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June 28, 2005
The Producers
Karen and Louie, a colleague, took a client out for dinner and a show in Forth Worth on Saturday. We went to Louie's favorite restaurant, Lonesome Dove. Described as a "Western Bistro," the restaurant is located in the historic Fort Worth Stockyards. The Chef, Tim Love is nationally recognized, and after eating the food, it doesn't surprise me that the Zagat Survey gave the bistro their highest rating. There is a special on Food Network on July 16th called “Cowboys on the Trail” if you want to see what this guy is about.
For an appetizer I had "Boursin Stuffed Kangaroo Carpaccio Nachos with Avocado Relish and Spicy Sweet Habanero Sauce." How could I pass on something as interesting as Kangaroo Carpaccio? The small pieces of meat were seared on the outside and sliced about a quarter of an inch thick. The flavors were bold and captivating, but blended well with each other. As with the entire meal, the chef has a true sense of how to combine traditional western style with all sorts of flavors.
For the main course Karen had the signature dish, "Roasted Garlic Stuffed Beef Tenderloin with Western Plaid Hash, Grilled Asparagus, and Syrah Demi-Glace" This was the largest 9 oz. steak I've ever seen. The garlic flavor wasn't the least bit over-powering, and the hash was delicious.
I had the dish that Jeremy would have ordered, "Grilled New Zealand Red Deer Chop with Truffled Mac & Cheese, Fried Artichoke and Morel Mushroom Glace" This is a huge chop that they slice down the middle and fan open after it has been grilled. The fried artichokes were the biggest hit of the night (Karen is still trying to figure out the best way to do some of them at home).
Louie gave Karen and I the "On The Lonesome Dove Trail Cookbook." I plan to try the fried gooseberry pies this weekend.
Red Deer Chop and a Garlic Stuffed Filet
Who Wouldn't Smile After THAT Meal?
After dinner we went to Bass Hall to see The Producers. I have wanted to see something at this place since it was built a few years ago. We went inside to find our seats while Louie parked the car (yes, we were running late). We were in row "W," but there didn't seem to be any empty seats. When we showed our tickets to the usher, she got this look on her face, and then, "these tickets are for the afternoon show." Did I mention it was 8pm?
They ran us to the box office. The box office gave us seats that were grouped in twos (and several rows better)! I couldn’t believe it. We ran into the theater right as they were dimming the lights. Somehow, a few minutes later, Louie found us.
The show was laugh-out-loud funny. The only problem I had with the show was that I couldn't get Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane out of my head. The guys that performed in the lead roles for this show were great, but the whole time I pictured the two guys I had never seen perform it, but knew were the originals...
The Angels at Bass Hall
Same Angel, Different Angle
Posted by Rich at 9:14 AM | Comments (4)
June 24, 2005
The Lapposaurus
Karen and I finally got a laptop for the house. It's my first...the Wifely Unit it seems has always had one for work. I used to be able to install all sorts of programs on her machine; which is why we never really saw the need for one. But in the last several years, Mother A wised-up. She and her IT goons took away all admin powers and made their employees lowly "Limited Users." It's sad, really.
So, it fell to me to purchase our new mobile computing device. I will say this, buying a laptop isn't easy, simply because there isn't a good way to compare things apples to apples. It is a process that I am not likely to repeat for quite some time.
We got a Dell for a couple of reasons-- service/reliability and Karen got a sweet employee/partner discount.
I guess I should mention that there is a new screen technology out that goes beyond simple LCD. Each manufacturer calls their version something different. Dell calls it "True Life." It has a shiny surface that is a bit more durable than LCD, but the big deal is what it does with color saturation. I was suckered into having to have one of these types of displays from the moment I saw Toshiba and HP versions at Best Buy.
This turned into a dilemma (as many things do...). Dell had the screen I wanted in two sizes, very small and large. I knew I didn't really want small, so now I have large. And it is truly large.
Inspiron 9300
My friend Jeremy saw it and named it the “Lapposaurus” (and now so have I). The Wifely Unit was stunned by its grandeur ("How heavy is that thing?"). It's only two inches larger than her laptop-- the size I would have wanted if only they made that size with the damn screen I had to have...
I still love it, even if it is a monster.
Posted by Rich at 6:50 PM | Comments (0)
June 23, 2005
Father's Day Relaxation
Father's Day was quite nice this year. We had gone to a movie the night before, and while we were gone, our very own "Mary Poppins" (Joan, the extraordinary) had the kids do some fun sidewalk art along with the required homemade cards for dear old dad. (Side note: It's still weird to think of myself as "dad." I keep wondering when it was I grew up...although that question comes to mind less and less these days.)
