Donna started her Sunday morning with a bike ride around Fiesta Island. I did my usual Sunday ritual hanging at the coach and watching NFL football. I suffered through another Charger loss. A season that started with such promise and high expectations has fallen apart. The only NFL team with more starters out due to injuries than the Chargers are the Baltimore Ravens and their season isn’t panning out either.

At the farmers’ market on Saturday, I bought two containers of Bitchin’ Sauce to have with chips while I watched football. When I first came to San Diego in 1969, I heard the term bitchin’. It confused me. I thought it meant bitching – but it was a slang term mostly used by surfers to mean cool or really good. At the farmers’ market, we sampled a few flavors of Bitchin’ Sauce and it was…well, it was bitchin’. I bought the chipotle and also a cilantro-chili.

Chipotle Bitchin’ Sauce

Cilantro-chili Bitchin’ Sauce

It makes a great dip for chips or it can be spread on crackers or bread. The base for this dip is ground almonds.

We also bought fresh sausage at the farmers’ market. We cooked as suggested by the guy selling them. Donna put the three linked sausages in a pan of cold water and brought it to a boil. Once it boiled, she turned the heat off. Eight minutes later, I put the sausage links on the grill.

Smoked gouda cheese-stuffed sausage

The sausage was stuffed with smoked gouda cheese. The boiling water actually cooked the sausage and toughened the casing. Putting it on the grill added grill marks and enhanced the flavor of the casing. Donna served the sausages over apples and onions sauteed in butter and fresh thyme with leftover Moroccan quinoa on the side.

Sausage over sauteed onions and apple slices with Moroccan quinoa on the side

The sausage was very tasty – we’ll buy it again and cook it the same way.

Today we plan to get in a round of pickleball – they have open pickleball at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center on Mondays (map). I won’t be able to play again for awhile. Tomorrow I’ll have surgery to release the trigger finger condition on my right hand.

The forecast calls for nice weather today and tomorrow – mid to upper 70s. A cold front will move in on Wednesday and the expected high temperature will be in the low 60s for the next several days with a chance of rain. That will be a good time for me to recover. I may not post again for a few days.