Cocktails & Art

If you want to keep current in the battle of insults between the two rib roast chefs, check out the comments under the blog "Showdown at the Pavilion Corral".

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This Thursday afternoon is the Cocktail Contest, a relaxing non-Olympic event

to get us in the mood to compete,or maybe just in the mood.

It's at Happy Hour, 4pm, in the Pavilion. I know we'll have a huge turnout.

If there is one thing we know how to do here at Sandpipers, it's drink!

But. But. But...if we don't get more contestants there will be a gazillion customers

drinking offerings from a half dozen bartenders.

We'd like as many as 15 bartenders.

Please, pretty please, enter the contest. You provide the fixings,

activities will provide the napkins, cups, some nibbles.

There is a sign up sheet in the pavilion. We'd like to know by Tuesday,

but we are so desperate for contestants that we would probably extend

the deadline if needed. You must be set up by 3:30, Thursday afternoon,

as that is when the judges will make the rounds.

Wow! Judging a cocktail contest! What a great job!

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On Friday John & Sue, and Jim & I went to the third McAllen Artwalk

of the 2008-09 season.

It was an eye opening experience.

It takes place in Old McAllen, spilling out of doorways to the sidewalks.

There are little hole-in-the-wall gift shops with card table crafters

to high end galleries selling breathtaking sculpture at mind numbing prices.

Something for everybody.

I was taken by the street performers. We saw a performance

in Spanish that involved not only dialogue but dancing,

waving scarves, interaction with the crowd, and a guy in a toga

that circled the spectators flapping his wings.

Next we ran across a rock band having their picture taken on the sidewalk,

or maybe they were passed out.

Hard to tell.

But they looked really cool with all that spiked purple hair and chain mail.

Most of the galleries and even the little gift shops not only had interesting stuff to peruse, they also had trays of food and drink. We saw everything from cheese cubes on toothpicks to wedges of watermelon to wine (held back for serious shoppers, I bet...we weren't offered any. And as I spent a grand total of $2.25 they were wise.)

If you go, and I suggest you do, find a place to park and walk up and down the closed off street. There are twinkle lights in the trees, and a party in the street. It is a great and fun experience and I recommend it highly.

The next Art Walk is March 6, followed by April 3rd & May 1st...6-10pm.

Sandpiper Blood Drive

The next blood drive is Monday, March 2.

The time is 8:30 am to 12:30 pm.

Sign up sheets are in the pavilion.

United Blood Services collects approximately 175 units of blood daily in the RGV.

The March drive at Sandpipers should net about 35% of that daily amount.

That is remarkable!

Those donating are asked to bring photo ID or blood donor cards

and a list of medicines that they are taking.

Note: Caffeine can reduce the absorption of iron in the blood.

Low iron levels result in not being able to donate blood.

Also, as a courtesy to the UBS staff you are asked to wear a little cover up,

such as a t-shirt or shorts.

There may be a drawing for lunch tickets for those who sign up to donate.

Sandpiper's Tea Party

The Tea Party is a new Olympic event. It is not a competition but a relaxing break

to just visit, sip some tea and munch a goodie or two.

Red Hat Ladies, why don't you wear your finest chapeau?

Please, if you are making a goodie for the tea party...please, please, PLEASE bring your recipe to Lisette #15, Louise #428, Donna #221, Sue P. #37 or Sue Z. #38, or to the Tea Party.

The cookbook is way short of the requested number of recipes and you have only a few more weeks to submit them. After the madness and mayhem of February is

over the esteemed committee is meeting to put the

book together and get it printed.

So be included.

Anytime there is a food event:

Cocktails Contest

Bodacious Burgers

Chili Cookoff

Prime Rib Dinner (yes Don & Tony, we want your secrets!)

Tea Party

Soup Night

Super Happy Hour in the Pavilion

Smoked Salmon (Don, again)

Your favorite ANYTHING!

Give us the recipe (hand written is fine).

Pretty Please?

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Lovers, Harry only has three requested songs to play for the Valentines Dance.

