Posted: December 9, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
It’s Heart of Carolina Day for the Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC. This is the last big push to get people to donate food and funds to help feed out hungry neighbors. The local ABC 11 station does cut ins all day showing people bringing food to various locations throughout the triangle. For the last few years I have done early morning cut in, but today I was only available to do the three o’clock slot. I know it makes all those General Hospital watchers angry if we eat into their show, so apologies to you.
Here is the video of me on TV.
I wish that I had brushed my hair, but maybe people watching it will think that I had been at the truck collecting food all day and that is why I look so disheveled.
It is the holiday season and if you have a loved one on your list who does not need another thing, consider donating to a charity in their name. The Food Bank is always happy to send a card to let your honoree know of your generosity on their behalf if you make a donation online. The Food Bank of CENC
Ignore what I look like and just hear the message that the Food Bank can turn every dollar into five meals. Thanks to all you wonderful donors.
My Favorite “Job”
Posted: December 8, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment 
Today was my garden club’s annual Christmas Auction. It is not a big time auction like Sotheby’s or Christies. Members each bring things, mostly home made, like cakes worthy of the Christmas dinner table or wreaths festooned with ribbons and berries. The point of the auction is to raise money we then turn around and give away and to have fun and do what we all do best, eat lunch and visit with each other.
Somehow I have gotten on the schedule that the auction is held at my house every other year, but this year was my “off year” so Christy Barnes held it at her lovely home. Being the hostess of the Christmas auction is a lot of work since you have to feed about 70 people, so I was extra thankful for Christy this year.
My real job at the auction every year is to be the auctioneer. When I first was invited to join the Hope Valley Garden Club my very first meeting was the Christmas auction. It was at Anne Bradford’s house and Pat Joklik was auctioneer. The HVGC has a broad range of ages in the women in membership and since I was one of the younger ones back then I got to sit on the stairs as the items were being auctioned off in the living room. As Pat would wrangle $20 or $25 for a pound cake from the ladies in attendance, I sat amazed that anyone would pay that much for a cake they could bake for $3.
In the next couple of years, as the membership got younger, Pat asked me to be her assistant auctioneer so I could help her with the names of newer members. Then one year after many decades of her being the auctioneer she announced she was retiring and leaving the job in my Pat trained hands.
So for about the last ten years I have had the pleasure of being the auctioneer. This year was easy. The items to be auctioned off were all fabulous. The worst thing that can happen is for someone to bring some old item from their basement and no one wants to bid on it. This is not a white elephant sale. I have to come up with some witty banter about each item, especially if it is a dud because the crowd will bid on funny, but not on crappy. Of course I can’t say anything that offends the donor, which means sometimes I really have to hold back. This year I probably only said two or three off color remarks which is fairly good for me.
Some years ago we started letting members invite guests to the auction. It makes my job a little harder since I don’t always know the whole crowd, but the guests bid much higher for things than the members usually do so we have greatly increased the amount of money we raise. No one could every get a caramel cake for $25 now, you really have to fork over closer to a $100.
I could never do this job without the help of the runner elves who bring me the items so we can keep the pace up. Thanks to Kathi Eason and Connie Kearny for being the elves. Kathi is also a good model and is seen in the picture with me modeling the mother daughter aprons, made by Stephanie Perun. Of course, I am playing the mother in this scenario.
I was told by the treasurer, Missy Mcleod that we raised just under $5,000 which was a record amount. Thanks to all in attendance who bid on and bid up items. It is all I good fun when good friends bid against each other. Sadly, I did not win any of the items I bid on, but I did make sure the winners paid a pretty penny for them. Being just the auctioneer and not the hostess makes this the most fun day ever. I hope I get to keep this job for a few more years.
Needlepoint Christmas
Posted: December 7, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment 
Decorating my house for Christmas makes me want to entertain everyday. Of course I would be as big as my house if I did that because I feel like Christmas is the time to eat those naughty things I don’t eat the rest of the year. So I have to limit the number of parties I throw to one a week. Now I just can’t have everyone I love to my house every year. It pains me, but I am not interested in having a parties so large that I don’t get to have any fun.
Today kicked off my holiday entertaining with my favorite thing, a lunch where everyone can fit around one table. I had my multi-generation needlepoint ornament exchange lunch. This is no last minute pot luck. My group of stitching advisors pick names in January that we keep secret all year. Each guest makes a needlepoint Christmas ornament for her special person. It is quite a lot of pressure for me to come up with a project worthy of these superior stitchers.
Since we sit around the stitching table weekly we share all the things that go on in our lives, our families, health, books we are reading, shows we are watching, trips we are taking, recipes we like as well as the one thing that ties us all together, needlepoint we are creating.
I cherish this diverse group of friends who are at different stages and life experiences than I am. One battled cancer this year and I am thrilled is through that, one climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, one moved her mother to a memory care unit, one helped her father through two knee replacements, one is planning her daughter’s wedding, one lost her beloved dog and is in the process of getting a new puppy, one has a third child applying to college. With all that we are dealing with the stitching table is a place of love, advice, bitching, sharing, brain storming, learning and mostly laughter.
This year’s ornaments were a beautiful expression of how much we care for each other. It makes me extra happy that they all also appreciate a good lunch. I promise that I will write up the recipe for the chicken and spinach strudel I made for lunch as tomorrow’s blog. Unfortunately it is not low calorie, but then again this is Christmas party food.
Sixteen Going On Seventeen
Posted: December 6, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized 2 Comments 
Seventeen years ago this day was a Sunday. I remember, not because I am one of those savants who can recall every detail of their lives, but this day was so important to me I remember it well. For seventeen years ago, on this day, was the last day Russ and I were just a couple. I was two weeks overdue with our baby and was going to the hospital at six the next morning to have Carter.
Carter’s birth was very eventful. Her heart rate went down three times which prompted the doctor to call for an emergency c-section. I was instructed to get on my hands and knees on the skinny hospital bed while my gown, that opened in the back hung off me and lay on the bed under me. Nurses, who were unconcerned with my naked body, furiously rolled the bed through the halls to the operating room were I rolled off one bed onto the operating table. In five minutes Carter was born, with no apparent heart problem. It set me up for years of accident and injuries that were scary at first, but not that bad in the end from my only child.
So tonight, on the eve of her seventeenth birthday, Carter is out to dinner with a couple of friends. So grown up to want to just go out to dinner. Russ is in Australia and I am home with Shay Shay prepping the cake for the post-dinner celebration. Seventeen seems so old. I guess I can blame the Sound of Music for making me feel like being sixteen going on seventeen is a big deal. No, it’s not eighteen or twenty-one or any of the big legal ages, but seventeen is the only age that has a magazine named after it.
As I flip through Carter’s baby book and relive that first year, it feels like yesterday. Since Carter ended up being an only child I tried to appreciate all the stages. I never minded diapers, or teething, or learning to ride a bike. I could have done without some adolescent time, but really it was fairly short lived. Now her time at home is short. Before we know it she will be grown. Always my baby, no matter how old. Happy Birthday Carter! You changed our lives for the better.
True Joy
Posted: December 5, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment 
It is not a secret that I like Christmas. I like decorating, cooking, listening to carols, I also like singing them, but I do that alone in the car so as not to ruin the holiday for others. One of the best things about moving to the south is that more people decorate earlier than we did when I lived in the north. Putting your tree up right after Thanksgiving was a custom I had no problem adopting.
Every year I create one new Christmas decoration. When I say decoration I don’t mean one new ornament on the tree. I am talking about something significant. This year it was a twelve days of Christmas tree that is now on the mantle. The only problem with this annual Christmas addition is that it increases the time it takes to put all the Christmas up.
Today was the day I put the finishing touch on all my decorating by making my front door wreath at my friend Morgan’s wreath making party. Yes, it would be a lot easier to buy a wreath and yes, it would probably look a lot better if I bought one, but since I have been going to Morgan’s for 8 years I just don’t feel like it would be the happiest season if I didn’t make my own wreath.
Morgan generously supplies her guests with ribbons and ornaments of all kinds to add to their creations. Some years back it got out that I was a fairly accomplished bow maker. At first, just my close friends would ask me to fabricate the perfect bow on their homemade wreath. Then guests I was meeting for the first time would ask. Last year my friend Christy and I did not even make wreaths, but instead we stood in the ribbon room and made everyone’s bows.
This year I was a little late for the party because of a basketball game, but I was determined to make my wreath before I went into bow making mode. It was a big square of greenery with a flannel tartan bow. I was late enough that many people were forced to learn to tie their own bows, which were all perfectly gorgeous. I only made about a dozen ribbon creations for other late wreath makers. In the end one of the best creations was a trio of wreaths that spelled out “JOY” with no bows at all.
I came home and hung my wreath on the front door and looked around at all the lights, sparkle and decorations, perfectly satisfied that everything screamed, “Santa, stop here.” But then I thought about the simple “joy” wreaths. That’s all it really takes.
Next year I could just put up a small creche to symbolize the true meaning of the season. I could and if I do please call the police, because that means the real me has been kidnapped and replaced with an understated, sophisticated version of me. For now I’m keeping all the sparkle and shine.
The Dreaded Phone Call
Posted: December 4, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentWe almost made it through Carter’s whole 16th year without a broken bone, major surgery or big injury. Last night with just five days to go until her 17th birthday my cell phone rang half an hour into basketball practice. Seeing Carter’s name and number come up on my screen, my heart sank.
“What’s wrong?” I said as I answered the phone.
A tiny voice, responded, “Hi, Mommy, I’ve got a little concussion.”
Not again! Carter had a collision with her head and another teammate and went down.
Carter passed the phone off to the trainer who explained the situation and asked me and Russ to come pick her up and drive her car home.
When we got to school we found our poor girl with a big egg on her forehead above her eye. No basketball for at least a week with two of the biggest games of the season today and tomorrow. The worst part is the trainer did not even want her to be I. The gym while the game was going on because the noise is not good for her recovery.
Russ has gone off to Australia today so Carter and I are just chilling’ in front of the Christmas tree with Shay watching the door waiting for Russ to come home. We almost made the whole 16th year. Maybe 17 will be Carter’s healthiest year yet.
Where Did You Get That Recipe?
Posted: December 3, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment 
Last night I went to the kick off event for the new Junior League of Durham and Orange Counties at the invitation of my friend, Sarah Graham Motsinger one of the three cookbook project leaders. I was there in my official Durham Magazine role to give the cookbook some love in the press, but had a wonderful time talking with new and old friends.
The birth of a cookbook is a long gestation and I think I heard this was a four year project. The work shows in the book, perfectly titled Taste of Tobacco Road. Unlike Junior League of the past this book has many original photos that were shot at Sarah’s mom Sally’s house. But true to league cookbook traditions the book is full of friendly, recognizable favorites of the area like tomato pie and two kinds of pimento cheese. Items any southern cook should know how to make by heart, but a recipe never hurts.
One of my first cookbooks in college was Soupçon (pronounced soup’s on) from the junior league of Chicago. I learned to make coquille St. Jacques from that book, which my friend Hugh Braithwaite used to call “Coke with Sam and Jack”. Of course I was the only person having dinner parties in college were I served scallops. Hell, I was the only person having dinner parties.
