I HEART NEW YORK

I arrived in my beloved New York on a beautiful early fall day. The traffic was horrendous so my cousin let me off in front of his hotel at 61^st & Park and I walked to mine at Central Park South just beyond the Plaza Hotel. Why didn’t I stay at his hotel? By the time I went to book it, it was exorbitant.

I dropped my stuff off and immediately went to Chinatown to Excellent Dumplings, because as the name says…

The place is less than attractive but those dumplings. Here is what it looks like…

Then I took my dumplings, took a bite and the insides of it oozed down my blouse. OH SO attractive. A mom whose baby drools on her can get away with it, not a grown woman with no children.

WHILE eating the dumplings, I walked over to Tasty Hand-Pulled Noodles and ordered a bowl of noodles in broth with spinach to go.

I am not a noodle person. I do not know what he does to make these noodles so bloody good, but they ROCK! Here is a picture of him making them…again…if you could see the seating area. It is even less attractive than Excellent Dumplings, but when you taste the noodles….you realize ambiance is so unimportant.

I stopped in a bodega (little market) for a Coke and I took the subway up to Grand Central and boarded the shuttle bus to the US Open that is only for players and press and hoped they wouldn’t notice that I had yet to pick up my credentials. They were not about to come question me after I sat in my seat and began to slurp my noodle soup and eat my spinach with chopsticks and devour my remaining dumplings.

Oh yes, I was home…

I arrived at the tennis and picked up my credentials and ran into an old friend Olivier (but you pronounce his name O-Live-e-a) he is from France and was hired to the company I worked for for several years and he was hired over 20 years ago. He still has a head of hair you want to run your fingers through and he is French so he is automatically sexy. I took my credential in hand and entered through the President’s gate into the Arthur Ashe stadium. I walked down the halls past all the photographs taken by Russ Adams the head photographer. He used to come to the Cincy tournament and I have known him since I was a kid. Look at his work…

And then the other photos are pics of the Programs at the US Open from year to year.

Then I immediately went to the Press Room to see my friends. I was so excited to see my friends. It is summer camp, I tell you. A little weird to be in the Press Room without Bud Collins and his wife Anita, and I was bummed to miss seeing my friends Jon and Scott from Sports Illustrated, even though I saw Scott in Cincy.

I first had to stop and see Lizz and Mindy! (Nick is over their shoulder to the right.)

I saw my friend John who used to be on ABC World News and now is a Columbia professor and a photographer and we met because I saw him on the news every night in the Peter Jennings days and I went and talked to him at the tennis several years ago and admired his work and we have been friends ever since.

I went and found my friend Robbie who works for AP. Robbie and I have a long, long tradition of him stopping by my desk, giving me the signal it is time for his smoking break and for me to go with him and we stand and chat the length of the cigarette. (You are going to hate this pic, Robbie. Hopefully, you are in New Orleans and not seeing it!)

Ran into my friend Rick who works at AP too, and I had not seen him in years. Ran into a New York Post writer who I saw in Cincy and my favorite photographers the Mullanes, heart of gold people.

Here is Susan. Sorry Susan, I know you look like a deer caught in the headlights…

I took pictures of the grounds because the place is always changing….

Here is a picture of the Press Room. When I left there were 400 different press people here.

In the Armstrong stadium, the press box was at the top and you could see the court from there and it was a killer view, but in Ashe, you watch it on t.v. You can go up to a section of seats designated for the press, but nothing spectacular. In Ashe, the seats that would have been press seats brought in too much money to give them to the press. Those are now box seats!

Here is a picture of where the players come to be interviewed after a match. The gals to the right transcribe the interview and it goes to the room next door, 400 copies made and passed out to the press people.

I went up into the CBS Box where the famous or infamous John McEnroe sits to announce the matches with people like my friend Mary Carillo.

And here is a pic of the television camera that looks down onto center court…

Leo and I have been friends since I was 18! He makes these FAMOUS brownies, which we all go insane for and when they are gone, they are gone. He brought 6 dozen! Well, I went to see him in the Batcave…that is what we call the room of all the Stats Operations and he said that in a blog I mentioned someone else’s brownies as being my favorite and not his, so he handed me a brownie, which ya’ll know I devoured. And I promised that I would get on the blog and make a public correction or he is going to stop reading my blog (he really wouldn’t) and say I left him off my list of favorites. This is a pic of one of Leo’s Grand Slam (remember we are tennis people) brownies and Leo is right behind it! Thanks for the yummy brownie, Leo!

The staff at the Open has a cafeteria where we go to eat our meals twice a day. It is less expensive than the food for the public and far more convenient in location and a MUCH shorter and faster line. This year they added outdoor seating that the public can’t get to us and the seats and the flowers are awesome!

This white flower planter is the start of where they are going to put the posts for the new roof to go on Ashe stadium…there is one of these in all four corners OUTSIDE Ashe stadium.

I hope this makes sense. The museum of pics of the way it was and the way it will be was closed so I took a pic through the window…

I took the shuttle back to the city. Saw Greg the guy who owns it and he had a MASSIVE crush on an old friend of mine named Kayla…so he remembers me by association.

Next day, I woke up and went in search of a bagel, not just any bagel.  I would have gone up to H & H, but it was too far and I didn’t want to take that much time. I plugged top NY Bagels into my phone and the closest good bagel was at Essa-bagel. The line was INSANE…..good sign…look:

Then I went across the street to one of my favorite coffee places called Oren’s….

It took me 20 minutes each way from hotel to bagels and back. I sat on my bed and ate my everything bagel with cream cheese and drank my coffee and brushed my teeth so I didn’t go to my board meeting with poppy seeds in my teeth. THAT would have been pretty!

This is why New Yorkers are thin…even though I had a bagel with cream cheese…I had to walk for 40 minutes to eat it!

The Board meeting was long and involved but it went relatively smoothly.

Afterward, we went to that French restaurant I hate with the AMAZING bread and I finally, FINALLY found a dish on the menu that I thought was really good….Quiche Lorraine. I will be eating that every year! Not Thomas Keller’s but pretty darn tootin’ good.

After the meeting, I went to meet my friend Karen to discuss a book and get her thoughts. She brought in her team and we brainstormed and it went well. More to come..I will keep you posted…

After the meeting in Brooklyn, I took the train to Columbus Circle and went into Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery and got a cup of coffee, forgot to get decaf, and a chocolate almond croissant. Before the coffee and croissant…

I walked into C Wonder, which is Tory Burch’s hubby’s store, and it is half the price of Tory’s stuff and cute…check out the zebra…

Then I took my croissant and coffee with me to take a walk in Central Park.

This is what is left of the croissant!

I called my friend Temple down in Atlanta and I walked around the lower loop in Central Park at dusk as the lights came up…

 

 

Loads of people were out exercising after work. Then I walked over to the plaza where the CBS guys used to set up for Sunday morning football. Now an area with tables and chairs were placed across from Central Park, The Plaza Hotel, in front of Cartier, near FAO Schwartz and next to The Apple Store. I sat there and talked to Temple and looked at this glorious city.

I went home…now 8:30ish and changed my clothes and took the subway to my favorite sushi guru’s place called Nobu Next Door. On my way there I saw this old clock in a window…isn’t this cool.

Here is a shot of the sushi bar @ Nobu Next Door…..

 

Here is a glimpse of what he prepares….a snap shot of the menu…

I bellied up to the sushi bar and this is what I ate…

First, I had roasted beets and soft shell crap with a Yuzu black garlic vinaigrette.

Then I had yellowtail with scallions and a piece of tamago

Finally, my favorite roll, which is salmon and avocado

Then of course, I went next door and said hi to my longtime waiter Lee. He was working in the fancier restaurant.

I walked out and it was almost 11pm and the street was all torn up and you could see the pipes and I looked down at that…

Then across the street was a Hispanic man, who was dressed like a construction worker and he was leaning on the building and taking a picture up in the sky. I looked to see what he was taking a picture of and it was the beams of light from the 9.11 sight.

I stopped to take the picture too and told him I was so glad he was doing that and I saw him or I would have missed it.

Here it is…

Then a group of people saw us taking pics so they stopped and took pics…

And then I had this wonderful, truly New York moment or moments…

I was walking down Franklin Street in Tribeca, it was kinda dark and the construction worker was walking with me.

I said, “Where were you that morning?”

“I was working a job on 14^th Street,” he said. He relayed his story.

“I was on 14^th too,” I said. “I was home when the planes hit but I was on 14^th when the first tower came down. I saw it, did you?”

“Yes,” he said.

We hit the corner and told each other how nice it was to chat and we waved goodbye and wished the other well and went our separate ways. It was such a great NY moment.

I decided to walk home…or most of the way…I stopped and pet a dog named JJ that was so cute and attached to his parents who were eating at a sidewalk café.

I passed a bread baking company that the smell overwhelmed me and made me hungry all over again and I was stuffed from dinner! The sight of the bread was inviting…

Then…my favorite hot chocolate (chocolat chaud) in Paris is at a place called Laduree and they now have a Laduree in Soho! WOW! DO NOT MISS IT!!!

I passed two outfits that are the new and latest trends in fur…a fur mask/hat and a fur dress

There is a nutty guy in my building that was promoting gas masks in case we have a 9.11 here, but if we do have to wear them. This really makes a statement.

But I prefer the fur dress…

And then I turned around several blocks later and took a pic of the lights that I could still see in the sky…

The point being that from almost ANYWHERE in the city you could see the Twin Towers and in memory of all those that day…you could see the lights from almost anywhere pointing up to heaven to where they all went…at least that is what I was told years ago the first time they did that honoring the people lost that tragic day.

