Consider taking a break from the movies this weekend. There are shows this summer at the Ogunquit Playhouse for kids of all ages. If you have some free time this weekend, head over to the Playhouse to see this week’s show: Jack and the Beanstalk. The show times are Saturday August 7th at 10AM and another show at 12:00 noon. On Sunday, August 8th there is one show at 10:00AM. The price is reasonable, and almost any seat will give you a good view of the stage.
You can order your tickets online at the Ogunquit Playhouse website (full disclosure: my daughter is in this play!).
Have plans already this weekend? There is one more event for children’s theater this season: My Son Pinocchio. There are 3 shows; the dates are August 28th and 29th (also a weekend).
After the theater, cruise (or crawl…it is a summer weekend in Maine, after all; traffic will most likely be heavy) on down route 1 toward Wells for lunch or a snack. There are so many great restaurants and ice cream shops that your only problem will be deciding which one to pick. 🙂
Okay, so what I’m learning with applying the WF&G (Women Food and Godby Geneen Roth) 7 guidelines is that I’m in trouble right away (for example, I am trying to figure out ways to sync the guidelines with the Weight WatchersPoints system…and somehow, I think that is not the author’s intent…). It is also actually harder to follow all of the guidelines on workdays.
Eating when I was hungry seemed like a “no-brainer’, but if it is true that what I’m hungry for (often) isn’t food, then I really had to stop to consider if I was hungry. This is diametrically opposed to: it’s 12:30; time for lunch! I decided to try to use a scale of 0-10, with “0” being not hungry and “10” being stomach growling non-stop. I would try to eat at the 4-5-6 range.
Not eating in the car? OMG! Does this include Altoids? Tictacs? Gum? Does downing a McD’s caramel frappe comprise an act of eating?
Eat without distractions….this is the hardest one for me. It was a total wake up call too; I had no idea how often I was doing other things while I eat, for one thing. The worst thing though, is that I love to read while I eat, something I’ve been doing since childhood. (Sob!). Plus, on a workday, I often eat breakfast on the way to the gym. It was hard to wait till I arrived at work to eat. Will have to rethink that one.
“Eat what your body wants” I also thought was going to be easy, but here’s the thing: I found out how often what my body is asking for is at odds with what my mind thinks is appropriate. (Example: my body wants a pizza, not a 3 point Weight Watchers meal).
This one isn’t too hard at this point (eating till satisfied).
Not eating anything that I wouldn’t eat “in full view of others” is also not hard for me.
This one: “Eat with enjoyment, gusto, and pleasure”… No problemo! I am Italian, after all!
For now, I’ve decided that gum does not count as food/eating; Altoids and Tictacs might count, but for this week they don’t. Non-caloric beverages (water, black coffee or tea) will not count; caloried ones will (so long frappe). One week down, three to go. Is anyone else working with these guidelines? How’s it going?
Women Food and God: an unexpected path to almost everything is written by Geneen Roth, who has written many books about compulsive eating and weight. She will be presenting a program at Kripalu in Lenox, MA this September. She has been on the Oprah show and some of her writings are on Oprah’s website as well. Her recent article is entitled: The Cupcake Dialogues….hello? I mean, it doesn’t even matter what she has to say really: she had me at “cupcake”. 🙂
She also offers a self-guided online retreat. This gave me an idea…why not try a self-guided- retreat, period? Seems like a (potentially) more cost-effective route (I say “potentially”, because if I really am eating everything I want, well, serving after serving of tiramisu can really add up!).
So, for August, I’m going to try to live by Geneen’s 7 guidelines for just one month: August. I wonder how it will turn out?
Well, so far, so good. After the scary appearance of blossom end rot on two of the heirloom plum tomatoes (Juliets, I think, but since my husband buried its name tag during planting, it’s anybody’s guess, really) that led to me wildly flinging them into the woods, no more have reared its ugly (and I do mean ugly) head.
There are 3 varieties of eggplant planted in the garden: the large Italian kind, the slim Japanese, and the variegated slim purple and white. With the exception of that first Japanese one that had the hole burrowed through it, there has been no further defacement of them. Each plant has 2 or 3 eggplants growing on it, except one of the Japanese eggplants has 6!
The peppers have (so far) been problem free. No mishaps, like last year, when I mistook the small pepper seedlings I had just planted for basil and snapped off the tops of all but one of them before I realized my mistake. Each plant still produced, but not much. Quelle let-down. This year, they look amazing. Now excuse me while I go knock on wood.
I pulled up one of the beets to see if they were ready. They were not. The beet was so small I could barely see it at the bottom of the greens. I will take another peek at them, and at the carrots, to see if they are nearing pickable size.
The peas are exhausted, so I pulled those out and threw them in the compost. A zucchini that was growing from seed in a pot took its place. The string beans are winding down but still producing. Speaking of zucchini, those plants are continually producing one or two zuccs per day. It’s to the point that I am grating it into my salads to use it up before it gets to the stage where it is chicken food, vs human food. The yellow squash is a little less prolific, maybe one or two offerings per week.
