My FLA - Week 5

I know, no weeks 1 thru 4. This is the first fifth week of a series so cleverly thought of by Hillary. She's shoutin out for DC. I'll begin with a vacation we took in 06 and didn't blog about it because, well this is a knit blog and all. hahahahahaha That year, we splurged and instead of driving the 200-something miles, we flew. We also stayed inside the resort at Portofino Bay Hotel. Also payed extra for express tickets that gets you right on the rides and exhibits, no lines, no waiting. Totally. Worth. It. Did I mention it was July? Florida in July is HOT. Good thing I wasn't um, changing then. I took my very first sock in progress on the plane. The sock is no longer with us.

We got in at night so we would be well rested when we hit the park in the morning. The hotel has an entire town with family dining and an Italian restaurant that was just like eating at grandma's in Italy. It cost about as much to go to grandma's in Italy. I also enjoyed myself in the hotel's bathroom that had cool leuver windows above the tub. I scared the crap out of the old man with those! OK, I'm 12, but I'm snickering right now just thinking of it.

Portofino Bay at night

Looking the other way is the bay where I spent time in the morning feeding all the ducks that came in for breakfast. I couldn't get decent photos of them, but I remember cracking up because one duck would be out on a little wooden boat (there for decor only), and that duck sounded like he was laughing. They didn't come around at night though.

First thing in the morning, our water taxi came to get us and wisked us off to playland.

As you can see, the offspring was completely thrilled.



Hello Universal!




Some highlights:

The Mummy: Highly recommended.



The Incredible Hulk, ah no. Not me. We hung out while the girls went on it. Three times. This looks much smaller here than it really is.



This is what we saw while we waited. Did I mention it was hot?



Oh wise old mountain man, when the hell are these kids gonna get tired of this ride?
Hot hot hot hot hot

I bought stuff while I waited. hot hot hot hot


Don't I wish....

Reminds me of the old SNL. You're that land shark! I'm 12

No Universal trip is complete without stopping by SpongeBob's pineapple house.



When you can't be home...



They're not kidding, they're everywhere.

How do you measure the success of a vacation?



When you wind up with a steaming pile of kid at the end of the day.

B is for...

Baby Bibs O' Love ala Mason-Dixon . These were made with one skein of Sugar and Cream self striping I found at A.C. Moore while on a yarn raid with The Betties. We seem to be managing get togethers more often than just knit nights, and Blogfree Debbie always apologizes in advance where ever we go.

Many Bib's O' Love have come out our group, especially from Mimi who seems to be addicted. Intervention? Nahhh

For A Good Time, Click...A Public Service Announcement

JenLa's blog (Knottygirls dot com/JenLa/blog) is experiencing server issues. If like me, you've tried linking there, and got the web page with the blonde hottie, you know it's not not fixed yet. I sure would hate to be in their web host's shoes for the next few weeksdays. Jen, I tried to comment last night, but that chick wants me bad.

So until JenLa is up and running again, you may admire their button here.



Talk about Friday Fuck Up

A Contest!

Go!

A

It sure is nice of Vicki to get an ABC Along going for the year. It's not too late to get in on the Action, hurry on in, After January 19th, you're a spectator.


A is for ABC Along, Award, Anime, Agony

I was Awarded by JenLa in their 4th Annual Knit Blog Awards! I received the Hawkeye Award which for anyone that knows me is most fitting. If you had told me three years Ago I would have received this honor, I would have said well dammit I'll try!

The 2nd Annual Anime convention is now going on at our public library and if madame Kate does not wake up soon, she will miss it. It would have a little more exciting if she entered their drawing contest, but a certain mother of hers saw it too late to get in. Which brings to the Agony that is my new job. One word to The Man, (lawsuit) if you don't cut out the shit you're pulling and furthermore, good luck cause you're going to be training a new person every three months asshole. You're very smart and know your job, but you lack the common sense and time management skills God gave a bedbug.

Cripes, is it B yet?

What's in the Box?

It's all about the food over at Mason-Dixonland, and it makes me realize how self brought up I've been. My mom cooked without recipes and she was a good cook, she's also been gone for 7 years, so to open up her box and show her recipes would be fairly morbid at this point.

Left to right is The Campbell Soup Box gifted by sil's ex-mil about 20 years ago. My own recipes and those of my mil reside in there, as well as, 250 ways to spruce up yer food with soup. Good stuff.

The Toy Shoppe box was bought by me years ago when I decided to start the Christmas cookie tradition. It has all my recipes for cookies I like and maybe a few dozen dessert recipes made their way in there too. Never met a grain of sugar I didn't like.

The one with the apples on it was given to me by my other sil, it was her mother's. There were only a few of her recipes in there, but not the ones she was famous for. Damn.
My fave and most often made recipe besides spaghetti sauce, is my dear friend Diana's cheesecake recipe. This baby comes out almost 3 inches high and is light as a feather. Not that I've ever tasted one, except for that time I ate that wing that had a small feather still attached...
Diana gave me this off the top of her head saying she'd made it so often, she knew it by heart. And now, so do I.

Diana's Cheesecake

Greese a 12" Springform Pan and line with crust:

1 Cup graham cracker crumbs
3 Tblsp. melted butter
2 Tblsp. sugar

Combine an line pan wrap bottom in foil so the foil comes up the sides of the pan near the top.


Batter:

4 Packages 8 oz. each Cream Cheese
1 Cup sugar
3 Tblsp vanilla
3 Tblsp flour
5 egg yolks (put the whites aside in a mixing bowl)
1 Cup sour cream


Beat all ingredients except sour cream til smooth, add sour cream mix thoroughly.


In egg white bowl, add 3 Tblsp sugar and 2 shakes cream of tartar and beat til stiff peaks form. Fold into batter by hand and dump into crust.


Place in a large baking pan with about 1 inch boiling water added and bake for 1 hour in 350º oven.

Turn off oven, open door and leave in oven for another hour.


Chill, pig out! Any questions, please feel free to email me. A big thank you to Carole for letting me know that tomorrow's the deadline although this is not the stuff winning posts are made of.


This always takes me back to the days when I was a brand new banker and very young. We were a good team and about 6 of us still keep in touch. Much has happened good and bad, but I always think of Diana when I make this cake.

So there it is, nothing of grandma's, no aunt's pictures, no sisters at all. Most girls have things like laces and china handed down from their mother's or grandmother's trunks. What did I inherit from mine?

And a