Menu Planning for Three “Households”

Okay, I do use the term “households” loosely.  I am referring to what will be my home with only two children (soon-to-be 12 and almost 16 boys) and myself left and two college apartments.

Both my older boys - now young men and for those who don’t know me well, my kids are grouped in the older boys, the girls and then the little boys - are living in apartments instead of dorms this fall.  My oldest did so last year also - in a townhouse on campus.  Andy will be in an actual apartment off campus.

Anyway, I have always considered myself a menu planning amateur.  I realize the effects it can have on household budget and on preparedness but can I convince the boys it is a good idea?

The other thought is to introduce them to OAMC  or freezer cooking.  I will be up in the general area that Andy is in at least once a month through the fall semester.  His younger sister, as opposed to his twin sister, is playing Division 1 soccer and I will try to get to as many games as I can.  I can do some freezer cooking and take it to him and Ed, as his school is on the way.

I asked the community at OrganizedHome.com to help with ideas.  I don’t think I put my words down properly as there were comments about a 19 year old not being able to cook.

Anyway, look forward to my menu plans and those for the boys if I can get that to work.  Also, look for my blogging about being a parent of a student-athlete.

Where does creativity go?

I sometimes wonder where my creativity goes.  I love to make things.  I have all the “stuff” but seldom get things done. 

How does one tap the creative juices and let the flow freely?

 

Attitudes

I am constantly amazed at the attitudes displayed in public by teenagers.  My most recent amazement came at college “orientation” for freshmen students.

After a morning of placement tests and lunch, my soon-to-be freshman daughter and I headed to a meeting for those incoming students that would be joining her in the College of Hospitality and Tourism.  Instead of picking a table where there were two open seats, Susan went for an empty table.  Shortly thereafter a mother and son from Princeton, NJ joined us. 

Prior to entering the room, the students were given one packet and the parents another.  Inside the student packet was a stapled copy of what the dean thought the students should be taking their first semester.  Because Susan already had constraints placed on her schedule by a sport, we already knew the times of some of the most basic classes - the ones that everyone would have to take.

The young man - I cannot bring myself to use the word gentleman here - at the table with us took a look at that and said he wasn’t taking the basic Hotel and Tourism class because first off it met at 9 am and secondly, he was not taking any Friday classes.  He was figuring he would only take classes on Tues and Wed.

His mother, while asking him to be quiet, told him he could discuss this with the person doing his schedule.  She was sure he could get a schedule more to his liking.

What was she thinking?  What was he thinking??

When all was said and done, Susan got her schedule done.  It looked nothing like the one her sister and I did for her - which she complained about.  She didn’t like this schedule either.  She has either 8 am or 8:10 am classes every day of the week.  She did end up with a Friday class that goes to 1:15 pm - not good since she will miss about eight Fridays for soccer but the professor was there with her and knew this from the start.  I think she is lucky.  She has several very good professors and is taking some 200 and 300 level courses in her major as a first semester freshman.

School Building Plan

Okay, so I have finally decided that the administration at Maine-Endwell really doesn’t have a clue what is up.  If I were there and going to give the Press & Sun-Bulletin a summer article on the upcoming building plan, it would not be about purchasing land for additional sports fields.

All concerns that came up during previous meetings on the new capitol project centered around the sports end of it - artificial turf, a new swimming pool, etc.  Some of these concerns are not really new sports infrastructure but updating to code the spectator facilities. 

It is true that the building project will eat into some of the school’s athletic fields … BUT there has always been complaints about students having to travel to Maine for sports’ practices and games.  Some of these concerns are founded; some are not.

Parents of older athletes are correct to worry if their student is “flying” over Fredricks Road to get to Maine for practice.  The school will DEFINITELY have to come up with a better way to transport students out there and then back to Endwell.  This is a hurdle but one I am sure the transportation department is up to. 

The athletic department will also play an important part in this transition, should it come.  Coaches will have to be understanding about the start of practices and bus leaving times, whether it is game day or not.

What a Weekend for Sports!!

