Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Friday Has Returned Already, Where Did The Week Go?

“There is something you must always remember. you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”- Winnie the Pooh

Over the thirty-five years we were together, Sue and I made many friends.  Visiting them and remembering those things that never really happened, we always fun.  Our work friends were special as their relationships were mutually beneficial as we learned from them, and, hopefully, they got something from us.  Sue had many people write beautiful things about her over the years, and we all know why!

Below is George, a special guy, who we met on the Space Shuttle Program and after we retired, we would see each other along with Robin and others.  We would usually go to a local restaurant, this time with was Alcalpulco Mexican restaurant in Seal Beach. Thank you, George, for being a good friend all these years and hopefully, many more to come!  Thank you, Sue, for building us such an outstanding set of friends and support groups for me now.  I will always love you!

She loved visiting with her many friends regularly.

I am beginning to love my bathroom scale as this morning, he did not get snippy with me when I stood there, and he counted out 193.2 pounds.  I expected him to say something like, “Please let go of the helium balloons” or “Please stop hanging from the grab bar.”  One hundred ninety pounds is looking better every day!

Did You Know? One hundred ninety pounds is:

  1. About as heavy as a Kangaroo
  2. About one-and-one-fifth times as heavy as a Beer Keg
  3. About one-and-seven-tenths times as heavy as an Octopus.
  4. About three-fifths as heavy as a Panda Bear
  5. About half as heavy as a Reindeer.
  6. About twice as heavy as a Toilet.

My internal clock malfunctioned, so I was up around 5:00 AM this morning.  I guess the clock remembered I hit the sack a little early last night.  The first thing was to pay some bills and a walking tour of the garden.  I had to plan to leave the house around noon as I have a tee-time with Miss Charlotte at 12:50 AM.   So, I decided to cook brunch, and I selected barramundi from HelloFresh.

You may be thinking, “what exactly is barramundi?” Glad you asked! A member of the sea bass family, this fish is firm-fleshed and has a unique, buttery flavor. I love it, especially with potato-chip-like crispy skin, swimming in a creamy and tangy lemon butter sauce. Fresh green beans and fluffy jasmine rice studded with crunchy pistachios are the perfect accompaniments. No, the question is, when can I make this again?

Delicious!

The picture shows carrots, but after walking the garden, I decided green beans would be substituted, so I prepared them, boiled and simmered them for about 5 minutes, and then added butter and a little salt.  It was amazing to taste foods right out of the garden!

The green beans have already come to a boil, so the water/steam marks are on the top of the pot…it started clean!  The green color was bright and cheery as if to say, “Bite me!”

The beans were perfect and so flavorful! I made enough for tomorrow also!

The HelloFresh items come pre-packaged, but you must wash, zest, chop, dice, sautee, or whatever to the various pieces.  The fish and meat come in the box, surrounded by a solid block of ice.

Check out the calories and the protein! It does not get healthier than this!

In to the pan they went after a healthy dose of salt and pepper plus Tunisian spice blend.  3-4 minutes per side is all the time it took.  I decided to squeeze in half a small lemon.

Meanwhile, the rice was steaming away, and I added pistachios and shallots tot he rice.

The spices gave it a beautiful color and pleasant flavor.

After taking the barramundi out of the pan and platting it, I whipped up a sauce from the veggie stock concentrate, butter, red pepper flakes, and a tab of Wondra.  Onto the plate everything went, and lunch was served, complete with candles!

I decided I needed a formal sit-down lunch, so I set up the table, poured a glass of vino (Sue’s special wine), and dined like a king with Amazon Alexa playing soft jazz in the background.

A delightful lunch it was. The green beans were an excellent choice!

To the shower and on with the golf costume. I have a “date” with Charlotte on the 10th hole at 12:50 AM.  Well, I find out that Charlotte played the front nine with James and James does nine holes these days so, she gets to have two good looking guys today!

The geese family came right up to her and had a lite lunch! The babies still do not fly, so Mom and Dad stay with them for almost a year. We will see a lot of them shortly!

Charlotte and I did pretty well (she is the Women’s Club Champion this year) so, I take inputs from her, and she helps my game along.  Since I do not keep score, I played form the lady’s tees so we could save some time.  On a couple of occasions, I almost hit it as far as her!

Three more miles! Yeah!

I do not own a golf hand cart yet!  The “rules” from our silly politicians do not allow push cards unless you bring your own.  Well, I went to Roger Dunn, and they had zip!  I tried Amazon, and the earliest delivery date was July 1st.  So I used my powers of persuasion and got one from the club via the back door, used it, and I will bring it back every time I play until I either find one or they begin to allow the use of their carts!

There was just enough time for me to get a glass of wine before the scheduled staff meeting planned for 5:00 PM, where I am the host.  Zooming on Zoom, I activated the meeting at 4:50 PM, and Robin was first to join! We had Michigan, Washington, and Texas represented.  Next week we are adding three more of the folks.  Great fun, beautiful memories!  We yacked for over an hour-and-a-half!

People came and went as the 90-minute staff meeting went on.

I watched the news at 7:00 PM, but I could only stand thirty minutes of it because I get frustrated with our country.

Leave it to our government!

Before it got dark, I did another garden walkthrough spotting some English shelling peas that will be my lunch tomorrow.

By 9:30 PM is was getting tuckered-out so I watched TV in the bedroom before going night-night.  A super day and as long as my new friend, the bathroom scale, show me at 193 pounds in the morning, all will be OK!

I sure missed talking to Colleen this evening, but from the time I got home to the time the staff meeting was over, it was 10:00 PM her time.

About Paul

Just an old retired guy trying to finish out my last years on this planet. I lost my best friend and wife in early 2020. I was blessed again by reconnecting with Dr. Mary Côté, a long-time friend. Mary and I got married July 28th, 2021, and are enjoying life together and plan to spend the rest of our lives being a blessing to our friends and family.
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