Mar 14 - 20

Ok so my oldest daughter who lives in the Bay Area, just had a baby girl Thursday. She worked for me from the time she was 13 until she graduated from Sac State, so she knows the restaurant business. And yes, I am double Nonno. 

So she calls me on the way home from the Kaiser hospital in Oakland today. She says,

“Dad, Dad, Dad, you need to raise your prices” (I am not going to yet). "I just got lunch for myself on the way home from the hospital. Do you know what I paid for a Japanese take-out order, $70 for just me. Two rolls, a salad and a drink, $70 bucks, can you believe that?” 

I asked, “how is the baby?”

“Baby is fine. Can you believe $70 for lunch for one person?”  

“And you said the baby is fine right?"

“Yea, baby is right here in the car. She is fine. $70, I just can’t believe that”.

Mar 7 - 13

Years ago I operated Walt’s 24 Hour Restaurant in the building we now use for FlapJacks. One of the things I miss most from Walt’s was the dinners we served every night and especially the baked potatoes. So I decided to make some bake potatoes at home. I bought the potatoes, butter, sour cream and spring onions to chop up for chives. I wrapped them in aluminum foil like we use to do, and threw them in the oven. I chopped up the onions and reached in the fridge for the sour cream. I had bought one of those big tubs to make sure we had enough. Of, course to my amazement but probably not yours, the entire tub was empty. So I confronted my son and told him I was pretty upset, and his point was that if the sour cream was so important to me, why didn’t I just tell him beforehand that the sour cream was so important and why I didn’t just tell him not to eat the sour cream.

Feb 28 - Mar 6

How ironic that a man who played the president of a country in a comedy series on TV, is then elected the president of that country and then is attacked by a ruthless dictator with absolutely no humor. Doesn’t that sound like the premise for a great television series. I think we should start a GoFundMe page for Zelensky to fund this series, provided he lives through all of this. Maybe we should let him use the money for whatever he wants until then. Meanwhile, maybe we should name the series “Last Man Standing versus Despicable Me”. In any case I am pulling for the comedian and I just sent Ukraine’s GoFundMe page a $100 bucks so he can survive this campaign, and then it’s on to an HBOMax Original .

If you can find it in your heart to donate to these poor people in Ukraine, please let your server know and we will give you your second meal free.

Feb 21 - 27

So to get my kids up in the morning I usually sing the “Red Red Robin” song. You know the one that goes “Wake up Wake up, you sleepy head. Get up Get up, get out of bed”

They then proceed to yell at me with words I cannot print here. Then my son had the gall to tell me I need singing lessons. I need singing lessons? My mother knew Puccini. I come from a long line of singers, but hey, maybe the kid is right.