Flash Back Friday

So, the mower isn’t working again.  Jacob tried for over an hour to get it going, but the battery seems dead, even though I just replaced it.  Both our neighbors on either side have already mowed their lawns this week so that makes ours look like trailer trash.  I can hear Tony saying “Biz, you need to take care of the lawn!” Well, I have my friend Alison’s husband to the rescue.  They are coming over this weekend to check it out.  It just reminded me of their wedding that Tony and I went to.  Mind you, this was only four months after Tony had his first health scare of our marriage when we thought he had the flu, but turned out that he had endocarditis, which is an infection of his heart and he spent 18 days in the hospital from diagnosis through having open heart surgery for an artificial heart valve replacement.  I remember it clearly – Tony had a falling out with his parents soon after we married in 2000.  When we went to the hospital I thought “maybe he has a lung infection?” because he was having difficulty breathing. 

I was sitting watching t.v. with him when the doctors were making their rounds.  This particular morning the doctor had young doctors following him and he asked if I minded leaving the room for a few minutes.  No problem!  All of a sudden there was all this commotion and I heard a nurse yell “code blue in 112!”  I suddenly realized that was Tony’s room!  Our GP explained to us later that Tony was on a ledge of dying and the doctors managed to catch him before he fell off the cliff.  I was told that he would need an artificial heart valve replacement soon after, and I found myself having to call my parents-in-law with whom I had not spoken to in over seven years.  I called my MIL and said “hi, this is Biz V., your daughter-in-law” and explained that Tony was having open heart surgery.  They didn’t skip a beat and immediately got in the car and drove up from Florida.  I met my FIL’s brother and wife for the first time as they were here for the surgery.  I also remember Tony opening his eyes after coming to and he wanted to itch his balls so bad, but didn’t want to do it in front of his Mom and wanted her to turn around.  Later he told me he didn’t realize how close he was to death until he saw his parents in the room.

I think that’s maybe what made me think that Tony could get over any medical situation – no matter how dire, he always pulled through.  Tony didn’t like to dress up very often, but he was so handsome when he did.  This was at my friend Alison and Cameron’s wedding – by that time he’d lost about 100 pounds and had a new lease on life!

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My store had Chobani 10/$10 so I stocked up.  I hadn’t had the 100 calorie ones before, I took a gamble and actually loved this one.  I was worried the 100 calorie flavored ones would be too sweet, but it wasn’t.  I had a vanilla yogurt and strawberry parfait for breakfast.

My co-worker and I got our walking shoes on yesterday.  We noticed that our pace was pretty slow the first mile so we ended up walking it nearly 1:30 minute faster than the day before.

My grocery store has a small prepared food section – they have everything from giant lasagna slices, pasta salad, sub sandwiches.  As I was waiting for my turn at the deli, I noticed they had a small container of their bolognese sauce and that was the basis for my leftover pasta lunch.  One cup leftover pasta, ricotta cheese, fresh mozzarella, chicken, baby spinach and then tossed in the bolognese.  It was really good and even though I saw some onions in the sauce, I ate it anyway.  What the hell is happening to me about onions lately?!

Yesterday I realized that I had until today to enter a recipe contest – for a grilled cheese no less!  Um, I am pretty sure you guys know that I am a teeny tiny bit obsessed with cheese.  I stopped by the store to pick up some ingredients.  Look at all the cheese!

Here was my idea – a Cheezy Chicago Beef Combo Grilled Cheese – provolone and brick cheese, cherry peppers, a patty of hot Italian sausage, Italian beef, hot giardiniera and garlic Italian bread.  And check out that Kerrygold butter – I love that it is soft and spreadable!

Holy balls was this good!  The butter/mayo/garlic salt spread and the hot Italian sausage and giardiniera made this sammie.  I ended up eating half of it for dinner – so good!

I have to thank my blog friend Mel for a package of loot that was amazing.  She sent me the sweetest note too: “Cooking will heal your heart and soul.  There’s something so theraputic and soothing about being at work in the kitchen.  May every recipe bring you peace.” 

I fucking love Thug Kitchen – no surprise there!  It’s been on my list of cookbooks to get, so thank you.   And that Edible magazine in the back?  She’s a writer for that magazine.  If you haven’t checked out her blog yet, she’s an amazing food writer.  Thank you so much for thinking of me Mel, it means so much to me!

And I have to give Jacob a big high five.  He did a deep clean of our back room – vacuumed the back stairs, had the garbage out for pick up and had the dish washer emptied by the time I got home.  I guess I didn’t realize how much I had to do by myself for the last few years, so it is very much appreciated to have the extra hands to help around the house – thank you Jacob!

Alright, I have to jump in the shower and get ready for work – I have a whole 20 minutes, I am sure I can whip up some pancakes too in that amount of time.

Hope you have a great weekend!  See you Monday.