Empty Nesters ~ A Reality

Photo of beautiful ‘Empty Nest’ painting courtesy of marygregorystudio.blogspot.com

Growing up and then raising my own three children I always wanted it to be like it is in the show “Parenthood” … kids are grown but all living nearby raising their own families, entire family gathering once a week and always on holidays, siblings supporting each other during good times and difficult times, the entire family showing up during a crisis or celebrations … just always there for each other.  Heck that’s even why we bought this big ole house when our kids were just about grown … plenty of room to have them all here visiting at the same time … course we were assuming they would ALL be able to visit at the same time and maybe even a few times a year AT THE SAME TIME.  It’s been almost 4 years since we’ve had them all here AT THE SAME TIME.  Heck, we have even tried planning a ONCE a year family vacation, all paid for by us, and that hasn’t worked out either.  The term ‘Empty Nesters’ is just that, for us, our nest is empty and its never ever gonna be full again … not even briefly.

My hubby and I have recently come to accept that our three kids and their families will never all live close to us … we will never be like “Parenthood” and even have found the bright side to that … hey it doesn’t matter WHERE we live as HOME to our kids is wherever we happen to live so we can pretty much live wherever we want, right?  What a wonderful bright side, huh?  NOT!  When HOME is never ever full of the entire family … well it just ain’t really a HOME.

Now that the holidays are soon upon us and once again we will be alone for Thanksgiving and possibly Christmas too … I’m very very sad.  The last couple years I had a hard time with “should I or shouldn’t I drag out all the Thanksgiving décor and then the Christmas décor and decorate” but I did.  This year … I just ain’t doing it.  Hubby and I will still give thanks on Thanksgiving whether or not there are Pilgrims and Indians and fall décor on our table … there is ALWAYS something to be thankful for.  AND we will still celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ whether or not there are wreaths on our windows and doors, a tree decorated in the hall and family room or my Santa collection displayed or even the Manger Scene set up to remind us of what Christmas is all about … we will remember and Christmas will still come and we will still celebrate … décor or not!!!

This is our reality now … WE ARE EMPTY NESTERS!!!

Italian Drunken Noodles

I found this recipe on Pinterest and the original came from the blog The Cozy Apron  Her pics are much better than mine ... beautiful pics... but Course my hubby has a hard time waiting for me to take pics so they are usually taken in a rush.  I changed it up a tad just because hubby loves Hot Italian Sausage and its a little bit too hot for me so I did half Hot Italian Sausage and half Organic Ground Beef ... here's my version... it was amazing.  If my hubby will eat it two days in a row (leftovers on second day, of course) then its got to be awesome believeyoume!!!  Love love love this recipe!

Drunken Italian Noodles

(Serves 6)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 Hot Italian Sausage Links (1/2 lb), casings removed

1/2 lb Organic Ground Beef

1 lrg Onion, sliced thinly

1-½ tsp Sea Salt

1 tsp Italian Seasoning

½ tsp Fresh Cracked Black Pepper

1 Red Bell Pepper, cored and thinly sliced

1 Yellow Bell Pepper, cored and thinly sliced

1 Orange Bell Pepper, cored and thinly sliced

4 Garlic Cloves, minced

½ cup Chardonnay Wine (real stuff, not cooking wine)

2 cans Organic Diced Tomatoes with Juice

2 Tblsps Parsley

¼ cup Fresh Basil Leaves, julienned, divided

8 ounces Pappardelle Noodles, uncooked (next time I will only add 4 ounces of the Noodles ... 8 was too much for our taste)

Place a large, heavy-bottom pot over medium-high heat.  Add about 2 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  Once the oil is hot, crumble the Spicy Italian Sausage and Organic Ground Beef into the pot in small chunks (you want to keep the sausage fairly chunky).  Once the crumbled meats are browned, remove from the pot with a slotted spoon and place into a small bowl and set aside.

Next, add the sliced Onion to the pan with the drippings and sprinkle with the Sea Salt (which helps in caramelizing veggies), and allow them to caramelize ~ roughly 5 minutes or so, stirring to keep it from burning (add a touch more EVOO, if necessary).  Once Onion is caramelized, add Italian Seasoning and Fresh Cracked Black Pepper and stir to combine.  

Next, add in the Sliced Bell Peppers, and allow those to sauté with the Onion for about 2 minutes until slightly tender and golden; next, add the Minced Garlic, and once it becomes aromatic, add the Wine and allow it to reduce for a few moments; next, add in the Diced Tomatoes with their juice, and return the browned meats back to the pot, and gently fold the mixture to combine; allow it to gently simmer for about 3-4 minutes to blend the flavors, then turn the heat down to low as possible.

To finish the sauce, drizzle in about 2-3 good tablespoons of the EVOO, and add in the Chopped Parsley and about half of the julienned Basil; stir, and keep warm while you prepare the noodles.

Prepare the Pappardelle noodles according to instructions on package; then, drain the noodles very well, and add them directly into the sauce, using tongs to gently toss and combine the Pappardelle noodles with the sauce and all of the ingredients in it; check the seasoning to see if you need to add any additional salt or pepper.

Garnish with a sprinkle of the remaining julienned Basil and top with shaved Parmesan, if desired.

