Thanksgiving 2009

This year I was invited by friends to go to a block party. Nice group of folks, some of them I had already met. They used the pool table to set out food on. It was 80° for a high so it was perfect for dining on the patio. I had shorts on and even after the sun set did not feel the need for a sweater. The hosting family had parents, grandmother, son and his pregnant wife there so almost 5 generations of one family. Only one sour note: as the hostess was wheeling grandma back to the care home 1/2 mile away some how she fell out of the wheelchair and broke an ankle and a leg. She had surgery yesterday but I don't yet know the final outcome.

The first picture is of Grandma. She is in her 90s and ate like a trooper. Still a pretty good conversationalist too.



These are the two pies that I baked. A pumpkin and an apple. They both came out great. The only other pie I ever baked was an apple 4 or 5 years ago that I burnt heavily.





In addition to the oven baked turkey Manuel and Tom tried a deep fried one. It turned out pretty good but I am not convinced it was worth the $150 it cost.



There were 17 people total of which 4 had already attended another dinner previously. The first shot is mostly set up for the appetizers. We did not make a dent in those and I was no longer hungry by the time it was pushed aside and reset for dinner which is the second picture. The dessert setting filled half the table again.

What a generic life

Actually more like a report of my weekend. Saturday I didn't feel like cooking breakfast so I stopped at Carls Jr for a breakfast burger. For lunch I had leftover tri-tip. After work I stopped at the store and picked up some stuff intending to maybe get some salmon for dinner. While I was there I got a page from a friend that her and her husband were going out to dinner at Firebirds. Good thing I had not made any concrete plans to meet anyone at Sunnyslope for an art event. Dinner was great! Way out of my budget but all I had to cover was the tip. We then proceeded to their place for cake and ice cream. Sunday morning I had planned on fried bologna but the store was out so I had an omelet. For lunch I had creme broulet cheesecake from Firebirds (a token of appreciation for getting my steak undercooked). I left work early to watch the Cardinals football game, they won but not easily. While doing that I marinated some chicken breasts to grill for lunch salads and made up a spaghetti sauce. This one turned out really well: I took a jar of marinara sauce and put it in a pot on the lowest heat setting added more garlic and some basil. In the wok I softened up a bell pepper in butter then caramelized a couple of onions and then sauteed some mushrooms. By the time I got all of that in there it looked a little thick so I tossed in the last glass of Cabernet from the bottle I was drinking. I left it at that lowest heat setting for another 3 hours and got absolutely none of the overcooked tomato taste I sometimes get. I then watched the Suns barely win a game and watched Wolverine which was pretty good. Next Sunday the Rams will actually be on TV so I will plan my work schedule around that.

Coffee, or lack thereof

So it has been about a month since I stopped drinking coffee. Turned out not to be a big deal.

History - I normally drank 8 8oz cups (4 big coffee mugs) a day. I would not gulp it, but sip on it and run out early to late afternoon. If I went out for breakfast I would have 2-3 cups with breakfast. If I cooked breakfast at home I would consume 1/2 the pot early. Quite a while ago I noticed I would get an upset stomach and get a little light headed if I drank a whole bunch a one time. At least once a day I would go up against a wall and have to stop and take a nap.

Negatives of stopping - For the first couple of weeks, if I had more than three servings of alcohol, I would get splitting headaches starting in the middle of the night and sometimes lasting until noon. I also figured I should look closely at other sources of caffeine. I switched to root beer instead of Dr Pepper when eating lunch out. I don't eat much baked goods anyway and only consume 5 or 6 sodas a month so it hasn't been a big deal. A couple of years ago I had already started getting orange juice instead of coffee when I at breakfast out

Positives of stopping - I sleep better at night. I don't run up against a wall during the day. I actually have more energy in the morning.

The few times I have had chocolate or iced tea (not all of which has caffeine) have not seemed to be a problem. My BM schedule moved from 2-3 hours after waking to about 1 hour. I will need to be careful of what I consume when I am out but I don't go out that often. Overall replacing coffee with water seems to have been a positive move for me.

The Big Lebowski

1998, R, cult comedy, Jeff Bridges, John Goodman

This movie landed in my queue on the recommendation of a woman I once knew. I doubt if I would have picked it and I almost tossed it out as it was. It was actually a pretty good movie. I had to pay attention because a couple of things that appeared to be unimportant to the story early on came back up later.

Halloween

At the last minute I was invited to some friends to spend the evening eating, drinking, watching baseball and handing out candy. The kids were cute, the wrong team won and I ate too much. It was a fun relaxing evening. These friends recently bought a house in a neighborhood with several long term owners and they sort of take turns throwing impromptu get togethers in each others driveways. Really cool, this is the second time I have been there for one. The weather was highs 70s, shorts weather. We were joined by lots of dogs and a pet snake. Of course not being home I now have the entire bag of M&Ms peanuts to my self. :-)