Saturday in the Park

Saturday in the park
I think it was the Fourth of July
Saturday in the park
I think it was the Fourth of July
People dancing, people laughing
A man selling ice cream, singing Italian songs
"Eh Cumpari, ci vo sunari"
Can you dig it (yes, I can)

Alrighty then - my ear worm has nothing to do with my day today.  It's actually the sixth of June, D-Day, and we were nowhere near a park - we were at Perkins with family for a late breakfast. Nobody was dancing or singing - although I have been yelling at the TV for the past half hour, bitching that these BBQ pit masters are uniformly overcooking beef.  Who cooks a gorgeous beef loin to 135 degrees internal temperature?  Only someone who WANTS TO LOSE! 

In my opinion, anything past medium rare is way past edible.  Even medium rare is questionable.  I eat it rare.  My husband and son eat it black-and-blue.  Purple.  Pittsburgh.  Extra extra rare.  If you poke the steak with a fork, it will go "moooooo."  Chase the cow through the kitchen with a blow torch.  You get the idea.  I will bet that the people screaming the loudest are the ones who blithely wave their chopsticks over mounds of raw fish or suck down quarts of raw oysters.

And that's what makes horse races.

Today is` an okay sort of day.  No panic attacks.  I got to spend a little time with family.  No panic attacks.  I am able to keep food down. My garden survived the Kissimmee Rain Apocalypse, even the cilantro.  Well, the cilantro is a little worse for the wear, but it's putting up a valiant fight.  I'll just have to wait a few days before cooking Mexican.  No panic attacks.

If you got here by way of my Facebook page, you may have noticed I've been rather opinionated lately.  Today I was picking on reality shows.  I think they represent some of the most pernicious programming on the air.  First of all, these families are about as "real" as wrestling.  Second, they represent some of the worst family values and dysfunction and trust me, I've seen some really trashy situations in my 23 years as a lawyer.  Yes, the Duggar sisters are victims of the media, but the only reason that is happening is because their own parents have exploited them, and the rest of the family, rather shamelessly. The same goes for that thankfully cancelled Kate and Jon plus 8 and the Honey Boo Boo travesty (if I want to wallow in the daily doings of trailer trash, I can read the local news).  Tori and Dean? The commercials were painful to watch; I can't imagine why anyone would want to sit down and watch a family with children dissolve.  Real Housewives?  Unadulterated bullcrap. Keeping Up With the Kardashians?  Why would anyone want to?  Teen Moms?  Do we really need to glamorize unwed motherhood?  And once again, what about the children?

As far as I am concerned, there is only one Duck Dynasty:

Toho Muscovies, chilling at the old lakeside

Does anyone here remember the Loud fanily?  I do, but I'm a Lady of Certain Years, and the seventies were an interesting time for television ... what I remember was my thinking how embarrassing the whole thing must have been for this family, and why would they agree to do it?  Is there ever enough money in the world to exploit your children, or bring public shame on your family?  I guess so, but I just don't get it.  And now of course we can all look forward to "I Am Cait", a reality show which somehow cheapens the life-altering changes undergone by the former Bruce Jenner and gives unreasonable expectations to members of the transgender community.  Incidentally, kudos to the older Jenner progeny for refusing to appear on the new show.

Even when I'm feeling better, I have to bitch about something.  I also have a confession to make:  several years ago, during the worst of my insomnia, I could be found watching Dr. Drew's Rehab and My 600 Pound Life (okay, that one was scientific interest).. Once in a while I would catch an episode of Hoarders, just to assure myself I really wasn't the worst housekeeper in the world.

I did not cook today, but I have plans for tomorrow involving cuisine d' Italia by way of Brooklyn. That means getting dressed and heading to Publix.  Darn.

My garden is providing me with joy and vegetables:

These bougainvillea will grow like like they were bitten by a radioactive spider

Baby Ichiban Japanese eggplant. There are two other buds on this plant.

Future mammoth jalapenos

Hard to see, but there are two zucchini there

We started the garden relatively late in the season, but this is still Florida, so for the most part, if you plant it in the ground, it will grow.  Next year we will expand the planting grounds, make additional use of those fabulous railing planters, and will start earlier.  Front yard herb and vegetable gardens, one block from the courthouse.  Welcome to Historic Downtown Kissimmee.