Francesca's Outline
A Father's Day Wish
Sophia's Outline
On Father's Day, after spending the morning hours slaving on home improvements, the wifely unit got out the big elephant pool. I grabbed the important stuff-- wine and a cigar. We sat and watched the girls splash around. On a hot summer day, there is no greater pleasure than a slightly chilled glass of Beaujolais...
I got the coals lit for some steaks and the girls shucked the corn. Overall, it was a great way to spend an afternoon together.
Beaujolais and a Blow-up Pool
Shucking Corn
Posted by Rich at 3:20 PM | Comments (0)
June 20, 2005
Freakish Night Heron
While at some friends' house, I was asked to go to the car for some wipes. (It seems that after a bath, Francesca had been running around without a diaper and had a rather ugly accident.) As I rounded the corner of the car, I was confronted by a large, squawking bird. This young thing already had the slouch of a 70 year old with a walking stick.
I was told it was a young Night Heron. The adults had already continued on their migratory path. This one was probably ill, as he let me get awfully close to him. Sadly, the sun was near setting, and my blogging camera does poorly in low-light situations. As for the flash, I am seldom happy with the results...
Not a Happy Customer
Flash
Posted by Rich at 3:05 PM | Comments (1)
June 16, 2005
An Evening with the Girls
The wifely unit has been out on a multi-day business trip. This means that the girls have to participate in Daddy Boot Camp. This camp runs on a tight schedule, sadly lacking mommy's flexibility.
Last night after a fine, formerly-frozen feast, the girls and I went out onto the back porch to enjoy the evening. I was armed with a cigar and a Fat Tire Ale. Sophia decided that the three of us should all sit together on the same bench, an idea that Francesca only complied for a few minutes.
While Francesca ran through the yard screaming (which she does, happy or sad), Sophia asked lots of questions about my cigar. She asked for the paper ring, which I usually offer to her, and declared that she would wear it to bed.
The girls then moved to the play structure that Grandma and Grandpa gave them for their birthdays and had a jumping/scare-daddy-half-to-death contest.
As my cigar dwindled, Sophia and I started finding cloud shapes in the evening sky. I found a doughnut, a teapot, and a reindeer. Sophia did a great job of finding an elephant, a unicorn, and a crab. Unlike previous searches of cloud shapes, what she found was actually up in the sky. The crab started as a clam with pinchers, but after a brief lesson in clam anatomy, she decided it made a better crab.
It was nice to spend some relaxing alone-time with the girls.
Posted by Rich at 11:21 AM | Comments (2)
June 15, 2005
Froofy Drink of the Week
Summertime is the time for ridiculously colored and flavored drinks. The undeniable need for beverages that go beyond the straightforward nature of standbys like Jack and Coke or vodka tonics has everything to do with the heat of the outdoors and food right off of the coals. It just doesn't feel right to sip a scotch on the rocks when you are enjoying drinks on the veranda on a hot afternoon.
A few years ago, I enacted an in-home decree. We would celebrate the joy of summer by making a different froofy drink each week. The Froofy Drink of the Week was born!
But as with all truly ambitious plans, this one fell short. Instead of a froofy drink each week, it became a new drink each month or so. But once you give something a name, you can't just up and change it. (Plus "Froofy Drink of the Whenever-We-Get-Around-To-It" didn't really have the same feel.)
When the time comes I pull out my trusty Bartender's Bible and find a drink I've never made/never had. I survey the required ingredients (you wouldn't believe how many of these things require cherry brandy), and factor in the goofiness of the drink's name.
Previous hits include: Swimming Ashore for the Songs of the Sunrise, Lazy Afternoon, and the very popular Peregrine's Peril.
This past weekend we made a brand new hit-- Polynesian Cocktail. This is an extremely tart drink with a really nice kick. I don't recommend drinking these in any sort of rapid fashion.
POLYNESIAN COCKTAIL
1 tsp powdered sugar
1 lime wedge
1.5 oz vodka
.5 oz cherry brandy
.5 oz lime juice
.5 oz lemon juice
1 maraschino cherry
Place the sugar in a saucer. Rub the rim of a cocktail glass with the lime wedge and dip it into the sugar to coat the rim thoroughly; discard the lime. In a shaker half-filled ice cubes, combine vodka, cherry brandy, lime juice, and lemon juice. Shake well. Strain into the cocktail glass and garnish with the cherry.
Enjoy!
