What's For Dinner?

In this historic age of Covid-19 home quarantining, with restaurant and bars shuttered down for the near future, I like everyone else, have been cooking almost every meal at home.
You may be asking yourself why this is a big deal?
Because My Guy and I eat out nearly every single night.

I don't tell you this to brag or to sound pompous, I tell you this because since the kiddos left the nest, our lifestyle is such that we both work and enjoy a dinner out that has been prepared for us. No dishes and no clearing the table. Don't get me wrong, I love to cook and when I do, it's always a treat, but it's a rare occasion indeed.

But it wasn't always this way. Back in the day, when Frick and Frack were little, I used to make dinner every night. After the morning school rush, the kids safely tucked onto the school bus, I would call my friend and commence our usual conversation. "What are you making tonight?", and we bounced culinary ideas off each other and let the inspiration flow.

Back in those 'olden' days we didn't have the internet to look to for inspiration. No Pinterest, no food blogs, no wealth of recipes at our fingertips. Nope, we only had our good old recipe box filled with family recipes and cook books for guidance. So cook at home, I did and it's a pleasant but distant memory. I can't really remember any family favorites from back then, other than my home made spaghetti and meatballs and tacos, which are still in the rotation on those rare occasions that I do cook, but these days I am left to my devices. Literally, hello my trusty iPad.

And you know what?
I'm killing it!

Yup, so far, dare I jinx myself, I'm on a roll! Even My Guy, who is the PICKIEST eater in the world, a fact that has been well documented through the years here at The Daily Dandy, is loving everything I have cooked! And I've added caterer to my list of skills because I'm sending dinner over to my parents, who live next door, almost every night. But I think the silver lining in all of this madness that our life has become today is that we eat dinner together, at the set dinner table every night.

Fritters (my son's girlfriend who lives with us, and her name is an inside joke) and Frick set the table and we all clear the table and clean up, together. It's a silver more valuable than any sterling you can string on your neck or adorn on your fingers. It's the true familial bond that illustrates the age old adage 'Food is love".

Yes love. Its is what's for dinner....

Mini Me

I got the chance to spend some quality time with Frick this weekend before she headed back to the Big Apple and you know what I discovered?

She is a total Mini Me.

I guess I always knew this to be true, but the older she gets the more I begin to see the similarities in our personalities. She is totally me.

She's been going through some stuff recently, and that stuff is stuff we all go through. Growing pains, heartache and the kind of stuff that challenges the foundation of who we are. And she's handled it much like I do-or would have. She even made some statements that I have made when faced with a similar situation. I was kind of surprised.

She's a mini me.

We talked...a lot. And we discussed things and I gave her advice as best I could. I think she gets it, but because we are so similar I feel her pain, quite literally.

We both work hard and are focused on the end result.
We both play hard and enjoy play as a satisfying reward.
We both love hard-sometimes to our detriment.
And we both feel really hard, which in turn makes us vulnerable and obvious. We wear our hearts on our sleeves.

She too, has integrity and a great capacity to "over think" things, which gives me the unique opportunity to provide her with some perspective. Something I sometimes seek in my own mother. I can hardly believe this amazing young woman came from me and is like me in so many ways. I'm left to question whether this is a good thing or a bad thing?  Of course, I hope she has a different outcome with her life. One that is better than the life I have lived and I wish for her not to duplicate the mistakes I have made. Let's hope history does not repeat itself here.

Like they saying goes, "Mirror, mirror on the the wall. I am my mother after all...."

My Birthday Ode To My Mom On My Birthday

She was a young and vibrantly beautiful woman, two years short of her 40th birthday, and ready to pop with her fifth child. Almost as beautiful on the inside as out, she possessed an incredible strength that she still holds today, and she knew that she had to be prepared. It was early December, but the spirit of Christmas was already heavy in the hustle and bustle of the air. She had to be finished with her Christmas shopping because she would never disappoint her 4 other children. The toys were bought, wrapped and safely hidden from sight as she knew the time for baby could be at any moment. She even drove an hour away, enormous belly and all, to secure the coveted ski boots for her oldest. There was no Cyber Monday in those days-it was late in the 60's. Those who knew her best were not surprised. She was extremely capable and the birth of a child, for her, was no deterrent.

