I think this morning I am finally beginning to feel somewhat human again. Except for this wretched cough which just won't let go, everything else feels pretty normal. I feel so sorry for anyone who gets this flu as it is really quite debilitating. I spoke to my father yesterday afternoon as I had been told that he had gotten it and he's not very well at all. If you could spare a few happy thoughts for him I would so appreciate it. He has had to have x-rays and is on anti-biotics. He lives on his own and has nobody to care for him. I asked him to promise me that he would get one of my cousins to go and pick him up some groceries, like some milk, and juice and fruit, bread, eggs, etc. Maybe one of them will cook something for him as well. This is another one of those times when I wish that I did not live so far away . . . .
I think I have watched more television in this past week than I have in the whole year previous to that. Daytime television is really quite rubbish . . . I pity the person that is subject to having to watch it on a regular basis. It's really quite awful . . . well, except for the cooking channels. I quite like the programs "Diner's Drive In's and Dives" and "You Gotta Eat Here!" I love to see the different things on each restaurant's menu and how they are put together. Occasionally they even come up with a place that I have eaten and that is even more exciting to me.
Yesterday, for instance, on "You Gotta Eat Here," they did the Lobster Suppers at New Glasgow on Prince Edward Island. I've eaten there a few times in the past, and although I am not fond of Lobster and did not eat the lobster there, I have eaten the rest of what they offer, and have to say there is a very good reason for it's popularity!! Their potato salad and homebaked pies!
One place I always loved to go to eat through the years was the Elm Tree Diner in Houlton, Maine. A small diner on the North Side of town it was always very busy and the food was always great. We always had the club sandwich with fries and coleslaw on the side . . . and my ex would have a big piece of pie for dessert. I never had any room for dessert. We were never disappointed, It was one of those great old fashioned diners with the menu written on placemats which were stuck all over the walls. I don't know if it is still as good as it always was in the past, but we always enjoyed our visits there.
Another place we always loved to eat was Anna Mae's Restaurant and Bakery in Millbank, Ontario, Canada, very near to St Jacob's. Owned by Mennonites, it's a bit like eating at mom's, with each night's meat being cooked and served according to a schedule. I was always very happy when we landed there on Turkey night as their roast turkey dinners were phenomenal. Everything homemade, including the bread and the pies were absolutely wonderful. I never had room for pie, but I always enjoyed a taste of everyone else's.
It was like Sunday dinner, every day . . . and that's what a great restaurant meal experience should be, don't you think?? They say truck drivers always eat in the best places . . . I don't know how true that statement is, but I have noted in my travels through the years that the best places I have eaten have always been frequented by truck drivers. The Irving Oil Big Stops are usually safe bets when you are travelling in Eastern Canada. There is a good one just outside of Moncton, New Brunswick that is always really busy and the food is always really good. The last time we ate there was a couple of summer's ago and nothing had really changed. It was still fabulous.
When I was a teenager I went onto a Trip Exchange Program through the school called the Voyager Program. As a group we did an exchange with students from Northern Quebec. Part of the trip was a stay in Ottawa of a few days, where we got to see a few sites in the Canadian Capitol, as well as a Lionel Hampton concert, which was fantastic. Each night we ate at the same restaurant while we were there. It was called the Kascade Restaurant. We had a choice of a few things on the menu. I chose the Barbequed Chicken and it was so good I had it each night that we were there, and here I am on a morning some 40 years later still thinking about it and how delicious it was.
(This chicken looks pretty yummy. Going on my to make soon list!)
I think the fact that I am thinking of food at all here this morning is a very good sign . . . I may even actually get some cooking done here today! The sun is shining and it looks to be a great day in the offing. I'll be calling my mom later today to see if she has gotten a date for her surgery. I am looking forward to being able to go and help her out, although there is a big part of me that hates to leave Todd and my home . . . Mitzie. I am hopeful that I will have an opportunity to see and spend time with each of my children and the grandchildren when I am there. Who knows when I will have a chance to go back again. With the economy being the way that it is, it could be a very long time . . .
Oh, I did so something for you all yesterday.
It's just a bookmark which you can copy and print out for yourselves. I was just sketching with a pencil on a piece of scrap watercolor paper and I kind of liked how it ended up and thought it would be the perfect bookmark. I hope that you like it.
Well I will leave you now with a thought to carry through your day . . .
"To be blind is bad, but worse it is to have eyes and not to see."
~Helen Keller
Cooking in The English Kitchen today . . . Chicken Cacciatore.
Have a super Wednesday!
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