A Florida Thanksgiving!

With Jenn coming down to visit us in Florida recently, it made me think of how it was in the old days when Jenn lived down here with us, and how happy I am to live in Florida. Down here, while it does get cold (which is a relief to us "Florida Crackers"....we have so many hot days, we just love the cool ones!), the cold is still never so intrusive that it prevents us from driving on our roads, and I can't say for certain, but I bet that no one has ever frozen to death down here. In fact, we survived for the first 4 years in our new home without any kind of heat. Even though we live in one of the coldest spots in the State, we still managed by wearing socks and pajamas and by purposely using the oven each night to bake dinners. Many a time we have simultaneously kept warm while enjoying hot french fries, fresh from the oven! Eventually we got our heat fixed, but it really doesn't get all that much use just the same.

At Thanksgiving down here, it is very common for us to just open up all our windows and doors and make our thanksgiving dinner in shorts, a tank top and bare feet. If there happens to be a slight coolness outside, the oven will stave that off. And I do so love the fresh air! At any rate, us true Floridians are really laid-back. In fact, I joke that most everything down here is casual except our fire ants. Now, I hate fire ants as much as anyone, but a couple years ago, I was exposed to a coworker who was formerly from "the north". She complained incessantly about Florida, which always made me wonder why she didn't just move back...after all, the road goes both ways. One particular time she complained about how she'd gotten bitten by ants when she walked outside at night...she remarked how the ants up north don't come out at night. I told her that our ants down here work 24 hours a day, they aren't lazy. LOL!

Anyhow, on the subject of Thanksgiving, I usually make a typical roast turkey. The last few years I like to use "The Good Eats Roast Turkey" recipe by Alton Brown. Check him out on The Food Network, he is awesome. And so is the recipe! But I've also tried turkeys various other ways. Sometimes I even make 2 turkeys in one Thanksgiving (to feed a crowd), like smoking a turkey on the grill. But I have also made a "Floribbean-Style" turkey, with South Florida "Cuba" flavors, which is very flavorful! It is inspired by one of my all-time favorite cookbooks, "Miami Spice", by Steven Raichlen. If you want to get a true feel for Florida-style cooking, this is a good place to start.

The first couple hours in the oven the house may be overwhelmed by the smell of garlic, which may scare you the first time you make it....but from experience I found that the strong smell fades and you end up with a luscious result! This time I served the turkey with mashed sweet potatoes and Pepperwood Grove Pinot Noir wine. Yum! (I think turkey generally pairs well with a white wine like Chardonnay or a red wine like Pinot Noir). So perhaps this year you would like to try to make a South Florida Style Turkey (maybe in addition to a second, classically-roasted turkey if you are feeding a crowd) for fun! And when you have a taste of that first, garlicky-lime bite, imagine a warm, salty, South Florida breeze.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Florida 2010—Part 3

If you haven’t read Part 1 or Part 2 of Florida 2010 I encourage you to take a quick peak at them.  Then you’ll be brought up to speed. =)

The highlight of our trip to Florida, besides spending some quality time with my husband and seeing my bestest life long friends… was getting to spend some time with my Grandma!

I have a special place in my heart for this lady you see here…it is hard to explain in just one blog post…but I’ll give it a whirl!

Probably one of the most influential women in my life and someone who totally “gets” me.  There aren’t many people out that that I can say really “get” who I am…because I am just seemingly all over the map. And I can’t explain it…other then to use the familiar and over used cliché “we’re like two peas in a pod”.

Anyway… I don’t tire of my Grandma, ever.  She’s fun and she’s interesting and she has a passion for life and a passion for Christ that is undeniable.  AND, she can cook!!  Oh yes…that lady can cook!!  Although she’ll tell you that she can’t cook anymore because she’s too old…don’t believe that for a second.  Even when she cooks something as simple as a hamburger or an omelet it ends up being the BEST hamburger or omelet you’ve ever tasted.  I am not sure exactly how she does that either…but maybe one of these days I’ll figure that out.

