Educators tend to be a social set, teaching for years in the same school, sharing not only our professional concerns but, more importantly, our personal ones. We find our niche, our social world, our common values.
God knows, I’ve been blessed with the most loyal and positive teaching friends who have been there for me for going on 40 years. We’ve enjoyed the births of our kids, then our grandkids. So many wedding and baby showers I could never keep count. We’ve endured serious illnesses and surgeries. We’ve had our share of horrors of teenage years. There have been many years of anxiety as we prayed our kids would launch into adulthood. Some of us are still praying.
And, now, we’re all retired. And, now, many of them come to Venice for the month of January. January is now my ‘party’ month! OMG! I am in seventh heaven here with my friends! What can a girl do? Well, there’s Martini Monday, bargain movie nights on Tuesday, Drum Circle Wednesday, Jazz Tuesday, sunset at Spanish Point Pub on Friday.
This is why I make no New Year’s resolutions in January. What’s the point? I’m going to break every one of them. Maybe, I’ll think about it in February.
I admit, I am a social animal. Buff Honey is not so much. He will be the first to tell you he really enjoys my friends but he’s not enamored with being on the every night social circuit. Even when we go to a tournament, he’s ready to go nuts after a week of being around those serious as a heart attack bridge players. He needs his solitude. And, truth be told, I need my private down time, occasionally, too. I don’t see a studio apartment in our future.
In one of our gatherings this month, someone asked, “Could you go out every night to eat?” Would anyone in our parents’ generation have asked that??? We were raised in the 50s kind of like Ozzie and Harriet. Men worked, women stayed home and raised the kids. Dinner was on the table when Ozzie walked in the door.
At least, that was the way it was supposed to be. Most of us probably lived in some dysfunctional version of that. I know I did. My father commuted a hour each way and didn’t get home until around 6. Then, my mother would send him back out to go to the grocery to get a package of Chef Boyardee Spaghetti or hot dogs and beans or fish sticks. Not a planner that one. Nor a cook. But, we survived.
As a working mom, I wasn’t much better. Yes, there were times I was more organized and planned meals. Mostly, my husband and I shared those duties but I think he was much better at it than me. I was crazy busy, planning lessons, grading papers, taking courses and raising little kids. And then, he was gone and it was on me. I am loathe to admit that my family ordered more Domino’s Pizza than any other family in Columbia, Maryland.
And yet, somehow, they are all healthy serving healthy meals in their own households.
So, could I eat out every night? Yes, I could, especially, in Florida where BH and I usually share an appetizer or entree and are perfectly full. It’s probably cheaper here than cooking. But, I know he can’t go out nightly like me.
The irony is that I’m actually a good cook. It’s the planing I just never got the knack of. Aha…a resolution for 2015! I’m on it!
Right after dinner at Rosebud’s tonight, happy hour at Wave Grill, and the Super Bowl party!
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Baked Apple Dumpling
It's January. A new year. Time for resolutions. Not this year. I'm tired of trying to lose weight...watching every calorie on my LoseIt app...although, miraculously, I did manage to lose 5 pounds last year. How about the annual get in shape workout resolution? Blew that last year with a hip replacement surgery. So, this year, I'm thrilled to be ambulatory!
Hey, we're still here, so let's just enjoy life and each other. Not always easy, especially, for those of us who are still working on that 'patience is a virtue' thing. Aha! A resolution!
For years, I have loved that first cup of coffee in the morning and didn't eat for at least two hours later. And, for over forty years, I have felt guilty every day because I didn't eat right after getting out of bed. And, now Dr Oz says that's no problem at all!!! God bless that Dr. Oz.
I never liked eggs, the foundation of breakfast. In fact, I abhor eggs. I'm sure it's all my mother's fault. She fed us scrambled eggs every morning before school and I'd run to the toilet to spit them out. Not kidding.
What I do love for breakfast is totally unhealthy....bacon, sausage, home fries, grits. Love them all.
Turkey bacon or sausage? YUCK! Not the same or even close.
Occasionally, I splurge on my to-die-for breakfast foods, but, more often, I eat fat free plain yogurt with granola and fruit. Or I wolf down a Sea Salt Chocolate Kashi's breakfast bar.
And, this is supposed to hold me until my second and last meal in the late afternoon. Early Bird Special, anyone? Either that or Happy Hour. You know, the two for one drinks and cheap apps. That's my life
Yes, I do get hungry between meals so I adhere to my modified Mediterranean Diet and grab fistfuls of mixed nuts. I say modified because there seems to be no room for Skinny Cows, Key Lime Pie or Mounds bars.
Sugar. The bane of our existence. My family did not have much in the way of dessert when I was growing up. Fruit cocktail. The cheap brand ice cream. Banana pudding. And, certainly, not every night. We were more of a salt family....potato chips and popcorn.
A couple of weeks ago, Buff Honey and I left a regional bridge tournament about 5 in the afternoon for our two hour drive home. Note the time. Late afternoon. Starving. Need to eat. NOW! Working on that patience thing. BH, naturally, is not hungry. How someone can run and workout like he does daily and not have a gargantuan appetite boggles the imagination. But, then again, he has no body nerve endings either because he's walking around in a t-shirt and cutoffs in 40 degree weather.
I start suggesting places where we could stop. Especially, the places he loves to eat like Cracker Barrel. Perfect, he says. I'm good with Cracker Barrel since they now actually have healthy menu choices. I usually order the vegetable plate....brown rice pilaf, green beans, glazed carrots.