I finally went to a subway in the Village that my ex-boyfriend Ian and I used to take to his place from mine. Flood of old memories. Then I subbed uptown to the closest stop to my hotel. I walked the last 5 blocks to it…walking in this city is always a treat and a treasure.

The next morning, I woke up and walked through the Park up to Levain’s. I got smart and called ahead for 2 chocolate brioches to be put on hold. I was so glad I did as the line went out the door and up the stairs. I was going to get a third, but they had held the last two for me. I also bought those hockey puck sized chocolate chip cookies, my gift to Jo and Dave for watching Dulce.

I went to Citarella and bought a fresh squeezed orange juice to drink with my chocolate brioche.

LeVain’s chocolate brioche is the BEST!

I am sure chocolate was all over my face, teeth and hands…ask me if I cared. I was in bliss!

I walked, ate and drank as I walked to the  Eastside via Central Park and passed this to get there…

 

and when I was on the other side, I passed The Met and walked up 5th Avenue till I arrived at Dean & Deluca. I bought an iced cappuccino and sat in my window and did what I did a thousand times. I drank my iced capp and watched the people walk by…

Inside of Dean & Deluca…

I walked down Madison with the rest of my capp and water…all done!

I hopped on a subway and took my suitcase down to my friend Michael’s in the Village and then went to meet my friend Kathleen from my CBX days at Haru for lunch.

Kathleen is lovely and was my confidant when I was at CBX aka Colemanbrandworx. Since those days, her young son is now at NYU, she and her hubby split, kinda like my mom and stepdad, and she moved to Manhattan.

Kathleen used to live in Westchester and she would ride her bike to the train out there, train into the city and then ride her bike from Penn Station to our office on 21^st and B’way! Very cool.

She is a neat lady! We had a nice time and yummy food!

She told me a colleague of ours died. A woman named May. It was jarring. Kathleen and I are both breast cancer survivors. She is further out then me. We had similar treatments. May had breast cancer and was not even staged!!! It came back, they didn’t catch it, she ended up with a double mastectomy and was slow to get the treatment, in part because of her heritage as a first generation Chinese woman and the rules and ways of her family and she died! I still have moments since that lunch with Kathleen that I don’t understand how someone Stage 0 is no longer alive and she was MY age! Heart breaking.

I left Kathleen and wandered in ABC Carpet….so fun!

I went to this cute little food shop called WHISK and they had a lot of cookie cutters and I told them what I wanted and they told me they could make it with a printer for a few bucks….HOW AMAZING is THAT!!!!

Went to Fish Eddy’s. They sell plates, cups, cool joint and they are selling a plate in there with well known landmarks on it and it is so controversial…you have to read the story to believe it. I bought this plate there almost a decade ago and suddenly the port authority in NY is outraged by this cute plate?

Then of course, I went into EATALY…Batali, Mario’s brilliant Italian shop and it is BRILLIANT…he must be minting money! The place was packed. The lines for the espresso and the gelato are long. The restaurants inside are packed…It is well laid out, thought out, designed and so appealing…

Then I went outside and sat at a table with the EATALY to my right, the Madison Square Park to my left and the Flatiron building straight ahead…sitting in a space at 23^rd & 5^th in what used to be the street and now is seating…with umbrellas!

I was bad I ate a second lunch…but I couldn’t resist…my favorite corned beef and pastrami sandwich is at Eisenberg’s…look at this!!!!

LOVE the shirt!!!

Then I took the subway up to 66^th and B’way and I got out of the subway and saw a guy named Steve that I worked with at CBX!

I was out on the street and ran into my friend Mary’s husband named Tom! Feeling small world in NY. How odd!

I went to Century 21, which is an awesome store. I like the one downtown better!

I sat in a park and watched people….I usually have myself booked solid with friends but so many of my friends were gone for Labor Day week that they weren’t there and I had all this free time to walk, wander and relax!

I went to meet my friends Natalie and Sabrina, two sisters that I am friends with and we met at The Atlantic Grill.

 

We sat at the bar and drank Sake and ate sushi. It was yummy and so fun!

I LOVE my friends!!!

I MISS my friends!!!

AND I love visiting with them!!!

Then me, who is rarely buzzed made my way down to Michael’s in the Village via the subway. Michael and I sat on the couch and talked for an hour and then I had to crash!

The next morning we sat around talking and he made a pot of coffee. We walked over to a place he said I must try if I never had…Caffé Reggio. I am SO glad he took me there. I lived in Manhattan for 6 years and I walked by the place a MILLION times not knowing that it was the home, the start of the first cappuccino and they are good!

 

This is where Michael and I sat in the window seat!

The ORIGINAL cappuchino machine!

 

Then I went up to Sloan Kettering to do some research for a book!

Then I went to THE BACK SEED down in my old neighborhood of Nolita and tried a wood fired bagel with cream cheese, lox, tomatoes, and capers. It was yummy!

I walked past my old apartment. When I lived there there was a bodega (sm. Market) across the street the size of a small seven eleven and now my favorite salad place CHOP’T is in that space.

Next to my building was a shoe shop and now it is a place to buy crepes!

Then I just walked ALL over the place.

I went to Union Square and the first thing I saw was this seemingly naked man in a g-string playing some music.

Love the food market at Union Square…

First they put chairs in Harvard Yard so you can sit in them instead of on the lawn and now the same thing has spread to Union Square Park! Why did you wait till I was gone to do this!

Why pay a lot of money on overhead for a store when you can just pull up in a truck and sell it out of there?

I saw this in NY and then came back to Cincy and they were doing this at City Flea in Washington Park. If they can sell food out of a truck, why not clothes?

 

I saw a man that needed to hold the back of his friends pants. Threat of a wedgie? I am not letting you go? You can not walk in a straight line? Who knows why!

Listen hot, gay man…I am a yellow lab and I can walk myself and hold my own leash..you talk to the other hot gay guy to your right that you are ignoring me for…

I went to Dean & Deluca and got a sandwich for dinner on the plane. I went back to Michael’s grabbed my bag and in the pouring rain he took me down to a cab and we said goodbye. My dear, dear sweet, fascinating, informative friend.

And then my flight was ALL messed up! They took everyone at my gate and divvied us out to various gates to get help on re-routing. I started calling friends ALL over the place to meet me for dinner if I flew through their towns…friends in Charlotte, Atlanta, Boston!

Finally, I got home! Jo and Carolyn picked me up at the airport and I gabbed all the way home!

I already miss New York….

My true, true love….

Until we meet again…

Enjoy! Eat, travel, laugh…often….

My Spring Break to Sunnybel (aka Sanibel)

The usual suspects Vivian (aka 007 or as my friends like to call her the “Pool Hopper”) and Shirley (aka Trouble) took me to the airport to fly to Punta Gorda to meet my mom and my four-legged sister Dulce.

 

The size of the carry-on one can “CARRY-ON” is a joke! The seats were comfortable, and for a fraction of the cost of Delta, Allegiant Air worked pretty well for me. I would recommend it.

 

The crappy part was that it was an hour plus drive for my mom, so I drove back home. The airport was comparable in size to Bangor Airport where I went to Uni up in Maine. It was between 2-4 gates. Gosh, I love that!!!

 

We drove home and sat up till 1:30 talking. I can’t believe my mom stayed up so late.

 

The next day our first stop was to visit THE BOOK NOOK ladies: Jan and Melanie. They are sadly closing. VERY sadly closing. They are so nice, and so knowledgeable and it is just a shame. We will miss them, but I heard a rumor that Melanie may go somewhere close by. I hope this is true.

 

I can’t remember what else we did that day, but it required a nap!

 

That evening I was invited to be the guest speaker at the Fiesta @ The Sanibel School.

The kids ran around screaming while the parents sat around chatting and laughing. We all made tacos. The good thing was a lot of books at the Book Fair were sold.

 

We met a Sanibel cop named John, who had been assigned to the school to watch over the kids. It is amazing and sad how the school environment has needed to change over the years. It was so foreign to me to hand a driver’s license to the powers to be to have them do a background check on me and make sure I was okay to be around the kids. I never had a cop at my school growing up. I grew up in neighborhood that probably was a lot like Sanibel. Safe, protected, parents were all working professionals, great school. I am so glad that John is there to protect them and he couldn’t be a nicer and easier to be around guy, but sometimes there are things that one doesn’t know about their cops. Actually, there are things that people don’t know about other people. What you see is not always what you get! I wonder how many people have ever taken the time to talk to John and ask about his background. Maybe they do, and maybe they don’t, but I am so glad I did!

 

He was originally trained as a chef and not from Billy Bob’s Food World University. He came out of Johnson & Wales in Rhode Island, which is one of the best cooking schools not only in the good ole U.S. of A, but in the world! Johnson and Wales chefs set the world on fire. They are amazing! Talented, brilliant, innovative artists of the cooking world. I may not remember this conversation precisely, but this is what I remember. He graduated from Johnson & Wales and landed at the South Seas Plantation on Captiva in a restaurant that we all used to love called Chadwicks. Long, long hours for many years in a hot kitchen caused him to change jobs. Now, he is one of Sanibel’s finest, but how many police officers that you know are such accomplished chefs? And if this NJ boy, hadn’t taken a chance and stepped out of his comfort zone by moving to Captiva Island, he would not have met the woman of his dreams and have two beautiful daughters with her. It just goes to show, no one knows where life will unexpectantly take us.

 

We left the Fiesta at the school and went to a nearby restaurant for dinner. My mom and I had shared a taco and it was not going to cut it for us. We went to The Sandbar. The manager Brian was at the host stand and ready to tease me about anything he could think of. He just likes to do that! As we are standing there talking I saw an attractive man walk by that reminded me of a family friend’s son-in-law that I used to claim was the epitome of the perfect man, next to the late JFK Jr. I said his name thinking I must be wrong and sure enough it was him.

