28 June 2016

Cherry Chicken à l'Étouffée

When I visit my parents, I usually cook dinners for the whole gang - so far, the most at one go was 17 :-)

Tonight's fare was

Cherry Chicken à l'Étouffée

Heat in a large pan, on medium-high
- butter and oil
- chile, smoked paprika, or chipotle powder
Brown bite-sized, boned chicken pieces
Sprinkle over chicken:
- dried cherries
- Muenster (or port salut) cheese chunks
- chopped cashews
Leave uncovered, finish cooking (port salut cheese will soften but not melt; muenster will melt)
~~~
1 max pack chicken breasts (6) and ~3/4 lb cheese serves 11-12
Serve with brown rice, green veggies in nutmeg Alfredo sauce, and a spicy zinfandel.

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based on http://slowtravelin.blogspot.com/2014/11/pork-cherry-roll-ups.html


25 June 2016

Pacific Coast Drive

Today we drove along Memory Lane, aka along the Pacific Coast - oh, so many thoughts of our past popped up!
We're staying at the Southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area, just off Highway 17. So we started our drive towards Santa Cruz, and turned North up Highway 1...

We stopped and had our sandwiches

And stopped some more

We walked to "Our Cliff" at Moss Beach, where we got married all those years ago

And came back through the Enchanted Forest

Our Ocean Viewing done, we drove back South on 280 :-)

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See more pictures here: https://goo.gl/photos/qQAjQYM7sRaCWNLe6

23 June 2016

Way Back When Wednesday

What do you do on a lazy Wednesday afternoon at your parents' house? You look through old photo albums and reminisce - then share ;-)

Here's my dog, Virginia (the cute white mutt), next to "Dog" (he was a drop-off, and we weren't going to keep him, so we couldn't name him - hah!)

This is Beau (the giant Doberman), playing with Peanut - his head was the same size as the entire puppy...

Here he is, looking ferocious - I think he was really just running away from the scary water

Meet oil-rock - the first car that was mine-to-drive (it was my brother's); it was a sweet Austin Healey Sprite.

I even found a copy of my high school graduation agenda...







20 June 2016

Family!

There's nothing quite like a family get-together! Especially when it's become a bit far-flung!
The last time "The Four K's" were all together with our parents was 6 years ago - somehow, it takes a Reason...



More: https://goo.gl/photos/65n3eFGanoALRKEZ6
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Why 4 K's?
Karen, Karl, julie Kristine, diana Kimberly ;-)

11 June 2016

ABQ Pride 2016

Today was the 40th Pride parade in Albuquerque!


It was gratifying but still amazing how many companies, political candidates, and churches had entries in the parade - it certainly shows a shift brought about by those 40 brave years before!

A lot of people came in costume, whether they were in the parade or not
















There were quite a few references to San Francisco


Showing *all* the colors:

This always tightens my throat - Ron is not forgotten

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For more pictures (and a couple of short videos), see my shared album here: Google photo album ABQ Pride 2016

08 June 2016

Sicily Apartment Search

Do I really have to go? Today (in fact, all last weekend) I spent enough time looking for a place in Sicily to last me a lifetime! It was full of ups and downs - we found two possibilities; near beach and town, both would accommodate two couples and two children, with elbow room (excitement, up, up, up!). Then... both started to smell - eventually, one even admitted that the advertised place didn't exist for the advertised price. "Let's talk offline, work a deal, I have several other villas, I'll move out of mine for a few days..." (down, down, down)

We spread our search. Amazingly, I found a single building with two apartments - in town, short bus to the beach. When Rick tried to book it, one was already booked (a little quirk of the site, which I discovered later). So, now I looked for another apartment that is near the first. And, voilà! (yeah, gotta learn the Italian for that) There is one less than 5 blocks away! The fun began...

We decided our friends would take the first apartment, and we would take the second. They would wait until we knew that the second apartment would work for us, and we could book it without all the rigmarole we experienced earlier. Hah! Rigmarole, but eventually we worked something out. It's more than quoted by the online tool, but the owner had a (reasonable sounding?) explanation for the snafu. It was still upsetting; fortunately, Rick handled it - I'm just glad I wasn't part of the booking process!

Meanwhile, our friends are waiting to hear about the other apartment.

We've used both of the tools for other trips and stays, with good results. But I think it is important to keep your fish-meter powered up, and step away from the listing if necessary. Is it worth the stress? If we didn't take advantage of these alternate methods, I think we couldn't go at all. So, ultimately, yes. But right now, hmmm...
^That helped ;-)