Ten things I will miss about Patterson

As most of you know, my family and I are moving out of state in the next few weeks. I've been thinking lately about the things I will miss about Patterson, the small-ish community in California that I live in. Most of these thoughts have randomly came to mind while I am doing things, running errands, etc.

Once I'm settled and acclimated in Utah, I'll blog what I miss about California. 😉

We have lived in Patterson for over 7 years now, we have added a child to our family, been through a few pets, made life long friends, disconnected from friends, I lost myself, found myself, volunteered, entertained, became a part of a wonderful group of exceptional women whom it's hard to imagine not having around at arm's reach, started new practices, and learned the true meaning of self love (later post).

Our time here has left a deep mark on the timeline of our life.

Besides the obvious, like missing friends, family, and memories, here are a few random things I have thoughtfully realized I will miss, in no particular order.

1. The produce guy at Save Mart. The first guy was great and made Donald Duck noises at the kids, he transferred and I thought Save Mart would never be the same. The current produce dude though, he's just great. He's nice, he's friendly, he's attractive in an unfamiliar way, he's down to earth, and he makes you feel like his job, and my consumerism is all tied into the workings of "community". The pharmacy guy is hella cool too, but the produce guy just makes you feel good about small talk at the market (let's use that word more, shall we? Market, it just sounds so quaint). Plus he saved all those boxes for me, so he's a badass in my book.

2. I will miss Domasco's, the restaurant inside the hotel. I've had countless breakfasts with my bosom buddy, random meals there with other friends, and a delicious, tipsy dinner with three of my closest girls during our "50 Shades of Food" days. The food is fresh and full of quality. The coffee is actually good, they have a decent selection of tea, and you feel like you have stepped out of Patterson and are in some hole in the wall in the city. Oh, and there sausage is THE best. It's a perfectly brown, crumbly little patty. They also have amazing pancakes. The most recent waitress really was the cherry on top. She made you feel like an old friend and said the funniest shit! She's great.

3. Running into Amber Silva and Mona Chapparo at Walmart. It's just nice, you know? You run to Walmart because there is almost always a reason to and you know people who work there so there is almost always a friendly face and some chit chat, maybe a hug too. It's comforting.

4. Frank Raines Park. If you head west of the 5 and take the first right, you can take a scenic drive (absolutly beautiful) through the winding hills. I believe it is about 17 miles to the OHV park, camping area, super cool playground, and Adobe Springs ( this will be #5!). All it takes is 45 minutes to an hour and you can get away in nature. You can spend the day, the weekend, the week, and enjoy the beautiful views on the way there. Despite the beauty, I have to be honest, I get pretty nervous on the drive, but that's me and my nerves.

5. Adobe Springs! This is a complete gem! If you take the drive to Frank Raines just a tad further you will come to Adobe Springs. You can fill up containers of spring water at no cost. It's often referred to as "magic water". It's full of magnesium and comes straight from the spring. It has 110 mg of magnesium per liter, where tap water has an average (in the US) of 3 mg per liter. Now that's magic! You feel like you are on some special adventure, driving up the hill to a little spicket for your magic water. Like a secret garden of sorts. Here is a LINK to a Youtube video I found about the spring. The guy is actually coming from San Jose, so your drive from Patterson woudln't be as long. I'd say about an hour with all the twists and turns. He is full of information. It's also a lot of fun for the kids.

6. Stewart and Jaspers. How convenient is it to have a little wine tasting bar right in town? I've had several evenings there meeting up with the crew for a wine flight. Once we rode our bikes there. We weren't quite able to ride them back home, but how cute is it to ride your bike to go wine tasting? You can sit and snack on different flavored almonds while you sip different types of wine. It's a small wine and gift shop with a wine bar and a few tables. Small, quiet (until you get towards the end of your flight), quaint, and only a bike ride away.

7. Rickey's Taqueria. It's not the best Mexian food ever, but it's good. The atmosphere is family friendly and kids eat free on Wednesday so yup, I'm going to miss that. Rickey himself is usually there and he's a super friendly guy. Also the horchata is delicious, better than the taco truck by far.

8. The three week winter school break. I sometimes have mixed feelings about this one. There I times I feel that two weeks would be sufficient and that last week may throw me over the edge, but it's become a treat to have the kids out of school for three weeks over the holidays. It gives us more freedom to visit family and friends and even to stick around home longer and just come down from the holiday madness.

