Sailing on the Hudson

iPhone photos so they're not the best.  But we had a wonderful company outing on Monday night.  It also happened to be just about the nicest evening we've had in weeks or maybe months. 

 

The managing partner taking over the wheel:

It was a great way to see the city and hang out with coworkers (and did I mention Pat got to come!).  Work stuff has been going quite well, so that is a relief. :) 
Nonetheless, I'm still happy tomorrow is Friday!  Pat and I plan to see the movie Inception, and we're heading to the Spring Lake on Saturday for a beach day.  (I am also craving Surf Taco)  Sunday I'm happy to have book club lined up at Simone's.  And speaking of books, I just put in an Amazon order today for "One Day", recommended by Andrea, and "Born Round: A Story of Family, Food and a Ferocious Appetite", recommended by Sarah.  What is everyone else out there reading?

Good News

Pat found out that he passed the CFA (Level 2) that he took June 5th.  What a relief that his countless hours of studying paid off!  I am so proud of my smart hubby!!!  He's already thinking about the third and FINAL test next summer.

Way to go Pat.
xo

Chuppah Building Party

Our college friends Jeremy and Kacey are tying the knot next month out on Long Island.  In anticipation of this special day, they held a chuppah building party at Jeremy's childhood home yesterday.  If you are unfamiliar with chuppahs, here is a description, thank you wikipedia.  It's basically what the couple stands under during a Jewish wedding ceremony.

Yesterday was really hot, so we mostly hung out in the nice cool pool, but the chuppah did get built.  Kacey has picked out fabric to drape over so it will look totally different later on, but the shape is basically there.

We got to meet a lot of Jeremy's high school friends and some of his family too.  It really was nice.

Also, Pat played his first game of croquet! 

And Pat was the big winner!

It had been years since I'd played croquet (and you could tell)...So fun!

Anniversary Time!

Happy 2nd Anniversary to my cousin Sarah and her wonderful husband Matthew! They were married in Nashville at Congregation Micah and had an amazing reception at the Schermerhorn. (too bad for those summer brides this year that planned it there, the Nashville flood in May has certainly affected lots of fancy weddings) The night was so much that we even moved the party to the Wildhorse Saloon afterwards.

Sarah is so beautiful! Emma made this lovely bouquet for the rehearsal.

Super T! I didn't want this reception to be over. So fun!

~

And just 2 days ago, my parents celebrated their 34th wedding anniversary!! Wow!  Boy am I thankful for that one. :)  Here are my sweet parents having a blast at Sarah and Matthew's reception:

Love you so!!

Baby Back Ribs (by Pat)

Hello to all out there in the blogosphere! This is Pat coming at you with my very first blog post. I hope this goes well. So this weekend I got to fire up my new Big Green Egg for the second time. Baby Back Ribs were on the menu, and I loosely followed a recipe I got off of the Big Green Egg forum.


My first task was to split and create some fist sized chunks of Pecan wood for some smokey flavor. The wood came courtesy of Suzanne's Dad, but he got it from Sarah and Matthew, and they got it from Robert and Carole. (Thanks guys, I am putting it to good use.) The splitting and cutting was a chore, but here are some pics of the final product and a shot of the dismantled log.

Here is the egg doing what it does best. I cooked the ribs for about 5 1/2 hours. The egg was letting off this nice light smoke for the entire cook. I think the trick is using wood chunks instead of wood chips. I used a dry rub on the ribs that was just a hodge-podge of spices we had in the cabinet along with some brown sugar. After 5 hours, I pulled the ribs off and let the egg get nice and hot. While it was heating up, I applied a very liberal amount of BBQ sauce to the ribs. Once the eggs was at about 300 degrees, I put the ribs back on for 30 minutes to caramelize the sauce. Here is the whole rack after the BBQ sauce had caramelized. And here is a picture of my first helping. Needless to say, I am really enjoying my Big Green Egg. I can't wait to cook more stuff on it and share it with friends and family. That's all for now.

Pat

More Florida pictures

The evening of Chris and Julie's rehearsal dinner:

Well, doesn't Pat look comfortable. :)

Elysa, Suz, Alyssa, Dia:

Dave and Dia:

Alyssa, Dave, Dia, Warren:

Key Lime Pie dipped in Chocolate! (they also had Coconut Sorbet, mmm)

Later in the evening, when the bartender was done for the night, Warren and Alyssa stepped up to the plate!

Since my Dad went down to Islamorada for fishing not long ago, he recommended we check out this place called Robbie's where you can feed the massive Tarpon fish.  This pelican liked the spot too.

We bought a bucket of little dead fish and fed away (actually Pat did, I took camera duties)...

Hanging out by the pool, definitely necessary in that heat.

We went for a short kayak ride too.

Then got ready for the lovely little ceremony!

Chris and Julie, Man and Wife!

Groomsmen

Then we walked over to cocktail hour, luckily in the shade, where they had mojitos as a specialty drink.

Jason and Courtney:

Candi and Jeff:

Then it was time for the reception.

Shaun, brother of the groom, entertained us by singing the Humpty Dance when the band took a break.  He did a great job, but found out it was a kind of long song. Ha

The guys kept leaving to go change into shorts (it was hot!), especially once the dancing started.

Chair Lift, always a fun time!

Such a wonderful weekend!

Next up: Jeremy and Kacey, Long Island, next month. :o)