Going Vegan?

Last night I had dinner at Stripper Bites in Lewes with an old friend.  Hell, we're both old but that's another blog entry but back to my original programming, we had dinner at this fish place.  Since I'm to a fish eater I got my usual hamburger with :

lettuce
onion
tomato
cheese
and yes bacon.  

I got the WORKS!  And French Fries (of course).  Yes, the hamburger was good, well done just the way I like it with a hint of charbroiled taste.  LOVED IT!  But when I got back home and was talking to my vegan friend Pat on FaceTime I confessed to him that my stomach was churning, trying to process that beef in the hamburger.

My friend Pat is a vegan.  Not a vegetarian which is different but a vegan.  From what I understand a vegan not only doesn't eat meat, they don't eat any dairy products or eggs.  Pat is a vegan.  A vegetarian doesn't eat meat but will eat dairy products and eggs.  

Like most of you, I grew up in a household of meat eaters.  That was all I knew.  Beef, pork chops, hamburger, chicken.  My father was a hunter and he frequently brought home squirrels and rabbits which my Mother would make into squirrel dumplings, head and all. Yum!  Suck those squirrel brains out through their empty eye sockets.  In fact one of my favorite "meats" was scrapple which is nothing but corn meal and all the scraps left over from a butchered pig except the squeal.  I still like scrapple, properly prepared of course which few know how to do.

My 23rd birthday dinner with my friends Ed (on the left,t he same "Ed" I had dinner with last night) and my late friend Ron Hampton on the far right - that demure young man in the center is yours truly - 1964 - a typical meal back in 1964 - meat, meat and more meat

So where am I going with this discussion? The past several years my body has been telling me "Enough is enough!" after I've fed my pie hole with meat.  I think last night was the topper.  I did so enjoy that hamburger with all the fix ins but man oh man, did I ever pay the price for hogging down all that red meat, well done yet.

Pat in the center of Lewes, about a hour after I met him.  We were looking for a vegan friendly restaurant.

This past August a follower of my blog came down to meet me in Lewes.  His name is Pat.  Pat is a vegan.  We had dinner in Lewes.  He told me he was a vegan so I picked a place that specializes in vegetarian dishes.  We chose Cafe Azafran in Lewes. 

Pat and I at Cafe Azafran - our first meal together - vegan all the way - not bad!

For several years I've been trending away for having so much meat in my diet.  The only red meat I've had is round steak in my Swiss Steak recipe and an occasional hamburger when I went out dining with friends.  My main meat lately has been boneless chicken breasts but I'm even getting away from that.  I used to love pork chops but I just can't handle pork meat anymore, I get terrible indigestion. No more pork for Ron.

So what to do?  The standard salads served with restaurant meals bore me.  Always the decision "What kind of dressing do you want?"  However, I do love Eggplant Parmesan.  Properly prepared of course.
  

 The next night Pat and I went out, I suggested a Mexican restaurant that I liked in Millsboro. Acceding to Pat's desire for a vegan dish, we ordered grilled veggies. As the video above shows they arrived HOT. And they were delicious!  Of course the frozen lime margarita I had helped (I was on my second one folks).

Of course the all to frequent question to vegans is "Where do you get your protein?"  Folks, veggies have a LOT of protein.  

Pat with his smoothie at Nectar in Lewes - Pat is GREEN

Smoothies, that another thing I'm into now.  I have one every night, thanks to being introduced to them by Pat.  They are DEE-LICIOUS!  For any of you attending next March's Bloggerpalooza in Lewes, smoothies will be served at the Hospitality Suite along with Anne Marie and Sassy Bear's Cosmos and whatever other libations are on the granite counter.

Pat with his Three Berry smoothie at the Marathon Grill in Philadelphia during our November visit

I'm hooked on smoothies now folks!  I make a Three Berry smoothie every night for myself to put me to sleep.  Frozen raspberries, strawberries and blueberries with almond milk and two dollops of vanilla yogurt.  

The line at the Dairy Queen in Lewes this past summer - where I got my last Blizzard shake

Way better than one of those artery clogging, who knows what chemicals are in it? Dairy Queen Blizzard milk shakes (and cheaper too)!

Folks, I know it is somewhat late for me to get all healthy but better late than never.  After my numerous health crises last year (kidney stones, prostate cancer), I'm attempting to add a few more bonus years and extend my stay on this planet.

Pat and I enjoying yet another vegan meal at the Cafe Azafran in Rehoboth Beach this past August

I was so disappointed in myself last night that I fell back on my old habit of ordering a hamburger with cheese, bacon that was no good for me.  My body let me know because I suffered mightily before I went to bed last night.