Now my choice is splendid but you'll get mighty tired of hearing it over and over.

So get him the title of your favorite romantic song soon, or we'll hear

Play That Funky Music, White Boy all night long.

Showdown at the Pavilion Corral!

First the golf payouts for this week, then on to the meat! Bob D., Bob W., and Duane R. are the big winners. Congrats.

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The two weeks of prime time fun at the end of February,

culminates in an Olympic event that simply

MUST NOT BE MISSED!

Feb. 28, starting at 4:15, in the Pavilion.

It's the Prime Rib Competition & Dinner known as the

"Showdown at the Pavilion Corral".

Watch two of our best known, most prolific chefs, Tony & Don,

battle it out for top chef honors.

Who's prime rib is the best,

most succulent,

juiciest?

We'll be voting.

Tony #40 & Don #209...my vote is for sale.

IMPORTANT: The chefs must order the meat well in advance, and make a

pretty complicated game plan to feed us in a timely manner, therefore they

are requesting you buy your tickets in advance, starting tomorrow at Junque & Java.

Tall Dick #116 will be handling the ticket sales until the 18th.

That's right...get your tickets BY THE 18th

so you won't miss this wonderful dinner.

Did I say dinner?

Oh, it's much more than that!

There are the Nude Olympics closing ceremonies

and happy hour, in the pavilion, at 4:15.
Followed immediately by the much anticipated dinner,

and then...

Ruthi will be here to entertain us.

If you have not heard her you are in for a treat.

She performed at last year's Olympic dinner,

and at Lester's 85th birthday party.

She also performs around the area and nationally.

She is, in a word, superb!

The tickets for this fabulous evening are a ridiculously low $8 apiece.

For your measly $8 you'll receive:

a sample appetizer serving of each of the two prime rib styles,

(how much is my vote worth, Tony? Don?)

house salad,

bread & butter,

baked potato, a hefty slice of prime rib, (my, this one is rare, isn't it? Must be Tony's.)

vegetable of the day,

scrumptious dessert.

and Ruthi! What a night! What a deal!

Don? Tony? I can't hear you. My vote? Who want's it?

Gardens, Travel, Volleyball Rules & More!

The Sandpiper newsletter is on-line! Go to http://www.sandpipersresort.com/ , click on news and enter the passwords. What! You can't remember them? Oh, all right. Shoot me a quick email (look over to the left-that's my email) and I'll shoot them right back to you.

In the newsletter, which by the way, has a new name, I profiled a plant that is blooming at this time of year. Kalanchoe. Pronounced Kay-lan-co-ee. And many other ways, I'm sure.

It's a great plant for our gardens here at Sandpipers. Looks good all year. Looks GREAT this time of year.

Here are some pictures from my garden, including one of an Angel Trumpet tree.

It's very dramatic when in bloom, and smells great. While Angel Trumpet gets big and can be messy...I mean, look at the size

of those flowers, will 'ya!...Kalanchoe stays small and manageable.

And it's showy...even in summer the succulent leaves turn reddish in the sun.**********************

News from the jungles of the Yucatan! from Dr. Bob & Catherine.

We have been in the Yucatan jungle and sleeping in the van/camping in order to visit some of the Rio Bec Culture ruins where there are absolutely no modern accommodations.

The first picture is from the Coba Ruins inland from Tulum and south of Playa del Carmen. It shows Catherine and Bob standing in front of the Nohoch Mul Pyramid which stands some 42 meters/137.76 feet tall. Coba is a fairly old Mayan city founded in 600 AD and is at a crossroads of forty "sacbes", or sacred roads similar to the Nasca Lines. Its architecture is very similar to that of Tikal and suggests inter-marriage of its leaders with Tikal women of royalty...hence the "Queens of Coba" shown on stelae were apparently quite powerful and are always shown standing on top of captured warriors.

The second picture shows Catherine about to be eaten while standing in the mouth of Itzamna in his temple in Chicanna Ruins between the modern cities of Chetumal and Escarcega near the Belizian border.

