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Super Sunday

No surprise here, but our Super Sunday was spent at the rink. This was definitely a source of angst when the schedule first came out. The Mayor had two make up games Sunday afternoon in Pines and Coral Springs. Originally, the games were supposed to be at home, but a fire at the rink derailed that plan. The first game was a biggie because if they won it, they’d make states. Spoiler alert, they won!

They played the Florida Warrior, who they hadn’t played previously. I thought we got off to a bit of a shaky start, but once the Mayor got the scoring started it was all over. The boys ended up winning 6-0 with goals from five different kids and tons of assists. That’s exactly what you want to see on the scoresheet. Admittedly, we were all a bit nervous because the kids hadn’t practiced for over a week. Thank god they weren’t too rusty.

Between games we headed to Publix to grab the Mayor a sub. They barely had any time between games, but he needed to eat something. The second game was a much harder contest against Goldenwolves Black. It was a good, fast-paced game with little drama, but in the end they lost 2-0. Honestly, they could have won the game, but couldn’t finish. The Mayor had a great opportunity, but his stick broke on the shot.

Naturally, like everyone else my age, I wanted to see the halftime show. The two things i was excited to watch were the Air Force Heritage Flight Flyover and the halftime time show. Fortunately, I was able to catch the flyover right before the Mayor’s game started. And as luck would have it, the game ended minutes before the show started. I was able to watch the halftime show with my fellow hockey mom and dads as we collectively reminisced over the music and artists performing. It was magical.

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

A happy Valentine’s Day poem courtesy of Lord Byron.

“She Walks In Beauty” Lord Byron

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes;

Thus mellowed to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impaired the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

Or softly lightens o’er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express,

How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent!

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Dinner Date

The hubby and I had a wonderful dinner date with my hubby tonight at the new Greek restaurant near us. Initially, we had planned to go Friday night, but he ended up working late, so we rescheduled to tonight. We both had to work this morning, so neither of us really wanted to be out late last night. And out course by late, I do mean like 8:30.

I’m had lamb chops and he had meatballs. Both were really tasty and my lamb chops were cooked perfectly. I also had a yummy drink with passion fruit and vodka. After we paid our tab, the bartender took a shot of Mastiha liquor with us. I’ll be buying some at Total Wine soon. It was sweet, but not too sweet and was really smooth.

Now we’re back home chilling on the couch watching the Minnesota Wild take on Carolina. The puppies are cuddling with as well even though hockey makes the Piggie nervous. She’s been quite the cuddle pig as of late, which is great. Athena is just the sweetest puppy. Anakin is watching the hockey game and keeping to himself. Usually at this point of the night, he’s trying to attack someone’s feet. Tomorrow night our dinner date will be at the rink.

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Relaxing

So after a bit of a hellish, I spent yesterday evening getting a very relaxing massage. It was just what the doctor ordered. Last night I had a new masseuse, who unsurprisingly was shocked at how tight my leg muscles are. I’ve heard that from every masseuse I’ve ever used and I swear I do stretch. Of course, the rest of my muscles were also super tight and I’m feeling it today. I had no idea you could get knots in your muscles over your ribs. Ouch!

My legs were pretty sore today, from both the massage and leg day, which made my run quite arduous. I also haven’t eaten much over the past few days on account of an questionable stomach. This definitely didn’t help make my run any easier. As I finished my run, I saw my masseuse’s face telling me to stretch more, so I did spend some time stretching during my phone calls. I’m loving my new wireless headset.

Speaking of relaxing, I haven’t been great at sticking to a good yoga practice. I definitely need it, but by the time I can actually practice I’m way too tired. Hopefully, I can get myself back into a regular routine of yoga and massages. If the way my muscles feel today is any indication, I need to be getting massages regularly or maybe every other day.

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Preparation

Preparation is the key to success. During AEP, it meant working out before working and having my Dunkin’ in hand as the day started. These days it’s waking up with enough time to watch The Great British Bake-off as I wake up. Honestly, the Dunkin’ is key to my preparation for everyday. The flip side is when I’m not prepared for the day, my day tends to go side ways.

So why all the talk about preparation? Last night the Mayor’s team had a game against the first place team in their division. Thankfully, Duane and Michelle brought some apple pie (moonshine,) which made the game palatable. Anyway, there was a clear lack of preparation as evidenced by nine players on the team being without mouth guards. Spoiler alert, you can’t be on the ice without it. In fact, the ref could have given the team a bench minor for it.

Nonetheless, the mouth guard debacle was indicative of how the game went. Now to be fair, this wasn’t a bad game for them to lose. It would be a much sweeter win when we see them in March. The lesson is poor preparation be it physical or mental only sets you up for a poor result. It wasn’t until I got consistent in my preparation for work that my sales really accelerated.

In other news, Anakin got bored at work this morning. Clearly, his preparation for the day wasn’t sufficient. To cope with his boredom, I guess he decided that he should chew on the picture book I just made. Fortunately, I can order new one from Shutterfly. Unfortunately, I’ll have to spend $50 to replace it. Consequently, I moved all the books off the coffee table less Anakin should get bored again.

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Watching the Skies

Today’s bloganuary prompt is all about watching the skies and how the stars make you feel. The timing could not be better. This evening right after work, SpaceEx launched their Falcon 9 rocket. Fortunately, the Hubby gave me a heads up, so the boys and I were able to watch it. By the time we made it outside, the booster had separated from the rocket and was starting its descent. Meanwhile, the rocket was continuing to gain altitude as it tracked southward over our house.

We finally lost the booster right as it was about to land. We could see the engines fire and then it disappeared. I have to admit that it never gets old watching the launches. It’s incredible to me that we’re able to see so much from hundreds of miles away. I tried to get some photos of both the rocket and booster, but it’s hard to capture how cool it looks on film.

Back to the prompt of watching the skies, when I look up at the stars or even at the rocket, it’s a bit like staring at the ocean. You can’t help, but feel small while being mesmerized by the beauty of the night sky or sea. There’s something comforting in the largess and beauty off both. One of the coolest experiences we had here in Florida was the night sky after Wilma knocked out power to the South Florida area. You could literally see every star in the sky and the the Milky Way was incredibly vibrant. It was incredible!

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Palm Tree

So today’s prompt is to describe oneself as a tree, so I chose palm tree. First of all, the palm tree is happiness in a plant. Who can’t be happy while sitting near or beneath a beautiful palm? It usually means you’re somewhere tropical with a beautiful beach nearby. There also incredibly strong and built to survive hurricanes. Their shape is perfect as the wind whips around their trunk, while leaving the tree up right. Sure they’ll lose some fronds, but most palms survive the storm.

Like the palm tree, I’m able to survive’s life’s worst storms. Thankfully, my parents raised me to be confident, strong and full of faith. My life is filled with incredible people that have supported me and my family through thick and thin. I’m forever grateful for the strong support system in my life. These past couple of months they have been absolutely incredible.

Fortunately, this weekend I was able to get out and see some of my non-hockey friends. It’s nearly impossible to do anything social during hockey season, so this weekend was a treat. Yesterday I met my friend Stacy for drinks at Batch. I haven’t seen her since before I got laid off. God, I’ve missed that woman. We had the best time.

Today I made a Swiss cake roll in the morning. While that baked, I took care of the laundry, the dishes and the floors. Afterwards, I headed to Boca to spend the afternoon with my dear friend Terri, who just happens to be Jake’s girlfriend’s mom. I always have a fabulous time with her and today was no exception. We had tried a couple of weekends ago, but Covid and Flu exposure put a damper on those plans. Thankfully, we were able to get together today.

It was quite cold this morning, but we didn’t see any frost. Even if we did, the palm trees would be fine. After all, like me, they’re quite resilient. I was a little worried, however, that the passion fruit tree wouldn’t weather the cold. Fortunately or unfortunately, it still looks quite robust. It had literally taken over the entirety of our back garden. We’ll have to trim it back and train it on a trellis or it will cover everything.

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People of Walmart

I had a people of Walmart experience this weekend in Charleston, As for Charleston itself, we didn’t see much of it.  The weather was pretty terrible Sunday.  It was way too windy, cold and rainy to do anything outside.   We did, however, have a most interesting adventure at Wal-Mart. Elizabeth and I decided to stop there on the way back from our coffee run, so we could grab some essentials.  As we parked I was telling her why I always avoid Wal-Mart.


This trip did not disappoint.  As we were checking other, we heard a commotion behind us.  Two women were screaming at each other at the top of their lungs. I got the feeling that it was over a guy, but they were so hard to understand.  Finally, the lady in line called out her foe for getting a fight while working.  Yes, one of the combatants was a Wal-Mart employee.

