While the cat's away...

 ...the mice will play!

A friend asked me before Christmas to host a craft night, but we couldn't seem to get a date pinned down because of holiday stuff, sickness, and life. So when I found out my man had to do a bit of traveling, it seemed the perfect time to have a girls night.

I must say that it is incredibly handy to have minions kids around to not only help clean the house, but decorate, too! As long as I have a list in my head, I can bark out orders ask my son to vacuum, clean bathrooms, and empty trash all day long and he does it willingly (especially when he knows he can ultimately retire to the man cave once the girls appear). And my daughter somehow convinced me that decorating for the evening qualified as school because it is teaching her hospitality. All I really had to do was prepare our craft supplies (which mainly involved cutting many strips of burlap and rolling them up). Remember this on the days your preschoolers are driving you mad: one day, they will be useful individuals {smile}.

We tried to think of a craft that would be simple to make, would appeal to most anyone, wouldn't require hot glue or drying time, and was inexpensive. We chose a burlap-wrapped wreath with felt flowers, which my daughter had learned to make at an SBTS Koinonia Pinterest night last fall.

And, of course, there was food. A couple of ladies brought some amazing desserts, and I spent hours on an elaborate hors d'oeuvre called Cowboy Candy. (Actually, I quickly spread some cream cheese on crackers, then topped each with a jarred jalapeno slice. But it really is called Cowboy Candy.)

Source: tastykitchen.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

As we worked, we laughed, chatted, helped, shared, snacked, and generally had a good time. I use the phrase we worked rather loosely, as I turned my wreath over to my daughter as soon as I finished wrapping my wreath (which I finally did correctly about the fifth time).

Through it all, there was plenty of laughing, talking, helping, and eating. At the end of the night, we all had lovely wreaths and were refreshed by the fellowship. And we were already planning our next girls night, which may be less crafty and more laser tag-ish. We are multifaceted women, you know.

How not to bake a cake...

We had a busy weekend. Saturday morning, I got busy and made a couple of casseroles, one for dinner and one for the freezer. Finished up a bit of laundry and picking up around the house, then my daughter took me to October Baby. Stopped by The Friendliest Grocery Store On The Face of the Earth (Publix in Warner Robins, if you must know), then home to pop dinner in the oven and have some family time.

Yesterday, we drove down to Colquitt, Georgia, for a family reunion. Left at 9:00 a.m., got back at 8:00 p.m., with some interesting pit stops along the way. (I hope to post some pictures later, including one of the five foot tall pink pig we encountered on a potty break.)

Today we're having another reunion of sorts, as most of Jeff's family will be over to visit with his two West Coast aunts. Meats will be grilled and stories will be told.

I thought it would be nice to have some semi-homemade desserts, so I decided to whip up a couple of cakes. Wouldn't you know it, only enough eggs for one cake. Okay, so maybe I'll make it to the store to get more eggs later, maybe not. But I can at least make my family's all-time favorite chocolate cake. 

This is the cake that my family requests for every special event, my ace-in-the-hole to take to church potlucks. My recipe is packed up in a 10x20 storage unit with most of our earthly possessions, but recipes are for wimps. I've made this so many times, it should be a, well, a piece of cake. Or so I thought.

I already had the eggs out, so I pulled out some of the other ingredients while my English muffins were toasting. Then I ran around and did a bunch of other things that needed doing. I came back, mixed the cake batter, and put the cake in the oven.

About a minute later, I looked over and saw the eggs still sitting on the counter. Sigh.

I took the cake out of the oven, dumped the batter back into the mixing bowl (at least I hadn't even had a chance to run water in it yet), and mixed in the eggs. The batter was a bit thinner than usual, but maybe that was due to being in the oven for a minute. I dumped the batter back into the bundt pan and popped the cake back into the oven.

About ten minutes later, I realized that I had forgotten another key ingredient: pudding mix. Sigh.

