2015 Reunion at the Farm

Click here for Dana's 2015 Reunion Pics

2014 Santa Rita Family Reunion

JULY 2014: What a great reunion! When looking at this blog, I saw that our last reunion was in 2010. 4 years ago, in Surfside Beach, SC - how can that be?!? Our little darlings in those pictures are now teenagers...wow...let's not let that much time go by again! In fact, it seems most people want to make up for lost time by meeting again next year, so we are looking at July 2015 to gather again, so save the month and we'll confirm the date and location when it's decided!

Until then, here's some pictures (pretty much unedited) - and please send me a link to yours if you want me to share with the family!

2014 Reunion Pics - Caryn
2014 Reunion Pics - Elmer

And....a few recipes from Aunt Sharon:
Kale Salad Seasoned rice wine vinegar Olive oil Salt & pepper to taste Package of salad toppings including cranberries and almonds Massage dressing into kale (unless people are looking, in which case, use tongs, haha)
Cabbage-Cilantro Slaw

2010 Santa Rita Reunion Photos

CHECK OUT ALL THE PICTURES:

Link to 2010 Elmer's photos

Link to 2010 Dana's photos

Link to 2010 Julie's photos

Link to 2010 Caryn's photos

Reunion Tees

Above is a pic of this year’s tee shirt design, below is the 2008 tee for those that left before I remembered to bring them out. If you would like either one, please let me know. The mens are $10 and there is a new ladies cut tee for $12, sizes are S-XXL. Unfortunately they don’t have little kids sizes, but the size small will fit most of the kids just fine. Please reply by Wednesday, June 16 with your order by e-mailing me (Caryn) at cdnbrina@comcast.net.

Santa Rita Reunion 2010

This years reunion will be in Surfside Beach, SC from Saturday June 26 - Saturday July 3.  There is a range in cost from $2400 - $3500 per week for a house with 4-5 bedrooms and all of the houses include a private pool in the back yard.

 
The realty company is Dunes Realty, the vacation coordinator that Julie has been in contact with is Dodie Suggs, her phone no. is 800-845-8191, her email is dodie@dunes.com.  The website is www.dunes.com   if you go to quicksearch and enter the week of June 26 - there are several options.  The realtor has given a list of twin houses that are avail. for our week and are in close proximity to the others.  They are as follows:

Change in Attitude/Change in Latitude

Woodland A/Woodland B

4Ever Fun A/4Ever Fun B

Crabby Cabin A/Crabby Cabin B

Holiday A/Holiday B

Macks or Better A/Macks or Better B

South Beach I/South Beach II

Windswept A/Windswept B

Alta Vista A/Alta Vista B

A Carolina Moon/A Carolina Sunset

Many of these units have already been rented.  Our time is really getting short in order to be able to rent something within close proximity.

Julie has looked into nearby hotels for those of you that choose to not rent a house.  Below you will find information from the hotel that seemed to have the most ammenities with a reasonable price.

I copied from an email from Julie:

The hotel blocked out rooms for Wed. to Mon.  I did not know if people would want to stay over the fourth.  They do not have to.  When they make their reservations, they can tell when they want to leave and that they are making reservations for the Santa Rita family block.  They are not locked into anything.  The prices will be as follows if they book through the hotel.  Prices went up because of the week.  The manager would not give me a price break for this week.  He said busiest week of the year.  However, if they go on-line they may find a better deal.

 

Greetings to The Santa-Rita Family & Extended Family, We are delighted to accommodate you during your special occasion this June/July. I have included information about our rooms and our amenities at the Hotel & if you have any further questions please feel free to contact me at anytime. 

THREE ROOM TYPES TO CHOOSE FROM:

1.TWO DOUBLE BEDS WITH SLEEPER SOFA**  $159.00 per night

2.KING SUITE WITH SLEEPER SOFA & JACUZZI**  $169.00 per night

3.TWO BEDROOM SUITE WITH JACUZZI**: (bdrm one has king bed w/ jacuzzi bdrm two has two double beds)  $179.00 per night

**All rooms are equipped with mini-fridge, microwave, coffee pot, iron, ironing board, hairdryer, alarm clocks, in rm safe box (keys/locks at front desk), free WI-FI, 32”HDTV**
Our hotel offers complementary hot breakfast each morning which include a variety of foods (i.e: bagels, English muffins, yogurt, hard boiled eggs, Holiday Inn Express Signature Cinnamon Rolls, scrambled eggs, sausage gravy, sausage patties, biscuits, juices, coffee, etc.)
Other amenities include a heated indoor pool, fitness center, guest laundry room & business center with printer. 
I look forward to meeting you this summer and until then thank you again for choosing our property to accommodate you and your families.
 
Kelly Spivey, Guest Service Manager
Holiday Inn Express Murrells Inlet,SC
843-357-0100
http://holidayinnexpress.com/murrellsinlet


Looking forward to a great reunion!
Jen

Mini Santa Rita Reunion in Maryland, Easter Weekend

The California Brions came to town on Easter weekend, so we had a mini reunion at the Brion-Woosters home on Easter Sunday. It was especially great for all the kids to be together and they did an egg hunt, including "Resurrection Eggs" that tell the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus. When Nate opened the empty tomb/egg, see Dan exclaiming "Desus is ALIVE!"!

100 men choir at DRCC

What a powerful and moving service that we experienced at the Damascus Road Community Church on Father's day. Hunter played drums and sang with this group of 1oo men from 12 different churches around Maryland. We were blessed!

