BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #025689 With a major snow day yesterday and a second snow day for Andy today plus a 2 hour delay for both Allison and Eva we had more time at home. Yesterday Andy made some chocolate/coconut cookies and Eva made chocolate chip cookies. Today Andy made everything but the kitchen sink cookies with M&Ms, pretzels and potato chips. Needless to say It has been a challenge to stick to the Virta diet that I am on. I had a few of these cookies. Each was good but my favorite are the coconut ones. Andy did a great job on them. Although next time we figure that they leave out the chocolate chips and dip the cookies into melted chocolate instead. I continue to work on reading my comic book collection.Today I completed the 12 issue series of Transformers Generation 2. Good story, not the best but I was so excited in 1993 when Transformers came back to comic books. I don't think I'll ever tire of reading these stories.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02554 Back on Virta and finding different ways to enjoy things I enjoy that are not Virta approved, like pizza. The crust is what gets me and just eating the toppings off a pizza and tossing out the crusts is rather wasteful. I have been enjoying baking cheese. This is cheese that you can bake in the oven for about 10 - 15 minutes and it tastes just like pizza cheese and so I've been making this with pepperoni and mushrooms to enjoy the kind of pizza I like with some sauce for dipping. Limiting the sauce a bit too because of the potential for sugar from the tomatoes but still enjoying a little of it at a time.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02552 Today was Allison's birthday. We celebrated by going to the Colonel Blackinton Inn for dinner. Dinner was taken care of by a Christmas gift card and another gift card that Allison received from school. We had an excellent meal. Andy got adventurous and then realized that they really did not like spinach. Allison got her favorite which was butternut squash ravioli. Eva went with chicken parm and I went with the Wedge salad and short ribs and asparagus. Both Allison and Andy also had French Onion soup. We were seated in one of the small rooms in the back and hard it mostly to ourselves. It was a lovely dinner with good conversation and a chance to celebrate Allison. When we came home we had some cake that was left over from Allison's birthday celebration last night with friend and also some cupcakes that Andy baked last night. It was a nice time.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02551 I've been back on the virta eating plan this past week and I've been seeing some ads for baking cheese. This is cheese that you bake in the oven or air fryer and cut to be like Mozzarella sticks. No carbs so this is great for me. I got a block o the cheese at the store today and baked it for andy and me to try tonight. I got some marinara sauce to go with it. It was really tasty stuff. I'd go for getting it again and next time cut it in half for myself and cover with pepperoni. It is like pizza without the crust.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02549 I've been working on getting back on virta and eating as I had been prior to the holidays. I'd been indulging too much and it was being reflected in my numbers. Specifically my blood sugar numbers. so, this week I was back making eggs for breakfast instead of a granola bar and a special soup for lunch. It is really easy and very tasty, not to mention inexpensive. It start with frozen cooked shrimp. I put 6 of them in a bowl of water to thaw. Then when it comes time to chop them I also chop up green onion and mushroom. I add that with a bouillon cube to a pat of butter, heavy whipping cream, and a spoonful of chili crisp. I them put water into the container that I seal up for 10-30 minutes depending upon what I am doing. When I want the soup I pour it into a bowl and microwave it for 2 minutes. When I got to eat it I ad a handful of chili-lime peanuts to the soup for a little extra to chew on. In this one I some bacon as well. I don't do that often but...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02542 This afternoon and into tonight we went to the Salem Cross Inn for one of their Fireside feasts. This was the last one of the year and a celebration of the New Year.  We arrived and went to the basement of the building where they have this giant fireplace and there is an antique roasting jack, the only one still in use. There are 6 prime ribs roasting in the fire. They had started the roasting around 2pm. This location was the gathering place for everyone before going upstairs to enjoy the feast. There is a bit of theater to have before that. The kids were dressed warmly and nicely for the occasion.  We had to dress warm because we would be on a sleigh ride around the property.  I even pulled out my very heavy sweater for the occasion.  The horses that drew our sleigh were Jerry and Jim. We posed with them after the ride. They gave us either Mulled Cider or Mulled Wine to enjoy. They did the mulling with rods from the fire. It was cool to watch...