We stayed with my Grandma during our trip to Florida.  It worked out well..because we didn’t want any extra costs of staying at a hotel or anything like that …and nothing is better than staying with family anyway.  Also, on this trip, while we went to Florida to celebrate our 15 years of marriage, we also happened to be staying with Grandma for her 89th birthday!  So, of course we wanted to spend time with my Grandma on this vacation…to celebrate her birthday!!  We decided to take her to Bingo for her birthday!!  And if there is one thing my Grandma likes to do, it is to go play Bingo!!  I enjoy taking her when I am in Florida or when she comes to visit us up here in Ohio, because for her it is an enjoyable night out.  She prefers this to a dinner and a movie because, she doesn’t eat much anymore and she doesn’t enjoy watching a movie in the theaters.  So my husband and I took Grandma out for a small birthday celebration!

Now, I’ve played Bingo before…but my husband had never played bingo.  He hadn’t realized you get so many cards and are given a bunch of different ways to call bingo…so he found the whole thing stressful, (it was kind of funny). But my Grandma and I had a lot of fun just playing her favorite game, spending the evening out, and guess what?  She did hit a Bingo for $50.00.  Not a bad birthday gift, eh?

We spent time talking with her and taking her around to stores when she felt up to it.  We also gave her space when she needed a nap or two and we had our alone time or time out with friends.  It was the highlight of our trip.  She may seem older in the eyes of this world and perhaps 89 is an old age to most…but she is far from “seeming” old in my eyes. She’s a very interesting person and funny too.    So, the hardest part of the trip came when it was time to leave.  I never do well emotionally when I have to say goodbye to her.  I worry with her age if it will be the last time I see her…and that really bothers me.  I wish she lived closer.  I wish I could see her more often.

It is hard, when you grow up with someone that is a presence in your life so often and then when you do become an adult…and your life takes you elsewhere…to not have that presence around as often.  I miss not having her near me.  1038 miles is just too damn far in my opinion…but it is part of life and something I have to accept.  So…weekly phone calls…and yearly visits are what we are left with…and that makes me appreciate her even more!

 

So…we said goodbye and drove back home.  (She gave us a car…how cool was that?)  And I cried for the first two miles…and then concentrated on getting on the road and getting home to see my children!  I called her as soon as I got home to let her know we made it safely and then I spent time with the kids who seemed to miss us a lot.

I can tell you that I miss her…and I can’t wait to see her again…maybe in the spring or next summer, I’ll make that happen.  Until then, phone calls will have to suffice.

We were there approximately 6 days…and it didn’t seem quite long enough.  Next time, I’d like to take the whole family down…but that might be a bit too much on my Grandma.  All I can say is we’ll see :) 

And this is about all I have on our trip to Florida 2010.  Hope you all enjoyed!

Cheers,

Jenn

xxx

Florida 2010—Part Two

If you haven’t already read Part One of our Florida 2010 click HERE.

Well, believe it or not …our entire time in Florida was not spent just beach hopping and relaxing from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.  After all, if we are going to go on vacation…my husband and I insist on having a bit of fun too!!
About thirty some years ago, I rode a school bus to Hudson Elementary with these two girls…both with long blond hair.  One was about my age and one was a bit older.  The younger of the two didn’t particularly like me at first.  Could have been the brunette pigtails I wore to school everyday, or the fact my assigned seat was directly across from hers and I didn’t have to share it with anyone.  I really couldn’t tell you.  But in the beginning, the younger of the two blondes took a fancy to sticking her tongue out at me and poking fun at me.

I was new to this school and not being a native of Florida, I might have found that to be a particularly odd behavior that Floridian children take a liking to, because after all, I would have never thought of such a thing!!  *snicker*

But I decided to play along anyway.  I stuck my tongue right back at her and crossed my eyes to get some sort of reaction.  And it was all this silliness that landed me two very close, life long friends, at the insistence of the older of the two blondes, who suggested we cut out the silliness and settle on being friends.  Funny how she was always the wise one in the bunch!!



