Coffee Break

 
As much as I enjoy autumn (and all of the pumpkin recipes that go with it!), the end of summer always seems to arrive much too soon. It’s a bittersweet time as the days grow shorter, vacations wrap up, and the reality of the busy back-to-school season hits.

The coziness of fall is just around the corner, along with the quintessential pumpkin spice lattes, fleecy blankets, crunchy leaves, warm bowls stew, and thick slabs of cornbread… But for now, I thought it’d be fun to do a little Coffee Break with you to pause, look back, and appreciate the highlights of this past summer.

Tip: If you’re new to Amy’s Healthy Baking, then you can browse through my previous Coffee Break posts here!

If you’ve been around here before, then you know the drill! Pour yourself a glass of your favorite beverage — whether that’s coffee, tea, juice, or even sparkling water — and pretend like we’re sitting across the table from each other at a coffee shop, laughing and chatting and catching up.

And if we were, these are the five special summer memories that I’d share…
 

 

ARIZONA

My family unofficially kicked off the summer with a trip to the desert. At least we planned it for early June, before the weather grew too hot… Stepping outside in Arizona in July can feel like walking straight into a furnace!

With lots of family in various parts of the state, we regularly visit fairly often, but this particular weekend felt like a mini reunion. Even more relatives showed up from Colorado and Oregon, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time together. A casual Friday night gathering, a Saturday afternoon of refreshments and cookies, a big yet low-key dinner at my grandparents’ house that evening…

Many of us hadn’t seen each other in years — if not a decade or more! — and the weekend absolutely flew by. We even squeezed in a tour of Kartchner Caverns before flying out on Sunday! I last visited that state park as an eleven-year-old, and although blown away by the rock formations, rippling patterns, and rich history back then, it was even more impressive as an adult.

The tour lasted about 90 minutes and was easily walkable for everyone, including anyone who needed special assistance. The last stop was the throne room, and my goodness… The Kubla Khan column in there looked like something straight out of a Disney movie — but it was real! (Phones and cameras weren’t allowed on the tour, but you can see some photos on the Kartchner Caverns website!)

So if you’re ever around Tucson or southeastern Arizona, I highly recommend a quick stop! We all loved Kartchner Caverns, and yes… We even wriggled through the tiny replica cave entrance near the gift shop before leaving. So much fun!
 

 

MY BIRTHDAY

A few weeks later, that particular time of the year rolled around. (Does “The Unbirthday Song” from “Alice in Wonderland” ever pop into anyone else’s head when people start talking about birthdays? The song that also plays on Disneyland’s Teacups ride? Or is that just me??)
 

 
To celebrate, my grandma hosted a special Girls’ Night at her house, and her best friend helped with the planning. They let me pick the movie (I selected the original Mary Poppins from 1964 because her best friend had never seen it!), but they handled everything else.
 

 
I arrived to find colorful helium balloons in the entryway, more festive décor in the kitchen, and the table completely overflowing with snacks (including two types of chocolate-covered pretzels, mini chocolate chip cookies, and my favorite Hawaiian-style pretzel bites!). They know me and my chocoholic sweet tooth so well! But the night didn’t end there…
 

 
When the movie finished, those ladies brought out the most decadent cake from a local bakery, adorned with candles and a glittery “Happy birthday!” banner, to serve as my birthday dessert. Dubbed the “chocolate blackout cake,” it truly lived up to its name! Even after we all went back for seconds, they still insisted on sending the remaining two-thirds of the cake home with me.

I felt so spoiled. My grandma and her friend are the best!
 

 

THE BEACH

Living just twenty minutes away (or less!), I regularly drive to the ocean throughout the year, and I usually end up at Coronado Beach because of its wide, expansive shoreline and how easy it is to find parking nearby. I tend to go a little more often during the summer, but…

This was the first time I spotted a dolphin at that beach!
 

 
It was dusk, shortly before sunset, on a cooler evening. Many people had already packed up their picnics and beach towels because of the wind, so only a few groups remained. With a spare jacket wrapped around my legs, I watched the waves lapping at the sand, bobbing and tumbling and spraying their droplets into the air. A few seagulls trotted around the beach, hunting for stray morsels and brazenly advancing towards any lingering humans, and a few others dove towards the water. I thought one briefly sat on the ocean’s surface before dipping down below…

Until it reappeared, immediately followed by the body of a dolphin jumping into the air.

It wasn’t a seagull after all — it was the dolphin’s back dorsal fin!

I was shocked to see it in the shallows and so close to the beach, but the dolphin stayed at a similar distance as it spent fifteen minutes swimming further north up the shoreline, occasionally diving beneath the waves only to reappear a few yards away, while the sun sank in the sky overhead. It felt like a beautifully peaceful scene you’d see in Hawaii — if not scripted for a Hollywood movie! — yet that was my everyday life. In my new hometown. Where I live. All year round.

