magick musings…

“I cook with wine. Sometimes I even add it to the food.”

~W.C. Fields

Last week, GW and I were invited to attend a private dinner party for twelve hosted by the world renown chef Kent Rathbun.

At his private residence, no less. (Probably just one of his many if the truth be known, LOL).

But Wow!

What. A. Night!

Owner of the fabulous five star restaurant, Abacus, and Jasper’s “Gourmet Backyard Cuisine”, winner of The Iron Chef, and way too many accolades, accomplishments, and awards to mention here, he has created an outstanding culinary legacy all over the world.

And he is a pretty durn nice guy also!

We traveled via limo to Abacus where we met Kent and sat with him at reserved tables drinking cocktails and sampling his famous and signature ‘lobster shooters’ followed by chicken empanadas. Never had a lobster shooter before, but will definitely try them again. Think lobster ball cooked with some kind of sauce. Think shooters. Delish!

Back in the limo and off to his condo where we mingled on his humongous outdoor sitting area overlooking downtown Dallas. White wine flowed and servings of different kinds of sushi was served.

Sushi? you ask. Don’t like it? you say. Well you would this. GW and I both tried the salmon ones and the tuna and avocado ones and it rocked! We thought we were not fans of sushi, either. Silly us.

Next, we were escorted into the dining area and served a special recipe of salad, the most tender, tasty filet mignon this side of the universe, the best mashed potatoes we have ever eaten (even GW scarfed them down and he HATES mashed potatoes. I so wish I could get my hands on that recipe), seasonal veggies of various sorts, and then a dessert that literally melted in your mouth.

Unfortunately, I am not able to do the meal justice with my descriptions. But it truly was to die for.

And I cannot say enough nice things about Kent Rathbun. Besides being extremely supportive of the arts and other charities, he is nice, he is funny, he is sweet, and, judging by the wonderful five star meal he rustled up for us, he is definitely deserving of the national recognition as a chef who defines innovation in the world of fine dining.

I plan on visiting both his restaurants in the near future. Soon.

~Sandy

“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.”

~–Western Union internal memo, 1876.

GW and I went to Best Buy and I preordered my iPhone!!!

Time to retire my flip phone to the old phones home.

~Sandy

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”

~George Bernard Shaw

The beauty of the internet is that there is so much you can do from the comfort of your home. You can ‘window’ shop, buy, sell, keep in touch, make new friends, find old friends, play games, take classes, all in your comfy clothes and bunny slippers.

Occasionally, I will sign up for a writing workshop that many of the RWA chapters offer, but being so busy, will just print the lessons off and put them in a binder (I’m very organized, ya know). My intentions are to read through them and learn and apply what I can to my writing.

Recently, for the month of June, I signed up for C.J. Lyons workshop called Character Driven Plotting. This time, I decided to be an active participant and actually do the lessons and the homework and -(gasp!) – send them in for review.

I cannot stress how much more I’ve learned by doing this. Like many, I can read something and THINK I have the concept and then just move on down the road. But, by participating, you get such informative feedback that helps take it to a new level. And CJ makes you really think hard and dig deep for motivations and conflicts and emotions.

And for us who are such visual creatures, she provided the script to the movie Die Hard and is using the lessons to dissect the movie which is kinda cool. Unfortunately, now I am dissecting movies even worse now. Poor GW!

But try dissecting Shutter Island. Talk about weird!

Great workshop, though!

I recently reconnected with some old friends whom I have not been in touch with for several years and talked on the phone to one of them for TWO hours the other night! It was great catching up and hearing what everyone has been doing. Hard to believe that their kids are now grown, out of the nest, college graduates, and some even married. Wow! Do I feel old! (Not really, LOL. They may all be older, but not me! Although, I do wonder who that woman in the mirror is sometimes…)

Not much to tell on the cooking front. Haven’t been in the mood to try anything special or different.

Later!

~Sandy

“If you can’t change your fate, change your attitude .”

~Amy Tan

…is my new mantra.

I keep thinking things are going to slow down, but no cigar.

We had a wonderful busy, busy weekend.

Saturday, GW took my car in and had the oil changed. AND got it washed. What a guy!

And then he took me shopping for clothes! Yes, girls – for clothes! We actually had fun doing it! There was no whining, no griping, no ‘are we done yet’?

And GW never complained either, LOL!

Yep, I can hear all the women out there gasping with jealousy. Sighing with envy.

Sorry, girls. But he’s mine.

After shopping and having lunch, we rented a few movies and piled in our chair the rest of the night to take a rest. Trekking from one end of the mall to the other is rather quite taxing you know.

Movie #1: Whiteout
Don’t waste your money. Premise was good, but couldn’t carry it off. Boring.

Movie #2: Legion

***Spoiler Alert****
Okay movie. Did not EVER explain why the child was the chosen one to save humanity. GW and I got into a debate about it. He related it to the Terminator movies. I debated back saying that at least you knew John Carpenter had to be saved because he was going to lead the rebellion against the machines, but in Legion it never said why the waitress’s child was THE one. No clue whatsoever. I personally think that God was testing both Gabriel and Michael. But what do I know. If you see the movie and figure it out, please enlighten me.

Movie #3: Paranormal Activity:
Okay movie. Had some scary moments. Predictable ending.

Sunday we went grocery shopping and then to Lowe’s where we bought a trellis and a pink mandeville. Had a special place in mind to plant it and if it covers the area I want, it is going to be beautiful. I so love tropical flowers.

Monday, I had to bring my netbook to Comp USA for some work on it. It became so sloooowww that it was driving me crazy. I almost cried as they pried it out of my hands so they could take a look at it. I am not sure what was wrong with it, but now it works at the speed of light.

loveit, loveit, loveit.

I had to purchase a new Norton internet security program for it because it was expiring in a few weeks, but Symantic offered a $50.00 rebate so I got the newest and greatest for only $29.00. Not bad.

While my netbook baby was at the shop getting a check up, we were invited to some friends for the rest of Memorial Day where we swam and cooked sausage and veggies on the grill. GW grilled the corn after I got those puppies all lathered up with my special herbed butter and they were the hit of the party! He didn’t have any charred spots like yours truly seems to get occasionally and it was so crisp tender and tasty. Yum!

Yesterday, I was like a cleaning machine. Moved the furniture around and swept and mopped and dusted and scrubbed and laundered and now the house is rockin’ clean. Cooked a pork tenderloin on the grill with roasted asparagus. I just love days like that. Clean house. Great dinner. And then watched 2nd day of America’s Got Talent tryouts. Gotta love that Howie!!!

~Sandy

“Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal. .”

~From a headstone in Ireland.

Thank you to the millions who have died so that I may live my life in peace and safety.

(Sorry this is late. Had it set to post and it didn’t).

~Sandy