Our Time in Texas

We sure know how to pack a lot into a short visit, even with both parents sick with the epizootus (I was already on antibiotics, but I think we picked up a virus at the airport because Mama and I are sick all over again--I didn't have a voice for most of the trip.)

Here's a non-sequential list of what we did:

• boat rides:  I love a boat ride.  Always have, probably always will.  Wind in my hair, kinda bumpy--it's a great time for reflection or day dreaming.  Sis said it's like cantering on a horse; she likes boat rides, too.  She even drove some.  On our second ride, Sis saw churning water and we then saw a dolphin!  Must have been chasing up some fish.  It stayed around us for awhile, curious, surfacing so close to the boat once that it's blow hole squirt splashed my cheek.  Beautiful creature.  I couldn't get a good picture, though--it surfaced very quickly and in unpredictable places.  My back handled these boat rides much better than four years ago.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• driving the golf cart:  Sis and Bud had their first non-MarioKart driving lessons!  And no one was injured.
• fishing:  Bud and Pop went fishing early one morning in the harbor, before anyone else was awake.  They caught some catfish.  On another morning, the whole crew went fishing in the harbor and each kid caught a catfish, with Bud catching the biggest one.
  
  
  
  
• tubing:  Sis was definitely in her element.  She loves going fast and thus loved being pulled behind a motorboat on a huge tube, especially when she flew off into the bay!  Yes, she had on a life vest.  She said the best part was bouncing two feet off the surface of the water.
• sailing:  Sis also went sailing with Gommie in the little Sunfish.  She liked it much better than her sailing lessons at Mystic because it wasn't as windy and rough.  
  
• swimming:  the kiddos took to the warm, muddy water right away, even though both were stung by little jellies.  They especially liked jumping off the pier into the water.  I went into the water myself, never my favorite activity at the bay (I'm irrationally scared of Jaws, though there aren't any threatening sharks there, and I don't like jelly fish), and floated around with the kiddos.  Even with sunscreen,  I got burned a little.
  
• family:  I think Gommie and the kids counted and they met 60 new people, more than half who were relatives--Gommie's siblings, her cousins, my cousins, my second cousins, my second cousins' kids . . . . It's a bit overwhelming, but the kids managed.  Though, Gommie did help by drawing out the family tree. Bud even shook everyone's hand!  Of course, our goal in going to the bay, besides their experiencing Gommie's very favorite place, was spending time with Aunt Banana and kiddos.  It was a bit strange at first for Sis and Bud because they aren't around little kids much at all.  Sis took to them well enough and even Bud did chalk art with Cousin M.  I don't know how much chance they got to talk to their aunt and uncle; it was pretty chaotic and busy the whole weekend.  I'm not sure I got to really visit with them!  I did do some art and juggling with Cousin M and played "slide the baby off the roof" of the dollhouse with Cousin B.  And I had some nice chats with my Aunt T, Aunt A, and Aunt J.  It was good to be together.  
• fireworks:  My cousins put on a lovely fireworks show off their pier one night.  Bud and I walked down to see it close up.  I really liked the ones that explode into a giant array and then the "spray" explodes into smaller arrays.  There were also some very striking red and white fireworks.  And you could see other displays all around the bay.  Unfortunately, some of those fireworks, on another night, caught the back fields on fire.  I was already back at the hotel with Mama, but Pop, who'd driven me to the hotel, couldn't get back to the bay house because the road was closed.   Everyone was safe--there were a dozen water tanker trucks between them and the blaze, which the fire departments amazingly put out very quickly, not before it burned a few acres.  But it could've reached the boat houses and all those boats with 100-gallon gas tanks.  The kids called me in the middle and weren't scared, just wanted reassurance.  I knew they were safe with Gommie and Aunt Banana.  Still, scary and impressive.
• Mikeska's:  Nothing like eating ribs and chopped beef sandwiches surrounded by taxidermied dead animals!  But I love their banana pudding and sweet tea.
  
