Singapore Sling Sunday Our Daily Dinner

Singapore Sling Sunday

notyourmomma 10 years ago
I couldn't think of many "S" words for the day. I'm thinking brunch since I don't have to be to work until 4:30 this afternoon. I haven't shopped and we have just about emptied the deep freeze of my makeaheads. No questions about it, I need to cook this week....none of lollygagging about in bed having a pity party for these old bones. My friend that works at another company is still trying to recruit me for a better paying position with better hours, but I'm afraid to be without health insurance for a three months training. And to start at the bottom of the rung again...in less than two years. But, to think there would be no overtime, no holidays, no late nights and no weekends worked would be such an advantage. I need to pass that insurance licensing to get prime compensation. I CAN re-invent my future. There is no gain without risk.

I can't believe the foods that Benj is trying out these days. Bravo for him to break out of his comfort zone. And Brava to Janet, for breaking ground in yet another unfamiliar country and doing the exploring and assimilation of a culture as well as you have in such a short time. You have hit the ground running. Jim, too. I think this is the adventure of a lifetime. How exciting and gratifying to see your son expand his horizons so successfully. Good job, mom and dad. A successful launch of your fledgling into the great unknown, with some minor trepidation and great expectations met. It is most satisfying to know that your child has found his niche and is living the life he has dreamed of. So many "young" adults flounder without finding the work that truly satisfies....Benj won't suffer from wunderlust, he has gained the tools to successfully navigate this world. Well done my friends.

So, I'm off to Urbanspoon to see where we can partake of a hearty brunch and I'll pack my lunch of granola, yogurt and mandarins for my dinner.

Okay, I grew up with a Daddy who sold used cars and at one time, Open Road Campers. We had the best camping trips...with the near luxury of home if you count cramped drop down beds from the ceiling and cans flying out of pantry cabinets to hit you in the head when daddy made a sharp turn. It was great fun to explore many of the campgrounds in Florida, we hit all the springs and parks in the Keys. Dad would get us every other weekend and would plan a terrific outing during our spring and fall seasons. During the summer he would rent houseboats and we would spend our vacations on the water. Hideous truck-sized mosquitos and treacherous rip tides, but there is something to be said about being anchored in a cove and diving from the top of a houseboat to cool off in the dog days of summer. Yeah, we really roughed it with the Open Road frig, stove, shower and toilet. Dad's camping was upscale and was devoid of animals. Remind me to tell you about saving one of the houseboat mate by pulling him from a riptide while he was being pulled under the boat. NO FEAR, I hear Jimmy call for help and jumped off to the opposite side of the houseboat, caught him in my arms and swam against the current to the bow of the boat. Jimmy was my friend then and is a friend in my heart now.. Now with my momma, we actually camped in a tent on the ground without benefit of a mattress at a piece of property we owned. We built our campfires and roasted our meals over coals. I can not forget the oyster roasts on sheet metal, squirted with generous amounts of garlic butter. We would carry up a bushel of oysters from Cedar Key, use a couple of cinder blocks to support our sheet metal and dump those briny beauties over a roaring hot fire and pop those shells and slurp the finest salty plump oysters, the finest the Gulf offered! And lest any one forget S'more's over a campfire as a decadent dessert? Camping with my momma we roughed it without the luxury of a toilet. (My mom grew up in WV and an outhouse was the usual and nothing to be concerned about). We would practice pistol shooting, aiming miserably for the soda/beer cans on the huge bent magnolia tree. We would bathe and brush our teeth in the waters of Lake Tsalapopka with nary a worry, it was always cold. We would fish off the "Phylron", our 18 foot outboard in the lake, mom would clean the fish and fry it in cornmeal in cast iron and make her "famous" hush puppies. Her surprise foil packet dinners were always a treat. I simply could not tolerate the ghost stories told by the light of a Coleman lantern, especially the man with the hook. I remember the shivers listening to the sounds of the woods around us and trying really hard to be the brave one. We endured the huge mosquitos in the woods, but somehow, it never seemed to be an issue in a tent versus a camper. We had so much fun and it is a memory that has just brought cheer to my heart. The oyster technique served me well when I used to drag race my 1972 Dodge Dart with the 340 4 barrel souped up orange/red racing car with mag wheels, black leather seats and air shocks on the flats of Apollo Beach before it became a suburb. We had many an oyster roast over a cinder block set up, with old refrigerator racks, cold PBR Tall boys, mingled with sand, sand flat races and long slow summer sunsets. Aw, memories.

