New Bunco Queen Celebrates Caribbean Style

We won’t quibble over which is more important…Bunco or the Super Bowl…Valentine’s Weekend Festivities or the Chinese New Year…it continues to be one adventure after another.  Just read on…

The Queen is Dead…Long Live the Queen

Who needs a Super Bowl when there is Bunco to be played?  The tradition continued in a new venue and many of us were there to witness a passing of the torch.

Bob and Ellie Donahue sponsored the winter event with an outstanding ham dinner supported by other of the Queen’s subjects bringing appetizers or desserts.

Not long after Cheri and I arrived the reigning Queen and his entourage made their entrance.  We quickly noticed that the Queen’s retiring to the Southern Palace following the last Bunco event resulted in a change in the Crown Jewels.  After feasting on Pig and Peat—a metaphor for pork and Scotch for those of you not familiar with Royalty…or Jimmy Buffet lyrics—the assembled masses spread out to four tables over four rooms, and the gaming began.  There were many give and takes with limited shouts of “Bunco” and “The Queen is going down” echoing around the rooms.

The scepter remained unchanged, but the Queen had complained that the earlier crown neither met his styling sense, nor fit the larger level of responsibility—or ego inflated hat size—that results from joining Royalty.  Jack the Queen (sounds like a rock group) had taken the Royal Jewels on a whirlwind tour and then he and his consort, Stephanie, used their own resources to embellish the Signs of State.  The crown will now weigh heavily on the head of anyone given the responsibility of representing our Bunco Kingdom.

We played the traditional two rounds and then the host and I went into Executive Council—private meetings to decide matters of State.  It didn’t take too long before the gathered masses saw white smoke and a hush fell over the crowd in the kitchen awaiting the results of our deliberations.  A roll-off for the most wins had to take place and Jim Nowak narrowly beat out Martha Harrison for the honor.

The Royal Jewels have now moved back to the Quiet Corner of Connecticut.  An early Spring challenge has already been established in an attempt to bring the Crown back to to the Southern Palace.  The Challenge is there, but Queen Cheri is growing comfortable as Royalty.  I’m just saying…

Then we announced the decision regarding the tied number of Bunco’s rolled and the Executive Council’s precedent setting move to then use total wins as a tie-breaker.  Cheri was declared the new Queen with newcomer Deni Vander Voort as a Lady-in-Waiting.

One adventure that will continue.

Calling All Captains


Besides being the weekend leading into the Chinese New Year—the Year of the Lion—the weekend was also significant for recognizing all the Queens in the Morris/Manz/Swenson trio.  With distance this event has evolved into a weekend long get together.

This year we gathered in Standish, Maine beginning Friday evening and the festivities began.  The ladies of our lives thought a gift selection of unique ales would be just the thing to get the men into the mood of preparing the weekend gourmet dinner.  Of course, since it was there…in the house…in front of us, and an opener was so close we decided to experiment with a couple on Friday evening.  We started the cooking as well with some tenderloin steaks that James had rubbed in fine ground coffee, crushed vanilla beans and kosher salt and left to sit overnight. Thomas chipped in with a preparation of brussel-sprouts with bacon and we rounded the meal out with baked potatoes and a little red wine to wash it all down.  Following the meal the lady-folk gathered around the fire place and watched some of the opening ceremonies for the Olympics.  The men went downstairs to play some pool…don’t even ask what Dan and Thomas were doing…suffice it to say they are both old enough to be consenting adults.

Not too surprising, it ended up a relatively late evening.  So, we all slept in a bit the next morning, but that didn’t stop our die-hard ladies from heading out for a run…as evidenced by the photo. Dan also got into the action and arrived back from his run about the same time as the Cheri and Liz.

Coffee, breakfast, coffee, showers, more coffee and then it was time for the men and women to go their separate ways.  The ladies off to Portland for some shopping and lunch.  The men needed to run some final errands to pick up flowers, the evening’s entree and lunch as well.