• Prasek's:  KOLACHES!  Fruit, sweet cheese, or sausage-filled pastries.  Best kolaches in the world.  And really good Tex Mex chocolate sheet cake, too.  The Prasek family's bay house is right next to ours and we had told one of the grandchildren how much we loved their kolaches.  Lo, and behold! Mr Mike had someone deliver 3+ dozen more kolaches to us!!!  Love that Texas hospitality.
• Buc-ee's:  Oh, you know how I love Buc-ee's.  It's like the Texas version of the Vermont Country Store--food, souvenirs, homey, except Buc-ee's isn't quite as upscale.  But they have iced tea!  And I met a new food--the Frito Burrito!  Yep, that's right--a tortilla filled with chili, cheese, onions, refried beans, and FRITOS!!!!!!  We like their plain bean-and-cheeses and also breakfast burritos, too.  And I got a bluebonnet pillow.  I knew I wanted my Texas souvenir to have bluebonnets on it and I found the perfect throw pillow at Buc-ee's.
• Whataburger:  Not "waterburgers," even if we pronounce it like that.  Mama spent two days asleep at the hotel where we were staying as "overflow" (Gommie and Pop's house isn't big enough to comfortably fit three families.)  I took her Whataburger a few times, once with the kids.  I love the chicken bites and creamy gravy with Texas toast (which is just thick white bread.)  And of course, iced tea!  Sis liked them, too.  Just seeing the orange-and-white stripes makes me smile (I remember the steak fingers of my childhood, but they don't have those anymore.  Or was that Dairy Queen?)
• Food:  In addition to all of the food at restaurants, we also ate back at the bay house.  Mama and Aunt Banana had coordinated meals so we each took different nights.  We made Cowboy Supper but added cubed chicken breasts to the usual sausage; she made these great pulled pork tacos.  She also had this yummy Greek pasta salad.  Gommie brought French Dip sandwiches for the first night.
• Palacios:  I had wanted to visit the town where my great-grandmother had lived and so Gommie, Mama, our twins, Aunt Banana, and Cousin M and I drove over one afternoon.  We had a good lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant (noodles with grilled chicken and egg rolls, shrimp and veg with noodles, somethink like a bird's nest with fried noodles, spring rolls, Vietnamese iced coffee (like Thai iced coffee, with sweetened condensed milk), and this great banana pudding.   Then we drove around to all the sights:  grandmother's house where Aunt Banana and I would spend the weekend (separately) across from the hospital, her real estate office which is still a real estate office, the restaurant Pederson's where we always went for Sunday brunch but which is now a bookstore (still has the bar and mural, though), the Texas Baptist Encampment, the shrimp boats, the piers where there used to be a pavilion for dancing, abandonned Camp Hulen which held 10,000 WWII soldiers in pup tents and where my great-grandmother was a typist and met my great-grandfather, and the old Luther Hotel, with the same screen door I remember passing through four decades ago.  It's a grande ol' dame of a hotel but has seen better days.  We saw a little white kitten there with one blue and one green eye (so probably deaf), covered in fleas but cute.  Pop almost got a new cat!  Aunt Sis and I remembered the vanilla wafers Grandma Mildred kept in the refrigerator, with their delicate and crispy brown edges, the burger place we often ate, and the shops she would take us to.  
  
  
  
  
• pina coladas:  this is one of the popular drinks down at the bay and both kids learned how to make them!  Sis was sure to make a "virgin" pitcher for herself.  Directions, as far as they recall:  1 cup Coco Lopez, 1 cup pineapple juice, blend it with 2 cups of ice and 3 oz of rum (they don't remember.)  When I was a child, I would make bourbon and cokes for my uncle.
• games, including Mexican train and "hand and foot" canasta:  The bay is full of game players and both kiddos got to play.  They learned a domino game called Mexican train and a card game called "hand and foot."  And both of them won.  I was really pleased to hear that they were good winners, shaking hands and thanking others for a good game.  I was even more pleased that I didn't have to play!
• walking on the pier at night:  We went out our last night there, just for the experience of it.  I always feel like I'm walking above clouds on the pier at night.  
• bird sightings:  This part of Texas is a birdwatcher's paradise.  I wasn't trying too hard but did notice many species I don't often see in CT, including the brown pelican, laughing gull, cattle egret, some kind of heron, snowy egret, mockingbird, Mexican eagle/caracara, gray hawk, white-winged dove, purple martins, and even baby buzzards.  I spotted my first caracara squaring off with a buzzard over some road kill.  They flew away as I drove off and the buzzard got back first.  As for the pelicans, I'm still amazed to see them everywhere; they weren't many of them at the bay when I was a child.  Now, they fly the coast every morning and evening; it's awe-inspiring.  And they really do look like dinosaurs.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• hammock time:  Mama liked the hammock under the porch, as does Pop.
  
  
  
• chalk art:  Cousin M and Bud did a great big chalk mural under the house on the concrete.
  
