Week 2: An Auto Shop and Some Strawberries

Week 2 of 52: January 8 - 14, 2023

I did not have a plan going into this second week of 2023.

I love the flexible rules I have set for myself with this resolution. It feels achievable to do at least ONE new thing every week. This week I went above and beyond. I did a whopping TWO new things.

The first is a bit more mundane in nature. I went to an auto shop in La Mesa called John's Automotive Care. For context, the current vehicle I'm driving is my grandpa's 2004 Honda Odyssey and it was due for some maintenance.

It was raining when I drove through La Mesa's city streets Tuesday morning. Notably - I did not need to get on the freeway, which is rare in San Diego County.

The La Mesa location of John's Automotive Care lives on a corner lot. It had patchy floors, a very organized coffee counter, and branded 2023 calendars. The muscle car calendar caught my eye.

There were tons of thank-you cards pinned to the cork board on the wall. I'm sorry to admit that I didn't get a photo of them (I am still getting used to the documentation of this resolution). My favorite part was that a massive portion of the board was dominated by one piece of paper. An incredible, illegible black marker scribble. I assume it was created by a customer's kid. Or a very abstract grownup artist.

Despite the industrial factory feel and the fact that I was the only girl in there, John's had a cozy feel to it. An old man shuffled in from the rain and was greeted with a very warm welcome. I learned later that he is the retired mayor of La Mesa and visits the shop almost every morning while on his daily stroll. I don't know much about being a retired city mayor, but it seems pretty nice. I felt a twinge of jealousy because it was 8:30am and he told us all he was getting ready for a nap. I was getting ready to go back to work.

I felt comfortable chatting with the guys at the counter. One of the guys even had a major conundrum.

"I'm grappling with a huge issue today... Should I actually buy an umbrella? Like... are we going to have this rain for more than one day...?" He saw me smile. "As you can see, I'm having major problems this morning."

Major. I appreciated his dramatics. I'm the same. People in San Diego aren't too comfortable with real weather. We shouldn't have to be. I pay ridiculous rent prices here so that I don't have to have conundrums about umbrellas. I did, however, have a small conundrum about strawberries.

The second thing I did this week was make chocolate covered strawberries. My friends and I planned a Board Night. We all chose to bring different types of charcuterie boards and board games. I tasked myself with bringing chocolate covered strawberries. I had the idea to take this on after watching a YouTube video explaining different kinds of chocolate. "Winging it" does not come naturally to me. I had to make sure my chocolate-covered strawberries were up to Pinterest standards. Naturally, I did two trial runs. I couldn't bring ugly strawberries to Board Night. That would almost be as devastating as forecasted rain.

After purchasing four pounds of strawberries and way too much melting chocolate, I had a successful-ish first trial run.

I soaked all four pounds of strawberries.

Fun fact: dryng the strawberries is a crucial step in the process.

I just microwaved the melting chips and got to dipping. Simple.

My second trial run was... a little uglier. I tried to wing some decorations and realized there was a learning curve. Winging it would not do. I had to hone my craft more. My first attempt at the drizzling made me giggle.

Thankfully, it is hard to go wrong with chocolate and strawberries. Even more thankfully, on the third try, the final product turned out decent. Some of the berries were topped with nuts, my drizzling improved and I even free-styled some 100% covered and nut-stuffed berries (see the weird one in the back or the naked-looking ones on the right side).

Below are my berries alongside the other boards. I thought they paired nicely with the wings. It is hard to go wrong with chocolate and strawberry. And wine, meat, and cheese. And... and pickles.

It was fun to have a little project during the week, and I'm glad I made something new. I have so much leftover melting chocolate that I will definitely be making these again soon.

BONUS: Since "Extra" is my middle name - of course I had to have strawberry-themed nails as well.

Anyways, I'm not promising more than one new experience moving forward, but it was nice to have two under my belt. See you next week.