November Five Fabulous Finds

1. Smoked Cheese

In October's Five Fabulous Finds I mentioned  Michelle Obama's recipe for macaroni and cheese made with cauliflower that I had slightly modified.  One of those modifications was that I used smoked Gouda.  In the past month I have come to the realization that  I love smoked cheese. - any kind of smoked cheese.  We made butternut squash and crispy kale pizza the other night and used smoked mozzarella.  It was awesome!  Brooke then made leak bread pudding for Thanksgiving in which she used smoked cheddar.  The smoked cheeses took each of these recipes over the top.  This latest obsession led to investigate just how one goes about smoking cheese.

Weber smokes our Thanksgiving turkey.  This year Brooke asked that he also smoke some kosher salt for her.  Surely we have the basic tool necessary to smoke cheese - the smoker.  I googled smoked cheese.  I found this,  a YouTube video that shows you how to smoke cheese in an electric smoker. Score!

We will have to try this during the Christmas break.

2. shortcourses.com

Shortcourses.com is a site with a digital library for photographers.  I discovered them while trying to find some tips for something I was trying to do with my camera.  They sell all kinds of photography books from the basics for true beginners to stereo photography.  

One thing that I particularly like is that they offer some basic photography courses that are camera specific.  When information is being given about the shooting menu or where certain buttons and controls are located, the illustrations and commentary are relative to your specific camera.  The books are well written, thorough but easily accessible.

As an aside, their customer service is friendly and helpful as well.  Somehow, I was attempting to download one of the books to my iPad and failed miserably.  In trying multiple times, I exhausted my allotted number of downloads.  I emailed customer service and they made some suggestions as to what the problem might be a reauthorized my download.  I had no problems this time.  They then followed up the next day just to make sure that I was able to access the book this time.

3. Thanksgiving List

I read about this new book

on this blog.

Like I have mentioned recently, Thanksgiving is not my favorite when it comes to holidays so I was not too interested in a book about Thanksgiving, even if it was a cookbook.  I did, however, find the following, excerpted from Sam Sifton’s book, to be enlightening and a little entertaining.

10 Laws of Thanksgiving Dinner
by Sam Sifton

1. Let me speak plainly: you are going to need a lot of butter. Thanksgiving is not a day for diets, or for worrying about your cholesterol. It is a day on which we celebrate the delicious. And there is precious little on a Thanksgiving menu that is not made more delicious by butter. (Note: It should be unsalted butter. There is something magical about a piece of toast with salted butter. But for Thanksgiving, you want the unsalted variety, so that it is you, and not the butter maker, who is in control of the saltiness of your cooking. Figure at least two pounds for the day.)

2. Thanksgiving is a holiday that anchors itself in tradition. Which means: You should make turkey. Turkey is why you are here.

3. I’ll risk starting a brushfire by saying with great confidence that the two most important factors in any credible Thanksgiving feast are the cranberry sauce and the gravy. Debate that all you like. But they tie every element on the plate together, acting as frame and foundation alike. Cranberry sauce only enhances what is already excellent, and good gravy can cure almost any Thanksgiving ill.

4. You can make mashed potatoes lumpy with a fork or a masher device, or smooth with a food mill or stand mixer. And of course you can make them without peeling the potatoes, if your scrub the skins well. This makes for an attractive, rustic-looking dish. Indeed, the only trouble that should ever present itself when the subject comes to mashed potatoes and Thanksgiving is should someone demand that garlic or basil be added to the mix. Your response to this heresy should be brief and unequivocal: No. There is no place in the holiday for a mixture of garlic and potatoes, much less basil and potatoes. The flavors clash with the turkey and other sides. No.

5. Start serving drinks the minutes your guests arrive, no matter the hour. Thanksgiving is not a time to judge.

6. When hosting, do not be afraid to delegate.

7. Dessert need not be extravagant. It absolutely should not be experimental or overly cute. It must not involve individual tartlets or parfaits, nor marshmallows in any form. Save the chocolate for nights of depression and anxiety. Instead, focus on the proper execution of the American classics: apple pie, for instance, with a mound of whipped cream, or pumpkin pie with same. These represent Thanksgiving’s highest achievement. They are an explanation of American exceptionalism, in pastry form.

