Posts from — July 2014

We really didn’t want to leave the luxury of the Princess Grace Suite at The Shelbourne, but that’s what we had to do on Wednesday morning.

We loaded up the rental car and began our drive across the center of Ireland, from Dublin, on the east coast, to Ballynahinch Castle on the west coast. It’s about a 4-hour drive, though we took a little longer, stopping in the center of the country, in the town of Athlone.

There, we toured the medieval Athlone Castle along the Shannon River.

While the boys played “lawn” chess on the top level of the castle, I was more focused on what was in the background.

I visited the beautiful Church of Saints Peter and Paul.

Beautiful, inside and out.

It began to rain, so back in the car, we went.

We followed the road markers to our destination, turning down the dense tree-lined lanes until the castle rose out of nowhere in front of us.

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This is my first view of Ireland, from a British Airlines flight, about to land in Dublin. Shades of green, as far as the eye can see, just as I always imagined it would be.

Once we collected our baggage and went through customs, we headed for the car rental office. This was to be our (Dave’s really, I have no intention of driving!) first experience with driving on the left side of the road. Dave reserved a car with automatic transmission and with GPS. The car we ended up with had neither. Suddenly our journey from Dublin airport to Dublin was looking a lot more daunting…

We paid extra to get the GPS but were still stuck with the manual transmission. Dave had a manual when I met him, but that was in 1982… it’s been a while! Put it all together and you have the uneasiness of driving a manual, in a foreign country, on the wrong side of the road, with a far from modern GPS.

All in all, he did great, at least on this, our first day. I am not being a critic, actually, I am giving high praise! If it was me, with my ADD, dyslexia, and the fact that I can’t drive a stick – Very High Praise!

It was only about 6 miles from the airport to our hotel, but with all that, it was still something of an adventure. You know how travel is, with the security and the tensions and anxiety that foreign travel brings about, we were happy to get to our hotel and even happier when the valet said he’d park the car for us!

We’d booked a room at the historic (1824) Shelbourne, overlooking beautiful Stephen’s Green. The very hotel where the Irish Constitution was drafted on the first floor in 1937.

We were escorted by the bellman to the registration desk and from there on out – it was all gravy!

We’d reserved a “junior suite” so that Dave and I would have the master and Connor would have the suite part of the room. We were informed that we’d been upgraded!

Is there anything better than hearing that you’ve upgraded?! It is THE BEST!

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Today I’m sharing images of our last three days in London.

Despite the passport issue, this was a good trip. But before you see that, you must hear all about my “passport saga” – because a trip isn’t a real trip until you have a dramatic story to tell!

It’s a long, but rather entertaining story, with a lesson attached. That being said, I’ll intersperse the story with my London photos… just to add a little lightness and joy to it instead of all ulcer-inducing – which is what it is.

Our flight to Heathrow was scheduled for 7:40 PM on Friday, July 11th. At about 1:00 PM on Wednesday, July 9th, I received this email from Dave;

“I’m sure you have already thought of this, but just making sure that all 3 of our passports are on site and you don’t need to go to the bank to retrieve them from the safe deposit box.”

Of course, I’ve already thought of that. In fact, I retrieved all three of our passports back in March when I got mine out to go to Spain. I was pretty proud of myself and was going to grab the passports from the shelf above the kitchen desk, where they had resided these last 4 months. Instead, I responded to another email from Dave about another issue and then I had to do some research and follow up on that issue. Once I was done with that, about an hour later, I got up to get the passports. I looked at each one and then I saw it…

OMG! How could this be? There is no way this is true! I can’t believe I didn’t notice this when I took out the passports four months ago! Connor’s passport was expired! EXPIRED! It expired in February of 2012! Holy Sh#t! Now, what am I going to do!?!

When the four of us (Marissa included) last got our passports, either new or renewed, back in 2007, they were good for 10 years! How could Connor’s be expired!?! Mine doesn’t expire until 2017. Dave and Marissa’s expire in 2017. How can his have expired in 2012?

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As you read this, I am someplace I’ve never been before.

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Peggy, Sloane, and Katie all brought dishes to the 4th of July BBQ. Even though I don’t have (or in some cases, need) recipes from them, I don’t want to leave them out.

Peggy brought watermelon slices. It was some of the sweetest watermelon I’ve ever enjoyed.

Plus she shucked, cleaned, and boiled corn on the cob that Dave later grilled.

Then there were the berry-themed desserts…

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One of the appetizers that I planned to serve at the 4th of July party was these cheese-filled grilled mini peppers.

Don’t they look yummy? My guests never got a taste, let alone a glimpse, of them. This photo of some other cheese-filled peppers is lifted from the web. That’s because, my grill-master husband turned the 30 little peppers, that I lovingly spent time and effort cleaning out and stuffing, into charcoal.

Photos of his burnt-to-the-crisp peppers at the bottom of the post.

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If you can find Easter egg radishes and colorful heirloom cherry tomatoes at your grocery store or farmer’s market, this perfect colorful summer salad!

If not, I’m sorry for you but it will still taste fantastic without the “fancy” vegetables.

Isn’t it pretty?

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These mouth-watering BBQ chicken thighs were inspired by a recipe from the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond.

When it comes to making bbq chicken quarters or just anything bbq related, there are many ways to make a recipe your own. For me, all I did was switch out peach preserves that she used to kick up some purchased BBQ sauce with red pepper jelly to really spice it up. The result – fantabulous!

These are what I was baking while the haboob rolled into and over Scottsdale and did a number on my 4th of July decorations the night before the party.

I neglected to let you know how all that turned out … it was fine. I spent the latter part of the night trying to track down all the blow-up stars that had been hanging from the front pillars. They were blown all around our cul-de-sac. I found about 2/3 of them that, the dark, and the rest the next morning. I was able to hang up and repair all the damage from the storm. So all’s well that ends well!

Now on to my bbq chicken.

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For the 4th of July Potluck BBQ-Pool Party, I asked guests to bring a salad, a side, or a dessert. George, who works with Dave, said he’d bring a side. When he told his wife, Julie, it turns out there was some discussion about what constitutes a side dish. Julie wanted to bring a pasta salad, or maybe a grilled vegetable salad or some other sort of dish with the word “salad” in it. All of which George put the kibosh on because they were “salads” and he signed up for a “side.”

Of course, anything they brought would have been just fine and greatly appreciated. They agreed this chilled green bean side dish would qualify as a side and all was right with the world.

Indeed it was, and it was delicious! Julie found the recipe on Rachael Ray’s website.

Here Dave is giving George a little grieve about giving Julie grieve about what is a salad and what is a side!

This is, Coney, he is the resident lifeguard at our pool. He may not have eyes to watch over swimmers, but his buff body keeps people in line!

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Peggy, Raechel, Sheila, and I met at The Simple Farm last Thursday for their last market of the summer. No worries, they’ll reopen in October when the cooler weather returns.

You might remember Raechel from my craft classes. Raechel was pregnant when she came to her first craft. Then in the next class, she brought her beautiful newborn baby girl, Brooklyn.

We were so happy to see Raechel and 7-month-old Brooklyn at the market. How adorable is this little cherub!?!

Sheila bought a few cartons of fresh goat’s milk and a jar of The Simple Farm’s Goat’s Milk Caramel Sauce.

Best of all, she shared it with us by making Goat’s Milk Ice Cream and letting us drizzle the amazing caramel sauce all over it!

Oh my, was it good! Thank you, Sheila, for sharing your farm bounty with all of us!!!

Beautiful Sheila drizzling away.

Steve, is very excited to be drizzling Goat’s Milk Caramel Sauce into his bowl of homemade ice cream!

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