This is a very busy week at work. I am working extremely late two nights, putting in 13 hour days. Yesterday was one, and today is another. Last night I attended a National Night Out neighborhood party where I manned a table with information on a project we are proposing for a major stretch of road in the area. It was actually quite a nice party with a good band, people dancing, kids having fun, plenty of food, and attractions to keep everyone engaged.
The attractions included groups and organizations with tables set up to make information available, like mine. I noticed that the tables giving away something, anything, had the largest numbers of visitors. It didn’t matter if it was a pin you could clip onto your shirt, a bumper sticker, blow-up beach ball or a fabric shopping bag, people just love to get something for free.
Other attractions involved the mobile precinct from the police bureau, a tank from the FBI, and fire engines. The most popular, by far, were the horses of the police’s mounted patrol. I use to work closely with the commander at Central Precinct, who commanded that unit. He always said if he had a dollar for every time someone petted one of the horses, he would never have a funding problem. They really are great horses!
Every time I looked over at the FBI tank the same little boy was hanging out the top hatch with a big grin on his face and having the time of his life. If possession is 9/10 of the law, that child now owns a tank. “Mom, look what I brought home!”
Tonight I’ll be working late with a community action committee for an upcoming, very large and high profile project. I’m pretty sure there will be no band, no ice cream, no horses and no excited kids. Few of will be having any fun at all.
Showing posts with label fun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fun. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Mac is where its at
Mac and cheese is such a basic dish. Who doesn’t have that blue Kraft box on a shelf in their kitchen? – I don’t want to hear from the Crazy Food People contingent. I don’t want to hear how cheese is made from milk which is cruel to the animals, or how bleached flower is bad for you, or how Kraft is an evil corporation bent on controlling our minds. Lighten up!! – Anyway back to macaroni and cheese, it’s basic, it comfort, and there are a million versions of it out there.
Today I went to a birthday lunch for a co-worker to a local Italian eatery. I ordered, you guessed it, the mac and cheese. It was really, really good. I got to talking to the birthday girl (Happy Birthday Debbie!!) about how it was the third best I’d had at local restaurants. At the Montague it’s the start of the menu with about 5 or 6 different mac and cheese dishes, all good! The atmosphere is a kind of demented Cajun (is that redundant?) thing where the chef is know to hide insults and snarky comments in the dish. It really gets hopping late at night and is known as an after hours kind of place, just about the time you’d be looking of some good mac and cheese.
The best place for this common dish is a place where their version is anything but common. For on thing it’s a side dish you order separately and it comes in a very small portion that you will have a hard time finishing. Castagna’s dish is made with fontina cheese and is so rich you can hardly stand it. I had it years ago and still taste it!!
I myself make a pretty mean dish of the stuff using Velvetta, but it’s pretty far from what these folks are making. My version is meant to be baked in a very large dish and carried to a family get together where it will be scarfed down at record speeds along with all the other offerings. Mine is the backbone of middle-class America. It’s great with laughs, for listening to Aunt Violet and Mom bicker good naturedly, for watching the big game, or for watching a two year old try to keep it on a fork. My version is completely and totally G-rated, and still a step above Kraft, but perhaps a little below trendy.
Today I went to a birthday lunch for a co-worker to a local Italian eatery. I ordered, you guessed it, the mac and cheese. It was really, really good. I got to talking to the birthday girl (Happy Birthday Debbie!!) about how it was the third best I’d had at local restaurants. At the Montague it’s the start of the menu with about 5 or 6 different mac and cheese dishes, all good! The atmosphere is a kind of demented Cajun (is that redundant?) thing where the chef is know to hide insults and snarky comments in the dish. It really gets hopping late at night and is known as an after hours kind of place, just about the time you’d be looking of some good mac and cheese.
The best place for this common dish is a place where their version is anything but common. For on thing it’s a side dish you order separately and it comes in a very small portion that you will have a hard time finishing. Castagna’s dish is made with fontina cheese and is so rich you can hardly stand it. I had it years ago and still taste it!!
I myself make a pretty mean dish of the stuff using Velvetta, but it’s pretty far from what these folks are making. My version is meant to be baked in a very large dish and carried to a family get together where it will be scarfed down at record speeds along with all the other offerings. Mine is the backbone of middle-class America. It’s great with laughs, for listening to Aunt Violet and Mom bicker good naturedly, for watching the big game, or for watching a two year old try to keep it on a fork. My version is completely and totally G-rated, and still a step above Kraft, but perhaps a little below trendy.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Lucky future
Saturday evening I got together with my gal pals: Danna, Debbi and Wendy. My 17 year old niece was there and a new friend. We gorged ourselves on cheese fondue and then on chocolate fondue for dessert. There were also adult beverages available except to the Harley, my niece. We had a great time, but then we always do. We played dominoes and Crainium.
