Florida!

It's been a busy summer. We had looong ago planned to go to Florida with Jason's family. We were going to drive down, and stay a week. Then gas prices went waaaaaaay up. So we thought we would fly. Then Jason took a pay cut. We just didn't see how we could afford it so we told everyone that we probably wouldn't make it. Then, as a last minute thing, Jason took a look online at flights, and lo and behold, we could get down there, and back, for about 300 total! So we called his family back and started to pack!

We were headed for Treasure Island Florida. I know that sounds very mysterious and islandy, but it's a town, on the gulf coast, so an island so much. It's a really neat little town that still has a lot of historic charm.

The only way we could afford to go down was to make it just a weekend, but the airlines were surprisingly helpful on that front. We could fly in really early on friday, and then leave late on Sun.

So, I coerced my wonderful parents to get us to the airport at 4:30 Friday morning. We arrived in Florida around 8:30 or so, and went to breakfast. We left our luggage at the hotel, and went on kind of a tour of the area. We stopped at the Don Cesar hotel, which was really cool. It reminded Jason and I a lot of West Baden in style. It was also very pink.

We then went to Fort DeSoto beach and played around at the pier. We saw rays and lots of little fish in the water. There were plenty of people fishing, but nobody catching. It was a realy beautiful day.

When we got back to the hotel, our room was ready. There had been some talk of an upgrade, but not really to us, just overheard between the staff. When we walked in, we realized it had come to fruition. The room was HUGE! It had a full kitchen, a living room, and the requisite bed/bath combo.

You know what? I'm just realizing that almost every hotel room we stay in ends up having one thing odd, or broken in it. Just this past weekend, we were in one that half of the light switches didn't seem to do anything in. Hmmmm. Well, in this room there were 2 oddnesses. One was the only clothing rack was only waist high (I'd brought 2 maxi dresses) and in the dresser, one of the drawers opened on it's own. Eventually I shut it hard and the handle fell off. Ooops. Lucky I know how to work a screw.

ANYWAY we got into the room and we changed into our swimsuits for a trip to the beach. We hung out at the beach for a while, and both Jason and I got beat up by the ocean. The water was rough that day. I managed not to get sunburnt! YAY!

I remember laying out as an activity. My skin wasn't always so sensitive. I used to bake in the sun all summer, but now I wear spf 70 when I go out and pray for shade. I guess it's better for me anyway.

That night we had dinner at my sister in law's husband's parents' house. How's that for a mouthful. I'm never sure what I'm supposed to call those relatives by marriage. We had some great chicken and rice and yummies out on the lawn which ended at the backwater. There was a dock and Jason fished. He wasn't having too much luck, but a hungry heron sure hoped he would.

He'd been fishing before we ate, and he put his pole down to come to dinner. We didn't want the heron to get hooked, so he left the hook (with a tiny bit of chewed over bait) in the water. As we finished eating, we all noticed that the end of his pole was curving quite a bit. While we ate, Jason had caught a catfish!

We all went down to sunset beach for guess what? A sunset.

The next morning we had a mission. Months earlier, Jason had suggested we go parasailing. I said very nicely that I would wave to him from the boat and that I hoped he had a good time. He tried and tried, and I was considering swallowing my fear, when several friends told me that it was fun, and I should definately go. So, here I was, Saturday morning, in my bathing suit, on a boat with a parachute that looked like a smiley face.

My fears were not so much allayed when the workers on the boat had marijuana leaf tattoos, and had what I feared was an ironic sticker about employee drug testing. Then, they turned on the stereo. Sublime. Nothing but Sublime. Hmmmm. (actually it was the perfect music for that morning)

Jason had convinced his sister and her husband to go parasailing too, and we had parents in the boat as well. They were going to take our pictures. The boat took off into a beautifully clear morning. I was really nervous, we were up first.

They gave us some very quick very simple instructions, and then asked Jason and I to come to the back of the boat with our harnesses on. Did I mention I was nervous? They hooked us on to the parachute and told us we wold take off sitting, and land standing up. I was, at this point, slightly more scared than a snowman in the sahara. The boat sped up, and I was instantly, incredibly, completely, at ease.

It was like floating. There was no sense of falling, it was as easy as falling off a log. Which we didn't. We went up the full 1200 feet and stayed there for 15 minutes, which was NOT long enough. Landing was just as easy.

After everyone who was planning to had gone, we managed to get Jason's dad and Carolyn to go too! They said they had a great time!

When we had all changed into some dry clothes, we headed off to Tarpon Springs to go to the sponge docks. We'd had fun there on our honeymoon and were just too close to not go again. Turns out that it was Christmas in June...

That night, Jason and I dressed up to go out to dinner which turned out be okay food at a bar. It was my choice. I should have let Jason choose.

The next day we got in some good beach time, cuban sandwiches, and shopping. We had ice cream at a really delightful place with writing on the ceiling and candy wrappers for wallpaper. We tried to see the shuttle launch, but it got postponed due to weather.

