Tag: food

I’m Forty Four with Both Fumbs Down!

So years ago my dad was asked by a neighbor lady how old he was and he said that he was “four with the fumb down.” (Or at least, the neighbor lady told him that he said this as he doesn’t remember it himself.) So we’ve had the expression in our family vernacular for many years. And today, I turned forty four, with both fumbs down. 🙂

Our Wonderful Christmastime has continued to be wonderful. On Monday, mom, Amy, and I went to AAA to talk with a travel agent about going on a tour of Britain. We met for an hour and a half and left with some homework to do. And we spent much of Monday afternoon researching and reading up and trying to decide which of the various package tours we wanted to do. We scheduled a second meeting for Wednesday whereupon we’d have our decision.

On Tuesday, Amy had an appointment with a couple of folks in Columbus to film for the BMC Oral History Project she’s been working on for a few years now. Dad had volunteered to be her gaffer (and to provide the lighting equipment so she didn’t have to bring her set up with her on the plane). Since it was going to take a couple of hours, I suggested that mom and I head off to Polaris Fashion Place to go shopping. So once we had Amy and Dad ensconced in the Columbus Mennonite Church, we headed north to the mall.

Mom and I have been fans of Chico’s for a couple of years now. She had a pair of jeans which were a little baggy on her that she wanted to return, and when we got there, they were having a sale. I found a pair of jeans and a long jacket (think Bea Arthur long) on sale and she found two pairs of jeans. We then stopped into a shoe store where I found a VERY cute pair of shoes in my size. Decided they’d be my birthday present to me. Mom then found a jacket for herself at Christopher & Banks that she wound up getting for $15. We topped the successful excursion off with Auntie Anne’s pretzels.

As we were leaving the mall, Amy texted to say they were done at the church. So we returned and Amy toured around Columbus reminiscing about her days of living in the “big city.” (Columbus is huge for me, but small for someone who lives in Minneapolis. Heh.)

That night, we finally decided on which of the package tours to go on (it was basically a competition between the Scottish highlands and Ireland, Loch Ness vs Guinness brewery tour, Liverpool vs Waterford Crystal. Scotland et al won in the end). Wednesday’s meeting then was getting the tour booked and then the flights figured out. We opted for trip insurance – not something we usually do, but with the total cost of the trip and the fact that we’re not as young as we once were, it seemed like a good idea this time around.

For New Year’s Eve, we met up with Deb & Ben, friends of my folks, for dinner at Trojan Horse. Then we adjourned to mom & dad’s home for an evening of games and snacks and booze. We played Ticket to Ride where Ben managed to win instead of Amy (who’s won every other time we’ve played). Then Amy and I took on mom and Deb with a game of pinochle. We won and then the ball dropped and 2015 arrived!

This morning I made us some baked French Toast (which I’d made shortly after midnight and let sit in the fridge overnight) and bacon. And lunch was our New Year’s staple: pork, kraut, and mashed potatoes. We’d invited my cousin Patty around and the five of us had a wonderful lunch and spent most of the afternoon chatting and laughing. Then mom, Amy, and I returned to Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright and House of Cards (we managed to watch 16 episodes this week). In between episodes, we had a light supper and then I opened presents and we had cake & gelato/ice cream. Judi had gotten me a World of Warcraft game time card (surprise!) and Elsa a nifty sweatshirt with “All of the good chemistry jokes Argon” on it. 🙂 Mom & dad got me moolah to do a subscription to Big Finish. And Amy got me a 7th Doctor brolly! Whee!

So this has been a wonderful time with my sister and folks and other loved ones. Tomorrow we take Amy to the airport so she can be reunited with Curtis (her cat) and Charlotte (her godcat whose currently staying with her). Thanks all for a lovely birthday and Christmas and all that jazz. 🙂

That time between summer and autumn…

Once again, I have gone too far between LJ posts and mother has e-mailed me asking me when I will next update… I kept meaning to update – I wanted to tell about my lovely visit with Amy (my sis) and to go over the books which I read over break and even a post talking about The Bunny Hour. But I just couldn’t get a round tuit for the job. Perhaps this will get some of my writing urges satisfied…

I should first explain the title of this post. As far as I’m concerned, summer ended on August 15th when I reported to work (well to UVMC hospital) for the new school year. As soon as summer break is over, IMO, summer itself is over. However, we’ve got till September 20th for the vernal equinox. So this is some weird purgatory of time between seasons for me. Hot & shitty (which it hasn’t been since June, thankfully) and yet we’re in school. Thanks Nature!

