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Rainy Afternoon

It’s a rainy afternoon here in South Florida. Thankfully, the thunder and lightning have abated making it infinitely easier to hear on the phone. The rain can’t, however, dampen our spirits as we continue to ride the wave of the Panthers Stanley Cup win. I think all of us Panthers fans have been watching and rewatching clips from Monday night’s win since the game ended. There is something special about watching people achieve their dreams.

The parade is on Sunday and should be a marvelous time. First of all, there are few places prettier than Fort Lauderdale Beach. I love that strip of A1A. The hubby will be working, so it will be just the Mayor and myself. We’ll have to get there early since we’re parking near the parade route at a friend’s place. Hopefully, the weather cooperates and there’s no rain. Thankfully, the beautiful beach is there if we need to cool off for a minute. We’ll be wearing our swimsuits to the event.

Amazing photo taken by Juan Morales Monday night @

I’ve been hunting for Stanley Cup merchandise that isn’t an arm and a leg. I found the hats and t-shirts for the boys, but am still looking for a women’s version of the shirt. I hate paying for shipping so any site charging for it is out of the question. Hopefully, I can find what I’m looking for when I am out. Otherwise, I’ll be out of gas.

Off topic, but super important to me. One of my dearest aunts is in the hospital and not doing well. Please keep her, her son, my grandma, and our family in your prayers.

What’s the most delicious thing you’ve ever eaten?

I’ve had some great meals and great desserts in my life, so it’s really hard to narrow it down. One of my favorites is the Kouign-Aman we ate in Normandy at the gite (think AirBnB) after traveling into Brittany to see Saint Malo.

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Stanley Cup Champions

The Florida Panthers are Stanley Cup Champions!!! They sure made it hard on themselves by losing three in a row to Edmonton. It is a difficult trudge even to make the finals let alone win them. Additionally, they were the inspiration for a lot of nervous baking. We may lose weight now that I’m not nervously baking during every Panthers game. Last night’s nerves far exceeded the urge to bake nervously. I think all of South Florida was on tenterhooks for most of the game.

Game seven of any championship series is a stomach-twisting, exhilarating ride for the fans. It’s also the cause of stress hives, heartburn, and high blood pressure. Thank god for Benadryl, which put paid to my stress hives. During the third period, it seemed like time stood still. The Panthers went into the third with the lead and are a great third-period team, but Edmonton has some big guns that can score in clutch situations.

In the end, the Cats held off the Oilers to win Lord Stanley’s Cup. It was an amazing moment. There were definitely tears in my eyes watching the team react to winning the cup. It’s been a long time since any of my teams have won a championship (such is life as a Minnesota Sports fan.). I loved seeing Barkov raise the cup. He’s been an amazing captain for the Panthers for years and makes everyone around him better. Naturally, he handed it off to Bob, who had a career game last night. It’s obvious from watching the team interact and the way they talk about each other that the team is a family.

The Boys’ first Panther game

If you were forced to wear one outfit over and over again, what would it be?

In honor of the Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers, I’d say my red Panthers T-shirt. If you ask any of my South Florida neighbors, they’d probably say Panthers’ gear today too.

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Twenty-Five

Twenty-five is how old my eldest son Jake turned today. What’s odd, however, is that I’m only 33. Somehow the math just isn’t mathing. I can’t believe twenty-five years have passed since this amazing person entered the world. My Hubby and I were just kids when he was born. Now, especially today and with his impending wedding, I’m feeling a bit old.

Twenty-five years ago there were no digital cameras and I hadn’t even purchased my first cell phone yet. My hubby was still rocking a pager. My parents had cellphones, but they were the size of bricks and you had to pay by the minute. I can’t believe how much has changed in our world since he was born. We’ve gone from an analog society to a fully digital society. New Star Wars movies no longer have the novelty that they did in 1999. Who wasn’t excited to see the Phantom Menace.

