Pizza In Paper

After church tonight Hubby Tony and I went out for pizza. The "special" we chose started with a Chicago tavern style thin crust layers with a tasty red sauce, sausage, mushrooms, onions, green peppers, and mozzarella cheese. When I took my first piece, I noticed the pizza had been placed on a cardboard circle on top of a metal pan.

We chose to order a pizza large enough so there would be leftovers for lunch tomorrow. The waitress came by and offered to package up the leftovers. She took the pan away, and when she came back she was carrying a slim paper bag, folded over and closed with clear cellophane tape. 

I had never seen leftover pizza packaged in anything other than a square cardboard box. When I picked the bag up I could feel the pizza on top of the cardboard circle, and I noticed how much lighter the bag was than a comparable sized box.

 

I was afraid that without sturdy box sides the pieces of pizza would shift around on the drive home, and ended up putting it in the trunk. There didn't seem to be any issues. 

 

Back at home, Tony put the leftovers in the refrigerator, where they took up less room then they would have in a box. Tomorrow after lunch the empty bag will take up less room in the trash than cardboard would (and keep the communal trash bins in the basement cleaner).

Have you ever had pizza being packaged in a paper bag? If so, what did you think?

It Was Darn Good

The other night Hubby Tony had a dinner meeting, so I was on my own to find something to eat. Even though I could have scavenged something from the refrigerator I decided to walk up to the grocery store and see if there was anything in the clearance section to enhance the meal.

The Clearance Section gods were smiling down on me. I ended up buying a one-person marinated salmon kebab and a container of yellow cherry tomatoes. Both were $1.50.

Back at home, I put the tomatoes in the oven to roast. When they were almost done I took apart the kebab and added the salmon chunks to the pan. I cut up leftover roasted eggplant, and boiled a serving of Chinese noodles. When everything was ready I put the noodles in a bowl, dumped everything else on top, and added a large sprinkle of Everything Bagel seasoning.

My one-person meal was tasty, and just what my stomach needed.

Five years ago today: Tender Tarsus Treatment

Helping Out As I Can

The tornado that came through St. Louis on May 16th decimated large portions of several neighborhoods on the North Side. This is an old part of the city, with many houses built a century or more ago. A few of the neighborhoods are genteel, but others suffer from widespread disinvestment and poverty.

Tony and I talked about what we could do to help with the relief efforts. On the Volunteer Center of the United Way website there was a list of opportunities. Many of them involved strenuous labor like debris clearing or boarding up buildings (neither of which I would be much help with), but when I saw a two-hour shift packing food boxes we decided that we could do that and signed up for this morning.

Before we left the house Tony's map app said the most direct way to the volunteer location was through Forest Park, which had also been hit by the storm. After I got off the highway the drive was surreal; the closer I got to the most affected area, the more huge uprooted trees I saw. Many of them had been cut into pieces and moved to the sides of the road for eventual pick up.

As I left the park the devastation was even more apparent. There were apartment buildings with almost every window boarded up. Other buildings had partial or no roofs. Out of respect I didn't want to take any photos, but if you Google 'St Louis 2025 tornado' you can find evidence of the destruction.

We got to the volunteer location and learned that instead of food we would be packing bags of personal care items. (I was happy to help in whatever way I could.) The front hall was converted into a packing station, with four long tables filled with paper goods and personal care necessities.

The project started with a crew of six, but several others soon joined in. Originally each bag included two rolls of paper towels and two rolls of toilet paper, along with miscellaneous items of our choice. When the paper towels ran out there was more discretion involved. I was working on the side with feminine products and added boxes of tampons and pads to each bag.

There were so many people lending a hand that the packing was finished in an hour. Another set of volunteers took the bags over to the drive through distribution area. After a little down time (during which I learned about other opportunities for doing relief work) I helped load cases of water onto carts for distribution.

Shortly before our two-hour shift was over we were offered the opportunity to start sorting though donated clothes. However, Tony had an afternoon commitment so we said our goodbyes and left. I drove home a slightly different way, but the trail of devastation still continued for several miles. Buildings were roofless, utility poles had snapped off, and several stoplights were non-functioning.

But just a quarter of a mile later there was absolutely no storm damage. Tornadoes are crazy things.

Five years ago today: Phooey!

