Trifle Update .....

I am very pleased to report that our trifle was a wonderful success!! It looked awesome (thanks Hubby!!) tasted delicious, and appeared to be heartily enjoyed by everyone!




It had a lot to live up to after the amazing Christmas dinner made by Katy & Cameron - beef which I believe was started outside on the grill (or bbq, for people back home) then finished in the oven, with little piped potatoes and broccoli sauteed with almonds - yum!! I also got to try some sweet potatoes with marshmallows - something I had heard about years ago and always thought was a bit twisted! Turns out I was wrong - yum again!! Throw in a few bottles of good wine and some wonderful company and you have the recipe for a perfect Christmas! A huge thank you to everyone who helped make our first American Christmas special :-)

And now for a lazy Boxing Day - Hubby is still in bed and I am curled up on the sofa nursing a slight hangover and watching Quantum of Solace. The furthest I'm planning on going is next door to feed the neighbour's cats, and the highlight of my day will be spending some quality time with Philippa and one of our new toys :-)

Incidentally, I have been asked several times what the history behind Boxing Day is as most people haven't heard of it over here. These days it's mainly just a way to commit suicide by shopping as it is the day all the shops start their big sales - much like Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) over here. But I realised that I didn't actually know the real story so I consulted the all-knowing Wikipedia, and, for anyone who cares, it was traditionally the day when wealthy people gave their servants a box containing gifts, money, and/or leftover food. So there you go - I learned something today, maybe you did to!

And now back to my movie and the delightful Daniel Craig ....... :-)

Ho Ho Ho!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!! Was Santa good to you? I was a bit concerned that he might not be able to find us on the other side of the world (particularly as this house doesn't have a chimney) but as always, he came through! :-)




Santa Hubby did very well and got me a new coffee machine (dear God, I missed the old one!) This one does espressos and lattes and cappuccinos and hot chocolates and everything you could reasonably expect a coffee machine to do!






He also got a couple of joint presents for me and my beloved Phillipa - a ravioli making attachment and an ice cream making bowl!!! :-) I am ridiculously excited about these and will be playing with them just as soon as Safeway reopens for me to get the necessary ingredients!!






Other notable offerings from assorted Santas include:


The Big Book Of Cupcakes from Vera - this is a wonderful book full of yummy recipes and decorating ideas ranging from novelty to simply stunning. I cant wait to try them all out, and will of course keep you posted on my progress!

A digital photo frame from my sister in law - this is something I had been thinking about getting for a while and was going to suggest to Peter so I am really happy with this - nice one Caroline!!



But the Most Randomly Awesome award has to go to my daddy for Alibi At Midnight, a book he co-wrote with a fellow journalist in 1974 about a man falsely accused and tried for murder. I believe it was actually my stepmother who tracked the book down, much to my dad's embarrassment, but I love it and cant wait to read it!!




It doesn't quite feel like Christmas, if I'm honest. One of my favourite festive songs is Its Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas, but every time i hear/hum/sing it I look around and think, No, there's something not quite right! Maybe it's the lack of snow - although I definitely do NOT miss that!! Maybe its the fact that it's still warm enough during the day to go out without a jacket? Maybe it's the absence of the Connie Francis Christmas album?! ;-)

I'm definitely missing my family and friends more than usual. Ive just had a wonderful Skype chat with my parents and sister and aunt and I'm a wee bit sad I wasn't there to share in the hilarity as they opened the pressies, but thanks to the magic of Skype they don't feel quite so far away. :-)

We are very fortunate to have been invited for Christmas dinner with our friends Katy & Cameron and their families which we are very excited about! We are contributing a trifle, which we haven't made before so we also have a shitload of cheese and wine as back up in case it all goes horribly wrong!! :-) Speaking of which, id better go put the cream on the trifle! Will post pics tomorrow and let you know how it turned out!

Well, whatever you're doing, wherever you are, and whoever you are with, I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas!! xxx

Hubby Takeover!

Recipe for Peter's Chili con Carne

I've decided that my barbecue chili has reached the point where I can finally divulge the recipe and this is the handiest place to do it. I've been mucking about with this recipe for the last 10 years and it's taken cues from everywhere from Texas to Amritsar via the dankest curry houses of Pollokshields. I was handed a version of this from my good mate Chris, a chili fanatic who told me all about his "Honey 3 Meat" chili one drunken night somewhere in southern Holland, which he was gifted while living in Texas. So, with the giddy feeling of standing on the shoulders of giants here we go....

