Small Talk Six: Fall

Small Talk Six: What do you love or hate about Fall?

Thanks to the moms at MomDot, Drop by and see more entries....

I love the change of Seasons This is Fall in Virginia

I love Fall Fashion This outfit is soooo me.

I like he heartier fall foods....

Hokie football...YES! as well as my 49er's

Colder Crisper weather

Fall in Charleston

Fall Decorations.

I don't understand leftovers...

I've never understood leftovers. Grandma used to put leftover food in the refrigerator and keep it going like a fine tuned clock,  Sundays roast was Monday's, sandwiches, Tuesday's hash Wednesday's stew, until well I never wanted to see a roast again. 

Mom. having been raised on Grandma's leftovers, had a free for all day, where she put it in the refrigerator pulled it all out on Saturday and had a hodgepodge. This meant on Saturday nights we had things like chicken next to tuna casserole and it didn't always seem appetizing. 

Of course if we didn't eat it, we were admonished: "There are children starving in China!"

I personally, never understood how eating my broccoli could help the kids in China, so helpfully one day I suggested that maybe they would like my broccoli and could I please mail it to them?

Lets just say I enjoyed the rest of my dinner in a standing position. 

My Aunt Jane was more realistic. She didn't believe in leftovers and they were gone the minute they left her table, to the dogs. "that's why we have pets, dear."

My Aunt Rose flat threw them away: 

"Why would I save a baby food jar of peas, just to have it come back to me on Saturday and I have to throw it away? I'd rather throw it away,. now. "

And my Aunt Gertrude "Well, we can't waste food"

. Her solution was to put the leftovers in the refrigerator until they started growing on their own then throw them away, 

"Well, I guess I waited too long to serve these."  she sighed on refrigerator cleaning day, and joyfully throw all  the leftovers out at once. Some should have been donated to the Johnson and Johnson so the could have extracted the spores for penicillin. 

My Mother one day in an effort to make them exciting called them "made overs" She had read Peg Bracken's  "I hate to cook book and created some elaborate new recipe, which when we got to the bottom of it was still just, Sundays roast following us around. . We never got really excited about it. She ended up making new leftovers to go with the old leftovers, so we had leftovers from the leftovers left over . Did you get that?

 Me I try to make just enough to feed the family, but with our schedules we all eat at different times, my son doesn't believe in leftovers, apparently, because he eats, snacks, cooks, 24/7 so I never have to worry, anything in the refrigerator will not be there long.

And if it is and he missed it, I can just cook it and pretend its new. We are in and out so much, no one knows whats leftover or not. Isn't that why God invented microwaves?

I believe in not wasting food, but I wonder why leftovers got such a stigma? The same meal we enjoyed yesterday, today because somewhat drab because we had it yesterday. It is funny, because alot of food tastes better the second day.

Chicken tastes much better the second day. Of course hardly anyone has leftover chicken, just a leg or two and you eat that for breakfast. 

I don't think leftovers are a big deal anymore, hardly any of us have them, but it is kind of sad like a lot of things gone by.  Sitting down to the table trying to guess what the dish is and what it used to be is a lost art, I used to be so good at it. 

I was over at a friends house and we had just come back from a church youth activity, she was rushed for dinner so she opened up her fridge, I saw a ham, chicken, assorted veggies, a casserole in it. I thought, ",Well she's set." 

Karen (my friend) quietly closed the fridge picked up the phone and called out  for pizza. 

Thats the way we  handle our leftovers in the 21st century. 

Friday Ramblings

This weekend is the Charleston Food and Wine festival in downtown Charleston. Denise has to work, but I hope to catch the evening program and food, food,Food. Since we will have Tasha we will skip the Wine, though THAT I  would love to attend. I like events like this, especially here

because Charleston adds an  elegance to these things that says, Hey you are in Charleston a City of Class. 

Of course I have a human side. Bobby flay will be giving a demonstration,He is one of my favorite chefs on Food Network (anyone NOT watch food network? even for a minute?) and They have a Iron Chef competition that I am looking forward to. I'd like to see if they really do these things in an hour. 

Charleston sense of history, makes a exciting background for the festival. The food will be distinctly Charleston, Shrimp and Grits, She crab soup all of old Charleston's favorites. Although people from all over will be there there, the natives will have a special, We are Charleston Savor Fa ire to the whole event. I am excited.

Tasha woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning and has been growling at me all day. 

Her Banana was to hot (????)  Her toast was to cold. She didn't want to watch any of hr favorite programs. I finally settled her down to read and she decided to dress up in her Pirates costume she wore for Halloween. Now she is happily playing pirate and ARRRR'ing the whole house. 

We all have bad days, some are worse then others when we just feel out of sorts, this was her I suppose. 

I had forgotten how diverse an age three is.  