I can’t complain though. I had a fabulous summer vacation. After my trip to Chicago, I headed out the following Saturday to Minneapolis to hang out with my sis. Let’s see how much I can recall…

Saturday: Left the house at 4:30am or so (bloody early), flew to O’Hare and then onto Minneapolis/St Paul airport. I had an Egg McMuffin & hashbrown at O’Hare and Amy had breakfast before she picked me up. So we started our time together at IKEA (like you do). Hey, she had a huge rental vehicle, we were in the area, it was perfect. We stopped at a butcher’s on the way back to her place and got brats & corn on the cob for supper. Home for a bit, then off to Anchor Fish & Chips for… I’ll let you guess. Had a cider with it and it was yummy. We picked up some liquor essentials (and tasted wine & liquor) at Surdyk’s. I think we did a chicken check (the rest of Amy’s Coop Co-op was on a camping trip while I was invading). And Amy’s boyfriend came around for supper, which we grilled and was lovely. Amy also roasted some root vegetables and cooked up some kale.

Sunday: Amy and I took a walk to a nearby park, had cereal for breakfast, and went to United Noodles, an Asian supermarket with a deli inside. It was quite a fun shopping experience, and the lunch was wonderful. I wound up buying a variety of candies/cookies (stuff like Pocky and some other things). I’m still eating ’em! We also had some shopping adventures, but now I can’t recall which days had which trips. See, this is why I should type it up the day of, Trina! Sheesh. I do remember that we had leftover brats & corn Sunday night.

Monday: Rachel joined Amy and I for our walk. We also went to a nice breakfast place in St. Paul (the Buttered Tin) before Rachel had to head off to work. They were also a bakery and had some lovely cupcakes. So I got some for Amy and I to share, and one for Rachel to have when she had a break at work. Supper was more grilling – I mixed up the Miss Chick marinade (similar to what is used at the Poultry Days festival in Versailles) and Amy chopped the chicken (which was finally, nearly, thawed) earlier in the day. We grilled it that evening and Rachel joined us again. It was very yummy!

Tuesday: We had another morning walk which took us by a donut shop (but as none of us brought money, we bought no donuts) and a Cuban restaurant that sounded good. Amy made us egg sandwiches for breakfast. I later suggested the Cuban place (Victor’s) for lunch, so we walked there. Amy got a cubano and I had the “love” Cuban pork sandwich. We split a tropical salad as appetizer and shared beans&rice and fried yuca. It was all wonderful, and Amy got some nice leftovers. Soon, however, it was time for me to go back to the airport. (First I had to ask Curtis, Amy’s lovely cat, to get off of my suitcase. He thought it was the perfect cat bed.)

I was supposed to get back to Dayton by 11:30pm. But before I could leave MSP, I had to have a plane. And it was 3 hours late. Thankfully, I didn’t have to worry about missing my connecting flight out of O’Hare – same plane. My parents are the most wonderful parents – despite the lateness, they came and got me! 2:30am – bleh! (And this after getting up at o’dark thirty to take me in the first place!)

It was a great way to end my summer vacation. (Well, the next morning was a pool party at mom & dad’s community pool, so that also helped with the end.) Then that Friday, I started back to work! And we just finished our first full week of school. I think this is going to be a great school year. So far, I’m actually caught up in grading – whee! And now a 3-day weekend!

Da Burbs

I’ve been having a lovely visit with (and is also here). This is likely the last visit while she’s living in the city. Indeed we were looking at condos in the ‘burbs today. First time I’ve been to Downers Grove since I was wee. Didn’t recognize a smidgen.

Anyhoo, on this visit we’ve had Indian buffet, dim sum, and pub grub at a microbrewery (Reuben, cheddar ale soup, hefeveisen). Elsa had pre-made all of the other meals we’ve had in order to keep the joint clean for viewings by potential buyers. Arroz con pollo, chicken salad & Gorgonzola roasted red pepper soup, meatloaf (with mashed taters and broccoli), and even individual servings of oatmeal or Special K for breakfast. She also baked pineapple upside-down cake and peach cobbler. Oh, and we just finished pot roast, taters, carrots & onion. Yum!

