Every day I drive to my office downtown, park in a lot about 1/2 block away and proceed to walk, across two streets and to the front door.  On my way to the door, I pass several businesses, including a bakery, but I pass these businesses on the back side of the buildings as opposed to the front.

So, I was walking up the sidewalk, getting ready to cross the first of the two streets that I cross, when I see the strangest sight coming across the parking lot behind the bakery.  At first I could not tell exactly what it was, but as it came closer, I could make out a squirrel.  Now a squirrel is not an unusual sight during the springtime, but this one was, for it was carrying in it’s little jaws a large, chocolate cupcake, wrapped in plastic wrap.

It struck me as unusually humorous, since you seldom see a sight like this one.  The cupcake was almost larger than the carrier!!  He managed to get it across the street, and make his way carefully up a tree.  It started my day off with a smile.

It has been a very busy week at work, been putting in a lot of overtime.  So I was just too tired to cook supper tonight.  So we went out to eat dinner at a local all-you-can-eat restaurant so I wouldn’t have to bother with cooking supper or washing dishes.  I like this restaurant a lot – you order your main course of meat (or pasta) and then you help yourself to their buffet style bars full of veggies, salads, fruits, desserts, breads, etc.  The price is reasonable, and the food is always good.  And I get to eat without having to do any of the work!

Tonight we’re going to my favorite all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet restaurant.  I love Chinese food – I could eat it every day!  My favorites are sweet and sour chicken, fried rice, and lo mein noodles.  And the meat filled dumplings – some places call them pot stickers.  But I really enjoy the buffets because I can have a little bit of everything – I like all sorts of chicken and shrimp dishes!  I am not a big fan of sushi, though, but the sushi bar looks beautiful – the sushi chef makes it all look like candy!  What a rude awakening to my mouth to put something in that looks like candy but tastes like fish and seaweed!

Today our friend, Larry, used his Char Broil Big Easy Infrared  Turkey Fryer/Grill for the first time.  We cooked chicken thighs and drumsticks.

The infrared heat locks in flavor and keeps the food moist; you use no oil, so there is no chance that it will burn, splatter or spill and there is no oil to recycle or to clean up.  The infrared heat circles the cooker and penetrates the meat evenly, so it is moist and juicy on the inside and nice and crispy on the outside.

The meat is healthier too, because any grease or fat drips away into the drip pan located at the bottom of the cooker.

It cooks much more quickly than traditional methods too, it only took 1/2 hour to cook several pieces of chicken and they were done to perfection with the skin cooked crisp and the color was a beautiful golden brown.  And, there were no uneven burned areas such as when you use a grill.

I highly recommend this cooker.  I thoroughly enjoyed using it and the food was delicious!!!!

If you don’t have small children, perhaps you have not noticed what choices are available to kids for lunches and dinners at the fast food places.

I have known for years that McDonalds has “Happy Meals” for kids, but I haven’t really paid any attention to what goes int a Happy Meal until today. I decided that I was hungry but not really wanting a whole big burger and a large order of fries. So, I decided to order a Happy Meal and get kid sized portions instead.

The choices for the Happy Meal included substituting french fries with what they call, “apple dippers.” This is a little packet of peeled and sliced apples that come with a little bucket of caramel for dipping. That is what I ordered and I must say that I liked it a lot.