Tragedies...

I live a mere twenty minutes near Newtown, CT.  The Sandy Hook incident unraveled while I was at work when our hospital was contacted for possible assistance.  Luckily? or unluckily they did not need our assistance.  Gun control. Mental health.  School safety. Simply put. I won't pontificate but will just express my sincerest prayers and thoughts to the victims and their family members. 

Dinner parties...

Dinner Menu

Appetizers: cheese, crackers, nuts, dried fruit

Salad:  grapes, green apple, dried apricot, chopped red onion, finely chopped fresh rosemary, lemon juice mixed together and served with mixed greens

Sauteed green beans with garlic, rice vinegar, and olive oil

Sauteed eggplant with tomato, olive oil and rice vinegar

Herbs de provence roasted potatoes

Rosemary rubbed rack of lamb 

It's been many moons since I last had a dinner party.  A friend guilt tripped me into hosting a gathering.  It was good times with friends. This event may be the start of something new.

Snap, crackle and pop!

Well not exactly...one recent morning I had Rice Krispies for breakfast in our breakfast nook at work.  It used to be all pastries:  scones, muffins, donuts.  Then someone complained and now we get single serve cereal, granola bars/nutrigrain bars (bleh!), scones, supposedly bagels and Yoplait yogurt.  The mix includes Rice Krispies, Cheerios (original and honey nut) and cornflakes. So why the picture of Chocolate Cheerios and Kashi Heart to Heart blueberry clusters?

Cuz Cheerios has always been a favorite of mine, especially after I rediscovered the simple nutty taste of cheerios years ago while running in Central Park with some friends.  Picture a 3 or 4 yo in a jogging stroller.  This little guy was happy as can be with his bag of cheerios even though he was being jostled around the park while his healthy parent squeezed in a weekend 6-mile run.  Then it got better when General Mills finally broadened their offerings to include chocolate, banana nut, peanut butter,  multigrain, fruity, etc...the list goes on.  My guilty pleasure is getting the chocolate flavor.

Then there's the opposite end of the spectrum with the Kashi brand of healthy cereals.  I'll be honest, some of them taste like cardboard to me but the Blueberry Clusters is a bowl full of fresh blueberries.  Probably the most aromatic of any blueberry cluster cereal that I have ever had. 

The story goes on that a few weeks ago I was in Boston for work and staying with my friends Rebecca and Brian.  I spent an afternoon with them grocery shopping (you know weekend errands).  They've been on a Paul Newman French Vanilla Clusters kick and it is yummy!  But I almost got them to get the above two cereals.  Rebecca's voice of reason prevailed and she opted just to go with Blueberry Clusters.

I think it is now time for a bowl myself.  Thanks for reading.