Back to Blogging in 2014!

I'm back from blog death!  Well, technically my blog didn't die, but it was dead here for six months of not posting.  My last post was in July 2013, right after our trip to Barcelona, where I announced we were getting ready to move to San Diego in August.  Well, what a big change it has been for the whole family. Leaving all of our friends and family behind- all of the friends my kids have grown up with and homeschooled with, my daughter's gymnastics team mates, my close mama friends, and some of the neighbors we had become good friends with over the years.  Here my husband and I are at mid life, thousands of miles away, trying to form a new circle of friends that took us years to create.  It's really hard, really really it is.  Our kids will be fine, they will make friends quickly.  In fact, they already have, but for us big people, it's going to take more time. 

In San Diego there is traffic and large crowds of people every where we go. It makes Orlando seem like a rural farming town.  Even grocery shopping can be a rediculous time zapper.  But yes, it's beautiful here.  You cannot beat the near perfect moderate temperatures and sunshine pretty much year round.  Having access to lots of really fresh, organic food from mostly California farms. And being able to see the beach, the desert and the mountains all in one day.  Its' really fantastic.

When we arrived in August we started out in temporary housing at a condo on the beach in La Jolla.  This was a really good thing but it also spoiled us when we started searching for long term rentals.  Once you are on the beach, you really don't want to move to the desert. In fact, it doesn't even feel like you are living in San Diego from that side.  Families choose to live in the desert because it is cheaper, and you can get a big huge house with a big back yard in a neighborhood full of kids. My husband and I will take living as close to the beach as possible in a shack over that option.  And that's pretty much what we did.  Though our home is not really a shack, it is just old, or what I like to call "vintage".  It's a short 10 minute walk and a 3 minute drive to the beach!  So we go pretty much every morning to walk the dog and catch at least two sunsets a week. And guess what that means moving forward?  You will be seeing lots of beach photos like the one above!  Hope you don't mind :-)

You might be wondering what we have been eating all this time, since this is a food blog not a travel blog.  If I have to summarize it, I would say we eat a lot of food from Trader Joe's.  It's the best health food store here, hands down.  I can get in and out in under 45 minutes because the store is small and well stocked.  I can fill my cart to the top including the child seat for $150-160 and it lasts the whole week.  No need to go out for lunch or dinner.  I might have to buy fruit from Von's because their fruit is priced better, but that's my only other stop for groceries during the week.

While not everything sold at TJ's is perfectly Organic and Vegan (or even Gluten Free), their prepared foods section is so crazy convenient.  I mean who doesn't love their Japanese Style Fried Rice with edamame and carrots?   Their Spinach and Kale pies?  And what about their Stuffed Tofu Turkey?   Not having to think too much about what to cook and relaxing the "food rules" some days has helped to make life here a little less stressful for us all in the the past 5 months.  Below is a recent photo of most of the food from a shopping trip.  Missing in the photo are some sprouted wheat bagels, sourdough bread, a few packages of berries, a bottle of California wine called "Cocobon", sparkling water, hummus dip, frozen and fresh berries, bananas, and pomegranite "sherbert".

We are not sure how much of a garden we will be able to build since we have a rental, but I assure you, we will have a garden!!   We have space in the back yard, but we cannot build anything permanent.  So I'm looking into an idea I have about creating some planters out of something I will reveal in a future blog post.

Some other projects I have been busy with and may write posts about in January/February include:

• Providing feedback to the proprietor of Panda Packs, a vegan kids meal service. (I won't be writing about this because the company is starting up and it's proprietary information, but you can check out their FaceBook page!)
• Reviewing the book "Feed Zone Portables", a brilliant recipe book of portable packets of yumminess for athletes.
• Writing a product review for Viva Labs Coconut Oil.  

And that about wraps things up! Thanks for reading this far down :-) I'm going to Home Depot tomorrow to get all the things I need too make awesome soil for the planters, so stayed tuned on FaceBook or subscribe to my feed!

Adventures in Barcelona...and announcement of our move!

