Cooking the NYTimes and Other Assorted Retirement Activities

We're winding down our two month stint in Belleair Beach, Florida.  During the daily beach walk(s), I've been using these last few days to reflect on our time here. I suppose the best thing I can say is that we're already signed on to return next year.  The place where we've stayed, a townhouse in a small development called Los Caracoles (the snails) that fronts the Gulf of Mexico, has been, as my sister who is a realtor down here calls a real find.   (In fact, on a walk the other afternoon, Hank discovered this snail on the property.) Next year the unit is available for 6 weeks rather than 2 months.  We'll make due.  I can sit on the patio and look out at the Gulf; listen to the waves at night, which have more than once lulled me either to sleep or back to sleep; and in about 73 steps,give or take a few, be on the beach.  We are simultaneously spoiled and blessed. The time, like the Gulf, ebbs and flows differently depending on what is g...

Greetings and salutations--or should I say, pawlutations?  JK. I'm Hank, Mary's (the author of this blog), beagle and today is my 11th birthday.  We thought it would be fun if I put paw to keyboard and blog about my life with Mary and her spousal unit, Dan, while they're in Florida.  Since typing is quite challenging, I decided to mostly post pictures.  Isn't that what humans say, a picture is worth a thousand words?  In the dog world, a smell is worth a gazillion words but for today, we'll go with pictures. First, this gives you an idea where they got a place for me to stay in Florida. There is a sign that says No Dogs Allowed on the beach, but Mary took me on just for a minute.  I discovered I like it and now, whenever they take me out, I head right for the beach.  There are birds and water to chase there and talk about the smells!  WOO HOO! You might be wondering what I do all day, since I can't go on the beach.  Here's an ove...

This sage advice is courtesy of my friend, Patty Carney-Bradley. We had lunch yesterday, then toured the exhibits at the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg.  While I enjoyed the museum and certainly learned a whole lot more about Salvador Dali and surrealism (still has a tendency to give me a migraine), I mostly enjoyed spending time with Patty. In previous lives, we taught together at the Edina Family Center  as Licensed Parent Educators.  Those were synergistic years; speaking for myself, I learned a great deal about the value of being introspective, then accepting the challenge to change.  Much of this had to do with my interactions and friendships with the women I worked with.  Some of us are now Facebook friends (you know who you are), allowing us to keep up with, in particular, the children who have morphed into adults.  Such a gift to have that richness serving as a foundation for the later years.  Thank you. Patty and her husband are pretty m...

It's a stunningly beautiful day here in the upper Midwest.  Please don't blame the Mothers' Day temperatures in the 70's on global warming.  That would take away all hope that the chance of frost has come and is now gone until at least next September. I've been writing this blog post in my head for at least a couple weeks.  In fact, I had a couple false starts while we were still in Florida.  I think I'm finally ready to get it onto the computer screen (remember when we used to say we were ready to get it onto paper?) In Florida, we rented in a townhome complex in Indian Rocks Beach.  My youngest sister lives there, which is how we found the place.  That factored into our decision to rent there.  We've been there a couple times and had a sense of what the community was like, where stores and restaurants were located.  We both liked that it was a little more laid back Florida beach town, less touristy than other nearby places.  Plus being ...

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, ...

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 ...