La Quinta, California: My website ran into a few glitches huge issues. It took the better part of a week to get things straight again. Dealing with css code is way above my paygrade, but things seem to be back to normal now, and for once have been informed it was NOT MY FAULT, just an error from an update that caused my blog settings to not work properly. Forgive the long time between posts.
After returning from Merced we had a series of weather "events" that required our vigilance and several clean-up days. Rain in the desert is a serious thing. We get so little rain houses don't even have gutters, and when it rains, it pours. All the accumulated dust on our roofs wash-off in the torrents, creating little sand dunes under the eaves when it finally dries.
Mother Nature decided to give us rain storms two weekends in a row, and of course, we had weekend guests. Tamra and Steve came down to golf. Golf did not happen.
I had prepared chicken enchiladas for the night of their arrival, knowing Tamra & Steve would be ready to relax after a day of travel. It was cold and stormy, the Ducks had a rare Friday night football game, so a perfect evening to enjoy a warm casserole of chicken enchiladas with salsa verde. The Ducks won, but the weather worsened over the weekend. Our Saturday night dinner reservation was moved to Sunday and we hunkered down another night watching the rain pour from our roof.
Sunday it was nice enough to venture up to the clubhouse for brunch, and dine on the outdoor patio. During football season, every TV in the restaurant is tuned to NFL on Sundays and our servers wear football jerseys instead of their usual uniforms. A fun atmosphere, even though I do not enjoy football.
We went to one of our favorite French restaurants for dinner Sunday. A great end of a very quiet weekend - but we are all caught up!
We woke very early on November 22nd to get the grandchildren from Los Angeles, and found fog covering the lakes on the golf course behind our house.
Before heading to Los Angeles, I made two teeny S'mores Pies (Lucy request) for our grandchildren. Arriving so early to fetch them, we returned to La Quinta for in time for brunch at the clubhouse.
So much cheating on these pies. Two mini graham cracker pie shells, two chocolate Jello pudding cups, topped with mini marshmallows and browned in the toaster oven. These two pies would win the "most processed foods in one dish" gold medal. We fed them mostly kid-friendly stuff (with vegetables and fruits) the rest of the week.
Leo spent hours fishing in the two lakes behind our house. Sometimes on the shore (if no golfers were about), or from the (golf cart) bridge between the 13th & 14th holes. He caught (and released) so many fish, but was intent on catching the catfish as they are so large and fight more than the teeny bass. Leo caught the Mother of All Catfish one afternoon. Dave was with him and declared it a whale. Did they get a photo? No. Too much excitement, but a group of golfers came by to admire the prize (so there were witnesses!). Leo's good friend Max spent the day at our house, fishing and swimming in the pool/spa. Dave and Leo golfed a bit and went to the driving range a few times. We watched Wicked on TV and went to Wicked for Good in the theater. On Thanksgiving, we watched The Wizard of Oz on television. I'm Over-Ozed now, thank you very much.
Lisa and Lenny arrived Tuesday evening and we had so much fun together. There was just a little food prep on Wednesday (pastry for two pies), and we all went out for a sushi dinner. And then the Thanksgiving feasting began.
We served a smoked salmon dip with the relish tray, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green peas, cranberry relish, and cloverleaf rolls. Two pies. Pepperidge Farms traditional stuffing mix was employed (onion, celery and a stick of butter were added). Williams-Sonoma provided the turkey gravy and cranberry relish. I'm only one woman - and I was sure the dishwasher was going to go on strike, but it kept humming right along.
After dinner we all went outside and were treated to another gorgeous sunset.
The turkey carcass gave us four quarts of stock! There were leftovers Friday night and Lenny requested potato skins for an appetizer.
Dave and I found a fun puzzle in Napa last month, so we all worked on it all week. It was finished minutes before everyone went home. This one was especially difficult. Lots of black. No more 1000 piece puzzles, Bubbe! They barely fit on the mah jongg table, but it was so appropriate for Thanksgiving week.
We will see the kids again during Hanukkah, but for now we are back to golfing and enjoying the 70+ degree days. No more rain!
And, please, no more website problems.
Until my next update, I remain, your caught-up correspondent.
Will you share the name of your favorite French restaurant? We’ll be in the area in a few weeks and love finding new restaurants to try, especially French ones!
https://labrasserielaquinta.com/
thank you!