Congratulations to all of the people who participated in the "Team Killington" fund raising effort to support the Susan Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. The Vermont-New Hampshire "Race for the Cure" took place yesterday morning in Manchester Vermont. In a post race party, hosted at the home of "Team Killington" organizers Dick and Noel Gluck, it was announced that 135 people participated in the Team Killington effort, raising over $7000 for the breast cancer charity.

The Komen Vermont-New Hampshire Race for the Cure is part of the largest 5k series in the world. A maximum of seventy-five percent of the net proceeds is dedicated to support screening, education and treatment programs for serving Vermont and New Hampshire communities. A minimum of Twenty-five percent (net) of proceeds go to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Award and Research Grant Program. The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation was established in 1982 by Nancy Brinker to honor the memory of her sister, Susan G. Komen, who died from breast cancer at the age of 36.

My brother John watches his son John preparing to rip one at Green Mountain National Golf Course. 

My brother John, his wife Georgina, daughter Christina and son John, are up in Vermont visiting us for a few days. They are escaping the heat and humidity from down south. Of course, Mary and I think that the weather that we are having is a little juicy... but I guess it is all what you your used too!

Yesterday, John and his son joined me for a round of golf at Green Mountain National. You never quite know how family golf outings will go, especially since we do not get a chance to see much of each other due to the distances separating where we live. My brother used to caddie at the same golf course (Belmont Country Club) that I did when we were growing up as kids. John is 5 years younger than I am, so we did not play that often together growing up. But the lessons of playing golf every day in your teen age years stick with you into middle age, and he still hit's a pretty good ball for someone that plays only occasionally.

My nephew, John Jr., has just started to play the game. John Jr is 16, with shoulder length hair. He is an aspiring musician. When he arrived at the inn, he was wearing a "Boston" UFO tee shirt, for those of you who are fans of the band Boston. His summer wardrobe also consists of several "Beatles" tee shirts. It is somewhat of a change from the "Nascar" tee shirts we were used to seeing him in the last time they visited the inn several years ago. Anyways, I digress. John Jr dressed the part to play golf, with a collared shirt and a scotch cap, borrowed from his sister. In his teen years, with the demise of caddying, my nephew does not play golf any where near as often as his father or I did when we were his age, but he still did a nice job tooling around the links at Green Mountain.

My niece, who is 18, is heading off to college in a couple of weeks. She and my sister in law, went to Woodstock yesterday to take in the shops and galleries. Christina acquired a collection of vintage postcards that she was busy filling in to send off to friends, and some art deco style jewelry. She is clearly in the between world where high school has ended and college has not begun. She has a couple more weeks of being a kid... then college starts! To be young again.

Today, they were all off to Killington's adventure center to ride the gondola, waterslide, and Alpine slide. If I can, I will try to steal some pictures from them about their adventures.

17th green at
Green Mountain National Golf Course. 

Of course we all know from Tuesday that practice make perfect. But that still does not mean that someone else has not practiced more.

Yesterday I played my second match in the presidents cup elimination tournament at Green Mountain National. It will be my last for this year, as I was eliminated. Congratulations to Mike Schley.

We had a great match going. Standing on the 15th tee we were all square; both of us playing respectable games of golf. But that was to change. From the 15th tee, I proceeded to hit my ball into the hazard on the left over the fairway bunker. I then followed that up with a 3 putt on the 16th green for a bogey, leaving me 2 down with 2 to play. I had one chance, which was to birdie the par 3 17th. I lipped the cup on an 18 foot birdie attempt, with a tap in par. Mike 2 putt and got his par, and it was done. He beat me 2 and 1 to advance to the next round (to play Jason Evans from the Wobbly Barn).... Congratulations Mike!

16th Green from 17th on Killington Resort Golf Course. 

Being Tuesday, I usually go to the Green Mountain National Golf Course to play golf with a bunch of great local guys. We play a little "quota" tournament every Tuesday. Kick in 20 bucks for simple prizes and lunch. It is probably my one serious round of golf during the week.

Today, however, I had a meeting with someone I needed to speak with, so instead of golf this morning, I went to the practice range this afternoon to get my Tuesday swings in. Green Mountain has a really nice practice area complete with a driving range and a large, sand trapped practice green. I brought my video camera with me to take some swing shots. I have been going to physical therapy now for about 6 weeks to strengthen the ankle I sprained last winter, so I wanted to see what was going on with my swing. I have probably developed a couple of bad habits in my swing on the bum ankle. But as luck would have it, the camera battery was dead... hence no inane video's of my golf swing in all it's glory. I hit a full bucket of balls, chipped for about 30 minutes, and practiced putting. I probably hit more shots at the practice area than I would have hit playing golf this morning... but as they say. Practice makes perfect!

Todays blog picture is of the 16th green at the Killington Resort course, taken from the 17th tee. The 16th hole at Killington is a tough 371 yard par 4. You start from a slightly elevated tee, driving over a small valley straight out towards the green. The second shot is usually a short iron to an elevated green. it is hard to get the ball close on the 16th, as the second shot is all up hill carry. The 16th is one of the many nice holes on the Killington Resort Course in Killington.

