Downton Abbey

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Stephanie

So, last night I turned on the season premier of Downton Abby, poured myself a spot of tea and settled into a comfy chair to watch one of the most widely anticipated moments in woman world.

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I admit it. I’m hooked on this upper crust family and their houseful of doting servants. My heart begins beating a little faster when the music starts and Lord Grantham starts walking across the grounds of DA with his beloved dog.

It’s a beautiful show to watch…the dresses and all. Beats the Walking Dead, hands down. And I love that it is a bonding time for many of my friends scattered around the country, as we all gather around the telly. Or is that British for telephone?

If you don’t know about DA…stop reading right now. The rest of this will make NO sense to you and when you do come to your senses and realize the colossal mistake you have made (because you are 3 seasons behind!) you will thank me for not spoiling anything for you.

As Grandmama Violet (Dowager Countess) would say: ” I feel the need to vent my spleen.” (she would say Spa-lean).

You know, as a writer, that you have made a HUGE mistake in the story line, when you have to promise the world that no one will die in the next season of your show. There may be lots of things we don’t know, but when you take death out of the realm of possibility—we can all settle in for a long winter of bliss…I mean boredom.

Only the good die young.

There are 2 characters that I personally would not miss at all and both of them are downstairs, sitting and smoking at the table, waiting for the bells to ring.

Last season they (and by “they” I mean Julian Fellowes, creator of DA) ripped our heart out TWICE!!!! The wailing and gnashing of teeth on the night of the season finale could be heard all the way across the pond. This prompted his quick announcement of no deaths in the next season.

I know we supposedly came from the same stock, but Mr. Fellowes found out PDQ that we Americans are happy ending folks.

I think that most women could accept the death of S. We all know that death is no respecter of persons and when it comes to childbirth in that period-everyone was fair game.

But M!!!! What the heck? There is no excuse for this to have happened.  None.

Zero.

Gather round children and let me tell you what used to happen in the olden days when an actor wanted to leave a show to try his luck on Broadway or if the director was just sick of his uppity ways—(make sure you’re sitting down for this)…..they got a new actor to play that role.  <gasp>  And what was truly amazing…..we –the audience- understood that this is only a FICTIOUS ROLE! And the story kept going in the way it should.

But not DA. How will anything ever be the same without M?  Ever?  <insert audible sob here>

Hence the state of rebellion in the US the night of the final episode. Ginormus mistake, Julian, old chap.

I do have a soft spot in my heart for the UK lovers of DA though. DA season ran from September till the middle of December in the UK.  Our poor British counterparts had to weather the blow of M’s departure the week before Christmas.

But, alas, what are we but mere simple folk? We can’t possibly be expected to see that another person playing the role of M, might actually work.

DA reminds me of a song from the play, Camelot.

*What do the simple folk do?
They must have a system or two
They obviously outshine us at turning tears to mirth
And tricks a royal highness is minus from birth
What, then, I wonder, do they
To chase all the goblins away?
They have some tribal sorcery you haven’t mentioned yet
Oh, what do simple folk do to forget?

Don’t mess with us again, Julian. Or you just might see how we chase the goblins away.

Blessings,

Stephanie

*What Do The Simple Folk Do? From the play, Camelot, by Lerner and Darby.

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Snow Daze

Posted on January 3, 2014 by Stephanie

I am snow crazy.

Weird, right?  A middle-aged woman who gets giddy about the mere mention of snow. While those around me gripe and complain…I get a silly grin on my face and start planning my snowbound days.

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 I never have to make those frantic trips to the store for milk, bread and toilet paper because, living out away from the masses…I keep a steady supply during winter months of anything I might need in case of an unexpected snopacolypse.

Snopacolypse.

That’s the word our forecasters used last year, when they forecasted a monster storm that completely passed us by. Schools and businesses closed in anticipation. Not one flake.

#epicfail

Happily, we got about 6 inches of snow last night and the temps are plummeting. I have a fire in the wood stove in the kitchen and one roaring in the family room and soup simmering on the stove. My kind of day…if it has to be cold, let there be snow.

