Baked Eggs -

This is one of those baked egg dishes that is the devil to get right until you learn your oven and the timing. Then you will not be able to blow it once you learn the looks of the thing done right. Warning: an uneven broiler (like mine) can cook one dish rock-hard and the dish next to it can be just about raw. That can drive you nuts.To bake eggs use individual gratin dishes or Pyrex bowls of about 3 to 4 egg capacity.

Put the oven rack on the top or whatever will get you about 6″ from the broiler. Yeah, I know we call them baked but it is really broiled. So, preheat the broiler while we get all this together.

Crack the 3 eggs each into separate dishes. You don’t have time to futz around cracking eggs when you get going. Be careful not to break the yolks or get shell into the mix.

Mix up:

1 or 2 decent cloves of fresh minced garlic
¼ tsp fresh minced thyme. (Use a pinch of dried if you don’t have fresh.)
¼ tsp fresh minced rosemary. (Use a pinch of dried if you don’t have fresh.)
1 Tbs fresh minced parsley. (Use 2 tsp dried if you don’t have fresh.)
1 Tbs grated parmigiano reggiano. (You can also use a Gruyere for a nice variety. Don’t skimp on the quality of the cheese.)

Put ½ tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of heavy cream in each dish and place them on a baking sheet under the broiler until it gets bubbly and hot - 3 or 4 minutes. Pour in the 3 eggs to each dish, salt and pepper to taste, and sprinkle on the herb-cheese mixture and get them back into the oven.

Broil for about 5 minutes or until the whites are just beginning to set. Take them out a bit before you think they are ready as they will continue to bake in the dish. Serve them up with the nice toast of your choice.<!–

You can vary this with any topping that you like - or nothing but salt and pepper. A good shredded ham goes well. Or crumbled bacon. Different cheeses vary it nicely.

Enjoy.

Herself Sez: As someone who prefers, nay REQUIRES, her eggs to have s*o*l*i*d whites, this was a big disappointment. As Himself Sed, our oven heats unevenly. His eggs were fine for him (somewhat loose). Mine turned out basically RAW!!! Yetch!! Likewise Retch!! In the future, mine will have to be left in an additional 10 minutes or so OR will have to be put in about 10 minutes before Himself’s go in. I can deal with solid yolks. I can deal with solid whites. I cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, deal with raw (or even shakey) whites (except in egg nog, when they are well whipped, or in a milk nog - again well mixed in). This little experiment was a total failure for me - he’ll have to try again. Luckily, however, his failures are very few and very far between!

Herself’s Meatloaf

I don’t think I’ve ever made meatloaf the same way twice. As long as the Ol’ Curmudgeon likes it, I won’t worry about it. What is meatloaf? Well it’s a basic food staple.

From time immemorial, people have mixed meat with veggies, breads, thickeners and various spices, baked it in a loaf or patty, and served - sometimes with a sauce or gravy, sometimes without. They did this to stretch the meat in lean times, to use up bits of meat that otherwise might have been thrown out, and to make tough meats more digestible. In early times, the meat used was already cooked - usually leftovers - whereas now-a-days we tend to use a raw ground meat - either beef or pork, but lamb, chicken, turkey and veal can be used, also. Any meat, actually. Horse, anyone? Donkey? Goat? Yup. Any or all of the above!

What I do these days is get or make about 2 pounds of  meatloaf mix - 1/3 ground beef, 1/3 ground pork, 1/3 ground veal. Add in 1-2 sweet Italian sausages removed from the casing. Do not mix, yet!! Now the variations begin! About 1/3 - 1 cup of bread crumbs. I’ve used - pulverized bread out of the loaf, crushed croutons, crumbled cornbread, prepared breadcrumbs from the grocery. I’ve used more, I ‘ve used less. In this case, less isn’t very good, and too much more is not very good, either. Just toss them in on top of the meat. Toss in 1-4 Tbsp of some kind of meat sauce - Heinz, Worcestershire, A-1, Lea and Perrins steak sauce, etc. I tend to use a thick, savory sauce, like Lea and Perrins Steak Sauce. Chop up some onions. About a quarter cup to half a cup is good. I don’t add bell peppers, but some people do. If you add them, don’t add much, chop them up very finely, and “sweat” them before adding. Salt, pepper to taste. I use seasoned salt and lemon pepper. Only now do you mix - very lightly - just enough to get a semi-even distribution of all ingredients.

