This actually, tangentially has something to do with food. One of the many things that Aaron and I have in common despite our very different backgrounds and belief systems is that we believe in the sacredness of the dinner table, of preparing and sharing food with those we love. Also, and he doesn't remember this, but I totally was the one that introduced him to the Dar Williams song he uses in the closing credits.
Showing posts with label friendship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friendship. Show all posts
Friday, March 4, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Sunday fun day!
Today we had church, then we were off to the Pig Races and then we took the kids to lunch and then basketball. I am invited to go to an Oscar viewing party at a friend's tonight, but before I go I am going to make homemade pizza.
There are a lot of homemade pizza dough recipes out there, I particularly like the ones from the A Year in Bread blog but today I just picked up a big blob of ready to go dough from the bakery department of my local grocery store. Even if you don't see pizza dough out in the cooler case at the bakery, go ahead and ask for it, they may have some in the freezer just waiting for you.
If you let the pre-made dough rest for an hour on the counter it is very easy to work with, just stretch it out in your hands on all sides and then roll it out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface. No complicated flipping or twirling necessary. I make a lot of pizza so I have a "pizza stone" (actually a ceramic tile from the hardware store) and a short handled pizza peel that I sprinkle liberally with corn meal to keep the dough from sticking. Some of the corn meal bakes right into the bottom of the pizza dough making it taste just like a real restaurant crust. YUM! So tonight's pizza will be topped with the leftover spaghetti sauce from last night, some turkey sausage and some sauteed mushrooms.
I am making some more homemade hummus for the Oscar party, some homemade vanilla pudding in chocolate cups and topped with whipped cream and strawberries, and a baked artichoke dip. I will be bringing some baked parmesan crackers and some pita chips and carrot sticks. You know this is going to be fun and all but if I don't get a 20 minute cat nap I will sleep right through the Best Picture award! Good night, hope your weekend was fun!
There are a lot of homemade pizza dough recipes out there, I particularly like the ones from the A Year in Bread blog but today I just picked up a big blob of ready to go dough from the bakery department of my local grocery store. Even if you don't see pizza dough out in the cooler case at the bakery, go ahead and ask for it, they may have some in the freezer just waiting for you.
If you let the pre-made dough rest for an hour on the counter it is very easy to work with, just stretch it out in your hands on all sides and then roll it out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface. No complicated flipping or twirling necessary. I make a lot of pizza so I have a "pizza stone" (actually a ceramic tile from the hardware store) and a short handled pizza peel that I sprinkle liberally with corn meal to keep the dough from sticking. Some of the corn meal bakes right into the bottom of the pizza dough making it taste just like a real restaurant crust. YUM! So tonight's pizza will be topped with the leftover spaghetti sauce from last night, some turkey sausage and some sauteed mushrooms.
I am making some more homemade hummus for the Oscar party, some homemade vanilla pudding in chocolate cups and topped with whipped cream and strawberries, and a baked artichoke dip. I will be bringing some baked parmesan crackers and some pita chips and carrot sticks. You know this is going to be fun and all but if I don't get a 20 minute cat nap I will sleep right through the Best Picture award! Good night, hope your weekend was fun!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Testify by Katie Collins
The following essay is reprinted with permission by Katie Collins, a dear friend and a fellow writer. You can visit her website My Imperfect Truth by clicking the title of this piece or the link here.
I’m not brave. Let’s make this clear. I’ve never been brave. From my childhood friend Laurie who trudged home in silent disgust with me one winter’s day when I refused to slide head first down a huge snowbank into a concrete parking lot, to the eighth grade science teacher who shouted “wussy wussy wussy” at me when I admitted to my fear of hornets during an entomology class, to a former boss who used to watch me looking out my office window at snow covered roads and say ‘oooh scary scary snow for your ride home!,” I’ve always been pretty easy game for people who loved to point out my fears and weaknesses. Time and age have helped me get over some of them. I don’t run away from bees anymore, and I can almost sleep through a thunderstorm, and a good solid four-wheel drive jeep has helped with the snow driving issue. But I’m far from considering myself brave.
