Big Gay Brunch

And other things happened this weekend.

Saturday was our usual day of house cleaning, errands, and prep for Sundays Big Gay Brunch. But first things first.

Saturday morning was a busy one, first we had to get up and get the lawn mowed before the day’s heat set upon on. After that was done, we headed over to see the barber for our haircuts. I don’t know why but in the summer it seems my hair grows faster.

After that I had a couple hours to get the cookies baked for dessert on Sunday. I promised our friend homemade Ice-Cream Sandwiches when it was our turn to host.I just squeaked by in timing to get the cookies baked before we had to head out to a local pizza joint to meet a friend for a lovely lunch date.

After lunch it was off to Costco and Shoprite to get the rest of the food we needed to get for brunch. I have been enjoying the hot weather cause it has allowed us a dip in the pool more frequently than the last few months. We went in Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

Sunday morning was more prep, and some prep, and some cooking before our guests arrived at 11. So I know you are all wondering what the hell did you serve?

The Menu was as follows:

Shrimp Ceviche  – I got the basics of this recipe from one of my favorite PBS Chefs Daisy Martinez and her show Daisy Cooks. The hardest part about making this is the juicing of the lemons limes and oranges. The easiest part is letting it sit for 2 days and “cook”

If you would like the recipe let me know.

Smoked Brisket and Salmon – The hubby is the master smoker in this house and he did  not disappoint yet again. The brisket was tender and flavorful. The Salmon came out perfectly as well and was a big hit. To go with the brisket I scrambled some eggs, put out some Queso, salsa and flour tortillas for make your own breakfast tacos.

SOS – Or as we call it round here Chipped Beef (or Shit on a Shingle).This was served on  biscuits.

Potato Latkes – these are always easy to make and go a long way. Served with some sour cream they were the perfect potato snack to have.

Bacon – no brunch is complete without a big plate of bacon, I cook bacon on a sheet pan in the oven at about 375 degrees, about halfway through the cooking I pulled it out flipped it over then sprinkled it with some coarse ground pepper. It was delicious.

Peruvian Onion Relish  – we had this a week ago at a local peruvian restaurant and it was so good we decided we needed to make it at home AND serve it at brunch.

Mascerated Peaches and Strawberries – I know there was some balsamic vinegar and black pepper, sage, and rosemary on them. I know it sounds like an odd combo but they were fantastic.

For dessert we had the infamous Homemade Ice-Cream Sandwiches, our friend brought what he called White Trash Ice-Cream Cake (made with fudge sauce, pudding, cool whip, and store bought ice-cream sandwiches). It actually wasn’t all that bad. The 3rd dessert was a Blueberry Cobbler our other friend made, which was also damn good.

Oh I almost forgot about the endless glasses of Champagne with either OJ, Pineapple Juice, or Guava Nectar.

All in all it was a great time even with the crappy weather that rolled in for part of the day.

On a side note, we also had a family coming to see our foster greyhound Girl. What we thought was a husband and wife from NY turned into the whole Italian family paying a visit. All 9 of them showed and stayed for about 30 minutes or so. One of the sons was kinda cute. On a happy note we found out on monday they loved her and will be adopting her in a couple of weeks.

That’s pretty much it for now. Short work week for the both of us as we are taking a long weekend trip with our puppies to a greyhound wine tour weekend. Watch for those updates to come too.

 

Time keeps on ticking

It seems like the weekends fly by and the work weeks drag on and on and on…

Can’t think of anything worthwhile from the work week to report about, it seems July is a little quieter than normal, and than I’d like it to be. Quiet days at the office just make things worse.

I had a parade this past Wednesday, the last one for me for a few weeks. I will be missing a parade next week as the hubby and I and the puppies are going upstate NY for a little Wine Tour getaway. A local Greyhound Adoption group in Upstate NY does a wine tour weekend in the Finger Lakes area every July called Grapehounds. We went last year and had a fantastic time, and we are very much looking forward to going again this year.

Wednesday’s parade was one of the shortest of the seas0n clocking in at .73 miles. I have taken to keeping my iPhone in my uniform pocket to calculate the distance of each parade. It took me a little bit of time to try out and find the right app but I think I finally found a good one called Runkeeper. It calculates distance, time, and calories burned. So between the parades and the walks around the pond at lunch time, I have logged 10 miles and 1,749 calories.

This past weekend was a scorcher here, good thing the pool has been up and running. Saturday we did our normal running of the errands, then came home and relaxed in the pool for a bit before dinner. Nothing beats a nice cold drink, and floating in the pool, thewater  temperature was a cool 86 degrees.

Sunday we had a busier day as it was a joint birthday party for 2 of my older brothers children. Our nephew turns 18 next week, and our niece turned 1 last week. My younger brother (the one born just after me but before the twins) hosted the party at his place where he has access to a nice below ground pool. 8 ft deep at it’s deepest, it made for a lovely cooling off spot during the party.

All that fresh air (and alcohol and food) did a number on us as once we got home the hubby fell asleep on the couch. So off we went to bed. This morning I still wasn’t feeling it but I went to work against my better judgement. I say that because 1 pm came around and I high tailed it out of there and came home and laid down in bed.

