The Big Four-Oh, Part 3: The Green Bean Anniversary

     ...Continued from yesterday:

  After Tom and I checked out of our Top Secret Hotel (see yesterday's post) on Saturday morning,

...we headed downtown to The Columbus Museum of Art,

...to see the Honoré Sharrer exhibit entitled "A Dangerous Woman,"

...so called because the artist's ideas and work were considered during her time, the 1940's through the 1970's, to be shocking and inappropriate for a woman.

       On a table in one of the exhibit rooms there was a jigsaw puzzle of one of Sharrer's works,

...that visitors were invited to put together.  Of course I was hooked (see post from 2/7/2017).  

     I  got only this far because it became a choice of either finishing the puzzle or finishing the museum.   I figured I'd leave the project for some other intrepid puzzle-loving soul to finish.

     We visited some of the other museum exhibits.

     Turns out there were jigsaw puzzles of paintings scattered throughout the museum to seduce us puzzle addicts.

     I think one these times I'd like to go back to the museum just to spend all day going from puzzle to puzzle, putting them all together.  For me that would be like being in an opium den. 
      After the museum we headed to the Clintonville neighborhood to Studio 35 Cinema & Drafthouse,

...for lunch and the $5 matinee,

...still a great flick after all these years.

     Though we could have eaten at one of the tables inside the theater,

... we arrived early early enough that we had  time to eat in the bar with a friend.

     For an appetizer we split a yummy hot soft pretzel,

...followed by a generous and tasty  Italian sub for Tom,

...and for me a salad   full of fresh vegetables, mozzarella, mushrooms, and chunks  of real ham.

     After the movie we returned home. Tom and I mused upon how spending a few days seeing the sights of a side of town different from our own almost felt like an out-of-town trip.
     However, though we'd returned home, the day was  not yet over;  later that evening we went out to The Drexel,

...to see Jackie, another really good but heart-rending film requiring multiple kleenexes.

    The next day, Sunday, February 19, was our actual anniversary date,  which we celebrated by just doing the things we normally do on a Sunday, with a bit of embellishment:
     Normally Tommy, his friend Emily, Randy, and Anusha come for Sunday dinner, which they did this Sunday as well.  But this time they spent some time looking at Tom's and my wedding album,

...chuckling over our photos, a mélange of pictures taken by friends, family members, and our "official" wedding photographer, the cousin of a friend of a co-worker of my sister-in-law (or something like that),

...all hodge-podged together in a photo album.

    I also bought a celebratory cake for dessert,

...which Randy volunteered to cut for us as I tend to suffer from cake-cutting anxiety (is that a common disorder?)

    At one point Emily asked me what anniversary the 40th one was.  I didn't know, except that it was somewhere between silver and gold.  So she looked up the answer to the question on her phone.
     "40th Anniversary is green bean," I heard her say.
     "Green bean?"  I asked.
      "No," Emily laughed,  "Ruby!"
      I'd misheard, but upon reflection I think that for us Green Bean would be a more apt symbol; after all, I don't own any rubies, or any jewelry, really, except my wedding rings and an assortment of earrings and watches, most of which came from Meijer's, Kohl's or Target.
      Green beans, on the other hand, has been sort of an iconic presence throughout our married, life,

...my Green Beans Almondine being   a constant at  just about every holiday meal and extended family gathering for most of the past forty years.

       So I believe I will declare this one The Green Bean Anniversary, and in its honor I'll share my Green Beans Almondine recipe for anyone who might be interested starting a green bean tradition of their own.

Green Beans Almondine
4 cans of French-cut green beans
1/2 cup slivered almonds
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
Lawry's garlic salt
Dried parsely

     Melt about 1 tablespoon of  butter or margarine in a large frying pan over medium-low heat.  Add the almonds and saute until light brown, be careful not to let them burn.  Drain the green beans.  Add to the almonds in the  pan the green beans, the rest of the butter, the Lawry's garlic salt to taste and parsely.  Cook until the green beans are heated through. 
     Enjoy!