Recently I was talking to a friend at a hockey game and his son
just had his driver’s permit at 15 years old. I remarked, “Thanks
for warning me; I’ll stay on the sidewalk.” We both laughed.
This brought back many memories that I shared with him about the
year my oldest son got his driver’s permit. Of course, we as
parents are responsible for their driving and teaching them what
their driving school did not teach them, like passing on a freeway,
driving a stick-shift vehicle and parallel parking in my son’s
case.
At our house, when the boys got their driver’s permit, of course
they wanted to drive the newer family car. Our rule was they had to
drive the old blue pickup truck with a camper on the back with blue
and white checked curtains. They told us they wouldn’t drive the
truck. We said fine. Your choice is the truck or your bicycle.
“But Dad, the truck has a stick shift.”
“Yes, and we will teach you how to drive a stick shift so you
can drive the truck.” We wouldn’t sign off for their license until
they could master a stick shift vehicle.
I took our oldest son in the truck to teach him how to drive a
stick shift. We went to a side street in town that was not
well-traveled by other cars or foot traffic. He couldn’t operate
the clutch very well, so we ended up bouncing down the street like
a rabbit. On one occasion, we were up on the sidewalk. I screamed,
probably too much. At one point, he stopped the truck and said,
“Mom, would you please stop screaming. You are making me
nervous.”
He was nervous? It was a nightmare for me!
When our youngest son got his permit two years later, his
brother said, “Go with Dad. Mom screamed too much.” He went with
Dad.
A new driver is very tentative and basically doesn’t know what a
large vehicle is capable of doing. Driving on ice is another
story.
John had been driving a while and we gave him permission to
drive the car one January evening to go roller skating with his
buddies. We got that dreaded call from him about 9 p.m. informing
us he had hit a mailbox and was in the ditch. No one was hurt. He
informed us the windshield was a little broken. Dad said, “John,
that’s like telling me someone is a little pregnant. It is or it
isn’t.”
Dad went to the scene and helped pull the car out of the ditch.
The mailbox had been sheared off its post and had hit the
windshield, putting a big hole in it. After notifying the property
owner that he was responsible for his broken mailbox post and we
would return the next day to fix it, John and his buddies proceeded
to jump into the truck. Dad remarked, “What are you guys
doing?”
“Going home in the truck,” they replied.
“Sorry boys, you are driving the car home with your head out the
window and getting cold. I’m going home in my warm truck.” They
caused the problem, they had to deal with it.
My philosophy to parents is that most new drivers will get into
a scrape or two within the first two years of getting their
license, some even sooner. Some have been known to drive through
garage walls, scrape the side of the house, hit the garbage cans,
go in the ditch, hit flying mailboxes or get into a minor accident.
Maneuvering through parking lots for new drivers is hazardous as
well. Let us hope that the incident is a minor one with no
injuries.
We had a rule at our house that the new driver was not allowed
to have passengers in their vehicle or ride in the vehicle of a
friend if they had their license for less than one year. Today,
Colorado laws say the same thing:
Regardless of when you got your license, if you are under 18 you
cannot drive a vehicle carrying a passenger under 21 unless you
have held your driver’s license for at least six months, and, you
cannot drive a vehicle carrying more than one passenger under 21
unless you have held your driver’s license for at least one
year.
Exceptions to carrying passengers:
If your parent or guardian is in the car with you, or
If there is an adult passenger in the vehicle, 21 years of age
or older, who has a valid license and has held a driver’s license
for at least one year or
If the passenger under 21 needs emergency medical assistance,
or
If the passengers under 21 are members of your immediate family
and they are all wearing seatbelts.
Mom and Dad’s worries are just beginning when the learner’s
permit is obtained. This is when the grey hairs start appearing on
one’s head or Dad starts losing some of his hair.
Another rule that should be enforced is no talking on cell
phones while driving. They need to pull over in a safe parking lot,
not along side of the freeway, and make their emergency call. The
inexperience of driving, while not concentrating on driving, causes
many accidents. Some people cannot walk and chew gum too, let alone
talk and think.
Stuffed tri-colored peppers
Red and yellow peppers are sweeter, more tender and milder than
the green peppers I usually use. Try them all at first and decide
for yourself. I like to cook the onions since I don’t like to
crunch down on a raw onion in my cooked dishes. I like to use only
ground beef in them, but feel free to try turkey, pork or veal. The
sauce is great over creamy mashed potatoes. They are Simply
Tasteful!
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 1/2 pound ground beef or a mixture of ground meats
2 slices white bread, cut into cubes
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup cooked long grain rice
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes with basil
1 (15 ounces) can tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced and cooked
1 small onion, chopped and sautéed until translucent
1 Tablespoon oil
1 Tablespoon water
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
1 Tablespoon chopped sage leaves or a little ground sage
(optional)
A few dashes Worcestershire sauce
A few dashes hot sauce
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove core and seeds from peppers.
Slice in half and place in large casserole dish. Sauté onions and
garlic in oil in small skillet until onions are translucent. To
prevent onions from burning add 1 Tablespoon water to the pan as it
starts to stick. Cook until all water evaporates. Set aside to
cool. Cook rice according to package directions and set aside to
cool. In a small bowl, put bread and milk and let it sit until
bread absorbs all the milk. Tear into small pieces. In large bowl
mix together bread, cooked rice, 1/2 cup of the tomatoes, eggs,
onion and garlic mixture, sage, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce,
and season with salt and pepper. Add meat and careful mix together.
Do not over mix. Press meat mixture evenly into peppers putting an
extra amount of meat mounded on each pepper. Add remaining tomatoes
and tomato sauce over peppers in casserole dish. Bake for 1
hour.
Make mashed potatoes and use the sauce as a gravy. Serving size:
1 per person: 6 servings
Halibut in wine sauce
One of my co-workers, Tonya Dixon, and her husband go to Alaska
often and bring back halibut. This is one of Tonya’s go-to recipes.
It is great for Lent for those eating fish. Try the sauce with
different types of fish.
1 1/2 pounds halibut fillets
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons butter or margarine
1 small tomato, chopped (1/2 cup), canned or fresh
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 Tablespoon flat leaf parsley, snipped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon tarragon, optional
Dash pepper
1/3 cup milk
2 teaspoons cornstarch
Sauté onion and garlic in butter until tender. Add fish, tomato,
wine, parsley, salt and pepper. Cover; cook over low heat 10-12
minutes or until halibut flakes. Remove fillets; keep warm. Blend
milk and cornstarch, add to skillet. Cook and stir until thickened
and bubbly. Cook 1 – 2 minutes more. Pour over halibut. Serves
4.
Crispy oven fried potato wedges
My husband Bill likes to try new dishes for dinner. Recently he
has been making potato wedges in the oven. My son had made me a jar
of Emeril’s BAM recipe or you can purchase it.
1 – 2 large potatoes
Cooking oil
Spicy seasoning, like Emeril’s BAM
Cut the potato into wedges and lay them flat on a baking sheet.
Coat them with cooking oil. Sprinkling potatoes with seasoning mix.
Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until tender. Serves 2
Emeril’s Southwest seasoning:
2 Tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 Tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 Tablespoon salt
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
Combine all ingredients thoroughly. Yield: 1/2 cup