July 19th, 2021

Happy Monday to ya!  How was your weekend?  Ours was delightful!  In fact it was so good that I think today I will have to do a little product promotion.  And we will start with the awesome food that we had on Saturday down in Ft Meyers at Capone's.  "Pizza so good it ought to be illegal" is their tagline.  See photo above.  Oh yeah, it is well deserved.

Capone's totally embraces their name.  The inside smacks of an old speak-easy with a lot of woodwork and Capone-era decor.  There is a glass covered floor safe and it's surrounding room on view, and photographs of Big Al himself.  I cannot speak to the Men's room of course, but they keep the theme going right into the ladies room which is quaintly old fashioned.  Well, except for the small flatscreen that plays a continual loop of old newsreels about the prohibition era.

The food, oh my gosh, the food.  As soon as we walked in the door I took a deep breath and was transported to happy happy pizza land.  Of course they also had pasta, soups, sandwiches and some deserts that were very hard to resist (though we did).   I think the only bad thing to say about Capone's is that is' too far away from Venice.  Totally Worth the Drive!

Let's see what else.  Ah!  Do you remember last week when I wrote about having cut my fingers?  Well I've been having one heck of a time getting it to heal.  For several reasons:  1)  I am ridiculously clumsy and I keep accidentally whacking it, which re-opens it and then it starts to bleed all over the place again - ick  and 2) it's a nasty cut to begin with.  In retrospect I probably should have had stitches, oh well.    also 3) it's in a difficult place to bandage properly.  It always takes two band-aids.  One around the circumference of my finger and another over the top.

Wearing a bandage helps of course, but it's so awkward.  At the museum last week I accidentally hit the wrong button on one of the tv's because of that bulky band-aid.  I had to go get someone to help me right the wrong and while ultimately it was squared away, it should never have happened in the first place.  Also while bandages protect an injurty, they aren't particularly absorbent so when my cut begins to bleed (again) it isn't long before the band-aid needs to be replaced (again).

Consequently after accidentally knocking my finger into something while we were out and about over the weekend and then in a panic frisking the car for an old tissue or napkin or SOMETHING to stop the bleeding once again, Tim got the brainiac idea to stop at a nearby Walgreens to get some New Skin.  

Brilliant!  Instead of going broke buying box after box after box of band-aids on a regular basis - I am a frequent flyer - A swipe of this liquid over the cut and voila I am completely protected for a least half of the day whereupon, I simply swipe a little more.  

Initially the feel of it was a little weird.  It feels almost like scotch tape on my finger tip.  Ok that's not exactly it. Hmmmm.  Ok here it is, when you were a kid, did you ever quickly dip your finger into hot wax?  That's the feeling without the heat, of course.   New Skin is a funny name.  It's not skin.  If we could buy actual new skin, I wouldn't have all these wrinkles and freckles!  But it does work amazingly well and it's not bulky like a bandage and there are a LOT of applications in each bottle.

The only negative I can think of is that the bottle is glass.  In my hands that is an accident waiting to happen.  Still a great product.

Another highlight this weekend:  

We had dinner from Chipotle last night!  Woohoo!  First time in more than 5 years.  I do not recall the last time we ate at a Chipotle, but I know it was in Colorado.   Why have we waited so long?  Well, the nearest Chipotle to us is in Sarasota, which is about a half hour away, so it's not the first thing that comes to mind when we think about eating out.

Then too, there was an eating out intermission for the past, what? 17 months or so, so that must be taken into account as well.  But we were up in Sarasota yesterday and mid-afternoon we happen to drive past a Chipotle and I said, "Oooo Chipotle, yummy".  I said it rather softly and actually only to myself. But since there were just the two of us in the car and Tim's hearing, unlike mine, is very good, he picked up on it.  "Are you in the mood for Chipotle?" he asked me.  Well I wasn't quite sure so we finished what we were doing up that way and before we headed back toward home he asked again if I wanted Chipotle for dinner.  It had been sooo long since we had it that I decided Yes!  And Tim pulled into the parking lot.

We approached the restaurant only to find big signs on their door saying that they are only taking on-line orders. It is still not an eat-in restaurant. No Big Deal. Tim down loaded their app onto his phone, we placed our orders, waited about 10 minutes or so then Tim went in to pick it up.  He said no one spoke to him. They have it worked out so that they fill the orders, bag them and then staple the receipt - with the purchasers name on it and set the bags in a pick up area.  So we literally picked up our order and drove home.

It was as good as I remember and they filled the order exactly as we requested. Yay!  I wish that could be said of every restaurant but alas, that is not the case.  The only downside being that it was a 30 minute drive back home so while the food was warm, it was not hot.  Still awesome but if we could have eaten in house, it would have been piping hot and even better.

The last product I will rave about today had to do with yesterday being National Ice Cream Day.  You probably already know that every single day of the year is National something day, right?  I am In The Know more than a lot of people about all of the national whatever days because Middle Son writes a usually funny but sometimes sweet little blurb on FaceBook every day about whatever the National Day is. I love reading his blurbs but sometimes the declared days are ridiculous.  Recently there was a National Yellow Pig Day and not just any yellow pig but yellow pigs that have 17 eyelashes.  I don't understand it but it's a fact.  How does one celebrate that?? Other than by shaking my head and chuckling a little over the absurdity, I mean

But occasionally there is a National Something Day that especially appeals.  National Donut Day used to be a huge one.  When we lived in Colorado, one of the doctor's I worked with was a big fan of donuts.  Although she was very athletic and super fit and frankly, gorgeous, she had a passion for donuts that is unparalleled.  Tim always dropped off at my office a huge box of locally made donuts with her in mind on that day.  It's in June sometime I believe.  We have also celebrated National Cheesecake Day before.  Usually with a trip to the Cheesecake Factory where the most difficult decision is what flavour to get!!

But yesterday was National Ice Cream day.  Originally I was thinking of maybe stopping by DQ to try out a small version of the new Toll House Cookie Blizzard.   But  by the end of the day,  when I realized that I was still not  full even after glutting on my Chipotle, but I was too lazy to go back outside into the rain for ice cream, instead I checked the freezer in the utility room. I wasn't certain if there was any ice cream in there or not.  Turns out I was in luck. There was! 

The last time that Ben & Jerry's was on sale (BOGO!) at my local grocery store, I came across a flavour that was new to me.  S'mores flavour. Hmm interesting.  I decided to take a chance, bought it (and Americone Dream - Yummy), put them in the freezer and promptly forgot about them.

I'm not usually very adventurous with food.  I have the things I like and I tend to stick to those tried and true items.  But this was intriguing.  Who doesn't love S'mores, right?  But in ice cream?  There are so many ways that could go wrong.  So as I unwrapped protective cellophane and lifted the lid, I wondered if I had made a mistake?  Only one way to find out.  I dipped my spoon in and.............................................bliss!

Marshmallow flavoured ice cream - Brilliant!  This is why these guys are so successful.  Genius creativity. Add the chocolate flakes and graham cracker swirls and it was heaven.  It was so good!  I enjoyed every single bite.  Only down side?  There is no downside. I refuse to feel guilty over any  calories consumed yesterday.  Only yummy upsidedness :)

So there you go.  Four specific product recommendations in one blog post!