Pinch Me!

I can’t believe that the Cleveland Indians baseball team is in a chase for the Wild Card spot in the baseball playoffs. Not only that, but the Cleveland Browns football team own a 2-2 record. Could this be the effects of so-called Global Warming? Or could Cleveland fans be in a Pot of Gold, somewhere over the rainbow? For me, I feel like I died and woke up to something I always prayed for – hoped for – and dreamed about.

 

I’m sure Clevelanders feel a lot like me – pinch me, I must be dreaming. They feel the excitement, total disbelief, and abandoned joy. I am going to ride this wave of excitement, until the teams bring it home. Rooting for winning teams is really a different feeling, and a whole new story.

 

Win – lose – whatever happens, I am just going to savor the moment.

Van Gogh on a Barn

 

 Driving along Dutch Ridge Road in Beaver, if one is alert, one can catch an eyeful of a Van Gogh painting on the side of a red barn.

 

My friend drove me to this barn and we parked across the road. My mouth fell open…there was no doubt that the rich golden yellow painting was a full blown replica painted on the side of the barn. I never imagined seeing something like this out in the country. The painting was a replica of Vincent Van Gogh’s Noon Rest, where the famers are resting in the wheat fields.

 

I made my friend turn around and go into the gravel driveway. Luckily the barn is on the property of Felicity Farms Bed and Breakfast. We got out of the car, and I walked over to the side of the barn and happily snapped a few pictures of the painting. It was worth pulling onto the grounds. The weather was beautiful and so was this magnificent reproduction. Van Gogh would have been surprised and proud. He has always been my favorite artist, and I felt a pleasure swelling up inside of me. This was a perfect picture to go along with this perfect pastoral scene.

 

I snapped away, taking pictures of the huge red barn, the vegetable, flower, and herb garden, the small red shed and the horses placidly grazing in the fenced in pastor. All in all, this was a pleasant ending after eating dinner at The 1810 Tavern.

 

 

 

This was my dessert – all thanks to my friend Suni –Thank You!

The 1810 Tavern

 
Situated on the corner of Bridge Street in Bridgewater, PA is the historical looking brick building, The 1810 Tavern. On a Friday evening, my friend and I had reservations for dinner there. The outside of the Tavern looked like an old renovated historical building.

 

Inside it was just as inviting as well as homey. Some of the walls were exposed brick; the others were painted a warm color, wear-worn wood floors and an ornate old fashioned metal ceiling. The artwork on the walls was eclectic and we found out that they could be purchased by asking at the bar.

 

Outdoor dining was available but since it was a hot day, we opted to eat inside. We sat in the corner surrounded by walls. From my vantage point, I could see directly in the kitchen. It was spotless as the chefs moved around preparing their food orders.

 

Both my friend and I ordered our own tapas of fried green tomatoes. When the plate arrived, it was such a beautiful artistic creation, that I had to take a few photos of it. The food was on a square plate and in the center was Romaine lettuce standing up with a food decoration on top. There were three fried green tomatoes, accompanied by chopped up red tomatoes and onions, some whole green tomatoes, and a small dressing. Not only was the plate of food artistically pleasing to the eye, it was positively delicious.
 

 

I told the owner as he asked how everything was…I complimented him on his chefs and said the food was good and whoever the chefs were – they were artists. He commented that anyone that he hired was allowed to do their own thing. He was a smart owner as far as I was concerned.

 

And believe me the chef continued his magic with our entrees. We both ordered a filet and it came out exactly perfect; just the way we ordered it. The filet was arranged on a plate with a crispy potato pancake and fresh asparagus along with a tinted pink dollop of goat’s cheese.

 

It’s obvious The 1810 Tavern offers a different type of food to its patrons then the usual fried bar and tavern food. The Tavern menu changes on Wednesday.  They offer local, seasonal and fresh foods to their patrons.  Unfortunately desserts are not part of their menu.

 

If you are ever in the area, make a reservation at The 1810 Tavern. Believe me, you will not be disappointed.

Grandparents Day

On a particular Friday morning I was in for a special treat. I was invited to Grandparents Day at my grandchildren’s elementary school celebration. The day started out with Mass at St. Sebastian’s Church in the North Hills area. It totally amazed me to see the church packed with students, teachers, parents and their little children, grandparents and others. And this wasn’t even Sunday! The Church seemed alive and thriving in this day and age.

 

After Mass we signed into the school, and I ended up with a ‘cheat sheet,’ where I wrote the names and room numbers for each of my grandchildren’s’ classrooms. I walked down the hall and went into each classroom, where my three grandchildren were: Bella, 2^nd grade; Anna, Kindergarten, and Michael, 3^rd grade. The upper class and pre-school didn’t participate in the programs…so I missed seeing Matthew, 7^th grade, and Chloe in pre-school.

 

By the time I made it to each of their classrooms, the kids were happy to see me, and they shared a picture that they drew. I met their teacher and saw their classroom. Besides getting a cookie from each classroom – my biggest treat was seeing my grandchildren. The pictures that they drew are now hanging up on my refrigerator, and are a constant reminder of that special day. I wouldn’t have missed Grandparents Day Celebration for the world!

