Pre- Oz…Was That Just Summer?

If my timing were better this posting would have come out much earlier and foreshadowed the trip to Oz…regardless, here is a little re-cap of the end of summer.

It seemed we just put in the dock and opened the cottage…and it was time to pull it out and put all the sheets and towels away.  But that doesn’t mean the Adventures stopped…they just kept going on and on.

We did travel back and forth to NH, but never seemed to light in one place for more than a night at a time; but we sure had fun!  July was filled--Fourth of July celebrations, the Andover Parade, pork on the grill, fireworks on the dock, wedding showers, weddings, and having Jess & PJ join us at the cottage.  This year there are not pictures of all the events, but we have the key pieces.

Jess and PJ with us at the Cottage

For several of the summer events Jess and PJ flew in from their home in Denver to join us.   That meant some dock time together with fishing, boating and just “hanging around.”

 

Wonderful Weddings

It was great to have Dad (Grampy) able to be there for the ceremony as well (he was in rehab at the time battling shingles and a little CHF).

This was another summer of family weddings and they were both great!  Kevin and Ashley were married at the Granite Rose in Atkinson, NH on July 13th.  It was a beautiful service followed by an evening of dining and dancing.    Cheri and I also managed to dance with Jess & PJ during the “Father / Daughter” dance and the “Mother / Son” dance

Then a month later we were able to not only celebrate but be a part of Kristina and Sarath’s wedding. 

This wedding also took place in Atkinson, but at the Country Club and resort.  Another beautiful setting…It also turns out that with a letter from our church indicating that I am a leader within the church and a check for $25 the State of NH allowed me to perform the ceremony.  Nana and Papa were also guests at the wedding so we took the opportunity to get them in some photos.  It was also a good time to get a shot of Dad with the older Swenson siblings (which included the Mother of the Bride).  Once again there was quite a bit of dancing...and the Swenson clan closed down the party.

Morris / Manz / Swenson Annual (sort-of) Cottage Outing

As we often try to…we held an almost full gathering of the Swensons, Manzs and Morris at the cottage.  Margaret is still in Korea, Sarah and Andrew live in Australia, and David and Heather Manz were home with some pet problems…so they were not able to be at this gathering of the clans.  But that didn’t stop us from having a good time…particularly since we were also getting reports out of Australia that a new family member was wanting to make her presence known (we didn’t know it was a her at the time…but we were getting excited with the anticipation). 

A special thanks goes out to James Morris for providing these photos of the event!

We had a small tent city to accommodate the growing group, and filled the weekend with good eating, good discussions and an all-around good time…

And then we got the news of the arrival of Evelyn Louise Walker in Oz!.  Through the wonders of FaceTime we were able to see and speak with Sarah, Andrew and our new Granddaughter from half-way around the world…all within ninety minutes of her being born!

The Adventures continue to grow…on (or back) to Oz!

The Long Awaited, Much Ballyhooed Return…

of the Swenson Adventures Blog.  What could be a more appropriate return than our Annual Valentines Day dinner.

This year was our celebration of the 25th anniversary of these “get-togethers”.  In case you haven’t followed this adventure in the past, this event is a chance for us husbands to show a little appreciation for our wives…who mean so much to us.  What started out twenty-five years ago as a single evening out is now a full weekend event.

Friday evenings have become a bit of a guys evening…often accompanied by beef and some libations.  This year, as a slight change…and because of the Saturday evening menu…we did a little pork-on-pork on the grill. The basic premise of pork-on-pork is to flatten out some boneless pork chops, smear on a little cream cheese, add roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, sliced jalapenos, and roll it up into a cylinder wrapped in bacon—that’s what is in aluminum foil in the picture.  It all goes onto the grill, and ultimately it gets sliced into medallions for an outstanding meal.

While food was cooking, James started some of the story-telling that is such a part of our gatherings…

Next to the grill we had a fire in the chimenea, so it was comfortable to stay out on the deck while getting the meal ready…then it was time to eat.

