12 Things That Happen When You Move from Northern California to Southern California

It's funny how different two ends of one state can be. Even thought I grew up in Southern California, the ten years in NorCal really made me forget some of the perks and downsides of the SoCal lifestyle. It started dawning on me though, that these differences would make an awesome list!!!

1. You will have bathing suits and towels hanging everywhere

This is actually what started this list. I was trying to hang up my bath towel and I noticed every hook in the bathroom had different bikini pieces hanging from it and the guest bathroom had Dan's swimwear hanging. I was like "this is new." I realized that we've been going to the pool so much that some bathing suit is usually wet and hanging out to dry.

2. Sandals are usually acceptable footwear and more comfortable than you remember

I've always owned lots of sandals but it was never nice enough to walk around in flip flops in SF. I always wore boots or athletic shoes and maybe a dress sandal or heel for something nice. For St. Patrick's Day, I was looking for some shoes to match my spring dress and decided to wear my Rainbows. It felt so weird wearing something so casual and bare to go out but they looked perfect with my outfit and were comfortable. People here are so casual that flip flops are a great option for going out. This goes for shorts too.

3. Tan lines

Dan and I take the dog for walks a lot and generally try to get outside when we can. I usually wear a tank top and sports bra... and I started noticing how awful my tan lines were. I've been trying to go to the pool a bit more to even them out. We went on a big hike the day after though and the tan lines got worse than ever. The only thing worse than the tan lines though? Dan's are darker and stand out more... because he's more tan than I am. My white boyfriend from Ohio is tanner than Brazilian me... how?

4. Nice days in SF are cold days for San Diego

When we first moved here, the days were about 60-65 degrees. It was January so this wasn't anything crazy and was actually kind of like a day in SF. We needed light jackets but it definitely wasn't freezing by any means. Everyone we met told us how sorry they were about the bad weather. The next week it was 80 every day. Generally, its low 70s here but it really does make the 60 degree days feel cold.

5. Public Transit stops being a form of transportation

That's not to say that San Diego doesn't have public transit. There's a train, there are buses, there's light rail. They all look pretty clean too. We just live in a spot where the places that we'd want to transit to (because we are drinking so we wouldn't drive), we can walk to or if it's too far to walk, it's a ten minute drive. It seems like more of a hassle than a convenience and driving is so easy.

6. But it takes less time to drive short distances

I remember our first day here when we made the ceremonial new apartment trip to Target. I looked up the distance and it said "10 miles." In San Francisco, this is forever away. It was a stressful day so I sighed and just didn't want to go even though we badly needed household items... then I looked again and realized it was 10 minutes to go 10 miles. Now that we've been here a few months, it's our little joke - everything (in Central SD at least) is 10 minutes away. It also means (to my brother's disdain) that we are very late to any place further than 10 minutes away.

7. You miss out on Beta ideas from tech companies

A lot of services I subscribe to actually email based on where you live. It's pretty hard to change email lists so I'm constantly getting emails about special deals or promotions or new products for Uber or Lyft or other companies that are only for San Francisco residents. Moving from the center of innovation to a smaller big city definitely means missing out on new breakthroughs until they go a little more mainstream.... although we do seem to be the test market for fitness and nerdy events which is cool.

8. Hipsters are traded in for Beach Bros

I feel like every city has their crowd of people that are extra annoying to deal with. In SF, it's the hipsters who loudly talk about how picky they are about their coffee or how outrageous it was they got a ticket for running a red light on their bike. In SD, they are beach bros. When I'm at the pool, I can hear them from a mile away. They are the ones who ruin the pool for everyone else by doing that kind of destructive behavior that makes the apartment crew check in every 5 minutes and tighten the rules - things like trashing the pool area or blasting terrible music.

9. You accidentally bring your jacket with you on warm nights

I feel like the unspoken rule of living in San Francisco is that no matter how nice the weather is, you always bring a light jacket. Always. In San Diego, if it's a nice day, you are really going to regret bringing a light jacket. You are going to be stuck carrying that thing or maybe forgetting it in a bar. It will just make things terrible for you. Leave the jacket at home. I mean - it's April summer - the weather is perfect!

10. You find plastic bags really confusing. 

In the Bay Area, plastic bags were banned years ago. More recently, stores started charging for any bag in order to encourage people to bring their own. Dan and I were entrenched into this habit so it's always weird to us when people just start bagging our things at the store while we are standing there trying to hand them one of our re-useable bags. It's even weirder to me when I'm just getting 1 or 2 items that I can easily carry or put in my purse, and they instantly bag it. I'm so used to bags not being a thing that it's hard to understand how much they are used here.

