Christmas 2013

Rikki loved sleeping at Gma's feet

Gma and her new Barn Coat from Stan and Bea

Christmas has come and gone for another year.  It always seems as if there is such a big build up and then it is over far too quickly.  This year was a little different.  Arn had to work on Christmas eve and so did Meredith.  Meredith and Tim didn't arrive until close to midnight.  Val and Eric came down Christmas morning and spent the Christmas day and the 26th with us.  Chris and Maren also were her for the 24th and 25th.  The prime rib and cioppino both turned out really well this year.  It was a little quiet since a few people were sick (head colds). After everyone left I realized I didn't get any pics.  It's nice having all of the kids back in the same state too.

Happy Birthday Valerie!!!!

Val is 30 today.  Happy Birthday to You!! It seems like it was just yesterday when we went to the hospital and came home on Christmas Eve.  Arn ran out and bought a special Christmas ornament but didn't think about what we would be eating for Christmas eve or Christmas dinner.  We had mac and cheese out of a box.  Also being a new mom I had gone thru all of the newborn clothes before Gma and Gpa got there so help (I wasn't getting the diaper on well enough to control the flow).  We're proud of you and happy that you are back in Colorado.

Christmas Favs

The tree is up and decorated.  Presents are wrapped and I think I am finally almost ready. 
I've always enjoyed my mom's popcorn balls but haven't really helped her make them before.  This past couple of weeks we made four batches.  My dad used to help her by popping the corn.  The process works best if you have an air popper with someone in charge of it and someone in charge of the syrup (candy thermometer is a must). Also it works well if you have 2-3 ball makers available.

Gma's Popcorn Balls
2 cups white sugar
1 cup white Karo
2 sticks butter
1/4 Brer Rabbit Molasses
Melt butter and mix altogether and bring to a boil.  Cook until hard ball stage. 
1 big dish popcorn (I use my huge aluminum bowl)  If using an air popper I think it would be about 2-3 fills.  Estimate - 16-20 cups.
Use rubber gloves or baggies on hands since it is very hot. Shape into balls and put in baggies.  Tie with ribbons.  One batch makes about 25 balls.

One Car - 3 Trees 2013

Today we braved the frigid temps and went to get our Christmas tree.  We bundled up and drove into the tree cutting area.  Of course we had to drive to the far end of the area (13 mi.) and quickly found two smaller trees for Val and Ty. Ours took a little longer but we made a choice faster today due to the temp.  We like the tall and skinny ones as you can see.  We had two trees inside the car and the long one on top of the car.  Ours is much taller looking in the living room than it looked outside.

Boise Road Trip............

Meredith and I just returned from a short road trip to Boise, Id.  She wanted to check out a school there and did come away with a few answers.  We made the drive there in one day and checked out the town.  An artic storm was on it's way so we did not get to stop in SLC but decided to head home and did get to experience the storm in rural windblown Wyoming.  It took us two days to get home and the weather and roads finally got better when we hit Laramie. We spent the night in Rock Springs after I had a spaz attack. We also spent over an hour and a half sitting on the highway due to an accident caused by stupid people going too fast.   We've decided we now have a couple more towns that we don't care to visit again.  Rawlins, Wyo. and Rock Springs.  It was cold, long, and treacherous but we had some good bonding time. 
We did get to  check out Boise, Camelback Park, the Basque area of town, try some new food (basque), and also saw a herd of pronghorn trying to keep warm in the frigid temps.


Just  little info on the basque people...........They are from.a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.
They usually are sheep herders and ranchers which explains why Boise has one of the largest Basque populations.  We had lunch at a basque bar and tried a lamb grinder and croquettas.  They were delish............

Bar Gernika

Boise, Id.

Camelback Park Trail

Post Thanksgiving Hike

Today we did a short hike out to Monument Rock just to get some exercise.  Mere and Tim are still here and we took Clyde along.  It was great as usual.

Happy Thanksgiving 2013

We're hoping that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We went to Denver and spent the day with Tyler and Lauren.  Everyone had a great time especially the dogs (Clyde, Charlie, and Ricki). Tyler made a great turkey in his infared cooker on the front porch and his delicious crawfish stuffed mushrooms.  Lauren made her delicious brussels sprouts with cranberries and gorganzola cheese and her Grandmother's cranberry pudding with sauce, Mere made some great scalloped sweet potatoes, spicy peach jam, and a cider, rum, thyme cocktail.  The weather was great and we had a fun time!!!  I wish we had taken a group pic (Lauren if you can, send me a copy of the one you took)

Our new chef fav.................

We recently came across a chef named Nick Stellino on TV.  Arn loves his accent and frequently mimics him.  This past weekend we tried his Coffee Rubbed Steak.  It was simple and delicious.

Coffee Rub
1 Tbsp Espresso coffee
1 Tbsp onion powder
1 Tbsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp chili powder
1 Tbsp brown sugar
Mix and rub on both sides of steaks.  Let the steak rest in the fridge for at least 30 min. and up to 4 hr.
Grill steak and let rest for 5 min.

Delicious!

