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Category Archives: Lifestyle
Peach, Brie and Bacon Pizza
Thanks to Kara for bringing this recipe to my attention! It was fabulous. If served to me blind, I don’t think I could have identified the ingredients, they meshed so well. Ingredients 1 lb pizza dough Flour 2 Tbsp extra … Continue reading
Smoke House Garlic Bread
For years I’ve been trying to duplicate the amazing garlic cheese bread served at the Smoke House Restaurant in Burbank, California. Tonight I finally did it. The secret is to make up a paste and spread that on the bread. … Continue reading
Easy Salmon Cakes
I’m not a fan of crab cakes, which I usually find boring. A lot of places brag about “very little filler,” but I actually think the filler is the only thing that makes them interesting. So I was skeptical of … Continue reading
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Bisquick Coffee Cake
Since Bisquick isn’t the most healthful stuff in the world, I hadn’t had it in about ten years, but got in the mood to make some waffles. That reminded me of the delicious coffee cake we used to make. … Continue reading
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Quinoa and Mango Salad with Lemon Ginger Dressing
I heavily modified this, and have modified it more since testing it. Quinoa and Mango Salad: 1 cup quinoa 1/2 cup lentils Water to cook quinoa and lentils 1 container of fresh mango from Whole Foods (slicing mangos is a … Continue reading
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Vegetable Ceviche
This salad was billed as “Vegetable Ceviche” in a vegetarian magazine I was reading, and it sounded good. It actually does taste quite a lot like ceviche. I used completely different vegetables than they did, however. Ingredients juice of 3 … Continue reading
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Goo Goo Dolls and Matchbox Twenty at Ravinia
For the Fourth of July Dani and I took the Metra up to Ravinia Park for dinner and a concert, rather than watch the Evanston fireworks from her balcony. The timing on the train worked out pretty well, because we … Continue reading
Northwestern University Graduation
Dani graduated from Northwestern University on June 21st, 2013, with a BS degree and double majors in Communications and Psychology. Linda, Nicole and I travelled to Evanston for the festivities. It was an activity-packed few days. We began at the honors ceremony … Continue reading
Sweet Potato Cauliflower Soup
This recipe includes changes I made to the original on manifestvegan.com and also some procedural changes I would make next time: 1 large head cauliflower olive oil grapeseed oil spray 1 Tbsp garam masala 3 medium peeled sweet potatoes, cut … Continue reading
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Chilled Cucumber Soup
Libby posted this recipe on Facebook, and I decided to try my own version of it, substituting for buttermilk and adding cilantro. It was quite good. 3 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks 3 medium celery stalks, roughly chopped … Continue reading
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New York Dining
We tried quite a few new restaurants during our week in New York, and returned to many old favorites. Here they are, in order. Le Rivage This really authentic French Bistro is very popular with locals, but just a block … Continue reading
Charleston
We spent two days at sea, sailing from San Juan to Charleston, South Carolina. The Atlantic was fairly calm, and the sailing smooth. We had booked Priveé, the private dining room, for Thursday night. It’s located between Toscana and Polo … Continue reading
St. Barts
St Barts is by far the nicest island port on this trip. It is French speaking, the currency is the Euro, the residents are French citizens, and the cooking is French/Island cuisine. We tendered over to the small marina and … Continue reading
La Reserve, St. Lucia, Barbados
La Reserve The finest meal served during the cruise is a one-time event called the Connoisseur Menu. It’s served in the Wine Spectator branded La Reserve, a 22 seat restaurant that is only open three days out of 20, and … Continue reading
Ecuador
Panama hats aren’t made in Panama. Who knew? They’re actually from Ecuador, which is convenient, because that’s where we are today, and I needed a hat. Yesterday we had a great day at sea. I spent some time in the … Continue reading
Lima, Peru
For this year’s trip Linda and I set our goal to visit the last continent on our list, South America. (We’re not expecting to get to number seven, Antarctica, any time soon.) It seems ironic that the only inhabited continent … Continue reading
Peperoncino
A dinner at Dellagio’s Peperoncino with Ron, Bev, Andres, Paula and Linda, noted here because of the inclusion of a 100 point 1934 Burgundy from Ron. Peperoncino serves authentic regional Italian cuisine in a fairly boisterous atmosphere. Because the place … Continue reading
France Conquers Italy
Not since the days of Napoleon has it been so clear who ruled Europe. Keith Edwards organized an extraordinarily informative tasting designed to compare ten Italian merlots with ten Bordeaux wines consisting of at least 75% merlot. In attendance were Keith, … Continue reading
Blind Pairs at Luma
Ron organized this interesting tasting in the downstairs room at Luma. Attendees were Ron, Bev, Keith, Parlo, Andres, Paula, Linda, Dani, Jacques, and Alison. As usual at Luma, the downstairs room was fabulous, and the food was variable. Standouts were the cauliflower … Continue reading
Olivje (Оливье) Recipe
Dmitri brought this Olivje (Оливье) to Glen’s St. Patrick’s Day Party and we really liked it. (makes 1 medium-sized salad bowl) Ingredients 4 potatoes 2 large carrots boiled and peeled. 6 eggs hard boiled and peeled 5 medium sized dill pickles … Continue reading
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Wine Lunch on Hillstone’s Dock
Ron arranged this lovely Saturday afternoon event for a fairly large group. The weather was cool and blustery, but plastic panels kept out most of the wind, and it was a delightful venue, with great service by Laura and delicious food by … Continue reading
Grilled Salmon with Citrus Salad
For my birthday, Linda fixed this recipe which she modified from a version at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/grilled-salmon-with-citrus-salsa-verde-recipe/index.html She also made a tuna tartare, avocado and cucumber vorspeisenringe. We enjoyed all three on the veranda and then went in the spa. Ah, Orlando in … Continue reading
Harold’s House of Omelets
When we used to live in Westlake Village, Harold’s House of Omelets was our favorite spot for breakfast. Sometimes we close the Alcorn McBride office and head over there for a late breakfast, because Harold’s wasn’t open for lunch! Wednesday … Continue reading
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Stellar Old Wines at Luma
Ron organized a great event in the downstairs room at Luma. Although the food wasn’t quite as good as our spectacular dinner there last month, the wines were stellar, spanning the great years, from 1947 (all time best Burgundy year) … Continue reading
Farewell to Celebrity
Here are a couple of last photos from our final two sea days aboard the Celebrity Constellation. The bottom line is that I’d recommend this line if you’re looking for a Royal Caribbean type experience with better entertainment, but not … Continue reading
Porto
Porto isn’t far from Vigo—just 84 kilometers—but it’s a different country and different wine-making. Our shore excursion took us to the Douro Valley, two hours away, where port comes from. Although port is named after Porto, the city has nothing … Continue reading
Vigo
Vigo is one of the southern most cities in Northern Spain, located only 20 miles from Portugal. It is Europe’s main hub for shipping fish, and the 10 mile long harbor is filled with platforms used to raise mussels, oysters … Continue reading
Bilbao
After a workout Friday morning we spent a restful day on the ship. originally we had a dinner scheduled in a Michelin-starred chef’s kitchen, but it was cancelled, and since it was rainy we decided to spend the day on … Continue reading
Margaux
I’ve been struck on this “wine themed cruise” by how little the other passengers know about wine: basically that it has alcohol in it and isn’t beer. Today’s excursion to Margaux included a few passengers who seemed to know their … Continue reading
Bordeaux
The last time I was in Bordeaux, I stepped off the ship onto the main street along the waterfront. This time our ship is larger, and we are docked two hours away, in Le Verdon. This obviously makes every shore … Continue reading