CHEF'S TABLE AT MUSS & TURNER

US Journal

Thursday, February 27, 2014

CHEF’S TABLE AT MUSS AND TURNER

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We made a fabulous decision to bid on the Dinner at the Chef’s Table at Muss & Turner Restaurant at the Les Dammes “Dinner in the Country” event at Serenbe last year! WE WON THE BID!

We decided to take our dear friends Jennifer and Fred, and treat them to a special evening at their favorite restaurant at the Chef’s Table. It was an exceptionally memorable evening.  Each of the courses was prepared and presented beautifully. Chef Dameren explained every one of the presentations so that we could appreciate even more what we were eating. Every course was outstanding!

There were beautiful wine pairings with each of the 8 courses, except with the Tennessee Cream Whiskey Milkshake for dessert, which is a whole ‘nother story! One of the reasons that Fred particularly likes Muss & Turner is that their hamburgers are the best in all of Atlanta…from local, organic farms. So, even though we were brought amazing dishes, Fred missed his hamburgers. Just before dessert, Fred said, “I’d much rather have a burger for dessert!” And, voila! Instead of the fantastic milkshake the rest of us got for dessert, Fred was served…a BURGER AND HIS FAVORITE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE! We could tell he had been to this restaurant many times! They know him well!

By the end of the meal, we knew that we had celebrated Fred’s birthday in style and had shown our appreciation in style to both Jennifer and Fred for hosting us in their home for 5 weeks while we were in between houses and homeless!

Thanks for providing all of us an extraordinary meal to remember, Muss & Turner and Chef Dameren!

Colleen

Monday Potluck

US Journal

February 26, 2014

Monday Potluck

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A Monday Potluck with new friends made for a very important event for us.

Monday brought a different kind of evening. Late last year, we were invited to come to a regular Monday night potluck where only Italian was spoken. LaRue and Victor were introduced to us at the Farmers’ Market, and they immediately asked us to join the Monday Potlucks any time we could. We looked forward to joining them, and this past Monday was the day that we finally could attend! It was great fun, BUT there was no Italian spoken. This proved to be a slight disappointment, but more of a huge blessing, due to the anxiety we were feeling that we were not prepared to keep up with people who were fluent in Italian. As it turned out, everyone laughed hard when they learned that we thought they were all fluent in Italian. We had a great time eating wonderful food and getting to know some great, new folks. Thanks, LaRue and Victor, for including us in your Monday Potluck!

Ciao!

Colleen

Kraeger Wedding

US Journal

February 22, 2014

Josh and Diana’s Wedding

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On Saturday, Monica’s brother Josh married Diana. They got married at St. Martin in the Field’s Episcopal Church, so the wedding ceremony was a full church service. The minister was very theatrical, and he made the wedding quite enjoyable, as well as meaningful. Monica was one of the bridesmaids; and, as you can see in the picture, she looked gorgeous in her flowing dress. There were several of our friends from our church at the wedding, so we took that opportunity to enjoy being with all of them, especially when the group moved over to Villa Christina for the reception afterwards. It was lots of fun sharing such a lovely wedding with good friends.

Best wishes on your new marriage, Josh and Diana!

Colleen and Peter

NEST!

US Journal

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

NEST!

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Have you heard of the NEST? It’s THE COOLEST THING that controls your heating and air conditioning systems in your house! This tiny little dial has settings for EVERYTHING YOU CAN IMAGINE! After I looked at how thorough and SIMPLE it was for me to use (do you realize the impact of THAT statement?), I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had burst into a message of singing one of my favorite songs or if it had put a message on it’s screen, “Good job, Colleen! Now, should I order you some gelato to celebrate?”

Now, as you can tell, I’m VERY IMPRESSED with our new little gadget, but the REALLY IMPRESSIVE news is that my nephew Don was on the team that designed it! Yes! I mean it! I’ve always been impressed at how smart he is, and I’ve told him many times that I raised him right! I guess now he’s decided to pay me back for doing such a great job during those summers visiting us on the lake!

Bravo, Don, BRAV-O!

Aunt Colleen

VALENTINES VISIT WITH NICK AND NAVIA

US Journal

February 13, 2014

Valentine’s Visit from Nick and Navia

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Nick was sure that the drill he borrowed from our garage was the right one, but Peter said it was not, so Nick came back to get the right tools to put up some shelves at his house. Of course, he brought Navia, and of course, he accepted Peter’s kind invitation to stay for supper!

