Diner Dreams -

Hey, ya'll!

I have a friend...well, rather, my sister has a friend who I vaguely know - Lydia. Kimberly says she is adorable, sweet, and well - just plain fun to be with, and she has this cooking blog, and is always posting pictures of food that make me hungry just looking at it. She is the main cook in their house, I think, if you want to see what I am a’talkin’ about then head on over, look at her food pictures(sigh over the cheesecake), leave a comment, and say hi to Lydia! Since she is always posting pictures of food, and I rarely am other than food that I have made recently for the party, I am going to put up a couple pictures of food.

This past week, there was left-over mac 'n cheese in the fridge, and so I pulled it out, and made it into the best kind of macaroni and cheese besides the homemade kind. I made the put-whatever-I-think-will-make-it-taste-awesome kind. Or rather, I made it into that. I warmed it up with some milk, and added a slice of American cheese, to make it bond better, and a third of a cup of just shredded yellow cheddar cheese, a good long squeeze of Dijon mustard, stirred it vigorously, until it bubbled, and then served it up! I also had a hot dog with it, for some meat protein. :) Oh, and I love to eat with wooden utensils and bowls...so I was eating with my wooden spoon, as you can see.

Ta-daa! The doctored-up mac 'n cheese in all its cheesy goodness. It was as good as it looks. :) Sooo cheesy, but not the store cheesy...it was sharp and dijon mustard cheesy. Yummy!!

A second shot...I was sitting there after I served it up, and Kim said - "Is it good?", and I said - "Good enough to want to take pictures of it"...that is what I do, you see, when something is good, I take pictures of it. As if, I could remember what I did, by looking at the picture. :D Ha!


And this past Tuesday - after I had Italian lunch day...haha...homemade spagetti with sausage, and garlic toast, I made myself a milk shake with Edy's vanilla ice cream and whole milk. I was proud of myself for shakin' it up in a container, and not having to get out the blender. :D So, anyhow - the milkshake also was good enough to take pictures of. It was delicious, oh, and I have these sweet old-fashioned straws, and I poured it into a glass, stuck the straw in, sipped away, and sighed with delight. Yep, it's the simple little things that get me.

The Vanilla Milkshake -

Look at it, in all its bubbly, frothy and creamy wonderfulness. Mhmmm.
Sighh.....sooo good! The straw was perfect. :)
A shot "down the barrel" so to speak....that's what I was telling the cam - "Get in that barrel, wait, not the shake, the barrel, good, good, AH! NOT! There, there, hold....GOT IT! YAY!" :D
Milkshake, anyone? :) It's really good!

Wanna' try some? :D

Mhmm, mhmm! Frothy bubbles frosting the glass.

The fun straw -

And the little doggie-woggie not understanding why I am not giving her any when she has her best Give-me-the-food-because-I-am-fuzzy-and- fluffy-look going on. :D

Hope ya'll all enjoyed the "food tour"...I did! See, I was sitting there, with my milkshake, and Kimberly was watching me take pictures of myself, I was her lunch entertainment. We were listening to my 40's CD, I believe that "Dream" was on, and I was in pure 40's and 50's mood. I was planning that diner right then and there.

It would have black and white tiles on the floor, and swirly barstools for the counter... a soda fountain, an old one of course! There would be a jukebox with all my favorites on it, and plenty of floor space, so if my husband wanted, at any given moment, we could boogie-woogie and swing dance right then and there, in our own little diner. Everyone would feel at home...and our cute little kids would be dressed to the nines in 40's and 50's style. The little boys would wear knickers, newsie caps, white shirts, suspenders, and could carry around little black books to take orders(and draw in), the older boys, much the same, except they would wear ties, and have their long sleeves rolled up, and long pants. The little girls would wear sweet little 40's dresses or 50's blouses and skirts, and little caps on their heads or ribbons and bows in their hair, and they could wear little red and white striped aprons and saddle back shoes. The older girls would wear the same as I, mostly!, and work behind the soda counter with me, or be playing some jazz on the piano that would be on the far side of the diner.... we'd sing and cook, cook and sing, dance and swing, live and love, and bring back welcoming families and history!

Our kids would each have an allowance per day - one song per day: 4 quarters, for their favorite song on the jukebox or piano, and a break to enjoy it. :) There'd be my camera, right by my side, to capture my family in their everyday glory. There'd be shiny chrome and stainless steel, red paint and wide straws, glass dishes and root beer floats, black and white pictures on the walls from the 40's and 50's, and framed old records. There'd be laughter, hard work, and plenty of music. There'd be chaos, cooking accidents and kids owies....there'd be temper flares, apologies and times of bursting into tears. There'd be hymns mixed in with the sound of Bing and Sinatra and the Mills Brothers and our kids singing to their favorite songs, or making them up. :)

There'd be me. And Husband. And children.

There'd be me. And Husband. And children. And sweet little diner that was our business.

There'd be me. And Husband. And children. And diner. And God guiding us through it all.

And ... there'd be love.

Loving to dream, and loving my Savior,
~ Jean Marie