Noise Barrage everywhere

Am I the only who is bothered by the constant barrage of 'noise' that we are subjected to?  

I was in a store yesterday, and the music was blaring.  Not just as a background noise, but LOUD.  I had a couple of things I wanted to pick up, but honestly, I left before getting it all, as I simply could not think with the music blasting at me.

I'm not an old crotchety person, or at least I don't think I am.  But what ever happened to quiet in stores and restaurants?

Most restaurants now have two or three TV's tuned to different stations, one of which usually has the volume turned up to the point that having a quiet conversation with your lunch or dinner companion is almost impossible. 

Personally, I don't need to be entertained all the time, nor do I want to have my meal out interrupted by a TV blaring at me.   

I like quiet times, in fact I'll even go for a walk by myself so I can have quiet time.  My dog doesn't seem to need to talk at me all the time either, she's just as happy hanging out quietly with me. 

Too bad the world isn't like that.

Cook book fun

Awhile ago a friend suggested to me that I put together a cookbook.  I have to admit to thinking "Gee, what could I possibly come up with, theme wise that is.
So I stuck the idea on a back burner, kept the heat on, stirring it from time to time.  And every so often, taking it off the heat, letting it cool down, then putting it back on to simmer some more.

And...

I think I finally have a final recipe.

I think.

I'm going to concentrate on appetizers, or starters, or nibbles or whatever you want to call it.

Because, I just love making appetizers.   And since we host a Tapas Night at our house most months, it just seemed like a perfect fit.

Now comes the hard part, deciding on not only which recipes make it in, but how to define each section.

Some seem easy, but others, well...  Not so much.

At any rate, I'm at work on it now and maybe by years end I'll have something to share.

In the meantime, I'm off to the kitchen to play some more.

Who says you have to grow up and stop playing with food.  

Back in the kitchen, again and gone again

A couple of years ago I wrote about how I'd resigned from cooking at our local senior center.  I was sad, but relieved at the same time.

I knew I was going to miss going in every week, was going to miss my great volunteers, a couple of whom have since passed on.
And I did.
I missed the people, I missed the kitchen, I missed the adrenaline rush I would get every week, racing against the clock to make sure that lunch was ready, right at noon.

And we made it most of the time.  There was a time or two that we were late, not more than 5 minutes or so, but I'd say we made it with seconds to spare, most weeks.

Well, I got back in the kitchen again.
Started in January, and got that lovely adrenaline rush again, racing against the clock, and made it, every single week.

I was the kitchen manager this time round, I set the menu's, make sure we made enough food.  And that can be a tricky little detail, cause I never knew how many people we were going to be feeding.  I  ran out of food a couple of times, well, ran short that is.   I totally overestimated how many people would come in and had a surfeit of food left over.   But that was just part and parcel of the whole experience.

I really enjoyed watching our numbers climb week by week, most weeks that is.

But, it was time for me to bow out again, I just didn't have the time to devote to cooking every week.   Not only was I going in once a week to cook, but I had to take time to plan menus, take time to do the shopping, the prep work and it got to be too much.

I did enjoy myself, the volunteers were fantastic, the food was well received and it was a positive experience.

All good things do come to an end sometimes, and this was one of them.

So...
I'm back in my own kitchen again, experimenting, having fun and have the occasional offering to the Kitchen Goddess, otherwise known as the garbage can.
But that's life.  

Clothes and pipes and carpets...

I think I'm ready for a break, a complete break from my everyday life.

In other words, I wanna run away, go on vacation, go somewhere where I don't have to think about the mundane. 

I don't want to think about the leak that's got water dribbling down a wall, making puddles, and which made me find out just how many clothes I have.  

I did not want to face that.

It's sobering, very sobering to look at piles of clothes and get irritated because you have to find a place to put them so that the plumbers and carpenters can get to the wall in your walk in closet. 

And realizing that you are so fortunate, not only do you have a house, you have a walk in closet stuffed with clothing, more clothes than you realized you had.

The leak was fixed, the wall repaired and the clothes, they're still here.  I'm not quite ready to part with any of them.  

But at least I got them sorted out, and found a couple of treasures I'd forgotten about. 

I guess I should mention that this happened a few months ago, but I'm just getting around to telling you all about it.

Grocery Store conversations

One of my fun things is to go grocery shopping. 

Yeah, I know, but I like it.  But what most people don't realize is all the fun conversations you can have with total strangers in just about every section of the store.  And the valuable information people will give you.
Let me give you an example.   I was in a large chain store last week, up in the 'big city', and was quite frankly aghast at the price of lamb.  I was making some gyro meat, and needed ground lamb for it. 
Have you seen the price of ground lamb?  

I mean it's ridiculous.   In other words, button your shirt or your heart will jump out.    At any rate, I was talking to my friend about it, and discussing buying some lamb shoulder chops and then grinding the meat myself.  I figured I could also dry roast the bones, and I'd have the beginnings of a good mulligatawny soup as well.    We were overheard discussing the benefits of DIY processing the lamb, how it was a pity that it was so pricy, etc.  

The next thing I know a gentleman who'd overheard our conversation about lamb jumped in with some very good tips on where to go for decent, well, almost affordable lamb.  Including one place I'd never heard of.   We had a lovely conversation about lamb, and prices and I found out about a couple of stores I'd never heard of.

I love these random conversations, I may never see these people again, but have gained so much knowledge and a good handful of tips from random grocery store chats. 

Meanderings...

I haven't posted anything here for a long time.  Life has been getting in the way, real life that is.  The kind where you go day to day, and sometimes hour to hour trying to keep your head above water, and hope you don't sink before you learn how to swim.

I've learned a lot the past few months about myself.  I've been a caretaker to an ill person, have learned that there are yucky things I can do that I never, ever, ever, thought I could do.    And I have to say, I admire nurses more now than ever.  I've only had to deal with yucky stuff this one time in my life and not on a day to day basis.

So, if you know a nurse, have a nurse in your family, take a minute and say thank you to them, they deserve it.   They deal with this stuff all the time, and maintain their sanity. 

And I cannot forget CNA's or Certified Nursing Assistants, I've met some awesome ones the past while as well.   So many of them have passion and compassion, a great sense of humor, and a gentleness when dealing with ill people, and I hope those ones go on to become nurses or other associated medical professionals themselves.  Although they are already. 


So here's Kudo's to all the medical personnel out there, you are appreciated and noticed.  

Just wanted to say that. 

In Memorium

I got word the other day that a woman I knew from childhood had passed away.   I would like to call her a friend, cause even though I might not see her but every few years, and we always chatted a little when I saw her.

I first met her as the pesky little sister when her family moved into a house next door to ours.  Well, it was up the hill a little ways, cause when you live in the country you don't live right next door as you do in suburbia.   Her older sister and I played together as children, more from proximity than real friendship back then, and as we got older, we developed separate friends and interests.   And then I moved away, far far away.  And I'd see Delma from time to time when I was back in Duncan.   We always exchanged pleasantries, and I told her she had an open invitation to come visit me anytime she came to the States.   I would like to think that if I had stayed there we could have been real friends.   All I know is, she was always smiling, always sweet and I liked being able to talk with her, even though it was always very brief.   I wish now I'd tried a little harder to stay in touch.  But then we connected on Facebook and I got a glimpse of her life, and it was a rich, full life.  She had a life partner, she had children, she traveled, and documented that in pictures.    And I was so glad to see that.   

And now she's gone and as cliche as this may sound, the world is a smaller and colder place without her.