The lettuce is doing okay, but looking a bit bedraggled. I’m not sure what kind of spinach we planted this season, but it had no appeal, and seemed to go right from sprouting to bolting without any edible, pickable stage in between. Note to self: write down names of types of vegetables planted! Don’t count on finding stake with name after husband is through planting!
The potatoes and watermelon look pretty good, but that is no indication that they will produce anything edible. My fingers are crossed though.
Now, if I could only get some time to pick the blueberries! I priced blueberry rakes, but they cost more than I am willing to pay, so I am resigned to only actually picking a fraction of the berries we have. 😦 There are some wild blackberries snaking a thorny route in and around my blueberry bushes, but no fruit on them yet.
Remember the “Ramona” books from your growing up years? Well, now fast-forward the year 2010, and we have the “Ramona and Beezus” movie. Don’t be confused by the reversal of the names; it’s based on the book Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary, published first in the 1950’s.
I am always interested in books I’ve loved that are made into movies, particularly if I can interest my tweenaged daughter, even if it does work in reverse (first comes book; then comes movie for her this time around, whereas for me it was the opposite).
The movie got pretty good reviews, which doesn’t really matter all that much to us; if we are interested in the movie (or if we just have nothing better to do that day!), we go. Our biggest decision is what, if anything, we are going to get to munch on at the show…if popcorn, then we have the “butter or no butter” argument: she wants it; I say ‘No way!’, or nachos: she has to have all the chips that are shaped like “tacos”, and is not happy if I inadvertently (I swear!) grab one of those for myself.
We both liked the movie; my daughter liked it so much that she went back to see it a second time. I wasn’t that impressed with the scenes that depicted Ramona’s vivid imaginary escapades; they were more distracting than entertaining (my daughter does not share this view).
My favorite part of the movie was actually during the credits, when the cast was dancing to “Say Hey (I Love You)” by Michael Franti…Ramona can boogie! Oh, and the popcorn. Without butter. Sometimes the mother just has to put her foot down. 🙂
Do you eat at the movies? Do you buy it there or sneak in contraband? What are your favorite movie snacks?
If you want something fun and inexpensive to do, scour your own and adjacent towns for low cost (cheap! cheap!) or free activities to do with the fam.
Last Thursday night, my husband, daughter and I met at the Kennebunk High School to see a play. I met them after work; they went early, bought the tickets, and then drove over to McD’s for a caramel frappe (omg, so good. Haven’t yet tried one? GO. NOW. They are similar to a DD coolata, but smoother, and cheaper, read: win-win!).
The show started at 7:30PM, which is late for my 11 year old to be out, but hey…it is summer vacation, and summer vacation is getting shorter by the minute. It ends in August, for gosh-sakes…but I digress.
Back to the play: “The Pirate Musical!” was written and performed as a fundraiser by a then-high school senior Joey Aaskov at KHS and did so well (shows sold out, according to the Seacoast Online) when it opened last February, that an encore performance was arranged. Well, lucky for us, because it was great. There was even a makeshift snack bar: a few women were selling large, individually wrapped, homemade chocolate chip cookies (“Mary’s Cookies”) and bottles of water. No napkins though, so make sure you bring your own.
Also in Kennebunk on Wednesday nights are the Concerts in the Park. The shows start at 6:30PM and run for about an hour. Next Wednesday the New Legacy Swing Band is performing. Never heard of them? So what? The concerts are free, and Duffy’s (and several other restaurants) and DQ are right across the street. You can go early and have dinner first at Duffy’s, then after go for dessert at DQ.
The Pirates Musical plays one more show this evening, so if you are free…head on over.
My daughter’s friend delivered some unexpected news last week. Without preamble, she sent a one line email declaring that she was moving. To California. Like, soon.
Chocolate chip cookies
Well. It’s not the first time that one of her close friends have moved away; it’s the third time, actually. It seems to be hitting her in a different way this time, however, which I imagine is due to her developmental stage. She is feeling it more, so of course, I am feeling it more as well. She was visibly sad, and was telling anyone in the family who would listen about how her friend was moving and how much she was going to miss her.
Then a funny thing happened: as I was busily trying to think of a way to help her to feel better, she was busily figuring it put for herself. This is what she did:
She took construction paper and crayons and made a book for her friend. The book’s title? “Things I like about (name of friend)”.
She asked me if we could bake some chocolate chip cookies for her friend, having ascertained beforehand that these were her favorite kind of cookies (note: date stamp on photo is incorrect; it’s a new camera and I’ve yet to set the date!).
She obtained her friend’s new phone number in California, and in addition to placing it in a safe place, she made sure I had saved it in my cell phone as a safety measure.
She hunted down a gift bag (purple! purple is her friend’s favorite color!) that was big enough to hold the construction paper book without folding it, the container of cookies, and an “I’m going to miss you!” greeting card, then assembled the gift.
So, she did all of these things just by instinct. She thought she was putting together a nice present for her friend and making sure they could stay in touch. I realized that she was processing her grief, and doing it by instinct, and in a healthy way.
Then, she put it all aside and went out in the yard to hula hoop for an hour.
Isn’t it amazing how much our children teach us about life (see note about picture date stamp, #2 above)?
