Faith, Family, Food and Dogs

It is now early December and the holiday season is in full mode. When I went to St. Augustine for the Nights of Lights in 2014 I had hoped to make it an annual event. But with the move to Florida and then working two jobs there was no way I could make it there in 2015. But it is now 2016 and I am going,,,by myself. The trees near the town square. The town square itself. There had been a wedding and they got Spanish re-enactors to pose with them for photos. At the end of the town square looking towards the inlet and the Bridge of Lions. When I arrived in St Augustine I found out it was "First Night". That means there are a lot of people in costume and there will be a parade and a re-enactment of the Spanish turning the city over to the British, complete with fife and drum core. Here are a couple of English ladies. Like any other towns, St Augustine has a trolley. Here is the mob waiting to get on the trolley. The wait can be as long as 90 minutes to 2 hours. I ...

The Budweiser Clydesdales, everyone knows what they are. They come to Jacksonville one or two times each year as we have a brewery. They came in early 2016 but I could not find the time to go and see them, I made sure I was able to make it this time. Me as the team passes. Part of the team. Interesting fact, there is a man who walks just in front of the lead pair and directs them when to turn. The last pair, the drivers, dog and wagon. The drivers and of course their Dalmatian. Sorry pal but I have an itchy nose. Another interesting fact. There is a person whose job is to walk around and wipe the foam from the horses' mouths and any where else so they always look perfect. The dog was very well behaved. After watching the horses do a few laps around the area I headed in for a self guided tour of the plant. Outside is this life size statue of an original Clydesdale.

Every year my daughter hosts Thanksgiving. It is sometimes a large affair with lots of people from both sides of the family showing up. Since I was pressed into kitchen duty this year I only took 2 photos. Here are both of them. My son in -law making a hand gesture over his father's head. And then this, which of course is my favorite. I hope every one had a great Thanksgiving holiday.

Now that I live closer to work and in a place where the range actually works well without over heating the entire place I am doing a lot more cooking. What I did not blog about were the crab cakes I made during Hurricane Matthew, followed by a pumpkin roll, home made dog bones and a really good pizza. But here is a recipe I love, a taste of the islands, Chicken Long Rice. I used my Hawaiian Plantations Cookbook. It looks ratty because Liliuokalani used it as a teething chew when she was just a little thing. To start you chop up some chicken breast and saute it up with some garlic in olive oil. I am not sure there is anything that smells as good as garlic. The long rice is not really rice at all but a form of Vermicelli that you can find at most Oriental supermarkets. In reality the Vermicelli is really bean thread that becomes translucent when cooked. Once the chicken and garlic are browned you simmer them in chicken stock. Later on you add the mushrooms and the Vermicell...

Since it has been so long since I have created a blog post I now find myself with the daunting task of writing 12 posts to bring my blog current,,,at least until 3rd grandchild arrives in less than 2 weeks. Anyway, it is early November 2016. The Jacksonville Air and Sea Spectacular is starting in a few days. The weather is nice, work is slow, so Terri and I walk the 2 blocks to the beach to watch the rehearsals. When we got there this guy was practicing. He would go way up then come back down in a barrel roll, followed by some loops. What we had really come to see were the Blue Angels rehearsing. I am always in awe when I watch them fly. Here is one guy right side up and another flying upside down. How do they do that? A little offshore we had the Coast Guard. Floating things were out in the water for the Navy Seals exhibition over the weekend and the Coasties were making sure nothing was messed with. But back to the Blue Angels, 4 of them, upside down in formation, wow. A...