Kevin's Watch

Thanks! But what's 'UF'?

Univeristy of Florida

Ah-ha! It all becomes clear!

Congrats, by the way, on the third day! That one's a tough one!

I fell off the wagon stressing out over my presentation so I get to do day three over again tomorrow. Luckily te weather will be great and I can go for a nice walk!

and I can go for a nice walk!

That's actually the hard part for me! I ALWAYS had a smoke when I was walking somewhere. I can distract myself at other times doing other things pretty easily. Walking was really tough until I started taking my mp3 player thing everywhere with me, that helps.

(Three months smoke-free on Monday! )

Keep up the good fight, both of you!

Tonight fish n' chips. Taplia.

Oh, does that sound good, Guns!

Tonight is NYStrips marinated in balsamic steak marinade then cooked on the George.
Baked russet potatoes with butter, sour cream, salt fresh cracked pepper, and chive
Field greens with beefsteak tomatoes and balsamic vinegrette
Steamed broccoli with garlic butter

Praise HaShem I'm not observing Lent!!

Menolly wrote:Praise HaShem I'm not observing Lent!!

Do we have any Lent fasters here at the watch? Guns? Or does he just like fish?

For my dinner tonight I ate 3 inches of a tuna sandwich from Subway. I had the other 3 for lunch this morning. I'm taking the food thing easy (light) since my fun experience on Wednesday.

Today we're heading to Fort Lauderdale for Passover and Beorn's Spring Break. If all goes well, we'll dine tonight at Emerald Coast Buffet Menu. If we go too late, we'll eat there tomorrow night. It's one of our favorites in south Florida, and we'll have one last splurge before Passover!

The layout of the buffet is quite nice. The website home page has some photos towards the bottom.

Emerald Coast Buffet

Looks good Menolly!

Tonight we're having Sook's Heavenly Pork Chops (marinade recipe posted about ten pages back) with mushrooms and wedged, oven-roasted, sweet potatoes. *drool* I can't wait!

Meanwhile, seeing as I had a tough day at work and Sook's been off, I'm getting stuck into some Oyster Bay Savignon Blanc while she cooks.

We hit the road for FIL's yesterday at 6:30 pm, so we knew we wouldn't make it to Emerald Coast yesterday. It didn't help that we got stuck in all the lanes of the Florida's Turnpike being closed for 90 minutes due to a wildfire in a field next to the Turnpike just north of Leesburg.

Once we got through the fire break, we got off at the next exit and stopped at the Gators Docksides in Clermont. No, if this was the Gators Dockside in Gator Town, while the Gators were playing the second half of their Final Four game, we never would have gotten a seat. But, this location was only half full, so we got to see the last half of the game while eating. What a way to start vacation. <bwg>

However, because we wound up watching the game, and Paul stopped for a 20 minutes walk around to wake up break in Fort Pierce as we switched over to I-95, we didn't get to FIL's until 3:00 am. So, Emerald Coast will be tonight instead.

I was sooo very bad. . . dinner was a brownie fudge sundae from Braum's, and I had them make it with peanut butter cup ice cream. It was scrumptious, but I couldn't finish it because it was so rich. I think I ate a whole day's worth of calories in the part I did eat.

Tonight's first Passover seder menu at my aunt's will most likely be...

All of the ritual foods:

parsley dipped in salt water
haroset (chopped apples and walnuts mixed with wine) and horseradish on matzah
straight horseradish on matzah
four glasses of wine
plain piece of matzah

And then the rest of the festive meal:

hard boiled egg in salt water
gefilte fish with horseradish
chicken soup with matzah balls
oven simmered brisket (ick, but Beorn loves it)
tsimmes (carrots and sweet potatoes stewed together)
various other side dishes
Passover 'rolls'
various sponge cakes and jelly rings for desserts

The Washington Post had an interesting article on why some foods are traditional to the seder. It only covers four items, but I had not heard these reasons before.

Personal Pesach

Passover redux, at a different family's home. They also do it pot luck style.

Besides the ritual foods I listed yesterday, I expect the meal to consist of:

hard boiled eggs in salt water
gefilte fish
chopped liver with tam tams
chicken soup with matzah balls
roast turkey
brisket
baked potatoes
green beans
tsimmes
various sponge cakes for desserts

Then, there are the items I'm bringing. Unlike my aunt and uncle, these folks are happy to have me bring anything I want.

Today I am preparing and bringing:
4 dozen Matzah Meal Rolls (they are having 37 guests this year)
4 dozen Salmon and Smoked Salmon Rolls with Dill Sauce
5 lbs. Roast Asparagus with Lemon Dressing
1 half baking sheet Matzah Caramel Crunch (neither seder will let me in if I don't show up with it)

We arrived here at FIL's at 3:00 am Sunday morning. FIL works midnight to 8:00 am, except Wednesday and Thursday mornings. So, between the seders and FIL, we haven't really had the opportunity to spend much time toether. Last night was his first night home to sleep at night since we arrived.

He wants to treat us out to dinner, so tonight will be The Pizza Loft - Worlds Best Pizza. I disagree with their assesment on their normal pizza, but they make a Passover matzah meal crust pizza that, to me, tastes better than their normal pizza. I was pleasantly shocked at how good it was when I tried it for the first time last year.

We'll get a large pie (or two), and I'll most likely have a salad along with it.

We'll get a large pie (or two), and I'll most likely have a salad along with it.

Salads are good to play with and add colour to your plate while you eat pizza!

Tonight - tuna sandwiches, which is a bit worrying cos I only ever want them when I'm feeling sick. (I'm not - not yet, anyway. But dosed up with zinc and echinacea just in case!)

hmm.. cooking my "tinola" tonight... basically, it's Filipino chicken soup... you take the chicken, cut into stew-sized portions, sautee in chopped onions, garlic, and ginger... add water, boil, salt to taste, add potatoes/green papaya/chayote and bok-choy/chili leaves and then simmer until the potatoes/papaya/chayote is tender. serve with white rice.

Ooo, that sounds interesting, paradox!

Tonight it was grilled cheese sandwich and potato puffs, with a chery limeaid (a kid's meal from a local drive-in chain). I love me some melty cheese.

Can't wait until I cook a real meal, though.