Yesterday Steven took me to Malibu to Zuma Beach on Point Dume. It was awesome! There's real sand there that you can walk in with little fear of stepping on sharp pokey things that will cut your feet. (Washington beaches usually require shoes of some sort.) There were lots of birds. We watched a flock seagulls steal someone's baguette out of their backpack while they weren't looking. I tried to shoo them away at first, but those are some seriously stubborn and fearless seagulls. There were also these smaller birds that followed the ebb of the water's edge and dug around for yummies hidden below the sand surface.

We sat and we wrote (I eventually gave up and played sudoku instead) and we watched the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. And the watched as the stars came out. At some point we also got our feet wet as the water waved in and got frothy on the shore. It was quite romantic and fun.

After that we did some grocery shopping (sandy pants and all), picking up some missing ingrediants for dinner. I made pot roast with root veggies (a good warm winter-ish type dish). I'm sure there has been better pot roast made by more experienced cooks, but I have to say that I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. It was tender (no fork required) and yet still sliceable. It made a beautiful broth that I saved in the freezer for soup sometime soon.

At the store we had also picked up some wine. I was having the urge for some good wine from 'home' so we picked up my favorite wine, Reisling made by Chateau St. Michelle which is a winery in Eastern Washington that has vineyards in the Columbia Valley. Their white wines often have a bit of a hint of fruitiness to them which I usually assume is because of all the apples in the area and the cross-polination that must happen. I like Reislings because they are a bit sweeter than normal white wine without being too sweet. They are pretty versatile and go with almost anything you put on the table, and they are quite refreshing.

To top it all off, we did dishes together. We have a problem of not doing the dishes right away, and it was getting a little out of hand, but we teamed up last night and did them together and it was actually pretty fun, at least as fun as chores can be. So now the kitchen is 90% clean (we still have a few things can use some organizing) and I'd have to say that all of these things combined made for a really good Saturday.