That’s so last year

I’m all about renting cabins for New Year’s Eve (mellow setting, cheap booze, BYO food, super simple non-existent clean up…what’s not to love!?).  Usually we alternate between Lake Tahoe and Napa, but this year we changed it up.

There are a few different ways to get to Clearlake.  We chose the wrong one. 

 

Do you see those curves?!?  As someone who gets motion sickness very easily, this was a rather unpleasant drive.  We had to pull over a few times because I thought I was going to lose my lunch.  Not fun.

Eventually we arrived at the cabin.  People were already boozing, but I still needed a few minutes to recover from the windy road sitch.  Deep breathing.  Deep breathing.  Where’s my incentive spirometer? <— RN joke

 

Why the eff would someone hang something all jacked up and crooked?  Seriously. 

The sheer number of random things that were hung on the cabin walls would blow your mind.  Asian characters.  Indian beads.  The alphabet in sign language.  Carved wooden animals.  White boards.  There were a few pieces of artwork that I liked (normal scenery).  And some that were odd, but at least made sense (no smoking signs).  But yeah, the house was definitely…interesting. 

I always find it amusing to see how other people’s taste differs from my own, but the general consensus was that this rental cabin was one knickknack shy of a cheesy tourist shop.

 

After my nausea had waned, I left Kyle in the kitchen with the boys and joined the girls in the hot tub.  Ahh.

Meanwhile the boys got the wood burning oven hot and ready.

 

Pizza time!!  We bought groceries from Whole Foods, including a 365 brand 2-pack of organic whole wheat pizza crusts, SoySation three cheese blend (cheddar, jack, & mozzarella), tomato paste, tomatoes, bell peppers, and mushrooms.

Fresh outta the Jacuzzi, getting my chef-face on.

 

The only difference between my half and Kyle’s was his had mushrooms.  I decided to skip them (due to their FODMAPS content) because the crust was wheat (also a FODMAPS food), and I wanted the crust more.  In terms of FODMAPS loading, I probably could have tolerated both of them but I didn’t feel like pushing it since it was NYE and I knew I was probably going to be slamming my gut with lots of other random stuff (booze) over the evening.

Yes, my half is bigger.  Kyle’s nice like that. 

Dear Santa, For Christmas this year, I’d like a ______ [new digestive system?]

As far as NYE celebrations go…

This one was moderately tame.

 

Board games, beer, the usual.

No passing out before midnight allowed!! 

Somehow, the 1st arrived.  Does anyone ever greet the new year with gusto?  One of these days I will pop out of bed with all the energy of a kid on Christmas morning.  But it didn’t happen in 2012.

 

Instead I stumbled to the kitchen and banged around until Kyle came in and found the coffee maker for me.

  

Yes, of COURSE we confirmed that there’d be a coffee maker before we headed to Clearlake.  And then we brought organic coffee from Whole Foods with us.  That’s what you the doctors call addiction. 

We didn’t anticipate the cabin’s owners would also be caffeine fiends.  They had an espresso maker, french press, and drip coffee machine.  Plus a massive grinder (see above).  When it comes to java, these people made Kyle and I seem like newbies.  They are no joke. 

 

What do you think of this view from the kitchen table?  Kinda awesome, huh.

Ciabatta + Nutella = hangover breakfast of champions

 

The reason I’m classifying my meal as hangover food and not plain old breakfast perfection is because it was eaten in a loco haphazard manner.  No plates, no silverware.  Messy, but delicious.

*Note to FODMAPS peeps: Nutella has skim milk in it, so if you’re looking for a low FODMAP way of eating it, don’t use wheat bread [like I did].  Instead, add it to oats or another GF bread.  I didn’t feel terrible after, but I didn’t feel amazing either.  I think there were other factors contributing though, if you know what I mean.  😉

An hour or so later (I’m guessing on the timing because I certainly wasn’t looking at the clock) I started getting hungry again.  So soon!

 

My appetite was something else.

 

A few months ago my sister tried this company’s products, loved them, and recommended I try to find them, too.  However, since they are a smaller company based in Nor Cal, I was unable to find their goods in LA. 

While I was browsing my home town’s Whole Foods, I came across it and bought the pumpkin Bolani to try. 

Never having tried Afghan food, I didn’t know what to expect but it was delicious! 

 

The outside was soft and delicate, like a cross between a crepe and a tortilla.  The inside was basically just pumpkin puree.

Nutritionally, the stats are just as good – vegan with only 5 ingredients. 

I wish they were more available in Southern California, because I want to try the rest of their products now (like their hummus).

After my second breakfast, I dragged Kyle on a walk with me.  It was that or badminton and he wasn’t keen on whacking around a birdie.

I almost forgot to mention how much stuff there was to do at this cabin!

This place was an ADHD patient’s dream.  Had we wanted to design a New Year’s Eve decathlon, we could have done so easily…pool table, foosball, ping ping…you name it, they had it. 

I think the owners wanted to have enough things to keep the renters occupied so they wouldn’t have to venture into town (because the “town” is a little sketchy).  And by “town” I mean gas station and surrounding roads.

When we got back from our 7 minute walk Luke was waiting on the porch to greet us with kisses.

 

And the kitchen was (again) bustling with activity.

Caroline takes great pride in sharing her Mexican heritage with us…in the form of beans.

Mark fried corn tortillas and I just waited on the sidelines to load up my plate.

 

Kyle and I soaked up the view.

  

Then we all sat outside and dug into some delicious Mexican food – fried corn tortillas, pinto beans, tomatoes, lettuce, SoySation cheese, and guacamole.

 

Isn’t the deck cute?  We made a lot of friends by feeding the ducks our leftovers (not really, we bought a loaf of crappy bread to toss in and amuse ourselves).

 

Not too soon after the boys were firing up the pizza oven.  Again.

Rather than consume our 4th meal before 2 pm, Caroline and I decided to hit the lake.

We went to the other side of the lake and back, just rowing and floating and trying not to freeze.  It was warm out, but the water was COLD.  Neither of us had feeling in our feet upon returning. 

 

We jumped in the hot tub to fix the numbness, but wound up scalding our poor toes.  I should have remembered that gradual temperature changes are the proper way of reheating the body from nursing school, but I was so focused on getting warm stat all medical knowledge was out the window.

I had some champagne in the tub, which went straight to my head. 

Pizza round two. 

 

Oven master Kyle.

 

No photos of the final product (namely because it was consumed at lightning speed and no camera has a fast enough shutter speed for that).

 

After dinner we watched Luke tear Mono, his stuffed animal monkey, into a million and four pieces.  Poor thing.

The next day was an early one for me and Kyle as we were off before the sun was up to drive me to the airport to fly home.

Have you ever rented a lake house for New Years?  Gone kayaking?  Collected tacky wall hangings (aka “art”)?