Monday, February 9, 2026

First, I must correct myself – Bad Bunny is Puerto Rican/Boricuo and not Cuban. I knew that but had a glitch. A Cuban American student of mine was obsessed with him so that is how I made that mistake. I was going to make Cuban sliders for the Superbowl, but I made ham and swiss sliders. I’m sure you were quite worried about that! As a high school teacher, I had to know all the happenings that kids cared about but now I don’t have to!

Let’s link up with Sarah and Holly to share the weekend full of sporting events. Isn’t it fun to sit on the couch and eat chips while we watch our best athletes?

Friday morning walk…

This is snow with ice on top or ice with snow with more ice with more snow with more ice. All I know is that is it so difficult to walk in. I can walk on fresh ice snow or walk where Tom and I have made footprints. I feel like Tom, EO, and I are the only ones who have left footprints in a long time.

No wonder we are tired of it! I bet some of you live in areas with similar statistics.

I finished this and really enjoyed it. I have read two chick lit books from the Valentine’s shelf at the library, but they have both been deeper and had a message of moving forward. That is my favorite kind of read – chick lit romance that is well written but also leaves you with a message.

I started this next – the premise sounded fun to me. A woman realizes her high school ex is the next contestant on a Bachelor like show, and she reaches out to producers to try to get on the show.

Friday afternoon I had a happy hour with some of my former colleagues. One was unable to make it at the last minute but I enjoyed catching up with the other two. I just feel so far removed already! They have had some drama that makes me thankful not to be in the mix. We went to Mojito Tapas.

Anyway, it was nice catching up!

I had already made pasta sauce and boiled pasta for dinner. I thought this looked like Olympic rings.

And I made cacio e pepe with bucatini. It’s a very simple pasta and bucatini is like spaghetti with a hole in the middle.

I found both of the pastas at World Market and this Italian cola, too. It was good! See the parmesan on the bucatini? Guess who stole the remainder of my wedge of parmesan. It wasn’t Tom or Mason if you guessed one of them. It was Eddie Otis!

The opening ceremony highlighted elements of Italian culture and here you go – a chic Italian lady in a silk scarf!

I was happy to receive my new prescription sunglasses in the mail from Zenni Optical. I am pleased with both my regular glasses and these! If you are a glasses wearer and you don’t have prescription sunglasses, you need them. I wear mine in the winter, too.

I did it, y’all! I finished my book about the widow behind Veuve Clicquot (Widow Clicquot) and I was on the hunt to actually try the product. I have lived a sheltered life of little champagne, you see. I went in our Kroger Wine & Spirits (in Kentucky they can’t be in the grocery; they have to have their own store front) and they had a mini bottle on sale for $49 and this normal bottle on sale for $54 so what was a girl to do? I performed some “girl math” to justify buying the…

BIG BOTTLE! I tried it Saturday and it is good! I have a little thingy to keep it carbonated so I will savor it.

FYI – it was on the menu at the happy hour place I went to Wednesday for $140 a bottle – not sold by the glass.

Here are the recipes from Friday night:

Cacio e pepe – this is such a good pasta to me. It’s so simple and it’s just delicious.

Homemade mild italian sausage pasta sauce that went with the Olympic rings – I didn’t love the flavor of this pasta sauce that used a base of crushed tomatoes. It needed something else, I think. I did add tomato paste.

I made French fries this weekend with Yukon Gold potatoes. Here me out – they taste like McDonald’s with this type of potato. I just air fry and use Pam, a bit of olive oil, and Lawry’s. I made them a little too salty.

We had salmon and zucchini.

I also plan to use this recipe this week – probably tonight:

Bourbon chicken with broccoli and brown rice – yum!

Another meal idea that I used this week was – a bag of ceasar salad mix with the Bare Nuggets or cut up Bare filets on top.

I made a care package for some friends that had a family member pass and took it to them – Valentine’s candy, flowers, the Hawaiian ham and Swiss sliders, Chex Mix, plantain chips and guac, regular chips, and kale salad from a local market. I also made plenty of sliders for us for lunch on Sunday or whenever. It’s been a while since I made them.

They wanted me to come in so I did, and we chatted for a bit, and I think I made them laugh. My sister Kate recently delivered food to a sick husband of a co-worker. It was like a meal train from her work. She said she was invited in and she said yes. We talked about how important it is to take the food, not overthink the food, and go in if you are invited.

We didn’t go out to eat Saturday as has been our winter routine. We tried a couple of new Netflix shows and ate at home.

Now, to link up with the Share Our Lives gals here…

Since I’m old I did not grow up on tv bingeing and streaming services. I will say that there was nothing better than coming home to an empty house with TBS Saved by the Bell on at 3:35 and 4:05 and opening our weird snack drawer where I could find Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies and Little Debbie Starcrunch.

The most bingeworthy show is Gilmore Girls! My twins also love it and they love good acting, witty banter, and all the elements of filming and production that I don’t see. They both started high school on the video production track and then dropped it for other pursuits. They both have dabbled in acting so they appreciate these things. We watched all the other Amy Sherman Palladino shows, too. Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is one of hers.

New Girl is another that just makes me happy. I love so many of the characters. If you need a laugh and feel-good show, it’s good for that.

How I Met Your Mother – I was late to the game but it’s really good.

I guess you could say I sort of binged House Hunters. It used to be my “going to bed show”. I would end the day with at least one episode, but I usually only saw house number one. I had to re-watch the same episode night after night to find out which one the couple chose.

The Office, Friends, Seinfeld, and Parks and Rec would all be bingeable. I think they are only 22 minutes long without commercials.

Sex and the City was one that I had DVDs for! I didn’t have HBO, but I was given the DVDs when they came out and I remember watching those a lot.

Currently, I am re-watching Younger. It’s another going to bed show for me – it’s just soothing and I know the story already.

Yes, I know I shouldn’t watch tv before bed. I should read. Oh well.

I can’t wait to hear what others say and maybe I can discover a new to me show!

What did you do this weekend? I’m just having a hard time even leaving the house when it’s this cold. My weekend was mostly tv and reading, cleaning, and cooking.

Amy