Football Season, American Style

Fall is here and that means Sunday is football day. With the time difference we had the afternoon to get out and enjoy the sunny day before last weeks game. We found a few of the gold post boxes painted in the home towns of British Olympic champions. Since it is breast cancer awareness month, I had my pink terrible towel in tow!

I was lucky enough for my NFL Team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, to be televised on Sky Sports. It happens a couple of times a year, but typically at ungodly hours. For example they also played Thursday night, which began at 0120 Friday morning. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to stay awake for this one. From the results, it may have been a good thing, my husband may not have been able to sleep through my armchair commentary. It is a rough start to the season, I hope the get into a grove and start playing better soon.

Regardless of how my team plays, I love watching football games and eating football food. Sunday's meal was chicken nachos with home made salsa. A fairly healthy variety I think, if you discount the chips and cheese.

These nachos included bell peppers, jalapeño peppers, kidney beans, and avocado.

Black currant tea

Meringues with Lemon Curd and Whipped Cream & Florentines

I can't believe the August bank holiday weekend is over. I have that crazy mixed up feeling that summer has flown by but things I did just a couple of weeks ago seem like its been ages since I did them... Silly nostalgia!

Last weekend, I participated in a very traditional English past time, the afternoon tea. Every year (for quite some time now) my mother-in-law has an Afternoon Black Currant Tea on the Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. It is to raise funds for The United Nations.  This year wass my second Black Currant Tea.
  
So what happens at an afternoon tea? Money is collected and you get to enjoy lovely baked goods. Stewed black currants are served with cream and home made shortbread biscuits. The black currants are grown by my father-in-law on his allotment and slow cooked by my mother-in-law. Tea and coffee are available to accompany the delights, yet I still drink tall glasses of cool water.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie

This year I baked a variety of goodies including oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies, mini key-lime pies, zucchini (courgette) tortes, a tomato and zucchini puff-pastry tart, and cannelloni bean and eggplant (aubergine) hummus. Everything went over very well except my Italian styled hummus. One of the members is Palestinian and thought I was trying to make a traditional middle eastern chick pea/tahini hummus. Never mind, I had some for my lunch yesterday! Other goodies included cheese and fruit scones also made by my mother-in-law.

The "wow factor" treats that everyone looks forward to though are the meringues. A fellow member bakes them for the tea each year. Last year she dropped them off with home made lemon curd. She was unable to attend the tea last year, and left us to it! My mother-in-law knew we filled them with the lemon curd and whipped cream, and we decided cutting them in half and placing the filling inside would be the best way to do it. WRONG! Although no one noticed last year, Ms K was there to properly instruct us this year. You stick to whole meringues together using cream and curd! These are delicious meringues that are light and airy on the outside but still have a that chewy bit in the center. They can prove to be a challenge to eat, but I was told that I have mastered the art of eating a meringue elegantly (blushes). I managed to get the recipe for the meringues as well as the Florentines Ms K made and look forward to trying my hand at making them.

Mini Key Lime Pies awaiting whipped cream and lime wedges

Aside from eating decadent treats and enjoying each others company, there is a 'brick-a-brack" table where things are sold such as small gift boxed items like you might find at christmas or fresh flowers from someones garden and baked goods (the Florentines where only on this table). Several games are played. This year it was guess the number of (home grown!) sunflower seeds were in the jar, a Shakespeare mix up game (too much work for me!) and guess/remember the items in the bag type game.

The final fund raising activity is the collection of the "leu roll funds" the members collect pennies in a decorated toilet paper roll in the bathrooms. It cost a penny a go to use the leu at the in-laws house! We know it goes to a good cause so we are always generous with our coins. I was told in the beginning a bit of fun pomp and circumstance went into collecting these funds at the meeting, however now i think they are just lumped together with the rest of the collections.
So, when you come to our house, don't be surprised if you see a coin collection in the leu!

We may also start the tradition of the black currant tea in the states. We would hold it on the same Sunday as my in-laws do and even Skype them for a bit. Come up with some games we could both participate in and have a true United Nations experience!

9 weeks passed like 9 days...

Wow, I can't believe how long it has been since I last wrote a post. If time passed quickly for me, it must have flown for my husband as his sabbatical is over and he's back at work. I guess once Tropical Storm Debby passed Florida, we didn't spend much time indoors, which meant little time writing. We filled our days with bike rides, beach time, nature walks, and house hunting (more about that next week!).

We spent our last couple of days in Florida in Tampa with my friend Lisa and Def Leppard!

After Florida we spent a week in Pennsylvania with my family doing typical American summer activities: amusement parks, baseball games, and barbecues. I think it was hotter in Pittsburgh than it was on Sanibel.

