Monday, October 15, 2012

Pot Luck Love

I love pot lucks.  I love food other people make.  I especially like events where there are lots of people and each of those people or families has brought their own special dish they find delicious or tempting or different.  I will save up more for a social event that has only appetizers and snacks brought by the attendees than I would for a fancy, expensive meal at one of my favorite restuarants.

Food is an adventure.  I love food.  I like trying new things.  There's something that's fun about experiencing a new food item or dish.  I like the show, "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern."  He does go to extremes with some of the cuisine and delicacies he tries, but he tries them.  Many of them he really likes.  I'm not as adventurous as I'd like to be with food and I admit there are lots of things I don't like, but I still enjoy trying new things. 

Pot Lucks are a big adventure to me.  You can get a plate and you can fill it with a single bite of many different things and get lots of different tastes.  Each of those dishes was made by someone and they are probably willing to tell you all about the dish and even share the recipe if you liked what they brought.

It's also a great place to eat some classics or traditional foods (okay, locally traditional) such as deviled eggs or seven-layer bean dip or pigs in a blanket.  And if I'm there, you can bet I'm trying all of the items.

Desserts.  That one word is worthy of it's own sentence, because it's so important it can stand alone.  Desserts at social gatherings come in two varieties.  The first are something routine and ordinary like brownies bought at the grocery store, still in the plastic container.  These kinds of items you can skip because they're brought by someone who didn't know what to bring or didn't have time or doesn't cook, so they went and bought something.

The second type of dessert is the kind that's someone's favorite recipe or is something they personally love to eat.  Maybe it's a mango with sticky rice tart.  Or it could be pumpkin spice mini-cupcakes with orange zest cream cheese icing.  Either way, be sure to save room because dessert is where it's at.

Balance it all out with a few pieces of cheese with crackers and a grape or two.  Maybe work in some cauliflower and dip from the vegetable tray.  But don't spend too much time there, because the home-made dishes are the main attraction.

I've always loved pot luck.  With my son starting school I've had more opportunities for pot luck of late.  Also, there's been more wine.  But the wine is going to have to wait for another post.

The Big Boy Update:  Danger Boy.  He is a danger to himself.  He knows no fear, just like all little children, and he's constantly on the verge of getting himself hurt or hurting something else or hurting someone else.  That someone else is usually his sister.  She is always in his way.  I think he likes her.  I hope he likes her.  There is the phrase, "baby-proofing a room."  I believe that's possible.  I'm not certain you can, "toddler-proof a room" because a toddler is supremely skilled in finding ways to misuse things to hurt someone or cause damage or create a mess that you would have not thought possible.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Hazard Girl.  She is a hazard to herself.  You'd think she'd know by now that her brother isn't the most delicate or gentle person.  Aggressive hugs, ripping away her toys, jumping up and down on her and ramming his, "choo choo" into her just because.  But she wants to be everywhere he is.  She wants to crawl right on top of his space and his toys to see what's he's doing because it's more interesting than everything else to her.

Fitness Update:  Five miles early this morning after the fifteen miles yesterday.  Twenty miles within a twenty-four hour period.  My legs are tired.  But they're really not that bad.  We went to the fair this evening and walked another three miles.   The more I exercise the more I don't seem to have to exert myself as much.  I just realized that of late I don't have that really tired period for the first two miles that I used to have when I start a run.  I'm also getting a little faster when I run.  Not a lot faster, there will need to be specific training for that I speculate, but a bit faster. 

Someone Once Said:   I am always confused when a man explains how he is going to do me good. Suppose you tell me instead how this is going to do you good.

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