Top 'O the Mornin' to Ya

Happy St. Paddy's Day! Do you think I'll be the only blogger using that title today? Are you Irish? Do you wear green anyway? Is corned beef and cabbage on your menu or maybe a sip of green beer? I'm pretty sure that's the American-ized version of the holiday, but we play along.

I have some Irish blood running through my veins, and hubs has a heaping helping in his. Mostly we enjoy Irish food and people, so we like to mark the occasion. Saturday we met a few friends for lunch at a nearby Irish pub, which was lots of fun.

This is my favorite Irishman-

...and I think some of us were more into the spirit of things than others-ha!

I was happy to have someone else cook the corned beef and cabbage, which is a once a year meal for me. Delish!

The thermometer read a balmy 54 degrees on Saturday, so a nice change from where we've been
and are today. The pub sits on a lake and we kind of held our collective breath watching a group of
knuckleheads people pulling a sled out there. We noticed a swan swimming along the shoreline, and if a swan is swimming it means there's water where there once was ice, right?  Should you walk out in the middle of a lake that isn't frozen at the edge? I tend to think not, and thankfully nobody went for an accidental swim.

After we left the Irish pub we stopped at another favorite local spot, where hubs and I shared a piece of Guinness cake. It was a rich deep chocolate, and really light and moist. Do you know what it wasn't? Low calorie! The Irish don't count calories do they?

Course my real favorite green is a little something called spring. Not happening here at the moment, but she's still got four days to get here.  I suspect though, that this year she's going to be fashionably late.

Happy Monday, and today "May your troubles be less and your blessings be more, and nothing but happiness come through your door." (Irish blessing)

Scraps and Pieces

It's Friday, so let's fragment.
Linking up with Half Past Kissin' Time, and yes, today fragment is a verb.

We had one gorgeous day this week, a cruel tease which is typical for early March, and then back to frigid temps. No snow though, so that's a bonus.

Still plenty of snow on the ground, but no new snow. This little thing surprised me this morning. I looked out my dining room window and she looked right back. Normally they don't hang out up against the house, but baby it's cold outside. Everybody's ready for spring.

This time of year I start to feel like I'm in a cooking rut, which is why I've been on the hunt for some new recipes. Pinterest can always be counted on for fresh ideas, and I tried this one Wednesday evening-spaghetti squash lasagna. 

I've only cooked this vegetable once, and while we enjoyed the taste it was a little too watery. I made a mental note to let it drain longer the next time, and much much better. Last time I made spaghetti squash I just topped it with my marinara as if it were actual spaghetti.

BTW-it's good, but your taste buds know it ain't pasta. ahem.

Still, I love squash, and thought maybe the addition of some fresh mozzarella, along with baking the finished product, would amp up the flavor. And it did, this was good. Not as delicious as my mama's actual lasagna made with actual pasta, but a tasty dish in its own right. 

Plus, isn't spaghetti squash one of the seven wonders of the food world? It's crazy the way it looks like one thing on the outside, then something else on the inside, and once cooked looks like a whole 'nother thing altogether.

The first cell phone went on sale thirty years ago yesterday. It cost $3, 995. There's no record of who the first buyer was, because back then cell phone meant car phone, and was thought of as something gimmicky or maybe something only the wealthy would own.

I remember hubs first 'mobile' phone. It was kept in a small suitcase, almost like a briefcase, and he was happy to get it. Having a phone in the car was a time saver, even if it was the size of a football and weighed 2 pounds. The suitcase phone was a step up from the system he'd been using to make business calls while on the road, which was find a pay phone, then enter a code that was about 18 digits long. Are there still pay phones around? I'm thinking no.

So, fun thing...a while back I submitted a photo to be used in a Cherie Norquay music video, and today I saw the video. The request was for pictures showing love between a parent and child, or a child and child, and I submitted what is perhaps my all time favorite photo of Daughter1 and myself. We're at 3:53/54 in the video, almost the end. The song is Cherie's version of Jesus Loves Me, and it's upbeat and so pretty. 50% of the proceeds (through March 31st) will go to the Maubane Community Center in South Africa. The video is super sweet!

Enjoy your weekend everyone! 

Rooted in the Hodgepodge

Welcome to the Hodgepodge!  So glad you joined the fun this week, and if you haven't, well what are you waiting for?  Answer the questions on your own blog, then add your link at the end of my post.  Easy peasy. Oh, and be sure to say hi to your neighbors, because we're neighborly here.

1. Do you have an interest in learning about your family's heritage? Why or why not? If you know a little bit about your roots, share an interesting piece of trivia or a fun fact about someone who goes way back on your family tree.

I'm interested in knowing my family's heritage. Much of my dad's side has been researched, but less has been tracked down on my mom's side of the family.  My dad had gotten into this before he died, and the Christmas after he died my sister put his findings into a binder for each of the 'kids'.  I still enjoy looking through it from time to time.  