We ordered a dish that my mom calls BANG BANG SHrimp…it is tasty…

 

I hadn’t seen him in years. Last time, he and his wife were in Brooklyn Heights, NY. Yes, I had a crush, but not a romantic one, more like, that is the type of guy I want, crush, but I didn’t want him. He was married. I wanted someone footloose and fancy-free! He was still attractive as hell, but a lot grayer and his wife was adorable as always and the baby they had at the time I last saw them was now in college. I feel old!!! We went and sat and chatted with them. Then, of course, Brian had to appear at the table with my books to tease me that he was astonished at my ability to write or something like that or that I had written such smut. He said he was over at the bar telling the owner about my books and suddenly she appeared at the table and said, “The girl that wrote the books is Erin?” To which I said, “The lady who owns this restaurant is a tennis buddy of mine?” What a small, small world!

 

Friday morning, I regressed to the age of 10. I woke up. I packed a lunch to take to school. I had my mom drop me off at school and she vowed to pick me up at the end of the day! I felt absolutely ridiculous having my mommy take me to school, but one car between us demanded it.

 

The Book Fair brought a whole lot of kids to the library that day. The younger kids sat with me as I read elements of my book PERI’S SANIBEL ISLAND ADVENTURE to them and asked them if they had ever seen the animals in the book around the island.

 

I met lots of mom’s that had moved to Sanibel from all over. The most interesting was a woman who had been living in California and working as a homicide detective and she got burnt out on the job and the politics of the job. She decided to reinvent herself and move across the country. She went to cooking school and is now the most respected caterer on the island. She is really good too! I have been to many functions where I have tasted her food. So, when she told me her name at the end of the long story, I said, “YOU ARE LESLIE!!!!” And as I write this, I realize I met a chef that went to police work and a police detective that went to cooking. Hmmmm….

 

My mom accidentally got caught in the pick up line after school to pick me up and she didn’t have my name in the window. They made her get out of line and the nice teachers monitoring the line got a kick out of the oversized, preppy kid that was 44 getting picked up by her mom. They waved goodbye to me and off I went for an afternoon snack. Sadly, it was not Oreos and milk!

 

I relish my sunset walks.

 

I do not miss them unless I have to for a dinner engagement and even then I try to plan around sunsets. I try to swim in the pool. This time I just walked and jogged around the pool with the radio on and me singing. I had finally relaxed into vacation mode.

 

Of course that all goes out the window when one is watching all those NCAA basketball games that had us on the edge of our seats! Why is college ball so fun to watch?

 

I had a book signing over at McIntosh Books. Cute kids like Mia and Jameson came over to buy books to keep and take back to their schools. I talked with the gal working in the shop named Rebecca, who is so knowledgeable and has a kid or two at Sanibel School. I asked her about bullying and weight issues with kids, because to me those sound like the two key topics to address separately in my next teenage novel age books. When I was a kid, they didn’t call it bullying, they called it teasing. It was more than teasing. It may have been bullying. I am so glad I was never a bully. I would have a hard time living with it. I was teased pretty hard at different times for different reasons, but thankfully someone said to me at a young age bullies go nowhere and the others can go far. I am so glad that is so true.

 

Ever since Mindy’s awesome healthy brownies, I am putting healthy things into my not so healthy foods. I have been putting a handful of spinach into my smoothies! It changes the color from a pretty purple to a puke green but it tastes darn tootin’ good, so I don’t care.

 

I went to the traditional Sunday breakfast with my mom, my 4-legged sister and all of her Sunday morning, crack of dawn breakfast buds at THE OVEREASY CAFÉ. It was fun to sit and be with all those Hoosiers, a St. Louis fella, a Columbus gal and chat.

 

Then we went to one of the last Farmer’s Market of the season. My sister gets so excited to see all her friends. She pulls us into the market. I drag her to get a chocolate croissant with me. She wants it so badly, but no chocolate for doggies.

 

Of course, the combo of sugar high and waking up so bloody early sends me to the lounge chair for a nap. Then I go to visit Joyce. Love Joyce. My surrogate mother and my best friend from living there. She talks about MAD MEN and that John Hamm went to her son’s school The Burroughs School and he still goes back and teaches classes there. Okay, he is not only hot, hot, hot but he is a cool human being. I like it!

 

I come home and curl into the side of the pool, legs fluttering behind me intermittently. I need one to be grounded to balance and I stand at the pool edge writing on my computer thinking this is such a great desk.

 

Finally, sunset walk time and then dinner. Dinner at my house has always been special and treasured.

 

My mom and some of her buddies many, many years ago were not the greatest chefs when they married young, fresh out of college. Back then, there were a small handful of good restaurants in Cincy, but dining was not what it is today. They signed up for cooking classes with a famous Cincy Chef named Chef Gregory. In my house, that black covered cookbook my mom created with his recipes IS OUR BIBLE. It is the first thing my mom would grab in the event of a fire. It inspired my mom to cook and cook well.

 

My mother made a fabulous home cooked meal almost every evening for me growing up and to this day. Dinner was special. I would set the table and talk to her on a chair in the kitchen while my mother did a beautifully orchestrated dinner preparatory dance. It relaxed her after a long day at the office.

 

As a young child, I felt compelled to scrape off all her fancy sauces and saturate my foods in ketchup, but as I grew older, I really came to appreciate the artistry behind her cooking.

 

As a child, I was supposedly a little bit of a picky eater claims my Uncle Bob. My mom disagrees, but then again I went through a phase where I would only eat chicken. NOT being the brightest bulb in the box, they would put a hamburger in front of me and say it was chicken and I gobbled it down, same with any form of protein. And all desserts were contingent on how much of my veggies I ate. Sadly, our Boston terriers were loud eaters, and I tried to feed them veggies under the table, only for my mom to place more on my plate…I ate them. I wanted the cookie!

 

I think my mom’s foray into cooking and her love for it, made my palate grow. I now will eat anything! And when I now see how my mom cooks, presents food, lights the candles at the table, I am completely awestruck that a working mom has been doing this for almost 44 years. WOW! That is so impressive.

 

Here is what we had one evening and this is normal fare for my mom.

 

She cooked a mango snapper fish in wine and butter and topped it with sautéed almonds on top. She cooked the protein and I cooked the veggie. I sautéed zucchini and onions for the side dish. We forgot to take a picture! You know I ate it too fast to take time for the pic!

 

The next day, I went to The Lighthouse Café with one of my mom’s best friends named Edgar and his mother Charley Sue. They are Mississippi folks. Super nice. I went up to the owner and asked him if he knew anything about a dish the previous owner did called Kay’s Delight. He said, “Funny you should ask that Erin! When I bought the place they asked me if I wanted to buy the recipe. I said no. Now, only one person connected with the old restaurant is still living.” He scrawled his name on the back of a business card and handed it to me and said, “You can give it a try.” I was doing this for a nice gal that recently moved into my building who has been going to Sanibel for over 40 years and wanted it. I called the once young man, sous chef, that is now the only living member of that old staff and he said no. It is going to the grave with him. I thought what a shame. This nice gal just wants to cook it for her and her hubby. She doesn’t want to sell or distribute the recipe. She wants to enjoy it. But no. Gosh, people can be stinkers sometimes!

 

My mom and I were invited back to The Sanibel School for an afternoon with the writing group. I read my book THE OLD OAK TREE to the kids.

I talked about writing. My mom talked about illustrating. Then the kids drew pictures to create a character and made a list of their characters’ characteristics. One girl brought up the first chapter of a book and asked me to read and critique it. I was really impressed and told her so. I am ALL about encouraging kids…I want kids to strive for what they want to do and realize there are no boundaries. If you want to be a writer, be a writer. If you want to be an artist, be an artist. A violinist, a chef, a dog walker, a scientist, and doctor…the world is your oyster and go for it!

I went home to another fabulous dinner. It was a walk down memory lane from New Orleans. It was Banana Grouper with Bananas Foster on top! Oh yes….

I cannot believe when the plate reaches the table how beautiful my mom’s dinners are and have always been and I am not noticing this till now?

 

Even to watch the NCAA Finals with shrimp cocktail and shrimp and grits. I am psyched to eat my mom’s cooking. Simple yet yummy!

 

I was lucky enough to get to play tennis a handful of times with South African Sue. I knew someone going to South Africa and I asked Sue who would be a good contact person. She gave me the name of a well-known, world famous photographer, who happened to be a friend of hers that lived there. I passed the name along to my acquaintance. She and her child neglected to call him. THAT is a shame. I kept the number because I will not make that same mistake. Imagine seeing South Africa through the eyes of a world famous photographer, but he is showing you his country. He is showing you things, places, and people that you would not be privy to without him or his access.

 

The reason I know the people I know, and have the stories to tell that I do is because I DO take those chances. I have been so lucky to meet such extraordinary people through other people.

 

When I moved to Atlanta in the early 90s, I was given a list of people to call. I called every single one of them! Some I continued to see while I lived there, others I didn’t. Some introduced me to people that led to work, led to other friends and one in particular….I am still close to today. My friend Alison, who I love dearly! I rarely see her, but I love Alison! She was a great friend, has a heart the size of Texas and I would not have become friends with her if I had not called her then boyfriend who was a friend of a friend. People take chances!!! It may not be worth it and yet it may turn into something amazing!!! You never know…

And that is just one example….

 

One of my mother’s oldest friends is a gal named Jeanie who grew up in Cincy. She lost both her parents very young and she fell in love and married another Cincinnatian named Lou and they up and moved to Washington, D.C. Jeanie raised her kids on political rallies in D.C. and they turned out pretty good.