Our last day in Pittsburgh was a whirlwind of activity. We packed our bags and brought everything to my parents' house. Joined by siblings and their families while having some of my moms good cooking and trying to do the last of laundry and packing for 4!

My parents accompanied us back to England for their first visit and first trip out of North America! They wee a bit nervous but had a great time, even if they were a bit like Clark and Ellen Griswald!

Loads of details to come as I try to get back in the habit of writing!

Cheers :)

Tropical Storm Deby

Since Wednesday we have seen a turn in the weather. The bright sun and extreme heat was displaced by light cloud cover and intermittent showers. It was not enough to stop us from cycling or snorkeling, just enough to cool you off a bit while cycling.

On Thursday we played some tennis before heading out to the beach. It was lovely and sunny, just a lot windier than it had been the last week. When we got to the beach we could see the effects of the increased wind. The tide was extremely high as were the waves. Areas of beach we had sat reading on were now covered with a foot of water, sometimes more. The sandbars we had comfortably waded discovering sea stars and sand dollars with our toes were now getting pummeled by crashing waves.

We spent some time in the sun reading our Randy Wayne White novels from his Doc Ford series, watching the waves from time to time. Eventually we were too tempted by the activity in the typically docile Gulf of Mexico to sit and watch any longer.

I put on my rash guard and headed down to the water. Getting in was almost the hardest part as there was an escarpment about a foot high at the waters edge. Once in the water, you were carried by a long shore current along the beach as you dodged, jumped, our swam through waves. When you were back at the escarpment it was time to get out, walk down the beach and do it again. No rip tides occurred on our stretch of beach so we played in the waves until I got cold. I definitely wished I had a wetsuit and a surfboard that day (and knew how to surf)! After a short bike ride, we came back to the beach, prepared for big waves and they had already died down significantly. We could swim against the long shore current when earlier we couldn't even stand in place.

Friday morning we tried our hand at shuffleboard then headed out to the beach. The tide was not as high as Thursday but it was getting higher. We did not spend much time on the beach as the rain was closing in. By the time we got back to the room heavy showers had begun. We read on the balcony with the rain as our background music. The eurochampionships entertained us in the afternoon for a while, but cabin fever set in soon afterwards. We drove around the islands exploring new corners and walked around Captiva for an hour or so between showers, keeping us occupied until supper time.

Yesterday was obviously a wash out from the word go. We visited with Charles, our real estate agent for a while and talked more about the environment than houses, but enjoyed our time out of the condo. We watched another eurochampionship match and met him again and some of his friends (more wildlife people) for supper at the Lazy Flamingo. Charles brought fish he'd caught in the Gulf, the cooks prepared it for us and we had a family style meal served at a very reasonable price. It was a local secret and we were glad to have been chosen to have it shared with us.

Today I had hoped to cycle to city hall for the farmers market, but the rain was too heavy. We drove past and it appeared to be too heavy to even set up the market at all. So we drove off the island and explored Cape Coral. We went to one open house and drove past a few other houses on the market. Since we missed the farmers market, we stopped at the fruit stand and the fresh seafood truck on the way back to the island. We wanted to be back in the room for the England match of the eurochampionship. As we crossed the causeway back onto the island, the Intracoastal Waterway was splashing over the road. We made it back just in time to see kickoff! Come On England!

Two down One to go.

Our second week was as good as our first week on the Island. We have used our bikes and racked up quite a few miles. We even did 21 in one day! Our roller blades have not been quite as successful though. My husband had a little tumble and we've not been back on since. We will go on again before leaving Florida, just not sure when.

We kept hoping for some rain, actually the thunderstorms that are part of the hot summer afternoon routine in Florida. Instead, we are getting outer bands of a tropical depression (could be tropical storm Debbie soon). It doesn't look like it will have a major impact on Florida but it will create a lot of rain bands for another day or so. The upside to the storm? Great waves. This is not the gentle Gulf of Mexico I adore, but it is fun for a little while. Just wish I knew how to surf!

We have seen some great wildlife so far too. You can see a one day list on my Wild Wednesday post. I will make a list for the whole trip as well. As far as our hawk goes, I need to check up on him after the weekend. I promised myself I would only check once a week so as to not bother the staff of CROW too much. Today's big sighting, flying ants. The rain must have flooded out a nest. They are looking for drier ground but have only found our screens so far. As long as they don't come in I'm fine.

In between the cycling and wildlife viewing, we had time to learn a new activity, shuffle board! There is a board next to the grills, so our curiosity was peaked. We weren't sure of the rules so we had a look online and played a little yesterday before the rain came too heavy. I could see us playing more while we are grilling, as long as we remember the bug spray! I think we counted 54 bites on my poor husband!

