Day Off Tuesday, Later In Evening Birthday Dinner For Son!

Late Monday, I decided to take Tuesday off and try and de-stress. As my wife isn't working right now, she was all for it! Breakfast at home, left house at 8am for a day trip to a casino by Manistee, Mi. We didn't lose too much, and enjoyed the 2hrs up and 2hrs back to talk about stuff. It was my sons birthday, and as our tradition dictates, he got to pick out any restaurant we would dine at. He wanted to go to Grand Rapids Brewing Co., as usual! They are a micro brewery with a pretty good restaurant that stays busy. The reason he likes the place is that they are the only one in town that serves a hanger steak. It is a long skinny steak, almost as tender as a tenderloin, but with a much better taste(like sirloin). Hot cheese pretzels, hot bread, both served with speads that are great! A bowl of porter beef onion soup, and he was all set! My wife got the beer battered perch, which is fantastic, while sons girlfriend went after the penne in vodka sauce. I ordered southwest egg rolls off the appetizer menu-wasn't that hungry! Our waitress should give lessons on how to do that job- she was the best! Long day, good time.....
Oh yeah, no pictures as I had forgotten my camera! I have to start taking it with me!

First Food Picture, I Hope!

I know this isn't the best photography, but I decided to try a food picture about 3 minutes before lunch. We went with stir-fry today, a combo of marinated(garlic, ginger, soy sauce, white pepper, sesame and peanut oil) chicken, shrimp, bell peppers, onions, baby corn, broccoli, and celery over white long grain rice. Chicken stock mixed with a thickener and the marinate worked pretty well! I am still struggling with the photos, so I'll get another lesson from my son!

You Saw The "After", These Are Some Of The "Before"!

I'm still learning about posting pictures, some work some don't-but I'll keep trying! Our house was a contruction zone for almost 9 months! In one year we redid our 2 Bathrooms and our kitchen/dining room area, along with a hallway/entrance. We couldn't really change the room size in the kitchen area, so we opted to make it as effcient as possible. We paid for it as we went, so there was no humongous bill at the end of the job! We took a year off from the rest of the remodeling of the house- we needed a breather!
Hard to figure what to cook tomorrow( I have an upset tummy, work was very unpleasant this week) Maybe some kinda seafood, like shrimp and pasta in a light white cheese sauce....

First test of picture post.

As most of you know by now, I have never posted pictures. This is my first effort-shots of my new kitchen, in our old been here forever home! Hope to get back into photography the way I used to! By the way, that's my Airedale, Clara- great dog!

Time- A Constant That Never Acts Like One!

Our rational mind tells us time moves forward at the same speed-always. Yet, as we all have experienced, sometimes it seems to stand still- or go forward at a pace we cannot believe! I am in a dilemma. I need more time to do what I want to do, and not spend as much time on things I have to do. Some occupations allow for layoffs or like teachers the summer off from the regular job. Some folks work part time by choice, or they don't go to a job at all. I am passing no judgement here, just simply stating it may be time for a change in my life. I have worked before it was legal for me to work. I had a job in high school, held 2 or 3 jobs at once while in college, and have worked for the last 34+ years in the same industry. The changes have been huge. They seem to affect you more as you get older, even though you are keeping up with technology. In America, you are viewed with some suspicion if you don't go to a regular job, have health insurance, and in general don't act like you're supposed to. Health insurance or not, I'm pretty sure I'm going to die anyway! When you only have X amount of air left to breathe, you may want to ask yourself; "Am I doing what I really want to do?" Food for thought- at least for me...

Roast Turkey In August?

I looked into my chest freezer today and decided I'd better roast up a turkey that had been in there awhile! We finally are getting a few days of relief from the heat, and it would be a good time for turkey. It' a big basta*d (18-1/2lbs.) and will feed us or a small village for a week! I always use a traditional sage sausage stuffing, with bread cubes, onion, celery, and other spices. I'm pretty sure we'll be the only one on the block doing a turkey Sunday. I have all the equipment to deep fry a turkey, but this bird is really too big, and deep frying turkey is rewarding, but a huge pain in the butt! I also have a Nesco Roaster, but found birds done in one are super moist but tastless. I simply brine the bird in salt water the night before, stuff it and roast it-this one close to 5 hrs.! I kind of have had some foot troubles lately, so staying home and fiddling around here sounds pretty good! Have a nice week-end everyone!

One Long Ass Day At Work Today.....

Got up at 5am to get ready to leave house at 6am for Annual Sales Meeting. Our company doesn't have overnight stays at posh hotels, fine dining, or great prizes at these affairs. It is held about 1-1/2hrs from home at our central distribution warehouse. From 8am to 1030am were lectures on our 4 latest products, which we have been lectured at least 4 times before. Then we tour our giant facility looking at what we've seen numerous times. We work thru lunch, which is a decent buffet eaten in the meeting room while new work processes are presented. Then from 1-330pm 15 of us got to make a 10 minute presentation on a customer we have brought to the fold by using our many resources and teamwork. With ending comments from facilitators, we are let go at 4pm. I remember 20yrs ago, (with another company) I was at one of these in Chicago at a refurbished Hilton, where breakfast, lunch, and dinner(booze before,during, and after!) was top drawer! Awards banquet- me in 2nd nationally getting $1000 in cash, and an award to hang on the wall. After hours orders were: go have fun, but be at the meeting tomorrow! I think most businesses today forgot a little fun can go a long way.......

My Sister- Calamity Mary Beth.....

I can't believe I've never done a post featuring my older sister. Her claim to fame is that she has made it to her mid 50s without accidentaly killing herself. As a child, she was a bit clumsy-the type that takes 10 or 20 feet to completly fall down(tripping,waving arms,hopping on one foot, then finally hits Earth). When she married her first husband, she lost the title as clumsiest in family to him. He could trip over NOTHING! Car wrecks not his fault, golf balls hitting him, not letting go of bowling balls in a timely fashion,etc. Then, they had their only child. Yes fans, they had bred true and created the clumsiest person in at least America. He was so uncoordinated, he took R.O.T.C. to avoid gym class. Once during gun twirling drill he hit himself so hard in the head with the rifle, he had to go to the hospital with a minor concussion. A rare month that one of them didn't see the inside of a Med Center!
Fast forward to Wednesday. We get a call from my sisters 2nd husband(this one is OK!) telling us my sister is in the hospital. They had gotten a riding lawn mower 2 months ago, and she enjoys mowing the grass on it! While putting it away in a storage shed, she thought she had put in park, while what she really did was put it in 6th gear! Did a "wheelie" into the shed wall, tipping the beast over on herself. At hospital for observation-just bruises and a sore stomach, kept overnight for tests. She's home now, and we all wait for her next accident.......

Saturday, Sunday, Monday......

On Saturday, we had to go to a picnic type supper(Largest corn on cob I've seen!, chicken and beef skewers, veggie medley, potatoes, cheese with crackers and the rest of my chocolate caramel cheesecake) From there we all packed up and went to another house to play Texas Hold'em until midnight. I cleaned up!
Sunday as you all know by now, is my cooking day for a good noon meal. We usually decide Saturday what we haven't had for awhile, and make sure we have what we need to make it. Our choice was spaghetti with meatballs, all home made. A meat ball with beef and pork, bread crumbs and egg, seasonings, with tomato sauce as a liquid. We keep about half of them out of the spaghetti sauce to be used in other dishes. Good bread, and it really was all we wanted...
Monday- Back to work, early meeting. Crap hit fan with a big late order, which took up a large portion of my day fixing until right. On a hot humid Monday-that's what I really wanted to do! Those meatballs came in handy for our meatball subs we built for supper-kind of hit the spot!

Happy Diva Birthday! My Youngest Son's Girlfriend...

Tonight, we are putting on a dinner in celebration of my youngest sons girlfriends birthday! A cheese board made up of 5 yr old Canadian Cheddar, Danish Havarti, A Dutch Swiss, with assorted crackers. Beef tenderloin, marinated-cooked on charcoal to a seared medium rare. Yukon gold potatoes, mashed with a touch of garlic. Midwest peak of season-corn on cob! Fresh bread w/garlic butter, and the dessert I made last night- Chocolate-caramel swirl cheesecake! Cheesecake came out killer-nice and dense, with a beautiful pattern! We will have to do this effort after work, so enjoy your weekends!

Happiness In Life Is In Anticipation...

Alot of the fun and excitment you may feel in your life is looking forward to something you either think or know is fun! A round of golf, a trip, a visit with friends, etc. I'm going to list 5 simple things I look forward to, and I'd like you all to do the same!
1. Cooking a meal for good friends or relatives.
2. Day trips dreamed up on short notice.
3. A phone call from either of my sons.
4. Hearing good news about anyone I care about.
5. Learning something interesting I didn't know alot about before.
A little excercise like this makes us all realize alot of happiness can be easily obtained!