It was a very pleasant visit. Of course, Peter’s meal was, as usual, high above anyone else’s standard; and, our visit with Nick and Navia was, of course, entertaining and fun! As you can see, Navia has claimed the little rubber ball as her very own; and she chased it all over the house.  She also spent her usual time on the back porch, hoping to see a squirrel or another dog…no luck this time! Everybody had gone inside.

Thanks for the visit, Nick and Navia. We always enjoy our time with you.

Love,

Mom

CACAO ATLANTA

US Journal

February 15, 2014

CACAO ATLANTA

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Our Valentine surprise was a visit to Kristen Hard’s new Cacao Atlanta Chocolate Company to learn about making chocolates and to actually make some candy! It was a fantastic event, and about 30 people were there.

We met Kristen about 3 years ago when she taught a class during the Food and Wine Festival in Atlanta. We were very impressed with her story of taking a lot of money and an armed guard to a farm in South America to purchase cacao pods. She’s a gutsy lady that will only accept the highest quality of products, and she and Peter were amazed at the correlation between chocolate making and wine making. The best of both products require many steps of perfection, and the steps are amazingly similar!

One of Kristen’s stores was burned out by a fire in the next door bike shop in November, and we were pleased to support Cacao Atlanta by giving her chocolates for Christmas presents and by purchasing our tickets to this chocolate making event. Kristen is very demanding that her chocolates be only the best, and she is willing to pay extra for that quality, which means that her chocolates cost a bit more, but they are worth the extra. Chocolate connoisseurs know good chocolates when they taste them!

Thank you, Kristen, for a very enlightening class and lots of fun making our own chocolate candies.

We left our chocolate event and finished our special Valentine date with a fantastic concert at Georgia Tech’s Ferst Center by Pat Matheny! What a splendid evening!

Colleen and Peter

HOUSE BLESSING

US Journal

Sunday, February 16, 2014

HOUSE BLESSING

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Our house blessing yesterday was made complete in two ways: 1) Our original  Marriage Journey group at our church came to share it with us, and 2) Father Jim, our priest at our church, led the ceremony. We started with a prayer as everyone stood outside the front of the house, and Peter and I were at the front door with a candle, welcoming them in. As the service continued, we all went from room to room, following the service leaflet that Father Jim had brought for the occasion.  By the time we had gone to every room and blessed it, Peter and I agreed that we had made a super choice in arranging this blessing for our new Decatur home.

Peter described our reaction to this event perfectly when he said that our new house has always seemed to have some negative vibe to it, and this house blessing was like an exorcism. Now the house is happy, and we are very happy to be in it. Thank you, all of you dear friends, for joining us in this wonderful event.

We love you all!

Peter and Colleen

RED LETTER DAYS

US Journal

Thursday, February 13, 2014

RED LETTER DAYS

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Souper Jenny Gets a Jump Start!

Today was a RED LETTER DAY! Souper Jenny had her soft opening in Decatur! The line started at 4:45, 15 minutes before the event was to begin, and by 5pm there were 30 people lined up for free soups, sandwiches, salads, chocolate chip cookies and drinks. The line doubled as we ate our meal at community tables in Souper Jenny’s new spot at 1 West Court Square in Decatur. Absolutely delicious goodies, and free, too! What a fantastic time we had! Thanks, Jenny! You are already a hit with us!

Colleen and Peter

Welcome, Athena Robin!

Speaking of redletter days…we have a brand new niece! Athena Robin and her big sister Leila make a particularly lovely pair, don’t you think? Welcome to the family, Athena. You sure are lucky to have such a sweet sister as Leila! We love you both!

Aunt Colleen and Uncle Pete

Supper with Ronan and His Mom and Dad!

Since we’re on a roll of redletter days, we have to talk about the surprise invitation we received yesterday to have dinner with our new neighbors! Nancy and baby Ronan were THE FIRST TWO PERSONS we met from our neighborhood, and we still think Nancy’s friendly, positive attitude was the thing that encouraged us to buy this house…or maybe Ronan’s sweet smile! Then, we got to know Dave better when Peter found the water coming out from under both the front door and the back garage of their house at the same time. Peter helped with finding a plumber and putting new insulation around their pipes. Done! Our friendship with them was solidified. We had a delicious meal of Peter’s cheese on Nancy’s warm baguette, lasagna to die for, scrumptious salad and chocolate lava cake with pistaccio gelato! Outstanding evening! We look forward to a repeat get together when Nancy’s mom comes to visit in a few weeks. See you then!

Colleen

SLOW SNOWSTORM

US Journal

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Slow Snow!

