A year later...

...and so much has changed! After leaving the place where I had been happy, I went to work for my parents, a difficult transition for me after not having to be under their thumb for almost 4 years. I love my parents, do not get me wrong, but we most definitely do not see eye to eye as far as the restaurant biz goes, or much else for that matter. Anyway, after almost a year of enduring, they finally decided to retire AGAIN, and now I FINALLY have my own place, the Cavalier Diner! I ask whoever reads this to please come and visit me and hubby, we are really trying to make a go of this and need the support of friends and locals. Breakfast is served all day, and we have a wide ranging menu, from salads to pizza, subs to pasta, gyros, burgers, chicken, and so much more. Give us a try, you won't be disappointed. 1403 N. Emmet St., right where the 250/29 bypass is. The red car is the same, and we have pics of the best dog in the whole wide world displayed, as Lady is our official mascot! But while I am at it, let me post another pic of her just to remind you of her...come on down to the Cavalier Diner! Open 7 days a week, 6am-10pm weekdays, 6am - midnight Fri./Sat. - also with free delivery and Wi-Fi too!

And the beat goes on...

Wow, so much has happened in the last 5 months, and almost none of it

good. Hubby fell and broke his wrist Christmas Eve; the break was so

severe that it required surgery after the holidays. He had also been

complaining about the vision in his left eye - turns out he had a cataract,

so another surgery there. The good news is that he sees great now, and

his wrist is mending well; there is a plate in there with 5 screws, but he

has regained most of his mobility and about 1/2 of his strength. The

physical therapy continues. Last and unfortunately least, yours truly

has lost her job at the local restaurant that I wrote about so often in

these pages. There was a change in ownership, and apparently I rubbed

the new owner the wrong way; we have totally different personalities,

styles, and ways of doing things. The experiment of cooperation lasted

a while, but it had become clear the last few months, as more and more

changes were being made to a restaurant that didn't need change, that

a divorce was imminent. Sure enough, 2 weeks ago I handed over my

set of keys. It has been a painful 2 weeks. I miss it. I miss the drama of

the staff, the food, and most of all, my regular customers, the ones who

came in when they saw the red car parked outside, the ones who came

in at set times certain days of the week, thrilled to see a 'reserved' sign

on 'their' table, the ones who pretended to come in give me a hard time

but in reality to chit chat for a bit and shoot the breeze. I miss my peeps,

and I hate the new owner for taking them away from me. Hopefully some,

if not all, of them will follow me to my next place of employment; I

should know where that will be in the next week or 2. I thought of a

return to teaching, but unfortunately, there is not alot of demand for

history teachers these days. Seems like all the openings are in science,

math, or Spanish (and we all know why everyone needs to learn Spanish

now don't we?). Anyway, I may or may not return to blogging, I have

been having some fun on Twitter now, but that might just be a fad, time

will tell. In any case, the little red Mazda, her husband, and her great dog

Lady continue to roll on.

Shaken, not stirred

Well, as most of you know, the latest James Bond movie is out, and

as is always the case each time one is released, there is banter as

to how the latest ranks comparatively to the previous flicks. Then,

naturally, the various arguments begin: which Bond is superior?

Roger Moore, Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, or the newest 007, 

Daniel Craig (Timothy Dalton? uh, NOT!). Alot of folks also debate

whose Bond song is the best, be it Tina Turner, Tom Jones, Nancy

Sinatra, Carly Simon, Sheena Easton, A-Ha, or Duran Duran, (sorry

Madonna, you are a legend, but your Bond song? Awful). But perhaps

the most discussed topic of all Bond movies? The Bond  girl/babe 

naturally!  Guys love the action sequences, gadgets, cars, and special 

effects of the 007 movies, but let's face facts, they are also scoping out 

the latest seductive female enemy that Bond falls for. And, as with the 

songs, there are numerous contenders; in this case, who has been the

prettiest and/or sexiest. Halle Berry and Kim Basinger stand out of 

course, as do Barbara Bach, Britt Ekland, and  Jane Seymour. But it 

seems that Ursula Andress (who starred with Sean Connery in 'Dr. No') 

wins every debate. Guess that 'blonde at the beach in a white bikini' 

look is rather popular! 

Float your boat

Well here is a story that you don't come across everyday!

