Tag Archives: Food

Giving and Receiving…

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;

he chastens and hastens His will to make known;

We started with some appetizers. Really? Do you need appetizers at a Thanksgiving meal? Probably not so it’s good not to fuss over them.

The table is something I do like to spend time on. If this is not your thing don’t fuss over it either. The most important thing is having people around your table not what’s on the table.

We generally serve buffet style especially at Thanksgiving because we have way too many dishes to fit on the table and serve family style. When it’s just a family dinner it works fine to put all the dishes right on the table.

Did you notice, too, that there is nothing green on the plate? I gave up making salads for Thanksgiving years ago. There’s just not enough room on the plate for it. I just tell people to have a green smoothie for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning before they head over.

It’s wonderful when you can count on your guests to chip in with part of the meal. Thank you Beth for the desserts and Lana for the potatoes and turkey shaped butter!

We had a wonderful time from Thursday on. I will admit that I was dead Thursday evening. On Friday Lana, Laura and I made one short trip to Country Village in Bothell for a quick run through our 3 favorite stores. Just long enough to get a little shopping out of our systems. We dropped Lana off at home for her to continue her Christmas decorating with her new purchases. Laura and I headed to my house and suggested a meal out at our local Mexican hang out with the guys. They thought that was a great idea and it was nice not to have to cook or warm up another meal.

Because of our cookbook deadlines I made one more meal for my family to test on Saturday night. I’m happy to report it worked out great. All I have left to do is document the recipe for the book. My family might be sad when the recipes are all done and headed off to be edited.

After church today we helped Dan pack up and head back over the mountains. He made it home by 5:00 with clear roads and good weather. After we waved goodbye to Dan we jumped in the car and headed to friends for lunch. That was a nice unexpected treat after all the cooking in my kitchen this Thanksgiving weekend.

A few more days are left in the November Grace Challenge and I’m so grateful to God for family, friends, and food. I’m thankful we can share at our table. And when the dishes are cleared I’m thankful for a dishwasher that scrubs away and a friend that will scrub the items that can’t go in the dishwasher.

If It’s Tuesday…

…it must be La Corona!

Every Tuesday rain or shine you’ll find Dear and I at our favorite local Mexican Restaurant, La Corona.

We really enjoy their salsa. Did you notice the larger than usual salsa container? Our waitress knows we go through the little one too fast so she brings us a big bowl to begin with. During my season of restraint, I count out 6 chips and lay them on a napkin on the table. That is my portion. I double dip, triple dip, quadruple dip to get as much salsa as I can with my 6 chips. Salsa is cheap in calories…

We have a favorite waitress at the restaurant. This is Liliana. She treats us like family and we appreciate her work ethic and the big bowl of salsa

Here’s my restraint meal. I get one soft corn taco with Chile Colorado for the meat. Instead of rice I get a salad. Instead of refried beans I get the ranch beans. I didn’t want to give up our tradition of going out on our dinner date on Tuesdays so this is a good alternative meal to enjoy without the typical Mexican meal calories! Monday marks 4 weeks of restraint for me.

It’s Friday and for me the week seemed to go slow for a change. I mowed the lawn yesterday and found some mystery meat in the garage freezer. It really is a good idea to label stuff you freeze. We are pretty sure it was pork loin and it cooked up real nice because it was pre-seasoned well. Oye!

Do you have any plans for the weekend?

Restraint…

Doesn’t this look good? If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time you know I love pretty things on a plate and pretty plates, too. This dessert could be just fine shared with 3 other people. In my studies in Home Economics during a nutrition course I read that there is no such thing as a fattening food. Hear me out on this. It’s the sum of all the food you eat in a day or week or month that can put weight on you or help you to lose weight. One item isn’t going to make or break you, unless of course you are allergic to nuts or shellfish and just one of those could kill you. There’s the whole other subject of what’s healthy but a lot of times what’s healthy for me might not be healthy for you. So why am I waxing on here? I am in a period of restraint in my life until I see a number a lot less than I have on the pesky little flat thing that lives on the floor of my bathroom and is the bearer of bad news. Eventually it could deliver some good news. This will be the last you hear of my restraint until I have that good news down the road…

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

FFF ~ Fresno, Food, Fields

I was in Fresno last Friday with 3 of the Mennonite Girls so I didn’t participate in Friday’s Fave Five but I’m joining with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story this week with my favorites.

