Archive for the ‘food’ Category

Weekend at Bernie’s

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Or an alternative title could be … “It’s been 2 hours, what are we going to eat.”

Every September the Wetland’s Institute has a Wing’s & Water Festival. It’s basically a show case of what the WI does during the year, crafts and food. Food and more food.

Since my work year is busy from January to the middle of July, this is my vacation. I come and spend a couple of days with Mom & Dad and eat. 4 days is usually my limit anymore.

Did I mention food? And that we eat? By nature I am not an early riser. Up between 9 and 10. I’d give old Ben Franklin conniptions. So within 30 seconds of getting up, I’m told what is available for breakfast. Pancakes, Danish or French toast. Normally breakfast for me comes about 2 hours after I get up and is usually a piece of fruit or a yogurt. A big breakfast right after I get up is a bit of a shock. Lunch is promptly at noon. 12:15 at the latest. But I think that’s because of Dad. He eats at 7 or 8 am and gets grumpy when his tummy is empty.

And if you tell Mom you don’t want something (“Would you like some chips?”) I think she assumes she didn’t ask the right question and tries again (Would you like some corn chips?) and again (pretzels?). Same goes for quantity. If you say you want 2 pancakes she will counter with various other numbers (3, 4, etc.) until you (me that is) chose 3 or 4 or get testy.

I’m not surprised. Mom has always liked to feed me & my friends. When my friends would show up at our house, she ALWAYS had something on hand to eat. Or something she could just “throw together.” One of my fondest memories of Mom’s abilities to just whip up a meal was my 21st birthday. There were a group of us going out to dinner, but my friend Dave couldn’t go, but had stopped by. When Mom found out he was hungry, she just whipped him up something quick. Steak dinner. And she apologized for not having enough time to do a baked potato. Yeah, that’s my Mom! The Woman Who Likes to Feed People.

My Mom will never get an award for her cooking (she did get one for her quilting!). But she makes comfort food that is perfect. I love her oatmeal – thick and perfect. And she’s pretty darned good with the tuna steaks too! So bring on the pancakes and slap me down another piece of french toast. I love my Mom and miss her cooking already.

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No original ideas here!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

I seem to be copying all of my girlfriend’s ideas for blogging.  Insert shameless reference to her blog here – Jersey Girl Gets Real

I just read her blog on Thanksgiving and Dylan McDermott would definitely have been welcomed at our Thanksgiving dinners and no, I’ve seen the movie, but it is now on my list.  Don’t know what I’m talking about… go here Thanksgiving.

And we’re walking…

We always went to my Mom’s family for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner.  We went to Aunt Dots & Uncle Don’s for one holiday and then to Aunt Rose & Uncle Cliff’s for the other holiday.  And because it wasn’t at our house, it was never a big affair. There was nothing to fix – although Mom did cook a turkey so that we could have leftovers – we just had to drive, eat, come home.

Okay… I just I need to explain the family a little here. My Dad had an adopted brother who passed away while he was in the Navy, so basically my Dad is an only child.  My Mom’s brother passed away when I was very young, I just vaguely remember him, so she is basically an only child.  I am an only child. So we would spend the holiday’s with my maternal grandmother’s sisters and their kids – my cousins.  My maternal grandmother passed away when my mom was in college, and I was in either elementary school or middle school when my maternal grandfather died.  Granddad would go with his 2nd wife’s family for Thanksgiving anyway.   My paternal grandfather passed before I was born, and my paternal grandmother always went with her sister for the holiday.  Grandmom also went to Aunt Gladys’ or Aunt … *insert brain fart here* & Uncle Buddies for Christmas. We would do mom’s side first and then dad’s side 2nd for Christsmas.  Which suited me as a kid – more presents!

So there it is – for Thanksgiving off we would go to Aunt Rose’s.  There was only one little quirk. Aunt Rose, Aunt Dots, & Aunt Ollie liked to clean up.  You didn’t dare put your fork down or it would be whisked away, washed, dried and put away. And of course once you were without a fork, you didn’t need your plate anymore either.  It was almost like camp – EAT and GET OUT! The Aunties wouldn’t sit and eat or at least they would sit for a minute or two and then start clearing the table. If they weren’t clearing the table, they were busy cleaning up from cooking.  Pots, pans and utensils had to be washed BEFORE dishes and silverware.  Or so it seemed.  Mom & Bonnie (my cousin) always thought they should help the Aunties clean up.  Which made the dinner not as enjoyable for them.