 

When I lived in D.C., she was one of my closest and dearest friends. She and Lou have a place in Naples, so she and my mom get to spend time together down there. We went to meet them for lunch at this architecturally cool restaurant called MASA. Jeanie’s guacamole was so good, I could have eaten it alone with a spoon and licked the bowl after. I ordered two different types of tacos. One was a marinated flank steak taco with avocado, radish, and onion. The other one was a soft taco with chicken in chipotle cream, radish, lettuce, cojita, cilantro-lime rice and black beans. YUM!

 

I went to the bathroom and came out and Jeanie was there waiting to go in and she said to me. “We are going to take care of your mother!” That means her and another old, dear friend Margie. I was so touched by that! These gals have stayed friends for 68 years. And they have seen and been through everything together. My granddad used to say if you die having had 3 good friends you could truly count on you are lucky. Most can’t say that! I thought it was absurd when I heard it. It is true. When I think of those people “special people/dear salt of the earth friends” and I wonder if they know who they are…and how special they are…I feel so lucky!

Here’s a pic of Margie, Jeanie and my mom. Friends for 68 years!!!!

 

 

Sometimes vacations are so wonderful! I took Dulce to the beach and watched her skip, hop and jump in the waves. I could actually see the dog smile and if she could have laughed from happiness she would have! Until, I took her home and threw that beautiful stinky smelling thing in the sink and then had to almost water board her to get her clean. HATE THAT!!!! Not really, but when you have to soap up their cute little faces and then rinse them clean it is a painful process to watch!

 

Then there is my mom and her salads. She makes a salad everyday for lunch. Usually, she made one for me. I offered to make one for her, but it was BEYOND comical and you will now know why she makes them instead of me.

 

MOM: “Please don’t put the lettuce stems in my salad.”

Erin: You are kidding, right.

MOM: No.

Erin: You do not eat the stems? No wonder why you go through so much lettuce!

MOM: You tear it? You don’t cut it with a knife? Okay? (Eye roll)

Erin: Yes, I tear it and I eat the stems or centers of the lettuce leaf.

MOM: You do?

Erin: Yes, I do! Do you have a size preference on the lettuce bites?

MOM: Yes, that is too big!

Erin: Okay, Princess, you would like the stems out, the bites to be roughly 1-2 inches in diameter. Would you like me to make you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and cut off your crusts?

MOM: Smart-ass.

Erin: That is why you love me!

 

That night for dinner my mom had made pulled pork that she had slow cooked for four hours and then being the veggie girl. I took a cauliflower and spread dijonnaise on it, which is Dijon mustard and mayo and steamed it. My mom said her recipe called for crumbled melted cheddar on top melted. Viola dinner!

 

We always get massages when I visit my mom, which is 1-2x a year. The massage gal Karen keeps telling me I need to do it more often because I abuse my body running, lifting way too heavy things, etc. I never do, but boy was that a great much needed massage. I asked her if she knew a friend on the island that was going through throat cancer and she did and said he was having such a rough time with it and sick as a dog. I saw him at X-mastime before he was diagnosed. I hate cancer.

 

After the massage, we went to meet my mom’s friends Sylvie and Tom from Germany and their four dogs: Ruma, Rula, Cookie and Winnie and Ellen from Chicago and her three dogs: Bella, Tess and Sadie and my sister. Can you imagine seeing a motley crew like all of us coming your way on the beach? More dogs than people. I LOVE IT, these people, and these dogs. Aren’t dogs the best?

 

 

After that, there was no break for the gal on a working vacation. We went to see Becky & Dan, Cincy friends who we didn’t know till Sanibel. We are planning a trip to visit them in Asheville, their other home. Can’t wait. I have never been and hear it is a fun, eclectic, cool place.

 

Then we went to STARFISH for sushi and Jean Claude or Jean Paul or whatever the Frenchie dudes name is who waited on…didn’t wait on us. I kept telling my mom to pretend she was in France and get used to waiters ignoring their customers. She didn’t like it. I said he is pretending he is in Paris so you should too. Didn’t like that either. We flagged him, he ignored us, I was waiting for her to stand on the table and do the dance of 1000 napkins and throw water glasses, but thankfully she did not. The sushi was good.

 

I called a friend to go to breakfast or lunch. A new friend that I met over the holidays that I thought she and her hubby were so cool. She suggested we go see Clyde Butcher who is the Ansel Adams of Florida.

He looks like Cris Kringle and is as funny as Johnny Carson. He is incredibly talented and inspiring. That night after his talk, my mom and I went to the beach for our sunset walk and took pictures with our phones and played with the lighting and look what I took! I am pretty proud of myself. Makes me want to go back and play with the lighting on a lot of old photos.

Here is a pic that may have been ordinary but I played with light the way Clyde suggested and this is what I got.

After the Clyde Butcher talk, Carol and I went to Normandie for breakfast. It is so close to my mom’s place, but I tend to forget it and it is usually too dark in there for me. Carol shared that her sister was diagnosed with breast cancer and I was able to talk to her about it. Then she has sort of adopted a little girl as a granddaughter back on the Cape in New England who is going through cancer at the age of 8. We talked a lot about this remarkable young girl who has endured so much! Again, I hate cancer. But hopefully, she is going to get to ride the swan boats in Boston next week. All fingers and toes crossed for her.

 

They have full moon parties on the Causeway. You bring a savory or sweet app meet in the park on the causeway on the eve of the full moon. It is just a bunch of locals. Isn’t Sanibel cool?

 

We walked with our wonderful friend Shelley and went back to her place to see what she was doing to her summer home in PA. It looks great! Shelley has the magic touch! She had a blue room with Matisse in it and designed around it and it was my favorite. My mom was thrilled to use her design background and give Shell advice. She was quite the interior designer in her heyday!

 

Then we went to Traders and shared a yummy dish for dinner. Snapper with sundried tomatoes and spinach on a bed of cheese tortellini. It was really good.

 

It is getting closer and closer for me to return home. Last Sunday market for a long while. I had to speak a little French and get my last pain du chocolat. I also knew I wouldn’t get one for a very long time because I was going to give up bread for a very long time after my birthday weekend. So, we bought beignets, the chocolate croissant and a lobster roll for lunch, stopped at Baileys for cappuccinos and went home and had a picnic by the pool. Now, this is nice vacation time. I think we should do this every time!

 

After breakfast, I walked with my friend Margot from TN and then dragged her with my mom and I to hear Danny Morgan perform at Casa Ybel. He is a Cincy musician who has been on Sanibel a long time and sometimes performs with my favorite musician’s brother Livingston Taylor. His bro and my fav is James Taylor.

 

We went home. We watched Bubba win THE MASTERS! We walked at sunset and watched my sister frolic on the beach. We went to a section of beach that was so wide with multiple sandbars and watched her run. She was like a kid on Christmas morning. Magical. So were stepping on sea squirts that tickle your toes and make me laugh like a 5-year older.

 

We had a Hogsnapper with a Peruvian topping and a side of Asian eggplant that I made and my mom actually had seconds. Skin and Bones (aka Mom scrawny Mom) loved it so much that instead of eating her usual tablespoon full of food and being stuffed, she got seconds. Kudos to me.

 

Next day she made me cornbread and gravy. I have never ever had that before and it was good. I played tennis at Beachview with those great tennis playing ladies that I love to play tennis with as much as possible!!!

 

We took Dulce to Island Paws to get her a birthday present. I got her a bone dipped in doggy yogurt. She loved it.

 

Last full day, I walked the beach with Joyce and our doggies. I read on a lounge chair, we attended a really cool recyclable art show. Pics below.

This item is made from bicycle and automobile tires.

Owls made from the toilet paper cardboard.

This is made from driftwood.

We went to RC Otters for rice and beans. We went to the Sanibel Grill for a plate of raw oysters. I had been home for almost 2 weeks and had not eaten one raw oyster. That is a sin!

 

The next day…my mom and I vegged out and then she returned me to Punta Gorda to fly home. You should have seen the flight attendants. It was two older gentlemen. One looked Spanish like Mr. Ricardo from Fantasy Island and sounded spot on him. The other looked like he may have been an Italian Stallion years ago. I thought it was brilliant. You put two-aged Don Juan’s on a plane to take care of us? I LOVE IT!!!! We get charmed. They enjoy charming us. It was a win-win all the way home!

 

 

Until we meet again…

 

Enjoy! Eat, travel, laugh…often….

 

Tropical Breezes to Frigid Temps, Good Food to Good Friends

I am from Cincinnati. I grew up in a small town outside of Cincy called Wyoming. I tell people I am from Wyoming and they look at me and say, “That is so beautiful!” Then I realize they think Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and not my Wyoming in the state of Ohio.

 

People rarely leave Cincy. They see no point. And for a long time, a large influx of people didn’t flock to Cincy, unless they were Proctoids that is what the locals call the P& G folks.

 

I also lived in Boston and New York and I saw a large influx of people move into those very transient towns. The best parts about transient towns are there isn’t the snobbery of I have lived here for multiple generations. (I am third generation Wyoming, but that is not the point except to make you laugh.) Unlike Wyoming, Ohio, great place to be raised, but I never met new people!  In Boston and New York, I was constantly meeting new people. Even today in Cincy, I don’t meet people here like I did in those big metropolitan cities, or for that matter on my mom’s little island of Sanibel. Sanibel is a microcosm of New York or Boston. Very few are from Sanibel and there is a constant flux of new people there. I LOVE IT!!!!

 

I went to pick up a bike at South African Sue’s house, and she was at the neighbor’s house painting. She came out and said, “We are in each others pockets.” Love the expression! She took me behind her neighbor; Dorothy’s home and she had turned the space under the stilts of her house into another room. Actually, it is a multi-purpose room. She has an artist studio there and a lounge area complete with swings! It was brilliant! I will show you pictures!