Brittany is now a high school graduate!

Brittany is headed to Eastern University in Pennsylvania this fall. It was great to see our family at her graduation party in Frederick in June.

Mini-Reunion in Orlando, April '09

Pictured: Eduard & Lindsay hosted us for a wonderful meal in their home! / Auntie Nelli and Juanita (Dave's mom) / Nate & Joe dukin' it out / Double Sabrinas /Little cousins eating dinner

Hey - where were you all? We missed seeing you at our mini reunion in Orlando this past April during Spring Break! Turns out a few of our families were in the area at the same time, so we decided to get together - wish you were there!

Dinner at Green Tomato Restaurant, Altamonte Springs

The next night we got together again, this time with Lorraine & Troy's families for dinner at my favorite Florida restaurant, Green Tomato!

Santa Rita Family Project Needs Your Support!

This is our family's memorial church in Meycaban that needs our continuing financial support. As Lorraine mentioned at the reunion, she has the ability to receive donations via PayPal for the project and also for the surgery needed by our cousin's wife who was robbed and beaten. Create or login to your PayPal account, then go to "Send Money" and put Lorraine's e-mail address in: lorrained.21@juno.com. Otherwise, checks can be sent to Angelina Antolin at 1229 Windsor Ave., Longwood FL 32750. Thank you for helping take care of our family and to help maintain the church that bears our family's name.

Gourmet Dinner on Saturday Night

For those of you who left before Saturday night, you missed out on an impromptu cooking class and incredible feast cooked for us by Executive Sous Chef of Emeril's restaurant, our very own Edward!

Vegan Slaw
Chicken topping

Tofu with Tomato Salad

Here are the recipes below (to the best of my ability to recall!). There are no quantities that I could confirm - he just throws things in and somehow it turns out wonderfully! He said "always adjust" and modify as necessary!

Cilantro Rice
Saute onion, garlic and cilantro paste (he used 2 tubes for a big bag of rice. Normally he would make his own chopped cilantro mixture but didn't have a food processor to get it as fine as he wanted so he used the paste.)
Squeeze lime to deglaze pan
Add rice and stir well to coat
Add water and cook rice like normal

Tomato Salad
Chopped tomato
Tube of basil paste (normally he would make his own basil mixture but didn't have a food processor to get it as fine as he wanted so he used the paste.)
Olive oil, salt & pepper

Tofu
Marinate in soy sauce, cilantro, olive oil
Pan fry and top with tomato salad

Sweet Potatoes
Slice (with skins on) in half-moon shape
Coat with oil, salt & pepper and bake until fork-tender at 425
On the stovetop, melt butter and cinnamon and pour onto sweet potatoes and mix
Bake another 10 minutes at 375

Corn Salad (from Friday night's dinner)
Frozen white corn - do not cook!
Cilantro
Red onion, chopped
Olive oil, salt & pepper
Lime juice

Beef Sirloin
Sprinkle with kosher salt and cracked black pepper
In pan, put a combination of olive and canola oil (canola oil increases the smoking point of olive oil and allows you to use it at high heat)
Sear beef in pan and then Fried onions on topcook at 450
Olive oil, salt & pepper

Vegan Slaw
Slice and leave raw:
Carrots
Cabbage
Cilantro
"'Wickles" pickle relish
Rice vinegar
Olive oil

Couscous
Cook according to directions or a 1-1 ratio
Add:
Artichokes (sliced) in oil - do not drain
Capers
Sun-dried tomatoes, chopped with oil - do not drain
Sliced green olives or kalamata olives
Olive oil, salt & pepper - add more oil if it is dry

Chicken (served at Thursday lunch and again Saturday night)
Sprinkle boneless breasts with oregano and garlic salt
Sear in pan and then bake at 425 until done
Topping:
White onion & green onion, garlic and fry in olive oil until translucent
Add mushrooms, kosher salt and cracked pepper
Cook down until mushrooms are soft and have produced a broth
Add grape or cherry tomatoes and heat for a few more minutes
Pour over chicken (or beef or whatever)

I also managed to acquire:

Auntie Lina's Cassava Cake recipe- the new and improved lower fat version!

4 pkgs of frozen, grated cassava (and all this time, I imagined you furiously grating your own cassava root, sweat on your brow!)
2 cans of coconut milk
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
Stir together and bake until firm at 350, around 15 minutes (do not brown)

Topping:
2 more cans of coconut milk
1 can of condensed milk
Stir and pour on warm cake, (being careful to spread it out and not to pour it all in one spot creating a hole in cake)
Bake again in oven and let it brown, start checking at 20 minutes

Tee Shirts Available

This tee shirt was created for the reunion and is available for purchase for $8. If you would like one, please specify your size, S-XXL. They are pre-shrunk and tend to run a little small. If you would like one as a memento of our reunion, please send me your address and I will mail them to you. You can either reply to this post below (click on "comments" below) or e-mail me at cdnbrina@comcast.net. See Uncle Sam posing in his tee shirt!

Burt Brion, Jazz Sensation!

Did you know Burt Brion's music is played all over San Diego on the local jazz station? You can find his album at cdbaby.com, amazon.com and others. Visit his website at http://www.burtbrionmusic.com/. He's starting his 3rd album soon! Join his mailing list on his website to stay informed on the latest happenings.