The third picture shows a model of the same temple on display in the Museum of Mayan Culture in Chetumal. Itzamna is the main god of the underworld and somewhat similar to Pluto/Hades/Lucifer. Hence the doorway in which Catherine is standing was considered the entrance to the underworld. Legend has it that people and priests would sleep in this temple to make contact with departed souls thought to be residing in the underworld.

The forth picture shows Bob standing in a "corbel arch" a ways up in the western-most tower of Structure I at Xpujil. This perch was reached by climbing a secret stairway laid into the stones inside the tower. The fifth picture shows a model of the same structure from the Chetumal Museum of Mayan Culture. The towers originally reached almost 60 feet high and had "combs" on top of the towers. The front of the towers had what appears at first sight to be stair-steps but which are far too steep and narrow to actually be climbed and were placed there merely to give the appearance of steps while conserving "foot-print" space...kind of compressing a full-sized pyramid into a very impressive structure just as high but with a smaller base and using less building materials. Pretty smart, efficient and still very impressive even today.

We are presently in a hotel in Vega del Atorre, just south of Poza Rica, with hot water,

a shower, a restaurant and Internet. We plan to make our way to San Miguel de Allende

to visit Harper for a few days and then work our way back home.

More stories when we return. See you all shortly.

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Revised 2 on 2 Water Volleyball Rules for the Olympics

by Bob W. #34

Sandpiper’s jungle water volleyball rules apply with the following exceptions:

Sign up and show up as an individual.

Teams will consist of two people who will play on a reduced sized court.

Teams will be chosen to equalize height and sex at the beginning of the event.

If you are NOT there at the beginning of the event, you are NOT on a team,

and you are NOT in the tournament.

The server must serve to the back player of the opposing team.

NO CHEAP SHOT, SLIMY SERVES.

The “five in a row” rule changes to “three in a row” for a serve change over.

The game is to 5 points, and a team must win by 2 points.

The format for the tournament is double elimination.

BE THERE AND BE SQUARE.

Six teams will be in the water, two teams playing,

two teams ready to play, and two keeping the score.

The games will go quick and the next teams should be ready to play!

FANS.

The teams will be named after provinces/states/commonwealths.

Everyone around the pool with any association to that

state/commonwealth/province (i.e. residence, former residence, family,

summer camp, alimony awarded in, etc) is expected to stand behind their team

to cheer them on and jeer their opponents.

Outrageous activities such as mooning your asses, jiggling your boobs, and waving your noodles, THE MULTICOLORED POOL NOODLES,

are encouraged.

Best fans will be given special awards at the award ceremonies.

THE WORD IS FUN!
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This list of proud Canadian moments and traits is from Alan. I have had it for a little while waiting for the correct moment, then today, as I read the Sandpiper Sun, I found a tantalizing tidbit...something about, "Hold onto this, you may win prizes." So to give you a head start, here is the list of Why it's Better to be Canadian.

CANADIAN ehSo, What Do Canadians Have To Be Proud Of ?

1. Smarties

2. Crispy Crunch, Coffee Crisp

3. The size of our footballs fields, one less down, and bigger balls.

4. Baseball is Canadian - First game June 4, 1838 - Ingersoll , ON

5. Lacrosse is Canadian

6. Hockey is Canadian

7. Basketball is Canadian

8. Apple pie is Canadian

9. Mr. Dress-up beats Mr. Rogers

10. Tim Hortons beats Dunkin' Donuts

11. In the war of 1812, started by America, Canadians pushed the Americans back Past their 'White House'. Then we burned it...and most of Washington. We got bored. Because they ran away, so we came home and partied...Go figure.

12. Canada has the largest French population that never surrendered to Germany

13. We have the largest English population that never ever surrendered or withdrew during any war to anyone, anywhere. EVER.

14. Our civil war was fought in a bar and it lasted a little over an hour.

15. The only person who was arrested in our civil war was an American mercenary, who slept in and missed the whole thing...but showed up just in time to get caught.