Soon she felt the child was ready and off she went to the hospital. It was 8 or 9 am when the baby girl arrived! She didn't remember much because of the anesthesia, but she remembered being ecstatic God had given her another girl. Two girls, she had first, then two sons, and this baby girl was a joy to behold! Back then, the gender of the child you carried was a mystery to be revealed only at the joyous moment. She went in with a few ideas of names. "What would we name her," she thought. And she remembered the lovely nurse who took such good care of her while in the hospital. The nurse was named Candace and she quickly decided it was a most beautiful choice. Baby Candace, was to her, the most wonderful Christmas gift of all. Her husband was born on the following day many years before, and they joked that the baby wanted to make her own entrance into the world. Candace would not wait, they laughed, she had to make it all her own. Oh, how they knew me even back then. 

Some forty something years later and she is still a beautiful and strong woman and still very much prepared for her children's Christmas. 16 grandchildren later, 2 of them from Candace, she still toils with the Christmas shopping for each and every one. The joy of child birth long past her, she has reveled in the wonder of the many births that her children experienced as if they were her own. She still possesses the ability to be the mother she has always been; Loving, caring, nurturing and strong. 

God, she always says gave her the gift of her 5 children; like her 5 fingers, she couldn't live without her fingers. But really we are the fortunate ones. God truly gave us the gift of her. So lucky, are we...

My Best Friend's Birthday

How many birthday's have we celebrated since we've known each other? More than we'd care to admit.
Friends through it all, you and me, like two pieces of a puzzle that are the perfect fit.

Growing up together, how I remember long days of fun and adventure. We we never far from each other, neither one wanting our time to end if a guess, I had to venture.

Elementary school was a life full of dreams, junk food, and sleepover parties. We told ghost stories and did makeovers and considered ourselves the ultimate smarties!

High School was harder, you were older and  socially trying to make your way. So I stayed in your shadows and understood; a younger best friend needed to stay out of the fray.

Then college came, and we parted ways and made lots of  new friends. No longer down the street, we lost touch but inside our hearts knew this was not to be the end.

You moved.
I got married.
We didn't talk for years.

Yet the second we found each other again we laughed through the tears.

Our second act, as they say, has been quite a ride! Together we've loved and we've lost and we've marveled at accomplishments with pride. This time distance wasn't an issue, as you occupied both coasts.  I'll always be there, you know, you are my family and family is what matters the most.

So you're stuck with me San, and that's not so bad because to me, you are the best friend a girl ever had.
Happy Birthday to my BFF, here's to many, many more, and to the memories we will make and to what ever else our lives together have in store.....

I love ya!

Sunday Morning

So I walked into a local grocery store this morning, to grab a couple of things before work. The moment I entered the aroma awakened my senses with the most amazing smell...

I looked at the cashier at the door and said, "I smell sausage."

She smiled and said, "Yes! The deli guys are making sausage for the lunch crowd."

The smell was heaven. It smelled, I told her, like Sunday morning. When I was a kid, being the last in a line of 5 children, I grew up to the smell of sweet Italian sausage cooking every Sunday morning. On Sunday, my mom would have a big breakfast waiting for her family. There was regularly an array of breakfast foods at my house on Sunday morning. My dad, 100% of Italian descent, would play tennis with his buddies early every Sunday morning and when he arrived home, breakfast was always ready.

Back in the innocence of those days, food was love. We never thought about fat content, calories and gluten. We ate because we were growing kids and my mother made sure we ate well. Sunday mornings were my favorite because it was the best of everything. We always had fresh fruit; cantaloupe, strawberries, blueberries and orange juice as well as toast, assorted danish and pastries, eggs, bacon, pancakes and of course, sweet Italian sausage. Sometimes she even made a breakfast quiche and if you wanted an omelette, my mom would be ready with the frying pan to accommodate.

