Sea Island, GA

The Wards and The Snyders left for Sea Island on Wednesday morning, Feb 3rd. Dr. Bill Snyder (Brent's Dad) picked us up and dropped us off at the airport, which was very nice. We had a layover in St. Louis for 1 hour and arrived in Jacksonville, FL around 3:30 p.m. We got our rental car (picture to come) and headed northwest 1 hour to Sea Island.
The Snyder's are Sea Island regulars with their favorite aunt Ellen Dunn living on the island and Brent used to work for Sea Island. Brent moved to Sea Island after college for his first job and worked for them for 4 years in the golf business. Sea Island is home to many PGA tour players and they have 4 of the top 100 teachers in the US employed at Sea Island. It is very close if not "the" golf capital of the US.

We were hosted by Ellen at her beautiful beachfront home and we played the 3 golf courses at Sea Island, Plantation, Retreat, and Seaside. Seaside just landed a deal with McGladery for a PGA tournament stop this coming October. The tournament will be held at Sea Island for the next 3 years. Sea Island has also hosted the G-8 Summit in 2004.
The weather was just ok, we saw highs in the low 60's and only rained one day, but our golf round was finished before the rain came.


Our schedule was pretty open except each morning at 10:00 a.m. we played 18 holes. After golf we had lunch at Ellen's and then would tour around the island seeing the sights. We went out to Ellen's "River" project where they purchased land and are now building a home. Ellen loves to entertain at her house so we had many great dinners at her house but we ate out one night at the Cloister Hotel, a 5-star Hotel. It was amazing. The woodwork, the furniture, the restaurants, it is like the St. Paul hotel on steroids. For $550/night we were happy to be staying with Ellen. Jason and Brent sat in George W. Bush's chair for the 2004 G-8 Convention, which was held at Sea Island.

Things were quiet on Sea Island so the effects of the economy are reaching this part of the US as well. Many days we were one of few groups on the golf course and the hotels were also quiet. The amenities at Sea Island were top notch, spa, tennis club, beach club, you name it, you can do it there. We were only interested in the golf and it was very good.

Our toughest round was Seaside, the PGA tour stop this coming fall. Not only was the course tough, the weather was tougher. We saw winds up to 40 mph which made each shot perilous, especially for the higher handicappers. We took a lot of great pictures of the 4 of us on the golf courses and of the beautiful scenery. We will definitely be returning to Sea Island.

2 recipes worth repeating

We tried both of these recipes last night and they were very good. The Pork Loin rub we have had before, the Asian Style BBQ wings were new. Enjoy.

Pork Loin (2 toppings, a dry rub, and then a liquid also)
Dry Rub:
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cayenne

Pecan Butter:
¾ cup chopped pecans
1 stick unsalted butter
2 tablespoons minced white onion
2 tablespoons Worcestershire saucepinch of coarse salt

The pork loin recipe is compliments of Jeb and Kaylan Wilson. We first had it at their house and it is very good. You can apply the Pecan Butter before or after cooking, we have had it both ways, depends on how juicy you like the pork. It is drier if you apply it before and then cook it. This is how we did it last night, but we have also applied it after cooking and it's great that way too.

Appetizer: Asian Style BBQ Wings
This was the easiest recipe I have ever found or made and the group thought it was very good.
Asian BBQ Sauce:
Yields enough for 2 lbs of wings (we doubled it last night and it was plenty for 20 wings or so)
1/4 cup tomato ketchup
2 Tbs. soy sauce
1 Tbs. light brown vinegar
Large Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
4 scallions (both white and green parts) trimmed and thinly sliced)
Whisk ketchup, soy, brown sugar, rice vinegar, and red pepper flakes and half the scallions. Reserve the remaining scallions to sprinkle on the wings after tossing.