Before we start you're going to need some kit:

1) A really big pan

2) A barbecue (ideally with a smoker)

3) A metal sieve

4) A really big sharp knife

5) 2-3 days and about $30 assuming you have most of the spices already

Step 1 - The Rub

The basic beef chili uses 3 meats:

1) 4lbs short ribs or cheap fatty NY strip - get what's cheap at the time, but not thin flank.

2) 1.5lbs of ground chuck (btw good Scottish mince is far better, but whatever)

3) 1.5oz/42g bag of good beef jerky

Only the first meat has the rub applied; this is probably the most important stage of the process as a lot of the flavours are rubbed into the meat as early as possible to be released throughout
the cooking process as the other ingredients soften up. You'll need to reserve some time for this - I recommend doing it the night before the main cooking session to get the deepest bark later.

For the rub you'll need:

4 teaspoons mustard powder

2 teaspoons of coriander seed

2 teaspoons of cumin seed

4 teaspoons of smoked paprika

3 teaspoons of onion salt

2 teaspoons chipotle chili powder

2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons of diced garlic

2 teaspoons of diced cilantro (coriander) stems

2 teaspoons of black pepper (fine grind)

1 teaspoon of diced ginger (ground is fine too)

1 teaspoon of rubbed sage

1 teaspoon of diced oregano

1 teaspoon of diced marjoram

1 teaspoon of celery salt

Ideally you can find the mustard (75% yellow, 25% black), coriander and cumin seeds whole and' roast them in a small dry pan for 10 minutes then grind them from hot in a cold mortar. If you're using all pre-ground spices (Colman's mustard is fine, but find decent coriander seeds if you can) mix everything but the fresh cilantro, garlic (and ginger if using fresh) in a mortar and grind away to break up the ground herbs into the spices.

Once the dry rub is prepared I mix it with the garlic, cilantro, ginger (if using fresh diced ginger rather than dried powder) and a splash of liquid smoke. Take the meat and cut it into 1"x1"x6" strips, then work in all the rub

Now put it in the fridge overnight, and if you have a smoker get the hickory soaking too.

Note - don't add sugars to this rub if you're grilling it, but feel free to add some brown sugar if you're smoking it.

Step 2: The Barbecue

This is the first manly bit - in that you get to make the neighbours really jealous. if you have a smoker fire it up, if not (like me) you need to get some of this http://www.thesmokestackco.com/index.shtml. We're not planning on cooking more than 1/8" in, we're really just trying to get the best flavours out of the beef now that it's saturated in rub. I set a smokestack on a high gas grill for 15 minutes until it has filled the grill, then I sear the beef on all sides for about 10-15minutes. You want to end up with something that's half cooked and smells awesome:

Let it cool and dice it into 1/2" cubes before it cools completely:

If you have bones then keep them - you can throw them into the pan for the first hour, then pull them out and pick the meat off once it's softened before you put the beans in.

Step 3: Preparing The Chili

So this is the second manly bit. You probably want to set the wife up with a soppy film so she doesn't take note of the daft amount of chili peppers you're about to chop up. Lets start with the ingredients you need to look out:

(Top to bottom)

2 bottles of Negra Modelo beer

5 whole tomatoes, sieved

(1 teaspoon of table salt & 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar)

1 Spanish (cheap white) onion

2 large soaked Guajillo chilies (reserve the water for later)

1 green bell pepper

6 fresh green Anaheim chilies

12 dried red birdseye chilies

1 small tin of chipotles in adobo sauce

1 finely diced beef jerky

3 teaspoons of garlic

1 bunch of fresh cilantro

Now you must choose how mental you want the chili to be. If you take all the seeds out of the above chilies you have an awesome well rounded beast of a chili with a warm long lasting heat you can enjoy and not worry about the wife putting the face on. However be warned, if you leave them all in you won't be able to eat it without some burning. I like to leave half the seeds in - mainly the chipotles as they have a lot of the smokiness from the adobo I long for.