Precook, about half-way done, enough bacon to cover the top of the loaf. While the bacon is cooking, gently pack the meat into a loaf pan. Liberally cover the top with ketchup. I use Hunt’s - nice deep flavor, not too spicy. Once the bacon is about half-way done, lay the strips over the top.

Bake in a 350degF oven for about an hour, or until the meat is done in the center (145deg on meat thermometer).

The first night we have it, we just slice it and serve warm. We don’t like gravy on it, but others do. A flour gravy, a sausage gravy, brown gravy - whatever you like will work if you want gravy.

The next day, we slice thinly and make sandwiches with lots of mayo and sweet relish on them. I like some spicy dark mustard on mine; the Ol’ Curmudgeon does not. O well! To each his - or her - own!

Other things that can be done with meatloaf include  rolling up into little dough-covered packets - pasta dough makes raviolis, yeast dough makes pierogs, flatbread (pita) makes gyros, tortillas makes burritos, corndough covered with corn shucks makes tamales. Good for lunch pails. The meatloaf should be cooked before adding to these to avoid having food poisoning problems. Every culture seems to have some kind of meat roll.

Roll in packets of wonton skins and cook in chicken-miso stock - you have egg-rolls. (Leave out the meat, only use veggies, cook in miso stock - then you have spring rolls.)

Another delightful thing to do with a meatloaf mix is to roll it in softened cabbage leaves and cook all lined up and stacked in a deep pot (crock pot will do) with some vroth of some kind around it. Cabbage rolls are an Eastern European fave. Think Poland, the Ukraine, Russia, Slovakia, etc. Good with a generous dollop of sour cream on top!

Roll into little balls, cook in a skillet - voila! Meatballs! Add to some cream sauce or tomato sauce and serve over pasta - Spaghetti and Meatballs! Or, add to a savory brown sauce and - Hungarian meatballs.

It’s all the same stuff. And it’s all good, plain, basic, country cooking. Country French, country English, country Russian, country - add your own geographic area.

To get it to where you like it requires experimentation. That’s something we have problems with in our “Mickie-D” society. We want to do it fast without playing around. Some people are actually fearful of experimenting in the kitchen. To them I say, put your fears aside and get your hands dirty!!

Scotch eggs -

This one is written by Herself -The ol’ curmudgeon can rave about ground beef all he wants to, but I know what he REALLY likes! He likes Scotch Eggs. Every cool weather fast, he wants Scotch Eggs just before it starts and then wants them again in the first week or so after the fast is over!

There must be a million and one ways to make ‘em, but this is what I do. First, hardboil, shell and chill 8-12 eggs. Set aside. Then put a triple-mix of 1/3 ground beef, 1/3 ground pork and 1/3 ground veal in a large bowl - just put, don’t do anything with them yet. Then I add 2-3 SWEET Italian sausages (skinned), add a little salt, a little pepper, 2-3 tablespoons of good steak sauce, about 1/4 cup of soft breadcrumbs, and an egg or two and NOW you mix lightly, and carefully, but thoroughly into the meat mixture. (If you mix ground meat too much it gets “tough.”) Beat a couple of eggs in a dish with a tablespoon of milk and set aside. Put some breadcrumbs (Panko works, as does cornflake crumbs. I’ve even crushed croutons on occasion and used them) in another dish and set aside. Now bring about 1 1/2 inches depth of good oil to about 350 degrees F in a deep skillet. (I use my cast iron and get the heat up by guess and by golly. Now that we have an electric skillet, I may try it.) Now is the fun part. Take a dollop of meat mixture and gently shape it around an egg. Be sure there are no gaps. Do this for each egg until all the meat mixture is used up. Don’t make it too thick or it won’t cook well. Remember, this has pork in it, and must be cooked “done.” Now, roll the little darlin’s in the egg mixture, and then roll in the crumbs. Gently lay them in the hot oil, and cook about 2-3 minutes then turn and cook the side that was up. If they get too brown, the heat is too high, turn it down. If they aren’t nice and browned when you turn them, then the heat needs to be a “skosh” higher. You want the heat to be warm enough to cook them all the way through the meat without making the eggs too firm and dry.

Now, these are very rich, so one, maybe one and a half of these is a meal - even for a big appetite!! Serve them hot with either a green salad or a fruit salad on the side.

The next day, they are still good - serve ‘em cold, with that salad mentioned above.