But yesterday, as I was out doing my “pre storm” errands, I was in a store talking with my friend Beth and an older lady I did not know. We got to talking about the storm coming and about how we were due for some bad weather since we have had several years with mild winters, when all of a sudden this woman says:

Woman: “Febuary 3rd.”  (Said with a nod of foreknowledge.)  “I’m not supposed to say anything, but February 3rd is going to be a monster blizzard.”

Silence.

Me: ”You’re not supposed to say? What is it–a secret?”

Woman: “Well…” (Silence, but sporting a cat that swallowed the canary look.)

Me: “Is this from an almanac?”

Woman:  “Well….of sorts.”

Me: “Well, those things are hardly right.”

But still….we live in an area of the country that is known for secrets (at least until that Snowden guy) so I get to wondering if she has some inside info. I have heard how the government can make it rain by dispersing stuff in clouds and visa versa, in an attempt to control favorable fighting conditions.

But I am a pretty big skeptic. More like-I basically don’t care.

However…Feb. 3rd…

I’ve got my eye on you.

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Blessings,

Stephanie

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

I Resolve

Posted on December 31, 2013 by Stephanie

 re·solve

riˈzälv,-ˈzôlv/

verb

 1. 
settle or find a solution to (a problem, dispute, or contentious matter)

2. 
decide firmly on a course of action.

 

It’s that time of year for casting off the old and looking forward to the potential possibilities that a new year holds.

2013 will forever be remembered (by me) as the best of times and the worst of times. Glad this one is almost in the books. Can’t remember the last time I was this excited for a new year.

Pressing on.

It’s the time for goal setting and resolutions.  One of the very first habits that my hub and I started as newlyweds was at the beginning of each new year we would have a conversation about ONE THING we would like of the other of us to work on in the coming year. Not in a mean spirited, “you need to be perfect” kind of way, but in a “this is one thing I wish you could be better about.” Asking for ONE annoying habit to change in a loving tone. We learned a lot about each other…and how to really piss each other off.

Like me using the word “piss” just now. I’ll hear about that one.

In addition to what he would like me “work on”…I choose a few things that I want to either improve, learn or stop doing.

Let’s be clear….losing weight is ALWAYS on the list. That’s a given.

So the others are always fun to decide about. Here are just a few of past years resolutions:

-Make killer spaghetti sauce, (check, thanks to my friend, Angie)

-Make bread from scratch like my friend, Gabi does (still a work in progress)

Let’s stop right there and see the correlation between just these first two on the list and the one that never leaves (dieting)……it’s a battle!

Back to some of the other things over the years:

-Learn to dance to Thriller (almost there)

-Grow paperwhites (they stink!)

-Downsize my belongings ( a work in progress)

-Recycle more (50/50)

-Plant pumpkins (nope)

-Really get to understand iTunes (I’m old, OK and they upgrade ALL. THE. TIME. So now I am learning Spotify)

-Start a blog (Hey there.)

-Take an online class (I took 3 this year)

-Learn to paddleboard. (This was on my last years list and I had one attempt in SC when the surf was really rough and even then I was able to get up to my knees and hold…so it goes on the list this year too. Think I might start on a lake or in the Bay)

These are a few of the things I want to make a reality to the best of my ability in 2014:

I resolve to:

1. Lose weight. (Again.)

2.  Sit in front of my living room picture window, in silence and watch the snow fall. That’s the best place to see how the wind carries each flake and the accumulation in the pasture and on the pines. I will be thankful for a warm house and wood for the stove and for the man who provides both for me. I want to practice more gratitude.

3.  To handwrite more of my thank you notes. It’s a dying habit and I would like to give to someone else the joy I feel when I find a handwritten note in my mailbox.

4.  Walk more, sit less. Paddleboard when I can.

5.  Listen more, talk less. With the addition of another daughter in law in 2014 this should be easy.  Gone are the days of me just rattling on as the only woman in the family-now we rattle on together!