Killington peak against
a powder blue sky on a beautiful
summer day - July 24, 2006. 

It is very difficult to describe how beautiful it is in Killington today. Between the puffy clouds, the powder blue skies, the comfortable mid 70's temperature, the light winds.... it is all coming together today at Killington.

As luck would have it, I'm in my office today. I did sneak out for a few minuted to take today's picture, but being a perfect convertible day, Mary has escaped the inn for this afternoon... tooling around town in her Mustang with the top down. No need to feel sorry for me, however, as I do have several tee times already booked for later in the week.

If you have a chance to get away to Killington, we are coming up on prime vacation time in the Green Mountains. August is usually punctuated with very comfortable days and cool nights in this part of Vermont. By the end of the month, as we head towards Labor Day, there is usually a hint of fall in the air. But for now, hopefully we will have a few more sunny summer days just like today.

Bird Feeder Damaged by Bear
Photo by Connie 

The weather pattern from yesterday persisted through mid day today with light showers and a drizzling mist. That did not have much of an impact on todays activities however, as brunch today centered around the TV in the Great Room watching Tiger Woods win the British Open.

Humming birds pray at the red sugar water god. Photo by Connie

Last week, we had a blog post about hummingbirds at the inn. Our friend, Connie, sent me 2 pictures following that subject. The first one concerned a bird feeder that was identified by a local bear as a tasty summer treat. Evidently the bear decided to bend the support rod holding the bird feeder above the ground. The result is todays blog picture.

On the topic of hummingbirds, Connie also captured a nice picture of 2 birds sitting on the feeder evidently praying to the red sugar water god. Their prayers seem to be effective, as the local bear has not been attracted to the hummingbird feeder as yet. Ah...the perils of living in Vermont. Lions and tigers and bears...Oh My!

Black Forest Soup 

It is a relatively quiet day here in Killington. Some unexpected summer rain showers are blanketing the area. With the heat of last week, however, a little bit of rain is a good thing. But the quiet is allowing me to catch up on a little housekeeping.

Last weekend at our wine dinner, we served a special concoction we called "Black Forest Soup". It is a combination of a chilled Chocolate and black cherry soups. We have had several requests for the recipe... so here goes:

Black Forest Soup - A dessert
This is a combination of a Chilled Chocolate Soup and a Chilled Cherry Soup. Portioned to serve 8

Chocolate Soup - Makes about 16 oz
Ingredients
1 1/2 Cups Whole Milk
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
4 OZ Bittersweet Chocolate, Grated
1 Egg Yoke
1/3 cup Sugar
1/2 TSP Vanilla
1 OZ Creme de Cocoa

1. Using a double boiler, scald 1 cups of milk. Set aside
2. Over low heat, melt Chocolate with 1/2 cup of milk. To this mixture, add in the scalded milk, blending until mixed well.
3. Beat the egg yoke, sugar, and vanilla together until frothy and lemon colored. Add in the warm chocolate mixture, beating gently to mix completely. Return chocolate mixture to low heat.
4. Add in the Creme de Cocoa and Heavy Cream. Blend together over low heat until surface forms a foam, but do not boil. Set aside and chill until service.

Cherry Soup - Makes about 8 oz
Ingredients
1/2 lb. of cherries
1/2 cup of sugar
1 cup of water
1/4 stick of cinnamon
1/4 lemon peel cut into strips
2 OZ Kirshwasser of Cherry Liquor

1. Wash and de-stem cherries. Remove pits and set aside.
2. Combine cherries, sugar and water. Heat to boiling point. Remove cherries. Set aside.
3. Crush the cherry pits with a nut cracker, mortar and pestle, or in a blender. Add them with the cinnamon stick and the lemon peel to the boiling liquid. Let boil for 5 minutes.
4. Put cherries in blender. Add liquor and puree. Return mixture to boiling liquid and simmer for 2 minutes to cook off alcohol.
5. Using a fine cheese cloth or a chinois, strain the mixture to remove solid matter and cool.

Serving preparation.
Just before serving, check consistency of each soup.
1. If the Chocolate soup requires thinning, place in a blender and add heavy cream. Stir until reaching desired consistency. The chocolate soup should have a consistency such that when you dip a spoon into it, the soup adheres in a solid film on the spoon.
2. If the Cherry soup requires thinning, stir in a small amount of water to reach desired consistency; If the Cherry soup requires thickening, reheat. Mix in a small amount of corn starch and water. Add to the warm cherry soup to thicken as desired. Re-chill.
3. Into a 3 oz shot glass, put in 1 oz of Cherry soup (use a squeeze bottle, or measuring cup with pouring spout to get soup into center of glass without coating the sides)
4. Float 2 oz of Chocolate Soup on top of the Cherry Soup by gently pouring down the side of the glass.
5. Garnish as desired. (We served this with a chocolate dipped cherry and a handmade chocolate truffle.)

Service note: if you do not want to float the two soups together (it makes a good presentation but it does take some patience), just before serving blend both soups together and serve as one. Also, if you find yourself with extra soup and you have an ice cream maker at home, you can use this soup to form the base of a dynamite chocolate-cherry ice cream!