BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day #02611 The family is excited because we can use the grill again. It is finally clear of all the snow in the backyard. Makes things easier for preparing dinners.

Photo-A-Day #02600 The ice cream that I made on Wednesday.  I picked up our ice cream yesterday and well, I ate my ice cream before I took a picture yesterday. Today I have a nice photo. A soft lavender color to the ice cream because of the black raspberry and cherry juice. It also contains some hot honey, can't taste it, Nutella, can't taste it, peanut butter, also can't taste it. It also has toffee pieces, peanuts and oreos. The fruit flavors are subtle. It tis rather enjoyable overall. I have a feeling that at some point I'm going to get a big bit of something that I didn't mix well. I have many ideas to make another batch but this one will take a while to finish. Plus we have Andy's batch. That is a very honey heavy one.

Photo-A-Day #02599 When Allison and Eva went tot he Transformers Store in London they picked up a Funko Bitty Pop! Retro Toys set of Transformers. The way that Funko did these sets was that they had 4 different Bitty Pop! Retro Toys sets, each with a different Hasbro Retro Toys Theme. There was Transformers, G.I. Joe, Mr. Potato Head and Board Games like Monopoly and Operation. However, in these sets of four figures there was one figure that was a mystery figure. The mystery figure may or may not match the overall theme of the set. Int his case it does not match because I got Lite Brite with my Transformers. I didn't have the heart to tell Eva that I already had this set on my wall of Transformers. She was so happy to have found something fun for me in London that was Transformers themed. And they are very cool. I opened this one because I have an unopened one on my wall. I didn't know about how they worked the "mystery figure". So now I am on the lookout for Soundwav...

Photo-A-Day #02598 I had wanted to do an ice cream making class with andy during February vacation and well, since this has been an extended vacation because of all the snow days we got our chance to go today. An ice cream shop local to us, Frisbie's offers ice cream making classes. It is more of an experience than a class but it is very fun none the less. We are here with the ice cream sundaes that we got after we made our own ice cream. Because our ice cream will take a day to freeze properly they give us some of their ice cream to enjoy after class. I say give but we definitely paid for the experience. The cost was $75 per person. I think that the store probably took home 75% of that fee in profit after all was said and done. So they poured a bag of ice cream mix into the machine to mix, add air and freeze a bit. We each got a large tub and added that base ice cream. Then we could mix in our own base as well as other items. I had wanted to make a strawberry oreo ice cream but th...

Photo-A-Day #02589 Andy and I are on our own for the week. Allison and Eva are having a great time with Mimi in London. Today I slept till 9am, I have not slept past 6am in YEARS. Alarms off and no one waking me up. It was great. Andy had forgotten to turn off their alarm so they were up early but quiet enough not to wake me. We played some One Hit Heroes in the afternoon. We were going to attempt to play a Transformers card game but the game rules proved a bit challenging. so we scrapped that idea. I'll play the solo version and figure out how it is supposed to be played and then we'll try playing together. Andy asked that we go to Johnny Rockets for dinner. On the way out they said that they had money and would be paying. It was revealed that the money had come from Mimi to take us out one night while the girls were over in London. Andy chose Johnny Rockets at the Providence Place Mall. They were paying so who was I to argue. Johnny Rockets is airport food and well, not that ...

Photo-A-Day #02581 My 43 hour 3D print of a Dice Tower has completed. It completed this morning around 6am. I had started it on Friday and it printed all through the night and the next night. I tested out all of the dice in my play collection. The set that I use for my daily RPG game that I've been playing since the first of the year. I am a few days behind and will get caught up later on tonight after the Super Bowl. For the Super Bowl we had some ribs and other treats. I slow cooked the ribs at 20 for 2 1/2 hours then 350 for an hour and then 425 for 30 minutes. They were so tender and tasty. We enjoyed them as we watched the new episode of The Muppet Show before the Super Bowl. The kids were in it to see Green Day perform. It was  good performance. Then Eva came down for the halftime show. Andy came down after the halftime show asking when it was happening. They had just missed it. The halftime show was good. At this time that I am writing this the Patriots are down by 12 in the...

Photo-A-Day #02577 Allison and Eva went to see Eva's friend Aviva play hockey tonight and so Andy and I were on our own. Since I wasn't so into leftover roulette I decided to take them out for dinner. We went over to Brigg's Corner for dinner. andy decided on pizza and I was going to get wings but decided that I had not had good pizza in a long time and Briggs makes some great pizza. It isn't on my eating plan but one night wasn't too bad and my blood sugar did not take a bit hit. The pizza was so good, though.

Photo-A-Day #02575 Tonight I made meatloaf for dinner and also some potatoes. I baked the potatoes in cream, butter, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, salt and pepper. The potatoes came out really good, in my opinion. They got a couple of questionable looks but they were tasty and creamy and the had great flavor.

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.