I love new beginnings. I love the fact that I can choose to affect change in some things in my world. Or choose not to change.

Happy New Year!

Blessings,

Stephanie

Posted in Family, Food, Midlife Maze | Leave a comment

The Stocking Rebellion

Posted on December 20, 2013 by Stephanie

You may have heard about the Boxer Rebellion that took place in China in the late 1800’s. Well, there is a Stocking Rebellion going on at our house this Christmas season.

 Heaven help us if the T-shirts and briefs get wind of this. The whole undergarment drawers might get in an uproar.

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As my boys have gotten older, left home, one is married, even-I have been rethinking some of our holiday traditions. Since the stuffing of the stockings has never been tons of fun for me (basic magazine, gourmet candy, razor blades, travel size accessories, ear buds, etc…) I was looking forward to turning this task over to my new daughter-in-law and just have 2 to stuff.  Then next year when another son will be married I’ll be down to 1.

You get the idea.

I asked my sister who has a married daughter what she thought. Last year was the first year my niece was married woman. When my sister tried to give her daughter her childhood stocking, she was met with a “have you lost your mind” look and refused to take it. She wanted her mom to continue the time honored tradition, even though she no longer lived at home and had a husband who could do the deed.

I sneered and gave my sister a hard time about not cutting apron strings.   Last Christmas I was 2 weeks away from the first of my son’s to get married. I boldly proclaimed, “I will NOT stuff his stocking next year…his wife can do that.”

So this was my plan all along: as the boys get married, that is one task I would happily pass on to the new most important woman in their life.

But each time when I was with my sister and she bought items for the married stockings (cause now she is doing the spouse one also) I felt like a loser mother.

And now… loser mother-in-law.

But still I wanted out. So I started polling my gal pals with married kids as to how they handle the stocking dilemma, thinking that SURELY, some of them had ended that task.

Guess what?

THEY ALL STILL STUFF THEM AND FOR THE SPOUSES TOO!!!!

One of my friends, after listening to my arguments for ceasing the stuffing, texted her kids and told them that she was thinking of joining my “Stop the Stockings” campaign since they were both married. The result? Her son texted immediately, and her daughter called within 5 minutes to find out what was going on, because the stocking was her favorite part of Christmas.

She’s 34.

They both encouraged their mom to drop me as a friend or at the very least ignore my ideas.

I felt like Scrooge.

Well, a little.

I must confess…I caved and bought new stockings for my guy’s girls. And the stuff that goes in them.  And in truth, it’s a lot more fun stuffing stockings for girls than for guys.

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So for now-I’m a stuffer. But when the grandkids start coming all bets are off.

Happy Stocking Stuffing to mama’s everywhere!

Blessings,

Stephanie

Posted in Family, Midlife Maze | 4 Comments

Which Jesus Do You Prefer?

Posted on December 16, 2013 by Stephanie

Late in the holiday season everyone gets a little nuts.

For example, one of the national cable news ran a contest earlier this week to see what kind of Jesus people preferred:  A Brad Pitt blonde Jesus, the most realistic Middle Eastern Jesus or a black Jesus. Folks were supposed to Tweet their responses to be announced the following day.

Really?

It reminded of a funny story. When I was in college I spent a summer working with the churches behind the Iron Curtain. (Now, since I write for midlife folks, I don’t need to explain what that was…but if you don’t know, this is a good excuse to call your mom today.  Do it.  Now.)

Anyway…one of the gals I worked with was from California and we got the biggest kick out of the fact that her grandmother had sent with her 100 wallet sized pictures of Jesus to give to the little children so that they would know what Jesus looked like.

We giggled every time we gave them out. This is the one she sent with us.

Jesus Christ of Nazareth

Back to the contest. I never tuned in to see which of the Jesus-types was most preferable, because the whole idea was familiar to me. For a many years now I have wondered a version of that same question.

Which Jesus do most people prefer: the one in the manger or the one on the cross?

