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, ...

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 ...