tourmaline, there was a bike path following side streets and hidden trails. It steered us to a quiet wide street with a bike lane, just above the La Jolla Boulevard. We took this street through the old, beautiful residential neighbourhoods of La Jolla Birdrock, then turned more into the hillside, where we continued on a bike path again. It had a steep part as we went over the edge of Mount Soledad, then went downhill again to land us on Nautilus Street. Once we had crossed Nautilus, we were on a nice quiet road again, with bike lane, that took us past La Jolla Highschool, over Pearl Street all the way into downtown. The whole ride took us just under 50 minutes.
We locked up our bikes in a side street, and walk down to the cove. I was actually too worked out to have an ice cream right away, so we just sat down on a bench overlooking the beach cliffs and did some people watching for a good while. The park was packed with picknickers and people that had visibly come to spend the day on the lawn, listening to some bands playing. Lots of families were bathing on the beach. Many looked dressed up for the occasion (Labor Day). It was actually fun to be there and watch the scene.
We hung out for almost an hour, then walked back up to Prospect and our Gelateria Frizzante. And my-oh-my was it good! We both got sherberts, C got blood orange and mango, I got lemon and green apple, then we shared. They were all great, but the blood orange probably came out on top. The milk gelatos looked pretty tasty too. That's for next time.
We biked back in about 40-45 minutes. The ride back was more downhill. Maybe not tomorrow, but we'll certainly have to do that again ...
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Friends from Seattle
Friends of C are in town. They are staying at the Catamaran hotel just up the street from us. C's been wanting to visit them for a while, even this summer. But hey, they just came down here. So, C's been trying to spend some time with his friend John, for the last few days, that is, when the friends are not doing Disneyland or Legoland or Sea World or the Zoo ...
Last night we went out on a cruise with them on the Bahia Belle paddle boat, sort of a Mississippi-style sternwheeler. One of those things we've been talking about doing for a long time, well, we finally did ...
Last night we went out on a cruise with them on the Bahia Belle paddle boat, sort of a Mississippi-style sternwheeler. One of those things we've been talking about doing for a long time, well, we finally did ...
Friday, September 01, 2006
Cold Sore
I'm in a really bad mood. Thanks to all the outdoors I've been doing probably, the sailing and the surfing, I got a cold sore. I wouldn't have thought it was that big of a deal, but it is very distracting. My mouth is burning and I can't enjoy meals at all. And last but not least, it totally ruined my margarita and chips treat ...
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