Jesus in the manger is so sweet, so innocent. Lying there in the straw, or in his mother’s arms-what’s not to love about a new baby? He has his own star, rich merchants come to find him, and angels announce his birth to the lowly shepherds.

All is calm.  All is bright.

But then there is the other Jesus.  Full-grown God power walking in human sandals.

Teaching with authority in the temple, challenging the religious status quo of the day; healing people, performing miracles and causing lowly fishermen to dress down the ruling class.

No sleep in heavenly peace for that Jesus. Or anyone around him for that matter.

Our world, generally, likes Baby Jesus. Non-threatening…one they can hold in their arms and put him anywhere they want.  But then the baby grows up and things get messy.

I read something a while back that captures this well by Lowell E. Grisham:

 “When this Jesus grows up and wears a beard, he will be a complex and complicated figure. He will challenge the social, political, and economic conventions of his day. He will touch and heal lepers and unclean women whom it was illegal to touch. He will declare a kingdom that is greater than Caesar’s. He will open his table fellowship to people who do not even try to be good. He will treat foreigners and those from other religions with the same compassion and generosity he offers his own kindred. He will reject the expectations for a military Messiah who would punish and drive away the unjust and the enemy by force. Instead, he will turn the other cheek and go the extra mile with courageous nonviolence in the face of abusive power. He will expose religious corruption and challenge the authority of the state. He will freely forgive the prodigal and call the most-righteous-ones hypocrites. This is not a child’s story. 


 
But it is a life-giving story. It is a story that does not shrink in the face of tragedy, injustice, exploitation, and alienation. It is a story of God embracing everything — everything that happens to human beings — from birth to death. It is God-with-us, healing brokenness, overcoming oppression, and reconciling estrangement.”

God’s perfect gift, His own son…I want that gift.

God’s redemptive gift, His own son…I need that gift.

Wanting and needing. Christmas words.

My prayer for all who read this is that you will pause long enough to remember and reflect on the Person of Christmas.

Which one do you prefer?

 “It is God-with-us, healing brokenness, overcoming oppression, and reconciling estrangement.”*

Yeah, I’ll take that one.

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Merry Christmas,

Stephanie

*Lowell E. Grisham

Posted in Faith | 4 Comments

Cookie Monsters

Posted on December 6, 2013 by Stephanie

One of the things that I have not enjoyed cooking over the years are cookies.  I have always seen it as an unfulfilling task, because it doesn’t yield a good time expenditure vs lasting pleasure ratio.

I’m all about the math.

That’s to say-cookies are hard work.

Stiff batter, lots of pans to wash and having to pay close attention to the timer. I do love seeing them drying on the racks and how the kitchen smells. I feel so domestic because this is one of the few times that I wear an apron in the kitchen.

All that work and then the boys come busting through the door.  True delight spread on their faces as they put a cookie in each hand passing through the kitchen. At which point I would quickly gather the remaining cookies up into containers and hide them so they would last 24 hours. Which is about how long 2 batches of cookies normally made it at our house when all the boys lived here.

My mom would always make cookies when she came to visit and the boys loved it. Especially son #2, who we found out was taking his 3 cookies that were sent in his school lunch and was wheeling and dealing: 1/2 cookie for a whole dessert. So my boy was getting 6 desserts every lunch off of 3 of his Nana’s cookies.

Not one of our proudest moments.

So cookie making is not a favorite memory in our house. Except for Christmas cookies. That is one task I always looked forward to. We (and by we, I mean “me”) make basic sugar cookies, then the boys would help cut out in different shapes with all kinds of sprinkles. I would turn on Christmas music and the magic would begin.

And last for about an hour.

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Until the spell was broken and the boys moved on to another activity then I had the pleasure of finishing up and cleaning up to myself. Alone time. In the midst of holiday season, ah, yes, sweet memories, indeed.

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Their leaving also gave me a chance to stash the goods. I usually make 4-5 batches of dough on one day, then chill over night and pull them out as needed so the dough wouldn’t be too soft. I had the table set up with a cutting station, a decorating station and a cooling station. We would only eat the imperfect ones at first…those broken or misshapen.

