Monthly Archives: April 2017

Food! And Holidays

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Growing up I had an Italian-American Grandfather, and two Polish-American Grandparents on my dad’s side.  Holiday’s were about church and FOOD.  Christmas may have belonged to my Italian Grandfather, but Easter, that belonged to my Polish Grandmother.

Kielbasa, Pierogis, Ham, Golabki, and on and on until you are really full.  Oh, and then candy, you cannot forget the candy.

My grandparents are all gone now, and if you have read any of my earlier posts, you know I am not exactly a chef.  I do try to carry on some traditions.  Right now my girls are grown and on their own, and I do not have any Grandchildren yet, so Easter is a quiet holiday for us.  I decided this year to make Easter dinner.  This is not the first time I have made Easter dinner, but today I am thinking about the foods of my childhood.  I am on a diet, so any excuse to think about food seems reasonable.

I cannot make the labor intensive foods like pierogis and golabki, but I can make a ham, and grill up some kielbasa.  Also, deviled eggs were always around on this holiday, guess they needed to do something with all of those dyed eggs, and they are easy enough to make.

I see a Monday morning workout in my future.  I intend to enjoy every nostalgic bite.  Maybe even a peanut butter egg for dessert.

Happy Easter!

Lady General

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Today is the fourth anniversary of my mothers passing. I miss her every day. When going through some old files a few days ago, I came across this letter that I wrote for my mom for her retirement dinner, many years ago. It is not sophisticated, but it does share just a little of how I feel about her.
Lady General –
Thought a lot about what I was going to talk about tonight. It leads me to a nickname my mom has, that ties together experiences of those who have worked with her over the years and those that she raised, her family.
The nickname “General” was given to my mom. If you know my mom I do not even need to explain it to you, she is in control, running the show, leading the troops, anytime she is involved.
I joke with friends I have met over the years, especially those I have met since living away from home, those who do not know my mom. I joke that even in my forties and several hundred miles from home, she can command my attention and get me to do what she wants.
I titled this little story “Lady General” because for a while that was my mother’s AOL screen name, the one she would send me countless chain emails from, you know the kind that tells you if you do not read it and send it to 2500 of your closest friends that you will get hit by a bus tomorrow.
But I picked the title “Lady General” because despite being the General of the family, my mom was and is always a mom, always a lady. She has worked hard for a lot of years, raising four kids, while keeping all of you in line at Crozer. I said to her just yesterday, I still do not know how she raised us and worked, yet still had dinner on the table, and we all sat down and ate together, most nights. I have been a working mother for almost 20 years now, and gave up on trying to do this and just married a man who could cook and was home more than me.
Sometimes when I remember you being there, I remember you barking out orders and making sure everyone was doing what they were supposed to do (aka what you wanted them to do), that is where the general comes in. I always remember you being there, for events, for dinner, sometimes even when I didn’t want you to be there, for that, I will always see you as a Lady, a mother.
Thanks Mom.

Wine

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On this journey, I have enlisted the help of Weight Watchers.  It seems like a reasonable way to get help.  All it asks you to do is pay attention to what you eat and exercise.  Since this is what I am trying to do, and the online price has come down considerably, I am giving it a try.  (PS – I am not paid by them, although maybe I could be?).

Anyway, wine is four points for five ounces; you get about 30-points a day.  Who only drinks five ounces of wine? No, that is not okay.  In addition to the points per day, you get weekly points.  Having points for wine helps you realize that drinking wine every day is probably bad.  So, you need to figure out how you use those weekly points, just for wine, maybe, four days a week.

I have to do math for this, I do not like math.  Thankfully!  Weight Watchers has a calculator that does math for you!  If I keep my food to the daily points, I can use my weekly to consume wine!  Want to know the truth?  I came up with this as I am writing this, and it is brilliant!  Enough exclamation points, I will calm down now.

This is important, so let’s do the math now to figure out the wine.  Four days a week, and you get 42-weekly points.  This is not a whole number, so let’s use 40 points, four days a week for wine.  That is 10-points per day, and two points left over for like a Hershey Kiss or something.

Five ounces of wine is four points, ten points a day, four days a week is 12.5 ounces of wine, four days a week!   That seems reasonable, right?  Geez.  That actually sounds like a lot.  Guess I am going to survive this weight loss thing after all :).

Down eight pounds so far.  Have a great week everyone!