Tag: Cooking

Thanks, I didn’t know I needed that.

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imageI love to cook.  I love cookbooks.  I love old cookbooks.  I love to sit and read cookbooks.  I love history and tradition but also crave new things.  I love to experiment.  Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fail.  Sometimes I fail BIG TIME.  My daughter just loves to tell about the time, years ago, that I put salt in my blackberry cobbler instead of sugar.  It wasn’t that I didn’t know better.  I really do know better.  I was not experimenting.  I don’t remember how I did it because it’s so unbelievable to me that I did it.  But I did.  And it was truly awful.  It went right down the disposal and my kids wrote it right into our family history, to be used to embarrass mom for all time.

While I am a pretty good cook, I am not that great of a baker.  Baking is a science.  You have to do things exactly as they are supposed to be done or things don’t work.  Or it might not work because of the temperature outside or the humidity.  With cooking, if you don’t image-1-1have kidney beans, you can substitute black beans.  If you think it would be good with sour cream added, go ahead!  There is still science involved in cooking but there is a little more freedom to experiment as long as you know some good solid basics.

My family is full of good cooks.  And there are others who pretty much hate to cook.  Those people also hate to eat so there is probably a connection, right?  Both my kids are pretty good cooks too.  My son and his fiancé cooked Thanksgiving at their house this past year for the first time and it was sooooo good!  I love the way each generation keeps some of their family’s traditional dishes and adds some new, interesting options.  Or they blend traditions from their original families into a new tradition of their own.  What my kids consider our traditional Thanksgiving dinner actually looks very different what I grew up with.  Over the years, my husband and I took bits and pieces from my family, from his family, and from my sister and his sister in law to create our own traditional meal.

image-3My mother in law gave me a stand mixer some years ago.  She had it for many years.  It was not high end at all but it did the job.  I had always coveted the iconic Kitchen Aid Stand Mixers.  They were beautiful, sleek, and powerful.  But I couldn’t rationalize spending that kind of money on something I would use only occasionally.  The hand me down worked just fine.  Until a few months ago when it literally fell apart in my hands.  I pulled it out to use it and I set it on the counter.  I went to lift the main part to put in the beaters and it came off the bottom, fell into 3 pieces and screws/bolts rolled to the floor.  I tried to put it back together but eventually carried it to my outside trash can and dropped it in without ceremony.  I pulled out my little $10 hand mixer and finished whatever I was preparing.

Over the next several months, I used my hand mixer a good bit.  There were times when it was completely adequate and others when it was a bit frustrating.  I actually used it more than I thought.  I looked at stand mixers on line.  I considered buying a low end stand mixer but I have come to believe that, at this point in my life, if I can afford it, why shouldn’t I buy what I really want.  I couldn’t afford it right away but I decided I was going to save up for a Kitchen Aid mixer.

I randomly had that conversation with my son and his fiancé.  And at Christmas theyimage-1 gave me a card and a touching and tearful conversation about why they wanted to give me something I really wanted – a Kitchen Aid mixer.   So they did.  It now sits on my counter.  It’s beautiful.  And sleek.  And powerful.  I didn’t know I would love it.  But I do.

Life really is not about stuff and stuff doesn’t make you happy.  I know this.  But I really am happy with my life.  I am not a person who must have the best, the newest, the name brand.  I don’t buy a lot of things for myself that cost a lot of money.  I splurge every 3-4 years on a really good camera or lens because photography is one of my passions.  I splurged on my home because it was my dream and I worked hard to get it.  When something makes my life better or enhances my ability to enjoy my family and my life, I will get it.  My cameras and lenses allow me to pursue my hobby of capturing the lives of my family for current and future generations.  My home allows me to have all of my family and friends here with me, all in one place which has been a dream of mine for some time.  And this mixer, it’s just a small part of doing something I love – cooking – and enjoying the process.

Thanks Zack and Chris.

 

 

Moving On

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I’m moving on to the next thing.  I am going to try to write more.  I have missed it.  I have tried a couple of times.  I have thought a lot about it.  I had some circumstances in my life that made me hesitant.  I won’t go into those but I will tell you that writing is the way I work through things.  But I felt like I couldn’t do that.  However, I have decided that I need to move on and move forward, doing what I love again, to just be me.

I have so much to be thankful for and so much good has happened in the 6 months since I have written anything on this blog.  I am in such a great place and grateful every day.  So I want to share a few things.  Allow me to brag a little.

Wedding Bells!!!  Both my kids are engaged to amazing people.  I love both of my future sons-in-law.  They have both become a crucial part of our family and hold a special place in my heart.  Both couples are deep into wedding planning and I plan to write more about that as we move toward the dates.  They have very unique and different styles so I am excited to watch all of this as it unfolds.

