A Heritage of Humor – Stories from my Kitchens

Post #829 So Long, My Friend

November 29, 2021 at 11:46 AM | Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

I told you all last week about the death of a dear funny friend. Today I would like to tell you about my friend, because as with so many of my stories, the funniest ones with her are centered around food. I normally don’t use a person’s given name on this blog except my own, or if that person has given me explicit permission, but in this case I will be using her real name because not to do so feels dishonest.

Beth was a strong and spiritual person. We met through work; we were both travelers for the State Dept. working for the same company. We were even on the same team, but never got to travel together. I look at my traveling career in two parts: the beginning phase where we were all green and figuring things out, and the second stage where all installations were completed and we were providing upgrades and support. I spent a several months between those parts recovering from a traumatic brain injury I sustained on one of my trips before going back for my second part. Beth was part of my second phase of traveling.

Beth was unique individual with a small body and a huge laugh. She had some physical issues to overcome her whole life, but she was so dismissive of her challenges that most of us never thought of her as disabled or differently abled. She kept up with the best of us and never complained. She told me once she was scheduled to take a long-ish car trip with three other friends. When they got to their cars, they were discussing whose car to take.

“A said she got panic attacks when she hadn’t driven to a place before,” she said in mock outrage. “B said her shoulder was still hurting her from therapy the day before. And C said she’d been having knee pain for a few days.”

I knew all these women and they were all healthy as horses. They just didn’t want to drive. “So you drove?” I asked.

“I said, Hey I know! Let’s get the cripple to drive three hours there and three hours back. I’ll drive but you guys are buying my dinner!” She was laughing her explosive infectious laugh, and I laughed along with her. We laughed about that incident for years.

Being a smaller person, barely topping out at 5 feet, she had to watch her calorie intake pretty aggressively, mostly because she loved her wine. Several times she’d end up sleeping at our house because we wouldn’t let her drive home. And nearly every time, as she grumbled her way downstairs, she’d tell me it was patently unfair that I didn’t get hangovers.

She loved to eat, and enjoyed good food, but she also enjoyed simple food. Since she lived alone, she seldom cooked and would end up at Wegman’s or Trader Joe’s to get something she could heat up on the stove or in the microwave. She was the one I referred to a few times as not understanding what that bag of flour was doing in her kitchen. Later in life, she did start to cook more often, and got adventurous with it. She told me her mom was an excellent gourmet cook and she tried to make things she remembered her mother making.

“Youtube is the best teacher ever!” she said many times.

She was constantly watching me cook and asking questions.

“How do you put a salad together?” she asked me once.

I couldn’t stop the chuckle, but I explained as best I could. “A salad is just a simple combination of flavors. You start with one, and add to it with others. Figure in textures, and reactions, and put it all together.”

“What kind of reactions?”

“How is one food going to react to another,” I said. “For instance, in a garden salad, I start with lettuce, but there are a dozen different kinds. Boston, Bibb, or Butter lettuce are the same lettuce, and are incredibly soft lettuces. If you put an acidic tomato on it, it’s going to dissolve pretty quickly, so you either eat fast, or find a different combo. Fresh spinach is like that, too.”

“How do you layer it?”

“I start with the stronger stuff on the bottom, and go from there. Lettuce, or cabbage, or that kind of thing on the bottom. If I’m going to dress a salad before serving, I dress only the strong part, and add the other veggies on top. The lettuce will provide enough dressing when you serve it.”

We talked about salads for a couple of hours and I was surprised at how much I could say about such a simple dish.

Another time, years later, I was making smash burgers. As usual, she was sitting on a chair nearby, watching every step, and suddenly I found myself explaining about seasoning the burger and making the ball and heating the skillet (a cast iron one if possible) and placing the burger ball and smashing it with a spatula and leaving it to form a crust, etc.

I don’t know if she ever tried making one, but she certainly knew how if she wanted to.

One time, shortly after I’d retired from the government work, she called mid afternoon on Friday.

“Are you guys busy tomorrow?”

“Nope, nothing planned. What’s up?”

“I’ve got a taste for grilled steak. If I offer to buy the stuff, will you guys have a cook out?”

