Sunday Stuff 5-14-23
Mother’s Day & Microwaves & Cruises & Stuff
This will be the 18th Mother’s Day Without My Mother.
The first few years were a little tough when I realized that she wasn’t around to call and celebrate, but as with most things, time has healed those wounds and I don’t dwell on it much anymore. To those that have lost their Mothers, you have my deepest sympathy and understanding and my support that the pain you may be experiencing will get better.
And..I want to take a moment to acknowledge those with difficult maternal relationships. Mother's Day can be a painful day for some and I recognize that not all Mothers are qualified to be one. There’s no easy way to come to terms with this and everyone has a different journey to heal from this pain and Hallmark doesn’t make a card for it. Hopefully you have someone that became a strong “mother figure” in your life and you can celebrate them.
There are so many opportunities for a play on words here but I will defer to my better nature and keep it clean.
Anyone that knows me knows that I love to go on cruise vacations, but they also know how much we love Spain. As a matter of fact we are committed to going to Spain regularly to become immersed in the culture and decide if we might want to live there later. We are so committed that we cancelled a 12 day Northern European Capitals Cruise to spend a couple of weeks in Spain. So after months of trying to figure out an itinerary through the Basque Country and Cantabria I was getting frustrated with how things weren’t really coming together (it’s a long story for another time). So…..after a particularly frustrating planning session we just looked at each other and said, maybe we should have kept our cruise and just had an easy vacation.
Well, that’s all the encouragement we needed to give each other to see what cruises were viable out of Barcelona on the time frame we had already booked flights to Madrid. Turns out we had two options 1) Celebrity Beyond on a 7 day to ports we have already been to or 2) Virgin Voyages Valiant Lady on a 7 day to ports we’ve never been to Toulon, France - Marina de Carrara, Italy - Corsica & Ibiza). So Virgin it is. This way our trip is mostly planned for us and all we have to do is get a train from Madrid to Barcelona and back and we still have a few days back in Madrid to do a day trip to Toledo. Cantabria and Basque will have to wait for another trip.
We’ll be Rockstars in a Cheeky Corner Suite on Virgin. We wanted an opportunity to compare the Suites experience on Virgin vs. Celebrity. So stay tuned, I’ll let you know what I think.
Virgin has billed itself as the “uncruise”, but I think we are going to find many similarities and quiet spots when we want them and I feel that if we want to explore our wilder side, those moments will present themselves as well. If you’ve never been a cruiser, they might make a believer out of you and you can join us on an adventure.
Tuscany in Your Kitchen
Chicca Maione (bio linked) is one of the reasons I gained a few pounds during lockdown. When you look at Chicca’s site you can see that she is passionate about teaching people to cook and eat fresh, healthy, Italian cuisine. While her home and studio is in Tuscany the dishes she teaches are from all over Italy.
During the Pandemic she could no longer host groups in her kitchen and home so she put together a team to teach classes online. Fortunately, I had some connections to some of her team members and I joined early on and have been a member since 2020. It’s been fun to watch her classes grow and the whole process has now matured and it is truly something I look forward to every couple of weeks. Each season of classes will incorporate 6 hands on classes. For each class we receive a shopping list and detailed instructions so that we can be prepared on Saturday afternoon to all cook together.
I encourage you to give this type of hands on learning a try. I have learned to make so many interesting things that I would likely never heard of. I now have go-to recipes and techniques for dinner parties, outdoor picnics, easy weekday meals. As long as you are a member you have access to every class video and all of the recipes in the online library. I usually have a friend or two over while I’m cooking to watch or join in with me. The great part is you get to eat your work at the end.
Go to her website and look around. She also hosts classes in her home / studio in Tuscany, she does group tours of the region and a host of other things that might make your time in Italy more enjoyable.
I Bet You Didn’t Know This - Microwave Edition
It’s been a challenging appliance week in our kitchen. Our Dishwasher is possessed and from watching a lot of YouTube channels in research I also learned that I don’t know how to properly operate my Microwave Oven (the beauty of the YouTube Algorhythm)
This nice man on the featured video has been repairing appliances for 29 years and he has a video with his best appliances from a repairman’s point of view. Apparently there is not much difference from one microwave to another, but the way most people open their microwave while it is cooking is the most common cause of malfunction.
We should all learn to use the pause button, rather than just opening the door up while the machine is operating. Watch this little segment in the first part of his video:
Things I also learned:
I don’t load the dishwasher correclty
I am not the only one that will stop the microwave with 1 second left so I don’t have to hear the beep.
I really want a Miele dishwasher, but I guess I want the handles on my appliances to match more than I want the Miele
Summer Survival - Flies
Fly Season has started full force at our house.
I have extolled the virtues of the Fly Fan to anyone who will listen. If we leave a door open for one minute it’s shocking how many flies I find in our house. We built a beautiful deck for our back yard so we could enjoy sitting and eating outdoors, but the flies made it a challenge. Last year I saw these Fly Fans on Amazon and I had to give them a try and boy, were they a game-changer. I assumed they were going to be gimmicky and not work and I was happily incorrect. These reflective blades spinning over our food are the perfect fly deterrent. They really are a game changer. Now they seem to come in several styles and base shapes. I’m going to share a link to the basic ones. They also seem to be sold in packs of 2, 3 and 4 as opposed to singles. But honestly, you will want several.
The Best Gift for Mom
Time! The best gift you can really give your mom, your wife or your partner is the gift of your time. My mom has been gone for 19 years now and I still wish I had spent more time with her. More than any piece of jewelry or other tangible gift I bet you mom would like to spend time with you. So, while gifts are great, I want to encourage you to take the gift in person, make mom a lunch or dinner with your own two hands, and sit down and spend some time with her.
