Jodi: My favorite part about going to AZ are the fruit trees in the backyard. When my brother and I were little, we used to visit my grandparents in Arizona every other year for Christmas. The orange and grapefruit trees create an umbrella of branches that you could climb under and have your own little fort. One year my mom and I "borrowed" a bunch of Sunkist stickers from the grocery store and put them on the oranges on the tree to play a prank on Grandpa. He humored us, but we thought it was hilarious. To this day, whenever I smell an orange, I still think of Christmas.
Every year I look forward to going to Arizona so I can fill my luggage with lemons and make lemonade, lemon cookies, and lemon cakes all year long. I was kind of disappointed that we didn't get any good lemons this year, but I'm hopeful for the next couple of years! While we were there, I made a lemon cake to make myself feel better, that was Sugar Whim-worthy in term of tastes, but didn't look too hot!
Country Living has this awesome lemon cake recipe that I have used for years, adapting it to whatever occasion it was for. It's good, but I wanted in-your-FACE lemon flavor, so I doubled the amount of lemon juice and zest. All we had on hand was regular wheat flour, so I decreased the amount of flour by a 1/2 cup. I was lucky we had frozen lemon juice from the last great lemon harvest and the lemons from this year were tiny, but zestable! All lemony goodness is all natural and from our lemon tree. The almost homemade buttercream is a good substitute for italian buttercream if you are away from home and don't have the equipment to make meringue. I also doubled the lemon.
It was a little dense due to the wheat flour, but super lemony, so I got what I wanted!
OK, enough about cake for you non-cake people out there. On to our night of destiny at the Phoenix Coyotes game. Here is Randy, so excited, even though he had no idea we were about to witness hockey history.
Randy: Finally, I get to speak. Enough about cake. Actually, the cake was really good, but I am not a fan of shredded lemon peels.
For the 2 previous years of going to Phoenix, 2 things have been consistent. First, I was in graduate school. Second, the Coyotes were on the road. This year, both issues ended. School was over and my in-laws' 2nd home, home team had their final home game of the season against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Being a Penn Stater, I am not a fan of everything from Columbus (except the readers of this blog. You guys are cool).
I am a sports fan, but hockey is my favorite. For once, Stub Hub helped. I bought 4 tickets, behind the net, front row, upper deck. These are my dream seats. I am a student of the game. When I watch, I don't watch the puck, but where the other players are going. I'd probably be a great apprentice for a hockey club. But that's for my other blog, "Please hire me as an NHL team's apprentice." I'll send you the link. I like to sit up high so I can see better. The only problem is that I'm afraid of heights. See other blog posts about that phobia. Weird combo, right?
This game was the perfect game. There were 3 games left in the regular season. Mike Smith, the Yotes goalie, had 2 consecutive shutouts. The Yotes controlled their own destiny to the division title. And Ray Whitney was being honored for 1,000 NHL points. Oh, and I was there. Honestly, without the last point, I wouldn't be writing this.
What a great atmosphere down there! The most exciting thing... parking is free! How cool is that!! Its $15 per game at a Flyers' game. Free parking... like Monopoly... except real!
The only problem that I had... I really wanted a Coyotes jersey. We're on vacation, for cryin' out loud. What better reason to spend cash! I couldn't find a jersey before the game... and they were way too much money in the arena (Thanks, Reebok). But I did buy a shirt and hat. Remember, the Yotes are my in-laws' 2nd home, home team!
I blame the first period results on the pictures below. Ray Whitney just scored his 1,000th NHL point. There was an awesome ceremony, but I thought the ceremony was too long. I thought that it was both emotional and lengthy playing to the disadvantage of the home team. The Yotes came out slow.
At the end of the first period, the Yotes were dominated and gave up almost 20 shots on net. For you non-sports fans or worse (basketball fans), that's a lot. And the 2nd period wasn't much better. But the Yotes scored first. The shots on Mike Smith kept coming. And they weren't bad shots from the blue line... he was standing on his head. At the end of 2 periods, it was 2-0 and Mike Smith was on his way to 3 straight shutouts.
My father-in-law and his sister, Carol. She's awesome. I know she's reading this so I have use my words carefully. Carol is a big pain in the ass. Yup, that sums it up. No, she's pretty awesome. She has the luxury of being related so she can say all the things I'm thinking... without getting into trouble. She is super-fun to hang out with. We look forward to this vacation each year because she lives in Minneapolis and does Minneapolis stuff. I don't know what that means either. You'll find out when she responds to this blog.
And here's us. The Yotes went on to a 2-0 victory. Mike Smith went on to make 54 saves in a record setting performance. It was super fun. SUPER FUN!
And then we got nachos at Jimmy Buffet's place. I learned something fascinating. Jimmy Buffet is NOT the White House financial advisor. Did you know that?! Apparently, it's a relative of his... Warren or something.
I just say that because my father-in-law is a finance professor who has met Warren Buffet. I'm not stupid.
Let's get back to the nachos. They were awesome! They were expensive, but were melty and tasty. Chalk one up for the leader of the Parrot Heads! FYI, his nachos are great, but you can keep his music. I would like to think that if there were Megadeth nachos, they'd be awesome too.