While we lived in Texas we continued the Valentine’s Day tradition with a collection of our neighbors in The Woodlands—growing at one point to ten couples.  During one of those events we had a narrowly averted catastrophe.  While carrying dessert over to the host house—a creme brulee of outstanding potential—it slipped off of the carrying basket and landed upside down on the street.  Fortunately I had made a second dessert—chocolate ganache with a cream caramel sauce—that was enough to fill the void, but we began a small custom of having a moment of remembrance for the “missing creme brulee.”



In honor of our 25th year, we further remembered the creme brulee by making a more than reasonable facsimile.



Saturday morning had a slow start, but once we were all on the move the ladies went in one direction—to Hartford to tour Mark Twain’s (Samuel Clemen's) House and Museum—and the men off to Wine Nation (for some exploring), Carl’s Diner in Oxford (for a ‘huge’ lunch) and Park ‘n Shop (for last minute shopping).

The men got home in the early afternoon and started the dinner preparations.  To celebrate such a milestone anniversary we asked our wives to pick a favorite main course from our many times together—typically the meal is a surprise menu.  I used an on-line pair-wise comparison tool where our wives rank the relative choices against each other…and we came out with a clear favorite.

Since numbers, design and analytics were playing such a role in this year’s meal we (the men) decided on a theme of “Love Designed to Last”—combined we have over 102 years of marriage…as the same couples.  To get ourselves fully into the roles we decided to dress as stereotypical designers—nerds or geeks if you’d like—with black pants, white shirts (with the sleeves rolled up), ties slightly askew, pocket-protectors filled with different pens, mechanical pencils, and pen lights (thanks Dan)…all the way down to white socks.

     

Our wives wanted to keep in the spirit of 25 years, so we each found a gift package that included the ESPN 25 year collection of highlights and the Suddenly Silver edition of For Better for Worse. They also gave us individual lists of the 25 Reasons they love us.

We decorated the dining room with design and measuring devices (much thanks to James who takes on these decoration responsibilities every year).  There are drawing aids, erasing aids, slide rules, duct-u-lators, measuring scales (metric, engineering and architectural), compasses, protractors…Cheri separately had the idea of small white lights under a white cloth on the sideboard and it worked out well for displaying the tools of the design trade.

James also made a cranberry and white light wreath that goes well in the dining room decor and it fit well below the Happy Anniversary sign.


The menu for the evening was laid out on engineering graph paper in the form of a design specification with various sections and sub-headings.   
 
 
It was an outstanding meal, enjoyed by all…with a little bit of elk roast and purple mashed potatoes left over for another time.  After the main course was completed the clean up crew did a quick turn-around so we could reuse the plates for dessert by the fire.

We could not have had this event for 25 years without a few things having gone wrong—the aforementioned creme brulee, broken bones, career challenges, illness knocking a host from the party—but the most memorable, most remembered item was at the first gathering of the three couples for Valentines Day.  There are many variations on this story, and Dan will state, “It could have happened to anyone”, and it goes along the lines of:

At the first Valentines Day dinner Dan was responsible for providing dessert (he may have had salad duty as well, but that would just be a red herring).  As the event got closer and Dan’s work and Rescue responsibilities built up he found himself on Saturday afternoon without time to make the cheesecake dessert he had planned.  Being industrious and fortunate to have some very good bakeries nearby, Dan went out and picked up a bakery made cheesecake.

The meal went along very well with appetizers, salad, and a main course all accompanied by some good wine.  Then came dessert.  Dan plated the cheesecake and we all sat back down to enjoy some final time of the evening together.  We must have all been fairly full from all we had eaten previously, because the cheesecake was getting more pushed around the plate instead of eaten.  Some of us even moved on to after-dinner drinks instead of filling ourselves more.

After the evening ended and all of the couples went their own ways, the conversation within each of the couples came down to basically, “That was the worst cheesecake I have ever tried to eat.”  It turned out that the bakery had mixed up some proportions (most likely left out the sugar) and all of us were too polite to comment on the taste during the meal.  If Dan had actually made the cheesecake the issue would have been avoided…Dan has not lived this down.

