Establishing who would be driving

Sharing a seat

The girls couldn’t come home for Labor day, so home came to them. On Saturday morning we loaded up the car with the girl’s cats and Sonny and then head over to Tampa. The plan was to check into a pet-friendly Marriott and watch the Gator game and visit with the girls. The ride over went well, considering that other than vet visits, the cats haven’t traveled much. While in the driveway they both tried to claim mom’s lap. After about 20 minutes they settled down, sharing the passenger seat.

Surprise! Your cats are here

The hotel room was a suite with a full kitchen, so we loaded up at Publix with comfort food for the weekend and then unloaded the menagerie at the hotel. The girls knew Sonny was making the trip, but didn’t know the cats would be involved, so they both had a great time hanging out in the hotel Saturday afternoon with their buddies. The Gators won, but only after playing like they were still in high school.

Savannah and Sonny on campus

During the game, Savannah took Sonny to campus to meet all the RA’s also stuck on campus for the weekend. They all had been looking forward to his visit.

Overall, It was a great, quick and painless run. We don’t know if we’ll drag all the animals over again, but it was a cute surprise for the girls and well worth the effort.

Note, we’re cooking for 2 these days, so volume can be expanded as needed.

Future Note on volume

Since we’re cooking for 2, and the origin of this site was to carry on some of our favorite recipes to our children, it actually  makes sense that this new round of recipes would apply to college students cooking for themselves and not a big group. So we now have a new focus and energy for these postings. While both girls are currently in dorms, in the near future they may find some recipes that will apply more directly to their needs. So hopefully, they will still be able to cook up a huge pot of spaghetti sauce like we did for years, or crank out a sandwich for lunch.

Ingredients

1 chicken breast, cut horizontal so two, flat pieces are made.

Olive oil or grill

Montreal Grill Chicken GRINDER

Sliced Colby/Jack cheese. We buy sandwich slices, but you can buy it in chunks.

Directions

In a skillet over medium high heat, bring olive oil to temp, toss in sliced chicken breast and season one side with the grinder. Cook 3 to 4 minutes and flip. Cook 3 to 4 more minutes. Place slice of Colby/Jack on top until it begins to melt.

On a grill, just toss it on, season and flip. Then hit it with the cheese in the last minute.

The key here is the Montreal seasoning. It contains a perfect blend of herbs and spices. We used the regular chicken grill ’shaker’ for years, and it’s good, but the new grinder version does make a fresh difference. It’s the only ingredient other than the cheese, and it’ll make you look like a master chef.

Just DON’T over cook the chicken.

Serve with a veggie.

Sandwich suggestions

Don has put this on everything from a fresh Italian sub roll, to two slices of 5-grain, and even a hamburger bun. Better than any fast food restaurant by far. Add a little mayo and romaine lettuce to bring it home.

Seasoning note:

The Montreal grill seasonings are great. But, they do have a fair amount of salt in them. And over time Don has found that the salt and the herbs separate…the salt being heavier. So before applying, he shakes the grinder or shaker on it’s side to distribute the ingredients. Doing this every time keeps things mixed up.

This is the worlds’ easiest great tasting chicken, quick, involves 4 ingredients and tastes great. We will just cook this up and serve it with some steamed broccoli for dinner.

You can use a whole, skinless breast, or you can plop the breast down on a cutting board, and with a sharp knife, cut it in half horizontally. This cooks faster and is actually all the protein we probably need. Or you can just cook one breast for each person.

A great meal in 15 minutes.

Ingredients

Two skinless, boneless chicken breasts (or one breast cut in half)

1 TB Olive oil

Fresh ground black pepper (we like the peppercorn medley grinder)

Parm Cheese

Directions

Begin heating a skillet and put in the olive oil. For whole breasts, heat to medium, for sliced, medium high.

Put some parm cheese on a plate. Put the chicken down on the cheese. Grind on some peppercorn. Sprinkle some more parm on top and take some waxed paper and place it on top of the chicken. Press down hard and move the chicken and add more parm so that the chicken has a lot of parm pressed into it. If you don’t have waxed paper, just press it in by hand.

When the skillet is at temp (and NOT BEFORE) toss in the breasts. A breast cut in half may be finished after about 4 minutes on each side. You want a nice golden brown. Whole breasts may need about 7 minutes on each side. Check to make sure they are cooked through.