We lived in a great house at the time, in a forest. The land lots were two acres each and most of ours was undeveloped. We had a fire pit and a gas grill and a charcoal grill and a wood smoker. People asked us all the time to host a barbecue if they brought the stuff. We always said yes, and our payment was always wine.

She showed up the next day shortly after noon. I put the wine in to chill, or not depending on the bottle, and she and I went to the store. I already had a plan so she guided the cart, and I put the things in. We ended up with four ribeyes (ex-wife was there, too), fresh bread, some veggies to grill, and some chips to snack on. I’d already made a cake for dessert, so we went to the register to pay.

When we got home, she told Partner/Spouse, “I love the way this guy shops. He goes in, gets what he needs, and gets out.”

I had to laugh because I do get road rage inside a grocery store.

And then, hours later, I was explaining about grilling veggies, and how to mix them and dress them. And how to grill bread. And how to grill steaks. And I explained how grilling can be adapted to stove top or oven cooking. And found myself giving her one of my spare cast iron grill pans. She used that often.

Just a couple of days before she died, we were on a Zoom call. She had been diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer. Her mother had died from breast cancer, and she was scared. Partner/Spouse explained what to expect, how treatable it was, and offered for us to go down to Virginia to assist her. Her biggest concern?

“The doctor told me to cut my wine consumption back to one or two glasses a week. I’m having one now, but I’d love to have another.”

Partner/Spouse asked her to tell him exactly what the doctor had said, then explained that according to what she’d just said, the doctor was talking about during treatment, when she wouldn’t feel much like drinking anyway. She was so happy, we both had another glass of wine. And later we had a half glass, just cuz she could.

I’m going to miss my friend immensely. There’s so much more to say about her. I’m glad I knew what she meant to me and made sure she knew it. Be safe, and be sound, my dear funny friend.

Post #828 Life, Sort Of, Gets In The Way

November 23, 2021 at 4:02 PM | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Post #828 Life, Sort Of, Gets In The Way

I intended to write a post about a friend’s experience with a pizza oven I gave her and her family, but a close and dear friend died yesterday in a car crash. We’re still processing it, and I’ve been busy helping other friends handle it. We are all part of a larger community, and with that comes responsibilities. I haven’t had energy to work on much of anything else. I only wrote about a page today for my NaNoWriMo project. So, I’m posting a bunch of food funnies for you. Please enjoy your holidays and I’ll post something this weekend.

And finally,

Again, have a great holiday. I’ll be back soon.

Post #827 Panda Bears and Mushrooms

November 21, 2021 at 1:46 PM | Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

As you no doubt know, I traveled for the State Dept. for many years deploying new computer systems and training on those systems. I got to stay in various countries around the world sometimes for months, but mostly for a few weeks. Definitely long enough to get to know the place and many of their norms. Because of my security clearance level, I was allowed into communist countries, but my favorite was China. I was there a lot.

The first time I was there, I was with two other team members, neither of whom like Asian food of any kind. One time we were heading out for lunch and walked through the break room. Several people were fixing their lunches and the aromas were amazing. I wanted a bite of everything I smelled. When we got to the elevator, the most senior of my team members turned to me and said, “That smelled awful!” I almost choked from laughter. My mom used to say, “It’s not that it takes all kinds; it’s just that we got all kinds.”

One of the things that always tickled me in China was how they seemed to regard westerners. If your skin was white, they wanted to know all about you. Every time we went to a restaurant with a street view, we were seated at a table where people on the street could watch us. They wanted to know what we were eating, how we were enjoying it, how we were eating it. It was curiosity, nothing more, and it never bothered me. It bothered some of my colleagues sometimes. The restaurant sometimes would get better traffic while we were there, so it helped them a little.

During one trip, I asked if we could see some Pandas close up. They set it up for us, and one Saturday we went to a panda orphanage. We wandered around and watched various pandas eating, playing, sleeping, sleeping some more, then taking naps. Pandas usually do two things: eat, and sleep. They eat primarily bamboo, but eat other grasses, and fruit when they can get it. We got to see a lot of behind-the-scenes kinds of things, but the highlight of the visit, for me anyway, was when we got to hold the baby pandas.