Entertainment-wise, we’ve been to see Avenue Q at the Mercury theater. Great show! Also great to see what had been going on about for years. Nifty that in the cast, the couple who marry are actually married in real life. We also went to see Guardians of the Galaxy yesterday at the Icon. Really fun flick. Tomorrow we intend to see Shakespeare in the park (with Patty). Much Ado About Nothing.

Patty (Judi’s Pomeranian) joined us on our condo hunt today and will join us tomorrow because we needed her (and us) out of the flat for viewing (and open house tomorrow). She was very good today tho I missed out on seeing two of the condos in order to dog sit. So Patty and I took walks around the blocks. I suspect she’ll sleep well tonight!

I’ve had a blast so far and figure the rest of the trip will be as well. 🙂

An Erie Trip!

Last year, my folks and I visited friends up on Lake Erie, and we all decided to get together again this summer. This time, we went Thursday/Friday/Saturday and decided to arrive before lunchtime on Thursday in order to spend the day on Put-In-Bay island. After checking into our hotel, we headed for the ferry which was to carry us over to the island.

Although cars are allowed on the island, golf carts are encouraged. The 10 of us rented the last two 6-seater golf carts for the day for $15 each (a bargain, if you ask me). This gave us the freedom to roam as well as time to walk. We started off by going out to eat for lunch. We went to Mossback’s (our friends hadn’t been before, but said it was recommended). Mom and I decided to split a couple of items for lunch, so we ordered the Perch & Perogies lunch special and the Maryland crab cakes appetizer. The perch (from Erie) and perogies were definite winners. The crab cakes were OK, but nothing special. I had a Woodchuck Amber cider (which I put in my bottle koozie which I’d just bought from a store on The Boardwalk – the koozie has a built in bottle opener!)

We then walked on to Perry’s Monument where most of us waited in the (long for a Thursday) line to go up to the top. Once we were up, the view was stunning. The rangers were very helpful, even taking a photo of those of us currently up top. After the monument, we went on to Heineman’s Winery. This is the oldest winery on Put-in-Bay (and one of the oldest in the country? or something) and they provide a tour of the Crystal Cave and their winery. Basically the Crystal Cave is a geode you can stand in, some 30+ feet in diameter. We sampled their wines and I bought a few items – a nifty set of geode bookends, a t-shirt which says “50 Shades of Grape” and an umbrella that looks like a bottle of wine. “This isn’t my wine, this is my um… brella” it claims.

We checked out several establishments on the island and then split into two parties for sitting & drinking. I went with dad and two of the guys to the brewery on the island: Put-In-Bay Brewing Co. I tried their bourbon barrel oatmeal stout and dad had their regular oatmeal stout, and we split an order of walleye bites. Once I noticed it was after 7pm, I suggested we return to the others since the golf carts were due in by 8pm.

We took the scenic route back to the golf cart place and were there in time, AND in time to board the next ferry back to the mainland. One of our party had to leave at that point, but the remaining 9 of us went to Dock’s Beach House for supper. I ordered a “peaches & cream” frozen drink and the waitress asked for my ID, bless her! I thanked her and she said they are supposed to card people 30 years or younger. My 43 year old self was pleased. 🙂 I also ordered their chicken salad wrap with couscous salad. Very yummy.

The next day was intended to be our Day at the Beach day. We’d had perfect “walking around Put-in-Bay” weather the day before, and then perfect “Day at the Beach” weather the next. The Lake was a little choppy, but the sand was much easier on bare feet this time around. For lunch, we had coney dogs, veggies, chips, etc. I had brought some Angry Orchard cider and wound up having two during the day. After our leisure day, we headed out to Mon Ami for supper. Everyone got appetizers to share (once again, I ordered the lovely baked brie appetizer, this time with just peaches) and there wasn’t a loser in the bunch. Since we were sitting on the bar side of the restaurant, all of the appetizers we’d ordered were half price. Plus I got two of their specially priced martinis – a chocotini to start, followed by a raspberry mango martini second. For my meal, I had to get that lobster bisque soup again (along with a caesar side salad). Ah, food bliss.

While we were waiting on the meal, several of us visited the gift store. I bought a cruet which holds both oil and vinegar in different compartments (the inner compartment being in the shape of a bunch of grapes) and with a balsamic vinegar and oil, it’ll look pretty darned nifty. I also picked up one of their t-shirts.

