We are a great family for making lists. My-Sister-The-Nurse makes hers orally, but I prefer to write mine down. I rarely leave the house without a list of errands, and usually that list is in the order in which they are to be done. I believe in saving gas and spending as little time as possible on errands, so I pare my list down so that I am not criss-crossing the entire suburban Chicago area.
The particular list that I want to write about has not yet been committed to paper. It’s been developing over the past five or ten years, and we’ve only just begun to acknowledge that it’s a list-in-the works.
Dear Husband and I have seen the last of our fifties, alas. We tend to laugh about all the problems attendant with aging because the alternatives are just too grim. One of the things we have noticed is that there are a number of places to eat that we visit less frequently. We have finally had to accept that there are some things that bother us too much to risk eating them.
Of course, we also have the lost of memory that seems to come with aging, so occasionally we will give it the old college try, only to be reminded just why it was that we have avoided some things.
Kentucky Fried Chicken started the list. MORE than ten years ago, I realized that my family was less interested in KFC than I was, and I kept trying to get a taste of it now and then. But, as much as I love extra-crispy, the fat, and the breading just don’t sit well. About every two years I’ll try a couple of pieces of chicken, and remember immediately that it’s supposed to be on THE LIST!
Gyros were the next to fall. In DeKalb, Illinois, (and in Sycamore) there is a shop called “Tom and Jerry’s Gyros King.” It’s right on the edge of the campus of Northern Illinois University. We would make a trip out to Farm and Fleet to shop for tools, and stop for gyros for lunch. They taste SO GOOD, and are SO HARD on older bodies. Alas, poor gyros, we knew ye well…
I’ve noticed that we order pizza much less often. Rather than once every two weeks, it might be once every six to eight weeks now, and I tend to try to find other options before I resort to placing the pizza call.
About ten days ago, when Frankie was visiting with us, I gave her the option of rainbow trout cooked at home, or takeout Chinese for dinner. She opted for the Chinese. First let me say that we all enjoyed the meal. We have been patrons of this particular place for at least twenty years and I look forward to our occasional Chinese take out nights. But, having said that, we ALL suffered, some more than others. I don’t know if it was some particular ingredient, or whether the cook is using more oil, but we all spent an uncomfortable night. I’m very sad to say that the day of ordering five items for dinner is a thing of the past. We’ll have to try ordering just one entree and an appetizer and see how we do. If that doesn’t work, Chinese will have to go on the list.
My absolute favorite place to eat for the past ten years or so has been Pappadeaux, a Cajun restaurant that is part of the Pappas Brother’s group. We are fortunate to have two of them in the Chicago area, and we used to try to eat there a couple of times a year. Dear Husband took me there for Mother’s Day, for a very early lunch. Ohhhhhhhhh, was it good! Unfortunately, although I brought home half my meal, I was practically comatose for the afternoon. Have you ever seen a copy of the “Bubba Gump Cookbook?” Each recipe starts with “Ya take a pound of butter…” I think Pappadeaux’s recipes must read like that.
We just can’t deal with that amount of butter in our meals these days. We have pared down the fats and have been working on smaller serving sizes. Soon meals will be more about sustenance and less about entertainment. So I guess that means it’s formal. The list is in print. Damn!