December | 2015 | Anna Karras

We had a nice Christmas. It was quiet–just my husband and my parents, but we had a relaxing couple of days. We watched movies (Holiday Inn and To Catch a Thief), opened presents, and just generally enjoyed each others company.

But you want to know about the loot, right?

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This was my gift from Kosta: a Pelikan fountain pen. It is so beautiful, writes so smooth, and totally gave my inner office supply nerd a real thrill. (Yes, that kind of thrill.) I am waiting for a little sleeve I bought from Zenok Leather on Etsy so that it doesn’t get damaged rattling around in my purse. My Mom and Dad gave me monnogrammed notecards and now I want to write everyone thank you letters. So do something nice for me so I can send one, will you?

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Ignore the eggnog Frappuccino. This was one of the things I gave Kosta. For those of you who don’t know about Greek culture, this is a set of worry beads called “komboloi.” (You pronounce it Comb-BOW-loy)If you’ve ever been to Greece you will have no doubt seen mostly men fiddling with these, swinging them around their fingers, etc. Every time we go to Greece he can’t stop buying different sets. So why, you ask, another set? Because last time we were in a shop in Delphi and he was debating between a solid silver set and an amber and silver set. He chose the all silver but I think he regretted it. I found a shop on Etsy called The Beaded Garden (from Athens, no less) and found a silver and amber set. He adores them, I don’t mind mentioning.

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Since I found out just how much Kosta spend on my fountain pen (GULP) I felt I needed to get him something else. A month or so ago he saw this pair of coffee mugs on Etsy (oh how we do love Etsy!) and he could not stop laughing about them. They came from Ruddy Waters Pottery. They were a little expensive, but hello, PEN, so I bought them. He went back a few weeks ago to look at them again and saw they had sold and he was disappointed. So wasn’t he surprised when he opened these beauties:

2015-12-30 06.51.44 His and Hers ugly mugs. Graciously, he is letting me use the one on the left. I call her Three-Tooth Tillie. They are our new Sunday morning mugs. Yes, we have Sunday morning mugs. We are weird. But if we ever get rich, we’ll merely be eccentric.

Did you get any goodies you want to share?

The Bubble Room is an institution on Captiva Island, just of the coast of Southwest Florida. I know its been a while, but look at all the fun we had on December 6. True, there were only 4 of us (we were missing Cary and Di!) but we had a blast. Observe:

It doesn’t look like much outside, but inside you’ll find a wonderland of themes rooms most of them adorned with toys from the 20’s to the 40’s.

I don’t remember what everyone had, but I had a Pita Fonda. All the items on the menu were bad puns on old time movie stars.

Me and my Pita Fonda. It was quite delicious.

My husband peering around his Turk Douglass.

Tammerooni with her scrumptious lunch.

I texted this one to Di–who is married to Tammy. I asked her if we should be worried. She said she was on her way home.

All the waitstaff dressed in kitschy scout uniforms. This is our waitress presenting another table with the dessert offerings.

Oh baby. I only ate half my Pita Fonda in anticipation of this platter of diabetic coma.

Just had throw this in here. My husband isn’t a self-proclaimed happy jackass for nothing.

Kosta and I shared this. And even though I say we shared it, we did not manage to finish it. This was the orange crunch cake which is the signature dessert at the Bubble Room. I cannot begin to describe how outstanding it was.

After lunch we explored the restaurant a bit more, as we were encouraged to do. Here is sweet Val waiting for her prince charming to join her in the Tunnel of Love.

Of course there was more fun to be had outside. Tammy doesn’t even need to be hopped up on sugar.

See? She’s so shy. I wish there was some way we could coax her out of her shell.

There was a Bubble Room git shop next door. Look at my handsome prince!

I didn’t get a lot of good pictures of Val, but I think this one shows her good side. What do you think?

But hold on, the party ain’t over yet. On the way back across Sanibel Island (the only way in and out of Captiva) Tammy saw a sign and turned sharpish into a parking lot. We had just stumbled upon a new Bennett’s Fresh Roast. These folks roast their own coffee and make their own donughts on site. So what if we already consumed 5000 calories each? Dooughnuts are not a foodstuff to be taken lightly.

See what I frickin’ mean? The plain glazed belonged to Kosta. I had the other one — the almond frosted coconut.

I don’t know what this is. Maybe we need to get her evaluated.

That was our day: sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, goofiness, and then a wicked case of the hiccups on the way home for me.

It was totally worth every one.

Anna Karras

Have laptop, will travel.

Month: December 2015

Christmas Goodies

Ramblin’ Palates at the Bubble Room