Dinner With Daddy

    There are a lot of traditions at the HB household. One of those time honored traditions is the Christmas Eve movie outing with Daddy and the kids. Every Christmas Eve I take my four wonderful and innocent young children to the movies allowing my Beautiful wife time to "reflect" on the Spirit of Christmas, and perhaps catch up on some last minute Christmas details.     Before I get deeper into this story I would like to state that my wife and I are firm believers in the MPAA rating system. Although mostly skewed and lacking basis for their rating decision, it is a good reference point when looking for a movie for your children. You can rest assured, however, that if the movie got a PG-13 instead of a PG, someone at the MPAA was going down kicking and screaming. It only stands to reason that if you lower the rating, you are making the movie available to that many more people.     Another, and in my opinion bet...

    This year My Beautiful wife and I took the kiddies to Nanny and Grandma's house for Thanksgiving. Nanny and Grandma have a beautiful, new, extra large kitchen that we all (including the children) cooked Thanksgiving dinner in. We ate, were merry, and on Black Friday we drove home. The visit could not have been nicer, the food could not have been better. The only problem was, when you eat Thanksgiving dinner at someone else's house, there are no leftovers. My Beautiful wife loves Thanksgiving leftovers so I decided that when we got home I would make a smaller version of Thanksgiving dinner so we could have leftovers. On the following Sunday I went to the local warehouse club, the grocery stores, everywhere I could think of to find a turkey to make for Leftover dinner. Lo and behold, there was not a turkey to be found. It was like they all flew the coop. I mean for crying out loud if I want a pumpkin after Halloween, I'll find one somewhere. If I wan...

Any Disney fan foodies out there? I'm one. This year my family and I attended the EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival at EPCOT in Orlando, Florida. The Festival this year ran from September 30 – November 13. If you have not heard of this event, and are truly a foodie, you really should try to get there. The 2012 International Food And Wine Festival will be held for the 17 th time from September 28 – November 11. The Food and Wine Festival is a celebration of food from around the world. You can sample dishes from different countries, attend wine tastings and book signings, and if you're lucky you could run into a few of the dozens of celebrity chefs that attend. In the evening there was an "Eat To The Beat" event featuring well known musical guests that perform live, which is included in your park pass. The day we went Billy Ocean was performing. There are quite a few other events you can sign up for like culinary demonstrations, wine pairings, ...

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...