1. Traveling to my first MCC Relief Sale and spending time with generous people who donate their time, services, and goods for others.

2. When Dear picked me up at the airport on Sunday morning we decided to head up north for lunch in La Conner at a favorite restaurant of ours called Nell Thorn. The food was delicious and the drive gave us the opportunity to get caught up with news about each of our days apart.

3. After lunch we headed to the tulip fields and enjoyed a tiptoe through the tulips walk about the tulip fields. We don’t take for granted this amazing opportunity to visit these fields of wonder just an hour up the road. I’ll be sharing lots of tulip photos this next week.

4. We are getting a new roof  and rain gutters installed this week. It’s good to know we’ll be set for many years when the job is done.

5. To get away from the pounding noise I went out on a shopping adventure to find green and lavender dishes and accessories. It was a successful trip. I found plates and napkins at Goodwill and more plates and small cups at Crate and Barrel. It’s been a long time since I’ve spent time on a shopping trip like this. Having a chicken in the crock pot made the adventure quite relaxing since I didn’t have to be home early to make dinner.

I’ll leave you with another tulip photo. I hope to get around soon and see what y’all have been up to.

Thanksgiving Came Early…

…at our house this year. As I think over the last few years this early celebrating has become somewhat of a tradition. When you have adult children that are hither and yon you learn to seize the moment when you come together and celebrate.

There were eight of us at our early gathering.

My turkey was ready earlier than expected. No problem because everyone was ready to eat early.

Thanksgiving food is such a nice shade of golden beige. Hilarious. I do not feel the need to add something green like a salad because there is never any room on the plate anyway. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it! To solve that pesky “something green” problem I used a green tablecloth and green goblets!

Our kids, my sister and her husband, Dear and I made up the 8 guests. When Josh prayed for our meal he also prayed for our missing family member who is overseas serving his country and all of us. We missed you Andrew!

One week and Katie and I fly to North Carolina. Time will tell how often I’ll be posting the next month. If you don’t see anything new around here you know I’m busy checking out a part of the country I’ve never been to before, helping Katie find the things to make her new home comfortable, and getting ready for Christmas.

Hope life is treating you well. For those of you in the states a very Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

I’m linking up with Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.

The Story Continues…

Good Saturday Morning to you all. I’m up and busy today getting ready for a celebration.

Today we are having a Northwest Bridal shower for Katie at my sister Lana’s house. The we are my Daughter in Love Laura, Katie’s maid of honor Jamie,  my sister Lana and me. We will be getting together today to decorate and get ready for our guests. Our guests are friends who have helped to write Katie’s Story. Besides our Northwest biological family we have Katie’s lifelong church friends, school friends, work friends, and our extended family through marriage who have all played a part in Katie’s story. Katie’s dad and I are very grateful for the love and friendships that have shaped Katie’s life. Of course I’ll be sharing lots of photos in the next week or two of our celebration. Here’s some of what we are looking forward to today…

We are also serving 2 salads that Gluten Free and Vegetarians will enjoy.

If I’ve been absent in visiting and commenting you now know why. Busy baking and cooking and shopping for a new outfit to wear!

B is for Borsch!

It’s time for Alphabe-Thursday with our dedicated teacher Miss Jenny. We are at the very beginning …a very good place to start. Today is the letter B! I’m going back to my humble food beginnings.

 

When tempted to buy a head of cabbage it must be time for borsch. This is a soup I grew up on and only learned to love from my high school years on. When I was little I can remember having to sit in front of a bowl of borsch until I finished it. Left alone at the table I’d dump the bowl back in the pot and then get in double trouble. My mom would be very upset that I spoiled the whole pot with my bread laden bowl of soup. I would dunk as much bread in the soup as possible hoping the soup would disappear…

 

The broth for this soup is made with a 7 bone beef roast. While the vegetables are cooking I season the roast and put it in the oven for additional cooking. Pieces of the roast can be added to the soup to make it a heartier soup.

Borsch is also served with a nice dollop of Sour cream and good bread. Here’s a recipe for borsch!

FFF ~ November Already…

Here we are in November and our thoughts more than usual turn to thankfulness. On Fridays we join Susanne with Friday’s Fave Five recalling our favorite things from the week.