I was usually the first to rise, my brothers and sisters all teens at the time, would wake later because the yummy smell could wake anyone from a deep slumber no matter how lazy they were. My dad, at the head of the table, ate slowly, with the Boston Globe in front of him and I would happily read the comic page and enjoy the breakfast with my family. Those were some of the happiest memories I have of growing up. It was our very own Brady Bunch moment, and it was part of our routine.

My children love sweet Italian sausage too. Our busy lives today, unfortunately never lent to the innocence of Sunday morning breakfast. When my kids were little there were early Sunday hockey games, lacrosse games or rehearsals to attend, so I tried my best to make Sunday mornings as special as I could. And yes, I cooked the sausage.

It's amazing how that smell this morning brought me such happiness and joyous memories all in a flash.

Frick and Frack are home from college now and you can bet that this Sunday will be special. In fact, I'm making the grocery list now. Be dammed fat, sugar, gluten and calories! I want to make a memory and I think that's far more important, if only for a Sunday morning.

Marketing Strategies

Mike walked into a post office just before Valentine's day, he couldn't help noticing a middle-aged, balding man standing in a corner sticking "Love" stamps on bright pink envelopes with hearts all over them.  Then the man got out a bottle of Channel perfume from his pocket and started spraying scent over the envelopes.

By now Mike's curiosity had got the better of him, and so I asked the man why he was sending all those cards.  The man replied, "I'm sending out 500 Valentine cards signed, 'Guess who?'" 

"But why?" asked Mike.

"I'm a divorce lawyer," the man replied.

http://www.guy-sports.com/humor/valentine/valentine_jokes.htm

El Jefe And The Grilled Cheese Sandwich

I recently watched the movie "Chef" on On Demand. It was good and I recommend it highly for a light fun movie watch, BUT I will caution you....DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE HUNGRY. This movie is food porn at its highest degree and after viewing it I found myself absolutely ravenous!

Since watching the movie, I can't stop thinking about the grilled cheese sandwich the chef cooks for his son. I have watched the clip below from YouTube about 6 thousand times and I think I got it down, but I'm literally guessing on the type of cheese he uses. I'm thinking the orange cheese is sliced cheddar mixed with some Gruyere, to make that yummy, cheese pulling goodness. It's just about all I can do to not make it grilled cheese night every night in our house! 

I recommend the movie, but the grilled cheese and Cuban sandwiches are the reason to watch. 

And do yourself a favor and have something with you to eat. Something you really like because your are going to need it.

This is the clip from You/tube. I couldn't get it to embed for some reason. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BTfctEmg5w

Marcel Is Back

Just so cuuuute...

"Beddy Beddy Sweet..."

Thirty years ago, my brother got married in Puerto Rico and my entire family took the trip to the locale. One of my most vivid memories of while I was there was of a man walking up and down the beach on shore line dragging a little cart. He was saying over and over again, "Beddy sweet pineapple, coconut. Beddy, beddy sweet." He would stop his cart, pull out a huge knife and slice up a pineapple or coconut right there on the beach for you to enjoy. I always loved coconut, even as a child. My mom used to buy us a hairy brown coconut at the supermarket and we would grab the hammer, go out in the garage and smash it. To me, the delicious, white center was the stuff of Gods. Today, any coconut lover has it easy choosing from an array of available products like candy to water to Creme de la Coconut to satisfy a craving. So you can imagine my enthusiasm when I learned that the newest beauty craze has to do with coconuts! Coconut oil is making a huge splash in beauty products and it's actually being touted as a healthy food additive in small amounts. 