Despite it’s somewhat pretentious name for a cookbook, it had lots of helpful hints for a new cook. The best part was the recipes were fairly well tested so I never made anything that was a fail from that book. I think that is one of the tried a true hallmarks of Junior League cookbooks. Those young women never want to be embarrassed by running into someone in the grocery store who made a pound cake from their cookbook that did not rise.
I have not made anything from this book yet since I just got it last night, but from my first quick read I find it to be a well balanced, useful group of recipes that look tasty. The book makes a perfect Christmas gift, especially for those relatives who don’t live here and get to eat in our wonderful restaurants, many of whom contributed recipes for the book. You can order the books directly from the junior league at the cookbook website Taste of Tobacco Road. Congratulations to all the women who worked so hard on this beautiful book. I look forward to cooking from it soon!
I Need Original Gifts
Posted: December 2, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment 
Oh no, it’s December already and I am way behind on my Christmas shopping. I hate shopping. Every store all over the country has the same stuff, and I hate stuff. What I wish for in all my gift giving is to come up with something original that totally delights the receiver. Well that is a life’s work to come up with.
Art makes the best gift, but since my mother is an artist that cuts out my giving art to anyone in my family because we all have houses full of Jane Carter originals. Recently my mother brought a bunch of paintings to her gallery in downtown Durham, the Alizarin gallery owned by Cathy Crumpton. As I looked through the small paintings she had dropped off I was thinking, damn, these make great gifts, too bad I can’t give them to my sisters.
This means I am still in search for the perfect gifts, but unless your mother is an artist, you could find just what Santa was looking for at the Alizarin. It is a wonderful place to shop for art. Go visit the second floor gallery at 119 West Main Street Thursday’s through Saturdays. When you go make sure to look at all the Jane Carter’s. Now, where can I shop? Time is running out.
Watching History Being Made
Posted: December 1, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment 
I’m fairly certain I have never broken any records, and I am absolutely certain I have never broken any athletic records. So tonight when Liz Roberts was honored at the varsity girls basketball game for breaking the school point scoring record for both men’s and women’s I knew I was witnessing history being made. Actually I had been watching her for years drop shot after shot in the basket, but had no idea she was on the path to break the record.
One might think that someone that good would be a ball hog or might tell you that she was going for the record, but that person would not be Liz. I first watched Liz when Carter played sports with her in middle school. That was when I would sit in the bleachers with her parents Angie and Bennet who could not have been nicer to an amateur spectator like myself. They were as kind to me as Liz is to my daughter, who loves the game, but will not be breaking any records.
At the end of any game when I say to Liz, “good game,” she always looks me in the eye and quietly just says, “thank you.” She never has the swagger someone on the road to make history could have. Her humility is not an affect. Now, I have no idea what goes on in the way of celebrating in the locker room, but outside the close confines of her team, her family or good friends she is just a really nice, hard working young woman who did an extraordinary thing better than my other boy or girl in the 40 some years of the Upper School.
It has been great fun to be a spectator to many of the points that got Liz this record. I know her family is proud, as well they should be. I want to give a shout out to her twin brother Nick, who shows up at almost all her games, even weekend on the road tournaments. I don’t know what their parents did to raise such nice kids, but I wish they would write a book. I, for one, am going to miss them when Liz graduates this year, but before she does she is certainly going to add more points on to that record, which is going to make it hard for anyone to beat.
Good Enough is Good Enough
Posted: November 30, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentWhen I was a kid I had a friend, who for purposes that she remain my friend now, I will call Q, who was an absolute perfectionist. When I would go over to her house to play after school we never actually got to play because we had to do our homework first. I had plenty of time to play because I would whip through my homework as fast as I could. But not Q. She agonized over every assignment. She used multiple colored pencils to do her math. Just the picking up and putting down of the color she was looking for made ten fifth grade math assignments take four times as long as it should have. I was never really sure what the different colors meant, but it was something very important to her.
Now Q grew up to be an accountant and I have to say I wish our accountant was as persnickety as she is. The other thing about Q was her bedroom was always immaculate and her clothes never stained or wrinkled and her hair the perfect Farrah Fawcet flip, even though it was naturally straight. I was amazed that she would even be friends with me, with my clothes piled up on my closet floor as I would search my room for my hair brush and eventually give up and go out with my rats nest hairdo.
Since today is cyber Monday and apparently I am the only person not shopping online for my Christmas gifts, I saw an article espousing the old adage, “Perfect is the enemy of good enough.” Apparently the perfectionism trait is making shopping a terrible chore for those who are afflicted with it. There are people who spend hours upon hours reading reviews and comparing prices, which is bad enough, but then they compare shipping rates and how far items will come from and before you know it they have wasted five hours to save three dollars and only bought one thing.
The same article that talked about the “perfectionism problem” went on to say that people who are happy with good enough are actually happier with everything. Finally, my lifetime of feeling inferior to Q because my book covers did not look brand new come June, or that my white converse sneakers were grey one week after purchase means I might actually have been OK because I was just fine with good enough.
I may never had been a perfectionist at anything, but I have the opposite issue in that I figured I could do almost anything even without instruction. This was much harder back in the pre-Internet/YouTube days. Of course that was also before anyone could really check up on my claims. This is how I got to be a caterer. One day I cooked food for a party and the next day I called myself a caterer. Of course once I got business cards it was really official. Now I have never gone so far as to try and conduct surgery on anyone, but then again if I was in a jungle with no other medical help I might try.
For today I am celebrating my “good enough” personality and no longer worrying about not being close to perfect. It has gotten me this far and I am very happy.
Roast Brussels Sprouts with Caramelized Garlic and Candied Lemon Peel
Posted: November 29, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment 
Nobody much likes having different food on Thanksgiving. My proof is unless you are a vegetarian, I bet you have almost always have a turkey. Now, you may also have a ham, but you still have a turkey, and probably stuffing.
I like familiar foods on Thanksgiving, but don’t mind a few new ones thrown in for variety. This year my dad was cooking all the white and brown food; turkey, stuffings, mashed potatoes, gravy and creamed onions. I was in charge of cooking all the colorful foods; cranberry sauce, green beans, stewed tomatoes, pies and these Brussels Sprouts.
Since Brussels are not the number one item on most people’s craving list I felt like I could take some liberties with my recipe. I think this one was a hit, at least with me.
Big bag of fresh Brussels Sprouts- ends trimmed and halved
30 cloves of garlic- peeled
2 T. Olive oil
2T. Balsamic Vinegar
1 T. Sugar
2 Lemons
Take the peeled garlic cloves and put them in a small sauce pan with 2 cups of water. Place the pan over medium high heat and bring to a simmer and cook for three minutes. Drain the garlic and pat dry. Put the garlic back in the sauce pan and add the olive oil and put on a medium heat and cook for five minutes. Add the balsamic vinegar and half the sugar and five tablespoons of water. Simmer for about fifteen minute until the liquid has turned into a syrup. Stir it every so often so the garlic does not stick to the pan. You can do this up to three days in advance refrigerated.
Cut the peel off the lemons trying to get as little pith as possible. Then cut the peel into thin strips. Squeeze all the juice out of the lemons. Place the peels and juice in a small sauce pan. Add the other half of the sugar and 6 tablespoons of water. Bring to a simmer on medium heat and cook for ten minutes- stirring to make sure the peel does not stick. Pour the peel and any remaining liquid in a small container. You can do this up to a week in advance if you keep the peel in the refrigerator.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a jelly roll pan with foil and spray with Pam. Place the Brussels sprout cut side down on the pan and place in the oven and cook for twenty minutes until the cut side gets brown.
To serve, mix the garlic and any syrup with the lemon peel and it’s syrup. Salt and pepper.
Don’t worry that this is so much garlic, caramelizing it makes it mild as can be.
Enjoy any day of the year, not just Thanksgiving .
12 Hour Marathon
Posted: November 28, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment 
No, I did not run anywhere. If I did try and do a marathon it probably would take me twelve hours. No today was the put the tree up day and it took me twelve hours with only a few breaks, and that includes ornaments. Although I was up and down the twelve foot ladder many times and I was lifting and walking all day my Apple Watch did not register one minute of exercise today. What a bunch of Scrooges out there in Cupertino. They have no idea that putting up a 14 foot tree with over 9,000 lights and thousands and thousands of ornament is the biggest workout there is. There needs to be a Christmas Decorating workout setting.
I also got the needlepoint garlands up today, but that was such a pleasure it hardly felt like exercise. Only a step ladder was required so it was not as much climbing. I still have another whole days worth of decorating tomorrow before before Christmas will officially begin iPad our house. Sadly, I am the only family member who really cares, at least that is the story I get from the other people who don’t help decorate. Russ of course has to help me out the tree together, but decorating is all my doing.
The cleaning up after the decorating is almost the worst part. You can see the mess I make. So now I am going to retire early tonight to rest up for snow village building tomorrow.
The Long Camp Cheerio Wait Is Over
Posted: November 27, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized 2 Comments 
Seven years ago, when Carter first went to Camp Cheerio she quickly discovered it was her favorite place on earth. Her love grew each year. In order to spend more time on the mountain that made her heart sing she would ask me to let her go to more and more sessions and I let her.
After her second year she set her sights on getting a CIT position when she finished being a camper. It was a very long range plan for a kid in single digits. Carter would study the qualities of the CIT’s and counselors she loved, which quite frankly were most of them. Their love of children made them great role models and I could not have been happier about Carter wanting to emulate such kind, thoughtful and fun people.
In Carter’s last year as a senior camper she and her large group of camp friends from all the sessions she attended discussed ad nauseum the CIT application processes and wondered how many of them would get the coveted positions. I have to say I was quite amazed at the length of the application and the depth and number of recommendations they needed. It seemed liked we waited an eternity to hear if she got into the CIT class last year.
When Russ and I took Carter to camp as a CIT we were blown away by the camp director’s remarks in the parent meeting. He talked about how hard being a CIT was going to be and that the kids would learn quickly if they liked making the transition from being a camper, having the time of their life, to a counselor who is there to ensure that the campers are happy and safe. He was right. Carter would tell us in the one hour a week she got to have her phone that it was the hardest job, but that she loved it.
In that same meeting the director told the parents and the 50 CIT’s that this six week period was one big job interview and that only about seven to ten of them would be offered jobs as Junior Counselors the next year. I looked around the room at so many of Carter’s cute friends I had met through the years. I could see that almost all of them would make great counselors if that was what they wanted to do. I looked at Carter who was nervous, but excited. A six week job interview was harder than anything I have ever had to do in my life.
At the end of camp last year Carter left not knowing what the future would hold. She had no idea if that was her last summer. Camp had gone great, she worked as hard as she could, but the odds were very tough. Some friends decided that even though they loved camp, being a counselor was not for them, but most applied for the job for next year. As CIT’s they started a big group chat that they have kept in touch through the year.
They were told that they would hear before Thanksgiving and the angst really picked up on Wednesday. One of Carter’s friends, when he did not get a letter, went out and hunted down the postman in his neighborhood to see if by chance he had miss delivered it. Another boy video taped himself going to look in the mailbox a second time after he had already gotten the mail to see if by chance the letter was stuck in the back of the box. Only one girl actually got her letter on Wednesday and it was not good news.
