Love and Chocolates

It’s really cool to have a holiday dedicated to love. So many other days are dedicated to births and deaths, but Valentine’s Day is dedicated to the love that makes it all happen.

Even people who have been a long time married couple appreciate the excuse to express their love to each other. This is one of my favorite holidays – it is all things good: love, chocolates, red roses, lingerie, a nice dinner out at a restaurant. Good things!

Lunch with Sherri

This morning I got a nice surprise phone call from my friend, Sherri. She wanted to know if I could get away for lunch. Of course I said yes!

We met at Famous Dave’s Barbecue and had a great visit. We have been friends for a very long time but lately we have neglected to get together for quality face time. Sending jokes via email is not enough to keep a good friendship going!

Sherri got rid of her glasses since I last saw her and is using contact lenses again. I think she looks great without the glasses and one of these days I might do the same thing. Sherri says that the cost of contacts is so low now that it is actually cheaper than paying for new eyeglasses!

Happy Thanksgiving

We’ve been busy wishing all our friends and family a Happy Thanksgiving. Went to the grocery store with a list of all the important things so we wouldn’t forget anything. I’m cooking fresh green beans, corn pudding, and the sweet potatoes – with mini-marshmallows and caramelized walnuts.

My sister is doing the turkey – it’s 26 pounds of terror if I had to deal with it. I have never cooked a turkey yet! I might make it until old age without having to deal with a big bird that is so easy to undercook or overcook and so hard to get thawed out safely and in time to get in the oven for a big crowd with high expectations. As long as someone else will cook the bird, I’ll be happy to do the rest.

Whats for Dinner

Seem like in the winter time I am craving beef. I want pot roasts, chili, steaks, swiss steak, beef stew. It all sounds very comforting and the taste is so much more satisfying in the cold weather and shorter days than the fish and chicken that is featured on my dinner menus during the summer. There used to be a commercial narrated by a deep, Texas drawl that says, “Beef. It’s what’s for dinner.” That is so true for me this week!

How Much Turkey?

Turkey (free clip art)
Turkey (free clip art)
If you are cooking on Thursday, how do you know you will have enough turkey? I just always picked up a big turkey and figured that a big one would work out. They all seem to be about the same size in the grocery store anyway!

But if you really need to know how many pounds of turkey you need to buy, here’s what I found on the Internet this morning:

If you need only enough turkey to make it through Thanksgiving dinner: buy between ¾ pound to 1 pound per person.

If you want enough leftovers for the long weekend: buy 1 pound (or slightly more) per person.

Too Much for Chips

Just noticed the price of a bag of potato chips while I was shopping today. At the Kroger a bag of Lays chips is $4.99. Not even gourmet chips – just regular chips in the bag.

I’m astonished. This bag is nothing more than one potato that has been sliced very thin, tossed in hot oil for a couple of minutes, salted and then tossed into an oversized thin foil bag. When you think about it, the bag is 80% air. So what on earth can justify charging almost five bucks for one bag of chips that will last an average family just one day? This amount of money for this little bit of snack food is crazy!

Grazing at Sams Club

I only go shopping at Sams Club about once every two months. I just don’t need or want mega sized quantities of most household goods and foods. But sometimes the savings is big enough to make it worth going and buying 10 times more than what I would get at the local Kroger.

Today I went to Sam’s on my lunch break. I was surprised to find a lot of people giving away free samples of food at the end of every aisle. I ended up dining on large slices of pizza, chicken nuggets, ham and cheese on croissant, and meatballs. I was going to do a drive-thru to pick up my lunch on the way back to work, but I had so much free sample food that I wasn’t hungry.

Quick Dinner

Last week while grocery shopping, I picked up something new. I came across some precooked meats that you can microwave and heat up in only 5 minutes. The selection included pot roast, beeftips, and pork roast. They also had a section of mashed potatoes in little plastic tubs that heat up in 4 minutes.

I thought they might be nice to keep on hand in case I want a fast dinner, and they were reasonably priced. So I bought one of each and have kept them in the refrigerator.

Tonight I am dog-tired and hot. I decided that I didn’t want to heat up the kitchen with the oven or stove. I pulled out the microwave tubs of beef tips and potatoes, and had dinner ready in 5 minutes. They were tasty and fast – and a bargain.

Special K

There was an ad in a women’s magazine that says if you eat Special K for breakfast every day for 2 weeks that you will lose weight. I’m not sure why that is the magic answer to losing weight but I am willing to give it a try. I like the Special K with strawberries and knowing what I’m going to eat for breakfast makes the morning easier to deal with. I’d like to drop 10 pounds – who wouldn’t?

Sick Day

When I don’t feel well I want ginger ale to drink and chicken soup to eat. I’m an easy patient to care for and feed. I just want to sleep and be left alone in my bed. I want lots of ginger ale in a glass with ice cubes. I want chicken soup with saltine crackers. That is all.