Posted by Rich at 9:30 AM | Comments (0)
June 13, 2005
June Dinner
Saturday night we had dinner with Steve and Natalie. It had been a while since I had cooked a multi-course meal. It was nice to get back into the kitchen. I cooked out of Michael Chiarello's Casual Cooking, which is a great book of recipes that are generally not as time consuming as some of his others.
The Kitchen in Full Production
We started with Bruchetta with Salsa Genovese and Ricotta. The salsa is a blend of green olives, toasted pine nuts, basil, thyme, and garlic. This is spread on slices of toasted rustic bread and then topped with ricotta cheese that has been seasoned with salt and pepper. It went really well with a bottle of Grape Creek Fume Blanc from Texas.
Next we had a Radicchio and Napa Cabbage Slaw with a Honey and Roasted Fennel Dressing (below, left). This wasn't my favorite salad. I should have gone with my gut feeling and fixed up a different salad topped with a poached egg. As a side note, I had never fooled around with Napa cabbage-- they are truly enormous!
After the salad, Steve pan seared some sea bass fillets that had been dredged in an ground Arborio rice and flour mixture. Mr. Chiarello recommends using this dredge for any fish, chicken, or pork dishes. I'll admit that it is a subtle, but flavorful dredge that results in a near-perfect crust. The fish was then topped with a mix of pan roasted artichokes with red onion and parsley. Outside of a few hard bits of artichoke (I really need to work with this ingredient on dishes just for Karen and I before I bring it back into rotation for friends), the dish was really incredible (below, right). With the sea bass, we had a Columbia Winery Chard (1998) that when we bought it was described as an "Orgasmic" Chardonnay. It was, and the buttery flavor of this wine went great with the strong flavors of the dish.
Slaw and Fish
Dining on the deck on a nice and cool June evening in Dallas, we smoked some Perdomo cigars and enjoyed an Oregon Pinot Noir. For dessert-- the Rustic Cherry Crostata!
Now about the mess...
The Mess
Posted by Rich at 3:00 PM | Comments (0)
June 10, 2005
The Road to Sterilization
Day 1 - Get Out the Knife
Tuesday afternoon, I began a bizarre trip-- I got a vasectomy. With two beautiful little girls, the wifely unit and I decided we were done. Although we had made the decision a while ago, the finality of the decision hit Monday night. The next afternoon, sitting in the doctor's waiting room, I joked that Karen had just signed my testicles away. (She HAD signed the consent form and it did mention something about "loss of testicle" as a possible side-effect.)
It has never really been a dream of mine to have an older man shave my private area, or to put my legs in stirrups and yet here I was, half-naked, with my feet in the air, staring at the top of a bad head of hair. To say that my urologist hasn't changed his style in 25 years would be unnecessary if you were to see him.
After a sedative shot, I was as relaxed as you could be in this surreal situation. Once he was ready the doctor made the comment, "This is the needle you've been dreading." I had been wondering exactly where the local would be applied, thinking some areas might be too sensitive... Apparently, the sensitivity of a particular spot doesn't seem to factor into where to stick a needle.
At the halfway point (scientifically measured in balls), the good doc mentioned that it was okay for me to talk. Ahh, what to talk about?
The last time a Doctor tried to manufacture a conversation with me at an equally awkward moment, was in the middle of a rectal exam. "So what do you plan to study when you get to college?" What are these guys thinking?
He finished things up, and it was off to the house for a night of waddling and ice packs. As I like to sleep on my stomach, I can tell you that it wasn't my best night of sleep, but the vivid dreams caused by my pain meds nearly made up for it.
Day 2 - 4-6 Hours
Day two started out well-- a little less pain and only a minor amount of swelling which I was happy about. My dad had relayed a story about a man in my hometown that had had a vasectomy only two wake up to two grapefruits in the middle of the night. The man went to his doctor the next day who muttered in broken English when he saw what was underneath his patient's long shirt, "Oh Sheet."
It was recommended that I wear a jock strap during recovery... I am not a fan of the jock strap! During the morning I caught up on Deadwood, installed some software on a new box I put together for the house a few weeks ago.
I had taken a pill around 10am. According to the bottle I could take another in 4-6 hours. I decided to wait the full six, even though the pain was back in a little over four. My doctor said the pain would remind me of having been recently kicked in the genitals. (What can I say? The man has a gift.) What I didn't realize is that these pills have a cumulative effect. Within 30 minutes I was stumbling around the house and feeling out of control.
That was fun for about an hour, but got old during the following 3 or so hours. I skipped the pills and had a restful but dreamless night of sleep.
Day 3 - Recovery Around the Corner
Today has been better in all regards-- less pain, less drugs. It's been fairly relaxing, just paying some bills, working on the site and getting in a few episodes of The Shield.
