Broken Promises

My parents worked pretty hard to instill several important lessons in me.  Some I picked up on better than others.  One was that I should always try to be useful and always try to help other people.  That was reinforced pretty heavily when I went to Boy Scouts or Sunday School.  The message was pretty clear.  You're here to have a positive impact on other people.  It might be more important than anything else.

When I was much younger, one of the things that made me really uncomfortable and unhappy was that it was really common for people to make social, even romantic, connections with me just because they thought I could help with their job or some other financial aspect of their lives.  

The end result was a situation where, whenever I met somebody, I'd wonder why they were there and if they really had any interest in me or were they just acting like it so I'd help them out.  The times when that did become a problem, it was almost impossible to tell if somebody was genuine or not, and I made several mistakes when I trusted somebody who was not.  

I don't know that I really blame them, though.  In your twenties, life is kind of a survival game.  Nobody is in a very stable situation, and taking a shortcut here and there can be very tempting, especially if your situation is really upside down and dire.  I don't think anybody ever set out to hurt me.  I think they just got desperate and saw me as a solution to their problem and didn't care enough not to hurt me.  

It was particularly bad with people who struggled with addiction issues.  With an addict, you're dealing with two people.  One is normal and moral and usually really nice, and the other is an animal out to survive however it can, which sometimes meant me.

Closing Time

 In the 70s, 80s, and 90s, Scrooges in Jackson was as close to Cheers as you'll find.  They even had a plaque from the guy who owned the real Cheers in Boston saying so.  It was official.

Today we buried a regular soldier from that campaign.  In among the high school friends, church friends, and family were Norm and Cliff and me.  In the hip-hop culture, there's a tradition of pouring out a beer for a friend who died too young.  We all die too young.  Some of us have had more beers than others, poured out or not.

Scrooges began when Billy Neville wanted to move his clothing business.  It wasn't a square lot, so they designed a structure with two large retail spaces but ended up with sort of an odd-shaped leftover space in the corner.  Since he was making his business an old English haberdashery, he had the idea of using this odd-shaped corner as an old English pub.  While the building was going up, he traveled to England and bought furniture for both his shop and this idea he had for a pub, including authentic English pub booths.  He soon found out that American asses must be deeper than English asses, so he had them modified to be about six inches deeper.  

Mississippi had been "wet" for a few years, and there were bars in Jackson, Cherokee being one, but there weren't any of what Neville considered "nice" bars.  Scrooges was the first.  He thought running a bar would be easy; everybody does.  It's not.  Pretty soon, he sold the bar to an ambitious young restaurant manager named Bill Latham.  

Bill owned Scrooges through its golden years, parlaying that success into a venture called "Amerigos" and another one called "Char," but also the ill-fated Wild Bills Caddilac Grill.  The bar changed hands several times after Bill, but it never regained the status it once had.

There's something to be said for sitting next to a guy for twenty years.  Some people at bars are really good at socializing.  Some of us prefer to sit in the corner; the great thing about a place like Scrooges (or cheers) is there's room for everybody.

Factor 75 Summer Squash Medly

 Summer Squash Medley with Pimento Cheese & Roasted Asparagus

This is one of my favorite meals yet, and check out the 120 calories.  It comes with a generous portion of Zucchini and yellow squash topped with a really tangy pimento cheese sauce.  They really don't skimp with the portions.  This meal weighed in at a respectable 11 ounces.   Freezing and canning squash can ruin its texture, but these have never been frozen or canned, so they still have that farmers market fresh texture.  There's a healthy portion of chopped asparagus with herb butter sauce.  

Not vegan, but vegetarian, this meal is a little low on protein, so pair it with a chicken breast. All the other nutritional numbers look great!

Nutrition Per Serving

Calories                120kcal
Fat                        10g
Saturated Fat        4g
Carbohydrate        5g
Sugar                    3g
Dietary Fiber        2g
Protein                3g
Cholesterol           15mg
Sodium                190mg

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Mushroom, Tomato & Goat Cheese Cavatappi

 Mushroom, Tomato & Goat Cheese Cavatappi with Herb-Roasted Zucchini

Tonight's meal is a meatless selection from Factor 75.  It’s vegetarian, not vegan; it’s also my favorite so far.

Done well, I prefer good mushrooms to medium-quality meat, and these were done well.  This is the second dish I’ve gotten served over a cauliflower-based cavatappi, again trying to make your carbs count.  If you’re shooting for less than 300g of carbs per day, this entire meal is only 44g.

Goat cheese is a factor in weight loss in that it’s digested more easily than cow’s cheese.  It can also have the effect of making you feel more full than cow’s milk cheese.   The main reason to use goat cheese, though, is its tangy fresh goodness.  I’d put goat cheese on anything.

This is the second time I’ve had a dish with their Herb-Roasted Zucchini as a side.  Side dishes can be carb and fat bombs, Factor 75 wisely spends those calories in the main dish while making the side dish still very enjoyable.  It might have been on two meals this week because zucchini is in season.  Using seasonal vegetables is a very good sign.  

With good mastication, it took about thirty minutes to prepare and eat tonight’s meal.  That’s two minutes for heating and twenty-eight for enjoying.  With wine and a dinner partner, this could easily stretch to an hour.  At 440 calories and a good time, you can’t go wrong.

Nutrition Per Serving Per Serving

Calories         440kcal
Fat         23g
Saturated Fat 12g
Carbohydrate 44g
Sugar 13g
Dietary Fiber 6g
Protein 15g
Cholesterol 105mg
Sodium         890mg

I have been heating up flavorful, filling food with Factor for some time now, and I thought you’d want in too. Sign-up with my personal link and you will get up to $150 off your first boxes. 

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