Thanksgiving with Friends

This year we shared our American Thanksgiving with our wonderful friends and neighbors. Great food, great wine, great friends! What more could you ask for? Everyone pitched in and brought some delicious dishes that made our meal a feast! We had the obligatory turkey, dressing and cranberries. We also had potatoes (mashed and sweet), Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, deviled eggs and relish tray with homemade pickles. And as the Pièce de résistance, Jim served his combo pumpkin/walnut pie. Delish!

Our delicious feast.

Back row: Guy, Wayne, Ken, Lowey, Jim
Center row: Suzanne, Michael, Kate
Front row: Chris, Dayna, Marlene, Yours Truly, Jennifer

As Jim took this picture, he made the smart ass comment, "I like to see women doing women's work." He's lucky he didn't lose his head.

Kate, Marlene, me, Dayna and Suzanne.

Me and Suzanne

Jim the "Pie King" and yours truly.

Comfort Food

Winter is here, I think. We have settled into the low 30's and snow is expected tomorrow. That means it's time to start cooking some fall/winter comfort food. This could be a big mistake on my part since I love my own cooking. HA! I'm trying to make things that taste good, but are not overloaded with sugar,salt or the dreaded FAT! Unfortunately, this recipe does not fall into any of those categories. Oh well, it has an apple in it so that ought'a count for something, right?

My first attempt was not pretty. As I went to take them out of the oven, I was shocked to see that all of the apples had exploded right out of their little skins! Well, I couldn't give any of those to the neighbors!

Okay, these look terrible, but they still tasted delicious. 

What did I do wrong? Were my apples overripe? Was my convection oven to blame? I had no answers. So of course, I Googled, "Why did my baked apples explode?" And guess what? I got tons of information about my exploding apples. There were suggestions to peel the whole apple; peel the top of the apple; cut slits in the apple; and score the apple around the middle. I went with a combo of peeling the top of the apple and scoring around the middle. I've included pictures with my steps below. I know, I know, I should write a cooking blog, right? I'll think about it.....

Okay, start with four medium baking apples or five small apples. Core them, but leave a bit of the apple on the bottom so that the gooey, yumminess stays in the apple, instead of leaking out the bottom. Use an apple corer and scoop out the pulp with a melon baller or small spoon. Then peel about an inch of the skin around the top and score the apple around the middle.

Peeled and scored.

Cored, peeled and scored apples ready to be filled with the yummy filling.

Now, mix up the oatmeal, brown sugar and spices, and pack it into the apples.  Put a little dab of butter on the top of each one... just a little dab'l do ya!

Ready to be baked. Pour the apple juice in the dish before baking.

Thirty minutes later, and Voila! You have beautiful baked apples! I'm gonna serve mine with "salted carmel" gelato. Yeah, Baby! Delish!

Yumm! 

Here's the actual recipe. Remember to peel those apples around the top and score them around the middle or you'll end up with a crazy mess o' apple explosion like I did!

Baked Apples

4 medium baking apples, like Jonagold or Fuji, or 5 small apples
1/4 cup brown sugar 
1/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Pinch cloves
1 tablespoon butter, divided in four pieces
1/2 cup apple juice or water

Pre-heat oven to 375°F with a rack in the lower-middle position. If using a convection oven, Pre-heat to 350°F.

Remove the core of the apples, cutting to within a half inch of the bottom of the apple and creating a well roughly 3/4-inch wide. This is easy to do with an apple corer, but can also be done with a melon baller or a paring knife.

Mix the brown sugar, oatmeal, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves together in a small bowl. Divide the mixture between the apples, packing the wells firmly.

Arrange the apples in a baking dish, and top each one with a pat of butter. Pour the apple juice or water around the apples.

Bake for 40 minutes in a traditional oven or 30 minutes in a convection oven. Test the apples by poking a paring knife through the oatmeal mixture and into the interior of the apple; it should slide into the apple easily with no resistance. The skin on the apples will also become wrinkled and soft by the end of cooking.

