Foodie Awards

As you know, my boyfriend and I eat out a lot. We don't go to expensive places and we don't eat much (we usually share a meal) so it's not an extravagance. In fact, with my non-cooking mindset these days, it's a necessity.

Each year our paper presents the "Foodie Awards." Since I live in what some people call "the tourist capital of the world" we have thousands of restaurants. So we were surprised to see that many of the ones we frequent won awards.

By the way, we're going with the public's choice. The Critic's Choice is usually pretty obscure.

I recently wrote about Bubbalou's Bodacious Bar-B-Que. It won for best BBQ - again.

Best Italian - Antonio's. I love their salad and pizza. In fact, it's my favorite pizza. By the way, they have big, heavy silverware. One time I accidentally dropped a spoon and it landed in my purse. The next day when I returned it the watress teased me the entire time I was there about "building" a set of silverware one piece at a time.

By the way, I'm talking Antonio's DOWNSTAIRS. Not upstairs - that's a different story.

Runners up for best Italian were Olive Garden and Carraba's!!!! What? If I was gonna pick a chain I'd choose the Macaroni Grill.

Best Late Night - Steak 'n Shake. We had breakfast there a few days ago. It was 10 A.M. so I had a burger and fries.

Best Burger - Five Guys Burgers and Fries. I agree. We ate burgers there on election day afternnon with my granddaughter and her friend. They were pretty clueless about the election but we had fun. If you go don't forget to have some peanuts.

Best Breakfast - First Watch. We had breakfast there last week. I always have the "traditional." They have the world's best breakfast potatoes.

Best Brunch - Dexter's. I think it's a bit pricey. But Dexter's has a great inexpensive signature sandwich and a good meatless pasta dish. (By the way, I'm still mad at Dexter's because the one I go to took over a traditionally African American intersection of town. One day my friend pointed out that there was an African American eating at Dexter's but I said, "Yeah, but it doesn't count because he plays for the Magic. I don't think he's from the neighborhood.")

Most Romantic - Manuel's on the 28th. Waaaaay out of my price range but my son took me there once for my birthday.

Best Overall - Season's 52. I've eaten there many times, too many, because my Oldies went through a phase of eating there several times a week. It got so the staff genuflected when we walked in. But I got tired of it. My favorite thing was the fish sandwich but at $13 I thought it was overpriced - so I usually had the shrimp flatbread.

The Critic's Choice for best Chinese - Ming's Bistro. Haven't been there but the review says that the dim sum can't be beat. My boyfriend loves dim sum so we're going to try it soon.

Have I told you he was born in Malaysia?

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My Blue Heaven

Just Molly and me,

And baby makes three

We're happy in

My Blue Heaven.

No, wait, now I have 14 babies. How did that happen?

Just as I was typing the above I decided to check my blog mentor's blog because it dawned on me that she may have been just as incensed by this situation as I am.

Sure enough, she is.

She says everything I care to say on the subject - so go to the blog "Living With the Oldies," posting "I Cannot Wrap My Mind Around It" for more.



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The New Media Darling

The talk shows have had a ball the last few days with their new rock star Rod Blagojevich. I've seen him on "The View" and "Larry King Live." I don't usually watch "The View" because those women all talk at the same time but I did catch a little bit of Rod.

How do you pronounce his name? Seems like there are several ways. I'm going for Bah-goya-vich.

He's been charming and funny and the hosts seem to be enchanted with him. I don't know if he's danced with Ellen yet.

But the thing is, from all reports, he is a very bad man. He's been impeached and may be going to prison. He's hurt thousands of Illinois residents.

But I'm not questioning his disturbingly charming behavior on his current celebrity binge. I'm questioning the networks for putting him on - and me for watching.

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The Benefits of Red Wine

We've all been reading about how drinking red wine will keep us healthy and help us live longer. The ingredient - Resveratrol - is supposed to be the great new discovery. Of course, fruits and vegetables are loaded with antioxidants but they don't hold the promise of long life - and instant gratification - that red wine does.

"60 minutes" did a segment last Sunday on Resveratrol. Apparently, now, researchers have developed a pill that delivers 1,000 times the amount in a bottle of red wine. Wow!

My favorite magazine, "The New Yorker" did a piece a while back on this concept, based on a lab giving a mouse (and the scientist) Resvertrol the old fashioned way - the equivalent of 35 bottles of wine per day.