Take the tomatoes and dice them, run them though a seive unti l you have 90% of the weight in liquid with no solids left. Use a wooden spoon to push the tomato flesh through the sieve. Use the salt and vinegar to break down the skins and internals to maximize the volume of smooth tomato. You should be left with a sieve full of tasteless fiber and a bowl of tasty tomato goo.

Now prepare the chilis. The seeds from the Anaheim, Guajillo and birdseye chilis just add heat - take out as much as you like. Dice the birdseyes into 1mm cubes, the Anaheim into 1mm slices and the Guajillo and chipotles into 3mm squares so they dissolve easily. Make sure you remove the hard flesh near the stems as they don't dissolve as fast. Once the Guajillo chilies are soaked add the water to the tomato juice.

The beef jerky should be high quality - you can just about get away with Jack Links but it's the only supermarket brand I've found acceptable - get down to Los Gatos Meats and get some fresh. Take that sharp knife and shave it to 0.25mm slices across the grain so it'll dissolve like

stock.

Step 4: Cook The Chili

Get a big pan - like silly big, look at the amount of stuff we're dealing with. I use 2x7 qt pans.

0 Mins: Onions in.

+3 Mins: Garlic in.

+2 Mins: Ground beef in.

+2 Mins: Splash of Worcestershire sauce, salt & pepper.

+1 Mins: Add chipotles in adobo sauce

+1 Mins: Guajillo chilies

+1 Mins: 1 beer and 1/3 of the tomatoes, any bones.

+5 Mins: Rest of the chilies

+2 Mins Rest of the meat

+3 Mins Bell peppers & some of the 2nd beer (about what's left after 20 mins over a hot pan).

+5 Mins: 2 handfuls of cilantro, 1 handful of oregano, marjoram and a couple of pinches of sage and thyme.

+5 Mins: (Optional) 2 tins of beans - I use kidney and pinto

+15 Mins: 1 tablespoon of honey and extra chili powder as needed (It'll taste hotter than the final taste right now, so add bit by bit - you have a day to wait before you have to commit to the heat level)

Step 5: Stew The Chili

It'll start looking like this:

Put the chili on a low heat for at least 4-6 hours the 1st night. Cook it on a low heat for at least 2 days while tasting every 4 hours. As the flavours melt together you will probably find you need to add in extra heat - do so carefully as the extra spice will take 2-4 hours to permeate and release it's heat. On the 1st night the short rib meat should dissolve in your mouth and the sauce may taste too sharp and sweet depending on the amount of chili seeds you added. By day 2 you may just need to add a pinch of brown sugar and some chipotle chili powder if the heat has eased too much. By day 3 it should have stabilized and be ready to serve.

I generally wait 3 days before serving - double baked potatoes, tortillas or corn bread are the way to go. There is no good reason a chili ever encounters rice, salad or cheese. Baked beans and slaw can be an acceptable accompaniment as long as no beans were added earlier.

There are various modifications to the above recipe that cater for the bacon lover, in fact the above recipe normally makes use of bacon stock for extra flavour during the barbecuing stage. For the non-alcoholics among us, the dark beer can be easily swapped for ginger or root beer as long as it's not too sweet - cut back on the real ginger in this case. By day two you should have something so tasty you'll be making excuses to tamper with it:

Wine tasting in the sun :-)

On Sunday we were delighted to be invited to the Vintage Santa Clara Wine & Food Festival with Eric and Rose - an annual alumni event at Santa Clara University where Eric was a student. Now, this most likely conjures up an image of elegantly dressed people sniffing, swirling and spitting fine wines in the sunshine - and you would almost be right! There were many elegantly dressed people, there were lots of very fine wines, but not a whole lot of "tasting" going on!!






So, I'll set the scene. We're in a courtyard at the uni and it's full of little white tented stalls representing all the local wineries. Once you had paid for your ticket, everything at the event was free, so you just picked up your glass on arrival and started making your way round the stalls.

Now, we tried to be methodical so we could fit all the stalls in but that plan soon fell by the wayside!! (At this point I should probably point out that we were only getting wee taster pours at each stand, although there was nothing to stop you going back repeatedly if you found one you liked!)




