Happy Hippie

about me

I live in beautiful San Diego where there's never nothin' to do. We almost never have days where you can't get outdoors. For fun I love to read, cook, take road trips with my grandson, whom I raise. Take long walks along the beach, bays and lakes. My live-in grandson is 10 and the light of my life. I've been teaching him to fish (or should I say I'm exposing him to lake fishing, the people we meet along the way are teaching him while I read and watch. He's dying to go ocean fishing, that one makes me a bit more nervous, but we'll start that probably in the summer.

Nick's only one of my grandchildren though, I have a total of seven, three of which live in Kansas. The last time I visited them, it was winter and when I stepped off the plane, the cold air took my breath away and standing there waiting for me in a short-sleeved T-shirt, was my son-in-law. Needless, to say, I spent many days there staying indoors praying for the day I could get back to sunny California — and I never had to endure snow the whole time. But 20 degrees daily was way out of my comfort zone by a very large margin. There truly is no place like home.

I have 3 other grandchildren all of whom are fortunate enought to live in San Diego too. We spend weekends doing things together such as taking in the zoo, wild animal park, Sea World, Knotts Soak City water park (summer), museums and just hang out. They all love to help grandma cook in the kitchen; that doesn't necessarily mean they're anxious to eat what comes out of our little sessions. Remember, I said I love to cook, I didn't say I was a great cook.

I have dozens of cookbooks and can read them like I'd read a book (hasn't helped my skills much unfortunately). When I discovered Recipezaar a few years back, there began to be hope for me. It's not that I'm becoming a great cook, but I have access to so many great cooks on Zaar and when a meal goes on the table I can take credit for preparing it when little do the partakers know that someone else is responsible for getting me through the ordeal successfully.

My passions are my family, my two boston terriers, gardening, cooking and just hangin' out.

I don't really have many pet peeves, but a biggie is mean, obnoxious people and those who think they know it all, and liars. If you can't trust someone, then nothings worth salvaging in the relationship. I hate those who disrespect the environment (no I'm not a tree hugger) but I do hate to see people litter and fail to do simple things such as picking up after themselves in the outdoors such as parks and beaches. I could probably come up with a few more, but I think you get the picture.

Favorite Foods:

My favorite dish to cook is whatever I find on Zaar that sounds good and easy, and there have been many. My absolute favorites come from the asian, mexican and tex-mex categories. Oh, and I love my crockpot!

I'm not really responsible for being famous for any of my own original recipes, but my families current favorite is a baked spaghetti, it's requested often and, once again, Zaar is responsible for reving up my menus.

I do have a favorite restaurant and it's specialty is mexican cuisine: Marios of La Mesa. They make the best authentic mexican food around and awesome menudo (don't wrinkle your nose until you've tried it).

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