Monday, September 22, 2008

Buon compleanno, Andrea Bocelli

 small photo of Andrea Bocelli
Unwilling to set fire to my kitchen again, even in celebration of Andrea Bocelli's fiftieth birthday, I found a lovely little Italian bakery and deli up on 34th Avenue & Dunlap called Romanelli's. Their cannoli is exquisite! And it was just what we needed to top off a nice Italian dinner to mark this special occasion.
I've been privileged to see Andrea twice since his last birthday, and I'll certainly be on the lookout for any opportunity to see him again before his next one!
Happy Birthday, Andrea ... 100 di questi giorni!

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

What's Happening To Me?

It seems halfway into my fiftieth year on this planet that I've entered some sort of transition, and I don't think it's that menopause thing I've heard so much about. This is really weird and totally out of my character!
It all started with my volunteer work at the hospital a few weeks ago, where it's one of my jobs to inventory, restock, and order candy for the Gift Shop. One of the volunteers had put a heavy candy box on top of the Snickers box, and one bar was squished to the point where it couldn't be sold. Being my job to dispose of it properly, I tore it open and, despite my greatest effort to toss it, the whole 280 calorie bar with 14 grams of fat went right into my tummy before I knew it. With every bite my guilt grew and festered until I was thoroughly disgusted with myself. But now I wonder if that wasn't one of the best things that ever happened to me.
Since that night, I don't crave candy or cookies; I'm just not interested. I'll indulge in a Hershey Kiss a couple of times a day and, when I baked cookies with my granddaughter, I gobbled about three of them. The enjoyment is there, but not the "I'd kill for a cooky" attitude. But that's only half the story!
I spent about five days in San Jose with my beautiful niece who loves to cook. Having such fun with her in the kitchen drew out the long-buried realization that I like to cook too! Even more fun was thinking up different meal ideas and recipes. So why in this world was I spending dollar upon dollar upon dollar at restaurants which served ridiculously huge-portion meals, not to mention all the unhealthy fast food?graphic X through burger, fries, & shake It was habit; I never gave a second thought to any other alternatives. And when it comes to dessert, which I consider refusal morally wrong, I'm happy with just a little of one, not three different kinds!Giving up soda pop for water? That's crazy! But that's what happened, save for one can a day with dinner, or if I'm out and about on the road. Does this mean Del Taco, In-N-Out, and Wienerschnitzel are out the window now? IHOP and El Paso are places of the past? No more Diet Coke or Sprite Zero? No, of course not. But something tells me I won't be darkening their doorsteps three or more times a week as I have been for years upon years. Looking back, I keep asking myself why I spent so much money for so much unhealthy food ... almost as puzzling a question as "Why don't I want it anymore?"