Family – Page 18 – Sheila365

Working on my wannado list.

I don’t have an actual bucket list. I do have a long-memorized list of things that I’ve always wanted to try once. One of those is scuba diving. But, my aversion to larger-than-me fishes with sharp teeth has kept me from that one. Snorkeling will happily suffice for me.

Another one from my wannado list is skydiving. Well, this year I watched the construction and grand opening of an indoor skydiving funhouse in Austin called iFly. It’s basically a vertical wind tunnel in which you can experience free fall without the hassle of planes and parachutes. Works for me. And boy is it FUN!

Colleen and I each went 3 times. I will definitely go back again.

Check it out!

Hump day.

Colleen arrived today for a visit. Tonight we cooked a delicious dinner at the house. Julie joined us. On the menu: prosciutto-wrapped cantaloupe appetizer, grilled chicken, risotto Milanese, sautéed brussels sprouts and homemade lime sorbet for dessert. Oh. My.

We add wet applewood chips to the charcoal briquettes while the chicken’s on the grill, which adds a mouthwatering smoky note. Colleen called it “bacon flavored chicken.”
High praise from a bacon-o-phile. 🙂

Prosciutto & Cantaloupe Appies

These aren’t pretty, but they’re delicious.

1 ripe cantaloupe
8 oz prosciutto di Parma, sliced thin
Melon baller tool
Toothpicks

Halve and remove seeds from cantaloupe. Scoop out melon balls. Wrap with prosciutto, Skewer with toothpick.

Tada!

Let the baking begin.

Fall means baking! I made a loaf of banana bread this morning. Yumm!

I used a variation on a recipe from Monte’s America’s Test Kitchen cookbook.

Banana Bread

2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 very ripe bananas, mashed well
1/4 c plain yogurt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
6 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 c pecans, chopped coarse and toasted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toast pecans on baking sheet in oven while preheating, 5-10 mins.

Combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in large bowl.

In separate bowl, mash bananas with hand masher, then add yogurt, eggs, melted butter and vanilla and stir by hand to mix.

Fold banana mixture into dry ingredients with spatula until just combined. Fold in pecans. Turn into greased and floured 9 1/2″ loaf pan and smooth.

Bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes. Then test for doneness with toothpick. If still too moist inside, put back in for 5 minutes and try again. When done, cool in pan for 5 mins and then turn out onto wire rack.

Varmits in the pantry.

I think I might have brought home the Halloween candy a bit too early…

A fitting treatment.

My father-in-law served in the U.S. Army infantry in Europe in WWII. So, when he died 10 years ago, his funeral included military honors. At the family reunion this summer, Monte received from his sister the burial flag, which was still in the plastic zippered display pouch from the funeral home. We’ve been displaying it on the shelf in the living room, but it deserves a much nicer treatment. So, this week Monte set out to the shop to make a fine custom frame. He used some beautiful black walnut that actually used to belong to his dad. A day or two later, and it is done. Complete with beautiful inset splines to join the corners, and a strip of cedar inside.

After placing the flag in its new display case, we acknowledged the upgrade with a toast of sparkling apple cider. I’m sure Ross would approve of both 🙂

No pain, no gain.

In preparation for our next trip to the islands, monte has started practicing making Painkillers.
I’m happy to be a guinea pig. Especially on a Monday night.
Keep ’em comin’, big guy.

Mmmm. I love the pineapple-y, nutmeg-y aroma.

Yumm. Brrrr.

We treated ourselves to Amy’s ice cream for dessert tonight. As we strolled through the arboretum, we could feel the chilly wind from today’s cold front.
And just like that, summer is gone.

It’s been a year?

One year ago today, my cousin Steve died unexpectedly from a complication of a routine back surgery that he had undergone a week prior. We were two months apart in age. In addition to the shock of his loss, it was a stark reminder that you can be here one moment and gone the next. Seize the day, folks. Love to his family and friends on this day.

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I’m baaaack.