The study is real but the article, by Noah Baumbach, was not. It was silly and I loved it. It presents a scientist and his mouse, Louis, each drinking his 35 bottles. Of course, the scientist keeps a journal - for as long as he's able.

(By the way, I'm kinda happy I don't drink red wine.)

Following are some excerpts:

August 24th

...really hits its stride by the sixteenth bottle.

August 25th

Louis again shows an abundance of energy, however; he must've taken the wrong turn in the maze about eight times in a row before he realized the cheese was on the left. Once he gets it, he collapses in a pool of laughter and urine. And then I collapse in a pool of laughter and urine.

September, 3rd

...according to the rabbit, he (Louis) arm-wrestled the monkey to a draw. (I must have been dialling ex-girlfriends around this time.) I do what might generously be called a cartwheel but really is just me losing my balance.

September 24th

I call my wife and tell her I'm going to sleep at the lab. She reminds me that she left me a week ago.

September 27th

Louis is excited: he's heard of a study with THC as an anti-inflammatory. He suggests that if we're going to live forever we ought to have soft skin.

October 10th

I look great! Louis looks great! Louis says I look thirty-seven. Louis is a year and a half and looks eight months.

October 28th

It should be mentioned that Louis can now lift the cat. I can lift Louis...Louis wonders aloud if resveratrol might also be found in tequila ...

December 18th

...we realize that the final mouse in the control group has passed on. Louis tore the little fellow's head off in a paranoid rage.

January 5th

Our first fistfight.

June 9, 2077

Louis is seventy today, which must make me three hundred and nine. The mouse and I share a laugh over a slice of Cheddar, thinking back to the old days... before the they found resveratrol in lettuce and way before the monkey and the rabbit staged an intervention.


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An' Live Off the Fat of the Land

My boyfriend loves the quote from "Of Mice and Men" where Lennie's asking George to tell him again how life is going to get better:

'An we'll live off the fat of the land and have rabbits.

So I'm reminding you today that things will get better, that we're going to get through this hard time. We will, once again, live off the fat of the land and have rabbits.

Yesterday I heard my son speak to a group of people, using the book "How to Survive the Economic Meltdown" by Patrick Morley as his guide. Morley reminds us that it's important that we not isolate ourselves. It used to be humiliating to contemplate losing our jobs but now we're all in the same boat. We need to be with other people and hear a word of hope every day.

Last night I turned off "60 Minutes" and today I turned off CNN - because they was just too depressing.

George Steinbeck titled his book quoting Scottish poet, Robert Burns.

The best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry.

It's true - and they have.

But the time will come again when we will once more...live off the fat of the land and have rabbits.

I'm sure of it.


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The Wrestler

We saw this movie staring Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tormi last night. It was ugly and exhausting. We were drained afterwards and couldn't get it out of our heads.

As you may know, Rourke plays a washed up wrestler. He's also a washed up person, trying to find redemption. Tormi plays the same. Only she's a washed up stripper. Both of these actors were brave in playing these parts, especially Tormi.

For all I know, Rourke may really be this guy in real life. Tormi is not.

But the movie is real. I don't know any wrestlers but I do know people like Ram, Rourke's character. People who, when they finally do get a break, manage to screw it up pretty fast.

Again, the movie is raw, stark and devastating.

I recommend it.


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Everybody Loves BBQ

Before my boyfriend met me he didn't have much experience with finger lickin' good restaurants.

I'm proud to say that I've introduced him to:

- Cracker Barrel (home of the sausage gravy that is a solid,)

- Steak 'n Shake,

- Denny's (where you don't have to be able to read to order because the menu has pictures of all the meals - AND when my boyfriend told the waitress it was his first trip to a Denny's, she didn't believe him,)

- and pretty much all of the Darden Restaurants.

We kind of have our hearts set on a KFC meal but we can't find one in our area.

Last week we ate at one of central Florida's most popular restaurants, Bubbalou's Bodacious Bar-B-Que. We had baby back ribs and used about half of the roll of paper towels on the table.

Ummm! Ummm!

Two bits of interesting BBQ information.

First, about ten years ago I read a long article titled "Famous Bubbas in the South" (where else would they be?) The only woman mentioned was the owner of Bubbalou's.

A while before that I did some consulting work for a man who owned a factory. The year before I got there the workers had been very disappointed with the Christmas party he'd provided. He was perplexed because it was a big dress up affair in a hotel.