One of my favorite bits in the notebook is in reference to my great great grandfather, about whom it was written, " He was known as the most reasonable of men. He never lost his temper, but could stand for the right against any odds, and was known the same way in Illinois as in Kansas." What a remarkable way to be remembered. He died in 1885 but I feel great admiration for him in 2014.  

2. Branch Rickey, the baseball exec credited with signing Jackie Robinson, is credited as saying-

"Luck is the residue of design."

Agree or disagree? Why?

I think so often people we label as lucky have actually worked quite hard to get where they are, or to obtain what they have, so I would agree somewhat with Mr. Rickey. I don't think I'd go so far as to say we never fall into something wonderful, but more often than not, achievement and success are the result of effort and hard work, not luck. 

3. In the town where you currently reside, what's your favorite green space?

My backyard? We look out on several acres of woods, which are ever changing and never dull. I wish I could describe the level of activity that goes on in these woods. It's some sort of social gathering spot for animals of all kind including chipmunks, groundhogs, fox, coyote, deer, and black bear. 

The landscape is beautiful no matter the season, and I'm pretty happy sitting beside the firepit on a cool fall evening, watching the leaves change from my kitchen window, or waking to bare branches suddenly dressed in white. Its almost like art.  

4. Who is your favorite comedian?

I don't know if I have a favorite, but a couple favorites would be Brian Regan and Jim Gaffigan.  

5. March is National Nutrition Month, and almost everyone needs to improve their diet in some way. What about you? How can you improve your nutrition on a daily basis? Will you try?

These days I'm making an effort to eat less sugar, drink half my body weight in water every day (in oz!), and to be more conscious of exactly what it is I'm consuming. I am definitely trying! 

6. Which of these green expressions have you 'experienced' in recent weeks-green with envy, green thumb, green around the gills, or give the green light? Explain.

Nothing leaps to mind.  

Wait...a  friend in London recently posted a picture from a restaurant I love, and it's possible I turned   green with envy wishing I was there too. 

7. What is one place you don't mind waiting?

If I know my car repair won't take all day I don't mind sitting in the dealer's lounge. They've got coffee and comfy seating, I bring a book or my notebook, and best of all they always wash my vehicle before handing back the keys.  

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Today would have been my dad's 88th birthday. 
He surely loved his grandgirls and could always make them laugh. 

They were toddlers when he died, so while they don't remember him very well, I like to think they know him through the stories we tell. So much family history is passed down via storytelling, and no matter how fast the world spins, I hope we never stop doing that. My dad loved computers before computers were a household word, and I like to think he'd appreciate this side of the pond as a place where I remember and record my stories.  

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 166

Welcome to another week of Hodgepodging. Answer the questions on your own blog, then scoot back here tomorrow (Wednesday) to link up with all the other lucky people joining the fun. See you there!

1. Do you have an interest in learning about your family's heritage? Why or why not? If you know a little bit about your roots, share an interesting piece of trivia or a fun fact about someone who goes way back on your family tree.

2. Branch Rickey, the baseball exec credited with signing Jackie Robinson, is quoted as saying-

"Luck is the residue of design."

Agree or disagree? Why?

3. In the town where you currently reside, what's your favorite green space?

4. Who is your favorite comedian?

5. March is National Nutrition Month, and almost everyone needs to improve their diet in some way.  What about you? How can you improve your nutrition on a daily basis? Will you try?

6. Which of these green expressions have you 'experienced' in recent weeks -green with envy, green thumb, green around the gills, or give the green light? Explain.

7. Where is one place you don't mind waiting?

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Some Kind of Wonderful

All last week the forecasters kept saying the weekend would be lovely. I believe they even used the word 'warm', and I guess when viewed through the lens of the snowiest winter on record, they were sort of right. While temps did hit 50 degrees in the city on Saturday, I still needed a coat, scarf, and gloves, which is not my definition of warm. Warmer, yes but spring has not quite sprung here folks.

Saturday hubs and I had tickets to see the musical Beautiful. When I mentioned that here on Friday a few people thought I was going to see Carole King herself, but no. Beautiful is the Broadway show about her life and music, and it really was 'some kind of wonderful'. 

She wrote that song for those of you reading here scratching your heads. 

Carole King was in fact, a prolific song writer, and she wrote a lot of songs for other performers too, that you may not have realized were hers. She stopped touring and writing a few years ago, but wrote her first number one song, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, when she was only 17 years old. So much talent!  

The actress playing Carole King in the show right now (Jessie Mueller) is completely convincing in the role, and is an amazing talent in her own right. The whole cast was phenomenal, and we absolutely loved the show from start to finish. 

Hubs and I saw a matinee which let out around 4:30, and then had an early-ish dinner reservation in Greenwich Village. Early for New York that is, 6 PM. The restaurant was about 30 blocks from the theatre, and while we had every intention of grabbing a cab (30 blocks is about a mile and a half), we started walking and just kept going. It was a nice evening for a walk.  

We dined at Gradisca, which came highly recommended by one of hub's co-workers. I'm sure we didn't need to walk that far to find great Italian food, because I'm not even kidding when I say there are over 10,000 Italian restaurants in the city (Trip Advisor lists over 11,000 on their site). We're all about a great recommendation though, so we walked. This particular work associate is married to an honest to goodness Italian, so we figure they know what they're talking about. 

