Random 5 for November 11 – Foliage, Assless, restaurants, sugar, chaos

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My spectacular maple tree is not in this picture. By the time I got the camera out, most of the leaves were gone. Here are my crab apple (left with the berries — the leaves gone), the Zelkova and the smaller red Japanese maple (right).

Fall, the limited edition – We had about 24 hours of beautiful fall foliage on our maple tree before a storm came through and took the leaves down. Weird year for everything.

White man butt – The beloved husband bought jeans this past week. Without me. I get nervous because he is butt-less and needs to shop for a good fit. His butt is in the back where he can’t see so he doesn’t care. He bought them on-line. Without trying them on. *bangs head on table* He bought a Lands End slim fit and it works…sort of. I swear the older he gets, the less butt he has. Maybe that’s better than the reverse.

Changing tastes – We are having dinner at one of our favorite restaurants this week with some friends. They occasionally have a special I love. They don’t run it often and I missed it the last two times they ran it. I am hoping it’s as good as I remember. I say that because I was anxiously waiting for a holiday special drink at Starbucks. Finally it was available. I bought it and realized that it was very sweet. Yikes!

Sugar overload – Speaking of sweet, although my mother baked a lot when I was a kid, she baked European style. Nothing was cloyingly sweet. Americans like their desserts brimming with sugar shock. I have never enjoyed super sweet desserts (and I have never been a candy eater either). I find as I grow older, I like less sugar in my desserts. When you back down the sugar you can taste the other ingredients – spices and flavorings which are so much better.

Chaos – There was so much chaos in the United States this past week. Mass shooting. Massive uncontrollable fires. President who has no trouble trashing the first amendment and being an all-around jerk. It takes its toll. My heart goes out to all involved. Here’s hoping this coming week is better and the holiday season gives us some joy and a chance to heal. I need some kindness.

So how was your week?

 

69 thoughts on “Random 5 for November 11 – Foliage, Assless, restaurants, sugar, chaos”

  2. I love your assessment of the week! it has been a doozy! I am completely exhausted and unfortunately don’t see much changing too soon! I don’t need sweets very often, but I go for the salty snacks, and this week, I’ve indulged in more nervous eating than I usually give in to. I guess I need to begin working up to Thanksgiving! 🙂

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  3. Pingback: Pass The Hot Sauce: My Radioactive Breakfast – Snakes in the Grass

  6. My husband has no butt either. I enjoy walking behind him and marveling at all the loose fabric in the back of his blue jeans. Secretly, I put lots of sugar in my cookies that I bake for him, just hoping maybe his butt will fill out.
    It doesn’t.
    🙂
    Humor helps a bit in this dark time. Fires. Fire-y rhetoric from a clueless president. Gun fire. Dark clouds looming. Sometimes we must spread the light through humor and sharing friendship. You do that well here, Kate. ❤

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  11. I’m not much for sugar, not much for desserts and hardly ever have dessert. But I like my carbs… potatoes,.pasta, chips, pretzels. I have a flat butt, always have. Always baggy pants in the back. I don’t like my clothes tight so that works well. I need some kindness, too. There were four bicyclists hit by a 91 year old woman very close to us. One has died from their injuries. It’s made me very sad. An older population here that really shouldn’t be driving. Although so far they haven’t charged her and are saying the cyclists made an illegal lane change.
    Hope you get to enjoy your special, Kate.

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    • A few years back an older woman (in her 90s) drove through a storefront and killed a customer. The thought was that she stepped on the gas instead of the brake although I don’t understand how she got up any speed, it was such a short distance. It was very sad for all. I keep conscious of my driving habits and those I love. Many of my older friends don’t drive at night or any distance. I find that in the summer I am all about the salt — chips, pretzels, etc. For the holiday season, I like some desserts but after Christmas it’s more rare. Had my fill! You and my husband would make a pair…from the back! 🙂

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  12. It is funny you mention the sweet tooth because I used to have a real sweet tooth when my mom was alive – she ate very few sweets and it was me that polished off all the cookies and brownies and Mom was more of a pie, tart or cake person. I’m more a texture eater. I swore off salty snacks and sweets in 2011. I just last week bought store-bought cookies for the first time as I have started missing that small sweet thing to look forward to at the end of the day. Hopefully it was not a mistake … I tried the piece of dark chocolate after dinner, but it did nothing for me and I figured I didn’t need the fat for something that tasteless, even if it was good for me. I wasn’t allowed to eat candy as a child. My Halloween candy was screened and I got two or three chocolate bars to keep, and at Easter the bunny but no jelly beans or sticky or gooey candy. I don’t chew gum as I’ve had TMJ for decades – the chewing aggravates it, but I am blessed as I have TMJ but none of the symptoms that some people suffer through (locking jaw or headaches or jaw aches) so I play it safe and don’t chew gum. We had a large chocolate bar once a week when I was growing up – no siblings, so my parents/I split a Cadbury chocolate bar for TV night (Saturday night). I was never allowed pop either – I feel strange about these things sometimes but it was how I grew up. It was milk or water or juice only. And juice has way too much sugar in it so I try to eat clementines – been looking everywhere for them and they’re not out yet.

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    • I saw clementines this past weekend locally. Sounds like you are a healthy eater. I don’t like dark chocolate and prefer to spend those calories on something I enjoy, like milk chocolate! My mom baked once a week but she didn’t keep candy around or soda. We did enjoy ice cream though.

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  13. I can’t believe how many crab apples that tree has. Wow! Do you ever eat them? We used to have a crab apple tree in the neighborhood when I was a kid, and we did nibble on them.