8. There is no “right” wine for Thanksgiving, no must-have grape or vintage, cocktail or spirit. Nor is there a “wrong” one, though I’d stay away from the low-end fortified stuff unless you are in a boxcar, hurtling west. What you want is a variety of grapes and vintages. Encourage guests to bring wines that interest them, wines that they would like others to try. Additionally, lay in some specialty items: beer for your uncle who only drinks Bud; nonalcoholic sparkling cider for the children; and plenty of Diet Cokes and ashtrays for those who no longer drink.

9. If you find yourself as a guest at someone else’s Thanksgiving, there is no finer gift to bring than a pie and a bottle of brown liquor.

10. As everyone takes a seat and prepares to eat, there is the delicate moment where you or someone at the table should ask for everyone’s attention, and offer thanks to one and all for being present, and for helping out. This is extraordinarily important. It is the point of the entire exercise. William Jennings Bryan wrote, “On Thanksgiving Day, we acknowledge our dependence.” I think that’s just about right.

4. Chocolate Chip Scones

On Thursday evenings, Weber and I have been taking an ongoing class.  It has quickly become a tradition to stop at Dunn Bros. Coffee on our way home and get a pastry.  Though everything that I have had from Dunn Bros. Provisions Bakery has been great, my favorite has become the chocolate chip scones - not too heavy, not too sweet and with chocolate.  They are absolutely perfect with a nice bold cup of coffee.

When Brooke was home last week, she asked if there was anything in particular that I wanted her to bake.  My recent obsession with chocolate chip scones immediately came to mind.  Brooke makes an awesome vanilla scone; all she would have to do is throw in a few chocolate chips and voila!

Literally as she was walking out the door to fly back to Chicago, she filled a plastic bag with ready-to-bake scones.  She also kindly wrote the cooking instructions in purple Sharpie on the bag.  

Last night being Thursday night, I had the first of Brooke’s scones.

All I can so is “Yum! These are worth every calorie!

I sent this picture to Brooke as a "thank-you."  Her response, "You can tell they are good because you can see the layers of butter."  

5. Scramble With Friends

One of my students introduced me to this game. 

It is much like the board game Boggle.  In two minutes, you have to find as many words as can that can be created using contiguous letters.

Yes, it is one of those games played on your phone or iPad.  Yes, it is addictive.  Yes, I have multiple games going at any given time.  Yes, I most often get beat.  Yes, it is still fun.

A Meal of Shared Responsibility

Wednesdays are my long day.  I teach later than any other day and then have choir rehearsal in the evening.  If we eat an evening meal out during the week, it is usually on Wednesday.  Since we have run out of Thanksgiving leftovers and I didn't have time to cook tonight, we decided to eat at Panera Bread.  It is on the way to church, is generally quiet and they have the best selection of soup, which seemed a nice dinner option on this chilly evening.

I ordered my standard cool weather soup from their menu, turkey chili in a bread bowl.  The cashier said, "That's our meal of shared responsibility."  I was thinking, "And . . .", but I said nothing.  My deep silence was a blatant clue to the person taking our order that further explanation was necessary.  I was surprised and thrilled by what he told me.

"A Meal of Shared Responsibility" means that when this particular soup, turkey chili in a bread bowl, is ordered, it has no set price.  "This item exists to offer a meal, with dignity, to everyone in our community - those who can afford it, those who need a hand, and everyone in between."  In dollars and cents this means that you can choose to pay the suggested menu price of $5.89, you can pay what you can afford, which may be very little, or you can pay more than the menu price and help Panera help those in need.

This effort is part of a larger program called Panera Cares.  When I got home tonight, I did a little research and discovered that in four large cities, of which Dallas is not one, Panera has entire cafes dedicated to combating hunger.  These cafes offer the full Panera menu but with no prices attached to anything.  They don'y have cash registers.  You simply drop your donation in to a box or can.  I urge you to visit the Panera Cares website.

Here are a few statistics that may encourage you to support the Panera Cares mission.