There are alsosome stores we've been to where they'll put one item in a bag and then grab a new bag for the next thing and I have to tell them they can put everything in one bag. I'm just really hoping that San Diego outlaws plastic bags soon as well so I can go back to a world I understand.

11. You start shopping at places like Walmart and Target all the time

I couldn't even tell you where Walmart was in the Bay Area. I know I went once in college but I can't remember where it was for the life of me. In San Diego though, since driving is so easy, big box stores are everywhere and we take advantage of it. I recently went to Walmart for the second time in years. You get used to hating them for all the bad press you hear but it is really nice to find everything you need in one place for good prices.

12. .... And you really do need some new stuff

I thought we were set moving in with a boogey board and some beach towels. That's not nearly enough to really have a beach day. We needed chairs and an umbrella and a cooler. We  actually need to stay stocked up on sun screen.

And We Are Back in Business

Well, that was a crazy couple of months. Guys - moving is hard. Let me just repeat that. Moving is really really hard. I kind of thought we would just throw all our stuff in a U-haul, drive down to San Diego, and be unpacked and get settled in a week - immediately having tons of free time for blog posts and cosplay and kitchen experiments. In reality - I think there's STILL a box or two hanging around and we've been here almost 4 months! I'll probably unpack it in November and then we'll decide to change apartments or something.

To add to the madness, a month in I decided that I absolutely could not continue to function without "just going to look at some puppies." We came home with the first one that seemed like she could be a good medium sized puppy that would fit our active lifestyle. Oops.

Aside from just unpacking and getting used to a baby animal in the house, moving is so much more than that. When you get to a new place, especially one as awesome as San Diego, you want to explore. We go out more at night. We've been making friends. We sign up for a lot of events. We are doing a lot. It's always so nice here. My free time isn't spent in front of a computer, it's going on walks, or swimming, or getting some sun at the pool. Finally though, I realized I missed by blog and there are a couple of clouds outside (which is probably as close as we are going to get to good blog writing weather) so it's time to fill you guys in.

One thing that I've loved about this blog is the way it's evolved. It started as My One New Thing a Week - a way for me to get out and explore SF because I wanted to move to San Diego. Ironically, after that I decided I wanted to stay in SF longer - but hey! looks like we made it to San Diego eventually after all. From there, it just became a way to document all kinds of adventures and personal journeys, and then I just wanted to step out of talking about my personal life for a while because I was hurt and a little broken and it was easier to talk about exciting new movies and my favorite books and go into another world. When I came back again, this blog became about all of those things and more. It's a place for my adventures, nerdy interests, recipes, craft ideas - everything.


So I figured all of those branches of what this blog was and is - they are all part of where I want to take it. I want to share with you my recipes and cooking adventures (and trust me, I think all the time about trying to do another cooking challenge), I want to share event and restaurant reviews, and I want this to be a great way for friends near and far to get a good pulse and what's going on with Nikki and Dan in San Diego Ville.

Anyways - we are back! I spent a strenuous afternoon at the pool taking lots of notes on blog posts for you guys so I need to get busy writing and sharing all of our adventures with you!

San Diego So Far

I've been terrible about writing. I know this. I've had excuses but I also know that when you want to write, they don't matter. I also feel like when you want to write, you're a flurry of emotion and the words write themselves. I almost wrote a very personal post... it was the day I met Harley. The day we reserved the dog that we would pick up the next day and would change my life.

There are so many words to follow that last sentence.... what changed about getting a dog? What did I realize would change? Why am I finally writing it now? Why do I need to write out these questions that I know I need to answer?

My original post, the one written on the eve of getting a dog, was written out of fear. It wasn't the first time I'd rushed a dog into a relationship. Dogs are a lot of responsibility, and responsibility has a way of trying things. Those fears dissipated into reality and the reality was having a supportive partner that despite his reason, wanted the same little puppy that I wanted and quickly stepped into the role of amazing dog father.

Harley, our beautiful puppy, has a way of being frustrating and willful but being so smiley and loving and occasionally obedient that you can't really be mad at her. Even when you correct her or put her on time out, she looks at you with such love that you know she isn't holding it against you for training her.

Best Friends!!

You're probably starting to realize that this post isn't about how our move has gone. It's all about how much we love our puppy. I told you that writing comes from emotion. Love is one of them... but so is fear.Today we have to leave our baby. Maybe she's not a real baby but I've hear the painful yelps from when I've left her sight... and I can't imagine a weekend away from her.

