Personal
Notes: |
Personal
Notes: Another trip to the mountains to see our son for the first time in two months has left me sore and realizing that I am no longer young, young at heart maybe, but not young. I also decided that a hand held electric mixer might be a good Christmas gift for my son.
We had a great weekend! Part of which was spent on Saturday with Alex, his friends, and one of his friend’s parents tailgating before the Appalachian-Georgia Southern football game. A super meal of grilled chicken and steak fajitas, Mexican bean dip and chips, cheesecake brownies and banana pudding was enjoyed by all in attendance. More about the Mexican bean dip and the banana pudding later.
Plans were made in September for this trip see Alex and to attend the ASU football game. As the team has had two and a half great seasons, stadium seats are impossible to get, but “hill seating” is readily available. Gary and I decided to be good sports about it all and said “no problem, we would sit on the hill!”
Before we got to our seats, we had to make the trek to the stadium from the parking lot. The stadium is 3333 feet above sea level; the parking lot was 10,333 above sea level. (Not really, but it felt like it both going down and worse going back up.) Sitting on the side of a mountain to watch a football game is difficult at best. After sitting for pre-game ceremonies and one 15 minute quarter, we stood to see if we could find another spot to watch the ballgame. Upon standing my husband and I realized that everything from the waist down was numb and tingly. We giggled as we wondered if we would be able to move at all.
Once a little feeling came back to my legs, I realized that my feet had slid to the very tip ends of the toes of my shoes, now to figure how to push them back so that I could move. After figuring out how to move my feet back in place in my shoes, I was able to unfold my toes so that I could begin the 5 yard parallel walk to the little plastic rope that I hoped would enable me to climb the 15 yards up the hill. (Don’t laugh or roll your eyes, it was a very steep hill!) What I was really hoping for is that I would’t tumble backwards and roll to the bottom like a drunken fool in front of thousands of people.
Thankfully we made it to the rope where I began to see the concerned, or was that fearful that I would fall on them, faces of the people who were reaching out their hands to help the old lady make it to the top of the hill. I felt like they were all holding their breath wondering, “will she make it or not?” They were probably making bets at the top of the hill!
Finally at the top and still dazed by the experience of hill sitting, Gary and I began our search for better seats. We eventually decided there were none and I decided that the walk up the mountain back to our vehicle would either take the rest of the afternoon or kill me; we decided to find out which it would be. We made it to the car by half time still alive, but out of breath. We missed watching the nail biting end to a disappointing loss by ASU, but at least we had feeling in our bottoms, legs and toes! Whew, that was a close one!
About the banana pudding, the night before our trip, Alex called and asked me if I would make a banana pudding. A mother’s dream is a child’s request for a special dish. No problem, I would buy the ingredients and make it at his apartment on Friday when we got there.
Silly me! A twenty year old doesn't’t have the utensils and kitchen equipment necessary for making banana pudding. At the grocery store I found a metal dog food bowl that would fit into the one pot the boys have; it would work for the top half of the double boiler. A new wire whip/whisk was bought for stirring the pudding and for the egg whites. Well, isn’t that the way it was done before electricity? Whipping egg whites by hand, the women who did this on a regular basis are my heroes! My arm is still sore! Yes, Alex will probably get a small electric mixer for Christmas. I will use it for him when I visit.
Besides getting to see my son for the first time in two months, learning that I am a little too old for sitting on a hill to watch a football game, and being reminded that mom’s banana pudding is best, I got a good and extremely simple recipe from Claira, Billy’s mom for her Four Layer Mexican Bean Dip. Once Claire put this out on the table it was gone in five minutes. If you plan make it and take it to you next tailgating party or use it for a football gathering at your house you might want to make two! It is really good.
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This recipe for Claire’s Four Layer Mexican Bean Dip is from