I'm Back

I am back from my trip to Alaska.  I flew out on May 18th and returned May 28th.  I have a quilting friend, Beth, whose husband is working at Nikiski.  She was going to Alaska to see him so I tagged along.  We flew out of Lake Charles to Houston, picked up a straight-through flight to Anchorage and then a short flight on ERA to Kenai.  It was long, very long.  My stay in Alaska made up for the inconvenience of the plane trip.  I am posting a map which will make it easier for those of you who would like to know the relationship of the places that I will talk about.  I am going to break this down into several posts.  I have too many pictures and too much chatter to do it all in one post. 

Not only did we take in all the beautiful scenery but we visited several quilt shops.  Since Alaska has a very long and cold winter they quilt.  I also noticed that some of the quilt shops have yarn and the supplies to go with it. 

The first quilt shop that we went to was at Homer, AK.  Homer is at the end of the Kenai Peninsula, that is at the end of where you can drive. 

Beth at The Sewciable Quilt - Homer, AK

This is a lovely shop.  I left a few dollars there.  We also found a great great gift shop in Homer.  I told Beth, that she could buy half and I would buy the other half.  They had lovely things.  I would have liked to picked it up and dropped it in Lake Charles.  I did buy a picture frame (restrictions of suitcase space). 

Lands End, Homer, AK

We had lunch at the Lands End.  This again is as far as you can drive.  The scenery here was beyond fabulous.  I will post pictures of it in the next blog.  The food that we had in Alaska was very good.  They serve a lot of it, but it is expensive.  I would say roughly double or close to what it would cost in Lake Charles. 

To be continued.................

Visitors - Quilting - Food - New Orleans

Chris and Sharie

Chris and Don just left.  They came from Idaho to visit.  It was so nice to see them.  We have been friends for many a year.  Their visit wasn't long enough, but they still had another stop to make in Nebraska and then on home to Idaho.  Don is retired and Chris is almost retired but not quite, so thus she must be back to work this coming Monday.  Chris and I made a run to Quilts Bayou in Lake Charles.  She is also a quilter.  I bought some fabric, didn't need it but I bought it.  There is this thing called "want."  That is a quilter's biggest problem, "want."  Chris has an excuse, she is on a road trip.  Road trips always call for buying fabric and lots of it.

Quilt Mania Special Spring 2012

From Quilts Bayou we stopped at the boutique stores on Hodges.  I bought a pair of earrings.  They have green beads.  The green beads are something that I don't have and thought would look loverly with my green clothes.  Chris picked up a few things and then we were on our way to Muggs.  Muggs is a coffee shop attached to Books-a-Million.  We got our drinks and sat and chatted for awhile and then wandered through the book store.  It is hard to go to a book store and not buy a book.  Books-a-million has a million magazines.  I have been looking for a cute chicken either to embroidery or applique on the back and front of a denim shirt.  I bought a magazine.  I spent $19.99 for a magazine.  Would you believe that?  I would never do that, I can love it a lot, but I am not spending $19.99 for a magazine, except this time, it had a chicken I liked.  My quilting group is the Stitch and Cackle Quilt Circle.  We are going on a Shop Hop in August and we are also going to Houston Market come Oct/Nov.  We wanted to have shirts with a chicken or chickens and our stitching group name.  Isn't she cute?????

Don and Sharie

 Last evening Chris, Don and myself went to a restaurant, 121.  They have very good food.  The special last night was Red Snapper on a bed of potatoes, caramelized onions, cherry tomatoes and this wonderful sauce.  We started with wedges of fried cheese with a marinara sauce.  So very good.  The bread was super, the Caesar Salad was wonderful and I was stuffed when I left.  They have outstanding desserts but we decided that we would give ourselves a rest and eat Turtle Pie (from my freezer) when we got home. 

In my last post, I said that I would tell you about the quilting group and my visit to the restaurant in New Orleans.  To be up to speed on this post you might want to read the last post.  At Melissa's suggestion, she is our food person, we decided to do dinner at Tony Angello's in New Orleans.  There is nothing like eating in New Orleans or Louisiana as far as that is concerned.  When we got there, she said, we will not look at the menu, we will tell them to "feed me."  Feed me!!!!!   It was a feed.  This was a 13 course meal.  It took 3 hours to eat it.  No dessert.   This is the list of what we ate..........
Cajun boiled shrimp with a horseradish cream sauce
Fresh sliced mushrooms marinated in vinaigrette with sliced salami
Steamed artichoke drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and fresh cracked black pepper
Panned (pan-fried) filet of flounder
Crab stuffed shrimp
Grilled marinated Portabello mushrooms
Lobster cup
Brisket salad.....................absolutely outstanding
Angel hair with a red crab gravy
(Served with a rustic noodle with butter and scallion the below)
Pork stewed in a red sauce
Rosemary chicken
Eggplant Tina

If you are ever in New Orleans and you want a treat (take money, it's not McDonalds) go to Tony Angello's and tell them "Feed Me."

Hope all is well................