SDCYD Fundraiser for Patrick Finucane

On March 7, the executive board of the San Diego County Young Democrats hosted a fundraiser for Patrick Finucane, a Young Dem who is running for San Diego City Council. For the fundraiser, we chose a "Taste of District 2" theme, which featured small bites and alcohol pairings. Here is the menu:

Soft Pretzels & Weiners/PBR: Petco Park

Fish Tacos/Tecate: Beaches

Garden Salad/Chardonnay: Farmer's Markets

Vegetable Lasagna/Merlot: Little Italy

I was especially proud of my salad, which included mixed greens, beets, maple roasted walnuts, goat cheese, and an organge balsamic vinagrette. The entire salad was organic, expect for the goat cheese because organic goat cheese is obscenely expensive.

Anyhow, despite various mishaps with the board members, all of the food was fantastic! (Oh, and I think we raised some money for Patrick too.)

This is our President making homemade salsa for the fish tacos. He also made TWO different types of white sauce. So yummy. Now every time I go to Bryan's, I want fish tacos. Seriously.

La Milpa Organica Farm

Last night, Rose, Audrey and I went to La Milpa Organica Farm for the Spring Equinox pot luck dinner. I put together a big bowl of my wasabi coleslaw and packed a bag with plates and forks. We climbed into the car with our jackets and scarves and drove north on the 15 in search of our organic adventure.

The evening totally reminded me of the potluck dinners I attended in my friends' yards when I lived in Utah. What a wonderful feeling of fellowship! The meal at dusk had all of the neccesary components: delicous homemade food, beautiful gardens and friendly people. There was even an outdoor wood fire pizza oven, which brought back fond memories of my Haylapa experience.

The night concluded with the showing of an outdoor film, Fresh. Fresh is a documentary about food security, and as to be expected, it contained all of the classic, stomach-turning footage of poultry, pig, and dairy farms. There is no reason to eat commercial meat, people. It just is not worth it.

La Milpa Organica Farm holds potlucks on the third Saturday of every month, and I am sure that we will be attending more. If you want to come along, just let me know!

Guess who's debt free?

I am no longer financially chained to the US Department of Education! Yes, it's true - in December, I made the final payment on my student loans. This is an amazing, liberating feeling, and I hope that one day, all social workers with heinous amounts of debt can experience it. Now, to be fair, I really didn't have heinous amounts of debt because I scored some pretty awesome scholarships for grad school. However, when you are only making $12/hour at your first post-MSW job, the idea of paying off any amount of debt can be pretty daunting. My strategy was this - Instead of paying the minimum payment every month, I paid 25% extra. Additionally, when I received my income tax refund each year, I applied it toward the loans. And ta-da! In just under six years, the loans have been paid off.

To celebrate, I invited my friends and family to Happy Hour at the The Prado. Of course, upon arriving at The Prado, I had my car valet parked. You see, now that I have no loans, I can really enjoy a luxury lifestyle. (Okay, actually, I was running really late and didn't have time to find an open spot in Balboa Park, so I decided to splurge a little with the valet so as not to be rude and show up late for my own party.) The Prado's Happy Hour is especially fabulous because it is from 8-10pm, which is not your typical Happy Hour timeslot. Additionally, appetizers and drink specials are all under less than $5. That's an amazing deal at such a swanky spot. Granted, pretty much everything on the appetizer menu is fried, and will therefore negates any calories burned in your 7AM Pilates session. But really, Happy Hour isn't intended to be uber-healthy. Here are some photos from the celebration:

In this final photo, Rose is indicating that she has a little school debt and I am indicating that I have zero school debt. (I thought that an interpretation of the photo may would be helpful.)