• water balloon fight:  The cousins also had fun doing a water balloon fight.
• birthday parties:  There was a big train birthday party for my 3-year-old nephew (I added the train tracks to the cake!)--it was funny to see him smear cake on his face!--and a pinata for our 12-year-olds.  It took awhile to smash the pinata so by the end they were not even using a blindfold; several of the cousins helped out.
• the land:  I forget how flat it is in our part of Texas.  So flat, with views so far in the distance.  We passed huge cotton fields, corn, maize, but not as much rice as when I was a child.  There are old abandonned farm houses in some places, lots of cows, some windmills, lots of barbed wire fencing, silos in the distance, small towns of 200 people with all the businesses on main street closed, and Sis counted at least 277 horses!  It's not bluebonnet or Indian paintbrush season, but I did enjoy seeing some flowers.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• mosquitos, high humidity, and Trump supporters:  Let's just say the bay would be a nicer place without any of these (let me revise that last one:  it was hard to believe that all my extended family (not my immediate family, i.e. parents, sister, BIL), who love us, also voted for HIM.  I'll keep the family, just dump #45.)

The only thing I didn't get to do while at the bay was honor the memory of my aunt and uncle and cousin in any way.  This was my first trip back since they'd all died and I had hoped to get a chance for some kind of quiet observance.  But I never quite figured out what that would be and there didn't seem to be a good time, with Mama and I both not feeling well.  Next time, perhaps.

Whew.  I'm tired just writing about it.  Good thing it's summer and there's not much I have to do right now.  Except laundry!

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Giada De Laurentiis's Pulled Pork Tacos

                        2 teaspoons ground cumin

                        1/2 teaspoon ground coriander 

                        2 teaspoons salt 

                        1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 

                        2 pounds pork shoulder roast 

                        2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 

                        1 onion, chopped 

                        3 cloves garlic, smashed 

                        1 chipotle in adobo plus 1 teaspoon adobo sauce

                        1/2 cup beer

                        1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest (1/2 orange) 

Garnishes:  lime wedges, cheese, avocado, etc.

For the pulled pork: In a small bowl, mix together the cumin, coriander, salt and oregano. Rub the spice mixture all over the pork roast.

Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork roast and brown on all sides, about 3 minutes per side.

Meanwhile, in a 3 1/2-quart slow cooker, combine the onion, garlic, chipotle and adobo sauce, beer, and orange zest. Add the browned roast along with any pan juices. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 6 hours.

When the pork is cooked and fork tender, shred it using two forks. Add the shredded meat back to the slow cooker and toss with the onions and cooking juices. Keep warm in the slow cooker for people to help themselves and assemble the tacos with all the garnishes.

Aunt Banana's Greek Pasta Salad

bow tie pasta

cooked chicken, cubed

kalamata olives

cucumber 

tomato (optional)

bell peppers? (I can't recall)
**I saw a recipe on myrecipes.com that includes 3 cups baby spinach

red onion

feta cheese

Greek salad dressing

Cook pasta al dente then toss with vegetables and chicken and coat with Greek salad dressing.

Aunt Banana

Milk-Can "Cowboy" Supper, Bay Version
adapted from Cook's Country

2 lbs. kielbasa, cut into big chunks about 1 1/2-2" long 

4 chicken breasts, cubed12 red potatoes, washed but unpeeled
1 small cabbage, cut into wedges and unstacked
1 1/2 cups baby carrots (oops, forgot to put this in)

1 red pepper, chunks

1 onion, cut into wedges
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
7 ears of corn, halved
4 cups chicken broth

1/2 can beer

salt and pepper to taste

Brown the kielbasa and chicken until browned all over (about 6-8 minutes on medium high.)  Remove from pot. Layer ingredients in pot in this order, bottom to top:  red potatoes, cabbage wedges (unstacked and all spread out flat), baby carrots, onion, garlic, and corn.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper; add bay leaves and thyme.  Distribute kielbasa on top and pour in chicken broth.  Bring to boil, cover, and simmer approximately 15-20 minutes.  Add green bell pepper on top and cook 15-20 minutes more until potatoes are tender (use long skewer to test doneness.)  Remove to serving platter.  Enjoy!

Block Island 2015

We had a glorious 3-day weekend on Block Island, taking the kiddos back to where Mama and I vacationed a year ago.  And it was fantastic!

Friday
The weekend celebrations actually started Thursday evening, with our attending the Indigo Girls concert at the Beacon in NYC.  But that is a whole separate post.

Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep Thursday night and had intended to sleep in and skip school, but the kids had class pictures at school and wanted to go.  So we were up as usual and the kids had their group photo first thing.  We picked them up at 10 a.m. and raced to the ferry, knowing it was going to be tight timing.  Full of adrenaline, we played license plate games ("Noshing Jackal Hordes" anyone?) and find the ABCs for two hours, working the alphabet backwards and forwards.

But we made it, even with the dense fog that was rolling into the southern New England shore.  By the time we boarded the ferry from Port Judith to Block Island, we couldn't see a hundred yards in any direction, if that.  And yet we still rode up top, in the blowing, wet fog; we were all wet-haired almost immediately.  It wasn't super cold, though, and we laughed the whole way (luckily, we'd eaten our lunches waiting in the ferry line instead of saving them for the ride as we had planned.)  Bud jumped every time the fog horn blew, approximately every two minutes.

We stayed at the 1661 Inn, where we stayed last time, in a gorgeous big room, in its own separate house on the property.  It had an airy, bright sea-colored room with a gas fireplace (and an Anton Otto Fischers maritime painting c 1919  over the mantel) and a huge porch, plus a giant bathroom with a jacuzzi bath and two "rainforest" showers.  Luxurious.  We voted it second-best hotel room ever, after the Lainston in Winchester.   The whole inn is lovely--and the hydrangeas were even still in bloom!

We didn't stay long but headed out to see what we could see, with our first visit to the nearby Southeast Light.  The kids ran around the yard, marveling at the fog while Mama and I took photos.  Perfect weather for a supposedly haunted light.  The fog horn was blaring the whole time.

We then headed to the other end of the island, to see the labyrinth and other lighthouse.  Well, we saw the beach where the light was but couldn't see as far as the light.  We could, however, enjoy the labyrinth and walked the whole path.  I wasn't quite as philosophical as last time, though I did notice that walking it as a family, however separated, gave the experience new meaning--we high-fived as we passed one another and occasionally waited along the way for a hug.  At the end, Bud lead me on to the end.  You could run with the symbolism of all of that.  Still, they took the whole path more joyfully that the grown ups, reveling in the full physical experience of a maze on a hill in the fog.

We made a stop at the local grocery store for snacks and then went back to the room.  Bud wanted to have a tub in the jacuzzi and we all enjoyed relaxing in the room, even with no view.  The fog really was a singular experience and lent wonderful atmosphere to our first day; I'm just glad it cleared overnight.

We had an amazing early dinner at Eli's:  artichoke veloute with a crabcake, warm goat cheese and arugula salad, breads with olive oil, tuna nachos, a short rib burger, a roasted chicken breast, filet mignon with roasted vegetables and gnocchi, chocolate bread pudding, lemon mousse cake, and an incredible butterscotch pudding.

And it was still early, so we enjoyed the fireplace and sat doing some of the activities we brought along--coloring books, crochet, yo-yo.  Eventually, we went to bed, with the increasing winds rattling the whole little building in which we slept.

Saturday

The wind died down by dawn, having cleared away all the fog.  Sis was up first and out on the porch to watch the sunrise.  She's been waking early since the time change made 7 am into 6 am.  We all joined her.  At any given point in the trip, I was taking photos with my cellphone while Mama and Sis took photos on two of the cameras she brought.  Sis is just like Mama and they take many of the same views.  It was a beautiful sunrise and then we all sat on the porch, drinking tea and hot chocolate, coloring and doodling in the morning light, waiting for breakfast.

Mmmm, breakfast!  Omelets to order, tasty morning glory and lemon poppyseed and pistachio muffins, pancakes (French toast the next day), potatoes, ham, bagels, toast, juices, coffee, tea--what a way to start the day!!

Right after breakfast, one of the owners of the Inn took us on a tour of their farm, complete with exotic animals.  The kids enjoyed feeding, petting, interacting with, and even just seeing the two Bactrian camels, lemurs, kangaroo, Flemish Giant bunny, a giant tortoise, an African crane that danced for Sis, llamas, yak, and other creatures.

Then we went to the Northern Light fiber arts shop--yep, yarn!!!!  The kids enjoyed both the multi-colored yarn and the big yellow lab-mix dogs.  And I picked up some lovely yarn, for a hat, mittens, and a blanket.  Bud learned to weave on a lucet and got one to use at home.  Sis picked up a felting kit and worked on it over the weekend to create a picture of the Southeast Light.


Kite-flying was next.  The warmth of the weather was unbelievable.  We needed jackets but not much else.  And so we headed to the beach to fly two kites Mama had brought, a synapse self-inflating kite and a parafoil or something-or-other.  They had such a good time flying the kites in the not-too-strong breeze.  I searched the beach for seaglass, finding just a few pieces, but enjoying the search.



