Author: ginnyinshanghai

After work on Saturday I drove up to Ponte Vedra to have a long weekend with Karen – primarily to make jewelry.  The following week is the boys spring break and Rich & Connor drove down to The Keys for a Boy Scout scuba trip.  Hunter is staying with Karen.  Since I came up on Saturday evening, I got to see them before they left early (really early!) sunday morning.

Supper Saturday night was pepperoni pizza from Jonas.  Its one of two places they pick it up from and both places are good, but this one is closer.  🙂

While both of the boys were playing their favorite video games, Connor spent some quality time with me after eating supper, before we all headed to bed.  I was bushed.  For some reason, the previous night I woke up in the middle of the night and kept tossing and turning – thus losing sleep.  Connor was trying to explain his game (and it looked interesting), but my eyes kept closing.  I went upstairs to bed before 10 pm.  That night was the time change and I ended up sleeping over 9 hours.  I didn’t even hear Rich and Connor leave.

Rich has a Keurig coffee machine and I’ve been bringing up some Community Coffee K-cups so I don’t feel so guilty drinking multiple cups.  I like the convenience of K-cups, but they don’t give you the chance to make a stronger cup of coffee.  Unfortunately Community doesn’t have a coffee cup with chicory, but I’ll survive.  We’re taking it easy sunday morning and had lunch at Newks (my request).  Its a nice local restaurant that has sandwiches, soups and salads, but one of the sides is a portion of mac & cheese – delicious.  Hunter wasn’t exactly thrilled to be going, but he made do and was able to find something to eat.

We stopped at Publix on the way home to pick up a few ingredients for supper.  The last several weeks at home on Sundays……….I’ve been cooking. I told Eric that’s our new tradition.  He meets with his friends on sunday afternoons and they usually share food amongst themselves at their local hangout (Vineyards of the World) in downtown Clermont.  One of those weekends I made the most amazing lasagna. Eric doesn’t really like lasagna so he’s never cooked it for us at home.  I found a recipe using a small cast iron skillet and it was a perfect size for me and Beverly, and maybe some leftovers for work.  It was delicious!!!!  Even Eric said so.  🙂  He had a small taste when he got home.    I looked at several recipes and made a dish that suited my tastes.  So, when I knew I was going up to Ponte Vedra, I asked Karen if she would mind me making it again – she didn’t.  🙂  She made some garlic bread and we had a nice meal.  Hunter had leftover pizza – he was happy.

We did some preliminary work with jewelry on Sunday.  I brought things that I had made on earlier visits and really didn’t like and had not worn them.  I took them apart and incorporated some of the beads in new earrings.  I had also bought some beads and accessories on-line and at Michaels, so it was show & tell with Karen.  I need to keep better track of what I’ve got and purchase things that complement each other.

After dinner we watched a movie on Netflix – Enchanted.  It was a cute (Disney) movie and had a lot of hidden nuances and took shots at Disney.  I probably didn’t catch half of them, but it was nice and light-hearted.

Monday we got down to work with making jewelry.  I call Karen’s upstairs the ‘room of creativity’.  While I usually come home with a variety of pieces made (all earrings thus far). Karen spends more time helping me finish things and find ‘just the right bead’ for the earrings I’m making, she doesn’t get a lot of time to focus on her own things.  Below are some recent earrings made at Karen’s.

There are 8 pairs of earrings on the frame that I didn’t make, but they are some of the ones I wear frequently so I put them with the others to keep everything within easy reach.

Lunch on Monday was just Karen and I and we drove to a place that specializes in biscuits.  It was too much food!  The fried green tomatoes sounded good so I got them and it was enough to share amongst a family.  My biscuit sandwich had bacon and fried chicken.  It was big and tall and much too hard to pick up – had to use a fork to deconstruct it just to eat it.  We’ll be back again.

  

They had a dessert biscuit with raisons and icing.  I was too full to order one but Karen let me take a bite of hers.

It seemed so easy to take photos while I was in Shanghai but I have gotten out of the habit.  There were several places in this posting that I wanted a photo and didn’t take one to include.  However,  I can’t believe I was able to get Karen in a photo outside of the biscuit restaurant “Maple Street Biscuit Company”.  She is usually very elusive.

