Februrary 15, 2022....oops, how on earth did I get so far away from blogging? I haven't a clue. Currently Tom is consulting once again in Abu Dhabi, sigh. We're too old for this nonsense. But on a brighter note I somehow stumbled on my old blog and have been reading excerpts to him as we facetime, some made us laugh so hard...what fun to spend our morning together, his evening re-reading our adventures and misadventures, and laughing together though very remotely. I have a nice evening planned as our oldest great grandson has a basketball game. I adore seeing him whenever and however I can...will even tolerate those old hard benches in the grade school gym just to get to watch him for an hour. I always get a hug afterwards so it's so worth it. I'm making him a batch of Nutella/piecrust button cookies for after his game. Lightly roll out refrigerated pie dough, use any cutter you have to cut shapes, I juse a round fluted cutter, use a straw to poke two holes in half of the shapes. Put a dollop of Nutella or a favorite jam on the solid piece, cover with the two holes piece, place on a non stick cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for about 8 minutes, I brush with beaten egg first. These are too easy for words and the kiddos and ahem...Tom love them.

Hello Fresh Cooking/A Promise is a Promise

I don't cook quite like I used to, mostly due to a 14 month long diet we've been on and partly due to subscribing to Hello Fresh and partly due to legs who do not seem to like the kitchen any longer. Tom loves to cook the meals, they are easy and most generally in the delicious category like this one: https://www.hellofresh.com/recipes/zaatar-crusted-grilling-cheese-598cc7b4d56afa0b41247292/ We just had this for lunch/early supper. We love the Middle Eastern flavors, I guess since we ate them for ten years. Israeli couscous is wonderful and this cheese is wonderful, this one was called Mediterranean or something like that but we were quite used to Halloumi.....you can fry it and it does not melt. This dish was wonderful, the tomatoes were just warmed by the couscous and the zucchini and onion with sumac......oh delicious. You can easily make this at home, look up the recipe. Also 3 years ago I promised the recipe for the Blueberry pound cake, which is oh so delicious.....so here you go, after all, a promise is a promise. Blueberry Lemon Pound Cake Ingredients: 1 cup butter 6 eggs 1 cup sour cream 3 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 2 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla The zest and juice of two lemons 2 cups of fresh blueberries. Toss the blueberries in 1 teaspoon of all-purpose flour to keep them for sinking to the bottom. Glaze: 2 Tbs fresh lemon juice and 1 cup confectioners’ sugar. Directions: Allow butter, eggs, and sour cream to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and lightly flour a 10 cup bundt pan; set aside. In a medium bowl stir together flour, baking powder, and baking soda; set aside. In a large bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar, beating on medium speed about 10 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low to medium speed for 1 minute after each addition and scraping side of bowl frequently. Add lemon juice and zest and mix to combine. Alternately add flour mixture and sour cream to butter mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined. Fold in the lightly floured fresh blueberries. Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading evenly. Bake for 75 to 85 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Remove from pan, drizzle with glaze while warm, cool completely on rack.

Life Lesson 19

My goodness gracious. I actually thought I could no longer link to this blog, but this last month have been reviewing it and "thinking" about catching up, my last post was 3 years ago.....so much has happened in our lives in 3 years, no non boring way to catch up all of that. So Life Lesson #19, quit procrastinating! We're at our beach house and recently I made an apple crisp from an age old favorite recipe and a high school friend said didn't you have a page where you kept recipes and cooking tips.....well yes, yes I did, right here and as soon as I opened it up......poof, there's that recipe of the apple crisp but without the picture. So there's the picture of the Apple Crisp and it was from my daughters 2nd grade class not kindergarten as I had remembered, that daughter will be 45 soon...sigh. The pan I used is fabulous, it's from Lodge, a very very very heavy pan I got pretty reasonable at the Outlet. I'm going to make another while we're here at the beach and share with friends and neighbors. I have some pears I will add just to use them up.

Daisy

My sweet Daisy deserves her very own post. We were able to realize a sweet dream for her....take her to the beach and let her run and play and oh how she loved that and loved her home. Once we got her to the states she never went into a kennel again, she never went to a Kennel so we could travel again, she was with us every moment.