Our trip home was interesting, filled with delayed flights and running, but we made our flights, and so did the luggage. You go AirTranica.Why are the advertising to people who are already at their mercy?

Our next adventure would be longer, but less beachy. Until next time, Make Mine Marvel.



that was kinda odd, wasn't it?

More Failbread.

I can't seem to bake. On your way home from Texas (maybe I should post about the trip), we stopped at an outlet store and we got this:

It's a cast iron pan with little holes in the shape of fish! We were going to play Lost and make us some fish biscuits. Jason asked me to make jalapeno cornbread, and being the ever bookish librarian, I found this recipe on the internet:

JALAPENO CORN BREAD

2 c. canned cream-style corn 2/3 c. vegetable oil 2 c. dairy sour cream 1 1/2 to 2 c. grated Cheddar cheese 1 (4 oz.) can jalapenos or green chilies, seeded and chopped 2 c. corn bread mix 4 eggs, beaten 1 c. chopped onion Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13x9x2 inch pan. Combine corn, corn bread mix, oil, eggs, sour cream, cheese, onion and jalapenos. Pour into pan. Bake about 1 hour at 350 degrees. Recipe can easily be halved.

I halved it, poured into the fish pan and the corn pan we already had (one is pre-cleanup, the other is post, can you guess which?) and put it in the oven. For an hour. Oh, BTW, because I learn lessons from the past, I greased both pans excessively, with butter.

After an hour, I took them out, and they still felt squishy. I put them in for another 5 min, and then another and then another, so on and so forth until I felt we were past the point no return. The fish were really brown. The corn was crispy.

I managed to get them out of the pans with a knife and some creative avoidance of had burning (this time). However, they never became anything I would call cornbread, or any type of bread. They weren't even bread-like.

I think something must be off in that recipe. While I was making it, I kept thinking that it was too much liquid, and I think that was my fatal flaw. So, while they look okay, it was more like a quiche or souffle than cornbread, the egg was the only thing holding stuff together. Not that tasty.

Jason says we should try a recipe form the Stubbs book next time. Hmmmm, Genius.

On the upside, I also made lemon bars that I stuck to each other, and some pretty good hush puppies. We didn't take pictures of them!!!

Zucchini Cakes

I grow GIANT zucchini. I was unaware that you were supposed to pick them when they were young for best flavor and least seeds until a few days after I picked these specimens.

I know there's not that much for scale in there, but it's about as long as my forearm (minus hand) (I mean, I still have hands, just the zucchini isn't that big) (of course you know I still have hands, how would I be typing this otherwise?) (well I guess I could have a Stephen Hawking thing and have it talk for me without using all of my hands) (or I could dictate)(but then every post would be about kangaroos)

ANYWAY I had 2 big ones. I decided to make another Pastor Ryan recipe, zucchini cakes. I shredded one up, and I had to add 3 eggs, and another quarter cup of bread crumbs.

I fried them in the cast iron skillet, and kept the finished ones warm in the oven. Starring in that picture is my other new friend, a lodge cast iron enamel baking dish. It's blue. It was on clearance at Bass Pro Shops. AWESOME!

We had them with pasta and vodka sauce. I thought the vodka sauce went great with the zucchini, better than ranch!

These were definately yummy, and I'll make them again!
next up, stuffed zucchini. I've also got more cucumbers than I can handle. Anyone know some good recipes for those???

Pot Christening

I've decided that I'm going to attempt to make Pastor Ryan's (via PW) Chicken tikka masala in my new apple pot. I know, I know, it's not really anything that requires a dutch oven, but that's what I want. It's my favorite Indian dish. Except, it's not really Indian, it's English. I'm not going to make it until after we get back from Cedar Point next week, but I'll post pictures then! Thanks so much for all of the suggestions...

New Toy

I love kitchen toys. I saw this months ago, and just recently, I got an Amazon gift card for my birthday. My wonderful husband knew just what we should get. Yup. He's a genius. This is what I got for my birthday (via amazon)

It's a 3 quart cast iron enamel pot. I couldn't get over how cute it was, all apple like, and green. It's HEAVY, but it's a piece of cookware that I hope will be a really nice kitchen addition.

Here's my dillema.

I love this, I went through 2 to get one without chips (the chipped one pictured above was replaced with ease by lodge) and it has a great place in the kitchen. but....

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO COOK IN IT!!!!

It seems like it would be great for all kinds of things, but I don't want to make canned soup in it first time out, or something that boring.

If there's anyone still out there, what suggestions do you have? What can I make in the apple?

SO LAZY

2 months. I swear I have things to say, but when I think to say them, I just feel like I'm out of steam. Real stuff coming soon...

