Category Archives: Food and Drink

Really Early Christmas Morning…..

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This is one of those rare occasions when my insomnia strikes early. I barely made it for two hours and am obviously on the computer with my mug of chamomile tea at 1:02 a.m. Christmas morning. I am a little concerned that one of the neighbors a few houses away is still blaring music and there are lots of voices singing, etc., Not that I want to be “Grinchy” and  I am awake anyway, but I’m thinking of other people. Ah well, I suppose if someone wants to have security remind them of the accepted noise “cut-off” of whatever the time is, they will.

Anyway, TBS is running, “A Christmas Story” back-to-back for like 24 hours. While it is not one of my favorites, it is for many. Right now, the really old version of, “A Christmas Carol” is on and I imagine they will run the different versions. As I have mentioned before, my favorite is with George C. Scott as Scrooge, although the take-off of, “Scrooged” with Bill Murray is good, too.

Today’s schedule will be a bot odd as I go at 3:00 to help a friend get ready for the rest of the guests at 4:00 with meal planned for about 5:00. Back when we grew up, noon was always the big meal. I don’t recall the early Christmases, but except for those occasional years we went to my paternal grandparents in Arkansas, the holiday was with my maternal grandparents in Louisiana. Only once did we live more than half hour from them and that was a two-hour drive for a few years. Dressing is (or was) more common in the South than stuffing and my grandmother’s was really good. Another of those family recipes that wasn’t written down and my sister spent years later trying to replicate it. She did get close enough to write it out and I’m not sure what happened to it after that. I’ll try and remember to ask her.

Anyway, I’ve finished my tea and hopefully will get back to sleep soon. Not sure about those neighbors; they’ll have to call it quits at some point.

 

Menu Planning….

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Ah, the holidays and extra to plan for. There’s Christmas Eve meal, dinner with the kids and the neighbor on their second night, then the New Year’s Eve party, New Year’s Day and probably out for lunch on the 2d; the last day the friend is here. This is the only time of the year when I consistently make hot breakfasts. This allows the adult kids to sleep in – granddaughter and I are the early birds. She gets cereal as “early breakfast” although at times she only wants milk, then it’s for real breakfast later. Weather permitting all meals are of course taken on the terrace.

Sushi is generally the first night out and dinner with the neighbor is normally pork chops and lamb chops because daughter-in-law loves lamb, but son and neighbor don’t care for it.The other two nights out will depend on mood. White Lion is a favorite because of the decorations as well as food and setting, but Exit One Taproom has possibility, too. The Hotel could be in the running, as can Capri. We’ll play those by ear.

For the first time ever, I am picking up catered dinner for New Year’s Eve. We’ve done sit-down, then just large quantities of something like sliders, along with shrimp cocktail, salmon, and three-four more heavy appetizers. This year is a brisket meal with limited appetizers – we’ll do those – before the buffet. After the main meal, I’ll put out the charcuterie and sweets just to have something for people to nibble on in the run-up to midnight.

Back to Christmas Eve. It will be the two of us and it’s usually seafood. We’ll probably do carryout from either Krab Kingz in Florida City or Red Crab. Messy, but good in either case. Christmas Day will be late lunch/early dinner – depending on how one views the time – and Hubby and I aren’t actually preparing food for this one. I will go over early to help with prep and keep wine poured for the hostess.

Double Turkeys……

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Okay, this year is definitely a bit different. While we frequently travel to Georgia for Thanksgiving, this is a year when we had already planned not to. When we stay here, we usually go over to friends who live in a neighborhood we could walk to if we weren’t carrying a platter of fried turkey. (Our contribution to the feast).

As it turns out, the unexpected loss of a friend added another aspect. The friend had been struggling with health issues, however, the rapid decline last month took us all by surprise. The couple has no children nor family nearby. I’ve been helping a fair amount and for those who have ever suffered a loss right before the holidays, it can be especially difficult. In order to try and bring some semblance of “normal”, we’ll have Thanksgiving lunch at our place for this friend, a neighbor, and another friend who will travel for Christmas, but be alone this week. Nothing elaborate and that will still provide time for Hubby to do the second turkey for the late afternoon at our other friends.