My Mother got sick and needed nursing care October of 2012 and we took Daisy along then too, so Mom got to meet her at last. We moved over seas with her when she was 7 months old so Mom never got to meet her until she was 12 years old. We went back and forth many times to be with Mom, and also to the beach and to my daughters in Georgia. While at the beach we took her to a vet to "get acquainted", he told us she had a heart murmur and with or without treatment she would live two more months and she did just that. After burying my Mother (we had to wait two months for that due to a military cemetery issue), Daisy comforted me as I cried. Then the very next morning, our Daisy took one last stroll out to the daffodil bed in my Mother's back yard and elegantly sniffed the air in three directions as she sat down amongst the daffodils, she then laid down and sniffed in three directions again, then laid over and quiet peacefully and immediately died. I honestly thought my heart would explode. It's been a year ago now this past April, I can't believe it's been that long as I still miss her daily. (I miss my Mother too) Just before Daisy died, I knew I would have a very hard time accepting it, so I got a new puppy, Matilda, I call her my grief puppy, I knew I would need her and she truly did help with the transition. She at least knew her big sister for about two months. Daisy helped her learn a lot of things and she was ever so patient.

How I wish I could have them both with me. I don't think we ever forget the animals we've loved, nor the people. My Mom would've been absolutely crazy over Matilda, she loved Boston's and always had one. Mom did get to know Daisy and loved her, Daisy and I spent many many hours in the nursing home together with Mom. All the little old folks along Mom's hall loved her. I loved her most of all......she was my best friend, she saw me through so much for so long.

We took Daisy to my sisters vet for cremation and my sister picked up her ashes for me until I could get back to Illinois to get her myself. While we were gone our kids got together and made a lovely small garden in our rather large yard just for Daisy....they planted a white dogwood tree and daisies and put an iron dog there. We brought home from my Mother's the rock that Daisy laid down by and that has also gone there. We will eventually bury Daisy there under her rock amongst her plantings. Rest in peace my precious girl.

Life Lesson #18...Do not let life get in your way.

I see I have not posted in nearly two years. Yes life got in my way a bit. Not that I didn't have thoughts, recipes, projects and life to share, I just didn't seem to find the time for it. And quite honestly I do enjoy blogging, it's kind of like keeping a diary. I wish I knew how to do the pretty blogs that the sweet young things do, but I'm not that advanced on the computer. Remember the long ago post about Bali Tea? Well I've just made me a cup, hadn't done that in quite a long time. It's a hot summer day, but I'm on the porch with a fan and the setting seems perfect for this cup of tea. It takes me right back to that lovely hotel we stayed in in Bali, I remember I drank that tea every meal and kept making mental notes until I figured out how to make it for myself. I made some curtains this summer for a friend. They were made from painters drop cloths, the khaki colored ones. I cut some in half and hemmed them and added ties to the tops that I made from yellow thirties fabrics. My hubby and grandson, Morgan helped to hang them using coat hooks and pvc pipe.

I really enjoyed doing this, though it took me some time to do it and some time to figure out how to make everything work. Now I'm contemplating making pillows out of the same fabric, use the ties to close the backs, add old doilies and buttons to the front. I'm in a "I want to do everything frame of mind". I made a blueberry pound cake day before yesterday, I think the cakes stands and domes I ordered from Etsy just now arrived....how cool! I've always wanted one of those, now I will have two, a regular size one and a smaller one. This is what the cake looks like, later I will publish the recipe. I got it through a feed on facebook, it's fabulous.

I had a bumper crop of blueberries from my bushes at the beach house this summer so picked and used them daily, froze some and have made this cake twice.

We're going to attend our 50th class reunions later this summer,looking forward to that. I had thought we'd both diet and get in great shape....ha.....didn't happen. We went to different high schools but graduated the same year, and dated through most of high school. I'm eager to open the boxes that just arrived, see if it is the cake stands so will post again soon. I'll put that recipe on for the blueberry and lemon pound cake.

Life Lesson #17

My my my, I so need to catch up. I quit blogging when my hubby told me to keep it to myself that we were not going to renew his contract at the university and transition back to the states this year. It was too difficult to keep that secret so I just didn't talk to anyone for a really long time.....Life Lesson #17, if you want to keep a secret, just don't talk and certainly don't blog so I didn't....wasn't I good? But I have so much to say and no one in particular to say it to but my little blog here and I've also discovered some new bloggy friends and I'd like to link them to my blog so we can share all things cooking, gardening, crochet and quilting and sewing etc....I rather enjoy all of that and love it when an old friend stops in and leaves me a message. I'm currently working on a Granny Stitch Afghan that I just love and is totally mindless to do.....that does not mean that there aren't three so far that I've found mistakes in it, but unless you're totally picky you're not going to find them, but the Shadow knows where they are! I need to take a picture and post it and will do that soon....for now I'm just finding my old blog spot and saying hello.....and now for that after breakfast catch up on lost sleep nap.

Time for a recipe

Apple Crisp Recipe.....

