Jimmy

So, Warren found a baby squirrel a few weeks ago.



My reaction? I said, "If you leave town, I'm not taking care of that thing."

At first, he kept Jimmy (as named by the kids) in a big bucket and fed him with a dropper. Then he transitioned him into a cat carrier.



During the day, he either hung out in the hood of Warren's hoodie or played on the punching bag that now hangs from the dining room ceiling.




Warren's desk is nearby, so when Jimmy started jumping from Warren to his nest and back again, he decided it might be time to let him outside.



So, he set Jimmy free and gave him the option of coming back to the carrier and coming in for the night.



After a few days, he didn't come back one night. The boys were all worried, but the next morning he showed up.

He needed a little more hoodie time.



And that's the story of how Warren became the crazy old squirrel guy.

All the Taco Trucks

Alternate Title: Defying the law of diminishing returns

I received the most amazing assignment ever--rank all of the taco trucks in Memphis. Since I can only eat so many tacos, I enlisted the help of my firstborn. He had to be bribed with a promise to visit the Apple Store along the way, but then he was totally on board. It was actually quite amazing to pick him up from his dad's house on Saturday and not only have him be dressed and ready to go, but to also seem excited.

I explained the law of diminishing returns to him and we discussed different criteria we might use to rank the trucks and it was all quite civilized.

I don't want to ruin my upcoming Thrillist piece, but I will say a few things about our FIVE HOUR TACO EATING ADVENTURE just to build some anticipation.



I love the El Burrito truck on Jackson. It was our first stop, so you know the whole diminishing returns might come into play, but they had a great selection and the owner was a doll.



He had the best salsa of the day too--it was a creamy avocado based sauce. And I now know that a taco is not complete without a pickled carrot.



Satchel Snapchatted along the way. I have no idea what he said.



Across from El Burrito is Jalapeno's, which may or may not be affiliated with this little place just a few feet away.



I was tempted to try it, but worried about not having enough room for all of the other tacos in my future.

On Summer Avenue, we discovered this RV Pupuseria. Tacos are more of an afterthought here, but still tasty. We need to go back and eat a pupusa.



The Los Jarochos truck was closed due to the owner being on vacation, so we were forced to go into the ice cream side. It's like a little La Michoacana. Great pops and ice cream, and my favorite--chocolate covered bananas. With sprinkles!



Next, we came across this truck on White Station, but it had started raining and no one was inside despite the "Open" sign being lit up.



And then we searched and searched, but the famed Chili Verde with the strawberry salsa was nowhere to be found. (Anyone know where it is now?)

We headed toward Hickory Hill and that's where we found the Los Compadres truck. I don't *think* it's affiliated with the restaurant. (I asked but didn't get a straight answer due to my inability to speak Spanish.) At first I thought it might be filling up it's tank, but it is fully operational right between the BP pumps.



There was a cooler full of jumbo Mexican Cokes and I couldn't resist. I think it was my first Coke in three years, maybe?



Yep frozen treats, a Coke, and more tacos than I could count all in one day! Decadence!

One of the coolest parts of our adventure was collecting all of the different salsas. As far as I could tell they were all homemade.



After eating at seven taco trucks and one ice cream place, we spent a grand total of $25. Satchel insisted on a $5 order of tamales at La Guadalupana, otherwise I never would have broken my second $20 bill.

We were both full, but not dying--though I didn't eat again until Sunday. When I emerged from my room Sunday morning, Satchel said, "I want more tacos."

Of course by then, I'd had numerous people mention trucks we never found, so I seriously considered it...for a minute. They'll have to wait for the update or part 2. I definitely think it was one of my funnest assignments ever. I'm so glad Satchel was with me.

Chicago

Last Friday, I drove the kids to Chicago for the weekend. I wanted to see the Giants play the Cubs. I've only been to Chicago once, and I think I was about Satchel's age at the time. It was kind of a big deal since it was the first time I drove them to a city I didn't really know, and we weren't going with anyone or meeting up with anyone.

Jiro, true to form, was excited about the trip and ready to do whatever. Satchel needed a little coaxing.