When my puppy can't see me, she cries and yells and chases after any other short brunette.... she is going to spend a weekend with a stranger... that I hope she will trust enough. I still worry though. Not in the sitter - she seems amazing. I just feel that there is something behind my puppy's strong and unrelenting attachment.... I just don't want her to feel that we left her forever.

I didn't think my heart would open again so much after Rocco died, but it has and more. As fun as that first month was in San Diego, I knew I needed more. Adopting a puppy was big step, and probably one that kept us more from doing new things than naught. However, having a little puppy to walk and explore with and train... that's opened so much of a world for me.... and I'm going to miss it.... even for a couple of days.

But enough of my moping... let's talk about the fun stuff. Dan and I have noticed we get the same handful of questions about Harley all the time so I thought I'd just address those here...

What Kind of Dog is She?

We really don't know. The rescue place didn't either and told us to send pictures when she's full grown so they could see how she ended up. Her papers say Terrier/Cocker Spaniel. She clearly has zero Spaniel in her though. The only useful information we got was that her mom looked like a Jack Russell Terrier. Based on her face and soft fur, I think her dad might have been some kind of German Shepherd/ Golden Retreiver mix. That makes us think she'll be a medium to large size dog (35-45 lbs) and has a lot of growing ahead of her.

So Much Judgement

How Does She Get Along With the Cat?

...ha. The first day, she was terrified of the cat but that quickly passed. Now she thinks the cat is some weird other puppy and constantly tries to play with her like she would another dog. Sometimes I think Callie likes it... for about 3 seconds and then she starts trying to bat away the dog. Or maybe that's Callie trying to play back. I'm still holding out hope that they will be best friends once Harley works out some of the puppiness.

Is It Hard Having a Dog in an Apartment?

Yes and no. We live at the end of the hallway on the 11th floor so when puppy needs to go out, we have a ways to go before actually getting her out a door and we don't always make it. The apartment itself is great. Aside from a love of my shoes, Harley isn't very destructive so we haven't had much worry about her destroying our things. It's really easy to keep her in whichever room we are in so we can always have eyes on the puppy. She generally really loves being in the apartment too. There have been several walk attempts where she's just pulled us to go back inside. It's nice that she loves her home.

Harley... like Davidson?

No, she's named after Harley Quinn from Batman. Ironically, she perks up whenever a motorcycle or fast car drives by so I think she would disagree with us. Kids - they always do what they want despite their parents intentions.

How Is She So Stinking Cute?

I have no idea. She's painfully cute sometimes. I think she knows it too and uses her cuteness to get away with being naughty. This morning on our walk, she kept sitting or laying down when other dogs were approaching (instead of, you know, walking on our walk) and the other owners said "Wow, she's so well behaved!" moments before Harley would pop up and pounce on their dog. This girl definitely uses her cute to her advantage.

Learning How to do Burpees

That's basically how life with puppy is now. It's nice having a pet that we can go on long walks and hikes with. We take her with us to any pet friendly establishments. A few days ago, she helped us buy shoes. I really love how dog friendly San Diego is. We'd heard that a lot of stores downtown were ok with dogs, but it's still weird taking her into a store and having the associates freak out about how cute she is and wanting to pet her instead of telling us we can't have her inside. Most restaurants give her a bowl of water or a treat and other diners murmur about how cute she is when she's getting into trouble. We love our little foof ball and we are going to miss her this weekend.

2015 New Years Resolutions

One of my favorite serial posts for this blog (and probably the only ones I actually do when I'm supposed to) is my annual resolution post and this is going to be a really special one. I'm not going to lie, I totally punted on last year. I didn't feel really committed to any of my resolutions and the only one I followed was the "Run a 5k" one. Heck, I ran 2 10ks. I killed that goal.

However, once the year got started, my boyfriend and I tossed around the idea of moving to San Diego. We agreed that we would stay in SF for a year, but no longer. Suddenly the really important resolution was just to be present, enjoy the city we live in, and spend time with our friends - but at the end of the day, commit to this move.

In the sense of completing that, I think we did a great job. Obviously there were still times when the comfort of wine on the couch was more appealing than going out, but now that we are on the peak of moving, I feel really good about it. I could sit here for another 10 years thinking of everything I haven't done in the Bay Area but when I look back at my time here, I think I did a good job of taking advantage of the many activities, events, and unique places up here. So I don't really look at this past year as a Resolution fail, but really that shortly into the year, I found a better resolution and nailed it.

