Happy Milk Day

Teaching moments come at the strangest times and places.  This story is shared from a relative whose son was learning to read and pronounce words.  It has become a bit of a joke in our family for many years.  I share it with you in hopes that you will take teaching moments with your children and grandchildren to teach them more than reading and writing but about fairness, equality, and loving your fellow man.

 

The young man was looking at the school calendar on the fridge and realized that he was out of school for a national holiday.  While gazing at the calender he noticed that the holiday said MLK Day.  He asked his mother  his school was celebrating "Milk Day".  She grinned and realized that he had misread the word on the calendar in trying to sound out words.

 

So, instead of blowing him off and curtly correcting him, she stopped her task and took time to explain a few things to the boy.  She showed him how they were all capital letters and not the word, MilK.  But she didn't stop there.  She explained that the initials stood for Martin Luther King and told him the story of the famous activist.  She explained that Mr. King wanted  people to live in harmony and treat each other equally and fairly.

 

Since that day, it has been referred to as Milk Day in our family.  I was glad to celebrate this day as I agree with Mr. King as well.  I hope we can become a nation that does not  judge a person by their skin color.  I would imagine if he were alive today, he would be also praying that we would not judge a person by their gender (male or female), their sexual preference (straight, lesbian, gay, transgender or bisexual) or their religious belief (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, atheist, or agnostic). 

 

Join me today in celebrating the dream prayed for by Dr. King.

Cooks vs. Bakers

I am a cook.  I can take anything and turn it into a meal.  My Grannie Lester could do the same thing.  Cooks, like me, consider a recipe just a list of suggested ingredients.  I never exactly follow the recipe.  I just grab whatever is handy and dump and taste and dump and stir and add a bit of this or that.  Nothing ever turns out the same, but I never get complaints.

 

There are staples that pretty much can make anything amazing.  Onions, mushrooms, fajita seasoning, and bacon grease are my go to  seasonings.  You can add just about any one or combination of these items to any dish and it will turn out delicious.  My Mother would add a fifth item..............Cream of Mushroom Soup.  There are probably 10 or more cans at any given time in her cabinet.

 

But then you get to bakers.  Now I am not a baker.  I have a couple of go to desserts that I can make that always get great compliments but they are not hard.  I really do follow the recipes but that is just because I have to look them up every time I bake them.  I have friends who are great bakers.  In fact, my friend, Kim, is just amazing.  But she tells me that baking is like a science and you have to follow the directions, understand how humidity can affect the outcome, and determine what temperature to use to make something perfect. 

 

I wish I had that type of patience or temperament.  I just don't.  Fortunately, when we get together to create a meal, the desserts and breads are out of this world.  Which one are you...............a baker or a cook?

Guns and Girls

I was raised by a Daddy who had guns.  As such he taught me to shoot.  I learned to shoot pistols, deer rifles and shotguns.  Each had a specific purpose.  Shotguns were used to shoot birds.  Rifles killed deer and of course you carried a pistol to kill a snake or someone who was breaking into your home.  My husband was amazed when we were dating at my aim when we would go to the shooting range.

 

My Mother is a crackerjack shot, too.  So are all the other girls in my family.  I am always shocked at women who say they have never shot a gun, don't own a gun and are scared of guns.   With the recent uproar associated with gun control, I am worried.  I don't want to give up my arms.  In fact, I don't plan to do that at all. 

 

I carry a gun in my car.  I have one at my house.  You might even find one in my pocket.  I was once asked what I was so afraid of with all of these guns.  My response......."Not one thing!"  Arm yourself with knowledge about guns.  They are not just for the boys!

Linens

My Mother and I were shopping today at this really neat little store on the square in Glen Rose.  The sign on the store front said, "We don't have antiques.  We have Junk."  But they had some really cool junk.   And boy, did they have some cool junk.

 

I bought some great odds and ends of napkins, linen cloths to wrap up hot rolls and a beautiful square table cloth for my Mother to put on her oak table.  I bought two sets of cloth napkins with beautiful handwork.  We had a great time talking about the different dishes these beautiful linens would accompany on my table.

 

I am thankful that my Mother instilled in me the desire to have a beautiful table.  To this day, we eat on real plates, use real glasses and cloth napkins at meal time at our house.  I often use my china and crystal just because.  Mother always said there was no point in having it if you weren't going to use it.  The same she said was true for cloth napkins.  We have washers and dryers and there is just no reason not to use them.

 

So don't let them dry rot in the drawers.  Pull them out.  Set your table.  It really does make the food taste better.  Thanks Mom for teaching me to appreciate the family dinner!