Now that I’ve written this up, I expect the Ol’ Curmudgeon will start bugging me to make some! His food Nazi will have hiccups and then a seizure. Himself will just give her the fish eye and tell her to take it up with me. And I’ll sigh and say, “Well, what can you do with a Curmudgeon?” The occasional “fall off the cholesterol wagon” won’t hurt him (especially with all those expensive anti-cholesterol medicines he takes) - going without his favorite pre and post fasting food will hurt him. Mentally. Besides, he whines about it.

A Blessed Nativity Season (old calendar style) to all y’all out there in blogland!

I return you to your regularly-scheduled Ol’ Curmudgeon on Thursday!

What is a man -

Forgive me if I drag the Church in fairly heavily. I am an Orthodox Christian - and I do mean way down deep - all the way. I cannot discuss things that really mean much to me without explaining the Church’s position. Especially since in this country “Christian” has become such a pejorative, partly due to the antics of the fringier protestants, and partly due to the reactionary hatred of Christianity (as mis-understood) by the phase 4 liberals. Remember my 5 classes of politics? I find it interesting that the ACLU is all for the University of Michigan (I think?) putting in footbaths for Moslem students at $25,000, but has a hernia if some Christian wants to pray on campus. Lets see - Christians are worse than people who want to kill us? Shows the consistency of modern hatred of Christians.This whole Sex/Sexuality/Gender thing is somewhat overrated. Look here, lets start with sexuality. We here in America think that where there’s an itch, it must be scratched. Pish and likewise tush. In the Orthodox Church we have had gay priests for CENTURIES. Here’s the rules: a married man may be Ordained. However all Bishops are single (either widowers or never married), and no ordained man may become married. If one is gay, then one confesses same. If one is ordained and/or living the Christian life, there is NO sex outside marriage. Period. We do not get emotional about what lights your fire - there is NO sin in being attracted to the same sex. You just don’t have to follow the itch if you are not married to same. (I’m only speaking within the Church, this is not directed at anyone outside). Even active gays are dealt with the same as anyone else who is having sex outside marriage. This is not to say that the Bishops don’t look extra hard before they ordain someone gay - they do. And said individual does not go around blabbing it to the rest of the world. Gossip, cruelty, indifference are just as deadly as licking the wrong organ if not more so. Please note: we do not think that our views should be the law of the land. These rules are for us, not everyone else. And outside the church we rather think that each individual must make up his own mind as long as he harms no one else. Please note that Church doctrine and the position of the individual in that Church are not always the same. Individual Orthodox are just as capable as anyone else of being cruel assholes. They just don’t have Church backing in hatred. There is no place for hatred within the heart of the practicing Christian. It must be rooted out with prayer, fasting, and confession. Hatred is a deadlier sin than just about any other and separates us from the Man-Loving God who is Master of the Universe.

Now 99.9% of the vocations and avocations and general living tasks in this world don’t require a pecker or a pussy or boobs or whatever to fulfill. There may be some things that generally men are better at or some that generally women are better. But ultimately, individual skills, physique, etc. are the determining factors. Football (yech!). OK. Most women would get creamed, but then so would I. There may be many women who can do it - let ‘em. Who cares? Now socially, I am an old atavism: when I go dancing, I lead, woman follows. Me Tarzan, you Jane, etc.

Now in the whole gender thing, what IS a real man? I don’t really like this term. It doesn’t get to the heart of the matter. I really like the Yiddish word mensch. The Yiddish meaning of the word is actually pretty simple: a good person, a role model. Now this gets closer to the roots of the thing.

A mensch should:

Have personal integrity.

Be capable of kindness to those under him or in his care.

Be respectful and polite to everyone he meets.

Be strong when needed.

Be firm when needed.

Be gentle when needed.

Be brave when needed.

Be capable of discerning which is needed and when.

Show the love of God to his neighbors and see the face of God in each child of God, even the Moslems, and I really have trouble with this one.

Know when to apologize, even to a child, if necessary.

Be humble before God, and be neither arrogant nor falsely humble to other people

Be prepared to protect those under his care, even with his life, if necessary

Be the head of the family even as a good captain on a ship.

Come to think of it, I struggle with just about every item on the above list every day.

Now nothing of the above list has beans to do with being a bully, putting anyone else down, etc. My observation is that a man who needs to marry a maid is in sad shape and is not much of a man. Also if one has to bully those weaker to feel superior, treatment, up to and including surgery to remove the ugly growth above the neck may be indicated. It doesn’t even have to do with sex, a mensch is still a mensch even if his balls get shot off.

Now the list for a woman is just about the same thing, isn’t it? The only difference is in the last item, which (unless she is single) should read:

Be the fit helpmate even as a good executive officer on a ship.

And likewise, a woman is still a woman even after a hysterectomy or mastectomy.

Now a general note on all this: even as any good captain in his right mind will consult the xo on any major decision and then stand responsible for the results, so it should be in a healthy relationship. Things can shift back and forth according to the abilities and so forth of the individuals at hand. Herself is an exceptionally intelligent and capable human (well, not so much physically, any more) and I damn sure respect her brains and opinions and listen to her on most anything. However, on decisions that affect the ship of this household - the ultimate responsibility is mine, even if it is her decision that we are going with, I am still responsible and must not reproach her if everything does not turn out perfectly. (Told you I was an atavism).

I don’t belong to the camp that thinks that gay or tranny or adulterer or whatever are just choices. There is too much decent (not pop-junk) science that shows that there are differences. However, I do think that we do control our reactions to whatever nature/nurture and experience have brought to our tables. My favorite sport once was adultery, but when Herself and I married I determined not to practice it again. I haven’t and won’t. This is not meant to be anything other that a general comment on our society. Too many scratch any old itch that they have at the moment with little thought of the consequences. This will lead to a downfall of society in general.

General affect can be a real misleader. Some of the most testosterone laced manly men that I have known are queer as a three and so on. I also remember a fellow that my ex knew. He was one of the absolutely nelliest guys I have ever know. I mean he swished with the best. Any normal reaction would be that this fella’ needed wrist splints. He was also one of the most dedicated (and successful) womanizers I ever met.

What does all this lead to? Hell - I don’t know. Take it for what it’s worth.

Music in my life – and other things

It is somewhat interesting to me to reflect on the role music has played in my life. It has been a comfort, a pleasure, a challenge and a journey.

I had about 6 months to a year of accordion lessons when I was 6. This taught me to read music in the fashion of a child. I didn’t do much with it when I was younger.

Then there was playing the trumpet (poorly) in the high school band in the 9th grade. I’m not sure what that taught me other than that playing with a band could be fun.

Then teaching myself sax and clarinet and…

Then there was picking up the piano when I was 16 and teaching myself to play and read music of the bass clef persuasion (accordion only uses chord notation in bass clef). I never got to be really good, but was good enough to play boogie in a dive down on West Peachtree Street for a while. (Yes – I was underage). A side story: Sometime around the time that Herself & I first married my mother was retired and had a mania for travel and cruises. She decided that she wanted to travel in Germany and visit an old friend who was teaching at the American School in Germany. Anyway, usually she took my sister with her on trips, but Sis could not go for some reason, so she asked me if I would go with her. Herself had no objections, so I did. Rather fun (it would have been better if Herself were there, but I got closer to Mother, so not a loss). We stayed on a tour boat that went down the Rhine from Munich to Amsterdam, and stopped at every decent town on the way. (The Red Light district in Amsterdam was interesting and no, I didn’t). We left the boat in Heidelberg and took Eurorail to Wiesbaden to meet the friend. We all went to a local place to eat dinner and have some beer (of course!) The place had a really good piano player knocking out some really decent 40s style boogie. (I heard more & better jazz in Europe than in America). Anyway, when he took a break I was asked to play by mother and friend, and the owner had no objection, so I did. Really pulled out the stops on some wild stomp boogie. The patrons seemed to enjoy it. Later a gal came in with 2 men and started dancing with them (not at the same time). This gal wasn’t particularly pretty, but wow, she could really move on a jitterbug. I commented to the friend that I would love to dance with her, but that it just didn’t do to approach a strange woman in a bar when she already had 2 male escorts. (Good way to get hurt in the good ol’ USA). Friend said that I was being silly and that there was no problem in Germany. Just go ask her. Well, what the hell. So I did. So she did. Wow – that gal was outstanding. We finished dancing. Me exhausted – smoked too much and hadn’t seriously danced for a couple of years. Out of shape. But you know – I couldn’t pay for ANYTHING in that bar the rest of the night. Food and drink on the house. Loads of fun.

Anyway, that was the end of music, other than the occasional desultory plinking at the piano for a while. Work does get in the way of hobbies.

