On Being Me

November 7, 2015February 16, 2017 / apronsandappetites.com / 3 Comments

Soooooo I haven’t blogged in awhile. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to or I don’t have ideas flying around my brain in the middle of the night (when I really don’t want to get up and get on the computer because I would really like to sleep).

Soooooo I have chosen to change the theme of the blog periodically until I decide if I am going to keep blogging (more than sporadically) or chuck the whole project that I started those years ago. Annnnndddd, since I can never make up my mind about almost everything, I need your help, you faithful few. Check on me every now and then and tell me which theme you like best.

This one is One Strange Town (or something like that). I really liked it for a few minutes. Now, I’m not so sure.

Old Gringo Women’s Sora boot

The winner will receive an awesome prize. A prize worthy of Blogville. A prize-almost-not-quite-sort-of-like the prizes my favorite blogger Pioneer Woman gives away. She gives away the neatest stuff. Do you know she has a line of dishes at Walmart?!! And it is so cool.

She blogs about her dog a lot. And her cows. She even has a basset something-or-other in the dishwear. Is dishwear a word? It pops up with a red underline.

I need a dog… or some cows… I want to market my dishwear or underwear or whateverwear at Target.

My goal is to look around here and see what I have of interest to blog about (according to my college English classes that should really be “of which to blog”) (at least I think that’s what they taught me – it’s been a long time since I was in college).

My garage!!! I have so very much stuff in there with BIG personality.

I’m going to go check it out!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

October 31, 2015 / apronsandappetites.com / Leave a comment

From Halloween past…

Wishing you a fun-filled evening!

I Miss…

July 28, 2015July 28, 2015 / apronsandappetites.com / 2 Comments

Mom

I miss my mom. Even though she was 90 and had lived a good, long life, sometimes I want to just have a little sit-down like we did those last few years of her life. Those years when she was forced to sit still. Those years after she had fallen so many times she finally let us help; she finally laid it down.

Of course, it wasn’t long after that she took up residence in her new, finer home: heaven.

Dad

I miss my dad. There are so many times, after all these years that he has been gone, I still think, “I’ll ask Dad about that.” We finally got to know him better those last months when we were staying round the clock with him, taking turns caring for him. Enjoying his stories, the time with him, the good moments. Like Mom, he didn’t care to live in this realm after he got really down, not able to care for himself.

He moved, too, soon after we started that round-the-clock care.

Where’s my cigar?

I miss being a child. We strive so hard, and seems so long, to become an “adult.” My grandchildren are doing that right now. How I would love to go back and walk on that hot, gooey pavement up the hill to play with friends again, run around and catch lightening bugs (at least that’s what we called them), get excited over things that I don’t seem to get so excited about anymore. Look forward to going back to grade school in the fall as Kate is. She is excited about going back this year. She’s ready for it just as I was when I was her age.

I miss making pizza, Chef Boyardee in the box, with my sister and brother on Saturdays and eating ice cream, New York Vanilla. I can’t count how many half gallons we ate of that delicious ice cream. There is no ice cream that good anymore. Covered in chocolate syrup. There were a few perks to being children of the owners of a grocery store. I can’t eat ice cream like that anymore. Not unless I want to buy new clothes all the time.

I miss things I’ve lost, friends I haven’t seen or talked to in a while or have moved on like my mom and dad, stamina, seeing without glasses…

the list goes on and on.

What do you miss?

Cookin’ It Up

April 21, 2015 / apronsandappetites.com / 1 Comment

My Blue Apron meals have been entertaining and delicious! For $59 a week I get three different meals for two people. The first one arrived to much excitement and anticipation. I couldn’t wait to get into it to see what was cookin’ for the next week.

Once I got it opened, I was greeted with a letter from Blue Apron and all the recipes on these beautiful, big, easy-to-read cards. Nice people. Underneath the welcome letter was all the produce and knickknacks (spices, butter, vinegar, cream, etc.) for the meals. Everything is measured, with just the right amounts being sent: certain amount in ounces of greens, the required amount of veggies whether it’s one onion or several fingerling potatoes, enough meat for two, fresh herbs all packaged and labeled.