This week I’ll have to dig deeper and harder than ever to find an ounce of bravery to do something that terrifies me- testifying before a legislative committee about my marriage. Yes, a mere four months after Kelly and I said our I-dos, ate cake, danced to “My Girl,” and opened gifts at our wedding, a series of bills is threatening our marriage. Our marriage. Our hum drum normal, tacos-on-Tuesday, Glee on the DVR, homework over the kitchen table, did you feed the cats yet, family life is apparently so deeply offensive to certain members of our state legislature that they not only want to repeal the law that allows for marriage equality but also to pass another law defining marriage as being only between a man and a woman. In short not only would no other same sex couples be able to marry but my marriage would be…. null. And that makes me angry. And when I get angry… I… cry. Ok that’s sort of embarrassing and undermines any ounce of credibility I can hope to have. But anger can also make me brave and I’m counting on the bravery part to over ride the crying part on Thursday morning when I will join with others to testify that marriage equality should remain legal in New Hampshire. And I’m terrified. I’m terrified of what the opposition will say. I’m terrified of crying and making a fool out of myself when I try to explain what it means to me to be married to the woman I love more than life itself. What it means to sit with my wife and daughter over Sunday night chicken dinners and know that this family is whole and healthy and legally recognized the same way as everyone else’s family. I’m afraid that somehow by testifying I’m opening my family up to hate and bigotry that we’ve never had to face before. I’m so angry that it has come to this at a time when our state and our country have so many real problems, and yet have the time and energy to create a problem out of people loving each other. There is a not-small part of me that wants to ignore these hearings, stay home or at my desk and pretend it’s not happening, leave the rallying and gathering and testifying to others better suited to it than I, people used to the political arena, people who are brave.
But I know that this is something I have to do. I have to do it for my family, for my friends who celebrated their own marriages and the births of babies this year, for my daughter’s young teenage friends who excitedly told me about “straight ally’ week at their high school and complimented me on the HRC sticker on my jeep. For the friends and family who danced at our wedding wearing ‘I like girls who like girls t-shirts.’ For the maitre’d at the restaurant Monday night who congratulated us on our first married Valentine’s Day. For the pride I hear in Kelly’s voice when she refers to Liza as her stepdaughter. I won’t lie. I’m still scared. But I’m hoping if I carry these memories and these voices with me that maybe I’ll find a way to be brave. And I’ll do what I have to do.
Testify.
I’m not brave. Let’s make this clear. I’ve never been brave. From my childhood friend Laurie who trudged home in silent disgust with me one winter’s day when I refused to slide head first down a huge snowbank into a concrete parking lot, to the eighth grade science teacher who shouted “wussy wussy wussy” at me when I admitted to my fear of hornets during an entomology class, to a former boss who used to watch me looking out my office window at snow covered roads and say ‘oooh scary scary snow for your ride home!,” I’ve always been pretty easy game for people who loved to point out my fears and weaknesses. Time and age have helped me get over some of them. I don’t run away from bees anymore, and I can almost sleep through a thunderstorm, and a good solid four-wheel drive jeep has helped with the snow driving issue. But I’m far from considering myself brave.
This week I’ll have to dig deeper and harder than ever to find an ounce of bravery to do something that terrifies me- testifying before a legislative committee about my marriage. Yes, a mere four months after Kelly and I said our I-dos, ate cake, danced to “My Girl,” and opened gifts at our wedding, a series of bills is threatening our marriage. Our marriage. Our hum drum normal, tacos-on-Tuesday, Glee on the DVR, homework over the kitchen table, did you feed the cats yet, family life is apparently so deeply offensive to certain members of our state legislature that they not only want to repeal the law that allows for marriage equality but also to pass another law defining marriage as being only between a man and a woman. In short not only would no other same sex couples be able to marry but my marriage would be…. null. And that makes me angry. And when I get angry… I… cry. Ok that’s sort of embarrassing and undermines any ounce of credibility I can hope to have. But anger can also make me brave and I’m counting on the bravery part to over ride the crying part on Thursday morning when I will join with others to testify that marriage equality should remain legal in New Hampshire. And I’m terrified. I’m terrified of what the opposition will say. I’m terrified of crying and making a fool out of myself when I try to explain what it means to me to be married to the woman I love more than life itself. What it means to sit with my wife and daughter over Sunday night chicken dinners and know that this family is whole and healthy and legally recognized the same way as everyone else’s family. I’m afraid that somehow by testifying I’m opening my family up to hate and bigotry that we’ve never had to face before. I’m so angry that it has come to this at a time when our state and our country have so many real problems, and yet have the time and energy to create a problem out of people loving each other. There is a not-small part of me that wants to ignore these hearings, stay home or at my desk and pretend it’s not happening, leave the rallying and gathering and testifying to others better suited to it than I, people used to the political arena, people who are brave.