While at the store on Sunday, I came across a jar of coconut oil that wasn't exactly what I expected. It was a white solid, lard looking type of substance that didn't move. Still, I bought the $8.00 jar with high hopes for my newest beauty secret. I was not disappointed! When I opened the jar, I found the solid mass to be like a butter that emulsified immediately into an oil upon my touch. To my delight, as I applied the oil to my arms and legs, it soaked into my skin leaving hardly any oily residue and gave the skin on my body a supple sofness. It passed my first litmus test for a body oil easily, and the light, natural scent of coconut gave me a love for this product. The scent, nothing like the man made, "tropical" coconut scents you find in beach/sun products is actually a very light coconut scent and not  long lasting. The hydration it delivers is another story. 

I have heard about the benefits of "oil pulling", a technique where the user swishes coconut oil in their mouth for 20 minutes. It can get rid of bacteria and fungus in the mouth and whiten the teeth, but I have yet to try it. I am still in awe over the multiple ways my little "miracle in a jar" can help me in my everyday beauty regimine. 

Its a great eye makeup remover.

An anti-aging face and body moisturizer.

Great for hair! Use on the ends to condition and smooth split ends. It also reduces frizz.

Used on the scalp as a treatment to prevent dandruff.

It can be used during pregnancy and may help to prevent stretch marks.

Ingested, it has been suggested it boosts metabolism and can aid in weight loss.

It is a natural deodorant!

Cures chapped lips.

Used daily it can reduce the appearance of cellulite.

I can't tell you how cuckoo for coconut oil I have become! Give it a try yourself and you will see. While I won't be chanting up and down the shore of the beach any time soon, I will say that this whole coconut oil experience has been "beddy, beddy sweet" indeed.

Mom's Rock

What My Mother Taught Me

My mother taught me RELIGION.
“You’d better pray that will come out of the carpet.”

My mother taught me TIME TRAVEL.
“If you don’t straighten up, I’m going to knock you into the middle of next week!”

My mother taught me FORESIGHT.
“Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you’re in an accident.”

My mother taught me IRONY.
“Keep crying, and I’ll give you something to cry about.”

My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM.
“Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!”

My mother taught me about WEATHER.
“This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it.”

My mother taught me about ENVY.
“There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don’t have wonderful parents like you do.”

My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
“Just wait until we get home.”

My mother taught me about RECEIVING.
“You are going to get it when you get home!”

My mother taught me HUMOR.
“When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don’t come running to me.”

My mother taught me WISDOM.
“When you get to be my age, you’ll understand.”

My mother taught me about JUSTICE.
“One day you’ll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you”.

Happy Mothers Day Bloggers! Mom-thanks for all the lessons you taught me! I Love you.

La Vida Loca

Hey Bloggers! It's Friday and today I will attend the wake of a way too young member of my extended hometown family. The news of her passing threw us all for a loop here because she was/is each and everyone of us. Mother, daughter, woman wife, friend and confidant. I'm not going to say much more about it. What I will say it was the C word and I hate the C word. A lot.

I have chosen to live life and celebrate that I am living, breathing and trying to be healthy. I am celebrating that I am happy, in her honor.
I know this is so cliched and over played but I choose to keep it as my weekend mantra:

Happy weekend bloggers! Be happy we are alive!

Beloved Boston...A Re-Post

You can't live in Boston today and not reflect on the events of a year ago. 
This was posted on Tues April 16,th, 2013, the day after the bombings.

I wasn't there.

Neither my kids nor my husband were there. We were all safe.

She in NYC, is the one who alerted me of the events via text. He, safe on the golf course with my dad, 70 miles away from the war zone. My husband ensconced safely at his desk and I, enjoying a rare day off with my mom.

I wasn't there, but I could have easily been there like I had so many years before.
I can only share with you how most of us Bostonian who live here felt when the first waves of info came in:

It was 3:15, and I'm shopping at Neiman Marcus in a local suburb. Frick texted me. It read, "Mom, did a bomb go off at the marathon?" "Are u there?" "No."I replied." H/O"

I stopped, and searched the web on my iPhone. I googled Boston Marathon 2013. Nothing. I searched some more nothing. I then searched "bomb at Boston Marathon." I found the footage. I clicked on to the raw video and heard the news that a bomb had gone off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The report  said it was a, "horrific scene". It went on to describe bloodied streets and loss of limbs and I immediately went into safety mode. I started mentally checking off my family members.