The packaging is eco friendly, with an insulated storage bag that could be reused to go to the grocery store (which comes in very handy in rural areas where the grocery store is at least 20 miles away). In the bottom of the box are two frozen ice bags keeping the meats cold. The whole kit and caboodle can be recycled.

Ingredients so far have included shrimp, cod, ground lamb and beef, ground turkey, chicken, and flank steak. Along with the vegetables I normally use such as garlic, onions, potatoes, and carrots, I’ve also been introduced to adding kale and spinach and Swiss chard and fava leaves and epazote and pea tips to the skillet to cook in with the recipe. Then there’s the red rice and barley that I have found are delicious as well as filling, making a meal satisfy all evening.

Time to start cookin’ it up!!!

the recipe cards

knickknacks

ingredients

Tonight’s meal was turkey meatballs in pita bread. I lined the pita with a vanilla yogurt, lemon juice, and diced cucumber dressing; added some of the lettuce from the salad, then placed the spiced meatballs in the middle. Not bad but it wasn’t one of our favorites. We aren’t big fans of ground turkey — too bland.

Spiced Turkey Meatball Pitas with Sugar Snap Pea & Bibb Lettuce Salad

The Navarin-style lamb meatball stew was one of our favorites.

Navarin-Style Lamb Meatball Stew with Pea Tips & Carrots

The chili blackened cod just needs a little tweaking for our tastes. Just a little less grapefruit cut up in it and little more finely chopped.

Chile-Blackened Cod with Epazote, Avocado & Red Rice Salad

The flank steak with peppercorn sauce, creamed spinach, and fingerling potatoes was super. Definitely will be making that one again.

Pan-Seared Steaks with Green Peppercorn Sauce & Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

Since the shrimp and fresh pasta meal, I may have to invest in a pasta machine. I had no idea the difference fresh pasta makes in a dish!

Lemon & Black Pepper Shrimp
with Fresh Linguine di Cavolo & Fava Leaves

The chicken was very good as well. The barley added flavor as well as kept us satisfied.

Pan-Seared Chicken Verjus
with Pearled Barley & Mushrooms à la Grecque

Blue Apron has raised my awareness of how I cook and how I eat. Only one dish has had much fat in it, and then not excessive. Learning to cook for two with no leftovers or very little leftover is a plus as well. The mingling of flavors of the herbs and vegetables and meats combinations has been a learning experience, things I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing together.

The next shipment is Wednesday, and I’m looking forward to it. None of the meals have taken much time to prepare nor more than two pans. We have enjoyed critiquing each dish together. A “foodie” date night.

Sometimes I freeze the meat if I am not going to get to it within a couple of days, but the dishes are much better the quicker the use of the ingredients is. The meals turn out like the pictures on the cards (my nephew thought I was posting the web site pictures instead of my own when he saw them on Facebook) after you “plate” them.

I just need a chef hat… a really cool chef hat.

Little Red Hen’s Babies

April 10, 2015April 10, 2015 / apronsandappetites.com / Leave a comment

butternut squash

It’s almost time. Time for my little babies to find a home. Time for someone to adopt them and care for them and reap the rewards of good parenting.

They are used to lots of attention and babying. As they should be. After all, they are my babies.

Last year, before enjoying a delicious oven-roasted butternut squash, I took out the seeds, washed them, and dried them. Then I put them in a brown envelope and labeled them.

This spring, after researching a bit, I made up some potting mix. Lucky for me I have a friend who has horses. Which means I have plenty of manure to mix in with my peat moss, perlite, and Epsom salt. I shall forever hereafter feel completely different about a horse’s ass. They aren’t all bad.

Next I got the seeds out and planted them. My name should be Little Red Hen.

Since my sweet husband got me the coveted greenhouse for Christmas a year ago, at the first of March I planted my darling seeds from last year’s meals and desserts. It was still cool at night, so my husband put a heater with a thermostat connected to it. Everything was ready.