After we converted to Orthodoxy, Herself’s godfather, who was the choir director at the little mission, noticed that I was a very deep bass (not quite Russian contra, but close) and got me to singing. Bit of a surprise. I grew up a Whiskypalian (where there’s four, there’s a fifth) and could never sing a lick with the organ grinding out funeral dirge sounding music and I certainly can’t sing pop stuff. Turned out I could sing bass rather well with acapella Russian music. Thank God the Church Fathers decided that only the Human voice was proper for church music! Later we moved to a little mission that was in Alpharetta at the time. There was no choir, no director. Nothing. The music was HORRIBLE. This is a major problem since the Orthodox services are completely sung. We are talking about a 1.5 to 2 hour stretch of very painful amateurs slogging poorly. I told Herself that I liked the mission but could not take that pain. She talked to the priest behind my back (sneaky woman!). As a result, the priest came to me and asked that I become director. I had no idea how to direct. No books. Didn’t know how to give tones to a choir. Didn’t know how to direct (choral directing is NOT beating time!) I had to learn all that in a hurry. I got a midi keyboard and some software so that I could make my own books. Had to learn how to score for choir, how to read Old Church Slavonic and translate into English. The church sent me to a couple of choir director conventions where I got to meet and study with some of the real biggies. Eventually I acquired all the skills of a Russian choir director (in English). Got pretty fair. I had one of the best choirs in the South (not just my opinion!). Turns out that over the years I wrote something like 14 choir books for various services (average 1” thick double sided letter). I just looked in the directory where the stuff is stored and it is 1,337 separate pieces at 20.5 meg in a pretty efficient file format. Some short and some running up 15 pages of solid music. Not bad for a self-taught duffer. Herself has put a very small amount on the web HERE.

If you go there and look you may become a little confused if you try to play this stuff by normal western rules. Most of the stuff doesn’t have time signatures. If you try to count beats per measure, you can go nuts. Only some of the stuff written in the late 19th century (or early 20th) has strict meter. The older stuff is really a chant form, rather than a “singing” music form. The words are the important thing, not necessarily the accuracy of the meter. Some of the really early (9th – 11th century) is modal as can be and is rather strange to the modern western ear. Of course, the early stuff is really influenced by Byzantine chant. Really weird chord progressions. See the Byzantine Lord’s Prayer or the Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy) on the above web site for a taste. You can sometimes see where I have used some of this with the serial numbers filed off and the body lines reworked. You should try a listen to some decent good Russian Church Music (there’s lots on the web). I think you will like it as music. After all, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and all the Russian greats were influenced by (and wrote) church music. Matter of fact, there is a Tchaikovsky Trisagian (Holy God) and a Rimsky-Korsakov Lord’s Prayer on that web site. Normal, everyday music for us!

Anywho – I really loved directing for all those years and really miss it. But – the body can’t take it anymore. I tell you, to have a good choir respond to your every body move with glorious music, just wow. Couple of times I had really large choirs of good singers: 50 or so. Church conventions. Better than booze or acid. It is like flying when it is right. Rather physically demanding though. Standing and waving your arms for two hours is too much for an old, broke down guy. Not to mention the strain of keeping everyone in order. I never could decide whether choir directors went to Heaven because of all their travails or to Hell because they wanted to choke the daylights out of the clergy and choristers.

Old Church Slavonic – when Sts. Cyril and Methodios went to Moravia to preach to the Slavs, they followed the traditional Orthodox method of translating the Scriptures and service books into the local language. The script used is still called Cyrillic. The Slavs had a whole bunch of similar, but separate dialects. The amalgam of these dialects into something reasonably comprehensible to all of them became Church Slavonic. This is not exactly Russian, but still somewhat close. There was discussion at the Moscow Sobor (Church Convention) of 1917 about reworking the Scriptures and Service Books into modern Russian since people could not clearly understand Slavonic without some training. (The average Russian comes close to understanding, but no cigar). When the bullets started flying (literally), the discussion was abruptly shelved (and the delegates ducked). I knew some of the people that were there. These tough old Russian Christians lived long and hard (if they weren’t killed). Beautiful people. It is anticipated that sometime in the next several years this will come back up for resolution. The Church currently has somewhat more pressing things in trying to recover from all the years of Soviet persecution. (Very real. Very bad. Somewhere between 20 and 30 MILLION new martyrs).

How to fry a potato – Revised

I had a reader send in a comment. Fella’s web name is johnpaulstevenson. He has his own food blog and is well worth the reading. After trying his method I have come up with the following revision, sort of a combo between my first method and his. Good readers are a niceness, and this one was a real jewel.

This will give your food Nazi fits. Tough. They’re good.

OK, what us American types call French Fries probably came from Belgium somewhere in the 18th century; give a take a decade or two. Everybody in the world has had a fry, just about. Most of the ones you get from the fast food joints are just gross. Properly prepared, they a culinary delight.