I still can’t quite believe it happened — and I wish I had taken better photos!
 

 

COUSINS’ DAY

Back to dry land… My cousin scheduled a trip to SoCal partway through the summer, and he tacked on an extra day to visit me. After picking him up at the airport, we immediately drove to the Fish Shop in Pacific Beach for lunch (one of my favorite seafood spots!).
 

 
We arrived before it even opened, so we didn’t have to wait very long at all for our food to arrive. I opted for their build-your-own menu and ordered a salad with seared ahi seasoned with salt and pepper (my standard!), while my cousin chose the classic fish ’n chips, paired with a TKO taco (my mom’s two classic favorites!) and a spicy dorado taco. Like usual, everything tasted fantastic!
 

 
With very happy and full bellies, we headed downtown. We’re both huge sports fans, and although it was impossible to catch a ballgame with the Padres out of town, we still toured the stadium. It ended up being one of the top highlights of my entire year — not just the summer!
 

 
For an hour and a half, we walked all around the park, beginning in the left field courtyard (where my cousin and I surreptitiously hunted down the personalized brick that my grandparents gave me for my birthday a long time ago!), up to the top of the Western Metal Supply Co. building (the entire baseball stadium was actually designed around this historic brick structure!), through some of the luxury boxes and suites, into the press box and corresponding cafeteria, back down to the exclusive restaurant and VIP club behind home plate with one-way windows overlooking the Padres’ batting cages, through the bowels of the stadium and into the visitors’ clubhouse, and down into the third base dugout.

I love baseball as much as baking (maybe even a tiny bit more!), so… I was on cloud nine the entire time. I felt like a five-year-old on Christmas morning, excitedly peering into stockings and peeling the wrapping paper off of gifts, with the biggest and widest and goofiest grin on my face. And with how much my cousin enjoyed it too… We’ve already decided that his next trip needs to involve an actual baseball game at the stadium, not just a tour!

But our Cousins’ Day wasn’t over! When we finished at PetCo Park, we walked a few blocks away to…
 

 
The Ghirardelli Shop! It turns out that a massive sweet tooth definitely runs in our family. My cousin ordered an ice cream sundae and a brownie to go with it (just like on our Disneyland trip!), and I looked at almost every single chocolate treat they offered in the entire store. It was a delicious way to wrap up the day!
 

 

PADRES GAMES WITH MY GRANDMA

I saved the best for last… Going to Padres games with my grandma!

She’s one of the main reasons why I love baseball. When I was nine, she and my grandpa treated our family to tickets in the very first row above the visitors’ dugout. As the game progressed, she taught me how to keep score and convinced two players to toss baseballs to my brother and me — and my obsession just grew from there!
 

 
Now, we regularly text back and forth during Padres games, send each other game recaps and video interviews with the players (as I was typing this, she literally just forwarded another article to me!), and remind each other to remain optimistic as the season unfolds (no matter how difficult that may be!). She also invites me over for “Padres nights” where we watch the games on TV together (complete with a special local Julian apple pie for dessert!), but this was the first summer that we attended one in person together since before the pandemic hit.

And…
 

 
We had such a great time that we’ve already been to three — including two in just seven days!

We quickly fell back into our old routine, almost as if no time had passed. We arrive early, right around when the gates open, and catch the end of batting practice from our seats. After the grounds crew packs up the cages and paints the chalk lines around home plate, but before the PA announcer shares the starting lineups, I dash up to the concessions stand to buy a souvenir soda for me and a soft pretzel for Grandma.
 

 
Once the game begins, we point out the “fun facts” displayed on the Jumbotron in left field, chat in between pitches, and applaud and shout and cheer whenever something good happens. (Grandma manages to do it in a dignified way, but I look like a total nutcase — and unfortunately for me, there’s TV evidence to prove it!)
 

 
Partway through the game, I run up to the restroom and also pick up another big soft pretzel, this time for me (with extra salt!). When the seventh inning stretch rolls around, we stand with the rest of the crowd to sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” and we look forward to the Swinging Friar (their mascot!) ringing the Mission Bell after each out in the top of the ninth if they’re ahead.

We’re quite the pair! A short nerdy girl and her beautifully distinguished grandma. We both shock everyone when we start talking too… Even the season ticket holders and grizzled die-hard baseball fans are surprised by how much we know about the game! The stadium personnel smile at us, the parking attendant already knows us, and the usher in our favorite section always greets us with a big grin. There’s no one else I’d rather go to Padres games with…

And yes, I’m already counting down the days until our next game in September!