Wine Pairing:
2008 Dry Riesling from Trefethen Vineyards
Pairs well with spicy foods

Quiet Weekend

Nicole and I are taking it easy this weekend. Nicole had yesterday off so she cleaned the house and made a great dinner. We had beef roast with a white wine sauce with mashed potatoes. She also made 2 different Creme Brulee's, one was leeks and cheese and the other was a dessert with butterscotch and pecans. She got this new torch for Christmas and now she is nuts about Creme Brulee. We watched a very good movie last night called My Sister's Keeper. I thought it was going to be a dreaded "chick flick" but it was very good, in fact it is one of the best movies I have seen in quite some time. I don't know if anyone watches movie award shows, but the SAG awards and the Golden Globes have been raving about Quentin Tarantino's new movie called Inglorious Basterds. It is a graphically violent comedy about a 8-man death squad lead by Jewish Americans. They are put in the middle of France, but at the time of WWII when France was occupied by Germany. The role of this death squad, each guy had to kill 100 Nazi's. The dialogue and story line were very good, but the violence was absolutely over the top and we struggled to get through the movie. We watched it with the Snyder's and Nicole thought it was the worst movie she had ever seen. So, she got to pick this week and she picked a great movie, My Sister's Keeper.
Nicole is on call this weekend and Fairview only had one kid to see today so she is going to wait until tomorrow to go in that way she only has to make one trip. We went to Yoga this morning and tonight Brent and I are cooking our wives dinner. The menu should be pretty good.
Asian Style BBQ Wings for an appetizer
Pear/Walnut Vinagrette Salad
Pecan Crusted Pork Loin
Pistachio Pudding for dessert
I probably couldn't pull it off without Brent's help, he's very good in the kitchen.
Have a great weekend!

Gut Punched By The Vikings

Well, it was a tough pill to swallow last night with the Vikings loss. To see that many turnovers and still have a great chance to win the game, and then lose it was heartbreaking. I thought I was going to see some grown men cry last night. I have two buddies who are the biggest Vikings fans that I know, Tom Kingsley and Matt Quinn. Matt Quinn was one of the finalists for the Pioneer Press Brett Favre look-a-like contest and he also owned the Vikings in our Survivor league so he missed his chance for $1000 last night. Tough one.
So, today, January 25th, we are onto bigger and brighter things. We have the Olympics coming up, we have our health and we are getting closer to spring.
It sures doesn't feel like spring though with snow falling today in MN and cold weather coming.
We enjoyed our weekend in DL and look forward to getting up there again in February for more brace work. I am going to start the countdown for brace removal starting today, we are 9 weeks from completion. I am going back to DL on Monday Feb 15th (3 weeks from today) and moving into the last stage that day. I will be in the last stage for 6 weeks, so hence 9 weeks left. It has been 15 months that I have had them on, now just a little over 2 months left. I can't wait.
We went to a Vikings party last night at Matt and Lindsay Quinn's. It was a good time, great food and a roller coaster of emotions.
We are looking forward to a quiet week to finish off the month of January. Stay warm and safe with the icy roads and snow.

In DL Safe and Sound

Our busy week is winding down. We are now sitting with Emily, Ryan, Hattie and Nicole's parents, George and Michelle. We are excited to be here safe after the treacherous drive from Minneapolis this morning.

Our evening last night turned out to be a great time. We started with happy hour at the Lounge at the W Hotel with my brother Ryan and his new wife Kari. They were married yesterday at a private ceremony at the courthouse. Then we had dinner at Manny's last night, which never disappoints. It was a great time and we were very happy for them as they begin their lives together. They left for Mexico where they will honeymoon for the week in Riviera Maya. They will renew their vows and take wedding pictures there, but to avoid a lot of red tape to get married in another country they had a ceremony here before they left. After dinner we went to Prohibition for a night cap. The Wards (Ryan and Kari) turned in early as they had to be up for their early a.m. flight. Nicole and I made our way to the Rock Bottom Brewery for my company Christmas Party. We spent an hour or so there mingling with coworkers. It was the 1st time we have seen our friend Sue Knott since she became pregnant. She looked so happy and healthy and we are very happy for the Knott's as they expect their 1st baby in April.
Nicole and I turned in early (midnight). My wife gets tired early in her old age, I wasn't ready to leave but she usually gets her way so we left. We stayed downtown and were up early this morning and on the road to Detroit Lakes. My braces are tight and we are in for the night. They have about 4 fresh inches of snow here and it is very pretty.

