As I sit here all snug and cozy in my living room, a landscape of white outside from the recent snow – the Christmas lights illuminating the room while Bing Crosby croons in the background, I am overwhelmed with the festivity of the season. My youngest and her friends are baking cookies and laughing in the kitchen, I am sipping a warm, mulled wine with my wife, and my 20-year old cat (bless her soul) is actually curled up next…
Only two weeks left, folks, and all over the four-state region, it really is starting to look and feel like the holidays have arrived. There’s even snow in the forecast for this week (poo-poo to you winter haters – I say bring on the holiday fluff!) Ever since I was a wee lad, one of my favorite holiday traditions was to drive (or ride) around and look at all of the houses that really went out of their way to…
I was forced into town this past weekend to pick up the final touches to complete my Christmas shopping for this year. While I bought most of my gifts online (an absolute joy at this time of year), there were some stocking stuffers and other knick-knacks that had me out and about among the masses to complete my Christmas lists. And oh, what masses there were. The parking lots were full, the mall was crowded, and I had to wait…
Let’s face it, 2020 has been depressing. The only glimmer of hope we have left before this god-awful year gets put behind us is the Christmas holidays. Yes, now that Thanksgiving has passed us by, I’m totally into the holly-jolly mood of the season. Normally, we only put up our tree on the day after Thanksgiving and the rest of the house decorations come sprinkling in over the coming days. Not this year. Like some Hollywood production, it all went…
Apparently, I shouldn’t have raised a hand against the year 2020, else – like a woman scorned, she hammers back with a vengeance. I should probably explain. Last week, I wrote a brief article on how 2020 basically sucked in a number of ways, but the fickle hands of fate must have read my blog and thought “who is this clown?” and “how may I now reap misfortune upon him?” Let me give you a brief summary of my past…
To say that I’m completely over 2020 by now is an understatement. What a year. The pandemic rages on (yet people where I live still refuse to wear masks because – you know – ‘Murica). My kids are attempting to get through their 2nd years of college and senior year of high school at home by staring at a screen all day. We’re shopping around for colleges (for my youngest) that may (or may not) be holding classes next fall,…
For home cooks all over the country, the most important meal of the year is just three weeks away. Sure, Mom, Dad, or Grandma can occasionally burn a pizza, undercook some vegetables, or even hammer that fish in the oven from time to time and all will be quickly forgotten – but screw up the Thanksgiving Day turkey? The family will talk about and remember that indiscretion for years to come. That’s a lot of pressure on the host, and…
OK, so we made it through another Halloween, the clocks have been set back (for whatever reason), and I changed out all of my smoke detector batteries (a lesson hard learned from years past). Now it’s time to look forward to the two biggest holidays on the seasonal calendar – Thanksgiving and the “C” word. Notice I mentioned one and not the other, for it seems like every year Thanksgiving takes a back seat to that other ogre of a…
Well, this week marks another appearance of Halloween – and this year, it has the extra bonuses of being on a Saturday night, it marks the arrival of a second full moon for October, and it’s also the night we set our clocks “back” to Standard time (an “extra” hour of sleep for Sunday morning). It’s a spook-tacular trifecta! Even though the pandemic has put a damper on most holiday celebrations, it seems clear that come hell or high water,…
I’ve had the good fortune and opportunity for a few weekend getaways recently, and it has reminded me of what I like and dislike about travel (in general). These opinions are entirely my own, but let’s see how they stack up to yours: Likes The planning/anticipation I love to research the city or destination I’m planning to visit. I scour the internet for restaurant reviews, points of interests, and sample itineraries. I look at photos, maps, and try to get…