There was every kind of wine under the sun, and even a few beers if you were that way inclined, but I stuck to the red and soon lost track of what I had and hadn't tried! My personal favourite was easy to remember though, as it was a rather delicious cabernet sauvignon from the Punch Vineyard, which was the name of my dog when I was a kid! :-)




Luckily some local restaurants also had stands and we were able to line our stomachs with chicken skewers, calamari, roast hog, and a Mexican ground beef pasty which was one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten!!






A wonderful ageing rock band provided the sound track for the afternoon, and inevitably there was much dancing as the wine took hold!








It was a wonderful afternoon, and full of many moments where Hubby and I had to pinch ourselves as we still cannot quite believe that this is our life now!







But our day was not over yet. Custom dictates that when the festival ends everyone make there way to the local student bar a short walk away - and I mean everyone!! I have never seen so many people crammed in to one place, and it was incredibly uncomfortable so we didn't stay long.



Eric told us an interesting story, though, of how everyone comes after graduation and pins a dollar bill with their business card (or some just write their name on the bill) to the ceiling, and if they get made redundant they can come back and take the dollar down and get a free drink. I thought that was a nice story, and all the dollar bills made an impressive sight!



Any sane person would have gone home at this point, but we stayed out for another hour or two, luckily in a much quieter bar, before we headed for the train home - very drunk and very happy ..... *hic*

A HUGE thank you to Eric and Rose for an awesome day out!!! x

Further adventures in baking land ......

So, yesterday I decided it was time to try and bake bread. We have long lamented the fact that we can't find a decent loaf of bread over here (seriously - wtf is the obsession with sour dough?!?!?!), and as my beloved Philippa came with a dough hook I was finally out of excuses not to try.



Now, I'm usually a wholegrain kind of girl, but my little Kitchen Aid recipe book suggested a simple white easy rise loaf for beginners so that's what I went with. It was a wonderfully simple recipe - dump stuff in mixer and ..... errrr ....... mix! The recipe made two loaves, but i felt there was too much dough for the mixer and poor Philippa seemed to be struggling.








I persevered with the kneading until I started to fear for my little mixer's well being, then shaped the dough into loaves and popped them in the fridge to rest and rise.









I had little faith when I popped the first loaf in the oven, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was a little dense, though I'm not sure if that was how it was supposed to be or if further kneading would have helped, but it was still tasty with a nice crunchy crust and made a suitable accompaniment to last night's soup.





As first attempts go I felt it could have been a lot worse, and there is something unbelievably satisfying about eating your own homemade bread!! Am I about to stop buying shop made bread? Well, probably not! But I'm definitely looking forward to having another go!! :-)

Baking and barbecues

Yesterday was a particularly good day! I was in full on domestic goddess mode and spent the day in the kitchen. I had a wee craving for soup so made a little pot of carrot and coriander and a humongous pot of ham and vegetable - yum! But the highlight of my afternoon was, once again, spending some quality time with Philippa! :-)

We were going to a barbecue in the
evening so I decided it was the perfect excuse to try making cupcakes with the mixer. I probably would have made them anyway, but this way I wouldn't have to eat them all. And I would have. Easily.

Once again, my beloved mixer proved she was worth every cent! My cupcakes could no longer be used as doorstops!! The sponge was light and fluffy, and the frosting was silky and smooth - I
was almost sorry I had to share them!


As I was on a roll, I decided to mix up some more cookies to take to the barbecue too. (I had originally planned on taking the ones I'd made on Friday, but sadly there were only two left ...) It was while sorting the ingredients that I realised I had accidentally made the previous batch using baking powder instead of baking soda. Now, I'm not really sure what the difference is, but the only difference in the end result seemed to be a whiter cookie. I would be very grateful if someone (Nancy? Kirstie?) could tell me why this should be .......



Anyway, the goodies were well received at the barbecue, and of the 12 cupcakes and 11 cookies (one cookie was consumed in advance for quality control ...) only one cupcake was left at the end of the night :-)





Much fun was had at the barbecue! Peter had marinaded a tritip (mmmm .... beef ......!) and Teo (pictured next to hubby) brought some yummy prawn skewers.









In addition to burgers and hotdogs, our hosts Cameron (left) and Katy (below on the left) made some divine chicken stuffed with homemade pesto and wrapped in bacon (Cameron - I want the recipe for your pesto!)








We ate, we drank, we tried not to piss the neighbours off, and after a wee round of Guitar Hero we retired to bed, drunk and happy!! :-)

Cookie-tastic!! :-)

Oh my God!! Oh my God!! Oh my God!! Oh my God!! Oh my God!! How much do I love Philippa?! (In case you missed my last post, Philippa is my new mixer)



We had our first playdate today making cookies, and I have to say they are my finest work to date!! In my world the perfect cookie is crunchy round the edge and soft and crumbly in the middle, but previous efforts, while tasty enough, were crunchy all the way through. I had tried less time in the oven but the end result was still the same.





Whipping up a batch of cookie dough with Philippa was a dream! No sore arm and shoulder from trying to beat the butter! No head to toe dusting of flour - well, only a little when I turned the mixer up too high!

For some reason the end result was a lot paler than previous attempts, but looked more like the cookies I know and love, and as you can see from the next photo, these cookies were so wonderfully soft I couldn't even get all of them off the tray in one piece.




So all in all, I think I can quite confidently call this exercise a success!! Tomorrow's mission is to see how Philippa performs with cupcakes, but my mission right now is to try and not eat all the cookies before Hubby comes home. Chances .........?!?!

Who am I and what have I done with myself .....?!?!

Ok, so I know I haven't been around for a while, and I do have some adventures which I will try and write about soon, but I really feel I have to share my latest excitement!! Please meet Philippa, my shiny new mixer!! (yes, I have a strange habit of naming inanimate objects - don't ask .....)




I have been very surprised to discover that I have a budding passion for baking, and I imagine most of my friends will be surprised too! (although, I think Kirstie will be quite proud!) I have made some valiant attempts at making cupcakes and cookies manually, but haven't been too pleased with the consistency of the dough so am looking forward to having a go with the mixer. :-)

Further excitement was had when I also bought a sewing machine online. My current skills don't stretch beyond sewing on a button, but I have fancied trying my hand at dressmaking for a while and, with help from the "idiots guide to sewing" book I ordered and pestering my friend who lives across the road (I apologise in advance, Katy!), I should hopefully be turning out pretty little dresses in no time :-)

Well, that's all I really have for now. I will keep you posted on my forays into domestic goddess-ery - I'm sure you could all do with a laugh! First up will be new improved cookies tomorrow - watch this space ........

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! :-)

10 years ago today two young crazy fools stood in front of their loved ones (and one scary old minister!) and did the whole "til death us do part" thing. I do not feel old enough to have been married for 10 years, but there it is in black and white on the marriage certificate so it must be true!!









I can only assume that my dear husband was dropped on his
head as a baby as any man in full control of his faculties would surely have ran for the hills a long time ago! Fortunately for me he has stuck around, and he has made me happier than I ever thought possible.












I was particularly happy this morning when he
presented me with this little beauty!!






My original engagement ring, bought when Hubby was still a student for "less than we pay for a nice meal these days" (his words) had broken again a few months ago, and fixing it for a second time would mean that it had cost more to repair than he paid for it all those years ago!






I had (cheekily and hopefully) hinted at the time that perhaps a new ring might be in order, and we had briefly discussed it last week, but I never imagined something so beautiful and was utterly gobsmacked when he gave me the little box this morning!!








One reason I was so surprised is that I thought I already had my anniversary present - I had returned home from Scotland on Tuesday night to find this waiting for me!



My very own bass guitar!!! I have wanted to play the bass guitar since I was about 17 when my good friend Claire and I spent many evenings watching scruffy bands in dingy little pubs and clubs around Edinburgh. I was always captivated by the bass players who stood around looking a bit bored and incredibly cool, and produced sounds so deep and beautiful they made me shiver. I can't see me getting more than a shudder of horror out of my audiences, but i'm going to give it my best shot and Gods dammit, i'm going to enjoy myself!!!







So, now i'm faced with the challenge of how to repay my wonderful husband for these anniversary gifts, particularly as I am now a kept woman and buying him a present with his own money seems a little wierd! Hmmmmm ....... how about some freshly baked love? Need I say more ..........?

Hello Sailor! ;-)

Let me tell you about our latest
adventure - a day at sea!! Well, technically a day sailing round San Francisco Bay, but you get the idea.