I’ll do a traditional roasted turkey with only the basics for noon – turkey, ham, dressing, kicked-up mashed potatoes, rolls, and apple pie. Friends are bringing cranberry sauce, green beans in some form, and cheesecake. Timing the oven temperature will involve putting the apple pie into the oven between 7:30-8:00 in order to get it done, then turn the temp down to 325 to manage everything else. It will also mean making the herb butter the evening before as Hubby does the chopping and I don’t want him to have to deal with that part on Thanksgiving morning. Oh, I’m not doing the dressing from scratch – am using one of the Publix ones from the deli case. Also not doing potatoes from scratch (never do). Those are again refrigerator ones that I add butter, sour cream, maybe milk, salt and pepper and bake for approximately half an hour.

I will remember to pick up cold slaw and potato salad at Publix today though for Hubby to have to go with turkey sandwiches later.

 

 

 

Back From Orlando…..

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Well, Mother Nature was not as kind to us on the trip home although the intense storm that ranged in from Broward County through the Upper Keys did get much worse after we arrived home. We had decided to have a big breakfast and not do an actual lunch stop which helped time-wise. The rain set in for about the second half of the trip. The truck certainly won’t need to be washed for a while.

Okay, the Big Fire Grill was the more casual “best place” we dined. It was at City Walk and there was both a fire pit outside with seating around it and by a stroke of luck our table inside had one of the best views of the open kitchen with an elaborate grill set-up. I’d never seen one like this although Hubby said he had on one of the big BBQ TV shows. It was a double grill with a rack above to move food to that required different cooking times. They use a mix of three woods for grilling and at one point, we did watch the guy move extra wood to the grill to “feed” the fire. We ordinarily would have had two different dishes, but in this case, there was a bison steak and that plus the trout were the only items we can’t get here. Since we regularly get good seafood, we both did the bison. It was perfectly cooked and had fig jam based sauce which we expected wasn’t going to be very “figgy”. We were correct and it was delicious. The potato gratin side was excellent and done with stacked thinly sliced potatoes, a couple of different cheeses and topped with a Parmesan cheese sauce that we think had a little nutmeg as flavoring. We did resist dessert and stuck with coffee. If we lived in the area, we would recommend Big Fire Grill for anyone.

 

Orlando Trip, Day 3…..

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Okay, Cowfish first for last night’s dinner. Apparently it is actually a regional chain; Sushi, Burgers, and Bar. Yes, I know, but it is an intriguing idea and the menu is pretty extensive. Modern decor and furnishings, bright colors. They did have chicken and pulled pork sandwiches as well as burgers; no entree type dishes. Also only sweet potato fries and other sides like Spicy and Sweet Thai cucumbers. Hubby decided to go with a sushi sashimi combo and it was nicely presented; excellent quality according to him. I mis-read the menu and went with something that was a “take” on a burger and it was a mistake so I won’t even describe it. I disassembled enough to have a light meal and what I ate was good.

We started a bit later today and went to Universal Studios Park. We did a few things and the main rain did fall while we were inside. A light drizzle lingered as we went to Lombard’s Landing for lunch, but lifted and no more rain for the day. It was a lovely restaurant in the “San Francisco” area. Clam chowder for Hubby and onion soup for me helped with having just come in from the drizzle. Lobster rolls won out although everything on the menu sounded good. We had some time before the movie we were planning and decided to take Hogwarts Express back to the other park as one last piece of Harry Potter fun. We took in “A Haunting in Venice”, the most recent of the Hercule Poirot movies. I generally like Kenneth Branaugh, but simply cannot get used to him in that role. The movie was good of course and the theater had the same leather reclining seats as in the ShowBiz theater in Homestead.

We’re off soon for dinner at Big Fire Grill. Like Cowfish, it was not here during our last trip. No possibility of mis-reading the menu tonight as everything is traditional.

 

Orlando Trip, Day 2….