That let everyone know the decisions were out and now they had to wait through no mail delivery on Thanksgiving and another day. Carter had a friend who was going to visit relatives for the long weekend so she was paying someone to go look at her mail. The anxiety was killing all these kids who love Cheerio as much as Carter.
Today the group chat was going crazy as people got their mail. Carter was sadly reporting to us as people were finding out that they had not gotten the job. I had told Carter that we have notoriously slow mail at our house so she was not sure her letter would be at our house when we got home from the farm. The one thing she had learned from the group chat was that if you got a small letter it was a rejection, but an acceptance was a big envelope.
As we pulled into the neighborhood I asked her if she wanted to look in the mailbox or wanted me to do it. She said, “You please look.” Carter was sitting behind me on the passenger side and Russ pulled the car up to the mailbox. I was so scared as I opened the door and of course the box was packed with a package, catalogues and there in the middle was one big white envelope wrapped around the rest of the regular letters. I pulled it out and saw the Camp Cheerio logo on the return address. “It’s a big one!” I yelled, as I handed it back to Carter. She burst into to tears as she read the letter. They were tears of happiness as well as sadness for her friends who were not coming back.
I know she worked her hardest to get that job. I am proud as I can be that she made it. She gives all of her heart to Camp Cheerio and it is her happy place, but our hearts go out to the families who tonight are realizing that they won’t be at camp next summer. Seems like real life starts so young.
No Fighting, Is This Thanksgiving?
Posted: November 26, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment 
Well happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. I hope that none of you needed to break out the Adele Hello song at the dinner table. We have more than survived a happy day thanks in no small part to our South African friends the Ushpols — Mark, Kelly, Cait and Adam who are great sports at my parents Thanksgiving table.
This is the second year we have these friends come for lunch so they had a fairly good idea of what life on the farm is like. The good news is we had very little political discussion despite the potential mind fields all the candidates have provided us.
Rudely, we arrived later than the Ushpols at my own parents home. Luckily my father wasted no time getting everyone drinks and we gathered in the living room where my mother had cleared away enough needlepoint pillows so we could all sit in one place. When the last drink was poured my father finally joined us where he started the conversation by saying, “I’m worried about the turkey.” This does not seem like the best thing to say to all your guests at Thanksgiving.
Knowing his perfectionism about cooking I asked him if he had a turkey and when he said, “yes,” to then explain his worry. Just as I expected, his fears were unfounded. He followed my favorite Alton Brown brined turkey recipe and it cooked faster than he expected. There was no real problem, we just moved up the eating time by forty five minutes, no turkey was over cooked, or burned, or was still frozen, no disaster, as my father had tried to lead us to believe.
After a big feast of what my mother called an unnecessary number of vegetables. We took a break from the table to take a walk and enjoy the practically perfect weather. The best part about the farm is that where ever we walk if there is anyone else around they are probably related to me. I got to see all my cousins and all their children. The best line of the day came from eight year old Sam who asked who Russ was, and his ten year old cousin Eva said, “Carter’s dad.” Carter as the oldest cousin of her generation is like a celebrity so Sam nodded that Russ was fine as long as he was with Carter.
Our walk was not long enough to counteract the dessert damage we went back to the table to do. Kelly made a pastry chef quality white chocolate cheese cake and Carter had made Pecan crack pies. Only my father did not indulge. So while the rest of us were in a sugar coma my father started to question Adam about the recent school fall formal. Adam was a very good sport about taking my father’s dating advice, not that he is actually taking it, but he listened intently while all the parents of teenagers at the table worried what he might suggest next.
In the end it was a fun day and the best part for me is I missed the only bad thing that happened when my father dropped pan of leftover creamed onions on the floor. If that is the only disaster at a family Thanksgiving then I consider it a success. I hope yours was too and we all have a lot to be thankful for.
Nice Bones
Posted: November 25, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment 
One of my favorite things to watch on TV are home renovation shows when they take old houses and redo them. A common phrase you here over and over again when the decorating experts are looking at horrible looking houses is, “Yes, but it has nice bones.” When Russ and I first looked at our house I was video taping us walking around the house because we thought we might buy it and wanted to show our parents. When we got to the furnace room and Russ, an electrical engineer by training, opened the door, I caught him on tape mumbling to himself, “nice panel” as he checked out the electric system. I just got our old furniture recovered and was happy that I had bought good upholstered furniture twenty years ago because it has, “nice frames” and could be recovered well.
Today I took Carter to the oral surgeon for a consult on her getting her wisdom teeth out. They took a 360 degree X-ray of her head so we could look at all her teeth. One of the shots they showed us was of her jaw line and cheek bones. We were very interested in seeing what was under her skin and the nurse said, “beautiful chin, mouth and cheek bones.”
It gave me an appreciation for good bones that are the super structure of what everything else is hung on. We can change the outside or superficial stuff, but we can’t change the bones, at least not easily. Looking at the X-rays in all the various angles is like looking at the potential. Everything else can be changed.
The hardest thing for most people is seeing the possibilities. This is why so many realtors make people paint their houses neutral colors when they put it on the market. Most people can’t see past someone’s Victorian wall paper that is not their taste to the bones of a room and see how they can make it their own.
I have a friend who gained a little weight a few years ago and said to me recently that she is resigned that now she will always be this heavy, even though she is unhappy about it. I am the first person to say that what you are on the outside is no way what you have to be forever. I know this from both the up and the down direction. I wish I had a full body X-ray for my friend to show her what her bones look like because that is the limit of what her body can be. The outside drape is up to her.
I am not suggesting that any of us should, get close to our skeletal selves, that is another kind of scary. Just that we all start with the nice bones we are born with and can build from there. It is not all about what people can see either. Like Russ admiring the electrical panel, it is the works that make us go and having a good internal system makes life easier.
So I appreciate all my insides I can not see and take for granted. The outside that I obsess about can be changed, both for the better and the worse if I am not careful. Like my furniture I can be recovered as long as the super structure is in good shape. In this season of gratitude I am thankful for “nice bones” and keeping them healthy.
Setting Goals
Posted: November 24, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment 
Four weeks ago my decorator asked me why I did not have any needlepoint pillows that I had done. I could not use the need for Christmas ornaments as a real excuse given that I probably have many multiples of a thousand ornaments. Since I was going to be needing a bunch of new pillows on my redone sofas I decided I would park needlepointing tiny Santas and sparkly snowmen and work on a big pillow.
I chose a bold bunny head as my first big project. The last time I had done a needlepoint project this big I was in middle school and I think it took me half a year to complete. I was unsure about how long it would really take me to do a 13 inch square canvas, but I did know that I did not want to look at the same thing for six months. One of the reasons I liked doing ornaments is that I could finish them before I tired of them.
I also am a person who likes to work toward a goal, so I decided I wanted to finish my bunny canvas in four weeks. I had no idea how unrealistic a goal it was. I started stitching and thanks to lots of basketball games and some rainy weekends I kept up a good pace. It was looking doubtful when I ran out of white yarn on Sunday night and the needlepoint store is closed on Sunday and Monday. But then a miracle happened when I found another skein of the exact yarn in my stash. Thanks to miracles I finished my bunny this morning right on the four week dot.
Looking back I did not forgo any real work, like cooking dinner or doing the laundry in order to needlepoint. I just worked at every available moment and I met my goal. Now I need to use the same discipline for making a pillow to other goals in my life. If I could stick to my diet as well as I can needlepoint or exercise with the same gusto I would be very happy. I guess the difference is that I can do almost anything for four weeks, after that I need a break. For now it’s back to ornaments, it is almost Christmas after all and it is the only time that people don’t ask me why I am working on an ornament so early.
Why You Need A Decorator
Posted: November 23, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
Twenty years ago when Russ and I put the addition on our house I went to High Point, the mecca of furniture in America and bought furniture for our “gathering room,” as our architect called it. I had a lot of space to fill up so the most important attribute of the furniture was that it was big. We also were big so we bought furniture that was comfortable for our sizes. The sofas were bigger than a twin bed so that Russ would have a comfortable place to pass out.
The years have gone by and the furniture got more and more dated as well as faded, but Carter was of the age that I did not want to have to worry about what she and her friends might do to the fabrics. After a while I just stopped going in the gathering room because the furniture made me sad.
After Russ convinced me to refinish the floors in the old part of the house I started to take a closer look at other things. The balloon shades in the living room were really starting to bug me. The country chandelier in the breakfast room was much too 80’s. But mostly the old faded gathering room furniture needed to be recovered.
I looked at my budget and decided that if ever there was a time to redecorate it was before Carter went to college. I thought for about a minute of trying to do this job on my own, but the idea of finding the right fabrics and trims as well as a qualified upholsterer made me a little crazy. So I called my old friend and decorator Lane Blank, which was the smartest thing I could have done.
In less than a month we had picked out the new fabrics and she had my furniture whisked away and returned to me all recovered. Not only did everything get new fabric, but also old chairs got rebuilt and the twin sofas the size of twin beds got new cushions made for them so they no longer relied on pillows as the back cushions. We still need new pillows and window coverings, but those will not be far behind. I am happy as can be in my newly done room, which never could have happened so painlessly without Lane. It does not cost more to use a professional and everything gets done perfectly and quickly.
Now I am eyeing the kitchen. I think I will have to wait until next year to see what my budget can handle, but maybe painted cabinets and new pulls are in my future. For now I think I am going to hang out in the gathering room.
Too Old To Stay Up Late
Posted: November 22, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
I have long been an advocate for people waiting to have children until they were absolutely certain they were not a child themselves. Of course that would prevent many people from ever having children, so I hope that at least one parent is grown up enough to be the actual parent. I married a man who was old when he was young so he was never at risk for being a child father. I was ridiculously old by the time I actually became a mother, so I followed my own rule.
Being an old mother paid off in those early years. I no longer felt the need to go out to parties and stay out so late when Carter was a baby. It was not the staying out late that would be the problem but the getting up early when the baby woke up.
I knew this situation well from my own childhood. My parents often had trouble getting baby sitters because they liked to stay out late and party. At age five I was good at getting myself up on Saturday morning and making my own breakfast in a quite way so I did not wake my sleeping parents. I was not so good at doing anything for my one-year-old sister who had to just stay in her crib. That is when I discovered the joy of riding my bike into the center of town to escape any baby responsibility.
Now I am rethinking my late arrival into motherhood. Not because I wish I could stay out late, but because now at my advanced age it is harder and harder on me to stay up late enough to make sure my teenager gets home safely. Last night Carter went to the fall formal and was having two friends to spend the night afterwards. Since they all can drive now I had to stay up late enough for them all to individually get here. Of course they did, but I have been a wreck all day from my late night.
I guess this is why humans are built to have children young. Not just so we can chase toddlers around, but so we can keep up with our kids when they are teenagers. My parents did not have to go through this since we all went to boarding school. Ignorance is blissful to an aging parent.
Happy Basketball Day
Posted: November 21, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment 
There are no endorphins like the ones you get when you win a basketball tournament. Not that I would know personally since I never was on a basketball team, but seeing Carter and her happy teammates conquer the Cannon Classic this afternoon with a decisive win of 60-19 over the Metrolina team proved to me that hard work makes people happy.