The afternoon seemed to fly by while the men pulled together the final items for dinner and added the decorations to the table.  James took the lead…and performed 98% of the work in getting the ambiance set—Dan’s and my 2% were primarily artistic opinions.  Our theme this year was a Caribbean evening and James had beach sand, figurines and models, and a self designed flower arrangement to set the mood—complete with palm trees, beach umbrellas, a pirate ship and doubloons. 

The ladies came home, visited for a short time and then we all retired to dress for the evening.  At this point the word went out, “Calling All Captains” and we responded appropriately…

The ladies joined us in their tropical attire, and began reviewing the menu, enjoying a selection of cheeses and crackers, and tasting cosmopolitans—Liz’s new favorite drink…at least until the next Lemon-drop martini.

We also took this time to get some couples photos before moving to the dining room.

Then it was on to dinner.  In the Caribbean theme we started with coconut shrimp and a pineapple & mango relish.  As soon as the shrimp was completed Dan prepared a Jamaican Hearts of Palm salad—a recipe he received from one of the Emergency Services technicians who is from Jamaica.  At the same time we prepared the Macadamia Nut crusted scallops to go into the oven.  The meal flowed from one step smoothly into the next. 
As I described to the ladies, the main course was, as expected, all about them.  Each food piece representing a piece of them:

“The scallops are firm, but tender and a little nutty; They rest on coconut risotto which is smooth, creamy and sensual; The mango-plum tomato salsa is exotic and a simple touch; On one side is a red pepper coulis which is savory and comforting; On the other side is a mango coulis which is sweet and spicy; Here’s to our ladies.”

Accompanying the entree, Dan prepared jalapeno corn bread which was drizzled with honey for a sweet, spicy, comforting side piece.  Dan then outdid himself by making key lime pie for dessert, for which he hand-whipped the cream.

We dined for over three-and-a-half hours and then retired back to the fire to close out the evening visiting and simply enjoying time spent well with good friends.

In keeping with not wanting to walk away without being well fed, Sunday morning Stephanie made us all eggs benedict.  James and I went off to sing in the choir at church and when we came back it was time for all of us to pack up and get on the road.

To view most of the pictures from the weekend click (or double-click) on the pirate ship below to be taken to my web-album.  Another great Adventure that will be a continuing story.

Valentines 2010

Keep Your Powder Dry

Gasparilla Day in Tampa was approaching and we were doing the best we could to hold off the Buccaneers.  Cheri and I arrived on Thursday, well before the attack, and headed off to Zephyrhills to bunker-down with Dad.  Dad’s friend RuthAnn (a part of the neighborhood team of “RuthAnn and Harvey”) along with her daughter Annette picked us up at the airport since Dad had dialysis that afternoon.

As usual following his dialysis treatment, Dad was a little washed out.  But with our arrival he seemed to pick up a bit, and he perked up even more as the evening progressed.  Dad had supper going for us in his crock-pot, so it was nice to arrive to the smell of home cooking.  We did manage to stay up to a reasonable hour and spent the time visiting and watching a little TV—including the Celtics’ disappointing loss.

The next morning Dad and I headed out with a group of his friends from the Park for breakfast at the Golden Corral.  Cheri accuses me of not telling her, but this was a group of men and women—Cheri stayed back in bed thinking it was only the men—who get together every Saturday morning to have breakfast together.  This was obviously Friday morning, but since the Buccaneers were attacking on Saturday the breakfast date was moved.  I probably ate more than I should have, but it was an enjoyable time.

Fortunately, when we got back to the Park Cheri was up and had already eaten.  We waited a little bit to let everything settle and then we headed up to the walking / running trail next to the hospital—Dad stayed back at the Park to take his morning break.  Everyone else on the track was in long sleeves or sweatshirts, but Cheri and I had our running shorts and t-shirts on while we ran around for a couple of miles.  We finished off with a couple of walking laps as well, so it was a good way to burn off some energy—and the Golden Corral buffet breakfast.

Getting back, we decided to have some lunch and then head out for a couple of errands.  Since Dad spends several hours at dialysis three days a week, he thought it would be nice to have a portable DVD player to help pass the time.  The center does have individual TV’s, but the selection of shows isn’t always the best and there are sometimes problems with the headphones.  Cheri and I tagged along to make sure he picked out a good unit.