Butter a 9x13 inch pan.
Peel and cut up 5 to 8 apples, I like a variety and they must be crisp ones, place in the pan.
Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 to 2/3 cup regular sugar, depending on sweetness of apple or your tooth.
For the Crust: Mix and spread over apples, 3/4 cup flour, 1 cup brown sugar...lightly packed, 1/2 cup butter, pecans, chopped (optional). Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until done.

30 years ago my youngest daughter was in 2nd grade and all the kids submitted apple recipes for a cookbook. This was back in the days of mimeographed papers. I may have even run the mimeographs as I did do volunteer work at the school back then, I remember I loved the smell of the ink!

This recipe is simple and is so good served with either whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or a drizzle of heavy cream while the crisp is still warm. I used to make up several and pass them out to the neighborhood...oh this was back when we lived on a farm.

I have more news, but will make a separate post. I haven't blogged in a while, been busy relocating. So today made a foray into the mess that was once our den here in the states and did an I Spy on this old children's cookbook, what a find! I'm now more encouraged to clean out the room and set it back to rights. I wonder what other treasures I will find. For now I must make a grocery run for apples...ummm....can't wait to make this again.

Life Lesson # 16

Don't go so long without posting might be a good life lesson, but even better...find some joy in each day! Such a great life lesson, joy is so easy to find if you only let yourself stumble over it.
I've been emailing with an old high school friend who is troubled just now, I have been trying to help her find a new path so that she can enjoy her life again, as I've done that I think of my own life.
My own life is complicated right now due to my husbands job and our locations. He is in Abu Dhabi and I'm home in the mountains in the USA and it is so glorious. I do worry about my hubby as he is there alone and men don't do right alone do they. Mine doesn't eat right or exercise without my nudging. Thank goodness for Skype, we are on it twice a day and his weekends I'm sort of locked into it with him. I'm nudging him just now to get on the exercise bike while I do the same.
I'm not totally alone...we brought our dog home at Christmas time and all our kids and grands are here nearby. Our dog is a boxer as you know and our vet said since you're going home for the holidays you really should take her now so we did as my husband's contract ends in late July so we had thought we'd come home for good this year. Now we're undecided as the economy still struggles at least for our grown children and our grandchildren and my hubby has this wonderful job and we help as much as we can with the struggles at home. So what do to now? We have not decided, we'll stumble along and "see how it goes" as a Dr I worked with for years used to say.
Meanwhile I'm sitting here listening to my dog snore, my hubby occasionally talk, and the wind rustling the trees...do you ever turn off all sounds and just enjoy listening to the outdoors, so your own spirit can talk with you? Oh my...how wonderful it is! The wind just rushed by our house and made this amazing rustling sound...and I just stopped everything and watched and listened. Well...may the spirits move you all to enjoy this day and those simple wonderful things that happen in it! This picture I posted reflects the trees surrounding my home that I can hear and see from where I am sitting posting this note, I took it yesterday during our mountain walk.

Life Lesson #15

Never leave anything that resembles food out where Daisy can spy it or possibly find it because she will find it. I had bought an interesting looking pasta and left it on the counter...not thinking there would be any smell to it or appeal to it at all in it's plastic wrapper. This little past resembled rice, or a small risoto but it was called Italian Macaroni. I was thinking of making a soup with it, but Daisy had other plans. It ended up trailed all through house like Hansel and Gretel had used it in the woods. Daisy snatched it off the counter and opened it in the family room, but then wandered the entire house (all 4400 sq ft of it) with bits dangling from her jowls I'm quite positive. Later all that dried pasta seemed to be a bit upsetting and there she was pacing the floor in the bedroom until I got up and came down stairs with her, after a few trips outside (thank goodness for that one) she was ready to settle in for the night, though I was wide awake by then. So the moral of the story is to always close the kitchen door when away from the house, also be sure to put non removable (by Daisy at least) objects in all the chairs and on all the couches. And don't believe that poor pitiful me look as you go out the front door, it's all an act.

Beyond Excited! Life Lesson #14

After several weeks of nothing but bad or sad news I've had two terrific news days! On Friday we were told our first great grandbaby is a Boy and he will likely have my hubby's name in his, how terribly exciting. Not to rush our lives away but come on February!



