I Don't Do Lunch

I'm not sure why this may be, but I am not a fan of lunch. I don't care for sandwiches and salads, yogurt doesn't do much for me either. If I'm to have lunch, I want a meal. A hot meal with all the necessary components. I want to sit down and eat it. Not eat in my car or while doing something else. When I eat, I want to take the time to enjoy my food. If I just scarf something, two things will happen: I will eat too much of it and, I will not be satisfied with it. It will be maybe an hour before I'm foraging for something else.
When I'm working, most of the time I skip lunch, since that is our busy time. I may eat a small snack in the late morning, but most of the time, I won't eat until 3PM or so. And that will be a proper meal, almost like dinner. Later on in the evening, I may have a small snack of something, but I try not to eat too much, too late.
I'm considering trying the protein shake for lunch thing. For one thing, I can just sip it and have an apple and then I won't have to worry about becoming ravenous later on.

In the meantime, I guess I'll just eat this yogurt.

Photographic Memory

Sometimes I take pictures. I have a little Nikon automatic, which is not fancy, but gets the job done. I have a lot of hobbies that I pick up and put down as the Muse moves me, so from time to time, I may share some projects that I work on.
These pictures are from the Western Carolina mountains in November a few years back when I visited with my family.

Anti-Climax

All that fuss and bother and running about had me working up a head of steam about leaving my current account. I cleaned and organized and cleaned again but in the end...pffft! Over, with all of the fanfare of a leftover party balloon.
I don't know exactly what's next. I know what the plan is; but sometimes what's planned and what happens aren't exactly similar. So, for now, I'm going to enjoy the quiet time. Try to relax a little, do some things I enjoy. After all, we never know what may be round the next bend.

Try not to step on the party balloons.

Pardon My Dust....

We all need a little change now and then, even in the blogosphere. I was in the midst of contemplating the start of a new blog, brainstorming names in that way that we do; when I realized that as hard as I was racking my brains, nothing I could come up with was better than what I already had!
Feeding the Muse has been mostly a blog about my life as a Chef, although it sometimes veered into this or that, and that has been swell. But as I see another bend in the road on the horizon I feel that I would like to take the Muse in some new directions. So you may see some reformatting, some different looks and different content coming soon.

don't panic.

Summertime...and the Livin' is Easy

I'm not sure about fish jumping; but in the South Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial beginning of summer. Kids are almost done with school, grills are firing up and pools are open for business. Now we all know what a hardcore Coca-Cola fan I am; to a fault. in fact. I drink entirely too much of the stuff for it to be good for me. So I set about the task of creating a summer beverage that would keep me happy without filling me with calories and/or chemicals.

Sweet Tea Spritzer
I'm sure that someone else has made this before me; so I won't say I "invented" it. But I like to think that I've adapted it to my tastes and made it my own.

I brewed Luzianne tea at super strength (one family-size teabag and about 10-12 oz of water) and also brewed some Celestial Seasonings Peppermint tea at 2x strength. I let them steep for about 5 minutes and poured them into a carafe with 3 packets of Splenda. It didn't make very much, but that's ok.
Pour about 3 oz of Sweet Mint Tea concentrate into a tall iced tea glass and then add ice. Then fill the rest of the glass with club soda or flavored seltzer water. It's fizzy and refreshing.

Adult modification: Add 1-2 oz of Limoncello to your glass before you top it off with seltzer. Makes a helluva Arnold Palmer for the over-21 folks.

Now, go relax on the porch.

One Year Later

I haven't posted anything here in one year, almost to the day. The Muse fled me at the end of last year and I could not find anything to say about spending another year in the same damn kitchen. Although this year, I finally got some competent help. So that made a nice change.
It was a contract year this year. And my company lost. So, for better or worse, I will not be in this kitchen ever again. The school year is winding to a close and so too, my time there. There are a few things I will miss; some people and some of the kids. Largely I will be glad to be gone.

It's leaving time...

Trouble by the Bushel

So here is a fun story...
I needed apples. The kids love apples. I called my produce company and ordered Gala apples, 113-125 count. Now, the "count" refers to the number of apples in a bushel, which is the case size. So 113-count means there's 113 apples in the case. It's a smallish apple, so it's great for my little kids.
The next morning, the delivery guy comes in with my apples. I look at the outside of the case...Red Delicious? Ru-roh, Shaggy! Those are not the droids I was looking for. I send them back. That afternoon, I call the produce company and talk to a person, order same apples. Gala, 113.
The next morning...Red Delicious. SERIOUSLY?! Did I not just send these back yesterday? Can they not read or do they not know a Red Delicious from a Gala? And if that is the case, why do they work for a produce company?! Delivery guy calls warehouse, they say they don't have Galas. I say, "You couldn't have told me that before I ordered them? I would've changed my order." I order Granny Smiths, 125 to be delivered that afternoon. They show up, with Granny Smiths, 77 count!!! These are freaking HUGE!
Call produce company, ask why the hell my apples are wrong, for the third time. Then order my granny smith apples for the next day, vowing that if they come in wrong this time, there will be a ruckus.
The next morning, I have a case of Granny Smiths, 125 count.
It took four days to get it right. *facepalm*

How bout them apples?