 

Dorothy is from Scotland. I love Scotland. It is so incredibly beautiful, but she is now a full-time Floridian. A creative soul. She created a mural on the outside wall, underneath wall and used objects from the sea, trinkets from tourist shops and she took a coconut and turned it into a fish. Oh yes, I brought a coconut home so I could make a fish too!

 

I told you I went to that antique group gathering. Carol and her husband are from the Cape. This needs to be distinguished down in Florida. To me, Cape means Cape Cod, but to Sanibelians it means a little town called Cape Coral. Carol and her hubby are Cape Codders. I read a book by an author named William Martin. He wrote a book called Harvard Yard and it was a fascinating historical fiction novel that begins with John Harvard back in Britain and how Harvard came to be. I loved the way he wrote so much that I picked up another book of his called Cape Cod. I told Carol about it and suggested she may enjoy it and she said that “Bill” Martin is her husband’s favorite author. They have met him. It was so fun to talk to them about it.

 

My friend Annie invited me to a gallery opening at the Watson Gallery, and they had some very interesting work from a variety of artists in multiple mediums. I love writing, I do consider it to be an art form, but I must confess, I wish I could also be an artist too. I would love to be able to look at something and capture it on paper. That so intrigues me!

 

My mom and I went to Sea Star for sushi after the gallery opening. We had a green dragon and damn if it didn’t look like a green dragon. The dragon roll consisted of fresh sushi wrapped in avocado to give it that green color and then it was shaped like a dragon. We had another sushi roll, but it was not as tasty or as dramatic in the presentation.

 

The hostess was a gal we knew on the island for many years. She owned multiple restaurants, a jewelry and art gallery and here she was! She asked what we were up to these days. My mom used to have her painted furniture in her gallery and we said books. I said, “I write and she draws!”

 

She came back a little later and said that a gal at the next table asked if I was a famous author. I REALLY thought she was pulling my leg! I said and you said, “No, its just Erin!” Well, the lady wanted to meet me. I went over and shook her hand and introduced myself. I have no idea how she would know I wrote. I don’t have my picture on my books. But this woman was GUSHING over me and almost in tears with excitement to meet me, and I thanked her repeatedly and told her I was so touched, but what she didn’t know, was I was gushing over being gushed over! I feel like I am talking in tongue twisters today! Anyway, it was too much and I LOVED it!!!! It was so sweet! So flattering! So bizarre for little Erin Holzman from Wyoming, Ohio not Jackson Hole, Wyoming, but O-HI-O!

 

When we were finished. I saw some tennis friends and I went to say hello and they were dining with a couple that the minute they heard my name and that I was a writer they said, “YOU TOOK CARE OF AMY THE DOBERMAN!!!!” This island is smaller than Wyoming! And notice…one minute you are a famous author and the next a dog sitter! Such is life!

 

And as I left, I saw Mark the guy who sat next to me on the trolley on the way to the tree lighting at Tweenies. I have now seen him more than I have seen people I plan to see! Stranger on a trolley. Isn’t there a story in there? A love story? I am not on Sanibel, so I am save in saying he was a sexy thing….

 

One thing that did rub me funny is that someone told me that they could never live in Mississippi, because it must still, to this day be a backward cracker ass state! Well, I almost went to Ole Miss for Law School. The idea of living down in Natchez is very romantic to me, and I have a friend named Edgar who is from Mississippi and I have a few friends that are from those parts and they are lovely! And to this day, a man calling me darling with a Southern accent makes me weak in the knees. Actually, it almost brings me to my knees! So, off I went to have breakfast with Edgar and his Mississippi Mama named Charlye Sue. How hip is that spelling for a MS gal!

 

I left brunch and went to a book signing at THE BOOK NOOK. It is the 5th Anniversary for Melanie and her sis Jan to own the Book Nook so they are doing book signings for the next few months! Go check them out!!! The bestseller that day was my novel THE URBAN LEASH! It is a light read that is a fun read for the dog lovers in your life! The other authors were interesting. A gal from CT (Marya Repko) who moved to the Everglades and wrote some historical pieces for kids and adults. A man (Neil Volz) that helped bring down Abramhoff in a huge DC lobbying scandal. He happened to have grown up in the next town over from me in Cincy and we had a mutual friend. Six degrees of separation! Then another fella (Rick Weber) who wrote about a courageous woman who endured a disease that should have robbed her of her life young but she persevered and lived much longer than ever anticipated.

 

I left the book signing and raced over to the tennis court. It was not enough that Anne in her eighties kicked my tushy ALL over the court….for 1.5 hours the previous weekend and then in a tiebreaker a few days later. Well, it happened AGAIN! Sioux Falls Connie teamed up with Cape Cod Anne and played against South African Sue and me. We went into a tiebreaker and three sets later and 2.5 hours later. We were finished. I seriously don’t think Anne broke a sweat. It was SO much fun! We had a ball out there for the second time! I am going to miss them and the tennis A LOT!!!

 

I left the courts and raced over to Joyce’s with Dulce who I picked up so she could have a play date with Dude (her shitzu boyfriend). Joyce keeps telling me when she dies, I get Dude. I hope he comes with a trust fund! Just kidding….kinda! Play date for my sweet little sis consists of her being a dominatrix and humping the hell out of the poor little Dudster! Oh to be young!

 

Dinner that night was at my friend Edie and Hunt’s home. It was such a great surprise to walk in and discover Cape Cod Anne and her hubby Ernie there as well. It was such a nice and fun evening! Edie and Hunt’s home is beautiful. Each room is a different color. I am going to make up color names but just to give you ideas. One is Raspberry, another is teal, and another is apple green. They probably have every well-known Sanibel artist work in their home. I just love it! It looks the way a beach house is supposed to look!

 

Edie is a former model and a creative soul. Her dinner was a testament to her creativity and love of color. She began with steak that had a yummy Key West marinade on it. Then there was a corn dish, which I was not so sure about till I tasted it, but I really liked it. The salad was a work of art. It was beautiful. It was laid in rows displaying crumbles of Gorgonzola, next to a row of avocado, next to a row of tomatoes and then potatoes. It was delicious. The best part was the homemade banana cream pie. I am one of those odd ducks that does NOT like banana in ANYTHING!!!! I love bananas, but turn down banana bread, banana muffins, but this pie was magnificent. And a cute story goes with it. When Edie married Hunt, his mother gave her a cookbook of all his favorite recipes, and that was one of his favorites. I thought it was an awesome gift! She says she still uses it all the time! And that pie…I so wanted a second piece, but I behaved!

 

She was offering up her raspberry colored sofa as well. I wanted that too, but had visions of me driving North on 1-75 with that on my roof and either the car or the sofa not making it!

 

I went to the Children’s Education Center of the Islands to read my Peri’s Sanibel Island Adventure to the preschoolers. I took my mom along with me and she played with a pelican puppet for the kids. The kids were so great! They knew so many of the animals indigenous to Sanibel. I didn’t know what an armadillo was till I saw one in a Clash video on MTV in the 1980s for their hit song ROCK THE KASBAH and then my stepdad brought me a real stuffed one back from Mexico. I named him Godfrey. I was impressed with what these little kids knew and had seen!

 

Then I went to the Sanibel School and met with the media specialist a really nice gal named Libby. Some artist from Cape Coral had come to the school and painted murals of the wonders of the world on the walls. I LOVED it! I thought as a child it would inspire one to want to explore, investigate and see all these places that graced those walls. I looked at the pictures and I had been to so many of those places!!! I am so lucky, but when I was the age of these children, I wouldn’t have known what half of them were, or where they were! The best way to learn geography is to travel. The best way to meet people is to travel. The best way to learn new cultures is to travel. The best way to appreciate how incredibly lucky we are in this country is to travel OUTSIDE of it! And here were these murals of Stonehenge, the Pyramids of Egypt, and so much more inspiring these children to do just that!

 

They are having a book fair in April that Libby was kind to invite me to attend. I can’t wait!

 

My mom’s car was having a computer glitch or meltdown. We had to make the long journey back to Toyota. It is so flippin’ far away, it may as well be in Japan. And if it were, I could have killer sushi for lunch, but I digress!

 

Our cousin Lynnie called and suggested we try a pizza joint in Ft. Myers that she had heard about on the radio down in the Keys! Why are they talking about a joint on the West coast down on the East coast? She heard they served Snake pie!!! Snake on a pizza! Well, it turned out to be gator. Either way, my mom and I were not trying it!

 

Instead, we went to this hole in the wall joint my mom discovered many years ago called JALAPENO’S! It is authentic Mexican food. I had two enchiladas with green Verde and a very large Horchata (rice drink that is sweet and yummy) that I drink so fast it is frightening. My mom took a pic for you! She had the tamales. I am not a tamale girl.

 

Driving home from Japan, I mean Toyota; I see Joyce walking the Dudster and ask her if they want to join us for sunset walk on the beach. She said no, but Dude wanted to go!

 

Off we (DUDE & I) went to pick up my sister, Dulce and my mom. Dude was terrified of the water! Joyce kept telling me to not get in the water and not let Dulce in the water. Toxins, toxins, she yelled. But it is the ocean. She trained Dude well. He wanted NO part of it!! My friend Jules calls it the world’s largest toilet. Lovely, but it is the ocean, so Dulce and I go knee deep and if it was warm, I would be in it! Dulce gets in it. She loves it! I love the water! The ocean! It is like giving up bacon! It AIN’T happening!!!

