Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Birthday Boy and More!

It’s Day 31 in self-isolation as I write this… Worst of the tornado and storm outbreak in the South, slide by us last night.  Lots of folks around Chattanooga TN, Laurel MS and other locations in Louisiana and Alabama are now dealing with death and destruction on top of the Covid-19 pandemic… Mother Nature needs to take some time off!

We had plans to visit Laurel Mississippi later this week to mark our 41st wedding anniversary.  We’d canceled the trip due to the coronavirus and as it turned out given their second tornado this year, we would have had to cancel anyway.  Out best wishes and prayers to this beleaguered community.   The town was really making a comeback!  Stay the course!


Our most recent ‘holiday’ celebration was a long distance one.  Our son, David II’s birthday was this past weekend.  We sang him “Happy Birthday” over the phone and, given our vocal ‘talents’ I’m guessing that he’s thankful that we only sing to him once a year.  I’d publish his age, but 1) He wouldn’t like it, and 2) It is a reflection on our ages as well!  I will say that for his age, he looks pretty good!

Love those pants!

Halloween!


At the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and Museum

At Grandma's House in Concord Michigan

Here are a few old photos of our ‘little boy’ when he was indeed a little boy...except for his teenage photo.  He grew up while I just grew 'out'.   Time does fly by doesn’t it!  Early on, I even had some hair...  

Moving onto the one consistent topic that I’ve been covering during our self-isolation…food!


Given all of the meat processing plants closing down across the country, peanut butter may become a real staple for many more households than do now!  Of course, especially for Laurie, it already is and has been a key dietary item.  This was her recent mid-day lunch…easy and satisfying…


Big Dude recently posted a luscious tuna casserole that he’d created.  Check it out at http://bigdudesramblings.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-best-tuna-casserole-apple-pie.html.  In any case, we were ‘inspired’ by his post as we both fondly remembered tuna casseroles as true comfort food.

So, we set about creating our own version of this staple.  We did follow a recipe with a few substitutions.  The above photo shows the result.  It wasn’t a winner… One major screw up was when I added the panko to the mixture instead of using it as a crust on top. (For the crust, we acerbated the drought by adding crushed croutons.  The combination caused all of the liquid to be absorbed…and the casserole ended up being just slightly moister than the Sahara Desert!  

We also agreed with Big Dude that more tuna would be a big improvement.  We did eat it for dinner but there is a lot leftover!  It will be a challenge for me as I don’t like to waste anything, especially in the current environment.  More on this topic will follow as I ‘attack’ the leftover problem.

The next time, we just may resort to Tuna Helper!  Making the casserole was a lot of work and we don’t fancy ourselves as chefs…



So back to ‘safe food’ preparation!  Note the package of Rana Roasted Garlic and Chicken Ravioli.  Boil water, add ravioli for allotted time and then toss with a ready-made marinara sauce.  Voila, dinner is served!  It was pretty satisfying too, especially when sided with some fresh asparagus.



Now this is a true basic food item!  This one took both of us back to our childhood… I’ve only had Frito Pie once in the last 10 years and that was in a country style restaurant.  Laurie hadn’t had it for so many years she’d be displeased if I revealed how long ago it was.

Our Frito Pie entrĂ©e was simple to prepare.  Canned pinto beans with canned chili and shredded cheese over Fritos.  Talk about a satisfying meal in trying times… Of course, no claims of eating healthy are being made.  I’ll bet that you can tell Laurie’s serving of Frito Pie from mine.  I ‘had to’ add those spicy Jalapeno slices!

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Stay Safe and Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

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