Hello on Tuesday Morning

Dear Friends,



Another day went exactly as planned. I peeled 6 pounds of shrimp. I made two kinds of pizzelles before heading off to see the nurse practitioner during the mid afternoon on Monday. The nurse practitioner diagnosed my physical problem as a muscle strain. I now have a bottle full of 800 mg Motrin pills. I am supposed to take them three times per day with food.

The nurse practitioner said that I can go back to the gym, which I might do so on Wednesday, but I have to stay away form those machines which I could restrain my pulled muscle. Maybe I will do a little spinning which some of my friends are really hooked on doing at their particular gym.



Linda spent more than a couple of hours at the grocery store on Monday. She did some baking while I was at my UNICO membership meeting. She will be doing some more cooking this morning.

When our children arrive in the Berkshires today, they will be treated to a gourmet supper which we want to be a surprise. Since they are on my daily blog, I can’t discuss what we are serving this evening.



Right now Michael and his family should be sleeping at hotel not to far from Kevin and Kyla’s place in East Boston. The plan is for their family to be picked up and brought to East Boston to Kevin and Kyla’s apartment after check out time, where I will meet them. They want me to meet them around noon. I will load up Mike and his family in my car, and head to Pittsfield. As of yesterday, Kevin was thinking of closing his restaurant during the afternoon today for Christmas, and loading up his car with his family, and joining us in the Berkshires too. It will be so great if all these plans do materialize.



The UNICO membership meeting / dinner meeting went very well. “The Old Forge” always serves us one of the best meals of our 8 or 10 monthly meals which we have. We usually have the best attendance for this membership meeting night.

My friend and I did get another volunteer job (kitchen and servers) as we were departing the meeting. There is a polenta dinner on January 5, 2010. It will be at the new Mazzeo’s Ristorante which is not slated to open until February. This Polenta Dinner is a fund raiser for the Jimmy Fund. One of our UNICO Members and his wife will prepare the polenta, chicken, and sausage, and sauce. There are only a few tickets left. When the word gets out that this husband and wife team are cooking the Polenta Dinner, the tickets go like hot cakes. This is all done without any advertisements on radio or in the local newspaper.



I have another assigned task that I will get to after sending this e-mail. I have to grate some Italian cheese. Yes, we have those backup containers of grated cheese in those plastic containers, but there is nothing like the real stuff.



Observation 1 – I am already starting to think about the food that I am supposed to eat in moderation for the next several days. I don’t think that I will be able to eat healthy food, and in small portions. We have been invited to parties on Christmas Eve, Christmas evening, etc.

While in the car on the way to the UNICO meeting last night, my high school friend, neighbor, and UNICO brother tells me that he is cooking a batch of ribs for Christmas at his house. He even went out and spent over $100 for grill parts yesterday to make sure his grill will be in perfect working order. He creates his own barbecue sauce too. He usually keeps the barbecue recipe a secret.

The Curley family will definitely be making a stop at my friend’s home before these holidays are over. Once you taste my friend’s ribs, you won’t want any one else’s. Maybe our son Kevin can get my friend’s recipe, and add ribs to his menu at “Dough”. He could name the ribs “Jimmy’s Ribs” in honor of my friend.



Observation 2 – I turn 63 on Wednesday. Yes, I know in the scheme of things that I am still a youngster. As my friend and I were driving home from the meeting last evening, we both were saying that we are kind of lucky that all of our body parts are working pretty well. My friend turned 63 during the first week of December. We know so many people in our baby boomer age group who have more physical problems than you can imagine. Some of our baby boomer friends never did make it to even 60 years old. We too realize that when we get sick, it is mostly our fault like eating too much, drinking too much of the “fruit of the vine”, or straining muscles (in my case) because we think that we are 30 years old again.

My friend has longevity genes like I do. His mom passed away when she was in her mid 90’s. His grandparents came from the same town in Sicily that my grandparents (on my mother’s side) came from. My friend is Irish and Italian, and I am too. We must have some good DNA working for us!



Well, I have to get to my first quiet activity before I leave for Boston at 9 AM.

Is hand grating cheese a quiet activity?



Have a great Christmas if I don’t see you before, during, or after Christmas.

Remember not to sweat the little stuff.

Enjoy your family and friends because that is what life is all about.

Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad