Have Fun, Our Motto Is Have Fun

8 Alpha friends from all over the country
7 Trips to the airport
6 Tons of snack food
5 Visits to the slots
4 Games of Cranium
3 Tickets to Bette
2 Cars filled
1 Cell phone left behind

Happy Holidays

I'm getting ready to spend 4 days with my favorite daughter (but, Mom, I'm your only daughter) and most of our planning is around food. We know we'll eat out once or twice and sushi will be one of those meals. We also want to make some food at home.

Happy Bellagio Days

This weekend Cheryl and I went to see the holiday display at the Bellagio. As usual it was beautiful. After walking around the displays we went back outside to watch the fountains. This has to be the best free show in Las Vegas. In fact, even better than some you have to pay for. If you go here and click on the video tour you too can watch them. It's a nice video but I think the Bellagio should have a live cam.

If you come to Las Vegas over the holidays, the Bellagio is a must see destination.

Imagining

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Happy Birthday Mom

If my mom were alive, she'd be 92 today. She was born on December 7, 1917 in Niagara Falls, New York and she died September 21, 1998 in Las Vegas, Nevada. I don't think my mom and I were close in the same way my daughter and I are close but I know that she loved me unconditionally and I loved her. She was as good a mom as she could be and I have so many great memories of times with her. She and my brother and I share a history that no one else does.

Letters Never Sent

Verbatim recently discussed the proper forms of address for letters and it reminded me of the days, long ago, when I used to write letters. When writing to friends, I didn't worry too much about the forms of address or the correct format of a letter. But writing to my grandmother was a different story. She was very conscious of social norms and so my mother made sure my brother and I knew how to write a proper letter. We also learned about the art of letter writing in school. The salutation (Dear ), the body (blah, blah, blah) and the the closing (Love, Me). 

Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright

In the darkness of the night, Tiger Woods ran his car into a fire hydrant. Or tree. Or both. Everyone - well at least the media - is wondering why he was out at that time of night and how he lost control of the vehicle at a speed so slow that the air bags didn't deploy. Tiger isn't saying much.

And I hope he keeps saying nothing. It isn't any one's business. He wasn't drunk, he didn't hurt anyone and I'm pretty sure he'll pay for any damages. So, Tiger, just keep golfing and don't answer any questions about your personal life. Maybe you'll start a trend.

Please Correct Me, Let Me Know

Today I was rereading a older post and found a glaring error. Not just a typo but a sentence with one word left out and another one just dropped in that didn't belong. I'm not a good editor - self or otherwise. I need two or three people to review reports before I publish them at work. I don't have a blog reviewer (anyone want that job which pays nothing?) and I'm always in a rush to publish. I usually remember to run the spell check but spell check is limited when it comes to scanning for coherence. So if, in the future, you notice typos or just incomprehensible sentences please comment or shoot me an email. I'll thank you, I promise!

Salmon and Ginger

Today I made two different ginger items. The first was pickled ginger and the second was maple-ginger marinated salmon. I love pickled ginger and decided I wanted to make my own. So I checked around the Internet and found this recipe. The hardest part about the preparation is peeling the ginger. The recipe says to rub the skin off but that didn't seem to work so I used a knife. Ginger has lots of odd shapes so it's hard to get all the skin off. Next time I may try just rubbing as best I can and leaving the skin - it might soften up a lot when pickled. I sliced the ginger thinly - not as thin as the ginger you get in the restaurant but I think I like my slices better. I didn't wait a day to try it and it tastes great!

The maple-ginger salmon is a recipe I got from a friend. I had about a pound of salmon. For the marinade, combine 1/2 of grade B maple syrup with 1 TB each of soy sauce, grated ginger, and lemon juice. I also added a little salt, lemon pepper and a touch of grated lemon rind. Then I tossed the fish and all but about 1/8 C of the marinade into a plastic bag and left it in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour. I preheated the oven to 400 and then wrapped the salmon loosely in foil and baked it for about 25 minutes. I topped it with the reserved marinade and served it with fresh green beans and some pickled ginger. It was YUM!