Blow Fly Inn ~ Gulfport, MS

Let me start this out on a positive note … Lucy and I were sooo very excited about trying this restaurant in light of the great reviews and heck “it was on Diner’s, Drive-Ins and Dives … gotta be awesome, right?”

This is the kind of restaurant review I don’t really like to do but hey somebody’s gotta say it … disappointed in Blow Fly … BIGTIME!  Here’s my take on the place …

First off I’ve gotta say this place is recommended by a lot of reliable sources … WHY I DO NOT KNOW … maybe when these places/people ate here it was a different owner or cooks or something … or maybe it was reviewed years and years ago … I don’t know but even Yelp gives it 4 out of 5 stars … ME?  Well I wouldn't even give it 1 star!  Well … maybe 1 star cause it was edible just no flavor and dishwatery tasting.  Their menu boasts “Featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and Emeril Live” along with stating that “USA Today named us one of America’s 51 Great Burger Joints” and “Southern Living named us one of their ‘Favorite Seafood Dives’” and Guy Fieri’s profile pic is on ‘bout every page of their menu!!!  I’ve eaten at a few bad restaurants in my life but I think this one takes the cake … it will be very hard for me to trust any ‘well-known’ reviews after eating at this place!!!!

Lucy and I both got a bad feeling about this place from the get go … we should have followed our guts and left right then but we didn't and of course, regretted that decision later.

The parking lot was pretty filled up (we thought that to be a good sign) and there were large groups of people waiting to be seated as we walked in to request a table for 2.  The place wasn't very clean … definitely not a place where the 5 second rule would apply!!!!  Well it wasn't filthy either … just very ‘divey’ which there ain’t a thing wrong with BUT there is divey and clean and divey and dirty …  All joking aside … the menus, the chair seats and the table were grimy and sticky as heck … another bad sign.  We stayed anyway …

See?  Its built up on steel piers because its on a bay.

Typical 'dive' table setting ... but nothing wrong with that.

Looking through the menu there were numerous recommendations by Guy Fieri with his profile pic right next to the dish … seriously!  I thought … hmmm "I’ll stay safe and order only dishes that he recommended" so I ordered a cup of Creole Gumbo and Lucy ordered a cup of the She Crab Soup.

  

My Creole Gumbo was, like I said, recommended by Guy Fieri.  It really didn't have a lot of flavor … no spiciness and a little watered down … in other words, more water than tomatoes … no okra in it at all and when I got to the bottom (I was hungry so I did eat most of it) there were two strange looking things that caught me off guard … I had to actually put on my readers to even recognize what they were … BOILED SHRIVELED UP OYSTERS!!!  There was probably two MAYBE three teeny tiny shrimp in it … the kind of shrimp you get in a can!!!  At this point I’m thinking “WTH Guy Fieri? … but maybe its just an off day … a new cook or something".  It wasn't AWFUL or INEDIBLE but it sure was not something I’d attach my name to … EVER!!!

Creole Gumbo ... so they say!

                                          

Lucy’s She Crab Soup … first off it looked milky … I mean like a cup of warm milk!  It wasn't at all pink or orangey tinted as I’ve always had anywhere else I’ve eaten it.  Again … tasteless and again very disappointed and mostly MILK … seriously … I didn’t even get a piece of crab in my one taste!!!

She Crab Soup ... so they say!

At this point we are both thinking maybe we shouldn’t have ordered entrees until we had our appetizers but we had so we felt we couldn’t just cancel the orders … wish we had though!!!

I had ordered another Guy Fieri recommendation … Red Beans and Rice and Lucy ordered the Crawfish Etouffee which she loves but this one she didn’t … in fact she took a couple bites and was so over it … tasteless … we’re like “do they not own any spices in this place?”  My Red Beans and Rice, and believe me I love Red Beans and Rice, tasted as if they opened up a can of Red Beans, warmed them up and threw two sausage links (cooked separately) into them and then scooped up some watery rice and dumped it on top.  This is the WORST part … both of us thought our entrees tasted as if they were cooked in dirty unwashed pans or served in dirty unwashed or improperly washed bowls!!!  You know … like dirty dish water … NOT that I’ve ever tasted dirty dish water LOL.  We didn’t eat more than a couple bites and though the waitress insisted on ‘boxing’ them up to go … we left the to-go boxes sitting on the table when we left.  It was that bad!

Red Beans and Rice???

Spiceless 'Crawfish Etouffee'

I don’t know what the requirements are in advertising and boasting that you were featured on so and so or recommended by so and so … if its something a restaurant can brag about indefinitely or what but this place was awful.  I would hope that those who have made great recommendations would at some point return for a second or third or even yearly to make sure this place is still top notch cause top notch it WAS NOT!!!

Our meals, 2 cups of soup, 2 entrees and 2 waters totaled $32.06 … money that I feel I just threw away CAUSE we left HUNGRY!!!

To top it all off … on our way down the metal outdoor stairs (the building is built up high since it is on the bay) someone (or a couple someones) had thrown up all over the staircase.  Eeeeew!!!  We had to sidestep to get past it!

 

Our view ... which was actually nice!

Sorry ya’ll (for being so blunt) but I do not recommend this place at all!!!  In fact … the name Blow Fly is soooooo very appropriate!!!