Christmas in Lima.

Lima, Peru

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Do Nothing Turkey with a simple twist

I've made this style of turkey for the last 4 years or so. It is extremely simple and quick. It works with a full turkey or a turkey breast. It maintains the great flavor of the turkey and results in juicy meat if the turkey is removed when the meat reaches 165 F. I've had success with this recipe in a couple different countries from sea level to 8,000 ft. It takes almost no prep work and minimizes your time spent on the turkey allowing you to focus on the side dishes and pie!

It is based upon a recipe from the Food Network by Dave Lieberman.

Ingredients

• 1 (10 to 12-pound) fresh, defrosted turkey or turkey breast
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1-2 tablespoons of dry or fresh (preferred) thyme
• 1-2 tablespoons of dry or fresh (preferred) sage
  
• 2 large celery ribs

Directions

If you do not have time to do this step in advance, don't worry it will still turn out fine. The night before cooking the turkey, mix the salt, pepper, sage, and thyme in the olive oil. Let them sit overnight.

Preheat oven 350 degrees F.

Discard bag of gizzards from inside the cavity and rinse the cavity of the turkey with cold water. Pat dry and rub the olive oil mixture all over the bird including the inside of the cavity.

Place the celery sticks on a shallow roasting pan or Pyrex and place the turkey on top of the celery. Add enough water to the dish to cover the bottom 1 cm or 1/4 inch. When you check the temperature of the meat later, make sure the water does not completely evaporate and add more as needed. This keeps the sauce from burning and makes it very fast to create your gravy.

Roast until golden brown, about 2 hours. Cover the breast loosely with foil when golden brown. Cook until an instant-read thermometer registers 165 degrees F in the thigh of the turkey, which will take about 30 minutes more. The cooking time varies greatly with altitude, so the temperature of the meat is the key to not overcooking the turkey. Don't be shy about testing the temperature at regular intervals (30 mins or so) after the first hour.

Transfer to a cutting board to rest for 15 minutes before carving.

To make gravy, simply drain the liquid (avoiding any bone or celery pieces) from the dish into a small sauce pan. Heat it over low heat. Add water if it is too thick, but hopefully there is still plenty of water from the dish. Constantly stir the gravy while heating it, carefully add flour until the mixture starts to become thick. Beware that it will thicken further when it cools, so do not add too much flour. Once you've brought it to a boil and it has the proper texture, you can remove it from the heat. It should only take about 5-10 minutes to complete after the turkey is taken out of the oven.

Serve the turkey and gravy while still warm.

Costa Verde, Miraflores, Lima

The sun broke through today so we took a walk on the malecon and I snapped off a few pictures.

One of the many nice parks along the malecon.

Rosa Nautica restaurant and Makaha beach.

The most busy beach on the Costa Verde (Makaha).

North side of the park.

La Pampilla (front), one of the most consistent breaks on the Costa Verde. Tres Picos (behind), newly developed and one of the most crowded breaks on the Costa Verde.

Closer view of jetties at La Pampilla and Tres Picos.

3-5 ft waves rolling into La Pampilla.

More Pampilla, the water is a bit dirty atm due to the dumping of building materials to the north.

They are dumping broken down cement and bricks and such to build out the beach and create more breach side parks. But it really is making a mess of the water for the time being.

La Pampilla, Lima, Peru

Another foggy morning in Lima. Consistent 3-6 ft waves (small). And plenty of trash washing up on the beach. The sun came out just after I took these.

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Panama City, Panama

Corridor Sur and downtown

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Riande Continental, part 2

View from room and pool

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Riande Continental

Panama City, Panama

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Copa Airlines changing tires

Crews are removing 2 of the plane's tires that blew on landing at Orlando airport.

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16th street Cocoa Beach

Yesterday. A bit too choppy.

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Rainbow over Cocoa Beach

From Sunday.

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Canova beach

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Sand on the beach

Beachside restaurant in Melbourne Beach

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Fantasy Football 2010

I'm running an ESPN Free to play Fantasy Football league this year. The draft is Sept 8th at 5am. First game is Sept 9th. If you would like to join, click here. There is room for 7 more teams and we need at least 2 more.

