still do Easter baskets for my 16 and 22 year old children.
Tag: life
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will anxiously await his safe return..
Normal, uneventful, ordinary
Green
Dad is italian, mom is proud of her Irish heritage.
A frequent remark by my father… “we missed having a leprechaun by minutes!”
Personally, I’m proud of my mixed heritage.
There is much flavor in both 🙂
My favorite Irish quote…
“May those who love us, love us;
and those who don’t love us, may God turn their hearts;
and if He doesn’t turn their hearts,
may He turn their ankles so we’ll know them by their limping.”
Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
1.Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, extract, food color and egg until soft dough forms. Stir in creme de menthe baking chips and chocolate chunks.
2.Using small cookie scoop or teaspoon, drop dough 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
3.Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Cool 3 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Serve warm or cool completely. Store tightly covered at room temperature.
Pic/recipe courtesy Party Cafe
Steam the potatoes in their skins for 30 minutes. Peel them using a knife and fork. Chop with a knife before mashing. Mash thoroughly to remove all the lumps. Add 1 stick of butter in pieces. Gradually add hot milk, stirring all the time. Season with a few grinds of black pepper.
Boil the cabbage in unsalted water until it turns a darker color. Add 2 tablespoons butter to tenderize it. Cover with lid for 2 minutes. Drain thoroughly before returning it to the pan. Chop into small pieces.
Put the ham in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 45 minutes until tender. Drain. Remove any fat and chop into small pieces.
Add cabbage, scallions, and ham to mashed potatoes, stirring them in gently.
Serve in individual soup plates. Make an indentation on the top by swirling a wooden spoon. Put 1 tablespoon of butter into each indentation. Sprinkle with parsley.
Pic/recipe courtesy ifood.tv
Every now and then…
Weekend Snapshots
The Wonder Years
This afternoon my daughter and I traveled across the Connecticut River to visit a tack shop. As we drove through Moodus, we passed the old 4-H Camp that I attended with my cousins when I was 13 and 14 years old. It looks exactly the same. I was immediately drawn back in time… a weird but wonderful feeling.
All those years ago I was a suburban girl living with my family on Staten Island and I cherished my summertime visits with my Connecticut country cousins and their horses. Two summers in a row we went to camp, bringing their trusty appaloosa horse, “Apple” with me. Those weeks are among the best of my teen years, I remember them like it was yesterday and to this day I’m grateful for the experience.
I’m in the middle of the bunch.. the girl with the very dark hair and a tube top being pulled by the boy I had a crush on.. Billy Rule. He was a smart*ss. About the tube top…. I had not much of anything to put IN it… but they were all the rage back then. (Hey, it was 1979 or so… you remember, don’t you. I bet you even had a few).
The camp handed out news letters every friday… and that week, after the thursday night dance… the front page header was… “INVASION OF THE TUBE TOP TWIRPS”. Um… that would be us.
He thinks it’s funny
The manchild was giggling when I came in from the barn last night all soggy from the rain. He and grown daughter were talking about WHEN THEY MOVE OUT. They saw me coming down the hill from the barn and I guess I looked forlorn. I wasn’t, just so ya know. It was raining and muddy and I dumped a water bucket down my leg by mistake. Do you know how wet jeans and a boot full of water feel when it’s 38 degrees out at dusk and your teeth are already chattering from the raw damp misery that swirls around you and the damn chickens won’t get in their coop without issues?
So anyway.. they weren’t laughing about that. No.. they were wondering what good ole MOM is going to do once they do move out. My dear son said to me… “Mom.. you oughta start thinking about getting a hobby or open a store again or something… you know… to fill the time you use right now to do all that stuff for us. I’m probably going to have to come home from college now and then just to give you something to do.” I love him, I do.
*sigh*
But you know… it’s not like there isn’t a grain of truth in that little speech there… I have plenty of hobbies and chores and little jobs here and there, thank you very much… but perhaps it’s time to start thinking about what I might be able to do next. NEXT. Although I kinda like the job I have now. I haven’t asked to give it up. It’s just inevitable that it’s going to change some.
It’s been raining/snowing/sleeting here at This Old House for two days now…some would say downright dreary. I happen to be enjoying it because we are all here under the same roof, waiting out the rain together, meandering through uneventful, unhurried evenings. I’ll soak up every drop of that.