Once the facts of her employment are brought up, the employee ran behind Elizabeth and to the front of the store.  The employee tore of her vest and threw it before coming back for the customer.  Meanwhile, she’s screaming that “she’s not employed no more.”  Concurrently, the floor manager was running full board, while screaming call 911, to grab the employee before she made it back to the customer.  Honestly, it was scary.  The two women were completely off their rocker.

Needless to say, I’ll not be going back to Walmart anytime soon.  Although to be fair, there were people begging at the entrance to Target.  I’ve never seen that before.  I also had a man come up to me at the hotel multiple times asking me where the mall was located.  Spoiler alert, the mall was visible from the hotel parking lot.  It was so weird.  You would think he would have found the mall in his own after the first day.  After my most recent people of Walmart experience this weekend, I won’t be stepping in that store anytime soon.

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Swiss Cake Roll

I have loved Swiss cake rolls since elementary school, but I never thought of baking my own. After all, Little Debbie did a hell of a job with the tasty treat. And then I saw them bake a Swiss cake roll on the Great British Bakeoff. Consequently, I knew I had to give it a try. Yesterday I baked one for the first time and it was delicious, so I thought I’d share the recipe tonight.

Swiss Cake Roll

Prep time: 30 minutes
Bake time: 10-12 minutes
Rest time: 3:5- 4:00 hours
Total Time: 4-4.75 hours

Tools needed:

Ingredients:

For the cake:

  • 4 large eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
  • ½ cup all-purpose flour
  • ⅓ cup cocoa powder plus ¼ cup for rolling
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp salt

For the filling:

  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the glaze:

  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Instructions:

For the cake:

  • Preheat oven to 375°F.
  • Line a standard 11”x17” jelly-roll pan (rimmed baking sheet) with parchment paper; spray paper generously with nonstick baking spray. Do not skip the nonstick baking spray. Set pan aside.
  • Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs and vanilla together on high speed for 4-5 minutes, or until mixture turns foamy and lemon yellow in color.
  • Add sugar to the bowl in (3) separate ¼-cup additions, mixing for 1 full minute after each addition.
  • Add oil and mix until well combined.
  • In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Fold flour mixture into the egg mixture until just combined.
  • Pour batter into prepared baking pan. (Tip: Spread batter evenly to edges using an offset spatula.) Tap pan on counter several times to remove air bubbles.
  • Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until cake springs back when touched in center. While cake is baking, lay a large, thin kitchen cloth on counter. Sprinkle cocoa powder generously on top of cloth.
  • Once baked, immediately flip hot cake out onto the cocoa-dusted cloth. Remove and discard parchment paper. Starting with a short end of the cake, roll up cake (and cloth). Let rolled cake cool completely (2 hours) before continuing.

For the filling:

  • Using a medium mixing bowl, add whipping cream, sugar and vanilla extract. Beat with an electric mixer for 3-4 minutes, or until stiff peaks form.
  • Carefully unroll cake and spread frosting evenly on top of cake. (Tip: Make sure to frost all the way to the edges.) Roll cake back up (this time without the towel). Wrap cake roll in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

For the glaze:

  • Remove the plastic wrap from the cake and place on a cooling rack set over a sheet pan.
  • Using a medium microwaveable bowl, add chocolate chips and whipping cream. Microwave in 20 seconds intervals, stirring after each round, until mixture is smooth.
  • Let stand at room temperature for 5 minutes, or until mixture has thickened slightly but is still pourable.
  • Pour chocolate glaze evenly on top, spreading evenly over entire cake.
  • Refrigerate cake for 30 minutes to allow glaze to set before slicing.

Notes:

  • If you like mint, you could substitute mint extract for the vanilla extract in the filling
  • You can add sliced strawberries or raspberries on top of the filling for added flavor
  • Cooling time may very based on your climate. The times in this recipe are based on the South Florida climate.
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Friday Night Poetry

It’s Friday night, so it’s time for some beautiful and inspiring Friday night poetry. Tonight’s poem “Invictus” was written by William Ernest Henley.

Friday Night Poetry

“Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be. For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance.
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
  Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
 I am the captain of my soul.”

—”Invictus,” by William Ernest Henley

I hope you enjoyed this week’s installment of Friday night poetry. I for on am thrilled have made it to the weekend.