Still Catcing Up

So, my Aunt Hellen and her husband Les flew in from Oregon to spend the holidays with family. Yea! We picked them up at the airport, had a nice dinner, and then said goodbye because they drove up north a bit to spend time with aunt Mary & Uncle Larry.

When they returned on the weekend we all went to dinner at a Japanese steakhouse to celebrate both mom & Les's birthdays.

 

The next day I took Hellen & Les to temple.

 

The next weekend was my birthday and I choose Polish food, Yum yum. (had to borrow a photo online, mine did not turn out). We enjoyed all the items in this photo though (perogis, cabbage rolls, kielbasa).

The next day was my actual birthday and I had some tickets for the ballet (Moscow Ballet Nutcracker) and I invited Aunt Hellen to go with me. It was fabulous and quite different than the version Jerry and I saw last year.

 

Oh my! I skipped over Christmas Next time.



Pierogi Grill

We finally had dinner at that Polish restaurant I wrote about before (we couldn't get a seat). We got in because it's not "new" anymore and the City has prohibited them from having the guy on the sidewalk in the pierogi costume due to heavy traffic in the area and the possibility of causing an accident. If was great!

Mom, MIL, hubby & I went tonight and we ordered this HUGE dish called the Polish platter with a little of everything. There was a dozen assorted pierogis (meat, cheese, potato, spinach, and combinations), a giant cabbage roll, Schabovy (pork cutlets with mushroom gravy), grilled polish sausage, potato pancakes, Schab nadziewany (pork lion filled with sausage, plums, and onion), kraut, yellow rice, potatoes boiled in dill, and french fries. We are all still wondering about the fries??? This is a dish you share and now everyone knows what they like best for the next time we go. The dogs were VERY happy that I came home with a small styrofoam box - they just finished their polish feast.


We did find it odd that the restaurant was decorated with an Egyptian motif. I found a story on the web (on TBO.com) that explains the surprising decor. I'm not going to tell you though - you can google it for an interesting story.

Opening Day

Welcome to my first blog entry!

My Dad's visit is drawing to a close. He leaves tomorrow at noon. While we dread his departure, I undertand that he is anxious to return to his home in Dumas, Arkansas. We enjoyed the last month with him and especially appreciated spending Thanksgiving together. So many holidays in Alaska were spent away from family that every occassion spent with family is special. Eddie is going to miss his Papaw's continuous belly rubs.

Dad was able to spend a week down in Arcadia, FL visiting his only remaining sibling - Aunt Flossie. Dad made a quick trip last April to help Aunt Flossie celebrate her 90th birthday. We hoped to take her out for a birthday dinner but when we arrived (it's about two hours from our house in Clearwater to her house in Arcadia) she had not only made her own birthday cake but was preparing a dinner for 15 people!

Jerry is busy attaching icicle lights to our eaves and I am in the process of decorating the Christmas tree. We are picking up Jerry's mom in a couple hours and meeting my Mom and Aunt Hellen (yes, that is how it is spelled) at a Polish restaurant. None of us have ever been to a Polish restaurant so it took some talking to get everyone to agree but I've heard that Polish food is a well-kept secret. I'll let you know ;) I am looking forward to seeing my Aunt Hellen. She arrived at my mom's yesterday.

I talked my Dad into a surprize outing last night only telling him that we would be outside and would get a little exercise while having a good time. I took him to the St. Petersburg Shufflboard Club. They have a special hours of 7 - 11pm on Friday nights and since the temperature was perfect, I thought it would be a fun father-daughter activity. For the first time in 5 months, they were rained out! Too bad because a photographer/reporter from Southern Living magazine was there to take photos of the courts and people, all illuminated by the white Christmas lights.