A band started playing around 8:30 and the music was catchy and easy to dance to, but rather loud. After a bit, I asked dad if he wanted to take a short walk, so we wandered the grounds for a bit, before returning. Mom danced quite a bit, even coaxing dad (and me!) onto the dance floor for a bit. We eventually returned to our hotel rooms.

Sadly, two couples decided to leave early on Saturday, but the folks and I returned to our friends’ place on the lake. We spent the morning (and part of the early afternoon) vegging on their back patio. The day was warmer than it had been the day before, so I’m glad we had the cooler day for our Day on the Beach. A little after 1pm, we then headed on out to Oregon, OH, to once again have lunch at the Oregon Inn. I had their fried perch along with fries and a side salad. Tasty, tasty. Although I had driven us to the restaurant, mom took us the rest of the way home. Then I took myself to my house and relaxed the rest of the night.

The rest of this entry will consist of photos from our lovely weekend at Erie.

Perry's Monument.
Perry’s Monument.

The View from Perry's Monument.
The View from Perry’s Monument.

Group Shot on the top of Perry's Monument.
Group Shot on the top of Perry’s Monument.

Tippy Top of the Monument.
Tippy Top of the Monument.

Wine Garden at the Winery.
Wine Garden at the Winery.

The Crystal Cave at the Winery.
The Crystal Cave at the Winery.

Getting to our Golf Carts.
Getting to our Golf Carts.

Mon Ami.
Mon Ami.

Mom at Mon Ami.
Mom at Mon Ami (she was the only one at the table to get an ice bucket with her bottle of wine).

Dat at Mon Ami.
Dad at Mon Ami (he seems in his element at the Tiki Bar).

Flowers And More!

As promised, photos from today. We started out in the Conservatory at the Windmill Island and there were quite a few exotic (well, to me at least!) flowers present.

amaryllis
Amaryllis

bad hair day
Bad Hair Day

succulent with water pool
Succulent with water pool in the center

orchid
Evil Orchid wants to eat your face!

bird of paradise
Bird of Paradise

The Windmill on Windmill Island is named De Zwaan (the swan) and is indeed graceful, if not really a bird.

dezwaan
De Zwaan

I took a photo from the observation deck. The day was still a bit dreary as the photo shows:

view
The view from De Zwaan

The tulips were reluctant to show themselves, but before we left Windmill Island, we had spotted a handful. Downtown Holland had quite a few more.

tulips1
Tulips on Windmill Island

tulips2
Tulips in downtown Holland

Tonight we went to Saugatuck Brewing Company for supper. I ordered a flight of beers, the cashews encrusted brie (appetizer) and fish & chips (with a side salad). Ate far too much, used up many of my weekly WW points, but it was worth it. Liked their cider, but the other five beers in the flight weren’t for me. So, if you total up all of the beers I’ve tried so far in my life (which is a fair number now), I’ve discovered, um, 0 that I like. However, have found several hard ciders that I like.

flight
My flight from Saugatuck Brewing Co.
From left to right: True Scot, ESB Amber, Bonfire Brown, Oatmeal Stout, Darker than Your Soul, and Hard Cider. The Amber and the Stout were more drinkable, but I wound up only drinking half of the beers and all of the cider.

It’s Tulip Time!

Lillian (my new car, if you recall) and I have had our first Road Trip! One month after I bought her, I drove her to Holland, Michigan for the Tulip Time Festival.

Yesterday, after school, I loaded her up and drove north and west to Douglas, MI, where our hotel, the AmericInn was awaiting me. By “our” I mean mine and judiang and elsaf‘s hotel. I got there around 10pm and they hadn’t been there long either. In fact, they were just about to head out for a late (late!) supper. Since I had the new car, they let me drive and we attempted the road house “next door” but they stopped serving food at 10pm. The waitress there described where to find a Burger King, which we figured would still be open.

They were, the girls got some food in ’em (I’d stopped at a McDonald’s on my way up) and we returned to the hotel for bed. Whereupon none of us could sleep. Ah well!

This morning, we ate at the hotel and eventually got on the road to Holland. By following the signs to the Windmill Island, we eventually reached the place (using the concept of Limits to guide us to our destination. Let’s hear it for calculus!) It was still fairly early and the temperature was a bit chilly. The tulip flowers didn’t get the memo re: Tulip Time and most were no-shows. However, the highlight of the island was the windmill.