He’d make a really cool cowboy, don’t ya think?
Isn’t that just the truth.
I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours – Part 2
I showed you my refrigerator the other day, and I spoke of making some changes to my diet for better health. I also admitted there has been plenty of junk food consumption over the years…we are equal opportunity eaters, if you will. Slowly I am making changes to my diet and that of my family so that we are eating less processed foods, more whole foods, swapping poor diet choices for healthier alternatives. Doing this post was not meant to critique what we all have in our refrigerators. It was a fun way to look at our perks and quirks in the fridge.
I did not say, we don’t eat any junk ever. I am not a fanatic. I am a realist. I have a teenager and a young adult living in this house and a husband who loves his meat and potatoes, butter, bread, condiments, etc. We are not all going to convert to whole-organic-pure food only. This is a process, steps taken toward better living, better health.
Last night I read a comment from Anonymous. Why is it that whenever someone wants to critique, they cloak themselves under Anonymous? It’s not really a question, I already know the answer.
Dear Anonymous… I appreciate your comment, actually… it’s useful information. Being a critic without putting your name to it, though… is off-putting. Just saying.
Anonymous said… “Your food choices are bewildering. On the one hand there is organic whole milk, eggs, clementines, and raw probiotics but that’s as far as the real food goes. Then you have chocolate milk, processed juice, cream cheese (which is not real), rolls of some kind under-pressure, and condiments with sugar/salt galore. Your body must be so confused and inflamed. BTW that earth balance isn’t real food either, better to use real butter sparingly. Sorry for the critique but you opened up your frig, brave woman. “
That being said…. I thank you all for participating. I love this post, you have all braved exposing what is definitely a personal item in our homes. I love hearing that you have a two pepsi a day habit, even tho you are a thin, health conscious runner! And that I see just as many condiments in your fridges as I do mine. One of you has a frig dedicated to sausage making from various meats and you relish it! (literally!) …. and I like hearing what you are doing to fuel your body with healthy stuff too. It gives me ideas, and it makes us all realize how much more alike we are than our differences. Commeradery, there it is.
We have our vices too!! LOL!!!
It usually involves a sweet treat at night or sometimes a glass of wine (for me) LOL!!!
That’s how we’re rolling in 2012!!!
I eat pretty much whatever I want, but when possible I buy light versions (sour cream, cream cheese, milk). I try to limit the amount of processed foods we use, but I won’t lie – we do use them. You’ll note that the veggie drawer has celery, carrots, grapes and broccoli which are all staples in our house. A large assortment of cheeses in the cheese/meat drawer. We only buy organic milk (it’s the only food I’m a real stickler about for organic). The eggs are actually all from our hens – they have started laying again so we have a surplus! In fact, the big bowl you see on the top shelf is full of hard boiled eggs, which we eat as snacks a lot. The boys love them. You’ll see lots of tupperwares in our fridge at all times, because I cook full dinners. One of the tupperwares is full of barbecue chicken – from one of our chickens that I cooked last week. The other is full of homemade mac and cheese. And Pierce’s lunch is prepped and in his lunch box to the left (behind which are some of our home canned pickles and salsa). And to the bottom right – our grass fed organic beef cow arrived yesterday – we got 56 pounds! So I’m defrosting the first batch and toying with the idea of a casserole involving tomatoes, beef, cheese, green peppers and corn chips crumbled on top. The blue pitcher in the back just has ice cold water.
We also have a Soda Stream and make some of our own sodas – lately I’ve been liking their green tea.
You may also note my vice…..Diet Pepsi/Diet Coke. I can’t quite break the habit of 2 a day. Nobody’s perfect! Especially not me!
Ok, so what I’ve noticed…. We all seem to try to balance the good with the mediocre food stuff with the evil. I see lots of fruits and veggies, we all have condiment issues, I’d say we’re all doing a decent job with the balancing act. Are we fanatics? Hell no. Is that necessary? Everything in moderation sounds reasonable. We each have individual needs, deficiencies, health concerns and goals. Our refrigerators reflect that, don’t ya think?
Over-exposed?
If you’re a health nut and have some tips, share them.
If you want to make some changes, tell us about them.
If you’re already making dietary changes, big or small,
let us know about them by including them with your pic.
Let’s inspire each other here….I think it’s important.