I used to make all kinds of goodies for the holidays, but as we have all gotten older and more concerned with health, I have it narrowed down to the sugar cookies and Hello Dollies (also known as 7 layer bars.) My boys see those come out and they know the holidays are here.

I still hide the cookies in batches from the boys as they stop by and start snooping. I get a lot of joy out of seeing how much my hub loves them with his evening coffee, and if I didn’t ration cookies, he would never get a one!

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All of the work for the cookies is really worth it, especially when I heard one of my boys say a couple of years ago that the Christmas cookie making is one of his strongest holiday memories. Me, in the kitchen, huge mess and Christmas music playing, he knows he’s home.

And that makes a Merry Christmas for me.

Here’s our Christmas cookie recipe:

Old Fashioned Christmas Sugar Cookies

 1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 eggs

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

Cream butter. Add sugar and eggs, beating well. Stir in milk and vanilla.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl; add to creamed mixture, mixing well. Chill.

Roll dough to 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface; cut with assorted cutters. Place 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheets.  Decorate as desired. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on wire racks.  Yields about 4 dozen..depending on the size of cutters.

Happy baking!

Blessings,

Stephanie

Posted in Family, Food | 4 Comments

Talking Turkey

Posted on November 25, 2013 by Stephanie

Ok, I’ll make this short.

We’ve all got a crazy marathon week ahead of us and I know what you really need from me….a great idea for turkey left overs.

And I’ve come through for you, sister!

Trust me, this is my 33rd Thanksgiving as a meal preparer and until 5 years ago I stared at the remains of the carcass with a deer in the headlight trance like most women in America.

But 5 years ago, that all changed. <angels singing in the background>

Worry no more. I have the perfect answer for Friday. But get this stuff at home BEFORE the BIG DAY so that you don’t have to go out on Friday, unless, of course you have cabin fever and need to leave home for a while.

There is a second tier cook on Food Network (don’t worry about his name…but he’s amazing and blessed by God for rescuing us) and he gave this recipe on his show for Thanksgiving turkey leftovers. It’s tastes like health, and let’s be honest, we need all the healthy stuff we can get to counteract Thursday. If you leave out the rice, this is very low-cal.

Using my “if it’s a good recipe you get your name on it rule”,

Here it is:

Dave Lieberman’s

Mexican (dontyoudareturnyournoseupatit) Stew

 4 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, roughly chopped

4 large cloves of garlic

2 jalapenos, seeded and sliced

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried cumin

1 (28 oz) can of chopped tomatoes

3 cups of shredded turkey or chicken

Few dashes of Worcestershire sauce

3-4 cups of chicken stock

1 lime

1 cup of cooked rice

Sour cream and fresh cilantro for garnish

Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes. Add garlic and jalapeno and sweat until soft and translucent. Add spices and cook for 1-2 minutes until fragrant.  Add tomatoes, chicken, Worcestershire and stock.

Bring to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.

Cut the lime in half, squeeze juice into the pot and then add the juiced halves as well.

Add white rice and cook 5 minutes longer to warm rice through. Season to taste, with salt.

Garnish with sour cream and cilantro.

Enjoy my friends! Happy Thanksgiving!

Make time to count your blessings and give thanks to God.

Blessings,

Stephanie

Posted in Food | 1 Comment

Missing You….

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Stephanie

Deep Breath.

It’s almost that time of year. The one that you have been dreading for weeks…. maybe months. It’s the first holidays without a loved one around the table and tree.

The funeral is over, the thank you’s have been sent and the dishes returned. The house looks the same, but there is something missing.

Someone is missing.

The world around you got back into the normal rhythm of daily tasks, but life for you has been altered forever. Maybe you have had months to prepare for next week-the empty chair at the table. Maybe, like our friends, today is the funeral and the rawness of the past 48 hours is only a prelude to next Thursday. And the next.

And the next.