Wow, I’ve left Sheila365 untended for 3 weeks! That’s the longest stretch without posting since I started this blog over 3 years ago. But it’s not because I don’t have new photos. Oh my, do I have photos! We spent 2 jam-packed weeks in Seattle visiting family. I worked the first week, but I was on vacation for the second week. We celebrated birthdays, had great visits with my mom, all my siblings and their kids, and Monte’s nephew and his awesome family. Watched kids soccer games, watched football games (go seahawks!), went golfing, went to the Port Townsend wooden boat show, spent a glorious day on the Seattle waterfront. We’ve been back home for a week, but it was way too busy with work to attack the photos. I just need to sit down and sort through them, to a pick a few to share. But that’s not going to happen today, so let me just post this one, to get back into the blogging groove. Happy Anniversary to us! We’ve completed another ride together around the sun, with lots of great memories — looking forward to what we encounter on the next lap.

Olympic sunset.

So pretty. The sun setting behind the Olympic mountains.

Blue-hair special.

As 5:30 rolled around tonight I got this text from Monte on my phone: “Blue hair special?” That’s what we call the hurry-up-to-beat-the-happy-hour-rush dinner run to our nearby Chuy’s. If we time it right we can be in and out of there in no time flat.

Yes, sir! I logged off and got semi-presentable in a jif. And we were off. Ah, yes, dinner and a marg, and home by 6:30. Yum!
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Sunday sunrise.

Hello September, and… good morning! One of the nice things about anchoring in Arky cove is that you are treated to beautiful sunset and sunrise views – this was the view off the port-side of Nirvana, as I was drinking my morning coffee.
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Back at the marina, we popped into Shades for lunch for the last time this season, after this weekend they close up shop until next spring. This is the sobering view of the marina from the restaurant. The lake is at 620′ and some change. Just 6 feet from the all-time low for Lake Travis of 614.18′ in August of 1951. Less than 3 years ago, the lake was brimming at 680+ with the lakewater lapping the parking lot. With the LCRA’s mismanagement of this incredible natural resource, and with no rain in the future, we’re sure to go much lower than that this year. All docks are now moved out, off-shore, accessible via shuttles that leave from the courtesy dock. No electricity or water on the docks for the forseeable future. This is sad, not only because we love playing on the lake, but scary because this is Austin’s drinking water supply, quickly disappearing downstream.

Pray for rain.

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Nerd alert.

I have only recently entered the realm of the hyper-connected, making the leap to an iPhone just a few months ago. In that time, I have run across a few apps that I find either mildly entertaining or incredibly useful – enough to install them and use regularly. Scrabble and Temple Run 2 fall into the former category. I thought I’d share one of the latter category with you today.

Monte and I joke about the “magic shopping list” that’s hung on the wall ever since Monte and I have been shacking up. Monte can write something on it, and it magically shows up a few days later. We also have a “magic laundry basket,” but that’s another story.

Anyway, upon recently running out of the nifty paper notepads that I use for the magic list, i thought… there must be an app for this. After a quick search online, I found a free one: GroceryIQ. I’ve successfully used it for 2 shopping trips so far. You can add items either by typing them in, or using a barcode scanner, or by voice recognition. The app has a database of brand items that you can choose from or just enter a new, generic item. The app also has coupons integrated, and also has some way of keeping track of item prices, but I haven’t figure out how to use those features. I’m just enamored with the virtual shopping list idea. I like that I can mark items that I buy regularly as “favorites” so when it comes time to make up the list, I can add the regulars easily. I also like the fact that you can order the categories that items show up in however you like…meaning that you can set your list up so that the order the items appear in your list is in the same order as you find them as you navigate the aisles of your particular grocery store (yeah, kind of geeky). But the best part is that multiple users can share the same list – independently adding items to the same grocery list. This meant that to render our magic list completely virtual, Monte would have to install it on his phone and give it the thumbs up (no small feat). He did…….and voila! The app passed the test. Check it out – they have an app for Android and iOS.

Celebrating a milestone.

This evening the UT Nursing School held the official pinning ceremony for the students that have passed the RN exam and are now nurses. We were honored to be Julie’s guests, to celebrate with her.

Afterwards, we grabbed dinner downtown at Easy Tiger. They serve bratwurst and other sausages made in-house, and breads, pretzels, sauerkraut and cheeses that they also make themselves. It was our first time, and we really enjoyed it. I don’t remember seeing Waller Creek in this good condition. A nice place. You should check it out next time you’re near 6th Street.

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