Serve with a scoop of ice cream, gelato or whipped cream. Enjoy!

Halloween Weekend

As I sit writing this, the day after Halloween, snow is falling outside. The morning started out with a light rain, which turned to snow. We beat last year's first snow by 15 days (not counting the fluke snow we had in Sept.) Jim and I enjoyed an extended Halloween weekend starting on Thursday with a beer tasting at a local liquor store, Bin 905. We tasted quite a few beers, or which some were a treat and some were a trick. Overall most of them were drinkable. HA! Like we ever turned down a beer!

Halloween night, we met friends at National Beer Pub on 17 AVE to watch all the crazy Halloweeners....is that a word, "Halloweener"? We saw some pretty wild costumes. Nothing to controversial like we've seen on 6th ST in Austin or in New Orleans on Halloween, but some very fun costumes and lots of skin, naturally, even with the chilly temps!  We saw literally busloads of people being dropped on on 17. I guess they were busing them in from the burbs.

Saturday night we had drinks with friends at our house then went to a nearby (fancy) pizza place called Bocce for dinner. It seems to be the new people watching place with lots of windows up front so people walking by can watch you eat your pizza. 

And finally Sunday night, we had dinner at our wonderful neighbors, the McNeils. What a fantastic cook Dayna is! Sorry you had to miss it Wayne!

We received lots of pictures of Reese and Evan, our darling granddaughters, celebrating their first Halloween. Next year we will be back in Houston to celebrate with them. Just love those girls!

Awesome house in our hood decorated for the "Trick or Treatsters".

Our own attempt at carving pumpkins. Not bad, I think....

Dia De Los Muertos (day of the dead) costumes (me and Jim)

Scarrrrrry!!!!!!!!!!!

Very Scarrrry!!!!!!

Me, Suzanne, Big Jim, Marianna, and Julia at National. Where are you, Guy?

Jim and I with some other Dia De Los Muertos revelers.

Looks like we're gonna open a can of "whoop ass" on somebody.

Anthony, Evan and Casey at Evan's Halloween daycare party. Isn't she "Bootiful?"

Evan had another costume for Halloween. Cute little monkey!

Evan the baby Monkey and Reese the baby Jalapeno! Aren't they adorable!

That's-a-spicy Jalapeno!

King Creek Ridge and Canyon Hike

We are trying to fit as many hikes as we can into our weekends before the dreaded snow comes. I love the fall colors and the temperatures have been wonderful. This past weekend we drove out Hwy 40 to the King Creek Day Use Area. The gate to the parking lot was locked as are most of the gates to the access trails since the flood last summer. We started out by hiking toward the King Creek Ridge where we had beautiful views of the Kananaskis Lakes. Then we then hiked up the King Creek Canyon to the Stoney religious site, where you'll see several trees wrapped in cloth, ribbon and socks. Loosely called prayer flags, they often signify some type of religious quest or possibly just making it up a steep, dangerous trail. The 2013 flood washed away the trail that cut through the canyon, so instead of ten creek crossings, there were probably fifteen difficult crossings. At one point, I slipped on a slimy rock and came down hard on my bum! And I certainly have the bruise to show for it. The hike took much longer than it originally would have since we hiked mostly in the creek bed and not on a trail.  Beautiful day though!

Selfie before we set off. Behind us the canyon and Opal Range peaks.

Along the King Creek Ridge trail, looking towards Hwy 40. 

Along the King Creek Ridge trail.

Heading up the canyon.

One of the many creek crossings.

More canyon.

I'm not as sure-footed as I used to be.......

Scrambling up the final bit trail to the prayer flags.

Jim beside one of the prayer flag trees.

More prayer flags.

Heading back down the canyon.

Ryan Turns 30!

