My annual trip to San Diego was amazing, as always. The weather was perfect, and Alma and I kicked off the weekend with paddle boarding in Mission Bay. Later that day, we went downtown for a zumba class, which was quite a workout! Too bad I didn’t get any pics of those activities. Next stop was dinner and salsa dancing at Miami Grille with Jerry. And that was only Friday!

Best salsa partner ever!

Sisters (and former roommates of mine) Aileen and Alma

Miami Grille was yummy and fun!

On Saturday, we met up with everyone for a picnic at UCSD. Al and I made quinoa salad with grilled veggies, Southwestern pasta salad, and grilled corn salad. We also brought cheese, meats, crackers and fruit. It was quite the spread! After lunch, we took a tour of campus, visiting all our old haunts and reminiscing about the good ol’ days.

Jeannine and Alex

Jeannine and Shawn

Kanoa, Aileen’s son

Camden and Devin, Shawn and Tuan’s kids

The Ho and Erickson families are neighbors in Irvine!

Ethan, Avery and Kanoa

Picnic time!

New buddies?

Kanoa was smitten with Avery!

My cousin Lisa

Roomies!

Ethan and daddy Ken

Ken picked Dale up for their very first date when we lived here in the upper apartments!

K-5 - home sweet home in the upper apartments. It was our first of three years as roommates!

Jerry lived across the walkway in L-4

Kanoa auditions to be the newest member of the Erickson family

Sun God

The Reserves now accepts new forms of payment, such as refried beans. My, how things have changed since I was a student!

The Grove Caffe, where I drank many a mocha, is no more. Sad!

Student Library, where we sometimes studied, sometimes napped. Jerry said he might have visited this place once in his entire college career. If you knew Jerry, you’d believe him.

Class of 1994

Price Center

Geisel Library

Even the library rules have changed - you can bring food, just not the messy and smelly kind.

Where it all began: Dale and Ken met in a class here in the Engineering building.

“Then wilt thou not be loth to leave this paradise, but shalt possess a paradise within thee, happier far.”
Quote from Paradise Lost, John Milton

Dr. Seuss and The Cat in the Hat

S-1, my freshman year dorm

S-4, Al and Dale’s freshman year home

Future UCSD students!

Playing in the volleyball court in front of the dorms. Avery is such a smiley baby!

The boys joined in the fun.

Thanks to everyone for coming, hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! See you all next summer!

Back in June, my Restaurant Club decided to have a guac-off. What’s that, you ask? It’s a friendly little competition amongst a few friends who love food to see who can make the best guacamole! Julie and her husband Ryan hosted the little gathering in their apartment in Battery Park City, and we decided to make it a Mexican fiesta potluck. Here’s how things went down.

Only four of us entered the contest: Sara, Ryan, Lori and me

Aidan didn’t think Post-its were a good way to number the bowls.

The taste test - everyone’s a critic!

Baby Liam, our expert judge, thought all of the guacs were delish!

Based on everyone’s votes, Lori proved to be the guacamole master chef!

Restaurant Club ladies (and Julie’s boys)

Fiesta time - there were fish tacos with Baja sauce, tamales, zucchini and black bean enchiladas, salad, rice and beans. Oh yah, and guacamole.

We also celebrated Sara’s graduation from grad school

Julie is our Cake Boss - how clever are these little graduation cupcakes!

A couple weeks ago, I took a little trek out to Brooklyn to meet Bay and Harris’s new little guy, Charles. Gotta love a sleeping baby!

Fresh off our successful kayaking adventure, the ladies of Camp Fern decided to try surfing. Our friend Lars at Main Beach & Surf were tasked with teaching us wanna-be surfers. The waves were really flat this day, which in some ways made it less intimidating for the three of us who had never done this before. Just call me Gidget!

Angela and Heather

Einat and Nicki

Paige and me

The waves from our local beach flow into Georgica Pond

Our surf lesson started with how to put on a wet suit.

Surfer girls Nicki, Paige, Heather and Einat

Surf’s up! (barely)

Look ma! I’m surfing!

I caught another wave!

Which quickly flattened out, so I stood on top of the water. (Lars is saying “What happened?”)

Einat surprised herself with how much fun she was having.

Angela was really good at this surfing thing.

One last wave for me

Surfing Ferners: Heather, Nicki, Paige, Einat, Angela and me

We did it!

Thanks again to Lars at Main Beach Surf & Sport for another fantastic adventure!

Our last weekend in the Hamptons brought another new Ferner into the mix, and what better way to welcome our friend Angela than with one of our infamous family dinners. I arrived Friday morning and immediately started planning with the girls. Special requests were made, and a shopping list was created. On the menu: chicken shish kebabs, salmon, quinoa salad, and some sort of veggie salad I planned to make up from whatever I found at the farm stand. I love cooking for my friends!

Chef Jen in the kitchen

Kebabs on the grill - chicken marinated in a soy-lime sauce, skewered with onions and zucchini

Salmon marinated in the same soy-lime sauce

Quinoa salad with grilled eggplant, sauteed zucchini and yellow squash, red bell pepper and onion

Grilled corn salad, with cherry tomatoes, basil (from our herb garden), lime juice, salt and pepper

The kebabs

Dinner’s ready!

My kinda dinner!