Freddie was going through boxes of flotsam and jetsam of our past. He gave me a bunch of letters that I had written to my mother over the years. Tender memories to hold close to my heart. He, then, told me that the letters mom had saved from her other daughters and granddaughters were in the trash. I had, a not-so-serene moment as "notyourmomma" and blasted him for throwing away memories that might just be precious to my sisters and nieces.
Fortunately we were able to salvage the cards and I'll will pass them on to the senders for their memories of our momma.
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chuckieb 10 years ago said:

It is 5:45 p.m. Sunday here in Taipei. I could sooooo go for a Singapore Sling right about now. :) I don't blame you for wanting the security of Health Insurance for the next bit Tina. That other job sure does have its perks though! Don't give me too many bravos. I know from past experience that each day has its ups and downs as is with all aspects of life and some days I feel more adventurous and some days I feel totally out of my comfort zone. It is very very hard having Benjamin move so far away. It was an incredibly long trip to visit him and sure we did it this time....but I'm not getting any younger. I can't picture myself doing it in another 25 years. And if I didn't have Jim with me for whatever reason, would I have the guts to do it alone? And it is all so very foreign. As I said we are so lucky to have Benjamin speak the language, be our tour guide and translator, but if he's not with us, it's hard. In moments of bravery one can say that it'll come eventually or that you will figure things out, but in other moments it is all very overwhelming. And yes, we did 'launch' Benjamin successfully but you all know that you worry about your children to the end of your days. And yes, he has a job and is making his own way, but it's not perfect and he could use more hours to make for a better lifestyle. He's contemplating returning to University to help with Translating which is really what he wants to do but at what point should he pull that trigger. On one hand as a parent I'd love to be able to just hand him money to see him through and make things easier, but on the other hand then he wouldn't learn life's lessons would he. It's a tough balance. Enjoy your brunch. Can't wait to hear where you go. LOVE the Open Road camper and your memories of past camping trips in two totally different styles. My parents owned a "Caveman Camper" and that's how we camped when I was young. We did a lot of camping. Didn't have a toilet or shower in it but it wasn't roughing it that's for sure. Good times, good times. Wow on the Oyster roasts. Lake Tsalapopka. Wow. What an awesome name! Jim had a Dodge Dart when I first met him. :)
We had a lovely walk round the Chang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, National Theatre and Concert Hall and then over to a Creative Art Park. Lunch there, at a little Italian spot. LOL. We all had smoked chicken sandwiches. Benjamin is bringing us somewhere this evening for dinner and to see the city at night. He said the name but I can't make hide nor hair of it. :) Wishing everyone a lovely day.

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JoeyJoan 10 years ago said:

A quick good morning before Madeline wakes up. I posted a photo of Madeline and her sewing machine. It is real a singer pixie plus. She asked Santa for a sewing machine to be delivered to Grandmama's house so she could learn to sew with Grandmama. She even gave me a picture of her in Disney visiting Santa and Mrs Claus asking for the machine. So Santa showed up while Madeline was at my house Christmas eve with a sewing machine. I made sure to get someone that looked similar to the santa in FLA. He only came to the porch rang his bells waved and then ran. She really is to young for it so I expect nothing and just let her play with scraps trying different stitches. She is learning to sew a straight line and that is big. We made her Easter dress yesterday. The material was already gathered at the top and salvaged hemmed at the bottom so you only needed to sew a straight seam down the back and attach shoulder straps. No patterns, little cutting and little pinning. Perfect for a first project. I did most of it but she did enough to feel like she helped make it.
Tina that new job offer sounds interesting. Change is always scary but to not have the extra hours and weekend holiday and night work would certainly tempt me.So nice to find all those good memories. Glad you could save the cards and such.
Janet even with my husband I am sure I couldn't make that trip. I am glad my Billy is staying close to home I would be lost without him close by. I do understand some of your concerns, Billy is 30 and has had as many ups as downs as he lives his adult life. When he has a low time I so want to reach out and help or just fix it for him but I can't I have to let him figure it out for himself. It is hard to stop being mom to the rescue because you never stop caring, worrying, loving and in general being Mom.
I am like your Jim all that exotic food would be giving me a hard time. I guess I am not meant to be a world traveler. Any where in the states and I all over it. Been to Mexico twice and Canada was my playground growing up in MI.camping, shopping and boating trips always happened in Canada. My parents always loved to joke that we had to go south to go to Canada.
Have a good Sunday everyone. Good night Janet

