Fall specials in the Circle@Crown Café

Here are the Fall Specials in the Circle@Crown Café:  the Autumn Pear Salad and the Cheddar, Smoked Gouda and Pear Sandwich.  Don't they look delicious?  I've already decided to treat myself to BOTH of these in the Circle@Crown Café for lunch today, taking home any leftovers to finish later.  I did not find this until after I'd had lunch there yesterday with Esme. Whom shall I invite to eat with me?  ALL of you!  Or at least all of you who read this in time.

Lunch today at the Circle@Crown Café

Bev rings up Donna's order of hot spiced cider

Today was opening day of the Circle@Crown Café, a sort of practice day as Jean and her crew get the kinks out of the system.  Donna and I went, of course.  They aren't yet serving everything that will be on the menu, but we each had a half-sandwich (hers tuna salad, mine egg salad) with a choice of breads, a banana, and a drink.  Actually, Donna also went back for hot spiced cider, after we studied the menus for breakfast and for lunch, posted on the chalkboards.

Cheryl

We can report that the food is good, it's kosher, and the Crown Center residents are excited about this opening.  Best of all, the people are very friendly, as you can see by Cheryl's broad smile.  That's nothing new, since all the volunteers and employees I've met since I moved here are all wonderful people.  Now we can meet friends for lunch in our own café without leaving the building.  Oh, and I forgot to mention that we now have wi-fi on the ground floor, with comfy chairs off to the side of the tables in the café so we can use our laptops there, if we like.  Isn't this a great place to live?

A book, exercises, and our Café re-opening

Book for Crown Readers

Purple Hibiscus ~ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2003, fiction (Nigeria)

Fifteen-year-old Kambili and her older brother Jaja lead a privileged life.  They live in a beautiful house in Enugu, Nigeria and attend an exclusive missionary school, but their home life is anything but harmonious:  although their religious father is a respected businessman, he is fanatically religious and tyrannical at home.  When their loving and outspoken aunt persuades her brother that the children should visit her, Kambili and Jaja take their first trip away from home.  Once inside their Aunty Ifeoma's flat in the smaller city of Nsukka, they discover a whole new world.  And when they return home, changed by their newfound freedom, nothing can be the same as before.  Tension within the family esalates, and Kambili must find the strength to keep her loved ones together — even after her mother commits a desperate act.

I had an unexpected knock on my door after meals had already been delivered.  It was David, delivering this book and a note, that says:

"We are so pleased to let you know that Book Source, a Crown Center community partner has generously donated a book for our Crown Center Readers and residents participating in reading groups. . . . This book is just a small way to let you know that the Crown Community and Book Source are thinking of you."

I first read this novel in 2013, but it was good enough that I am quite willing to read it again.  Since I have a book discussion blog called Book Buddies, it occurred to me that I could invite my book-loving neighbors to discuss it together there.  That will only work for those who have computers (our computer center is one of the locked public rooms right now), but it's a way to have a book club while self-isolating.

Oh, one more thing:  On the back of that sheet about the book is a drawing for us to color.  Above a striped easy chair is a framed saying, "Keep calm and read."  Plants are on the wallpaper, on the floor beside the chair, and on the windowsill, as well as hanging down from a tree outside that window.  Spread out on the floor are a dozen books, stacked and scattered on the floor, with one book open.  Some books have titles:  Jane Eyre, Art Deco, Rebecca, Easy Bakes, Cake Recipes, and Interior Design.  There is a cup for the tea I presume I would be drinking, though I would never, ever set a cup of tea on a book.

Exercises from RPI

Residents have apparenetly mentioned that they would relist some different stretches and workout routines.  So the Crown Center reached out to Rehabilitation Professionals, Inc. (RPI).  Kim Meyer, a Physical Therapist Assistant at RPI, teaches our Introduction to Movement class on Monday (at least, she did before everything went into lockdown).  I was part of that free class on days when I didn't have something else scheduled.  Kim shared some exercises and stretches for us, all of which we can ccomplete while seated.  And we are to complete the exercises within a comfortable range, if we have a weak arm or leg.  The front page shows:

• Heel Raises
• Toe Raises
• Knee Extension
• Hip Flexion
• Hip Abduction

The second page, shown above, says:  "You can use water bottles, can goods, or other small objects as hand weights if needed or complete exercises without holding anything."  The front page says "complete up to 10 repetitions of each exercise at a time," but to take rest breaks if needed.