Summer Days

 We grew up on the Gulf Coast of Florida together, well for the most part. I happened to move around a bit and the years I didn’t live down in Florida, I returned each summer to visit my Grandmother and spend time with my best friends. We enjoyed hanging out, riding bikes, swimming in the Gulf and making silly recordings on the tape recorder.  It seemed that perhaps when other things were not a given constant in my life, my friendship with these two girls did not waiver.


From left to right
Maile, My two best friends, Sandy and Kathy
and myself



By the time I was in high school, my family had settled back in Florida.  And of course, we moved with in driving distance of my two very best friends.  High School was a particularly fun time for us, because now we were able to cruise the happening scenes in nearby Clearwater and Tampa.  We made many friends and started our first jobs.  We didn’t attend the same high school..but we formed our own little group of friends.  Sadly though, it was the last time last time we all lived near each other, mostly because I moved away to college, never to return to Florida to live, only to vacation.


We kept in touch over the years.  We each got married and started lives with our spouses, buying homes, and building our new lives.  I’ve missed not being near them…but email, internet, and of course, facebook has kept us close over the years.
So on our excursion to Florida, one of the first things I looked forward to on my trip down this year was getting to spend time with my very best friends, introducing them to my husband (for the second time in 15 years) and hanging out with their spouses as well!!  And we had fun!!  Couples night out to dinner, with a few drinks a few laughs and some time just hanging out catching up…reminiscing and making that relationship a bit stronger!

Group Photo with the Hubbies
November 2010

How I wish we had the luxury of doing that a bit more often!!  It was one of the many highlights of our trip to Florida.  Friendship is one of the many things I am thankful for…especially with these two wonderful ladies who’ve been there through most of my life and have seen me at best and my worst.  They’ve stuck it out with me through thick and thin…and have found that I am still worth being a part of their lives after all of it.  Pretty Amazing when I think of it…and I am very blessed to be able to call them my BFF’s! 

And I miss them already!

Jenn
XXX

**TOMORROW: Part Three of our Florida Vacation!

Florida 2010—Part 1

Once in a great, great while…the husband and I get the opportunity to go somewhere…alone…with no kids.  It doesn’t happen often.  We’re talking maybe every 5 or 6 years, we get the chance to escape.  It worked out because this year we are celebrating 15 years of marriage…and thus our excuse to get away!
This year was one of those years.  We lucked out.  We found an incredible deal on airfare to Florida for $49.00 (one way, as we drove back) so…a few months ago when I found the airline deal, we jumped at the opportunity, bought our tickets to Florida.  (By the way, Southwest Airlines Rules).

Lucky for us…I have family in Florida and we have a place to stay without paying absorbent hotel fees.  And I pretty much grew up there…so not only do we have family to visit, but friends as well.  Another added benefit is that I know my way around, so we had opportunity to venture off on our own.
So we did a little of that.  Ventured off to beaches…taking in the scenery…just getting away, you know, just the two of us. The weather wasn’t the greatest…but it wasn’t the worst either.  It was a bit colder than I would have liked. The breeze off the Gulf was steady dropping the “feels like” temperature at least an extra 10 degrees…so yeah…a bit nippy.  Yet…no matter how cloudy or overcast or cold it felt…it felt good to just enjoy and appreciate our moments together, taking it all in.
Part of what I love about going near the water is breathing in the salty air.  Some, I am sure don’t like it but it is one of those scents that remind me of “home”.  I love taking in that salty air along with the sites of the beaches and the sound of the water.  The combination has always been exhilarating for me…even when I lived there.  But probably more so now, that I don’t get to experience it as much living in the Midwest. 
When asked, my husband said he couldn’t smell the salt in the air. I was almost flabbergasted because, I thought everyone could smell it…but he told me he’s never been able to smell it. What a bummer, eh?  He enjoyed it just as much I am sure.
Anyway…here is a picture of us…taken at Bayport.  Not a great self-portrait of the two of us…but we didn’t see anyone that could snap the picture for us.  We tried the next day to get a decent picture of the two of us…but the wind kicked up a few notches and my hair was blowing all over the place making picture taking impossible.
So it doesn’t sound like the most exciting trip a married couple could take…but it was a nice break…to just enjoy each other without interruption of life’s daily tasks that we usually encounter.  Sometimes, on vacation, it does wonders to relax and just be.  And that is something we were allowed to do.
Of course, there was more to our trip than just relaxing and being us and site seeing various beaches.  That will come in a Part 2 post on our trip to Florida, as there is so much more to tell.  Like celebrating 89 years of age with my Grandma and getting together with my life-long friends among other things. 
Hope you’ll stay tuned….
Cheers,
Jenn
XXX 