 

We went to my favorite restaurant on the island. Sanibel Grill. I ordered the same thing I ALWAYS order. Oysters on the half shell to start. Yum! Yum! Yum! Crunchy grouper basket. Highly recommend it if you are trying to get your kids to eat fish! Can’t go wrong with deep fried fish in tartar sauce.

Then I ordered something that I used to love and have not eaten in over THREE years!!!!

I was the lucky soul that lost her sweet tooth going through chemo and craved veggies. Kinda wish it stayed that way! But I lost my taste for key lime pie. It tasted like sour milk during chemo and immediately after! So, fast forward 3 + years, my mom says you have been on this island for 6 weeks and you have not had Key Lime pie. Are you really going to leave without a slice??? I had one. I am happy to say, it was yummy. Maybe I should have not tried it and taken it off my list of options, but what the heck! You only go around once! ENJOY IT!!!

 

I know this is not the type of thing I should/would normally post in a blog, but I will be tactful. I always tell you how fortunate I am to have such fabulous friends. I DO have fabulous friends!!! However, things happen. Friendships change. People change. You never know what bee will get caught in a person’s bonnet to make them go haywire or batty as a tadpole. It happens! People can be strange, fickle, and odd. I lost some dear friends because of a communication error. I was very saddened by it. This couple was like family to me. I wrote an apology note. Okay, I asked what I did wrong, and then apologized if I did anything wrong, and told my friend that I was so sorry there was a rift, and it was a REALLY nice note telling them how much they meant to me. She wrote a scathing note to me in response. The reason it is in the blog is for this….People make mistakes. We are all human. No one is perfect. I think we treat people the way we would like to be treated. When we fuck up, we apologize. I think holding onto anger and hatred only hurts ourselves.  Imagine how much happier we all would be if we would let so much go? Okay, enough Dalai Lama talk. Back to levity.

 

Went to my last Farmer’s Market. I had my last pain du chocolat (chocolate croissant) and spoke French with the man that sold it to me. Then went to breakfast with my mom and friends Max and Margot and had a scrumptious shrimp and Havarti omelet at Sanibel Café! Coffee SUCKS!!!!! Richard, buy better coffee!!! It was awful!!!

 

I went for a long bike ride. I spray painted my wooden lobster red. I was ready to head North. Sorta! I wasn’t ready to leave the awesome weather for the frozen tundra, but it was time, and I decided to break it up, and move kinda slowly.

 

First day, I drove 2 hours out of 18. I know, that is REALLY slow. I stayed with my friends Roy and Carolyn in Sarasota. They took me to Marina Jack’s for dinner.  It is a restaurant that looks out on the water. I went with my step grandmother and her friends years ago. I have fond memories of it. The ambiance is awesome!!! Best place to eat for the view in my opinion! But the food as I remembered was not stellar. The clam chowder was yummy, but my grouper Reuben didn’t have a lot of taste. Sorry, but true. But I still loved it!!! That place is special to me! I was glad they chose it!

 

Carolyn and Roy took me on a tour of their park. We drove around in a golf cart. We visited their friends who just moved down from KY, and were so nice! Then Carolyn and I went swimming and hot tubing and it was so nice. We walked up and down the pool lanes chatting like we do in the summer in our pool in Cincy. The pool temp was 86! I hadn’t been in a pool for weeks. My mom stopped heating hers when she received an exorbitant bill. We hopped from the pool to the hot tub and back. It was great!!

Roy and Carolyn are such nice people. I just really think a lot of them and they are just nice to be around. They live in my building up North!

I woke up the next morning and had breakfast with Carolyn; Roy joined us, and then took off for Atlanta. I listened to my first ever Danielle Steele book. Nothing like a good romance.

 

I arrived at my friend Jill’s house. It was a beautiful home. Jill was a model. She looks like Christie Brinkley. I wanted to ask her if she did Botox, because she had not aged AT ALL!!!! That is so unfair, but psyched for her. I knew she didn’t do Botox, but how can one not age? Oh wait, my friend Stacey is like that too!

Jill married this really nice man named Hal and they have a daughter named Lindsey! Sweet as pie. I can’t forget Bella the dog.

Jill and I lived in Atlanta at the same time and have been friends for 21 years! I haven’t seen her in years. She was one of my best friends when I lived down there! I just love her! She is a good soul! She popped into Cincy a few summers ago, but other than that it has been ages. We picked up where we left off. It was awesome. It was as if no time passed. We were two chatty Cathys! We used to take walks and jogs around this golf course near where she lives. We went back for old times sake. One day back in the 90s, we were walking and this totally cute guy was checking out Jill. He walked past us and I started jumping up and down next to her and said, “Take the little one! Take the little one!” Hopefully, he didn’t hear me, and if he did. He didn’t come back for me. Still makes me laugh. Fond memories of Atlanta. Last night in Atlanta, we went out to TAKU for a yummy sushi dinner! Hal told me to try the spider roll and he was right! OH YUM!!

 

Jill is an artist and a prolific artist and a damn good one. She has created almost a map in some of her paintings and the way she has created it is so clever and I think it would sell like hotcakes to the right markets with the right amount of cash flow. She truly is talented.

 

I was supposed to meet my friend Alison, but she and her son were home sick. I was sad to miss her. I love Alison. When I lived in Atlanta, I used to say she is one of my favorite female friends EVER. She was always such an inspiration in so many ways. I loved the way she treated people. She was always so kind, so generous, so respectful, she didn’t discriminate, and she was always so down-to-earth. She was so bright but never boasted of her Ivy League education or her time in NY or Paris. She was just this warm and wonderful human being. I have been fortunate to meet so many extraordinary people since I left Atlanta, but Alison will forever remain on the short list of truly special friends. And her kids are just so cool too! So, I was sad to miss her!

 

I did drive through my old stomping grounds of Buckhead. My old apartment building (3-stories high) that looked like a New Orleans relic has been torn down and replaced with a fancy high-rise condo.

 

I drove past the Peachtree Road house from Anne River Siddons book and my first writing assignment was a tea at that house with Anne and many others. The house is gone. Again, replaced by a large high-rise!  I took the back roads to Virginia-Highlands where I used to work at Murphy’s and where I met my friend Jill that I was staying with down there. Landmarks had changed. I went to turn left at Fat Matt’s Ribs, but didn’t see it because a Subway obstructed it!

 

Atlanta has grown so much since I left there. I always try to imagine going back. I don’t think I could. Jill said if you want a man down here, you must import like she did. When I lived there we used to say, “If he is good looking, smart, rich, successful with a great personality. He must be gay!” Not that I am looking for a man, but it would be nice to have the ratio a little more to my favor.

 

After two cold days in Atlanta, it was time to head back to Cincy. I stopped at a Starbucks on my way out of town and met my friend Temple who was one of my best friends down there and still is one of my closest today! We sat and chatted for an hour and then I went home. I left Sanibel and it was 78 degrees and Cincy was 30! I can deal with the cold if there is sunlight. I love snow! As long as it doesn’t interfere with my driving. What a difference a few states make, but at least the sun was shining.

Until we meet again…..

Enjoy! Eat, travel, laugh…often….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vichyssoise to Hotdogs, A Band by the Water to A Meal by the Bay

Vichyssoise to Hotdogs, A Band by the Water to A Meal by the Bay

 

So, as I told you, I was given a Fitbit for Christmas and it has been really interesting. I think it has curbed my eating and caused me to be more active and that is fabulous! Now, I must confess, I am on vacation so I am not following the fitbit or utilizing it to the best of my ability. I am going to “use” the excuse that I need to try foods to entice you all to read my blog and I need all that food to nurture my soul. Are you buying this? So, this little fitbit is curbing my eating and it is causing me to be more active but almost daily it frowns at me and sometimes sticks its tongue out at me, and yes it can and it is always saying, “WHOOPS, you are 700 calories over.” It is shocking it didn’t say you are 700 calories over AGAIN, ERRRRIIINNN!!!

I had another book signing at Bailey’s. I know it is a grocery market, a hardware store and a catch all for random things that tourists may like or want, and it is a Sanibel institution, but why do people come buy bananas, milk, sandpaper and not my book? I don’t get it! I don’t care if you don’t have kids who will read it, or kids at all, buy it as a souvenir of your trip to paradise, or because you don’t want to forget seeing manatees, eat red velvet cake or buy it for your coffee table. What a great conversation starter! Of course, these are all great things I should be saying to entice folks to buy my books. Okay, maybe I shouldn’t say I don’t care if you have kids. I don’t…but I shouldn’t say it. But for some reason, I am a great talker, but I am a shy thing when it comes to peddling my books. I become UNBELIEVABLY shy!!!! I REALLY need to get better at it!

An old friend from Cincinnati, named Katie, who I have known since I was 5, her folks left our town and moved to another town and then sent her to private school and somehow we managed to stay in touch over the years. We have gone years without seeing each other and talking and yet, when we do, we pick up where we left off. At one point, we were both in Washington, D.C. at the same time. Well, she stayed and I left and her folks started going to Naples and I am up the road at Sanibel. So, when we can meet up in Florida, we do!

We met in this shopping restaurant center called Mercato down in Naples. I arrived first. I know shocking since I am always 5 minutes late. I went to the bathroom and all the power went out. It was pitch black. I thought great! Stuck in a bathroom. Fun! Lights came back up and I went outside to wait for Katie. The waiter came shortly after she arrived and told us, he couldn’t grill. We said, “Great! We want sushi.” He said he couldn’t serve us sushi. We said, “Your power is out! You need to get rid of fish before it goes bad. This is a no-brainer.” BRING IT ON!!! He said no. Katie and I left and went to the Ritz at Naples and ate in the restaurant on the beach. The Ritz in Naples is AWESOME!!! It was a windy, rainy day. We sat under umbrellas, watched the waves crash on the beach, drank the BEST Arnold Palmers’ and I ate a $19 hamburger. It was really good. Not sure about NINETEEN DOLLARS good, but it was good and I didn’t eat the fries, because I am scared they will give me a hematoma again. THAT or my fitbit will make me walk the 45 miles home from Naples.