It all started at 8am on Saturday when Pirate Pete and I assembled at Captain Leo & First Mate Vera's house and set off for the marina in Berkley where we were hiring our boat from. Second Mate Brian joined us at the marina and our little crew was complete.




We set about prepping our 26ft vessel for action, with the seasoned sailors taking care of the technical stuff - y'know, the sails and shit - and Brian and myself attempting to go through the pre-sail checklist, which was a bit of a challenge as we really didn't know our jib from our boom or whatever that thing is called! But with a little help from the captain we were soon done and making our merry way out of the marina.

It was a beautiful, though chilly, morning and the wind was good for sailing as we set off towards San Francisco. Once Leo had cleared the marina everyone got a shot at steering, although I politely declined my turn - I was quite content with my responsibilities pulling the rope to turn the front sail thingy (which I later learned was the jib). Brian was up first, and did a grand job for a newbie! He did pull some interesting manoeuvres, and Vera and I soon decided that the theme for the day was Adventure Sailing, but there were no casualties!




Next up was Peter, who was sailing for the first time
in about 15 years, and enjoyed testing the boat's capabilities. In fact, he viewed the fact that the boat was impossible to capsize more like a challenge and we all enjoyed his many attempts to disprove this!!

He was clearly having an awesome time, and everyone was happy to leave the bulk of the steering up to him for the rest of the day, with the captain content to direct and advise.








Sadly, though, we were about to have our one and only casualty of the day when Peter's hat was blown off :-( A rescue was attempted, but was soon called off when we forgot to nominate someone to keep an eye on the hat and it disappeared. Though saddened by our loss, we ventured on .....








Our goal was to hit the farmer's market at Fisherman's Wharf for lunch, and soon the famous skyline of San Francisco came in to view. Unfortunately the wind was not really playing our game and it took us a few attempts to get on course, but the boys were spurred on by Vera's frequent demands for burgers .....







...... right in to the path of a container ship! At first we thought we could comfortably pass the ship and held our course. A brief game of maritime chicken ensued until our opponents sounded their horn and we pulled a swift U-turn to give them right of way!!






Eventually we made it to shore, an hour later than hoped, and went to play in the market. Farmers markets are really popular over here and this one was awesome!! We headed first to the hot food stalls and feasted on burgers from a speciality butcher - Vera and Leo had been singing their praises all morning and they lived up to their reputation! We then wandered round the rest of the market and bought some strawberries for dessert - yum! Sadly I forgot to take my camera with me to the market so I can't show you all the sights, but we will definitely be going back and I shall do my best to remember next time!! We passed a very pleasant couple of hours on land then headed back to the boatie for round 2.

In anticipation of stronger winds, the captain decided to set off with only the main sail raised to make the boat easier to control. But as we sailed round the bottom of Angel Island it became clear that the wind was not in our favour and we were forced to weave continuously to try and catch the gusts. This made for very slow progress and some unrest among the crew!

Now, don't judge, but at this point we decided to cheat a little and powered up the motor to get us round the corner and back to the fun times. Oh, and there were fun times a-plenty to come! With the wind our friend once again, we were propelled smoothly around Angel Island and on to the home strait.



Now, this is where things got interesting, and Peter's sailing skills were put to the test! With the wind behind us, and away from the protection of the island, the waves were getting bigger - and a lot more fun!! Peter had to work hard to get us through the swells with only minor soakings - and while he wasn't always successful nobody minded because, quite simply, is was bloody brilliant fun!!!



Tired and wet (some more so than others!) we made it back to the marina around 6pm. With thoughts of the free bar and barbeque the sailing club was providing in our minds, we sped through the packing up and hosing down of our little vessel, only to discover that the damn thing finished at 6pm!! But, as Leo said, we would much rather have had the extra time on the water so we weren't too upset!



To round off our day we all made the trip back into San Francisco to a random little dive bar called the Broken Record where we enjoyed such delicacies as pork fries, blue cheese chicken wings, and chilli served in a cheesy toasted bun, while we raised a glass of beer to our adventures at sea.




This was such a fun day out! I have always loved being on or around the water, but this was my first time actively sailing (although my role was mainly decorative for most of the journey!) and I absolutely loved it!!!

So, when's the next trip ....?!?!?!?!?!?!