I'm looking forward to starting back in on my exercise program next week. I plan to start slowly, but after a busy month where I barely got in a work out, it will feel good to get back to the business of getting in shape, even if I am missing a thing or two...
Posted by Rich at 11:59 AM | Comments (0)
June 8, 2005
Family Reunion - Pointe South Phoenix
My mother's parents served as a focal point for her family. My mom, her 2 brothers and their families always came together around Mimi and Papa when I was little. At my grandfather's funeral, we all got together for the first time in a long time. We spent several evenings in his backyard drinking wine and telling stories. It was there that we decided that without Mimi and Papa, we would need to find another reason to get all of us together.
So now, every two years, we get together for a long weekend. This was our fourth reunion. The first was in Iron Springs, Arizona. In 2002 it was in Fredericksburg, Texas and then in Red River, New Mexico. This year we were just outside of Phoenix at the Pointe South Mountain Resort.
We got a fantastic deal on rooms with a living area and a bedroom, since June through August is considered off season in Phoenix. Fortunately the weekend was a relatively cool one, only reaching a high of 97F. Besides the swimming pools throughout the place, there is a small water park attached. With a hotel stay, you get free admission to the park. Needless to say, the girls loved it!
I made a life-changing decision while I was there-- I need a lazy river installed in my backyard. I could stay on that damn thing all day, if you let me! Sophia and I had a great time floating, while Francesca learned how to say, "Get me out!"
It was great to spend time with family! We even got to eat at a mexican restaurant with the unfortunate name "Aunt Chilada's." The only thing I didn't get to do was play with my favorite spades partner, Jackie...
Aunt Ann paints Sophia's Nails
George, Uncle Pete, Mom and Uncle Ben
Sophia and Mia Play Near the Pool
Karen and Francesca Lounging
The Card Sharks
Mom's Cowboy Birthday Surprise
La Famiglia Scardello
Here are a couple of small video clips of the girls dancing at Aunt Chilada's. I took them with my digital camera. Sorry about the sideways clip. I take loads of pictures that way and didn't even think about the fact that I was shooting video. (and it will all work better if you save the files to your hard drive: Right-Click, Save as)
Posted by Rich at 5:45 PM | Comments (0)
June 3, 2005
Memorial Day 2005
Grammy and Papa spent Sunday and part of Memorial Day with us. There was lots of reading and playing (and don’t forget the damn birthday partying).
Sitting in Grammy's Lap
After we dropped them at the airport, we enjoyed the only sunny part of the weekend in the backyard. Sophia and Francesca got a taste of their first tomatoes. Sophia has been a model of patience, waiting for the tomatoes to become ripe. Below are 2 macro shots of the tomato- one by Karen and one by me. I liked them both too much to choose.
My Tomato ECU
Karen's ECU
Francesca plays peak-a-boo with the best of them.
Now You See Her
Now You Don't!
This photo of Sophia was just another reminder of how much she is growing up…
All Grown Up
Posted by Rich at 4:32 PM | Comments (2)
June 1, 2005
Too Many Birthdays
May 29th was the end of a month-long string of birthday celebrations. First there was Mother’s Day weekend, where we celebrated the kids’ birthdays with Janet and Dr. Bruce.
Then we had a school party for Francesca on the 13th or 14th (cupcakes and balloons as witnessed below). Even though I was able to miss this one, I still had to deal with the knowledge of its existence.
Good Cupcakes!
Next, there was the school party for Sophia on the 25th with cake and balloons and a gaggle of honking geese (see soon to be posted video clip, see also picture below.)
The Gaggle
Finally, we had a joint party for the girls on the 29th. This was much more of a good excuse to get some enjoyable parents (and their children of course) and other adult family friends together for drinks and fajitas. Papa and Grammy made it to the party and had a great time with the kids on Memorial Day (see next entry)
I suppose I should back up and give Karen’s theory of birthdays. A child’s birthday should be about family, not about friends. This doesn’t mean that some friends can’t attend your special day, but those young party goers can’t outweigh the family/family friend element. So this is one of the reasons for having party at school—most of the kids from class won’t be attending the actual party.
The other reason is that this party is for the adults as much as the kids. (See pictures of adults using painting supplies for a new art project)
Overall, the party was a success. Adults and kids alike had a good time-- Even after grilling under an umbrella during the intermittent rain, I managed to cook some fine fajita’s and the kids made it outside for most of the activities…
Yes, That's an Ice Cream Cake, and Its COLD!
Sophia and Barret
Sophia gets to Hold Baby Emilee
The Art Project
Posted by Rich at 4:28 PM | Comments (1)
