Lots of people out there seem to have ambitious goals for the year, but I’m keeping it simple:
Play. Play nice.
I’ve heard people say retirement evolves over the years. So far, I would say that’s true. I spent the first year happy to sleep late, and now I can’t wait to wake up and play Wordle.
We had a solid financial plan, but I worried about money in the beginning. Perhaps it was just the newness of not having a steady income, but I’m over it. With a conservative investment portfolio, I don’t even care much about what happens in the stock market.
Art was something I discovered after I retired, but everything else is about the same only more so. As I enter my fifth year of retirement, I find myself doing what comes naturally … digging deeper into the things that give me pleasure. Golf. Walk. Swim. Cook. Eat well.
Cooking is an obsession. I had a whim this week that I would like to make crepes. I’ve had a few here and there over the years, but they haven’t been high on my yum list. I’ve certainly never made them myself. But for some mysterious reason, crepes came calling.
As it turns out, we have a crepe cookbook, circa 1976. We have a lot of old cookbooks, and it’s fun to try vintage recipes. While I did use a recipe from the cookbook for the filling, I turned to Serious Eats for the basic crepe batter. I made them in a regular 10-inch nonstick pan.
After making the batter and preheating the pan, I poured a few tablespoons of the batter in, swirled the pan around and cooked them until lightly golden on one side and then just done on the other. I stacked them on a plate, covered it in plastic wrap and let them sit in the refrigerator until I was ready to make the filling.
I love when a major step in a recipe can be done ahead.
The filling was scallops, green onion and mushrooms in a wine cream sauce. I used a sheet pan and laid a crepe flat, filling one side and then folding over like a quesadilla. The top was sprinkled with grated Gruyère cheese and then baked in the oven at 350 degrees until the cheese was melted. I served them with steamed asparagus on the side.
All I can say is wow. Where have these been all my life? I was so excited I forgot to take a picture. Anyway, I can imagine so many things that would make excellent crepes. I’m more interested in savory than I am sweet.
Drilling down into the things I like to do anyway helped me realize I don’t need a LinkedIn account. My profile has been static since I’m not working anymore and don’t intend to. But I’ve left it there anyway, mostly out of inertia, but partially because I like seeing what former colleagues are up to.
Lately I’ve noticed LinkedIn has become a lot like Facebook, which I abandoned years ago. My LinkedIn feed is increasingly full of political messages, family stories, sexy graduation pictures. There was even a post about someone’s stillborn baby.
On one hand, maybe this is what they mean when they say bring your full self to work, but if people think blurring the lines between home and work will lead to a happier life, they might be in for a rude awakening.
I don’t know what’s posted on LinkedIn today, because I closed my account. Just like that. Interestingly enough, as I shut down one source of online connections, I’ve amplified my efforts to connect with people I meet face-to-face, mostly on the golf course. We already share a love of golf, correct?
With a little effort to be friendlier and more approachable, I discovered a fellow golfer shares my cooking obsession. I gave her some of Dale’s homemade scorpion pepper salsa in exchange for a jar of her homemade marmalade. That led to an invitation to join a group playing at a celebrated course down the road a piece. It’s just a day trip, but this will be my first out-of-town adventure since the pandemic. I’m kind of excited.
Play. Play nice. Just might be something to it.
Crepes are fun, but absolutely must get the little wooden crepe spreader as it makes the crepes way thinner and yu just can’t do that twirling in the pan. I think they’re @ $10 on Amazon. I’d also recommend a steel pan but that can be pricey. I use Lodge crepe /pancake pan and it works perfectly for a 10″ crepe. Those ones you made sound delicious.
Oh, thank you for the tip! I definitely need to get one of those.
I hear you about LinkedIn. I still have connections to some of my ex-work colleagues. But I’m finding more and more that, by now, if I’m not in contact with them outside of work then why do I care?
“Let it go …. “
Indeed. I finally decided to let it go. It feels good.
Hi, Donna – Play nice, shut off social media that is harming not helping, share your scorpion pepper salsa and make crepes! That sounds like a perfect retirement philosophy to me! 😀
I’m curious to hear what she has to say about the salsa. We absolutely adore it, but I wonder if we’re unusually tolerant when it comes to heat.
Absolutely love the old cookbook Donna 🙂 My mother had a whole heap of cookbooks – we used to say more than there were days of the year – but it was one of the few areas she dramatically downsized before moving. Although I was encouraging her to do the downsizing, I think it’s a shame about the demise of the cookbooks – but when I didn’t have the room for them myself and she doesn’t cook anymore….
Those crepes sound fab. I wonder if I can get Himself to give them a go. Like you, I far prefer savoury options than sweet. Yum 😀
We have tons of old cookbooks, and I’ve started to browse them regularly in search of interesting recipes I overlooked the first time around. Next on the list are appetizer anchovy turnovers in a cream cheese crust.
“Play nice” is a wonderful mantra. Also, CREPES!!!! How delicious. If there are crepes on a restaurant menu, I need to look no further. Decision MADE. My mother’s (and now mine) Dutch pancakes are like plumped-up crepes…oh, I think I am heading into the kitchen now to thin me out some Dutch pancake batter. Thanks!
Deb
I think I did make a Dutch baby once, but it’s all a blur. I may need to try again.
I love this post… your retirement sounds much like mine without the golf 🙂
Crepes must have been a “thing” in the 70s. I remember my mom making them… she may have had that same cookbook. Your recipe sounds wonderful and worth a try.
It took a while for my husband and I to get comfortable with living without paychecks too. Now we pretty much ignore the ups and downs of the market and just enjoy our lives.
Your comment about LinkedIn resonated too. Although I shut down that account long ago, I’ve noticed that Instagram, where I used to post – and look at – interesting pictures, has turned into just another Facebook feed. I’m not all that interested in it anymore.
Enjoy your day!
It is nice not to worry about the market. It took me a couple of years to come to terms with LinkedIn. Sounds like you figured it out pretty quickly. Good for you!
I have crepes on my “baking challenge” list. I have a pan picked out on Amazon and while it’s on my wishlist, no one ever seems to get it for me!! One of these days, I’ll bite the bullet. I generally think of crepes with sweet fillings, but I like your idea of savory.
I’m still on LinkedIn as well and probably only stay there because it’s the only way I ever hear from someone I knew from work. I’d hate to lose complete touch.
Your victory over the spam folder was short-lived. Two of your comments went to spam, dang it. I’ll do better at checking the spam folder in a more timely fashion!