We hope to get out on the water next week. We are looking at renting some kayaks or just doing the tarpon bay explorers cruise. It depends on the weather and how ambitious we get!

I almost forgot, we found the dream house! It is well beyond our means, but a girl can dream! It has prime location, gorgeous views, private dock and beach, and it's for sale! Really need to win the lottery now lol.

AmSub Grub! Tropical Flavors

One of the things I had been looking forward to in Florida was lighter food. Even though I make salads for supper several days a week at home in England, we still have a couple of meals where comfort food seems to rule. When it is cold and wet outside, mashed potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, and homemade baked goods seem to make it more bearable.

I learned some great new recipes from a friend of mine while she visited us on the island. I hope to repeat them at home if it ever stops raining or I am just a bit homesick for Florida!

One of the great things about these recipes is how easy they are. My friend R who spotted the injured hawk, not only shared them, but prepared them for us during her visit. Now for those of you who know R, she has not been known for her culinary skills. She works multiple jobs, has long hours, and racks up a ton of miles driving all around Florida in the aid of sick and injured sea turtles. Convenience used to be the most important factor, so fast food drive throughs would win out over home cooked meals. They would for most of us when driving 10+ hours in a day. Knowing even someone with that kind of schedule can make great tasting and healthy food gives hope to us all!

Our supper consisted of chicken with citrus and avocado salsa and mango salsa with whole grain tortilla chips for "dessert". Now we didn't have exactly what the recipes called for, but it didn't matter, they still tasted great.

She started by making the mango salsa and enlisted me to assist with some of the chopping. I think she said the recipe came from simply food, but I am not positive. We chopped everything and let it sit in the bowl for the flavors to combine while we were out on our bikes.

After the bike ride, I made some brown rice while R poached some chicken and did some more chopping and dinner was served! So easy, I could even handle it on vacation.

MANGO SALSA RECIPE:

One ripe mango
Tomato
(we used some plum tomatoes, but
what ever you have in your garden
would work I'm sure)
Cucumber
Onion
(we used a but of vidalia onion I had
in the fridge but I think the recipe
called for red onion)
Cilantro
(fresh coriander for my English
friends!)

Chop all the ingredients into a small dice. Remember you will be scooping it out with tortilla chips, so small is good in this case. I would add nearly equal amounts tomato to mango. The other flavors are up to you. If you like onion add lots, if you hate onion, skip it!

We didn't have any fresh cilantro on hand and the island grocery store was out as well, but it tasted fine. I loved the mango salsa but my husband found it a bit sweet (English taste buds). I thought adding some jalapeño peppers might add a nice contrast of heat to the other flavors. I'll let you know how it turns out!

CHICKEN WITH CITRUS AVOCADO SALSA:

1 grapefruit section and chopped
1 avocado chopped

Serve over chicken

I have attached a photo of the original recipe out of an old issue prevention magazine, one of those walking fit guides you find at the checkout. We once again did not follow the recipe exactly. That is the great thing about good foods, you can adapt to fit your situation, and as long as you have the basics it's pretty good.

We served over brown rice instead of salad as we had eaten salad several days in a row earlier that week. We also did not have fresh basil. The island grocery store had it, we just forgot to buy it (I think some chocolate took presidence lol). This would be great just with salad or rice as a vegetarian meal. Or try it with grilled chicken or fish.

A tip: I would always cut the grapefruit first for 2 reasons, first it takes more time, second the citric acid (grapefruit juice) prevents your avocado from going brown.

Wild Wednesday: Florida Style

So yesterday we headed out on our bikes, not really sure of our route, just a few ideas in mind. We let the weather tell us when to stop and when to move on. We got stopped by one rain shower and hung out at Lighthouse Beach while we could see another passing the causeway. Other than that, the weather held out for us and the breezy overcast skies made for good cycling weather, so good we did about 21 miles!

Wildlife was plentiful throughout the day, although we have still not seen any signs of the bear that we hear so much about on the news. And I guess we won't see him since they caught him a few hours ago.

Here are some pictures I took yesterday!

Our total checklist for the day:
Mosquitos
Ant lions
Fiddler crabs
Purple sea urchin
Brown anole
Black racer
Laughing gull
Fish crow
Grackle
Snowy egret
Great egret
Great blue heron
Reddish egret
Yellow crown night heron
Ibis
Brown pelican
Osprey
Cardinal
Red-bellied woodpecker
Pileated woodpecker
Pinfish
Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins


Links:

http://www.winknews.com/Local-Florida/2012-06-21/Sanibel-black-bear-safely-captured


http://www.sanibeltrails.com/sanibel-lighthouse.aspx