Happy Monday and hope you had a good weekend.
For us, the weekend included the First Spinach Harvest.
Yeah, it was a lot of spinach.
The spinach we grow is Malabar Spinach which is stupid easy to grow. Plant seed, ignore, harvest, ignore more, harvest more.
We (and by “we” I mean Dad took the stems out to the compost bin and I did the rest) made two kinds of spinach. Yum.
We also had homegrown beets.
We did not eat the weeds (which were the balance of the weekend’s “harvest”).
Once upon a time, there was no such thing as macaroni and cheese. Hundreds of thousands of college students went hungry for lack of a blue box. Some of them ate ramen noodles. Most of them just drank beer and pretended to go to class.
Then in the early 1900s someone figured out how to create that amazing American invention: processed cheese food.
FACT: Any food that actually has the word “food” in its name is not actually food.
So there was James Lewis Kraft, scrolling through his newsfeed, when he came across the idea of extending the shelf life of creating processed cheese. Then he made it magically delicious by adding macaroni and a blue box. In 1937, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese sold for 19 cents a box and enabled families to eat during the Depression.
Food needs during the Depression and during college are remarkably similar: dirt cheap, easy to make, inexpensive, minimal refrigeration required, and lack-of-budget-friendly. Ta-Da! Mac and cheese.
Not only is it cheap, it tastes good and glows like a flashlight. What more could you ask for?
What’s your favorite way to eat mac and cheese?
March has me confused. What happened to Spring? Just yesterday it was warm enough to wear a T-shirt and today it is Winter degrees outside.
Therefore, I am doing the only reasonable thing: burying myself under 17 layers of blankets and cuddling up with the Puppy, my computer, and a cup of coffee. Maybe several cups.
Hopefully, you are staying warm. Personally, I don’t plan to emerge until that silly rodent follows through on his promise of a short winter.
Speaking of absolutely freezing cold, it was absolutely freezing cold in Pittsburgh and we still had a marvelous time.
We toured Fallingwater, the home by Frank Lloyd Wright. Interestingly, it was nominated for the 8th Wonder of the World (but lost to Manchu Pichu—another place I’d like to go).
Fallingwater is snuggled into the environment, right over a lovely little waterfall.
And we ate our way through Thai food, Greek food, “eclectic” food,
Italian food, and (of course) waffles.
Then we rolled home.
Sometimes I worry that you don’t speak another language. Today, I am going to teach you how to speak and interpret Standard Restaurant Arrival Banter. Or possibly Sub-Standard Restaurant Arrival Banter.
The other night (let’s call it Sunday), Grandma and Grandpa and I went out for dinner. Let’s call the restaurant DD Flats.
It was an adorable little place with about a dozen tables half of which were full when we got there.
Because you are a smart college student, I probably do not have to point out that this means that half were empty. As in not occupied.
Shortly after we arrived, we entered into the Standard Restaurant Arrival Banter.
“How many?” [Hello]
“Three.” [We’d like to eat here.]
“Do you have a reservation?” [Let me see if you’re on our List.]
“Um, no.” [Um, half your tables are empty.]
“One minute.” [I don’t care if the tables are empty; you have to wait because you don’t have a reservation.]
“OK. Thank you.” [Fine, but who are we really kidding?]
<Pause>
“Would you like to sit outside?” [Economy seating is available.]
“No.” [It’s a tad chilly for that. But thanks for asking.]
“It will be a 20 minute wait.” [Told you you’d have to wait if you don’t have a reservation.]
“Thank you.” [Seriously? Half of these tables are empty!]
<Pause>
“I checked with the Head Waiter and it will be a 20 minute wait.” [I’m just saying what I’ve been told to say.]
“OK. Thank you.” [Yeah. We heard you the first time. And the tables are still empty.]
EEEE-ventually (and I do mean eventually, but that’s a different story), we were seated and had a very nice dinner.
The two middle tables (which were apparently reserved for a party of 8) remained empty. All night.
Food photos taken by Grandma. Because she’s better at it than I am.
Mom is cooking. And she’s not sharing.
Even though I’ve asked very nicely.
I think her exact words were, “Puppy, go write to the Kid about it because you are not getting any of this chicken.”
Or something like that.
So just to show that I’m a good boy, I decided to write to you.
Today was a very exciting day. It started when Mom woke me up (she wasn’t cooking then) and we snuggled before I took her for a morning walk. She likes to think she wakes me up, but really I’m wide awake the minute she gets out of bed. I just like to lie quietly in my blankets and let her think she’s waking me up because she needs jobs like that.
After our walk, I had breakfast. Do you know what breakfast is? It’s FOOD! Which is de-li-shus.
Then I chewed on my chipmunk toy while mom went upstairs. It was Very Important Chewing, but I kept an ear open in case there were Intruders. Or someone dropping food. (There weren’t any Intruders today, but don’t worry—I’m guarding the house.)
Then I took a nap, because breakfast and chewing are very tiring.
When I finished that nap, I turned around and took another one. Naps are something I practice every day, and I am very good at them. I would be happy to teach you how to nap if you’d like. You let all of you go to sleep EXCEPT for one ear, because you never know what might happen. Be sure to turn around every now and then so your other ear can listen and your first ear can sleep.
After my naps, I did a bit of this and a bit of that (although not really very much of that), and then everyone came home and now there is COOKING and My Nose Is Going to Explode and No One Cares!!!
I think you should come home from college and feed me.
Love, Puppy
And that’s exactly what I found on my computer.
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