Menu 911

Dear Reader(s),

I need your help!  Pull up a chair, lemme ‘splain.

You see, this Friday is the 16th anniversary of the day Soup Husband Curt and I tied the knot.  Now last year, we did it up huge by going to Las Vegas.  Today, in fact, is exactly one year since the very day we began our most excellent adventure!  (I am pleased to report that I have almost recovered from that trip and the associated hangover…)

But this year? Well, 16 is not a multiple of 5. Also, cash is not something we’re flush with right now. But still, we feel lucky and blessed to have enjoyed 16 years of wedded bliss (well, mostly bliss), and nowadays, that’s something worth celebrating. We decided that instead of going out and blowing a lot of money we just don’t have, we’ll quietly observe the occasion at home. 

When you choose to celebrate at home, you have to make an extra effort to make it a Very Special Occasion.  By “special”,  I’m not talking about clearing all the stuff off of the kitchen table instead of pushing it to one side.  I don’t mean pouring drinking a Miller Lite from a glass insetad of the can.  Don’t try to tell me you’re wearing your “good” sweats.  No – what I’m talking about is sending the kids to spend the night at the neighbor’s house. I’m picturing a white tablecloth and the Good China and a bunch of candles on the dining room table; some carefully-selected jazz music playing softly in the background; a bottle of wine that I would normally hesitate to buy because it’s more than $5  $7  $10  $11; and a dessert that doesn’t come wrapped in cellophane.

Keepin’ it real. Keepin’ it Klassy.

Hamburger Helper and frozen fish sticks notwithstanding, I can hold my own in the kitchen.  In fact, I really enjoy putting a meal together. So I got to thinking, sure, we could go blow $150 on two martinis and appetizers and GAH THE MARKUP ON THIS WINE! and entrees and dessert and coffee and sambuca (Curt loves his sambuca), plus tax, plus tip, and sit in a room with a bunch of other people who are Celebrating Occasions. Oh sure, it would be swell to have a Smiling Someone in a clean white shirt and starched apron uncork our wine and bring our food and then take it away, avoiding all mention of dirty dishes. But for probably half the money, I could buy some first-rate ingredients and lovingly create a pretty tasty dinner to mark our celebration.

And, bonus? We can totally avoid the whole unseemly “who gets to finish the bottle of wine and who has to stop NOW so they can drive home and who drove the last time and…” argument debate.

So, I downloaded some menus from restaurants we might have gone to, and even a couple we might have ruled out based on distance from home or price. We perused them for yummy-sounding entrees that we would have ordered.  We agreed that steaks would be super-yummy, but it’s hard to find a really good cut of meat at your usual retailers. Crab cakes, however? Those sounded really, really good. I found the Clyde’s Restaurant recipe on their website and think I’ll use it, perhaps with a small variation or two… and I’ll be using fresh, jumbo lump crabmeat, not Krab Delites, y’all.

But I’m stuck, Reader(s), on the to-go-withs. And this is where I need your input. 

For a starchy side, I was thinking risotto, maybe, or some roasted potatoes. But honestly, they won’t be special because I am always doing something with potatoes.  (C’mon, I’m a Pennsylvania farm girl.) And for a green side? All I can think of is green beans with sauteed almonds, but that’s because I make it all the time.  BOR-ING. Dessert’s covered – Curt wants strawberry shortcake, so that’s what I’ll make. 

What I need from you is your great ideas for what would go great with crab cakes.  Is there something you love to make, or maybe you had a fantastic dish at a restaurant that you think would be perfect?  Leave it in the comments. Bonus points of you have a recipe you would be willing to share, but don’t let the lack of a recipe stop you. I can take a good idea and figure out how to make it. (If you do have a secret family recipe that you don’t want to publish to the world, and you can’t get over yourself, then leave me a comment and I’ll email you.) I have the crab cakes covered, but ideas and recipes for easy to make, super-tasty, even elegant side dishes would be most welcome and appreciated.

And that, dear Reader(s), is how you can contribute to our 16th wedding anniversary celebration. Thanks in advance!

Breaking news

Among the many emails that landed in my inbox this morning was this gem, whose headline read:

Breaking News: Unemployment hits 26-year high

Employers cut a larger-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June, driving the unemployment rate up to a 26-year high of 9.5 percent, suggesting that the economy’s road to recovery will be bumpy.

It's a pink slip! Get it?

Four-hundred sixty-seven thousand jobs.

And one of them belonged to Soup Husband Curt.