Woohoo! I'm ready for some football!

Back to the normal flatness of summer

Best surfing summer in Florida in many years (or so I'm told).

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First light at Paradise beach

This morning. Some remnants from Hurricane Earl. 16th street in Cocoa beach was even better (glassy).

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Choppy swell from Hurricane Earl

From Thursday

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View from Crowne Plaza Hotel Oceanfront

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Time to head out!

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Dinner at Bonefish Willy's

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Marlins at Mets, Port St. Lucie, FL

This was one of if not the last Spring Training game for both teams. The stadium was very nice and larger than most other Spring Training parks. Parking was $5 and tickets were $12-30. It was not sold out but it was about 70% full (about 5,500).

The pictures are here. They include some shots from Ft. Pierce Inlet and Vero Beach.

Marlins ace Josh Johnson started the game and seemed to be mostly just working on locating his fastball. I didn't see any breaking pitches. This is likely because he didn't want to show a divisional rival too much before the season. This resulted in him giving up some homeruns to David Wright and Jason Bay. Closer Leo Nuñez was effective in relief but the Marlins still lost 3-5.

Marlins at Nationals, Viera, FL

I was able to see the Marlins in Viera, FL for a second time this Spring. The pictures are here. There aren't a lot of game pictures and I didn't put any stadium pics because they have been posted before. There are some shots of the Marlins players in street clothes signing autographs after the game. It was another beautiful Spring day in Florida. The Marlins won 5-3.

Redsox at Astros, Kissimmee, FL

I was able to catch the Redsox vs Astros in Kissimmee, FL. Again the game was sold out due to the Redsox being there. I managed to find a ticket behind the Astros dugout for $35. Parking was $5.

Again, David Ortiz did not make the trip. This was a split squad game. Varitek, Youkilis, Ellsbury, and Pedroia were there though.

Ace Roy Oswalt started for the Astros and shut down the Redsox. The final score was 3-0 in favor of the Astros.Dustin Pedroia, 2007 AL Rookie of the Year, 2008 AL MVP, 2009 Silver Slugger and Gold Glove winner for 2B.
Very basic scoreboard at Osceola County Stadium. Astros rookie shortstop Tommy Manzella.

Team captain and now backup catcher, Jason Varitek.

Kevin Youkilis' funky batting stance.

Power hitting LF Carlos Lee 'El Caballo' (left) and 2009 NL Gold Glove CF Michael Bourn (right).
Redsox closer Jonathan Papelbon.
Carlos Lee at bat. With Terry Francona (manager) and Dave Magadan (hitting coach) to the right.

Redsox at Marlins, Jupiter, FL

The second Spring Training game that I got to see this year was in Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, FL. The Marlins and Cardinals share the grounds for Spring Training which are located on the campus of Florida Atlantic University. The Redsox won 9-0 behind a solid pitching performance by Tim Wakefield.

I was looking forward to seeing David Ortiz, but he did not make the trip. Pedroia, Ellsbury, Lowell, and Youkilis were there though. I also saw Bill Hall and Jeremy Hermida in their new Redsox uniforms.

Anibal Sanchez had a rough outing for the Marlins. Renyel Pinto followed him with a poor performance from the bullpen.

Due to it being a Redsox game, it was sold out and the traffic was a bit crazy. But the stadium was beautiful.The place was packed with Redsox fans.

I got lucky and found a fan selling a ticket for $10 just before the game. Even more lucky, it was right behind home plate! Parking was either $5 or $7.

Hanley Ramirez, 2010 NL Batting Champion. Formerly drafted and developed by the Redsox.

Power hitting 2B Dan Uggla.
Primary Marlins Spring Training building, listing their 1997 and 2003 World Titles.
After the game, I took a drive down to Delray Beach and Boca Raton. Nice rainbow here at Delray Beach.
Beach report, rainbow, and chairs to relax in. There aren't many public beaches this far south in FL, but this is one of them.
Unmanned lifeguard station at Delray Beach.