9. Palm trees. The long lines of palm trees on some of Patteron's streets. They are strong and well kept, and I didn't notice many palms in Utah. It's so "California".

10. Last but not least, the orchards. I will miss driving through the lush almond and apricot orchards in thier uniform rows and watching them go through all of their stages. I always feel a little sad when I see them at the end of thier season, chopped own and laying on their side, like an orchard graveyard. 

Yay I got moms laptop!!

Yay I finally get to use mom's laptop.I think she is looking, let me take a look. Nevermind she is not looking. She is singing the national anthem. She is on the phone now so she can't catch me. 

Here is my full name. Dominique Genevieve Augerlavoie

I'm going to ruin her laptop, just kidding.

Something I want to talk about is how you get your moms laptop from her, it's easy!

When she goes to the kitchen to get a drink of water she comes back to write, she puts it on a new page on her blog. You start writing funny stuff. Then when she reads it she thinks it's funny and might let you write more. But then she probably won't let you write ever again because we aren't supposed to touch the laptop.

I was going to tell you how to sneak on mom, but you can't. she always knows you are there and yells "get out of my room i know you are there!". I want to write more about sneaking but my mom will read this and I will blow it for me and my brothers. 

Vegetarian Skillet Breakfast (or lunch)

Quick breakfast share!

This literally took about five minutes to prepare.

1T avocado oil

1 package of mushrooms

1 can organic fire roasted tomatoes with green chili 

1 handful of organic rainbow kale 

Garlic powder

Sea salt

In my cast iron skillet, I used avocado oil while heating the pan. I sautéed the mushrooms and added the tomatoes.

After giving them a minute to cook together, I added the kale, garlic powder, and salt.

Slice up an avocado on the side and there you go.

Enjoy!

Discussion...Do you force your children to give hugs?

This topic has come up quite a bit lately for my family due to the fact that we are moving out of state soon. Due to the upcoming move, we have had and still have many visits planned with loved ones to get some quality time in before we move. There have been several times lately with a few different family members and friends, where they want a hug goodbye or hello and one of my kids do not want to give one (usually one of my boys). This has come up more than just recently and I had actually decided a few years back that I would not force my kids to hug when they didn't feel good about it. Then more recently I felt like maybe I should, maybe they wouldn't see this person for some time, and the person really wanted a hug, but why I am putting the other persons needs first and ignoring my child's discomfort? That must be the people pleaser in me that tries to creep back in sometimes and I do not want to raise people pleasers. I know all too well the internal suffer that goes along with being one.

I am a hugger. I'm not sure that I have always been, but I have become one in my adult years. I hug my family and friends upon greeting and leaving, for the most part. I've learned over the years that not everyone else is a hugger and hugs may even make others feel uncomfortable. If I can sense it ahead of time, I may hold back my hug. I'm not changing who I am, but  I don't care to give a hug that isn't welcomed, that defeats the purpose of the hug all together! I remember being extremely uncomfortable at times during childhood when I was forced or felt obligated to hug, whether it be a friend or family members.

I know that many family's, especially in past generations, feel that it is disrespectful for a child not to hug, especially a family member. I don't feel there is a right or wrong answer. I think this is one of those topics that whatever way works best for an individual family is the way to go. I will never feel disrespected or even put out if someone else's child doesn't want to hug me. They may be extremely shy (which I was as a child) and hugging may be overwhelmingly uncomfortable. Maybe they have a thing about their personal space. We are all different and I only enjoy two-way hugs.

My oldest especially, (and sometimes my youngest) has never been big on hugs, unless they are with me or his dad. He is actually extremely affectionate, but mainly with his parents. He doesn't always refuse hugs from others but it has never surprised me when he has, as he has always been that way. I wasn't sure how to respond to it when he was little. I felt pressure to force him to do it, people seemed offended if he rejected their hug. I've came to the conclusion (which may differ from other parents of course) that I am not going to force him, or my other kids to give hugs. My children are loving and affectionate when it is genuine and that means something. I had to ask myself, if they feel uncomfortable giving a hug at times, what would be the purpose of forcing them to do it? Basically it would be to fulfill the hug-recipient's needs. Like I said, I don't want to raise people-pleasers. He isn't rude about it, just looks at me in that "I really don't want to" kind of way, I may push a little and if he still seems uncomfortable, I let it go. I did force him to hug his auntie the other day, she seemed to really want the hug and mentioned how she may not see him for a long time. He eventually gave a pathetic excuse for a hug, and that showed me it is not worth it, in my opinion, to force him. I am thinking not much comes from receiving a hug like that, it wasn't meaningful or full of love, it was literally forced. A hug should be a two-way display of affection.

