Danny's New Trick

Working Hard

Boy, supervising Mom and Dad is hard work! Who knew washing cars could take so long?

Antipasti night

With the threat of thunderstorms making lawn work a tenuous proposition last night I took the opportunity to do some shopping on the way home for an antipasti dinner. One of our favorite dinners is nibbling on small portions of a variety of dishes. The assortment last night included some of our favorites.

Caprese salad, country bread, roasted fennel w/ Parmesan, Danish blue and Trugole cheeses, prosciutto and melon, and olives

My feeble attempt at artistic photography

Danny sent a couple of his animal friends with his regards and apologies for not being able to join us at the table. I guess he had a prior engagement playing in his swing.

Sufferin' Succotash!

For the past week or so I'd been wanting to make salmon with some kind of sweet corn and red bell pepper side dish, but I couldn't put my finger on exactly what the side dish should be. Last night I got the chance to make the salmon so I had a look at the "Joy of Cooking" to see if there were any recipes for corn that could provide inspiration.

I was a little surprised that what I had been wanting to make was pretty much succotash. The surprise came from the fact that my exposure to succotash up to that point had been Yosemite Sam saying the above phrase in cartoons.

After a couple of modifications I came up with a really good dish that Megan and I thoroughly enjoyed. Here's the recipe.

Succotash (sufferin' if you must)

1/2 T. butter

1 t. vegetable oil

1 1/2 c. sweet corn (frozen is fine)

1 1/2 c. lima beans (frozen is fine)

1/2 large red bell pepper diced

1 t. paprika

salt and pepper to taste

If the beans are not cooked, boil them for a few minutes until they are slightly underdone. Drain and set aside. Heat the butter and oil in a skillet over medium high. Add the diced pepper and sautee until the pepper starts to brown slightly around the edges. Add the corn and sautee for 4-5 minutes or until the corn starts to brown. Add the lima beans and continue cooking for another 2 minutes. Add the paprika and cook for 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Note: If the paprika starts to stick to the skillet deglaze the pan with about 1/8 c. water. Let the water cook off until the liquid has almost completely evaporated before seasoning and serving.

All I want for Christmas...

Is my two front teeth or bottom two teeth as the case may be! Danny's second tooth popped out yesterday. He was kind of grumpy during the day, but then was much happier at night. Megan checked and there was another little tooth poking out. She gets smiles. I get accusing looks because I have not been forthcoming with the steak I promised he could eat when he had teeth.

What? I Like Carrots!

Injured Fingers

Danny has had copious amounts of drool for about a month now. Aaron and I have been expecting a tooth and lo and behold one popped out on Friday. No fussiness or any other sign. Danny decided my finger would be tasty and pulled it into his mouth, where I got quite a surprise. No pictures of the tooth yet, just a tiny little nubbin. Aaron thinks he's eyeing meat more now.


Check out the drool!

Vegas, baby. Vegas.

Ahhh, who can forget those immortal words of Trent in Swingers as he and Mike drive away in the desert oasis that is Las Vegas? I think that the thoughts and feelings implied by this line encapsulate a good portion of Generations X and Y’s perceptions of Vegas. We all see the movies with high rollers risking thousands on a single roll at the craps table or doubling down on a five figure bet. In reality the vast majority of us are like Mike in the movie. As much as we’d like to be at that high minimum table, we can only afford to lose $300 and that doesn’t last very long when you have to double down on 11.

Such was the case for Megan and I and our friends Sarah and Brandon when we journeyed to Vegas last weekend for a short vacation and break from the kids. If we had to identify a common theme from the trip, it was probably the constant search for gambling that gave us a good “vibe”. One would think it wouldn’t be hard to find this, given that there’s a casino on every corner more than willing to take our money. However, when you’re just learning craps, do you really want to put $10 on the Pass Line with more laying on the odds or come bets? Not really for us.

And some people swear by Blackjack dealt from a shoe and abhor the auto-shufflers. Ask these people if they’ve ever gone through a shoe and a half of hands with the dealer getting 90% face cards or 10s on their visible cards and see if they agree. Or try playing roulette without being willing to put five or six times the minimum bet out for each spin. Not much chance you’re going to hit anything at all there my friend.

Even the couldn’t miss bet of the weekend fell through. Sidney Ponson was scheduled to start for the Royals for the first time in about three weeks. He was facing a hot Angels pitcher, which didn’t really matter because it’s the Royals. We all put money against the home team (we ought to get something for our misery). What do we end up with? A rainout and no chance to place a bet the next day because we were leaving.

Such was our luck with the gambling portion of the trip. No big winners, though there were some good hot streaks that negated some of the overall bad luck.

Luckily, our restaurant choices panned out much better for all involved than did our gambling. Enoteca San Marco and Bouchon at the Venetian, Nero’s at Caesar’s Palace (according to Brandon and Sarah), and In-n-Out Burger were the highlights as were the microbrews at Ellis Island Brewery/BBQ/Casino (how cool is that combination?)

San Marco and Bouchon had excellent though not inexpensive wine lists. Bouchon had the best French fries Megan and I had ever eaten and San Marco had some great appetizers. Nero’s had a great deal on a set menu that Brandon and Sarah enjoyed. In-n-Out was In-n-Out. If you’ve never been go. If you have been you know what I mean.

There was also the normal randomness that you encounter in Vegas: walking into Caesar’s one evening just as the contestants for the Mrs. USA pageant arrived, getting rained on walking back from Ellis Island, eating flourless chocolate cake for breakfast…

Despite the bad gambling luck it was a really nice trip. Traveling with friends was good since it’s something we’ve rarely been able to do. We missed Danny, but not so much that we couldn’t enjoy ourselves. And I got to get my Vegas fix. Megan thinks that should last me for a few years. I’m not so sure about that.