The Year Of The Sheep

I have always loved sheep and goats. I know they're not God's smartest creatures, but they are cute as heck!!! I have had some experience with Barbadan Black Sheep in the West Indies, and fuzzy sheep in Ireland, and although irritating, so so  cute!!! This year, the Chinese Zodiac has declared that it is the year of the Sheep. I feel a kindred spirit with the ruminants. I like to graze myself.

So what have we been up to?? Well, we have a tradition here at Casa de Holtzman. We'll get to that. First, on New Year's Eve, we had a sorta impromptu party on the block here. I made a delicious spread of tasty, carby goodies.

 

 

 

I made mini pizzas, pizza bites, potato/bacon pierogies with ranch, and chips n' dip. To wash it down,

 

 

 

A nice bottle of mid priced champers. Hail to 2015!!!!

 

 

 

So I believe we got to bed before midnight (that is not unusual) and then got up to do our yearly trek to see the Manhattan Beach house that belongs to the family. Here's a pic of the sweet little beach cottage.

 

 

One of my coworkers grew up in Manhattan Beach, like Doc did. We took down the address, and found her childhood home for her.

 

 

A very nice man saw me taking the pix, and came out to tell me the history of who lived on the street, and for how long. Then we went to the local Irish Pub for lunch. We took Elli, so we had to find a dog friendly place. I had wedge salad, and Doc had Shepherd's Pie. A very sweet pit bull dog slumbered next to us the entire time, except for when I was petting his big meaty head.

Then we took a hike down to the Manhattan Beach Pier, but Elli was not allowed to go out on it.

 

 

We talked to a nice man with a deer head Chihuahua while we were there. So we did our photo op, and headed down the lovely boardwalk.

 

 

There were many people and families out walking in the chilly sunshine. We walked for three miles, down to the next city, Hermosa Beach.

 

 

Hermosa means "beautiful" in Spanish. It's a trendy beach town, that had a rep for drugs and hippies in the 60s and 70s. Now it's a town of genteel million dollar properties, like all beachfront real estate in SoCal. The sand beach is very wide - the homes are well set back from the high tides.

 

 

If you squint really hard, you can see the MB pier in the background. So we walked up and back, 7 miles in total. By then, Doc was ready for a snack. So we stopped in the Manhattan Beach Sweet Shop, where he got a frozen banana with sprinkles.

That's him in the gray with his back to us, paying for his treat. Then we came home, walked Kenni and Vinni, and went to bed. We got free premium TV channels for 2 years from Verizon, so we watched 8 episodes of The Tudors. It is addicting. I finally fell asleep after Henry cut off the head of his 6th wife. I would never marry Henry, even if it means wine and beef every night. I like my head.

This morning, I got up and went for a nice long run in HB Central Park. Then I came home, and showered while Doc cooked us a delicious lunch. Then I went to see my friend at Happyness Consignment - she is off to help her mom in Russia on January 10th. I got a couple of things from her - I will miss her lovely little shop. But since today is Shoe Shine Saturday with Sheila at www.sheilaephemera.blogspot.com, I will play cuz I like Sheila. I got these delightful Poetic License wedges for $4.

 

 

I got a couple of other steals, too. I'll show you eventually. She is going back to Russia to care for her mom, so I wish her peace and luck. Then I went to the eye doctor for new glasses - I caved, and spent $400 for some awesome Fendi frames. They will take 2-3 weeks, and then I will show you. Then I came home to watch more cable TV, and light the lovely candles that my brother Bob, and his girlfriend Karin, gave us for Christmas. They are made by Ahava.

 

 

The set came with 3 scents. I am currently burning a pine/fir/spruce type scent - so lovely and seasonal!!

 

 

Tomorrow, I am making a special lunch with scallops and bacon. I can't wait!! Then we will do some household shopping and general maintenance of the Casa. Stay tuned !!