The first babies to pop their little heads up through the dirt, some wearing their seed as a hat or in folded leaves as though praying, were the butternut squash. Next came watermelon and cantaloupe.

praying cantaloupe

Okra

Lemon cucumber was next. Along came my cute little okra wearing the hard, round seed on their heads.

But where were the tomatoes? I had to buy seed for those because I couldn’t find the seed I had saved from last year — or maybe I didn’t save them — but the dirt was just sitting there, empty. No little baby heads poking up through the dirt.

Finally, on a day that I forgot to open the greenhouse and it got about 120 degrees in there, they popped out. Tomatoes do love the heat! So now, I have baby tomatoes growing into beautiful tomato plants almost ready for adoption.

Such a bittersweet time here at My Babies Nursery.

And I’m Going To Wear A Blue Apron Too!

March 24, 2015 / apronsandappetites.com / 3 Comments

Sometimes I scan through blogs, and often times I find at least one really cool one. Such was the case today. I found this super cool, informative (unlike mine) healthy lifestyle blog called dailygarnish. She writes about running, yoga, eating well, raising healthy children… just a good place to go when you have a few extra minutes.

It’s where I found out about Blue Apron. You know how I love aprons, and you know how my cooking is supposed to be kicking off and going places (for only as long as I’ve been blogging), so when I saw this blog post about a food service called Blue Apron, I was wildly curious.

I read the article on dailygarnish then went on to Google to check out the reviews. Everything I read gave the food service a thumbs up. So I clicked on the website and filled out the information and now I wait. The beginning of April I will get my first shipment.

The delivery is everything I will need to make three meals for two people. Three really cool meals. Each ingredient is measured, each vegetable is included as are the meats, each box is iced. It includes a recipe card, easy-to-read recipe card. I am so very excited!!

Oh, To Get It Right

March 20, 2015 / apronsandappetites.com / 9 Comments

From my Mom

This card was from my Mom at the party in 1981 or 1983. I don’t know when it was. I’ve tried to figure it out, and right when I think I have, I post a card from B. O. and Jane Young that says June of 1983.

Which explains the gist of most of the cards and letters: I love you, you dork.

Which is also pretty much the gist of my life today: I am a dork.

But my Momma loved me, and did right up to the day she left for Heaven. I would imagine she still does.

This card is especially precious because of my Mom’s handwriting. As we walk through life, or run, we have no idea how we will miss those little things like handwriting, a voice, a chuckle.

Here is another one of my cherished gifts from that day: a long-ago picture of some neighborhood kids.

Jamie, me, and Terry

A lot of us had horses or ponies in those days. We all played and played together: sledding down the big hills in the snowy winter, pretend ice skating with our boots in the freezing weeks, riding ponies and bikes in the hot summer, playing in the water hose or in the rain. Gail tells it well:

Gail’s letter

Gail’s letter back

Oh, the times we had as children! Wonderful, imaginative, exciting times!

There were more letters from my Acteens youth girls and my Sunday School class, sweet letters from sweet girls who became good, sweet women, mothers, teachers of their own Sunday School classes, employees.

A time capsule of sorts. One that I hope you have enjoyed opening.

The Party of 1981–The Hands of Old Friends

March 18, 2015 / apronsandappetites.com / 1 Comment

Dymisha and me plus ours and others — way back when

Man!!! We were skiiiiiineeeee!! I remember that red outfit; I loved it. Must have been my going-to-town shorts and shirt since that’s where I thought we were going. Headed to the big city of 12,000 compared to our little town of 1800. Yes, you read that right. We’re even smaller today with the commerce dwindling and people going elsewhere to buy what they need. Forced to now that things are shutting down instead of choosing to.

As is the way with most small towns, we’ve kept getting smaller. Waaaaay back in the day, people called our little town “going to town” because it was a bustling little place with several grocery stores, two big hardware stores, a dry cleaner, drugstore, a newspaper office, clothing stores, several taverns, car dealerships, gas stations, restaurants, jewelry store, skating rink, and I’m sure I am leaving some out.

