Blog World - I'm Back......

I love having friends over for dinner, and Saturday night was no exception.....We had a very good friends from LBK, John and Nancy and a new friend Karin - who recently moved here....and we just had such a nice evening....drinking....talking.... eating.......and talking a lot more....

Instead of the usual offering of a wine aperitif, Karin suggested a Vodka Gimlet - and we all followed suit. I had never had that drink before...but it was great...and easy on the taste buds...not too sweet...not too sour... and not too boozy. Vodka and Rose's Lime Juice and lots of ice and a slice of lime to top it off....Ummmm...

The Curry turned out great....I like to serve it buffet style, so everyone has control and choice. I made a Chicken Tikka Masala and also a Chingri Malai Shrimp Curry and they were both hits. I deviated from the true Indian theme, by having a served salad first - with field greens and fennel, orange slice, cashews and golden sultanas. I invented a dressing with Olive Oil, Wine Vinegar, lemon juice, dash sugar, salt , pepper and curry powder to taste. It was good, but I put too much on and would have been better with less. I only use the "curry powder" for things like that - the curries themselves - I did the traditional spice combinations to make my own curry flavor. The Malai shrimp curry originates from southern India and has coconut milk - the Chicken Tikka Masala used broth and some cream...,..so dessert was Lemon Sorbetto and Amaretti cookie!

None of my friends want coffee after dinner any more - not even decaf....but I love it. When I'm out to dinner at a restaurant, I always have it.....I'd rather have coffee than dessert! But we did have a small decaf espresso and talked out on the patio until we all wanted to say adieu......so much fun to get together with good friends........

So that's the latest update and once again... I hope that if anybody out there finds this blog... and actually reads it.....I hope they'll realize that I'm just a person......trying to live in the 21st century......

Blog World -Lavinia's Return to Blogisphere

It's been ages since my last entry - but I haven't had the time or the access to a computer - to be able to make my entries.

Well ONE part of that excuse has changed! I have a new laptop! - My OWN Sony Vaio - and it is SWEEEET!....... I've been setting it up - with the help of Richard....and getting used to the difference between this and all the old crap I've been using.

I'm getting ready for Thanksgiving - like most of you out there - and I did a MAJOR clean Friday and Saturday AM - and have about 1/2 the food.(yea- I've got the wine- that's 1/2!)......

Thanksgiving..............

Every year I think I'm going to make something unusual - like Chestnut Stuffing - or starting civilly with a first course of some exotic soup - as if the whole circus of getting all those sides, gravy and The Turkey cooked to arrive at the table on time without over or under cooking any one of them - weren't making you absolutely frazzled!

Every year I think -' Turkey is so easy to cook'...... you just put it in the freaking oven and have a cocktail while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! But somehow...it never turns out that way.....I'm stressed about all the timing and cooking for a crowd larger than 2!...the men are glued to football and are totally ignoring the whole process....the kids are sleeping until noon and are no help....the grandchildren are running around screaming and fighting with each other over some insignificant toy.....and magically we all come to the table - say a prayer of thanks - and gorge on enough food to feed all of Bangladesh!

Oh Yes...I DO love Thanksgiving!...............Bring it on!

Blog World - Day Fourteen...Road Trip!

It's been a while since I've posted a blog.....but I have a good reason....Ugh....well - first I was preparing for my trip..... and then I was packing for my trip.....and then I took the trip...am taking the trip...because I am in the middle of it right now.....Richard and I decided to go on a get-away fall leaves tour to the North Carolina Mountains. My cousin has a great little cottage on a long winding road in the middle of nowhere.....and Richard and I drove up from Florida to this sweet little town to get some well deserved R and R....away from technology and phones and TV and the like and I managed to pack enough wine and alcohol to get us both through without relying on any of the electronics!

I could write a book about the trials and tribulations of dealing with mountain living - but for now I will cut it short - due to the fact that I am still on this wonderful vacation and have an urgent need to communicate with the people I have taken time to visit. But suffice it to say we deteriorated into taking numerous photos of anything available- while it was foggy and pouring with rain and we were both happily sipping away on the Cabernet! - Like this one Richard took of our pet friend and fuzzy caterpillar. And so if anyone out there ever finds this blog and actually reads it, I hope they'll realize that I'm just a person...trying to live in the 21st Century - and sometimes trying to escape it.

Blog World - Day Thirteen....Mountains in Autum

It's been a while since I've written...and realistically speaking, I will be further remiss for the next two weeks, because.............I'm goin' on - "V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N.....(gonna have a ball".....as the song goes). And don't I deserve it? After all, it's my birthday and a somewhat monumental one. Oh... not for the usual reasons... but monumental, because I will have outlived my father and will almost have outlived my mother. Both my parents died "young" and it was sudden and unexpected with both of them....and for us.... their children...who were left behind....parent-less......

