The Madness of Februray

Stoic, I am not. Especially when I get a bit of a head cold. Or a cough. But I’d rather suffer with a stuffed nose and hacking cough than take cold medicine. That stuff makes me loopy.

Today, I was going to write a bit about Iowa. You know, because the people on the TV have been talking a lot about Iowa lately. But I was going to talk about the food. I’m intrigued by the Iowa classic made-right/maid-rite/loosemeat sandwich. I’ve never had one before, but my understanding is that it’s steamed ground beef. That just kind of blows my mind. Still, I would like to try one at some point.

Regardless of how horrifying that may sound to you, Iowa is not a place to write off based on its culinary offerings. Because you know what comes from Iowa, right? You’re going to say corn. Or soybeans. But even more important to the state of modern American food is La Quercia prosciutto.

You want to talk about hope and change? Well, who would have ever thought that the state that brought us steamed ground beef sandwiches would now be the place that finally makes the great American prosciutto. Man, I love that stuff.

What I’m not loving is February, and it’s only just begun.

It’s not the weather. It’s the schedule. The schedule for this month is brutal. And maybe it’s the head cold talking, but I don’t remember February being so jammed packed before.

Saturday is Saratoga Chowderfest.
Sunday is the Super Bowl.
Monday is Chinese New Year.
Tuesday is Mardi Gras.

Ash Wednesday isn’t so much of a celebration. But Lent begins, and that means the Fish Fry places will be jammed on Friday. Which is fine, because Friday I’m heading out of town to take the kids to Providence. Maybe Tree House Brewing will be less crowded because surely some people will be giving up beer for Lent.

Dare to dream.

Sunday is Valentine’s Day.
Monday is President’s Day.

So beyond the three day weekend, the kids are off from school that week, and my in-laws will be coming for a visit. I’m hoping they won’t bring scrapple. Because I love scrapple. And my dreaded physical examination is going to be at the end of the month. I’m not looking forward to that because I’ve gotten a bit looser with my eating habits lately. If my doctor asks what happened, I’m going to blame Dimitrios.

And then at the end of that week, it’s another day trip to see family down in NYC.

The bottom line is that I hope you’re prepared. Because after eating all those chowders on Saturday, you’re going to have to gorge on pizza and wings on Sunday. Monday it’s Chinese feasts. And Tuesday it’s crawdads, binge drinking, and king cake.

To top it all off, Valentine’s Day is on a Sunday of a three day weekend? Dear God. It feels like the end of days. Fortunately, there will be at least a couple fun Yelp events to keep me going. But more on those later.