You probably heard that San Diego, along with most of California, was slammed with El Nino driven storms this week. We had heavy rain on Wednesday, lashing down at times as hard as I’ve ever seen it rain here. There was a short break in the weather in the morning. Donna took advantage and went out for a run. I made a break for it on the scooter and picked up beer at Keil’s. My timing was not so good – it started raining again as I left the store. We spent most of the day indoors.

Donna sent weekly Hello Fresh deliveries to her parents for Christmas. Each delivery includes recipes plus all the ingredients needed to create three healthy, tasty meals for two. Members get a discount code that they can share, so Donna used it to order a box for us. (We got $40 off the regular price of $69 and that gave Donna’s parents a $20 credit on their subscription – their discount code is DQVHHL – you’re welcome to use it!)

On Wednesday evening, she prepared the first meal – a skillet chicken pot pie.

Hello Fresh recipe and pre-measured ingredients

The pot pie was different from the commercially available pot pies at the grocery store. It didn’t have a pie crust – it had biscuits similar to dumplings.

Chicken pot pie recipe ready to serve

It was good and the ingredients were fresh. I thought it was a little heavy on the thyme. Although they claim it’s a meal for two, the portions for this recipe would be very large if we served it that way. We usually eat smaller meals, so we ate a little more than half and had leftover pot pie. I paired a special edition beer – it was collaboration between Sierra Nevada Brewing up in the bay area and San Diego’s Stone brewing. They brewed an IPA, split it in half and barrel aged them. Half of the batch was aged in a gin-infused bourbon barrel, the other half went into a rye whiskey barrel. Months later they brewed a fresh batch of IPA and blended all three beers together. It was an interesting ale. It didn’t have a heavy bourbon presence – I think the gin-infused barrel cut that a bit. It wasn’t overly hoppy. It seems like a lot of work to make a beer like this. I liked it but it didn’t leave a lasting impression on me.

North by South IPA

We had a break in the rain on Thursday morning. I looked at the hourly forecast and the weather radar and told Donna we might have a passing shower around 9am and heavy rain around 11am. Donna walked to Enterprise to rent a car. She timed her walk to arrive there ahead of the showers and it worked out. She wanted a car to get to her appointment to have her hair cut.

The 11am rain prediction was true. Donna came home around then. I used the car to go play pickleball at the Pacific Beach Recreation Center. Donna stayed home to work on her blog post. We’ll have the car through the weekend. Originally we planned to pull out of here on the 8th, but I extended our stay until the 14th. I’m glad we didn’t have to pull out on a stormy day and hit the road.

On Thursday evening, the rain abated and we went to the Offshore Tavern and Grill for their holiday party – not sure why they decided to schedule it for after the holidays, but they did. All drinks were three dollars and free hors d’oeuvres were served by the wait staff walking around with trays. One of the appetizers was prime rib bruschetta with horseradish sauce. It was delightful. I also ordered a poke plate made with sushi grade ahi tuna for us.

Poke plate

There was quite a crowd and everyone was having a great time. We were lucky to get seats at the bar, but after an hour or so, we decided to head for home about 8pm. Back at the park we found new neighbors two sites down from us. They invited us to join their campfire. We enjoyed talking, sitting by the fire and imbibing adult beverages.

Neighbor’s campfire

On Friday morning, we awoke to abundant sunshine! It was a welcome sight after days of rain. California needs the water and the rain was a good thing. The snow pack in the local mountains and Sierra Nevada range will be a big help in the spring. Donna and I drove over to the Ocean Beach Recreation Center for pickleball. We always have fun there. We met a couple, Scott and Norma, that are full-timers staying here at the Mission Bay RV Resort. We hope to get together with them soon. Norma stopped by in the afternoon and invited us to visit around 6pm. I had to take a rain check as we already had plans for our friends, Bud and Mona, to visit us in the evening.

Donna made the second of three Hello Fresh meals Friday night. She made sage-butter pork chops with roasted broccolini and citrusy potato salad. It was very good. Donna is having fun with the new recipes.

Sage-butter pork chops

With this meal, I tried another Stone special release in the Stochasticity Project line. It was called Grainiac and the grain bill included 2-row pale malt, white wheat, grouse malted millet, grouse malted buckwheat, carrarye, golden naked oats and triticale. It was definitely a malty brew somewhat reminiscent of their Arrogant Bastard ale.

Grainiac

Bud and Mona came over around 6:30pm. We sat outside and talked. As always, when we spend time with good friends, the time flies by. We chatted for a couple of hours before they had to leave. Mona had to be up early for work.

Bud, Mona and Donna

We wanted to go see Hans’ band, The Sand Devils, play at a club in North Park. But we weren’t up to it by 9pm, so we stayed inside and watched an episode of Penny Dreadful.

We have clear, blue skies again today. The temperature is below average in the low 60s. There’s a chance of rain around midnight. We’ll have to get out and enjoy the sunshine!