We had a ball and said that we would make a point of getting together when our paths cross down here.  Katie is a great person! We were talking about people, life, work and she so gets it!!!

I left Katie and went to meet another childhood friend Josh. He was staying at the Naples Waldorf. My friends lead such posh lives and I am their hippie, bohemian-like crunchy friend.

I walked into Josh’s hotel and he was talking to someone who was married to a gal from our hometown. Josh said there were 4 others from our hometown of 10,000 staying at THAT hotel. Why and how did they all end up at the same hotel? Did the Cincy Enquirer advertise that hotel and they all went?

Josh told me if I came to Naples to see Katie, who I am not as close to as him, I had to see him. I thought we both live in Cincy, can’t I see you there and I don’t even see you there much! So, here we are at the bar at the Waldorf Naples. I ordered a Bombay Sapphire gin and tonic and he ordered blue cheese potato chips. I had 4 chips. BIG MISTAKE. Normally, when I start…I can’t stop, but I did! They were so yummy. He started talking to the guy on the other side of me. We all started talking football. He was with his son. He was HOT, HOT, HOT! Okay, maybe overkill. He was sexy. Salt and pepper hair. Great smile. Pretty eyes. And he asks where we are from and Josh says, “We are from Cincy!” THIS IS TRUE, but now he thinks Josh is my husband! This is a major bummer! He talks to us like we are a couple, but never says anything for us to have the opportunity to say no. The wedding ring is because he is married to another gal, but I am available. And Josh is on his cell phone, texting, ignoring me, and we looked married. Finally, Josh says he has to go. We leave cutie pie and his son, but I can’t go back to him. Can you imagine what he would think??? Yikes! He would think I was cheating on my hubby. OH the travesty of it all.

I went with a friend named Birgie to lunch at Doc Ford’s. I love their Clam Chowder. They must pour a lot of cream and butter in it, because it is GOOD! I then ordered a shrimp quesadilla. It wasn’t very big. It was good. Not great. We had a nice lunch. I came home and put the calories of that sweet, innocent, little shrimp quesadilla into my fitbit food log. It was 800 calories. THAT was just the damn quesadilla!!!! I had to walk the dog around the block, play tennis, ride my bike for 30 minutes and I still didn’t break even! Quesadillas just went on the same list as the truffle oil French fries!!! They are a BIG no no.

Okay, so Queenie sent out an email about New Year’s Eve at her boyfriend, Jensen’s marina. My mom and I hemmed and hawed about going and then we went. OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS! It was a little peace of heaven.

First, let me explain Jensen’s. Three brothers and they own a marina with cottages and it is like stepping back in time. It is quintessential old, Florida! They are so nice, down-to-earth and hippie-like guys!

They created a makeshift stage at the water’s edge at their marina. Let me set the stage for you. Captiva Island, which is like Sanibel on crack. It is serious hardcore island paradise. Swaying palm trees, moon glistening on the water, lawn chairs, and we are watching these country singers who wrote songs for Dolly Parton sing and strum their guitars. I am not a country singer fan, but they were good. They leave the stage and then THE TROUBLESTARTERS took the stage. They are so great! So fun! This sexy lead singer starts to sing a song. “She put her Louisiana lip lock on my Alabama porkchop!” We all howled with laughter! The crowd was such a mix of these super duper aristocratic folks, mixed with 60s hippies, true blue beach bums and we all were singing. And then I had to dance. A little girl was out there with her stuffed animal dancing and wishing for someone to dance with her and so I went to dance with her and then Queenie came out and then a little boy. I am sure my mom thought how did I give birth to a child that would get on a nearly empty dance floor and boogie like it was the end of 2013? I tried to get my mom out there but she is far too shy!

We came home and made burgers with bernaise sauce on them and then Louise, my grandma’s cook’s cauliflower recipe. Oh yummy in my tummy. We fought to stay awake. At 11:45p.m., we drove down to the beach and walked to the water’s edge and watched the time till midnight tick away on my Mom’s iPhone. We kissed each other and then the dog! It was Dulce’s first New Year’s with us! I think she liked it!

Birgie decided to throw a New Year’s Day party on the Causeway (bridge to Sanibel) at “the crack of noon.” Love it. Crack of noon! We sat in chairs near the water’s edge sipping mimosas and nibbling on cabbage salad for good luck!

I went home and napped. Yes, I nap down here. I went out for my ritualistic sunset beach walk. I went to the next party. My friends’ Arla and George do a New Year’s party every year on New Year’s Day. She makes three different kinds of soup, gets a big ham for ham sandwiches and the room is filled with ALL of us Beachview tennis players. It is great fun! I love my tennis buddies!

At the party, this lovely woman named Anne asked me to hit with her for 30 minutes on Friday. She is a nice player. I said yes. Remember this for later in my blog.

Being a foodie and a Frenchie, my mom was so excited to take me to a French restaurant in Ft. Myers called Blue Windows. We ordered a bunch of food and shared it all. You know how sharing goes with my mom aka Skin and Bones. She eats two bites, gets stuffed and I clean the plate. First, we ordered Vichyssoise, which is a cream based soup of potatoes, leeks that is chilled and served with chives on top. It was yummy. Then I ordered frog legs, because I had the MOST amazing frog legs in Paris. The place was called Apicius. It was in an old elegant home (aka former private mansion) off the Champs Elysee. My memory is that they served me a bucket albeit a fancy bucket FULL of frog legs and they melted in my mouth they were so good! Now, these were not as good, but it is hard to keep up with the likes of chef Jean-Pierre Vigato in Paris! So, I wasn’t crazy about the frog legs. I was crazy about the green salad with duck breast on it. The duck was divine! Then we split a veal in Calvados sauce. It was good. I didn’t love it the way I hoped I would, but it was good. We decided against dessert. I was a little sad to not try the dark chocolate lava cake. That sounds like something I would have loved till 3am when the caffeine in the chocolate cake would have kept me awake.

My mom and I are driving home and Skin and Bones suggests we try a famous Ft. Myers ice cream institution. We stop at this little joint called The Loveboat on San Carlos. We were worried it would be closed. It wasn’t. It was packed! There must have been a little more than thirty people in a space the size of the upper deck of a double-decker bus.  There were a multitude of flavors. I kept wondering how good could it really be? My mom is a little (READ: A LOT) obsessed with salted caramel things. We ordered salted caramel bacon with bits of bacon in it. The salted caramel was delicious. The bacon was initially off putting but it grew on me. I would have been fine without it. We ordered a small. It was HUMUNGOUS! It was so dang gone good! We still have some leftover in the fridge. I would have finished it by now. Skin and Bones is still working on it.

We were driving home from Loveboat and a cop started to follow me. I said to my mom, “I hope he doesn’t pull me over for overeating and under the influence of salted caramel bacon ice cream!” I can see it now! Ma’am, you are driving erratically!” Well, I was trying to shove spoonfuls office cream in my mouth while driving!” “Ma’am, Have you had too much…”

“I couldn’t stop! The ice cream was too good! I know…I have a problem…”

My friend Annie invited me to a group that I thought she called CLUSTERS, but it is really called Questers, but they aren’t an official Questers group. It is a small group of gals that get together to talk about antiques. She thought as an antique collector and growing up going antiquing, I would love to go! Her friend Carol was talking about Scrimshaw. She is a Cape Coder and she and her hubby collect it. She talked about the history of it, and how and why they made it. It was really interesting. Her home was spectacular. It had great spaces, great trinkets, great details,  and great collections. It is a real hidden gem on the island. In addition to antique talk, we just sat and talked. They meet monthly. Each month, a person talks about something they are passionate about and tell a little about it. They invited me back and I enjoyed it so much that I would definitely go!

So, this nice gal, Anne, another Cape Cod gal asked me to play tennis the other night at the New Year’s party. She just wanted someone to hit with her for 30 minutes, because she wants to get ready for a match this week. I say this ONLY for what I will say that follows. I think Anne is in her 80s and if I am wrong, a thousand apologies to her. She is in PHENOMENAL shape! We played for almost an hour and a half, and she didn’t break a sweat. She was worried about stamina and I needed an I-V, a shot of Gatorade, and a nap! I finally told her she wore me out and I needed to stop. I was sore, tired, but deliriously happy. I could tell she was bummed to stop, but the woman wore me out. I hope I have half of her stamina at some point in my life!

I have seen so much football in the last few weeks. I can’t tell you how much football I have seen. I watched the Colts pull out a win to Kansas City. We watched the Saints pull out a win to Eagles. We watched the Rose Bowl, we watched the Orange Bowl. We watched the Bengals lose in their first playoff game and they have not won a playoff game since 1990! And after all of that my mom looked at me and sadly said, “Do you not love football, because I made you watch so much as a child?” I like football. I like when it is good. I just rather watch a trashy movie! What can I say? THAT is where I am a girly girl.

The girly girl and foodie in me was thrilled when my mom said, “Wanna go to Bay House down in Naples for Sunday brunch?” My answer was….well, not publishable…it was a big, fat YES! Their food is so yummy. The ambiance is not bad either. They face a river, the chef is yummy. I mean he cooks yummy. I don’t think he is yummy personally, but if he can cook like that…maybe he is! My mom ordered an Irish breakfast that was served in a Creuset-like baking dish. She had stewed tomatoes, ham, the most amazing boxty-like potatoes with a fried egg on top, and then blood sausage. My mother is over the moon about blood sausage. I really liked it when I tried it in Ireland till I knew what it was and haven’t eaten it since! Oh well. Now, I had something called a Sea BLT. It consisted of lobster, shrimp, crab tossed with corn and bacon and a smoked bacon vinaigrette it was all sitting on top of a fried green tomato and a bed of arugula. It was so yummy and pretty. Here’s a pic of my breakfast and then my mom’s.