• Press Up
• Forward Raise
• Rotation
• Side Raise
• Elbow Curls

RPI also share additional resources to consider:

• For those with Silver Sneakers, they also have 200+ videos on their website.
• Jane Fonda Walking Cardio Video, Level 1, on YouTube.

Circle@Crown Café

Good news!  Tomorrow, our Café will begin taking orders over the phone and delivering freshly-made food directly to our apartments.  Really!  The new menu is on the back of the announcement and includes my favorites:  scrambled eggs or omelettes, Circle@Crown Salad (lettuce with walnuts, dried cranberries, and shredded mozzarella, topped with balsamic vinaigrette dressing), tuna panini, and flatbread pizza-for-one.  Although we can't dine together at this time, we can continue to support the Café.  Hurray!

TWOsday ~ in the Circle@Crown Café

Yesterday, Tonya posted this week's specials for the Circle@Crown Café:

Monday:  Veggie Burger on Pretzel Roll
Tuesday:  Pasta Fagioli with Cheese Garlic Bread
Wednesday:  Baked Salmon Wrap
Thursday:  Artichoke Quiche
Friday:  Battered Fish and Mac and Cheese

After checking my calendar and deciding what appealed to my taste buds, I posted a comment, saying, "Looks like Tuesday and Thursday for me."  Then I invited friends to join me, some on Facebook, some around the dinner table last night.  I have friends lined up to eat with me today and Thursday.  In the meantime, here's a painting by Susan Dorothea White of a bunch of other women enjoying a meal together.

Image Source:  http://www.susandwhite.com.au/

UPDATE after lunch:

Donna, Sandy M., and Melvin were already in the Café when I arrived with Marie, having talked her into joining us for a few minutes.  Ezra sat and talked while waiting for his order to go, and Katie spoke to us while getting her drink.  Barbara arrived after most had finished eating, but we had a great chat anyway.

Thursday lunch at the Circle@Crown Café

It turned out the special for today was actually "Crab" Artichoke Quiche.  Notice the "crab" is in quotes; that's because crab is not kosher, and the Circle@Crown Café is kosher.  Someone around the two tables shoved together for our large group said pollock is used as fake crab.  By the time I ordered, the Café had run out of the special anyway.  They substituted spinach quiche with salad for me, and I was very happy with it.

Who joined us today for food and fun?  Melvin and Gail were meeting with another group, but they sat and talked with us until their group arrived.  Eating together were Donna, Sheila, Nancy, Susan, Sandy M., and me.  Joining us for shorter periods of visiting were Florence and Mary and Ezra.  At one point, we totally embarrassed Nancy by singing Happy Birthday to her!

Grilled summer tomato panini

Yesterday, our Circle@Crown Café downstairs posted a Summer Special on Facebook — a Grilled Summer Tomato Panini.  It's made with slices of tomato and avocado, red onion, and smoked Gouda cheese with a light basil dressing.  It was delivered to my door within minutes of ordering, something special they do for residents, since we cannot gather right now to eat in the Café together.

Clawdia wanted a taste of whatever smelled so good, so I gave her a tiny bite of the melted Gouda cheese.  Not much, just a teensy taste.

So why, you ask, am I writing about it on my blog?  I'm sharing because it is absolutely the best thing I've ever eaten from the Café.  I love their soups and salads and sandwiches and pizzas and desserts, but this is the yummiest, the most delicious yet.

Nancy just called to check on me, and I sent her this photo and the description the Café posted on Facebook.  When I mentioned it to Donna in a private message on FB, she had already eaten the one she'd ordered just before I did.  She loves it, too.  For the record, I had a hard time talking myself into waiting until next week to order it again.

Word of the Day

yum·my / yŭm′ē / adj. yum·mi·er, yum·mi·est (informal) = Very pleasing to the taste or smell; delicious; extremely enjoyable.  Example:  "The grilled summer tomato panini is the yummiest food I've eaten lately."

Monday Mindfulness ~ friendliness report

Since I'm writing this in the evening of the first day of this week, I can report that I've accomplished my goal to "Try to involve others and invite them to join your conversations" (see the calendar below).  Barbara and I met in the Circle@Crown Café to plan who we'd invite to a Galentine's gathering.  Already you wonder what I'm talking about, right?

I only recently learned that February 13th is Galentine's Day, a time for women to celebrate the women friends in their lives.  Apparently, it's been "a thing" for at least three years, and I was able to find lots of images to choose from to make invitations telling other residents and staff about gathering in the Café at 9:00 tomorrow morning.  It was a rush job, getting invitations delivered to the boxes beside doors of people I know.  I don't speak Chinese or Russian, so they weren't specifically invited.  I did tell the women they could invite a friend or two, and I did let the Café staff know what we're up to so they'd be prepared for the influx of women that I hope we get.