They were actually about half grown adolescent pandas. There are strict rules about holding the animals because they are, after all, wild animals and not used to people outside of the handlers being in contact with them. So to divert their attention, we were given apple slices which to the pandas was like chocolate candy to us. What you see the panda doing while I’m holding him is eating one of those apple slices. Two of my team members didn’t want to hold the little guy so I took their turns. My souvenir for the trip was the brown dirt stain on my jeans from the dust on their fur. I left those in for a couple of years before I accidentally washed them.

I sent the picture to my email list of friends and coworkers who’d be interested in it. I got a lot of positive responses, but the best was from a woman I’d been working with for several years at that point.

“Is that a real panda?” she asked via email.

Here’s what I wrote back:

Of course it’s real! I held the little guy for quite a while. He fell in love with me because of the apple slices I was feeding him. Matter of fact, the picture shows him licking his claws after the final slice. He looked around for more, but since I didn’t have any, he started digging around looking for some. He accidentally ripped my shirt off and dug his claws into my chest. Then he ripped my neck out, and I died! But you the Chinese, they have a cure for everything so I didn’t stay dead for long. I don’t even have any scars, they’re so good at what they do! So when you see me again, don’t bother looking. The panda was really sorry for what he did, they told me later.

She told me when I got back that she believed every word until I came back to life. We had a lot of fun while traveling.

It was just after seeing the pandas that I had one of the best meals I’ve ever had. We decided to get lunch after the panda experience so the staff we were with offered to take us someplace. The way it worked in that area was you drove to an area and went to a house and asked if they had anything to serve. If they did, you went in, sat down, ate what they had, paid and left. They left you alone during the whole process. Obviously, it’s essential that you speak not only the language, but the local dialect so you could communicate. It didn’t take us long to find a place. My only requirement was I wanted mushrooms.

It should be no secret to anyone who’s read this blog for fifteen minutes that I’m a mushroom junkie. Just last night we ordered Chinese take away and I got a bowl of Shrimp and Mushrooms. I ate all the shrimp immediately, and there were a TON of mushrooms left since they wanted to make a profit on the dish so they loaded it with mushrooms and about four shrimp. I still have mushrooms left over for lunch today! So, yay.

There we were in some house in China, sitting at a low table with bottles of chilled water waiting for food to arrive. Our colleagues tried to explain what was coming, but we only really understood chicken and vegetables, which was fine. I was getting soup.

What a soup that was. It came in a bowl so large I could have made two cakes in it. It was only half full, but that half full contained about two cups of broth and five pounds of mushrooms. They were mushrooms of every kind. I could identify four of them. There were shitakes, and morels, enoki, and cremini for certain. But a ton of others I couldn’t identify, but ate with gusto. The soup had a peppery taste, but nothing outrageous. I also had some flat bread, almost a cracker. Everyone else was eating a meat filled veggie dish that smelled good, but they were looking at mine enviously. When it came time to pay, I doubled what mine cost. It was that good. I’ve never even attempted to duplicate it. I wouldn’t be able to because I’m certain it was a family recipe. I had plenty of mushrooms and they were delicious.

So, I’ll leave you with a couple more pics of pandas and wish for a happy rest of your weekend. Take care, eat well, and as always,

Post #826 The Full Irish Breakfast And A Coddle

November 16, 2021 at 2:17 PM | Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

We’re both back to work and feeling well rested, so it’s time tell you about what we ate while in Ireland. Once, we went to a restaurant that was billed as a restaurant. The rest of the time, we went to pubs and ate “pub grub”. Pub is short for Public House, and they were resting spots on roads going from one place to the next. In the days when riding horse back was the norm, and wagons went slower than cars, pubs were spaced about a half day’s journey apart, sometimes a full day. Pub grub was whatever the innkeeper had available, plus home made ale, and maybe some wine. Tea was usually at the ready, too. But over time, the pub changed as needs changed, and now pubs are typically viewed as the neighborhood living room, with loyalty to a pub almost as strong as loyalty to the local sports team, and local beer. Some pubs have elevated their grub to the point of international fame. But mostly, pub grub is still food that quick, cheap, and eaten by hand. Comfort food to be eaten while talking with friends and listening to live music. But more about that in a minute.

The hotel we stayed in was located in the heart of the “pub district” with twenty pubs in a three block radius. The hotel had a restaurant that was open for breakfast only, and closed at 11am. It served the standard breakfast items but with a uniquely Irish twist, and an attempt to fly higher than just eggs and bacon. We sampled a little of everything, but the one thing we did not order, although we would have liked to attempt it, was the Full Irish Breakfast.