Our drive started off great. Both boys were chatty and I was able to get them talking about school, their teachers, and even girls! We decided to stop in Sikeston, Missouri for lunch. Warren and I took the boys to Lambert's Cafe on the way back from St. Louis four years ago, and it took Satchel about three years to shut up about it. There was a time that he wanted me to rent a pink Hummer limo and drive him and his friends there for his birthday.

So Satchel was excited to go, and it was funny to see him experience it as a 14 year old vs. a 10 year old. He started off by saying, "I'll have a hamburger." This was a joke since I usually get annoyed when we go somewhere new and (presumably) exciting and they both order hamburgers. But, I really didn't care what he ordered.

At one point he said, "This is the most red neck place ever." I replied, "You didn't used to think that." He then said, "I didn't know many stereotypes when I was younger."

Great! Ha!

Our food was fast and tasted fine. I really enjoyed the free fried okra. I forgot how expensive it was, but whatever. Too late. As we were packing up, Satchel said, "Everything's better when you are younger. Like garlic fries."

So mission accomplished--we never have to eat there again!



The rest of our drive was fairly smooth. I listened to baseball on the radio and the kids alternated between sleeping and staring at their personal screens. We arrived around 7:30pm.

We stayed in an AirBnB in Logan Square, and it ended up being a great spot. We were able to walk to lots of restaurants and whatnot and it was right by the train station. Jiro's first order of business was eating a Chicago style pizza. We located a Giordano's within a mile and a half and decided to order and then walk over. This helped us orient ourselves to the 'hood, and the pizza was ready when we arrived. It was everything we wanted it to be.



The only thing missing was beer.

We made it back to our abode and crashed.

Saturday was all about baseball and we were all excited. We walked over to the train station and with the help of a nice employee, we figured out what tickets to buy and where to get on and off and all that. The kids made fun of me because I didn't know which buttons to push on the ticket machine.



(Satchel also told me that a 44 year old woman should NOT be taking selfies.)

It was the monkeys' first time on a subway. Despite Satchel's expression in the photo below, they loved it.



When we switched trains, we met some Giants fans. On our second train, the closer we got to Wrigley, the more Cubs fans we met. The train was a sea of blue by the time we arrived.



We picked up our tickets at Will Call, snapped a few pics and then found our (amazing) seats.





For those of you not in the know--the Cubs have been having an incredible season. The best in 100 years. The Giants, three time World Series winners (2010, 2012, 2014) had a strong start to the season, but have been in a major slump since the All-Star break. Well, the Giants came through on Saturday and managed to win the game in a very exciting 3-2 squeaker. I couldn't have asked for a better game, and even the monkeys totally got into it.

I really wished I had bought tickets for Sunday, too, but I knew we should do other things while in town.

We took the train back to our apartment and had some much needed downtime.



Then we went out to a VEGAN dinner at the Chicago Diner and a movie.

On Sunday, our main objective was getting Satchel to Eggsperience for a Tommy Boy skillet. With the help of Uber, we accomplished that goal by 10am.



Next, we walked to Millennium Park to see Cloud Gate. The park was insanely crowded due to the holiday weekend and a jazz festival, so our pictures are less than inspired. It was cool to see it in person.



From there we sought refuge in the Chicago Athletic Association's game room. It features pool tables, foosball, shufflebaord, bocce and chess. All free! After smoking Jiro at foosball, I went for a beer and listened to baseball while they goofed off.



After an hour or so, we went down to the lobby to check out the famous Shake Shack.

Then Jiro's one request--to go to the top of the Willis Tower--needed fulfilling.



This proved to be a Hurculean effort--we were in line for about 4 hours. Thankfully I had the baseball game to keep me occupied and the boys managed to keep themselves entertained.



It was pretty cool once we made it up, but we all agreed it was NOT worth the waiting. We found out the hard way that you can get a City Pass ($98 each) and skip most of the waiting. The pass gets you into five attractions and is totally worth it if you plan to do them all.