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Okay, I have to back up to yesterday – or rather last night – to talk about dining at Bice, the fine dining restaurant at Portofino Bay Hotel. It was everything you want when paying those kinds of prices. Lovely ambiance, great service, excellent food, and presentation. Hubby did go with the veal osso bucco and loved it. I had veal piccata that was wonderful. We shared a mixed salad to start and not surprisingly, the fresh baked (and warm) bread was served with two dipping olive oils and balsamic vinegar instead of butter. We did do dessert – chocolate torte with vanilla gelato. We had wine by the glass though because I brought a bottle of champagne for us to have later. Well, have a glass then save the rest for today.

Mother Nature was not as kind to us as she could have been although it could have been worse. We did take advantage of early park entrance today because the specific ride in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Hubby wanted to go on is the only ride in the park that isn’t on the Express list. Even with getting there early, it was an 1.5 hour wait. With that said, you do wind through a scenic path and the castle making your way to the ride, so it is somewhat entertaining. I do not, in general, go on roller coasters and did so only as a “gift” to Hubby. It was right on the edge of what I can tolerate. The other two rides were not quite as bad and the Hogwarts Express train was pleasantly calm. We did manage to cover all the Harry Potter items today – to include lunch at Three Broomsticks. Fish and chips for him; pasties and salad for me and we shared. Nothing fancy this time, but part of the experience. Light rain set in not long after lunch and we were prepared with a rain jacket and hood for him and small umbrella for me.

Dinner tonight will be at something kind of different – The Cowfish. I will explain tomorrow.

Orlando Trip, Day 1……

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Trip up was as good as can be expected; no accidents or back-ups. Staying at a different hotel at Universal – the Portofino Bay. Lovely, but massive. Might need to get some breadcrumbs to drop to find way around. We have the fine dining restaurant tonight as it is our 35th anniversary. Will report on that in the morning.

Coincident of timing. We stopped for lunch at one of the Turnpike plazas. Granddaughter sometimes Facebook messages us on Sundays and she did at exactly the best time she could have. Hubby was waiting for sandwiches and I was at the table. She wanted to swap to Facetime so we traded off. I talked to her while Hubby at half his sandwich, then we swapped. Turns out science is still her favorite subject and she is now trying jazz for dance. She thinks she will like that better than ballet and tap and quite frankly, I can see that considering how active she tends to be.

Anyway, we’re headed down shortly to stop by the Universal desk to pickup our park tickets, then get oriented. This hotel is on the far end of the complex and the opposite side of where we have previously stayed. The water taxi goes to the parks and there is a walking trail which is about 3/4 of a mile. We’ll go down for dinner at 7:15, so if we have time, we’ll go over to Citywalk which is where the shops, non-Hotel restaurants, etc., are. Margaritaville will be a stop depending on a couple of things. After all, a good way to toast Jimmy’s legacy. If not this afternoon, we’ll catch it tomorrow or Tuesday.

Tomorrow will be our only early start as there is the newest Harry Potter ride that doesn’t take the Express Pass, so we have to take advantage of the early entrance for those staying in the on-site hotels.

Plenty of Candy…..

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With everything going on, we haven’t decorated for Halloween this year although some of the neighbors have been creative. I did pick up the usual quantity of multiple bags of candy as we get lots of trick or treaters. Hubby will post a few photos to Facebook no doubt. They do range in age from toddler to teenager and we don’t mind that. Sometimes the older ones are bringing young one around and other times, they may just be hanging on to a last bit of childhood for a few hours.

Hubby teases me some, but I have two candy bowls. The one with the most is the good chocolate/nut stuff and I have a second smaller one with no chocolate and no nuts just in case. Speaking of food, we will have a steady stream of visitors from around 5:30 to 9:00. We usually have dinner at 7:30 while watching Jeopardy and with one of us having to answer the door every few minutes, we will fix tuna etouffee tonight. Since it’s a stew-like meal, it will stay hot between bites.

I do tend to try and err on the side of too much rather than too little candy and we do have a bag or so left over at times. It has been known to last until nearly Christmas. On the other hand, I am supposed to make sure there is a bag – or at least most of a bag – of Butterfingers for Hubby to enjoy for later. That mostly works out. Sometimes he prefers Snickers as leftover, but not this year.