And we probably pass three Cracker Barrels before I get the idea that we're not stopping until we get to Venice, because all the snowbirds are traveling on the interstates and he's hellbent on making good time. Two hours later, I am dying to eat and the vegetable plate is completely out of the question!
I'm going for the Country Fried Steak dinner.
I absolutely love that Country Fried Steak. I am southern after all, y'all. BH gets the Fried Chicken Dinner. Truth be known, we almost never order two entrees. We split one and we're both full. So, I'm thinking I'll eat half and bring the other half home. Ten minutes later, I've devoured the whole meal, which could've fed five people (unless you're southern.....that is so wrong, sorry).
And, now, BH is looking at the dessert options. We have never eaten at Cracker Barrel without BH getting dessert. He loves that Coca Cola Cake but they rarely have it. So, he opts for the Baked Apple Dumpling, which the waitress highly recommends.
This monstrosity comes in a baking dish with the caramel sauce oozing over the sides and two huge scoops of vanilla ice cream on the top. Two spoons. No thanks, I say.
Aren't restaurants supposed to be listing calorie counts on their menus? I never see any calories listed next to the desserts. I take out my iPhone & google Cracker Barrel Baked Apple Dumpling. The first thing that comes up is an article from Men's Health: 'You Won't Believe the Calories in this Ridiculous Dessert from Cracker Barrel.' I read on. OMG, a whopping 3, 229 calories!
WHAT?! And, BH ate the whole thing. The entire 3,229 calories. The waitress was so impressed, "Wow, that's supposed to feed a whole table."
And, somehow, he didn't go into s sugar coma or shock or anything. He just came home and fell dead asleep in the recliner.
Life is so damn unfair!!!
Hey, we're still here, so let's just enjoy life and each other. Not always easy, especially, for those of us who are still working on that 'patience is a virtue' thing. Aha! A resolution!
For years, I have loved that first cup of coffee in the morning and didn't eat for at least two hours later. And, for over forty years, I have felt guilty every day because I didn't eat right after getting out of bed. And, now Dr Oz says that's no problem at all!!! God bless that Dr. Oz.
I never liked eggs, the foundation of breakfast. In fact, I abhor eggs. I'm sure it's all my mother's fault. She fed us scrambled eggs every morning before school and I'd run to the toilet to spit them out. Not kidding.
What I do love for breakfast is totally unhealthy....bacon, sausage, home fries, grits. Love them all.
Turkey bacon or sausage? YUCK! Not the same or even close.
Occasionally, I splurge on my to-die-for breakfast foods, but, more often, I eat fat free plain yogurt with granola and fruit. Or I wolf down a Sea Salt Chocolate Kashi's breakfast bar.
And, this is supposed to hold me until my second and last meal in the late afternoon. Early Bird Special, anyone? Either that or Happy Hour. You know, the two for one drinks and cheap apps. That's my life
Yes, I do get hungry between meals so I adhere to my modified Mediterranean Diet and grab fistfuls of mixed nuts. I say modified because there seems to be no room for Skinny Cows, Key Lime Pie or Mounds bars.
Sugar. The bane of our existence. My family did not have much in the way of dessert when I was growing up. Fruit cocktail. The cheap brand ice cream. Banana pudding. And, certainly, not every night. We were more of a salt family....potato chips and popcorn.
A couple of weeks ago, Buff Honey and I left a regional bridge tournament about 5 in the afternoon for our two hour drive home. Note the time. Late afternoon. Starving. Need to eat. NOW! Working on that patience thing. BH, naturally, is not hungry. How someone can run and workout like he does daily and not have a gargantuan appetite boggles the imagination. But, then again, he has no body nerve endings either because he's walking around in a t-shirt and cutoffs in 40 degree weather.
I start suggesting places where we could stop. Especially, the places he loves to eat like Cracker Barrel. Perfect, he says. I'm good with Cracker Barrel since they now actually have healthy menu choices. I usually order the vegetable plate....brown rice pilaf, green beans, glazed carrots.
And we probably pass three Cracker Barrels before I get the idea that we're not stopping until we get to Venice, because all the snowbirds are traveling on the interstates and he's hellbent on making good time. Two hours later, I am dying to eat and the vegetable plate is completely out of the question!
I'm going for the Country Fried Steak dinner.
I absolutely love that Country Fried Steak. I am southern after all, y'all. BH gets the Fried Chicken Dinner. Truth be known, we almost never order two entrees. We split one and we're both full. So, I'm thinking I'll eat half and bring the other half home. Ten minutes later, I've devoured the whole meal, which could've fed five people (unless you're southern.....that is so wrong, sorry).
And, now, BH is looking at the dessert options. We have never eaten at Cracker Barrel without BH getting dessert. He loves that Coca Cola Cake but they rarely have it. So, he opts for the Baked Apple Dumpling, which the waitress highly recommends.
This monstrosity comes in a baking dish with the caramel sauce oozing over the sides and two huge scoops of vanilla ice cream on the top. Two spoons. No thanks, I say.
Aren't restaurants supposed to be listing calorie counts on their menus? I never see any calories listed next to the desserts. I take out my iPhone & google Cracker Barrel Baked Apple Dumpling. The first thing that comes up is an article from Men's Health: 'You Won't Believe the Calories in this Ridiculous Dessert from Cracker Barrel.' I read on. OMG, a whopping 3, 229 calories!
WHAT?! And, BH ate the whole thing. The entire 3,229 calories. The waitress was so impressed, "Wow, that's supposed to feed a whole table."
And, somehow, he didn't go into s sugar coma or shock or anything. He just came home and fell dead asleep in the recliner.
Life is so damn unfair!!!
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