Farmers Market

Today I went to the historic downtown in Vacaville for the first time to check out their weekly farmers market. It was fabulous! The downtown reminded me of Dover's downtown a little ... or maybe the place where they filmed the new "Father of the Bride". Either way, it was very cute. Lots of old brick buildings, big trees, and things like bicycle shops and local bakeries.

The farmers market itself isn't huge, but there is a lot of selection. Herbs, vegetables, fruits, flowers, nuts, baked goods, jams and jellies, etc. And the prices were pretty reasonable as well. There was even a guy playing a sax which was fun.

I bought a pound of beautiful, fresh green beans to have with dinner tonight. I also bought a pound and a half of fresh plums. (Jared's favorite!)

Next time I go I will try and take some pictures of the market and of downtown.

Long Weekend

We have so much to be thankful for and look forward to!

First, Jared flew his second flight this past Wednesday. It was a night flight and he got some stick time and did great! He has two more things (some vaccines and a briefing) and then he'll be mission qualified and can start making longer trips overseas. It's a good thing and he's excited! I am trying hard to be excited for him.

Another C17 photo from the Vance Air Show...

Second, we've got a LONG weekend. Jared only had to work for half the day yesterday and he's off today and Monday. We have some new movies to watch, shopping to do, he's going to play golf and I am planning on laying by the pool and reading. Monday we are planning on grilling out!!

Third, we are going on another vacation! Very last minute, but next Saturday we leave for Ohio! Jared hasn't been home or seen any family since Christmas. Since his unit is getting back from deployment the end of the month and we figure things will start getting busy at work, we decided to hightail it home while we could!! Also, my sissy got a fantastic new job in Florida (?!) and so they are moving in a few weeks. This trip means we'll get to see them before they go. And finally, my brother is graduating from paramedic school and so I'll get to go to that. With so much going on it also means my Dad will be in town, so we'll get to see him. All around, good timing.

So hooray for the lovely, loooong weekend! And hooray for starting it off with some homemade pizza tonight :)

We are so EXCITED to see everyone at "home"!

Last Nights Dinner

Last night I made the May Menu for the cooking club I belong to. For full detials, recipes and pictures follow the link below and enjoy!

http://holybatmancooks.blogspot.com/

Green Update

A few posts back I mentioned that I had read a book about "going green", as they say, and was going to start incorporating items and practices into our everyday life to help us start being more green.

So far, I have started to buy organic milk. It is more expensive (and Jared continues to roll his eyes!) but with coupons I think I have been able to make up the difference. I am also buying Kraft organic macaroni and cheese. Unbelievable how different it is without all the junk from the regular blue box! Jared isn't super happy about that change, but he will eat it. I think it's good. I have begun to seek out organic vegetables, both canned and frozen to replace our normal brands. Surprisingly they really aren't much more expensive. The eggs are not organic yet, but they are local, as is much of our produce. (Beautiful produce!)

As for our diet, I have tried very hard to cut down on red meat and pork. we have been eating a lot of chicken, turkey, fish and whole grain pastas lately! No soda pop unless there is an upset tummy. Only 100% real fruit juice and I have been buying brands that only use fruit grown in the USA. Brown rice instead of white (Jared really doesn't like this change). And at the moment... that is all I can think of.

I have gradually switched over almost all of my cleaning products, as I've run out of them, to Seventh Generation or Green Works formulas. I think they clean just as well as my old cleaners and they sure smell better! I have also really limited my use of swiffers. Back to a bucket and hand and knees for the floors.

The two things I would like to do next are to switch over my baking supplies to organics. I bake a lot! And I really love to make things like pizza dough, bread, cake, pastry, cookies, etc. at home. With organic ingredients for all that it would make a large part of what we eat organic. However this is going to be a pricey switch. Good organic baking ingredients are expensive! The brand I am going to use is King Arthur Flour since I have used their products before and love them! The commissary carries some of their products, but they have an extensive website as well.

