Yummy Yummy YUMMY

No, NOT the 1968 song by the Ohio Express, that is about love, well, their idea of love.  I am talking about food, in particular, Prime Rib.  By the time I was 17 years old, I was the head cook at a Steak House about a mile from my house.  Eventually I was the General Manager of another store within the chain in Sacramento, but in reality I had worked at all three as either head cook, assistant manager, manager and at one, General Manager. (Well, at the one I was General Manger of I never was the Assistant Manager, but I sure trained enough of them while I was there for other locations.)  Bottom line, I learned to cook at an early age, and learned how to cook beef in just about any form or fashion.  So it was very easy to cook the Prime Rib for Christmas, and we enjoyed (after tonight's dinner) Prime Rib Sandwiches each night since Christmas which just melts in your mouth.

There is one of the sandwiches...Carbonaut  Low Carb Seeded Bread (2 carbs per slice found at most Sprouts Grocery Stores, among other places) with Pepper Jack Cheese and thin sliced Prime Rib with fat removed where possible.  Toast the bread, add cheese, quickly pan fry the meat to warm with some juice from the cooking, put together, cut and serve with a veggie on the side.

I needed to go to Sam's pretty bad since it had been nearly two weeks now.  Left at 11 am, did the gas first, which worked out well.  $2.979 per gallon brings it back to under $3 per gallon...but surrounding stations are still in the $3.20 range.

Saw this gal in front of me put her gas cap onto her Audi Gas Door.  Well, we are going to have to think about getting an Audi...until it was my turn, I opened the Gas Door and sure enough, I had a hook there for the gas cap too.  Always wondered what that hook was for!  Never too old to learn something new.

A week before Christmas I ordered a DNA test for Marcia from 23andMe, and it arrived Christmas Eve.  Marcia decided to wait until today to do the actual test, which involves spitting into a container.  There are many DNA testing places out there for finding out where your Ethnicity is from...we used this one because her half-brother on her mom's side had used it.  Of Greek Heritage, like Marcia, "HIS" DNA test came out with his number one Ethnicity match being Turkish, followed by Italian, followed by Greek.  Marcia had a different father, and she was wondering if hers would be different.  In a few weeks we will know...

Indy got a new Chew Stick for Christmas (along with a nice thin slice of Prime Rib, which bothered her little tummy a bit leaving me a little mess in the 2nd bedroom two nights later.  Gee...she is just going to have to keep on her Pork which I cook up, and her dry food which is chicken based, along with the occasional Hot Dog chunk.  (I get a large pack of Hebrew National Beef Hot Dogs which get placed in the freezer with one being pulled out just about every week.)

Indy also enjoyed watching Pick-A-Puppy on Christmas morning.  Pick-A-Puppy, Lucky Dog and any of Cesar's dog programs.  And there is still all the commercials.  I have seen her sleeping, a commercial will come on, she will open her eyes, listen, get up and attack the TV as soon as the dog appears.  It is the funniest thing.  I also took her to the Dog Park over the weekend, and again today.  Only one dog today, another arrived as we were leaving, but she still enjoyed it.

Tucked Away for a Florida Winter

 

Here she sits, tucked away for a Florida Winter.  Although both of my 'neighbors' cheated toward my side of their site, I am right in the middle and fit into it without a problem.

        

I ALWAYS take pictures after I park just in case someone says something about the parking spot, about damage to their unit, etc.  Notice the guy on the driver's side (left picture) has his steps out...that is a big no no...Hope he remembers to put them in if he vacates the spot before we leave.  (We are hoping to be in Sacramento Area again for mom's 92nd birthday in late April.)  On a typical Monday I drop Marcia off at Bible Study with the older ladies at church, then Indy and I go by the motorhome and turn on the engine for a good hour to keep everything charged up and in working order.  Once a month or so I take it for a drive.  Seems to work out well for us.

