The assorted cheeses small plate. Red currant compote, green apple and radish slaw, seasoned pecans, toasted French baguettes and a selection of cheese.
In 1993, my husband and I moved back to Edmond with two kids; when we had left Edmond in 1990, we only had one. We had just finished a short three-year stint in an historical home located in Lincoln Terrace, south of the State Capitol. I still miss that old home, but after having spent several years during my college days at the University of Central Oklahoma, had two children go through their entire primary and secondary education years here, and after having lived here now for a total of twenty-two married years, and a couple of “unmarried years” before that, I feel like my adopted home town is indeed Edmond, Oklahoma.
So, I feel invested in this town. And I feel proud of the special places and amenities it has to offer.
One of my favorite places I’ve been appreciating since it opened is Café 501, located on 5th street and Boulevard, just a little south and east of the downtown area. It’s pretty easy to remember how to get there; the address is the name of the place (501 S. Boulevard) and the phone number includes the name: (405) 359-0501. But I don’t like the restaurant just because I can remember where to go! I like the restaurant because I’m kind of a food snob. I worked in the institutional foodservice distribution business for seven years and visited a great many kitchens during that time. And, have looked at hundreds of menus. And, have had lots and lots of not-so-great meals in restaurants over the past twenty-five years. When I go to Café 501, however, I don’t worry about that.
Whitni in her OSU Orange. Today is "Remember the 10" day. Click on photo for more information about "Remember the 10."
I was pondering on what to cook this week when I possibly got a little carried away. I thought I would kill a few birds with one stone and I ended up going pumpkin crazy!
I spent the afternoon making a few different pumpkin dishes. It actually becomes harder to find pumpkin in the store after the holidays. The way the grocery store is laid out does not make sense to me sometimes! Anyway, after finding the canned pumpkin (under the cake mix boxes?) I was able to begin!
If you add “cream cheese” or “cream cheese frosting” to anything, I can guarantee it will be eaten! All of these items were extremely easy to make and since they had a lot of the same ingredients. If you have a couple of parties or a family to take a meal to these are all great….even the kids will like them!
Chris Harrison accompanying “The Bachelorette” Jillian Harris to her next scene.
When the Bachelor/Bachelorette started all those years ago, I tuned in just out of curiosity. Well, that and because I went to college with the host Chris Harrison and wanted to check out his new project. Over the years, I have watched every season. Some were obviously better than others. I cried along with the fairytale of Trista finding her Prince Charming in Ryan. I laughed at Bob’s goofy antics but was pretty grossed out as he mugged down with every female in close proximity. I was bored to tears as Prince Personality searched for his princess. I wanted to gouge out my eardrums as Wes sang his “special love song” to Jillian for the 437th time. I screamed at Jake through my TV and begged him not to pick Vienna but he wouldn’t listen! Now, with Brad in his second turn as the bachelor, I am firmly hooked once again.
If you untangle yourself from all of the drama and take a step back, you will see that the Bachelor/ette concept is also a pretty interesting social experiment. During the Bachelorette, the men are certainly no angels. They remind me of the many National Geographic shows I’ve watched about animal behavior. You know the ones where the little tiny bird puffs up and swaggers around, his magnificent feathers on full display as he proudly and somewhat desperately struts around, trying to get the attention of the female.
Imagine: “Mule” stuck fast. Larry hated it and his friends were never bold enough to drum up his sister’s nickname in front of him, but Larry knew that was what the town was calling her. It could have been worse and he supposed there was at least a little bit of sympathy that passed when the name left their snickering lips. They all knew that Darlene wasn’t always like this, a five year old child in a twenty-two year old body.
But he stuck by her all the same. Even after high school ended and his friends left for big cities or for the 17th Parallel in Vietnam, he stayed with her. Even when the old vets threw him sour frowns when word got around he’d asked for a draft exemption, he stuck with her. He did it because he owed her a debt for the one night when it was Darlene that had stuck with him. Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 4→
By Patrick Fitzgerald (originally posted to Flickr as spinning wheel) CC-BY-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) via Wikimedia Commons
A real man measures twice and cuts once.
