Temperature peaked at 23 degrees today with the weather guessers projecting freezing rain and sleet for the next day.  At least we got out today and it was pretty.

For a bunch of pictures of 

Appetizers:

• Rosemary/Lemon White Bean Dip
• Crostini
• Bias Cut Carrot Slices
• Maple Spiced Nuts  (I added a bit of cayenne as well.)

Dinner:

Beef Tenderloin with Roquefort Sauce.   From 150 Best American Recipes and oh so good.  We forgot to add the creme fraiche to the sauce but it was so good I’m not sure it’s worth it to add the creme fraiche.  I was nervous about cooking my first tenderloin and it turned out fabulous.  Jim did most of the actual cooking on this one – so I can say that without blushing.

Wild Rice Pilaf (Gourmet Cookbook – a fine basic pilaf.  Recipe said it served 8 and it would have served 12 easily)

Sauteed Red Kale with Pancetta (Adapated from Gourmet Cookbook Kale with Bacon)

For dessert we had Cranberry Poached Pears.  I took the advice of one of the reviewers and added a bare touch of ground cloves.  This was a nice, refreshing dessert after the rich tenderloin.  We garnished with a dollop of creme fraiche and chopped toasted filberts.  A sprig of mint would have have been nice.

Beth brought a great Casa la Postole Cabernet and I opened an ’05 Caymus Cab.  The Caymus needed decanting and breathing and turned out fine after a few hours.   I preferred the la Postole but they were both great with the beef.

Start obsessively checking the weather forecast.

T-6

Check weather forecast.

Spend 4 hours in garage listening to classic rock and tightening bolts.

T-5

Check weather forecast.  Say loudly that long range weather forecasts are meaningless.

Tell wife not to plan anything for the week because you have a track day on Friday

T-4

Check weather forecast.  Swear.   Tell wife to apply for transfer to Colorado.

T-3

Check weather forecast from three providers.  Disregard two unfavorable forecasts.

Mention casually to wife you’ll need to take lunch on Track Day.  Just PB&J and carrots.

T-2

Do not check weather forecast.  Declare that meteorology isn’t a real science.

Spend evening in garage listening to modern rock and rotating tires.

Mention to wife that you’ll need some fruit for your lunch.  And something to drink.

T-1

Check weather forecast.  Submit yourself to the will of weather gods and ask them humbly to favor you.

Lay out hydration strategy and purchase 36 gallons of beverages.

Mention to wife that you’ll need something salty with lunch, “like Pringles.”

Eat a light, balanced supper of protein, starch and ice cream.

Track Day

Get up ten minutes before alarm goes off.

Feign surprise when your wife gets up to make you lunch.   Pretend you meant to do it all along.

Feign surprise when only 10% of hydration strategy fits in trunk.

Give wife wedding ring.  Tell her “it’s safer to drive without a ring.”  Do not mention hot track groupies.

Pack car.  Fidget.  Pace.   Pretend to talk to your wife.  Watch clock.

Leave half an hour before you meant to.  

Enjoy.

Yes, it’s a bit electrically minded. This is the price you pay for reading the blog of two electrical engineers.

On the plus side, Dell does give out nice trinkets with the class.  We have a nice badge, a pad of paper, books, a backpack and tickets for breakfast and lunch.  Of course, they didn’t tell us about the breakfast tickets.  Instead of the Dell café, I had a $14 French Toast breakfast at the hotel.  Sure it was good but not $14 good.

Umbrellas in the rain? Horizontal rain.  Large drops, flash BANG!  Everyone in the room jumps and looks out the window with wide eyes.  At least I’m not the only one who thinks this is unusual.  I forget how hard it rains in the middle.  New Mexico would have similar storms and they were just normal spring weather.

A hand of crib in the car, which Jim won, and a game of go fish, which Jim won, and a game of war, which Jim didn’t win, to kill the time until we bored the ferry. The day started with brilliant sunshine and the passage calm. About halfway across, the big rollers started. Not the worse weather or sea but enough to make walking down the passages fun. Side to side and up and down and bounce off a wall.

At one point during the day I was dicing with a BWM M3. He would pull away on the straights and I would catch in the turns. I could get very close, and I mean close, but since this is a track day not a race no passing in the corners. Eventually he let me by and I walked away from him. After the session I found him in the paddoc and we both agreed that it was a lot of fun. We both had passenger for that session and they swapped stories of how close we were in the corners and evenly matched the cars where throughout the circuit.

On the downside, the diff is leaking again and their seems to be a gearbox leak. But that will wait until next week.