The Edge of Empty

As I was studying for my Civil Procedure final, I was munching on Nabisco Premium Soup & Oyster crackers . It made me think back to my childhood. I was one of those crazy kids who couldn't stand for food to touch on the plate. I also was a bit of a picky eater so meal times were fun for my mom. The worst thing was biting into a casserole and coming across a chunk of hidden onion. Actually, that wasn't the worst. The worst was my dad's hamburgers--you never knew what might be lurking in them. Eddie Murphy knows what I mean: Most summers, I stayed at my grandparent's house. I am guessing that my grandmother was a picky eater also because she always bought fun foods for me to eat. One of those foods was oyster crackers. Anyway, I grew up to have a picky eater of my own. Using what I knew from my childhood, I often served the boys what we called Bits & Pieces for lunch. Basically, it was a variety of finger foods such as cheese cubes, ham cubes, fruit slices, ...

Now that the holidays are over, I am willing to venture near a mall.  Since I offered to buy lunch, the boys decided that they could be seen in public with their mother. (They also had gift cards that were begging to be used).  During the course of our trip, I ventured into the ladies room and this is what I  saw: Okay, this isn't the nicest mall in our area and the bathroom was small so I originally thought that it was nice that they at least thought about providing a lounge area.  However, once I got closer, I was infuriated by the sign shown below. To be honest, I can barely stand to go to the bathroom in a public restroom.  I sure as heck would never eat in a bathroom.  That the management of the mall thought that they were being considerate providing a bench in the bathroom for a mother to feed her child astounds me.  But then again, I don't think that they were trying to be considerate.  At 5'6", I am just above average height, and I ...

I am glad to report that tastes in Norfolk, Virginia, aren't all  unusual  as evidenced by the mecca of goodness pictured below. I know that many of you will dispute my favorite caramel colored beverage as the elixir of life. And for you and your life, that may be true. But for me, the day doesn't begin until an icy cold Coca-Cola has been opened and I have heard that beautiful  sound  that only carbonated beverages can make. (BTW, the sound even has its own  Facebook page . And just to keep the blog educational go  here  for the science behind the sound). I have always said that it is a good thing that I wasn't around back when it still had  cocaine  in the formula. There is no need to lecture me on the dangers of soda--this is my one bad habit and I have no desire to break it.

I grew up in the Deep South so I am very familiar with the strange concoctions that Southern cooks make from tomatoes. However, I have never heard of the item advertised on this sign by the restaurant Taste in Norfolk, VA. I must say that it doesn't sound like a good thing, but this recipe from Simply Recipes may change my mind. Anyone out there ever tried Tomato Pie or have a recipe to share?

This was one hungry ferret sitting down for dinner in his favorite Japanese c hawanmushi bowl. He hardly came up for air until the bowl was licked clean.

As winter break came to an end, A E did a quality control inspection on the snacks his boy was taking back to school.

I have shared A E's love of water bottles previously .  We decided to see what he would do with milk jug. He did have a tough time figuring out how to take it away, but he managed.  Eventually, he worked the lid off and was able to get a better tooth hold.  He struck out when he tried to drag it under the ottoman though.

My family eats out way more than we should.  My father predicted this more than 25 years ago when the Hubster and I were dating.  I have mentioned previously that my family rarely went out to eat when I was a child, so the number of times that the Hubster took me out to dinner was shocking to my parents thrifty nature.  Of course, I thought it was great.  And since my family was also very religious, there weren't a whole lot of other options of sanctioned activites. Needless to say, proprieters of many restaurants in our area know our family on sight and not a week goes by that one of them will ask about this missing family member or another.  Of course, we each have our favorite establishment, but occasionally we will want a change.  When a new restaurant opens up in our area, we are sure to be one of the first families to try it out. Recently, the boys came home saying that there was a new restaurant that they wanted to try. This new restaurant was call...

This past weekend, we were in Philadelphia for a triathlon. As we drove through Philadelphia, we saw signs and ice cream trucks advertising water ice.  Of course, we aren't above amusing ourselves by poking fun at things that strike us as unusual, and something called water ice certainly falls into that category.  Now,  I don't know what they make ice out of normally in Philadelphia, but everywhere I have lived, water seems to be the main ingredient.  What ran through your head when you read the title for this post? Anyway, I felt guilty later about poking fun so I decided to do a little research.  My research shows that water ice is Philly-ese for Italian ice.  Having never been to Italy, that didn't shed a lot of light on the subject for me.   More research turns up that it is not water at all but fruit juices or fruit puree frozen in a similar fashion to ice cream.  By composition, it more closely resembles sherbet but is made without any da...

Did you know that the Dairy Queen Blizzard turned 25 last year?  I remember when the Blizzard was introduced which makes me officially...old.  Anyway, there was no Dairy Queen in the town where I grew up but there was one where my great grandfather lived.  Do you remember when a trip longer than 15 minutes lasted fuh evah?  When I was little, the 65 minute drive to my great grandfather's small town felt like an eternity.  Maybe it felt so long  because  I was hoping for that extremely rare occurrence of a stop at the Dairy Queen.  My parents were teachers  and the budget was always tight, but occasionally we would stop at DQ and we could get a small cone.  We never got to choose--it was always just that small vanilla cone, but it was a treat nonetheless. Once I was able to drive and had a job, those stops at DQ were almost mandatory when I ventured on my own to my grandparents house.  I probably tried something different each time-...