2010-11-25 Tiny Little Birds

No turkey for me! Just the tiniest little game hens from Cornwall!


We decided to go a different way with our little Cornish Game Hens, and it was a welcome break. I found I didn't even miss the turkey.

But once we dispensed with the eating, we had to find things to do to entertain ourselves.

First, a family picture...


OK, check. Next, let's watch Pippin interact with the new kitten!


OK, that's done. Now...hm....what should we do? Oh, I know, my niece said...let's all take a picture with our faces sticking through a poster board with a Thanksgiving scene, just like I made my 1st graders do last week!


Yeah. That's how we roll.

2010-11-24 Sugar on Fire

Nope, that's not a brush fire in the distance. It's a sugar cane field being harvested.


I grew up in a sugar town and in a sugar family, so please, next time you see me, let's have discussion about sugar production!

Anyway, I saw this out in the distance and thought I would share what the skies looked like every fall as the sugar workers would go out into the fields and set them on fire in a controlled burn. The smell, a mixture of burned vegetation and caramel, permeated the air. Sometimes if the field was especially close to the house, a light snow of ashes would rain down through the air.

Once the field was burned, the men would move into the fields with machetes and pile up the giant stalks of cane onto the trucks. The trucks trundled their way into town to dump their contents into the never-ceasing mill. On the other side of the process, a huge warehouse began to fill to bursting with 2-story mounds of fresh brown sugar.

2010-11-20 Pippin and Jeff

Pippin loves to cuddle...


Jeff is trying to enjoy a nice evening of TV and Pippin needs to cuddle with anyone who is laying on the couch. (Don't be freaked out by the eyes -- the picture had red-eye and when you fix it, he looks like a zombie!)

2010-11-19 A Night at Bern's

Went out with my pal Jeff, who is visiting, to Bern's Steakhouse in Tampa. It was my 2nd time this year, and when Jeff came down, I just had to make an appointment for us to eat there.

We finally got to see the wine cellar...there's about half a million bottles on the property. The oldest is from 1791.


The wine stewards are amazing...he talked us through all the sizes of wine bottles...the big one is called a Nebuchadnezzar!


I love the dessert room the most, since you sit in these giant wine-cask-style rooms.


I had a beautiful dinner and can't wait to go back!

2010-11-14 Hairspray

Enjoyed a great night of dinner theatre with the girls..."Good morning, Baltimoooooore!"


I was surprised at the quality of the show. The guy they had playing Edna Turnblad was so great he almost reminded me of Divine.

Also I ate three desserts. So, all in all, it was a good night.

2010-11-07 Taste-y Day

Well today is our biggest Junior League fundraiser, Taste of the Town. This does not even show a hint of the more than 10,000 that came out to enjoy the day...


More than 40 restaurants offer little tastes of their best dishes while listening to music and hanging out in the park. We little JL workers each pull a 10-hour shift to manage the event. My job this year was to work the counting room for the tickets, along with my colleague and friend Shirley...


I got to taste a few things while I took my break and visited with my sister, my niece and her husband...


Super-great day!

2010-11-04 Doggy on My Back

Well, I don't know what the hell my dog things sometimes. I was laying there working on the computer, and my dog came over and very delicately climbed up on my back and laid there. You know...no big deal. Just laying on my back. Like you do.


"Now, I think I'll sit up here and groom myself for the next 10 minutes. Wow, yeah, I like the view..."

2010-11-03 Short on Ribs, Long on Taste

I've never made Short Ribs before.


But now, I know, I'm clearly good at it. Now, having said that, there's a few things I would change for next time. I was using some grass-fed beef, and to be honest, I don't think there's enough fat on grass-fed meat. But the wine sauce was tasty.

As much as I liked these, they don't taste as good as those served at the Flamingo Deli in Jersey City, NJ. I'll never be able to make them like that, and that makes me a little sad. 'Cuz I ain't moving back there...