When we first got the basketball schedule Carter was a little unhappy that this tournament was happening on the fall formal weekend. Her team left school yesterday to play in the first game and if they won they would play for the championship today at 2:00, meaning she would miss all the fun pre-formal festivities. Russ and I did not go to the first game where the girls had a decisive win. As we were driving to Concord, NC today Carter texted that she was nervous that this team they were playing today was good. Nerves are a good thing in this case.
I’m not sure if Metrolina was not playing their best, or our girls were playing exceptionally well, but there was nothing for Carter to be nervous about. Captain and all around fantastic person Liz Roberts broke the DA school scoring record for both men’s and women’s in the Friday game. She did not let up in this game and continued her consistent strong showing.
Sophomore Issy Strigel was on fire today making 30 points, most of them 3’s. Her decisive play gained her a large following of new fans from other schools and their parents. One boy’s team from another school started cheering for her every time she got the ball and were on their feet cheering with each impressive three point shot she made from well beyond the arch. I think those boys stood up and cheered more than the DA parents. Issy is going to give Liz a run for her money in most points scored by any student in their career.
All the girls on the team got time on the court and non-starters contributed to the win. Carter had an opponent who matched her in size and she held her back through the game. In the end coach Krista was instructing Carter on how to fall over more quickly when blocking. Falling is something we have always tried to keep Carter from doing since she is prone to injury, but now it’s time to learn to fall purposely.
Thanks to the mercy rule the clock never stopped in the fourth quarter which helped speed the end of the game. Three of our players, Liz Roberts, Issy Strigel and Serena Walker were awarded all tournament team player awards. After the trophy was given to the happy team we headed to the car to whisk Carter back to Durham. The great mood lasted the whole way home and she changed for the dance and ran off to meet her crew at dinner. I hope that tourney high lasts all night.
Where’s The Wedge Salad?
Posted: November 20, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentRuss is a member of a group that has parties. Not that Russ likes parties so much — he does it for me. For years this group has had the same menu at the same party at the same place with pretty much the same people. I know that sounds a little boring, but you don’t know how good it is until something gets changed.
All day my mouth was getting ready for a wedge salad, beef tenderloin and roast potatoes. It was like clock work you could depend on it. I always got a big glop of horseradish with my tenderloin and so did Russ, which made him very happy. Now on any given Friday Russ is not happy to have to go to a party. He has woken up everyday at four thirty or five and worked until ten so Fridays are the pass out early night. Telling him that he has to put on a coat and tie and stand up talking to people is not his favorite thing.
To ease his pain I reminded him of the standard menu and promised we would only talk a little, eat fast and get home early. Luckily right as we arrived we ran into our friends Dave and Dave who also are happy to stand in one place and talk to each other and Russ.
All was going fine on the promised plan for the evening until it came time for the buffet dinner. The menu had been drastically changed and not one of the original beloved menu items appeared. No wedge, or salad of any kind, no beef, no horseradish. The replacement items were not a hit amongst our table. Now I am not sure how I am ever going to get Russ to go back to this party when he says that the week-old leftovers I our fridge are so much better, plus he does not have to wear a coat and tie to eat them. I bet I could get Dave and Dave to come over and bring their wives and we could just have our own party. There is nothing easier to make than a wedge salad and a tenderloin.
Chicken Breast As Crust Pizza
Posted: November 19, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment 
When I was in seventh grade and took the home ec/shop rotation class where I really loved the sewing quarter, wood shop quarter and metal shop quarter. The cooking quarter was the lamest class ever. One of the things we concentrated on was making pizza with different items as the crust, such as English muffins or refrigerator biscuits flattened out. The cooking class felt more like survival class if you only have a seven eleven convenience store to buy your food.
Today before Carter went to bball practice I told her we were having salmon for dinner. In true fashion she begged me to make her something different for dinner. I have no problem letting people in my house eat something different for dinner as long as They chose from the large larder of leftovers in the fridge. So I listed Carter’s other choices. “No, no, no,” were her replies to each item.
The thing I really hate is thinking up new foods at the last minute. “What do you want?” I asked thinking the request would be something I don’t have or very unhealthy or both.
“Can you make me that Pizza with the chicken breast as the crust?” What? Easy, fast, healthy and foods on hand. I quickly answered yes before she could come up with a different idea.
So this pizza is really a variation on the seventh grade home ec cooking rotation. Something improvised to make a crust to put some pizza sauce and cheese on top. In this case it is a chicken breast that is pounded very thin between two pieces of wax paper.
1 boneless skinless chicken breast- pounded out to be 1/4 thick
Garlic powder
Oregano
Salt and pepper
Pizza or spaghetti sauce
Grated cheese- I used the 5 cheese Italian blend
Spray a non stick fry pan with Pam and put on high heat. Sprinkle one side of the breast with spices and put the spice side down in the hot pan. Cook on one side for about three minutes until browned, while it is cooking sprinkle spices on the top side.
Flip the breast and cook on the other side until the whole thing is cooked.
Turn on the broiler in the oven.
Place the cooked chicken breast on a cookie sheet and spoon just enough sauce to cover the top like you would if you were saucing a pizza. Sprinkle with as much cheese as you like. Place the cookie sheet under the broiler at least five inches from the heat. Watch the chicken and take it out when the cheese has melted – it should only be about a minute or two.
The chicken breast makes a much better crust than a refrigerator biscuit ever did.
Doggie Dental Day
Posted: November 18, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment 
Today I went to pick Shay Shay up from the vet where she was having her teeth cleaned. I’m telling you that is the most expensive job I have ever seen. Now I understand cleaning a dog’s teeth in a way like a human could not be possible because no dog would ever hold their mouth open all by themselves and the potential to get bitten is great, so of course sedation is needed. But after paying the bill I am going to do everything possible to keep Shay’s teeth pearly white.
My doc gave us a “before and after” picture of Shay’s teeth and it was nice to see the difference, but I could have done without seeing the breathing tube that was down her throat. Poor girl is worn out now and is just lying on the bed looking at me with the accusatory, “you did this to me,” or at the least, “you drove me to this.”
I know that Shay was not feeling herself when I picked her up because there was a big cage of six Cumberland Spaniel puppies being rolled out to their car who she practically ignored. They were giant white fluff balls who had the look of my favorite cartoon dog– the fat puppy in 101 Dalmatians who says, “But mother, I’m hungry.” Normally Shay would have wanted to say hello to such a fun looking crowd, but not today. She did not even attempt to ride home in my lap. So sad, and to think I did this to her. It does me no good to tell her that she will thank me later in life when she still has her teeth without any painful abscesses.
I just hope that her dog memory is short and when she wakes up in the morning she is back to being her happy, I-love-everyone self. For now I must baby her and make her feel she is those important dog in the world, which of course she is to me.
Let’s Meet Terrorism With Love Not Hate
Posted: November 17, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized 3 CommentsWhenever anyone I know starts a sentence, “I’m not going to talk politics, but…” I take that as code for “I am about to say something I know you will disagree with, but I am going to talk about it anyway.” I think one of the problems in our world today is that we all live in our own silos of beliefs and reenforce them by watching news that is already one sided. I am happy to have civil discussions with people of different beliefs so we all can learn some balance.
This blog is not usually political, and I am not changing my focus from diet comedy to world politics, but once in a while I am pushed to voice my opinion even though plenty of people I know disagree. The recent events in Paris were horrific and on that most of us can agree, as long as I don’t have any Isis sleeper cells as readers. What I am worried about now is the quick reaction of some Governors, mine in particular, to say that we should close our state to refugees fleeing the terrorism in their homeland.
I would like for us to consider that the best possible way to fight terrorism is with love not hate. If we turn our backs on innocent people who are suffering at the hands of a few fanatics aren’t we inviting their children to become terrorists in the future? Isn’t the long term solution to treat people with kindness and compassion today and build up people who are thankful and devoted down the road?
Yes, there is a small chance that we might let a potential terrorist into our home, but if when they get here if we have shown them great love might we change the outcome? Those of us who were born in the US, France, or England were lucky, and it is just luck that you were born to the parents you have or the race you are. If our child was born in Syria wouldn’t we do everything possible to get them to a better place?
I know I am not going to change the view of all people who want to close our borders, but please consider how taking a really long range view and try and solve the terrorism issue in a whole new way. Terrorist are created because they hate us. Let’s not meet hate with hate, but with love. If we can do that we will dramatically cut down on the number of people who feel disenfranchised and hopeless and are willing to lose their own life because they hate us so much.
There will always be radicals, but let’s not create a culture where people want to follow those radicals because they have nothing to lose. One radical can only do so much, but one with an army of people willing to follow is a problem. We have not solved the issues with a military solution so I am suggesting we work on a kindness campaign and start with the refugees. No one can vet every potential hazard so let’s go on faith and treat people how we wish to be treated if we were in the same situation. I’m voting for love to win.
Lame Blog
Posted: November 16, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 CommentOh yeah, I forgot I write a daily blog. Operative word being daily. You would think that after three and a half years it would not slip my mind. So hear I am at eleven at night and it just dawns on me that I have not written anything today.
I had a normal day. Work out with my trainer and a visit with a friend who just lost her father. Some chores around the house. Off to Raleigh to have lunch with a Food Bank donor so I could solicit a nice gift from him. Back to Durham, errands, groceries so I could actually make dinner. Cooking, dog walking, needlepoint, giving Carter a snack before b-ball practice, then off to parents college night at school. Back home for a late dinner of the meatloaf I made.
No wonder I forgot about the blog. All I can think about is college night. So the info in the blog today will be thin, but good. Just a little hint about a new ingredient I added to my half ground turkey, half beef meatloaf. I put a half a cup of hoagie spread, which is just a jared cherry pepper relish. I always cook some onions, carrots and green peppers to fill out the meat loaf, but the hoagie spread gave it a big kick.
Hopefully tomorrow I will be a little less forgetful and write something before I am just too exhausted to think, let alone write. I guess my sometimers is showing, but if I post a lame blog, once a year I hope you will forgive me. Good night sweet readers.
All Basketball, All Sitting, All Weekend
Posted: November 15, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment 
Carter had a basketball game Friday night and one Saturday morning and her team is off to a good start to the season. Since I was already sitting in the DA bleachers needlepointing between plays I stayed and watched the boys games too. That makes four games in an eighteen hour period. I wish that cheering and praying for good plays counted as exercise for me. It makes my heart race, but I don’t think it actually burns any extra calories. It was a lot of sitting.
During the half time of the boys game Mr. Engebretsen, the director of athletics, swept the whole court with one of those giant push brooms. It was not something done during the half of the girls game, perhaps because they might not sweat on the court as much as the boys do. Nevertheless it seems like I should volunteer to be the court sweeper so I can at least get some steps when the kids are not on the court. I am not saying that the girls are not getting the same cleanliness as the boys since they play first and dirty up the court first, but I am happy to take a break from needlepointing between halves and games and sweep the court.
As if I did not get enough b-ball with the four high school games, Russ and I accepted an invitation to go to the Carolina game with our friends the Toms this afternoon. Not to embarrass our host I did not bring any needlepoint. The game between number one ranked UNC and the unranked Fairfield University should have been lopsided, but it was not until the end. Fairfield held their own through much of the game, much to the dismay of coach Williams.