That’s it. A parm chicken sliced in half also makes a great sandwich, a little mayo, 5 grain bread and a little romaine lettuce and you have a winner.

This will work with little necks, top necks and mussels as well. We just like middle necks for cooking.

While it was a fantastic dish, Don’s only thought was that he wished he had some red bell pepper in here, some nice long slices for flavor, color and contrast. They would have gone in with the sausage.

Key thing to make this work is remember, it’s all about the clams. Once they go in… you have 7 minutes and all your pasta and sauces have to be ready to plate. Do not overcook the clams. And do not serve any clam that did not open.

Ingredients:

1 TB Minced Garlic

1 bunch of green onions, shallots would be OK, sliced thin

1 TB Olive Oil

1 TB margerine

2 or 3 TB chopped up sundried tomatoes

Fresh ground peppercorn, we like the peppercorn medly grinders.

1 package of Shitake mushrooms (portabello or oyster would be fine)

2 cups of white wine…nothing too sweet. The dryer the better. But use a good wine, nothing cheap.

1 link of cooked andouille sausage (we like cajun style). Sliced thin and chopped up.

2 dozen middle neck clams (or use little neck, top neck or mussels). Put them into a bowl of water (filtered if possible) and let them ‘breath’ for 10 to 20 minutes.

Handful of cilantro

1 package of rice sticks. Linquine or angel hair pasta would be fine too.

Directions

Heat olive oil and melt margarine in a large skillet. Put in garlic and onions and cook for a minute or two over medium heat. Add diced sun dried tomatoes and cook for another minute. Put in mushrooms, sliced to desired size or left whole, cook for another minute or two. Toss in the sausage. We slice it real thin so it’s almost more of a seasoning than something to sink your teeth into. Grind in some fresh peppercorn. Cook for another minute. Pour in the white wine and bring to a boil. Put in the clams. Toss in cilantro.

The clams will take about 7 minutes. You want to pull the skillet off the heat and be ready to serve after they’ve opened up. Scoop up and stir every couple minutes to make sure the clams are heated equally.  Some won’t open, expect waste, so 8 or so may not open out of a couple dozen. Do not serve these. Noodles take about 7 minutes, so have them timed to be ready when the clams are done…over cooked clams, even by a minute, begin to get rubbery.

Put out a bed of rice noodles/pasta and scoop up the mix from the skillet and place on top.

THREE VARIATIONS

Clear.

Just use the above recipe. If all your ingredients had time to meld before putting in the clams, you should have a great base. You can always serve the white sauce on the side if you like.

Red Sauce

If you like a red sauce, before putting in the clams, pour in a can of tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes and cook for a minute.

White Sauce

This is our favorite. Not the healthiest option, but darned good. Heat up a pint of cream, but save a small amount, melt a couple tablespoons of margarine. As it heats, mix a little of the reserved, cool cream with about a teaspoon of corn starch. Take the heated cream off the burner and stir in the corn starch until smooth. Add about 1/4 cup of fresh grated parm cheese (never the dried stuff!!!!). Pour on top of the plated clams. Wow.

The van, after Savannah parked it in a handicap spot

Our old friend, the 2003 Toyota Sienna, was getting a little worn around the edges. So, after car shopping for a few weeks we found a replacement, and sold our van. The van had a good run, Don’s first time driving it was on a run from NW Georgia to the coast with his friend Chip to get to the good ship Anonymous. She was our cruise support vehicle for our cruise on the east coast and has served well for everything from the Flag Team Support Vehicle during high school away games to, most recently, dorm furniture and supply transportation.

So, our mini-van days are over. Two of them (first was Voyager) took us from girls that were 1 and 2 years old to their adulthood (18 and 19).

The replacement vehicle has been ordered and will be on the way to us shortly. No, Don didn’t get his Hummer, and no, Melora didn’t get her Ford F150. We actually bought this vehicle to fit the needs of our yet-to-be-named dog currently living in Washington. Just kidding girls…we went with a smaller car and a better MPG, but one that could still carry a canoe on the top rack in style. Of course.

p.s. Yup, Savannah parked the van in a handicap spot. Hard to believe,

I KNOW, but it’s true. Will update more on this event with a posting of the new car when it comes in…most likely early next week.

UPDATE: Our new car wasn’t available. So the one we ordered is going to be FOB, or “Fresh Off the Boat.”  and will be shipped to our location in the next week. We thought we’d clear up the Savannah parking in the handicap spot thing . We were in a private lot near the airport and they told her to park here. That’s all.

And the new car is a Toyota Rav4 Sport. Nothing exciting, but better MPG, less metal to drive around and the fact that our previous Toyota didn’t rust on the beach helped a lot.

Afternoon delight

In our office/studio we have a day bed. Sonny often jumps up here and kicks back while we’re working. On Friday, Dewey jumped up, rubbed his head against Sonny’s chin for a while (he had his head up at the time) and then he laid down and Dewey tucked in. Too cute.

And yes, apparently we are becoming that couple that takes cute pictures of their pets and posts them on the web after their children leave the house.

It just doesn’t get cuter than this

Adorable

Paperwork has been handed in and the payment has been made. Now it’s a matter of letting the yet-to-be-named puppy grow up a little more. But these photos at One Week were too cute, so we had to post them, The earlier posting of the pups were taken on Day One.

Sassy and pups

Rugg’s niece Sassy had a litter this month in central Washington. Rugg’s breeder knew of Rugg’s passing and our continued interest in his award winning lineage, so when he learned of the litter he passed on word to us. A few days later (Melora was traveling…otherwise it would have been less than a day), a check was in the mail.

“Dad,” Sportin’ Nitty Gritty aka “Ruff”

“Mom” Ever Ready Sassy

Sometime in October the pup will be joining the family. Don has already scheduled his first fall cruise so that he’d be back in port for the arrival of the new prince.

These are prized dogs from an exceptional litter and we consider ourselves lucky that they allow us (mostly because of Rugg’s lineage) to include one into our house. They appreciated the life that we offered to our good friend Rugg, who traveled the eastern seaboard and brought joy to not only his family, but every person he met.

Our new pup (name to be determined) will make his own mark in life, without a doubt. But with Rugg’s bloodline, he has a solid start. Ruff and Sassy remind us quite a bit of Jake and Peach…Rugg’s parents… and that’s what made the choice so easy.

The pup won’t have to put up with hot Florida summers. Our sailboat is ready for anchoring at ports north for next summer, as per our original plan. The pup should be ready to jump from the boat to the dinghy by that time. And if he misses a few times, it’s OK…they’re water dogs, much like us.

Pepper C and Savannah in Pepper’s dorm room (aka residence hall)

What began at Parkwood Pre-School in Vienna Virgina, with the Foley’s pulling their mini-van up into the parking circle to drop off their children for the day, some 16 years ago, came full circle when the Foley’s pulled their mini-van (different vehicle) up to the dorms at USF this weekend and dropped off the last of their children.

Pepper C, Mom and Savannah in front of Castor Hall

On Sunday we drove Pepper’s van load of college supplies to Tampa. The check-in went quick and we soon had her moved into her 4th floor room. Her window has a waterfront view of a nice little beach and pond, very nice. A quick trip to Target allowed us to fill her room up with all the basic essentials (shampoo, granola bars, snacks…etc) and we left her to settle in for a couple hours. In the afternoon we picked up Savannah and Pepper for some shoe shopping and dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (great meal) and then dropped off the girls and head to our hotel.

We saw them Monday morning for breakfast and a quick tour of their dorm rooms and then we head back to the east coast.

We can’t begin to tell you how proud of our girls!

Dad and his girls

Savannah in her OWN ROOM!

One of perks of being an RA at USF is that you get your own room. On Tuesday morning Don and Melora helped move Savannah into her room. Her 3rd floor room, without an elevator…about a quarter mile from the parking lot…in 95 degree temps. But hey, that’s what good parents do!

After moving in we assembled her new Ikea furniture (above) and later went out to get her a bike and some more ’stuff’ for college survival. She will be the RA on a coed floor, all freshman. Her RA training begins today and goes through next week.

Good luck Savannah!

Ginny will help other students move in, this is called the “Bull Haul” so she’ll move in a little early too, August 15th.