We went to the Austin Oyster Festival this afternoon. Lots of oysters, shrimp and bloody mary’s to go round. And tequila.
Cheers to the weekend.
Saturday is here. I’m so looking forward to a weekend break.
I ran errands today, made calls home. Didn’t work! Woohoo Saturday!
Oh, yeah, and well done Longhorns. Hook ’em!
November.
I learned about blogher.com’s National Blog Posting Month project, aka NaBloPoMo. The objective: post something on your blog every day in November. Ok. I’m in.
While every month is lovely in its own way, i especially enjoy November. Maybe it’s the onset of cooling weather. Or that it’s full of deferred-for-too-long vacation days for me. Or it is the beginning of the holiday season. Whatever. It just feels…nice.
I’m looking forward to sharing some of my November moments out here.
Happy Halloween!
Back home (yay!). Before dinner, we carved our pumpkin, and hung inviting lights out front. But it’s already 10pm and we’re woefully low on trick-or-treaters. C’mon, people!!!
Bazillion-th in line for takeoff.
I’m headed back home. There was a very long line of planes ahead of us waiting to takeoff. I counted over twenty.
Earlier this morning, as I was driving down the Taconic State Parkway, I saw an exit sign for the Donald J Trump State Park. It was one exit before the Franklin D Roosevelt State Park. Now, I get why FDR has one, but does it strike anyone else as odd that Trump has a state park named after him?
Coincidentally, The Donald and I were both at LGA at the same time today. Go figure.
Workday – part II.
On the road ahead of sunset. A long evening work session awaits. Ni ni.
Room with a view.
I made my way to the bottom of Manhattan for a meeting in the financial district today. The conference room we were in all day had this great view of the Hudson River. The ferry on the right is headed over to Ellis Island. And to the left is Liberty Island, graced by the Statue of Liberty. My dad and my mom’s dad both entered this country through Ellis island, which was the home for NYC immigration processing between 1892 & 1954 (according to Wikipedia). A very special landmark.
Determined 12th (wo)man.
I ended up traveling to New York today. Unfortunately, the only flight I could make work had me in the air during Monday night football – Seahawks vs Rams.
I worked the technology angle to listen to the game while I was eroute: iPhone + NFL App + NFL Audiopass + airplane mode + inflight wifi + earphones = 🙂
The streaming would drop from time to time, but I followed most of the game.
Paddlin’ round.
It got a little chilly on the boat overnight. I fired up the oven this morning to bake scones and that warmed things up.
I got in the water today with Colleen. Brrrrr! The water temp was 73. That may very well be a record for me – latest dip in the lake: October 26!
Colleen took the kayak for a spin. Then we sailed for a bit. A nice day!
Lake bound.
Hit the lake after work with Colleen and Julie. We’re anchoring out tonight.
Saw two of these flying contraptions. One of them flew right by us as we were sailing and circled the mast.
Later, yet another stunning Lake Travis sunset.
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!
Late bloomers.
These 2 guys showed up as part of a late set in the zinnie patch. They missed the memo about summer being over.
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.
Sheila365 