But enough about the past - let's get to the future!

Visit at Least Two New Countries - And I know which ones too. I've never been to America's hat or tie and that's just inexcusable. As a future San Diego resident, visiting Mexico should be easy. I'm also signed up for a half marathon in Vancouver which should take care of Canada and my next resolution...

Run a Half Marathon - I know I can walk a half marathon. Heck, I'm pretty sure I could run half of one. I'll be really happy if I can run a whole one. I have 8 months to prepare in a city where weather is not an issue. I can do this.

Fall in Love... With San Diego - I'm not worried about this one at all. Everything I've seen has made me really confident that this will be the easiest item on my list. I do know though, without a big friend base there, it will be really important for Dan and I to push ourselves to explore instead of taking the easy route (although I do plan on exploring our apartments pool area pretty often...).

Find a Community in San Diego - Or more than one... whatever :) I was so lucky to find a great community in UC Berkeley and live so close to my Alma Mater that I was able to really grow that community into a group of really amazing friends. They are no doubt the hardest thing about leaving. They will never be replaced, but I think San Diego will really feel like home when Dan and I can find something like that.

Finish a Big Creative Project - My new 15 foot commute is going to save me many hours a week and I'm excited to take more time for my creative endeavors. I have a couple costumes I want to make and some other top secret things I'm hoping to do. All of them are long term things - like months - so it's a big deal to finish one... or more!!!

Open Up Our Hearts - Losing Rocco was definitely the hardest part of this year. It hasn't been that long and I know it will still be many months that my eyes tear up at the thought of my Love Bug. As much as Callie tries, she's really just not an affectionate pet and Dan and I are very much missing that. When the time is right, we want to give another Cuddle Bug a good home and lots of love.

The Trifecta - Last but not least is definitely the most ambitious on my list. "What could be more impressive than a half marathon and establishing a new community in a new city?"  you ask. The Trifecta is a half marathon.... 10 k.... and 5k... all with obstacles... completed within a year. 2015 seems like a good year for this. I don't know what my future holds but I'm in the best shape I've ever been in and I imagine in a few years I might not be able to dedicate that much time to running through mud and rope climbing. No time like the present!

On Moving

OMG guys, I'm moving to San Diego!

Even though it's something I've been talking about a lot, and even more once the work and living situations were figured out, it's important for me to address it in blogville. I've thought a lot about what I was going to write here but putting down the words never felt right until now. Hopefully this all comes out as good as it sounded in my head.

Let's start at the beginning. I've always wanted to live in San Diego. I was never happy growing up in Los Angeles and I knew nothing about Northern California. When college applications came out, I was so excited about the possibility of going to UC San Diego. When I got in - I was ecstatic... and then a few days later the last school acceptance came in and I found out I got into Berkeley. Even though I knew Berkeley was the better school, I still wanted to visit both and really decide between a great school and a place I really wanted to live. However, on my tour of UCSD, even the current students told me I couldn't turn down Berkeley. Of course I couldn't. Off to Norcal it was.

It's crazy to think that was 10 years ago. I always thought I'd move back South when I graduated but relationships kept me in the Bay Area. When I was single for the first time in 5 years, I'd fallen in love with San Francisco and couldn't imagine leaving...

Until I could.

Anyone who lives in the Bay Area knows that things have been changing. The draw of San Francisco's awesome activities and the growth of the tech industry in Silicon Valley have made the Bay Area one of the most desirable places to live in the world. However, the area isn't suited for the growth it's seen over the years. Apartments cannot be built fast enough and those that already exist are a hot commodity. As someone who does not live in a rent controlled apartment, I've seen my rent increase 30% in three years and that was with my landlords cutting me a lot of slack for being a good tenant.

My apartment though - has not seen 30% of improvements. If anything, the quality of living in my area has decreased sharply. With questionable neighbors and even more questionable people visiting the local hot spots, safety and sanitation had become a big problem. However, finding a new place was out of the question. For as much as our apartment in San Diego will cost, we could barely find an in-law apartment in someone's garage in Glen Park. To me, it seemed like the City was becoming a third world country - with apartments only rich can afford and concessions made for low income housing, the middle class of the Bay Area (which would easily be upper class anywhere else) have no place to go.

We thought about other cities in the Bay Area but everywhere we could think of meant longer commutes, living in a place we weren't excited about, and all for what wasn't much savings... so we decided to look elsewhere.