Sea BLT

And here is my view from our table….

I had to change my grip on my tennis racket. It was falling apart and it was time to be changed. I tossed the old one in my bathroom trash and a little later I couldn’t find my 4-legged sister. She was in my bathroom chewing on my tennis grip. I went to take it from her and she ran out the door with the long grip dragging out of her mouth. She looked like she was in the Chinese New Year parade and she was dragging silk that was flowing from her mouth and blowing in the wind.

Today, I went back to the court to play some tennis with Anne, a gal named Connie from Sioux Falls, North Dakota and a gal named Lynn from Annapolis. Connie said it was -60 back home. She had to be thrilled to be here. Lynn was a hoot and such a fun and easy tennis partner. You’ll love this…when people hit a shot and you aren’t sure if it is going to go long..I said how do you know? She said, “If it is titty high, let it fly by!” She had another one, but I can’t remember it. We all had a ball. It took us an hour to play one set and it ended in a tie-breaker. We were so well partnered, we played the same teams for the second set.

I LOVE playing tennis!

Tonight, my mom and I went to Schnappers for carry-out hotdogs and French fries. It is this amazing hotdog joint on the island with killer hotdogs and even better French fries. We took Dulce for the ride. When we got home with the food, Dulce was practically in our laps to get a taste. Of course, we bought a dog for her too, and my mom says I spoil her?

Okay, I do, but I can’t resist.

Well, back to the end of the Florida State v. Auburn game. Go Auburn!!! I cannot believe FSU pulled that one out! I know they were supposed to, but I was hoping they wouldn’t! Sorry Temple & Seth! Seth, you lucky dog being there! Fun game! I can’t believe FSU did to Auburn went Auburn did to Bama!

Until we meet again…..

Enjoy! Eat, travel, laugh…often….

Arla, Tennis, A Capp, Luminaries, My Love, and the Golf Cart Parade

I have this friend named Arla and her hubby George. They are from Connecticut, but to me she has a thick New York accent. We play tennis together. She is a nut! She tells it like it is and at first (many years ago) I was a little off-put by it, now I just love her! She cracks me up! She is extremely talented. She has this fun bright colored house and she is a good cook.

She had my mom and I over for dinner and this really nice couple name Janet and Wayne. Janet and I play tennis together as well. Janet & Wayne are from Nova Scotia. One of the first times I played tennis with them, a friend, Michael and I were looking for someone to play doubles with us and we found them. They kicked are butts. I was SO thrown by how good they were. Michael and I still talk about it till this day. You just never know what people have up their sleeves.

So, Arla made a big pot of turkey chili with a variety of toppings that included green onions, cheddar cheese and sour cream. She made a side salad that was really yummy. I still don’t know what was in it, but the dressing was yummy. Dessert was AWE-SOME….she made dark chocolate brownies using Ina Garten from Barefoot Contessa’s recipe. I have the recipe at home and have never tried it, I am so picky about brownies. I love these Fat Witch brownies that I used to buy at Chelsea Market down in Chelsea in NY, but never find ones that compare. THESE did! Then she had a black walnut ice cream. I have never heard of it. It sounded awful and it was delicious!

Then, you will love this….a group of ladies, other tennis gals pulled into crazy, wacky, fun Arla’s driveway blaring music, honking the horn like a bunch of teenagers! They are all at least 60! Just goes to show that age is ONLY a number!

At Arla & George’s dinner,  Wayne asked if we would be interested in attending the tennis dinner the following night at SANDBAR. We said yes.

Okay, I had coconut shrimp and fried plantains with a dark chocolate and raspberry sauce drizzled over it. It was so yummy.

I went up to the manager and told him so. I showed him my now healed leg since he was the manager that NAGGED me to go to the doc! And I told him how good the food was! He said he STILL hasn’t read the blog, but he will. Hope he reads how yummy that dish is! Who would have ever thought to put chocolate on shrimp? I just love that sweet and salt flavor at the same time. It sends my taste buds into their happy place.

Next day, we went out for blood and breakfast. My mom had to give blood and then we went to the Sanibel Deli for breakfast. I had a fried egg that SHOULD have been runny, but wasn’t, because I forgot to ask. It came  with sausage and cheese on a croissant. It was good. The capp left little to be desired.

Here is the funny thing and again demonstrating how small this island really is. When my mom was giving blood. A man came out of the office and immediately lit a cigarette and stood by his truck to smoke it and read a NEW YORK POST. I got out of the car and walked with the dog to a nearby shop to get away from the smoke.

Guess who sat next to me at the breakfast joint? You got it! Mr. I need a smoke! And it was outside eating so he lit up again. I could escape him once, but not twice!

We took Dulce to visit Patty the Vet. I used to go with my mom to the vet as a child. Loved it. I thought I wanted to be a vet except that I suck at math, okay at science and I can’t deal with animal death. But everytime I go in a vet’s office, which now is ONLY Coral Vet on Sanibel and Patty rocks! I think…did I miss my calling? Then I ask myself, could I put a dog down if I had to, and I get my answer.

Sanibel Luminaries is put on by the Kiawanis Club. All the members go around and deliver the brown bags filled with sand and a candle and then a different group in the organization goes around to light them. They extend from one end of Periwinkle Way to the other end and it is so pretty. Shops, restaurants are all open and the shops serve snacks. My mom always thinks that will constitute a meal. Three cubes of cheese, two of ham, and four carrot sticks is not a meal.

I was lucky enough to be allowed to set up in front of The Island Cow. There were two potters there, a scarf maker and I, the writer. The night started slow for me. I witnessed a four-year old child walk up to the guy next to me and tell his mom he liked the pottery and point and pick up what he liked. (personally, I would have killed my child if he/she did that!) I silently laughed to myself because the child was walking around the table saying I like this, this is my favorite, and the mom bought all the pieces he picked. Butter my biscuit and call me Sunshine. I would not have believed it if I hadn’t seen it.

Finally, the books began to sell. A man looked at BRAND MY ASS and then at me. He said is it scandalous? I said yes. Not 50 Shades, but it has some fun! He asked all about it and I told him and then added, “I never tell people, but the main character Belle is a serious foodie. A friend joked if I could write as well about sex as I do food…the money I could make.” He said, “I am a retired chef. I will take it.”

I had another gal come up to me and she said, “I hear you have a book on divorce that will help kids. I came to get that!” I sold her a copy of TURNAROUND KIDS

TURNAROUND KIDS made me a little nervous after I wrote and published it. I may have said this before, but I was not sure how it would hit people. However, a dear, dear friend Ellen read it and she said she thought it was great and it hit all the key points and had great ideas for kids and parents, so it gave me a little more confidence I was on the mark. My dear friend, Jennie’s daughter, read it and said it was spot on, so I know I hit the kid market, I wasn’t sure about hitting the parent market, but now I feel like I did.

My little love, my sweet, sweet girl, my favorite and only four-legged sister came running onto my bed the other morning to greet me and she PLUNGED into my face and now I think I have a hematoma under my eye. Does this mean I can’t exercise my eye for a month? I am totally kidding here. I don’t think it is a hematoma, but it looks like someone punched or scratched me in the eye.

I am so bummed no one has asked me about it. I want to say I fought with my mom for a pint of Queenie’s ice cream, and it got physical and she beat me for it. But no one has asked. I forgot to tell Queenie that when I saw her at the Farmer’s Market on Sunday. She would have loved it!!!

Okay, we went to the Golf Cart Parade up on Captiva. People were so clever and creative. They went down the main drag in Captiva…okay the only drag in Captiva and people had decorated them SO well. It was awesome! Highly recommend it.  If the pics look okay and I can figure out how to add more than one, I will include them in the post.

and finally Santa and Mrs. Claus……

Monday I went to play tennis with my Beachview girls. I was so excited! I arrived at the courts and stepped out of the car to see the man who sat beside me on the trolley shuttle ride to the Tweenies Christmas lighting the week before. He had moved here from Arkansas and reminded me of a sexy Vet back in Cincy. Small, small world.

Tennis was so great! I had to be there at 8am, that didn’t matter, every two games we switched sides and the one side we were all blinded by the light. That didn’t matter. I was just happy to be on a court and not have an injured leg. Yippee!!!

Well, I hear it is I HATE Florida day(s) up North, because Florida is the only state that isn’t freezing it’s tush off. I feel CRAZY lucky to be here!!!! So, on that note, I need to go take a swim before I meet Sylvie, Ellen and their dogs: Rala, Rumo, Winnie, Cookie, Sadie, Tess and Bella with my sister Dulce on the beach!

Okay, we came home from the beach and I started to work on another version of my Peri the Pelican™ prototype and I look across the floor and there is a CLEAN pair of my green shorts crumpled into a ball on the floor. I pick them up and there are holes near the pocket. I reach my hand into the pocket and there is another hole the size of baseball in the bottom. I must have left a treat in there and it went through the wash (how scary it survived) and I had folded them and they were sitting on my bed waiting to go in a drawer.  The aroma from the treat must have been too powerful for Dulce to resist. So, I go to find her and she is sitting in front of the coffee table with an UNWRAPPED tampon in her mouth. Just a plastic tampon hanging out the side of her mouth like she is smoking a Cuban cigar. And you know what? I STILL love this nutty dog!

Until we meet again…..

Enjoy! Eat, travel, laugh…often….