In 1964, the city of Holland bought a windmill from the Netherlands and installed it on what became called Windmill Island. It is a working flour mill and the miller is one of the few females in the biz. (Elsa and I walked past her while on our tour of the joint.) Though they didn’t have the mill attached while we were there, they did have the sails turning, which was nifty.

I picked up a sack of flour, a postcard of the windmill WITH tulips in shot, and 3 tiny bars of chocolate from the Netherlands. It wasn’t till after we’d left the island that I even saw any bloomed tulips. But downtown Holland fared better – they had some early risers in places. I suspect in another week or two, the place will be gorgeous.

We decided to try the Alpen Rose restaurant for lunch, and we chose well. Judi and I got the buffet and Elsa had a soup, sandwich, and potato salad. The food was all yummy (brat with kraut & mashed taters – very yummy kraut indeed) and the desserts were heavenly. Cream puffs & fruit tart for the win! We headed on to Centennial Park where the arts & crafts part of the festival was housed and wandered there for a bit. Now we’re back at the hotel resting and recuperating.

Oh, while at the arts & crafts area, I so wanted to purchase a t-shirt that someone had made. It had a cute applique cat on it, was only $13, and had the caption “My outfits not complete unless covered in cat fur” or something. But I couldn’t spend money on a t-shirt that didn’t have proper grammar. “Outfit’s” as in “my outfit is” not as plural to “outfit.” I sadly walked away regretting their lack of proof-reader. (This paragraph probably has an ironically appropriate grammatical error in it, just ’cause.)

I’d add some photos to this post, but the wifi is slow here & my images & videos from today are taking their time getting onto my laptop. Guess I’ll have to make a SECOND post for the images. Wow!

Interesting Start to the Year

We were very fortunate to have a long Winter Break – two full weeks. And then Mother Nature decided that wasn’t enough. Heh. Today was our third calamity day for 2014 and the fifth for this school year. And I ain’t complaining! I love unexpected days off (and today was a particularly unexpected one).

January 2nd was a very snowy day and I got a number of photos from my folks’ veranda, one of which I’ll share below (once I pick it). So we spent the day inside and enjoyed each others’ company. (I’d originally planned to take the kitties to their annual appointment, but decided to change it to another day.) A friend of Amy’s and former student of dad’s came around despite the crappy weather (he and his family were on their way to Chicago, but decided after the drive to Troy to give it up and return to Pleasant Hill). We had a nice time visiting with them. And then mom and Amy went to the post office and dropped me off at the Chinese place so I could get us lunch. It was a lovely snowy day.

Sadly, the 3rd was Amy’s last day with us, so we spent the morning just watching her. Heh. We got her off to the airport and she arrived home safely. Her luggage took longer, but she was finally reunited with it in the late evening. I also made my way home and got to spend the weekend (and the past 3 days) with my kitties.

Well, actually, Saturday I spent the day with the parental units. Mom and I attended WeightWatchers (ouch – up 5lbs from before the holidays!) and then the three of us had breakfast at Bob Evans. Then we went to see Catching Fire (the second Hunger Games movie). Mom and I were impressed with how faithful it was to the book. Dad isn’t really a fan of this style of story. (Postapocalyptic just isn’t this thang, I guess.)

Sunday was supposed to be the next big snowstorm followed by ultra-cold temps. Well, the snowfall wasn’t all that big, then it turned to rain. Still, I spent the day making soup and baking bread. It was lovely. The ultracold temps did come and turned the wet into ice and the rain into snow. And thus school was closed Monday. And then Tuesday.

By Tuesday afternoon, I was getting cabin fever, so I put on double/triple/quadruple layers and walked to the post office. Amy’s birthday gift to me (the game Ticket to Ride) showed up. Yay! I returned home with all of my appendages doing just fine.

Last night the school called to say we would be on a 2-hour delay this morning. So this morning I was up an hour later than I normally would be, and getting ready for work. And then they called again to say that, due to poor roads, school would be closed again. Whee!

I figured the main roads wouldn’t be as bad as the country roads and by 11am, I headed off to Piqua to go watch The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug for a second time. Turns out Piqua can show it in High Frame Rate. No more going down to Fairborn for HFR! Whee! I followed it up with a late lunch at Red Lobster. I also baked my first focaccia bread today (after making the dough yesterday and letting it proof today). Photo also included below.