Our BIGGEST disappointment coming home is that our favorite Greek Restaurant, the Original Mama Maria's, did not make it through the COVID era.  Found about it on our way home when I looked on Google Maps and saw that it said it was Permanently Closed.  Marcia contacted her brother and sure enough, it was gone.  The sign says, "Coming Soon, Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Restaurant".  Ahhhh CRAP!  Yes, there are other Greek Restaurants around, but this was by far our favorite...we will miss it.

Had to wait for a good half hour, but got gas at Sam's Club today for $3.019 per gallon.  Talked to Arny as I was waiting in line and he said COSTCO and SAM'S in Citrus Heights was around $4.159.  Other gas stations around here are around $3.15-3.20...so the $1 difference between Florida and California still holds true.  (However, the most expensive stations in California are over $5, and I have not seen anything over $4 here.)

Inside Sam's I found Full Prime Rib Roasts USDA Prime for $335-$350 and USDA Choice for $225, although a 4.5 pound USDA Choice Rib was only $60, and a 6.5 pound leg of lamb (no bone) was $44.  Not too long ago I could get a 6 pound leg of lamb for $30-35.  Anyway, $270 later, and another $30 for gas and I was headed back home with my tail between my legs!   

Boy, sure wish I knew how she does it...sleeps like an angel until she hears a car door, someone's condo door, or a bit of talk by residents nearby at which point she turns into a devil of a dog.  We sure do love our little lump of fur...she is such a good little girl.

So far we are just about settled into the Condo...and our muscles are starting to ache just a little less each day.     

Last Day in Utah

After a rough night at the Utah / Nevada border on Sunday, I slept like a rock on Monday night, doing the blog post about Monday after I woke up today (Tuesday).  My agenda on Tuesday was to take Stephanie out for some shopping, then dinner with her and her roommate Jenny, who has been such a blessing for Stephanie and for us (Stephanie’s family) in helping Steph through her traumatic brain injury from last fall.  They have been friends for many years, and have shared apartments for 3 or more years now…but that is unfortunately coming to an end at the end of June. 

Our investment folks from Morgan Stanley needed some paperwork signed by Marcia, which they sent via email in PDF format.  I needed to get this printed off, so I headed over to a UPS store near Stephanie's apartment with a flash drive containing the documents, and for $1.35 I got four pages printed off.  (I only needed 2 pages, but I have learned my lesson that it is better to have more than one copy in case coffee spills, dogs eat it up, etc. etc. etc.)

First stop after I picked Stephanie up was to Sam’s Club.  A little of this, a little of that and our eleven items came to just under $100.  One thing she really wanted was a container she can put her homemade smoothies in, one that has a cover in case she spills, which happens since her coordination is not the best still.  So that brought up the idea of getting a smoothie, so off to…

Jamba Juice!  With 800 locations, you might have seen them, even tried one.  Yes, they are good.  Yes, they are costly.  But, while ordering I saw this Jamba Juice container that you can use over and over again…so I got one for Stephanie.  Those Jamba Juices were good…and came in real handy for me after lugging all that Sam’s stuff up the flight of stairs to their 2nd floor apartment.  Three loads up the stairs at 4,500 feet elevation = one dead daddy!

Around 2 pm I headed back up the mountain where the motorhome is parked.  After Marcia filled out the required two pages, I took a picture of each page and converted them to a PDF format and emailed them back to our Morgan Stanley folks.  (That, my friends, is how you conduct business on the road now days!  And for those who were wondering, I also have two extra pages that we did not have to use...but had I not had those pages, you know what would have happened...)  At 4:15 Marcia and I headed back down to Salt Lake City to get Stephanie and then over to the Texas Roadhouse Restaurant where her and Jenny wanted to eat.  Jenny met us there after she got off of work.  We had a great meal, although the restaurant was a bit too loud for our liking.   Hugs and kisses goodbye, and we hope to see them both again when we plan to drive through on our way back home in September after a short stop in California upon our return from Alaska.   Next stop, the Tetons!