Denise is going to get a dog, a "rat" dog she calls him. When Tasha was 18 months, they had a cat. Tasha loved that cat to death. Almost literally. She wanted to love on it so much, the cat needed a therapist. She would hit the ceiling running when Tasha came into the room. Tasha just squeezed to much, and she had a habit of carry it my it's neck. 

Luckily the Cat survived and so did Tasha. We bribed the cat with Tuna, and hid it in the bathroom. It was reasonably happy. After a few weeks of teaching and loving on it, she calmed down, Tasha calmed down each loved  the other. Then the cat died quietly of some disease. 

So, we didn't have a pet for a while. I finally broke down and brought a gold fish. Tasha loved to talk to the goldfish. She fed it. I kept the food high so she couldn't feed it too much.

Things were great until her mother decided to clean the water. She forgot you have to make sure the new water is the same temperature as the old water. The fish looked up in total surprise at the cold freezing water, and went to fish heaven. I am sure in pet heaven they are telling stories about pet survival rates in our house. So pet three is a Jack Russel Terrier. The pets in heaven are twittering again in fear.

I hear they are starting a petition.

Confessions of a yogurt addict

I was busily working this evening, actually driving the forklift when I looked up and saw the co-manager of the store waving me down. Now I suppose if you don't drive a forklift you don't realize it doesn't turn on a dime, and he certainly didn't. By the time you reach co-manager of a store especially Walmart, you haven't driven a forklift or any of the equipment for quite a while. You are stuck in the  administration office, doing whatever it is they do in there until you come out and try to flag someone down who is trying to stack pallets exactly 14 high without dropping one in 28 degree temps.and yes, this is why I have associates under me to do this stuff, but it gets me out of the building.

At any rate, I did a 360 turn, went back to where he was, where he solemnly informed me I had 4 hours overtime and to skedaddle. do not stop at the door, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars, or overtime. skedaddle. 

It is the end of the fiscal year for Walmart, cutting time and hours so we can come within our yearly budgets is very important. So I did. I parked, grabbed my things, quickly wrote notes for my people and skedaddled. To the grocery part of the store. 

Now everyone I know, has shopped at Walmart at some time or another. And rather or not you hate or love it, you have to admit, it is the most convenient way to spend your money.

I will, do anything not to go to a grocery store. If I cannot pick it up on the way home, it just doesn't get picked up by me. 

When I lived alone, I was known to live on yogurt and strawberry cheesecake ice cream, rather then shop or cook. Not the healthiest of diets, so to compensate, I would stop at the deli from time to time and buy a dinner or a salad. 

Needless to say, that is not an option now, have to be a good example for my Lil Darlin' so I have been known to even cook on occasion. A real meal with meat,veggies and everything.

Luckily the inclination doesn't hit me to often, so I am still sane. 

When my kids were young at home, I was homeschooling and cooked balanced meals every day. three times a day.

I even did menus and went shopping once a week. After 18 years though, my domestic side withered out. and luckily it coincided with both of my kids going off to college and getting married. Great timing. 

But tonight I had a flashback. Now I know yogurt is not healthy. No matter what they say. It has 27g of sugar and bad Carbs and 170 calories. The only good yogurt is the plain, with no fruit or sugar, but who wants that?

So today, as I was picking up breakfast food and looking for bologna (which we were out of BadWalmart, Bad,Bad Walmart!) I passed the yogurt and decided I would have a flashback.

I stopped and started to pick up a few, then I remembered I hadn't had this flavor for a while, and I loved Pina Colada and the strawberry banana, not to mention the cherry....

well I kept putting yogurts in my basket and then headed for the check out to go home. The only excuse I have is I blacked out. no really, I did.

At the register the cashier made the comment:

"you uh really like yogurt, don't you?"

At this point I looked in my basket and noticed the whole bottom was covered with yogurt.

Just about every flavor I have ever liked. Not to mention, Tasha's favorites that we only buy her for special treats. 

Being embarrassed, I mumbled something to the effect my whole family loves it...and quickly paid and left with 15 dollars worth of yogurt. 

I quickly drove home, to my surprise my daughter was still up and on the phone so I brought in two bags of legitimate groceries,then went out the back door and tried to sneak in the yogurt and hid it in the crisper. But I forgot she had gone to the Piggily Wiggly this afternoon and found fruit and veggies on sale so the crisper was full, had to condense it fast.So I did the unthinkable, I put onions in the same crisper with the cantaloupe and watermelon. Where will our addictions lead us?

I thought I was home free, but she was down this evening so I decided to make her laugh and showed her the cooler. She did laugh, and called me a yogurt addict. How true. 

So now all of you know my sordid secret. I am a addict.

I cannot resist the yogurt thing. Yes that's right. I confess.

My daughter made wonderful tacos for dinner, which I ate then followed it up with two yogurts. 

But to my credit, I didn't touch the Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream....

Tomorrow is, after all, another day.