Christmas Day

Wonderfully warm in the desert today…have windows open and fans on at the moment.  It will cool down as the sun goes down then time for our fireplace and will feel cosy and Christmassy.  Had a wonderful swim this morning after present opening.

Don and Elaine spoiled us as usual with wonderful things from Paris and the south of France…thanks so much, guys!  Richard got us a soda making machine which is perfect since we go through a lot of mineral water.  The real advantage is you can have it as fizzy as you like.  And I got my usual stack of books from Jim.  Amazingly,  the first one I saw was a super little book called " A Literary Paris" which has selections of various famous writers writing on Paris.   And I had just opened all the Curlings cool Paris stuff!

And the best gift of all is having Richard with us for Christmas…not to mention that he is taking complete charge of dinner as well!

 Richard working out the timing for dinner.

 I got into mini stuff for gifts this year.

 From Don and Elaine…I can't believe I didn't bring any fridge magnets so these are perfect.

 Our soda maker.

 Paris cushion from Don and Elaine.

 Sunflower coasters….just what we needed as well,  classy Paris bag for Trader Joe shopping (Don and Elaine of course) and my great little book from Jim.

Wonderful selection of books from Jim…I don't know how he does it!

Merry Christmas from the desert!

A very merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my blog readers!

Good Eats!

We began with breakfast from the land today.  Richard brought some bacon that friends in the Sacramento area made from their pigs from their hobby farm and fresh orange juice from our tree.  Bacon and juice wonderfully delicious.

Then,  after our morning swim,  off to The Elephant Bar for lunch for more yummy treats.

Then home to Richard's special jalapeño Margaritas.

A glorious day!

Richard arrived yesterday amidst warm blue skies…great to see him!  He was really pleased we had planned dinner at Bill's Pizza after hearing all about the best pizza in the world.  It did not disappoint.  The evening started off with being handed a free beer since a waiter got an order wrong and it happened to be the beer Richard wanted…you got to like this place!

These are the ones we had…the Buffalo Chicken Pizza was a new one for us…excellent but pretty spicy for me…not for the boys who go in for Chicken Vindaloo.

Bill's Favorite

bill's sauce (pesto & red), pepperoni, salami, sicilian sausage, onion, & toma

10" $11.00

18" $23.00

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

garlic infused olive oil sauce, buffalo sauce, chicken breast, mozzarella & asiago cheeses, caramelized onions, parsley & choice of ranch or blue cheese dressing

10" $11.00

18" $23.00

Heather's Luau

garlic infused olive oil sauce, roasted garlic, canadian acon, pineapple, tomato, onion, mozzarella & four cheese

 Then we went across the street to take a look the the new Hard Rock Hotel that's been getting a lot of buzz.  It's really trying to be cool and hip but somehow didn't quite pass the test.  We all agreed it's probably a bit of a white elephant.  Seemed to be pretty much deserted and yet it's avery large space.  Interesting memorabilia but…

We'll head to the Ace Hotel for the real deal.

 These things were kind of neat.  A jacket of Frank Sinatra above and below a Sammy Davis Jr. outfit including custom boxers!

More Christmas cats...

Our dear friends, Don and Elaine,  sent us this great Christmas card which I was allowed to open before Christmas but have strict orders not to open the gifts they sent before Christmas…I'm usually not very good at waiting but please notice the unwrapped gifts…the ones from the Curlings have the cat paper, of course!

These two cats look like our old Oscar so just had to post...

Cats dancing and spinning to the Nutcracker.

http://www.pawbonito.com/cats-dancing-and-spinning-to-the-nutcracker/

A new activity….cards.

Dick and Susan had us over last night for pizza and Caesar salad and to introduce us to whist.  It was a lot of fun and the girl's team won in the end…well,  would anyone be surprised?

And they gave us a wonderful house warming gift…a super set of stainless steel flatware…exactly what we needed and just in time for our Christmas dinner.  Thanks so much!

For my cat loving friends….

We stopped by an open house in our complex and the owner had two cute cats.  We haven't seen these cats around so I guess they stay indoors.  We do see the odd cat around and many dogs…all quite quiet and well behaved.  Good on the owners!

Lunch with Tom and Claire

We had lunch at Wilma and Frieda's in Palm Desert yesterday…excellent panini sandwiches!

They have a fascinating month long trip to Israel in September…doing all the planning and touring themselves and certain things will depend on how safe is is to travel to certain places.  I do hope things will be in a peaceful mode for them.

They're off to spend Christmas with their daughter,  son-in-law, and grand daughter who are now living in Bowen Island running a dog care ranch….Wagsville (love the name!)  There will be 10 dogs there over Christmas and 5 year old Ella will be having a ball.   As a kid who loved dogs myself that would have been a dream come true!

For my dog lover friends in the Vancouver area,  this would be a great place to board your dogs.  They do pick up service on the North Shore.

http://wagsville.com

Snow back home…perhaps a white Christmas…very rare

Ian mentioned there was about 1-2 inches of snow in Victoria and I see there is a "Snowfall Warning" for Vancouver and Victoria…that's when 10 - 15 cm (3-5 in) of snow is to fall in a 12 hour period.

I'm glad Richard got off yesterday on his trip south as snow can wreck havoc with flights.  He'll be in San Francisco now and then coming to Palm Springs Monday.

It won't be like the blizzard of 1996,  before which time we were used to sweeping any snow off the porch and sidewalk with a broom.  Only 3 people on our whole block had snowshovels (we didn't have one but everyone has one now!).  I remember I was reading "Snow Falling on Cedars"…reading about this big snowstorm and looking outside at the snow.  It was not predicted!  It was rather nice as events were cancelled and we all had a very relaxing Christmas chez nous.