Having such a tragedy like that happen, well.....it gave me a new perspective.....permission to enjoy my life and try harder to live it well.....Time is such a fleeting thing..slipping, slipping away so easily. We must make the most of what time we do have in this life......so we're splurging to a trip, Richard and I - albeit - a road trip - to the mountains of North Carolina to a little cottage that my cousin owns. There, Richard and I will relax and just enjoy our time........and nature...... and each other. I'm really looking forward to it, because I love the fall colour and the cool fresh mountain air...as well as the air of adventure.....of not having a specific plan....of "winging it" and being open to experiences.

So If anyone out there ever finds this blog and actually reads it, I hope they'll understand that I'm living my life the best I know how.....and that I'm just a person....trying to live in the 21st Century.

Blog World - Day Twelve - Heart Walk

Today was the American Heart Walk and I was one of the walkers. My co-workers in the department where I work were supposed to all walk as a group - but it ended up being just 4 of us! The rest of those lazy arses slept in.... I guess.......or had some other important emergency......like my manager........she slipped and fell yesterday and had to go to the ER... and then was walking around on crutches - so of course we knew she was off the list. Our secretary had other plans and just couldn't fit it in...........fat chance that would ever happen to me! I have so few plans, I'm wondering what my future actually holds. I'm more of a spur of the moment type of person............sure..........I'll do that! As a matter of fact...I guess you could say planning things is really one of my big downfalls......something I should practice more.

When I visit my sisters - all 3 of them - I realize they are much better at planning what to do than me. They have so much more finesse at understanding what I - or any visitor, for that matter - would best appreciate doing while visiting.

My eldest sister- Millie- has the most rigid routines - not much time for gorming around sipping or coffee while slouching in the easy chair......Oh no!....it's UP AND AT 'EM in her book - and you'd better damn well do what she's planned - AND - DON'T BE LATE!....because she'll just drive off and leave without you - even though the plans were made with you and your visit in mind. She doesn't like dilly-dalliers. But she's fun... and plans all sorts of interesting things......so I just tell myself I can screw around and lounge when I'm home with my own boring life......and when I'm here......well...I'll step up the pace. That's how I got the chance to visit Venice, Italy! She organized the whole thing........and it was brilliant - I must admit!

As for me, I'm just a hopeless case and always have been.......I've lived on or near the beach most of my adult life and just have that, sort of laid back mentality......no plans.....relax and fly by the seat of your pants - when needed.....otherwise....a cup of coffee and the sound of nature...ahhh.....
My 2 younger sisters - Mandy and P.Kaye - understand me a lot more and are much more lenient. They know it doesn't take a lot to please me and they allow the hour or two of coffee sipping that I have come to love in the mornings. When we celebrated Mandy's 50th birthday in California, we had so much fun together - and I swapped the coffee drinking for a stronger brew.....but we still made time for lying around.....on the beach!




I think, when I finally retire and don't have to punch a clock at 7:30 AM every day........I'll get to do what I want, and maybe the pace will slow down with all that doing nothing that I hope to be doing.....and it will feel like I'm actually LIVING LONGER!...I mean the days will be so boring ...it will feel like I've got more time...............But then I realize that won't work.......because Richard's plans are to sail off to Never-Never Land in a Trawler - and I am supposed to share piloting and watch keeping during those long, long voyages from one spit of land to the next.....You see, we got married on a Caribbean Island and his dream is to retire there too.....and it has become my dream too...because I love him so, and want what he wants is what I want...as long as a little lounging around and coffee drinking are interspersed with the adventure....

I know I can still do all the things I do here at home, aboard our floating home, because it's the 21st Century.....and I'm learning how to keep up....so.........just a few more lessons, I guess, and I'll be good to go! And if anyone out there ever finds this blog - now - or while I'm asea........I hope they'll enjoy reading about it all, and understand that I'm just a person...trying to live in the 21st Century......

Blog World - Day Eleven.....My Orchid - "Doris"

Hi there blogbuddies! I have this GREAT news to report today....I mean - it's incredible, really.........it should be on the nightly news channel - because it's BIG!...really big.....MONUMENTAL!.........My orchid - (I call her "Doris" because she's small and cute)...........well.......she BLOOMED today!!


