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After getting up at 3 AM to see the SpaceX launch that was aborted at T-0 (bummer), the rest of the day was spent relaxing. After sleeping until 10, I went out to the beach and took another nap on the sand. It was a beautiful day despite almost getting taken out by a kite surfer.

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One of the benefits of having to get up early for work every morning.

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Today I was called a New England snob. Simply because I expressed the opinion that it’s hard to find good New England clam chowder outside of New England. Which is true. Usually it’s thin and tasteless and a great disappointment. Clam chowder should be thick and creamy with big chunks of clam and potato. I have my standards.

A bunch of us went to dinner tonight at a place The Old Fish House, which actually had far less charm than I would have expected from a place called The Old Fish House. One of my coworkers got a cup of clam chowder and it was not good. It was thin and tasted kind of like chicken soup.

I got rock shrimp. I had never even heard of them until a few days ago. A bunch of people were raving about amazing the rock shrimp are and how they love to eat them when they’re down here. So I figured I had to give them a try. (I also tried gator bites. They tasted like…fried breading.) Rock shrimp are a lot like regular shrimp except that have a wicked hard shell that’s impossible to get off. I basically gave up after eating 6 or 7 of them because it was too much work. Some say they taste like a cross between shrimp and lobster. I say, I’d rather just eat regular shrimp. Or a hamburger.

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Yes, this was as good as it looked. I had one shortcake leftover from my big dinner last week and I couldn’t hold out any longer.

This afternoon our group got together for one of our weekly yoga sessions. I’ve never been much into yoga, but I generally enjoy the practices we have been having down here in Florida. Each time I go, we’ve have new people show up and try it out and I’ve gotten to learn a little more each time. It’s not super difficult, but it’s enough of a challenge to make it worthwhile.

Tonight’s yoga session had a special guest. We practice on the deck of the recreation center at one of the condo complexes. When I got there this afternoon there was a dude sitting a table at the back of the deck area with a lunchbox full of beer and his laptop set up in front of him on the table. He seemed to mind his own business as our little group gathered. By 6:30 we had five guys and four girls stretching, posing, and doing our yoga thing. Half way through our practice, this dude suddenly has an outburst about how annoyed he is that we’re practicing yoga on the deck and ruining HIS view. Apparently as renter-scum we are not worthy of using the common areas.

Turns out our instructor had checked with him before we started the class. Apparently before everyone arrived, he was down with yoga practice, especially since there were going to be girls there (eww…that is creepy) for him to watch (yuck, yuck, yuck). I’m guessing the majority of gentlemen that showed up, along with the lack of girls in skimpy yoga clothing was ruining his mojo. We then think he tried to insult us when asking if any of us had a Masters in Physics, but we’re not super clear on that one. Who knew yoga could cause so much anger?

So yes, getting verbally berated in the middle of a yoga class totally deserves some shortcake.

Strawberry Shortcake

adapted from the Disney Family Cookbook

• 3 pints of strawberries
• 5 Tbsp sugar
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup milk
• Whipped cream, for topping
• Chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Wash, hull, and slice the strawberries into a large bowl and sprinkle them with 2 Tbsp sugar. Let the berries sit for at least two hours, covered, until a juicy syrup forms.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, butter, salt, baking powder, and 3 Tbsp sugar using an electric mixer or food processor until a coarse meal forms. Add the cream and milk and stir to combine. If the dough does not come together well, add a bit more cream until it stays together.

Divide the dough into 6 individual shortcakes and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for for about 12 minutes, or until the cake springs back when you touch it.

To top off the dessert, take a shortcake and divide it in half. Top with vanilla bean ice cream, the hulled strawberries, whipped cream, and chocolate chips. You can layer the ice cream between the shortcake halves, or you can just pile it all on top the way I did.

Serves 6.

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I’m back at it. Can’t keep me away for too long. This is a 2000 piece puzzle which I am going to unsuccessfully try to cram on my coffee table. Something to keep me busy during what seem to be the never-ending rainy afternoons.

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No Mom, I’m not eating candy for dinner. I promise. Maybe.

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We went to two more venues today and they were definitely on opposite ends of the spectrum (and almost opposite ends of the state). We got an early start in Waltham looking at a big old estate. And it was just that. A big, old, super expensive estate. That wasn’t that nice, especially for the price. But we looked around, nodded our heads and smiled, and as soon as we could, we hightailed it to the car to get a move-on to our next venue.

That picture up there is the first venue. Andrew’s mom looks pretty excited, but don’t let looks deceive you.

The second place was MUCH better. It has a lot of promise and we’re excited about it. Gotta check a few more things before we decide on anything.

I’m now sitting at Logan Airport enroute back to Florida. It’s going to be a looonnnggg evening.

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Wow, it took 133 days, but I finally missed a post. Here it is, a day late. We spent the day driving up and down and around the north eastern part of Massachusetts looking at more venues. Some were promising, some were not. Sure gives you a lot to think about.

The last place we ended up was in Rockport, MA. I LOVE Rockport. I’ve been going there since I was a kid and I love taking people there. It’s a bit touristy, but it’s so beautiful and it was a beautiful day.

After our last appointment of the day, we walked around the little town. We stopped to have a good New England seafood lunch (stuffed clam shells for me and The Jackster, lobster rolls for Andrew and Momma Leach), and then Andrew and I took a walk on the rocks.

We sat on the rocks and took in the view before heading back to the mainland for ice cream and candy (always a must at Rockport!).

When we got home we hashed out some guest list details before heading to Korean BBQ buffet, where we all stuffed ourselves silly in celebration of an early Mother’s Day. I ate SO much. I wasn’t quite food drunk, but I was definitely food tipsy. By then, I collapsed in bed to get ready for another big day.

We’re up in Massachusetts for a couple of days shopping some stuff out for our wedding. After a long long day, we took a short walk near my house to help digest the boatload of pizza we ate for dinner. This is over the field near my house where we befriended a few cows.

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I had some people over today for dinner and I finally broke in the new kitchen. Turns out I have all sorts of fancy shmancy appliances that I hardly know how to work. My oven can be a convection oven, and other than baking really crispy tator tots and turkeys really quickly (I think), I’m sort of at a loss of what to use the convection option for. Anyone have any suggestions?

Since I hadn’t cooked in a while, I went a little overboard. The main course was Asian turkey burgers. They’re super simple. It’s basically just ground turkey mixed with some minced garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil, and scallions. We grilled them and they were awesome. Flavorful and juicy. I give as much credit to our Grill Master for doing such a good job.

To start off, I made a simple Caesar salad. It was basically just romaine lettuce with some Caesar dressing, parmesan cheese, and homemade croutons. Homemade croutons are also a cinch. I took some old French bread and cut it into cubes. Then in a large sauté pan, I heated up some olive oil and garlic. The bread chunks were added to the pan until it was nice and hot and they were coated with oil. I then put them into a 350° oven for about 15 minutes until they were toasty brown.

On the side we had some roasted asparagus and kale chips. I got our BBQ lovin’, vegetable shunnin’ mechanical tech to try the kale chips and he loved them! I count this as a win! How could you not love kale chips though? A little olive oil, salt, pepper, and some red pepper flakes baked in the oven for 25-30 minutes…amazing. And addictive!

For dessert we had strawberry shortcake, which I sadly forgot to photograph. It’s especially sad because it was so pretty.

Now I’m off to bed. I have to be up in less than 4 hours to catch an early flight up to MA!