Unfortunately, we won’t be able to celebrate the big birthday with Jake as he’s home in Tally. Fortunately, he’s coming down for the 4th, so we’ll celebrate him then. Meanwhile, we’ll watch the Panthers continue to choke in the Stanley Cup Finals. I’m not willing to get my hopes up at this point because the Cats will break my heart. No matter what, this team has been so fun to watch this season. I’m excited to see how their success will continue growing the Florida game.

Which food, when you eat it, instantly transports you to childhood?

There are a couple of foods that bring me back to my childhood. Creamy cucumber salad is one of them. I used to love it when my great-grandma would make this with cucumbers straight from her garden or the farmer’s market. Pickles roll-ups, aka Minnesota sushi, are another food that transports me back to the 1980s.

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Torture

Oh, these playoffs are torture. The Panthers had a chance to lift the cup yesterday at home, but they blew it. What a ridiculous collapse!!!! The Cats came out flat and gave up yet another short-handed goal. Eventually, they found their game, but it was too little too late. I guess the good news is they found their game again. Hopefully, this energy will transfer into game six. I don’t think I (or my heart) handle the emotional stress of going to game seven. Pure torture!

I did end up nervously baking sugar cookies as I watched the game on mute. The puppies were picking up my nervous energy last night. Meanwhile, ESPN’s coverage of the cup has been abysmal (yawn) at best. I wish TNT had the broadcast rights because they do a much better job. They’re also much more evenhanded in how they talk about the teams and players. ESPN’s coverage is an embarrassment to the sport and the league. The boys lucked out and got to watch the game live at Amerant Arena.

Write about your first crush

It was so long ago, so I don’t remember their names.

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Bundle of Nerves

Boy oh boy am I a bundle of nerves today. You would think my boys were playing tonight and not the big boys. The Panthers must win one more game to raise Lord Stanley’s Cup. It would be infinitely cooler if they could do that tonight at home. Also, it would bring a lot of emotional relief for stressed-out hockey fans. Unfortunately, it also brings the end of hockey season, so I’m not sure what we’ll watch on TV now.

Luckily, the hubby and Mayor are headed to the game tonight. I wonder who will be beating the drum to open the game? Game one was the Dolphins head coach and Game two was Alonzo Mourning. It will be interesting to see who they bring out tonight. While my guys enjoy the amazing atmosphere of Amerant Arena, I’ll be baking my nerves away. Most likely, I’ll be making some more sugar cookies. They’re easy to bake even when distracted by hockey games.

What countries do you want to visit?

Where does one even start with this question? There are so many places that I’d like to visit. If I listed them all I’d be blogging for days. The shortlist would be Norway, the UK, Denmark, Italy, France, Finland, Peru and Iceland. Now back to being a bundle of nerves!

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Father’s Day Weekend

Father’s Day weekend was busy around these parts. It was a good weekend. Although it would have been better if the Panthers had won Saturday night instead of embarrassing themselves, but oh well. The Mayor and Hubby are going to game five tomorrow, so they’re not upset about the loss. My superstitious ass will be home wearing the same sandals and shirt I wore the last time they won.

We had a barbecue on Saturday and Sunday at our friend’s house. Saturday for the game and Sunday for Father’s Day. While the guys discussed the hockey game both before and after, I played dollies with Ava. I think it’s been over 35 years since I’ve played with dollies. She was so excited to show me the new bunkbeds she got for Rapunzel and Elsa. It was a nice change of pace from what I am used to with my boys.

We also played duck, duck goose both nights. First of all, where we grew up, it was duck, duck gray duck. There was none of this goose nonsense. Apparently, this gray duck thing is uniquely Minnesotan. It’s also very hard to play with only two people, but who is going to argue with an adorable four-year-old. Not me! We did try to recruit the dogs, but they were having none of it. Saturday night we had much better participation. Ava was giggling through the entire game. Oh to be four and carefree again.

