San Diego Zoo

The day that I found out I'd be going to San Diego, I was really excited.  That night, when I remembered that the San Diego Zoo is in San Diego, I became insanely excited--fixated, if you will.  I cared more about going to the zoo than I cared about anything else.

So, Friday, I skipped out on conference sessions and caught a cab to the zoo.  Shoot yeah I did!  (Also, I am a child who cannot sit in conference sessions for any length of time without throwing my head back in extreme boredom.  Also, zoos are way better than conference sessions.)

And I saw all kinds of awesome animals, and I wanted to steal a few.  There were monkeys, and elephants, and polar bears, and capybaras (which are basically like the cutest rodent you ever will see), and POLAR BEARS!, and gazelles, and spiky things, and furry things, and lots of sleepy animals, and meerkats, too!

There was even a New Guinea Singing Dog.

The San Diego Zoo was beautiful, and mostly shaded (though I did somehow manage to get a sunburn out of the deal), and all either uphill walking or downhill walking.  Except for when I went on my new favorite mode of transportation, the Skyfari.  I would like to have a Skyfari to take me from home to work, from work to Target, and then from Target back home again.  (Totes need to get on winning the lottery.)

Oh, also, there was this awesome elephant trainer guy who had been working with the same two elephants for TWENTY YEARS!  Also, I would like to build a time machine and go back in time and then go to school to become a zookeeper.  (Better be a big lotto jackpot.)

And although the zoo was nice, it seemed that there were a few places where the staff had neglected the animals.

Oh well.  What can you do?

Then I was going to get my face painted, but I already did that once at Dollywood.  I'm too old and too mature for that now.  But let's be honest: I'd have been the belle of the BlogHer ball had I shown up at the remaining conference sessions decked out like a jungle cat.

Anyway, my wonderful zoo visit was punctuated by what I believed to be an inappropriate comment from my thick-accented cab driver, who had asked how I liked the zoo.

 "It was great!"

"A lot uv volking?"

"Uh, yeah."

For the next five minutes or so I was convinced that the driver was interested in the mating habits of the animals.  Later I realized that he was saying walking.  That made a lot more sense.

Bored and want to see all of my millions of zoo pictures?  Have at it, comrade.

Stay Classy, San Diego.

So, here's a funny story.  A month or so ago, I got this email from BlogHer saying that they were doing this promotion with Knorr and asking if I'd be interested in getting some chicken stock samples and making up a recipe using the stock.  Sure, why not?  Hell, we use chicken stock all the time, and worst case scenerio, I have some extra, right?

The recipe was supposed to be entered in this contest with like 200 recipes and then 8 finalists would win a trip to San Diego, where they'd then have some kind of cook-off competition thing and then maybe be selected to represent Knorr in other promotional stuff.  When I told Matt about the whole thing, he said, "Sounds like you're a little out of your league here."  I agreed, but decided that it would be fun to give it a shot.

And so I signed up, got the samples in the mail and was then kind of conflicted about what to make. I decided that it should be simple, basic, and accessible, you know, like a recipe that could go on the package or something.  This was not, I thought, a time to show off my culinary prowess (plus, who really wants to eat chicken stock ice cream, anyway?)  After some hemming and hawing, I decided to make spicy pork carnitas.  So I made them, and here's what they looked like.

But for some reason I wasn't over the moon for the recipe, and I was a little reluctant to submit it.  As the deadline was fast approaching and I was filling my days with other things like Fourth of July festivities and elliptical injuries and general slothfulness, I decided to just go ahead and submit it to fulfill my end of the bargain.

And then a couple of days ago I got an email saying that I am one of the eight finalists and that I'm going to San Diego for the BlogHer conference in a couple of weeks!  Shoot yeah!  I'm still a little bit in shock, and a lot excited, and totally looking forward to visiting the San Diego Zoo.  I'm nervous, too, because I can kind of clam up in situations where I'm expected to perform or to be charming or to meet new people.  But that's what wine's for, right?

And I've totally sized up my competition, and Matt was right--I'm totally out of my league.  But that's cool, because I have a free trip to California and I'm going to meet this guy.

[source]

Oh, and I guess I should share that recipe with you, too, huh?

Here goes it.

Spicy Pork Carnitas

1 ½-2 pounds pork tenderloin

2 tablespoons olive oil

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 jalapeno, minced (with seeds for more spice, without for less)

1 lime, cut into quarter wedges

3 ½ cups Knorr chicken stock, made from concentrate

Directions

1. Rub pork tenderloin on all sides with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper.  Heat olive oil in dutch oven on medium-high.  Brown meat on all sides in dutch oven, then remove.
2. Add onion and cook for three minutes.  Add jalapeno and garlic and cook for another two minutes, or until onion is translucent. 
3. Add Knorr chicken stock to pan, bring to a simmer.
4. Meanwhile, nestle lime wedges into the pork.  Return pork to pan and cover.  Cook on medium-low heat for 90 minutes.
5. When the pork is tender enough, shred with two forks. 

Serve on tortillas with sour cream, shredded lettuce, cheese, and avocado.

Three cheers for zoo fun!  And carnitas!  And all expense paid trips to San Diego!