In the UK, the Full Breakfast (whether it’s Irish, English, Welsh, or Scotch) is a tradition going back hundreds of years. It’s different from location to location, but mainly stayed with the hearty, stick to ribs kind of foods. It was intended to fill up the stomach long enough to make it to lunch, so there was a lot of food on the platter. That’s what identifies a Full Breakfast today. A large full platter of food.

I copied the description from the hotel for their breakfast:

“Our Signature Full Irish Breakfast includes fresh eggs cooked to your liking, Loughnanes pork sausage, Oakpark maple cure back bacon rashers, sautéed mushrooms & grilled tomatoes, baked beans, hash-browns, and Loghnanes fried black & white pudding.”

And here’s a picture from their website:

I’m a fairly light eater. I prefer to eat small meals, about five times a day. By small, I mean something like six bites of protein, 10 bites of veggies, one slice of bread or one roll, and a glass of my favorite beverage. But it really depends on my appetite, which typically doesn’t wake up until around 10am. I couldn’t eat that much food at the best of times.

So, two eggs any way you want them. I like eggs, but two eggs and a piece of toast will fill me up. Maybe a piece of bacon, too. And the eggs over there are always extra large. They want to be certain no one feels cheated, I guess.

The pork in Ireland is delicious any way they make it, and the sausages are no different. They use a tasty, mild blend of spices with no one flavor overpowering any other. And they’re huge. Picture four of our breakfast links packed into one link, then grilled, then multiply by two. That’s two sausages. Next to two “rashers” or slices of bacon. Bacon that is really ham (to us), and sliced so it’s about twice as thick as our regular sliced bacon. Tastes wonderful, but there’s a lot of bacon.

And potatoes, steamed, then cut into large chunks, then fried, probably in bacon grease. Even if I weren’t already full from the above, a cup of fried potatoes would do it. They serve a cup and a half. That’s a ton of potatoes.

Let’s not forget the other veggies. Fried mushrooms and grilled tomatoes. We’re not talking about button mushrooms, either. These are full on, mushroom caps about 6-8 inches in diameter that have been sauteed and browned in butter. And a tomato about the size of an apple cut in half and the cut side grilled while the grill pan sits in an oven to roast the rest of the tomato. Cooking a tomato intensifies the flavor so it’s an acidic bite that almost makes your mouth pucker. (If you’re wondering how I know all this, I’ve eaten each of these parts of the dish individually.)

But it doesn’t end there. They also give you about a cup of baked beans. I’m not sure why, but cans of baked beans are a delicacy in the UK, and no one ever turns their nose up at them. Neither do I, come to think of it, but I don’t put them with everything. One of their favorite quick dinners is baked beans on toast. I’ve had it. It’s okay, but not something I consider a “go to” meal like they do.

Oh, but we’re not done. They also add a slice of black and white pudding. Pudding, in the UK, is not pudding in the US. It is any sweet treat the ends a meal. So pudding could conceivably be a pie, or a cake, or a cookie. Except at breakfast, where black and white pudding is just another term for blood sausage. Oh? You don’t know what blood sausage is? Please let me elucidate. When an animal is slaughtered for eating, all the blood is collected into a tub. A lot of it is used for animal feed, but a significant portion is used for humans to eat. It’s mixed with a grain, usually oats, and spices, sometimes other ingredients to enhance the flavor (think berries or bark), stuffed into sausage casings, and steamed until cooked thoroughly. The difference between black pudding and white pudding is the white pudding has more animal fat in it giving it a lighter color. YUM! I’ve never had it, and have never been tempted to have it, but since millions of people have eaten it, The Rule states I must try it at some point. To which I reply, screw The Rule. Not gonna do it. Two slices of that at a Full Breakfast, one of each type.

Still not done. Toast, and orange juice. Innocuous, but sometimes that’s my entire breakfast and I’m more than satisfied with it. Today, as a matter of fact.

And now we’re done with the Full Irish Breakfast. As served by our hotel. This is pretty typical of the full breakfasts anywhere in the UK. Sometimes, there’s additions and subtractions. If someone hates blood pudding, I can’t imagine they’d put it on the platter just because they’re “supposed” to so they have a full breakfast. And if someone love porridge, I’ve seen that added in other places, so why not? Fruit can be added in place of veggies, but not too much. After all, the full breakfast is designed to sustain for the next full week.