While at the restaurant, we met their vivacious manager in training and turns out that she was on the College Program at Disney last Fall.  In between customers she stopped by our table and shared her CP experiences.

I stayed until Tuesday afternoon.  We finished a few jewelry pieces that morning then drove over near their Publix to a place called ‘The Loop’ for burgers and fries.  AFterwards I packed up the truck to drive home.  I like to beat the rush hour traffic in Orlando and the goal is to be on the road from Ponte Vedra by 2pm.

Before my 6 months in Shanghai, I visited Karen’s by myself at least once and upon returning made several visits in last Fall.  I’ve got to keep planning these trips.  I think it’s good for both of us and I’m just sorry it took me 8+ years to figure that out.  We’re trying to plan jewelry weekends every two months or so.

Got a call from Dennis and their family is coming down for the week to spend time with Ansley’s parents.  Since we live so far apart, we try to see them whenever they come to Florida – even if it is only for a day.  Eric found us a place to stay Saturday afternoon and we drove over on Sunday.

We have stayed in this area before, specifically at this hotel  “Hyde Park Hotel”.  It is a boutique hotel in a very ‘happening’ part of Tampa.

They have mostly finished a re-model and this room was very similar to the first room we stayed in.  On another visit, another room we stayed in had furniture that looked like it had been picked up at garage sales and hand-me-downs.  This room was much nicer than our last.

 

 

 

Reservations were at ‘Roux’, a restaurant specializing in New Orleans style cooking, with a modern twist.  They sat us at a round table and it was perfect for talking and visiting with them.  While this meal didn’t last as long as our meal in France (Warner was timing it), we leisurely enjoyed our time.

There were a variety of dishes, all very tasty.  Below you have char-grilled oysters, crab beignets along with a cup of seafood gumbo.  For my meal I ordered the shrimp po-boy and it did not disappoint.  I also had the gumbo and it wasn’t bad.  Gumbo is my favorite thing that Eric makes and everything else pales by comparison.  There was much more food, but tried to keep my photo-taking low-key.

   

Naturally we had to have desserts.  Eric ordered  crème brulee,while I got the bread pudding (which has become a fan-favorite with me).  This was good, but Eric’s is better.  It was huge.  Audrey and I could have split one!

  

Monday is President’s Day and many kids are out of school along with numerous government offices that are closed.  The weather was absolutely beautiful – actually, almost too hot, especially for February.  It would have been a great day to take the boat on the water with the kids, but we didn’t know any hotel where we could park it.  Plus, Eric has been meaning to wash it since its sitting in our driveway, but hasn’t found the time.

To enjoy the fine weather, we drove to Wheedon Island Preserve.  We were following Dennis and enjoyed a few extra miles of scenic driving before getting on track.

There is a boardwalk through the mangroves and shallow waterways for kayakers.

Audrey did a little exploring of her own and found a quiet overlook to enjoy.

They have an observation tower which gives you a great view of the preserve.

Before leaving them to head back to Clermont, we made lunch plans.  Since no one had any definite suggestions, I brought up “U Le Le”,  a place we had eaten together before I left for Shanghai.

The meal was good, we had too much food but enjoyed the time spent together while they were visiting in Tampa.   The restaurant focuses on freshly prepared entres, locally sourced when possible.  The group tried another tray of char-grilled oysters, along with okra fries.  Eric also got an avocado soup that was interesting.

       

Eric and I both ordered sandwiches, his being a grouper sandwich while I ordered a burger.  Both were tasty.

       

Once again, we ended up with desserts.  Andrey and I both got their strawberry & orero ice cream while Warner couldn’t resist the bacon, maple ice cream dessert.  Somehow, I just can’t do it.  To my way of thinking……..bacon isn’t an ingredient for sweets.

   

One of the highlights of our trip was a bag of fresh produce from the Darden Garden that we brought for them.  We try to share things that are home-made or somehow ‘local’ and this definitely qualified.  While the kids weren’t totally enthused (really….. veggies as gifts), I don’t believe I’ve ever seen Ansley so excited.  🙂

We were able to include carrots, cabbage, peas, green beans, swiss chard and a few leaves of spinach.   They belong to a CSA in NYC and their veggies have been brought in their luggage/carry-ons on past trips together with us.  There is a story about a chocolate beet cake………

While it was a short trip, we always enjoy our time together and wish we were closer.  We will have to plan a future trip to NYC!