Supposed to be another hot week here, I think the pool may get some post work pre dinner use this week.

Pretty Kitty

Well I thought there would be some excitement here but alas it was not to be.

Thursday’s parade went off without a hitch although it started late and it was hot but nothing too exciting to report from there.

Friday there was supposed to be another parade but mother nature was having none of that and the thunder, lightning, and rain kept us from that parade. Instead the hubby and I and the ex work wife ended up having some drinks at our house then went out for Korean for dinner. It was delicious yet again as this was our 3rd time going there but her first time. She is the authority on Korean as she lived there and went to Korean School while in the reserves.

Saturday was GORGEOUS out and yet another parade was canceled, this time due to the Fire Dept. that hired us no longer going to the parade. Honestly I didn’t mind at all as this parade was not a favorite of mine. So instead of parading in the afternoon the hubby and I took a nice dip in the pool before we headed out to our friends monthly game night.

Another gorgeous day on Sunday found the hubby having to go into work for a bit and laundry needing to be folded. Once we finished that excitement we headed over to my parents house for dinner. My grandmother was up visiting for the week so we all got together for dinner.

Now here is where all the excitement was. As we always do at bedtime we opened the door and let the puppies out for their last potty of the night. Not unusual to hear a bark or yelp since they decide to sometimes play instead of doing their business. The hubby stepped outside to yell at them to knock it off, when HE was almost knocked on his ass by the stench of Skunk.

Thankfully this time wasn’t as bad as the last time the pups got skunked. Only 2 of the 3 (one of ours and the foster we have). Girl (the foster pup) got a bit of it and Duncan our male got hit in the neck/face. Sandy our 11 year old knew better and ran the other way (she has no teeth this time to bite the pretty kitty with). So at 10:30 pm the hubby mixed up the de-skunking bath wash (peroxide, baking soda, dish detergent) and I hopped in the car to get more peroxide from the grocery store that is thankfully open late on sundays.

Fast forward through Monday (boring), Tuesday night the hubby worked towards evicting the Kitties from their home he saw them near in the yard. So as he goes to put the moth balls around the area he saw them in, one goes scurrying away, and the the other unfortunately is taking a dirt nap as the hubby found him sleeping with the flies.

Well that’s about it, the house doesn’t smell, the dogs don’t smell and yard doesn’t smell.

 

 

Beautifully Bizarre

 

A day late and a dollar short but I am finally recapping the Independence Day long weekend.

I was hoping to start my weekend early on Friday but Disco Village had other plans for us and I was strapped to my desk until 5pm. Once I was finally free and got home (thankfully traffic was light) the hubby and I headed off to meet 2 other couples for dinner.

We headed off to a lovely Asian Cuisine restaurant and just had a lovely time. The hubby had sushi, and I had this awesome Szechuan Crispy Shredded Beef. After dinner we had some Frozen yogurt and called it night.

Saturday we did our last Greyhound Adoption Meet and Greet for the summer, then our normal shopping errands. Saturday night we went to a cookout at our friends house and saw some the fireworks their town was shooting off at the local lake.

Sunday was the best day of the weekend. Disco Village has some purchasing programs they offer to employees one of which is Plum Benefits. I received my weekly email and saw that they were offering a special discount for this weekend only for Cirque Du Soleil – Zarkana

We made an afternoon of it and headed into the city in time to grab a light lunch before seeing the show, then dinner afterward. Lunch was a quick bite in Rockefeller Center at ‘wichcraft I had a lovely meatloaf sandwich as seen below. It had meatloaf, cheddar, bacon and a tomato relish. It was delicious.

After lunch we made our way a few blocks up to Radio City Music Hall, fortunately although it was cloudy and overcast and rainy, it was a light rain so we didn’t get soaked walking the few blocks.

This was our first trip to Radio City Music Hall and I must say the place is spectacular. I was limited on the picture taking both due to the fact they didn’t allow it during the show but also the lighting gave everything an Orangish hue, below is the stage as it was prior to the show starting.

Now on to the show –

The description as per the Cirque Website is as follows – Zarkana is an acrobatic rock opera that blends circus arts with the surreal to create a world where physical virtuosity rubs shoulders with the strange.

The story follows Zark, a magician who has lost his powers – and the love of his life – in an abandoned theatre populated by a motley collection of off-the-wall characters and incomparable acrobats. He runs into the Mutants, four sirens as sinister as they are fabulous, who are determined to divert him from his quest.

Zarkana is a visual vortex set in a slightly twisted musical and acrobatic fantasy universe where, little by little, chaos and craziness give way to festivity and love regained.

This show was AMAZING! Having previously only ever seen CDS shows on video or TV until we went to Vegas in May and saw Zumanity which I also thought was amazing. The 2 shows though are totally different. Where Zumanity is sensual, Zarkana is exciting and captivating with the music and the acts.

The show really did seem like a circus trying to find it’s way. There were acrobats, tight rope walkers, wheel of death, clowns, and the Ring Leader Zark. The scenery was amazing, the music beautiful, and at one point it seemed like the cast was never ending.