Men’s college ball is a different animal than high school girls, but I have to say one is not necessarily more exciting than the other. The only thing that is the same is the lack of exercise for me as a spectator. I wonder if the Dean Dome would consider putting in some exercise bikes that spectators would ride to help power the stadium. I know that I did not pay for my ticket, but I would consider paying extra if I could exercise while watching. I know that all that nervous energy I generate when the game is close or the officiating is bad could be put to better use. What about a stair step section? They could be “green seats” that power the game.
It’s just the start of basketball season and I need to come up with a plan to combat bleacher spread. I am open to suggestions, but I am calling that broom at DA mine right now.
Fennel Soup in the French Style
Posted: November 14, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment 
We all were horrified bout the killings in Paris yesterday. As I sat at Carter’s basketball game, Russ was updating me with the terrible news coming from the city we love. Our hearts go out all French people and anyone affected by these terrorists whose end game I really don’t understand.
I have been a Francophile ever since fifth grade. I lived with a French family when I was in college and although I was there to improve my language the best thing I took away from that experience was improved cooking skills. My French mother would take me to the market with her and since I could hardly speak intelligible sentences to her I would concentrate on learning what the favorite ingredients were she would buy. They were so different than the processed and packaged foods of the 70’s we were having back home.
One thing I first ate in France was fresh fennel bulb. I was not a lover of anything anise or licorice flavor before I had fennel and it was a nice surprise. So tonight in solidarity of the French people I love I made a fennel soup. It was incredibly simple, just using a few ingredients I had on hand. I wanted to make a creamy soup without making it with a lot of cream. To accomplish that I put one small Yukon gold potato in the pot while I cooked the vegetables.
1 T. Olive oil
2 fennel bulbs – tops cut off and bulbs quartered
5 shallots- peeled
4 cloves of garlic -peeled
1 Yukon gold potato – peeled and chopped
1 bunch of fresh thyme – tied with kitchen twine
32 oz. box of chicken stock
3 T. Half and half
Squeeze of lemon juice
Salt and pepper
Put the olive oil in a big stock pot. Add the fennel, shallots, garlic and thyme and cook on medium heat stirring it a couple of times and cook for five minutes. Add the potato and the chicken stock and bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes until every thing is tender.
Remove the thyme bundle and pour the contents of the pot into a blender. Make sure to remove the center of the top of the blender and purée the vegetables. Add the half and half and mix again. Taste and add the right amount of salt and lots of black pepper and the lemon juice.
Try and not eat the whole pot while standing at the blender.
Viva la France.
The Christmas Snooper
Posted: November 13, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment 
When I about seven years old I did the worst thing a kid can do, I snooped in the closets and found the Christmas presents. My innocence was lost, if you know what I mean. Because of my much too young age to lose the magic of Christmas I always did a superior job of hiding presents from Carter.
One year when she was full on into the American girl doll stage I had all her gifts delivered to my friend Sally’s house where I knew there was no possibility of a snooping discovery. As far as I know she did not discover gifts before any holiday or actually even look for them.
As Carter has gotten older I have gotten a lot more lax about where I leave bags of gifts since she has never shown any peeking tendencies and quite frankly she already knows all the secrets. This week I went to a local store and bought a few things for Christmas as well as a couple of house hold items just for me. I brought the bags in my office and left them on a chair. There was no hurry to wrap or hide anything so I thought everything’s was safe where it was.
Later in the day I went upstairs to my bedroom where I found Shay playing with some of her stuffed animals on my bed. No matter how hard we try to keep all of Shay’s loveys in her big basket in the sunroom inevitably she carries one or two into Russ’ office or our bedroom so she can play with them while snuggling with us.
As I entered the bedroom Shay looked up at me with a guilty sort of look. Now, long ago we gave up on any idea of keep Shay off the furniture, so being on the bed as not a reason to look guilty. I looked at her surrounded by various stuffed toys, some without an arm or leg, most certainly without a squeaker. I looked a little closer and notice a pice tag off to the side and upon further investigation noticed that one of the toys she had was a brand new I had just purchased for Christmas.
Apparently Shay is a Christmas snooper and I never knew it. How she knew there was a toy for her amongst the other gifts, socks and wash cloths I will never know. It did not come from a pet store, so it could not be that it had that pet store smell. She is not normally so nosy with bags I bring in the house.
I went down to my office to see if she had torn anything else part and the bags sat innocently undisturbed looking. If she had just ripped the tag off and thrown it away I probably never would have noticed that she had pre-gifted herself a toy. I wonder if she inherited this snooping ability from me?
Welcome to My Decade Hannah
Posted: November 12, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment 
Yesterday was my friend Hannah’s birthday so we celebrated today with a lunch, our favorite method for recognizing the accomplishment of reaching a new year. For the longest time most of my friends were older than me. When Carter was in pre-school she used to ask me why I was friends with all the Grandmothers.
As Carter got older I started to become friends with her friend’s mother who almost universally were younger than me. It was a nice balance to my world. In essence Hannah and I were forced together when our daughters announced at pre-k pick up that they wanted a play date. I introduced myself to Carter’s new found friend Campbell’s mother who had a brand new baby, which put her in the young category. As fast as Carter and Campbell became friends so did her mother Hannah and I. That was almost thirteen years ago.
When we met Hannah was still in her thirties but I was already in my forties. Although we are actually only about fours years apart they seemed like longer years back then. Hannah was a young and athletic thirty and I was a haggard and out of shape forty. Today Hannah is still young, in shape and athletic, but I am not as bad as I was then.
The difference now is that four years as a percentage of our age is less significant as we have gotten older. And even though Hannah has not yet had to succumb to readers or compression hose she is at least in my decade now. Welcome to my favorite time of life, dear friend, except for the having a high school junior part. It’s great to have a friend who has been with me through all the school years. I am thankful our daughters picked each other out that first month of school. I think Carter liked me having a young friend which you always I’ll be.
Back to Basketball
Posted: November 11, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment 
Tonight was the first game of the girls Varsity Basketball season. The familiar faces of fellow parent gathered in our center rows of the bleachers. Russ texted me that he was on his way and to save him a seat. That was not a difficult job since he he his choice of over five hundred empty seats.
A girls Wednesday night game at the beginning of the season is not a big draw, but it should have been. The team of eight returning players and three new girls played a beautiful game with a big 45 point first half. The team work was extraordinary especially for a team who has only had four real practices.
The game ended with a 66 to 46 win for the Durham Academy girls. Carter contributed in her defensive way. One girl should have been more afraid of trying to take the ball from her and ended up throwing herself on the ground as Carter held tight to the ball while shaking the girl around. Only four fouls seemed like a good night for Carter. After the game she protested to me that the third foul should never have been called on her since the opponent actual bit Carter on the arm. I guess that is what could happen if you put your arm in her face.
I love basketball season even if it is nerve racking as a parent. I love cheering for the team. Seeing the great improvement in their skills and communication. I am thrilled that every girl got to play today. I was unsure of exactly how the chemistry was going to be since one of our best seniors is not playing this year. She committed today to run track for Dartmouth and does not want to risk any injury, which is understandable, but I miss her and her mother in the stands with us.
Even without one of the best players the team came together is a nice way to start the season with a decisive win. I hope that the obvious improvement continues throughout the season. It’s nice to be back with the basketball family.
Sun At Last
Posted: November 10, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment 
For the whole month of November it has rained most everyday. It feels like it rained all day and night everyday. In the last ninety days we have gotten thirty percent more rain than usual. Now I am not complaining about rain because we have had droughts that are way worse, but I will say that ten days without sun has been tough.
The real problem with all this rain is that my princess puppy Shay Shay does not like to walk in the rain. She does not like the rain to fall on her back so I cover her with an umbrella to go to go potty. She does not like her paws to get wet, so we go out in the gravel driveway so she does not have to stand ankle deep in wet grass. Her “holding it” power is extraordinary. We put her leash on and drag her to the door where she stands hard and pulls back into the house as she sniffs the rain filled air.
This morning I woke up to hear the rain falling outside the window by my head. Shay was asleep snuggled up next to me. My stirring woke her. How dare I wake a sleeping baby. She lifted her drowsy head and listened to the rain. She gave me a big sigh and went right back to sleep knowing that she was not going anywhere as long as it was still raining.
But then later in the morning the rain stopped at last. I took Shay outside, but everything was still so wet she hardly would walk more than ten feet from the front door. Finally the sun made an appearance. So this afternoon I was able to convince the princess pup to walk with me to the post office.
She danced in the sunlight like a creature who had been reborn. She peed and pooped with gusto. She pulled me along all the way to the post office as if she were a child going to mail a letter to Santa. She got home and passed out. The exertion after her ten day hibernation practically did her in. Please let the sun come out tomorrow. This dog needs it.
Where Did the Spinach Go?
Posted: November 9, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized 2 CommentsTonight I made. spinach for dinner. Since it is just me and Carter I thought that the big bag of baby spinach would be enough. I piled the whole thing in my biggest skillet and in less than a minute of turning it with tongs it was cooked. It might appear to be a magic trick because the over flowing pan of greens turned into a tiny pile that took up one eighth of the pan. I grated a little fresh nutmeg and salt and peppered it. It was tasty, but it was little.
I know that frozen spinach is the deal of the century, but I really don’t like the big steamy chopped spinach unless I am putting it in a quiche or something similar like a soufflé. To just eat straight I really like baby spinach, but I am afraid my car is not big enough to bring home the raw amount needed.
I guess I could just eat spinach uncooked and then the one big bag would be enough for a meal, but I really don’t love the metallic taste I get in my mouth after chewing raw spinach. Also my teeth feel like they have been coated with some strange lacquer after eating it raw, but cooked never has that same effect.
I am not batting a thousand in my greens cooking this week, between my gritty Swiss chard and disappearing spinach. I am tired of green beans and broccoli and well asparagus has been good, except for the smell when I pee.
I guess I am searching for a brand new green vegetable. Not a starchy one like green peas or fava beans, but one that practically has a negative calorie count. I don’t really like celery, and artichokes are not really in season.
I eat enough arugula everyday at lunch to keep me regular. I just want enough green vegetables to fill two thirds of my dinner plate so I feel like I had an actual meal. The tiny pile of spinach did not fulfill the requirements tonight.
The Grit In Swiss Chard
Posted: November 8, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment 
I bought a beautiful bunch of rainbow Swiss chard at the market today. I was very excited about sautéing it up to have with some spicy lamb meatballs with red pepper sauce and cauliflower purée. Swiss chard is not something Russ normally eats and I was hoping to expand the list of acceptable green vegetables.
I unwrapped the giant dark green leaves with bright yellow or hot pink stems.i methodically washed each one and shook them dry. I pulled the tough stems away from the level and pulled the leaves on top of each other and rolled the piles into cigar like shapes before cutting them into ribbons.
The mistake I made was I should have put the ribbons in the salad spinner and run gallons more water through them, but I skipped that step. I sautéed the Swiss chard and when I took a big fork full the flavor was fantastic, but then as I chewed it I got the tiniest bit of grit between my teeth. Tragedy. There was no way to fix it. Russ was a good sport about it, but I am not sure that I have made any progress with expanding the green vegetable list.
Sautéed Swiss Chard
1 t. Olive oil
1 shallot minced
Big bunch of Swiss chard, well cleaned and stemmed and chopped
Juice of half a lemon
In a big skillet put the oils the shallot and cook on medium heat for one minute. Add the greens and cook turning it over with tongs for about five minutes until tender.
