Urgh, formatting

Sorry that, no matter what platform I'm using, I can no longer change how my text is presented on blogspot. There were Returns after every line in those recipes, but, try as I might, I cannot reinstate a single one. I recommend copying the text and re-formatting it! My paragraphs vanish as well--see No July, which had 3 paragraphs, as I wrote it.


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Steak & salad recipes

Warm Stir-Fried Salad 2 tbs olive oil 1 red or Vidalia onion 1 red bell pepper 2 cloves garlic 8 oz cherry tomatoes 5 oz baby spinach 0.75 oz fresh basil 4 oz feta cheese Slice onion. Cut pepper in small squares. Thinly slice garlic. Halve tomatoes. Heat oil in pan until very hot. Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Cook 2 min. Add tomatoes, spinach, and basil and cook till leaves have wilted. Transfer to serving plate and serve with crumbled feta. Steak with Gorgonzola Sauce 1.5 tbs olive oil 0.25 lb shitake mushrooms 2 cloves garlic 0.75 cups heavy whipping cream 0.5 cup Gorgonzola 1 tsp chipotles, canned 24 oz beef tenderloin or steak 0.5 tsp salt 0.25 tsp freshly ground pepper Stem & slice shitakes. Mince peppers and garlic. Crumble cheese. Heat 2/3 olive oil in lg skillet over med. Add shitakes and saute 4 min. Add garlic and stir 1 min. Add whipping cream and bring to boil. Reduce, then simmer 4 min. Stir in gorgonzola and chipotles. Season to taste. Sprinkle steaks with salt & pepper. Heat remaining olive oil in separate skillet. Cook about 5 min per side. Serve on plates with sauce spooned over.

My holiday

I spent my actual birthday just south of Virginia Beach, where the 2012 festival of the North American Sea Glass Association was held. My friend Tress and I rented a seafront condo for 3 days. The unit was actually sound-front--see below. The building itself was seafront.


The picture below is of the fishing pier just down the beach. Our trip featured getting lost on a closed Route 64, getting lost on the condo parking level, eating amazing food at Baja across the street (the freshest steamed shrimp), going to Ross, going to the festival (disappointing), Tress drinking pool-side--not to excess--and me preparing a really yummy steak in gorgonzola-shitake sauce with warm salad. Recipe to follow.


Front of the buildings:





Sunset from the balcony:


Wildlife preserve just yards to the south...turtles in that water!


A Suzuki that reminded me, at the back, of England's Ka:


And one more thing, the Waffle House where I had breakfast on my actual birthday! Oh, how I love the pecan waffles and scattered, peppered hash browns at Waffle House.


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My 50th

I had a nice surprise at Ohana, a new Glosta eatery.


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New car

I really loved my Echo, its petite size, and its great mileage per gallon. But its clutch started slipping.


When that slippage started to occur in both highway and city settings, I knew I needed to hasten my search for a car. I was thinking: used, but 2010 as the earliest acceptable vintage. As much as 11K, but 4 figures were preferable. I test drove a 2012 Veloster and hated it. I found a 2010 Kia Soul competent but unexciting.


Test driving the Spark was FUN. A brand new car, a 2013 Spark could be had for 3K more than my projected top price. Victor suddenly said that he could cover some of the expense. The stars were aligning.


I call it my Snow Pea.


Here it's contrasted with the Prius C, a contender in my search. The Prius reviews weren't good, however. The Spark is a Daewoo that has been sold all over the world for years. It has solid reliability and safety data behind it, 10 air bags, and a flat-screen radio. Love that radio.

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Sail with Janet

My sister in law came to Glosta for some R&R. We took a sail, and during that sail Vic voiced his strong objection to cute sea birds resting on our inflatable dinghy.


The Tall Ships were still in town.





After our sail, as Janet and I agreed to go pick up some fried clams, we saw Vic in the sunset, stowing the sails (not the front boat but the next one back).


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Seaport

My great friend Gamalia came up for a Glosta day during the Tall Ships weekend. We stopped to eat at Seaport Grille at Cruiseport, the dock site of one of the ships.





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