That's what everyone that lives here did.

The first text was sent to my best friend. She lives in Boston and is an avid runner. I knew the answer before I finished typing the text, so I immediately placed a call to her seconds after I pressed the send button. I couldn't wait. She answered, "I'm ok." She was crying.
"Thank God," I said. "Were you there?"

"Can," she said between sobs. "I was right there. I had just decided that it was getting cold and that I had shit to do and that it was time to go home." "I felt the blast behind me and turned to see the smoke."
I was so glad she was ok. So glad she was safe. So shocked that she had been so close. She hadn't even called her mom. I let her go, telling her I loved her and to call her mom.

Then I went over the familial list:
I come from a large family and the majority of us are 20-50. Prime Marathon viewing years. The texts began furiously. While I was walking through the store, word got out and people everywhere could be seen either talking on their smartphones or looking at their smartphones. I drove home because no one really wanted to NOT be in front of a TV at this point and we listened to Boston Sports radio, which turned into news talk on the ride home. It was an uneasy next few hours as we awaited word on the family safety. It wasn't until 6:15 that we knew for sure that both my 26 immediate family members were ok and my husband's 11 members were safe. We were lucky.

Then the worst news of all came.

3 people had died and one of them an 8 yr old boy.

Hundreds of people had been injured. It was worse than we could have imagined. I felt at that moment that life had changed.

We were glued to the TV for the rest of the night as I'm sure you were too.

Trying to make the best of a horrid day which was no happy holiday after all.

The Super Bowl

I'm soooooo nervous....

But in My Tommy we trust.

Heck, after all the devastating injuries the Patriots have suffered this season, I figure this game is a bonus. But there is something different about this time. So much riding on who wins...Not only does the winner go to the BIG Kahuna, The Super Bowl, but the winner here preserves a legacy. A quarterback legacy.

It's Tommy vs. Peyton and that has been the focus of Sunday's game in Denver. Oh, we've been here lots of times before, but this time it's far more serious. This time the circumstances are different. Both of them are in the December of their careers. Each one has a ton to prove, both to themselves and to the world. Can Peyton win when it counts? Statistics are not on his side Can Tommy lead his depleted team to his 6th, record breaking, Super Bowl? Stats are on Tommy's side-but lately he's not been the closer we have become accustomed to. This time Peyton has home field advantage and a whole new team with a loaded-league leading offense.

What does Tommy have? He's got it all, and he knows how to use it. This guy is one you can never count out. Never. Because when you do, that's when Tommy will make you pay. But is this the team to do it with? With this win, he will go back into the category he belongs in, the "possible greatest to ever play the game" category and I think he deserves it. And that's only with the win on Sunday.

But in My Tommy we trust.

It's just everybody else I worry about.

A Boy And His Toys

We all know how little boys love their toys! Especially on Christmas morning, the joy of toys at Christmas is like no other. This post is about another kind of boy, although not little, both share the same excitement when presented with their toys.

I'm talking about My Guy.

He just re-did our garage. Yup, our garage, and you should see his peacock strut whenever he enters into his newly pimped out garage. Now, I'll admit, it looks great! Tools and sports equipment now have a newly designated place of their own, neatly displayed for easy access and even the trash bins look better, with their own space. But he didn't stop there. He added a heating system and painted floors and I swear, the man would add a  great big flat screen if I let him. He's like a kid at Christmas with everything in its place and a place for everything.

It's totally adorable.

Driving the car into the new garage is like a new adventure  too and sometimes I feel like, when the weather is bad and the car is all dirty and wet, like I'm doing something I shouldn't be. We have an extra fridge out there and it's much more pleasant to walk out to a warmer garage to get the milk. I got to thinking, was it really that easy? Was it a tiny change like a newly appointed garage that could make him so happy? All of us a little bit happier? Life a wee bit better?