I went out to the factory and asked each person individually what they'd like to have to eat for their next holiday party.

Every one of them said "Bar-B-Que."


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Wasn't The Poem Your Favorite Part?

Like millions and millions of others I was glued to the TV for most of the day yesterday. I don't see how things could have gone much better. Even the flubbing of the oath by Justice Roberts was entertaining.

Later, I had to yell at our new president and his wife when they got out of the limo and started walking up Pennsylvania Avenue - for about 7 or 8 minutes.

"Are you crazy? Get back in the car!"

Only four times have poets recited a literary work for the inauguration. The first was Robert Frost who recited a loooong poem for John Kennedy's inaugural.

Elizabeth Alexander's poem yesterday, "Praise Song for the Day," was relatively short. I liked it.

Poems can always be interpreted in different ways. I think this poem was saying, "We're all doing things in our daily lives that can move us along as a people."

Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A farmer considers the changing sky: A teacher says, 'Take out your pencils. Begin.'

We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

President Obama's inauguration speech was challenging. We all need to be a part of repairing our world.

Take out your pencils. Begin.


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Today and Tomorrow

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. As Coretta Scott King said, "It's not a black holiday but a people's holiday."

We've all benefiting from Dr. King's dream. Tomorrow's inauguration of Barack Obama will be a confirmation of it.

I'm proud of having played a small part, along with my husband and many others, in the civil rights movement all those long years ago. Even, many years later, after my husband became ill, we proudly marched in the MLK, Jr. parade in our city. The last year he was able to do it I pushed him in his wheelchair.

Except when we went by a special group of people. Then he got up and pushed it himself.

Above is a picture of my husband and a a very young Julian Bond, during the time he (Bond) was a social activist and leader of the civil rights movement.


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Get Off My Lawn!

My boyfriend and I saw the smash hit "Gran Torino" last night. We both loved it.

As we've discussed before in this blog, there is a difference between Good and Nice. Clint Eastwood's character, Walt Kowalski, is good but he's not nice. He has no perceptible social skills whatsoever.

"Get off my lawn" may replace "Make my day" as his signature remark.

Despite the insensitive, racist, obscene language, the three words I would use to describe this movie are: Sweet, Funny and Real.

Early on Walt Kowalski tells the Catholic priest that he considers him "...an over educated, 27 year old virgin who knows nothing about life and death." But the priest and Walt eventually earn each other's respect.

The movie ends the same way some other excellent books and movies have ended. ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," for instance.) Walt Kowalski becomes a Christ figure.

This is Eastwood's movie all the way. If it's the last one he makes (but I hope not) it will serve him well.


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Safety Nets

In the 60s my husband was the director of an urban ministry in Fort Lauderdale and the surrounding county (Broward.) During that time we had a dozen or so VISTA Volunteers working with us. They were bright, hard working, brave and optimistic. Most of them went on to do magnificent things with their lives.

But one thing about them bugged me. Every one of them thought it was so cool that they were choosing to be poor. They liked to brag about it. They thought they could identify with the people they were helping.

But they weren't really poor. In the privacy of our bedroom I referred to them as the "poor wannabees." They could go home, back to their rich, cushy lives, whenever they wanted.

Every one of them had a huge safety net.

Early in my marriage I'm sure that we could have threatened each other with leaving from time to time but we didn't because neither of us had anyplace else to go.

We had no safety net.

I have friends who have kept their (now middle aged) kids rooms exactly as they left them so that they would always have a place to come home to.

We didn't do that with our kids. Once they got married they were on their on. My son accused me of changing his room into a home office about a half hour after he left for college.

But my kids know that I am a certain kind of safety net for them - just as they are for me. Just not the ultimate one.

We're now seeing people who are not only suffering financially in the present, their safety net has vanished.

Very frightening indeed.

It's in these times that we have to determine where our ultimate safety really lies.


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Christian Clothing

When we were out and about today we saw an advertisement for Christian Clothing. It made me nervous.

I'm not talking about the companies that make cool Christian T-shirts and jewelry. I'm talking about the movement to have women and girls dress "appropriately."

(I'd hate to see Sarah Palin have to give up her bare legs and spiky heels.)