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/landing.jsp?go=Home

The second thing I would like to try is switching my slightly more expensive green cleaning products over to homemade ones! I came across the book 'Naturally Clean Home' by Karyn Siegel-Maier at the library. It's fascinating! The recipes she gives you really aren't hard and I know I could get the ingredients here locally. And as she says, once you invest in those ingredients and some reusable containers you are cleaning for pennies compared to purchasing natural cleaners at the store! Below is a link to her book.

http://www.amazon.com/Naturally-Clean-Home-Super-Easy-Formulas/dp/1603420851/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274817605&sr=8-1

So that is the latest from the slowly becoming green Scherff household! If anyone has other resources or products related to this topic to share, I welcome them!

The Movies

Generally Jared and I are not big movie goers. Not so very long ago we lived an hour and a half away from a decent theater. The one in Enid reeked of ... something. You could always hear whatever movie was playing in the theater next to yours, and 4 rows of seating made me a bit claustrophobic.

Now we have two excellent theaters (even one with IMAX!) within a 5-10 minute drive. So within the past five weeks or so we have been to three movies! And I will even admit to purchasing insanely over priced popcorn on two of the said occasions.

The first movie we saw was How To Train Your Dragon. It was in IMAX 3D and we really enjoyed it! It was the first movie I have ever seen in 3D. Next we saw the second Iron Man movie, also in IMAX. Not quite as good as the first movie, but really, are they ever? We still liked it though.

The third movie we saw today. We went to the theater in Vacaville, instead of the one in Fairfield, to see Shrek Ever After in 3D. Another winner! We also saw three or four movie previews all for summer and fall movies that are being released in 3D! I had no idea, but apparently it is the cool thing to make a 3D movie at the moment.

I am looking forward to Toy Story in 3D... not gonna lie! :)

First Flight!

Photograph of a C-17 from the 2008 Vance AFB Air Show

I didn't want to post about this earlier, but Jared had his first flight with his squadron this week! He was only gone for the day as part of an exercise, but he did get some stick time and hours and all went well!

Now that he will be flying actual missions and not just training I probably wont post about his work a whole lot and if I do it will be after the fact and pretty vague. Not trying to leave anyone out of the loop, but there are rules and safety issues about this sort of thing.

So anyway; big mile stone for Jared. He actually flew with a Lt. Col. doing his last flight. The Lt. Col. thought it was pretty ironic and gave Jared his coin. (For the non-military folks, coins are a BIG thin in the Military!! Everyone collects them.)

So I guess slowly but surely this is all starting to sink in. We are in the real Air Force now!

Maui Fish

After all the excellent fish we ate in Hawaii, Jared requested a new recipe at home. He wanted something with a similar fish (firm, white, mild) and something with panko (Japanese) bread crumbs. So... I made something up! Turns out it was a pretty good invention, Jared has declared it a keeper and so I thought I'd share. It's quite simple.

I call it, Maui Fish :)

Ingredients:

3 Tilapia (or similar) pieces, approximately 4oz. each
1 Cup panko bread crumbs, plain
1 Egg, beaten
Flour for dredging (I didn't measure)
1 1/2 tsp. lemon pepper seasoning (or more to taste)
Kosher salt
Veg oil

Directions:

Pat fish dry and season with salt. Mix panko bread crumbs and lemon pepper seasoning together. Place several Tbsp. veg. oil in a pan and heat oil over med. Coat fish with flour, then egg and finally the seasoned bread crumbs. Add to the oil and pan fry 4-5 minutes per side. (You may need to turn the oil down if the fish starts to brown too quickly). Drain fish on paper towels. Place fish in a warm oven if you need to fry the fish in separate batches. Enjoy!

I also made lemon and herb couscous and steamed some green beans which I tossed in some butter and toasted almonds. Delicious!

Maui Part II

Saturday morning, our first morning in the condo, we woke up to that beautiful view! With the soft, early morning light it seemed even more amazing.




After breakfast we drove a few miles North up the highway to Napili beach. We had heard it was a small, quiet beach good for snorkeling. It was breathtaking and the snorkeling lived up to expectations! We went out several times that day (between times we put sunscreen on furiously and huddle under our big beach umbrella!) and saw lots of things. The most exciting was a large zebra eel and a fair sized octopus who did not seem happy to have visitors. We also saw lots of great fish and coral again. We packed a picnic lunch and had a pretty perfect day. Dinner that night was Cheeseburger In Paradise.

