Photo Friday: Before the Locking
It’s the end of October. Finally, there is a chill in the air. It’s beginning. The locking, that is. The time when the air and land prepare for the deep cold that is the heart of winter. Then it will take a couple of months for the earth and the sky to unlock, before Spring can arrive in earnest.
To close out this week, and bring on the weekend, I’m sharing a bunch of pictures that have accumulated over the past few weeks. It’s been busy. Be forewarned, not all of them are appetizing. But each of them chronicles an important food moment.
Each is presented with as little commentary as humanly possible. Okay? Here we go.
Peanut Butter and Everything
Granted, this is an unusual week. We’ve got a fridge full of leftovers from the bar mitzvah. Mrs. Fussy is gone on a work trip somewhere. And yesterday the boy stayed home sick from school.
Of course, I didn’t know that he would be staying home until after I packed his lunch.
Every day the kids, bless their souls, eat the same thing for lunch. He gets a peanut butter and honey sandwich, some kind of fruit, and some kind of granola bar. She gets a peanut butter and honey sandwich, frozen mango, and frozen peas. Although when we have smoked veal loaf and sliced american cheese in the house, I’ll make Little Miss Fussy a sandwich out of those instead.
Had I known I was going to end up eating my son’s peanut butter sandwich for lunch, I might have chosen a different breakfast.
The Leftovers That Sabotaged My Diet
Twenty pounds. That’s what I shed since I actively started trying to lose weight and eat cleaner after a summer of unusual gluttony. With the help of some moderate exercise, I brought myself down from a number I had never seen before (198) to a number I had not seen since high school (178).
At least that was my low point before last weekend’s bar mitzvah. What did me in was not the two days of parties that spanned three meals, nor the beer and wine that flowed for those events, nor even the mass quantities of cookies, donuts, or ice cream I bought for the celebrations.
It was the leftovers.
The stupidity of this pains me, because I wasn’t gorging on these foods when they were hot, fresh, and delicious. But in the service of trying to eliminate food waste, I find myself eating more than I should. And it’s coming from all sides.
The Remains
What a weekend. In the eyes of our people, our first baby turned into a man. And about a hundred people from both near and far, descended upon Schenectady to see it happen. Slidin’ Dirty was there to make sure people were fed. MopCo came to make sure they were entertained. Bella Napoli donuts were served to make sure our guests left with something sweet on their lips.
To help show off our region, local breweries were featured, including Shmaltz, Brown’s, and Chatham. Plus we had Lamoreaux Landing riesling so my Californian friends could experience a good wine from New York’s finger lakes.
The lunch reception after the service was the easy part. Hiring a caterer to do everything really takes all the worry out of the equation. You don’t have to think about how much food to get, or making sure food displays remain full.
I took on those chores for the after parties which we hosted back at home for the out of town guests. After taking stock of Saturday night’s leftovers, I cut my meat order at Chester’s in half Sunday morning. And that was a good thing.
Stocking Up On The Good Wine
Happy Friday. First thing’s first. As promised, this morning someone scores a pair of tickets to the port wine tasting and pairing class next Thursday. Random.org picked the winning number last night.
Congratulations to Kayla!
For the rest of you, tickets are still available here. Don’t forget that most of the ticket price goes to support the hurricane relief efforts of the Red Cross. So if you found the idea of pairing port with chocolate, cheese, nuts, and grilled meat tempting, maybe the idea that you can enjoy all of that while helping people in need, will push you over the edge to joining Kayla on your own dime.
Speaking of wine, today marks the end of bar mitzvah week on the FLB. The first religious ceremony of the weekend is tonight. And it will start with a ceremonial glass of wine. The kid who is becoming a man this weekend, will lead the blessing. There will be wine at the luncheon. There will be wine at the after party for out of town guests. And once everybody leaves and returns to their homes around the country, I’ll pour myself a glass of wine and sink into the couch.
Fortunately, I recently stocked up on a case of the good wine from 22 2nd St. Wine Co.
Home Swine Home
Tomorrow it all begins. Actually, scratch that. Today it all starts rolling. Tonight we have our final meeting with the rabbi, we’ll see the table layout in the social hall, and the first out of town guests arrive.
Tonight is also your last chance to enter to win a pair of tickets for the bar mitzvah week giveaway. All entries have to be submitted by 10pm tonight. Details are here.
So much is already handled. The caterers are set. The entertainment is booked. The cookies and donuts have been ordered. The kids have their clothes, or at least they will today once the final alterations are done at the tailor. Even the party favors and centerpieces have all been assembled.
Now I’m working on the afterparty—or should I say after parties—for the out of town guests. And really, afterparty is the wrong word. Because they are less like parties, and more like a chance for my oldest friends and distant family to hang out at Casa del Fussy.
It’s also an excuse to eat the bar mitzvah boy’s favorite foods that are forbidden at temple. That’s right. Saturday night we’re having pulled pork. But that’s not all.
Cookies and Donuts
It’s bar mitzvah week! Have you already entered the giveaway for the Port wine tasting and pairing class? Bar mitzvah week means that today’s post is going up late because last night instead of writing a blog post, I was working on putting together centerpieces and souvenirs.
Actually, our centerpieces are made out of the souvenirs. So, I’m killing two birds with one stone. Everyone is walking away from the event with a Rubik’s cube of their own. Technically it’s not a Rubik’s cube. It’s a Sheng Shou speed cube. And instead of a 3x3x3 cube, these are the smaller 2x2x2 cubes.
But don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s a dumbed down version of the original. In some ways it’s harder because there is no static center cube which informs you of the color each side needs to be.
If you locked me in a room with one of these cubes, and didn’t let me out until it was solved, I would die in that room. Of course my son can solve it in about ten seconds.
This bar mitzvah is all about the young man who is coming of age, and that’s why instead of a cake, we’re getting cookies and donuts. But not just any old cookies and donuts would do. Naturally, these had to be special. Fortunately, we have some very special places in the Capital Region.
Ticket Giveaway to a Sweet Little Class
This is a big week. Friday, some of my oldest and dearest friends from around the country, and relatives from near and far, will arrive in the Capital Region. Some for the very first time. All to help celebrate my son’s bar mitzvah.
Oy. There’s a lot to do in these last few days. And on top of it all, there’s the business of everyday life. I’ll tell you all about the festivities in the days to come. But I’m full of nachus. That’s a good thing. It’s like I’m bursting with love.
What better way to share my joy than to kick off the week with a fabulous giveaway!
There’s a special wine and food pairing class that’s coming up Thursday, October 26, and it features one of my favorite wine pairings. But maybe calling it wine isn’t quite right. If I were able to go to the class, I might find out. Anyhow, it sounds amazing, and I’m so glad that a reader of the FLB will score a free pair of tickets to this intimate tasting.
Have you figured out what’s being poured?
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