Friday, January 29, 2010

Dreaming of California and Other Exotic Places


My fingers were numb when I came in from the barn this evening. The wind chill makes the temperature about five below right now, and we got several inches of snow yesterday. I had a harrowing adventure driving my husband to the airport while this unexpected little blizzard created a snow and ice nightmare Thursday morning. Cars without 4-wheel drive were spinning wildly around the highways. I witnessed at least eight huge accidents, with many cars and trucks, several of which almost hit our sturdy old tank. These are the days that I really love our old Landcruiser, or the Landcrusher, as my husband likes to call it.

I locked the horses inside early today because the wind was howling. I’ll go out later tonight and give them more hay to stoke their furnaces again. The cold is supposed to drag on all weekend, I’m sad to say. So, when I was yanking off my wool socks and my daughter complained that she was hungry, I decided to create a mini-vacation.

I pulled out the avocados and whipped up some guacamole. All those years living in California have made us addicted to Mexican food. I always have tortillas, salsa, cilantro, black beans, avocados and queso in the kitchen, not to mention fresh limes. My friends and neighbors in New England tease me about it, but my husband especially appreciates it. Munching on just one little blue corn chip with some guacamole was enough to boost my spirits and start me California dreaming. I realized that I even had margarita fixings. Things were definitely looking up.

It reminded me of being in my 20’s, living in New York City, working at NBC as a lowly page. Nobody had money for vacations. My friends and I used to go to Trader Vic’s restaurant in the Plaza Hotel and order silly rum drinks with names like “the fog-cutter” or “Maui wowie”. We’d share a platter of Polynesian appetizers and pretend that we were somewhere warm and exotic. Then, we’d tramp outside into the snow and head back to our dumpy tiny apartments. It was all we could afford, but it always did the trick to cheer us up in February.

One bonus for me in all this frigid weather is that the moon is full and every star in the sky is out tonight. And for Silk and Siete, there’s the bonus of carrots before bedtime. It could be worse.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the photo! You're right, it's possible to create a mini-vacation if you just use a little creativity!

the7msn said...

You've just helped me write my grocery list for tomorrow. I'm willing to try anything to forget about this weather!

Grey Horse Matters said...

We just came in from night check, doling out carrots and it IS freezing out there. My fingers were numb too!Wish it would warm up just a little. Tonight the full moon was so bright we didn't even need the lights to see our way to the house. It's a beautiful Wolf moon and is the closest to the earth it will be all year. I'd love to go out and get a picture of it but it's way tooooo cold.

The margaritas and guacamole sound like a good way to find a little piece of California in this frigid weather. Enjoy your party.

Deejbrown said...

I love the January full moon (Wolf moon, as Grey Horse Matters points out)! What a great idea to pull out the summer recipes to rescue us from the deep doldrums of winter!

Lori Skoog said...

Yum! you've got the right idea. We have very similar weather conditions. I guess we are paying for the two mild weeks we just had.
Stay warm.

Ewa in the Garden said...

it can always be worse - you are right - this state of mind helps to appreciate what we have.
I haven't been on vacation in the last 3 years and I really miss it - yesterday I had 1 day trip to a real old countryside horse ranch, only 40 km from Warsaw, but reminds old, old days - I will post pictures. Only 1 day there made me refreshed and I feel much better.

William Evertson said...

Why we haven't planed a warm vacation break seems a bit short sighted right about now. We'll follow along on that grocery advice instead. Stay warm.

Bones said...

Heh...Victoria, I went to visit my mom in Texas. She spent 30 years living in SoCal, and when I opened her fridge, there were the limes and avocados!

Thanks for making me smile this morning.

Lori Skoog said...

Sweet Potato Salad

Peel and cube 2 sweet potatoes
Cube 4 white potatoes

boil in water until tender, then drain and put in a large bowl (I boil 2 eggs in with the white potatoes)

splash on some Good Seasons Italian dressing and toss (let sit)

add: finely diced onions, the two hard boiled eggs, diced red or roasted red pepper, a hand full of frozen peas

season with salt, pepper, celery salt and dill weed to taste

throw on some mayo and a little honey mustard

When you mix all this together, the sweet potatoes become mashed and the white stay cubed.... Delish.

I made this up and do not measure, so you will have to adjust according to your taste buds

I promise that you will love it.

Victoria Cummings said...

Thanks Lori! Can't wait to try it - looks delicious in your photos!

Rising Rainbow said...

I'm glad you make your trip the airport and back safely. It sounds like a horrible nightmare.

I could use a few of those fixings in my kitchen even though I'd rather not be in California. Washington is just fine for me but I still love my Mexican food. LOL

Deejbrown said...

We had a summer dinner tonight of grilled burgers and cole slaw. Guacamole is a good idea--that will be next! But we are one day closer....

Susan said...

Bake Cookies! The weather here hasn't been bad, but it seems to be settled into a pattern of lots of cloudy days. We couldn't see much of the full moon, but the clouds were thin enough that it spread the light, so it never got real dark.

John and Regina Zdravich said...

Great photo with the moon in the background. It is scary when you have to drive in weather like that and see all the spin-outs around you....just nerve wracking!!! Glad you made it thru OK.

Callie said...

I'm with ya, sister! So sick of this white stuff and cold. And now I have craving for Guac! and chips! and Salsa.....and now we have a winter storm , so I cannot leave, or really I just don't want to crawl out into the cold!