My other news is kind of a longish story...Sunset Beach, NC, our favorite vacation spot and home to our wonderful little vacation home (actually it borders on Ocean Isle and Sunset), had a lovely old swing bridge. We always enjoyed it, enjoyed even the wait when it was open to allow for taller boats to pass along the intercoastal waterway. Sadly the bridge was removed for progress and safety reasons I suppose; and a new high tech and very high bridge installed.
A group of energetic old bridge lovers formed the Old Bridge Preservation Society and were able to purchase the bridge and have it moved to a site off water but near where it was originally and are proceeding to make it a park like setting and using it for educational purposes and museum type purposes.
A couple of years ago my second oldest grandson and I had our own special beach trip...one grey misty morning we were heading to the beach and were stopped by the opening of the bridge. We pulled over and I whipped out my ever ready camera and took a couple of pictures. I really loved one of the pictures I snapped that day, enlarged and printed it and framed it in my beach home.
When I bought tee shirts from the OBPS this summer they were delivered to me by a member of the board, as I had had to order them and I missed the time frame to go by the bridge to pick them up. Well this nice lady, brought them and I showed her a framed rendition of the picture I had taken that grey misty day with my grandson. She loved it and I sent it to the facebook page of the OBPS for her. After showing the picture to two professionals she wrote me that they had said it was wonderful and one of the best they had seen. So now they have asked my permission to turn it into notecards and things for the purposes of fundraising for the bridge. I am so honored to be able to contribute to the OBPS by allowing this. I suggested a journal and they will likely make framed pictures too. Hmm, just thought about tea towels, will have to write her that one...hot pads? placemats?
It's the little things in life that can just make your day. I have my fingers crossed that they can make a few dollars using my picture and perhaps be able to contribute to their work on restoration and setting up the park like setting for the bridge. I think maybe this could be Life Lesson # 14, always carry your camera because you just never know.

Another Soup Recipe

I found this one in a Cookbook called Tidal Tastings, I bought it at a flea shop in Sunset Beach. They were selling them to raise money for schools in the area. This recipe is attributed to Jayne Mathews. I've made this one three times already, it's easy, it's comforting and it's really good, it passed the Tom test so you know it's a winner.....a great way to get spinach into your family.

Comfort Soup
I pound ground chuck
2/3 cup fresh grated Parmeggiano Reggiano
salt and pepper
mix those and form into small meatballs, small bite size, makes quite a few.
drop those into boiling chicken broth, at least 2 twelve ounce cans or use a large box of broth,
and let boil for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile cook a half a box of frozen spinach in a small amount of water, if you use a whole box
it just seems like too much spinach I think. I used a strainer to strain it, then squeezed out the
excess water and dropped the spinach in the broth with the meatballs.
Then drizzle in one beaten egg...let cook until egg is all cooked and dispersed, swirl as it cooks.
Serve with a nice crusty bread. So easy, so good. Quick ingredients, takes no time at all. I even
did a quick cook then put it in a small crock pot on warm until supper time so I could walk away
and leave it. These meatballs are surprisingly good and with only the few ingredients. I was amazed.

I forgot to add...I added the juice from half a lemon and half a jar of cannelini beans to this soup, then serve
it with a nice rustic bread, either fresh or lightly toasted in the toaster or oven (butter it and broil it).
My husband really enjoys this soup so it goes in the TOMFOOD category.

Recipe and Life Lesson #13

I'll start with this recipe from this wonderful "old" cookbook. It can no longer be found except in flea markets, junk shops, antique shops etc. I love it, it's one of my very favorites. It has signature dishes from cities all over the US including my home town, Springfield, Illinois. The dish I made today is from St Paul, Minnesota. I'll list the recipe followed by my small changes. It's excellent and my husband will enjoy it for lunch today as the university does not yet have their food service in place so he's been coming home, a bonus for me...well mixed blessing, means I cook two meals a day instead of one. I sometimes enjoy that and sometimes don't, I'm sure all you ladies can relate to that one! This is so easy to prepare.




Minnesota Wild Rice Soup
1/2 cup uncooked wild rice (I used a mixture of different rices)
1 large onion diced
2 large fresh mushrooms, diced or 1 can (4 ounces) sliced mushrooms, drained (I used a whole package of fresh mushrooms, sliced)
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
8 cups hot chicken broth (I used 3 cans...Campbell soup size)
salt and pepper to taste...go easy...broth often is salty
1 cup half and half or light cream (I used about 3/4 cup low fat milk and about 1/4 cup evaporated milk)
2 tablespoons sherry or dry white wine

Add rice to 2 cups salted water, simmer until rice is cooked, about 30 to 45 minutes.
Saute onions in butter, add mushrooms, only takes about 3 to 5 minutes to cook them until soft. Stir in flour a little at a time, add chicken broth (I didn't heat it, just from the can, added slowly). Do not let any of this brown. Stir in cooked rice, season to taste with salt and pepper. Heat through, add half and half or milk etc. Add sherry and heat through but do not boil.
It can be prepared to the half and half point, then set aside as needed then reheat once half and half and sherry are added.

