Oscar Night at Florida Grande!

To thank all of the volunteers that contribute to the non-stop activities taking place around the resort, the ringleader, Sandy Gallup, organized our first "Night at the Oscars." Having stuffed everyone almost to immobility with meat loaf and fixings it was time to roll out the red carpet and get out the awards.
Many thanks also to Evelyn Wolf for capturing the proceedings and providing the pictures that can be seen here.

Lá Fhéile Pádraig

 Lá Fhéile Pádraig - more commonly known as the Feast of Saint Patrick - is celebrated on 17 March each year. The feast commemorates Saint Patrick (c. 387–461 CE depicted here at right), the best known of the patron saints of Ireland.
Saint Patrick's Day was officially recognized in the early 17th century and has been co-opted as a showcase for that oxymoron known as Irish culture.
The original color associated with Saint Patrick was actually blue but over the centuries this has morphed into the now universally accepted green with green ribbons and shamrocks worn on St Patrick's Day as early as the 17th century. In the US today, celebrations include prominent displays of green, overeating, consumption of alcohol, and numerous parades. See here for more of the Florida Grande celebration.

The Season's Final Attitude Adjustment Art Class

One has to wonder whether it was a form of Freudian compulsion that led to the choice of the name Attitude Adjustment for these highly popular art classes. Let's see, the initials AA could also stand for... Nah, probably just a coincidence.

Anyway, the last class of the season, held yesterday, was the biggest yet with an additional table squeezed into the Hobby room. By the end of the evening much mellowing had occurred and it was becoming difficult to get all the pictures right way up for the class picture.
If you are a fan of 19th century impressionist art like the Alfred Sisley piece shown here, do we have a surprise for you! Check here for a glimpse of the talented 21st century products from our very own neighbors.

2012 Florida Grande Chowder Wars

Another event in the procession of Comfort Food Cook-Offs at Florida Grande is the Chowder Fest.

Chowder (chou'dər) n.

1. A thick soup containing fish or shellfish, especially clams, and vegetables, such as potatoes and onions, in a milk or tomato base. 

2. A soup similar to this seafood dish: corn chowder.

Informative maybe, but not exactly interesting.
In fact, there seems to be a lot of debate about what qualifies as a true chowder and each of the many variants has its cohort of passionate minions defending its lineage. Chowderistas will debate endlessly as to which style is the authentic chowder, adding an occasional (and usually unchallenged) “award-winning" to their rhetoric in their endeavors to dignify their claims.

Cauldron or Chaudiere

The Oxford English Dictionary traces the word chowder to the fishing villages along the coast of France from Bordeaux to Brittany where it was probably derived from the Latin word calderia, originally meaning a place for warming things and later applied to a cooking pot. The word calderia morphed into cauldron and, in French, became chaudiere.
Originally despised as a "poor man's food", chowders, made with vegetables or fish, have been traced back to the 16th century at which time they were indeed stewed in a cauldron. Fish chowders were the forerunners of clam chowder but, in reality, old-fashioned chowder builders threw in just about everything that flew, swam, or grew in the garden.
This year there were six entrants vying for top honors when battle was joined. You can see our in-house Chowder Champs right here in pictures kindly provided by Sandra Gallup.

At the Hop!

Following a nourishing meal of '60s junk food - potato chips, subs, root-beer floats and such - it was on to the Hop. With 140 dancers murdering 50 years of dance styles to the sonorous strains of the Bad Kitty Band, spontaneous groups of hoofers sprang up around the Grande Room.
The long and the short of it - exemplified in the picture here (click to enlarge) - was that a good time was had by all. The band produce a mélange of memorable music, fast, slow, rebellious, romantic covering every major dance craze of the period.
For a Who's Who of Florida Grande Rock and Roll click here for the usual slide show. As a special bonus, the band produced a promotional video of the evening and that can be see by clicking here. When the video is running click on the icon at the bottom right to change to full screen. Press ESC to exit full screen mode. Enjoy...