After the show on a reccomendation of a friend we had an early dinner at Serafina at the Time Hotel. I hardly ever have a hard time deciding on what to eat but the menu here left me in a quandary.

I started with a lovely Sangria

And for my entree I had the Rigatoni Bolognese. I must admit it did not dissapoint.

That was pretty much the bulk and the excitement for the weekend. Monday which was the actual holiday, we spent a couple hours at a friends parents house then came home and took a quick dip in the pool. Now it’s the tail end of the work week.

Coming up is a busy weekend for parades, I will be marching Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night this week….

For the dogs

This past weekend was a very busy one, but not one spent at any of the Pride celebrations. Don’t get me wrong, I am very happy and proud of my neighbor state of NY but NYC Pride was no place I wanted to be this weekend. Been there before, and with the Marriage Equality Law being signed by Governor Cuomo, I can only imagine how much more crazy it was.

Friday night I was supposed to have marched in a local town Fireman’s parade but alas, the fire department that hired us, once again, canceled because it looked like rain. The clouds didn’t dampen our plans though. The hubby and I along with my Ex and Current Work Wife kept the dinner plans we had made. We started with drinks at my current work Wife’s house. I had a couple glasses of a very good Riesling.

After a couple glasses of wine for me and some Gin and Tonics for them we headed out to a new favorite restaurant we were introduced to called the White Horse pub. I had the Guinness Beef Stew for dinner and the Chocolate Lava cake for dessert.

Saturday was our annual Greyhound adoption group picnic. There were just about 200 people and over a 1oo dogs there to celebrate all the hard work we do to promote Greyhound adoption. Along with the food and company they do some games and the Costume Contest. Below are 2 pictures of my favorite costumes.

Frankly my Dear I don't give a damn

I titled this one “Carol Burnett’s Gone with the Wind”

We are so pupular that the Royal Couple showed up.

As part of the picnic we have a 50/50 raffle, Chinese Auction, and Silent Auction. I was able to snag this item with the highest bid.


Sunday we did have a bit of a pride celebration as we had brunch with some gays and gay friendlys. This was the first time we had brunch at this local place and I must say I was pretty impressed. Not just with the food but the free flowing Bellinis!

For my entree I ordered the Frittata special which had Bay Scallops, Spinach, Tomato and Feta in it. Since there were 9 of us we ended up just getting a “Dessert Sampler” a little bit of everything they were offering, Cannoli, Tiramisu, and Gelato. It was delicious!

There and back again

Tuesday night sitting on the couch what better time to recap the weekend.

After the excitement of the power outage at work on Tuesday the rest of the week was pretty uneventful, until Friday. Friday night started a whirlwind weekend.

It’s hard to believe but my nephew graduated High School last week. Friday night was his Graduation Party. The best part of the party (aside from seeing my niece and nephews) was the first time I can recall all 3 of my older Brothers’ Baby Mama’s in the same room at the same time. I was waiting for lighting or a house to fall on us. I should clarify there are 2 Baby Mama’s, the last one he married. So that give me 2 nephews ages 17 and 9, and a niece who is almost a year.

After the party Friday night the hubby and I hopped in the car and drove the 2 1/2 hours to our friends house in upstate New York. There was a parade not far from their house that the Drum Corps was marching in so we decided to see if they wanted some weekend visitors and to go to the parade with us. The Parade was in Lake George, NY a resort town. Naturally the first thing we did when we got there was get a drink, and then the tour. Knowing I had a very long day ahead of me Saturday, we headed to bed around midnight haha.

Saturday morning we got had a leisurely cup of coffee, then showered and hopped in the car to make the hour drive to Lake George. I wanted to get into the town early, knowing the main drag was going to be shut down for the parade and to get good parking so we could hightail it out of there after the parade.

The other 3 boys had a lot more fun than I did waiting for the parade, they enjoyed a nice lunch and took in the scenery. Meanwhile, I headed to the start of the parade to meet the Drum Corps, and wait. And wait, and wait, and wait, and wait…..

As this was a convention parade there was a very large showing of area Fire Departments. The parade started at 1 and because we were in the 4th division (of 5) I was able to catch most of the parade, which included most of our competition. It was finally out turn to head down the 1.18 miles down the parade route.

After the parade the hubby, our friends, and I hopped back in the car and headed back to our friends house for a shower for me, a much-needed drink, and then on to dinner. We had a great dinner at the Albany Pump Station, then stopped for ice cream at the Ice Cream store at the Drive-In near their house. While waiting for my fabulous sundae I happen to be perusing Facebook when I saw one of my friends’ status messages say Congrats XXX Drum Corps. I was like WHAT WHAT!!! So I naturally had to call him and find out what that meant. Turns out it meant WE WON FIRST PLACE! You don’t know how happy that made me to hear it.

Sunday was another leisurely morning, where I slept in cause I was TIRED. Then we headed out to breakfast at a nearby diner (the third choice on the list since we kinda forgot it was Father’s Day). I had eggs Benedict and a side of bacon, the hubby had farmers Benedict, which was biscuits and sausage gravy. After breakfast we headed home, went and picked up the pups from camp and then bed. I still don’t think I have recovered from this weekends activities.