Hello again! I can’t believe it’s been almost a month since I last posted, but with all the different things I had going on this month, I’m not surprised that it flew by like it did.
The best part of my month – by far – was Tyler’s visit over the Valentine’s Day weekend. I had Monday the 15th off school, so that was the ideal weekend for Tyler to fly out here to California and get away from all the snow in Michigan
We did a number of different fun things over the weekend including going out to celebrate my friend Megan’s birthday (her birthday is Valentine’s Day), going for a hike, transforming the alcove in the second bedroom into a home office, celebrating Valentine’s Day, and just getting to spend time with each other.
Megan’s birthday dinner was at Paesano’s, an Italian restaurant here in Sacramento. The menu was really diverse, but mostly Italian. I chose the Pad Thai, yep I ate Thai food at an Italian restaurant. It was no authentic Thai food, but I wasn’t in the mood for Italian, so it wasn’t bad.
After dinner we went to a little bar nearby, where I had a White Russian. Tyler and I hung around for a little while, but we were both pretty tired so we left around midnight.
Saturday we decided to go for a hike. After searching online we found a trail that sounded pretty good up near Lake Folsom. We made a stop at REI where we bought a new day pack and stocked up on some hiking fuel. We got lunch at Quizno’s and then drove the 40 or so minutes to the trail.
We weren’t exactly sure where the trail was off the road, so we ended up stopping where another group of cars was pulled off. We didn’t see the trail we had gone there for so we followed a “trail” down the bank of the river.
It was very rocky and there was a lot of random garbage…I believe we saw 3 or 4 different shoes…weird. We also saw this hole in a rock – probably created by water erosion – kinda cool.
After hiking for about 30 minutes along the river we decided to turn around and head back to try and find the real trail. We got back to the bridge where we had parked above the river and decided to hike the other way. A few minutes later, Tyler was looking up at the canyon surrounding the river and noticed a trail about 40 feet above us.
We spent the next few minutes scrambling up rocks and weeds to the trail. We then hiked another hour out and back on the trail which was also a mountain biking trail. It was a fairly easy hike minus except for scrambling along the rocks on the riverbank and the climb up the hill to the trail.
That night we had Michael Angelo’s Vegetable Lasagna for dinner. Michael Angelo’s was kind enough to send me three coupons for free products.
The lasagna was super simple to prepare, just had to pull up the corner of the lid to and pop it in the preheated oven.
I’m not sure whether it was the way I cooked the lasagna or what, but it turned out very watery. Otherwise, the flavors were good and there were plenty of great veggies in the lasagna.
I’m not sure what it is about lasagna, but I always think it tastes better as leftovers. This vegetable lasagna was no exception. After I drained some of the excess lasagna juices off, it was great.
I’d definitely be willing to give this lasagna another try, because I think it was my fault that it ended up so juicy. I still have two more Michael Angelo’s products to try (I just bought them tonight at Whole Foods) and I’ll be sure to let you know how they are.
Tyler’s birthday was the 24th (after he was out here) so we celebrated his birthday and Valentine’s Day combined.
We spent the first part of the day relaxing. There is nothing better to do when you only get to see each other every few months.
For Valentine’s Day dinner I made a baby shrimp and pasta dish with diced tomatoes and parmesan cheese along with some cheesy garlic bread and a bottle of wine.
I’d definitely make this again. The diced tomatoes were Tyler’s idea. I think diced tomatoes make a much nicer tomato sauce than a canned sauce.
Dessert was strawberries and vanilla ice cream – simple but delicious.
Tyler left early on Tuesday the 16th…I’ve been missing him ever since.
This past week has been rather exciting for me professionally.
Thursday night I had an amazing dinner with Paul, a friend of the family that my dad met through business many years ago. Paul offered to take me to Aioli Bodega Española, one of his favorite restaurants in Sacramento. Paul knows the owner of the restaurant and all of the restaurant staff, which made for a fun and unique experience. I was seated at Paul’s usual table.
Paul brought a bottle of Merryvale Pinot Noir to accompany dinner. The wine was great – I’m really coming to love red wines being out here in California where there are so many good red wines available.
I was treated to a four course dinner beginning with crostini – an appetizer Paul designed that consists of a baguette with a delicious mushroom topping. Next we shared a beet and orange salad with bleu cheese. I was amazed at the flavor the beets had – they were just slightly sweet and paired so well with the oranges and bleu cheese. Following the beet salad we had a unique pasta dish. The pasta was like spaghetti but twice as thick and it was paired with fried pancetta. It was very rich and heavy so I wasn’t able to eat much of it (the leftovers made for a delicious dinner tonight). Last up was pounded chicken with grilled vegetables. The chicken was tender and juicy and had some amazing flavors.
Everything we had was delicious. Sadly, none of it is actually on the menu – one of the perks of eating at a restaurant where you know the owner.
Aside from the delicious food, the evening was also exciting and relieving because Paul may be assisting me in finding an internship for the summer with a local legislator.
After learning more about legal careers over the past few months, I’ve decided that lobbying is something that I find very interesting and something I could be good at. An internship with a legislator would help me learn more about the legislative process and help me make connections within the government affairs community in Sacramento. I’m very excited, and really hope I can make the opportunity happen for the summer.
Well friends thats all I’ve got for now – well at least all I feel like typing about right now.
I’ll be back tomorrow with a recap of my 30 Day Shred Challenge!
Have a great Sunday!