From there we attempted to take an Uber to the Furious Spoon, a Ramen place by our apartment, but ended up at a different location. This was the part of the trip where Satchel decided his mother sucked so bad at directions that he had to take over. Fine by me! We did eventually get to dinner, and then back home. We crashed early, and then hit the road home at 8:30am.

Overall, it was a great trip. Maybe a bit on the quick side, but long enough for the monkeys to get a taste of the big city. We definitely made some memories and it was quite fun having the boys all to myself for a few days.

I've been a little lost

I've been a little lost. Not completely, but a little. After eleven years of blogging on the reg, I just sort of quit. I could blame the divorce or the kids wanting their privacy, but I don't know if either of those are totally true. I've just felt quiet, I guess. But man, being quiet doesn't really work for me. I need to get out of my head. I read this article last night, and well, I think I'm back.

I've been writing, just not about what's going on in my life or in my head. I'm basically a master list maker now thanks to Thrillist. I even managed to get a list on McSweeney's, thanks to my favorite collaborator. And anyone who's seen a recent issue of Edible Memphis can attest to the fact that my editor has been very generous with me.

But I need to record the mundane events in my life. My memory sucks and is just getting suckier by the day. I don't want to lose the now. It really is fun to go back and look over my old posts. Honestly, it's a little scary too since a lot of the time I don't remember the events and it seems as though someone else did the writing. But, having a record is nice. And I need to keep doing it. I just need to find a way to do it without breaching the privacy of the people wrapped up in my daily life.

I still like writing about food, but it does seem mostly pointless. Writing about food was always the most fun when I was doing Dining with Monkeys. Thanks to our recent trip to Chicago, I was able to get the monkeys to try some new things and dammit, I'm going to write about it whether they like it or not.

So yeah. Here goes.

Long time, no post

Yikes, it's almost April and I haven't made a single post ALL YEAR! What's up with that? I guess we've all been a little busy. Not sure that there's been anything too out of the ordinary to post about.

Jiro is playing soccer for Liberty again.

Satchel actually tried out for Snowden and made the team. Due to rain and whatnot he's only had one game and I got no good pictures.

Jiro went to his first ever concert at the FedEx Forum: Fall Out Boy. Ha!

What else? We've made a couple of funny videos together--one for Lauren's surgery and one for my upcoming birthday.

Spring break was last week, and we did manage to take a little day trip to Oxford. I told the boys we were going to have a nice lunch, see an art exhibit, visit a bookstore and then go to Faulkner's house. Satchel said it sounded like the nerdiest trip ever. Then he did a really funny nerd voice, but refused to let me capture it on video.

Anyways, we had a really nice lunch at Boure. (More on that later.)



Then we walked across the Square and saw Maggie Russell's show at Southside Gallery.



The kids both really liked it, though they are too cool to make any pleasing facial expressions.



Our next stop was Square Books. Satchel actually asked me, "Why would we hang out in a bookstore?" Thankfully, he was able to answer his own question. And yes, he found a book to buy.



I quite enjoyed sitting on the upstairs balcony and drinking a coffee while people watching down below.



Next, Jiro insisted on getting a cookie from this place clearly created for stoners.



Then we hit Off Square Books and Square Books, Jr. where we found treasures such as the Handicorn. Oh and these little hands. Satchel said, "Do you know how many high fives I could give with these?"



After walking through the Square, the boys started to get a sense of how important Faulkner was to the town.



Rowan Oak was our last stop, and both boys were actually quite interested and enthusiastic about it.



It was a great little day trip.

I've actually got a travel assignment on Oxford so if any of y'all have some insider tips and other suggestions for things to do, I'm all ears. Email me: stacey at fertilegroundzine dot com. Thanks!

Holiday Action

Satchel decided he was a super Jew this year and asked that he get all of his presents during Hanukah. Also, when I told him that his hebrew name is Shlomo Nitzan he lost his mind. He changed all of his gamer tags and online profiles. Who would have thought?



Warren took the boys to Amurica and had a family photo done. (He even mailed them out!)



Chip took some pics of me and the boys, but they are over on that other blog.

Per usual, we spent Christmas Eve at Gigi's. There was gumbo, dice and ugly scarves.