Table For One

Last weekend when Hubby Tony and I were coming home from the Lake of the Ozarks we stopped at a Panera in Saint Robert, where we used the bathroom and got a cup of coffee. While I was waiting for Tony to finish up I saw a table set up in the lobby that held one place setting, flowers, and a gold frame containing some type of explanation.

When I got closer I was able to make out the words in the frame, which read:

The Fallen Soldier Table

 

We call attention to this small table that occupies a place of dignity and honor.

This table is reserved to honor our missing and fallen soldiers.

 

The white tablecloth stands for the purity of the service members' intentions when answering the call to serve their nation. 

 

The empty chair represents an unknown face behind a loss that will never be filled. 

 

The black napkin stands for the emptiness these warriors have left in the hearts of their loved ones. 

 

The red rose reminds us of the life of the soldier and the love from the family and friends of our missing/departed comrades. 

 

The yellow ribbon signifies the everlasting support we have for our troops.

 

The lighted candle reflects the light of hope which lives in our hearts.

 

The inverted glass symbolizes the fallen's inability to share in the evening's toast. 

 

Let us never forget the sacrifices of those and their loved ones.

I had never seen anything like this in a public place, but I wonder if it's because Saint Robert is close to the entrance of Fort Leonard Wood Army training installation.

Five years ago: Mass In The Age Of Coronavirus

Crawling For Doughnuts

More than a year ago a local food and drink magazine wrote about a doughnut crawl - five bakeries with great doughnuts within an easy drive from each other. I love doughnuts, and the idea was offbeat enough that I tore out the article and added it to my monthly tickler file. Every few months I would see those pages, decide it wasn't the right time, and shuffle the article forward a couple of months.

The article showed up again when I grabbed the May paperwork. It's a nice time of the year to do things outside, so I asked Hubby Tony if he was interested. He quickly said yes. There was nothing on the calendar for this morning so we decided to crawl for doughnuts, but we put our own spin on the activity.

A couple of decades ago my stomach would have easily taken in multiple fried sugary treats. Now it would rebel. Tony picked two of the locations that were a half hour on foot from each other and suggested we walk instead of drive.

Our first stop was Vincent Van Doughnut (located in the Grove neighborhood), where everything is hand made and artesian. I chose Lemon Lavender yeast doughnut, which was glazed and topped with lemon zest and lavender buds. Tony ordered a wonderfully dense Blueberry cake doughnut, topped with a thick layer of blueberry frosting.

There was an option to eat in, which we did. The associate placed each doughnut on a china plate and we carried them to a table where we cut each in half and shared.

After ingesting the first pair of doughnuts we set off towards the second bakery. Thirty-five minutes later we arrived at Pharaoh's Donuts, which was tucked away in a small storefront in the Central West End neighborhood. The display case had a nice selection of old-school, basic donuts. This time I ordered a traditional glazed and Tony chose crumb-topped buttermilk cake.

There was no option to eat in, but we found a place to sit outside. Once again each doughnut was divided in half; that way each of us sampled four different types.

We walked back to the car via a different route and by the time I was sitting inside I had almost completed my 10,000 step goal for the day. I considered that a good offset for some of the calories I consumed on the adventure.

Five years ago today: I'm In Love....

Tea Time

Scrolling through social media this afternoon, I found out that today was International Tea Day.

United Nations

I decided to learn more. According to Wikipedia:

International Tea Day aims to raise awareness of the long history and the deep cultural and economic significance of tea around the world. The goal of the day is to promote and foster collective actions to implement activities in favour of the sustainable production and consumption of tea and raise awareness of its importance in fighting hunger and poverty. It aims to draw global attention of governments and citizens to the impact of the global tea trade on workers and growers, and has been linked to requests for price supports and fair trade.

Tea is one of the world’s oldest beverages. There is evidence that it was consumed in China as early as 5,000 years ago. Today, many of the workers and producers of tea face poor working conditions and pay, and International Tea Day is part of educating people about the issues.

Hubby Tony and I decided to celebrate by having iced tea with dinner. If I had known about the event in advance I would have done some preparation, but when I looked through our supply of tea bags I noticed there wasn't a lot of variety (and put 'tea bags' on the grocery list). Our drink ended up being a combination of half black tea and half decaf tea bags.

I brewed the tea in my old reliable Mr. Coffee Iced Tea maker, which is extremely easy to use. You put water in the reservoir, add tea to the basket, and hit the start button. Ten minutes later the hot tea was ready to go into the refrigerator to chill.