My breakfast at the Marathon Grill during our Philadelphia visit - that was a veggie omelet - I'm half way there to a vegan meal - I have to give Pat credit because he doesn't preach but I can tell by his look that he is questioning my choices

Will I ever go "all the way"?  Maybe but it's going to be a gradual procedure.  I do like my creamed soups and butter and milk although I am becoming very used to Almond milk.

Pat and I at the Agave restaurant in Lewes - great salsa!

This one thing I do know though folks, is that when I eat a vegan or vegetarian meal it is fulfilling and my stomach doesn't suffer afterwards.  But can I ever give up chocolate chip cookies made with eggs and butter?  Hmmmm.

Pat, my vegan mentor, putting the finishing touches on a vegan meal he prepared for me

But folks, you know the best reason for a vegan meal other than your health?  It is the health of the millions of animals who are slain to feed our voracious appetite for "protein."  

So folks, I may soon be one of THOSE FOLKS who, when you dine with them, asks the waitress "What do you have on your menu for vegans?" 

Oh yes, I will again be the black sheep in the group and LOVE IT!

Love

Staying on the subject of my last posting, love, I have further thoughts.  Actually I could write a whole book about love.  Yes I could, but I won't.

Here are my thoughts on love in no particular order:

Ever wonder why dogs always have unconditional love for their human masters?  Is it just a coincidence that "dog" is "God" spelled backwards?  Just saying.

Ever wonder why even the most craven criminal wants and seeks love?  The worst punishment dealt in prison, and which the criminals fear the most, is solitary confinement? 

Who among us hasn't seen the love in a mom or dad's eyes when they first look at their newborn child?  That same look in their eyes when their child graduates from high school or college?

My Mother with her granddaughter Dawn - 1964

Remember all those nights you spent in bars (my gay brethren especially) looking for love?  Wasn't that what everyone was looking for…..love? 

"Wanna go out on a date?"

This I know.  Love is elusive.  If you're looking for it, you probably won't find it.  But love will find you, when you least expect it.  

Me and the Spouse

Will everyone find love?  No and I don't have an answer for that question.  However, this I do know, when you find love or more accurately, when love finds you, return that love whole heartedly and treasure every moment because all too often, it is gone like the warm breeze on a cold winter's day.  

Why We're Here

Ever wonder why we're here?  Surely, you must have stopped sometime during your daily activities and thought to yourself "WTF am I doing here?"  Well, maybe you didn't say "WTF" but something along that line.  

Well folks, I think I have the answer for you.  Yes, THE QUESTION that has been asked since time immemorial, "Why Are We Here?"  I have the answer.  And as one might suspect, it is a very easy answer.  Are you ready?  Are you sitting down?  Get you pen (or pencil) out and write this down:

We seek to enjoy the feeling of love and belonging, and our wish to connect with others is the reason we're here.

So there you go folks.  There is The Answer.  To love and being loved.  

Think about it folks.  Isn't that the Reason for Being?  Isn't that the root of everything?  Sure, some say to procreate; have children.  But isn't that love?  Others say to make money, be successful, help others?  But again, isn't that love?  

This one thing I know for sure.  The only time I've ever felt complete in my life was and is when I am in love and someone loves me.  

One doesn't have to be a genius to figure this out.  

You know, I could have all the money in the world but if I didn't have someone to love and who loved me in return it doesn't mean a damn thing.  

I could be the best looking guy in the world, the most successful actor, a rock star but it doesn't mean crap if don't have someone to love who loves me in return.

Ever notice when you're in love (for those of you who have or now lucky enough to be in love) how all the things you thought were problems in the world don't seem as important to you as being with  that person you love.  When you give that love and receive it in return that the world is a brighter place?  

Yes folks, that's what life is all about.  I got the answer, finally.

Me and Horace - love comes in all forms

Christmas Memories

My earliest memory of Christmas was the fun of watching Disney characters on TV

Here we are, Christmas Day 2013!  I hope you and yours are having a glorious Christmas Day.

On this Christmas Day I am reminded of Christmas Days of past.  The first Christmas I can remember I was probably about eight years old.  We were living at a cockroach infested 2nd floor apartment at 120 Washington Avenue in Downingtown, Pennsylvania.  Being the oldest of three sons in the Tipton family I wanted and thought I was entitled to my first ever Lionel train set.  All year I whined and whined about getting my own Lionel train set.  Christmas morning comes, with the colored bubble lights on the Christmas tree in the corner of the "front" room (what we called the living room of our $22.00 a month apartment).  

