I AM that lady....

Well - once again we were out and about this past weekend as we went to visit our son the doctor who never calls his mother and his family. We flew to Atlanta as you can see in the pictures and spent 3 1/2 fun days, mostly at the park. What a park! I can't get over it. If we had that park here I would be there every single day. I would be like that "crazy park lady". This park was the biggest park I have ever seen. It actually rivals Central Park but without the zoo. If you ever get to Atlanta, check out the Piedmont Park. Fabulous.

Anyway - that is not the lady that I am talking about. This week I have suffered two huge blows. On the way back home we took the airport shuttle from the terminal to our car. Fine. The shuttle driver turned to us and asked if anyone was retired and on Social Security. Ralphy said that he was and what did she want to know? She was asking how you go about contacting Social Security. Do you go to their office? Do you call? How do you get the ball rolling? Then she said that she was turning 65 in November.

SLAP

That's all I had to hear. You should have seen this lady. She looked like a 75-year-old. Face wrinkled up, grayish blonde hair, navy polyester pants that were too short, a pink sweatshirt that said "I love my Grandma", and the shoes. You know what kind of shoes I mean. This lady is 4 years older than I am. FOUR years older. I immediately turned to Ralphy and whispered "Hon, do I look that old?" Of course, he said "No" or I would have thrown him off the bus. This situation bothered me for the whole day. I came home and washed the makeup off my face, put on my "around the house" T-shirt. Now, come on, girls!! Doesn't everyone have one of those? I brushed the hairspray and goop out of my hair. I turned around and looked in the mirror. I was horrified.

My eyelids are hanging over my eyeballs (I actually discussed this very subject with my son the doctor who never calls his mother). My face is very blotchy. My cheeks are hanging. I have facial hair. And we all know what happens to breasts, stomach, and thighs - especially at this age. Forget about it. Down to the floor.

PLEASE, GOD!! THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING TO ME! I AM NOT READY!

And - here is the pisser. I had a doctor appointment on Wednesday. So - I go trotting in all happy. The new nurse greets me and was very nice and friendly. Wouldn't you know that the first place she took me was to the fricking scale. I wasn't too worried because, obviously, I have a very distorted view of how I look.

I am a sexy beast.

So - I get on the scale and right in front of my face was this huge mother of a weight chart. Right next to my weight was a line. On the left of the line was my exact weight that day. On the right of the line is said -

OBESE

So, now I am just shy of Social Security, my eyelids are hanging, my boobs scraping the floor, and now I am one pound short of obese. Oh, and did I mention that I actually call Bingo here at the community center on Friday nights?

Guess what - I am that lady.

Love

Down in the dumps....................

Today my wonderful son-in-law left for Iraq.

This day sucks.


Love

Last beautiful day before the shoe drops....

OK - we live in Ohio, right? This past Sunday was just about the most perfect day that was ever given to us. We got up early and went to church, then to breakfast, which was divine. I wanted to check out this little farm market near our church so we stopped in to see what they had.

We met an old friend from church. His wife has Alzheimers and he has to do all of the cooking for the family. He is a wonderful old man who cooks big everyday - just my kind of guy. He makes his meatballs and sauce for his daughter, son, spouses, grandchildren - every Sunday they eat at 4:00. They stop by for some kielbasa and cabbage or maybe a nice roasted chicken once or twice a week. Obviously they know where to get the best stuff in town. Anyway - on a little side note - this guy is an expert when it comes to garlic. He actually started to grow it in Italy about a million years ago and then, when he came over, he brought some with him. He planted here and has been cultivating this plant and sharing his knowlege with others ever since. I happen to ask about his garlic one day after Mass and the next thing you know - he is here with some for our little garden. Not only did he bring it over - he had to stand over Ralphy while he made the little hole for it "just so" and then he covered it with just the right amount of soil. It is a masterpiece in progress. The heads of the garlic that he brought for replanting were the biggest I have ever seen. The aroma of a fresh head of garlic is like no other. Mmmmmmmmmmm. I use it every day, I think. Anyway - next summer, we should have fresh garlic up the wazoo and we will be able to begin to replant our own - with a little help from "the garlic man", of course!

The recipe for Roasted Pumpkin with Shallots and Sage is a definite winner.



1 medium sugar pumpkin (or pie pumpkin)
(about 4 pounds) peeled and cut into 2 inch chunks

4 shallots (the individual cloves - not four huge single shallots) peeled and quartered

3 T. olive oil

1/4 C. fresh sage leaves

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I had Ralphy do the honors of cutting this thing. You cut the ends off and then peel it with a sharp knife and chunk it up.


Preheat oven to 450. Divide pumpkin, shallots, oil and sage between two baking sheets. Season with salt and pepper and toss it up. Roast about 35 minutes or until pumpkin is tender, rotating half way through and stir it up alittle.


This is a delicious fall side courtesy of my best friend, Martha. This makes 4 servings and is really worth the effort. I did not have fresh sage so I used a little dried, bottled sage. I don't really care for it that much so I just used a sprinkle.


I am thinking that this might be REALLY good in a baking dish with some brown sugar and butter. NOW we are talking trash. I am going to try it and let you know.


Love

I promise I will get this photo "thing" figured out by next week. I don't know what the hell I am doing.

Again..

Here I am, at long last. I had a lapse of memory - it comes with the territory.

Ya know - it seems that the older we get, the busier we become. How do you explain this? It is starting to be a problem for me because there are a million things on my bucket list and I don't know how I will finish them all. Ralphy thinks I need a time management program and I think he needs a mind-your-own-damn-business class.

Anyway, speaking of food, I made a fabulous pan of brownies yesterday. This recipe comes from that gorgeous hunk, Tyler Florence, and it is very easy to make.

Here we go:

Amaretto Chocolate Brownies

2 sticks unsalted butter

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips (I used two 4-ounce bars)

1 1/4 C. flour

1 teas. baking powder

pinch kosher salt

4 large eggs

2 T. amaretto

Oven to 350. Line a 9-in square baking dish with parchment paper, leaving a 1-inch overhang so you can take them out of the pan. Grease the parchment paper with some butter. Melt butter and chocolate in a double boiler and stir til smooth. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Using a mixer, beat eggs, sugar, and amaretto on high speed about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and slowly pour in melted chocolate mixture, just to combine. Gradually add flour mix and incorporate just til combined.

Put batter in pan - bake 50 minutes til tester is clean. Remove from oven and then lift out the brownies (carefully!) to a rack to cool.

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These are thick, gooey, luscious, rich, and sexy. To top it off, I made Cocoa Whipped Cream. Make sure your bowl and beater are clean and ice cold. I put mine in the freezer for an hour before I make whipped cream. For a regular sized amount of whipped cream, I use: 1 C. heavy whipping cream. I beat it on high until the soft peaks start to form. Then, add 3 T. powdered sugar and beat another minute maybe. For this cocoa one, I also added 1 T. cocoa powder. This makes a very nice addition to a dreamy brownie!

You can only eat one of these before you start to faint. I'm sorry I didn't take a picture.

It is the weekend already! What is everyone doing? I might go out to a park tomorrow and take some pictures. I will share them with you if I do.

Love