Stan’s Obligatory Blog

On Tuesday night, I went to Susan’s house for St. Patrick’s Day. She’s Irish, so she had an evening planned out for us.

We started out with some green-tinted martinis. Yum. And I’m not even going to bother with putting in the redacted text. It was a fun evening.

It’s kind of chilly and drizzly today, so I don’t think I’m going to go riding. Instead, I rented a machine and cleaned the carpets. It made a noise like a jet taking off, so it certainly sounded like it was doing something big. It wasn’t too hard, and it did a pretty good job. Even though the leopard carpet hides dirt, I can see a difference. So I guess I’m happy with the result.

This afternoon, Susan and I took Lucinda and her friend to the California Science Center IMAX theater to see “Under the Sea 3-D”. We’ve been fans of the 3-D IMAX movies since going to see “Sea Monsters” last year.

When we got there, Lucinda had to try lifting the truck at the lever demonstration exhibit in the parking lot. Today was the first time that she was big enough to be able to lift it.

The movie was good, although it was a bit odd, since it was narrated by Jim Carrey. I guess he’s trying to stretch his dramatic range a bit.

After the movie, we went into the museum. Lucinda and her friend wanted to try the rock climbing wall. Apparently, it’s harder than it looks, since they only made it about halfway up. We looked around the museum a bit more before they closed. Then we headed home, after the obligatory stop in the gift shop.

It was a nice afternoon, and marks the first time that Susan and I have taken Lucinda somewhere together.

Pictures are in her photo album.

Today, Susan and I did one of the PAA rides. This was one with Coach Rick. I used to do rides like this all the time when I was racing, but I haven’t been on a ride like this in close to 30 years.

We met up with the group down in San Marino. Then we fell into the pace line and rode. It was fun to ride in an organized pace line again. The usual group I ride with doesn’t do this. The group held together until we got to the hill on Gladstone in San Dimas. Then it kind of broke up. We got reassembled after the Metrolink train went by. Then we did one circuit around Bonelli Park. This had some more hills, which splintered the group again. But we again reassembled when we got back to flat land. Along the way, I got the obligatory photo of Susan with a packet of Gu in her mouth. And then we rode the pace line back home.

It was a fun ride.
55 miles.
cycling

Delicious.

After making the white chocolate mousse for Lucinda’s birthday cake last Sunday, I had one cup of cream left over. So I decided to try a little experiment. I’d had a frozen white chocolate mousse cake once at Evan’s in South Lake Tahoe, and I was thinking about trying to cook up something similar.

I figured that the one cup of cream would make just over two cups of mousse, so I chose a six-inch springform pan to start. I made a chocolate graham cracker crust for the bottom of the cake. I pressed it into the bottom of the pan and froze it.

While the crust was freezing, I made the mousse. When it was ready, I got the pan out of the freezer and put the mousse in it. Then I topped it with some mini chocolate chips and put it in the refrigerator to set. Once it is set, I’ll freeze it. Once it’s frozen I can remove the springform pan and it will be ready to serve.

So now we have something new to try after dinner tomorrow night.

Today was Lucinda’s 10th birthday party. Her actual birthday was a few days ago, but we had the party today so she could have puppies there.

The kids started arriving at 11:30. I cooked up a giant batch of Pad Thai noodles with chicken for them. Everyone had lunch while waiting for the puppies to arrive. They showed up at 12:30 as scheduled. The kids all got to sit down in the pen and pet and hold the puppies. The puppies were a big hit with the kids.

After the puppies left, we went inside for cake and ice cream. As always, I made the cake, although the decoration was one I ordered from Gogo Cake in West Hollywood. Lucinda wanted a platypus on her cake, and they have an application that allows for uploading a picture that they print on a thin sheet of icing to be placed on the cake.

This year, the karaoke machine came out and actually got some good use. The first time Lucinda tried to have karaoke at her party it didn’t work out very well. That time the kids were too self-conscious to sing. But this time they got over it and had some fun doing it.

After everyone left, Lucinda opened her presents. She had a very fun day.

As always, the pictures are in her photo album.

Tonight was a little live-theater adventure. Susan and I went to Hollywood to see “Divorce! The Musical“. Since I’m part-way through this rather grim process, I’m ready to laugh about it. So I figured that this would be an appropriate outing.

The mood of the show covered the range from unspeakably sad to hilariously funny, which is no mean feat. The story is about Penny and Rich, married four years and getting divorced. There are therapists, lawyers, and dirty tricks on both sides. It’s all very true-to-life. It illustrated the emotional roller-coaster ride with songs like “Lawyer Letters”, “Winners and Losers”, and “There Were Good Things”. There are snippets of a few of the songs on the show’s web site. At the end, Penny and Rich sign their final agreement, which leads in to the very poignant final song, “Pennies and Riches”.

It was a very good show. Both heartrending and hilarious. It’s quite rare to find those two in the same place.

Todays bike ride was out to Claremont, although it turned out that I had to cut it short to get back a bit early. Still, it was a perfect day for a ride. And I also got a new hot-rod mailbox for my collection.

43 miles.
cycling

Today was Lucinda’s birthday, and she was going to be at my house, so I planned for a special dinner for her. I printed up a program for the occasion, announcing the special prix fixe menu for the evening:

• House salad with balsamic vinaigrette
• Sea scallops wrapped in bacon and broiled
• Pan-fried potatoes
• Braised kale
• Chocolate soufflé with whipped cream

After dinner, she got to open some presents. I got her another platypus shirt, along with a Wii controller and wheel. Susan gave her an iTunes gift card and a jewelry making kit. And after dinner we all went to the back and played Mario Kart.

It was a nice evening.