And they do! Fantastico!  

Gradisca's is known for the owner's mama's pasta recipes, and when she's in town she can sometimes be seen set up at a table, making the pasta herself. I'd read some reviews online too, and everyone  raved about the tiramisu. We had to try it, didn't we? Delizioso!

Our backyard may still look like this...

...but Saturday turned out to be 'one fine day'. 

It's Not Too Late Baby Now for Friday Fragments

I don't know if I have enough for a post today, so it's possible my Friday Fragments will actually be fragments.

Does anybody even read blogs after 3 PM on a Friday?
We'll see.

I've gotten serious this week about recording what I'm eating and it's been enlightening. The biggest surprise is how often I mindlessly start to eat something that doesn't seem like much of anything...a small bite of this or that, mostly when I'm cooking, but when you put it all down on paper (or enter it into the iPad app) those meaningless bites of nothing special add up to honest to goodness calories. Calories I'd rather have used elsewhere.

I've been inspired to try some new recipes, because hubs (the man with the metabolism of a teenager) can only eat so much grilled chicken and steamed broccoli. I made this baked crispy hoisin chicken not long ago, and we both loved it. Very spicy, so if you don't like very spicy you'll want to reduce the amount of red pepper in yours. We like very spicy here.

It seems like one or both of my girls are traveling every.single.weekend. and I think I'm getting used to it.

Sort of.

And they've
resigned themselves accepted the mom drill, which is-text me when you're at the airport, text me when you board, text me when you land, and then do it all again on the day of your return flight.

I bet there are times when even Generation Y hates technology.

In other news, the weather forecasters say temps in NYC will reach 50 degrees on Saturday. I do hope this isn't one of those times when they're wrong.

Hubs and I have tickets to see Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, this weekend. I am a huge fan of her music and am really excited to see the show.  Almost as excited as I am about the 50 degree forecast. I mentioned to someone today that we were going to the show, and she hadn't heard of it. When I said it's the Carole King Story, she said, 'Who?'

People!! Come on!! Do 'youngsters' only 15 years younger than me really not know Carole King?

And on that note I'll leave you with one of my all time favorites, and wishes for a happy weekend wherever you are.

There's Always Throwback Thursday

Not a lot is happening here at the moment, and I thought about not blogging, but then I remembered it was Thursday. Sad, but true...sometimes I have to check an actual calendar to be sure of the day. Chalk it up to empty nest syndrome. Or middle age. Whatever. Thursdays mean bloggers with not a lot to say can grab any old photo they like and write because they feel like it.

I thought back to past Marchs. Marches?  What is the plural of March? Anyway, the month of March in years past. How did we cope with the month that wants to last forever? The one with the still-too-cold temps, that refuses to mesh with our longing for warm air and sunshine?

In the year 2002, we coped. We more than coped. We left the snow shovels and our children back in Maryland and Hello St. Lucia! Is it lame to blog about a trip we took twelve years ago?  No. Not when you've been cooped up in the house for too many minutes on a Throwback Thursday, it's not.  

Hubs earned this getaway through work, and some fun co-worker/friends were also along for the ride. We stayed in what was then a Hyatt, but I remember it was sold right after we left (not because of anything we did!), and I believe its a Sandals now. I wouldn't know because it's 2014, and I'm here in NJ where it's 16 degrees, as opposed to lying on a sandy beach in St. Lucia, but I digress. Let's discuss this picture-

My hair! So short! I don't think I've had it that short since. Maybe you didn't notice my hair because you were distracted by my awesome shorts.  Why did we ever think this was a good look?  

Did we think it was a good look?

Apparently.  My waist was small but that whole belt around the middle thing just ugh ew no, not a good look.  Plus I'm pretty sure I could have put both legs in the same opening.  On the bright side, I am rockin' the sunglasses.

Which I lost.

I was on a streak back in 2002...three pair in a single year.

We had such a fun week, dining al fresco, lounging beside the sea, hubs water skied and I watched-ha!, and as per usual he made friends with random people.

This is Raphael who delivered the most excellent frozen fruity drinks right to our chairs every day. We snorkeled and donned ridiculous helmets to ride horses on the beach.

We relaxed and forgot about frozen gutters, doing checking algebra homework, and all that 'what in the world will I fix for dinner???' kind of stuff, because grandparents were happily doing all those things in our place. First world problems I know, but enjoyable to be away from nonetheless.

Big corporations aren't as much fun in 2014, so sadly no Caribbean getaway on my March calendar.  No big legged high waisted shorts either though, so it's not all bad. You know what else?  Back in 2002 I put all the photos from this trip into a cute scrapbook with dates and labels, embellishments and clever sayings.  I'm really off my game in this department.

How 'bout we chalk that up to middle age empty nest syndrome too?

And the plural of March is Marches.
I may have cabin fever, but its not to the point I've stopped caring about good grammar.