I live in a popular tourist destination.  So, if you live here – why not act like a tourist some days?  Old Town San Diego is one of my earliest memories of San Diego.  Why?  Because when we first lived in San Diego we lived in a motel next to my husband’s work, which just happened to be next to Old Town.

Old Town marks the first town that was San Diego.  There was a fort at the top of the cliff, and the town below.  It was a dusty place with homes made of adobe bricks.  It’s big feature sat in the middle – a large bull ring.  Now I suppose that some quiet evenings, the people of the town also sat on porches or walked around the bull ring.  Somehow I have a hard time believing that bull ring was the central feature of the town.  They had to use it for other things as well, don’t you think?

When we lived there, the bull ring was a park where children played on the canon and ran around on the grass.  The adobe buildings were open – sometimes for a fee to see how people lived, and sometimes as stores selling not only knick knacks for tourists, but also lovely Mexican-style things that anyone might like to take home.

On one corner of the bull ring/park stood an old adobe that was sunk into the ground – or had the ground been built up around it?  The children loved to go in there.  It was a church, and along one wall there was a sculpture of Christ, sculpted deep in and not out.  You could watch Christ’s eyes follow you up to the altar and back.  They never seemed to leave you.  It was great!  Even the kids thought so.

An old motel stood at another corner.  Later that motel morphed into shops with a lovely courtyard, and an open-air restaurant.  It was a beautiful place.

So, jump ahead.  My children are grown.  My husband and I are retired and I still love to visit Old Town.  The motel where we once stayed became a shop, then went away entirely.  You see, like any town, Old Town is constantly changing.  It’s an interesting place to visit.  Plan to do some shopping.

Marilynne

I’m not that bad off.  I’ve been pretty tricky getting out of cooking, and my husband conspired with me by working away from home through much of our marriage.  Cooking for kids is different.

Today was different.  I shopped for groceries and then I cooked supper.  In determining what to cook, I had to keep in mind that my husband’s garden is supplying us abundantly with tomatoes and zucchini.  I’m watching my diet.

TA DAH!  Here comes a home-grown recipe for veggie tortellini.  Keep in mind that I’m not a vegetarian.  I just like to add lots of vegetables to my meals.

Veggie Tortellini

Instructions

• 1/2 large onion, chopped

• 1 stalk celery, trimmed and chopped small

• The fat end from a fat zucchini, seeded, cut thin and chopped

Heat a little oil in the bottom of the skillet and gently saute these vegetables until the zucchini has disappeared and the onions are transparent.

Add

• 6 fat ripe tomatoes from the garden, chopped in big chunks

• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic (from a jar in my refrigerator)

• 1 to 1 1/2 cups low-fat chicken broth

While that simmers itself into perfection, cook

• about 10 ounces pesto tortellini in about

• 1 1/2 quarts of salted water.  Cook until tender.

Simmer veggie sauce while the tortellini cooks.  When tortellini is done, drain it and add it to the sauce.  Allow the tortellini to sit in the warm sauce about 10 minutes.

Check sauce to be sure it’s seasoned to your taste.  Adjust if necessary (I didn’t) and serve.

Should serve 4 adults.

Believe it or not, I served this with quartered, boiled zucchini and turkey breast patties.

Eat up!

Marilynne

• Fresh raspberries hidden in the milk of my Red Berries cereal (never sugar)
• Veggies in abundance from the garden
• Oranges found on our tree in July (they’re a winter fruit)
• Little yummy somethings  made on the spot

OK, I’ll get to it.  Roy bought a pound of smoked salmon a few days ago.  He bought a pound because it was less per pound than 1/2 pound of smoked salmon.  Now he’s beginning to understand why 1/2 pound even might have been too much.  We have

• Made little bits of goodies by stacking sliced radishes, smoked salmon, and sour cream with a top hat of fresh dill to share with our square dance friends.
• Created a smoked salmon salad
• Ate crackers and cheese with smoked salmon – twice
• Today, created little bites of something yummy using varying combinations of fresh tomato, cheddar cheese, cream cheese, cucumber, dijon mustard, wheat thins, and those pretzel/cracker combos I like so much.

You may get the idea that we’re almost out of salmon, but we’re not.  We are almost out of wanting to eat smoked salmon.  It is so good.  It was so expensive.  But the truth is, we’re tired of it – and we don’t know what to do with the rest.

Marilynne

You can share my fun by trying some of the recipes below.

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/grilled-salmon-i/Detail.aspx

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/good-eats/grilled-salmon-steaks-recipe/index.html

http://www.salmonrecipes.us/salmon-loaf.html

http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1817,148188-233201,00.html

http://www.grouprecipes.com/5718/salmon-patties.html