Now I've had a "revelation" about this soup. I am going to make chicken palliards...slice a boneless, skinless, chicken breast in half with a good sharp knife, layer between sheets of plastic wrap and pound it to 1/4 inch thick...dredge it through egg white..whip them until they just begin to froth, then dredge through Panko bread crumbs to which you've added salt and pepper to taste, and a bit of poultry seasoning, then fry them up in a very small amount of canola or other vegetable oil (only lightly cover the bottom of your skillet) until nicely browned. Okay...so I will do that, then I will warm up a good portion of this soup..it gets really thick...then I will drizzle that over my palliards, serve that up with a nice fresh veggie, steamed. smart eh?
The soup made so much that I can get probably 4 meals from it for two people. I had to keep adding milk as the entire cup of flour makes it really thick. We can add this soup to the TOMFOOD list...in fact everything I make is pretty much in that category...TOMFOOD means he'll eat it...it must be heavy and fill up those long legs.





Life Lesson #12
Stay in touch with old friends. My girls (now 37, 42 and 43) had a wonderful friend all through junior and senior high school. We moved away and though there were visits until about mid 20's the years and marriages, jobs, and family obligations slipped in the way of continuing that beautiful old friendship. This week their friend passed away, we don't know what happened to him. So young. We knew so many in his family and his wife's family. I cannot even imagine their grief. The memories of him are so vivid, he was so delightful, so full of life and from all reports turned into one fine adult with a nice family. It saddens me to think we know nothing of the last 20 years of his life and did not know his children. It's a life lesson to stay in better touch with those we really have cared about and shared so much with in our lives. I did stop by his work the last time I was in town but had just missed him, that was 2 years ago.....now I really wish I had seen him, seen pictures of his children, had a chance to catch up.
I've had so many memories of this kid and my girls hanging out together, laughing, getting in trouble, being kids, they have been swirling in my head. He was one of those kids you just enjoyed...he was so charming, so funny, so onery.
I know that I am guilty of losing touch with many of my friends too, this has served as a reminder to me to keep in better touch with all those I care about. I think really good good friends are so rare, we must cherish them better. I will really miss just knowing that this young man was a part of this world.

Mini Fried Peach Pies

10 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced...I chopped them actually...and only used 8...put them in boiling water a few minutes like you
would tomatoes and the peels come off very easily also the pits are easier to get out of the opposing side.
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter
mix all but the peaches until crumbly, add peaches and stir

Fried Pie Crust
This was in Better Homes and Gardens Sept 09
1 cup unsalted butter (that's two sticks, I cut them in slices)
1/4 cup lard (I also cut it in slices)
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon sugar
8 to 12 (or more) tablespoons ice water (I probably used more like 20 tablespoons)
Peanut oil for deep frying

Mix the salt and flour and sugar and add the butter and lard using a pastry blender.
Add the water a few tablespoons at a time until dough holds together.
At this point they recommend rolling it out and folding it then sticking in the fridge for a bit to
harden it up a bit and it does help with the cutting out bit.
I used a large plastic glass and cut my circles after rolling the dough about 1/8 inch thick, secret to
getting it up is keeping it cold so cut those circles fast.
Preheat your fryer for about 15 minutes using peanut oil.
Put a dollop...less than a tablespoon of filling on your dough...recipe says to seal the edge using a
bit of water...I didn't bother with that, I pinched them then just used fork tines to seal it...deep fry until
golden brown then drain on paper towel quickly then roll in sugar...eat while hot! Yummy!
I have a small fryer so only made 3 to 4 at a time...but it allowed time to work on the sugar rolling and
the filling for the others.

The peaches recipe makes quite a bit, I would suggest making another dough recipe. I think you could
use other fruits easily. I also think you could freeze these and reheat in a slow oven, like around 300 degrees
for about 15 minutes with good results. I also think you could make them to the ready to fry stage and freeze with
success.

One more thing...I thought that a bit of cinnamon would give some zing and I was right, I added about 1/2 teaspoon to
the peaches. These were so delicious. I think it made around 30 or so but I lost count. I shared them with my neighbors
at the beach.

