Football Fun

Here are some excerpts from a chuckle-inducing e-mail (thanks, Jana!) circulating around about the upcoming football season. This first part documents the football differences of Northern and Southern fans.

Stadium Size:
NORTH — College football stadiums hold 20,000 people.
SOUTH — High school football stadiums hold 20,000 people.

Fathers:
NORTH — Expect their daughters to understand Sylvia Plath.
SOUTH — Expect their daughters to understand pass interference.

Campus Decor:
NORTH — Statues of founding fathers.
SOUTH — Statues of Heisman trophy winners (and championship-winning coaches).

Homecoming Queen:
NORTH — Also a physics major.
SOUTH — Also Miss America (as well as a physics major).

Heroes:
NORTH — Rudy Giuliani
SOUTH — Archie and Peyton Manning (as long as you mean “Heroes Who Are Currently Alive.” I think we all know whose name is in the “Heroes Who Are Currently Not Alive” category.) 

Getting Tickets:
NORTH — Five days before the game you walk into the ticket office on campus.
SOUTH — Five months before the game you walk into the ticket office on campus, make a large financial contribution and put name on a waiting list for tickets.

And here’s another part of the e-mail, answering the eternal question “How many SEC students does it take to change a (energy-saving compact fluorescent) light bulb?”:

At GEORGIA: it takes two — one to change the bulb and one to phone an engineer at Georgia Tech for instructions.

At ALABAMA: it takes five — one to change it, three to reminisce about how The Bear would have done it and one to throw the old bulb at an NCAA investigator.

At KENTUCKY: it takes eight — one to screw it in and seven to discuss how much brighter it seems to shine during basketball season.

At TENNESSEE: it takes 10 — two to figure out how to screw it in, two to buy an orange lampshade and six to phone a radio call-in show and talk about how much they hate Alabama.

Anyway, if you want the whole thing, e-mail me and I’ll send it over.

Hip Prep

The print on this pretty silky top caught my eye in the window of Pink Pelican, the Lilly Pulitzer shop in Huntsville, Ala. (next to Fresh Market at the intersection of Whitesburg and Airport). It seemed like the perfect summer-transition-fall piece — and it was! When you think of Lilly Pulitzer, of course you think Palm Beach, pink/green and preppy. I fit none of those descriptions, but I fit into this top beautifully, so it had to come home with me. Besides, isn’t it important to overcome style stereotypes? I’m taking a stand for fashion, expanding my clothing vocabulary. At least, that’s what I’ll tell my husband, although he’ll point out that the only thing I’m expanding is my closet. So I won’t even tell him that also at Pink Pelican I found some of the best jeans I’ve ever put on: a pair of J Brand bootleg slim-fit mid-rise. If you’re like me and have trouble finding well-fitting jeans that look as if they were made in the 21st century, please give J Brand a try. You’ll be amazed. Poorer, but amazed. Visit Pink Pelican online at www.thepinkpelican.com

Hold the Bacon, Please

Huntsville, Ala., is bursting with fun places to eat — it’s really a joy to be hungry in the Rocket City.

A calzone at Moglie's, from the July 17, 2008, review at al.com

A calzone at Moglie's

 So when my older daughter Liz with her almost-five-months son Nolan and a friend of mine and I ate at the Italian pub-bistro Moglie’s in Huntsville today for the first time, I was enthusiastic about trying a new place we’d heard good things about. The verdict? Good cheesy food. Poor service. Here’s what happened: 1) We didn’t get waited on for almost 10 minutes — no water, no menus, no sign anyone knew we were there, no nothing. Luckily, my friend and I were catching up so intently it wasn’t a problem. But still. 2) Our appetizers came after our entree salads and several long minutes after the waiter promised “they’d be right out.” 3) Worst of all, the salad that two different waiters swore had no meat in it whatsoever came with bacon. We sent it back once and asked for a replacement, which also turned out to have bacon. We finally figured out that the bacon was in the dressing, not the salad, but the wait staff should have alerted us, especially since we specifically told our waiter the salad was for a vegetarian. Frustrating. I’m going to give the place the benefit of the doubt (New waiters? Problems in the kitchen?) and try again, but I need to be convinced. Our garlic bread was delicious, however, and the spinach dip was different than any other I’ve had lately: Whole spinach leaves in melted cheese surrounded by pesto — at least that’s what it seemed like to us. Moglie’s is in the shopping center at the Airport/Whitesburg intersection next to the Dollar Tree and is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays.

7.8 Pounds of Fall Fashion

If your mailbox has been groaning in protest lately, maybe it’s suffering from Fall Fashion overload. The combined weight of the September 2008 issues of magazine favorites “Vogue,” “Lucky” and “InStyle” is 7.8 pounds and total width (or is that depth — high-school geometry was so long ago!) is 2-1/2 inches. That’s a lot of fashion, but still, I guarantee you, come October I will stand in my closet and whine and complain that I don’t have a thing to wear. And speaking of, what is that thing Keira Knightley is wearing on the Vogue cover? I know that fashion designers have to be wildly creative and that these magazines are mostly fantasy and dreams (for those of us with TJ Maxx budgets, at least), but shouldn’t those fantasy and dreams at least be pretty and/or flattering? I’m just saying.

Michael, meet Carolyn

We moms, of course, are always on the lookout for Suitable Suitors for our daughters, and I’m wondering now about Michael Phelpsfor my younger daughter Carolyn. I mean, he seems like a nice boy — very polite and he’s nice to his mom. I’m guessing that now he’ll always have some sort of job, right? And Carolyn’s broken a few swim records in her time, too, let me tell you (hello, Athens-McMinn County YMCA), so they’d have a lot in common. But I heard that he eats a huge amount of food at every meal, so that’s a little disturbing. I mean, would Carolyn have to cook for him all the time? Hmmm….

