Good Grief - Where are the other 30 Guests

Maybe there is some deep genetic coding that is involved. But it seems that I am totally incapable of preparing food for a group without making twice as much quantity than is really needed. Case in point.

I decided to invite three couples from a business networking group I run to dinner. I rarely do this type of thing. Most of the time, we entertain just for a small number of people that we know well. I wanted to do tapas which is Spanish. It's basically really, really great bar food and there are literally hundreds of variations from every food type and preparation you can imagine.

Somehow I roped Wife into being a full co-collaborator into this project. With both of us working on the menu decisions, shopping, cooking, etc. It was much easier plus our mutual strengths really compliment each other.

Long story short we had so much food. In a tapas dinner we like to bring out one dish after another. By the time we were into our fourth and fifth rounds our guest (who I am keeping anonymous as they are business folk) were looking at us in utter terror - especially when they began to realize that we were only half way in!

The menus was:

• 3 types of olives
• 2 kinds of cheese
• Cured Spanish ham
• Chorizo dry cured sausage
• Barcelona style rice saland
• Marinated fish fillets
• Shrimp tartlettes
• Shrimp pancakes
• Deep fried cheese cubes with shallot, parsley sauce
• Chicken & cured ham croquettas (tiny deep fried balls)
• Chicken wings in garlic sauce
• Pork riblets in Spanish paprika sauce
• Garlic shrimp
• And for desert - a rolled cake with fresh rhubarb filling

Lots of wine naturally

To their credit, they really chowed down but I was still able to send three quart ziplock bags with Wife on to the Chicago children today and I will not have to cook until she gets back on Thursday.

For an idea of the quantity of food, the second picture was taken once everyone had pretty much stopped eating.

An attempt at learning is taking place. We have in fact made notes about limits to the number of dishes and the quantity in each dish and put it into our tapas cookbook.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Oh how the mighty have fallen. I, who for years have ranted against hiking in the winter because of the cold and especially the dangers of the slippery ice and snow have been brought low, worn down by the persistent Gaius Derf.

It started last weekend when I discovered that it really was very pretty and that I had cloths that would really keep me warm. The final nail in the coffin came this weekend when Wife bought me a pair of Yak-Trax, a device for maintaining traction that the Derf swears by.

So off we went up the La Luz trail on Saturday right after a a snow fall on Friday.

Gaius Derf sure looks happy. Not sure if it is the wonderful day or the victory of the recalcitrant de-I

Making my way sure-footedly in the snow. The Yak-Trax are amazing!
Notice my toasty coat too.

Yak-Trax in use

It was 38 degrees, calm and blue skied but there was a heavy fog over the Rio Grande River

What the hey!
Stripping on the trail!

"What are you lookin' at buddy"
"You pervert"

Snow capped Sandia Peak

2.5 miles up
Snow about 10 inches deep
Not a slip practically on the whole hike

One of Those Weeks

I'm doing a 4.5 day road trip in California this week where every night I'm in a different hotel and spending lots of time in autos driving around. My body definitely does not like this. :(

Respectful Snow

I have been amazed most of my life at how disrespectful snow is. Snow does give two hoots about where it falls and what it does to your life...except in Albuquerque. We have very respectful snow. It understands that we have lives and while we may want to enjoy some white beauty, the benefits of a snow pack to replenish our water supply, or enjoy some winter sports; we don't want to shovel our driveways, slip and slide on the road, get our shoes wet, or miss work.

Thus most of the time it snows here (which is a respectful minimum), it pretty much sticks to the mountain and is melted off within 12-18 hours here in town. We had one of these storms which started on Friday and ended Saturday. By today Sunday, all the roads were clear, but I got to do a little hiking in freshly fallen snow.

Eight Hours

The amount of time necessary to download and delete the 14,000+ emails you have on your server since March of 2009 when said server decides that these are all 'unread' and must be sent to you before you can get today's email.

The Power of Claw

One of the secrets to good grandfathering is finding games that will keep the fiendishly focused energy unlimited grandchildren occupied for moments on end while simultaneously conserving as much of your own energy as possible. The ideal game is one that allows you to play while staying seated in one place.

Haunted tree is good one where the kids go into the enchanted forest and then are caught by the tree (they always make sure they get themselves caught) and then have to do all sorts of things (like get icky wine from their mother who told them not to go into the enchanted forest) to bribe the tree.

But best all time game ever which started with my kids and now is transferred on to the grandkids is Claw. Claw is a sentient five legged creature made from one's hand. Kids will play with Claw (their own Claw...each kid gets a Claw with its own name) forever with out your ever having to move from your seat - sweet. Even C at 11 isn't too old to want to play Claw. And J and A - well a good part of playing with Claw is getting tickled and they could that for hours too.

In Florida

Wife and I are taking a short-trip to Pass-a-Grille Florida better known by the two cities close to it Tampa and St. Petersburg. We're visiting daughter Pulisha and her clan. Unfortunately Venerable Pu has a major project at work (she's a spy), has been working major hours (like 12 hours + a day) and had to work this Saturday as well. So we're not getting to see much with her. This is leaving Tim de Buffalo trapped to the house with the three children and he looks a bit mentally deranged as a result.

We did get to catch up with Pu at the winter market (big outdoor farmers market and food stalls) in St. Petersburg yesterday during her lunch break. That was pretty cool and we got a bunch of stuff for dinner including a filet of this totally monstrous snow grouper. We also got great fruit including some awesome pineapple. Wife whipped up a pineapple upsidedown cake with granddaughter A while granddaughter C (who is now 11) helped me with dinner...and she really did help. She is capable with knife now so she can do prep work and she's not afraid of the stove so she can watch the sauteed veggies. I showed her how to make a basic white sauce and how to turn that into a cheese sauce which we used for a potato dish. Tim grilled steaks. We were finally able to enjoy everyone's company together. The younger children curled up in front of that famous children movie Jurassic Park(!!!!! - Tim's idea) while the rest of us had dinner.

Hopefully Pu will not have to go to work today as I am heading back on Monday.