Salt and squeeze juice over and serve.
The Life Skills List
Posted: November 7, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentSince before Russ and I got married we have had one TV show that we have religiously watched together, This Old House. Russ had been watching it since the beginning of time and brought me into the fold. It never fails to amaze the that even after watching almost 25 years of house renovations done by the TOH professionals I always learn something new. This huge base of home repair and renovation knowledge comes in handy again and again as I am redoing things in our old house.
Since all out furniture is gone out of our playroom being recovered I decided that yesterday and today would be good days to deep clean and seal our floors. It was not a hard job, but one that took time since I had to let areas dry before going on to the next step. As I was mindlessly rubbing floor conditioner into my heart pine floors I got to thinking that I should be teaching Carter how to do this. Of course she was at the barn cleaning out stalls while I was working at home.
I started to make a list in my head of all the life skills I learned before I went off to college that I have not taught Carter how to do. When I was her age I already was a well practiced cook, could sew my own clothes, could drive the tractor and cut the grass, knew how to check the oil in my car, how to do my laundry and how to balance my check book.
Alas, I think I have done a terrible job as a mother by more or less cooking most meals. I know there are a few things Carter can make, but she really should not live off beautifully decorated birthday cakes. As far a sewing goes, I did give Carter a sewing machine one year, but she never caught the bug of designing and sewing any clothes for herself. Crafting also is not her thing, but I don’t consider that an essential life skill.
Since Carter has lived in a house with a yard service her whole life she has absolutely no idea how to take care of the outside space other than to make a phone call. Once in a while she comes out to talk to me when I am gardening, but has shown no interest in learning or helping for that matter. She did learn about getting her oil checked and changed during drivers ed, but so far I don’t think she has practiced it. Laundry was something I taught her about in sixth grade, but frankly until she goes to college I don’t think she is going to master. As for balancing a checkbook, well that is such an old fashioned idea it will never be necessary, but I should at least teach her how to read her credit card bill to ensure it is correct.
I’m fairly sure Carter is not going to have the time to learn home repair one half hour a week for twenty five years, but I do wish she had the knowledge. I guess with you tube videos now people get information on a demand basis and not in the learning for learning’s sake the way that I have.
With all the specialized cable channels today I wish there was one just about basic growing up knowledge. Rather than having to watch the food network for cooking and hgtv for home shows it would be nice to have a channel that explained that you don’t have to throw shoes out if the heel is a little worn, but instead you can take them to the shoe repair man to get them reheeled, or how to sew a button on a shirt, or change the air filters in your house. The list of learning how to be a grown up is so long. I’m worried that Carter is spending so much time learning calculus and no time learning life. I cook everyday, but must admit I can’t remember the last time I used calculus.
Cheese Is Officially Addictive
Posted: November 6, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment 
Last month a study came out announcing that cheese was more addictive than crack. Now for full disclosure I have never done crack, but I certainly believe this study to be true. If I am ever asked what my favorite food is cheese is probably at the top of the list. I could imagine being a vegetarian. One of my college off campus roommates was vegetarian me we ate plenty of cheese laden meals that made me very happy. But the idea of being a vegan is tantamount to cutting off my arm because of the no cheese in vegan world rule.
Now in the healthy eating world cheese is considered a naughty food. Weight Watcher leaders around the country suggest people should eat a laughing cow wedge to satisfy their cheese cravings. Although one of those foil wrapped triangle may be only 30 calories I don’t think they should really be considered cheese, at least not the as-additive-as-crack type of cheese.
The crack type cheeses have at least one of two qualities, big flavor like Parmesan Reggiano or Stilton or ultra creaminess, like triple cream Brie or Burrata. The good thing about them is that even the smallest piece so fills your mouth with happiness that you can satisfy your cheese habit with one small bit a day. The addiction comes in that once you have discovered good cheese you want it everyday.
The crack/cheese study did not go far enough. I put forward the theory that this addiction is not limited solely to humans. Shay is equally addicted to cheese as I am. If I open the cheese drawer in the refrigerator she is quick to ensure she is standing right next to me in a wink. Shay is not a begging type dog, but is really good at giving me the guilt face if I am ever holding any cheese and not sharing it with her.
So to the scientists who are developing things to study, come up with something that is not so much a no-brainier as “cheese is more addictive than crack.” Actually, now that I think about it it was a brilliant way to get to eat as much cheese as you want, since it was for science.
Evening of Appreciation
Posted: November 5, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment 
Yesterday Carter and her Advisory went to do community service at the Food Bank. Coincidentally they were sorting apples from Dana, NC in the Dana Lange volunteer center. Huh, never knew there was a Dana, NC, but according to the map it is east of East Flat Rock which is east of Hendersonville and Henderson is my middle name. Oh the connections never end. Carter took all these connections to me in good humor which I appreciate.
She said that during the sorting someone asked her what in the world I had to do with the Food Bank and why was my picture on the wall. She told me she gave some vague answer and said she was not exactly sure. Board work is such a mystery, which it absolutely should not be.
Anyway tonight I did one of those things for the Food Bank that is unknown to my child. I attended the Evening of Appreciation where we thank large donors and volunteers and honor partner agencies . When I go and meet the people who spend all their time serving the hungry I feel like the little bit of work I do is hardly enough.
Tonight I met a farmer and his wife who not only donate their surplus, but they grow squash, peppers, sweet potatoes and cabbage just to give to us. It is not the second hand food, or the food they could not sell, but crops grown and picked just for the Food Bank. That is incredibly generous and one of the things that makes me proud to be a North Carolinian.
I am happy to do work that is unexplainable and behind the scenes because I know that the people who are out front are doing a spectacular job helping ensure that no one goes hungry. So often people ask me why we need a food bank because it appears that we have so much food. Sadly this is a problem which is fairly hidden because it is just embarrassing to say you can’t afford food. In this season of giving thanks keep in mind that there are many people who will not have a big giant turkey or multiple pies. Don’t feel guilty that you have a nice meal, just be thankful.
Professionals Are Worth It
Posted: November 4, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
In my unplanned quest this year to redo, fix and upgrade parts of our house that we have lived in for 22 years I have now entered the largest phase, redo of the play room and breakfast room. I had no idea at the turn of the new year that I would fix the driveway, refinish the floors, and recover all the furniture, paint and spiff up the biggest room in the house.
The driveway had been plaguing us as with each larger and more ferocious storm more and more of our gravel would wash down the street making a treacherous gulley at the joint of the driveway and the road. So many times I had rolled our giant wheelbarrow with the one leaky tire down the street to shovel gravel from the storm drain and attempt to roll the flat-wheeled barrow up our long hill to fill in our driveway. Then one day I went to garden club and met a speaker who was sent from heaven to fix my driveway. It was easy, all I had to do was make a few decisions and write a check.
Then I went to get my floors done. I hired the best people I could find. Although I had a lot of work to prep the house the actual floor refinishing was perfect and when they turned my house back over to me there was not a spec of dust or a drip of varnish or whatever they covered the floors with anywhere. Paying was becoming favorite way to redo my house.
That brings me to my most recent project. To redo the playroom I had to get the electricians to replace all the ceiling lights, move the cable lines, add electrical outlets which involved getting our old faithful carpenter to remove baseboards and then replace them after the electrical work was done. Since the whole back of the house needed to be painted from the top of the fourteen-foot ceilings to the trim I hired my neighbor’s painters who they have been using for 27 years.
Five men and one woman dressed up as a man showed up at my house yesterday and in the last two days have painted everything with such precision that not a drop of paint is on the floor and the walls are as smooth as a baby’s bottom. Now I can paint and if you watch any DIY shows they always tell the homeowners to paint since it can save you a bunch of money to do it yourself.
But I can’t paint like these steady handed craftsmen from heaven and certainly not with the speed that they can. I also could not balance a ladder on one step while painting the crown molding fourteen feet up. Tomorrow is the last day when they are finishing up painting the kitchen ceiling and the few feet of kitchen walls. This is one check I will be happy to write. Paying to have this big job done so quickly and efficiently is worth every cent. I might be changing my cheep skate ways.
Thanksgiving Marketing Is Too Mouth Watering
Posted: November 3, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment 
So many people I know have started complaining about Christmas decorations and the like being out in stores already. My friend Nancy posted a photo on Facebook of what looks like a giant pallet of candy canes in the middle of a store already.
To me it is not the Christmas that gets me, but the second that Halloween was over my inbox, news feed and seems like every show with the slightest relation to food began talking about the “Thanksgiving meal.” What sides are you preparing? Maybe soup this year is a good idea. How many different pies do you need? What if you don’t like pie? Pumpkin pie spice is good on everything.
I have gotten six different emails from Southern Living alone with photos of stuffing and homemade rolls. All this food marketing is killing me. I don’t need to plan my thanksgiving menu three weeks in advance. Hell, I don’t even get to plan the menu, that is up to my father. I just make what is assigned to me and quite frankly it really doesn’t vary that much from one year to the next. With Thanksgiving food being fairly standard fare I think the full out assault by Thanksgiving food stakeholders is over kill.
Really what would make the most sense to me is for the email and Internet campaigns to be about healthy recipes right now so we could eat all we want at Thanksgiving without so much guilt. This problem might be unique to me, but showing me pictures of stuffing makes me crave it now. I can’t tell you how many times I have made a turkey a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving just because the poultry marketers had gotten to me. This practically ruined Thanksgiving. Part of the joys of a turkey meal is that you really only have it once a year in the full blown pilgrim version.
I normally am not interested in green bean casserole. It was not part of my family tradition, but starting the day after Halloween with the Durkey fried onion ads now it is all I can think about. I’m not sure I have ever eaten a Durkey onion, but I have made homemade fried shallot rings as a garnish on a soup and they are something I could get hooked on, but I mustn’t.
I guess I am going to have to go into a media blackout until maybe the day before Thanksgiving. One days worth of mouth watering ads should be just the right amount to make me appreciate the traditional meal.
The Christmas stuff doesn’t bother me so much because it is more about the decorations and the gifts and not the food. I can put up with Holiday music in stores, it does not make me fatter, but pumpkin spice everything is a killer.
Standard Eating Time and Eating Savings Time
Posted: November 2, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment 
Well the best night of the year came this weekend, when we all fell back into standard time and got an extra hour of sleep. That hour is really a short lived bonus to take our minds off the fact that we now are plunged into darkness much earlier in the afternoon. This year it was hard to tell since it has been dark and rainy ever since we reentered standard time.
Don’t get me wrong, as a professional sleeper I love an extra hour of sleep, my real issue is what the movement of the clock does to my stomach. I normally would love to eat dinner on the early side so when we fall back early does not even describe the hour that I want dinner. My stomach starts looking for supper around three o’clock which is not even in the “early bird” time zone for senior citizens at the K & W cafeteria.
This makes little sense since I slept longer and ate a later breakfast, had lunch a little later too, but something about the setting sun, or allusion of night coming makes me think, “time for dinner!” If this is what happens at standard time you would think that when we spring ahead into daylight savings time I might forget to eat. This is not a Disney fantasy movie and we are talking about me.
But seriously, in the spring when we set the clocks forward you would think that I could change my dinner time from seven to eight since technically to my stomach that is the real time. No, when we spring forward I am hungry earlier too. What is the story?
