I should have stuck with this ride.
Terry and I got to bust out our boots again!
Courtney took this photo while on her horse. Impressive.
The ride was super fun, despite my temperamental horse, Duke, who twice decided to take off at a gallop. I was not thrilled. (Granted, each time was only about three seconds, but I was sufficiently terrified.)
After our ride, Terry and I raced a few exits down the freeway for our BBQ class, To Grill or Not to Grill, which he found through Groupon. We arrived just in time for the class, which included one chef/teacher and about a dozen students. It wasn't hands-on, which disappointed us at first, but we quickly realized how much of grilling is just throwing the food onto the grill and then NOT touching it, so a hands-on class wouldn't have made a lot of sense.
The class lasted about three hours and included three grilled entrees: salmon, tri tip, and chicken. Chef Craiger talked while prepping and grilling the food, demonstrating and answering our questions. Here's a bit of what we covered in the class:
- How to preheat the grill properly
- How to grease up the grill so it's seasoned and won't ruin your foods
- How to choose a grill if you don't have one
- The best ways to marinade different types of meat
- How to time and flip the foods (and how to tell when they're ready)
- How to clean the grill
Overall, we learned a ton and can't wait to try out our new moves! Hopefully we'll be in a bigger place soon(ish) so we can own a bigger grill, but for now our little guy is going to have to suffice.
One other aspect of the class I loved was the recipes. Here are our favorite two:
- Rub Dijon mustard and sprinkle brown sugar on salmon right before grilling
- Tri tip sandwiches: French bread, boysenberry jam, garlic, Cambozola cheese (brie/blue combo--AMAZING), fried onion strings, and arugula
I'm drooling just thinking about that sandwich.
Saturday night was at Terranea resort in Rancho Palos Verdes. Heidi and Ed were staying the night there, so our friends Katie and Corey (and their gorgeous almost-two-month-old Ainsley) and Terry and I drove down for dinner and s'mores. We had so much fun catching up and cooking s'mores over the open fire pits! And dinner was deeeeelicious. We ate at Catalina Kitchen for dinner and all loved our meals.
On Sunday, Scout wasn't thrilled with my decision to start the day grading. Or maybe he was. I can't really tell.
Either way, after breakfast and a bit of grading, Terry and I drove closer to campus and then completed the four-mile perimeter. We planned to walk and jog, but I think we ran more than walked, and we went the hard way (for those familiar, I consider the "hard way" to be north on Hilgard and south on Veteran because the hills are more intense!). I was so proud that we pushed a little harder than we expected, and it felt great to be outside.
Sunday afternoon we attended Terry's cousin's baby's baptism, which was quite lovely. Later that evening, after Terry headed out to tutor our neighbor for math (how cute is that?), I drove to Santa Monica because my sister-in-law Ashley was in town! We had a blast hanging out before I finally had to head home for some more work.
This week is the last of the school year, and I'm exhausted but feeling quite fulfilled. I'll write more about it soon, but this year taught me at least as much as I taught the students (see what I did there?). For now, though, I'll just say that I'm grateful to be nearing the end of the seemingly endless piles of paper and looking forward to a delightful summer!
What are you looking forward to this summer?
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