Smokey Beach Marmalade and Life Lessons #11 and #12

Oh I so don't keep up well with blogging...I do believe though that I am at about Life Lesson #11....I know I'm awfully close to that. No pictures today...ha...no one wants to see the dark flecks of char in my marmalade....but the Life Lesson learned is rich, and that I will share with you all as well as this gorgeousmous recipe for Beryl's Marmalade. Beryl is the Mother of my friend and she currently is a retired gem living in New Zealand. Here's the recipe...oh the Life Lesson? well it's never quit stirring...my daughter and I and her hubby are enjoying a peaceful Fourth of July American Holiday at our little beach place...we've been most content and have had a grand time thus far in spite of ever so slightly scorching our first batch of Marmalade...this is how we did it....my daughter knows I have terrible troubles with my feet...well we cut up all our stuff, got our Marmalade cooking away and then she decides to rub my feet...oh ecstasy! Oh my it felt so good...we had asked her dear sweet hubby to stir every ten minutes and me forgetting that near the end you must stir more than that...well she's rubbing my feet, hubby is nose in the computer absorbed in a new furniture daydream and quite suddenly I smelled burn...well shoot if we didn't just sit there like fools and let it scorch on the bottom of the pan...life lesson...no foot rubbing whilst making Marmalade! Otherwise the batch was so perfect...so completely perfectly perfect. Okay so no ecstasy foot rubbing until the Marmalade is in the jars! So we're going back to get more of those perfect oranges, no seeds, the perfect grapefruit again no seeds and more sugar....so here's the recipe...

Beryl's Marmalade
2 pounds of orange, lemon, grapefruit or more if you wish.
We used an entire bag of wonderful Florida Naval Oranges, seedless and 1 grapefruit, again Florida and seedless, and 1 lemon....we cut the whole mess up into 1/4 inch dice. Then you put it in a very large, deep and heavy bottomed pan if you have it...and bring to a boil...you boil for 1 hour, (this was where we messed up with the foot rubbing....twas near the end) then add about 7 pounds of sugar and bring to the boil again and boil for 40 minutes. Is this simple or what? Yes if you're not getting a foot massage! Now once it's boiled for 40 minutes, it should be like thick syrup dripping off a wooden spoon, ladle into hot sterilized jars and seal with hot sterilized lids and rings....
Should make about 12 jars, those tiny jelly jars of Marmalade and it's really and truly delicious...so was the foot rub by the way.
Oh Jeepers Creepes...Life Lesson #12...pay attention to where you are posting...my first post was on my high school blog... that was one terrific foot rub!

We've Moved!

Gosh I don't even know what to write about that...we've moved to Abu Dhabi. I must say, first impressions I don't like it so well. We seem to be out in the middle of nowhere. We've found one gas station and one grocery store in this area, everything else is about 20 minutes away. Nothing is as convenient or handy as it was in Dubai. I love the villa, just don't care for the area. The villa is about 4000 sq ft with 5 ensuite bedrooms, a small maids room and bath, plus a nice laundry area, two half baths...now if you're counting, that's 8 toilets total, there are 3 showers and 2 tubs total. There are 2 family rooms, 1 formal living room, 1 formal dining room and a large kitchen with a huge center island. Why is it no matter how large a kitchen there are never enough cabinets? I don't get that. Quite honestly if there were more cabinets here I would likely never find anything. I might need a map now. We have a private garden and pool. This complex is on a golf course, it has a large community pool, sauna and steam rooms, gym with equipment, a small grocery store, a nice cafe that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner courses along with coffee and pastries. There are some meeting rooms in the clubhouse too and all of that is just 4 villas away from me. Very convenient just remember we're in the middle of nowhere! I've hired a maid service for 2 days a week and for the moment have a friends maid with me for a few days. So helpful....the floors and dust here are a constant problem and I'm too old for all of that...or at the very least my body is too old.
The move certainly pointed out a few things to me...one we're too old for this stuff! two it's a lot of work and three I really need to downsize. I've been doing my best to toss with wild abandon. As you all know I quilt, that seems to be the worst of the boxes and moving mess...sigh...I will definitely downsize all of that fabric and those books and supplies. I've begun the process. For now I need to concentrate on packing to come home for the summer...oh much to do.
This is the outside of the villa...a small garden is in front along with a garage, then two kind of narrow walkways to the back, one on either side, then a nice sized pool in the back...large enough to get some good exercise and thus far we've found early mornings and early evenings to be quite enjoyable...sort of like taking a warmish bath...the pool is about 5 strokes long...not bad.
So the maid service I have (never had that before) is a man and his wife...they are so sweet, Sri Lankans....he does gardening and odd jobs and will wash my car too. They have a 4 year old daughter who comes about 1 day a week. She loves to draw, she's at that age...so I've bought her an easel and thus far just the magic pens and a roll of paper...there is also a chalk board and one of those magic wipe boards on the easel...I can't wait til she comes again and plays there. She's the same age as my grand daughter and though it's not exactly the same, it's kind of nice just having a little giggler around now and then. Her parents are just marvelous, fast, efficient...lovely cheerful people. They will look after things while we're gone too...so nice. They were very highly recommended by a colleague of Tom's and they actually live with them, though they needed extra work...so they come here twice a week for about five hours...perfect for me! Also gives me company. Our other friend is in the states for a month so her maid agreed to come and help me for a few days...she's staying with us in the guest room though, those maids rooms are only about the size of a small walk in closet and would only hold a cot...I can't have anyone sleeping in my house like that! She's also lovely...very beautiful Ethiopian girl...she works at a nice steady pace. We have actually been working together to get us settled in here. I briefly showed her how to single crochet this am and told her once we quit for the day, after supper, I will help her begin a project...she's so excited, she's beside herself. How grand is that? Typically at the end of her day she just goes to her room...I don't know if she reads or writes or anything...some of these folks live such a sad sad life...this beautiful child is only 25 years old and has been here as a maid since she was 16, she sends all of her earnings home to support her mother, father and two sisters and a brother. We hear this story all the time...for us as middle class Americans it is just unimaginable how these folks live every single day! My heart cries for them. This weekend we packed her off to visit her cousin here and as we were preparing...I looked at her and just went and hugged her...then hurriedly walked away so she could not see the tears. Just giving her extra work makes a huge difference in her life, also the other maid/gardener/handyman couple...same thing. Most American's have no inkling how truly fortunate they are...these folks are a daily reminder for me and I treat them as I would want to be treated and i work right along with them...until I wear out then I quit and something in them just keeps them going...they are truly amazing.
A couple of books worth reading....The Help by Kathryn Stockett about maids in the deep South during the mid 60's...shame on those senseless folks who employed them, also The Island by Victoria Hislop about the Spinalonga leper colony off the coast of Crete the book goes from modern times back to WWII...amazing what those folks endured.
I have much to do....will post pictures as my progress increases...I'm done with three bedrooms, l/r d/r f/r 1 and all the bathrooms...am working on my sewing room. After the curtains are in I'll take some pictures and post them.