For our wedding anniversary this year we had some big plans to eat out at a nice Italian restaurant near our home. We had been talking about it for several days, but when the time came to get ready to go, we hesitated. “I’m not that hungry”, my husband said. “We don’t have to eat big tonight,” he added. We don’t? Hmmmm….radical concept.
Jimmy the Greek’s on Saco Avenue, Old Orchard Beach was our first stop on our newly revised anniversary “we don’t have to eat big” itinerary. We ordered a Grecian Calzone, which contains sausage, spinach, garlic, feta, and mozzarella…and it is enormous. I was extremely grateful that we’d decided to split it instead of each ordering our own! It was excellent; I’d definitely order it again.
Next, we drove down to the beach and walked around, visiting the shops. We walked around for about an hour when we first got there. We bought some jelly beans from the candy store (pomegranate and cinnamon) and a couple of fruit slices (for b) and a piece of snickers fudge (for me).
Then, we sampled pistachio and banana pudding gelato at Dolce (something or other) Caffe, which were fine. Next, we went to get pier fries (don’t ask me from whom. I was in such a hurry to buy them that once I recognized the storefront, I didn’t stop to catch the name of the place but we go to the same one every year). Ah, pier fries. . .no further words are needed.
So, even though I’d been really looking forward to that annual Chicken Braccioletinne at Varano’s, what we did (and ate!) instead was actually much better, and just perfect.
Things are really doing well this year. I’ve been picking zucchini, yellow squash, string beans, and sugar snap peas for a while now. I thought I’d picked the last strawberry last week, but then the funky pink-flowered strawberry plant that I found at the Portland Farmer’s Market a few months ago produced a couple more!
Pink-flowered strawberry; still producing in July
The blueberries are in full swing and I can’t pick them fast enough. The black raspberries are coming along; only have a few plants this year but they are doing great, for the most part.
I’m eating the sugar snap peas and string beans as fast as I’m picking them. Good thing my family isn’t enamoured of vegetables.
The lettuces and basil is doing great; all of the herbs are kicking butt, actually, as usual. Herbs rock! They know what to do and they do it; they need very little help from us.
The bell peppers all look great. I have one eggplant that unfortunately has a hole drilled straight through the top. The pumpkins, winter squash, and potatoes (Yukon Golds) are doing well. Even the watermelon is still alive. That’s already better results than last year.
But here’s the real news: the first two (cherry) tomatoes have ripened! They are ready to eat! I can’t wait. Now, the bad news: one of the heirloom tomatoes has a disease of some sort. The bottom ends are blackened halfway up on two of the plum style tomatoes. 😦
I will be hitting the books tonight to figure out what to do, but I’m not optimistic. Other than removing the offensive tomatoes and keeping my fingers crossed, I haven’t found much that helps this.
Some of today's garden take (notice the first tomatoes!!!)
Will be consulting these books: Terrific Tomatoes (really old, found used copy at a bookstore years ago) “By the editors of Organic Gardening and Farming”, and Garden Primer (revised edition) by Barbara Damrosch…basically it comes down to a watering problem: too much after too little, or perhaps too little calcium. One book has the nerve to say a solution is to “choose disease-resistant plants”…OY! Are you kidding me?
Okay, note to self: next year, consult crystal ball to rule out plants that will likely develop blossom end rot due to watering problems.
In the meantime, I’ve thrown those two rotted bottomed tomatoes as far away into the woods as I was able. Hopefully the rest will be okay.
Now if i can only figure out what ate the hole through my eggplant…
Maybe you leave for work very early in the morning, and return home late in the evening…and maybe you have a significant other that you would like to have date-time with, at least once in a while! What do you do?
Well, the situation demands creativity on the part of the couple, no question. Tonight, what we’re doing is date night on the deck. I’m at work all day, but my husband is going to get things ready for us for when I get home.
Steps to readying your backyard for a date in the summer:
Use a leaf blower to blow the dirt off your back deck/porch/stoop. No leaf blower? Get a broom!
Spray some Cutter Backyard Bug Control well in advance of your time outdoors. Nothing will make you more miserable, ruin the mood, (and drive you back inside faster) than getting swarmed by mosquitos.
Place some cut flowers from your backyard (daisies work, or sweet peas) into a milk bottle (for the daisies) or a drinking glass (for the sweet peas) and place them on the table that you hopefully have out there, or the railing, or just next to you on the steps.
If you haven’t had dinner yet, cook out or have the working spouse pick up something (pizza? chinese?) on the way home. Did you eat dinner already? Share a dessert.
If it’s still enough light out, take a walk around the block, or around your yard. Do a little light gardening (if you like that sort of thing). Those blueberries (unfortunately) won’t pick themselves.
Hopefully your kids will be in bed already (hint: don’t let them see you preparing; don’t tell them about it ahead of time. Good luck getting them to go to bed if you do!).
you have some free time this weekend, head over to the Playhouse to see this week’s show: Jack and the Beanstalk. The show times are Saturday August 7th at 10AM and another show at 12:00 noon. On Sunday, August 8th there is one show at 10:00AM. The price is reasonable, and almost any seat will give you a good view of the stage.
Karen Creamer Author, Coach, Speaker 
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