I remember being young enough that the only way to tell one school day from another was what was for lunch that day.

I still remember that Thursday was pizza day, Wednesday was soup or chili day. (w/grade school peanut butter sandwiches.  I’m 40-plus and haven’t come across that peanut butter since.)

Tuesday was Sloppy Joe Day.  I still remember that first Sloppy Joe Day sitting down with my tray with the long slot for silverware  and the square indentation to keep your milk carton from spilling.  But this was not a Sloppy Joe.

This was some mixture of hamburger and a red ketchup’y/bbq’y sauce on a bun.  Years later I would see Manwich commercials and think “Ohhh, this is what they think Sloppy Joes are.”

At our house Sloppy Joe’s were hamburger and mushroom soup mixed together and served on a bun with a slice of american cheese.

I made them for dinner tonight.  One of Mom’s simplest recipes yet still one of my favorites.

Red sauce sloppy joes.  Please…

Neither are high on my wanna-eat list unless they’re fried, but I’ve GOT to start exercising some control over my diet. Plus my nephew/roommate is back from Christmas break and I want to try and cook for him occasionally.

Maybe it’s because it was beyond the “best by” date but I’ve had no luck preparing brown rice when I enjoyed it, but I won’t give up. It wasn’t terrible with the apple’y/cranberry’y sauce on it.

It’s from a slow cooker cookbook I picked up along the way. If you try it let me know what you think!

CRANBERRY CHICKEN

• 2 medium apples, cored and cut into wedges
• 1 medium onion thinly sliced
• 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (about 2lbs total)
• 1 16-ounce can whole cranberry sauce
• 1/4 cup frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
• 2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 6-ounce pkgs long grain & wild rice mix (I just used brown from a box)

In a 3 1/2 or 4 quart slow cooker combine apples & onion. Add chicken pieces. In a medium bowl combine cranberry sauce, lemonade concentrate, tapioca, honey & salt. Pour over mixture in cooker.

Cover & cook on low-heat setting for 6 to 7 hours or on high-heat setting for 3 to 3 1/2 hours.

Cook the rice according to the package directions. Serve chicken & apple mixture over hot cooked rice.

Nutrition Facts per serving: 565 calories, 2 g total fat(1 g sat. fat), 88 mg chol, 993 mg sodium, 96 g carbo, 4 g fiber, 40 g pro

Maybe it’s the blonde in the latest Taco Bell commercial.  Or the new spokesperson for Laughing Cow Baby Bell Cheese.  Just submit your query and they’ll do the rest. 

And what an impressive mission statement.  “A blog dedicated to finding out who hot, unknown actresses or models are in various television commercials”.

If only I’d had this resource in 1975.  I remember being 8 years old and seeing a car commercial that featured a Mercury, and what I was sure was the most beautiful woman to ever walk the planet.

Back then there was no way to know her name but a few years later, that woman and a couple of friends would become famous working for a man on a speaker-phone.  And then of course there was “the poster“.

I guess I didn’t really need to know her name.  At the time “Mrs. Cox” sounded pretty good to me.

I don’t know if Nascar or Fox or TNT or Speed or whoever else runs/promotes the races plans on using it (if they’re not already), but I think it is SOOOOO much better than that weak “Let’s Go Racing Boys” song they used a couple of years ago.

Like the song, love the video.  Probably doesn’t hurt that there’s ribs, Carl and cleavage in the first 30 seconds…

I saw three this weekend that I would recommend.

They were all critically acclaimed, which to me usually means “boring and over my head“, but I really enjoyed these.

The King’s Speech was nominated for 12 Oscars and won 4.  That along with the fact that it seemed very stuffy and British, kept me from going out of my way to see it.

But it was terrific!  It was funny, touching, historical, plus it had some early days of radio stuff that I found interesting.  And with our recent looks into the royal family it seems somehow timely. 

I also watched Gone, Baby Gone and The Town.  Ben Affleck directed both and had a hand in the writing as well.  They are often pointed too as proof of Affleck’s “comeback”.