Well,  a nice dusting will just give a Christmas feel….turning to drizzle this afternoon apparently.

Dinner at Duane's Prime Steak and Seafood

We were really thrilled to get a traditional Chateaubriand with a few extras in the vegetables like endive, roasted garlic, and goat cheese on tomato…and the usual asparagus with bernaise, carrots,  roast potato.

I think the last Chateaubriand we had was room service at the Eugene Hotel.  We had had a great one here when we were doing grad work at the University of Oregon before Richard was born.  Richard was only about  2  1/2 so that's why we had it in our room.  They did the whole service table thing even so.  I also remember Richard spilling grape juice on the carpet.  Jim had just done his final oral for his Doctor of Arts.   When Richard and I were waiting in the car to pick him up I told Richard that his Dad was going to be a "Doctor" when he saw him.  Richard got very excited and cried out "Dr. Bones!!!"…one of his favourite character from the Richard Scarry books.  Alas,  I had to explain Dad wasn't going to arrive as Dr. Bones…

 We began with lobster tail tempura for two….each got a lobster tail with orange chill sauce.

 Our Chateaubriand being prepared.

 We even got a visit from Santa.

Yum Yum!

The Mission Inn, Riverside….magical place!

Just an amazing place and almost all of the figures move and along with all the 4 million plus lights there are horse drawn carriages all the time and even real reindeer.  I got quite a kick out of seeing the little ones try to give them cookies….most chickened out…don't blame them as they have pretty big teeth.

We're at the Science Fiction Library at the University of Riverside…a very interesting collection for Jim and they have some of his books (Huxley stuff) that he has published.  We're at a one hour parking so need to rush.  More later.

Dinner chez Dick and Susan

We had a great dinner last night at Susan and Dick's place in Canyon Sands.  Wow…what a spiffy place and great for wine lovers with a wine fridge and various wine decor.  Very upscale….granite counters, great furnishings.  The grandmother bought the place when they first came on the market in the 70's and the families live in California and use it themselves and rent it out as well.

They had bought a "tri tip" roast from Trader Joe's and it was excellent.  I've often seen this cut of meat but hadn't ever tried it.  And also tiramisu for dessert.  As I was looking for an image of the TJ's tiramisu I came across a blog called "What's good at Trader Joe's"….great idea!  Will make good reading.  I did read a review on the "poutine"…3.5 out of 10.  Is there such a thing as a good poutine?  Our one and will be only experience was pretty awful.

http://www.whatsgoodattraderjoes.com

The photo doesn't seem to want to post…you will have to use your imagination!

People painted as flags eating their national food…pretty cool!

Look at the link for more.  Jim made spaghetti last night for Erna (Marvin is in Baltimore at at the moment) and me so this seemed like an appropriate one to post.

http://www.lostateminor.com/2013/12/13/fat-flag-people-painted-flags-eating-national-food/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1047&utm_content=1047+CID_1c44b71990b1482ae59bbdcb2f6eba4a&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=Japan%20eating%20sushi

Back to golf in shirt sleeves (at least until the sun goes behind the mountains!)

Played golf at the Resort Course yesterday…very beautiful but all those water hazards are a pain!

Now,  Patty came up with a good idea.  Don't hide the red table in a corner.  So it now has a new place and we needed something there.  A little bit of adjusting and it doesn't interfere with the traffic.  Thanks, Patty!

Looks perfect there and goes so well with the Mondrian table.

Orange harvest from our own tree

Our own oranges make the best juice…there should still be lots for when Richard comes at Christmas.

Walking Tour of the Inns

Yestesrday evening we went on the Walking Tour of the Inns…small hotels in the downtown area open their doors for folks to look around.  We only did three….Del Marcos,  Viceroy (well,  not so small…they have five acres),  and Calla Lily Inn.

http://www.mydesert.com/article/20131212/BUSINESS01/312120052/Annual-tour-showcases-PS-inns

Then decided it was time to have our dinner at Pommes Frites.   Dick and Susan were impressed with the restaurant…it is one of our favourites.  The early bird three course prix fixe for $19.95 is an excellent deal considering the quality of the food.

http://www.pomme-frite.com/default.cfm?source=pomme-frite-specials

Then after dinner we had a walk around the Villagefest Street Fair which takes place every Thursday.  I was quite intrigued by quartz putters someone was selling…kind of cool but probably not that practical.

The Walking Tour of the Inns is certainly worth doing and next time we'll start in a different area and do a few more.  All three hotels we visited were serving hot cider,  coffee,  cookies, etc.  and even live music at one of them…a guy on a sax who was really belting out the tunes.

 Del Marcos Hotel…very mid century modern vibe….designed by William S. Cody.

 A beautiful evening.

 Some cool houses in the area.

 One of the Viceroy's dining rooms…very elegant.

Our appetizers...

 Moules au gratin for Dick…must give these a try.

 Leek and potato soup for Susan and me.

 Escargot for Jim…I snagged one…excellent!

 Enjoying our dinner outside and great view of the Street Fair.

The quartz putters…I'm still a bit tempted.

My ideal weather coming up…sunny and in the 70's!

http://www.weather.com/weather/5-day/Palm+Springs+CA+USCA0828:1:US

Cats oust Baby Jesus from his manager

Ah yes,  cats,  doing their thing!

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20131208/red-hook/cat-nativity-annual-delight-for-neighbors-red-hook

Email from Ian:  Subject : We 3 (feral cats) Kings

                                         "Mangy" cats bring gifts of Frankincense and 'Purr' to manger