2025 is Here!

 

First coffee of the New Year.

New Year’s Eve Dinner at Carol’s House

Carol’s amazing cookie platter: she made them all, including two flavors of strudel and rugelach.

Since it was also (a very late) Chanukah, we had two types of latkes.
These are the sweet-potato latkes. We also had traditional potato latkes.

Soup, cheese, lentil salad. Jason and Katrina made the soup…

Deviled eggs and smoked salmon. I made the deviled eggs,
Carol made all the rest including several dishes that I didn’t take a photo of.

The beautiful table setting. Zingerman’s made the bread.

Here we all are except Carol who took this photo. In case you are wondering,
I was wearing a rather dramatically patterned sweater that looks funny in the picture.
We enjoyed the holiday, and greeted it by using a set of whistles that Carol keeps for the occasion.

Photos © 2025 mae sander

Kitchens of 2024

On my refrigerator this month,  my bird magnet collection
continues to grow. I always seem to have at least one new magnet,
even when very little cooking happens!

Two hummingbirds from Trinidad and one penguin
from the Birch Aquarium in San Diego.

The Year in Kitchen Photos

January

January: We began 2024 in Costa Rica at Rancho Naturalista.

February

February: In our kitchen, equipment for Len’s bread baking.

March

March/Easter: Peeps in a toy kitchen from my dolls’ house.

April

April: New measuring cups

 

May

May: A kitchen in Paris

June

June: baking bread again.

July

July: Ready for guests.

August

August: the kitchen on our ship while traveling in the Galapagos.

September-October

September-October: New Gadget

November

November: Thanksgiving in Fairfax with Evelyn and Tom.

December: Dining Away From Home

In December 2024, first we spent two weeks on a birding trip to Trinidad and Tobago. Then, two days after our return, we left home again for a week in San Diego. Our kitchen was very idle this month, so I’ve used the opportunity to summarize the year (above) and now to talk about some of our food experiences as we traveled. Sharing with Sherry’s In My Kitchen.

An airplane meal on the way from Trinidad to Miami.
One of six air trips on six separate days of December!

Trinidad: A picnic from our guides’ favorite food joint, Kenny’s.

San Diego: Christmas Eve Dessert.

San Diego, Point Loma Seafood: A favorite of ours for many years has the world’s best tunafish sandwich.

Trinidad and Tobago Kitchens

Trinidad: Kitchen at an outdoor eatery in the countryside where we stopped on one long day's trip.

In a small town in Trinidad: outdoor kitchen for roasting chicken.

Trinidad: kitchen at our hotel where I had a tour and hands-on demo.

Tobago: a peek into the kitchen of our hotel.

San Diego in December

Lunch with Evelyn, Tom, and Alice at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park

San Diego: the Point Loma lighthouse keepers kitchen from 100 years ago.

One Meal At Home

We were at home for only a few days. However, I did roast a chicken in my kitchen.

The chicken, served with some lemon, parsley, and roasted broccoli.

All photos © 2024 mae sander for maefood.blogspot.com

San Diego, We Miss You Already

 A Day with Friends

Actually looking for wild birds is harder than seeing them in the zoo, but it’s rewarding.
Our friend Ed, here heading for one of his favorite birding spots, is an expert in the birds of the area.

As we walked in with Ed and Phyllis, water birds were lined up in the lagoon.
Phyllis and I had a lot to talk about while Ed and Len were looking for good birds.

I spotted one good bird: a blue heron. We continued birding (and talking) for quite a while.
Len and Ed saw far more birds than I did!

Lunch and Dinner

Lunch was at a lovely cafe that’s also a music venue at night, with lots of great music posters.

It was a lovely lunch. See Ed’s sweet potato fries? He shared them and they were great.
After lunch we continued birding in another location. We’ve been friends with Phyllis and Ed since our
long stay in San Diego in 2008, and visited them last year also.

At Dolce restaurant in the evening, we had dinner with Phyllis, Ed, Evelyn, Tom, Alice, and Miriam.
None of my people photos worked, so here is a nice glass of beer.

… and my lamb chops were delicious. Phyllis says the lamb chops here are her favorite.

Goodbye, La Jolla

I miss seeing the cormorants, terns, gulls and pelicans at La Jolla Cove.
We’ve been visiting the cove for decades, and always love it.

Torrey Pines Park: another favorite for the decades we’ve been visiting or living in this area.
We remember walking here with friends when Evelyn was a baby in a backpack.

Goodbye, Museums

Goodbye, Safari Park

We left the Safari Park late in the afternoon when blue Christmas lights were bright.

Goodbye…

The flight was on time and all went as planned!

Airplane reading: a mystery by Anthony Horowitz.

Photos © 2024 mae sander

Birds: Our Main Activity in December

Birds in San Diego

At the Safari Park

Two Southern Ground Hornbills, native to Kenya and South Africa.

A beautiful bird at the Safari Park:
The Southern Cassowary, native to New Guinea and Northern Australia.

The San Diego Zoo has played a major role in attempting to avoid extinction of the 
California Condor, and you can see the birds in the breeding program that live at the Safari Park.

The East African Grey Crowned Crane, another threatened species.

A stork and other birds.

Bird on a Wire

Penguin at the Birch Aquarium

Birds in Trinidad

At the Asa Wright Nature Center

An oropendola at the feeder at Asa Wright.

Toucans sometimes come to the feeders, but I saw one in the trees nearby.

The Piping-Guan

The rare Piping Guan that we traveled far to see!

The Guan on our tee shirts: we stayed at a beautiful seaside resort that’s 5 minutes from where the bird lives.

Birds in Tobago

A chachalaca.

Cute little shorebirds.

The Trinidad Mot-Mot: an endemic bird on the two islands that we especially came to Tobago to see.

All photos © 2024 mae sander