My daughter suggested that I just go to the store and get what I needed to start over. Unfortunately, The Friendliest Grocery Store On The Face of the Earth is about 30 minutes from my house. Yes, there are closer stores, but at this point I was in no mood to deal with them.

So I pulled the cake BACK out of the oven and just sprinkled the pudding mix around the top, mixing it in with a little spatula as I went. My children are very concerned by this point; my daughter is certain that this is not going to turn out well, and my son is worried that we might all get salmonella (confession: science is not a strong point in our homeschooling experience).

I put the cake into the oven again, thankful that my oven does not have a snarky little voice asking me if I'd like to just install a revolving door.

My daughter peeked in about 20 minutes later and informed me that, "The cake looks interesting. I'm just sayin'." Her spiritual gift is encouragement. At least she didn't bring up the chicken pot pie incident.

After adding a few extra minutes of cook time to account for the cake's ingredient interventions, I removed it from the oven. It looked... remarkably normal. When I popped it out of the bundt pan -- well, all of the extracurricular activity kept it from actually popping out of the bundt pan, but you know what I mean -- it was still looking good. And powdered sugar covers a multitude of sins.

My daughter also encouraged me to serve the cake sliced (so that we could check it out before the rest of the family ate it). But I'm a risk taker, and this is family.

Besides, it's triple chocolate. How bad can it be?

{I must give credit to Lisa Pennington for reminding me via blogpost today to be willing to laugh at myself. I hope I'll one day be as good at this as my mother was. I sure have many opportunities for practice!}

A smile to remember

I saw an obituary today and I smiled.

This was an obituary for someone I have known most of my life, someone who was dear to my family as I was growing up, someone who I think of often and fondly.

I smiled because the family chose to include a recent and wonderful picture of this dear 89-year-old man, and I smiled because he was smiling.

Gene McClard  was always smiling.

He and his first wife, Dorothy, are smiling right through many of my childhood memories. I remember their cheerful hospitality as they invited families into their home on New Year's Day to eat, play games, eat, watch games, and eat.

Mr. McClard introduced me to Baskin Robbins, buying me my first ice cream cone there (he wisely chose Pralines and Cream on a sugar cone); perhaps this influenced me as I shopped for my first job and was hired at our local 31 Flavors.

He also taught me how to eat prime rib with horseradish in a train car at a little restaurant called Victoria Station. I was never again satisfied with the family-sized sirloins my father occasionally grilled.

Many summers, our family would caravan with several others to Mission Bay in San Diego to set up camp, RV-style, at De Anza Harbor Resort in Mission Bay, San Diego. The McClards were the patriarch and matriarch of the group and treated all of us kids like their own grandkids. I can remember Mr. McClard piling into the far back seat of our school bus yellow suburban for the ride up the hill to the local church there. I piled in right beside him, surprised at his seating choice in the kids' zone, but glad to be there with him.

Sometimes when we waited in line, he kept things interesting by doling out peanut M&Ms. One at a time. No one got another until he finished his one M&M. And he didn't chew it; he slowly savored it. So we learned to savor, too.

The last time I saw Mr. McClard was at my father's memorial service back in 2010. It's the only time I remember seeing him without a smile; instead, he spotted me from across the room and hurried over, arms spread wide, eyes full of tears. He held me tight and told me what a good friend my dad had been to him and how much he would miss him. And I was able to tell him, after so many years, that I loved him and always considered him my adopted grandfather.

I remember that hug, but I'll always remember his smile.

Rosemary Fest!

I love going to the Dekalb Farmer's Market -- I just wish it was closer to my house! I was able to justify going there recently because it was close enough to the Carlos Museum at Emory University (a great field trip when studying Ancients). As we pulled into the parking lot, I rolled down the windows so we could inhale the scents -- exotic spices seem to emanate from the building!

After lunching on samplings from various culture's cuisines, the serious shopping started. I find my weakness is in the dry spices section... and the produce... including fresh herbs. Shopping at a farmer's market is kind of like Forest Gump's box of chocolates: you never know what you're going to get. But I almost always come away with fresh herbs (and very little idea of what I'm going to do with them).

