Dinner With Daddy

While speaking with my Beautiful wife the other day she happened to mention to me that Monday, September 26 th , was Family Day. Having never heard of it I asked her what it was, and she gave me a brief rundown as she knew it. Basically, it is a call to families to sit at the dinner table and share a meal together. I'm actually being blasé blah about what it really is, partly because we do this every day, and partly because I think it's sad that families have to be reminded to spend time together. The fact of the matter is the CASA Family Day is about so much more than the simple explanation I gave, and I applaud them for it. Family Day - A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children TM is an initiative that was started 10 years ago informing parents that something as simple as eating dinner with your kids can help keep them drug and alcohol free. CASA, or The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, maintains a website that is loaded with ...

Baseball. Everyone has a favorite team or player. As a matter of fact, in our house there is a rivalry over two teams. We are New Yorkers and New York has two baseball teams. Two of my boys, Sour Dough and Mini Buns are fans of rival New York teams; Mini Buns loves the METS and Sour Dough is and always has been a Yankees Fan through and through. Last night we got tickets to the METS game vs. the Florida Marlins at Citi Field. It was the first time the whole family actually got to go to a game together and we had a great time. After the game though was the memory I will hold onto. The METS comeback from behind to win will fade from my thoughts. The three major plays that David Wright made to save the game (in my opinion) will disappear from my memory. But the way that EVERY one of the METS filed out of Citi Field with Mini Buns pleading for any one of them to sign his METS book, and walking straight past him getting into their cars and driving away, I'm saving that memory. A...

This past weekend we on the east coast had to endure a little storm, her name was Irene. Irene made a run up the east coast and took dead aim at our home state of New York. She wasn't aiming at my family or my home, but she was getting a little close for comfort. In the front yard of the Hotbuns residence there is a tree. Not a small tree. In fact it is a very, very large tree. That very, very large tree is a Tulip Tree which I have estimated to be in excess of 75 feet tall. Our very, very tall 75+ feet of Tulip Tree also happens to be on the deader side of dying. That is not the only very large tree in close proximity to the Hotbuns residence either. We have Oak trees, and Maple trees and if I look hard enough in the back I'm pretty sure I can find a Sequoia or a Redwood. O.K. I exaggerated there a little. Having grown up in New Orleans I am no stranger to hurricanes. I've seen firsthand the devastation they can cause and with the Redwoods and Sequoias in the yard...

Last weekend the family and I took a much needed getaway to Mystic Connecticut. Many of you that were around in the 1980's maybe know of Mystic from the movie Mystic Pizza, starring a little known actress of the time named Julia Roberts. What many of you may not know is that Mystic is also the home of the Mystic Aquarium and the touristy Mystic Seaport. Mystic has been a family favorite since my first son, Sour Dough, was just a little guy. We frequent the joint, if you will. We live a few hours away so we like to go for a few days at a time to hit all of the sites. The problem, sometimes, with staying anywhere for a few days means you have to eat there, somewhere. Our family is a large one and as such a regular hotel room just won't do. We require a suite, a large one with two bedrooms and a pull out couch actually. Our hotel of choice is usually Homewood Suites or Staybridge Suites because they have the size room we require, and this weekend we stayed at Reside...

When I was just a wee tot, or as I like to say, Knee High To A Grasshopper , one of my favorite people in all the world was my Pop-Pop, or as you may call yours, my Grandfather. My Pop-Pop used to tell the best stories, the best jokes, and had all the best (and most creative) sayings. One of his favorite sayings, and subsequently one of my favorite sayings, was " Your Eyes Are Bigger Than Your Belly ", which meant you took more food than you could eat. The saying was meant to be half-hearted and somewhat funny but make no mistake, Pop-Pop did not take lightly to wasting food. As we got older, him a little faster than me, I called him Pop instead of the earlier Pop-Pop. I guess as he got older he just lost some of his pop. He did not however, lose his sense of humor, and Pop lived to the ripe old age of 92. The reason for that little anecdote was so I could establish my thought process for the story that follows. The other night for dinner I made one of the family favorites, P...

Last weekend Mini Buns, Sticky Buns and I went on an overnight camping trip with the Scout troop to Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts. Battleship Cove is located on Mount Hope Bay directly under the I195 bridge. Though many of the other scouts in the troop had gone before, this was our first time attending the overnight camping trip.We knew we would be spending the night on the Battleship USS Massachusetts , but we h onestly had no idea what to expect. We were greeted at the gate and escorted into the belly of the ship, down corridors, past the galley, to our sleeping quarters, which were bunks stacked 4 high, suspended from the ceiling on the equivalent of swingset chains. At first glance you can't help but to wonder if the chains will support the weight of 4 boys, let alone 4 full grown men. (In my case a little more than full grown) Our bunk room was air conditioned, which was a good thing because the near 90 degree temperatures outside were multiplied inside the shi...

Last weekend I took Mini Buns to his friend's house for a birthday party. His friend's parents and I are acquaintances from school and Cub Scouts and they were gracious enough to invite me to stay as well. I'm happy about that too because it was a barbeque, and I'm always down for a good barbeque. I was introduced to the whole family, both sets of Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, everyone. It took about ten minutes before the entire clan made me feel like part of the family. In a matter of minutes I was included in all of the conversations, and food and drink offers were flying at me from every direction. I learned that one of the Granddads, Artie, made his own wine. I also learned that Artie , who is Italian, makes Arrosticini. Arrosticini, I soon found out, are traditional BBQ lamb skewers. I also soon found out that they are absolutely one of the best foods I have ever eaten off of a grill. While the skewers themselves are only four inches long and very small cubes, ...