 

 

 

I can’t believe I let Eric talk me into going to Lexington, KY in February.  It’s cold!  We arrived Friday night after working and the temp at 11:30 pm was 19 degrees.  At least it wasn’t windy.  We shared some pretzels and cheese (Outback Restaurant) at the Orlando airport before our layover in Atlanta.  Eric also got a salad at Outback and I nibbled on it.  We had planned on getting a taxi from the airport to Mary’s since we were coming in so late, but the weather was decent, so she came to pick us up.  Flights were good and our bag arrived with us.

Mary fixed us a big breakfast Saturday morning:  eggs, bacon, grits and biscuits w/ honey.  We’re trying to only eat 2 meals on our weekends and that’s our plan for this trip.  We’re not starting out on a good foot.  The best way to make that plan work is to eat a late breakfast.  This morning we were eating at 9am – but it was good.  Plans for Saturday are to do some shopping.  I’m looking for a grey pencil skirt.  Never had a grey skirt and didn’t have one made while I was in Shanghai.  While I didn’t find a skirt, I did come home with 2 pairs of Clark shoes.  Right before we left home my favorite pair of shoes that I wear around the house fell apart.  Now I have a replacement.    We hadn’t planned on eating lunch but Alice needed a snack so we went into a pizza place and got bread sticks and a greek salad to share.

Dinner is at a new Lexington place called Grillfish.  Alice and Bob hadn’t been there but had heard good reviews.  We got there early and had a drink until Bob joined us.

I got a pink lemonade martini and Eric ordered a ‘sidecar’ (brandy & cointreau).  Alice was drinking a Kir Royale to get her in the mood for our France trip this fall.  Mary had water.   Four of us ordered seafood, but Eric ordered steak au poirve – go figure.  He started out with New England clam chowder and got his seafood fix with that.  I got shrimp picatta over linguine and it was good.  This is something that Eric can make at home, and hopefully will.

        

Lexington is developing some of their warehouse industrial districts and they are the new ‘in’ place to go.  They are calling it the ‘Distillery District’.  We drove past it later during the day and it’s going to be quite the place to go when it is finished.  Alice took us to the ‘Crank & Boom’ ice cream shop for dessert.  Parking was quite the challenge, but we found a spot.  There was a line, but at least we were inside the building.  ‘Crank’ refers to the making the ice cream, while the ‘Boom’ refers to alcohol – either as an ingredient or an addition to whatever creation you ordered.  I got their sundae special which sounded great but didn’t quite add up to their hype.  It was too sweet,too chocolately and too gooey.  I should have stayed with something simple, like their ice cream in a waffle cone.  They had some interesting flavors.

Once we got back to Mary’s house, Eric got sleepy around 9pm and went to bed.  Mary got sleepy and went to bed 15 minutes later.  I was up until 10pm before finally giving it up.

For breakfast on sunday, we’re meeting Alice & Bob at the ‘Coffee Pub’.  I’m not sure that Mary was thrilled to eat there, especially once we were told it would be a 45 minute wait.  It was a fairly traditional breakfast menu.  I ordered a Belgium waffle w/ bacon and Eric got a Hash skillet breakfast.

  

We’re trying to stick with our 2-meal plan, but had to snack on some goodies before dinner tonight.  Beer cheese spread (a local favorite) with a soft pretzel or crackers, accompanied by a variety of nuts kept the hunger pains away.

Tonight the supper was at a tapas bar:

We were the first ones to arrive and actually the door was still locked.  It gave us some time to take a few photos.

Since we pretty much had the place to ourselves, we paced our meal, starting with drinks. Left to right:  Kir Royale (Alice) Wellers 12 year Bourbon (Eric), Bourbon & Coke(Bob), Sangria (Ginny).

Next came the cheese & meat course.  The top plate had Serrano ham & artisan gouda cheese.  Bottom plate was a fine goat cheese and cured salmon.  Walnuts, apricot jam and cornichons accompanied the offering.

There were a variety of plates for the main part of the meal.  I ordered beef tenderloin with a green peppercorn sauce, topped with pickled peppers.  Middle photo was chorizo puffs and crab cakes.  Last photo was potato bravos and quinoa salad.

The most unremarkable part of the night was desserts.  Upper left was chocolate covered figs, on the right was a cardamom flan and at the bottom was bread pudding.

Monday morning, Eric planned on meeting his former college professor, Dr. Grabau at 8am sharp.  I stayed home and enjoyed my coffee  🙂  When he got back, he said we had lunch plans……..with Dr. Grabau.  We picked him up at 11:30am and he directed us to a Korean restaurant near campus.  Dr. Grabau was one of two people responsible for Eric and I meeting.  The other one was a Disney campus recruiter.  I had talked to him on the phone years ago, but never met him in person.  He had also spent a little time in China, taking some college students on a 3 week trip, so we had numerous topics to discuss.

Monday night dinner is at home.  Eric and Mary are doing the cooking and everyone liked Alice’s suggestion of weiner schnitzel with brown gravy, mashed potatoes and red cabbage.  We spent the afternoon going to several grocery stores to pick up the necessary items.  Stopping at Good Foods Coop gave Eric the chance to pick up KY grown pork.  That evening he said the local pork was a huge contributor to the awesome taste of the meat (along with the Chef).  We also had to stop at Kroger for some basic ingredients.  Even I have to say the meal was one of Eric’s best.

While our last day in KY was filled with rain, it didn’t stop us from sight-seeing and having lunch.  KY is known for their horses and have horse sculptures spread around the city.

Before leaving for the airport, we had lunch at ‘Crust’.  We ate there on our last visit and it was a request by me.  We ordered too much food (starting to be the norm) but enjoyed every morsel.  Bread sticks come out as part of their normal service and while they don’t look like much, I could make a meal out of them alone.  They look burnt, but are not.  They have tasty bits of goodness on the crust.

A favorite appetizer lately has been a meat & cheese plate and was ordered today.

We all ordered pizzas and they were delicious.

We took one last photo of our visit to Lexington, KY.

We knew we were getting in late Tuesday night, but had a minor blip before leaving KY.  We had boarded the plane for Atlanta, the door and gate was closed when the pilot made an announcement.  Due to bad weather in Atlanta, they had been advised to not take off for an hour, pending weather.  They let us get off the plane and wait in the terminal.  We did leave an hour later and upon arrival did a short ‘OJ Sprint’ through the Atlanta terminal.  We didn’t miss our plane to Orlando, but everyone was lining up to board our next flight.

We made it home safe and sound.  Got our bags, piled into the truck and drove home.  Another storm was on the horizon coming from the Gulf, but it hit Clermont after we were in bed.  We had a nice visit and trip – which reinforced while we live in Florida and not further north.

So we went up there with 1 checked bag and came back with 2.  Eric wanted to bring back another country ham and some local grits and this was the best option.  This way, Eric also got to buy another piece of light-weight luggage for future trips.

 

One of our favorite places to visit in Florida is SGI. Eric thinks we have been going there for over 20 years.  The majority of the time we are meeting friends or family.  A few times it has been just the two of us and that’s always a fun trip – a bit different but memorable times.  We rent houses that we could never afford to build but get to pretend for a week at a time.  There’s still nothing on the island, except for a few restaurants that somehow make it and at least one grocery store.  That used to be a small market but then a huge monstrosity was built and ruined (in my opinion) the landscape.  Recently the corner gas station has become a Piggly Wiggly Express and we go there first for things we need.  This trip we’re meeting the Gephardts for a week of fun and fishing.

Our method of fishing has changed significantly with the purchase of our boat.  We never use our kayaks which was my first exposure to fishing.  I miss the physical aspect of the kayak but our horizons have definitely expanded when you have boat power.  So yes, on top of the truck cab is our kayaks, hopefully we will use them on this trip.

The rental house is Saturday to Saturday.  It’s called Bay Haven and has a dock for the boat and access from the bay.  It’s a little older than the house we typically rent, but it has a swimming pool and that’s important for the kids, Warner & Audrey.