For the last 9 years, Beatrice Muller, an 89 year old widow,

has chosen a rather unconventional retirement residence -

the luxury cruise ship RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 (the QE2 for

short, shown above). Muller has found this arrangement, one 

that allows her to cruise around the world and receive top 

notch service and cuisine, much more agreeable than any 

retirement home. However, come this month, she will find 

herself in a dilemma. The QE2 is about to be retired from 

service. Muller, though, despite her ship's pending retirement, 

has no intention of returning to land - "Why would I want to do 

that for?" Instead, she plans to find another ship to sail out her 

days on. Her cabin on the QE2 costs about $7000 a month; 

according to her estimates, that is about the same cost as a 

retirement home in Florida, except that is is "far more pleasant". 

Let's hope that the sea loving Mrs. Muller finds a suitable new 

cruise vessel that will float her boat!

Elton John

I am about 4 days late getting this posted, but better late

than never! Hubby and I went to the Elton John concert

last Friday evening. I was in semi-shock that someone of

his stature was coming to our small fair city, but ecstatic as 

I got lower level tickets. Not as close as I would've liked, as 

you can tell from the pic above (EJ is in the lower left hand 

corner, on the piano of course!), but they were decent seats 

all the same. Elton John, despite his 60+ years, still has it -

he is a first caliber showman, still with a very good voice, 

and most of all, still having fun and enjoying what he does. 

You could just tell he was having a grand old time, which only

energized the sold out crowd; the aisles were full of people 

dancing for the last hour of the concert. He is still a great piano

man with great endurance; he went almost 3 hours non-stop

except for a few seconds here and there to sip some water.

John played many of his classics - 'Daniel', 'Sacrifice', 'Don't let

the Sun go down on me', 'Candle in the Wind', 'That's why they

call it the Blues', 'Philadelphia Freedom', and much more.

The only thing that bothered me was that the quality of the 

sound at the arena, that new one built by the local university at 

great cost, was very POOR, not giving Elton John's music or 

voice justice. Who on earth designed the acoustics at this poor

excuse of an arena? It's not bad enough that the upper level is 

set up so steeply that some people get vertigo going up there, 

or that the seats in the upper level are so tight and close together

that unless you are 98 pounds and short, you barely fit into the

seat and your knees touch the back of the seat in front of you? 

They couldn't get the acoustics right either? Were the speakers 

not adjusted or synchronized correctly, or just set too loud? At 

times, John's beautiful music almost sounded harsh; my husband 

and I both left the concert with a headache. We had a great time, 

thrilled to have seen a living legend live, but distraught over the 

abysmal sound system. 

German Ingenuity

So last night ole gal pal Michelle commented to me how it had

been forever since I posted in my blog, that she was tired at 

looking at the perfect brownie pan! So at her behest, I am posting

a new picture for all to check out, and naturally, it has to one of 

the reason that I spend less time on my computer. Yes folks, a

pic of the one and only Lady coming up!!! But before I dig one 

up suitable to post here, I do need to take the time to applaud

those lovable Germans yet again. Two recent articles in the Reuters

website grabbed my attention. In the first one, it was announced

that 1000's of German policewomen would be receiving bullet-

proof bras. Apparently, it was determined that there was a slight

safety risk for women cops wearing bras with an underwire under

the standard bullet-proof vests. Hence new bras were designed

that contained no metal parts and had the look of a sports bra!!!

Secondly, the city of Stuttgart recently upgraded their medical

emergency service by purchasing 2 new vehicles for their ambulance

fleet. The 2 new vehicles? Porsche Cayenne SUVs of course! A Porsche

spokesman stated that it was not an easy conversion; a defibrillator,

ECG, oxygen supply, and other medical equipment had to be placed

in an overhauled interior. However, the Cayenne will get a patient in

distress to the hospital in style....quickly!!!

Almost perfect!

Brownie lovers of the world....listen up! I came across

this ingenious baker's pan online today, and I have

already targeted this to be a Christmas present for a

good friend of mine who loves to bake. It is a pan with

edges built in, as you can see from the picture above.

With this pan, there will be no gooey centers, each piece

will have the crunchy, tastier side of the brownie. I love

the corner pieces (even when I make a tray of lasagna!),

and know quite a few folks who do as well. It is perfect...

well, almost perfect....I imagine there are those who

prefer the gooey center pieces and are looking at this

pan in horror!