This spring, I had the opportunity to visit family and spend time with some of my siblings.  My younger brother – tall guy on the right – lives in Eastern Washington.  While traveling for work, I was able to stay over a weekend with him.  He has 6 kids and 5 grandchildren.  Only 4 of his kids are pictured here but I did get to see 1 of his older two sons on the trip.  It’s weird to say that I don’t really know his kids, but I don’t because we’ve always lived across the country from each other, only seeing each other every few years.  I had never met his youngest two but now I have.  He is an amazing dad and I love his kids.  They have interesting and diverse personalities and are all pretty independent and funny.  Just like my brother.

On the left is a picture of my sister and me from this spring. This was an impromptu visit as we took a trip down memory lane with her family and our nephew who was visiting from California.  Behind us you can see the buildings on my grandparent’s farm in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.  My grandfather build the little white house on the right, just over my head.  It’s where my mom grew up.  It was my home off and on when I was very, very young and was always my favorite place to visit growing up as we travelled from one duty station to the next.  We all have that place where we feel comforted, cared for and loved.  This was my place.  Memories of iron skillets, barns, quilts, biscuits, crickets, hay, pigs, electric fences, cows, the corncrib, the dinner bell, chickens and eggs, church on Sunday, strawberries, tractors, tobacco, fireflies, swinging electric fans, fried chicken, coke floats, breezes through the window, creaking rocking chairs.  My cousin lives in the little white house now.  So many memories and lessons learned on that farm.

Trying new things is fun, whether it’s a new recipe or a new dish.  I just love to cook.  I love Southern comfort foods but I also like to venture out and learn new ways of doing things.  On the left, my creation that was inspired by watching one too many cooking shows.  It’s pappardelle pasta with pancetta, shallots, white wine, cream, romano cheese, basil, and a bit of truffle oil.  Yummy.  Just yummy.  I hope to start sharing some recipes soon – some family favorites as well as some new ones I might run across.

On the right – it looks like creme brûlée but is is sooooooo NOT creme brûlée!  This is whiskey boudino and you must be 21 or older to order it.  They had me at whiskey.  You can have this at Bamboo Sushi, in Portland, Oregon and there are no regrets.  They have a truffled avocado nigiri that is melt in your mouth and many other interesting rolls and dishes, but this dessert . . . just wow!  It is a whiskey pudding with sea salt caramel on top.  If you are ever there, order it and don’t even hesitate!

My nephew Trent Taylor, a senior, plays college football at Louisiana Tech.  He’s kind of a big deal.  Now, I know I may be just a2016-09-24-18-36-13 little biased.  Okay, I am a LOT biased.  But the NCAA does some national rankings on player stats and they are not biased at all.  As of today, Trent is #1 in the country (yes, all of college football!) in receiving yards, #2 in receiving yards per game, #2 in receptions per game, and tied for 6th in receiving touchdowns.  He and his teammate Carlos Henderson at the top receiving pair in the country.  Trent is also on the Biletnikoff Award Watch List for the Top Receiver in College Football.  If you can watch a Louisiana Tech Bulldogs game on TV – he is #5 and is a slot receiver.

Yes, I am quite the proud aunt.  And Trent is just so much fun to watch because of how he plays the game.  But I am most proud of the  way this young man leads on the field.  He works so hard – he has to work twice as hard because he is only 5’8″ and weighs like 170 pounds.  He is little for a football player so he has to work very hard to stay ahead of those that are more genetically gifted.  To hear his coaches and others talk about how he “shows up” and gives 150% at every practice and gives his all on every play, it makes my heart swell.  A few games ago, he was tackled and his helmet came off.  When that happens they are required to leave the field to be checked out.  You could tell he didn’t want to go off but knew he had to do so.  He started getting the crowd riled up, moving his arms up and down, jumping around, getting them to cheer.  He is such a leader and what you hope every athlete will grow up to be.

My grandson continues to be my best little buddy and the light of my life.  When I am in town, I pick him up from preschool most every day and keep him until his mom picks him up. We run errands, cook dinner, play outside, or just hang out in the living room like zombies on a phone or iPad.  We talk about important stuff, we build with legos, we throw the football around outside.  It’s so much easier to be a grandparent than it was to be a parent.  Your have more patience, things just don’t bother you, and who cares if the laundry needs to be done, right?

I try to document things he says and does but I wanted to be able to write more about his quirky and fun personality.  Right now he’s into telling jokes.  Four year olds are funny when they tell jokes.  For the first 5 minutes.  Beyond that, not so much.  So be prepared, I’m going to bore you with cute grandson stories.  It’s for me and him, not you. <smile>  Indulge me.

I have so many things for which I am grateful.  2016-07-07-12-00-07I am happy.  My life is good.  And I will begin to write about that again.  Starting today.