Being Creative With Leftovers…..

As I have mentioned before, we are believers in using leftovers, preferably in a different way than the original. Since we didn’t have as many people as anticipated for New Year’s Eve and I always have too much on hand anyway, it’s been a little trickier this time. I did give away three batches, but two of those were planned as part of the “having extra” anyway.

We did shrimp Alfredo one night and two different soups were created; the one I do as a low carb and Hubby made one for him which was definitely not low carb with a southwestern flair. His used the “Cowboy Caviar” as a base which is what took him in the southwestern direction. I found the remaining jalapeno from that and will roast it tonight for a variation on the Everglades sauce for fish. The regular ingredients are shallots, capers, key lime juice, butter, oil, and rum. I’ll use shallots, roasted jalapeno, lime juice, butter, oil, and Chaca – a Brazilian liquor instead.

The bag of peppers is the final vegetable we need to use so those will also be roasted tonight for a side. We also have salami and pepperoni left from a small deli tray which will get used in a matriciana sauce for Thursday’s pasta dish after I pick up some prosciutto. The nice thing about that dish is you can use multiple different meats in it or go with just basic prosciutto. The remaining frozen garlic bread loaf will last for a while as will the last pork tenderloin. We almost always have one of those in the freezer in the same way of having certain things in the pantry. A tenderloin is so versatile you can go in multiple culinary styles depending on the mood; very much like with chicken.

Almost Funny…….

The travel irritations continued for the kids with their return trip although not as bad as getting them down here. The 6:20 flight was delayed until nearly 9:00 which meant a long stretch at an airport which doesn’t have a lot to do while waiting. It was at least a direct flight, then getting luggage, retrieving the car and driving home to arrive after midnight. I do hope everyone slept in the next day. So, the whole thing with sending them home New Year’s Day was to allow a one-day “recovery” period before school/work started. (The dance studio schedule is aligned with the school schedule as a matter of practicality.) The big winter storm that hit the Northeast included their area so what should have been the first day back was instead a snow day. Not sure what happened yesterday. Ah well, an extra day for daughter-in-law to nurse the cold she picked up from granddaughter was probably helpful.

This will be another busy week with multiple meetings and a somewhat unexpected performance at the Seminole Theatre. I’ve posted before about the fact they have built a reputation as a preferred small venue. That’s led to bookings of bigger names for off-nights. In 2019 Martin Barre was doing a Jethro Tull 50-year Anniversary Tour and was to be in Key West for a weekend in April. His promoter said he would come to the Seminole on the Wed prior if they wanted him. The place was packed and talk about an energetic show! Barre had 2 or 3 of the other early Jethro Tull performers with him on tour as well as the newer members of his regular band. It was definitely a loud show, yet something special for rock fans. Anyway, several days ago, a notice popped up he will be here Saturday as part  of his current tour. I’m supposed to find out why the sudden booking; hoping to get the green light for article in the paper.

Happy New Year…..

We did the traditional New Year’s Eve party although with a smaller group. One couple both had to work – not sure what they’re doing now and will catch up with them later. Another neighbor decided to tuck in and the other set of friends who were only going to come for a little while weren’t able to make it either. I’ll be doing up some leftovers obviously. The real question is the extra cheese cake sampler as the dessert platter brought meant the sampler was never open. The dessert platter had this fabulous array of choices.

Fireworks were definitely abundant in the neighborhood and when we pick debris up from backyard and pool you know they were close. Granddaughter did have to put on her earphones a few times. On the other hand, having what was in essence a triple private fireworks display was nice for those who don’t have problems with it. Prior to that, a trip to the Everglades Outpost Rescue place was the activity plus a stop at Robert Is Here for milkshakes and dried exotic fruits to take home. There were alligators of all sizes to see at the refuge; the gray wolf was still in residence as well as the camel and a white tiger has been added. Apparently a situation where as often happens, someone wealthy obtained it, then discovered keeping a tiger is different from what he imagined. Fortunately, he did find a place to surrender the tiger to rather than abuse it. Pool time after was with Dad and Grandpa while I continued party prep and sent daughter-in-law to rest. The cold of granddaughter has now passed to Mom and Dad in the usual way.

Their flight for this evening has been delayed for about two hours with the standard phrase of “we’re trying to lessen the delay so please arrive at the time for the regular flight”. Since Fort Lauderdale airport isn’t the most extensive, they’re thinking about do they really want to spend four hours there if it is the full delay.

Day One Lost…..

Okay, the kids’ trip did not start well as they were caught up in the “hundreds of flights cancelled” (or however many there were). We did get notified in time for them not to have left for the airport. That was annoying enough. The real kicker is they were re-booked to have to fly through Boston today instead of direct which means getting into Fort Lauderdale at 5:30 if no more delays. Instead of a leisurely evening last night and all day together today, the trip will be more tiring and I’m driving back in the dark. Neighbor was coming for dinner to have some special time with the kids as he has known them the longest. We slid that to 7:30 and Hubby is working all day. I will prep a bunch of stuff for him to start dinner if needed.