Oh let me see....memories of Gabatoni's pizza

Thursday evenings begin our weekend here in Dubai and about 3 weeks ago I tried these two recipes from this book I had bought Tom for Christmas. I got him pans too and a pizza peel. We had been so frustrated trying to find a decent pizza here, it's not easy to be sure. There is one restaurant called Il Forno in Mirdiff Mall that is not bad but they do not use proper pepperoni. They do however have this wonderful very thin and crispy potato strings they add to certain pizzas we rather like that. But if you're from Springfield, Ilinois, USA and we are, you should know Gabatoni's Pizza. We never miss a trip to Gabbie's on our trips home. We've gone there since high school days over 45 years ago. Of course we always go to Joe Roger's too...oh Marianne if you stumble on this silly little blog, we do miss you! Now if I could even come close to her chili my work here would be done...
We did notice last night that Dubai Mall has a new pizzaria, we must try that place, we noticed it has a proper brick oven with a live fire...oh wish we had one of those to be sure!
If you want the best pizza on earth please visit Pompeii, Italy...there is a medium sized restaurant just to the right of the entrance to the ruins...sort of back a tiny bit on the right, totally family run place, sadly I do not know the name of it. But the brick oven was first and foremost in the restaurant....and the place was so simple and the pizza was simply magnificent! I took pictures of that pizza but they're not on my computer...those authentic brick ovens the pizza gets little tiny burnt crispy bits on top...oh it's just marvelous. Worth the trip. We ate pizza all along the Amalfi Coast...wow what a trip!



Start with this book and pans like these. The book can be purchased at all major bookstores and is online at Amazon. I use the Sciilian pizza dough recipe it has lemon juice in it. The recipe will easily make four 10 inch thin crusts.. I lightly grease the pan with olive oil and a paper towel before putting the crust on it. Another wonderful thing is you can so easily divide this dough into rounds, refrigerate them in zip loc bags, use within a few days. I bet you could freeze it even though I have not tried that. When I did refrigerate it, I let it come to room temp, then rolled it out. I roll it up onto my rolling pin to put it on the pizza pan. Once the pizza is thoroughly cooked it slides off onto a cutting surface very easily. I think it is the lemon juice that makes this dough so perfect...it truly is perfect. At this point this is the best pizza we've had in Dubai, they don't know pizza here.


Bake naked pizza 3 to 5 minutes.