I admit I am not the “typical” US sports fan. Number one - I am female. Sports in the US is basically a male bastion. I can live without home run derbies, college bowl championship series - although I love college football, and super bowls. A holdover from my college days as a marketing major I still watch the 18 hours of super bowl coverage for the ads.

I am a world sports fan and this is my weekend!! I get to watch wonderful team and individual efforts in the Tour de France. Saturday was a wonderful time trial and evidently a hard one as the favorites were not there in the top from what I can see. Sunday was another day for the French as a breakaway gave the stage win to a French rider.

Some day in the future I want to stand on the roadside in Bordeaux or some other French province and watch as the bicyclist go flying by.

Most of my friends, and indeed my children even, are not at all interested in the Tour de France this year. Their only interest was Lance Armstrong. I keep telling them there was a Tour before Lance and there will undoubtedly be many after Lance. I like the fact that each day ends and no one can figure who will be at the top of the classification at the end of the 2200 plus mile race. I like that each stage there are new names to be learned, new faces to see. I also like to look over the French, German, Belgium, and Danish landscapes as the bike riders go through the countrysides.

Other than the wonders of the Tour de France, I have the end of a wonderful month of soccer on television. I have watched at least 75% of the televised World Cup games. I love soccer and this month has been fantastic - by month I mean from 9 June until now. Today, France and Italy will battle it out and it is anyone’s game. I favor Italy but don’t know why. France has sentiment on its side. Zidane will play his last international cap today. I cannot wait for coverage to start.

Yesterday was a wonderful consolation game, though no consolation to Portugal I am sure. The game was much closer than the final score would indicate. I was excited when Portugal finally scored but also happy to see Germany win. What I would have given for a month in Germany!

Comfort Food - Simple Abundance for July 7

As I was reading the daily musings in Sarah Ban Breathnach’s Simple Abundance, I thought about comfort food and the college student.

Today’s reading discussing five types of food - haute cuisine, lean cuisine, comfort food, soul food and nature food (can’t really remember #5 without getting my book from its reading location).

How does the college student, living on his/her own for the first time, deal with comfort food?  If he is away from school, does the cafeteria smorgasbord settle for comfort food?  Or is it always comfort food?

Menu Planning and the College Male

Okay, so I knew the time would come. I will have four college students in the family next year. I was bound to have one, sooner or later, that would live off campus.

Due to transferring universities and there being no on campus housing left, my 19 year old son is going to be living in an apartment. We have finally settled on a location - University Village at Sweethome - but now comes the menu planning.

How do you teach a 19 year old to shop and cook? Is it best to plan the first month or so with him?

I am not leaving him all alone on this. He has two sisters that are at university about 20 minutes away but both live on campus. I will be up in the general area about 4 or 5 times in the first semester.

If I were stuck on a TV show for 24 hours…

I know it would be The West Wing.  I realize the show is off the air now but I always watched with a “wow, I want to do that job” attitude.  I thought the show was great - all aspects of it.

I don’t know if I could stand in front of a room full of people like CJ Cregg.  I sometimes get flustered when speaking in public.  Usually, I am okay if I have prepared remarks but more likely, I would say things that would get me in trouble.  My thoughts would be reminiscent of the time when CJ made remarks that offended Saudis because of letting a school full of young girls burn to death because they did not have the proper attire on to come out in public. 

I do know I could do other jobs on the show.

Campus Housing and the Transfer Student

Well, no car and no on campus housing.  What’s a mother to do?

I think I may have finally found the solution to Andy’s lack of housing in his transfer from Alfred University to the University of Buffalo.  I have been checking The Buffalo News on Mondays and looking at the various boards the university provides to no avail.  Yesterday, though, there was a breakthrough.

I found the University Village at Sweethome.  While I am sure the neighbors around the fairly new living community were not thrilled, it is just what I am looking for.  It is inclusive.  It has cable and high speed internet.  It has phone capabilities if you want them - he has a cell that should work fine.  It is within walking distance, less than a ten minute walk, to the north campus where his classes will be.  It has onsite laundry, onsite fitness center, a recreation area, a computer lab.  It is perfect, though expensive.  It is probably closely around the cost of a room and board package at the university.