And because of the way the 2 houses were set up, there was always and adult table and a kids table.  When we were younger, it was a big thing to be allowed to sit at adult table, clinging to the silverware and plate.  But as we kids got older, it was the adults that wanted to sit at our table. We giggled and talked and had fun.  We were kids after all.  And the older we got, the more we kidded about holding on to our silverware.

Digression – One summer we had my Aunt Rose’s birthday at my Mom & Dad’s house.  As soon at everyone was done – almost before – Aunt Rose got up and started to clean up.  Mom & Bonnie (Aunt Rose’s daughter… my Grandmother’s niece) always fussed with her about cleaning up.  Leave it, they would do it later, don’t worry about the mess, etc, etc.  But on her birthday they decided to not fuss with her and just let her clean up. It was, after all, her birthday.

It’s been a while since we’ve had these Thanksgiving dinners.  We’ve all grown up and moved around the country. The Aunties have all passed away.  I would love to go back and have 1 more dinner with the whole family again.  It was fun. At least for us kids. But maybe… just maybe Susie & Jenny would like to start a new family tradition – Dylan McDermott included.

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Lunch with Friends Facebook Style

Sunday, August 8, 2010

I love Facebook. It’s brought me into contact with people all over the world. I’ve reconnected with friends from high school and I’ve made become better friends with some folks from high school (one has a hysterical blog – you should read it http://michilocke.blogspot.com (just another shameless plug for Michelle)). I’ve even spoken too some of the gang over the phone. I’ve been invited to visit a number of my on-line friends – in New Jersey, Idaho, Biloxi & even Australia.  And eventually I will get to meet all these fun folks face to face.

My one girlfriend lives… not too far way, but just far away that I can’t just pop up after work. Plus it’s up 202 and that would just suck.  She introduced me to Bob B. Bob B. is a chemist and a civil war re-enactor (Pa 6th – http://www.6pahome.com).  Bob promptly added me to his e-mail list and I have been wonderfully amused ever since.  Bob is great.  Mare is great for introducing me – and for lotsa other reasons too.

One day last year, after laughing at each other through e-mail, we decided to get together after work and have dinner.  Me, Bob B., Bob U., Mare, and Anthony had dinner in King of Prussia because it was central to where most of us lived and worked.  Granted I knew Mare and Mare & Anthony knew most of us, the Bob’s & I had never met.  We had a great time and it was wonderful putting real faces with voices.  Our 2 hour dinner went by really quickly and we decided we should do it again – soon.

I play on-line games and one of my friends and I decided, while his girlfriend was in town, the 4 of us should meet for lunch.  The ONLY problem with that is he is 2 hours (ish) south of me.  So we decided we should met 1/2 way in Baltimore.  It was so much fun. Law, Mynx, David & I got along great.  It went by way too fast.  Again 3 hours seem like 30 minutes.  Of course David & I got totally lost in Baltimore on the way home – but thank God for the iPhone maps. It was a fun, fun day and we had Dairy Queen to make it that much sweeter.

After talking with Ant, Mare & Bob through e-mail for a couple of days we decided it was time for another group get together. We decided to do lunch this time.  The date was picked, but where to eat.  Since King of Prussia is central to where we all live, we decided to go back there.  It only took 3 dozen e-mail and a coin toss to decide on Chili’s.  This time Bob U. couldn’t come. But my David was able to join in the fun.  So we all met at Chili’s at 1 pm. After a good lunch with free chips and queso (check out my photos) we figured it was about 4 pm and we might want to get going.  This new server came up and asked if we were staying for dinner.  It was actually 6 pm!  We had talked for 5 hours. We outlasted the table next to us – 3 times – and even outlasted out server.  WOW!!! Time flies when you have good friends to talk to.  So after another almost hour – I really think all of our clocks were wrong – we vacated the table and went home – still stuffed.  Chili’s was remarkable tolerant of our sitting there for that long.