Fortunately I scheduled the dolphin encounter for tomorrow and that’s the most time critical aspect. On the other hand, this is the first time in bringing them down to encounter such delays and it was bound to happen sooner or later. During all my years of flying there were lots of relatively minor issues and a few incredibly inconvenient ones. When son was only about four, we were weathered in at Boston to the point they finally decided to bus us to Portland. This was in the age before cell phones and the grandparents lived an hour and a half from the airport. The bus was of course full and son had to sit on my lap the entire time. He was an experienced traveler by this stage. We had started out in Louisiana fairly early that morning, so you can imagine the situation. I explained everything to him though and during that drive of almost three hours, he didn’t fuss or whine and grandparents had whiled away their time by having dinner close to the airport. I doubt he remembers it although he might.

Merry Christmas……..

What a lot of places we’ve been for Christmas over the years. Many with relatives and friends; one incredibly lonely time when I was sort of stranded in London rather then being where I was supposed to be, but that’s definitely for another post.

Growing up in Louisiana, my maternal grandparents and much of that side of the family lived 30 minutes west. The tradition was big Christmas Eve at their house with grown-ups having drawn names for presents and all the kids getting a bulging stocking from Mamaw and Papaw which included lots of fireworks. It wasn’t a meal as that took place the following day back at their house again. For some reason, one year my mother decided we should open all our presents when we returned Christmas Eve because having the traditional opening and prepping everything to take for the Christmas meal was admittedly a bit hectic. On the other hand, Christmas morning without opening presents just wasn’t the same and we didn’t repeat that. Of course, in a one-income, working middle class family, there weren’t that many presents to unwrap and stockings tended to be things like maybe some new socks, plus tangerines because those only came into the small town groceries part of the year. It seems we went up to Arkansas to be with paternal side of the family occasionally, although I don’t recall  how often.

Moving on to when I was single and mostly away in the Army, there was usually a family that drew in “the orphans” either as individuals or groups and Hubby and I did the while we were in Maryland and Virginia. I’ve posted before about Christmases in Maine which periodically meant the 26th or 27th as “late Christmas”; never longer than two days after. I’ve also explained the kids have Christmas in Virginia and we bring them down the 27th or 28th depending on their Jan start date back to work/school. They’re exhausted with lead-up to and performances of Nutcracker so a few days of relative quiet before tackling airports at holiday time is important. Fortunately, it is a non-stop, little over two hours flight time which does help. We’ll go over late afternoon today for the big meal with friends. And yes, I will be having candy at breakfast.

 

Seafood Explosion…..

For reasons that have escaped many of us, here we are 20ish minutes (given no traffic) from Key Largo and with Biscayne Bay as well as a great deal of fishing that occurs out of the Everglades, yet the last dedicated seafood restaurant closed several years ago. Until recently, there was a Red Lobster – also a bit of a puzzle as they don’t do regional seafood. In all fairness, the non-franchise restaurants do carry local seafood and last year I wrote about the great couple that opened Krab Kingz. It is one of the crosses between fast food and sit-down because you order at the counter and they bring the food to your table. They do serve with mostly plastic ware and they don’t have coffee, but they also source as much locally as possible and only USA products for everything else.

With that said, we suddenly have three different seafood places preparing to open – two for sure that are some kind of franchise and the third I only learned of the other day. The Crafty Crab has been “pending opening” for quite some time but it looks as if it’s close now. The Juicy Red Crab is much more recent and also looks as if it’s close to opening. I think the name of the third is Noah Noah Seafood and I believe it is a stand-alone and might have just opened. It’s in the Hotel Redland which was one of our hangouts until Chef E didn’t manage to get through the COVID closure. It’s supposed to be seafood and Mexican which should be an interesting combination.

We will have to try them all of course. I made a comment to Hubby the other day and he said one of the “food writers” mentioned not long ago these crab franchises were the new trend.  I always hope new local businesses succeed, but to have multiple similar at one time might not be the best idea. We shall see.

In Praise of the Tortoise…

Okay, not a holiday theme, but I was in a meeting earlier today that brought this to mind. I have no idea how often the old Aesop fable of the Tortoise and the Hare has been told nor is there probably any way to know. The spin-off sayings of, “Slow and steady wins the race,” etc., all convey the same concept. There are other instances where being slow is indeed inertia and someone does come along and “light things up” to help achieve a goal.

Locally we have two important projects that languished for decades; not for lack of want or effort, but because getting the resources was complicated. In both situations, a group of people steadfastly kept plodding with an occasional “surge” until resources finally improved. The specificity of the projects – one of which is still not complete although far enough along now as to seem genuinely on track – is not important.

