Pictures

I've been promising a few people a picture of the pool for quite some time. I had no excuse for not taking it and getting it posted. Just hadn't done it. Last weekend, I got the camera and went to take the picture and get it posted - finally. Well, it seems our digital camera is broken. I can look at pictures we've taken but when I move the switch to take a picture, the screen is just black with white lines running through it. Dang! I guess we are now in the market for a new camera. I will get some pictures posted eventually!

Happy Valentine's Day - he he he

A few years ago we started a new Valentine's tradition and we have so much fun with it. Do you ever walk through the store and see all the Valentine's crap that is out there? You look at it and wonder who the heck buys this stuff? Well, we do now! The tradition now is to buy each other the tackiest thing we can find. Every year it seems I find something and I walk through the store giggling thinking of the reaction I will get when I give it to him. We then give each other our "gifts" and we laugh and laugh and decide who got the tackiest gift. Ok, call us crazy but it is fun. We stopped going out to dinner several years ago because it seems the whole world is out to dinner on Valentines Day. We'd rather go when it's not so busy and rushed. We don't want/need chocolates or sweets so that's out. So our new tradition is fun and we know what we're looking for when buying each other a Valentine gift!!

I'm Clueless

Holy Cow, I logged in and saw my last post. Has it really been since New Year's that I have posted anything? Wow, time flies.
This weekend, we went to a furniture store to pick up a table we had ordered a month or so ago. We went in and paid for the table and did the paperwork (which took a while because they couldn't find it) and looked around etc. As we left, Glenn and our friend Duane were commenting on someone in the store and that they thought he lived in New York and wondered if they had a place here. Huh, what are you guys talking about. Who? Apparently, Ice T and Coco were in the store. I was standing right next to them and didn't even know anyone else was there. This is not a big store and there were only 3 cars in the parking lot including ours. I've had this happen before where someone I'm with sees someone famous and I never saw them. New rule: If you are with me and there is a famous person around you have to tell me!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all! We had a nice New Year's Eve. Our friends Duane & Stephanie came over and we did drinks, fondue and a movie - fun! This is a picture of me and Stephanie with our green martini's. What makes them green you ask? Well, those are avocado martini's. Yep, kinda weird huh?! I know you are thinking yuck and we weren't too sure either but wait, they were really good! Stephanie had heard someone talking about avocado martini's and told me and it was intriguing so I had to try it. They were surprisingly delicious! They tasted creamy from the avocado and didn't really have an avocado flavor. The ingredients are avocado's, lime juice, simple syrup and vanilla vodka. The rim of the glass is dipped in a mixture of sugar and salt. Again, surprisingly delicious! So, they are on the sweet side which sounds weird for avocado's but there are some countries where they eat avocado's sweetened with sugar and make avocado mousse, shakes etc. It was so good we each had a second drink! Try it sometime!!!

Avocado Martini:

2 ounces vanilla vodka

1 1/2 to 2 ounces avocado puree (puree 4 avocado's with 3 to 4 ounces of lime juice and a pinch or two of sugar and salt)

1 ounce simple syrup

1 ounce lime juice

Shake in a martini shaker filled with ice cubes. Rim martini glass with a mixture of sugar and salt (I used about equal parts, maybe slightly heavier on the sugar). Enjoy!

Javelina!!!

I'm so excited, I just saw Javelina, finally!! Javelina are these wild desert pigs that I've heard all about but had never seen. I always have my eye out when we are driving at night looking through the desert to see if I could spot one. Tonight, we got home around 8:00 and I was changing and Glenn went out to get the mail. He yelled for me to come quick and when I did, there were 5 Javelina right outside! 3 were in front of the house right across the street and two were next to our driveway between our house and the neighbor. We watched them for a couple minutes but once they realized we were there, they wandered off down the street. We've heard that Javelina are very smelly. We didn't smell anything but that's probably a good thing! They were across the driveway from us so pretty close. It's really cold outside so maybe in warmer weather you smell them more? Don't know but I was very excited to see them.

A Great Weekend

Several years ago Glenn and I took a trip to Napa and while we were there, we visited Lamborn Family Vineyards which is the home of my favorite Zinfandel. Glenn had arranged for an appointment at Lamborn since he knew how much I loved their wine. We spent the afternoon with Mike & Terry Lamborn on the deck of their vineyard home overlooking the beautiful Pope Valley. What a gorgeous view! While we were there, I was surprised with a large format bottle that Glenn had ordered some time prior to our visit. It could not be shipped so the Lamborn's had held onto it until we could make the visit and pick it up. I have had the bottle in our cellar since then and very carefully transported it with us when we moved across the country this past summer. I always thought I would open the bottle when a certain group of us (4 couples) were all in the same place. This past weekend, our wonderful friends came to visit and 3 of the 4 couples were here so I decided it was time to open the bottle! Who knows when all of us may be in the same place at the same time! I searched for two weeks for the perfect meal to have with my big bottle and came up with an awesome meal if I do say so myself - it was SO delicious! We had braised short ribs with coffee ancho chile sauce (boneless beef ribs so tender, no knife needed!), served over soft polenta with leeks & parmesan and curly mustard greens sauteed in olive oil and garlic. Yum, yum, yum. And the wine was outstanding! It was a 1998 and I was a little worried that it may have been past its prime but it was the wonderful Zin that I remember from back then with that yummy peppery finish. It was a great evening, good friends, good food, good wine.

Momma

My Mom called me the other day to let me know they weren't floating away in all the terrible flooding going on in the Pacific Northwest. That was good to hear but Mom was sick, she has strep throat. Poor Momma. After I talked to her that day, she boiled some water to fix herself some top ramen. She went back to bed to eat her soup. Mmmmm, warm soup on a sore throat. She put her bowl up to take a sip of broth and the bowl spilled all over her chest. Owwww!!! She called me today after going to the doctor and she has 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree burns. Poor Momma! Send good thoughts her way!!!