Thanksgiving on Indian Lake

Sunrise Thanksgiving morning - lots to be thankful and grateful for...

Rick believes there is a Turkey Protection Program here in South Padre - these Turkeys are in costume.

Mushrooms - just out of the oven. Pretty gosh darn tasty!

This is a random Indian Lake bean bag game with variable rules. Tom and Aggie seem to like it though :D

Dinner with a whole lotta Indian Lakers. Some really amazing dishes at this pot luck!

Suzee's Peas and Onions with Champagne Cream Sauce

We went to the Indian Lake Potluck Thanksgiving this year, and Rick was hoping for some peas and onions. Usually we just buy them frozen, but here in South TX there was not even a package of frozen onions to be had.

I did find some raw pearl onions and figured, what the heck - lets try and make some from scratch.

I blanched the onions for 3 - 4 minutes to get the skins off (3 ten ounce packages). I figured out early on that if you leave the root end attached, and slice off the other end, you can pretty easily peel off the outter layer and slice it off the onion. I tried the "slip the skins off" method, but my onions were not cooperating.

In a stock pot I added about a 1/2 cup of flour and 3 or 4 T of butter. I stirred them together to make a roux and continued stirring as they cooked on medium for 2 - 3 minutes. I added a can of low sodium chicken broth, and whisked this together until smooth. Next I added 1/2 bottle of Asti Spumanti (Mom's fave for a holiday). Once it stopped bubbling from the carbination, I simmered it a bit to allow it to thicken. Maybe 5 or 10 minutes. I added some salt and freshly ground pepper, and I'll tell you the sauce tasted pretty gosh darn good at this point, so I added back the onions and also added 2 lbs of frozen peas. I let the the veggies simmer for about 10 minutes. After that I added about 1/2 - 3/4 cup half and half, and heated it through. I added more salt and pepper at this point as after the cream addition, it definitely needed some adjustments.

I consider this recipe a success - the 25 or so folks at the pot luck enjoyed them, as did Rick. Next time though I think I would make these adjustments.

Add the peas at the end, so they stay a nice bright green.
Consider going without the cream at all - the sauce was really nice even without it.
Add some tarragon to the mix - I think that would really make it special.

If you try this recipe, let me know how it goes! Enjoy!

A perfect day on the Island!

We had a belated birthday celebration for my father's 21st celebration of his 50th birthday. I thought he would like an apron for making his famous black bean soup!



I was able to finagle a trip to the Palm Street Pier for our celebraton - I'm sure glad my father likes it too!

Last night we also had a great swim in the pool and I got to see the sunset over at Coconuts. Every sunset on South Padre Island is a good one :D

A Long Plane Ride

We took our Dial 7 car to the airport, and went through all the airport hassles. Then we waited for our plane like good doobies, and once we got seated, Rick's Kindle died. Seriously. We were about to spend 7 hours in a cramped airplane cabin, and he didn't have any reading material. Thankfully mine still worked, and I had a couple magazines with me. At the next stop (they stopped 2ce, but we were not to deboard) I used the wifi to download a couple books to my kindle phone app. Course my phone is not designed to be on all the time, and the battery died with about 45 minutes left of the flight.

We did call Amazon customer service at the first stop to get some help. They had no idea what was happening, and suggested they would send a new one to us, and we could return the dead one. We were able, after some negotiation, to get the new Kindle sent to my parent's place, and for them to get it to us for tomorrow. So half the vacation without the numerous books we downloaded specifically for this trip :( One day at a time, right?

Yesterday we got some fish tacos at the Palm Street Pier (my favorite spot), and watched the Patriots spank the Colts. Good day :)

Share Our Strength Party Pack

Hickory Farms is offering a Party Planning gift pack for $40 where they donate $5 for each package to Share Our Strength. SOS fights hunger in America. As a part of the Foodbuzz Tastemakers program, I received my Party Planning gift pack today, and I must say - the presentation is really top notch. The package arrived in great shape, and I looked forward to opening it up to see what was inside!