I’ve been blessed to have two really good grandfathers in my life. I love, and loved, both of these men very much.
One of them who is still with us was an engineer for most of his life. Growing up, I was always really impressed by how sharp and analytical he was (even if I had no place in my vocabulary for the word analytical back then).
There was no problem tmy granddad couldn’t solve. There was no complex issue he couldn’t get his mind around.
He could fix just about anything whether it was his car, his mower or his boat. As a really young boy, I fondly remember sitting in his garage and watching him tinker with his 1970s Chevy pickup truck, or as I called it back then, “Papa’s Kickup.” He was a great grandfather and I will always cherish the time he spent initiating me into the world of manhood.
Unfortunately, while he was gracious enough to pass on his analytical and problem solving skills to me, his skill and ability with all things mechanical was not. And while I could write a whole series of posts about masculine skills and values of one generation that are lost by those that follow, that’s not where I am going. In fact, this post isn’t even about him.
As I said before, I’ve been blessed to be have two really great men call me their grandson.
The other one, who passed away a little less than a year ago, worked in management at an AT&T factory on the west side of Oklahoma City for most of his time in the professional world. And while that job was a big part of who he was, this post is really more about the avocational side of his life.
You see, when he wasn’t interfacing between the engineers and end users of AT&T’s products, my mom’s dad was busy teaching himself the art of carpentry. By the time I was old enough to have a conversation with him, he was quite the skilled (and self-taught) carpenter.
If you needed something and it could be made out of wood, my grandpa could make it. He almost completely remodeled the house he bought after retiring. He built cabinets and card catalogs and all sorts of other useful wooden things for his church. I need two hands to count the number of things he made for me over the years: a really sweet contraption for cracking pecans, built-in shelves for my bedroom as a boy, more shelves for my first house, and cabinets for the laundry room of that same house are just a few I can recall off the top of my head.
Just like I was fortunate to see my other grandpa tinker and fix mechanical things, I was very fortunate to spend a lot of time with this one in his wood-shop or at my house as he sketched, measured, marked, cut, and built things out of wood.
And do you know what frustrated me more than anything?
He NEVER measured once. I’d watch as he’d take his tape measure or ruler and pencil and mark 8 or 9 different places on a piece of wood where he would eventually end up making cuts. That part took long enough as he was doing it the first time. But then, after he’d already measured it once, HE WOULD MEASURE THE WHOLE THING AGAIN!!!
As an impatient young boy, I remember thinking, “COME ON GRAMPS! CUT THE WOOD ALREADY!”
Yet he knew something I didn’t at the time.
I can count on one hand the number of times I recall him having to throw a piece of wood away after he started cutting it. The man NEVER made mistakes with his woodworking projects.
He always measured twice and as a result he never had to make more than one cut. He rarely got frustrated and had to start over.
As I got older I began realizing that this philosophy of measuring twice and cutting once was not just limited to his woodworking projects. It was something that flowed over into all other areas of his life. He was a man of precision and I will always appreciate that about him.
He taught me the importance of not going too fast; of slowing down and taking the time to be precise. He taught me that real men measure twice and only have to cut once.
I’m not a carpenter, and though I think I’d like to learn the skill some day, I’m not sure I have the aptitude for it. Fortunately, the idea of measuring twice and cutting once is a metaphor that applies to almost every other area of my life as well. It’s about making smart decisions. It’s about thinking long and hard before speaking. It’s about considering how what we do will affect other people.
At work, it’s about seeing all of the ramifications and possible effects of a new project or initiative BEFORE starting it. At home, it’s about thinking how what we do today affects who we become tomorrow.
I want to be a real man some day, and since a real man measures twice and cuts once, so will I.
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Showcasing Red Dirt culture ~ authored and managed by contributors with connections to the great state of Oklahoma.