Time Travel…Where We Going Now??

This is sort of an impromptu post because I really didn’t have anything I thought I wanted to blog about prior to leaving for my mini-vacation to Florida, however in light of a recent discovery, ahem, this is something I had to write about.

Time Travel.  If you could, would you want to travel in time to a certain time and place in the future or a certain time and place  in the past? 

I think history would warrant that I would want to travel back in time and ask some of the great people in history some really interesting questions.  I’d also like to find some ancestors of mine and ask them all I could. And, I’d only do it on three conditions: 1) I could return safely  2) I’d remember what I learned  3) I wouldn’t want to show up naked anywhere, so condition 3: I get to show up in a different time fully clothed.

I am not sure I would want to travel into the future.  I know for some that would be the ultimate…but I like to understand my surroundings…and traveling, say even 200 years forward, may be an extremely scary experience.  Maybe it wouldn’t be so different, maybe it would.  I am not sure…but at least traveling back in time, I would have an idea of what to expect.

So what spawned such interest in time travel?  Believe it or not…I found this was actually a news story:

Charlie Chaplin Time Traveler--A Cell Phone??

Yes, one of those cable news shows featured this as a story on their news network…then posted it on their site.  I question why this is just now being discovered and more importantly why is this making any sort of news?  (SLOW NEWS DAY?)

Okay so this is from a Charlie Chaplin movie from 1928.  If you watch the video…there is a man that passes behind the horse, then a lady in a hat and she’s holding something to her ear.  Looks like a cell phone.  This video slows it down several times.  If you watch it closely, you’ll see she’s apparently talking into this thing.  Kind of reminds me what we see on the street today…people walking around with a phone to their ear.
So what is the plausible explanation for it? 

Does she perhaps have a radio to her ear and singing along to it?  Well…that would be a bit hard since the transistor radio was almost 20 years from being invented.

Maybe it is a walkie talkie?  Nope.  They were about 10 years from inventing that device!!

We’re talking 1928!! Traveling horseback was still more common than travelling in a car. What it is no one seems to know for sure…but the conspiracy theorists are out in full force.  So what the heck right??

Well…then there are those who will tell you that travelling back in time is not possible with science as we know it.  Also, who the heck would she talk to on a cell phone? The technology didn’t exist back in 1928 to make those devices function.  Perhaps she traveled back from a future time when that type of technology wasn’t necessary to make those devices work.  And if you subscribe to that theory, then why the heck is the thing big and clunky like a cell phone from the early 1990’s? 

So I still ask, What the heck??

I don’t have the answers for you. No clue what she is holding up to her ear and speaking into…but I dare say you’d probably have to travel back in time to figure that out…since I am pretty sure anyone on the set from that movie is probably long gone by now.

So…if you could time travel…

Would you want to go back in time or travel into the future?

Would you want to meet anyone in particular?

Would you want to travel to a particular place?

If so, what sorts of questions would you ask?


As always, I look forward to your responses!!  Please leave a comment below…I’d love to read what you think it could possibly be!!

Cheers,

Jenn
xxx