Seems like any messing with my regular routine throws me into a tizzy where my body’s way of dealing with it is to increase my hunger level. Not good body. I have enough trouble with cravings and over eating. I wonder if there is a way I can live on one time all year and ignore changing the clocks? Unfortunately most of the clocks in my life are automated and changed themselves. Darn you Apple automation, you are making me hungrier.
Pork Report
Posted: November 1, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment 
This summer on a trip to Kinston to eat at the Chef and the Farmer Russ and I stopped at the Nahunta Pork Center with our friends Chuck and Karen. I had always been enticed by the bill boards on the highway touting “largest pork display.” Even though the giant pork store was a little off the route home the offerings did not disappoint me in their variety and price. I came home with a cooler full of unusual pork off go and put almost all of them in the freezer.
No matter what my good intentions are when I freeze food I am not that good about remembering I have it and thawing it in time to use it. Tonight had our old friends Lane and Jon for dinner. Since I was doing my menu planning on Saturday in time for Russ to go to the farmers market I had time to take one of my pork items out of the freezer and let it thaw in time to serve it tonight.
I had bought a fully cooked smoked park roast at Nahunta that ran something like $3.00 a pound. Since I usually buy smoked pork chops at the farmers market for something like $12 a pound I was very interested in the difference.
When I opened the Nahunta product I was very impressed with how well packaged it was, as I unwrapped it from it’s three layers of plastic. I took out my butchers knife in preparation for cutting the roast into chops and was surprised to find that the cutting was almost completely done for me.
I heated up a large cast iron skillet and lay the smoked chops in the pan to just heat them through and get a little browning on the side. I served the chops with a fig, dried cherry and pear chutney I made earlier in the day. I ate my pork unadulterated so I could judge the flavor of the meat on its own. I give it two very enthusiastic thumbs up. It was a hit at the dinner table. The price was hard to beat and it was not at all hurt by months in my freezer.
I think I may have to make a trip back to Nahunta to buy my Christmas presents. I guess I won’t be able to get my Jewish friends holiday gifts there. I wonder if there is a smoked fish outlet anywhere nearby?
Nothing Spooky Here
Posted: October 31, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment 
I’m not one for scary Halloween stuff. I never liked haunted houses or slasher movies. I’m much more to cleaver or cute Halloween costumes. I remember one year when our club had a Halloween party and I was too tired to come up with a costume. As I looked around my very messy bedroom for inspiration at the last minute it came to me. I took a plastic laundry basket and cut a hole out of the bottom that was big enough to fit over my body. I tied some sneakers and slippers to the sides of the basket and draped people magazines and some laundry over it. When I got to the party with my basket full of crap around my body I told the costume judge I was there as my bedroom floor. I won the contest.
When Carter came around I used her as my costume model. Thinking up and making costumes was something I did for months before Halloween. For Carter’s first Halloween as a non-walker I made her a dragon fly costume which was comfy enough to wear in the jogging stroller. Her second Halloween she was a garden, a soft sculpture version that she wore like a smock, her third year a scrapbook made out of cloth with real photos of her life printed on the material.
Carter’s fourth Halloween she wanted to have input and requested to be a bride. That was the year she had an invisible husband as well as a boy in nursery school who asked her to marry him. When she told me that Conner had asked her at school one day I asked her what she said in reply to his proposal. “What could I say? He asked me right in front of my husband.”
The years of my having any say in her costumes is long past. This year she has had two, a school girl with her friends and “Oh dear.” With her face made up as a deer and a shirt that says OH on it. It is much better than the combination I would have come up with for a shirt that said, “OH.” Of course I don’t know how to make an “OH S#%?” costume.
This Used To Be Mischievous Night
Posted: October 30, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentWhen I was a kid the night before Halloween was called mischievous night. In my very homogeneous town of Wilton, Connecticut that usually meant that some kids would TP the trees in the house of the most crotchety person in a neighborhood, of throw an egg at someone’s house, but nothing more than that. I always wondered whose parents let them go out on the eve of Halloween because it certainly meant they were up to no good.
The draping of trees in toilet paper might have just been considered harmless, but it seemed like a royal pain to me. I can not imagine trying to clean up multiple rolls out of a tree where I certainly could not reach the branches. Most people had to wait until the rain washed the paper from the things and then go pick up bit of soggy paper from their lawn. And eggs can really do some damage to paint job if not washed off immediately. How were these things condoned with a night dedicated to them?
This is one tradition I am glad has disappeared. I might be the crotchety old neighbor now. I have the perfect trees to be TP’d with long twiggy branches and good street visibility.
The whole “trick or treat” mentality is just wrong. Why on Halloween do we tell children to basically threaten their neighbors into giving up candy, and good candy, under the threat of having a trick played on them if they do not?
We will be giving out candy tomorrow night until it is time to go out to dinner, then Carter will take over. I know she wants to go out with friends at some point. This is when I wish had a Harry Potter invisibility cloak we could drape over the house. I am happy to give candy out to little children early in the evening, but I would like to black the house out and not encourage anyone to come up our walkway and not find us home. Am I tempting a trick?
What is a person to do when Halloween falls on a Saturday? Must we give up a fun invitation out just to stay home and protect our house? I hope not. What I really hope is that most kids have no idea what’s mischievous night was and that they are ill equipped to follow through on the trick part of trick or treating. I really don’t want to have to repaint anything because I discover too late an egg has been thrown at the house.
Spice Girl
Posted: October 29, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment 
I brought some soup to a friend who asked me for the recipe. When I gave it to her she called me after she had made it, “My soup tastes nothing like yours.” Now I am not a perfect recipe writer because I am not a cook who measures as I cook so I am guessing at amounts when I write after the cooking and tasting are done.
I was concerned that I might had been so off in my writing so I quizzed my friend. “Did you add this? Or that?” I asked. “Did you cook it long enough?” “Did you add lemon juice or vinegar at the end?” I got satisfactory answers to all those things. I looked back at the recipe which was my Senegalese Stew. It has a lot of spices in it. Then it dawned on my why it might not have tasted anything like mine.
“How old are your curry powder, coriander and cumin?” I asked.
“Old? I have no idea I’ve had them in my pantry forever.”
Ding, ding, ding. This is the problem with so many people’s cooking. Spices get old much faster than most people use them up. I bet only one in one hundred of the people who read this blog throw away a spice bottle that has anything still in the bottle, let alone date your bottles so you know when it first was opened.
Spices may seem expensive, but consider how expensive it is to ruin perfectly good food by using old spices. They lose their potency so if you are really opposed to throwing away a jar of paprika that is five years old you have to make up for it by using much more than the recipe calls for. But it is not a one for one trade that for each year over the spoil date you have to double the amount. Some spices just get an “off” taste, especially if they have gotten warm by being in sunlight or by the oven.
I hate to have to write on every recipe “make sure you are using fresh spices,” but I feel like I should. Today I went to the Penzeys spice store in Raleigh and bought a bunch of my favorite and most used herbs and spices since day light savings time brings on the savory cooking and spicy baking season. I tend to stay away from spice blends and rather buy basics that I can mix together as needed. It is much cheaper to buy the bags and put them in my own jars, but if you don’t cook that much just buy the smallest jar available and use it all up quickly.
An investment in $4 worth of spices is money well spent when you consider you might spend $20 on the meat and $15 on the vegetables that go into a recipe.
If you are somewhat of a spice virgin these are my go to favorites in the order of most use at our house; salt, black pepper, cumin, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, coriander, curry, basil, rosemary, dry mustard, white pepper, tarragon and marjoram. I have many, many others, but they get used at a much less frequent rate. If you have the ones I listed you will be covered for the majority of recipes you might find. Of course if you want to make dill potato salad you need dill, or some stewed German pork you might need caraway seed, but things like that can be purchased at time of use.
The best thing you can do is make a dish based around a spice you already own. Search the Internet by the spice and you will get a list of things where it is in the ingredient list. It will expand your cooking repertoire dramatically and not waste your good spices. The best thing you can do this weekend is open your spice jars and take a big sniff. If the smell is not very strong it is probably time to replace it. If it is something you only used once then you don’t need to buy it again. Just don’t ruin perfectly good meet and vegetables, or an apple pie by using the old spices.
Make Your Own Wishes Come True
Posted: October 28, 2015 Filed under: Diet- comedy Leave a comment
The other day someone said to me that if they had three wishes they would use one of them to get skinny and the other to have a better metabolism and the third had nothing to do with losing weight. I think that for many years in my life I had those same wishes.
I am not sure when I stopped wishing for wishes and actually making my wishes come true, but it was a long process that was not a straight line. Realizing that I was the key to succeeding at something that seemed only possible through magic was a real game changer.
I am not blessed with a fast metabolism. If I were born three hundred years ago it would be a positive because I could survive a famine, drought or long cold winter, but in today’s food everywhere culture it is a curse. What a terrible first world problem to complain about.
I am not here to pat myself on the back for losing weight. I have done it multiple times which means I have gained it back in between. What I have learned is that every time I tackled my weight and set it as a goal I was able to magically lose it, thus having one of my wishes come true. Once I had succeeded at fulfilling my own wish I realized that I could make anything happen I wanted.
Now I have never wished to have more money than I needed, since I hardly know anyone with unlimited funds who is truly happy. I never wished to be taller or to have smaller feet, things that would have to be a miracle to happen. On the other hand I have wished to help end hunger and have seen that happen more and more in our community.
I am no super power. I am just like everyone else. So I want to encourage anyone with a wish that is even slightly within your own sphere of influence to stop wishing for it and instead work for it. Attaining the goal of your wish is the most empowering thing you can do. Once you cross off that accomplishment off your list you feel the I-can-do-anything power that is already in you. That is the secret of the three wishes.
We All Want Our Lovey When We Are Sick
Posted: October 27, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentOn Sunday morning I was awoken at 5:30 by the terrible sound of Shay Shay about to throw up on my bed. I was able to grab a towel nearby and catch most of the sickly yellow bile. (Sorry if you are eating dinner.). I felt her tummy and she was not too warm, but she gave me the pitiful, “please help me” look. I felt utterly powerless.
I got a warm wet wash cloth and wiped her face clean and she snuggled up against me and went back to sleep. It was harder for me to do the same since I did not want to disturb her.
When we both got up later on, she was still poorly. Russ took her out and she came right back to our bed when she slept most of the day away all alone. I took her to the vet yesterday and although no absolute diagnosis was given I found out she did not have a fever and probably did not have an infection. We came home and she went right back to my room. I came up to check on her and found her sleeping with two of her lovey stuffed animals tucked underneath each arm.
These toys had been in the sun room all the way on the other side of the house. I do not know when she had gotten them and brought them up to bed.
Today she seemed a little better, but not totally back to herself. I came up to my room after dinner and found Shay still sleeping on my bed, but now a third lovey from the sunroom had joined her other two. They were all placed out in a line next to her.
I felt a little guilty that she had to have dragged herself down to the sunroom and dug through her basket of loveys all by herself until she found one that she could carry up to keep her comfortable.
If anyone ever doubts that we share traits with dogs I want them to explain to me why a sick dog expends the little energy she has to go and get her toy to snuggle with? Now I am doing my best to help her feel better by rubbing her belly ever so lightly, just the way she likes it. I don’t want her to think she has to shoulder her sickness alone. She is my lovey.