Actually, in our family, “boyfriends” are called “bufferins,” and this is why: A few years ago, my two daughters and I were in somewhere together and Carolyn randomly said, “I need a boyfriend” and somehow I time-traveled back a couple of decades to when “aspirins” were generically called “Bufferins” because that’s all we had, so I heard “I need a Bufferin” and I immediately started searching my purse, saying, “I think I’ve got one in here somewhere,” to which statement my daughters looked at me very strangely. And, really, when was the last time I actually had a Bufferin in my purse? Do they even make Bufferin anymore? (Notice how I’m changing the subject here so you’ll stop thinking about how could I possibly confuse “Bufferin” with “boyfriend.” Did it work?!)

Best Michael Phelps joke I’ve heard (this is from Mo Rocca on National Public Radio’s “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!”): “What will Michael Phelps do now? Go back to his regular job — as mayor of Atlantis.”

A Monthly Trip to New England

My brother and sister-in-law, Michael and Zanny, live in Portland, Me., and are the New England branch of the Southern-bound Wood family. One Christmas Zanny gave me this wonderful desktop calendar from Abacus Publishing in Boothbay Harbor, Me. You display it in a plastic easel and each month when you change the page, you get this wonderful illustration of New England life. The illustrator, Dana Heacock, paints from photos he takes of churches, dogs, flowers and other everyday southern Maine scenes. Love it! Ever since that Christmas, I’ve always ordered myself the next year’s calendar — the illustrations are so cheerful, homelike and cozy. But this year when it was time for August 2008, I found April 2008 instead. Drat! Who needs two Aprils, especially when it’s August? So I called Abacus (800.206.2166 or visit the Web site at www.abacusgallery.com) and the folks there graciously sent another 2008 calendar, plus I got an early chance to order 2009. Isn’t it nice when businesses are helpful? Just sort of puts you in a good mood. And I’m glad I got the August page, since it’s gorgeous. I could live in that house.

I Know it’s the Evil Empire, but they’re so cute….

Look, I know true coffee drinkers refuse to enter a Starbucks and slow food/local food proponents shudder at the mere mention of the name, but you gotta admit the java giant sells some of the cutest coffee mugs around. Go ahead, admit it! (And admit this, too: If you had a chance at world domination, wouldn’t you take it? I thought so. Besides, Starbucks was once a lowly local coffee shop itself, you know.) Of course, given a choice between a local coffee shop and a Starbucks, I’ll take the local — as long as it’s good, that is. But I’ll always go in a Starbucks and check out the coffee mugs. Unless I find ones that I absolutely Have to Have At That Moment, I’ll wait until they go on sale — and it’s like The Gap: Everything eventually will go on sale. So I kept watching for these retro plastic glasses (left) to hit the clearance table, and I nabbed four this weekend when they finally did. Adorable! 

And here are a couple Starbucks coffee mugs I bought recently. The one with the swirly design was on sale, while the fleur-de-lis one was one of those gotta-have-it-now purchases. Why do I love Starbucks mugs/glasses so much? They’re good quality — hefty, solid and stable — and are made for coffee drinkers — substantial handles, varied shapes for cappuccinos, lattes, etc. Plus, they’re cute! And isn’t that the best reason?

It’s Fall, Y’all!

Okay, it’s mid-August here in northwest Alabama/southern Middle Tennessee (and really I guess everywhere else, too) but there already are signs of fall. I saw these giant pumpkins in Tullahoma, Tenn., this past weekend at Dotson’s Farm Fresh Produce, on Highway 55 going east out of town. The woman at Dotson’s said she didn’t know anything about them, only that “some man” had brought them by. Is this normal to have humongous gigantic pumpkins like these in the middle of August? I have no idea, but I predict the unknown pumpkin-growing man will win some ribbons at the Coffee County Fair. Plus, I’ve seen other signs of fall: winter squash (acorn, butternut and spaghetti) at Food Lion in Manchester; and back in Alabama, autumn decor at Wal-Mart in Muscle Shoals (but no Halloween candy yet) and jackets and sweaters squeezing out swimsuits at T.J. Maxx in Florence. Can Christmas-tree ornaments be far behind?

Demos’ Comes to the Shoals

The Shoals is in for a treat: Demos’ Restaurant (pronounced “dee-muss”) is coming! This Middle Tennessee family tradition will be a great addition to northwest Alabama dining. The Murfreesboro, Tenn., location — the original of now four restaurants and soon-to-be-five — is our go-to spot whenever my husband and I are in the ‘Boro, and that’s true for several Shoals folks when they head up that way. Demos’ is know for two things: Exemplary and prompt service and plenty of good family food with a Greek twist. It’s famous for its steak-and-spaghetti combos, too. Let’s hope all that transfers to Alabama. My favorite thing about Demos’ is that it’s one of those one-size-fits-all place– it’s good for quick workday lunches, Sunday dinners, family suppers and special nights out all at the same time. Plus, it’s one of the most popular restaurants in Murfreesboro. In fact, hanging out in the waiting area is a great way to catch up with ‘Boro news because sooner or later almost everybody in town is there. My family especially likes the stuffed potatoes (blackened chicken, seafood or chili), the lasagna and the chili spaghetti (my husband calls this Mexican spaghetti) The Florence restaurant is going up behind Books-A-Million and should be open early next year. Coming to Alabama is like returning home, the Demos’ family says in a press release, since the great-grandfather of company president Peter Demos first operated restaurants in Birmingham in the 1920s. Read more at http://www.demosrestaurants.com/ — and prepare to eat well!!!