Category: Food

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 10, 2009

It’s that time of the week again. It’s time for the flagship weekly series here on the big green blog – the one that started it all back in 2007 !

1. Fire season is in high gear all across America’s Riviera. It started early this season due to the cold and dry winter that we enjoyed – oh yeah – and the frost that killed the grass all around and made it crunchy. Over the past 5 months (since Oct.) we’ve only had one rain-soaking day. America’s Riviera – ON FIRE !

2. Travis watched the beautiful sunrise kick-off Tuesday morning over in Seoul South Korea at around 6:50 AM local time. That was at 5:50 PM EDT yesterday evening here in America’s Riviera. Nearly 14 hours later at around 7:40 AM EDT this morning I watched that same sunrise kick-off Tuesday morning outside of my east-facing office window at work.

3. I want to fly Jet Blue somewhere. It looks like a really cool airline. I spent a lot of time on their official web site last night. I took some virtual trips to Austin Texas, Washington D.C., and Hamilton Bermuda. They don’t fly to Dallas-Fort Worth, but they fly to Austin. I’m almost willing to fly in to Austin and then grab a rental car and drive up to the Dallas area the next time I visit Texas.

4. I have a fun afternoon planned for Southland Mall later this month. I plan to see the comedy blockbuster “I Love You, Man“, and then I plan to eat pig-out at the all-new Buffalo Wild Wings. I have a feeling that I’ll be visiting the mall more frequently now that BWW is in full effect.

5. I’m having problems losing the pounds that I packed on during my recent Carnival cruise. It appears that I’m actually gaining even more weight, and that I’m stuck in the mid-170s (if not approaching the upper-170s) ! I may have to contact “The Biggest Loser” for assistance in this matter.

… And that’s what I’m thinking about on this Tuesday night.

Driving Food Money Television

Monday Night Countdown

I’ve had the same checking account ever since the 2ND day that I’ve lived here in America’s Riviera – way back in December of 1987. Later this year I’ll write Check # 3,000. I may throw a ‘checkwarming’ party to celebrate the momentous occasion. 😀

This week on your ‘Monday Night Countdown’ I’ve got the TOP 5 most intriguing checks that I wrote exactly 20 years ago this month in March of 1989.

CHECK it out in chronological order:

– Check # 376 – 07 March 1989 – $52.20 – VISA
I didn’t make a lot of money back then. A $52.20 VISA bill makes me LOL today !

– Check # 377 – 07 March 1989 – $37.47 – International Cable
I actually had cable TV in my dorm room at the air base. We had to pay for it ourselves. I had Showtime as a premium channel back then. I enjoyed watching “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” every week.

– Check # 379 – 16 March 1989 – $9.50 – Little Caesar’s Pizza
Once upon a time just outside of the north (hospital) gate of the old air base there lived Little Caesar’s Pizza. They delivered constantly to the dorms on base from lunchtime clear through late at night. My old checkbook registers from back then are totally littered with evidence of Little Caesar’s Pizza meals. PIZZA ! PIZZA !

– Check # 381 – 22 March 1989 – $97.12 – Southern Bell
YES – I had my own telephone in my dorm room, and I had to pay for my own service. I still have that original telephone today, but I don’t use it anymore. The sound quality is shot on it. That was incidentally a payment for two months of service because apparently the check that I had sent for the previous month’s bill was lost in the mail. (I keep meticulous records.)

– Check # 382 – 22 March 1989 – $326.40 – Allstate Indemnity Co.
As a 21-year-old ‘kid’ I paid over $1,100 for 6 months of automobile insurance back in 1989. I pay less than half that amount today in 2009. I’m a mature driver today. The fact of the matter is that I was back then as well.

Food Health Weather

The Major’s Walk-A-Thon

Time: 6:28 AM – 7:14 AM
Sky: Partly Cloudy
Temperature: 65°F
Dewpoint: 57°F
Relative Humidity: 75%
Winds: E 6 MPH
Barometric Pressure: 30.30 Rising

Here are my thoughts in 15 words or less:

– It’s my 2nd walk around my neighbourhood of 2009.
– The last time I did this was the 1ST Saturday morning of January.
– That was way too long ago.
– I hadn’t done it since then due to a wide variety of reasons.
– Some of them were too legit to quit – like I was out-of-town.
– Some of them were poor excuses not to walk – such as ‘too cold outside’.
– Hopefully I can get back into my groove again on Saturday mornings.
– That is until it gets ‘too warm outside’ by the time mid-May rolls around.
– This morning was the last morning of Standard Time until November.
– That means dark early mornings begin tomorrow.
– The Sun rose at 6:39 AM EST this morning.
– I began my walk 11 minutes before that.
– Tomorrow morning at 6:39 AM EDT it will be pitch dark outside.
– I don’t need daylight at 7:30 PM at night.
– I need it at 6:30 AM in the morning.
– I’m not a fan of Daylight Saving Time.
– That’s right – it’s not ‘Savings‘ – it’s ‘Saving’. Look it up.
– Oh yeah – about this morning’s walk:
– I walked for 46.6 minutes.
– That made it about a 2.5-mile walk.
– That made it the longest walk ever !
– It nipped my previous 43.2 minute / 2.3-mile walk.
– My neighbourhood smelled good all around.
– I smelled dozens and dozens of varieties of breakfast in the air.
– It all made me hungry for some home-cooked food.
– Too bad I don’t cook.
– But Burger King does !
– After this past rollercoaster of a work week I needed this walk.
– It made me feel good.
– It cleared my mind.
– I haven’t felt this refreshed in a long time.
– I’m ready to rock and roll.
– I’m ready to file my income taxes.
– Be sure to catch the ‘Saturday Night Retro’ tonight.
– You won’t regret it dude !

Blogging Food

Monday Night Countdown

Let’s go GREEN !

There we go. I thought of this week’s countdown earlier today while eating my MASSIVE Chinese Food Lunch.

It’s my favourite green vegetables:

5. Lettuce – I can’t enjoy a MASSIVE half-pound swiss cheeseburger at Fuddruckers without lettuce – lots of it – shredded style. Perhaps I’ll be able to squeeze in a Lunch at Fuddruckers while in the northeast suburbs of Dallas Texas later this week. Danny ?

4. Celery – Give me a whole bunch of celery stalks and a bowl of french onion dip, and I’m good to go. I can’t eat just one. I’ve got to eat at least 21 !

3. Broccoli – It used to be my favourite green vegetable, but it’s slipped a couple of notches over time. If it’s not cooked properly then I don’t like it as much. It’s got to be cooked / steamed hard so that it’s soggy to the taste.

2. Spinach – I love to eat spinach. It makes me strong like Popeye The Sailor Man. If the spinach is creamed then it’s even tastier. A Thanksgiving Dinner is simply not complete without creamed spinach.

1. Collard Greens – Publix makes them pretty good, and so does Shiver’s in Naranja Lakes Florida (a local BBQ joint). This has recently climbed to the top spot because although my experiences with collard greens is admittingly limited I must state that the collard greens at Shiver’s is possibly tastier than anything else on the menu – including the sweet potato fries. In fact it may just be the most delicious food item that’s available for consumption on U.S. 1 in Miami-Dade County !

That’s how I rock and roll this week with your ‘Monday Night Countdown’. This blog is now going on a short two-day hiatus. I’ll be back on Thursday night to kick it into high gear with a fresh new ‘Thursday Night Mini Thoughts’. Until then – keep it real my vegan friends !