By then we had worked up an appetite and headed to Bethany's Airport Diner, where Mama and I had eaten on our last trip.  What a huge disappointment!  We waited by a dirty table and were roundly ignored for upwards of 10 minutes, when finally one server said to another, nodding at us, "Do you want to clean that table?"  "No," she replied.  And kept ignoring us.  We left, of course,  Were they rude because they're rude?  Tired?  Or because we're not locals? a lesbian family? bi-racial?  A painful experience but a good teachable moment for the kids.  Shame on them.  It was the only negative event in three days.  But we had a fabulous, friendly, tasty meal at Kimberly's.  Bud licked the bouillabaisse bowl clean, while Mama inhaled the fried oysters.  Sis and I enjoyed more usual fare, a burger and a meatball grinder.

We did a little shopping and, in chatting, learned from the store owner the best beach to find seaglass. I promised I wouldn't publicize it, though.  We made plans to go the next day, at low tide, as recommended.

We spent some quiet time waiting for sunset, enjoying the room and our activities--felting, reading, coloring, crocheting, jacuzzi, sitting on the porch.  We shared some nibbles with the other guests and then headed out to see sunset at the lighthouses.  There wasn't much color at the Southeast Light, so we headed to North, on the rocky beach, and stayed there until well after sundown, building rock cairns, rock mandalas, throwing stones, watching the waves, reflecting.  I bet we were out there an hour or more, a testament to the mild weather.  I even walked in the dark halfway down the rocky beach, though we didn't get as far as the light.

Dinner was takeout from the Old Island Pub, and more sitting around the room.

Sunday
Another pretty sunset, cooler temperatures and a perfectly clear and cloudless day, our first there.  We  watched from inside and did our thing, then ate another delicious breakfast before heading out for the day.  We were going to the seaglass beach, that is after taking a family photo at the North Light, hopefully for use as our Christmas picture.  We got the picture, perhaps, and drove to the other secluded beach.

It was rocky and immediately rewarded our search efforts with various pieces of glass.  We threw back all the glass that was still shiny, in hopes that it would one day become seaglass (though, it occurred to us later that maybe that wasn't the most green of choices; and we'd already discussed that the very existence of seaglass was a testament to the fouling of the environment.)  We found lots of green and brown and white, a few blue, a couple of yellow; some was more frosted or had more softened edges that others, we weren't super picky.  More than anything, it was a wonderful morning on the beach.  Walking, thinking, searching, throwing rocks into the waves.  We spent our whole morning here, returning to town with just enough time to check out, grab supplies for a ferry-ride lunch, and get in line at the dock.

The ride back across to the mainland was gorgeous; you could see clear across.  It was cold and bright, but we were some of the only people on the top deck.  We never like to ride downstairs.  Who knows what you might miss?  No seals this time, just a trawler with hundreds of birds and more flying to it.

We all loved the weekend and couldn't choose our favorite parts.  We all agreed that next year we should stay three nights so we could do some hiking and have extra down time.  And we all liked November--no other people around, "atmospheric" weather that encouraged hibernation, a nice break from school.  We'll definitely do it again.

Until then, I inadvertently collected a few pictures about Block Island itself, and finish with them here.  Together, they served as inspiration for my own doodles during our down time.  I'll post my doodle later, if I finish it.

From the window of a closed souvenir shop

From a tire cover on the truck in front of us on the ferry going over

An old map with notations about things not on newer maps, like the "third" lighthouse in the north

Picture This

We have a routine in our family now, when it comes to taking photos, especially of the kids together.  They pose nicely, sometimes even close enough to touch, if and only if I let them do a silly one, too.

Which usually means they pretend to pummel each other.

Here they are, waiting for the bus on picture day:

The Pilgrimmage, in Pictures

Not pictured:  my favorite part of Plimoth was the costumed  role-players.

Look, Ma, no hearth!

Obligatory view down the center of the English Village at Plimoth.

That's the Mayflower II in the distance.  Tide was out every time we were near water!

Waiting for the first star, with a view of Plymouth harbor.

Mayflower II

Beavertail Lighthouse, site of third oldest in nation.

Narragansett Bay, off Beavertail Light

Great minds (mine)

think alike (Mama, but in lower resolution 'cos her camera is too fancy for the  blog.)

The Breakers in Newport.  "Mantions are cool!"

Actually, my favorite houses in Newport were the 18th-century ones.  Would the Pilgrims have come if they knew this was in the future??