Marlena And Nick Return To School On A Cold, Rainy Morning

First Beignets Of The Day

Another Bleak Afternoon In KC

Well, Marlena an Mary beat me up this morning; I was up around 6:30, came downstairs to both of them sitting at the kitchen bar, Marlena eating her breakfast, both on their devices.  Marlena left for school at 6:45, catching the bus up the street and Nick left about 15 minutes later.  How uncivilized! The downside, getting up early, the upside, they are home before 3:00.  Weatherwise, we have rain all day, 36º at the moment, but it will clear up tomorrow when we start our journey back to Lake Chautauqua, with a stop in Oxford, Ohio, for the night with the Barry's,

Yesterday had two high points other than the fact that some of us watched football for also 12 straight hours, the Chiefs, then theSeahawks, finishing our view at 11:30 with the Denver win over the New England Patriots.  My only excuse being the weather; it continued to be wet and slick on the roads and my only alternative to sitting around watching TV, eating chips and dip, drinking beers was to go shopping and I certainly did not want to do that.  So the two highlights of the day.

Phase # 1, Frying The Dough

Phase #2, Letting Them Rest

Phase #3, Dusting With Sugar

First, for breakfast, Evie with the help of Nick, Marlena and Peyton, made beginets, from a mix we bought in New Orleans.  To say they were a hit would be an understatement.  Just as good as those at the Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans, the entire family devoured them as quickly as Evie and Marlena pulled them out of the hot oil and Nick covered them with powdered sugar.  Nothing like eating them warm, too, just out of the oil.  They remind me of the hot malasadas we used to get in Hawaii, mostly dough fried in oil with sugar on top.  Yum.  Anyways, that was the morning highlight

The Two Card Sharks

The afternoon was taken up by football, as I mentioned, except that Evie and Marlena played numerous hands of rummy and telefunky, caring less who won the football game.  Highlight #2 was Evie's putting together Tommy's favorite meal, the good old standby, Greek/Lemon chicken, with garlic spinach, salad, and rice.  This seems to be our family's favorite meal, our comfort food since we starting making it back in the 1970's when we were living in Turkey.   Evie did most of the prepping but everyone helped as dinner neared, especially Mary and Marlena who were the sous chefs and the table setters.  Nick's buddy Chris came over for dinner, so by the end, nary a chicken thigh nor spinach was left.

Granny And Her Sous Chefs

After dinner, Marlena coerced the entire family into playing Apples To Apples, so we gathered around the coffee table and roared with laughter at the attempts to match an adjective.  It's an easy game, little strategy, but fun especially for the younger members of the family.  Afterwards, Marlena went up to bed around 8:30, tired from the previous night, Nick worked on his homework, and the rest of us settled in to watch the Broncos game, the ladies reluctantly, I might add, but in this house football seems to rule.

Late Night Cheese Cake

We waited up till 11:30 for the exciting end to the Bronco's/Patriots game.  Afterwards, everyone hustled upstairs, worrying about getting up early the next morning.  In fact, it's 7:30 and Tom and Evie are still asleep, like a couple of babies.  Lucky babies.