I’m glad that I liked them, because I always liked him, and felt like many times people were just piling on when they dumped on his career. 

They are both very gritty, very Boston, and very suspenseful.  So if that’s your thing check them out, if like me you missed them the first time around.

He’s one of those guys that I knew several of his songs, before I ever knew who he was.

He wrote “Shame on the Moon” by Bob Seger, “Ain’t Livin’ Long Like This” by Waylon and “Leavin’ Louisiana in the Broad Daylight” by The Oak Ridge Boys.

I was reminded the other night of another Rodney written fav of mine, Lee Ann Womack’s “Ashes By Now“.

Rosanne Cash wrote “Seven Year Ache” about him, and his “Diamonds & Dirt” album produced five #1 songs in a row in the late 80’s when I was first getting into Country radio. 

Chinaberry Sidewalks is a look at his dysfunctional upbringing, but not from a whiny, “can you believe what happened to me as a kid” perspective.

I love the  L.A. Times reviewer’s description of Rodney’s parents: 

“Crowell’s mother was a dyslexic epileptic with suicidal tendencies and a taste for warm beer and Pentecostal preachers. His father was an irresponsible, hard-drinking philanderer who idolized Ol’ Hank and struggled with his failure to make a living as a musician.”

Somehow he makes his parent’s drunken brawls, with each other or neighbors, warm-hearted and funny.  It’s a guy looking back at the times, people and stories that shaped him.

And the adoration of his parents comes not in spite of the strangeness of their relationship, but because of it.

I really enjoyed it, and you might too.  Hear Rodney talk about the book, his parents, and the difference in writing songs and writing a book.

I did however see and eat a lot of other things in that beautiful town, and wanted to share a few of them with you.

(And for the record, if you can work it out so that you’re going with someone else for whom this is actually a working trip and you’re just along for the ride, and can get them to pay for pretty much everything on the trip, I would recommend it.)

Best Attraction – The Riverwalk.  It’s a really neat walkway along a man-made river with lots of restaurants & shops.  After a long winter, we were there at a perfect time with 70 degree weather and lots of sun.  Good way to shake the blahs.

Honorable Mention – The Apple Store.  I was traveling with a couple of “Mac-heads”, and we went by the store on the afternoon the iPad 2 went on sale.

This is just the mousetrap maze line in front of the store, but the line went on and on through the whole mall.  And it was a big mall.

Best Line From A Flight Attendant – “The tower has cleared us for takeoff, and the pilot said he might try something new this time so please make sure those seat belts are securely fastened.”

Best Meal – Flemings.  I don’t eat upscale very often, but this place was a real treat.  Very nice without being pretentious.  I would like to take a moment to thank the cattleperson that raised the cow that gave it’s life for my steak.  Your efforts are appreciated sir or madam.

Honorable Mention – Big Lou’s Pizza.  It was featured once on “Man vs. Food”.  We went for the “little Lou”, it was only 20″.

Best Band Name Seen On A Sign or Marquee – “Shovels & Rope”.

Best View – The hotel pool at night.

Honorable Mention – The hotel pool during the day when the lady with the purple bikini was out there reading her Kindle.

Best Line From A Book Or Periodical Taken On The Trip – “How quickly my mother switches from Pentecostal purist to beer-guzzling shrew is one of life’s deepest mysteries.”  Chinaberry Sidewalks by Rodney Crowell.

Best Painting In The Hotel – This one of a lady doing the Flamenco.  It was beautiful & mesmerizing.

Best Pro Basketball Team To Stay In Our Hotel Because They Were In Town To Play The San Antonio Spurs-Detroit Pistons.

Best Dessert – Red Velvet Cake/Cheescake from The Cheesecake Factory.  Oof.

It was a great trip to a neat town, I hope to go back someday.  Thanks to Carissa, TD & Jamie Mac for doing my work while I was playing.

My Mom doesn’t text, but if she did I imagine they would be website worthy!  One of my favorites…

“21st Century Parenting”

Check out whenparentstext.com.