Vegetables Gone Wild

 

                                                                                                                              

 

Usually vegetables look pretty normal; vibrant colors and good shapes. Nothing seriously is odd with them to make anyone stop and comment on them and take a picture of them. But one day while working with the fresh vegetables, one of the cooks pulled out a beautiful ripe purple eggplant when the rest of us heard, “What the …” Of course we all looked up to see her holding an eggplant with what appeared to be a long growth coming out of the vegetable. We had to stop our work and walk over to see this strange vegetable. The growth looks like a Pinocchio nose and of course we all had to comment on it.

 

 

A few minutes later someone pulled out a red pepper that had a large growth coming out of the side of it. Another round of “What the heck,” “Strange vegetables,” “How weird.” And of course, I lucked out and had my camera with me and had to take a picture of the vegetables.

                                                                                                                            

Then it was back to work. I pulled out the large box of mushrooms to work on them. When I was almost finished, I pulled out a very bizarre mushroom with two stems. It looked like an ugly tumor and not a vegetable.

 

I related all this happening to a friend who wondered if the vegetables had come from an area by Three Mile Island. I thought about that and finally shook my head because my daughter gets her produce delivered from The Strip area. But where it was grown was a mystery. 
 

For what it was worth…I never expected to be entertained that much in the catering kitchen. But I guess I was lucky all thanks to some weird vegetables.

UPMC Film Crew Catering

Awhile back, my daughter picked up a few last minute catering jobs. A friend gave her name out to the person in charge of UPMC’s Film Crew. That person contacted my daughter for a number of catering meals. Erin provided the company with a catered breakfast of bacon, seasoned potatoes, quiches, cut up fruit salad and an assortment of pastries.

 

At other times Erin prepared and delivered lunches, which included Southwest Chicken with a Black Bean Corn Salsa and Ancho Chili Glaze, Pork Loin with Apples and Brandy Sauce, Confetti Rice Pilaf, Zucchini Custard Bake with mushrooms and thyme, along with other delicious sides. Another day it would be Bourbon Beef, Chicken Bruschetta, Roasted Red Skins with Rosemary, and more. A third luncheon included a mouth watering Chipotle Cashew Chicken, Mediterranean Tortellini Pasta, and a fantastic tasty Zucchini Squash aglio olio with sun dried tomatoes.

 

Having Katie, one of Erin’s workers, is a real asset. Katie not only helps to prepare the food but she is also a pastry chef. So the cookies and pastries are from scratch like the out of this world moist brownies, delectable orange scones, chunky chocolate chip scones, peanut butter cookies that melt in your mouth, to the delicious orange cookies with orange glaze. Just give Katie a recipe and let her perform her baking magic.

 

That week with all the different meals, it kept us busy and moving in the kitchen. It wasn’t until Erin received a lot of compliments and her check, that we all could breathe easier.

KNITHOPE

For the past two weeks, when I have found myself with a lot of time on my hands, I have been knitting scarves. Instead of just watching television, I have knitted and completed seven scarves and am going to work on an eighth one.

 

My scarves are going into a box at the Northland Library for KnitHope.  Northland collects the hand knitted scarves or crocheted ones, which are distributed to the Pittsburgh areas homeless people and families struggling to make ends meet.

 

Scarves need to be 5 inches wide and 60 inches long in any color that can go to a man or woman. Any variety of washable yarn should be used. The drops off boxes are located in the upper and lower level of the Library. The scarves can be donated from August 15 to October 15.

 

If interested – this is a worthwhile project, and a great way to use your left over yarn. For more information about this project, go to KnitHope’s website: (www.knithope.org).

Musings on Family Life

While babysitting my grandchildren one night, my oldest grandson entered the kitchen wearing a football jersey. Matt is an interesting kid and we have always been able to talk to one another. He is an average built kid, but tonight he looked rather bulky, wearing his football jersey. While we were talking, Matt took off his jersey and asked me to hold it. I draped the jersey on my arm. I watched him hand me 22 jerseys before he got down to a t-shirt and his old self. Wow -  22 jerseys which included two jerseys for Ben Roethlisberger, Hines Ward, Reggie Bush 2 jerseys for Troy Polamalu, Brian Urlacher, Tony Romo, 2 for Peyton Manning and a few others.

 

“What no Browns jersey?” I asked. The answer was right in front of me. Guess no die-hard Steelers fan who hates Cleveland would be caught dead or alive wearing that jersey. But my grandson was pretty amusing and entertaining that night.

 

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There’s nothing like free labor in my garden. I used my two grandchildren to help me in my garden before school started. One pulled weeds, dead flowers and plants. The other dug holes in the ground and planted my four mum plants and one yarrow plant.

 

The jobs were done perfectly. My newly dug in plants look great along the side of my house. My side garden looks positively clean and great for the remaining blooming Shasta daisies and other flowering plants.

 

I treated my grandchildren to lunch at their favorite pizza shop. My reward was a clean garden, jobs well done and spending a few hours alone with my grandchildren.

 

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Last year, I wrote about paper clips and how much I liked them. I like the metallic colored ones the best. My one friend gives me different types of paper clips that she finds. I have bought some smaller colored paper clips in different shapes like circles, triangles, etc. My grandchildren saw them and told me how much they liked my paperclips. So, I searched my writing bag and all of my drawers and came up with some extra paper clips – ultra huge ones, different shaped ones, and some odd ones shaped like an airplane.

 

I figured it would take a lot for me to use most of the specialty ones. It’s kind of nice to know my grandchildren can make use of my extra paper clips, as they either save them or use them at school.