Thursday, May 20, 2010

I like Moorpark & Strawberries



I love where we live. Our ward is the friendliest, most inviting ward I’ve ever been in. We are close to family and friends. Everyday I drive home on the 23 freeway and come down a hill looking at the amazing rolling green hills. It’s gorgeous. We are only minutes from the beach and less than an hour to L.A. We also live cornered in some agricultural areas. I try to get most of our produce from a farm that is less than 5 minutes from our apartment called Underwood Family Farms. I love buying produce that was in the ground yesterday as opposed to who knows where it was grown and then transported here. Plus, I figure it is supporting the local economy. Ever since I’ve lived in this area, I’ve anticipated Spring, which is synonymous with STRAWBERRY SEASON!! Strawberries are my absolute favorite fruit and I eat it every morning with cottage cheese for breakfast for as long as the season lasts. If I had to choose one food to live off of for the rest of my life, this would be it. In celebration of this beautiful fruit (not to mention it has the highest amount of vitamin C than any other fruit,) I wrote a haiku:

Ode to Strawberry Season

I love strawberries
Red, delicious and healthy
Picked fresh from Oxnard


I buy them by the flat from the nicest Mexican man on the side of the road. Luke came with me once to get them and they spoke in Spanish. When I went back, he assumed that I spoke Spanish as well! It was funny to reply with just “hi.”

In addition to the oodles of raw strawberries I’ve consumed, I also purchased some rhubarb to experiment with. For mother’s day dinner I made my first ever strawberry-rhubarb pie. Yum!

Friday, May 14, 2010

Goals

One day I'd like to have the following letters behind my name:

Whitney K. Erickson, M.S.N., M.P.H., R.N., N.P.

My ideal job: nurse practioner/nursing professor/involved in a non profit international public health agency/pastry chef/mom.

One step at a time I guess starting with the R.N. I hate waiting for acceptance letters. It's nerve wracking and makes me want to eat chocolate.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Cinco de Mayo

I like to celebrate things...any occasion will do...any excuse for a party or something special! So today after work, I changed into my "Mexican Poncho Dress" that I bought on our honeymoon in Cabo. Our intention was to celebrate Cinco de Mayo by having one of our new favorite dishes, Ranchos Huevos. However, due to some unforseen events (mainly the lack of black beans and sour cream in our house) we settled for spaghetti and meatballs (my current obsession.) I thought it was so ironic that we were eating Italian on the 5th of May while dressed so festive, I had to have a picture.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Monday, May 3, 2010

Las Vegas

For Luke's birthday we went to Las Vegas, specifically to see the cirque de soleil show, O. Thurday night we drove to Primm and arrived about 3am and slept in a bed with sheets made of cardboard, I'm sure of it. Friday, we ate ourselves into oblivion at the Rio's World Buffet. After a recovery nap, we made our way to the Bellagio dressed in our finest! The entrance to the O Theater has tons of artwork inspired by the show and costs about the amount of a down payment for a home in Southern California (Luke and I had a hard time resisting a purchase, believe me!) Instead, we had fun taking pictures mimicking their poses.



The actual O show was quite impressive. The performers did some incredible stunts, beautiful dances and some were very funny. The stage was amazing in that sometimes it was a pool, and other times it was a solid stage. I've never seen a show like it.


Saturday, we visited a college roommate of mine who just gave birth to her first son. What a cutie! It was fun to chat with her, and feed the baby a bottle and burp it! Our friends, the Vreekens also joined us for the day in Vegas.



We enjoyed stuffing ourselves with pizza at CiCi's, getting painted tattoos and spending the afternoon at the Silverton Hotel waiting to catch a glimpse of their mermaid. It was a grand day, finished off by deep friend Oreos and Twinkies. I'm surprised we all made it through without any heart attacks!