Awesome Beach Weekend (and yummy gazpacho)!

The weather in San Diego this weekend was ridiculous.... San Diego's real summer is usually  mid-August through October anyways, but this past weekend was BAD. 105 degrees even along the coast... WHICH NEVER HAPPENS IN SAN DIEGO. When you live and have grown up in San Diego in a neighborhood that is only 2 miles from the ocean, the only bearable temperatures are from about 73-80 degrees. Also, Carlsbad (the city I work in which is also along the coast) reached record high temperatures this past weekend.

Of course, when you live so close to the beach and you can't stand to do anything at home but sit and sleep in front of a fan (I've never lived in a house with AC because we've never needed it), so of course we must spend our weekend at the beach.

My regular beach spot is Del Mar Beach because it's the closest to my house and always so clean and pretty, but I knew this weekend was going to be crazy crowded there.... Luckily, I learned of a lesser known beach just a little north of Dog Beach in Del Mar. It has a little hidden away parking lot (that still had lots of empty spots!) and there weren't that many people over there either! And the beach was warm but still had a pretty nice breeze. It was PERFECT.

Not too many people!

Look what I found! Part of a lobster tail shell

We set up a mat and some umbrellas and spent our day boogie boarding, walking, reading, and napping. We packed a couple giant frozen water bottles, sliced celery and cucumbers, lemon cilantro hummus, baba ghanouj, nuts, and fruits. I also made a cucumber mint gazpacho the night before that we brought to the beach. It was so refreshing and perfect for the hot day! I made it by basically blending up some peeled cucumbers, plain nonfat yogurt, jalapeno, red onion, mint, olive oil, and a little water to thin it out to the consistency I wanted. I let it refrigerate overnight for the flavors to come together, threw it in the freezer for an hour before we left for the beach, and topped each of our cups of gazpacho with grape tomatoes and mint. Definitely making this sometime again on another hot day.

Adventures later that night included Louisiana-style boiled shellfish at Crab Hut (I was craving crawfish from finding that lobster tail shell haha) and a cigar lounge with my boyfriend. New discovery: cigar lounges are actually kind of fun. Even better discovery: a cigar, coffee, and dark chocolate taste AMAZING together.

I got a short little baby cigar haha. My boyfriend laughed at me because I'm pretty short and the cigar is called Short Story...

I felt bad for my dog because she was locked up in the hot house by herself while we were at the beach - we did leave the windows open and fans on for her though - so we took her to dog beach the next day :)

Then we took her to lunch at Station Sushi in Solana Beach after. Dogs are welcome on the patio!

Zoey likes going out to eat too!

HUGE protein roll - no rice! MMMMM

"Thai-style" stir-fry

This is one my favorite things to make (and a favorite of my mom and my boyfriend also). I'm going to say it's a "Thai-style" stir-fry (with quotation marks) because it's really not Thai... Just something I kind of made up... But that flavors do taste very Thai! I think mostly the combination of chilis, mint, and oyster/fish sauce is what reminds me of Thai food. Overall, I think this is a pretty healthy meal - especially if you have it with some brown rice or any other rice with its husks (I had red rice) - but be careful to not over-do it with the oyster sauce, fish sauce, and sriracha! All of those have sugar in them!! So let's call this recipe Phase 3 South Beach diet - it doesn't have a LOT of sugar, but it's definitely there.

Putting this guy to work! Haha...

"Thai-style" Stir-Fry

Ingredients

-          Canola oil

-          Garlic, chopped

-          Ginger, chopped

-          Thai chilis, chopped

-          Tofu, cubed and dried (drain water then wrap in paper towels and place a heavy pan on top to squeeze out excess water)

-          Bell peppers, sliced

-          Onions, sliced

-          Ground turkey

-          Oyster sauce

-          Thai fish sauce

-          Sriracha

-          Fresh mint, roughly chopped

-          Green onion, chopped

Directions

1. I like to use two pans to cook everything separately then throw it all together at the end. Heat up a large saucepan at medium heat with some canola oil and lightly fry garlic and ginger to flavor the oil. When the garlic looks a little toasty (but not browned yet) add the thai chilis and continue to cook until the garlic is just starting to lightly brown. Remove garlic, ginger, and chilis from pan and set aside. Try to leave most of the oil in the pan.

2. Add tofu to the same pan and let them brown. Shake the pan around once in a while to make sure the tofu browns on all sides and doesn’t stick to the pan.

3. While browning the tofu, heat up a large wok to high heat. Add a little bit of canola oil and quickly sautee bell peppers and onions. Don’t cook them so long that they get soft – just enough to lightly cook them and keep a little bit of their crunchy texture. Remove bell peppers and onions from heat and try to leave the oil in the pan.

4. Turn down heat on wok to medium-high and add the garlic, ginger, and chilis that have been set aside and the ground turkey. Cook until the turkey is mostly cooked through then drain the extra liquid/fat that cooks out. Continue to cook until turkey is browned.

5. Check on the tofu. When all sides of the tofu are golden, add enough oyster sauce to lightly coat all of the tofu. Let the tofu continue to cook for another minute or two, so it soaks up the oyster sauce.

6. When turkey is browned and tofu is done, turn down the heat on the wok to low and add all set aside ingredients (tofu, bell peppers, and onions) to the wok with the turkey. Mix everything together and add a little more oyster sauce, a few dashes of fish sauce, and sriracha (if you want it a little spicier). Salt, if needed - although the oyster sauce and fish sauce are already pretty salty so make sure to taste before salting. Mix well to make sure everything is coated in the seasonings.

7. Turn off heat and add mint and green onions just before serving. Make sure to not let the mint and green onions sit in the pan to cook, so they stay fresh!

Our stir-fry with healthy red rice and decorative sriracha dots (the boyfriend's idea... haha)