Sylvia's Scenario

Our Mother's Day was low key this year since Nick and family have moved away.  Our numbers have dwindled down to three of us now.  Lauren came over for dinner and Bruce barbecued everyone's favorite Teriyaki Flank Steak  and I made some festive chocolate covered strawberries.  I am feeling a little bit of my lonely-grandma-self but I suppose it's human nature after the past three years of being spoiled with my whole family here.  I keep thinking of my own mom who I would normally turn to for comfort at a time like this.  This is when I miss her the most, especially on Mother's Day.  Her motherhood wasn't all that easy, always saying goodbye to her children and grandkids, too.  She must have felt lonely much of the time just like I do now.  We do what we have to do when you don't live near your loved ones.  She rarely lived near her seven children once we all finished high school.  We all couldn't wait to move out and get on our own....

Since we've been home from Hawaii, it's been a sloooooooooooow process getting back into my regular eating routine by following  Hannah Freese, RD's  eating plan.  I was very proud of myself in Hawaii by sticking to the plan most the time.  I felt the best I've felt on a vacation in a long time, full of energy and very active swimming and going for daily walks with no aches or pains like I usually have.  I can tell my joint replacements are working well and I felt so strong and healthy in Hawaii  until I got covid.  Yep, I got it.  Darn it.  First, my sister and her husband tested positive and three days later I tested positive so I had to isolate for 5 days by not leaving our condo.  My sister and her husband both had coughs so they checked into a new condo to isolate.  Bruce, mysteriously never got it for some reason...lucky guy!  My brother and his wife were also there in another condo and they never got it, either.  Th...

Tomorrow is Mother's Day and I get to have a restful day while, at the same time, I get to eat good food.  What could be better than that?  Bruce got a salmon that we plan to barbecue and since Nick has been requesting teriyaki salmon, we'll marinate this salmon with my family favorite  teriyaki sauce .  I plan to make my last posted recipe  Persian Chopped Salad  because I didn't get enough of it last time.  Mother's Day is a lot like Easter when it comes to the menu.   So, Bruce suggested we have another popular dish,  Orzo with Mushrooms and Walnuts , that we haven't had in a long time.  The final item we're going to make is this Crispy Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus that we had on Easter.  We got a free bunch of asparagus at our local grocery store since this is asparagus season and the prosciutto turns it into a special occasion dish like Mother's Day.  I think for dessert, we'll do strawberry short cake which is something s...

I'm wishing everyone a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday and hope it was as pampering as mine was.  I got an unexpected surprise by Lauren when she told me she had a two hour break from her work on Sunday to get together for brunch.  When she told me that, I was afraid it might be too late to find any place available but we ended up finding a time open at one of our favorite places,  Portage Bay Cafe .  I wrote about this place on Lauren's birthday a couple years ago when it was her wish to experience this popular spot. We happily granted her request and the food continues to be truly amazing. They feature a breakfast bar where you can help yourself to an assortment of items such as fruit, cream, etc. Go ahead and pile it on, as you can see that Bruce did with his French toast in the photo below. Lauren and I got egg dishes with lots of healthy veggies and I got a citrus and cherry mimosa. It was Mother's Day, after all. Portage Bay Cafe h...

Hi Mom, it's me. Happy Mother's Day. I know it's been 8 years since we've seen each other but it doesn't seem that long. It still seems like you should be here, especially now that we live back in Seattle. I look over at where you lived on Capitol Hill from our view all the time and wish I could still come over and visit you.    We were so excited about moving back to Seattle when we found this house but there was that one little ache in my heart knowing you were no longer here. And I miss you. I wish we could still hang out together again - go to lunch, go for coffee, join us at all our family gatherings. I know you would love our house here. When we have everyone over, it's so perfect and the good times really start to roll! So much laughter and happiness, silliness and fun. You know how we all are. You would love it.  And, of course, the food we have is always so amazing. We all followed in your footsteps and became amazing cooks. The ...