Food (B)log

A few days ago I commented on Facebook that “better habits are built one choice at a time.”  Though this could have applied to any number of habits and choices in my life I was mainly talking about my relationship with food.

I have always been – how do I put it? – a large-ish person.  Not really large since, when it comes to shopping for clothes I fall at the upper range of what are “regular” sizes and the lower end of “big and tall.”  I am, you might say, at that awkward, in-between stage.  It tells you something about where we are as a society, genetics aside, when at nearly 300 pounds I fall at the lower end of “big and tall.”

Anyway, since I can remember, food has been a major player in my life.  Not just eating, of course; almost everyone does that (and if they don’t, unfortunately, they don’t live long enough to write blog posts about it).  I enjoy food – the colors, textures, aromas, and, of course, flavors.  I mean, really enjoy it.  Food is, and has been, a source of nourishment, naturally, but also a source of comfort and a distraction from other things.  All in all, not a very healthy relationship at all.  What’s worse is that I cook and I’m pretty good at it, so I end up spending more time with food.  But it’s not just that.  When I’m stressed, bored, or tired, I eat.  And it doesn’t seem to matter much what it is, I find something.

 

Connections

Over the holidays I was complaining to one of our daughters (ten points if you can tell me what building they’re standing in front of)

that Rhapsody had turned its back on me. After waxing so, um, rhapsodic, about it only a year ago the twenty-five free plays a month have dwindled to… let me see… ummm, none.  Okay, I know a big part of the Internet is about making money, but I was really not happy to have my listening (and exploring) habits crimped by Rhapsody’s profit motive – though you can still get a fourteen day free trial.

Fortunately, not all is lost.  As our youngest (L) enlightened me, there are other sites where music is still available for (at least for now) an indefinite time, for free.  In particular, she turned me on to Grooveshark, a music sharing, streaming, and recommendation site.

 

A New Decade?

Watching various televised New Year’s events last night, I wish we had counted the number of times someone said 2010 would mark the beginning of a new decade.  It brought back all the hype over 2000 being the start of a new milennium which, of course, it wasn’t.  2000 was the last year of the 20th century, not the first year of the 21st, but it was a new set of numbers, like the odometer in your car.  When it comes to individual decades, though, they are referred to by their leading digits, so it does make sense to say that 2010 marks the beginning of a new one.

So does a new decade call for ten times as many New Year’s resolutions?  In my case, no.  Resolutions, New Year’s or otherwise, and I don’t really get along.  There are things I should work on, most of which are like almost everyone else’s – lose weight, get in shape, generally take better care of myself, be kinder and more patient toward others, etc., etc.  Recognizing that I don’t have a great track record with resolutions doesn’t mean I can’t do these things, but I don’t have to attach the baggage of a New Year’s resolution to them.

For today, though, we’re keeping things low key - a little (a lot, actually) football, a few snacks, and later my attempt at porchetta.

And Happy New Year.

 

Fifth Day of Christmas

No five golden rings today, though if there had been I might have sold them to pay for the eye and dental exams for daughter #1, home from college, and the annual veterinarian visit for the kitties.  The only rings today is likely to see are the rings of calamari as part of tonight’s dinner.  I am accustomed to having squid quickly fried with some spicy marinara on the side, so it will be interesting to see how the braised calamari turns out.  Even though we have plenty of holiday leftovers (roast chicken and the remains of a vegetable platter in soup for lunch today) I couldn’t pass up the rarely-seen fresh calamari at our local grocery store.

Otherwise, this little Christmas-New Year’s break is turning out much like others, kids going off here and there, trying to get a few things done that we don’t ordinarily have time for when we’re both working, and gradually taking down Christmas before everyone goes back to work or school.

 

The Second Day of Christmas

Boxing Day, the feast of St. Stephen, the second day of Christmas, or just the 26th of December.  Depending on your point of view today is any – or all – of these.  After all the work, all the build up, I simply cannot have Christmas be only one day.  And, truthfully, Christmas is more than one day for many who celebrate it anyway.  It often isn’t possible to have everyone together on the same day, and we organize gatherings according to the various circles of our lives – co-workers, friends, and family.

Last weekend we spent time with friends in Orono, the previous Thursday we had an employee appreciation/holiday lunch at work, spent Christmas morning at home, the rest of the day with my mother, and will spend tomorrow with my wife’s family.  The decorations will remain up until after New Year’s.  Then the Christmas tree will come down, as will all of the other decorations, until January 6th, when the 12 days of Christmas will end.  On that day we will light the candles – or whatever is left of them – that started with one candle on the first Sunday of Advent, way back on November 29th.

 

When All Else Fails

Yes, it’s come to this.

 

Thanksgiving Ends

Thanksgiving weekend ends much as it began, with a trip to the airport.  As nice as it was to have our eldest home for a few days, it was harder to drop her off today than it was when we took her to college in August.  The good news is that she successfully navigated the Metro, the airport express bus, and the airport both ways.  Even better, she’ll be home again in three weeks and we might actually be able to spend more than a few hours in each others’ company.

