Bites of the day

I actually cooked today. I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things. I made a baked pasta primavera with leftover Alfredo sauce from the other night, rotini noodles, carrots, spinach, sauteed mushrooms, some grated parmesan and a lovely provolone cheese melted on top and a sprinkling throughout. Seasoned, mixed together, and topped with cheese; it baked to lovely golden browned top. More a decadent treat than an everyday occurrence. I'll probably stay simple for dinner like a salad. Yum.

Plans for my birthday have been in discussion. Since we were little birthdays have always been celebrated with a family dinner of our choosing. Sometimes we go out, sometimes it is something more at home. My birthday dinner discussions often include a sometimes heated discussion about meat being included. I get the whining about being fair to everyone else and how you can't have a family meal without meat, blah, blah, blah. I'm not really surprised. It would just be nice if once there was a sit down meal where I didn't feel like I was eating around everyone else. Somehow, my brother's dislike of spinach is the same as my not eating meat in their eyes. Oh, to live in a world where I'm not the exception. We seem to have come to an agreement (no one else in my family has to negotiate their birthday dinner) of a fondue night complete with grilled kabobs (so I can have vegetable ones and they can have their meat) and a salad.

We're still in the midst of hunting season. Bah! I asked them to be respectful of me by not hunting on our own property (they have a list of family and friends with more property than we have), but this request was denied out of "respect for them." I try to take comfort in the fact they are not great shots and they are down to just bow season (no more deer being chase by guns). I recently had a friend, who is once again a vegetarian (she's been on and off for years now), who tried to lecture me about hunting. Of course, no one in her family hunts and she doesn't come from a 4-H or agricultural/farming family, therefore not understanding how ingrained in the culture it becomes. What some people don't understand is that I am never going to change them. I just really, really wish that they would be a little more understanding and compassionate about my place in the middle.

"I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because its's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her." -- Ellen DeGeneres