As for baking, I baked a key lime pie Saturday and some cheese bread Sunday. I used a new recipe for the crust, which I didn’t love. The actual recipe for the filling was amazing. Fortunately, the limes I bought at Target were fresh and extra juicy. As for the cheese bread, I ended up with jumbo flat biscuits instead of nice round ones. Unfortunately, I don’t think the recipe’s proportion of liquid to flour was right. Although I’m sure the humidity didn’t help. Next time I’ll try a different recipe. The flat cheese bread, however, was very tasty.

My favorite thing about myself is that I’m resilient and persistent. I don’t give up on my goals and I always keep fighting no matter what.

What’s your favorite thing about yourself?

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Experimenting

I did some experimenting in the kitchen over the weekend. My first experiment was homemade cream cheese wontons. I made pork wontons last weekend, so I wanted to expand my wontons experience a bit. Plus what’s not to love about fried dough and cheese? While I was busy experimenting with the wontons, the hubby whipped up some amazing chicken fried rice to accompany the wontons. It was a great division of the housework.

The wonton recipe was quite simple: cream cheese, wonton wrappers, scallions, garlic powder, green onions and some sugar. I found the wrappers from Target were a bit thinner than those HelloFresh had provided. Consequently, they leaked when being fried. Next time, I’ll use two wrappers instead of one. Also, I’ll fold them into little rectangles as those wontons didn’t leak at all.

Saturday I went back to experimenting in the kitchen. This time I decided to try a new lime cheesecake recipe. I find baking cheesecake infinitely easier in Florida due to the humidity. By contrast, the moisture can complicate a bread recipe. Honestly, it’s hard to bake a dry cheesecake here. This recipe was pretty straightforward except for the mousse topping. It wasn’t that the mousse topping was difficult, but I haven’t baked with gelatin a lot.

Baking the cheesecake went well and it was super tasty. The recipe was pretty easy to follow. It’s a recipe I’ll make again. However, next time I bake it, I’ll cut back the amount of gelatin. The mousse tasted great, but the texture was too stiff for my taste. Next time I’ll cut it down by 1/2 tbsp and see how it goes. It’s not like the cheesecake tasted bad, so none of us will mind testing all of my cheesecake experiments. I’ll put up the recipes for both the wontons and cheesecake tomorrow.

Do you remember your favorite book from childhood?

My favorite book as a child was Super Fudge by Judy Blume. I’m just here patiently waiting for them to make it into a movie. My other favorite was C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

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Bridal Shower

Yesterday we celebrated Melly at her bridal shower. Her aunt Cathy threw the shower and it was magnificent. I felt a little bit older as the shower progressed. It feels like just yesterday I was celebrating at my bridal shower. It’s almost incomprehensible that my son is now the oldest to be marrying the woman of his dreams. She’s also the kind woman that we hoped and prayed our boys would marry.

For the shower, they served brunch, which I love. I baked some caramel rolls, especially for the occasion. They were so decadent and tasty. I can’t make those too often or everyone I know would be diabetic. Meanwhile, Cathy and Kylie had prepared a buffet of incredible brunch food to accompany the rolls. Both also served as brewmasters mixing up a signature strawberry Bellini cocktail for the event. It was mighty tasty and mighty strong.

It was a lot of fun celebrating Melody. I was so excited to be able to give her a shower gift finally. I bought her and Jake matching bride and groom aprons. Additionally, I made her a family cookbook with pictures of them and our family together, it was my favorite gift. It’s very similar to the cookbook I made for my family earlier in the year. I plan to customize a cookbook for each of the kids and my nieces and nephews when they get married. This way, we will preserve our family baking traditions.

The bridal shower was the marquis event of the weekend, but there was something else we had to celebrate. The Panthers are going back to the Stanley Cup!!!! Hopefully, the boys can get it down this year and bring Lord Stanley home to Sunrise. The cup starts on Saturday. I’d love to go, but the fees on these tickets are utterly ridiculous. The actual ticket prices are reasonable, I think, but the fees are something else.

List three books that have had an impact on you. Why?

Three books that impacted me are The Alchemist, by Paolo Coelho, Resurrection, by Leo Tolstoy and Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo. I found each of these books inspired me to by my best, to choose forgiveness, and live without regret.