So anyhoo, my Winter Break is now over (probably! Hopefully the salt could finally melt the ice on the streets!) and tomorrow I can be a responsible adult again. Heh. Till then, however, I’m gonna sit in my comfy chair with my kitty (Lucy right now) and veg out. Hope y’all have had an interesting start to 2014, too!

Here are the two photos I promised!

Snow on Jan 2
The patio doesn’t look as inviting when there’s several inches of snow on the furniture!

Focaccia!
My first attempt at focaccia! It looks (and smells) wonderful!

Goodbye to my Douglas Adams Year!

On Jan 1, 1971, at 12:16am, I came into the world. So for the past year, I was 42 years old. And I often wondered, in a solipsistic way, maybe Douglas Adams’ question is something along the lines of “What age will Trina be when she …?” “How old will Trina be when …” (put in your own humorous or not-so-humorous fill-ins for the blanks). With, of course, the answer being 42. But since the universe does NOT revolve around me (I was 99.9999% sure this was the case), I got through the year with nothing untoward happening.

So anyhoo, we’ve been having a fabulous time with Amy in town. Mom and I had Baking Day on Christmas and dad worked on his Christmas toy for family members (a gragger – nice and loud and fun). Thursday (Boxing Day) I wrapped presents. Friday was the busiest day of my time off.

I started Friday morning with a doctor’s appointment. (I’m quite healthy – whee! – and 19lbs lighter than my last appt.) Then I headed off to mom & dad’s for the family gatherings. We first went to Uncle Bob’s (mom’s side) at Indian Lake. It was good to see my cousin (currently living in Texas) and her girls again. Hadn’t seen her oldest in a couple of years. We had a lovely afternoon of food and fellowship.

We then headed back home to refill on cookies and then headed off to Aunt Becky’s (dad’s side). There was even more food and fellowship there (and I was surprised that I was hungry after the Anderson gathering). We left from there to go pick up Amy at the airport.

Amy’s flight got in early, but they had some tarmac wait time. Still, we were hugging her around the time of the original arrival time. Yay! Once home we chatted for awhile before finally getting to bed.

Saturday morning was our “Christmas.” We had Egg McMikey sammiches (dad’s specialty) and opened our stockings. Then present opening occurred. We know how to do present opening! It was after noon before we finished. Heh. Lunch was hamburgers and mac&cheese.

We took a walk that afternoon since it was going to be the warmest day Amy was in town. Since it wasn’t really Christmas, Mojo’s (a local bar) was our destination. We had drinks and snacks and then tottled back home.

Sunday included lunch at Harrison’s in Tipp City with friends (we wanted to show off Amy) and then some resting and relaxing. Monday included a shopping trip to Kohl’s where I got a new watch band and a WeightWatchers approved scale for under $5 (yay Kohl’s Bucks!)

Yesterday (New Years’ Eve) I popped home to check on the kitties and then mom, Amy, and I went to the Y for a Zumba Gold class and a line dancing class. We were the only folks who showed up, so we claim that we were the best students that day. 🙂

Our evening plan was to go to The Filling Station for NYE along with mom’s BFF Debbie and her hubby, Ben. When we got there around 6:30, they asked if we had reservations. Mom had TRIED to get reservations earlier in the week but they claimed then they weren’t taking reservations since they were having a live band. Thankfully, since we didn’t want to sit on the side of the bar where the band was, they had room for us. All but dad ordered the prime rib special (which wasn’t all that special) and dad had fried shrimp.

Mom, Deb, Amy and I played games (Pass the Pig, Zombie Dice, Euchre) while we waited for 2014 to show up. Part of the cover charge fee paid for party favors and champagne. They were running out of favors when they got to us, and the champagne may not have even had grapes, let alone alcohol. Still, we graggered the new year in once midnight hit.

We returned home around 1am and then mom and I prepared for breakfast: Eggnog French Toast.

Today was my birthday (no, duh!) so we started off with a great breakfast of eggnog french toast and bacon. Mmmm! Then I got to watch my parade. Love those folks in Pasadena – they always give me a parade. Lunch was pork and kraut and mashed potatoes and apple sauce. My cousin, Patty, joined us for lunch. We then had cookies and conversation. Uncle Doug and Aunt Charlene joined us after awhile and we continued eating and chatting.