1. Lana, Laura, Katie and I had a crafting party of sorts last Saturday. Although our production was real slow and we yielded only 6 little Matryoshka dolls we enjoyed loads of laughter. The making tears fall kind of laughter.

2. Our Pastor finished up the series on Spiritual Warfare on Sunday. One of the great things we were reminded of is that the battle has been won and we respond from a position of victory. We also were shown a great photo of the Shield of Faith and how shields were used in battle forming a solid wall of protection. This was accomplished with others beside you and behind you. We need each other.

3. I’m so thankful for my new faucet and my husband who installed it.

4. I really had a fun night opening the door for our Trick or Treaters! We had a lot and my daughter’s face makeup only scared away one little girl. I had to run after her to give her a candy!

5. I mowed the lawn one day this week and because of all the leaves it was a longer than usual workout. I was beat and when Dear came home from work he knew he was taking me out for dinner. Dear, Katie and I shared some great appetizers and we split a Kobe burger 3 ways. A good meal with no clean up is priceless after a hard workout!

I’ve noticed some bloggers who are posting a thankful post every day in November. It’s been great to read them. We have so much to be thankful for…

I’m looking forward to a weekend with nothing scheduled except for church on Sunday morning. Woohoo! How’s your weekend shaping up?

Palisade and Platz…

 

On Friday afternoon Dear and I drove into downtown to pick up two of my brother-in-law’s sisters who arrived in Seattle to go on an Alaskan cruise. One of the sisters is from Michigan and the other is from Canada. We were able to get early reservations at Palisade Restaurant. The waterfront restaurant is beautiful with some wonderful views. Friday was a very nice day in the Pacific Northwest and it was a great evening to be out in Seattle.

 

We had a nice time catching up with some news about each other. The last time we were together was in California two years ago at their mother’s funeral. In the 70’s we made a few visits to Michigan and stayed with Ruth and her late husband Peter at their lakefront home.

 

I was inspired by Charlotte’s post for Easy Platz last Friday. My mother got very creative and made cantaloupe jam and gifted us with some at Christmas. When I saw Charlotte’s recipe I decided to try making it with my mom’s cantaloupe jam. It turned out real good. If you need a last minute treat this recipe is easy and delicious.

 

Even though we were under the weather this weekend Dear and I got a lot done around this old house. I’m happy to say my living room is the cleanest it’s been in at least 6 years. The windows and screens are clean, the window coverings are dusted and washed, the furniture was moved and all the carpeting and sills etc. were vacuumed and everything is dusted. Now it’s a double joy to sit in there in the morning and have my devotions looking out the clean windows. Tomorrow I’m using a gift card that I got for my birthday back in March for a massage. I’m looking forward to an hour of pampering. Thank you to Josh and Laura for the gift.

Hope your new week goes well…

To see more mosaics or to join in visit Mary at Little Red House.

 

Photobucket replaced all my photos with blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

FFF ~ I’m Hungry!

It’s time again to think about our favorites from this last week. Susanne at Living to Tell the Story is our hostess for this weekly event.

I cannot tell a lie but I can hardly wait till Friday afternoon when I can finally eat again. I’m having one of those procedures Friday morning that most of us dread so I’ve had to fast all day on Thursday and drink all that stuff they give you to get your innerds ready for them to poke around in. Ugh! Anyways seems the only favorites I can come up with all revolve around food.

 

1. Top of the list this week is meeting our dear friends on Tuesday for Happy Hour together. We ordered lots of great 1/2 price appetizers and enjoyed each other over food and drink. Good times.

2. Lunch with my daughter Katie on our way to start a registry for her and Andrew at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

3. Dinner with Dear and Katie after we got back from D.C. at our favorite Mexican Restaurant in town.

4. Making breakfast Sunday after church for us all. The classic eggs, hashbrowns, and bacon with toast.

5. Going to a birthday/house warming party for a young friend and seeing lots of old friends we haven’t seen for quite a while. The food was good, too.

I’ll be gone very early Friday morning and don’t know when I’ll be back or how loopy I’ll be but I’ll try to get around after Dear takes me out to dinner on Friday night. How pathetic am I?

Oh and while I’m on the subject of food my recipe for this dish is on The Mennonite Girls Can Cook Blog today.

 

Photobucket replaced all my photos with blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.