Sunday we stayed at the condo relaxing, reading, playing card games, etc. Really, we were attempting to heal the sunburn before hitting the beach the rest of the week! I was able to capture a spectacular sunset from the condo that night. The pictures don't do it justice at all...

Monday morning we headed down Front Street into downtown Lahaina to window shop, eat and see some historic landmarks and museums. We saw the old courthouse and jail. they have since been converted into a whaling museum and art galleries for local artists. We also visited the fort ruins, another prison, the house of an early missionary and the famous Banyan tree. It was HUGE! It's the biggest one in America; so big in fact, that the tree branches have sprouted more trunks to hold everything up.

After much deliberation we decided to lunch at Bubba Gumps. Neither of us had ever been to one before, and this restaurant sat right on the water downtown and had a great view! Our server was busy and forgot to put in our order ... but we got a free appetizer and dessert out of it! We really didn't mind sitting by the water with such a nice, cool view anyway.

That afternoon we decided to check out the condo pool. It is separated from the ocean by a little rock wall so the views were, once again, amazing! But it was nice not to have to deal with the sand and bring down cold drinks from our rooms. We didn't stay out very long though ... too scared we would fry up again!

Monday we made our way a bit further North to Kahpalua Bay beach (not certain that is spelled correctly...). This is a bigger and busier beach, but very beautiful. We decided we liked it better because there was better parking, easier access and more nice facilities available right at the beach. We staked out a spot right under a big palm tree and enjoyed another day of snorkeling. Saw some more eels. Really big ones! Yuck! We had another picnic lunch and ended the day at the condo with another great sunset, hot dogs, macaroni and card games!

Tuesday was another day at the beach! I guess you could call us regular beach bums. Then we met up with Jared's Aunt Mary and her friends for the famous Old Lahaina Luau which happened to be just a few blocks from the condo. The food was really good old style Haywain fare, all you can eat! The show was excellent. We all wished it could have gone on longer. And our waiter was a hoot! Very funny and very good. It was a great night. Jared even danced with me :)

Thursday, if you guessed we went back to the beach, you'd be correct! And it was worth it. Our very last day of snorkeling we got to do what we'd been wanting to do all week. We got to swim with a big sea turtle! Twice! It was really cool. Then to end our big. fabulous vacation we went out to dinner at The Plantation House. Mom and Dan went on their honeymoon and recommended it to us. It was incredible! We saw a huge rainbow on the drive there and the panoramic, open air views of the country club golf course and ocean were...wow. I think this is the worst case of pictures not doing the location justice! Oh yes, and the food. Incredible!! We both had the same meal, some kind of Haywain fish that I can't say much less spell. Jared had some gargantuan brownie sunday for dessert and I had fabulous mango sherbet. It was really the perfect ending to our last day in paradise.

The trip did have to end unfortunately. We made our way back to the airport the next day, dropped the rental car and ate at a good airport cafe (something to do with sting rays...) and made the 5 hour flight back to California. We decided we have to go back at least once before we get stationed at the other end of the world!

Maui Part I

Fondly dubbed our "Hooray, pilot training is done! Jared got his wings! We moved ... again! Happy third anniversary!" trip; our 2010 vacation to Maui.

We got a ride by a nice, new friend (Will) to the Sacramento airport Wednesday morning, May 5th (at o'dark thirty). The airport is only 40 minutes away and an easy drive! The airport itself isn't very big either. We were pleasantly surprised all the way around. If you are thinking of visiting us, I suggest looking into that airport.

So once we got checked in (with Alaska Airlines ... yes I know, Alaska Airlines to Hawaii!) we got some Starbucks and settled in at our terminal. The flight was just under 5 hours non-stop and not bad if you didn't count the screaming children. We got some pretty tasty chocolate chip, macadamia nut cookies at any rate.

The airport in Maui is strange, a lot of it is open air. Do to all the ventilation we were greeted with heat and humidity right off the plane! From there we found the rental car pick up and were promptly on our way. We made it about 5 minutes down the road and had to stop at Quiznos for lunch. It was only around 11am in Maui, but it was 2pm to our stomachs!

