RATING A LADIES' NIGHT OUT

Tuesday August 30th
Johnny Carino's Wine Dinner
Ladies Night Out

Menu

Grape and Gorgonzola Salad with Trinity Oaks Pinot Grigio
Toasted pecans, gorgonzola cheese, red grapes and roasted red peppers, tossed with fresh mixed greens and a light lemon vinaigrette
10 points.  We all thought this was the best part of the meal!

Shrimp Parmesiana with Trinity Oaks Pinot Noir
Large, succulent black tiger shrimp lightly breaded in panko crumbs with zesty tomato sauce and melted parmesan cheese.
8 points.  I am not fond of shrimp, but this dish was quite good.

Mixed Grill Skewers with Zonin Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
Fire-grilled chicken and steak ka-bobs with a cabernet wine sauce, served over pasta with fresh vegetables
5 points. Though we liked the wine, we thought the entree was the biggest disappointment of the meal.  Both the steak chunks and the chicken chunks were poor quality or poorly prepared.

Amaretto Cherry Parfait with Korbel Sweet Rose Sparling Wine

Mascarpone mousse layered with imported amarena cherries, whipped amaretto cream and toasted biscotti cookies

7 points.  A generous portion of very rich dessert.  It paired nicely with the wine chosen.

We had a fun evening.  

Being with my daughters for a night out is a treat that I would rate very high,

.... regardless of the food being served!!

BACK IN COEUR D'ALENE

After seeing the concert in Sun Valley, we headed further north to visit Peter in Coeur d'Alene.  Peter recently moved back to Idaho after living in the state of Washington for nearly four years.  He says it feels good to return to being an Idahoan.  Here is the house that he bought in Coeur d'Alene.  It's in a really neat location...a quiet neighborhood bordering the golf course, within walking distance to the new KROC center, beautiful parks, and the Spokane River.  There are great walking and biking trails right out of his front door!

Enjoying a cup of coffee in the backyard.

August 19, 2011

Waylon meets us in the hotel.

He is pretty brave, jumping on the bed just like his older brother and sister.

Riverstone Park is an easy walk from the Hampton Inn.

"Princess" Karis shows how she can climb the rock.

Waylon shows his independence on the playground.

Liam and Karis have a ride in the daddy-powered gondola!

Daddy has big shoulders and strong arms.

Liam, a big boy in a big world.

Let's get wet!

The kids end their day with a dip in the hotel swimming pool.

HUEY LEWIS AND THE NEWS

August 17, 2011
Sun Valley Pavilion
Huey Lewis and The News...and special surprise guest Chris"Boomer" Berman


Adriana, Brad, Harry, and I saw Huey Lewis and The News perform in Sun Valley.  That's a pretty big-name act for the state of Idaho!  Even though Huey is sixty-one (a year older than Harry), he puts on a high energy show.  I applauded so much that my right hand and half my arm are wearing a dark bruise.

PERFECT SCORE ON MATH SAT TEST!

Because we are going to see Huey Lewis perform in Sun Valley on Wednesday, I have been doing a little research on the musician.  Did you know that he received a perfect score on the Math portion of the SAT test?!?  Here's another thing I read on the internet

            "Approximately 1,ooo,ooo students take the SAT each year 

and on average, only 20 of them get a perfect score."

 Huey Lewis has had a pretty interesting life.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_Lewis

WELCOME BABY MADISON

Justin and Shana are pretty proud of their beautiful baby girl.
May God bless this new little family.
Congratulations!

"EAT A RAINBOW" PARTY

August 11, 2011

I hosted an "Eat A Rainbow" party for the grandkids.  It was my attempt to give them a little lesson on good eating habits.  Each of the kids had to eat something healthy that was green, yellow, orange, red, purple, and blue.  Doing so, would win each of the kids a prize and a dessert of ice-cream cone with rainbow sprinkles.  The kids did great....even the picky eaters in the bunch!  However, I think their favorite food was the ice-cream cone with rainbow sprinkles...yes, and add a little whipped cream to that, please.  

Sigh.  

SKUNKED

We were surprised by the choking stink that overcame us when we took a walk on the Deep Creek Farm tonight.  Though we never saw the skunk, he left a bad bad smell on all of us...Grandpa, Grandma, Nicolas, Sofia, Lucilu, and Soloveno.