I like to give food gifts - things that people don't buy themselves. Hickory Farms isn't what I would usually choose, but I must say, it's an afforable option which can be easily shipped. The added feature of supporting a great organization is a bonus in my book.

Creamy Champagne Chicken Soup

My friends Jennifer and MJ came to visit not too long ago, and I think that's why I've been reminiscing about them lately. We went to UNH together, played and danced and did all that college stuff. After college, I was a bridesmaid at their wedding, visited when babies were born, and shared lots of dinner parties at their house and mine.

MJ is one of the pickiest eaters I've ever met (well, perhaps Rick is that picky too). At any rate, during the dinner parties, we tried new dishes and socialized at home where we could be comfortable and spend a few less dollars. MJ was always a wonderful guest, and we always had fun, but it was tradition that he would stop on the way home from dinner at McDonalds - I think he used to get a quarter pounder with cheese because he was hungry. I served a lot of fish because I loved it, but he did not. Thanks MJ for coming despite the menus I subjected to you :) You are my favorite non-eating dinner guest :)

Now Jen would make delicious meals (which yes, MJ liked haha!) and this one dish she made was called Champagne Chicken. It has been too long to remember any specifics except that it had champagne and chicken in it, and was a great use for left over champagne. I remember I really liked it.

So, for some reason the other day I was thinking about all of this as I was making chicken noodle soup. Interestingly I had a heavy 1/2 bottle of left over champagne. Thanks Jen for inspiring this yummy dish!

Ingredients:
12 C Home made chicken stock
1 lb raw boneless chicken, in a small dice ( use cooked chicken and add at the end)
1+ lb carrots, peeled and diced (be sure it's pretty small to get a few things on your spoon and to ensure they cook)
1/2 lb egg noodles
1t dried thyme
1t dried tarragon
1t onion powder
1t garlic powder
1/2+ bottle left over champagne
water

sour cream for finishing

Method:
Heat the chicken stock with the carrots.
When it starts to simmer, add the chicken and the spices.
After 10 - 15 minutes, add the champagne and the noodles. Stir to ensure all the noodles get wet, and let simmer for 10 minutes or so. Add the chicken now if you used cooked chicken. Don't mix it for these 10 minutes so the noodles don't get gummy.
After 10 minutes, it may seem a little stiff. Add water, 1 cup at a time, until it's the soup consistency you like.
Heat through.

Serve in a bowl or a mug, and stir in a spoonful of sour cream

This is a really tasty option, and you feel good for using up that champagne!

Rain on Broadway

Last night I had the opportunity to see Rain on Broadway, a tribute to the Beatles. I let my friends know I was going, and I was surprised to hear the multiple view point comments. It seems there is a love/hate relationship with the public, which I would not have guessed. This show is all about the music, and I have to say I'm not a huge Beatle fan - I don't own any of their recordings, but I don't turn off the radio if one of their songs comes on. Honestly, I wanted to learn more about the history of the Beatles and consider how they influenced music of their time and mine. The bonus was it was a very entertaining history lesson!

With the multimedia insertion to the show, I was very impressed with how the show reminded you really how different life was in the these decades, especially when the Beatles first burst on the scene. Hindsight is 20/20, and it looked to me that the Beatles were just as influenced by America, as America was influenced by the Beatles. I prefer the pop-like music from the early Beatle sounds. The sound and video were very cool - and it felt authentic. The songs were raw without any electronic smoothing, and I loved how each vocalist was really such a fabulous musician!

The actor playing the Paul McCartney character was simply amazing. He didn't look like Paul per se, but his gestures, dancing, awesome hair and interacting with the band - after a few minutes, you knew exactly who he is portraying. It seems he was also in Beatlemania (the previous Beatles Tribute, which I did not see), so I can only imagine how much time he spent capturing these physical nuances.

Rain is only on Broadway until January 9th - it is a great show for young and old alike - it is fun and you can't help but smile.