Since we usually have sparkling water with dinner, the tea was a nice change of pace. And as an added bonus there was enough left over to serve it again tomorrow night.

Even though I had tea with dinner, later in the evening I decided I wanted my normal after-dinner herbal brew. Tonight it was hibiscus-deep red, tart, slightly sweet, and fruity.

Five years ago: Who Are Those Masked People?

Atmospheric Conditions Alarming

Last Monday Hubby Tony and I returned from our most recent trip to California. I washed and put away the dirty clothes, but didn't bother putting the suitcase back in the closet because four days later I was leaving town again!

Over the weekend Tony and I attended a fellowship business meeting, which took place two and a half hours from us in Camdenton, Missouri. We left shortly after 11:00 and headed southwest on Interstate 44. The weather was beautiful, although there was a forecast of potential strong storms.

Halfway there (just before Rolla if you know the area) we started hearing storm warning messages on the radio. The counties and cities they mentioned were far away. However, the counties and cities started to get closer and eventually (around St. Robert) we were in the path of the storm. It was raining so hard Tony pulled over to the side of the road. The wind was strong, and a couple of small pieces of hail hit the hood of the car, but nothing like what the warning messages had indicated might happen. Five minutes later everything had passed and we continued on our way.

I don't know if it was the same storm or a different one that eventually made it to the St. Louis area, but parts of the metropolitan area weren't as lucky as Tony and I were.  A tornado formed (believed by the National Weather Service to be of EF-3 strength with winds up to 152 mph), which had a path up to a mile wide. This was the first tornado to cause fatalities in the area since 1959. Five people died. 

Tornadoes are strange, unpredictable storms. The affected areas were 15-20 minutes from our condo, and less than five minutes from Son Donald's house. Neither of us had any issues

Friday night I received a text from the woman taking care of Pimento the Foster Cat while we were gone. It said:

"I should have known that something would happen when you guys left. Check the news about the tornado damage in St Louis city. No damage here."

This is the third time something has happened when we were gone. We were in Hawaii in February when the area had snow and arctic temperatures. During our California trip, a broken water main resulted in a city-wide boil water order that lasted for several days. This time was severe weather. 

It makes me wonder if our streak has exhausted itself, or if I need to prepare myself for something else.

Five years ago: Ouch!

A Unique Family Tree

A couple of months ago DIL Ie asked Hubby Tony and me some questions about our genealogy. We supplied the required information and didn't think any more about it....

Until a package arrived in the mail this week. Inside was an awesome family tree plaque made out of a slice of wood. Tony and I were listed in the middle. Surrounding the tree were rings that listed our parents, grandparents, children, and grandchildren. 

Because it had so much family information I didn't want to share a photo or the one we received, but it was similar to this:

Etsy

Five years ago today: Plants In A Pandemic

Family Festivities

A couple of months ago DIL Nicole asked if Grandma and Grandpa might be available to come to California and babysit so that she and Son Brian could do an overnight trip to celebrate their anniversary. Of course we said yes. While we were out there we decided to celebrate the birthday of Granddaughter Gee (Son Tony's oldest, who turns five years old later this month.) And to make it an entire family celebration, Son Donald took time off work to come with us.

Our whirlwind trip had us arriving at Brian's on Wednesday night and leaving on Monday morning. The time was divided into two parts. For the first we slept at Brian's house, got the kids (a 7-year old and 5-year old twins) to school and supervised their afternoon and evening activities with the help of the twins' nanny.

During our free time we ran some errands and drove to Redwood City to explore and eat at Mazra, a Mediterranean restaurant that came highly recommended. The highlight of our excellent meal was a whole roasted cauliflower appetizer.

Cauliflower

The next day we had some non-photogenic, but great authentic Chinese food at a local restaurant.

On Friday afternoon Son Tony, DIL Ie, and their family arrived from their Central Valley home. Brian's house will only hold a couple of overnight guests, so Tony rented an Airbnb ten minutes away. When Brian and Nicole returned home from their trip we ate dinner with them, then packed up our stuff and moved over to Tony's.

The next two days were nonstop family time. We watched a little league baseball game, celebrated the birthday girl with lunch, a pinata, and a rented bounce house (enjoyed by both the littles and the adults). One popular activity was constructing buildings with magnetic tiles. Uncle Donald's height came in handy with the really tall ones.