Me and my brothers and some neighborhood kids on the stoop steps at our apartment at 120 Washington Avenue in Downingtown, PA - the Poor White Trash section of the town (still there by the way!)

I could hardly sleep Christmas Eve.  By the first light of morning I rush from the back bedroom on the cheap linoleum floors to the front room.  There it was!  A big box.  I look at the tag.  Next to Santa's smiling face it said "To Ronnie, Junior and John."  WHAT?  To the three of us?  One present to the three of us?  As my younger brothers held back, I tore the Christmas wrapping off the package and there it was, a Lionel train set.  But for the three of us?  How was that going to work?  
My Mom said "It's for the three of you?"  OH.MY.  Even my eight year old brain understood that WASN'T GOING TO WORK.  

What I wanted and DIDN'T get - first Lesson In Life - if you want something get it yourself

Well, with Disneyland cartoons playing on the TV, I opened the box.  We (I) decided that I would get the engine and coal car.  My second brother Isaac would get the two middle cars, and John, as the youngest brother, would get the caboose.  Well folks, long story short, it didn't work.  Within a half an hour we were arguing who was controlling the train.  The big problem was who controlled the tracks.  We each took a portion of the tracks but we needed the whole tracks to make it work. Needless to say, this "It's for all of you" didn't work.  I think this was the first time in my life that I realized my Mother could make mistakes too.  I don't know whatever happened to that train, all I knew is that I never played with it again.  I gave it up to my brothers.  It didn't take them to long to destroy it.  

Where we lived on Boot Road, Downingtown, PA, above the Gindy Manufacturing Company offices - rent free.
We lived their rent free because living there we maintained a presence next to the plant - one might say we were the watchmen (and kids) - this building is no longer there

The next Christmas that I can remember we had moved to another second floor apartment in Downingtown, this one on Boot Road and without cockroaches (it was a brand-new building and the cockroaches didn't have time to set up house).  This time Santa my Mother gave me the present that I was whining for all year, a Kodak camera, and it was ALL MINE.  

My first camera!  All mine!

Here are some of my first pictures with my new camera on that Christmas Day in 1953:

Isaac and John with Sam and my cat Bobby

I'll say this about my brothers, as many differences as we have had growing up and over the years I could never have had two better brothers.  We're unlike as possible, we don't even look alike but you know, I wouldn't trade them for anything.  And something else, unlike some family members, friends and co-workers, they have never but NEVER refused to let me take photos of them. I guess the Ham Factor runs in the Tipton Family.

I think this is the first ever picture I took with my new camera.  I didn't even give Isaac and John time to put on their coats (they 

John and Isaac with their Christmas gifts, a bicycle for EACH of them (no sharing here, I guess Mom understood that brothers don't share)

My first "action" shot with my Kodak Brownie camera of my brothers playing with our family dog Sam in front of our Boot Road Apartment house in Downingtown, PA

Tall and gawky me (just turned 12 years old) - what was I doing? 

Me with my one and only ever feline pet "Bobby" (names after a upper classmate I had a crush on at that time - only "Bobby" and I knew the source of his name - my father later gave Bobby to the ASPCA without my knowledge - Pop only liked to have pets around that adored him - I wasn't permitted to have a pet that choose me - fact of life folks)

"Bobby" - a stray tabby cat that I found as a kitten born somewhere in the Gindy manufacturing plant - he took up with me - I loved that cat and he loved me - never had a cat since - maybe someday

Brother John hugging MY cat Bobby (who doesn't seem too thrilled about it) 

One of the best Christmas presents I ever got was a painting of a clipper ship.  Bill gave it to me on our first Christmas together 1964.  I had admired the painting at an art store on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia.  I had no idea that I would ever receive it as a Christmas present.  But our first Christmas together Bill surprised me to no end. I have to say that was the best Christmas present I EVER got.  

My very own Picture of Dorian Gray - however this one is reversed - I get old and the picture stays the same

The Old Guy with his best Christmas Present Ever taken this Christmas morning 2013

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas 1971 - taking presents to my parents

Christmas Eve Cookie Making Music

Tis Christmas Eve and nary a mouse is ticking (or something like that).  I'm ready to make some chocolate chip cookies and whiskey balls.  

This is the first time in years that I don't have to work Christmas Eve so I'm going to revive a longtime tradition and make cookies this Christmas Eve with this beautiful music as a background.  

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!