Breaking news! It happened last week, the day after the big Metro debacle.  The same day that all the celebrities started dying. The whys and hows aren’t important. It is what it is. But what it is? Is a real humbling kick in the nuts.

We’ve had wonderful support from everyone who surrounds us, and believe me, there’s nothing more important to us at a time like this than to know that the people in our lives are holding us up.  Because you are, really. Your words of encouragement (and referrals to possible job leads) mean the world to us.  As does your forgiveness if we seem a little bit “off” these days. It’s hard not to let this thing preoccupy our minds. It’s a distraction. In some ways, we are not ourselves right now.

The great thing about Curt is, when you meet him, you instantly like him. Plus, he’s got mad skillz. I have every confidence that he’ll land on his feet in a short time. I just hope that the other 466,999 good folks who find themselves similarly-situated are not PR/communications professionals with experience in the healthcare and non-profit sectors with a degree in English from a small liberal arts college.

Just sayin’!

Anyway, I offer this by way explaining why I’m not feeling up to writing much lately.  Funny or otherwise. Words elude me. (I know, can you imagine?) So don’t leave me, OK? I’ll be here, just not posting as often as I have in the past. And this, too, shall pass, I know it will. There has to be some good blog fodder in all of this, doesn’t there? Believe me, I’m looking for it, and you’ll be the first to know if I find it.

Misery loves company, right? Curt has had some good conversations with a couple of guys who’ve been there, too, and lived to tell about it. Do you have a hopeful story you can share here? Or are you in the same damn boat and just want to vent about it?  Tell Soup all about it. Go ahead; I’m listening.

Hockey widow

Soup Husband Curt and his hockey team, the Men of Steel, are in Toronto this weekend at the Hockey North America tournament. He’s been looking forward to the getaway – and the chance to play hockey in the Motherland. What hockey nut wouldn’t be thrilled to play in the same city as the Hockey Hall of Fame?  As of last night, they had lost their first game and were set to play this morning. Depending on how today goes, they may or may not have one more game to play.

Before he left Thursday morning, he had to finish something for work, so he set his alarm clock for 4:00 a.m. so he could leave with a clear conscience. So imagine my confusion and shock when, this morning, his alarm started ringing at 4:00 a.m.! In my delerium, I went over and tried fumbling around in the dark with the buttons (this seemed the better alternative to turning on a harsh light).  Now, it’s a pretty new clock with lots and lots of buttons, except, apparently, an OFF button. I somehow managed to make it stop and returned to bed, but when the alarm started going off AGAIN at 5:00 a.m., I realized I must have just put it on some hour-long delay, which I’m sure I could not have done if I had been trying to do so. I ripped the cord out of the wall and placed the clock in my bathroom, then returned to bed yet again… and that damn clock started beeping 30 minutes later!  Wow, I thought – that’s some clock, to remember your alarm settings even when it’s unplugged! That’ll be handy the next time we lose power. I ignored it and it finally stopped. And then the kids kindly let me sleep all the way until 9:00 a.m.!

(Note to self: Register for Alarm Clock Orientation 101.)

Last night, I was all set to host the monthly gathering of Ladies’ Poker Night. Oh sure, I hadn’t had a chance to sweep the kitchen floor or clean off the dining room table or hide the stack of crap that sits on the kitchen counter or wipe off the toilet seat or make some impressive appetizer or even buy beer, but I figured, that’s all fluff! It’s all about wine and fellowship and beer and cards and food and wine, and beer.  However, all the usual players dropped out one by one, leaving only three of us, two of whom had young kids who’d need to be somewhat supervised. So naturally, we did what any mom in that situation would do: We busted open the liquor cabinet and started mixing drinks, threw a Tony’s Pizza into the oven, and settled in for a rousing game of SCRABBLE!

What? Scrabble??

Oh, yeah baby. Let it never be said that we don’t know how to rock the party. There was all manner of trash talk:

HER: Dude, I’ll so kick your ass in Scrabble!

ME:  Bring it, bitch!

She won – she had a bingo that buried me – but I sure had a great time. Who needs poker when you have letter tiles and a Scrabble Dictionary?

As I finish my third cup of coffee this morning, I realize there seems to be a lot of…light outside. I’m not sure, I could be wrong, but it might be the SUN. Which is nice, because we’ve had wicked thunderstorms this week with blinding downpours, and that’s always fun to drive in. Today’s plans include a run to the grocery store for eggs, milk, and bread (because we are truly out of those things, not because there’s a threat of a snowstorm), getting The Boss to flag football, and maybe some low-impact yardwork.

And figuring out how to keep that possessed alarm clock from interrupting my night’s sleep.