This post is long overdue!  We took a 10 day trip to Barcelona back in May and upon our return Ksenia got sick, then we started preparing for our move with a major decluttering/organizing the house project....along with a house hunting trip to San Diego.  Yes, we are moving to San Diego very soon :-)

Barcelona was a really great place to take the kids, even though they complained a lot about walking everywhere and being tired from the time zone change.   There was lots for them to see and do and we found the city to be "kid friendly" with lots of parks and play areas scattered throughout the city.
In our pre-kid days we would have had some train trips out of the city and probably a very heavy sightseeing agenda.  With kids, pretty much you need to stay in the city and see all that can be seen (it will be less than half of what you think you want to see!)  on a light schedule.  There were days where we didn't see much and spent time in the room resting, and that was okay.  Vacation is also about relaxing, right?

If you are going with kids, I highly recommend NOT staying in a hotel, but instead renting a flat.  You can find hundreds of options on a website called "AirBnB".  We rented a one bedroom flat with a futon in the front room and a full kitchen and bathroom.  It also had a nice little terrace.  No view, except for water on one side, but a very short walk to the beach, to restaurants, to a large grocery chain and fresh market.  The bus stop was also close by, the metro was probably a good 10 minute walk.

Be careful where you eat!  Stay clear of the heavily trafficked tourist areas, you will over pay for pretty average tasting food.   This Paella was 45 Euros and the reason why is they charged extra because it was meant for "2 plates", so there was an extra 20 Euro charged for two extra plates. On top of that there is NO differentation between eating Paella with meat vs. vegetarian.  So we paid the same price as the Paella loaded with seafood and sausage.  Really you should never pay more than 15 Euro for vegetarian Paella.  It's rice and veggies!


The trip up to our room was 6 flights of stairs, there was no elevator!  The kids thought it was fun, but man it was a workout for me and my husband.

Here's the view from our room to the right side....

The beach was a 2 minute walk from our flat.  It rained a lot while we were there, but the sun finally came out on the day before we left!

The narrow streets of Las Ramblas.  It's safe to walk them during the day, but it's still creepy.  We were told by the owner of our flat to not walk them at night as it is frequented by pick pockets and criminals.

Not exactly a healthy breakfast, but part of enjoying our vacation was experiencing the bakeries and coffee shops of Barcelona.  It was sugar overload, but fun.

In Spain, you will find tapas on every menu.  It's a large "appetizer" type dish to be shared.  Pretty much the only vegetarian options are fried foods.  So here we have "Spicy Potatoes" and "Fried Artichoke".  We ate a lot of this sort of fare along with a big salad.  And of course, a lot of vegetarian Paella! 

Vineet and Anika enjoyed the Salmon with veggies.

More vegetarian Paella....Ksenia says "that was yummy".

We drank mostly Cafe Americano coffees at the cafes.  We like bold coffee so this was the best tasting and less pricey option compared to other coffee drinks.  Also remember to read your menu carefully since outdoor seating commonly has an extra "tax" as well as "bread service".  That's the bread they bring out to you and assume is free of charge here in the United States.  You will be charged for it so always refuse it unless you want to pay an extra 3 to 5 Euros. 

So so tired girls....and this was day 5 or 6 of our trip!

Wonderful salad we had at a Japanese fusion noodle house called "Noodles and Fun" in the heart of Barcelona.

Vegan Thai curry that Vineet ordered at Noodles and Fun.  This was an entree!  So little food for 12 Euros. 

 Veggie Pakoras at Salcafe on the Barcelona Beach.

Not so exciting hummus and pita chips and salad at SalCafe

 

 

 

"Chocolate Lava" from a cafe in Badalona.  I think it was just chocolate and heavy cream melted together.  There wasn't any left, so I assume it was good.

We stumbled upon this graffiti on the wall as we walked toward downtown Badalona.  Apparently there are a number of vegans and vegetarians in the area...

Lunch with our extended family in Badalona.  They were awesome tour guides and hosts.  We really enjoyed our time with them and can't wait to see them again :-)

 

 

 

And last but not least, this was the thing my kids enjoyed the most.  They requested to play on it every day.  There is one on the Barcelona Beach and Badalona Beach.