Uncategorized

Cooking For One

admin1 Comment

Anyone who knows me knows I hate cooking. Not as much as I hate running but still. I love to tell everyone I know the story about how when I met my husband he said that he’d do all the cooling and I replied that I would do all the cleaning. We both had our strengths and loves and were willing to make the other happy. Needless to say, I defaulted to doing both since he had to deploy around the world early on in our marriage.

So here I was cooking when I hated it. And then one day, my spouse was home and was able to cook! It was the best thing ever! Then our kids left the nest and he was still cooking. You’d find us in the kitchen: he’d have a spatula in his hand and I had a glass of wine (not really but you get my drift).

Whenever he had to travel, I would survive on PopTarts. I’m not kidding. It’s been my breakfast for 30 years so it makes sense that I would have it dinner. Everyone LOVES breakfast for dinner. I know I do. And who would want to leave the couch to cook and eat when your puppy is happy to snuggle with you on the couch?

But something changed this trip. I actually pulled out the pots and pans and cooked. Nothing fancy. Goodness knows I tried to do one of the Hello Fresh! meals by myself and found it too complicated for my simple taste. I’m a casserole or crockpot cooker. That’s my speed. I am awful at timing everything to come out at once. It stresses me out so I just don’t do it.

But back to this week. I found myself in the kitchen following my simple recipes. I made sure that there was enough for me to take leftovers to work too!

That is a huge victory for me. They are definitely not Instagram worthy. Nor does Giada need to worry about me taking over her empire. I will just claim my small accomplishment.

 

As for vegetables, let’s say I’m working on it….

My Very Own Sleepless in Seattle

admin

How did I happen to have my own Sleepless in Seattle? I’ll tell you shortly but suffice it to say, I didn’t find a new love while I was out there.

My spouse and I went out to Seattle to visit our oldest daughter. The last time we visited her, the skies were sunny and the weather was warm. This time we experienced typical Seattle weather: it was rainy. And it was colder. But that didn’t stop us from having a great time.

We arrived on Friday but didn’t start our exploring until Saturday. But then we packed a lot into that day. We started off by heading to the Freemont district for a chocolate tour at Theo Chocolates. We got lucky and were able to take a tour.

Our guide, Sylvia, was extremely knowledgeable and was generous with the chocolate samples. My favorite had to be the sea salt. But there was no consensus among all of us; we each had our own favorite.

When the tour was through, we also got to sample some ganache. I was almost all chocolated out but I pushed through it and had my two pieces.

We definitely needed to work off those calories so we decided to walk to our next destination-the Chittenden Locks. We walked along Union Lake on our way there and that’s where my first adventure hit. Literally. I was fascinated with the Brooks Running HQ sign and statue that they had out front. As I was trying to decipher what the statue was I suddenly found myself on the ground. I had tripped and landed chin first on a curb. I’m thankful that only my chin was injured and that I didn’t lose any teeth or break my jaw!

We continued on to Gas Works Park. That’s a cool little area where you can see Seattle and the remains of the old gas system used to power Seattle long ago.

Only after that did we head over to the Locks. It was fascinating to watch large and small boats as well as kayakers going through the lock system. There was even a fish ladder to see but I have to admit that it isn’t that fabulous when the fish aren’t running!

Our last night we had a lovely dinner at The Melting Pot. I really enjoy these types of meals because it encourages conversation and slow eating. Although it may be slow, it is most definitely filling! Hubby and I even shared an entrée but that didn’t stop us from gorging ourselves.

So the weekend sounded like fun, right? Then where does the sleepless part come in? That has to do with our hotel. The room was great, the restaurant was great, even the bar was great but the A/C unit kept coming on every 30 seconds or so! Even having a new king size bed didn’t help. I’d still go back next time, I’ll just bring noise cancelling headphones!