Roll Tide

Tonight was a great night for fans of Alabama (winning a national championship , fans of the SEC (where national championships seemed to procreate) and Texas A&M (the team that beat the national champions).  This is the game we anticipate and work for all year long.  We know the date early in the year, the location, and usually by December 1st we know the teams.  We plan our evening to be free and the meal that is cooked in the crock pot so that we can be ready for the pregame and kick off.  We chill that really good bottle of wine so we have something special for the evening.

But alas, when the final seconds tick off the clock and the winner is declared, we sense a sort of depression coming on for we know that we must wait a long seven and a half months until we are ready to play college football again.  The sadness sets in as we finally clean up the kitchen, wind down for the evening and talk of the things we must endure until the next football season - opening day at the Ballpark, hot sizzling summer temps, getting back in shape in preparation for summer and basketball  *Ugh!  The bright glimmer of January is that we get fresh new episodes of our favorite TV shows, some award shows, a new season of the Bachelor  and the hunt for the Superbowl (which I hope includes the Packers).

As we gear up for 2013 just remember, its only about 250 days until the start of college football!  Roll Tide (and Sic 'em Bears!)

Pie

This weekend brought back some pretty amazing childhood memories.  I began digging through my recipe files and came upon one of my favorite's called Mother's Pie.  When I was growing up, I named the dish after the person introducing me to the food.  I cooked all weekend making chicken and dumplings, gumbo, soup, roasted chicken, grilled tenderloin fillets, twice baked potatoes, and pies.  Lots of pies were made this weekend.

But one pie in particular holds special meaning and tasting it brought back some warm fuzzy feelings.  Mother's pie, as it is affectionately called, is a pretty easy recipe.  You basically just dump stuff into a graham cracker crust.  I made it and promptly ate a piece as soon as it was chilled.  Delicious.  What a great way to bring back memories!  Send me a message if you are interested in the recipe.

Amy's Accomplishment

I want to take a moment to tell you of a story of a great woman who bloomed later in life.  She is my bestie from the crib, Miss Amy.  Amy married right out of high school and quickly (and surprisingly  found herself pregnant with John Fox.  She worked at the bank for many years and eventually remarried and moved to Shreveport where she finished her degree.  

Amy became a loan officer and quickly moved up in the banking world.  About 3 years ago, she decided to go back to school and complete her Master's Degree.  That is no easy task when you commute 45 minutes each way per day and have been promoted to an executive position in a regional company.  She also has a fiance, two dogs, a mother, and two grand kids to see after as well.  To obtain a degree with the all the time demands of her busy life is pretty amazing.

So, on December 15th with Gayla, Carla, Ray and I watched Amy walked across the stage, was hooded and given her degree.  I am so proud of her for all of her accomplishments.

Christmas Gatherings

One of my favorite times of the year is Crass Christmas Cheer.  We have our home open to friends and family for a few hours the Wednesday night before Christmas.  Ray cooks loads of ribs and the spirits flow.  The house is decorated for the holidays and everyone is always welcome.  Every year we invite about 275 of our closest friends and anywhere for 150-200 show up.  

Remarkably, the crowd is different from year to year.  We had such a great time this year seeing all our friends and family as they dropped in to gather and visit for the evening.  Each year, we cook 18 racks of ribs and before the evening is over there is rarely more than a half of rack left.  In fact, Ray put a rack back in the fridge to take to the son in law, but someone found it.  It soon disappeared as did all the other food in the house.

Now that the holidays are drawing to a close, it's time to clean up the Christmas stuff and just move forward with Crass Cheer!

Our Family Christmas

My son is pretty amazing. He likes to get things for you that you would just not expect. This year, he got me a deli meat slicer.  It's is truly something I have longed for many a day.  I love to create in the kitchen and this is just the perfect tool to go with my vac sealer.  Since Christmas I have sliced summer sausage, cheese, ham, etc.  We have bags and bags of sliced stuff in the fridge.

However, we know that the blade on that little appliance is pretty sharp.  I am prone to slicing my hands and fingers up with my sharp knives anyway, so we had a long talk about how to be very careful when using this appliance.  In fact we even made a deal.  I won't use the appliance when I by myself (so if I cut my hand off, someone else can dial 911) and if you have had even a drop of alcohol (a sip of wine counts) you may not use said appliance.

Well as fate would have it, I have already broken my promise.  Ray was out of town and I wanted to slice up these little rolls and make wafer thin garlic bites.  So...........even though I was all alone (Pattycake was across the street) but it was early and there was no wine involved, I used the appliance.  Lo and behold, my sweet friend, Kim, who dropped by that evening bold face asked me if I used it by myself.  I contemplated covering but I knew she would catch me.......so I fessed up.  

The only saving grace was the wafer thin garlic crisps were truly the hit of the evening!  So what interesting gift did you get for Christmas?