So to all my FB friend who have invited me for lunch, a weekend or even longer. I’ll be there – eventually.  And for anyone who is considering getting a group of FB friends together for a meal. GO! DO IT! and enjoy!

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Just say no to NHHCW

Monday, July 26, 2010

I am by no means a food snob.  I don’t like tomatoes, ketchup and spaghetti sauce are fine because the tomatoes aren’t whole – it’s a texture thing. But what I don’t like is fast food cheese! American cheese is supposed to be a pale, pale yellow boarding on white, not orange.

I love Whoppers. Love ’em.  My Beloved David doesn’t. So we really don’t eat at Burger King often. A couple of days back I had to have a whopper.  (insert jingle here – hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don’t upset us). Whopper, no cheese, no onions, no tomatoes.  That’s what the receipt said.  And the burger was 20 or 40 cents cheaper than David with cheese.  So out of the bag come the burgers.  The first one was wrapped cheese wrapper out – must be David’s. Next burger was identical.  Even though the order said no cheese, we weren’t charged for cheese, the burger still had that yucky orange goo on it!

Don’t get me wrong. I like cheeseburgers. Jitter’s in West Chester makes a mean, delicious cheeseburger.  But they use real cheese. Real american pale, pale yellow cheese. Not the orange nonpasteurized, homogenized, hydrolyzed cheese whiz (NHHCW) that’s been formed into a square!

And it turns out this problem is rampant. I posted a rant on FaceBook my problem and I was not the only one who a) doesn’t like the NHHCW on their burgers and b) can’t seem to order a burger and not get NHHCW.  And it’s not just Burger King.  Wendy’s and McDonald’s both have the love of NHHCW.  Taco Bell is another story. If they use NHHCW, they shred it enough to not be noticeable. And their cheese doesn’t seem to melt in your hands the way the other places’ NHHCW does.

And the more I think about it, I blame the management.

Now don’t get me wrong.  It’s my humble opinion that anyone who is working at ANY job, be it a CEO or a guy pushing a broom is, is at least trying. There is nothing wrong with being a fast food worker. And I understand how hard it is to motivate people to work – especially in a low paying job such as the fast food industry. Unfortunately it’s seem that the workers are just so pre-programmed to put NHHCW on every burger that goes before them that they can’t help themselves. 

So what’s a NHHCW hater to do? A dance? Who really wants to make a fool out of themselves in public like that? Although it might get me my 15 minutes of fame and help along the way to a NHHCW free burger.  A song? (re-insert jingle, hold the pickles, hold the lettuce…) Maybe we need to rerun that set of commercials. It’s been a long time.  Maybe we need a new one.  Or I guess what I’m going to have to do is have the people at the fast food place just check before they hand me my burger (that way it can be sold to someone else and not wasted).  And if it has NHHCW on it, ask them to redo it.

Please no NHHCW.

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Chicken Cats

Friday, August 29, 2008

David got a delicious, yummy Perdue chicken from the Giant. It is REALLY good. It is moist and seasoned really well. Well, the cats think the same thing. As soon as David brought it in the house the cats started “velociraptoring” around the living room. Which means that they were moving around meowing and trying to get the chicken, hopping up on the chair that I was sitting in and being pushed off and hopping up on the coffee table and then the chair and then being pushed on the floor. They REALLY wanted some chicken, but it is too good to share – they can have the leftovers.  If there are any. They do this when we have very fragrent meats. Stevie is the worst. Because he’s brain damaged, he’s got to be corrected over and over and over. And David isn’t real good at correcting him.  I could be more consistant too.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh… kitties. If they were dogs what fun would they be?

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Mmmmmmm Grapes

Sunday, March 30, 2008

My Beloved (founder of www.kalarhythms.org (ok so it’s ANOTHER shameless plug)) got some green seedless grapes at the grocery store yesterday.  And boooooy are they good.  Mmmmm.  It’s a perfect little snack.  They are good frozen, cold, warm or pressed into juice.  And these grapes are tight and juicy and sweet.

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