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The first holidays without a loved one are one of the hardest things to get through on this earth. My father in law passed away many years ago, a week and a half before Thanksgiving. We were still numb from the loss, when we looked at each other and said, ”Oh yeah…Thanksgiving is this week.”

We went though the prep days leading up to Thursday in quiet paces. My precious FIL had always been the one to carve the bird…..we all knew that my hub, who at 38 years of age, became the family patriarch, would do the deed. But the thought of sitting around after the meal was making us sad and causing confusion to a house full of young boys who were torn between the loss of Pop-Pop and the excitement of days off from school and decorations everywhere we went.

It’s almost like having an out of body experience….your body is doing the familiar activities of shopping, buying food, setting the table, cooking the dishes—but your thoughts are somewhere else.  In the shower you have to think: first the shampoo, then the conditioner.  You wake up from a deep sleep with the feeling that something is just not right… then you remember.

Dear friend, if this is your life this week, I want to encourage you to live in the moment as much as you can. Be fully present in every conversation, try to get through just this day. Don’t look ahead too far to the busyness of the season, and the demands you feel may be coming your way.

One day at a time. One moment at a time.

When this was our life several years ago, as a family of Christ followers we reached out to our church family and let them love on us (through food and deeds) and we prayed and reminded each other of the comfort of the nearness of Christ.

Here are some other things we did that helped make the holidays easier that first year. My prayer is that these might stir your own ideas of how to face the coming 6 weeks with a measure of comfort and joy:

1-    Make sure you are getting plenty of rest. Go to bed an hour earlier than usual until New Year’s Eve, whether you sleep or just read….rest your body.

2-    Add a new activity to your normal day of celebration. We decided to take everyone to see a movie Thanksgiving evening…there are usually a lot of new ones to choose from and it kept us moving, not overly thinking. After 3 years of doing that, we were good to go back to our usual football, long walk and board games….

3-    Find a way to serve others.  It’s always ironic to me that the very thing that seems so unfair after the death of a loved one- the world going on as if nothing has happened- is the very thing that helps heal our heavy hearts. Rejoin the activities of life: bake a plate of cookies for your volunteer firemen, or take a box of chocolates to the ER nurses at your local hospital. Take a Christmas flower to a nursing home to help make that place a little more festive for the residents. Sign up to ring the Salvation Army bell for 2 hours and say to many, many people, “Merry Christmas!” My mom always says: “feelings follow actions”.

4-    As you decorate your home, allow yourself to remember….any memories that are associated with certain items and practice thankfulness. Say “thank you’s” out loud. Thankfulness kills despair.  Always.

5-    If you find yourself in despair…reach out for help. From a family member, a friend, your church or a professional. Read the Bible. It may be your first time thumbing through the stuck together pages. The Bible says that God is near to the brokenhearted. In these words are life and healing,…God is the author of comfort and joy. Here is my favorite Bible verse in any hardship:

 

God is my refuge and strength, an ever present help in time of trouble

Therefore, I will not fear, though my world should change or when

earthquakes come and the mountains fall into the sea.

Psalms 46:1-2

 

Deep Breath.

You can do this.

Blessings,

Stephanie

Posted in Faith, Family | 6 Comments

Sandy’s Salmon

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Stephanie

I have decided to start posting some of my favorite recipes on my blog. Why, you ask? Well, a food category fits nicely on my blog sidebar since it starts with an “F”. But mostly because I like love to cook and am always looking for new recipes, and maybe you’re like me.

This is one of my favorite all time recipes, so we’ll start with this one. It’s from a gal pal whose son played lacrosse with #3 son.  Sandy’s a classic overachiever ….great at all she does: beautiful, marathon runner and runs a homeschool co-op.  Yes, there is much to envy about her…..and then there’s the salmon.

If you ever need a recipe to impress it’s this one. Yet, it’s easy and quick enough for a regular night supper. It’s so good that a friend of my sisters who is a big time caterer in Atlanta, added it to her menus.

Yes, it is that good.