• 50 million Americans are struggling with hunger
• 17 million of those hungry Americans are children
• 20% of those dealing with food insecurity are college graduates
• 24% of those struggling with food insecurity own their own homes
• 36% of households living with food insecurity have at least one member who is working
• Only 10% of those dealing with hunger issues are homeless

The thing that particularly strikes me about the Panera Cares program is that not only are they working to feed the hungry but they are doing so by honoring the dignity of all people.  All of their diners receive the same food, the same service and the same cafe atmosphere.  Those who are struggling are not being given day old leftovers in a back room somewhere.  By taking this approach, not only are people's bodies nourished, but so are their spirits.

I could not find any information on how long the "meal of shared responsibility" program is going on at our local Dallas Panera Bread cafes.  

If you find yourself out running errands or Christmas shopping, stop into a Panera, have a tasty bowl of chili and give a few dollars to help a good company succeed in its mission to feed anyone and everyone - with dignity!

Not-so-baby Pictures

I have enjoyed having both of the girls around for Thanksgiving.  The older they get, the less often this happens.  On Thanksgiving Day we made plans to "do something" today.  As it turned out, "something" meant the kids watched Top Chef Just Desserts while Weber and I finished putting up the outdoor Christmas lights.  Erin had also asked that I take some pictures of her and Edgar.  Late this afternoon, a little too late as it turned out, the kids and I headed out to a nearby park to find a good backdrop for some pictures.  Though the light was not great, we had a lot of fun.  Even Brooke played along!  She feels the same way I do when in comes to being in front of the camera - ah, no!

I'm so glad she was a good sport today.

Erin has always been comfortable in front of the camera.

She managed to make her sister laugh and be a little silly.

This loosened Brooke up and gave me a chance to get a few fairly good picture of the two of them together.

I did accomplish the original goal of taking the pictures of Erin and Edgar as well.

I am not much of a portrait photographer.  I much prefer candid shots and am usually more successful with inanimate objects.  In fact, for a long time I didn't even want people in any of the pictures that I took.  I guess I though everyone felt the way I did about having their picture taken.  I  have gotten over that.  I am still working to become a better overall photographer.  With that hopefully will come better portraits.

It is easy for me to overlook the technical flaws in these pictures because something, in this case, makes me much happier than nothing!

Random Thanksgiving Leftovers

As it's title suggests, this post contains random thoughts and pictures from our Thanksgiving Day.

There is almost nothing better than homemade bread - kneading it, smelling it as it cooks and, of course, eating it..  Brooke made black pepper bread for her leek bread pudding and also made us a few extra buns to freeze and save for later.

 Erin was in charge of the mashed potatoes.  She has the task of making the potatoes down - and the idea of leftovers.  We may all be eating mashed potatoes until Christmas!  They were good so that's OK.

Our family consists of some serious game players.  I mean that it the best way.  Even a game as silly as Apples to Apples is taken to be serious business.

We won't talk about how many times Brooke has beat the heck out of me this weekend playing Scramble With Friends!  I wonder how many people begin playing under the guise of Scramble With Friends and end playing Scramble With Enemies.

These are the cards from the rounds of Apples to Apples that I won.

My loving family tried to imply that there may be a good reason that I was best able to describe these words.  They have all finally realized that they make me cranky and crazy!  Just kidding . . .I love you guys.

Even our four-legged family members were in on the giving thanks.

Frankie: "I am thankful to live in a home where instead of yelling at me for sitting on the table they tell me to be still so that they can take pictures of me."

Harley: "I am thankful for my gold afghan."

This afghan was made by Weber's mother.  She passed away in 1980, so the afghan has survived a good long while.  (There is something to be said for Red Heart yarn.)  Harley loves this thing.  She gets upset when anyone tries to sit on it, wrap up in it, or mover HER blanket.

Adidas: "Did someone say leftovers?  I'd be thankful for something other than this damn diet dog food and green beans.  Some of that smoked turkey that I've been smelling for 24 hours would be pretty darn good right now.  If I can't have that, I guess I'll be thankful for my dad's place on the couch where I can sit, sulk and contemplate just how hungry I am."

What better way to end the day than with a beautiful sunset.

A Different Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has never been one of my favorite celebrations.  This is not because I have something against giving thanks or expressing gratitude for all the blessings that I have been given; it is because the sentiment behind Thanksgiving has been buried amidst parades, football, shopping and way too much food.  Hours and hours are spent preparing various dishes for a meal that takes twenty minutes to consume and which is then followed by hours and hours packaging leftovers and washing dishes and dishes and more dishes.  I would come to the end of the day exhausted and not very grateful for much of anything.

