Happy Birthday, Dad!

Yes, today is dad’s birthday! I won’t say how old he is, but it’s pretty darn old. (Just kidding, dad! :)) Actually, there’s no way that dad is as old as he supposedly (supposably) is, because he’s the only one who’ll hike up stairs with me and go for long walks when we’re on vacations and exploring new places. When we were in Rome a couple years ago, my dad and I were the only ones who were willing to tackle the Spanish steps. Everyone else waited for us, admiring the strange obelisk perched at the top of the steps. Dad and I were like, “c’mon, it’s the Spanish steps! In Rome! You HAVE to walk up and down the steps, right?” It’s not the Spanish waiting room – it’s a big staircase. What good is a staircase if you can’t walk on it? Fortunately, dad is always willing to walk long distances and climb lots of stairs… and that’s how I know he must not be as old as he’s supposed to be…

And Eric is here, so we’re all pretending to be happy about that. (Haha… just kidding, Eric… or AM I? Hmmm…) We had a nice early birthday dinner last night at Truluck’s, where I ordered a piece of their reeeeaaaaallllly good chocolate cake for dessert – to go. That cake is so good that I don’t like to waste any of it – and if I’m completely full after dinner there (which usually happens), I like to just order the cake to go so I can enjoy it sometime when I don’t practically feel sick to my stomach. So I brought a piece home last night, and I accidentally ate some of it for breakfast. I don’t know how that happened. Now I really DO feel sick to my stomach…

Eric and I played some Texas hold ‘em last night, which I really don’t know how to play very well. And yet I somehow managed to win a lot. Lucky for Eric we weren’t actually playing for money. We were, however, playing for all the tea in China (which I won), and a napkin with a bug in it (I can’t remember if I won that or not – but it ended up in the trash anyway…). Dad joined us at one point and bet his house, but he managed to win that hand. Whew… THAT was close.

So my mom just told me that my Aunt Carol was wondering about the “mashed cauliflower” I mentioned in my last post. It’s pretty much just like it sounds – you steam the cauliflower until it’s soft, then just mash it up like potatoes. I like to add cheese to it, but you could probably experiment and add whatever you want. Or add nothing, if you really like the taste of plain old cauliflower. I first saw the “mashed cauliflower” thing referred to as a “substitution” for mashed potatoes for people on the Atkins diet. But I gotta tell ya – it’s nothing like mashed potatoes. And I’m NOT on the Atkins diet, and would never BE on the Atkins diet. I know some people love it, but I don’t like any kind of diet that restricts entire food groups. In fact, I don’t like any “diet” at all. If you’re “on a diet,” it implies that you’re doing something temporary – eventually you’ll get to a point where you go back to eating however you like to eat, and that’s when you gain back all the weight you lost on your “diet.” Personally, I like the “everything in moderation” approach. If I were to start restricting carbs, eventually I’d snap and eat an entire pizza, loaf of bread, and order of extra large McDonald’s French fries. Better to eat a slice of pizza now and then, a piece of bread here or there, and few French fries every so often. So the mashed cauliflower is less a “substitution” for mashed potatoes (which I also make sometimes), and more just something to add variety to my dinners.

And yes, sometimes I DO eat cake for breakfast. Not all the time, of course. But I can’t eat oatmeal EVERY day… I like variety for breakfast, too. :)