After waiting 3 years with no blooms, and thinking I must have done something wrong, and maybe it needed to be fertilized -or in a greenhouse or something.....VOILA! A lone lavender flower of incredible beauty and proportion just popped out today! I mean.....I'd given up any hope of ever seeing that bloom and BINGO! I say it like that, because that's how it felt. I mean, I've been watching this plant ever since I bought it at the flower show 3 years ago. I fell in love with the way they had it "planted" on a small piece of driftwood. I was like no other orchid - delicate slender leaves all lined up in a row. She wasn't blooming when I bought her, but her prior owner said it would be a beautiful bloom - and I trusted her. I brought her home and hung her on a frond of my potted Adonidia Palm out by the pool, where I could see Doris' miniature leaves reaching out towards the warm sunbeam peeking through the palm branches. Doris has been perched in that very spot for 3 years now -with no sign of fertility....and every few days I water her, or feed her....but to no avail. She's grown many new

leaves - all perfect shape and a lovely shade of light green.....but until today I had no idea what she would bear. The bloom is on a slender stalk and it's a very delicate shade of pale lavender with a center of slightly deeper lavender, and it sits proudly.......saying.......Hello! I'm here...and I'm REALLY GREAT! - Aren't I?

And...yes....your are wonderful, Doris, and I love you all the more for the wait you made me endure....and so you may think this is all a bit much - just about an orchid, but if you're out there and you're actually reading this blog, I hope you can understand me and my quirks and remember that I'm just a person....trying to live in the 21st century.

Blog World - Day Ten

If this is MY blog, then I'm making it a confessional today.......because you see - I had a bit of a slip. This is how my mind works..........I woke up at 5:15 am to get ready for work....I drag myself into the kitchen and while on auto-pilot, I fill my coffee pot chamber with water, I walk into the pantry to get the coffee pods out of the bag, put the coffee pods in the little holder, and make sure they're flat, so it doesn't leak (it's a 1 cup type) and press the button to start heating the water.........bzp..bzp..bzp....REWIND....to getting the coffee pods from the pantry....and I realize my eye is wandering down to the canned fruit section...and I see the Mandarin Oranges and think - I should have those on a salad.........it's just a small lapse from the SB diet....fruit.........but I could make an interesting oriental chicken salad for dinner tonight! Yeah! So I go back to brewing the coffee and get through the morning routine and drive off to work.....and on the way, I'm thinking....pea pods, cabbage, water chestnuts, scallions......lots of ginger and...............and I'm thinking of the ingredients and I'm thinking...I'll have to stop at the store on the way home - I don't have any scallions.......And then there's the work day.......the usual.........ball-busting....hard.........and - WHAT?........no time for lunch. I got carried away interviewing a complicated client and it took too long and I just didn't even feel like eating at that time, so I just drank a lot of water and dreamed about an extra pound or 2 loss .......WRONG. I must not skip meals, I must not skip meals, I must not skip meals - I should be writing that a hundred times for punishment for what happened next. When I finally left the office, at the end of the day - and got into the mo-beel, I revisited my dream of Chinese Chicken Salad and drove right to my neighborhood market to get the missing ingredients to add to my can of Mandarin Oranges. I was good........I was single-minded..........until I got just happened to take a short-cut to the vegetable isle by way of the DONUT isle. Then my mind took over and I kept thinking how soft and sweet and melt in your mouth good those damn things would taste.......and don't I deserve one or two?.......all this dieting must be for some reason - like being able to eat a DONUT once in a while...........and they're so CHEAP! $2.99 for SIX! And before I could think any more - they were in my polyester-bring-your-own-shopping bag-with you -and on the moving check-out counter and then - going home with me. When I entered the garage, I realized Richard was out and a sigh of relief spread over me..............no need

for a guilty conscience.......no one is watching! And with that I filled a glass of skim milk and sat down to watch my Soap with my 1000 calorie full fat, full white sugar donut......I was feeling pretty good and then I heard the garage door motor running and knew Richard was arriving and on his way in.........what will he say.....what will he think.......after all, I've been

the driving force - the diet nazi- if you will -for over 10 days - and now....well what kind of role model is this? And the guilt started to creep in and with a small whimper I said, "I did something terrible today." and I waited for Richard's response......................................."Did you get a speeding ticket?".........(Speeding Ticket???? that's REALLY BAD - AND EXPENSIVE)........."Why- Did you?"-I ask him in response.........."No" he says......but I'm already feeling better, because a frickin' donut isn't anywhere near the side of the scale that a speeding ticket is on, and so I breath a sigh of relief and say........"No...I bought donuts...." "Oh....can I have one?"

You see, this is the good thing about being married to your soul-mate.........they always "get it". And so I know, at least he understands me....and if anyone out there ever finds this blog and reads it, I hope they will "get me" and understand...that I'm just a person trying to live in the 21st century.