This year was different.

First of all, I received several emails and text messages first thing this morning from friends wishing me a happy Thanksgiving.  In reading and then responding to each message, I was reminded how blessed I am to be surrounded by such wonderful and caring people.  For that, I give thanks.

Secondly, for the first time in almost thirty years, I was not the one primarily responsible for preparing for Thanksgiving.  I have always had help cooking, but not in the cleaning, etc. that is necessary when you are feeding lots of people at your house.  Erin took on the hosting of the Thanksgiving meal this year.  In doing so, we were all assigned what to bring.

I was assigned homemade bread and chocolate chip pie.  Weber was in charge of the smoked turkey.

We did not know until late last week that Brooke was going to be able to come home this week.  That is another thing for which I am grateful.  She has not been home since last Christmas.  It was great to have all of us together.  

Because we did not expect Brooke to be here, she didn't have a specific dish assigned.  Being one who is full of recipes, she added roasted brussels sprouts and leek bread pudding.  The Denton crowd (Erin, Edgar, Mike and Jason) fixed everything else.  Though it felt a bit strange not running around frantically this morning making sure that everything was on course for the gathering,  it was kind of nice not have to worry about all the details of the meal.  There were thirteen of us for dinner - all of our family and Edgar's (Erin's boyfriend) family as well.

In addition to the food, Erin also asked me to bring my camera to take pictures of her and Edgar.  We didn't really take the time to do it right, but I got a few cute pictures of the two of them.

And also a couple of each of the girls.

It has long been our tradition to play games after dinner.  In the past we have often opted for Trivial Pursuit, but with as many people as we had present tonight, it would have likely been next Thanksgiving before we got through a single round of questions!  So tonight the game of choice was Apples to Apples.  It is a silly game and a great bit of fun, especially with a big group of people. 

Apples to Apples involves two decks of game cards - one deck has words such as funny, ugly, stereotyped, dishonest and so on.  The other deck has names of people, places and things.  On your turn, you choose a card from the deck of description words.  Then each person chooses a card from their hand of seven noun cards that they think best fits the description.  The person whose turn it is then chooses which noun card they like best as an example of their word.  There are no rules about how this decision is made.  If your word is chosen then you win the round.  It is a whole lot more fun than it sounds here!

During one of the rounds, the descriptor word that was played was "sad."  Some of the cards that were played for this were bankruptcy, school bus, forest fire, and divorce.  Playing the "divorce" card here could have been touchy considering that the lives of all of us there have been touched by divorce in one way or another.  I wondered if that was the card that would be chosen as the "winner."  Edgar chimed in and said, "Divorce isn't necessarily sad.  It makes your family bigger."  What a great way to look at it!

I had hoped to get a picture of our whole family together, but I never quite got there.  There was a lot going on. I did manage a pictures of almost everyone.  Here is Jason, one of the two stepdads.

 We are all having dinner together again on Saturday evening; I'll definitely make sure that I get the group photo then.

For my family and friends I am grateful.  For a wonderful meal, I am thankful.  And, for a new appreciation of Thanksgiving as a day of celebration, I am Thankful.

I hope that you all had a thanks-filled day.

Walk the Walk

If you are a regular visitor here, you know that I often walk to and from school.  To me, living close enough to do this is such a blessing.  Maybe I feel this way because of the fact that I can't drive.  If I can walk, I'm not dependent on or burdensome to others.  Or maybe it is simply because I like to walk.

Yes, there are days when it is cold or hot or  I am tired.  Yes, I have gotten drenched a few times when i misjudged and the storms moved faster than I did getting home, but those incidents are few and far between.  Most days I thoroughly enjoy my walk.  It is nice to be outside in the fresh air and sunshine.  I listen to the birds, watch the trees change from one season to another, admire people's gardens along my path and have some time just to think or to just "be.".

At school the other day, one of my colleagues stopped me and said that she had seen me walking home a few days earlier.  She graciously offered to give me a ride if I ever wanted or needed one.  I have no doubt that this was a genuine offer of kindness and that is how I took it; however, it did make me chuckle just a little.

