Starość, nie radość

Starość, nie radość.  This is a phrase uttered many times by my elderly friends and relatives. I never paid much attention to it until I finally decided to find out what it meant.  Translation: There's nothing pleasant about old age.  The old guy in the cartoon also learned it when his erotic dream turned into a nightmare. 

Old age creates a whole new lifestyle. The only exercise I get now is created by my prostate forcing me to make a trip to the bathroom every two hours.  And a painful one at that.  Getting out of bed the damn lower back hurts so much I'm never confident I'm going to make the trip.  Same pain appears again later in the day when getting up from sitting too long watching that damn boob tube.....Starość, nie radość. 

Ok, I'll stop complaining. Especially since I've been very fortunate to continue getting favorable reports after doctor visits.

  I feel I must, however, tell you that yesterday was one of those"days". You know the kind of day when everything you do seems to turn into manure.  I spent a very long time creating a blog entry that morning and had it completely finished all the way including the recipe portion. I have absolutely no idea what I did or what I pressed but I ended up completely deleting it.  I think you can guess what my attitude was then and for the rest of the day.  Nothing went right the rest of the day.  I decided to make a nice Fritata for dinner. When I went to flip it over to finish up the other side, it slid off the plate and landed flat on the granite counter top.  Had to scoop it up with a spatula to pop it back into the pan.  Real pretty looking....not!

Since at eighty five years of age and truly in a Starość stage of life I can't remember all the gems I had in my deleted entry. I think I should stop now and proceed with the recipe section.  My cousin will think I'm a little strange when she sees that I remembered and saved these recipes.  Many. many, many years ago we were invited to her home and were served the following appetizers.  Simple but very tasty. 

 

Meatball Appetizer – Roberta Flannery

 

Meatballs, medium size, cooked, made without eggs

1 jar grape jelly                    1 jar chili sauce

 

Mix meatballs, jelly and chili sauce, heat and serve.  Crock pot is ideal for this.

 

Hot Dog Appetizer – Roberta Flannery

 

Hot dogs (cocktail or regular size cut in pieces), cooked

1 jar currant jelly                   1 jar Dijon mustard

 

Mix hot dogs, jelly and mustard together, heat and serve.  Crock pot is ideal for this.

 

Never knew that!

Dear Fellow readers:

     Isn't history more fun when you know something about it ?  Hope none of you are offended.

The History of the Middle Finger:

Well,now......here's something I never knew before, and now that I know it, I feel compelled to send it on to my more intelligent friends in the hope that they, too, will feel edified. 
 
Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers.  Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore they would be incapable of fighting in the future.  This famous English longbow was made of the native English Yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was known as 'plucking the yew' (or 'pluck yew'). 
 
Much to the bewilderment of the French, the English won a major upset and they began mocking the French by waving their middle fingers at the defeated French, saying, See, we can still pluck yew!  Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult to say, the difficult consonant cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a labiodental fricative 'F', and thus the words often used in conjunction with the one-finger-salute!  It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the arrows used with the longbow that the symbolic gesture is known as 'giving the bird.' 

And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing.

Now that you've been educated I won't be offended if you use this new found knowledge when acknowledging this new Blog insert.

Sorry for staying away from the keyboard for so long, but every time I think about sitting down and writing something that damn "Corona thing" comes to mind and blocks out any creative juices I might have had.  Important as our current situation is, It certainly gets very tiresome hearing about nothing else 24/7.  I can only imagine how strange our world would be if the situation became permanent.  Beauty would be a thing of the past, it didn't matter what you looked like since you were hiding under a mask.  Lipstick manufacturers would start filing bankruptsy....who needed it?  Television networks would go so far back showing reruns we'd have to start watching "Kukla, Fran, and Ollie"  I know, I know, many of you were not even born when this stuff was on the air.  I can remember seeing the show on a huge 7" TV. 

Let's all say a few prayers that this will end soon.

Anyway we still need to eat, so here's another recipe you might consider trying:

Spanish Baked Chicken

 Also known as "Pollo Estofado" this stewed chicken recipe is Spanish in origin. The chicken is marinated overnight in a spicy vinaigrette with olives and raisins. The chicken is then cooked in its marinade with the addition of wine and brown sugar. Excellent with Spanish rice.

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Dash of pepper
3 bay leaves
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup sliced pitted green olives
3 pounds chicken parts
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup dry white wine

 In a medium bowl combine the olive oil, vinegar, oregano, salt, garlic powder, pepper, bay leaves, raisins and olives. Prick the skin of the chicken with fork tines and add to the marinade, coating well. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place chicken in a 12x8x2-inch baking dish. Combine wine with the marinade and pour over chicken. Sprinkle chicken with brown sugar. Bake uncovered at 350°F, basting occasionally, until chicken is tender, about 50 minutes. Remove bay leaves.                                Serves 4