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02523 Tonight Allison had Colleen over and the two of them made meatballs. They made a ton of them and when they were done let Me and the kids have a couple before they were all packed up for meals. I think Allison said she got enough made for four meals for us and Colleen took the other half of them home with her.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02514 I've been trying to get back on track with Virta and eating less carbs and more protein. I sort of got away from it a bit during Thanksgiving but now I'm back. One thing I have been doing is making a soup for lunch. The soup I have been making consists of shrimp, mushrooms, green onions, peanuts, chili crisp and a bouillon cube. I'm using some frozen shrimp, 3 work well for my soup. So, I can really get a lot of soups from a bag of shrimp and a can of mushrooms.  I had it every day this week. Great flavor.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02508 Today was Thanksgiving. We had a great time with our family enjoying a great meal and time together. Last night we kicked off Thanksgiving by watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles. The kids enjoyed it and I really liked seeing it again especially after watching "I Like Me" the John Candy documentary. After our dinner we had some time to relax. I showed Mom and Dad Eugene Levy's show "The Reluctant Traveller". Dad and Mom got a kick out of it like I thought that they would. The show is really fun for everyone.  Each thanksgiving Allison gets the kids come sparkling cider. The kids get fancy and put it in our very fancy wine glasses. They end up toasting repeatedly as they refill their drinks. It is very cute of them to do it. We got some family photos after dinner and before dessert. Dinner was from Firefly's and it was a really good one. We got a turkey breast and a couple of pints of brisket. Then we got mashed potatoes, corn, sweet...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02494 When Allison and I started discussing our 20th Anniversary and how to celebrate it we were looking at a few things but they were things we had done before. Then Allison sent me a link to the Providence Tour company. she had gone with Eva and her friend Aviva on the Providence Haunted Authors Tour and really enjoyed it. The company had a Dinner Stroll on Federal Hill so we booked it for tonight. The stroll took us to Cassarino’s, Trattoria Appia, Pane e Vino, and Anthony’s Authentic Italian Cuisine. We were on the tour with three other couples who were all friends. By the end of the night we had had good conversations with most everyone from the group. We were about 10 years younger than the rest of the group. We learned that our tour guide was from North Attleboro. She was very nice. Our adventure started at Cassarino's for an appetizer sampler of calamari, bruschetta, stuffed mushrooms and clams casino. Everything was excellent. We were allotted 35 minutes a...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02492 Today Allison and I drove down the Cape to go to Scargo Cafe for lunch with Mem and Grandfather, Cindy and Wayne and Aunt Cathy and Uncle Roger. Scargo Cafe was one of Grandma Bennett's favorite places to go for a meal. The food there was excellent. We arrived a little early and visited a couple of shops across the street from the cafe. Found some Christmas gifts for the kids and an anniversary gift for Allison. Our meal was excellent and we had a wonderful waitress. Allison got a chicken meal that was very tasty and I got the braised short rib meal. That was also very good. In the end Mom and Dad, Cindy, Wayne Cathy and Roger split the bill and took us out for our anniversary. We were celebrating what would have been Grandma and Grandpa's 76th wedding anniversary. It was nice to go there and think of them for a while and have a lot of fun with family.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02474 This morning I dropped Andy off at school and then headed to Middleboro to Dave's Diner to meet up for breakfast with my Dad. I need to return the van to him and get my car back. I'm meeting up with a friend in Newport tomorrow and wanted to drive that rather than the van.  Out front of the diner there was a giant chicken in red, white and blue. There were also a couple of smaller chickens and cow shaped seat. Inside it was a diner and the food was pretty good. Many old magazines and signs and things like that all over the walls.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02467 We had a group potluck tonight. One of the people here made this cute little cemetery with the oreo dirt recipe. She bought a food pen to draw on the RIP and the ghost faces. The tombstones are milano cookies. Very creative and I bet tasted great.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02466 I picked all the green onions out of the garden today. They are quite small but I was able to cut a few of them up for dinner tonight. I made a Chicken Enchilada soup. It was a super easy to make and tasted great. Everyone enjoyed it for dinner and the fresh green onions made it special.