Instead of Hawaii & February Brew

We aren't in Hawaii and the temperature reads in the single digits.  So, we went to the lake.  Every winter my brothers and I find sitters for the kids and we join mom and dad at the lake for a "no-kids" weekend.  It was cold but the sun was shining and with no wind, we spent most of the day outside.  There's a guy on the other side of the lake who, in years past, has groomed x-country ski trails around the ice.  He pulls a barrel on skis behind his ATV to make the tracks.  But, this year, he pursued another interest and we just weren't that motivated to ski without trails.  We toured a bit with the snowmobiles.  The rather steep driveway was packed with snow, making a perfect sledding hill.  We sat by a fire in the afternoon to dry out and then headed to a neighboring lake for dinner.

From the lakeside grill, we watched a snow golf tournement on the froze lake as the sun went down.

Back at the cabin, we sampled some Minnesota Beer of the Month while playing a few hands of Schmear.
(February brew = Fitger's, Smithwick's, and One-Eyed Pike.

Wish I Were in Hawaii

Mark used to travel alot more than he does now and about the only upside to his traveling was that he earned oodles of frequent flyer points.  His parents were spending the winter months in Hawaii at that time and every other year we had enough points to fly over and stay near them.  It's been three years since our last trip.  Mark is home more.  I wouldn't trade that.  But I am dreaming of the islands and all our wonderful adventures.

Kate and John fell right into a native Hawaiian lifestyle, boogie boards always ready and trekking wherever the paths leads to find the next beach.

This is where I drank my coffee every morning, watching the sun light up the near distant tips of Lanai (see it's slope on the far right) and Maui (barely visable behind clouds on the left).  In the afternoon, someone in this little village would blow on a conch shell to gather everyone for pupus (appetizers) and drinks.  John and Mark played baseball every evening on our front lawn.  Ahhhh.

Having long heard stories of the fabled "midnight bread run", we finally decided to check it out on our last trip.  It was said that, at midnight, the bakery in town sold, from its back doors, the first batch of Hawaiian bread baked for the following morning.  But, to get some, you had to walk down this dark alley and wait by these big red doors.  You wait by the big red doors and, right at midnight, the doors are flung open and you have to place your order fast, you have to know which topping you want and have your money ready but...it is sooooo worth it when you get that little loaf of still hot bread.  This story was told to us many times, very charismatically, with a lot of arm gesturing and always a chuckle when the red doors are mentioned.  So, when we woke the kids at 11:30pm, drove into town and scuffled down the dark alley, noticing figures against the walls and in corners, we were just a little nervous, wondering if this were a true story, an urban legend, or a trap. 
Turns out it was a true story.  The toasty little loaves of sweet bread were sliced in half horizontally and slathered in cream cheese, strawberry jam, butter, cinnamon or any combination of these.  Then, we learned, it is custom to take your bread down to the pier and eat it there.   Soooooo worth it!

13 Minutes

We have been out of homemade cookies for some time - this is a problem for my family.  They want homemade cookies.  Yes, they could make some themselves but, "Mom, but you make the best cookies!" or "But we love yours the best!", as manipulative as it may be, usually hits the mark with me and I will make cookies. 
It takes 13 minutes to bake in my oven (sometimes longer when I accidentally hit the "oven cancel" button instead of the "timer cancel" button).  As you know, I'm one of the worst procrastinators - especially with simple jobs that really won't take much time.  Just do it, right?  So, I decided to see how much I could accomplish in each 13 minutes of bake time:

1st pan into oven...remove all bags, backpacks, sweatshirts, shoes and boots from kitchen floor, sweep, vacuum and then scrub kitchen floor with Murphy's soap...

DING!

1st pan out, 2nd pan in...remove everything from butcher block counter, wipe down completely, wash breakfast dishes and cookie making bowls...

DING!

2nd pan out, 3rd pan in...find sandpaper in garage, lightly sand butcher block counter, rub with food-safe wood oil, put leftover Super Bowl crab dip in microwave, return armload of basement property to basement, grab a Coke from basement fridge (special treat - don't usually have in the house!), cut up an apple...

DING!

3rd pan out, 4th pan in...arrange dip, chips and apple on plate (take photo for blog), log onto laptop, read the latest posts on some of my favorite blogs while I eat...

DING!

4th pan out, cleaner kitchen, lunch done, and cookie supply replenished - a good hour!