Rich is Easier Than Skinny
Posted: October 26, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentOprah has proven the point again that making a boatload of money is way easier then being thin. Last week while I was at the gym working out at eight in the morning I glanced up at the financial news playing silently on the TV. As the most active stocks scrolled by on the bottom of the screen I caught a surprising glimpse of Weight Watchers, which was up from $6 a share to $10. Something big was happening, I thought and I should have guessed that the jump was all due to a celebrity.
Latter in the day I learned that Oprah had bought ten percent of the weight loss biz and more than doubled her forty million dollar investment. Brilliant, but I saw her on TV and she said that Weight Watchers had approached her in July and she did not want to invest until she had tried the diet. She did and in about two months had lost about fifteen pounds. I guess she was happy enough to buy into the company.
Now the fact that she more than doubled her money in a week shows it was a good move, but maybe she could have done better. See, I don’t think the analysts who are saying buy WW on Oprah’s association are going to stick around if the company fundamentally does not improve.
Seems to me the whole deal would have been a lot more successful if Oprah had kept it quiet that she was doing Weight Watchers for a few months and had continued to lose, hopefully as much as fifty pounds. That would have made people take notice and not just want to buy Weight Watchers stock, which is all well and good, but the millions of overweight Oprah lovers would have joined Weight Watchers because of Oprah’s success.
Having real customers hanging on every Oprah word as she talked about changing her life with Weight Watchers would be a much better long term situation for the company than just the news that the still fairly big Oprah was buying the stock. The bottom line is just owning Weight Watchers stock does not make you skinny, it still takes counting points to do that.
So in Oprah’s case it was a hell of a lot easier to make forty million dollars in a week than it was to lose ten pounds. Too bad that is not a skill she can share with many people. Being a market mover is something that is limited to a handful of influencers.
Good luck to Oprah on Weight Watchers. I highly endorse it for anyone who has a lot of weight to lose, but like all diets you have to actually follow it. I wonder if Oprah is going to meetings? It would be great publicity to see her weighing in with the rest of humanity in a church basement. Really the best marketing WW could do is to have Oprah travel the country and drop in on different meetings and surprise the attendees. That would really get attendance up and then maybe the stock would actually be worth the amount the Oprah affect had on it.
Raw Shredded Brussels Sprout Salad
Posted: October 25, 2015 Filed under: Diet- comedy, Recipes Leave a comment
If you asked me to eat a Brussels sprout in any form thirty years ago you would have gotten a sourpuss face from me. There was never a vegetable I hate more. Many a Brussels went in the trash in my paper dinner napkin. How my taste buds have changed. Now I even like them raw. This little salad, which could be considered almost a slaw – I put some cold sliced steak on mine and it made the perfect lunch.
1 large shallot- grated on a micro plane
Zest and Juice of one lemon
1 t. Dijon Mustard
3 T. red Wine Vinegar
2 t. olive oil
2 packets of Splenda
Lots of Black Pepper and a little salt
1 Bag of shredded Brussels sprouts form Trader Joes – or a pound of whole Brussels shredded on a mandolin
½ cup. Grated Parmesan Cheese
In a large bowl mix up the shallot, lemon juice and zest, mustard, vinegar, oil and Splenda. Add the shredded sprouts and mix well. Crack a bunch of black pepper and add the Parmesan Cheese. Taste and see if any salt is needed.
Why Did I Pull That Thread?
Posted: October 24, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
Did you ever read your kid the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie? It’s a circular story that starts off with a hungry mouse showing up and you give him a cookie, which makes him want a glass of milk and after he takes a drink of milk he looks in the mirror to see if he has a milk moustache and that makes him realize he needs a hair cut… I know it is a children’s book, but I am absolutely sure the inspiration for the book was the very grown up thing of redoing, repainting, recovering, reanything one thing in your house.
Six months ago I redid the drainage and apron of the driveway. It was such an improvement on the problem of our gravel at the street end of our driveway washing away and it made both Russ and I very happy. Especially Russ, since all he had to do was earn the money to pay for it.
That improvement made him say to me, “Don’t you think we should redo the floors this summer?” So I did. Well, like the mouse looking in the mirror for a milk mustache and only then seeing he needs a haircut, redoing the floors made the rest of the house look shabby.
So I called my friend Lane about recovering the twenty-year-old furniture in our playroom. Since the TV in that room is twenty years old we don’t watch it so if we are going to make the furniture nice we might as well replace the TV. That means I have to call the electrician. While he is here he can replace the yellowed baffles of the can lights. He will have to touch the ceiling to replace those, which means the ceiling will have to be painted. If the ceiling is being painted that walls should too, because nothing will make them look worse than a fresh white ceiling.
Before I could do anything in the playroom I had to know which TV we were getting so the electrician can know where to move the wires. And so on…
Now I have a replacement TV waiting for this all to happen, but I need to find someone who wants my old TV, is strong enough to lift it and has a car big enough to take it. I am not sure there is anyone on earth who wants a 40-inch square TV, but I just want to give it away.
I am wondering where pulling that redoing thread is going to end. I think that if I stop wearing my reading glasses in the house I might not notice what looks shabbier next to what has been improved. That is only after I replace the breakfast room chandelier and do something about the living room drapes.
Personal Stylist Available, His Name is Ed Carter
Posted: October 23, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment 
The other day I got a phone call from my Dad. “Do you have any paper in your fax machine?” he led the call with. I should have asked how much paper knowing that my father has been addicted to creating volumes when it comes to writing, and thinks everything needs to be printed out and then faxed so someone else can have a printed copy.
I know my father does not have enough to do because the subject of the reams of paper he sent me was, “the fashion of AM Weather Channel anchor, Stephanie Abrahams, and how good the style of clothes she wears would look on Carter.”
The cover page handwritten letter encouraged me to get up early on a weekday and watch the weather channel since this woman is only on the air from five AM until seven. Already this is a project I am not interested in. My Dad goes on to explain that he thinks she has a similar body to Carter and she wears a style of clothing that is very flattering. Since he was unsure what the style was called he researched all the web to find other people who were writing about her clothing and found words describing her dresses. Then he used those words to search for dresses for sale on the Internet and found at least twenty that fit the style he was looking for.
So page after page of black and white fax copy came out of my old machine. Below the blotchy photos my father had made editorial notes that said things like, “the skirt is not flared enough” or “would be cuter with a higher waist,” or my favorite,”quite a deal at $7.49.”
It was all very cute. Having spent so many years working at Avon and having a wife who loves clothes and three daughter he has spent his life around fashion. Sadly we have all out grown having him take us to Saks to buy our school clothes so his attention eventually fell to Carter.
Tonight I finally saw Carter at a decent hour when she was not studying so I gave her the pile of dress suggestions from her Grandfather. She loved the notes, but had a hard time getting a good idea of what the clothes really looked like, fax technology being what it is. “Does he know I don’t really wear dresses?” she asked. “Do you think he could work on shirts and sweaters?”
“I’m sure if you tell him he would get right on his computer and begin to research it,” I told her.
I think as long as he can find a television reporter or news anchor that is the style icon and body double he can use them as inspiration for finding the clothes anyone would look good in. The hardest thing for me to get across to him is that high school juniors mostly wear jeans or workout clothes. I know that Carter’s lack of interest in dressing up is frustrating for my father. So I am offering his services to the greater community. If you have ever wanted a personal stylist like the stars have, but have a JC Penny budget I think I have your guy. I personally have never found a dress for $7.49 so for that one find alone I am impressed.
Now if I can just teach him about e-mailing the photos, even screen shots would be better than faxing me. There is nothing I hate more than printing out anything.
The Best Surprise
Posted: October 22, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment 
It should come as no surprise to anyone that knows me that I spend a lot of time asking people for money. No, I am not a pan handler standing on the street corner asking for money for myself. I do it on behalf of different organizations that depend on the generosity of those who have more. This blog alone was started as a way of raising money for The Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC while in incented me to lose weight–the ultimate win-win.
The fact that I spent most of this week meeting everyday to plan for or ask people for money is more than I do on an average week, but between church, school and the food bank it is money asking for season. I am thankful that people don’t run when they see me coming. The chairman of one group I am working with just said out loud, “They are afraid of you,” when talking about people I am recruiting to help me. Well that’s not good either. I certainly don’t want to scare anyone.
My goal in all my fundraising activities is just to educate people about any given need and let their own heart decide what the right thing to do for them is. I am yet to actually grab anyone’s hand and force them into writing a check. I also never treat anyone who tells me no any differently after they have turned me down. I understand everyone has their own causes and their own financial situations. But, I must say that most everyone says yes to some degree.
Today I had the nicest surprise in the mail. A card from the Food Bank announcing a generous gift in my honor from my friends Shelayne and Frank. It came as a complete surprise since I did not solicit them. I should have not been surprised at all since it is not the first time they have spontaneously given to the Food Bank in my honor, but they never give me any warning or heads up, just quietly give.
I want to publicly shout out a big thank you to Frank and Shelayne. Although I really have no problem asking people to donate money, I don’t take it personally or remember if they say no. That is probably why I ask again. But to get a donation I don’t ask for makes this a wonderful day. This is something I will remember. I say that and will probably be surprised when Shelayne and Frank give again–the best kind of surprise, one given from their heart unasked for.
Back To The Future Day
Posted: October 21, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentNo matter what, the future always seems to get here faster than we think it will. When I was in fourth grade in 1970 I remember going to the school book fair where a local book store had set up tables with lots of books that were age appropriate that we could buy. One title intrigued me, 1984, so I bought it. My teacher told me that I would be out of college by 1984. I am certain I hardly knew what college was when I was in fourth grade and I certainly could not have imagined what the world would be like in 1984.
The ideas about “big brother” that George Orwell wrote about in 1949 were still very futuristic to me as a ten year old in the early seventies. People were calling for “free love” and shunning big government in response to Vietnam so the world of 1984 seemed very far away. George Orwell might have gotten the timing slightly off, but the idea that we are being watched has certainly come true. How many times are you surfing the web and an ad for the very shoes you looked at the day before comes up in the sidebar. Thank you George Orwell.
Today is the day that Marty McFly from Back to the Future II put in the time machine to go forward from 1989. When Marty arrived in the DeLorean in 2015 he found kids riding on hover boards, well we don’t exactly have them, but it’s close, big screen TV and video conferencing, got that, drones, yes, video glasses, kinda, I hear Google Glasses are being redone. There are probably more things I don’t remember, it was 26 years ago. But I can remember watching the movie and thinking, 2015 is a world away. Well, it really wasn’t.
I wonder how many of these things that were predicted in movies and literature were developed because someone was just producing someone else’s original idea. It is hard to judge. The one thing I do know is that the future is getting here before we know it. No matter how long away something sounds, when it rolls around it feels like the blink of an eye.
This is not news to anyone, but it should be a warning to not wait around for the future to do something you want to do because before you know the future will be here. The last thing you want is to look back at the years and say, “I wish I had sooner.”
Consider this your starting whistle to get to work on the dream you have been putting off. Whatever you want to accomplish can happen, it did in 1984 and Back to the Future. They may be fiction, but look how often fiction becomes reality. So take the fictional story you have in your head and make it your reality.
Less Dana, More Good 