A Night With Chef Boyardee

Noticing that I have been an enormous Debbie Downer lately, but what I have learned that honesty is not a part time job, it's the only thing other than breathing that you do (should do) every second of every day of existence. If what I write puts you in a melancholy state just realize that as my readers you are helping me more than you know. Like the man behind the curtain controlling The Great and Powerful Oz, you are my inspiration, my outlet, the people I can share every aspect of my mental and emotional growth. As much as I write this for myself and will continue to do so even if you leave me, it gives me the fortitude to continue knowing that you guys won't give me an inch (which I love). So what I am trying to say is, Thank You from the bottom of my heart; even those who read and don't follow... don't be scared come on in the waters fine).

Well today I break the mold that I have unfortunately confined myself in lately; evolve from the ugly caterpillar doomed to a life on the ground, to a beautiful butterfly flying lively in a gentel breeze. Not sure that I won't devolve immediately tomorrow, but such is life and I'm content with it. I can only hope to lean on this positivity when I reach those pits of despair that inevitably lie ahead.

As I basically share a birthday with my dad (29 Dec & 3 Jan) I have grown accustomed to combining those events into one grand gala, where the world stops for our every whim, every shot is a hole in one, and money floats down from the heavens all to celebrate that we graciously spend time on this little pearl called earth... Ace Ventura exhale after the run on sentence.

To be completely honest, what my birthday has become is a race to see if my Dad will turn 50 before I reach 30. Contrary to modern science & logic I am still destined to prove that it is possible, but you would be surprised how hard it is to get your hands on a DeLorean though my schematics for a Flux Capacitor are coming along quite nicely. I find it sad that as we age, we lose the desire to turn the dial every year. I long for the youthful enthusiasm desperately yearning for that special day to arrive.

To support the one special day, Candy (step-mom, only by name - she's nothing less than another mom) decided to give us a conjoined gift. Now the theory behind the gift was way outside of the box, and potentially scary for my Pop. She presented us with a Gift Certificate to what we thought was a cooking class. My Dad, who has cooked an entire meal less than the amount of fingers he has, is no Chef Boyardee. An award winning GrillMaster that might had a minor panic attack when first being presented this opportunity. I couldn't of been more excited to see the man that I so dearly look up to with an apron on struggling to make a bowl of cereal (too harsh?).

We were both pleasantly surprised that it wasn't a class at all(although at first I was moderately disappointed)! This place called Dream Dinners, has a great new concept - Making dinners easy. Customers pay to prepare delicious meals in great quantities, with ingredients and instructions easily discernible by the dimmest of lights to put it nicely, including the Summers Men. There were 12 stations each of which have a different entree all clean and orderly containing all the necessary pieces to "constuct" meals. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!! An awesome experience with my dear old Dad!

We scurried about the the stations laughing, "carefully" (lol...yeah right) measuring, mixing, packaging, and labeling (cause I don't want anything he made). The whole process took about an hour and by the end we had made 21 servings all packed in ziplock bags ready to be placed into the freezer. From Black & Blue Cheese Steaks to a delicious looking Italian Sub, we will be fed for many days to come. My Dad even said, "I am going to do all the cooking for the next week!" Hear's the Kicker, all of that plus 2 sides for $100 bucks! That's right 100 American dollars, what a deal if you ask me.

Last night I left my cares, worries, thoughts, and most of all my emotions at the door and had an experience that I certainly needed. I highly recommend Dream Dinners, its fun, easy, and in the ends provides you delicious sustenance, which we all desire.

Someone once said, "Avoid Fruits and Nuts. You are what you eat" ... Hmm, maybe I need to change my diet.

- Cheers