But I know that this is something I have to do. I have to do it for my family, for my friends who celebrated their own marriages and the births of babies this year, for my daughter’s young teenage friends who excitedly told me about “straight ally’ week at their high school and complimented me on the HRC sticker on my jeep. For the friends and family who danced at our wedding wearing ‘I like girls who like girls t-shirts.’ For the maitre’d at the restaurant Monday night who congratulated us on our first married Valentine’s Day. For the pride I hear in Kelly’s voice when she refers to Liza as her stepdaughter. I won’t lie. I’m still scared. But I’m hoping if I carry these memories and these voices with me that maybe I’ll find a way to be brave. And I’ll do what I have to do.
Testify.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Someone had a baby, I'll make a ham!
Actually, I am making a casserole, but it is such a Southern tradition, you know a friend or acquaintance or anybody in your circle, no matter how tangentially, new birth, loss of life, devastating injury, somebody, somewhere is making some food. In fact the nicest present I got after my first kid was born was that my great-grandmother took a 10 pound bag of potatoes and made 10 pounds worth of twice baked potatoes. Then she individually wrapped them and put them in my freezer. So while I was in the midst of the hazy, crazy days of baby *if* I remembered to eat all I had to do was pull one out and microwave it. Sometimes I added some frozen broccoli to it or some leftover chili, but basically I ate potatoes and nursed the baby and that was how I spent my first 3 months postpartum.
So tonight I was able to fulfill my Dinner Every Night commitment AND go out for wings with some friends because a colleague of my husband's had a baby last week! So veggie/chicken casserole was made and frozen for delivery. Hopefully when I drop the casserole off (with some homemade bread and a bag of salad greens) I will get a chance to see the new baby too! She looks glorious from all of the pictures. But then all babies are amazing little creatures.
I usually make a casserole in 9 x 13 pan, but if I am making for a new little family like this I make the same casserole in 2 disposable aluminum pans so that it can be more easily frozen and they don't have to defrost the whole thing all at once.
Chicken-Veggie Casserole
3 C of cooked rice (I usually make some brown rice in my pressure cooker)
2 C of assorted vegetables, cut up (mine were broccoli, onion, and carrots)
1 -2 cans of cream of something soup (or an equivalent amount of white sauce)
2 chicken breasts, well-seasoned, cooked and cubed
1 C of shredded cheese (swiss works well, as does 4 cheese Mexican blend)
breadcrumbs for the top (optional)
Mix all of the ingredients together, place in lightly greased pans, add bread crumbs to top; cover and freeze. Write in Sharpie marker the heating directions right on the aluminum foil lid. "Heat in oven at 350 degrees 1 hour or until brown and bubbly around the edges, then remove foil and allow to brown under broiler for just a few minutes."
If you season the chicken well, and cook it until JUST done and make the rice in veggie or chicken broth it helps the casserole come out much tastier. If you are making this for a family of vegetarians skip the chicken, use only veggie broth in the rice and increase the amount of vegetables and cheese.
So tonight I was able to fulfill my Dinner Every Night commitment AND go out for wings with some friends because a colleague of my husband's had a baby last week! So veggie/chicken casserole was made and frozen for delivery. Hopefully when I drop the casserole off (with some homemade bread and a bag of salad greens) I will get a chance to see the new baby too! She looks glorious from all of the pictures. But then all babies are amazing little creatures.
I usually make a casserole in 9 x 13 pan, but if I am making for a new little family like this I make the same casserole in 2 disposable aluminum pans so that it can be more easily frozen and they don't have to defrost the whole thing all at once.
