When it comes to pain tolerance, my parents are at opposite ends of the spectrum. My father is your classic stoic. He has a serious blood disorder that necessitates weekly transfusions, but still he grows weaker by the day. He refuses to give in to it though, and when I go to visit them, I must sneak my suitcase out to the car in the middle of the night, or he will insist upon carrying it for me. My mother, on the other hand, is what you might call hyper-sensitive. One time my whole family was at a Mexican restaurant together. Because one side of the table was too close to the wall, the waitress was having to hand our plates across to us. She was handling them with her bare hands, but when she started to hand one to my mother, Mom asked "Is that plate very hot?" The waitress replied "No ma'am, it's fine." Mom reached for the plate, then let out an ear-piercing shriek. Rolling my eyes, I said "Oh give me that!" and I set it down before her, with no difficulty whatsoever. The waitress began to stammer her apologies, saying "I swear, I didn't think it was that hot!", to which I just replied "Shush, don't worry about it. She's fine." Her only real health problems are heart and diabetes related, but both of those are well under control, now that my sister is supervising their diets. Before Carolyn took over, Mom and Dad both thought that Ding Dongs and Dinky Twinkies made a mighty fine breakfast. Unfortunately, the folks don't really travel anymore. They hate being away from their own bed and their doctors, and I can't say that I blame them. However, they are dying to see our place in Wimberley, just once, so I suggested that we all celebrate Thanksgiving here together.
A few days before they were to arrive, I headed to the grocery store to buy all the fixings for our Turkey Day feast. That's when it occurred to me that perhaps I should check in with my sister, just to be sure they hadn't changed their minds about coming. Carolyn giggled as she told me about their visit to the doctor the previous day. When he asked Mom what their Thanksgiving plans were, she replied pitifully "Well, we were supposed to go to my daughter's house in Wimberley, but I'm just too sick, so I suppose we will have to stay here by ourselves." The doctor just stared at her for a moment, then said "That's a bunch of bull. You are healthier than 90% of my patients." I would give anything to have seen her face at that moment! As they were preparing to leave, he went on to say "As a matter of fact Kathryn, I insist that you go to Wimberley. It's doctor's orders!" When they got home, and Dad proceeded to tell Carolyn what had transpired, Mom interjected "He only said that because I didn't tell him everything that was in my head!" (a Freudian slip perhaps?) At first she was in a snit, but after a while she became almost cheerful, and said "Oh well, if the doctor says I have to go, I guess I have to go!"
The next day, since I had done as much as I could to prepare for their arrival, I decided to treat myself to a whole day in Austin. My plan was to check out all the great garden shops I had heard about. One of my favorites is called Big Red Sun. I am always inspired by it not only because they are so fun and funky that they personify everything that is Austin, but also because they suffer from the same restrictions that we do where I work - being landlocked in an older, urban neighborhood. After all, any nursery can do well when you have unlimited space to work with, but it takes true talent to keep increasing sales each year when you are stuck between two houses on a residential street!
Around mid-day I headed over to S. Congress, thinking I would allow myself one hour to check out all the neat shops there. Two and a half hours later I was still there, and I hadn't even made it through half of them! I guess I will have to come back one day soon, and spend an entire day on this one street alone. My favorite discovery was one block that contained a great little Italian enoteca where I had lunch, as well as the Texas French Bakery, and a little shop called Farm to Market that had wonderful fresh produce and all kinds of gourmet goodies. All three epitomize what I am trying to accomplish by learning to cook and eat with seasonality - using simple but tasty recipes that adapt to a variety of ingredients, using what's fresh and in season, and discovering what's handcrafted or produced locally. Perhaps they are a sign that the tide is moving away from mindless consumption of junk on the run.
to be continued...
A few days before they were to arrive, I headed to the grocery store to buy all the fixings for our Turkey Day feast. That's when it occurred to me that perhaps I should check in with my sister, just to be sure they hadn't changed their minds about coming. Carolyn giggled as she told me about their visit to the doctor the previous day. When he asked Mom what their Thanksgiving plans were, she replied pitifully "Well, we were supposed to go to my daughter's house in Wimberley, but I'm just too sick, so I suppose we will have to stay here by ourselves." The doctor just stared at her for a moment, then said "That's a bunch of bull. You are healthier than 90% of my patients." I would give anything to have seen her face at that moment! As they were preparing to leave, he went on to say "As a matter of fact Kathryn, I insist that you go to Wimberley. It's doctor's orders!" When they got home, and Dad proceeded to tell Carolyn what had transpired, Mom interjected "He only said that because I didn't tell him everything that was in my head!" (a Freudian slip perhaps?) At first she was in a snit, but after a while she became almost cheerful, and said "Oh well, if the doctor says I have to go, I guess I have to go!"
The next day, since I had done as much as I could to prepare for their arrival, I decided to treat myself to a whole day in Austin. My plan was to check out all the great garden shops I had heard about. One of my favorites is called Big Red Sun. I am always inspired by it not only because they are so fun and funky that they personify everything that is Austin, but also because they suffer from the same restrictions that we do where I work - being landlocked in an older, urban neighborhood. After all, any nursery can do well when you have unlimited space to work with, but it takes true talent to keep increasing sales each year when you are stuck between two houses on a residential street!
Around mid-day I headed over to S. Congress, thinking I would allow myself one hour to check out all the neat shops there. Two and a half hours later I was still there, and I hadn't even made it through half of them! I guess I will have to come back one day soon, and spend an entire day on this one street alone. My favorite discovery was one block that contained a great little Italian enoteca where I had lunch, as well as the Texas French Bakery, and a little shop called Farm to Market that had wonderful fresh produce and all kinds of gourmet goodies. All three epitomize what I am trying to accomplish by learning to cook and eat with seasonality - using simple but tasty recipes that adapt to a variety of ingredients, using what's fresh and in season, and discovering what's handcrafted or produced locally. Perhaps they are a sign that the tide is moving away from mindless consumption of junk on the run.
to be continued...
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