"Let's make it taller"

Sunday morning everyone headed back to Brian's for a Mother's Day brunch and more family time. I was in heaven! But all good things eventually have to end. Tony and family needed to get back home to organize for the week ahead. Nicole and Jay left for an appointment. Tony, Donald, and I played one last game of cards then said our goodbyes. We had to get to the airport early for our flight back home.

Five years ago today: Nextdoor Neighbor

Photo Enhancer

The operating system on my iPhone has a handy Clean Up feature which removes distracting objects from the background of photos. I've been playing with it and for the most part I like the way it works.

For example, I took a photo of a bouquet of flowers I received for Mother's Day:

The black electrical cord running behind the bouquet was a big distraction, so I got rid of it.

However, the feature isn't perfect. Removing the brass statue on the left hand side left a weird shadow.

Five years ago today: Heavens To Chicken

Nothing But The Best Punny Headlines

There's a  lot going on here, but no matter how busy life is there's always time for smiles 😊

• Something went wrong in jet crash, experts say

• Police begin campaign to run down jaywalkers

• Safety Experts say school bus passengers should be belted

• Drunk gets nine months in violin case

• Iraqi head seeks arms

• Is there a ring of debris around Uranus?

• Panda mating fails; veterinarian takes over

• Teacher strikes idle kids

• New study of obesity looks for larger test group

• Squad helps dog bite victim

• Local high school dropouts cut in half

• Enraged cow injures farmer with axe

• Plane too close to ground, crash probe told

• Miners refuse to work after death

• Juvenile court to try shooting defendant

• Kids make nutritious snacks

• Two sisters reunited after 18 years in checkout counter

• Killer sentenced to die for second time in 10 years

• Astronaut takes blame for gas in spacecraft

• Red tape holds up new bridges

• War dims hope for peace

• If strike isn't settled quickly, it may last a while

• Cold wave linked to temperatures

• Elderly couple slain; police suspect homicide

Five years ago: An Unexpected Musical Treat

Hooray For Me!

Today I completed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's easy sit-to-stand test (STS), which measures lower body strength, endurance, and fall risk. All I had to do was count how many times I could rise from a seated position to a full stand in 30 seconds. The steps of the test:

• Sit in a chair without arm rests.
• Cross your arms and place your hands on the opposing shoulder. 
• Keep your feet on the floor and your back straight. 
• Start a stopwatch (or note the time on a clock with a second hand.
• Rise to a full standing position, then sit down again.
  
• Repeat the exercise for 30 seconds.

There are scoring targets for men and women in different age brackets. Women in my bracket should be able to do at least 11 repetitions. I am pleased to report that I even did a couple more than that.

Have you ever completed this test? If so, how did you do?

Five years ago: Grateful Or Not-Fill It Out

Mexican-ish

Happy Cinco de Mayo! It's a day that celebrates Mexico's victory over France at Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. In the United States, people mainly use the holiday as an excuse to eat Mexican food and drink margaritas.

There were several places offering special meals today, but Hubby Tony and I chose to stay home and dine on leftovers of the homemade chili he made yesterday. I've never seen chili in a Mexican restaurant, but in my world it's close enough. 

Thanks to the "holiday" Tony had no problem finding ripe avocados to garnish the bowls. He also put out tortilla chips to complete the meal.

 Five years ago: "Four Dead In O-hi-o"

Rain...Rain...Cold...More Rain...

Not only is it still raining here, the temperature today is a chilly 20-degrees lower than average. 

Things will get better starting by the middle of next week, so hopefully this year St. Louis will only have a short blackberry winter (the Midwest's colloquial expression for a cold snap in late spring when the blackberries are in bloom).

Whenever I hear Mitch Miller I think of my parents, who were big fans of his.

Five years ago: Walk On

At Least The Temperatures Are Nice

I have been grumpy and out of sorts the past few days, but I couldn't figure out why until I saw a Facebook post from a local meteorologist. He said April 2025 has been the wettest on record in the metropolitan area. (In 2025 there was 10.85" of rain, which inched out the old record of 10.84" from 1893. According to the National Weather Service, the April average is 4.73" inches.)

Of course, with much rain comes much gloom. In the last eleven days of the month there was only one that had substantial sun:

Weather Underground

And between now and the middle of the month it looks like more of the same. Today there have been some teases of sun, but every time I've gone outside (or even thought about going outside) the sun disappears. 

I've been around long enough to know that eventually things will clear up and people will be talking about how dry things are. I can't wait for that day.