Barbara and I were joined by Sandy and, later, Donna.  They all helped me pull this thing together, making suggestions, delivering invitations to different floors of the two buildings, and so forth.  I'll try to get a few photos tomorrow.  I've been told the office staff may come in stages.  There's no program except women talking and getting to know each other, and each person can buy food and drink as they choose.  The only thing left to do is put something about Galentine's Day on a few of the tables in whatever area of the Café is not crowded when I get there in the morning.

Click on the calendar to enlarge it.

Feb. 12
~ Try to involve others and invite them to join your conversations.
Feb. 13
~ Smile at the people you're with and try to brighten their day.
Feb. 14
~ Tell loved ones why they are so special to you.
Feb. 15
~ Be kind especially when your first instinct is to be unkind.
Feb. 16
~ Respond positively to everyone you meet today.
Feb. 17
~ Call a friend to catch up and really listen to them.
Feb. 18
~ Make an effort to have a friendly chat with a stranger.

Good food, shared with good friends

Doesn't this Summer Peach Salad look delicious?  It's what I plan to have for lunch today in our Circle@Crown Café.  In October, I posted the Fall Special, which was called the Autumn Pear Salad.  It was wonderful.  I happened to glance out my window this morning and noticed the rabbi (who certifies that the food in the Café is kosher) speaking to one of the construction workers putting up our new building.  The rabbi went back into the Café and came out with a menu (yes, I could recognize it even from my sixth floor window), which he handed across the fence to the construction guy.  Everybody is promoting the Café, it seems.  Makes me smile.  (Thanks, Randi, for sending me the photo.)

Senior programs for the whole community

Listed on the right:

• Variety of Dining Options
• Art and Music Classes
• Fitness and Health Classes
• Jewish Celebrations and Traditions
• Circle@Crown Café
• Health and Wellness
• Movie and Book Clubs
• Trips to Cultural Events
• Hands-On Culinary and Art Classes
• Shopping Excursions
• Performance Arts
• Hiking and Walking Clubs
• Gardening Opportunities
• Community Service Opportunities
• Lecture Series

The Crown Center for Senior Living is my retirement home.  Look at all the programs they offer us, and they open these events for the whole community.  All seniors are welcome to take part in what's offered here.  Every day, when I go downstairs, there are activities in one or both of our buildings and the connecting section between the buildings.  If you live in St. Louis, you should come check us out.  If we're friends, call me and we can grab a bite to eat in the Circle@Crown Café.

Chronic health = long-lasting, habitual health

Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Conditions (4th edition) ~ by Kate Lorig, Halsted Holman, David Sobel, Diana Laurent, Virginia Gonzalez, and Marian Minor, 2012

I studied this book for a short course, and some of us decided afterwards to continue meeting once a month.  Our little group — a half dozen of us — decided to continue meeting to encourage one another to keep doing what we learned.  The book had us work on eating goals and planning appropriate exercises.  We met in the Circle@Crown Café a few times just to talk, until this week when almost nobody came.  I decided it would be better if we have some topic planned for each meeting, so each of us could bring specific information or questions.  So I volunteered to send out a subject before we meet next Monday.

We also needed a name.  It's awkward to write on my calendar "meet in Circle@Crown Café with Betty, Donna, Eunice, Mark, and Mary Ann."  Looking at the book's title, it occurred to me that our aim is "chronic health."  Chronic means "long-lasting or habitual," and that's exactly what we want, even if it is an unusual combination of words.  Maybe that would remind us of health (a positive thing) rather than disease (a negative thing).  Those who have responded like our new name.

Galentine's Day ~ one year ago today

Can you believe it's been only a year since this gathering of "women celebrating women" on Galentine's Day 2020?  Of the people I can identify in the photos from last year, at least one has died, a couple have moved away, and we haven't been sitting together at the Café tables like this since last March.

It seems like ages ago that I posted this invitation saying, "Let's party on Thursday," and we gathered in the Circle@Crown Café.  I was going to simply link this to last year's photo album, but then decided to post all the pictures here.  You can click to enlarge the photos and have fun identifying people you may know.  Yeah, we could see whole faces back then and now have trouble recognizing each other, with only eyes and hair color to help us figure out who that is behind the mask, who now has hair down to her shoulders.