So, we didn’t have that. But another traditional food, we did have. We went to Galway, and since we had no plans for anything, we wandered around the Latin Quarter, and found the ocean, and found some great shops to browse, and buy things! But we needed to get in out of the cold and we were hungry, so we chose a pub at random, and wandered into paradise.

They sat us at a raised table set up against the bar. The bartender was an friendly, chatty man and decided to take care of us. We were six feet away from a coal burning stove with an open front and our feet immediately grew warm, which warmed the rest of us. While we were deciding what we wanted, the bartender got our drinks, and I had a really good chardonnay. And later on, another.

I got a pub burger. I ate a lot of those. Beef tastes different over there. Maybe it’s the mad cow disease, but the beef is so tender and so tasty. Plus the cheese, and the salad, and in a pub they usually coat the inside of the bottom bun with a pepper sauce which is delicious. I’m going to try to figure out how to make it.

Partner/Spouse had something called a Coddle. And wow, was it ever good. Coddle is a stew or soup, typically made from leftovers, but mostly from fresh ingredients, and is made all year round, although it’s best during the cold and rainy times. Since Ireland is surrounded by the sea, you’d expect it to have a lot of fish or seafood in it, but that’s not the case. Or Partner/Spouse would not have ordered it. And certainly would not have eaten it, if he’d ordered it by mistake.

Coddle is one of those dishes where the recipe has been handed down from generation to generation, and every one is different, and every one is right. Coddle refers to the method of cooking, slow and gentle, or “coddled” until it’s done. It’s traditionally a Dublin stew, rather than an Irish stew, but I never had it the times I’ve been in Dublin. I never even heard of it until we went to Galway. After talking to the bartender, and researching on the ‘net, here’s what I found to be the basic recipe.

1. 8 slices bacon, (called rashers in Ireland) chopped into 1-inch pieces
2. ½ lb. Irish pork sausages (8 sausage links) or other mild sausage
3. 1 lb. potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces (about 8 medium potatoes)
4. 3 medium onions, sliced into rings
5. Ground black pepper, to season
6. 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped parsley, divided
7. 2 cups chicken broth or water

The traditional way to cook is to turn your oven to 275 degrees. Layer each ingredient in a Dutch oven with a lid, then pour on the broth or water. It should come to about an inch of the top of the ingredients, but not cover them. Bring to a boil on the stove top, then cook in the oven covered (coddling) for two hours. Alternatively, you can cook on the stove top by reducing the heat to a simmer after boiling, cover the Dutch oven, and simmer for two hours.

Now, there are differences to the way this is done, and a few that I noted that would make this even better are:

1. Use chicken broth or stock, even though water is more traditional
2. Cut the bacon into 1 1/2 inch pieces and brown them
3. Some people prefer not brown the bacon, so either way seems fine. I’d brown it.
4. Fry the sausages lightly so the outside is brown for a more appealing appearance
5. Add 2 leeks that are cleaned and cut across the leek in half inch pieces
6. Fry the onion in a small amount of bacon grease or oil until they’re softened, but no color to them
7. Add other herbs and spices like garlic, bay, thyme or whatever you like
8. Serve with a crusty, rustic bread. Irish Soda Bread is the usual choice. Lots of butter with it.

Here’s some pics of what it should look like:

As you can see, it’s a rustic dish, but can be elevated quite easily to elegance and fine dining. Comfort food at it’s best.

So those are the two foods that stood out to me while on our trip. I hope you enjoyed hearing about them. Let me know what you thought about it all. Take care, eat well, and as always

Post #825 Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy Jig!

November 14, 2021 at 11:34 AM | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Post #825 Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy Jig!

Hi! Remember me? We are home! The trip was fun, but it was exhausting. As you know, we drove six hours to drop the dog off with friends on Friday before we left. So we got home late, ate toast for dinner, and slept late the next day. Our flight wasn’t until 7pm, so we had plenty of time. After a three hour drive to Boston, we arrived at the airline counter with four hours to spare. But they were fine with that and got us checked in expeditiously. And with an Irish accent. With so much time to kill, and our stomachs growling audibly, we decided to have a sit down meal. And I had wine. Just the one glass cuz it was way too sweet for a chardonnay. Then the six hour flight overnight. The only bright spot was the early check in at the hotel so we could recuperate in bed before trying to do anything Sunday night when we were booked for a literary walking tour at 7pm.