But, for the 25th Anniversary we decided to let him make some amends…
 
and the cheesecake was wonderful.  It won’t stop us from telling the story again (and again), but it does soften it a little.

The Adventures go on…


   

The Dawn of Renaissance

If we are coming out of the Dark Ages then this must be the Renaissance Era. Colder shorter days are behind us as we enter into Spring. With the longer days...here is a short update

To help us reach this point between the Dark Ages and today, the Adventures had to just keep on going. First off, I was able to go to a Celtics game as a part of an auction item from one of our fundraisers.

Next, Cheri and I were able to enjoy an Elton John concert in Worcester, which took us back over 30 years, and he was just as good as ever (we had gone to see him in Boston when we were dating in high school).

March Madness likewise helped fill in the time (although my experience and expertise in bracket-tology is somewhat lacking...it seems everyone’s is this year), and it became another excuse for some good food and wine.

Several of our wives took off for Vermont to spend a weekend away. That meant we guys could get together as well, cook up a little beef, and enjoy some time together as well; all with college basketball going on in the background.


While all this was happening my wrist continued, somewhat, on the mend. Although we initially thought that a closed reduction (having the bones set without having surgery) would work to correct the wrist it turned out that the bones settled out of alignment after three weeks...then open reduction (surgery) was required.

After surgery I now have a plate and some pins holding the bones together. The wrist is still a little stiff, but the scar isn't too bad and with massaging and stretching it seems to be getting better (I won’t both you with pictures of the scar)..

Cheri is off to Australia to visit Sarah and I had to join them in a couple weeks. Meanwhile new growth in the yard lets us know that the Renaissance of Spring is happening.



Let the Adventures continue…

Feast d’ Le Mare (Italian Feast of the Sea)

Almost as soon it ended last year the men started planning the annual Valentines’ Day Dinner. We originally thought about a theme around baseball…after all pitchers and catchers are reporting to Spring Training in a week…but we decided that such a theme may not be fully appreciated by the dinner honorees.

Fortunately, a few weeks ago Dan came upon a new theme for this year and we planned for the Feast d' Le Mare. James pointed out this would be well appreciated by the honorees as long as it didn't turn into a Feast d' le Merde--what would you expect from a PhD with the moniker of Dr. Sludge.

The internet was scoured, Food & Wine magazine reviewed, Todd English cookbooks poured over, and a menu came together. A week earlier I spent some time with the pasta maker and one of the entrees started to come together...but that's foreshadowing...first things first.

This year's event was at the Manz Estate on Pleasant Valley Road in Underhill, VT. So we headed out early afternoon on Friday, making our way north to an even colder, but not necessarily snowier environment. It was early evening when we turned off Pleasant Valley Road and into the Manz' driveway; the Morris vehicle pulled into the yard a few minutes after us.

Friday evening on these weekends has become an event of its own...specializing in beef. First we got our ladies settled in with some cocktails and then Dan went to work on the entree--some nice pieces of tenderloin. What a great way to begin the weekend's activities.

On arrival we were greeted by ice candles lining the walkway. Not only did it feel festive, it looked festive.

It was a pleasant evening of visiting and catching up. Then Dan and I decided that prior to going to bed we should try out my new snowshoes with a little trek part way up the ridge behind their house. I had brought my headlamp for just such a possibility...so off we went. We didn't travel too far, but we did get a couple of hundred feet higher than the house.

It was quiet, moonlit and beautiful. When we turned around to head back I had Dan stop so I could try and get a picture with house lights below us. Not really clear, but you get some of the feeling.

Saturday morning we had to start getting a little more serious about the upcoming meal...but not before we all headed out for some daytime snowshoeing. We all bundled up, got Zoe (the yellow Lab) her favorite stick, and headed out. It looked much different by daylight, but still beautiful and quiet.

