Monday, February 18, 2013

Day 5 Sans the Potato

5 days without potatoes.
I almost broke it on Saturday. I was at Kelly's and I almost ordered french fries. I just totally forgot it was potatoes. and then i went to replace it with potato pancakes but i could only say "potato pan" before i realized....that's a potato.
My mom has been working with me. Instead of making potatoes, she makes noodles or rice. It's really fantastic. If she had made mashed potatoes, I would probably definitely cave. Yet, I've been surprised by my will power over the potato. We had some friends in from Maryland visiting over the weekend, so of course, we went out to eat a few times. We went to Coney Island. When everyone else is sitting around enjoying their French fries, I was struggling, trying to look away, trying not to think about the beautiful french fry covered in cheese. I didn't eat any. I couldn't believe it. Will power.
I went in to Mamma Mia's in Clarks Summit on Friday to pick up a pizza. They never sample things in there, but on this day, they were sampling a different kind of pizza. POTATO PIZZA. Such torture. I couldn't believe it. It was cheesy mashed potatoes on a pizza. How genius. But I resisted.
I apologize to my family if my mom keeps up the whole no cooking potatoes thing. Now I've dragged you into this sorta kinda cuz you all still were able to eat French fries at Coney Island and Kelly's the other day. By the way, is the "French" in french fry supposed to be capitalized? I'm not sure. Oh well.
Time to keep not eating potatoes.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

The Fine China is Reserved for Oprah's Visit

We recently upgraded our cable package. 80 more channels plus HBO and a DVR (I know, we're a little behind). It's fantastic. And now, I'm extremely happy because Oprah has come back into my life through the OWN network. It's really fantastic to hear Oprah's voice in my living room again. It's soothing.
In the last few days, I've watching a lot of Oprah's Next Chapter from Beyonce to Cissy Houston to LL Cool J and Drew Barrymore and David Letterman. This afternoon, I watched one with Lady Gaga.
I am fascinated by Lady Gaga. She is sometimes so bizarre I just have to wonder where in the world her mind is. Sometimes, I just don't get her and it annoys the crap out of me. I just can't figure her out. This Oprah interview caught my eye. Maybe I could get an inside look as to what actually goes through Lady Gaga's mind. I did get a little glimpse into that. But it also got me thinking about other things.
Oprah came to Lady Gaga's house for this interview. I can't even imagine Oprah coming to my house. The cleaning spree it would send my mom on...it scares me just to think about it. She goes nuts cleaning before the plumber comes to the house. I can't even imagine Oprah. And then, Lady Gaga made Oprah tea. I feel like there is so much pressure there. It's like making tea for the Queen of England. Tea is her thing. It has to be absolutely positively 100 percent perfect. I don't really know if tea is Oprah's thing, but I would want to be as perfect as Queen Elizabeth's tea. They get to talking about Lady Gaga's mom's fine china, which Gaga has said she's never seen before! But of course, you have to break out the fine china for Oprah. If Oprah came to my house, I would use the fine china too. I hope it's fine enough. Oprah is at my house for Pete's sake. (who is Pete?) If Oprah came over, what would I even wear? Gaga had to get her nails done beforehand and then she said she had to pick out a nice suit. I would definitely get my nails done, but what color screams Oprah? Red? Purple? Blue? Pink? I DON'T KNOW. So much pressure! Also, where would we sit? On the couch? Maybe Oprah doesn't do couches after the whole Tom Cruise thing. At the dining room table? At the kitchen table? Gaga looked like they were at the dining room table. Do I serve snacks? What snacks are Oprah-worthy? Do you think Oprah likes taco dip? Is that not suitable to serve to Oprah? Maybe no chips and dip, maybe just fruit. But then again, what if Oprah is expecting chips and dip and not fruit? Serve both? Too much food? WHAT! This is all so confusing.
This is making my head hurt. Hopefully, I have a few years to think about these things and prepare for the day Oprah comes to visit. But, I better start now. You can never be too early for Oprah.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, No Potatoes for 40 Days