PS - A huge thanks to Vera and Leo for organising the trip, and to Brian too - it was a pleasure to meet you!

PPS - Pirate Pete has already started looking into boats for sale, and we have narrowed the parrot down to a Norwegian Blue called either Hades, Jasper or Vigo. Watch this space ....... :-)

Where to begin ...

I'm struggling to start my blog. I've been trying to decide how to record our adventures to date without boring you with details you may already know. There is also the fact that I frequently forget to take my camera out and about, and when I do have it I am usually too busy enjoying the sights to remember to take photos - I promise to do better in future!

So I think I'll just pepper my future posts with flashbacks as and when they occur to me. But there are a couple of things that come to mind that deserve their own post - and I even have some photos!! :-) First and foremost, there was the Bay to Breakers race, which we will call:

Fun Times in San Francisco - Part 1

I had no idea what I was letting myself in for when I agreed to take part in the race, but this proved to be one of the most awesome days of my life to date!

First, some background: Bay to Breakers is a 12k footrace across San Francisco and has been around for 100 years, making it one of the oldest in the world. It is also one of the largest, holding the 1986 world record with 110 000 participants, a figure which rose to 160 000 last year. Some of the world's finest athletes take part in the race - followed by tens of thousands of crazy fools in fancy dress, hell bent on turning San Francisco in to one long street party! (BTW, I was one of the fools - NOT one of the racers!!)


Our day started on the 5.20am train to San Francisco, which was a rowdy affair! The train was packed full of people who had already started drinking - or possibly hadn't stopped from the night before - and were definitely in the party mood. Although we were still quite sleepy, and probably had at least 10 years on most of the other passengers, we decided to join them and started sipping on one of our vodka concoctions - or was it the tequila? Its all a little hazy now .....






We arrived at the group assembly point (aka Robin's apartment) to get changed in to our costumes and, stomachs lined with McDonald's McGriddle breakfasts *shudder*, start the serious drinking! Our theme was aliens and investigators of Area 69, and everyone put a lot of effort in to their costumes. Particularly the Hubby, who spent ages the night before mixing tequila and vodka with the most lurid coloured sodas we could find and loading them into our giant water cannons, and spent the day shooting shots into test tubes and sharing them with anyone who looked in danger of sobering up!












By 8.30 ish we were all were all decidedly merry
and good to go, and in a sea of neon we took to
the streets of San Francisco




















The forecast had been for a cold rainy day, but the sun was just coming out and it turned out to be a perfect day for a drunken stumble around town!




As we joined the back of the 'race' I tried to take in everything that was going on around me. I have never seen so many people in fancy dress in my life! Costumes ranged from the hastily put together to some wonderfully elaborate ones - and they covered every theme imaginable. There were even a few people who came along in the buff - although they were mostly men (to the boys' disappointment) and fairly wrinkly and unattractive (to the girls' disappointment).






Just about every house and apartment along the route was having a party and people were waving and cheering us on. There were bands and djs at various intervals, and the atmosphere along Fell Street was phenomenal!




















I could have happily stayed there and partied for the rest of the day, but our group had gotten separated a little earlier and Hubby and I were determined to catch up with our friends. This was tricky as mobile communication was virtually impossible, but one of the benefits of having a neon green costume theme is that you are easier to spot in a crowd and we were re-united at Golden Gate Park.


We had a quick re-fuel at the hot dog stand and bravely ventured on through the park, but some of us were starting to tire, and some of us had perhaps had a little too much to drink (you know who you are!!) so we decided to call it a day and head to the pub. By the time we got there (possibly around 2pm?) we were all starting to crash so we were a subdued crowd as we ate our burgers and summoned up the energy to make our way home. After a quick stop at Area 69 HQ to pick up our belongings and de-alienify we found ourselves on the 4.15 train home, tired but happy :-)









To all our fellow aliens and investigators - I can't thank you enough for making it such a memorable day!! I can't wait for next year's race - but there are two conditions:
1) I can't believe how close we were to the finish line when we gave up - next year we have to
see it through!!
2) Then I want to go back to Fell Street and party til I collapse :-)


Agreed? Good! Now, all we need is a costume theme .... hmmmmm ......... :-)



PS - another huge thank you to Vera and Rob for letting me steal their photos!! Here are a few more for your amusement x