There are companies that make "Christian" wedding dresses and formal wear. It generally means that neck, arms and legs are covered. It's fine for people who want to do this but it gets a little scary when church leaders (men) decide what's "Christian" and what's not when it comes to women's clothing.

The word "Burka" keeps popping in my head.

Will Azar Nafisi someday write a book called "Reading Lolita in Spokane?"


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Are You Going to the Inauguration?

The inauguration of Barack Obama is coming up fast.

This is one of the most monumental events in our country's history - but I'm not going.

This morning's paper has an article by a person who's going and one who's not. They both have their reasons.

Jeremy Levitt served as a law professor in Chicago with Obama. He has great reasons for going.

Susan Reimer, one of my favorite columnists, lives not far from Washington. She's not going. Here are a couple of her reasons:

- Washington is providing 5,000 porta-potties for a crowd of 2 million.

- Officials are advising people from suburban Maryland and Virginia to walk or ride a bike to the inauguration because the roads may be closed to all but the 10,000 charter buses that are expected.

- Only 700 vendor licences have been issued so there aren't going to be nearly enough hot dogs.

As Susan says, ...the city might be filled with hungry and thirsty people who can't go to the bathroom and can't get home.

She's going to watch the inauguration on the TV.

Me too!


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Families and Bees

Last Tuesday my boyfriend and I saw "The Secret Life of Bees" at the 75 cent theater. I loved both the book and the movie - but did have a couple of issues.

First, the movie has absolutely nothing to do with the secret life of bees. The women could have owned an orange grove or a timber mill. The best selling book, by Sue Monk Kidd, does a better job of comparing human families and bee families.

Second, some reviewers have found fault with yet another movie that depicts African Americans with one goal, i.e., to save some attractive white person. Apparently that's what we white people used to think - that blacks were here to save and serve us.

This concept is called "The Magical Negro" and, as you can imagine, is offensive to many people, including me.

I didn't see that concept so much in this movie. The Boatwright sisters are so successful, intelligent, beautiful and strong that I did not feel offended.

"The Secret Life of Bees" is about a very troubled 14 year old white girl who is taken in by a loving family of black women - and becomes one of them.

The secret to me was in the all encompassing definition of "Family."

The black women are played by Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys and Jennifer Hudson. None of them sings.

Queen Latifah's character is God like in her ability to love. A key to this love and strength is the women's belief in something larger than themselves - something that sustains them in even the worst of times.

The movie is truly about female empowerment. Rent it - or see it in a second run theater for 75 cents.

You'll be happy you did.


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Woe Is Me

I thought my Christmas Head Cold was on it's way out last Sunday but then, suddenly, my head became a big fat bowling ball.

The cold morphed into a sinus infection.

This week, along with some fun stuff, I've been spending hours in hot showers, squirting salt water up my nose and blowing it once every five minutes around the clock.

Finally, as a last resort, I bought some Nighttime Cold and Sinus medicine. Here's what the directions SHOULD say:

1. Swallow two pills
2. Pass out.

Don't take this stuff if you have any obligations. Because you WILL forget to feed the baby, put down the iron, turn off tractor, etc.

Tonight we're having dinner with friends. I have to decide if I want to have a festive glass of wine or, later, take the meds. I'm sure that if I do both I'll end up in a coma. But that might be nice.

Oh well, this too, shall pass.


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I Don't Shop But I Love My Mall

We went walking in the mall today. It's less than five minutes from my house. Such a happy place!

But then I was sad because of so many closings. There are always some stores we know aren't going to make it - but today we saw a jewelry store that's been there forever closed up. Then Starbucks, then KB Toys. The toy store has been in my mall for as long as I can remember. The kid's play area is right outside it's door.

Even though I never buy anything in these places I'm sad that they're gone. They are an example of the scary times in which we're all living.

Yesterday I had a long talk with my older son. He's doing some belt tightening but he's also working with people in his church to help others who are really in trouble.

And this is the key to not falling apart with what's happening all around us.

Help somebody.

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Stinking Creek

On our Christmas Road Trip we went by Stinking Creek, Kentucky. Oddly enough, I'd just read a wonderful article in the U.S.A. Today about Stinking Creek.

It's located in Appalachia in one of the poorest counties in the country.

The article's about Peggy Kemner and Irma Gail, missionaries who went to Stinking Creek over 50 years ago - and accomplished a miracle.

Peggy's a midwife, Irma's a teacher. How did they do the miracle?

Birth control.