We'll get up tomorrow morning and have a nice breakfast and then take Hattie sledding. Then we'll be on the road for Hudson to get home in time for the big game, Vikings vs. Saints at 5:40.
Enjoy the weekend and Go Vikings!
Congratulations to Ryan and Kari Ward. May your lives together be long and forever joyful. We love you both!

Busy Week

We have a busy and exciting week planned. I am truly looking forward to each day, which is really nice to write.
The only thing I know for sure is we will be "BUSY" at the office this week as Mark (my boss) is out doing 4 seminars from Tues-Friday. We were hired to do these by a seed company so there will be a lot of prospects generated from these meetings. Normally we do our own seminars and we do them in the evening so we can handle our daily business. Well, these seminars this week are in the morning so that leaves the rest of us at the office very busy covering for Mark as he is our busiest guy. I hope we don't let him down!

Tuesday night we are going to a great Italian restaurant called I Nonni, which is located in Lilydale (just south of St. Paul). There will be 4 couples (Kingsley's, Gagnes, Wards, Wilsons). We are looking forward to it.

Wednesday night Nicole has Book Club. She joined the book club this year at Troy Burne and she will also be co-chairing the Women's League along with Shelly Thompson. She and I also head up Couples League (Friday night's during golf season) so she is getting more involved as well. She wasn't too keen about me running for the Homeowner's Board though. She doesn't like it when people are mad at us and this may trigger some of that, hopefully not!

Thursday night we have a Wild game with the Wilsons. The Wild have really turned it on as of late after a very slow start and the buzz around town is picking up. Not obviously to the Vikings pitch, but traffic on my way home from work is very bad on game day.

Friday, the best day of the week. My brother Ryan is getting married to Kari Roiger. They are getting married at the courthouse in the afternoon and then we are celebrating with dinner at Manny's Steakhouse downtown. We are very happy for them!

Saturday, we are heading to Detroit Lakes. I need to visit the dentist again, and I believe George and Michelle are coming up as well so it will be a fun weekend up north watching what hopefully will be some great football.

Enjoying The Day Off....Planning a Busy Week

I have the day off today as the market honors Martin Luther King Jr. Nicole had to go to a meeting at the office at Noon today so I am spending some time brushing up on some of the things I have gotten myself into lately. First this morning Nicole and I went to the Y for a quick run, her 4 miles me 2.5 miles (I run at a faster speed) but she can run farther.
I have been reading Covenants, not religious covenants, but Troy Burne Homeowners' Covenants. Before you buy a house in our development you get this large packet, which is all the rules and regulations that protect home values. An example of a covenant that protects value is this, A boat or trailer can only be parked outside a residents home for 7 days. My job on the Board will be to handle ARC, which is Architectural Review Committee. Any resident in Troy Burne that wants to make an Architectural change to their property, must first submit a plan to the ARC. The Ward's and Gagnes did this for our landscape project out in front of our homes. Brian drew a nice plan to scale and we said exactly where we were going to put bushes, trees, etc. The ARC then comes over to your house and ensures that nobody will be negatively affected by the plan. It is a process like this that prevents someone from putting a rollercoaster in their front yard or some other ludicrous idea. Our board president has gone around to other developments who don't have covenants and taken pictures of some of the things that can happen if convenants aren't enforced. The last thing any of us wants is our home values to go down because of something our neighbors did to their house (ie hot pink paint,). We all have taken a beating already from the market alone, we don't need more misery.
Jeb and I have also been brainstorming about the upcoming Golf season. He and I will manage/coordinate each Thursday's Men's League, every tournament that we have this summer. Our list of Player's Card holders and members is 150 Players Card holders and 35 members. So we have 180 people to contact and invite to these events. The more players the better the tournament. (because the more money you can win, makes sense right).