Something new for me this year will be a formal table with a centerpiece of fresh flowers. That is the nice thing about having just adults for dinner. You can dress up a little more, and we can splurge on a nice bottle of wine and fresh flowers. I’m really looking forward to this being the first of many more nice dinners.

Although I am a “dog person” as opposed to a “cat person,” I do love the way cats are companions and inspiration for a lot of Halloween symbols. I am not superstitious and worried about black cats. I found this pumpkin design and thought it was really cute. I might try it on mine. Heading for the pumpkin patch this weekend.

What a fun time we had. We grilled about 20 pounds of hamburgers and cut up a cold seedless watermelon. I had bags of chips and a gallon of macaroni salad, too. Great food and fun times were had by all.

Even if you do not have a sweetheart in your life right now, you can still celebrate Valentine’s Day by having a nice treat for yourself. You can buy yourself some pretty flowers, or buy some gourmet chocolates for yourself – and the good thing is that you will buy your favorite brand and not have to pretend to be happy with that box of cheap stuff that he misguidedly – or cheaply – bought at the drug store as an afterthought.

Me? I bought a big slice of cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. That’s my special treat!

I am heading to the grocery store to stock up on my regular groceries plus some extras for comfort food and baking cookies while we are snowbound this weekend.

I used a Reynolds oven cooking bag and placed a cut up onion inside. Then I took the chuck roast and cut it into smaller chunks so it would cook faster and also have all the sides exposed to the gravy for more flavor. Then I added a can of tomato soup and used the same can to fill with water and added that to the bag, too. Then I sprinkled some seasoned salt and some garlic pepper over the meat, sealed the bag and let it cook at 350 for about an hour and a half.

As it finished cooking, I took a can of store brand brown gravy and dumped it into a saucepan on top of the stove. When I took the meat out of the oven, I pierced the corner of the cooking bag and let about a half cup of the bag’s gravy pour into the saucepan with the brown gravy and stirred the two together. It was fantastic – not a drop of anything was left over.

I will be busy cooking most of the day.We bought a turkey on Monday and it’s been in the refrigerator slowly thawing out. I considered getting a fresh turkey, but I have had good luck with the frozen Butterball turkeys, so I decided to stick with the tried and true. Along with the turkey will be plenty of vegetables and stuffing, and I’ll make two pies this afternoon to bake while the turkey is in the oven. Can’t wait for a great turkey dinner!

So today I decided to shop at Aldis and see if they had any bargains worth picking up to stock the pantry. I was pleasantly surprised to see what a nice variety they have. However, most foods are not a recognizable name brand – they are probably house brands that Aldi has arranged to buy in quantity. the best cost savings seemed to be in canned vegetables and boxed bake goods. So we’ll give a few of them a try and if they are good enough to pass my family’s taste test, I will shop there again soon.

We are thrilled at how well these basic vegetables have done and I think next year we’ll go ahead and have a full garden. I have plans to put in a raised bed over in the side yard and I want to grow a bigger variety of vegetables.

My goal has always been to have fresh homegrown tomatoes on the vine ready to pick by the Fourth of July each summer. Well, believe it or not, we’ve been picking ripe tomatoes for two weeks already! They are not really big tomatoes, but they are sweet and meaty and we are very pleased with ourselves!

Maybe this abundance of fresh tomatoes will encourage hubby to eat more fresh garden salads this summer. He eats them in restaurants when salad comes with the meal – no cucumbers, no fancy lettuce – just iceburg – ranch dressing is the only dressing choice – but salads at home are always disdained. If I was a completely confident cook I’d be offended, but it’s not me – it’s him.

It is always nice to get something free to try – it surely must open the minds of a good percentage of people who might not otherwise try a particular food or drink but soon discover that they actually like the product. Part of this is due to favoring brands or flavor with which you grew up or are accustomed to eating and drinking. Part of it is due to a natural resistance to try new things without some incentive. And part of it, in my household anyway, is that the person doing the grocery shopping is a creature of habit and only searches out the brands and items that we know we like or prefer so they can get finished with the chore of shopping and get back home as quickly as possible.

I know I was very lucky to have two such men in my life as a child. Although my parents divorced when I was young, they both remarried very quickly and I had the benefit of two sets of loving and caring parents as I grew up. My father was a good man and a great father – I miss him very much. And my stepfather was a good man and was devoted to my mother and their children during his life.

If you have a good man in your life that deserves the recognition and thanks for being a good father to your children, don’t forget to celebrate this special day and coach your children on buying a nice gift, being together all day if you can and shower him with affection.