Christmas in Florida

Just got back from a glorious week or so in Florida, visiting Matt's parents. The weather was incredible---for the most part, we had 80-degree days, lots of sun, very few clouds. I was wearing flip flops the whole time and never needed to wear the jeans I brought down with me. It was a whole bunch of relaxing, eating yummy food, shopping, and watching many episodes of Lost. (we are totally addicted to it now, by the way...almost done with Season 2 now) One highlight while we were there was visiting the Ringling Museum in Sarasota. Yup--as in the Ringling Brothers. In addition to starting a famous circus with his brother, John Ringling was wealthy and had a beautiful mansion in Florida. His wife, Mable, was passionate for the arts and put together a fine collection of art pieces, which are all now part of the Ringling Museum of Art. There are multiple buildings on the grounds--and the first that we visited was the Tibbals Learning Center, which included a massive miniature model of the Barnum & Bailey Circus from 1919-1938 based on pictures and anecdotes.

We then visited the museum of art which is housed in a building with nice landscaping. There were Caravaggios, Reubens and Los Caprichos from Goya.


Our last stop was the mansion of John & Mable Ringling which is located right on the water with gorgeous views of the Gulf water.

Another highlight was simply enjoying the weather. We hit the beaches twice, once to Englewood Beach and the second to the gorgeous Siesta Beach, which had the nicest sand. I learned while I was there that the "sand" is actually quartz, which comes from the Appalachian Mountains, down into the Gulf and finally depositing itself onto the 8-mile stretch of the beaches of the Siesta Key. The result if a flour-like sand which always remains cool.

Englewood Beach

Siesta Beach

The quartz sand

Wedding Highlights

We had some friends over tonight to check out the wedding video and also just to catch up before the holidays (Matt leaves on Tuesday for Florida). For those of you that haven't seen it, here is a short highlight montage to capture the day. Enjoy.

A Lamb Chop dinner

Just finished eating dinner and I'm rather proud of the meal I just made for the two of us. It was incredibly delicious. I thought I'd share the random recipe I put together based on cookbooks as well as playing around with ingredients a bit. (I also don't want to forget what I did) My measurements aren't exact as I usually eye the food...

Lamb Chops w/Arugula Pesto & Pureed Parsnip
Made to serve 2

3-4 Parsnips
Rack of Lamb Rib Chops (about 6-10 pieces, enough so each person has about 3-5)
2 oz. Arugula (about half a bunch)
Parmesan cheese (~3-5 tablespoons)
Milk or Heavy Cream
Truffle oil
3-4 tablespoons of melted salted butter
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Tablespoon of pine nuts
3-4 cloves of garlic

1. Start with a pot of boiling water. Peel the parsnips, cut into big chunks and put them into the pot of water til they get soft enough to be pureed.
2. Toast the pine nuts by putting them in a skillet over medium heat and tossing them for about 3 minutes
3. Blend the arugula, pine nuts, 1 tbsp of parmesan cheese and the chopped garlic
4. Once blended, slowly add olive oil til you get the desired texture of pesto. Set this aside.
5. Heat up broiler -- plan to place the lamb chops 3-4 inches from the heat source.
6. Put the lamb chops into the oven. These will cook quickly -- plan about 2 minutes each side for rare, 3-4 minutes for medium rare.
7. While the lamb chops are in the oven, pull out the parsnips and put them into a food processor using the metal blade.
8. Begin blending. Slowly add milk or heavy cream til you reach desired texture.
9. Add 3-4 tablespoons of melted salted butter.
10. Add about 2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese.
11. Add a pinch of salt.
12. Add pepper to taste.
13. (optional) Add a bit of truffle oil (this always makes any dish taste better imho)

Voila! Serve all together. Put the arugula pesto on each piece of lamb chop and the pureed parsnips on the side or underneath the lamb chops.

I choose......HD DVD

Impulse buy of the week --- I got the Xbox HD DVD player. I've been eyeing it for a few months now, especially after getting the new TV but just couldn't justify the $180 price tag (which is not bad compared to the $300 Toshiba HD DVD player). The company store even has a rather pitiful discount on it.

Yesterday, however, Amazon dropped the price to $129 (for one day I guess...it's back up to $179 today)--plus, I have a $25 gift certificate. Add on the promotion of getting King Kong on DVD and 5 other DVDs made it all worth it.

I also updated my Netflix account to send me HD DVDs whenever available. Sweet.

With Amazon Prime free 2-day shipping, I'll be getting this baby tomorrow! Woo Hoo!

Who's taking the detour?

Man, because about 20 miles of I-5 is closed at least through the end of day today due to the flooding, the usual 165-mile journey between Seattle and Portland is now 440-miles long!

Rain Rain Go Away

It's been raining nonstop since yesterday---but not just normal barely-hurts Seattle rain...it's been like a downpour. I still made it into work today but then kept watching the news as Governor Gregoire declared a state of emergency in Washington State and then they shut down a huge section of I-5 as a result of flooding. I fortunately live in a condo up on a hill so don't need to worry about flooding basements or overflowing sump pumps....but man, it's a mess around the area! I'm now home, dry and in my pajamas.


Car on Stone Ave. N in Seattle


148th Ave NE, Bellevue, down the road from where I work


Downtown Woodinville where a small river ran over right into the street, blocking SR522.It looks like a waterfall!!

Snowing in Seattle

It's snowing in Seattle! And lots of it! Don't know if it'll stick (and I think the weather reports say it won't)---but still, it's a lot of snow!