Actually I'm just going because there
is a bar called The Lincoln Room
Jk... it closed :(

If I had to decide what would exist in my perfect city, I would want a place that had that small city, fun, young feel of San Francisco but with the weather and beaches of LA that I've missed so much. It didn't take long to decide on San Diego. We browsed prices and looked at the lifestyle down there and it was clearly a great place. I'd been there a few times to visit my brother and always had a great time.

So all of that above - that's been on repeat out of my mouth when people ask why we are moving. And then someone said "but I'm sure a fresh start would be nice too..."

And the mask of bullshit just fell away.

All those things above are definitely what sparked the move and what sound great in conversation, but I'd be lying to you if I didn't say there was more to the story. I've had a lot of great memories in San Francisco. I have some of the best friends ever. However, for every good memory, there are bad ones too. I had my heart broken for the first time. I met a lot of jerks. I lost friends. I've made poor choices. I worry when I go out that I'll bump into someone I dated. My heart races when I think about what would happen if I ran into my ex-boyfriend. And although we already were well into our plans to move, when Rocco died it really felt like the final straw on a big pile of straws of bad memories. Bad memories make you stronger. They make you into a better person. They help you realize what's important. But most of all - they really suck. Bad memories hurt and break your heart a little whenever you have a reminder of them even if everything else in your life is super.

The idea of going to a place where I have a little family and a few acquaintances, and a giant blank slate sounds amazing - and I get to do it with a grumpy cat and the best boyfriend ever in an apartment I am so excited to call my future home in a city that looks like a wonderful place to live. I'm excited to have a fresh start with him and Callie and hopefully a new little addition to our family (a puppy guys - just a puppy) and to do it all in a place where we can afford to live comfortably and save for our future.

Dealing with the Loss of a Pet

Since I started this blog, I've written on a lot of difficult and personal matters. This blog post is easily the hardest. Earlier this week, I lost a true love of my life - my cat, Rocco. It's difficult to talk about it and hard to not tear up at the thought of him but I think writing a blog post is a good way to answer questions and to honor his memory.

I got Rocco about 8 1/2 years ago. I missed having a dog when I went to college and as soon as I moved into an apartment, I knew I wanted to get a cat to fill that void. My ex and I found a craigslist post for cute little Tabby and Siamese kittens and decided to check them out. As soon as he sat down, Callie hopped into his lap and we knew she was coming home with us. We thought she would enjoy a playmate and I wanted to pick out a kitten too so I picked up the only white one in the litter. He put his paws on my mouth and it felt like he was picking me too. Over the course of his life, touching my face with his dirty little paws was always something he would do and I felt like it was his little way of showing me a kind of affection he didn't do with everyone.

It was impossible to not love Rocco. I can't even count the number of visitors we had who didn't like cats but absolutely loved when the fat guy jumped into their laps. He was so incredibly popular. He had so many quirks that people just couldn't help but fall in love with him whether it was the way he licked his paws when you scratched his back or how he loved to roll over and show you his tummy like he was a puppy. It speaks volumes that most of my pictures of him have him on my lap or in my arms.

One of many cuddle selfies we took

I always knew in the bottom of my heart that he wouldn't live long. When your cat is that overweight and no diets work, it's only a matter of time. Every time he wanted to sit on my lap and I didn't want him to, I would remember that maybe someday I wouldn't have him anymore and how much I would miss those lap sits, and let him have it. I told myself he would get to 5, but 5 came and went and he didn't have any problems. It wasn't until 8 that his age really started to show, and when he got sick a few weeks ago, I feared the worst. When your fat cat stops eating, something is seriously wrong. He didn't get better after antibiotics and dropping him off by his bowl every morning did nothing to excite him about eating.

It absolutely killed me when we had to go out of town before he was better. I told my roommate how to encourage him to eat and told Callie to take care of her brother while we were gone. I was feeling so optimistic when Alex told me Rocco was eating again. Dan and I were so hopeful that maybe our special guy was finally doing better.

One sick kitty

Our trip to SoCal was pretty jam packed with an apartment search all day Saturday, volunteering to help the Disney race Sunday morning and then going to the theme park Sunday afternoon. It was supposed to be an amazing weekend but when we were leaving the Haunted Mansion and my phone rang, my heart sank. I knew this wasn't going to be a good call.


You always wonder where you want to be when you get the worst news. Obviously no place is good, but the happiest place on Earth? Definitely near the bottom. Turns out people look at you really weird when you're sobbing in line at Disneyland. Dan told me we could leave if I wanted to. The thing is though - what was better - being sad at a place designed to distract you from problems or being sad at home where it was the only thing I would think of? I decided to stay and after a couple of hours I was able to calm down and enjoy some of the rest of the day.

