Great Customer Service

Every once in a while, I stumble across a business that actually CARES about their customers. I like to make sure that I highlight those businesses so other people are aware of it too!

Back in November I signed up for the Desert Spring Triathlon in California, which happens to be exactly when the USMC saw fit to send me all the way to the East Coast (VA Beach) for a 10-week course. Thinking that I'd most likely lost my money, I decided to at least make an attempt to get a refund. I e-mailed the race director, Greg Klein, and explained the situation. Within MINUTES, I had a reply in my inbox saying that they could either refund my entry fee or defer it until 2012. Unfortunately, I won't be around to do the race in 2012, so I did have to ask for the refund. And today, just as promised, my check arrived in the mail from Klein|Clark Sports LLC!

So I wanted to say THANK YOU to Greg Klein and Brenda Clark for running a company that cares. If I ever have an opportunity to run one of your races, I promise I will! So many races refuse to refund money regardless of the circumstances!

Run for Fisher House

April 16-17 I will be running a 24-hour race, the Fool Moon 24-hour Trail Run in Calabassas, CA. It's not run for any specific charity, but on the wonderful recommendation from my awesome sister, I decided that it would be great to support a local charity and good motivation for the run. I know that you are all probably hounded by different charities on a regular basis, but I wanted to reach out and ask you if you can donate ANY amount to the Fisher House of San Diego. Below you will find a description of what Fisher House provides for families of active and retired military members who require in-patient medical care.
There are two different ways to donate:

1) Pledge to donate a specific amount of money per mile that I accomplish - this means that right after I run, I send out the total distance I completed and you base your donation amount on that.

2) Lump Sum - a specific amount donated to Fisher House, regardless of the miles I complete.

Any amount will help and I want to thank you all in advance for your contributions! If you are able to donate, please e-mail me (ryutwin2@gmail.com) and I will give you further details.

Semper Fidelis,
Jessica

Fisher Houses I & II at Naval Medical Center San Diego provide a “home away from home” for active and retired military families of patients who have been admitted for medical care at Naval Medical Center San Diego. Both houses are comfortably furnished homes with a combination of 18 suites with adjoining baths, common kitchens (fully equipped), laundry rooms, living and dining rooms. Fisher House I has a stair chair for orthopedic challenges and two ADA compliant bedrooms. Fisher House II is completely ADA compliant with an elevator.

The Zachary and Elizabeth Fisher Houses are available to families who are coping with the medical crisis of a loved one and have no local accommodations. The Fisher House Foundation generously provides a grant to pay lodging fees for all families to stay at the Fisher Houses.

The Fisher House is available to families of Active Duty and retired military personnel, including National Guard and Reserve, as long as the patient has a military sponsor.

Donations

The Fisher Houses are a non-profit organization that depends on volunteers and donations for support to enhance daily operations and program expansion. The San Diego Fisher House Federal /State Tax ID number is: 95-1645429. Checks should be made out to: Fisher House Foundation.

Dinner Experiment

For dinner tonight, we had Knight and Leonie over and they were our guinea pigs for a few new recipes! We started with Basil-Mozzarella Tomatoes. We also made Israeli Salad (no pictures), which has diced green pepper, tomatoes, and cucumber with olive oil, lemon and lime juice, and salt and pepper.

For the main course, we made a Butternut Squash-Mozzarella and Sage pasta. I started by roasting the butternut squash with cumin seeds, salt, pepper and a bit of olive oil.

Meanwhile, I mixed butter, fresh mozzarella, fresh chopped sage, garlic, lemon zest, and lemon juice with a blender to make the "sauce". Once it is mixed, I laid it out on some wax paper and then chilled it for about and hour. Then I cooked the pasta. Once it was ready, I drained it and added the squash and the sliced up "mozzarella-butter". I forgot to take a picture before we ate, but here's the overall idea of the dish.

For dessert, we made a chocolate cake with a ganache topping and some orange peels for decoration. I also made some whipped cream to go with it!

Brownie Cupcakes

One of the many Christmas presents I received from Sean was "Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone". And since we are on our New Years 96, I decided that I should try out one of the recipes...and why not start with DESSERT!!!!

I decided that I would start simple and the Brownie Cupcakes seemed like they were in my league. Here's the recipe:

Cupcakes:

6 oz good quality bittersweet chocolate (60% to 70% cacao), chopped (I used Ghiradelli)

6 tbsp unsalted butter

1 tbsp light corn syrup

Pinch of salt

3/4 c. sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

(I omitted the walnuts, but if you like them, use 2/3 c. coarsely chopped)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Recipe makes 8 cupcakes. Stir the chocolate and butter in a small heavy saucepan over low heat until they melt and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the syrup and salt. Remove from the heat and set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar and eggs in a large bowl for 2 minutes or until the mixture is thick and light. Stir in the chocolate mixture. Add the flour and baking powder, and stir just until blended; then stir in the walnuts. Divide the batter equally among cupcake liners, filling them completely. Bake for about 25 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the tin and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

Frosting:

4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature

1/3 c. light corn syrup

4 oz good quality bittersweet chocolate (same as above)

8 small fresh strawberries

Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese in a large bowl until it is light and smooth. Beat in the syrup. Melt the chocolate slowly and then add to the cream cheese mixture and beat until blended and fluffy, stopping the machine and scraping the bottom of the bowl to ensure that the mixture is well blended. Spread the frosting generously over the cooled cupcakes. Garnish each one with a fresh strawberry, and serve.

Granted, my guinea pig for taste testing was Sean (who is a bit biased), but I'd give these 4.5 stars! The brownie stuck to the paper a bit, but I might have undercooked them, because I like them to be a bit more "fudgie" than cake-like.

Another Trip to Dog Beach

The rain finally left San Diego (at least for now) and we had a chance to take Nessie down to Dog Beach, her favorite place in the world! She met her buddy Teton, a Rhodesian Ridgeback, down there with his owner, Leonie. She had a wonderful time despite the somewhat chilly weather!

While at dog beach, Nessie always finds other dogs to play with, but her primary focus is the tennis ball! Here are some of the other dogs that were out there today (including Teton).

Of course, before leaving dog beach, Nessie has to dry herself off with a vigorous shake!