our favorite parts about davis. so far.

1. the farmer's market.

there are two things that we love about the farmer's market: first, we love the pluots (a crossbreed between a plum and an apricot). they are incredibly tasty and pretty fun word to say. we buy pluots everytime we go and i'm getting sad that with the season change, they might go away. the other part of the farmer's market that we love is fatface, a little shop that sells to-die-for popsicles. so far, we've tried three of the flavors. i've had the strawberry lemonade and the hibiscus mint and Ricks has tried both the hibiscus mint and the avocado lime. clearly, we liked the hibiscus mint because we went back for seconds but the other flavors were equally delicious. we are excited to try their other flavors as well, including sweet potato!

2. the dumpling house.

a couple in our ward recommended this restaurant to us. its a little hole in the wall with extremely cheap and yummy dumplings, potstickers, and fish and chips (fish and chips? i dont know.). we ordered 1 order of chicken postickers and 1 order of pork potstickers from a really funny old lady. the best part of the dumpling house is the amazing ginger sauce that is served with the potstickers. we are so excited to go back. Ricks went to the back in search of some hot sauce and when he came back with his favorite condiment, siracha sauce, it only sealed the deal that the dumpling house would be a repeater. it has also been rumored that if you call the dumpling house an hour ahead of going, they will give you something ridiculous like 50 potstickers for 18 dollars. sounds like a deal to me.

3. sam's.

sam's is a mediterranean cuisine restaurant. we'd heard that sam's was good but didn't really know what to expect. we went for lunch today and both ordered the falafel. Ricks and I had made falafel before but I'd never had it anywhere else. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that falafel, when deep fried the way it was at sam's, is infinitely better than when it isn't deep fried. it was very yummy and Rick's said that if we couldn't have Bruges in Salt Lake then we would have Sam's in Davis. They aren't even similar or even close to being a trade off but Sam's is pretty good. all in all, i would pick Bruges over Sam's any day. Ricks also ordered some fries which he loved but i found disappointing. I'm excited to go back to try other dishes from the menu.

4. the habit.

right before we took my mom to the airport, we stopped really quickly at the habit to grab a bite to eat. at the habit, they call their hamburgers "char burgers." I knew it would be good just based off the name, i really like char. also, the burgers aren't served with regular onions but rather caramelized onions which i have a love affair with and which ricks actually likes (he dislikes regular onions). although i ate while driving and couldnt completely focus on how it tasted, i could still tell that it was extremely good and much better, in my opinion, than the local favorite burger at burgers and brew. the habit also serves a nice sweet potato fry.

5. Trader Joes.

my favorite part about trader joe's so far has been the snack and dessert section. Ricks and I went for a walk the other day and ended up at Trader Joe's. we wandered around the store figuring out what they had to offer. Ricks came across some chocolate covered pretzels and I found my self something akin to Klondike Bars only the cookie part was graham cracker and the vanilla ice cream part was marshmallow ice cream with chocolate chunks. When Ricks found "power berries" he put the pretzels back and took the power berries instead. (power berries are different juices covered with dark chocolate.) so, we walked away from the store with snacks. I felt like a little kid getting to choose one thing to buy. when we were eating our treats, we compared who won, and, i wish i could say that the smores were the best, but, although the smore ice cream treats were pretty good, the power berries were the definite winners. so yummy.

food is definitely an important part in Ricks and my life. we love love love to taste, eat, cook, bake, experiment, and critique food. we are happy that we are in davis and are so happy to have found a few yummy places to eat.

playing catch up.

dearest friends and family,

i know i have started 1, 2, and maybe even 3 (?) blogs in the past. and they were all failures. i like the idea of blogging but i just havent been able to stick with it. but now, i am starting this, my fourth (or is it my third?) blog. it will mostly be a place for me to keep a record of what ricks and i are doing in our lives. accept the fact that i may not keep it up and that maybe, a few months down the road, in an effort at a fresh start, i may even start a fifth blog. if everyone is okay with that. then here we go.

Ricks and I moved to Davis, CA on August 11, 2011. we woke up bright and early and said teary goodbyes to our families. Ricks drove the uhaul and i drove the toyota. on our way here, Ricks listened to video game podcasts and i listened to the help. we drove straight through the sad state of nevada, stopping only for gas and were greeted in california with beautiful lake tahoe and the entry produce check. the few grapes left over from the trip, ricks, and i all were allowed to enter California and we drove the rest of the way to davis. the first two weeks we took up residence at the local motel 6 where i became very familiar with TLC's What Not to Wear, made it through 2 books, and applied for about a trillion jobs. Ricks learned that law school is a lot of fun.

we took our second weekend to go into San Francisco. Ricks last visited when he was five and i had never been. we first explored the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market where i had some very yummy okonmiyaki (the Davis farmer's market, although smaller, is just as good, if not better than San Francisco's, and definitely more fun!). We walked down to pier 39, which we had decided was a total tourist-trap-bust until we came upon the view of the rock and golden gate bridge. it was made even better when we found the sea lions! afterward, we wandered up to ghiradelli square where we shared a very chocolatey sundae. after a 6 minute wait which turned out to be 40 minutes (either the iphone lied about the bus schedule or the bus schedule was WAY off) we made our way to golden gate park and the de young museum. as any true american would, we skipped the picasso exhibit and headed straight for the american art. we loved the museum and were especially excited to find henri and bellows! to cap off Ricks' and my first trip to SF, we watched a crazy lady get arrested and ate at a great mexican restaurant at the mission. it was a good day.

my mom flew out to help us move when it was finally time to move into student housing. my mom and i worked hard to turn our little 600 foot, linoleum covered apartment into a cute, comfortable place to live. Ricks and I also got to talk in church while she was here- about parenting. haha. it was a lot of fun to spend time with my mom and im learning that i dont like goodbyes very much.

ricks is loving law school and i am enjoying a break from work and school although i really wish i could find a job. ive had one interview which i will hear back from this week. i also have 3 more interviews lined up this week as well. im already dreading having to take more classes but im comforted by the fact that its only one class a semester but also really annoyed that i can only take one class a semester. i wish i could get it finished more quickly.

davis has already been a lot of fun. everyone at church is so kind and welcoming. weve made quite a few friends already. ricks found the american river which has a few good runs for kayaking, i found out that there is an h&m about 40 minutes away, and, most importantly, weve found good burgers, really good potstickers, and we are loving having a kitchen to cook in again! the only downside to davis so far is that our bikes were both stolen. but, we have really good insurance, that, pending a police report, should reimburse us for our loss.

we miss all of our sweet family and friends at home but are excited about our new adventures here. we love you all.

goodnight.

ps. here are some pictures. i dont know how they got squished but if you click on them, they are normal.