    I’m a little lacking in the butt department too. I didn’t know until my daughter told me–the middle daughter. She’s never shy about such things.

    There was a lot of chaos this week, but it’s not over yet. The Santa Ana winds are continuing, at least for a couple more days. And our volatile president, who had an easy couple of years, will be challenged more when the Democrats take power. I expect him to explode every time things don’t go his way. Hold on.

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    • The crab apples are decorative for the most part. They are the size of jumbo cherries and I’ve tried to do anything with them but there always is a bumper crop. The squirrels and some birds are very happy with them. I expect it will be a very bumpy two years. My gym has Fox news on the TVs all the time. Yikes! (Yes I’m going to request a less political station). This morning the headline was Dems trying to steal election. Really? I thought it was based on votes.

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        • I have just written an email to my gym. Before I was a member, all they played were sports channels and one of the women asked for a change. I don’t know if she suggested Fox or if they chose it but they are getting another request. It’s starting my day with a burst of negativity. Always.

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  15. I keep thinking about giving up sugar. I think if all it entailed was giving up the obvious stuff – like cookies and candy, I could do it. But nearly all premade food has sugar added, from deli meat to pasta sauce. I don’t cook too often so this means I could have to change my entire lifestyle and make every damn thing I eat from scratch. It’s too daunting to undertake.

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  17. I don’t like sugar in any thing. I was born just after the end of rationing here in England so my mum had got used to cooking without. I still have too much butt though.

    We wondered what Trump was expecting the weather to be like in northern France in November. The joke here is he was worried that his orange fake tan would run.
    My big news is I have a grand daughter born last Tuesday and weighing 8 lbs.

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  18. I really think it’s nice that you blamed the maple leaves on the storm rather than the deer. 🙂 Now that the election is (mostly) over with, I am back to controlling my news consumption in order to keep sane. Chaos is apparently what this man thrives on.

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    • I frequently watch the local news, then turn off the national news which follows. There is an election that is still to close to call not far from me. Argh! I don’t think it’s healthy. The deer are a little short to take down all the maple leaves! 🙂

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  19. I have plenty of butt to spare so lemme know where you want it sent 🙂 I don’t put sugar in my coffee and don’t like coke or sodas because they are too sweet but that’s not to say that I don’t like a good donut or cinnamon roll! Happy Sunday.

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  22. We are indeed taking a beating out in SoCal. But it’s heartening to watch people scurry to save horses, alpacas, dogs, cats, and their fellow humans. We’re not all jerks like Trump, blaming people for their own misfortune when he’s the one ignoring climate change and cutting the forestry budget.

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    • I’ve been watching because I fear for the animals. I saw that they saved the Malibu zoo critters. I also saw that there are some programs for the wild horses that are suffering from the drought in Nevada and that area. He’s a blamer about all things.

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  23. Weird year for everything.

    You said it! Our trees were so wet most of the year that when the leaves turned colors, the leaves were splotchy with mold all over them. Not pretty.

    I don’t like sugar as much now as I did when I was younger. Thought it was just me.

    Our so-called president is a disgrace who creates turmoil wherever he goes. [Can’t stand in the rain for a few minutes to honor soldiers who died in battle? What a wuss!] I’m with you about the need for more kindness– as long as there is mutual respect, it’s a positive.

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  24. Yes, lots of chaos and confusion in the US this week. My husband was raised with very little sugar in his diet; his parents were what we call food hippies, even though they are quite conservative and were in no way hippies of a different nature. All whole grains and healthy. I was raised differently. It has made for mild dessert conflicts in the house. But now, I have changed enough that I am a food hippie, too, and we can enjoy the same foods and desserts. Now, it’s my husband who wants food more mainstream sometimes, and by that I mean he’d like cheese or butter on things, but I am dairy-free, egg-free, soy-free, gluten-free and the list goes on. He’s gluten-free, too, so there is that. It’s amazing how we’ve changed as we’ve gotten more experience under out belts (er, gotten older). I hope the restaurant has everything you hoped for!

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    • My husband doesn’t eat desserts at all (or very rarely) so there are no dessert conflicts only leftovers. Although I border on being a vegetarian and eat very little meat, I don’t forego anything else. I admire your ability to do that. The only food sensitivity I have is lactose and it’s not so severed that I can’t manage it. Growing up my mother baked for weekends (company). We rarely had soda or candy in the house. We always drank water from the faucet. I still prefer tap water although we have a filter.

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          • That’s true. And we often feel it isn’t worth the effort to make something just for ourselves. I made something recently that my husband said he wouldn’t like. I froze most of it and reminded my husband that it contains an ingredient he hates (and I love) — peanut butter. Next ting I know, he said he likes it. What? When Bi go through s lot of effort to make something I think he’ll like, there’s always something wrong with it (too sweet, typically, or “too rich”). I’ve about decided to cook just for my taste, because he is so finicky. But now, he’s starting to like what I like. Go figure.

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  25. I discovered the same thing about salt that you did about sugar. I never put salt in anything anymore. Lots and lots of other spices are so much better and tastier. When there’s too much salt, that’s all you taste,

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    • I haven’t lost my love for salt yet although I stopped getting a salt rim on my margaritas and not for any health reason. I have low blood pressure so moderate salt is one way to manage when it drops. However, I have found that some prepared foods have WAY TOO MUCH salt. Things like prepared lasagna and pizza seem to be all salt. I get dry mouth afterward!

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