Cooking the NYTimes and Other Assorted Retirement Activities

We're getting ready for the first tick off the BIG list of retirement activities (cf prior blog entries).  Wednesday we're road tripping it down to Indian Rocks Beach, Florida, where we have rented a townhouse for the month of April.  During this time, we will have lots of guests.  Or company.  My sister refers to the family and friends coming to visit as our guests.  Which got me to thinking, because I seldom if ever refer to anyone who comes to our home as a guest.  I call them company. So is there a difference?  And if there is a difference, does it make a difference to anyone? Clearly I believe it makes a difference because I'm writing a blog post about it.  #helloCaptainObvious Being the member in good standing of POEM (Professional Organization of English Majors, from Garrison Keillor and Prairie Home Companion), I turned to Webster's for the definition of these two words. Guest :  a person who is entertained, taken out to eat, ...

It's the morning you've been dreaming of ever since you announced your retirement. Your co-workers have gazed longingly on that date marked, probably in red, on your calendar.  LAST DAY OF WORK. The alarm does not go off. You don't have to haul yourself out of bed when you awaken. Now what? Here are a few things (that I can recall) those who were already retired shared with me about retirement: It's great. You'll never look back. You'll be so busy, you'll wonder how you ever worked. You can do whatever you want. Keep a list of all the things you say you want to do. Travel.  Travel.  Travel. It takes a while to get used to it.  About a year. You'll get to spend a lot of time with your grandchildren. You'll get into some sort of routine. Friends and co-workers asked me what I was going to do when I retired.  I sensed an undercurrent of, "You're not just going to be  retired , are you?" which I took to mean there wa...

Remember how I said I was going to follow the New York Times recipes to the letter ? Um, not so much.  At least not today, St. Patrick's Day of all days, for a traditional Irish meal. This morning when I opened the NY Times Cooking app on my phone, there was a lovely looking recipe for Guinness Pie .  My oldest daughter had invited herself to dinner (in fairness, we usually have dinner at their house on Friday nights); I thought I'd invite my son and his family, too.  All this on account of us watching the 3 Grandsons at our house because Friday is not only Flip Flop Friday (cf: my Facebook page), it's also Grandpa Dan-o Child Care Day.  So that recipe was calling to me. During the day, I recalled our trip to Ireland almost 13 years ago.   The first meal I had was a very yummy Guinness stew.  Actually, it was about the best meal I had the entire week we were in Ireland.  The Irish are know for their whiskey and beer, not their food.  S...

Yes, the above is a plate of deliciousness. For about the past year, I have been bringing dinner over to my daughter and son-in law's.  This conveniently coincided with the birth of my youngest granddaughter, Georgia Rose. While I was working, I would stop and pick up a meal on my way to their house from work.  We really varied where we ate.  Indeed Bucca was among our favorites, but we also tried different restaurants in St. Paul (since that's where they live).   But now, since I'm Cooking the NY Times, I'm able to either make the meal and home and transport it or cook at their house. Yesterday I used the chuck roast that another daughter turned down to make Stracotto:   https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1650-italian-pot-roast-stracotto?action=click&module=RecipeBox&pgType=recipebox-page&region=pot%20roast&rank=0 Scroll down the list of ingredients and you will see red wine.  I believe the recipe calls for robust,...

I offered to try out one of the New York Times recipes and bring it to my youngest daughter's for dinner tonight.   https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1650-italian-pot-roast-stracotto She politely tells me that she's not a fan of pot roast. So we're going out for drinks and dinner instead. Such a retirement thing to do, right? ps--I already purchased a pot roast and will still cook this recipe in the near future.

All this week, the Dan-o and I are on child care patrol for our 3 grandsons, whose wonderful child care provider is on vacation in Mexico.  Jackson is 4, his brother, Beau is 22 months and their cousin Ethan is 2 1/2.  Fun times.  To our good fortune, all three still nap for at least an hour, often more, which gives the grandparents a brief respite mid-day. Not that I don't love being Grandma and Grandpa Child Care, but you know the saying that child rearing is best done by folks under 65?  So true. Today is also my only son's 37th birthday.  How he came to be 37 is way beyond me, but you know, life happens. Consequently I invited him for dinner tonight, hence the subject of this post.  I am feeling quite proud of myself that in the middle of the lovely mayhem that is three little boys ripping the house apart, I managed to cook Stuffed Shells. This is a handed down recipe from Florence Compobasso, my brother-in-law's mother.  She was loud, bras...

If I had been on top of things, the title of this post should have been Day 1, as in the First Day of Retirement, rather than Day 33 which means that it has taken me a while to even start getting my retirement act together.  Oh, well. During my pre-retirement phase of 5 years, I frequently said, "I'm going to do_____" when I retire.  Unfortunately I didn't write any of those things down, anticipating incorrectly that I would remember them or they would be triggered by another activity.  Word of advice.  If you are getting ready to retire, write down what you say you are going to do so when you start thinking, "Now what was it I said I was going to do?" you'll get further than asking yourself that question. On the other hand, not having written these things down is rather freeing since not having a list to consult doesn't obligate me to anything.  There are plenty of things staring me in the face and I can choose to ignore, bypass, engage in, put ...