We caught up on each others’ jobs, families, and interests. We’re a varied group in some ways, and remarkably the same in others. Debbi and Wendy are bankers. Debbi does something with internal services to bank departments and other banks. Wendy is a loan officer of some kind. Danna is a sign language teacher in high school, and a freelance interpreter. I, of course am in community relations. We have all been divorced at least once, Wendy and I twice. All of us have been married at least twice, except Debbi. Danna is the only one married at the moment, and Debbi has a steady guy. Danna and I are sisters and grew up in Texas. Wendy grew up in California, and Debbi grew up here in southwest Washington. We all have children. Debbi has two girls, Danna has one boy, Wendy has one girl and I have a boy and a girl. Our children range in age from 9 – 28. So far I’m the only grandmother, but one of Debbi’s daughters is married. We are all the major bread winners in our households. We are all involved in community service through our neighborhood, local school, and church, but of course not all the same things, but we do support one another’s programs and activities. We all live in the same neighborhood, Debbi, Danna and Wendy all on the same street and I’m a block over.
Now throw all this together and you get a hilarious mix for playing something like Crainium. I can’t sing or hum and I’m hopeless at guessing songs, and I can’t spell forwards, much less backwards. But I’m great at factoids and any kind of drawing or clue giving. Wendy knows nothing about geography or science, but is a wiz at numbers, and horses. She’s a great guesser and she has the most infectious laugh on the planet. Debbi is our pop diva and knows everything about pop culture, 80’s music and food. Danna is a spelling champ, great actor and good at general knowledge. If we could all play on the same team we’d be unbeatable, except when we have to spell as a group. I’d screw that up. Playing against one another we’re just crazy.
My niece was having a good time with us, and we were enjoying her company. At one point Danna turns to her and says, “This is your future!” waving her arm to indicate us all. Harley looked a little shell shocked, and then Debbi adds, “Yeah, this is your future if you’re lucky!” Poor Harley didn’t know what to think about that. We knew it was a very true and profound statement, but we also knew that if we had heard that 17 we would have been horrified.
Here’s to good times, great friends and knowing when you’re in the midst of both!!
We caught up on each others’ jobs, families, and interests. We’re a varied group in some ways, and remarkably the same in others. Debbi and Wendy are bankers. Debbi does something with internal services to bank departments and other banks. Wendy is a loan officer of some kind. Danna is a sign language teacher in high school, and a freelance interpreter. I, of course am in community relations. We have all been divorced at least once, Wendy and I twice. All of us have been married at least twice, except Debbi. Danna is the only one married at the moment, and Debbi has a steady guy. Danna and I are sisters and grew up in Texas. Wendy grew up in California, and Debbi grew up here in southwest Washington. We all have children. Debbi has two girls, Danna has one boy, Wendy has one girl and I have a boy and a girl. Our children range in age from 9 – 28. So far I’m the only grandmother, but one of Debbi’s daughters is married. We are all the major bread winners in our households. We are all involved in community service through our neighborhood, local school, and church, but of course not all the same things, but we do support one another’s programs and activities. We all live in the same neighborhood, Debbi, Danna and Wendy all on the same street and I’m a block over.
Now throw all this together and you get a hilarious mix for playing something like Crainium. I can’t sing or hum and I’m hopeless at guessing songs, and I can’t spell forwards, much less backwards. But I’m great at factoids and any kind of drawing or clue giving. Wendy knows nothing about geography or science, but is a wiz at numbers, and horses. She’s a great guesser and she has the most infectious laugh on the planet. Debbi is our pop diva and knows everything about pop culture, 80’s music and food. Danna is a spelling champ, great actor and good at general knowledge. If we could all play on the same team we’d be unbeatable, except when we have to spell as a group. I’d screw that up. Playing against one another we’re just crazy.
My niece was having a good time with us, and we were enjoying her company. At one point Danna turns to her and says, “This is your future!” waving her arm to indicate us all. Harley looked a little shell shocked, and then Debbi adds, “Yeah, this is your future if you’re lucky!” Poor Harley didn’t know what to think about that. We knew it was a very true and profound statement, but we also knew that if we had heard that 17 we would have been horrified.
Here’s to good times, great friends and knowing when you’re in the midst of both!!
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