People have probably been wondering how I'm doing. The short answer is that it comes and goes. With everything else going on in my life, it's easy to find distractions. However, when I think about him and how much I'm going to miss him, I well up with tears. It's only been a couple of days and I know that there is still so much more of this to sink in.

Anyone who has spent time around Dan and I know that I constantly bug him about getting a puppy. Moving was going to help make that possible, but the first time it came up after Rocco passed, I turned to him and said "I don't want a puppy any more. Pets just get sick and leave you." He reminded me that it's about how much we love them while they are alive, even if it's not nearly long enough. While Rocco will never be replaced, we feel the hole he is leaving will be better filled by a dog so maybe when we are settled into our new home and our hearts don't hurt as much, we'll look into finding a dog that will love us and cuddle with us and sit on our laps even if it's much too big.

So all in all, things are really really sad right now, but we are getting through it. Callie is really trying to sit on laps and even if she doesn't really understand how to relax and just enjoy it, we appreciate the effort. Dealing with loss really isn't easy and there's just less of a desire to do much of anything. Even wine doesn't sound too appealing right now and mostly I just want to put my head against Dan's chest and cry.

If you've made it this far, you can probably guess what comes next. I'm probably going to slow down my blog posts for a couple of months. There will probably be a couple more before the end of the year but I need some time to grieve and pack. Writing is just so full of emotion and thinking and those two things are a little drained for me right now.

Last but not least, I really appreciate all the love and support we've received in the last few days. Even though it makes me tear up when I read your messages, I'm so happy that my kitty touched so many hearts in his short life.

World Eating Challenge - Filipino Food

In my experience with cooking, we all have our wins and losses. I remember when I first started cooking - almost any new things I tried would end in disaster. I had friends who made fun of me for a year in high school because I messed up Rice a Roni. As I've watched more cooking shows and gained more experience, a lot of experiments turn out really well... but my experience with the Paleo Filipino food really fell back into the fail category so this is really a big post on things not to try.

Chicken Adobo

Actually, this one turned out ok so let's start with the better of the two dishes. Chicken Adobo is not actually something I'm very familiar with. I know it's a popular Filipino dish though so it seemed like a good thing to make for this challenge. For reference, here is the recipe I used. 

The first step in chicken adobo was to sear my chicken. I made sure to season it first even though that wasn't part of the recipe. I really believe meats absorb flavor better when you season it raw and I stand b that decision.

Once the chicken thighs were brown, I added in the braising liquid. This was 1/3 soy sauce (not paleo but I used a gluten free version called Tamari. Coconut aminos are also a good alternative that are actually paleo.), 1/3 balsamic vinegar, and 1/3 apple cider vinegar along with bay leaves and black pepper. I let this all simmer on low for about 20 minutes. 

The chicken ended up turning a lovely brown and had good flavor although very acidic from all that vinegar. The recipe suggested the chicken have skin and mine didn't. I think that would have helped cut the acid a lot so I would definitely recommend trying it that way. I served it with quinoa (instead of rice), a green salad, and some lumpia. Speaking of the latter....

Paleo Lumpia

Are you ready for this disaster?

I found a lot of different recipes for the lumpia so I decided to go with the simplest. I knew what I wanted to do for the wrapper so this was mostly about getting a good filling. I used ground pork, an egg, and a variety of seasonings - salt, pepper, ginger, garlic. 

The wrappers were Paleo wraps which are coconut based. I really liked they way they worked for my spring rolls so I decided to try them again. 

In terms of wrapping them, the lumpia turned out great. It was really easy to fill and roll them up to the right size. I used some egg to keep it all together and that worked really well. 

Next, I fried them in avocado oil (my favorite!). This was where things started going south. I knew I'd have to fry then for a bit to make sure the pork was cooked. I had a lot of trouble figuring out how long that was and also making sure the outsides got crispy but not burnt. 

...clearly I failed at that. My lumpia turned out pretty pathetic. Eaten fresh, they weren't too bad. They definitely weren't crispy but the flavor was decent. I served them with the same with chili paste and honey dipping sauce that I made for the Thai cooking challenge. 

As leftovers, I tried to toast them to get that crispiness I didn't get from frying. Double fail. They just looked more burny and the moisture was completely zapped from them.

All in all, this challenge didn't go so well. I have an idea for a quick dish to try soon so look out for a new and hopefully more successful post soon.