I guess so.

And with all of that new fangled garage paraphernalia out there, I'm happier because he just made some of my X-Mas shopping a bit easier.

Death Row Dinner

If I was to face the firing squad tomorrow, I would have no problem choosing my final meal.

Without question, it would be my very own spaghetti and meatballs. Nothing spells lovin like a heaping plate of awesome. Growing up, my mom's recipe was a sure thing to bring us all home, together at the table for mom's spaghetti and meatballs. I have since perfected the recipe and now they all come home for my brand of spaghetti love. It's the kind of dinner that everybody is dreaming about all day. I could never share the recipe here. Sorry, but then I'd have to kill you-as this treasured concoction has been handed down from mother to daughter and will continue from mother to daughter. It's a sacred bond.

Electric chair tomorrow? What would be your choice?

Good Dad's Are Always Sexy

Daily Dandy best wishes for a very happy Father's Day to all the good dad's out there!

Nothing is sexier than a man who is a good dad. It doesn't take blood relations to make someone a good dad either. It takes commitment, love, time and whole lot of patience and if you are really lucky, longevity.
Dad's are not only an important role model for their children but their loving guidance is instrumental in building the moral fiber of the future of our children.

Dad's are in large and in charge! With moms permission, of course..

Happy, happy Father's Day to all you sexy dads!!
We salute you!

He's Bringing Sexy Back..2

So I'm watching Good Morning America this morning and I see this piece on Will 
and Jayden Smith and their multi-million blockbuster new movie that Will wrote, 
produced and stars in with his son, "After Earth".  The boys are charming and 
friendly and looking like they a having a great time! Who wouldn't when 
Hollywood is literally at your feet.  For the Smith family it would seem that 
life is good.

I then remember an article I read earlier that was highlighting the movie's 
"dismal" first weekend at the box office. The article revealed "After Earth" 
finishing a disappointing third at the box office garnering a mere $27 Million 
dollars. It seems fair enough to criticize the plot and the story line, even 
questioning the movie's motive as a vehicle for Scientology, Will's chosen 
spiritual path.  It seems fair that they panned the actors too. Will for his 
extreme ego and Jayden for his acting chops. After all, actors are open to 
criticism. Its part of the job. Among other things, the movie has been panned 
for "extreme nepotism" and likens it to buying your child "an expensive Ducati 
that he hasn't yet learned to ride".  I have not seen the movie, nor will I, 
unless it comes On Demand very soon and the reason is that Sci-Fi just isn't my 
favorite genre. So I will reserve judgement on the film.

I will say that what I see here is a dad and his son, getting to spend time 
together "working" under the best of  circumstances. Will and Jayden screened 
the film for some military families, posed for pictures, answered questions and 
made the film experience a bit more meaningful for these people and they were 
clearly enjoying every minute of it. (which I get isn't at all that hard)   
Jayden  was asked by an interviewer what it was like to be experiencing this all 
with his dad? Before he could answer, his dad  butted in with a somewhat tongue 
and cheek, "What's it like for you, a little guy, to be experiencing this with a 
big, strong presence like a huge Hollywood box office star?" The message to me 
here was loud and clear: Big Daddy just keeping his little boy in check.  

The idea of father and son, traveling the globe together, working, sharing and 
being together, no matter what they are doing, is a great example of the family 
bond and a great example to all of us of family unity. 

And if that ain't sexy, I don't know what is. 

Wordless Wednesday

Today it's not about the words. Today it's about the music.

New fave jam

Like I Died And Went To Heaven

Seriously, fellow fashionistas take note.

I'll be first in line, with my carrots and celery sticks.

It's Going To Be A Smash!

Hey all! Here's a little "Weekly Wank" just for you!

A little shameless self promotion. This is me for the next two days and keep your fingers crossed that It is a successful event.

Stop by if you're around and say hi!