Now I’m typing this up and looking over at my birthday presents. Whee! I think we’ll get to those soon enough!

Happy New Year to all of you! May 2014 be a great year for you!

Thanksgiving Adventures!

The folks and I decided that we had so much fun last year at Amy’s for thanksgiving, we’d ask if she’d have us back again this year. She (foolishly?) said yes, so we’re back in Minnesota again.

Amy decided that we’d have roast chicken this year instead of roast turkey, which was just fine with me. Turkey is OK, but chicken is very yummy. Especially the dark meat. So we developed a plan of attack for the meal. Cheeseball made and pies baked on Wednesday night, everything else on Thursday morning.

The cheeseball went smoothly (my usual “Thanksgiving Cheeseball”) but Amy had some issues with the pie crust. They were using white whole wheat flour and it didn’t work as well with Rachel’s mom’s pie crust recipe as regular white flour did. And then Amy discovered that her sweet potatoes had some bad spots she’d not planned on. Still, by the time we headed for bed, her pie and the apple pie that Rachel had made both looked wonderful. Pre-prep was done. On to Thursday!

This morning we lazed about some before I started on the rolls. I found a nice recipe from King Arthur Flour’s website and decided to give it a try. Once the dough was proofing, I turned on the oven to a low heat to get things started.

Amy started by chopping up the root vegetables for roasting (with Rachel cleaning) and I got the potatoes cut for future mashed potatoes. Then mom and I cut up the ingredients for a Pear Cranberry Chutney recipe she’d gotten from WeightWatchers. Since Cilantro tastes of soap to me, we substituted parsley for it. The recipe was claimed to go well with roast chicken. (They were right!)

Amy then started prepping the chicken – she’d found a nice recipe online (I think this was it) that looked pretty easy and that she had ingredients for. She discovered that the chicken wasn’t as thawed as it originally looked, but she took care of that hurdle only to discover a bigger hurdle – the oven hadn’t gotten any warmer than 150F since we first turned it on. The root vegetables weren’t getting roasted and the chicken wasn’t going to get so either. Eep!

Dad checked in the basement to see if any of the circuit breakers had flipped (Amy has an electric oven) but flipping them off & on did nothing for the oven. The burners worked just fine. Thankfully, Rachel’s apartment isn’t too far away, so she and I bundled up the rolls, chicken, and root veg for a trip over to her place. There, we baked everything and played with Charlotte (her kitty) and our phones (we both have Galaxy SIIIs).

The chicken reached it’s proper temp with 4 minutes to go on the timer, so we bundled everything back up and returned to the folks and Amy. Turns out the chicken was dripping red (gah – the recipe LIED) so some zapping in the microwave took care of the final cooking. While Rachel and I were baking, Amy was making the rest of the food. She had brussel sprouts going in one skillet and kale in another. And I got to mash the potatoes when I got back. Then Amy made a gravy (with mom’s help) of the drippings from the chicken.

Lunch was late (or supper was early) but it was simply wonderful. Despite the setbacks, the food was delicious. The rolls were declared “even better that my mom’s” by someone whose identity I will protect, just in case… 😉 So I think we’ll be keeping that recipe around for the future.

I am thankful for so much more than I can type, but for now I’ll just say that I’m thankful for the family I was born into and the friends that I have chosen in my life. We rock!

Happy Autumn!

Happy First Day of Autumn!

Although I’ve not been posting anything, life has been good for me lately. The fall festivals are popping up (yesterday was Taste of Troy, which was very yummy) and the weather has been gorgeous. Mom and I took a lovely bike ride today. The leaves are still mostly green, but there are some trees that are starting to turn and leaves are starting to drop.

The weight loss is slow but still trending down. Doing Taste of Troy *and* attending a steak party with friends last night haven’t done anything to help it, but when I ask myself the all-important question “Was it worth the points?” the answer was a definite “yes!” Plus I managed to avoid eating so much that I felt ill in the evening. I did manage to use up most of my extra weekly points yesterday and today, but I should be able to cope for the rest of the week just fine.

Next weekend is the Tipp City Mum Festival, I believe, and Oktoberfest is just around the corner as well. I’m already behind in grading at work (no surprise there) but was impressed with myself when, after the first two weeks of school, I was NOT already 2 weeks behind. Go me!