Get off the plane and into the country was simplicity itself. We flashed our vax cards once, and were sailing through. We even had a prepaid taxi waiting for us. It was so cool to see the sign with our names on it. The driver was a hoot, and kept us laughing for the entire 40 minutes to the hotel. Which did not have our early check in, after all. The best the guy at the counter could offer us was 3pm, about 9 hours away. We were free to sit in the lobby, and they checked our luggage so we didn’t have to drag it around. So we plopped on some comfortable couches (the only comfortable seats in Ireland, apparently) and for the next two hours, nodded off, watched people walk by, watched people check out, watched the shift change, and finally went to breakfast.

We ate there every morning since it was included, but the offering wasn’t inspired. We were tempted every morning to try the full Irish breakfast but we’re both light eaters in the morning, and the full breakfast is a LOT of food. We experimented, tried things, but mostly we ate bacon and bread. Irish bacon is American ham, and the breads were amazing. When we went back to “our” couch, Partner/Spouse went to the check in counter and found the previous guy had not made them aware of our situation at all, so he explained it, and they were surprised and shocked that no one was helping us out. Within a half hour our room was ready since the previous tenants had already check out. Lucky us. We were able to go sack out and recover from the overnight flight.

We got up mid-afternoon, and our dog sitters sent us a picture!:

That’s Bear in the front, and his girlfriend Sophie in the back. The toes belong to the dog sitter. She’s got them cuddled on the couch with her. That made us feel better that he was behaving properly.

We wandered around to get our bearings and found one of our favorite spots, Grafton Street. Grafton Street is one of the main shopping hubs in the city, practically in the entire country. Sort of like Rodeo Drive in L.A. We visit there every time we’re in the country. It was Sunday afternoon so there were lots of people and lots of music. We ended up in a steak restaurant eating two of the most phenomenal steak sandwiches we’d ever had. Mostly steak sandwiches have a thin slab of sirloin that’s been grilled to medium rare inside a grilled bun with condiments and veggies. This one was grilled ciabatta bread, with a pepper sauce, a thick piece of sirloin grilled to rare and sliced into pieces easy to bite, and “salad” on top. In the UK, salad is on nearly every sandwich. Not just the lettuce-tomato-onion we’re used to in the States, it’s a full on salad with dressing. It’s interesting to get all those flavors in a single bite, but it also makes every bite slightly different so you don’t get bored.

Monday was the interview, and we’re waiting on the verdict. But the afternoon was spent wandering the city and revisiting many of the places we’d been to before. We had a late pub lunch, so dinner was just snacks. The highlight of the trip was the train trip the next day. During breakfast we asked our server how far away the train station was. She said it was near her house, only a twenty minute walk. Bitch lied. We grabbed a cab, and it was fifteen minutes driving. It was two and a half hours on the train, but once we were out of the city, the rolling farms moved past and we watched sheep, and goats, and cows, and the occasional pig and horse whiz by. Galway is a seaside town, and the Atlantic is right there. If we were to move to Ireland, Galway would be our first choice of location. It’s a touristy town, but there’s also a contingent of people from nearby villages, etc. who come to Galway to get their shopping out of the way. We wandered through different shops to get an idea of what was there, and stopped for a pub lunch in an authentic Irish pub. We sat at a table next to the bar and the bartender took care of our orders. There was a coal burning fireplace about six feet away keeping our feet warm. People had their dogs with them, mostly the small yappy kind, but they were all well behaved. It was a great experience, and we got this picture while we were there:

He’s such a cutie. We were running on the ragged edge of exhaustion, so even though we had prepaid tickets back, we spent the extra money to leave early. We got back to the city right about the time we were scheduled to originally leave. We were happy about that, cuz let me tell you, Ireland doesn’t seem to believe in soft cushioned seats. Every pub is a wooden stool or bench, every restaurant table is a wooden chair. Even the train and plane seats are so thinly cushioned you get no relief. My butt was sore the entire time we were there. Since we did the late lunch, we went to Tesco’s for sandwiches. Do you know Tesco’s ? It’s the UK’s biggest grocery store. There was one next to our hotel so we were there often for sodas and snacks.