I make my sauce exactly like the recipe in the book for pizzaiola sauce except that I am rather fond of shallots so I add two finely chopped shallots to my sauce and I just used Green Giant brand whole peeled roma tomatoes and squeezed them into the pan, I do not strain etc as the recipe suggests as I rather like a small chunk of tomato here and there.


This pizza is mushrooms, sliced shallots and wonderful tangy green olives, they have nothing inside them. I use fresh mozzarella that you can buy in a loaf here in Dubai, they will happily slice it for you, so I get about 1/3 of a loaf sliced.
I have also made a white pizza, I brush the crust with olive oil, add finely chopped garlic toes, my fresh garden basil and cover with mozzarella...ummmm good. I can't resist these wonderful olives so I add them too.


This is half of Tom's pizza or nothing but pepperoni...in the states it would also have sausage but he's not fond of any of the sausages here in Dubai. I also sprinkle the pizzas with parmegiano reggiano before adding my mozzarella, it's a bit cheaper here than at home in the states, but now I'm spoiled by it and will always use it. I didn't post the actual recipes due to copyright issues...wouldn't want anyone mad at me. A friend or relative can email me and I will send it though. The book is nice and you will enjoy all the recipes. I'm making focaccia next. This recipe is so near to Gabatoni's that we feel we have that wonderful "taste of home" that we miss so much.

Backtracking

Well yes we did go home for Christmas...so lovely to be there with our family....the result is a picture with all our grandchildren, such a rare occasion that we're all together at once, for some reason we did not get in any pictures with our children...hmmm...
It was so grand to see them...and now we miss them and they're all busy doing stuff we're missing. I hate that part. I will be packed and ready to go home come summer!

Valentine's Day and Life Lesson #11

Happy Valentine's Day friends, neighbors and family. I'm missing home and family today and my heart is full of memories. How sweet my daughter sent me this big heart a little while ago and I just wanted to share it.
So what is life lesson #11...well it's simple really...don't plan on a romantic Valentine's Day with a sweetie who has the flu! Actually I knew yesterday he had the flu...so my gift to him today was to get up bright and early and make homemade chicken soup. We'll celebrate the day on Thursday, hoping of course, that the flu is on the mend. We're going to go see True Grit, it opens in Dubai then. We'll go to Pottery Barn to pick some pillows for our new couch, our gift to each other. We've gotten all the romantic gifts over the years so we decided we'd get pillows this year.


I'm working on a scarf using Bamboo yarn, it's about 2 feet long now and still growing, but I have a picture here of when it began so you can see the colors. It's keeping me busy in the evenings while watching tv. I went back and got a few more skeins, in fact all they had, and got a plain creamy white to add to it. More to come on that and I'll eventually post another picture of my living room with pillows added. The pale turquoise color yarn is for my daughter, it's called Rosemary, love that name for it, the creamy white is not pictured here.

Probably time to make my sweetie a cup of hot tea.

I checked and it's Life Lesson #9 and I'll add #10 too

I'm so sure there will be a great many more life lessons...well I could go right on into 10...and that would be find a better hairdo...oh my...I'm never in one place quite long enough to get into a good routine with my hair. My hair has grown so long it is reaching hag status...oh yes, HAG. It is accentuating the grey and the wrinkles! AAACCKKK! I must straight away make an appointment once I'm back in Dubai, for my hair! My hair has grown so fast that I look as if I'm wrapped in a grey blanket on my head! AAACCKKK! My husband says he likes it long...I honestly think he cannot see at this point. I think while I make a hair appointment I will have a massage for my weary traveling bones...bonus! Until then if you see a brown paper bag with eye holes cut out..that would be me under it!

Bible Study/Life Lesson #9 or is it 10?

So here are the lovely ladies, my new friends. Left to right Carol, Jenny, Lorene, Linda, Ruth, Sarah, Barbara. Ruth is my dear neighbor, my pickle friend. I'll explain that another day.
If one waits long enough one can experience yet another Life Lesson #9...that is, if one desires to spend time with one certain neighbor, the pickle lady, then one opens oneself up to a plethora of new friends and in my case the Bible to boot. I had never done any sort of Bible Study before, though I do think of myself as a Christian and I can pretty much name the books of the Bible by memory and even quote a scripture or two fairly accurately. Actually for me studying the Bible amounted to reading passages and figuring out, with the other ladies, what it really meant. Sort of like a Book Club except this book is the Bible. So it was a double bonus, new friends and a new understanding of parts of the Bible I had not explored before. Even a triple bonus as the entire experience reminded me of my grandparents and that is always a good memory.
And speaking of memory I so want to remember this group of ladies, they are each and every one so special.