We actually got nearly all of our Christmas shopping done this weekend, made our usual trip to a local garden center for warm cider, cookies, and wreaths, and managed neither to spend all the money we had nor put ourselves any deeper in debt.  The exterior of the house is now as decorated as it gets – two wreaths on the front doors and one on the back porch, and a garland with white lights around the lamppost.  Inside we’ve begun to bring Christmas down from the attic, starting with the Advent wreath and candles.  We’ve gone by houses in the last few days (even a couple before Thanksgiving) that were completely decked out for Christmas.  I’m thinking you really need to pace yourself or you’ll end up in Christmas overload with at least a week to spare, let alone getting all the way to the end of the season on January 6th.

Thanksgiving week always messes me up.  Wednesday feels like Friday, Thursday feels like Sunday, Friday and Saturday both feel like Saturday, and on Sunday I realize that tomorrow is Monday and I have to get back to the real world.  Can’t imagine what a week or two of vacation at Christmastime might do.

 

Black Friday 2009

First off, no new car this year.  The Jeep now has 20,587 miles on it, the rain gutters suck (he says on another ridiculously rainy day) and the 3.8-liter V6 is anemic below 1,800 rpm (which is more noticeable when you short shift at 1,500 to improve mileage), but the mileage is quite a bit better than I expected, as is the ride quality (though, make no mistake, it’s still a Jeep and bouncy and harsh over rough pavement) and, overall, I am quite happy with it.  Yes, there could be a little less hard plastic, and a little more padding here and there, but it’s even more civilized than I expected.

There are times when I still miss the Suburban for its automatic transmission, long wheelbase, and hangar-like cargo carrying capacity, but I do not miss the sub-15 mpg mileage, 42 gallon gas tank, and repair bills we surely would have incurred at 180,000 plus.  I try not to think about the “Cash for Clunkers” credit I might have gotten, or the additional discounts and rebates that I might have benefited from, though the Wrangler has been one of the least discounted models in the Chrysler-Jeep lineup.

So, Thanksgiving worked out well enough.  I only missed the target dinner time by about thirty minutes, yet still managed an almost complete traditional (well, for our family, anyway) Thanksgiving dinner almost single-handed.  A brined roast turkey with sage and onion bread stuffing, gravy (made with homemade turkey stock), mashed potatoes, butternut squash purée, thyme braised carrots, green bean casserole, and homemade whole berry cranberry sauce.  A bottle each of Chardonnay-Viognier and Pinot Noir, desserts from the grandmothers, a little football, and “A Charlie Brown Thanksiving” rounded out the day pretty well.

There was nothing really challenging in any of the elements of our Thanksgiving dinner, but having all of them ready more or lesss at the same time was a challenge with one oven and four burners. I had less of it done by Wednesday night than I wanted, but got up at 6:30 Thursday and had everything but the carrots and turkey done by 10:30. Anyway, like I said, it worked out well enough, and our eldest got to spend some time at home with us and her grandparents before going off to spend much of the rest of the weekend with her friends.

Our Black Friday got off to a later start than in recent years, though we have never been among those waiting for stores to open at 5 a.m., or earlier.  The stores we went to and the mall were all busy, but not nearly as busy as we have seen them in years past.  Some of this might be attributed to the weather which, for the second time in two weeks, is practically typhoon-like.  Even so, it’s probably not the sole reason we had no trouble finding parking spaces reasonably close, spent little or no time waiting in checkout lines, and actually had an arm’s length in any direction between us and other people in the mall.  We’ll be out again tomorrow and will see if better weather (and being Saturday) have any effect on the size of the crowds.

 

Thanksgiving Begins

Our eldest is home from college Wednesday night.  We’re hosting Thanksgiving for the first time, except for the time when we stayed home and had my wife’s sister over.  She was dealing with having her first Thanksgiving without the kids following her divorce.  This time it’ll be the five of us and our girls’ grandparents, my wife’s parents and my mother.

Today I bought the turkey and will decide whether to brine it in the next day or so.  With the two packages of turkey thighs and assorted aromatics I made turkey stock as a base for the gravy.  Tomorrow I’ll probably make the mashed potatoes and squash, and fresh cranberry sauce.  Sounds boring, I know, but of American holidays Thanksgiving is the one most about the food, and with the least room for variation lest one be branded a heretic (as I have observed before).  Goodness knows there are enough other reasons for my being hunted down with pitchforks; I don’t need to make messing with Thanksgiving one of them.

 

College Tour 2009: Vassar College

Our tour of Wellesley College wrapped up later in the afternoon than we expected and we still had a long drive to Poughkeepsie, New York ahead of us.  After filling up the Jeep we decided to fill up at the Bertucci’s across the street.  Again, while being thankful for the GPS and not having to deal with paper maps or printed directions, these things are not without fault.  After all, who in their right mind would choose to drive through Hartford and endure I-84 all the way to New York on a rainy Friday night if they didn’t have to?  Well, we did, probably still being of relatively sound mind and relying on the imperfect blessings of technology.  U.S. Route 9 from Fishkill to Poughkeepsie is no prize, either, with traffic lights every quarter mile, but we eventually made it to our hotel for the night.

Rainy weather was forecast for the day of our visit to Vassar College.  Very rainy weather.  Checking out of our hotel the skies were merely overcast but with rain heavy in the air.  A few minutes drive delivered us to one of the entrances to campus, coming in behind the chapel.  As an aside, it’s interesting to note that all of the colleges our middle daughter and I have visited have chapels, remnants of their past (often, but not always) as female seminaries.  The chapels remain as ecumenical worship spaces, assembly spaces, and performance spaces, but also as architectural landmarks on each campus.