Gnudi inspired by Murder in Siena paired with a Merlot Wine #MerlotMe

Gnudi is a cousin of Gnocchi, made using ricotta cheese instead of potatoes.  It is light, fluffy and delicious.  It is similar to the filling you might find in ravioli but without the wrapper.

I was inspired to make this dish after reading Murder in Siena by T.A. Williams.......

Cranberry Orange Chicken Thighs #CranberryWeek

Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs Marinated in an orange and cranberry mixture before being transferred to a baking dish and popped into the oven.  A perfect fall meal.

We are celebrating Cranberries this week.......

It was a Dark and Stormy night #SundayFunday

It was a Dark n' Stormy night here on the farm.  All the family had taken their little goblins home after the last pool outing of the year, and Grammy and Grampy were ready to relax. 

When Grampy asked what he could get for me, I asked for this cousin of a Moscow Mule made with Dark Rum instead of Vodka.

Diving the Red Sea

Exodus 14:28  The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.

We just returned from diving in the Red Sea.  We did not see any chariots or charioteers under the sea. However, we did see all the glory and awesomeness of our God!!

Celebrating our Homecoming with L'Ecole Merlot and the Weekly Menu #WinePW #MerlotMe

It's October.... which means we are celebrating Merlot here with the Wine Pairing Weekend Gang.  I was happy to receive wines from L'Ecole Winery and Chelsea Goldschmidt.  I was not home to accept delivery as I was in Egypt so it was exciting to see what wines arrived while I was gone.

I opened the bottle of L'Ecole for our first dinner home on Wednesday evening.  I will be opening and pairing the bottle of Chelsea Goldschmidt soon and will be sharing those notes with you during this celebratory month.

Cruising the Nile and visiting Temples

 

Our Egyptian Holiday continued on Day 4 with a flight from Cairo to Aswan.  Our tour group met us at the airport and took us to Philae Temple before we got to the Cruise Ship to enjoy lunch.

The temples are amazing and we "read" the hieroglyphics that tell the story of the temple and its purpose and history.  Each temple has its own story.  

The cruise ship was lovely and we were all starving and more than ready to enoy the scrumptious lunch they had prepared for us.

Our group had the entire Nile Cruise Ship to ourselves.  The staff was extraordinarily welcoming and accommodating.  It was another blisteringly hot day, so while the some went on a shopping tour to Nubian Village, we stayed back and I enjoyed a massage while Frank visited with others at the pool.

Day 5 was spent visiting more temples and the Crocodile Museum.  It was another blisteringly hot day and while I enjoyed the Museum (it was air-conditioned) the temples all started to blend together for me.  They are interesting, however, I could have done with seeing yesterday's temple and just reading about the Kom Ombo and Edju Temples.  They all tell a different story but are basically rocks, carvings, sculptures, and hieroglyphics.

Crocodiles were deities of the Egyptians and, as such, were buried and mummified in a sarcophagus.  It was a very interesting tour.

It was 117* out this day and the Temple of Edfu nearly did us in.  Can you tell??  This is also the day the first of the group started getting ill.  I think we all succumbed to the lack of sleep, extraordinary temperatures, and trying to fit 2 weeks of tours into 1 week. 

It was very nice to be back on the cruise ship to relax and recoup as we traveled from Aswan to Luxor.

I enjoyed all the tours and learned a lot but my favorite times were those spent with friends, relaxing, and visiting by the pool.

Day 5 we swapped out the big boat for a smaller one as we headed to Valley of the Kings, the Temple of  Queen Hatshepsut, and Colossi of Memnon. 

There were shopping stalls to walk through as we headed to Valley of the Kings.  Let the bartering begin.

Here is Grampy modeling a hat that I bought for the Angel Face.  I bartered down the price to half of what was being asked and still think I paid too much LOL.

It was a jam-packed week as you can see.  The following day we had a 4-hour bus ride to the Red Sea to hop upon the yacht that was to become our home for the remainder of the trip.  Stay tuned for that week of our adventure.

Visiting Kings, Riding Camels and Seeking Chariots

We are home from our Egypt trip.  It ended with some concern because of the war declared in the neighboring country of Israel.  All flights went through without a hitch, thankfully.  

I am going to share a bit of our vacation with you.  We left Detroit at 7 pm on September 24 and arrived at our hotel in Cairo around 4 am on September 26.  We ate breakfast and then hit our room for several hours.  When we awoke and went outside, we were amazed that we could see the Pyramids from our hotel.

This is how we spent our first day in Cairo.