I am also okay with all the places that choose to have some sort of event for kids rather than have them go to houses. Oh, and I do have a few friends whose favorite holiday is Halloween and they go all out whether with decorations, costumes, or party. None happen to be in this neighborhood; I know I’ll be seeing FB posts tomorrow from them.

 

 

Louisiana Trip, Day 5……

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Yesterday was the quick go back by my aunt’s with a promise next year’s visit will be less rushed. At least that’s the plan. We headed up to Minden and this is a somewhat “divergent” part. If you are not familiar with the HGTV show, “Home Town”, it’s another husband and wife renovation show set in Laurel, MS. They are a delightful couple and in addition to restoring homes, the husband has an amazing wood shop/work shop where he almost always creates something extra special for each home. Anyway, a few years ago, they got the idea and the network agreed to a “Home Town Takeover” where they select a small town trying to revive itself and can’t quite make it. There are certain criteria and the first time they did this, they selected Wetumpka, Alabama which wasn’t very far from Laurel. The format is they spend four months and do four projects; two businesses, one public place, and one home for someone known for strong community giving. The concept was such a success, they expanded it and decided to bring in extra teams and do four towns in different parts of the country. I was surprised to hear Minden was one of the towns. They faced severe economic set-back when the real estate bubble burst and have struggled to regain their footing. Anyway, one of the businesses selected was a breakfast and lunch cafe, “Geaux Fresh”, run by two women. I didn’t realize my sister had actually been there, but she didn’t know anything about the transformation. We went for lunch and a) it looked as cute as it did on TV; b) the menu was terrific; c) the food was excellent; and d) there were a lot of people there. The only drawback for me is they don’t serve beer and wine, however, I wasn’t going to be drinking anyway.

They have a huge selection of sandwiches, burgers, salads, and several pastries. Sis had a lovely chicken salad and I had the Black Bayou burger that included sliced jalapenos, bacon, jalapeno jam, and pepper jack cheese on jalapeno bread. Yes, it was spicy and messy.

It was a beautiful afternoon to go to the cemetery although warm and the VA marker had been installed on Daddy’s grave. It doesn’t match Mother’s as his is granite and hers is brass, but it looks nice and more importantly, everything on it was correct.

Louisiana Trip, Day 4…….

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This was the easy driving day, barely half hour to get to my aunt’s house. The two places my high school friend intended for us to have lunch weren’t open on Sunday so after a little trial and error we went to TJohnny’s, a spot on Cane River. I did get my crawfish. Sis had shrimp again and my friends both had catfish. Yes, the primary cooking method was to fry. Anyway, we had a good time catching up and they plan a trip to the Keys next year. Friend’s husband is big time into fishing and wants to do the back country.

I won’t get into the details, but my aunt’s house is in disarray. It’s about 100 years old and was my grandparents. An accident with the floor occurred and as is always the case, that revealed many problems that should have been dealt with long ago. Anyway, repairs are on-going, but at least she is back in the house. All the kids who live in the area have been working incredibly hard as so much had to be packed up and moved into a PODS, then repairs managed, stuff getting moved back in as can, and so forth. We’re staying at one of the cousin’s house who had to be gone this weekend. When we arrived yesterday, the cousin who is my age, his wife and the cousin a couple of years younger were at my aunt’s. We spent about four hours visiting and will go back this morning for another hour or so. Then it’s up to Minden to the cemetery to check on the grave marker and say Happy Birthday to Daddy. Sis thought about getting wreath for his grave, but that didn’t turn out to be practical.

Speaking of not practical, neither did my idea of taking my aunt out for dinner last night. Sis and I ran by the cousin’s house as I wanted to arrive before dark. I’ve only been here like once and even though it was close by, it’s in a neighborhood I’m not familiar with. We dropped stuff off and went out. Many is a very small town and being Sunday, I was expecting only the few fast-food places to be open. There was, however, one of the regional family Mexican restaurants open. Sis had never been to one of these and the ambience is charming. Great homemade chips and salsa. I had a chicken dish and she had a mixed plate. Other than not enough seasoning for her, she enjoyed it.