Mr. Zen and I eat at restaurants on a fairly regular basis. Its hard to cook for 2 and I hate cooking in the summer. As urban dwellers, we have quite a lot to choose from. My sister, Lil Zen and I go out to breakfast once a week and Lil Zen and I go out more often. We frequently share meals but often have leftovers too. I take mine home and incorporate them into new meals; Lil Zen eats the soft stuff first and takes the stuff that will last for her next meal. But what to do when traveling?
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group gives Kossacks a safe place to check in, a daily diary where we can let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, earthquakes, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It also allows us to find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, earthquakes etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a Kosmail and ask to be added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime! We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone who reads IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news!
We do have a diary schedule. But, when you are ready to write that diary, either post in thread or send FloridaSNMOM a Kosmail with the date. If you need someone to fill in, ditto. FloridaSNMOM is here on and off through the day usually from around 9:30 or 10 am eastern to around 11 pm eastern.
Monday:
BadKitties
Tuesday:
ejoanna
Wednesday:
Caedy
Thursday:
art ah zen
Friday:
FloridaSNMOM
Saturday:
Siris
Sunday:
loggersbrat
There is no good way to travel with leftovers. You leave them in the fridge of the motel you stay at and they find them and toss them. They go bad in the back seat of your hot car as you travel and you toss them. But we have landed on what we think is the perfect solution.
We saw her as we came out of the restaurant, in the corner of the parking lot. She was huddled near a sign, cold and wet, with all her belongings in a bag at her feet. We drove up to her and Lil Zen asked if she would like something to eat. She told her what was in the box but I don't think it mattered to her much. She was grateful for hot food and went into a door way to eat it right then.
In every city we eat in, there are homeless people. They may congregate in a grocery store parking lot, or a small park, maybe at a closed church. They are anywhere they can get out of the elements to some extent and off the radar of the police. We see them, so do you. So, we get our leftovers packed and ask for plastic forks and we find someone to give them to. It never takes any time. We always tell them what is in the box in case they are vegan or allergic to something. It is usually a kind exchange from us to them and we feel we have done the best we could with something we had.
Last week, in Portland, we went to Urban Fondue for dinner. By the time we had eaten all we could stand, we had left over quite a few cooked veggies, about a dozen spinach tortellini, some lobster chunks, and some chocolate with bananas. We approached some young people in the park across from our hostel and offered it to them. They knew what we were about because we had brought them pho soup the night before. Lil Zen told them what was in the boxes, and when she said "Lobster", the young man shook his head and said "Only in Portland!" and we all laughed. They took it all, thanked us and we ambled out of the park.
Have a good day all. Be kind where you can, it makes you feel good.