This is the story behind Sandy’s Salmon:

All my boys were lax players in high school (two played in college).  At the end of the lax season we always had a team/family potluck dinner. I was the team mom and so I was busy while people were going through the food line with programming for the evening. By the time I was able to go through and get a plate…all the team and their entire families had gone through and there was really nothing left. Except this big platter of salmon that was cut into individual portions sizes and at room temperature.

Yuck. (I thought.)

Up until that point I always passed on salmon. Too fishy for me.

That was before the raving started.

I heard a couple of people asking between themselves: “Did you try this salmon?” There was a buzz in the room about the salmon.  My hub had a piece and said, “Steph, you need to try this.” I must have been extra brave or really hungry to eat room temp fish. But I figured-could so many people be wrong?

They were not.

It was beyond good. It was FABULOUS.

It is with great joy that I present to you….recipe #1. Notice the name of the recipe. If it’s a good one- you get it named after you. It could even be a world famous recipe, like Toll House Cookies, and if YOU make them for us and we love them-they will forever be known to us as “Angie’s cookies”. If you make outstanding green bean casserole on Thanksgiving…it becomes “Gail’s green bean casserole”.

That’s just how we roll here on the farm.

That’s how the salmon recipe got its name.  It’s that good.

Sandy’s Salmon

1 Salmon filet (2.5-3 lbs., skin removed from both sides)

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon honey

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons stone ground mustard

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

In a saucepan over med. heat, melt the butter, brown sugar and honey–(do not overcook or you will have caramel)

Remove from heat and whisk in mustard, soy sauce, oil and ginger. Allow to cool.

Place salmon on greased aluminum on cookie sheet. Brush salmon generously with mixture. You will probably have a little left over, but use it all–the more, the better!

Cook at 350 for 30-40 minutes, then let stand for 5-10 minutes.

Be prepared to have them rise up and call you blessed!

Enjoy!

Blessings,

Stephanie

Posted in Food | Leave a comment

The Lists

Posted on November 10, 2013 by Stephanie

Well I did it.

This week I pulled out a spiral notebook and started The List. Or more correctly—The Lists. (plural)

Tis the season of lists for every woman, isn’t it. I gave up on the cute little decorative scratch pads years ago and have resorted to keeping everything in one big, messy looking spiral book. I write all over the pages, then I go back and write all over what I wrote.

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Heaven help me if I lose that thing.

But it’s true, right? Here is this year’s list of the lists:

-Holiday gift list

-Thanksgiving meal menu and food assignment list

-What can I make ahead and freeze for the next 8 weeks list.

-What can I buy but make everyone think is homemade list

-Ginormous master grocery shopping to be done at 3 stores list

-Honey Do list (I like to spread the joy!)

-House cleaning before everyone gets here list.

-What I am feeding AZ son since he only gets home once a year and I want it to be all his favorites list.

-What everyone will eat after the big T day and before the first day of hunting season begins since we will have a house full of men list

The biggest difference between having a family of mostly men and having one that is fair and balanced, is the grocery bill.  With men, it’s all about the food. And holidays are all about the food. And hunting season is…..well…what is it?

If I could find a way to get them as excited and organized about hunting food at Wegmans as they are about getting up at 4am, gearing up with all their hunting supplies and sitting in subfreezing temps high in the trees, and then I would have half of my lists done in no time!

I’m really kidding you know.

It is my favorite time of year, despite all the work and frenzied pace, I love the craziness. I love the loudness and the mess. It means everyone I love is close by.

For the first week.

Then I’m over it and start begrudgingly the task of being the maker of the magic.

I do that till I hit the “mama’s had enough” button and then menopause woman takes over and the house gets really quiet.

So I just made a new list of lists.

And it looks like this:

-Keep the grocery list cause you’re gonna need it list

-Get everyone a gift card list

-Schedule my mani/pedi/hair apt. list

-Clean the kitchen and bathrooms only list

-Take all the coins I can find to Coinstar so we can eat out at restaurants list

l like this list.  This one will fit on my pretty pad with pumpkins and sunflowers.

I think I’ll keep it.

Blessings,

Stephanie

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