The aspect of the meeting I had this morning involves the art side of the community. When the last art galleries closed in the 2008-2010 real estate bust, there were hopes they would recover as did the general market. That didn’t happen and while efforts to date have not been successful, the adverse impact of COVID was and continues to be a factor. However, there are some things “bubbling along” – okay, “simmering” might be a better word – that won’t necessarily bring galleries back yet, but may provide more routine venues for artists. There are still pieces to be moved into place and that’s what some of us are working on at this point. It’s always tricky with scarce resources and “collaboration, not competition” is vital. We’ll have to see what happens as we continue to be more tortoise than hare, and do hope the fable is proved to be correct again.

Of Real and Artificial Christmas Trees…..

I’ve probably posted about this before in general. We do have our tree up with no decorations yet; that will happen some time this week. We’ve never been one for outdoor lights, so the poinsettias and wreaths on the garage are pretty much for the exterior. We also  have wreaths for the front door except when we swapped out the door we forgot about that and can’t use the old-style hangars as in the past. We might manage the heavy duty “Command” hooks if we can ever remember to get them.

We were planing to revert to an artificial  tree this year and Hubby stopped by the Methodist Church which is one of the ones who sell trees as a fundraiser. They had like six trees left and one was the perfect size and shape for us, so it’s a real one again. I might even toss out some of the old ornaments that have no sentimental value like I’ve said I would do every year and mostly put them back in the box instead. We don’t bother with tinsel strands anymore and I have to say I definitely don’t miss the icicles we used way back when we were kids. I don’t know if they even make those anymore. We have a lot of marine and tropical theme ornaments which will probably be the main items again. Granddaughter is old enough at this point where I don’t have to worry about moving anything breakable out of reach. The only thing about a real tree is we do have this beautiful red star tree topper which is very heavy. I can’t for the life of me remember why I would have gotten it in the first place and so far if hasn’t worked with any of the life trees we’ve had; the upper parts just aren’t strong enough. Ah well, it might go onto a window sill again.

Squeezed A Dive In…….

Taking Monday to dive meant scrambling to get the usual “Monday tasks” done when I returned. On the other hand, since I didn’t manage to get out in November and there are all sorts of extra events in December, I didn’t want to pass up the chance.

Hubby was in the first day of boat dives with the couple he was teaching; he a pilot and she a nurse and they finished yesterday. Conditions for Monday were supposed to be better than they turned out to be because one of those “scattered showers” was more like a squall and came up as we were part way through our second dive. That meant thunder and lightening, wind to make the waves higher and rain plus a bit of a drop in temperature. It had apparently also rained around the dock although it had all stopped by the time we tied up. That made it nice for being able to get off the boat and clean the gear.

Back to the diving part. There was some surge on the first dive which was a little uncomfortable, and nothing really special in the way of creatures. Visibility was pretty good though and enough “regular” fish were swimming about to make it a fun dive. We were also at an area where the Coral Restoration Foundation does planting and it’s always nice to see those sections. The surge was almost non-existent on the second dive and again, nothing “big”. There were lots of angel fish though which are some of my favorites and more of the regulars to see.

Hubby and I were able to have lunch after at Buzzard’s Roost and considering the previous rain, we both had a cup of conch chowder for an appetizer and noticed lots of cups/bowls being served to others. Both the indoor room and the screened in dining where the bar is were

extra crowded since the canal-side outdoor diners had been chased in by the rain. Even though it was over, the staff hadn’t had a chance to get things dried off and re-set.

Chromis are seen on most of the local reefs.

Did I Mention Coffee?…..

In coming up on Christmas and sipping my third mug of Black Rifle coffee, I suddenly remembered a technique that may not still exist. (The post I did last year explained about the Black Rifle Coffee Company)

Anyway, many years ago, my brother gave me a “cold water coffee extract” kit for Christmas. I think that was when he was working at the still fairly unknown Whole Foods Market (yes, that one), and more importantly, he does not and never has been a coffee drinker. When he sent this he assured me his coffee drinking friends loved it. Alright, now to describe it. There was a glass carafe, a round plastic container that fit over the neck of the carafe, and a plug to fit in the container. The instructions were to put the plug into the container, place up to one pound of ground coffee into the container, fill it to whatever the marker was on the container with cold/room temperature water and allow it to “drip” around the plug for 8 hours or overnight. The extract it produced in the carafe was then to be refrigerated and used like instant coffee. I was understandably skeptical, but I do love my brother. My first try with it did not go well as somehow I didn’t set it up correctly and had a mess on the counter. I managed that part okay the next time. I don’t recall exactly how much extract was produced, but I think it was enough for about twenty mugs. Much to my surprise, it did make excellent coffee because it provided a smoother taste with no heat in the process of making the extract. On the other hand, it was a “process” to plan out.

I also don’t recall at what point I probably broke the carafe or lost part of the kit in a move, but whatever happened, I didn’t bother to find out how to replace it. Like I said, I don’t know if such a thing still exists, but my brother was correct about it.