Meet Ricki

This is little Ricki (yes, Tyler and Lauren got another dog)......She is very cute and very sweet and Charlie loves his new little sister.  She reminds of Maggie.  She is a great comfort to her Mom at this difficult time in her life.  She kind of makes me want to get a puppy but.............not really.  An occasional visit will be fine.

Master Bath Update - we can take a bath!

We have finally finished the shower and tub area...........and we can use both.  We had a few goals with this project.
1. Enlarge the shower so the water doesn't splash all over the glass.
2. Enjoy a spa-like feel.
3. Have a doorless shower.
4. Have a heated floor.
We did all of this to the tune of a few more bucks than Arn wanted to spend.  We replaced the old whirlpool tub and went with a free standing one (instead of having the contractor lift the old one and tile around it) for a similiar cost.  We went with a pebble floor but got the ones that are sliced so we stand on a flat surface.  We decided on a pony wall instead of all glass so that it could be a 'shelf'. We tried the teak bench inside the shower but Arn didn't like to bend over so we are trying the plant stand as a place for soap, etc.  We decided on not having a soap dish or shelf attached to the wall since these areas just seem to collect water and mildew.  The onyx deco strip in the corner was put in vertically instead of horizontally just for something different. Water doesn't splash on the glass very much or out or the entry way which is good.  We also are enjoying the rain head shower with the flip switch for a more powerful stream when we want it.  We will be getting the walls texurized to match the other ones and need to get estimates for a new countertop and we also need to look for lights.  We kept the old vanity and just changed the knobs. The floor is on a timer and comes on twice a day.....it's great!

Happy Halloween!

We're having a quiet Halloween waiting for our trick or treaters (all 5 of them). The kids who live behind us usually stop by after they are done get candy in the more populated areas.  Here's a pic from a past Halloween.  Val is some kind of dracula girl, Tyler is a 'nerd', and Mere is a lobster. Good memories............

Charlie's Visit

We've had Charlie visiting for a few days while Tyler and Lauren are in CT. We're so sorry for the loss Lauren's father. Charlie is being a great dog and listening well.  We went hiking out on the Monument Preserve  on Sat. and he was off the leash for almost the whole hike and loved it.  We hiked about 3 miles.  He's also playing with Koa and Charger (his friends who live behind us). He's been helping me pick up sticks in the yard and loves chasing balls. His 'cousin' Clyde arrives on Thursday for a weekend visit so that should be fun.

Road Trip 2013 - 2

We played 2 Robert Trent Jones golf courses on this trip at the Shoals.  A couple of the holes are along the Tennessee River.  The first day we played Fighting Joe and then Schoolmaster on the 2nd day.  Both of them were beautiful courses but I think I liked Joe a little better. Maybe it was because I was playing better. On the second day we asked a guy from Kentucky to take our pic but for some reason we didn't get a pic of the two of us.

After golf we decided to look for a local bbq place recommended to us the night before.  We enjoyed Bunyan's BBQ and tried the ribs, pork sandwich with coleslaw on top and a 'slaw dawg'.  All of them were great but New Riegel is still our favorite.  Bunyan's did have a white peppery vinegar sauce that was different and good. 

After playing golf on the second day we headed out to Memphis to check out Rendevous BBQ.  It was in downtown Mempis in an alley and has been considered # 1.  We tried the beef brisket and a slab of ribs.  There ribs are charcoal grilled and dry rubbed. Then served with a vinegar liquid.  They were tasty but not very 'fall off the bone tender'.  The brisket was very good.  Their slaw was a mustard vinegar slaw which was great.

Again we still feel that we like New Riegel Cafe's ribs the best. After eating we got on the road and spent the night in Little Rock, Arkansas.  The roads in Arkansas were terrible and we spent over 2 hr. waiting at a standstill due to roadwork and an accident.  On our last travel day we drove over 14 hr. to get home and checked out Old Town Witchita. 
I think I'm 'ribbed' out for a while...........We traveled over 4370 miles, drove through 12 states, ate ribs 4 times, listed to 3 audio books, played golf 2 times, and gained 3.5 lbs!

Disclaimer

Just a little disclaimer - Our life is not perfect.  Crap happens all of the time - I just don't post about it. This blog is sort of my way of 'scrapbooking'.

Road Trip 2013

We've been on a road trip which has included bbq, a wedding, family and friend visits, and golf.  We left on 10/8 and the first stop was Kansas City, Mo.  We stopped at Arthur Bryant's BBQ (the king of bbq founded in the 1920's)  We tried pulled pork, ribs, and 'burnt' ends.  They also had 3 sauces.  I liked the burnt ends the best and the spicy sauce.  The original sauce was good too but very different (kind of like liquefied spices).  We went from there to Columbia, Mo. for the night.  We arrived at Gma's house the next afternoon for a couple of days. She kept us busy with some yard work, trimming, doc appts. and of course a trip to the New Riegel Cafe. These have always been our favorite ribs and they still are even after eating ribs in Kansas City. 