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02462 I'd been seeing advertisements for Points! candies. They are supposed to have very little sugar and would be okay for a Keto lifestyle. So far so good with them. they have a different sort of taste and they don't appear to spike my blood sugar after eating. I ordered some packages of the Dark Chocolate and the Chocolate Peanut. They also sent along a couple of samples of their Points! Krunch but that appears to not be Keto friendly like the others. Way more sugar int hat one than the other two products.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02453 I love Birria Tacos and the other day I saw that Snappy dogs was doing a Friday special called Tacos de Birria Muy Bueno. I hadn't planned on going but I had decided to go to Rubber Chicken Comics today in Bellingham. As I was driving there I realized that I was about halfway to Snappy Dogs and remembered the Friday special. So, I kept going and got a Big Dog for the special. This has made the rest of the house unhappy with me. They missed out on this Friday special and a trip to Snappy Dogs. Even though Eva doesn't enjoy those type of hot dogs she does like seeing the Snappy Dogs ladies. The ladies were excited to see me come by and asked about how everyone was doing. I did not find any comics at Rubber Chicken Comics but that place has everything. Wow, it was really full. I've got about a dozen original Transformers comics I am missing and some other ones from other series. I'll be checking out some comic shops to try and finish my collection.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02447 When I was younger I made these labels for my copies of Transformers Universe. I had some stickers of letters and used them to make these comic book boards. As I have been organizing and documenting my comic books I found these. I replaced them with some newer boards. But I had to get them documented. I've only completed two of the new boxes and have three additional boxes just filled with Transformers comics. I've got to go through them all and organize them and figure out what ones I might be missing. There are a bunch that I have never read and I need to organize them a bit more to put them in the correct reading order. Today Andy went over to their friend Onyx's house. Andy made 5 pans of mac and cheese and a bunch of cilantro lime sugar cookies. They came out really well, too. 

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02432 On Labor Day we went apple picking at Tougas Family Farms. I did not think that we'd go through the apples as quickly as we have but Andy is really enjoying them for snack and more. Tonight andy had an Apple sundae. A full Honey Crisp apple and A caramel apple ice cream from Munroe Dairy. Andy really like that combination. After school Andy will cut up a full apple and have it with peanut butter or Nutella. Tonight Allison and I went to Feehan to meet with Eva's teachers. It looks like she has a great group of teachers. They were all very nice. When we got home Eva grilled us on what we thought. Allison relayed a story about when Eva shadowed another student before attending the school. The teacher she observed was someone that really intimidated her because they were so loud and enthusiastic. Now she has that same teacher for Sociology and she really enjoys him. We encouraged her to tell him the story at the end of the year.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02431 Today my parents came up from The Cape. Mom was meeting up with friends and so Dad took me to lunch at Morin's. This was Dad's first visit after Morin's extensive remodel. I got the wedge salad again because it is one of the things that works best for me. Dad got the Rueben which looked very good. After lunch we caught up with Mom and she and Dad were able to visit with Andy for a bit before they headed to a wake.  After the wake dad came back over to visit with Eva. I continued working on photographing and documenting each of my Transformers to get them ready for selling. It has been quite a project but it is working out pretty well so far. I'm going to need Dad's van to get everything up to NH. There are 22 boxes. I may squeeze them into Allison' car but I don't think so.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02423 Today was andy's first day of school. I drove them over tot he High School because it was the first day. Andy has expressed interest in walking over in the future. I wanted to make sure that Andy was there in time to eat breakfast. Of course we are still figuring out the best time to leave in order to not end up there too early.  It was also the first full day for both Allison and Eva. Eva had Senior Sunrise today and I brought her over for that and when I returned I took Andy to school. Allison is still working on taking a quick mile walk each morning before school which she was most grateful for doing later in the day. Everyone had nice days. Allison wanted to know how I celebrated "Christmas" today, my first day witht he house all to myself after having everyone home for the Summer. I really didn't do much. I have projects but did not start any of them, yet. Just an abundance of video games. Later on I went to the supermarket and picked up a ...