I happen to know that this person also lives very close to school, about halfway between campus and my house.  Though she could easily walk, she doesn't.  What makes this funny to me is that several days a week during lunch, she goes outside and walks around the campus walking path.  Why not just walk to and from school?  This would be a practical thing to do - get exercise and keep a car off the road.  I wonder how many people there are who make similar choices.  

What would the world be like if more people opted to live closer to where they work or go to school and then made the choice to walk rather than drive?  Or, even utilize mass transit.  Certainly this would, at the least, help the environment and at best, it could help the overall well-being of mankind.  Could  it make us a happier healthier nation?  Would we respect each other and our natural world more?

I don't know the answers to these questions, but I sure would like to think that walking, if and when we could,  would be a positive thing.  Until the rest of the country, or even my little corner of the world, comes to this conclusion, I will continue to enjoy the uncrowded sidewalks and quiet time I have while I walk my walk.

“Many people nowadays live in a series of interiors...disconnected from each other. On foot everything stays connected, for while walking one occupies the spaces between those interiors in the same way one occupies those interiors. One lives in the whole world rather than in interiors built up against it.” 

― Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking

Me And My Shadow

I had a fun walk on my way home today.  My school day was short so I was able to head  home at lunchtime.  It was warm, but not too warm, and there was a gentle but definitely present breeze that caused the newly fallen leaves to skip along like happily dancing children.  The animated leaves made me want to join in the dance; I exercised a little self control and just walked.  A few minutes into my walk that childlike spirit got the best of me.  No, I didn't start dancing and skipping my way home.  I did, however, became quite fascinated with the shadows along the way - those of the trees, the blowing leaves and me.  I felt like a two-year old discovering the mystery of her own shadow for the very first time.

I walked along watching intently as my shadow disappeared and reappeared through the large shadows of the trees.  That I was so taken by this is a testament to the notion that it is often the simplest things in life that give to us the greatest pleasures.  I found myself wishing that I had my camera with me to capture the impressive  colorless forms of the trees projected onto the street.  I noticed, too, that often these shadows were dotted with fallen autumn- colored leaves.  The images were beautiful.

The longer I walked, the more intently I observed.  I then realized that though I did not have "my camera,"  I did have the camera on my phone.  I thought, "Now I can have some fun! "

I don't like to have pictures taken of myself, mostly because I always look terrible in them.  (The more I learn about photography, I realize why this is.  A lot of It has to do with metering for proper exposure; that is a discussion for another day.) So, because I am usually taking photos, I am not in many at all.  In fact, earlier this week someone asked for a picture of Weber and me together.  The only ones I could think that we have are from the wedding.  Those were not a particularly good option for the situation.  I did agree to take one of the two of us myself. I used my camera remote.  It is definitely not a great picture, but it was the best I could do at the time and it filled the bill.  

Now you see why I much prefer the backside of the camera!

Another reason I don't like to have my picture taken is because that means that the attention is on me in that moment.  I don't like to be in the spotlight.  I often say that I much prefer to live in the shadows.  I'm like the moon, only visible when illuminated by someone else's light.  These thoughts popped into my head as I continued to be fascinated by my own shadow.  Right before me was the perfect backdrop and lighting for the most representative self-portrait - my shadow!

I'm sure standing in the street taking pictures of my shadow didn't look strange, right?  Skipping along with the leaves would have been much more awkward looking, right?  No one pointed and laughed.  No one stopped and asked if I was OK.  And apparently no one called the police regarding a suspicious individual.  So, I felt free to take several pictures.

I look a little hunchbacked and disproportionate because I had my backpack on and, well, it is a shadow.  

I like this one because the leaf on my back looks like a hand, like I am being gently guided.  I find this comforting.

Here there is a leaf resting on my shoulder and another in almost the exact place as in the photo above.  What's the message there?

This one may be my all-time favorite picture of myself.

I am the shadow.  I am in the shadow.  I am present, yet not.  I am visible, yet not.  I am felt, yet not.  I am seen, yet not.

I love the skewed perspective.  It so clearly depicts how I look at the world - and probably how the world looks at me.

"There is strong shadow where there is much light."   - Goethe