Head cold

Came down with a head cold last Wednesday. As head colds go it wasn't a bad one, just pesty and a nuisance. I was sure I had inadvertently passed it on and indeed I have as Butch is now in the throws. We are going to have to scratch our names off for the mixed doubles tournament on Sunday. I haven't been able to practice anyway so perhaps it is best.

I know I am slack in keeping current with this blog and others too. Perhaps twenty years is my limit. There have been times in the past where I felt I was burned out and used up but I seem to get past it in time. It may be too early to declare me finished yet...or not!

We are both pretty happy with our lives now.
We are happy doing pretty much nothing. Last night we watched the movie "7 Days in Utopia" It was about golf and Utopia, Texas. It was a good movie, I suppose. A bit too "Feel Goody" for me but okay for a change of pace.
We have also been watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" on Netflix. It takes place in the fifties and sixties and the attention to detail during the time frame is phenomenal! The cars, the music, the furniture, the whole feeling and look of the time. It is worth watching for that alone. Midge Maisel's comedy is fun too. It is very quick-paced and at times difficult to keep up with.

When nothing else works, talk about the weather. It has been fantastic this year. Yes, the Rio Grande Valley needs rain, desperately needs rain! The temperatures have most often been 70's and 80's in the daytime and 50's and 60's at night. I cannot ask for better! When they say 40% chance of rain you know it isn't likely to happen.

We are into the busiest part of the season. The park is not crammed full but it is nicely filled up and will be until mid-March when it will reverse itself.
Time to eat and I am hungry so bye for now.

Eating in Italy

I enjoy reading first hand and personal views of a friend in another country. I hope you do too.
Barb B

Dining in Italy…

January 15, 2020Greene County News Online

~a column by Colleen O’Brien

We drive half an hour of so to a town called Castiglione, on the Thyrrenean Sea, to eat out. The area is like Sarasota in Florida, San Diego Harbor in California, probably like bays and beaches in South Africa, the Cote d’Azur, Vladivostock in Russia? Fancy restaurants and chi chi clothing shops stand next to T-shirt shops and souvenir stores, pizzerias and ice cream parlors.

Stretched across the wide piazza between the shops are sparkling blue neon Italian words that mean gratitude (gratitudine), friendship (amicizia), happiness (felicita’), laughter (risata), joy (gioia). I think it is a lovely idea to display across a shopping center.

As we sit in a restaurant built and styled like a cruise ship, the Castiglione marina is quiet. It’s wintertime, and no boaters are sailing out to watch the sun sink into the sea. Older men fish from the quay in the dying light; like them we watch the little lamp glowing on their bobbers.

We order drinks. The waiter brings chips and olives, he points at the bar. It is lined with food – a phenom in Italy in the late afternoon. It is actually a buffet—small sandwiches, slices of various pizzas, dishes of fried potatoes, bowls of potato chips, plates of cheeses. It seems, however, that if we want the sweets from the glass case, we have to pay for the mango, chocolate, pistachio cheesecakes, the peach and lemon fruit tarts, the tiramisu.
The most expensive glass of wine or beer I’ve ordered anywhere is $3 in euros—about $5 US. There is no tipping, so I ask if that is because bartenders and waiters make a living wage. No one knows.

Italians eat late—after 7 pm. The 5 o’clock “tea time” of drinks and bar food carries them over until the restaurant opens for real food. Even at home with my hosts, there is a snack of some sort around 5, with tea or caffe or wine. Dinner comes late.

The biggest noodle I’ve seen served so far is the pappardelle. It is at least an inch wide, about twice the width of the egg noodle I use for a stroganoff, and it is 18 inches long! It tastes homemade, as most pasta I’ve eaten in Italy does; maybe the restaurants all make their own noodles.

My host finishes his meal and wipes his plate with bread. The waiter grins at him and says, “Scarpetta.” It means that the diner is grateful. When a dish returns to the kitchen scraped clean, the chef is pleased—this is the high compliment—a scarpetta.
~~~~
It is now the next day, and it’s lunchtime here. We eat banana frittata. No flour, no sugar; just very ripe bananas and whipped eggs sautéed. Delicioso.
~~~~
Italians use lots of words for food: nutrimento (nourishment), mangiare (something to do with one’s mandible/chewing/jawbone!), vitto (life itself), pane (bread [of life]), alimento (a part of the canal between the lips and the stomach!).

Marlene and Bernard Kelley Celebrate 69th Anniversary

I snipped this from Facebook. We miss them being in Texas in the winter. We would play cribbage, bridge and eat!

&#^! Tree Pollen

Runza Casserole(NOT KETO)

This recipe pops up every now and then because it has been a family favorite for many, many years. Easy too. It is not keto however so it has been on the back burner. I guess I could make it substituting cheese for the crescent rolls. Hmmm may have to do that! It is also easy to adjust this to half for smaller families.
     
Runza Casserole       

      2 lb Hamburger

      2    Onion, Finely Chopped

      4 C.Cabbage, Shredded

            Salt & Pepper, To Taste

      2    Refrigerated Crescent Rolls

      1 lb Mozzarella Cheese, Shredded

[Note: One of my standby recipes. One that Butch is always happy to

see on the table. ]

Brown hamburger and onion, drain. Put cabbage on top of meat and let

steam for a few minutes. Add salt and pepper. Using one tube, spread

the crescent roll pieces over bottom of a 9 x 13-inch pan. Spread

hamburger/cabbage mixture on top. Add a layer of cheese. Using the second

tube of crescents, place on top of the cheese. Bake in 350 F. degree

oven for 35 to 40 minutes, covering with foil the last 10 minutes to

soften the crust

Documentaries

I enjoy watching documentaries, depending on the subject of course, and I discovered this website for documentaries and have several now added to a watch list that I would like to watch sometime. They are free. Many times the choices on TV are dismal enough to want to venture into new territory. This could be a place to start.

https://www.documentarystorm.com/