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mommyluvs2cook 10 years ago said:

Good Morning! What great memories you have of camping Tina!! You almost make it sound like a blast minus the no toilet and sleeping on the ground with nothing under you :) The food sounds great though... love that you just caught your own food and ate it right there at the camp sight... SO COOL! Glad you salvaged those letters to your Sisters and Nieces...they should love to read them again!
It's good you have your own hotel room now Janet! Glad to hear you are adjusting to the time. Hope Jim can over come stomach issues with the food, that stinky tofu would have me gagging all over the place...I can't stand certain smells...
Your lunch at least sounds pretty easy to eat, smoke chicken sandwiches...yum! You guys have a wonderful day today :)...or well evening? :)
That is so sweet about your Granddaughter JJ!! Lol on Santa waving and then running off...the picture of it makes me giggle..but I'm sure she LOVED it! I will check out the picture after my hour of typing here lol :)
Ouch my sunburn is killing me today! I put some aloe vera on it last night (from my live plant) and got up this morning looking at my kiddos and wondering why in the heck I got it so bad and they look just fine. Then it hit me! My blood pressure medicine has it right there on the warning label on the bottle. "You should avoid prolonged or excessive exposure to direct or artificial sunlight." Grrrr... I guess sun screen for me for a while!
On a good not my blood pressure is almost normal. My systolic reading was 118 yesterday which is normal, but my diastolic reading was 89 which is a little high. I was thinking of this for dinner Posole Verde but I will have to cut the ingredients WAY back!
Have a good lazy Sunday everyone :)

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Cosmicmother 10 years ago said:

Hello everyone!
Joey, my brother's name is Billy! Well we usually call him Bill now though, but the kids call him Uncle Billy! Lol @ going south to Canada ;)
It must be hard to be in a foreign country Janet, especially with language and signs etc. When I was in Amsterdam and Belgium I found it hard, but luckily we were able to find people that spoke English. But we didn't look any different, so we didn't get the stares! I didn't realize Ben was thinking of staying there for that long? I just assume when people go abroad to teach English it's part-time or they come back after a couple years! That would be hard to think he'll be that far away all the time! My parents are almost 70 yrs old, and they can't travel anymore. They came here last summer, and it was too much for them! They both ended up in the hospital a day after each other, my dad for a few days and my mom for 10 days! My brother is getting married in Hawaii in November and they just can't go :(
We use to have a tent trailer when I was younger, but us kids slept in a canvas tent. Later we had a camper in the back of a truck then my dad got a small motorhome. When we left for College, my parents lived in it for years while he travelled around for his job. After that we never had a "home" to go back to! Pete and I roughed it in a tent, then we got a tent trailer but it was old and leaked, so we bought a Winnebago. We sold it before moving here a couple years ago. So we got a large cabin style tent, theres 4 rooms in it, so enough room for the dogs to have there own bed, and for our king size air mattress! So we're not roughing that much except for using an outhouse!
What wonderful memories Tina! Going through pictures and things really brings back the memories! Wow, a dodge dart! Some of my friends would drag race on the 1/4 mile we called it, a deserted road. My girlfriend had a 69 Chevy Nova, with mag wheels. While being a passenger and her springer spaniel on my lap we wrapped that thing around a telephone pole. Because the seatbelts were wrapped up and pinned above the window we never used them! Luckily I held on to her dog for dear life and we didn't fly through the windshield! We weren't even going fast, it had just started to rain and the wheels were too slick while turning a corner. Her dad bought her that car so she would be safe, and by golly we were!
Pete's in a similar predicament at work Tina. That's a good mantra, there's no gain without risk! I'll have to tell Pete that one! Good luck with your decision!
No plans today really, we might BBQ at home if the weather is ok. Sophia is sick again, ugh, this is ridiculous! I'll probably take her to the walk in clinic later. This is her 3rd sinus/throat infection since Feb. There is a Measles outbreak at her school too. She had her shots, but I wonder if the virus can still be passed around and not get the rash, hmmmm?? 11 teachers left, and hardly any students came to school last week!
Anyways, wish you all a wonderful Sunday!