Notice that the Café was open and other customers were there, too.  Some of us brought a friend or a caregiver, so you may not recognize every person in these photos.

And this is what Galentine's Day is all about on February 13th every year, even when we have to "meet" online or by phone.

I first heard about Galentine's Day in 2018, when Barbara and Sandy and Donna helped me get a few invitations out to friends.  I miss my friend Barbara, who died before these photos were taken.

Memorial Day picnic menu

Our Circle@Crown Café opened back up in early May, but only for curbside pickup and delivery to apartments of the residents who live at the Crown Center.  And now they are offering a special Memorial Day picnic menu.  Yay!  I've already ordered mine.  Here's the special menu, for all our friends and neighbors who want to drive over here for  curbside pickup.

• Deviled Eggs (6 halves) - $4.00
• 7 Layer Bean Dip and Chips - small tray $10.00
• Rosemary Hummus and Pita - 1/2 pound $5.00
• Greek Angel Hair Pasta Salad - 1 pound $7.50
• Vegetarian Baked Beans - 1 pint $8.00

Special orders need to be placed by Friday, May 22nd for pickup on Monday, May 25th.  Call them at 314-412-4350.  The Café's regular menu is also available and can be found on their website:  https://crowncenterstl.org/cafe/.  When I placed my order for Monday, I also ordered the Circle Salad for today's lunch, delivered to my door within minutes.  I love it because of the toasted walnuts, the dried cranberries, and the shredded mozzarella cheese on lettuce.  Oh, and the balsamic vinaigrete.

Hygge Holiday Challenge

Meik Wiking, author of The Little Book of Hygge, which I read in 2017, says hygge has been called all these things, among others:

• the art of creating intimacy
• coziness of the soul
• the absence of annoyance
• taking pleasure from the presence of soothing things
• cozy togetherness
• cocoa by candlelight

Let's take the Hygge challenge, shall we?  Here's what's on the list in the illustration above, plus a few others I've found:

1. Take a break.
2. Be here now.
3. Turn off your phone.
4. Turn down the lights.
5. Bring out the candles.
6. Build relationships.
7. Spend time with your tribe.
8. Give yourself a break from the demands of healthy living.
9. Cake is most definitely Hygge.
10. Live life today, like there is no coffee tomorrow.
11. Get comfy.
12. Start a gratitude list.
13. Add relaxing scents.
14. Sleep in for 15 minutes or more.
15. Learn a new skill. 
16. Turn off the phone before bed.
17. Send a thank-you note.
18. Have a candlelight dinner.
19. Go for a 30-minute walk without your phone.
20. Cozy up with a new book.
21. Have a tech-free evening.
22. Invest in a cozy sweater.
23. Go on a coffee date in real life.
24. Add some greenery.
25. Cook a new recipe with family.
26. Have a game night.
27. Treat yourself to an at-home spa day. 
28. Make a new friend.
29. Let in natural light.
30. Enjoy some hot cocoa or tea.
31. Bake your favorite holiday treat.
32. Get cozy and watch your favorite movie.
33. Have a dance party.
34. Pray, meditate, or just breathe.
35. Give yourself a break.
36. "Unbook" yourself.

I put "unbook yourself" last so I could show it with this shirt that says, "I can't.  I'm booked."  I inherited Donna's shirt when she died.  I was wearing it this week in our Circle@Crown Café downstairs when Melvin looked puzzled and said, "I don't get it."  In my case, "I'm booked" means that "I'm reading another book; so whatever it is that you want me to do, I can't do it because I am busy reading."  Suddenly, Melvin got the joke and laughed.  He is also a big reader and usually has a book with him in the Café, just in case there's nobody around to chat with.  Be sure to notice that #20 on the list above says:  "Cozy up with a new book."  Heck, it doesn't even have to be new.  It's also fun to re-read old favorites.

Anyway, adapting these lists is the key to making this work for us, so pick and choose what works for you and whatever seems comfy and cozy and makes you smile.  It's okay to repeat any of these that make YOU feel good.  I'll end by quoting the author of that book I read:

"Cuddling pets has the same effect as cuddling another person ― we feel loved, warm, and safe, which are three key words in the concept of hygge."

― from The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking (page 41)

Monday Musing ~ about Galentine's Day

I posted about Galentine's Day in 2018, 2020, and 2021.

(Apparently, I forgot about it in 2019 and 2022.)

Click this link for Galentine's Day or the label below,

if you want to see photos of us celebrating in the Café.

Join me at noon today in the Circle@Crown Café, if you're interested.