First 3 days of June

It has been along time since I wrote. I always seem to have stuff swirling in my head to write about. I'm always watching something on TV or at the movies, or just through observation of our world. Alot has happened since I last published a blog. My oldest son left for the US Navy, our house was foreclosed (what a blessing!), our "quick" transition and downsizing (again, another blessing!), and the whole gambit of emotions ones goes through. The one thing that has not stopped, is food. The one constant in our life. So I thought I would write for the month of June 2012, my summer food thoughts, what we eat, what I create, the hits and misses, and just journal our "food" life for the month.

Friday, June 1st here in Dayton, was just miserable. It was cold, low 60's, gray, and raining. Started the morning with a phone call that my Mom had hit a deer (uninsured) and had damaged her car. We were frantic. She was able to get to her destination and finish getting her nails done. She then drove the car home after telling me she could not make left turns. Don't know how she did it, but she called us to say she was home. We rushed to her house and saw the damage. She is fine and well, the car is in the shop.

Since I knew I was going to be blogging about the June food, I thought it was fitting to write all that we eat for the month, so the first meal that day after checking the car damage was Waffle House. My mothers pick of dining destination. In our family a milestone or tragedy is always sponsored by food. When my Dad died, his death was sponsored by Cabo Wabo Tequila, Corona, and Steak and Shake! So you hit a deer, damage a car, and go to Waffle House. The weather miserable, I had the one comfort food at WH.....grits and chili! I love grits and chili. With alot of Tabasco! My first meal I would be mentioning! So good.

After getting my Mother transportation for the weekend, I couldn't have her making all right turns, we went to the grocery. We live so close to our urban Krogers, that I am able to go once or twice a day, mif needed. I had my small list and coupons to save a few pennies and off we went. I needed 3 special items that day....pint of buttermilk, baking soda, and baking powder. The last 2 on my list, I had not purchased since our move. I was fixing cornbread for dinner along with a pot of pinto beans. This is my husbands favorite meal.

I spent $27.70 at Krogers. Bought the 3 mentioned along with yogurt, bananas, fresh romaine and red leaf lettuce, apples, and tuna fish.

I had soaked the beans the night before, pulled leftover spiral sliced ham from the freezer, chopped it up and added the ham to the beans that cooked all day. The cornbread was perfect. Added chopped Vidalia onions and the spouse was in heaven.

So it seemed like my first day of writing about food in the month of June, I ate the same thing for lunch and dinner, beans and corn.

Saturday, June 2nd was a beautiful day. Not hot. No A/C. We had recovered from our cold, dreary day of the day before and the Zombie apocalypse from Friday night. We began our day with a our noon time walk.

As we walked out of our downtown townhouse, we noticed a lot of hustle and bustle on the street where less than 12 hours were Zombies.....it was the Gay Pride parade! I still don't understand how drag queens wear their makeup better than women!

We walked through all the pageantry of the day and began our 2.5 walk. Brisk and beautiful walking along the river bank of the great Miami river. We walked right over to a Dayton tradition....Flying Pizza. Although, we are both watching what we eat, we can't give up pizza. So for $8.50, we got 3 slices of pizza and 2 drinks. It's the best deal in town for pizza. 1 slice is not enough and 2 slices is too much. This is how we settle. I could walk over right now for a slice.

The rest of the day, we settled into our routine and into the evening became hungry again. So, I began to create from leftovers and what we had in the house. I boiled some eggs and began chopping onions and celery. I ended up fixing tuna salad that will get us through the week and a big chopped salad with all kinds of veggies.

Now as everyone who has known me in my professional culinary career, I am extremely anal on how I eat lettuce. A salad does not have iceberg lettuce. Unless it is a wedge of iceberg with bacon and blue cheese or a 7 layer salad. Iceberg lettuce has no nutrition, nothing. I do not buy lettuce already chopped and placed in a bag with a gas of preservatives. I read the bag and its says already washed! Ya, it's washed with a gas. Yum Yum. I only use Romaine, Red Leaf, and Green Leaf lettuce. I take the center stem out of each leaf, tear, and wash in a colander. When I have enough lettuce done, I rinse with cold water, let it drain, the I place the lettuce in paper towels. I roll up the lettuce in the towels and place in the frig. When dried and cold, I then remove the lettuce from the paper towels and place in a vegetable bag. When this is done correctly, the lettuce will last me a week!

I had pepper strips (red, yellow, and orange), celery, and carrots I chopped for the salad and home made Ranch dressing. I do the packet of ranch dressing and add the mayo and milk. Much cheaper than buying the bottle!

Sunday was another beautiful summer day and I knew we were going out for dinner. We were going to my friends restaurant for an evening of music on the patio. How I would have loved chicken wings, fries, and onion rings, but the spouse and I split a pizza and salad. I must say I had 5 draft beers, the spouse said I had 6. I knew someone was counting. Our entire bill with tip came to $40.00.

So, there in a nutshell is our first 3 days of June and eating. I am wondering if I should also mention that we drink vodka and should I add the price of 1.75 liter of Stoli into the equation of our monthly food budget. To be honest, that is one of the reasons we don't eat out is because of the amount places charge for a drink! I may need to ponder that over a cocktail this evening.