Today was a very chillax day. I went for a consult with my plastic surgeon. I am going to get a ViPeel on January 12th. It's a multi-acid peel for fine lines and dark spots. I will be okay for a couple of days, then I will peel like crazy for 3-4 days, then I will be okay. If I turn out half as good as the advertisements, I will be delighted. My doctor told me that since I have not had any procedures yet, the results will be more dramatic. So let's go. I am fine without wearing makeup for a couple of weeks, but I do not want to miss work because of my vanity. So I will be peeling over the weekend.

Then I came home and made Bacon Unwrapped Scallops. It is a Taste of Home 4 star recipe. It was absolutely delicious. I started with a bed of Uncle Bens Rice Pilaf.

 

 

 

 

After that, I sautéed chopped onions, chopped zucchini, and chopped bacon/sausage crumbles.

 

 

I added garlic, thyme, seasoned salt and chicken stock. I cooked it a long time, like 30 minutes, until it was very reduced. I also added celery and mixed stir fry veggies. The recipe calls for tomatoes, but Doc is allergic. I added a little tiny bit of sugar to compensate for the sweetness that the tomatoes would add.

 

 

Then I added a full pound of sea scallops. I cooked the mixture until the scallops were totally white, and carmelized on the edges.

 

 

Then I plated it. I put a full cup of rice pilaf and decorated the top with a carrot. Then I used a soup ladle to put 2 full cups of the scallop mixture beside it. I did not offer salad or bread - we both agreed that the dish was completely satisfying on its own without sides. That's nice to know - I like dishes that stand alone, no salad or bread or side needed.

 

 

 

Upon looking at the plate, I would add a side of sliced beets. How pretty would all those colors be??? And I would go all 60s on you and garnish the beets with an egg. My mom would hard boil eggs and then marinate them in beet juice for about a day. They come out with the white ring an ombre from purple to hot pink. So awesome. So psychedelic. So Zeppelin. Next time, my hard rock friends.

Anyway, tomorrow Doc will be making his famous hamburgers for lunch. They are mouth wateringly deelish, but very very messy and crumbly. So he is modifying his recipe to make them firmer, but no loss of yum. An experiment. We went to the store to get buns and meat and cheese. I was flabbergasted at the prices. Eight buns were $4.99. Pickle relish was $3.99.a pound of bacon was $7.99!!!! We could not support that level of gouging. We got three bakery rolls for the burgers at $0.59 apiece, and got the meat on the half off rack. It would have been almost $10 a pound at full price. I AM SURE. That is absolute robbery. Doc was a little skeeved at the half price meat, but I showed him that prime extra cool beef is half price on Day 2, he saw the light. If it doesn't sell the day it is butchered, it is half price the next day at 7 AM. It is a total score, and I always try that rack first in any store. Ask the butcher - he will gladly show you the best deals. All butchers are nice like that.

Here are the burgers. They had beef, red and green bell peppers, French fried onions, a pinch of Bisquik, beadcrumbs, eggs, worchestershire sauce, and apricot jam. He also cooked up bacon on the side and lightly breaded zucchini slices. I had cheddar cheese and had mine on a sourdough roll. Doc had his on a sesame Kaiser roll.

 

 

Here's another shot. For reference, note Elli standing in the lower right corner, ready to gobble up any morsel that falls.

 

Before the burger fest, I went running. Then as Doc was cooking, I watered the front yard and made a big bouquet of the giant orange roses that are exploding on their bush. They smell really good.

 

 

After lunch, we watched a TV movie called the Eddie Duchin story. It's about a pianist who died in 1951 of myelogenous leukemia - that's still a pretty bad diagnosis today. They called his disease metastenosis and the initial symptom was cramping of his piano playing hand. I had to Google Eddie Duchin to find out what really happened to him. It was corny, but I was sucked in. then we went to Wal Mart for dog food and Dasani water. I got Elli a new thicker winter sweater there.

 

 

We match. As far as how Elli likes her sweater, reviews are mixed.

Well, tomorrow it's back to work. No more long weekends until Memorial Day. Actually, it will be nice to get back to the regular routine. I have a lot of meeting preparation to get done by the end of the day tomorrow, so I will be busy. But back to outfits soon !!! And check out Shoe Shine Saturday at www.sheilaephemera.blogspot.com if you get a chance!!