Taken at the Bay Leaf restaurant this afternoon in Milton, DE

Christmas Eve

Well, here we are folks….Christmas Eve.  Got all your shopping done?  If not, now is the time to run right out of your house (don't trip over the bunched up rug) and get some of those last minute Christmas bargains.  In my Previous Life, when I actually did a whole lot of Christmas shopping (for family, friends and co-workers) I found Christmas Eve day was the perfect time to shop.  You just had to hope for good weather, not the kind of weather my friend Pat in Toronto has now.  I haven't heard from him for a while, probably still without power along with about a quarter million of his fellow Torontonians (boy, is saying "Torontonians" exercises the mouth doesn't it)?

We're (me and Bill) are keeping a low profile today.  The weather is still sunny but gone is the balmy, spring like 78 degrees temperatures of yesterday.  We're down to 38 degrees now.  Wow. Good thing I trimmed our knockout rose bushes over the weekend before the cold front returned. 

Me and The Bill

Bill wants to take me out to dinner tonight.  Bill hates to go out but he does like the Bay Leaf in Milton.  The last few times we've been there, we weren't pleased with the quality of the food.  We've had good meals and not so good meals there.  However, the booths are comfortable and the service good.  A new restaurant open across the street from the Bay Leaf.  It's called "The Backyard."  Hey, no one is getting awards for originality here in naming restaurants.  

Bill and I ventured in last week for the first time.  Interesting decor but uncomfortable for us.  Padded seats along the wall and little tables for four out on the floor.  Service was slow and the soup and fries were lukewarm to cold which really wasn't acceptable since the waitresses outnumbered the patrons by at least four to one.  Lots of running around put slow service.  

I do like me French Fries hot and spicy, crisp on the outside and soft on the inside (just like my men) but this staple of restaurants apparently is hard to do.  So rare that I get hot fries when I order them.

I went back again on Saturday by myself to give them a second chance.  Service was bit better.  The food?  All right and reasonable priced.  I didn't take a chance with the fries.  Once you serve me cold fries I tend not to go back for repeat.  After all, how hard is it to bring out hot fries?  Reminds me of every visit I've made to the "Rose and Crown" in Lewes.  Always cold fries.  Maybe it's the new thing.  I don't like it.  


Rambling on here folks.  My thang.  

I think this evening I'll make some whiskey (Jack Daniels) balls. Also some chocolate chip cookies.  This Christmas Eve is one of those rare ones where I'm not working.  On those rare occasions I like to make cookies by myself (Bill's in bed as usual at 7 pm), with the TV on, hopefully the 1951 (Alistar Sim) version of "The Christmas Carol."  Before I go to bed I look out my bedroom window at the darkened cold night sky to see if I can find that brightest star in the sky.  

Daddy's Kitchen

One of my favorite spots to eat is a restaurant just off of Rt. 896, just across the border from Delaware to Pennsylvania.  The restaurant is called "Daddy's Kitchen" and it is in the heart of mushroom country; Landenberg, PA.

Last month my friend Pat and I took this route to Pennsylvania to celebrate my birthday in Philadelphia.  The restaurant is located about halfway up the 125 mile trip from Milton, Delaware to Downingtown, Pennsylvania.  "Daddy's Kitchen" is not a big restaurant, just a small, hideaway in an even smaller strip mall.  In fact I discovered it last year when I stopped to get gas.  

Ever the adventurer, I'm always one to try new restaurants as long as they're not too pricey and exclusive.  I'm all about good food, reasonable prices, comfortable seating environment and good service.  "Daddy's Kitchen" scores high on every one of my modest requirements for a good dining experience.  Even Bill likes it and you all know how Bill HATES to dine out.  "Daddy's Kitchen" has to have the best mushroom soup that's ever made its way down my pie hole.  YUM!  Of course Daddy's Kitchen is located in the heart of mushroom country.  In fact, this area of southern Chester County (Pennsylvania) is the mushroom capital of the world.  Lots of crap here folks but I digress.  

Daddy's Kitchen info

Pat's easy to talk to new restaurant adventures even though he is a strict vegan; no meat and no dairy products.  In fact, Pat won't even eat vegetables that share the same refrigerator space with those aforementioned non-vegan food groups.  Well, maybe I'm exaggerating a wee bit but he's pretty strict about what passed through his lips.  

Well, Pat wasn't disappointed with Daddy's Kitchen.  They happily prepared a fresh steamed veggie bowl for him.  What a restaurant!  What service!  

Our meals, guess who isn't the vegan.  Yup! Those fries belong to moi.

Pat checking the vegan options on the menu at Daddy's Kitchen