The drive from the airport to the resort area of Lahaina/Kaanapali is about 45 minutes and beautiful. Mountains/volcanoes can be seen inland, and the amazingly clear blue ocean is also visible for most of the drive. Luckily, we didn't even have any traffic to contend with on the way to West Maui.

We checked in at the Sheraton Hotel Resort and Spa. What an impressive place! A lot of the hotel is, again, open air and boasts amazing ocean and mountain views (depending on where you look). The grounds are pristinely manicured, lush and so green. There were also an abundance of palm trees and bright, tropical flowers. Heavenly!

Our room was nice; we had a fantastic ocean view and could see the two pools. The bed was huge and comfortable. The only bad thing I have to say about that room was the extra guest we had. A lizard. Yes, he was a small, harmless, green lizard. None the less, I did not feel that he needed to share our room! We never did find him...

Our first day in Maui was spent at the pool enjoying the sun and ocean views. After we had cleaned up from the pool we headed down to the pool side restaurant for dinner. The beach in front of the hotel boasts the famous Black Rock Cliffs (a great snorkeling spot) and every evening around sunset there is a ceremony there. A native Hawaiian lights a series of torches along the tops of the cliffs and the dives into the ocean. It was a neat thing to watch. We also got to enjoy soothing Hawaiian music and see some hula. The food was great as well.

Thursday morning it was hard to sleep past 5 (issues with our internal clocks) so we had an early breakfast at the hotel, and then headed for the pool. Despite repeated applications of SPF 70+ sunscreen, we both got fried that day. And so after numerous applications of aloe with lidocain, we had dinner at one of the hotel restaurants: Black Rock Steak and Seafood. What an incredible meal! Jared and I both got steaks, the kind that just melt in your mouth like butter. We also had some of the most delicious shrimp I have ever tasted. Jared's favorite part by far however, was the dessert. I literally had to keep him from licking the plate of the molten, chocolate lava cake. It was good.

Friday morning we made our first snorkeling expedition. It was both Jared and my first experience snorkeling. We went to the Black Rock area about 8am and despite a cold ocean, it was incredible. The water there is so clear and we saw lots of brightly colored fish and coral. I was a bit shocked when I saw the fish at first, they were so close and so numerous! Not sure what else I was expecting... but it was very fun. And too early in the day for any major sun damage.

After getting cleaned up from snorkeling we checked out of the Sheraton. Due to our sunburn we decided to spend the day doing indoor activities the rest of the day while we waited for check in time at the ocean front condo we would be staying at the next 6 days. We went to the Maui aquarium. Lucky us, it was Military appreciation month so we got in for a huge discount! I took lots of pictures of the various fish we saw there. I think that we saw and swam with 99% of the fish we saw that day. We also saw some sharks and giant sting rays that, thankfully, we did not swim with!

By the time we made it back from the aquarium, it was time to check out the condo. It was beautiful! Very clean and fresh and modern inside with an amazing up-close view of the ocean from the front room. We were also up on the 4th floor (in a 5 story building) and so we had a great view and a nice breeze. The breeze was much needed since there was no air conditioning of any kind. Jared had a bit of an initial panic attack, but it turned out not to even matter. With the big ceiling fans and the breeze off the water, we were always cool. There was also a great pool right by the ocean at the condo complex. Beautiful!

And you all know us, it was Friday night so that meant pizza! It wasn't homemade of course, but Pizza Hut tasted just as good in Maui as it does on the mainland. And the sunset after dinner on the lanai was breathtaking.

Pool

It's been a rather quiet, but unexpectedly perfect day. I stopped at the local strawberry stand (berries fresh picked from the fields you drive by daily) and they smell ... amazing.

The sky is blue, I mean really blue! The sun is a giant yellow ball blinking down through palm trees and the breeze is perfect for making the 80 degree temperatures just right.

I spent the afternoon lounging by the ice cold, brilliantly blue pool with a favorite book. Oh, and I was wearing my brand new bathing suit. It's adorable, navy and white stripes with a slightly retro look.

Jared got home from work early.

We are having BLTs with some artisan bakery bread and fresh, California produce. I am going to make some scrumptious, creamy macaroni and cheese. We have full pitches of chilled lemonade and iced tea in the fridge. And of course, there are those strawberries ... and maybe a little vanilla ice cream.