Our last day there, we planned for a rest day. We knew the trip home was going to be challenging since we were already tired. We did the last of our souvenir shopping, got some lunch, then dinner, but we stayed mostly in our room relaxing. Our television let us get to our Netflix acct so we watched some of our favorite shows so we weren’t bored. I did a lot of writing, he did a lot of work, we both did a lot of napping.

Thursday, flight home day, wet and chilly day. We got to the airport early, and good thing, too. We needed a negative Covid result on a test from within the last 72 hours! Before we panicked, the airline clerk told us exactly where we could get it done and have the results in an hour. I gotta say, the Irish are all about humor. They are willing to help, and joke while they’re doing it. We got our tests (35 Euros apiece) and checked in. We each had our carryon, and several hours to kill. Good thing, too. We stopped at duty-free to pick up a bottle of whiskey for our dog sitters (also got them an Aran scarf from Galway from here:

so that was cool.) And then decided to go to our gate. Before we got there, we needed to go through security. In the States, the x-ray machines will scan everything in your carry on, so you don’t need to take your electronics out. Not in Ireland. So my $1500 laptop came out; all of Partner/Spouse’s laptops, personal and work, were stacked; cell phones, shoes, watches, it was nerve-wracking trying to keep track of our stuff. But we managed. Only to have to get in another line to go through U.S. Customs. That was new to me, but we just went with the flow. In total, it was only an hour, so there was still time to kill. We found our gate, parked our bottoms, and sat. I watched people, interacted with a few, and generally staved off boredom as best I could. Just happy to be going home.

I won’t even go into the flight home, and the drive home. Suffice to say, we got home late, still full of adrenaline. We did an Instacart order during the drive home so it was waiting for us when we got home. But we opted for toasted bagels for dinner. But we weren’t done yet. Next day, exactly a week from when we dropped him off, we were driving another six hour round trip in fog and rain and wind to get our dog. He was so happy to see us, and we him. Even his girlfriend was happy to see us. We’ve known Sophie since she was a puppy and she’s such a cuddle bum. On the drive home, I sat in the back so Bear to could cuddle with us and know that we weren’t gone forever.

We got home around 630pm and we had planned to have tacos, but we were still so tired, we decided to order pizza instead and relax. By this time, I’d bought wine, so there was that. Oh, but our work wasn’t over. The weather had turned on us, so it was time to change our bedding to the warm stuff. Hard to do with a 70 pound dog who wants to involved in everything. Then, the next morning, we got our Covid boosters. And took the dog to the dog park, sort of. Got home about 11am, and finally, Finally!!, were able to sit for a concentrated relaxing afternoon. I even had a glass of wine at 2pm. And finally, the tension starts to dissipate and the relaxing can start.

And we’re home; we’re warm; we’re a complete family again. We’ve had our tacos. Tonight we’re having crispy chicken wings and roasted veggies. And this week, I’ll be writing about some of the food we ate in Ireland, and some we didn’t.

And finally, an update on my writing challenge this month. I told you all recently about NaNoWriMo which is going on right now (write now!) It stands for National Novel Writing Month, and it’s a push for people to write 50,000 words (1667 per day) during the month of November. There’s no prize, no rules, it’s all on the honor system, and no consequence for not finishing. It started several years ago with some writers in a writing group who decided to challenge themselves. I’ve tried doing it several times, but was successful for the first time last year. This year, I’m well on my way to finishing early. As of today, we’re supposed to be at 23,338 words. I’m at 39,000. According to my stats, if I keep up the same pace, I’ll be done in four more days. I was able to dedicate a lot of time to writing while I was in Ireland, so win-win. A lot of writing groups, programs, and such give prizes and discounts to the people who complete the challenge, but I seldom accept them. I’m doing this for me, not for the prizes. And I can count the words from the blog, which today is at nearly 2000. Yay!

So that’s been my week. How’s everyone else doing? Is the weather changing for good or bad for you? Have you accomplished any goals, been on any trips, eaten any remarkable foods? Shout out and let us all know! Feel free to share the post if you’ve a mind to.

As always,