Lent started today. So, like everyone else, I went to the Twitter and Facebook to see what I should give up. After many suggestions, I decided my good friend and neighbor Kathy gave me the best suggestion. Potatoes.
I felt like I had to give up something epic for Lent since the Pope gave up being the Pope and all. Some suggested Twitter, which would be epic, but very inconsiderate. I couldn't let my Twitter followers down by not being there for entertain them for 40 WHOLE DAYS. That's like...a lifetime.
So, we came to potatoes.
My beloved potato.
That's about as epic as we can get seeing as the name of my blog is Erica Loves Potatoes.
The potato is a part of me. It makes me who I am.
I love potatoes. This will be a challenge. It means no french fries, no chips, no mashed potatoes, scalloped potatoes, cheesy potatoes, roasted potatoes, eating potatoes like an apple. None of that. It will take a stupendous (wow I haven't used that word since I used to watch Barney) amount of will power. For instance, St. Patrick's Day falls during Lent. I always eat potatoes on St. Patrick's Day. It's the law. But hopefully, I will stand my ground. Say no to the delicious potato.
Bring it, St. Patrick.
I will be keeping all of you updated on my potato-less existence for the next 39 days. I know Lent is 40 days but today doesn't count because I ate potatoes at lunch.

Monday, February 11, 2013

The Old Pope

The Pope is resigning. I had no idea this was possible for a pope. I'm in a state of shock over the Pope. I thought the Pope had to die to not be the Pope any more. I just like to say the word "pope." But all this Pope talk has got me thinking. I am a member of Catholic church. I'm a bad Catholic though. Sorry Noni. My Noni goes to church every day. I go....every year. And I will never be used to that "and also with your spirit" stuff. Probably because I only have to remember it once a year. For 18 years of my life, there was no "also with your spirit." It was simple. "And also with you." Now, for the last two years they've changed it on me. Anyway, enough blubbering about my bad church-going habits. Let's talk about the Pope.
The process of picking a pope fascinates me. The cardinals go into the Sistine Chapel and I don't know what they do exactly, but a smoke signal is released and if it' black, no new pope. If the smokes turns white, hey, we have a new pope. I imagine it's like American Idol. The cardinals go in and out and people vote and white smoke means you're going to Hollywood! Or in this case, Vatican City!
I've never seen a young pope. Of course, I think there's only been two popes in my lifetime, but still. The Pope is always kinda old. Who are we kidding? The Pope is always old. This job is a lot of pressure for an old guy. I imagine that's why Pope Benedict XV something...the 16th, is leaving the Pope-acy. Nope, I don't think that's a word either. Then, on top of all the stress of running the Catholic church, especially nowadays, the Pope's gotta wear that big hat on his head. Now, I love that hat don't get me wrong. It's fabulous. But it's gotta be heavy. And the Pope never has fabulous posture. I've never seen a Pope with great posture. The only logical conclusion is that this is because of the hat. Or he is just old.
I often wonder the Pope does in every day life. Is the Pope like a regular old person? My grandparents aren't as old as the Pope, but when I go visit either of my them, both of my Grandpas are usually watching television. They do plenty of other things, too, but TV is the big one. Sound familiar? Yes. Maybe excessive TV watching runs in my family. But I just assume everyone watches a lot of TV because what else could you possibly do? Especially if you are as old as the Pope. So, does the Pope watch a lot of TV? What does he do all day? What does the Pope do in his spare time? Does the Pope have spare time? Maybe he just rides around the Vatican in the Popemobile.
Regardless of what the Pope does in his spare time, if it exists, the Pope still has a pretty tough job. The Catholic church is behind on the times, in my opinion. The Pope has to deal with this kind of criticism daily. Plus all the priests. I won't even go into that. Maybe that's why the Pope has bad posture. Under that robe he's gotta wear, he stores all the confessions from the priests. Anyway, even the President of the United States is never as old as the Pope. When someone runs for Prez and they are approaching 70, they are considered ancient and too old to handle the job. The Pope is 85. The man has lived for 85 years and now they make him run the Catholic church. At 85, unless I'm as cool as Betty White, I hope I'm well into retirement. I understand, the older, the wiser. That is, until you're so old, you don't remember to put pants on before you leave your house. I wonder if the Pope has someone helping him put his socks on. Maybe the Pope can put his own socks on.
I have many questions about the Pope.
Regardless, the Pope is old.
And maybe, cardinals, we should look for a younger Pope. Especially now.
Unless there's a rule I'm unaware of that you have to be pretty old to be a pope.


On a side note, Catholic church and new Pope, whom ever you may be, make mass more exciting. We should have a dance party....or an ice cream bar.