The next joint activity was to try our hand at piksjitte, a Dutch (Friesian) game played on ice. James had learned of this game from one of his Dutch friends and was able to get a copy of the rules (along with a translation) sent to him. Since we were playing on the Manz' homemade skating rink instead of a frozen canal and we didn't have a pikhout (the item slid along the ice) we improvised and still had fun playing a version of the game.

The basics are to have a small block of wood (about a 7 inch long piece of 1x4) which is placed on its side on the ice. Ten pennies are then placed on the top edge...all tails up. This setup is all done at one end of the rink and you start sliding the pikhout from the other end of the ice...trying to hit the block of wood and knocking the pennies off. Any coins that end up as heads go to the thrower and then the bock is reset and play continues from roughly where the block and the pikhout end up.  Play rotates between players until all of the pennies are gone and you add up the count over several rounds. Our improvising began with the pikhout...since we didn't have an official weighted slider we used a can of cat food (this was a suggested substitute by James' Dutch friend). Then since the game is usually played over 30 - 40 yards we instead handicapped ourselves by having to use a curved hockey stick. We were fairly liberal in our interpretation of the scoring rule as well...but we had a ball.

Finally we had to settle down to preparing our feast for later in the evening. We got the ladies to head out for the rest of the day; planning to have us all back together for cocktails and appetizers at 6 pm. We then got out our secret folders and checklists; comparing notes and supplies before heading out for the final touches shopping and errands.

While out and about we did stop at the Chef's Corner for lunch. Our mutual friend Gail Tuscany often works there, but not this Saturday. But we did see her picture up on the wall--a staff group shot...not for employee of the month. Sorry we missed you Gail.

Once we got back to the house we began preparations in earnest. Our feast was to include a fish chowder that Dan began making from scratch. I separated and took the meat out of a 2 lb lobster and made a béchamel sauce to mix together in making lobster thermador. James began decorating the dining room and threading gummy fish onto hooks.



The pre work was just about completed when our ladies returned from their own activities...sporting new, very warm mittens from the Johnson Woolen Mill.
 

The dining room was set, hors d'ouvers put out, we all put on dinner attire (blue blazers, blue shirts, red pocket squares and khakis for the men...we asked the ladies to dress in business casual), and began the feast.

James finished putting caviar into heart shapes on cream cheese and crackers, we took some group and couples photos, and our wives gave us each a gift of scotch (thanks to Thomas for his assistance in helping them with selections).





  

The "Nibbles of Fishes" menu was prepared to be tapas-like with many items to be shared in small portions:

Appetizers

Red Caviar on cream cheese and crackers
Shrimp with Cocktail Sauce
Alaskan Smoked Salmon (thanks to Bessie, Dan's mother) with capers and cream cheese
Selected Cheeses an Olives

Insalada

Baby Spinach accompanied by Herring and Anchovies, drizzled with a balsamic dressing

Soup

Fish Chowder featuring Haddock

Amuse Bouche

Frozen Red Grapes drizzled with Champagne

Entrees

Ravioli stuffed with Crabmeat, Red Pepper Cream Sauce on the side
Lobster Thermador
Lemon Baked Scrod
Asparagus steamed with lemon

Dessert

Quartered Bosch Pears carmelized in their own juices
Ginger and Port Reduction Drizzle

It was an outstanding meal only made better by the company we keep. We finished off the evening with a little ice wine and a testing of one of our new scotches. It was another wonderful event.

Sunday morning we enjoyed breakfast together before James and Stephanie packed up to head home to Maine. Cheri and I stayed around a little longer to put on some skates and thoroughly christen the Manz skating Rink. It wasn't that it hadn't been skated on...it just hadn't had an injury.



So after skating around for a while, and taking some spills, I skated to the entrance area and was just about to say I'd had enough and that I was going to sit by the fire pit when my feet slid out and I fell backwards. Fortunately I didn't hit my head and although I landed on my bum I didn't hurt myself there. However, I did put my left hand out to break my fall...and ended up breaking my wrist in the process.



Brought to you one-handed, because the interested public deserves no less…

Let the Adventures continue!