J.W Marriott

Recently we celebrated our wedding anniversary and decided to enjoy a night at the JWMarriott.. It is the home of the TCP golf tournament. It is a great place to stay and the grounds are outstanding.  As it is winter here the grass is not as green as it usually is.  To see more about this place have a look at  

www.jwsanantonio.com/

As it is Christmas time the grounds were alight with colourful lights which danced to the strains of music.

Among the many restaurants and eating places the resort has to offer there is this amazing sports bar which  features the largest TV screens we have ever seen.

Texas would not be the same with out its boots.

Christmas time is an opportunity for ginger bread houses and the display at the Marriot was spectacular. The sugar content of the candy houses is listed below.

The display was fantastic.

We took the opportunity to eat at the 5 star restaurant called 18 Oak. We had never had duck fat fries before so we had to try them,  They were delicious.

Beverley had this great steak.

Ross enjoyed perfectly cooked diver scallops.

The decorations throughout the hotel were varied and beautifully done.

We are spending Christmas this year in Sante Fe so we wish you all a happy and Holy Christmas.

Cheers,

Beverley and Ross

Halloween

While a traditional Australian meat pie is not what the American continent would consider Halloween fare in the White/Wright household anything goes.  

This was the first time Adrian and Cameron had every tried an Aussie meat pie and whilst they would not eat this as a staple, they at least had a try of it.

Halloween is all about pumpkins and this patch had thousands for sale.

Of course there are many foods available that sport the theme and here crispy creamy doughnuts did their bit.

During this time Justin's mum and dad, Jenni and Jim came to visit.  Jenni and Jim live in Savannah, Georgia.  It is always so good to catch up with great friends once again.

We have know the Hess's since 1997 and we are so pleased when we can time together.

A great time was had by all.

Cheers Ross and Bev

A Night in Old San Antonio

The night after Thanksgiving begins the Christmas preparation for Christmas in downtown san Antonio.  It starts with a parade of water floats and you can see just a couple of the many floats that parade down the river.

 The city is a blaze with decorative lights which enhances the majestic Alamo.

The City Christmas Tree in Alamo Plaza disappears into the night sky when looking up from street level.

There are people everywhere.

With lots of Santa Clauses to cuddle.

On this evening we dinned at Landry's Sea food restaurant and enjoyed a most delightful dinner. Landry's is situated looking over the River walk and learn more of this intersting food place have a look at www.landrysse1ect.com 

If you have never visited San Antonio you are missing a great vacation spot.  At this time of the year the weather is pleasant with temperatures around 22-23 C.

Cheers Ross and Beverley

Thanks Giving 2014

Halloween morning started off with Justin making monkey bread.  It tastes as good as it looks.

It is a delicate process to get said bread out of the tin.

It then needs to have the icing drizzled over it and then it is ready to eat.

Then it was time to cook the turkey.  First the boiling oil.

Then the turkey

The process requires close supervision.

It works better if this is done in pairs.

The finished bird

The dedicated carver

The dinning room table

Smiles all around after a great Thanksgiving lunch.

Annette's visit

We were very pleased to see our dear friend Annette come for a visit.  Annette lives in Perth, Western Australia and we all served together in the Army. It had been 6 years since we spent time together so we wanted to take every opportunity  to show Annette the many sights in San Antonio and surrounds. This day we were at Gruene which is around 35 miles from where we live and prior to going to lunch at the Grist Mill we stopped for a wee drop at the oldest dance hall in Texas, the set for the film Michael which we have mentioned in an earlier blog.

Gruene is a pretty little town with a very interesting general store.  Among its may wares it have an amazing range of jellies, all forms of chili and any form of peanut paste with whatever one wants added to it.  Ross and Annette gave it their best shot and sampled several of the tasters.

Some of it was so good Ross went back for another taste.

 During Annette's visit we were treated so some delicious Mexican fare.  The chefs are getting lots of encouragement from the lookers on.

Albert showed he had a flare when it came to tossing the tortilla's.

Once again he displayed his carving skills with the arrachira steak for the fajitas.

 The final stage following the many hours putting it all together.   It was truly delicious.

We were so pleased that Annette came to visit and that she was able to join us in this delicious meal.
Many thanks to our wonderful chefs.

Cheers Beverley and Ross