Cooking the NYTimes and Other Assorted Retirement Activities

No, this post is NOT about sex but I am going to posit a question a la Carrie Bradshaw, she of Sex and the City.  Plus I figured having sex in the title might be a good way to draw readers. Before I retired, many already retirees would look at me with something akin to sympathy and tell me that it would take me awhile, but I would find a routine.  I've been ruminating over this quite a bit, which leads me to wonder--Why is it important for people leaving the routine of the workforce to then burden themselves with a new routine?  Because, after all, isn't that something we're all looking forward to with baited breath once we retire?  That we can jettison the routine, do whatever we want, whenever we want? (I previously wrote about the value of getting into an exercise routine, which I have been adhering to rather religiously.  Therefore, I exempt exercise from the ensuing conversation about routines.) And don't get me started about schedules.  Definiti...

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.

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 ...