Week of Feb. 6-12

Monday: Today started a new schedule for me, as a result of my Aprons obligations. Before I got any further, let me say that I realize how lame it is to talk about nothing but my job, but the fact is my job is all I do. Anyway, I didn't have to be to work until 1, so I got up at about 9 and had a nice, leisurely breakfast. After that I went skating for a bit, took a shower, and then went to work. There was an ordering mix-up so I ended up doing the same damn bratwurst and onion relish recipe we've had for a week now. Customers were not surprised, nor were they compelled to buy anything. On the plus side I knew what I was doing and didn't have to learn a whole new recipe on my own.

Tuesday: Imagine pretty much a carbon copy of Monday, and that was my day Tuesday. While I was skating I saw a couple of older people who were skating at well, but they were geared up like they were on their way to the X-Games with helmets and wrist guards and all kinds of elbow and knee pads. I wonder what it will be like for me when I reach that age where I am no longer invincible and self-preservation starts to take hold. I guess its already starting, since I no longer driver everywhere I go like I'm being timed. I remember not so long ago in high school when I would blast down the Interstate at triple digit speeds. Sometimes I would intentionally leave late for school, so I could justify "making up some time." As far as speeding goes, though, I think the constant fines I keep racking up have lightened my lead foot considerably.
After work I was watching TV, and I started watching Rachel Ray's $40 A Day in Paris, and she actually started to convince me that Paris might not be too bad of a place to visit again. I had to keep reminding myself that the Parisians she was interacting with were probably rounded up by the producer beforehand and screened for arrogance and smarm. I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't French at all, but rather French-speaking Swiss folks who were bused in specifically for the show.

Wednesday: I was excited for Wednesday, because I had gathered the night before the makings of a delicious sandwich. To know me is to know of my almost fanatical quest for great sandwiches. While driving cross country with Katie, I re-routed out trip so we could go through New Orleans specifically to have a sandwich I had seen on TV. Anyway, the sandwich I built today started with home made wheat bread which I toasted under the broiler because the slices were too big for our meager toaster. For toppings I added turkey, Colby jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, and the crowning glory was slices of ripe, buttery avocado! The sandwich was my selfish reason for being excited about Wednesday. It also happened to be Katie's birthday, as well as my Dad's birthday and my Uncle Jon's birthday. We went over to my Grandma's house for pot roast dinner and baked potatoes. Dessert was a chocolate cake with caramel and chocolate sauce drizzled over a cream cheese frosting. Everything was delicious, as you would expect it to be at Grandma's house.

Thursday: Travel day! I took the weekend off of work so I could go with Mom and Dad and Tiger up to see Nicole in Nashville. It takes about 12 hours, depending on whose driving, to get up there, so today was pretty much completely taken up be driving. Tiger, who usually hates to ride in the car, was uncharacteristically calm. We made it to Nashville after about 11 hours, including a minor bout of getting lost off the Interstate. Nicole had a dinner ready for us, called "Mexican Surprise." I didn't taste any Mexicans in it at all. Friday: Nicole had class Friday morning, so the rest of us, excluding Tiger, spent the morning taking care of stuff around her apartment, including a clogged sink drain that turned into quite a fiasco. Later, we met up with Nicole for lunch at a Turkish restaurant, which reminded me a lot of a Greek restaurant with the gyros and stuffed grape leaves. But what do I know about Mediterranean cooking styles? After lunch we went for a brief tour of Nicole's school, including an assault on the school bookstore, which I believe was constructed specifically for the parents. After we left the school with all things bearing the name "Meharry Medical College," we went to the grocery store to stock up on supplies for dinner. This is where we learned that it was going to snow that night, and everyone and their mother was out in force gathering provisions for the oncoming blizzard. We hustled through the shopping so we could get home before the snow hit, and indeed it did start snowing on the way home. This was exciting for Mom, because she'd never seen snow actually falling from the sky. We got home and flipped on the news to learn that Tennessee Department of Transportation was ready to brine the streets, salt the highways, and bring out snow plows in an instant. We also learned that the total expected snowfall was, drum roll please, 2-4 inches. Yup, 2 to 4 inches of snow is enough to turn this whole state into panicking Chicken Littles. I don't think even Forida would have made this much of a stink over maybe getting 3 inches of snow. We settled into Nicole's apartment to watch the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics while I made creamy squash soup, salad, garlic bread, baked ziti, and triple chocolate s'mores pie. It was delicious, and with the exception of breaking the Cheers glass I brought Nicole from Boston, went off without a hitch. Meanwhile Brian Williams, aka Downer McDepressington, introduced almost all the countries with some sad anecdote, including the collapse of infrastructures, the fact that certain countries had never hosted the Olympics because they are too poor, and how often they lose at certain events. For those of you who saw the ceremonies, I think the part where all the people formed the skier was pretty cool. So was the Ferrari burnout.

Saturday: Turns out the massive amounts of snow did not come to fruition, and the whole city breathed a collective sigh of relief. Snow did come, just not to Nashville until later at night, and certainly not in the copious 4" range that promised to bring the city to its knees. We spent the early part of the day at Nashville's Farmer's Market, which was really just a flea market with a food court. There was an international market where you could buy all sorts of interesting stuff, provided you read whatever language the labels were printed in and trusted your well being to the questionable food safety guidelines practiced in the country of origin. The rest of the Farmer's Market we given over to booths selling knock-off perfumes, cheap "oriental" rugs (the only thing oriental was the people selling them) and socks by the pound. We bought a couple of ready-made Indian dishes at the international market and went back to Nicole's place to give them a try. Indian people like their food with a little spark. After that we all went to see "Chronicles of Narnia" and go to dinner at Carrabba's. The movie was pretty good, and followed the book as well as I can remember it from 18 years ago. Dinner was a fiasco, and all I can say is that the Carrabba's in Nashville has some room for improvement. On the plus side, it did finally start to snow, about an inch worth, which lent itself to a very lively snowball fight, such as it was. We rounded out the night by watching the Olympic recap and making extra soup and bread for Nicole to enjoy well after we've left.

Sunday: Leaving time. We planned to be on the road by no later than 9, and because we're Allred's, that turned out to actually mean closer to 10:30. We finally got on the road, and enjoyed the winter wonderland that was Tennessee. Seems to me the state can shrug off a few inches of snow just fine. It snowed, off and on, all the way into Georgia until about Atlanta, where it finally warmed up to around 36 degrees. I can honestly say that I have no use for snow unless it is piled up on a mountain, and I am wearing skis and a one piece ski suit that makes me look like a very fashionable astronaut.

Winners & Losers

Winner: That commercial where they guy is wearing a Snickers toupee. That part isn’t as funny as the random Asian guy at the end smiling and eating a Snickers bar.

Loser: Gillette, for insisting that I now need a 5-bladed razor with replacement blades costing almost 30% more than that already ludicrously priced Mach 3 blades. I still don’t see how dragging five blades across your face is any less irritating than dragging one blade across your face 5 times.