It was a happy time then; a time when our children were small and easily entertained and easily maintained! A good time for a party!

Here are some samplings of my gifts that day, gifts I have treasured for over 30 years:

This was the beginning of the book. A card from Dymisha and a long letter. Followed by cards and letters from my Mom and my friends. A heart book.

A letter from Dymisha

page 2

That letter is five pages long!!! A wonderful letter that I’ll share only part with you. But here are some more!!

Ms. Catherine’s letter

Ms. Catherine was the nurse in our one-doctor hospital. She and Doc Stanelle cared for a lot of people over their years of doctoring. I can remember Dr. Stanelle making house calls! He had to come to our house once because my fever was so high it scared my mother. Really scared her for her to call the doctor to the house! I can remember all those kids being on my bed, jumping around and putting rocks on my forehead. When I told my mother as much, she ran to the phone, and good old Doc did his thing. It must have worked because I’m still here today.

Ms. Catherine was a woman of substance. And I am very honored that she took the time to write me a message.

Another person of substance, a man who gave years and years of his life to stand in front of our small church congregation and pick out songs to sing was Byers Young, B. O. Young. He and his wife, Jane, were great people I will always remember fondly. They ran one of the hardware stores in town. And to think that he took the time to sit down and write something to a young woman just amazes me. And humbles me as well.

B. O. Young’s card

(more to come)

The Party of 1981 – Part 3

March 16, 2015 / apronsandappetites.com / Leave a comment

As I read the letters, I couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that I am the same today as I was all those years ago. Several voiced in their letters qualities or lack of them that are my personality traits today. And I was overwhelmed with joy that I had been blessed with such good people in my life. They each had stories or an encouragement or accolades. They each took their precious time and sat down and wrote something to me, something I have cherished all these years.

There were letters from the Acteens group at church that I was leading; busy teenagers who wrote me the sweetest, most heartfelt letters that I cry over. Older women who have now gone on to be with God, women of substance who gave me moments of themselves. Women my age (older women now) who spent time reminiscing, blessing me, loving me. Women who acknowledged the positive things about me and laughed at the not-so-positive things. Good stuff there in that book.

I’m going to share some of them with you. Perhaps you will remember writing the letter, and it will bring back a good memory for you. Make you smile. Make you happy. As Dymisha said in her letter, “You know, if there has been one moment of happiness brought to her through this surprise party, or this letter… then I’m happy.”

(to be continued)

The Party of 1981 – Part 2

March 15, 2015 / apronsandappetites.com / 3 Comments

Dymisha was driving, and I was enjoying my free afternoon with my good friend. She kept driving down the road, past the houses, straight to the park entrance… and stopped. I just looked at her, and wondered what in the world was she doing. We were going out to eat! She was smiling from ear to ear and pointed to this big sign right in front of us. (I have never been one to notice the obvious.)

On the sign were big words that said, “Happy Birthday, Brenda!” My feeble little mind could not wrap itself around what was going on. There were all kinds of people milling around under the shelter, children running all over the place. What was going on?

When Dymisha finally opened the door and got out, it kicked in. A surprise party!!! She had planned this super awesome surprise party for me with family and friends there. I can’t remember the details now of what we did that day. I’m sure we had food because that’s where we were headed. All I remember is the love: the smiling, happy, love.

And I still remember it.

She gave me a wonderful gift that day, one she had prepared beforehand and presented to me that day. A gift I have kept for these past 30-some years. A scrapbook filled with letters from my family and friends with pictures from the party added later. A book that would never happen today in the age of texting and tweeting and emailing.

I found that book the other day as I was cleaning out a closet and sat down to look through it, again. Occasionally throughout the years I would get it out and thumb through it, sometimes reading all the letters, but mostly looking at the pictures. This particular day, I got out all the letters, everything that was in there, and decided to write about my friend, Dymisha, and the other great people who took time out of a busy day to come celebrate with me.