Chicken-Veggie Casserole
3 C of cooked rice (I usually make some brown rice in my pressure cooker)
2 C of assorted vegetables, cut up (mine were broccoli, onion, and carrots)
1 -2 cans of cream of something soup (or an equivalent amount of white sauce)
2 chicken breasts, well-seasoned, cooked and cubed
1 C of shredded cheese (swiss works well, as does 4 cheese Mexican blend)
breadcrumbs for the top (optional)
Mix all of the ingredients together, place in lightly greased pans, add bread crumbs to top; cover and freeze. Write in Sharpie marker the heating directions right on the aluminum foil lid. "Heat in oven at 350 degrees 1 hour or until brown and bubbly around the edges, then remove foil and allow to brown under broiler for just a few minutes."
If you season the chicken well, and cook it until JUST done and make the rice in veggie or chicken broth it helps the casserole come out much tastier. If you are making this for a family of vegetarians skip the chicken, use only veggie broth in the rice and increase the amount of vegetables and cheese.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Every day is a celebration.
My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those killed and injured today in the terrible shooting in Arizona. I cannot imagine how harrowing and devastating this has been for all involved. The title to my post pre-dates this tragedy, but I find it more important now than ever.
Today we were reunited with the our closest friends here in the Keys. Due to all of the holiday busyness and our travel schedule it has been over 2 weeks since we last saw them. They have lovely twin daughters the same age as our older daughter and the wife of the couple is Godmother to our younger daughter. Our husbands get along "like a house a'fire" as we say down South. It's just really, really cool when you are friends with the parents of your child's friends.
Anyhow, our daughters had their first day of Municipal Basketball practice today, a skills test/lesson and a chance for the coaches to see the kids and assess their skill levels so they can be placed on teams. We saw a lot of parents we know this morning, out supporting their kids, enjoying the gorgeous weather, chatting and catching up. The park where we were at is beautiful and tree lined and shady. At times the atmosphere seemed almost like a convivial cocktail party with people laughing and talking and mingling. Some of us decided to go get lunch all together at a seaside burger joint with gorgeous unimpeded views and an ocean breeze.
At lunch I decided to invite the whole clan to dinner at our house on the spur of the moment, since our husbands would be at softball practice together that afternoon, anyhow. After softball I came home and made spaghetti and red sauce, steamed green beans, some frozen heat and serve french bread. I am sure you all have your own favorite spaghetti recipe, but I encourage you to bring it out when you are feeding a big crowd. One box of spaghetti, a can of sauce, a can of tomatoes, some chopped onion and garlic is a pretty economical (and kid pleasing) way to feed a crowd. We asked out friends to stop by the store on the way over and pick up ANYTHING they liked dipped in chocolate for a surprise dessert!
For Christmas we received a small Chocolate Fountain (cue choir of angels: ahhhh!). Let me tell you, if you have ever harbored Augustus Gloop levels of fantasy about chocolate, as I have, you can well appreciate the awesomeness of the aforementioned Chocolate Fountain (ahhhhhhh!) It is simply the most fun you can have fully clothed and in the company of minors. (Ahhhhh... hem.)
Our friends brought bananas, blueberries, strawberries, dried mango, marshmallows, pretzel sticks and apple slices. These were all lovingly bathed in glorious chocolate and consumed with much "mming" and "ahhing" and some more unintelligible grunts of pleasure. The kids all took turns, the big kids helped the little kid spear her blueberries, there wasn't much spilled on the tablecloth; and then after we were fully sated on fruit and endorphins the grown-ups played MarioKart and the kids played dress-up.
All in all a pretty normal day, laid back, nobody did anything crazy or remarkable, but I promise you I will always remember it. One of the few things I know for sure is it doesn't much matter WHAT you do as much as it matters who you are with when it happens. Few things in life are as pleasurable as sharing a meal with folks that really get you, your husband, your sense of humor and your love of oregano. Few things in life are amazing as being around other adults who think you have really awesome kids and you love their kids in return. Few things are as precious as the time we spend with those we love. Friends are the family you make and that should be celebrated; on birthdays, holidays and even random Saturdays.
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