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Some things are learned out of experience. Two weeks ago, Atlanta had an ice storm that beat all ice storms…until today! We are now in the middle of another storm. The governor of Georgia is saving face from botching the last one, and declared Georgia a “state of emergency“2 days ago!  Storm “warnings” for the next 2 days have used the words “hazardous” and “unmatchable.” Although the storm was not to start until last night, everything was closing down yesterday, and people were getting prepared for the worst. It came last night…at least we think it was the worst. Now we are waiting for the REST of the storm to descend on us this afternoon. We’ll see!

In any case, as you can see by the photos, Peter and I took advantage of the short break in the weather to take a tour around Decatur, and we were pleased with what we saw…roads being scraped, only a tiny smattering of cars on the road (we may have seen 6 in the hour we walked), neighborhood children enjoying their tiny “snowman.” It was too cold to stay out too long, but it was worth saying we went out walking…not in a car.

We just learned that Kyle and Victoria’s electricity has just gone out, so we are getting prepared in the event our electricity goes out, too. Ice has a way of breaking limbs and power lines much faster than just snow.  Someone out walking was hit on the head with a limb this morning, so our walk was in town…not too near the trees.

We hope all of you are staying warm and dry today!

Colleen

Great Time in San Francisco

US Journal

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Great time in San Francisco

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On my last day of my lovely visit in San Francisco, I was pleased to learn that I would be leaving the city well protected by a new Fire Chief and a great Workman!

It’s fun to see these pictures and remember the birthday party where HC played basketball, the mushroom that Arne grew here at home, Cati welcoming her painting back after UPS destroyed the glass in the trip, wonderful trips to the park and ocean, and all sorts of eating and playing scenarios

Thanks for a terrific visit!

Love, Mom/Nonna

NINOS PARK

US Journal

Friday, January 31, 2014

Ninos Park

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I was trying out a different camera today, and look at the great subjects I had to practice with! These boys are my heart, and they are as much fun to be around as they are adorable. Enjoy these photos of them being…them! And a few others for entertainment!

Nonna

HIKE AND PICNIC AT LAND'S END

US JOURNAL

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Hike and Picnic at Land’s End

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The sky was clear and blue. The water was clear and blue. The breeze beside the water was cool.  It was a perfect day for Cati’s work friends from UCSF and Sanford University and their families to arrange a hike and picnic by the Pacific Ocean!

Cati and I took Harldur …while Hugo finished his nap with his dad in the parking lot…and started with the group. We passed all sorts of fascinating nature, people and sights along the way to the beach. We ran with Bentley the wonderful dog and his owner Matt. The boats in the ocean caught our attention, and the Golden Gate Bridge, which amazes us as being red, due to the extended time it takes to paint the protective undercoat.

By the time we got to the turn around spot on our hike, we had heard from Arne that Hugo had woken up, and they were on their way to join us. They found us as we were going down to the beach, and we all enjoyed playing in the sand and watching the dogs run after balls and sticks in the waves.

Later, back at the parking lot overlooking the Pacific, a feast of potluck dishes were brought out, and we all ate like kings and queens, topped off with Jodi’s dessert of Rice Krispy Squares with dark chocolate bits.

Thanks, all of you, for including me in your very enjoyable day hiking and picnicking with friends and their families. It was so nice to meet all of you and share this very special day!

Colleen

Circus Bella

US Journal

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Circus Bella

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Circus Bella was a BIG hit! Hugo sat on my lap for the whole hour transfixed! He really loved the hula hooper, who ended up with 25 hula hoops at the same time.  HC liked the clown who pretended to blow bubbles with his make believe bubble gum. The accordion player did a great job, and the lady on stilts told us that we could do that, too, if we really wanted to! The tight wire walker was fascinating to everyone.

Some friends met us there, and everyone agreed that it was definitely a hit of a performance by all of the circus performers! Bravo!

Colleen

THANK YOU, FIREMEN!

US Journal

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Thank you, Firemen!

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It was all too freaky to walk to the wrong park, only to find our cousin Don and his wife Carla with their infant Charlie standing on the sidewalk with firemen and fire trucks in the road outside their house! We learned that some sacks of clothes had been pitched into the gated parking lot right next to their house, and the clothes caught fire. When the blaze was pretty big, a neighbor across the street saw it, called the fire department and ran to ring Don’s bell to get them out of the house. Fortunately, they were all awake and got out of the house with no one harmed. The house had definite damage, but was still safe to live in after the fire was safely out. We all shuddered to think of the different scenarios that could have been so much more dangerous.

After we learned that all was well, and there was nothing more we could do, we continued on to the correct park for some play before returning home, grateful that the fire had not hurt anyone.

I’m so grateful that all of you were ok and that our boys had their fire hats with them!

Colleen