Category Archives: Family

Protected: Dani Does Wicked

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

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Victoria & Albert’s Anniversary Celebration

On our 33rd anniversary we invited our friends Ron & Bev Siegel to join us at Victoria and Albert’s chef’s table. Ron and Bev just celebrated their 36th anniversary, so it was a dual celebration. Maitre d’ Israel Perez managed … Continue reading

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Colorado Fondue Company

One of our favorite casual restaurants is the independently owned Colorado Fondue Company in Casselberry. Dani started a tradition of going there on or near her birthday when she was ten, and we always take a picture with their moose.

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l’Atelier

We saved the best for last. Having been to Joel Robuchon’s l’Atelier in London, we knew it was good, but I had expected his formal restaurant, Robuchon, to be better. However I actually prefer the honest flavors of the simple … Continue reading

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Mystery Fruit

The ugly tree in the backyard has pretty flowers on it. Linda planted this cutting a few years ago, with the promise that each branch would grow a different kind of fruit. Mostly it grows dead twigs. But this branch … Continue reading

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City Fire Oven and Bar

Tonight Linda an I went to a pre-opening test run of a new restaurant by the family that created Pebbles, Harvey’s Bistro and Manuel’s. For a first night, things ran remarkably smoothly. It was fun to try some of the … Continue reading

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Crepes

Linda fixed crepes tonight, what a creative use of frozen leftovers! Spinach Souffle, curry chicken, and ratatouille. Accompanied by two different Adobe Road zinfandels that happened to arrive today, and a BV chardonnay.

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Wine Competition

This was my 20th year judging wines at the Florida State Fair International Wine Competition. There were about 1269 wines from 34 different states, with 25% coming from California. The event begins Wednesday evening, at the judges’ dinner, when we … Continue reading

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Christmas 2010

We had a lovely Christmas, leisurely opening our packages all day.  The best gifts were homemade. Dani wrapped up a LOST-themed Dharma pillow in DHARMA “Standard Wrapping Paper” that she made herself, and she also gave us a world map … Continue reading

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Christmas Eve at Victoria & Albert’s

Christmas Eve we went to Disney’s Grand Floridian for our traditional dinner at Victoria & Albert’s. We’ve gone every year for more than a decade. Here, Dani poses in the lobby in front of the jazz band. The enormous gingerbread … Continue reading

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Flight of the Cranes

Linda was up early this morning and happened to notice the sun slanting into the kitchen and lighting our cork crane diorama. She quickly grabbed this shot with my iPhone.

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Decorating the Tree

An 11-footer this year, with lots of branches, that required a run to the store for a few more boxes of ornaments.

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Gingerbread House

Dani’s annual tradition of making a gingerbread house got a bit more complicated this year, as she baked the gingerbread herself. We were all a bit skeptical of whether it would hold together for final assembly, but we shouldn’t have … Continue reading

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Flashback

Last week Linda’s wallet was stolen, which started the process of replacing her credit cards and IDs. To get a new Driver’s License you now need all kinds of documentation (never mind that you’re right there in the system, picture … Continue reading

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England, Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, New York 2010

By Land and Air and Sea And so we set out for a three week adventure, first to London, then a peculiar repositioning cruise that will take us to odd places on the way back to New York. Our morning … Continue reading

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Mission Acomplished!

Dani took her chemistry final this morning. While she was away I put up the banner Jackie made for her. She was very surprised when she arrived home to find that, and my lame excuse at cake decorating. In all … Continue reading

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Bombay Indian Grill and Merle’s #1 Barbecue

For lunch I was going to try the local JK Sweets, which is the bizarre combination of an ice cream parlor and Korean restaurant, but it looks like they’re on vacation. So I walked over to Sherman and on a … Continue reading

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The Cellar

Not much happening here today. Dani’s been reading, and I’ve been installing WordPress on my website. Once it’s up I’ll transfer all these journal entries over from the iPad. We went to Chili’s for lunch; Dani had a craving. For … Continue reading

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A Perfectly (Awful) Musical

We had a quiet day of reading. We went to Kansaku for lunch and had the salmon ceviche roll again. We also had a north shore blvd roll, which was rolled in soy paper rather then seaweed, something I never … Continue reading

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Moto

We went to Chicago for lunch, a play and dinner. Lunch was at Petterino’s, in the heart of the theatre district. It’s a lot like Sardi’s, right down to the decor. After lunch we walked across the street to see … Continue reading

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Les Nomades

Today was the hottest day so far this summer, at 93. I guess Linda brought both the rain and the heat from Florida. For lunch we walked down to Davis Street Fishmarket, which has a wide range of non-fish items. … Continue reading

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A Very Short Cruise with Linda

I rented a car. Because I wanted one with an audio jack (so I could use the TomTom nav program in the iPhone) I ended up with a Toyota Prius. It takes a bit of getting used to driving a … Continue reading

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Books by the Pound

The place that sells used books by the pound, Market Fresh Books, has opened a second location only two blocks from their original spot. The rents must be cheap on theses abandoned storefronts. I bought 12 ounces of book this … Continue reading

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Chef’s Station

We had a quiet day at home while Dani got caught up on her online chemistry study and prepped for her Monday lab. We walked over to the Celtic Knot for lunch, where I had a ploughman’s lunch, which is … Continue reading

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The Doobie Brothers and Chicago

I walked up to Windy City Garden Center on Green Bay Road. It’s basically a fenced lot with some tables of flowers. My goal was to find some flowers to put into the two planters where the seeds I planted … Continue reading

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Brussel Sprouts Are Edible. Who Knew?

I walked down to Jewel and bought their pesticide-laced bananas because they taste better than Whole Foods‘ organic ones. On the way back I spent an hour at Cafe Mozart sipping coffee and reading articles from Instapaper, including an interesting … Continue reading

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It’s Not Too Late For Curry Chicken

We hung out today, Dani did some chemistry reading and met her friend Kyra for coffee, and for dinner we fixed chicken curry and samosas. Then we played the piano for a bit, working out It’s Too Late, after being … Continue reading

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Spiaggia

We took advantage of having a car and drove North to Wilmette, a rather tony suburb, where we had lunch at Hackney’s, an old fashioned restaurant that reminded me of the places we used to go when I was a … Continue reading

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James Taylor and Carole King

Dani said that her final exam went well. It took all three hours for her to do it and check it. We rented a car and picked up the footstools I bought at World Market, which are very nice. It’s … Continue reading

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Roasted Salmon with Lots of Bother

I went to CVS to transfer my prescriptions and to Whole Foods to restock the kitchen. The plan for dinner was Roasted Salmon with Orange-Herb Sauce, which turned out to be more trouble than it was worth. Not bad, just … Continue reading

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