16. A Canadian invented Standard Time.

17. The Hudson Bay Company once owned over 10 % of the earth's surface and is still around as the world's oldest company.

18. The average dog sled team can kill and devour a full grown human in under 3 minutes.

19. We still know what to do with all the parts of a buffalo.

20. We don't marry our kin-folk.

21. We invented the ski-doo, jet-skis, Velcro, zippers, insulin, penicillin, the zamboni, the telephone and, short wave radios that save countless lives each year.

22. We ALL have frozen our tongues to something metal and lived to tell about it.

23. A Canadian invented Superman.

24. We have coloured money.

25. Our beer advertisements kick ass.

BUT MOST IMPORTANT!

24. The handles on our beer cases are big enough to fit your hands with mitts on.

OOOoohhhhh Canada !!

25. And we don't bomb our allies. Oh yeah... And our elections only take one day.

Burger Ideas & Cook Book Plea.

As you know Lisette has been collecting recipes for our Sandpiper Cookbook.

We joke about the crowds showing up whenever food is offered,

but face it, food has powerful mojo.

If you entered a recipe in the Nude-L-Fest, or plan to participate in any of the fun food events throughout the month of Feb. please include your recipe and make sure Lisette gets it. Put your first name, your site number on the recipe, which can be hand written. Perhaps add a little note about what the recipe means to you or to your friends. For instance, do people clamor for what you bring to super happy hour's? Or is it a favorite at pot lucks?

The recipe count for the cookbook looks like this.

Soups & Salads 24
Veggies 13
Breads, Misc. 20
Appetizers 33
Main dishes 34
Desserts 52

Total 176

Do you see the trend? A few more veggies would be nice.

We will include the recipes for several Olympic contests...including the extremely popular Bodacious Burger Cook-off!

To get you in the mood, and give you some inspiration, I offer:

Nope...too small. But cute.

Now that's what I'm talking about!

Grilled glazed donut, thick cheeseburger, a few strips of bacon...but the egg?

Over the top! Oh wait. I see lettuce...it's healthy.
Now this one has no lettuce, so it's not quite as healthy as the previous burger.
Now here's something a little different.

Yikes!

Oh, wait...burger is too big. Disqualified.

Some more ideas, culled from many sources:

Pioneer Burger-Blue cheese, baby lettuce, caramelized onions.

Beet Burger-Swiss cheese, cooked spinach, canned beets, sour cream, sprouts on a wheat bun.

Italian Burger-Mozzarella and marinara.

Gaucho Burger-Burger topped with grilled chorizo and chimichurri.

Philly Burger-Burger topped with shaved beef, sauteed onions and melted cheese.

These ideas are to get your gastric juices flowing.

Go forth and create.

February is Jam-packed with Fun Events!

These are lots of events, both old and new, that require skill and a certain level of competitiveness, but just as many that require only participation to be fun, fun, fun!

Check in the weight room for the Olympic sign up sheets.
Surely there is something there to tweak your interest.

Everything from golf to horseshoes, bingo to scrabble, euchre to poker to tennis.

And then some....two weeks of non-stop fun!

An event that slightly precedes the beginning of the Nude Olympics is the Cocktail Contest.

This year we have several Olympic cooking challenges:

Bodacious Burgers, The Chili Cook-off, and Afternoon Tea.

The pressure to perform can be overwhelming, the stress brutal,

the need to succeed all consuming.

To train properly you might consider signing up for this contest.

A cocktail couldn't hurt, and the rest of us might benefit too.

Long Island has it's Iced Tea,
Singapore has it's Sling,
New Orleans is famous for Hurricanes,
Moscow has it's Mule,

And Manhattan has the, well, The Manhattan!What's your favorite Sandpiper drink?

Sign up and show us your mixology skills.

I have it on good authority (me), that while taste and appearance will be important, showmanship will get you extra points.

Enter the contest! We really need more contestants to make it work.

It's gonna be a lot of fun, and after a few samples, the stress

of the upcoming Olympics will just fade away into a hazy memory.