Ryan turned 30 on September 6, and Jim, being the prankster that he is, wanted to fly down to Houston to surprise him. I think we really got him this time. He was not expecting us to show up on his doorstep! He and Cindy were throwing a pool party for his birthday on Saturday, so we drove over with Casey and Anthony and waited for them to go into the house. I called Ryan on my phone to wish him happy birthday, and while I was on the phone with him, I rang the front doorbell. He had the most confused look on his face when he answered the door. After we had a big birthday hug, he asked where his dad was. Cindy pointed out to their back yard and said, "What's that in the pool?" Ryan immediately recognized his dad face down snorkeling in the pool. Well, there was nothing left to do but run out and do a giant cannonball dive right on top of him! The party was a huge success and lots of fun. 

My grand babies are changing so rapidly, it makes me a little sad. The highlight of the trip was getting to baby sit Reese and seeing Evan roll over for the first time!

Old "Dirty Thirty" Ryan on his birthday.

Ryan and Reese blowing out the candles.

Cici holding Evan.

Cici holding Evan and Papa J holding Reese.

Evan asleep on Papa J.

The "lights of my life," Reese (7 months) and Evan (2 months).

Dinner at Pappasito's.

Jim and the girls.

Anthony and Casey with Evan and Cindy and Ryan with Reese.

Evan on our shopping trip to the outlet mall.

Casey and Anthony with Evan.

Reese in her toy box.

Ryan, Cindy and Reese the last night I was there.

At Blue Fish Sushi with the babies.

Vancouver and Hornby Island

Last week Jim and I had the good fortune to travel to Vancouver for some business and a little pleasure. Vancouver is one of my favorite places in Canada. The Pacific Northwest coast....there's nothing like it. While Jim was working, I walked all over downtown Vancouver and Stanley Park. My favorite area is still the West End. We had dinner at the Sand Piper Restaurant on Granville Island one evening, and admired the Vancouver skyline while it changed from dusk to dark. We witnessed some pretty brave paddle boarders that would wait for large tour boats to come by...then paddle like crazy to get into their wake. Somehow the wake would pull them along without too much effort. At one point, there were three paddle boarders keeping up with a huge Mississippi style paddle boat. 

Vancouver has some beautiful golf courses. We played at a little "gem" of a course in North Vancouver called Northlands. We were hoping for a nice relaxing day, but of course we were matched up with some CRAZY guys celebrating a fiftieth birthday. I'm not sure how they drove home afterwards with all the beer they consumed.

At the end of the week, we traveled by car and three ferries to visit our friends Jeff, Judy and their son, Grif, on Hornby Island. The island life is magical, and Jeff and Judy's house is beautiful. I can see why they love it so much. We had wonderful dinners every evening sitting on their deck overlooking Tribune Bay. (The very same bay where Oprah parked her yacht last summer!) Thank you for having us Jeff and Judy!

The view towards Stanley Park from our hotel in Vancouver

Flowers near English Bay

Check out the size of that tree on the balcony of a high rise in the West End

Golfing at Northlands Golf Course with Mark and Pauly

"A-maze-ing Laughter" sculptures donated to Vancouver by Chip Wilson, Lululemon owner

Casey, just for you! Hook-em-Horns!

The beautiful old Sylvia Hotel. Some of those vines are as big as my leg!

Cool old tree on Barclay Street

Sand Piper Restaurant with the skyline in the background

One of the three ferries we took to get to Hornby Island!

Yup, it was cold out on that deck.

Selfie on the Queen of Cowichan ferry

Jim, Jeff, Grif and Judy on the Smith family deck in Hornby

Grif, Jeff and Judy at the Hornby Farmer's Market. Fresh veggies every day!

The coastline in the Helliwell Provincial Park on Hornby Island

My friend Judy and I in front of a huge redwood tree in the park

Jeff, Judy and Grace (the radish eating doggy)

This was our view from Jeff and Judy's deck

Now how many houses have a porthole?