When these two arrived in Stinking Creek the women were having 13, 14, or 15 babies, while living in shacks with no running water. The next generation had 4 or 5 babies. This generation is having one or two or none. Instead they're graduating from high school and even going to college.

How did Peggy and Irma get the job done? Peggy waited until she'd delivered the forth or fifth baby and would then talk to the new mother saying, "You don't have to live like this you know."

The men didn't like it. Peggy and Irma advocated birth control, education for women and civil rights. They just had to be communists!

On another note (but not really) Ellen Goodman's column in this morning's paper has to do with the "abstinence only" birth control program on which the current government has spent multi millions of dollars.

It's not working. It's a total bust.

Maybe the government should get a clue from Peggy and Irma.


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The Glass Castle

I came from a very poor, dysfunctional family. You couldn't even describe it as a family, really. My mother died and my father couldn't cope. My brother and I pretty much raised ourselves, along with an assortment of colorful relatives who came and went.

A couple of weeks ago my boyfriend's daughter gave me the book "The Glass Castle" for my birthday. This was just prior to my nine hour wait in the O'Hare Airport. The book kept me occupied. It was also healing.

Written by Jeannette Walls, it's an autobiography of her growing up in extremely adverse circumstances.

Following is the first sentence:

I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster.

Yes, she's in a cab in New York City, on her way to a party, when she sees a homeless woman rooting around in a dumpster. And she's not surprised that it's her mother.

That's what her mother does. Not because she has to - but because she chooses to.

Jeannette and her three siblings, all very intelligent and remarkably resilient, manage to escape from their past. They fed, clothed and protected each other.

When I visited my brother on our Christmas Road Trip, my bright, successful sister in law told me that she'd read the book - and that she could relate to it as well. She also found it healing.

My niece, a professional writer, heard Jeanette Walls speak at a writer's conference a couple of years ago. Walls affirmed that the book is true. Two of her sibling are doing well. One is not.

The most remarkable part to me is that the Walls children continue to love and respect their parents.

This book is spectacular.

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Two More Weather Stories

My boyfriend and I drove to Milwaukee on the Saturday before Christmas. When we arrived downtown we saw parked cars completely covered by snow.

I guess people have to take shovels to work with them so they can plow their way out of their parking spots.

We parked our car at the hotel garage and asked at the desk about getting to a restaurant. It was way too cold (below zero) and the snow was way too deep to walk. A shuttle took us a couple of blocks to an Irish pub. I was thinking (again) that NOBODY would be out on a night like this.

But when we walked in it was full of happy customers. We had a grand time watching the crowd on one side and looking out the window at the snow fall on the other. It was magical.

The next morning we learned that all of the church services in Milwaukee were cancelled due to the blizzard. (In Milwaukee?)

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On the day before Christmas eve I was stranded in Chicago's O'Hare Airport, along with hundreds of other travelers, watching it snow on the runway - for nine hours.

I talked with scores of people. All of them wanted to get home for Christmas. But all of them were in good spirits. People were giving up their seats in the waiting areas and others were sharing tables in restaurants. One young man I had a sandwich with told me he would be home for Christmas in West Virginia even if he had to hitch a ride on an 18 wheeler.

I finally arrived at my destination late that night. I hope everybody else made it home for the holidays.


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My Christmas Head Cold

Remember when people first started living together in the 70s to see what marriage was going to be like? And people like me started suggesting that to really know what it's like they should live together in a small apartment with three kids with the flu?

My boyfriend and I don't live together. We are house guests, frequently, in each other's homes. We have our own private spaces, our own things, our own money, our own cars, etc. I live in Florida. He lives in Minnesota.

But when we travel we usually find ourselves in close quarters most of the time. It's kinda fun, especially at Christmas time when we make our Annual Road Trip - visiting family and friends along the way. Except I can always count on my Christmas head cold. It usually starts around the last five days of the three week trip.

I can fake for a while because I don't feel bad - except for the searing throat pain accompanied by the muffled gagging.

I drink hot tea by the boat load.

On New Year's eve we watched the happenings in downtown Atlanta from our panoramic window in our exquisite hotel suite. It was so romantic. Except for the hacking. And the watery eyes. And the bright red nose.

My boyfriend has a wonderful sense of humor.

We're home now and tonight I will drag out my humidifier.

Please excuse me while I blow my nose on my big wet hanky.



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