To properly prepare these little delights takes a bit more effort than is apparent on the surface. So, get your best cooking cap on and let’s go get ‘em. For starters, use good grade potatoes. My suggestions are Idahos, Russets, or Yukon Golds. Whack them up into ¼” strips. You can skin them or not as your taste dictates. I like the skins on. Tradition in this country is peeled. You can also make them a bit thinner for shoestring style, or thicker for “home fries” style. To my taste thin is better than thick. Your mileage may vary.

Once you’ve got them chopped up you need to move fairly quickly or plunge them into an ice bath. Potatoes left exposed to air deteriorate rapidly. If you do the ice water soak, dry them well on a paper towel just before cooling. Water and hot oil is a no good combo.

You can use a cast iron deep fryer or an electric skillet. The electric skillet is a bit easier to control temperature. If you use a fryer then use a thermometer. Temperature is critical. Put enough oil to make a deep fry possible, but leave lots of room at the top, it will foam up when the spuds are added. Now – what kind of oil is up to you, you just need a smoke point less than 400°. Peanut oil is good, or any other tasteless, healthy oil. Now if you are ready to shoot the food Nazi and want just glorious taste, use lard or beef fat, which was what was originally used. These will be the most wonderful taste that you ever had. Your cholesterol doesn’t go up quite as far as you may think if you cook them right.

Now get that oil to a steady 240° and ease small batches in. Don’t load so much that they stick together or lower the temperature of the oil. Move them around every now and then so they don’t stick together. Never mind the time, just fry until they float and then pull them out – just make sure they don’t brown. When they float they should still be white and have gotten nice and limp. What we are doing is just boiling the water out of the innards without cooking the outards. If the outside gets browned we cannot move any more water out of the inside and it will get soggy. Pull them out with a slotted spoon or kitchen spider and lay them on paper towels or paper sacks or a rack to drain. Do this 10 minutes to 2 hours ahead of time.

When you are ready to finish, jack the temp up to 350°. Once again cook in small batches. This time you are aiming for a golden brown. Add salt, pepper, dill, or whatever spices you like the second you take them from the pan to the draining paper or rack. If you’ve done everything right they will be light, non-greasy, crisp outside and airy inside with a wonderful taste.

A really good go-with is to melt a stick of butter, a couple of cloves of smashed and chopped garlic, with whatever herbs you like. Dill or parsley comes to mind. Just combine and heat until the flavors come together. Don’t fry the stuff. Anyway, drizzle this over the fries just before serving. No, it doesn’t make them too greasy if you got them cooked right to start with.

Herself sez: Gee these go well with one of his good steaks! Thanks to johnpaulstevenson for the modification of the temp. Really makes a difference!!

Damn Henry Higgins, anyway –

There is a song in My Fair Lady done by Henry Higgins: “Why Can’t a Woman Be More Like a Man?” This is one of the great mysteries of life to me. I’m sure you’ve met several of the Higgins type, they like sex with women, but don’t like women. They are incapable of any sort of reasonable relationship with a woman, and usually talk pretty bad about them.

The flip side is, of course, the women who just can’t seem to understand that their guys are not their girlfriends and will never do the touchy-feely “sharing” type things that the girlfriends would. (Well maybe a bit in the courtship phase, but not after the lust level has lowered).

Major news release: Men and Women are different critters! I personally like women a whole lot, but I am not one. Thank God Herself is an exceptional woman who realizes that I will never be her girlfriend. That is what she has a daughter, a daughter-in-law, and her biddy buddies at the Red Hat Society. Contrariwise – Herself is not “one of the guys”, even though she really likes the company of men. I can get a guy fix from the woodworkers I see every couple of weeks. Also from work. But Herself is my wife, not a guy friend, and I am her husband, not one of her girlfriends. We like it that way. One of the reasons our life has been so rich and peaceful is that Herself has never set up false expectations about what kinds of things I will or will not do. Therefore she is not disappointed when I don’t do them. Flower, birthdays, etc. I think that so many people set up false expectations about what the other person should do that the strain of having the false expectation not met can be very detrimental to said relationship.

Hormones are powerful drugs.

Today = 30!

This is herself checking in. Today is our 30th anniversary! When we married, there were soooo many nay-sayers that said, “This won’t last more than a year.” A year later, it was, “This won’t last more than 5 years.” Then it was 10 years. Then 15 …. It didn’t stop until 20. We aren’t in touch with most of those nay-sayers anymore, anyway.

We are happier, more comfortable, and content now than ever before. I hope we celebrate lots more years together.