Upon arrival, everything is brought inside with  groceries being carried up to the second floor with the kitchen and our packed clothes in the first floor bedroom.  Dennis and the family arrives within an hour. One of Ansley’s sister is joining us for a few days.  The boat is launched at a fairly new boat ramp just as you drive onto the island.  Eric drives the boat to our house and I bring back the trailer.  The first night’s dinner is usually pasta since there’s not much time for actual fishing the day we arrive.  However, the next morning is a different story.  Once all the fishing rods, sun protection, life vests  and other assorted accoutrements are put on the boat, we head out.

The first order of business is to drop two pin fish traps into the bay.  After a few days of trial and error, we found some good locations to trap bait fish and not catfish.  It was always a surprise what we would find in the trap.  For the pin fish traps, we put a small, barely noticeable float on the trap so others couldn’t find it…and we occasionally had trouble.  Even though Eric marked it with his GPS (so he says) tides or storms moved the trap.  One day one trap was never found.  However by the end of the week both were located.

One morning we caught a plethora of small jelly fish and it was a slimy mess.  Some catfish always ended up in the trap and were throw back into the bay.  Most times we did get some small baitfish we could use for fishing.  We also had two crab traps were placed in our canal off of the bay.  Of course if you’re going to have a trap, you need a float that identifies the owner.  Eric asked Audrey to write on our floats and you can see what is popular these days.

Most days also included a trip to the beach.  We were able to walk from our place and find a path for beach acces.  Some times fishing gear was brought along, but was never a huge success.  Couldn’t pass up a chance to shoot a selfie with the storm clouds in the background.

Fishing was good.  Most days we caught enough for our dinner.  Lunch was usually an individual affair either going into Apalach or fixing something at home.

Both kids enjoyed the fishing with Audrey becoming quite competitive and focused.  Warner enjoyed being on the water and fishing when everyone else was catching things.

This trip had  several experiences of ‘running and gunning’.  Pods of mackeral fish were in the bay and when we saw diving birds we gunned the boat, cast into the fray and held on!  No pictures of the action since everyone was busy catching the fish.  We got one  photo of macks once we got back to the rental.

The fish was so fresh, one night we had sushi bowls with the fresh mackerel. 

Boy, our culinary experiences are a big departure from the first decade of cooking.  Those were fairly traditional meals with fried seafood, steaks and occasionally chicken.  Who would have guessed that I would be eating sushi and now able to use chopsticks!

It was Dennis that introduced us to SGI, many years ago staying at Stargazer.  We have had multiple trips to the island, at times making 3 trips in one year.  It is a special place.  Both of our families have made at least one trip to join us on the island.

 Also who could have guessed that two friends growing up in North Little Rock, AR would continue their friendship throughout the years and walk along the beach in Florida.

Always have a tradition of everyone going to the beach on our last evening and taking a beach photo.  This year was no different.

Can’t wait until our next trip!

 

Since the Shanghai blog site was created, it has been a great place to keep everything stored while also allowing me to streamline our photos.  While I always enjoyed carrying a journal when we go places, using the laptop is convenient, but most importantly, I can add photos which you can’t really do (easily) with the journal.

The first several months of being back in the states, we got on the water whenever the weather cooperated.  We took the boat to Crystal River (fishing and scalloping/Eric) my first weekend back.  While no fish were caught, seeing blue skies, blue water and a gentle breeze on the Gulf was a great welcome home. Eric had much better luck snorkeling for the scallops.

 

       

Next weekend we drove to Jacksonville to see The Wrays……..and fish.  I  hadn’t seen the boys since last Christmas.  They definitely have grown and are becoming typical teenagers.  Fishing was not productive for me on this trip. I only caught a small flounder.  Eric got several seatrout which were eaten later.  Connor was the only godson that could be convinced to fish on this trip.

August saw us going back to Crystal River before the scalloping season ended.  Rich and the boys drove down to our place the night before.  We stayed at The Plantation at Crystal River.  They have a retaining wall with boat cleats and we always get a room that faces the water and boat.  To fish in the Gulf, we have to motor down the river.  Me and Connor hang out on the front of the boat, looking for manatees.  Several areas are a no-wake zone and we have to putter along.  One advantage with staying at The Plantation is that there are fresh water springs.  This way the engine gets flushed with fresh water when we return.

While some scallops were found, the fishing was more productive.  We all caught something to bring home.