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Cosmicmother 10 years ago said:

Hey Michelle, yikes on the burn! I'd be putting on the 100 spf sun block! That dinner sounds yummy! I've never seen hominy before, is that a bean of some sort? I'm glad your blood pressure seems under control, enjoy your lazy sunday too ;)

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NPMarie 10 years ago said:

Good morning all!

Michelle, I have my kale prepped and measured to 4 cups..packed for your Sausage And Greens Egg Bake. Kale sure is boingy, it was fun packing it..LOL I need to get going and make it already..I'm moving slow this Sunday morning:) Take care of that sunburn!

Tina, at least you have some time during the day before going to work! I love the camper:) My dream is to one day own an older VW camper..they are so cool:)

Janet, that's great Benjamin is acting as your translator..I would love to go to Italy one day, but I want to be able to speak Italian..enough to get by at least! It's almost to the point I think I may be getting too old to travel so far..I think it would totally wear me out...

Joey, I love the pic of you & Madeline! She's a beautiful little girl:)

Shona, Hope Sophia feels better! What will you be BBQ'ing today? We always do the same old thing it seems:)

Dinner will be Outback Steakhouse Alice Springs Chicken with mashed potatoes & salad.

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone:)

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NPMarie 10 years ago said:

Michelle, excellent recipe! Sausage And Green Eggs Bake

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laurieg 10 years ago said:

Hey all
Had a nice day with Rachel. She had an early morning field hockey game so we went to McDonald's for breakfast. Then after the game we went to walmart for some beauty supplies. Then we got pedicures tonight we are going out with my mom and sister to celebrate a belated birthday dinner with mom now that she is back from Florida. The weatherman promised a nice sunny day in the low 79s for today. Well her lied! Cold and rainy.

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mommyluvs2cook 10 years ago said:

Hi Shona! I told my husband if we ever got a camper, I would love to give camping a try! Sorry to here about Sophia AGAIN!! Omg that is crazy, at what age do kids get the Measles shot? I just looked at Briauna's shot record and it's on there, but not marked off yet as getting it, and she is always up to date on her shots. Must be their 12 year shots...
Hominy is corn with some sort of process done too it to turn it into hominy which doesn't taste like corn anymore...it almost has the texture of a chick pea.
Yay thank you for the great review Marie! :) Yummy on that chicken!
Sounds like so far you've had a nice day Laurie, despite your weather person lying too you lol! Have a nice dinner! Off to make some brownies with the kids :)

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Cosmicmother 10 years ago said:

Hey Marie, I think we're going to make burgers for the grill. We do the same things over again too! Usually burgers, Beer can chicken or steak! I sometimes do chicken sausage kabobs and veggies. Our grill doesn't like chicken, so that's why we do a whole chicken on the beer can! Your dinner sounds awesome!
Hi Laurie, sorry you have cold rainy weather! Sounds like you had a great day, enjoy your night out with your Mom! :)
Hey Michelle, ugh, she's so sick, we just got back from the doctor with more antibiotics. He said she has a tonsil infection, he doesn't think it's measles. But then you don't get a rash until after the fever is gone. It starts behind the ears then works it way down the body. I think you get the 2nd shot at 5 yrs old. Not sure when or if there's a 3rd shot? I think they said Sophia was up to date until grade nine, so that's about 14 yrs old? I think the immunization schedule varies from Province to Province, State to State! There's also a whooping cough outbreak south of us! Yikes! Thankfully I decided to immunize, we delayed it though and I just got Sophia up to date last winter, thankfully! Yes, get a camper! A camper just makes everything easier, you can store and pack things ahead of time and most newer ones come with A/C too in case it's really hot! It's a safer feeling knowing you have a door to lock when you go to bed :) We don't have room here to park one, but I hope to get one again at some point.
Joce, so glad you got the hutch you wanted! It looks nice, and wow it's big! Glad it all worked out. I hope you had a good day.
Take care everyone! :)

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