We went to h.h.Greggs, an appliance and electronics store where Dad bought his new TV, and they had a very good selection.  Dad was able to find a nice Panasonic on sale—all of the h.h.Gregg prices seemed good—and he picked up some better headphones to go with it.  This set up seems like it will help the time pass—he does enjoy watching movies—while undergoing his treatment.

The timing for getting back to the Park worked out just right since we were able to take a little siesta between the errands and heading out for supper.  Cheri and I had told Dad ahead of time that we wanted to take RuthAnn and Harvey out to dinner to thank them for all they do for Dad—they treat him like a brother…in a good way.

There was a little mix up with the pager while we were waiting for a table.  They had said it would be a 25 minute wait and after 40 minutes I asked them where we were on the list…and they didn’t have us on the list.  So they then seated us right away.

We left the choice of restaurant up to the three of them and they decided on the Texas Roadhouse.  Peanut shells on the floor, tall cold beer, and good steaks…it worked for me.  Sorry the picture is of their backs, but you can see the Roadhouse ahead of them (and the Texas sign over the door).

For most of us the meal was very good, only Dad ended up with a tough/gristly steak, so the manager came by and took the cost of his meal off the bill.  Fortunately, we had started the meal with a baby blooming onion and some rattlesnake bites (jalapeno fritters) and the sides along with the meat were all enough to ensure no one walked away hungry.

The attack of the pirate ship Gaspar into Tampa occurred the next morning with the ship sailing into port and the Mayor giving the pirates the Key to the City.  As a result pirates parade through the City tossing beads and candy to the bystanders on the route.  This also seems to be a good excuse for beer drinking and festivities throughout Tampa.  Many years they have had in excess of 400,000 people attend, but the rain kept many away this year…too hard to keep your powder dry!

Gasparilla Day was not in our plans for this trip so we stayed away from Tampa.  When we sent Dad off to dialysis we instead headed for Groveland, FL.

Our trip took us to visit with an old (old as in the 34 years we’ve known each other not old as in our age) friend from the Academy, Joe Bradfield.  I was in Joe’s first wedding 30 years ago, he is happily in another for the last 12 plus years.  We wanted to take the time to visit him (since we haven’t seen him in 30 years).  He is now an Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeon and has a great practice in Central Florida.

We were fortunate to spend time catching up with Joe and remembering the times he use to come up to NH with me to go skiing.  His children were home as well so we were able to hear about all the events going on in their lives.  We had a great time.

Dad was a little washed out when we got back, but he rallied as I put together a pork loin for supper and Cheri made up the apple sauce and quinoa for sides.  After dinner Dad had another second wind and we visited and watched some TV into the evening.

Jumbo Strawberry Shortcake! The price is right, the servings are huge, and we like to make it a part of our annual trek to Florida.  We want to do our part in helping the economy and this is our form of an Agriculture Stimulus Program.

The next morning we got Dad to Church in time for his choir rehearsal and then we met up with Deb in the Narthex to go to church together.  Afterwards it was back to Dad’s for a brief siesta before we all headed to Parkesdale in Plant City, FL.  The photo may have caught Cheri by surprise, but you can see in the signs behind her the reason for going to Parkesdale Groves.

Deb headed back to Lakeland after our treat and we went back to Zephyrhills.  We seemed to time things right since we were too full to have supper when we got back, but it wasn’t too long before we felt ready to head over to the Park’s Ice Cream Social. 

This event celebrates the current month (and some of the off-months since most Park members don’t stay there year round) birthdays and anniversaries.  We were able to take part in the cake and ice cream part of the event and there was a nice skit put on by some Park members.  A very enjoyable afternoon and evening.

The next morning we were up early and ready to head back to Connecticut.  We caught a 10:50 am flight direct to Manchester and had a pretty uneventful flight.  When we landed I received a text message from Dad that let us know he had made it back home and that it was raining…probably no shuffling that afternoon.

The trip was fun and another great Adventure for the Swensons.