Here's what I did with some of the fresh rosemary that I bought:

First, the pork chops. I'd bought a whole pork tenderloin (I'm talking the huge one now, the one that could be a lethal weapon if you can heft it) at Sam's and sliced part of it as chops. I seasoned some with just kosher salt and coarse-ground pepper, belted each with a slice of quality bacon, tucked in a rosemary sprig, and added a toothpick for security -- then double-bagged and froze them. These can be grilled, but they are also good cooked in a skillet with a little olive oil, like this:

I also wedged some new potatoes and shook them in a ziploc bag with a little olive oil, kosher salt, coarse ground pepper, and chopped fresh rosemary. You can also add pressed or minced garlic (I forgot). Shake well, then spread on an oiled jelly-roll pan and roast at 400 degrees for about 40-45 minutes, stirring at least once:

I was on a roll, so I opened a small can of mandarin oranges and mixed in a little chopped rosemary, as well:

This was later added to mixed greens and topped with craisins, toasted sliced almonds, and Ken's Steakhouse Sweet Vidalia Onion Dressing:

This meal seemed fancy without being fussy -- and it was good! Hope your family will enjoy it, too!




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I linked up over at Eat at Home's Ingredient Spotlight: Fresh Herbs! 

Wisdom for today

As Jeff and I carefully and prayerfully considered our new business venture, Jeff took me to Proverbs 31:

10  An excellent wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.
11 The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
12 She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.
13 She seeks wool and flax,
and works with willing hands.
14 She is like the ships of the merchant;
she brings her food from afar.
15 She rises while it is yet night
and provides food for her household
and portions for her maidens.
16 She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
17 She dresses herself with strength
and makes her arms strong.
18 She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
Her lamp does not go out at night.
19 She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her hands hold the spindle.
20 She opens her hand to the poor
and reaches out her hands to the needy.
21 She is not afraid of snow for her household,
for all her household are clothed in scarlet.
22 She makes bed coverings for herself;
her clothing is fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is known in the gates
when he sits among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them;
she delivers sashes to the merchant.
25 Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.
26 She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
27 She looks well to the ways of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children rise up and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
29 “Many women have done excellently,
but you surpass them all.”
30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
31 Give her of the fruit of her hands,
and let her works praise her in the gates.  (ESV)

I hope that as I (and our family) pursue this opportunity, the Lord gives me wisdom for each day so that I can honor Him all along the way!

Just peachy!

We had a wonderful time last night with friends over for dinner. We love having folks into our home, and it's always fun to plan the menu. Last night's meal included squash, peas, and basil from our garden, as well as some tomatoes I picked up at our local farmer's market earlier in the week. Our local Publix has been carrying true Georgia peaches at a reasonable price, so I picked up a few of those, as well. Jeff was grilling pork chops for our main course; I thought it would be nice and summery to have some peach salsa to serve over those. Here's what I came up with:

3 medium peaches (ripe but firm) -- peel and dice
Half a lime -- squeeze juice over diced peaches and toss
1 jalapeno -- remove seeds and membrane*, chop finely
2-3 tbsp finely chopped onion
2 handfuls fresh cilantro, washed and coarsely chopped

Toss all ingredients together -- should make 2-3 cups of salsa.

This was great over the pork chops, and I think it would also be good on chicken or fish. I might serve it with regular tortilla chips or cinnamon chips. It might even be good over vanilla ice cream for dessert with a kick! It was also very pretty -- I wish I had taken a picture.

In case anyone wonders, our menu was:

Grilled porkchops (seasoned with garlic salt and lemon pepper)
Sauteed yellow squash and zucchini
Purple hull peas
Tomato and cucumber salad

And for dessert... triple chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream!

*you might want to wear gloves to do this -- the pepper oils linger and will affect other things you touch (food, your eyes, etc).

I linked up over at Eat at Home's Ingredient Spotlight: Fresh Herbs!

(Photo source: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/)