BIG WORDS

If you read here, you have to know, I use a lot of big words. I really love big words, and I always have. Someone stupid once told me that in order to ever find a husband (or boyfriend at that point) that I would have to stop using big words and talk down to them. Wasn’t that terrible advice? Well, this misguided evil person wouldn’t have felt the need to ask me to talk down is she’s ever built her own vocabulary with a site like vocaboly.

Vocaboly is a great vocabulary builder for SAT prep, English class, or if you just want to be cool like me. I was playing a game last week, and knew the definition of hirsute. I think that’s an easy word, but my opponent did not. I let her know that you don’t get the 3^rd grade nickname “The vocabulary teacher” for nothing.

I was asked to take a look at this product, and in all honesty, I can recommend this style of learning for anyone, and I think it's great for kids.

I mean, how old am I?

I hope someone understands why I've titled the last two posts the way I did.

So we go to see Star Trek. We had planned on seeing it in the IMAX, but it was sold out! I guess there were other awesome mothers out there after all. We sit down and get ready.

At this point I'm not sure at all what to think. I'm back to being torn. I want to see new Star Trek Things, but this? It looks like a "summer blockbuster" that just happens to have the name Star Trek plastered on it. The rest of this review will be delivered in "real time"

Ooooh it's getting dark in here

Ugh ads. Why do I have to look at these. I'm not going to buy a Jaguar.

Previews, I like previews

Okay, star trek.

Wow, I didn't really realize how much I was used to the Next Generation theme. This is really nice tho.

Who are these people???

OH

The CGI really does a whole lot for this. There's really interesting aliens, and they look good, but no green girls.

That kid can drive a stick waaaay better than me.

Cool

Wow

Nevermind about the green girls.

Oh no.

Oh no

OH YEAH

YEAH

YEAH

THAT'S AWESOME!!!


The end

So, I thought that they got the characters just right. Everyone had their little pieces of the original characters, but they really did well and didn't seem constrained by the enormous amount of history. I'm really trying not to spoil too much. I think that there was a magic bullet included in the play. This magic bullet, in my opinion, excuses the filmmakers to ignore all complaints of continuity or history. I laughed a lot, and I almost jumped out of my seat several times. My favorite re-vamped character was probably Uhura. She was just as smart and frankly, sexy as she was in the original.

Go see it. I loved it. When the last movie came out, I was begging people to go see it so that they'd make another, better, one. Well, here we have it.

I give the movie 10 out of 10 phaser blasts. On kill.

I should get a life.

Even though I've written so infrequently on here lately, if you've read some of the things I've written in the past, you may have realized that I'm just slightly off of the norm. I've always identified myself as somewhat of a geek, if you will, a dork. I've applied the following labels to myself over the years:

Questie
Moonie
Browncoat
okay, so right here I realized that I can't find a special name for someone who likes the following (if you know it, tell me):
Farscape
Battlestar Galactica
Star Wars

I think the first name I could apply (if I go by how much I loved a thing at an early age) would be Trekkie. I don't think I should be called a trekker, or any other name that some people fight for. I don't think there's anything shameful about being a fangirl, a trekkie. Two of you asked me to write a movie review, and Rachel, as hard as I thought about the bombs I've seen lately, there was one movie that stood out that I just had to talk about.

Star Trek

Now, I've said above that I'm a trekkie. Maybe not quite as hard core as some others. For instance, I've never had a burning passion for the original series. No doubt, I know the characters, really liked the movies, and still laugh like crazy when I think "Don't call me tiny", but Next Generation and the following series were/are really my thing. I have my own names for several of the episodes (the gross one, or the cake one, or you know that one?), and I have an odd Pavlovian response to the theme.

All that strangeness being said, I had mixed feelings when I heard about the new movie. New Star Trek movie? AWESOME! Directed by another person who doesn't know much about ST? Yuck. Oh, that person is JJ Abrams? Cool! It's not Next Gen, but TOS?? GRRRRR. Sylar as Spock? ODD. Speaking of odd, there's the whole odd/even good/bad thing.

I was upset more than anything about it not being another next generation movie. I was one of those who didn't receive nemesis well. Yeah, it was not as good as it should have been, but MAN! I want to see those characters some more. I still think that it is almost unfair that TOS got 6 1/4 movies and NG only got 3 3/4 so far. (I had to split generations).

But I got over it. I decided that since we were going to see it, I was going to do some review. The site listentoamovie.com is awesome. I embarked on a mission to listen to each one of the previous movies before seeing the new one.

I knew I wanted to see it. With each new preview, I knew that I wanted to see it more. I knew I cold probably drag Jason along with me to see it, but did anyone else want to go? I should have known better. I have the most awesome Mom, and she wanted to go see it on Mother's day.

I'll be back soon to post the actual review, but I'll leave you with a re-tweet of myself. The problem with listening to the movies online is that I don't speak Klingon.


p.s. Blogger insisted I capitalize Klingon.

Where have I been?

I don't really know. I just haven't felt the need to blog for a while, and I don't have much to write about, I guess. Not that what I wrote before was breaking news... Any suggestions?