We went to Newark on Friday to Molly and Beau's wedding.  It was a great weekend and a wonderful wedding. They were married in a restored theatre which was beautiful.  We could walk everywhere and also went to an arboretum for a walk with Mike's brother's wife Jane who we haven't seen in probably 30 years.  After the wedding we were back at Gma's for a couple nights and then headed to Pa.  We stopped at Matt and Tiffany's house which was beautiful.  We got the tour of the house and grounds and went to a great tapas/beer place. The house is unique, beautiful and the trees and views were wonderful.  We pulled into Arlene's place that evening.  I don't seem to be taking many pictures this trip and wish I had been taking them now.  The leaves in Ohio weren't quite ready yet but the leaves in Pa. were beautiful.  It was a really pretty drive to Ebensburg to see Gma C.  We don't know if she really knew who we were but she was a little more responsive the second two days.  She even read a few words from some of her cards.  After seeing Arlene (Thanks again Ar), Gram, and the Messina's (it was fun seeing Joe, Ben, Matt, and meeting Cate and seeing Al and John) we headed back toward Pittsburgh and spent an evening with Nick, Leann, Noah, and Samantha.  Noah's baseball game was fun too.  Saturday morn (10/19) we drove to Canton and spent the night with Mike.  We went to the Gervasi winery ( a 55 acre estate/former farm)which was absolutely beautiful. The pictures below don't do it justice.  It was strange seeing rows of grapes in Canton.  They aren't quite old enough to make wine with yet.  It seemed like we were in Sonoma/Napa. We had wine/tapas in the Crush House.  We again reconnected with some old friends we hadn't seen in over 25 years.   The next morning we left early (10/20) and drove all the way to Alabama.  I would have liked to stop in Cincinnati (always heard their chili was great). We passed thru Louisville, Nashville and played the old game we usually play when somebody in the car is hungry (reading off the names of places to eat while zooming by). Val, Ty, and Mere will remember the game................ I would have liked to stop at Mammoth Cave NP but the goal was to get to Florence, AL. We did have a great meal at The City Hardware (crab cakes and shrimp and grits). The fall colors haven't reached Alabama yet (do they ever?).  Maybe it never gets cold enough. Are we getting older?? - road trips, visiting old friends, food tour??? We've had a good time.......and the drive hasn't been that bad.  We've listen to two audio books - 1 good, 1 very fair, and attempted one. We are saving one the the return trip. Look for the next post - today we're hitting the RTJ trail for a couple of rounds of golf today and tomorrow before heading to Memphis for some more BBQ (one of Arn's dream's/bucket list - RTJ and Rendevous BBQ).

Scone Recipe - my new favorite (healthier than Ina's)

	Here's my new fav scone recipe from Health Magazine.  I double the brown sugar and increase dried fruit.  I also add nuts.  I usually use 2 cups of white flour  (Arn doesn't like wheat flour - it's a texture thing ).  Also I use whatever milk I have on hand (yogurt, coffee creamer, skim, etc).  I also sprinkle the tops before baking with raw sugar.  They always turn out great.  Dried tart cherry ones are our favorites. One recipe uses no eggs and 1/2 stick butter so that's good but I've probably made them unheathy by increasing the sugar. So far we've had Date and Walnut - Gma's fav Dried Cherry and Walnut - Arn's fav Raisin and Walnut I plan on trying - Pumpkin and Pepita and Cranberry Orange

Cherry-Oat Scones

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup all-purpose white flour
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 cup unsweetened, dried tart cherries
• 4 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons sugar, for sprinkling, optional
• Fat-free Greek yogurt and sugar-free jam, for serving, optional
• 
  

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Place first 8 ingredients (through baking powder) in bowl of food processor. Pulse to combine. Add fruit and butter. Pulse again 15-20 times to form a sandy texture. Stir in buttermilk; pulse just enough to combine.
2. Drop 8 spoonfuls (about 1/2 cup each) onto parchment-lined baking sheet. Dab cold water over surface of each scone to smooth. Sprinkle with about 1/2 tsp sugar, if desired. Bake until scones are golden and sugar has melted (about 30 minutes). Optional: Serve with fat-free Greek yogurt and sugar-free jam.

• Yield: Makes: 8 scones (serving size: 1 scone)

Nutritional Information

Calories per serving:	248
Fat per serving:	7.3g
Saturated fat per serving:	4g
Monounsaturated fat per serving:	1.6g
Polyunsaturated fat per serving:	0.3g
Protein per serving:	5g
Carbohydrates per serving:	42g
Fiber per serving:	4g
Cholesterol per serving:	16mg
Iron per serving:	2mg
Sodium per serving:	122mg
Calcium per serving:	54mg

Good to Know

You can replace the dried cherries with cranberries, raisins, or nuts.

Frances Boswell

Ist Snow of the Season

Today is the first snow of the season.  Temp 45 degrees.  It sure is a difference from yesterday when I was playing golf.  Hopefully we'll have a good 'snow' season this year.

Happy Birthday to Lisa!

Happy Birthday to my sister Lisa!  I know she is having a wonderful birthday 'week'!  Love you, miss you, mean it!