Christmas morning we continued our tradition of delivering meals for MIFA.



And we finished up our family time at CK's with some greasy food and magic tricks.

Broken

File this under self-indulgent.

Ever since the Cooper-Young 4-miler, I started getting a little more serious about running. Some friends and I decided to sign up for Wade's Big Adventure, which is an 8 mile trail race at Shelby Farms. We spent several weeks running the trails on the weekends and on race day we totally kicked ass. I mean we did't win or anything, but we had fun and we felt strong. We'd all signed up for Sylamore in February and planned to once again double our distance (4->8->16.).



Since the race was on a Sunday, I also had a soccer game that day. I didn't feel tired, but my brain was not communicating with my body in the way that it normally does. I had a total freak accident that resulted in me crushing my own foot. After several X-rays and finally an MRI, it was determined that I broke my first metatarsal.

Yep, broken again. It's actually been a good 9 years since I broke my leg in three, and 25 (!) since my ACL surgery. And compared to those two injuries, this is nothing. (I hope.)

When I moved into the Pie Factory, I kinda had a feeling I'd be tackling these stairs on crutches some day.



Thankfully the crutches only lasted about ten days.

Also, please note I got a pedicure ASAP. Even better, Kristy crocheted me some toe covers for my cast.



Being in a cast has severely cramped my style. I was running three times a week, doing yoga twice a week, and playing soccer. Now I can't even stand at my desk. It's frustrating as hell. But I haven't let it totally ruin me. I still made it to New Orleans for Thanksgiving weekend (more on that later. maybe!) and I am trying to look on the bright side.

The Bright Side

1. At least it's my left foot, so I can still drive.
2. I got to take three days off to convalesce which resulted in getting to watch every episode of "The Master of None."
3. The kids have learned to carry their own shit.
4. When I met the Mayor-elect, I got to make a joke about Chuck Brady running me over.
5. According to the pedicure dude, I have a cool story. "At least you didn't fall in a hole," he said.
6. Strangers talk to me, a lot. "I told you not to kick the dog," they say. "We aren't getting any younger," they remind me. "You were watching soccer or playing soccer?" they ask. (Ok maybe this one belongs on a different list!)

I'm four weeks in, and hopefully transitioning to a boot soon. I so want to scratch my ankle.

Wish me luck. I haven't given up on Sylamore yet.

Ravioli Day 2015

Ravioli Day is my favorite. It is also one of the few days of the year when Satchel is excited and motivated to leave the house.

"Do you think the Alleys will ever give us their recipe?" he asked me.

"No," I replied.

"Not even when they get old and die?"

"Nope."



This year marked our tenth year of making ravioli with the Alleys. TEN YEARS! (Unless we did the math wrong.) This year, Aunt Elizabeth was busy packing up her house to move, so I was in charge of making sure everyone washed their hands and didn't fuck up. I was drunk with power! Not really, it was a lot of pressure!



The best part of being in charge, was having Genevieve sit next to me AND talk to me!



As much as Satchel loves to eat ravioli, he is not usually into making it. He stayed outside most of the time riding his Swegway with the other kids. Jiro did come in and help for awhile, which was sweet. Chip took a bunch of pictures, but his computer broke or something, so I am making due with mine!



We were aiming for 50 dozen this year, but I think we capped out around 38? I could seriously make ravioli all day. I love it.



There's always lots of laughter, and not just because we are making jokes about ball size.



We eventually lured Aunt Elizabeth over with disturbing photos of giant balls and triangle raviolis.



We were basically done by the time she got there, so we moved on to the "patiently waiting for the ravioli to cook" phase of the afternoon.



This time is also known as "time to dip bread in the gravy."



Let the record show that despite being in charge and drinking a lot of Ananda, it was not me napping on the couch this year!



In Melissa's defense, she did run 13 miles earlier that morning! (Elizabeth also snuck in a power nap before dinner.)

Soon, everything was ready and the children were summoned.



Ravioli Day is the best.day.ever!



Look for Richard on the cover of the next issue of Ravioli Men Magazine.