I don't want kids being made to feel like a lack of wanting to hug symbolizes lack of love. I definitely don't want to give them the idea that they only way to show love is through physical affection either. They love all their family and all of our close friends, they may just not love hugging. Now, my oldest will show affection through "tazering" (digging his fingers into your side) all day, but that isn't typically a two-way show of affection either LOL!

I make sure my kids say hello to people and that they say goodbye, acknowledging that someone is leaving. I think that is basic manners they need to have. Other than that, they need to find their way on the path of being a hugger or not.

Having this come up so much lately I was curious to hear from other parents about how they feel about forcing or not forcing hugs between their children and others.

Quick and Easy Lemon-Ginger Turkey Quesadillas

Hello!

I'm trying to change up the seasoning on dinner meats. We LOVE Mexican food so I often season everything with cumin and chili powder. Over the weekend I made a fabulous pork roast that I will have to share with you next week, it was perfect for nachos, quesadillas, tacos, whatever.

Anyway, since it turned out so great with the crushed ginger I used, which I will be raving about in a future paragraph, I tried changing up my seasoning for tonight's ground turkey that I made quesadillas with.

I had found this frozen ground ginger on sale at Walmart for $1.00 a while back. 

On Sunday I thought, what the heck, let's throw it in the crock pot with the pork shoulder I planned on shredding. OMG! It was the perfect addition to the flavor!

Again, I'll share that with you next week as I plan on making another one.

This time I ditched the beloved cumin and chili powder and I browned the ground turkey with a zesty lemon seasoning (not the best health-wise, it has the can't be trusted "natural flavor" as an ingredient, but I have it and I used it), 2 ginger cubes, and half a lemon squeezed onto the browning meat.

These raw tortillas are a big hit in our home. They brown in just minutes and taste much more homemade than any store bought tortilla. They are also delicious with coconut oil and cinnamon-sugar! 😍)

Just a few ingredients and dinner is served. You can serve with a side dish but we were keeping it simple tonight and just had the quesadillas. Except for the girl, she isn't down with cheese so I made her a bean burrito. 

I heat one side just enough, turn it, and add the meat and cheese, fold, and flip.

Done!

The lemon flavor had just the right tang and change to be delicious. The ginger acted like a best friend and complimented the lemon just right.

Let me know if you try it!

Enjoy!

Quick and Easy Vegetarian Lunch - Red Quinoa and Rice with Fire Roasted Peppers and Onions

This one is a bit of a cheat. Not a cheat as in a greasy or sweet sugar loaded meal, but a cheat as in not homemade. Still, in it's cheater fashion, it is healthy, so who cares?

I used two items. Costco sells packets of Rice and Red Quinoa and I had Trader Joe's frozen Fire Roasted Peppers and Onions.

Microwave the rice and quinoa and saute the peppers and onions in a pan. I added some garlic powder, Himalayan salt, black pepper, and red pepper.

Quinoa is very high in protein and is considered a complete protein packed full of amino acids (more information here), so there is really no nutritional need to add meat, but throw some in if it floats your boat! Water chestnuts would be a nice added crunch to this lunch.

Filling, healthy, and satisfying in a bout two minutes.

Recipe Share - Black Bean Hummus

This tasty hummus was easy to whip up, healthy, and can be used in many ways.

I used my Magic Bullet, which works great but is starting to sound like it's scraming at me. I may need to look into something new. I've made hummus a million times in it with chickpeas, it's the perfect size. I'll have to share one of those recipes soon, they are smooth and fresh without tihini or oil.

Anyway, the black bean hummus. I could spruce it up a bit but I used what I had on hand. I used it as a dip and used broken tostadas :-) I'm thinking it would be great on the side of a salad, a spread on a veggie burger (or beef), or used on a sandwhich instead of mayo. Lots of options!

So here it is!

1 15oz can black beans (I use organic)

1-2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 Tablespoons minced garlic

Cumin

ceyanne pepper

black pepper

sea salt

water as needed
squeeze of lemon

I put everything in together (easy on the water at first) and blend! Add a little more water if it is too thick to blend fully. You're done! That's it! There is a lot more you can add to fancy it up but this is a nice basic recipe to throw together.

It was Shandee-tasted and approved! Thanks friend!

Enjoy!

Rotten Red