Turning 54

Celebrated my 54th birthday Thursday. Patricia took me to the local Applebee's. Nice evening, one downside. Their Parmesan Meatballs are spicy; Patricia ate some, had a violent acid attack at 1 a.m. I ate the rest of the meatballs for lunch Friday, and I think I know what the problem is: They put ground red pepper in the meatball meat. Which is not authentic Italian - Italians use ground red pepper as a condiment, not an ingredient (my father used to use it on his pasta all the time, but I never saw mother use it in her cooking).

Note to Applebee's: The three main ingredients in Italian cooking are garlic, garlic, and garlic. If you want something to be spicy Italian, load up the garlic, not the red pepper.

For my part, I had a nice sirloin.

This was the first birthday I've had since I started a Facebook page, and I had about 80 greetings. That was really nice. and took me by surprise.

Weather Sunday morning is threatening here in East Texas; prediction is cold and snow. By 7:30 a.m. a cold sleet had started. I went outside and pulled in more wood from the brush pile before it got too wet. We have a real nice fireplace, and it helps heat one whole end of our house. Our house is shaped like a boomerang - long and on one level, with two wings joined by a jog at the front door foyer. The master bedroom is at the end of one wing, the living room with the fireplace at the end of the other.

Put my cell phone on to charge. If it drops below freezing, and this stuff sticks, it will get nasty, but I live a mile from the downtown square. This kind of weather is tough, though, on folks who live in the country.