Hangin' At The Huddle House

Hi everyone! Many apologies for not posting more this week. Many thanks to Mrs. LaFrance, who mentioned this to me. (More about Mrs. LaFrance in this post....) I don't think people understand that when they tell me they read my blog, I get all fuzzy inside. Most people don't leave comments when they read, so I just figure no one reads it. Basically, the more people read, the more I want to write!

Lots has gone on since the last time I posted. Raelynn's ninth birthday was this week and we celebrated a couple of times. My parents took Raelynn, David, and I to Pizza Hut for her birthday. She loves the place. She loves pizza. On her actual birthday, David and I took her to Applebee's in a yearly birthday tradition. If it's your birthday, we'll go out to eat and you get to pick the place. She likes the macaroni and cheese at Applebee's. When looking at the menu, I see that they serve Kraft macaroni and cheese. Basically, I'm paying lots of money for the same stuff that I buy in the blue box at the store. But no complaints....it was her birthday and she had fun.


Another reason I haven't posted is because of work. Work is always there, and nothing slows down. I'm not complaining, just stating fact. I'm sure you don't want those boring details, so let's get to the "random-ness" that is my blog.


Tonight for dinner, David, Raelynn, David's dad and step-mother, and myself went to Huddle House to eat. Since we've moved to Mississippi (about 7 years) it's been a weekly thing, all year long. They come over and we go eat. Usually, they are here when I get home from work. (They live about an hour away.) We usually eat at a few places: the Chinese buffet restaurant, The Three Pigs (new bar-b-que place in town), assorted Mom and Pop restaurants, and Huddle House. Tonight we went to Huddle House. As I was sitting there looking at the menu, I started to think about the evolution of my love for breakfast. Mind you, I don't love breakfast everywhere, but I won't turn a meal away. But I digress.....on to our story....


When I was young, I really fought with the notion that I had to eat breakfast. My mom would get my brother and me up, and then we'd sit at the table and eat cereal while she got ready. I can remember throwing out most of the cereal, and still wanting to try another box of cereal the next time we went to the store. At some point (probably middle and high school) I just started to make what I wanted for breakfast. This mostly consisted of easy to grab stuff, but I was known to eat left overs from the night before. (I still do this.) I only ate breakfast because my mom made me. On Saturdays, that was a different story. My mom would cook us something, usually an egg mcmuffin. I like those and I like egg sandwiches. My mom makes really good ones. But if she had offered me eggs and bacon, I'd eat it, but it wouldn't be my favorite.


My mom is very talented in the kitchen and can make eggs anyway you want. I can remember my dad eating eggs with runny yolks and sopping it up with toast. I thought this was gross. Totally. I've also watched my dad eat some combination of biscuits, butter, and golden eagle syrup. He'd mix the butter and the syrup together until it was blended and then use the biscuit to sop it up. I've never tried this, never want to.


When I became an adult, I would go to a restaurant if I wanted breakfast. In Key West, I'd go with my family to B's restaurant and have a breakfast sandwich. My parents would get an egg, cheese, and bacon sandwich on Cuban bread with mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomato, pickle and then press it in a Cuban panini press. I would eat a BLT on Cuban bread. Very yummy. But still no eggs.


Then.....something in me snapped. Since moving to Starkville, I've really enjoyed eating breakfast. If I'm in a rush, I'll go to Krystal's and get a breakfast scrambler. This is a cup of grits with egg and cheese on top, and a sausage patty on top of that. Delish. If I have time, money, and patience, I go Huddle House or Starkville Cafe. I look forward to eating a yummy breakfast that now includes eggs. And runny eggs at that. I had such a meal tonight.....let me expand on it.


When I got to Huddle House, I looked at the menu and thought that maybe I'd order something from the dinner menu. I mean, after all, it was dinner time. (Well, more like 4:00 but work with me here...) I looked all through the menu and nothing looked as good as their breakfast platter. This is what I had: two eggs over medium, two pieces of white toast in which to sop the eggs with, two sausage patties, grits, and hashbrowns that had cheese, onion, tomato, ham, green peppers, and jalapenos. I enjoyed every mouth full. The food was good and the service was okay....for Starkville's Huddle House. But that's another post for another day.


So now my tummy is full and I'm enjoying just sort of sitting here.


Now on to some much overdue business....


I promised more information on Mrs. LaFrance. Mrs. LaFrance is the library assistant at my school. I met her a couple of years ago when she did some subbing for a teacher that left in the middle of the year. She is a hoot. She's very outspoken and very spunky. I like this about her. After the subbing, she took over for the library assistant that left in the middle of the year. She's done a fabulous job! She's friendly with the teachers and has just the right amount of fiestiness to deal with the kids. She can take a call from me about AR, check out books, and keep a room of unruly fifth graders from acting like hooligans. Talented, I tell you. Anyway, she reminded me today that she's been checking my blog since I told her that I'd write about her. I've been busy, but when Mrs. LaFrance speaks, people start moving. (She's not mean, just very funny and confident in what she does.)


You might be wondering why I keep calling her Mrs. LaFrance. Please know that she DOES have a first name. When you teach, you can't really holler the person's first name down the hall. (It's almost like we're keeping our first names a secret.) A lot of teachers at my school simply call each other by their last name, and skipping the whole premise of the Mrs. part. I can't do this to Mrs. LaFrance. It would sound too weird. In fact, there are two people I work with whose last names I really enjoy saying. The first is a teacher named Zuege and the other is Mrs. LaFrance. I've even incorporated her name into my regular speech. Kids bug me all day about going to the library to trade in their books. I know that at some point, Mrs. LaFrance is going to snap due to stress. I'm just hoping that I won't be there to witness it. Anyway, it is very common for me to say the following to my students: "Don't make Mrs. LaFrance get LaMad at LaYou." I've even added the "La" part in front of the other librarian's name. It just sounds good.


In future posts, I'll try to include some fun stuff about the people I work with. They make my job fun. The only thing that would make it better is if I had a decent breakfast platter before work each day. But alas, I can always dream......