Vista, California

Good morning, my friends! I had an unexpected day off from the blog yesterday. We took off from Laughlin, Nevada, early enough in the day. Our journey to Vista yesterday was just under 300 miles, but they were long miles. Once we got past Barstow and into more high-traffic areas of southern California, our speed slowed considerably. It seemed to take forever to travel those last 60 miles. And crazy driving!!! We were both worn out by the time we arrived. It was good to get set up and just chill for a while. Then, I got the bright idea to order food delivery...and what a treat! The food wasn't all that great, but having someone bring it to the door was a rare pleasure for us. Absolutely nobody delivers to our house in Oregon. We're too far out in the country for that. So, really, the food was secondary. The delivery was the real draw.

But let's just back up to Thursday afternoon, shall we? It was our last full day in Laughlin. Of course, I fulfilled my responsibilities of chief kitty petter in charge.

And then I tried this new-to-me recipe from Cook's Country for Coffee Mug Molten Chocolate Cake for Two. So, this is basically a chocolate cake with some chocolate chips added at the end to melt and create the "molten chocolate" center. My mugs were a little too large, and so the cake only filled them about 2/3 full. But I had plans for that remaining 1/3 depth. Just you wait and see.

We had to eat our dinner first. We found a lucky package of tri-tip chunks at the grocery store. It was marked only a half-pound quantity, but we compared it to other packages on the shelf and determined it had to be at least a pound and a half. It was clearly mismarked, but we didn't mind at all getting that extra meat for no cost. So, we had an old favorite...this Chipotle-Coffee Steak Salad with Grilled Corn and Tomatoes.

We've had this before. I used frozen corn and roasted it along with the tomatoes in a skillet on the stove top. Mike grilled the meat. Even if you don't like the idea of steak on a salad, the rub for the meat is delicious. I'd use it any old time. Also, I don't have a coffee grinder along, and so I used my mini food processor to grind the coffee. I've also used instant espresso powder in the past. 

Okay, but having eaten our dinner, we could now give the mug cakes our undivided attention. There was just enough room for a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and mmm, mmm, mmm. That was so yummy.

It's a Cook's Country recipe, and so it probably requires a subscription to see it. I've made just a slight change to it, and so I can post it here.

Coffee Mug Molten Chocolate Cake for Two

adapted from Cook's Country

Serves 2

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, chopped, plus 1 ounce broken into 4 equal pieces (or use an equal amount of chocolate chips)

¼ cup (1 3/4 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ cup (1 1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

Directions:

This recipe was developed in a full-size, 1200-watt microwave. If you’re using a compact microwave with 800 watts or fewer, increase the cooking time to 90 seconds for each interval. For either size microwave, reset to 50 percent power at each stage of cooking. Use a mug that holds at least 11 ounces, or the batter will overflow. The bittersweet chocolate is added at two points.

1. Microwave butter and chopped chocolate in large bowl, stirring often, until melted, about 1 minute. Whisk sugar, eggs, cocoa, vanilla, and salt into chocolate mixture until smooth. In separate bowl, combine flour and baking powder. Whisk flour mixture into chocolate mixture until combined. Divide batter evenly between 2 (11-ounce) coffee mugs.

2. Place mugs on opposite sides of microwave turntable. Microwave at 50 percent power for 45 seconds. Stir batter and microwave at 50 percent power for 45 seconds (batter will rise to just below rim of mug). Press 2 chocolate pieces into center of each cake until chocolate is flush with top of cake. Microwave at 50 percent power for 35 seconds (cake should be slightly wet around edges of mug and somewhat drier toward center). Let cakes rest for 2 minutes. Serve.

My notes about the recipe: So, it's important to read the note about the power of your microwave oven. You can find a label, probably inside the door of your microwave oven, that will tell you your wattage. 

Mine was 900 watts. It seemed to me that was pretty close to the 800 watts they mentioned, and so I used the longer cooking time. Also, I wasn't able to find bittersweet chocolate in chunks, and so I measured out two 1-oz. portions of chocolate chips and used that. When I added the chocolate chips at the end for the "molten" part, it worked out just fine, although I imagine chocolate chunks would have given a better soft center. Either way, it was good, and I'll keep this recipe on hand. It's a good one for camping, but it'll be good at home too! Chocolate is a one-size-fits-all food.

Okay, so food aside, we headed out yesterday morning. Our day of driving looked like this until we got closer to Los Angeles.

We could see the Sierra Nevadas off in the distance. Not much snow on them this year, which might come as a surprise to those of you in winter's grip right now.

They were so pretty as we approached.

It wasn't too long after I took this picture that we got into heavy traffic, white-knuckle driving, and jaw-clenching riding. Honestly, we were wiped out when we arrived at the RV park in Vista. And I suppose I should say that Mike grew up in Vista from the time he was 2 until we married and left town shortly after we were married in 1975. Mike was 23 and I was 21. I didn't grow up here, only arriving when I was 11. My dad did three tours in Vietnam while we lived in California, and so we were able to stay put while I finished out high school, graduating from Vista High School. 

And so all of that to say that we left Vista in 1975 and we've barely spent any time here since. And let me just tell you that in 46 years, the place has grown and changed until we didn't recognize *anything* as we drove into town. We came in on a street that used to be narrow with just one lane in each direction. Now it's six lanes wide. Sheesh. The park is nice though, and it's much quieter than the place in Laughlin, despite a significantly larger population. If you want to see our old stomping grounds, I wrote a little tour a couple of years ago. You can read about our home town and our reminiscing about the good old bad old days right here.

Here's yesterday's inchy. I started on it when we stopped for lunch, and then finished it up after we arrived at the RV park. 

Today's inchy has probably been posted now, and so I'll get to work on that next. I'm not sure what else the day holds, but I'm sure we'll think of something.