I have a confession to make. I am addicted to a new TV
show. It is Storage Wars. We watched
it in the motel when we went to visit Benjamin in Manhattan, Kansas, and the
children and I have been watching it since. I even watch it before I watch my
political shows (which has never occurred) so you can see how much I like it. Maybe it is the treasure hunter in me, but it is fun to
see what they find, learn about the different objects, and then see if they
make a profit, or even better, is when they do “strike gold” and find something
really valuable. Fito doesn’t understand our fascination with the show
and is always saying something about it. But then again he doesn’t like Harry
Potter or Lord of the Rings, so what can I say? We have family coming this weekend. My siblings, their
spouses, and nieces and nephews. Not everyone can come, but we will have 40
plus people at our house. I have been planning menus and preparing food for the
past week. I made 3 huge pans of Goulash last week, and a huge bowl of Pupusa
mixture, both are in the freezer. Then on Sunday, I made two Spanish Turkeys
with mashed potatoes, and peas and corn. In the evening, I deboned the turkey
and mixed it with the sauce from the turkey and cream of mushroom soup. That mixture is in the fridge and this afternoon I will
fry the tortillas and make Enchiladas. I also made a large pan of cherry and
pineapple cobbler (from cake mix) and then yesterday morning, I woke up early
and made 18 loaves of Banana Bread. (But I have already given so much of it
away, I will have to make some more. I have also gone to Sam’s Club the past two days and
bought sandwich stuff, cereal, paper goods, etc. I think the only thing I am missing is chicken legs.
One evening or afternoon we plan to grill the legs to have with rice and beans.
Let me tell you how to do them so they are succulent (plus this is really
easy). GRILLED CHICKEN Put the chicken pieces in a big bowl and add 2 large spoons of mayonnaise (not the fake
stuff) and 2 T of Lawry’s Perfect Blend Seasoning and Rub for Chicken/Poultry. Use your hands and coat the legs with the mayonnaise and seasoning, rubbing and spreading the seasoning and mayo over each piece. What happens is the mayonnaise acts as a shield and
keeps the juices inside the meat. It seals the chicken and browns so nicely. It
also allows the seasoning to stay on the chicken and helps it to be spread
evenly. You cannot even taste the mayo, or even tell it was
used. The chicken just tastes fantastic and is not dry at all. For your information, we use heavy duty aluminum foil (which I buy at Sam's in an industrial roll, which by the way, lasts about 2 years and is MUCH MUCH cheaper than buying small rolls throughout the year...plus it is better foil) to line the grill, which cooks the chicken without burning it. Well, now it is two days later…I have bought the
chicken legs and made 3 large and 2 small pans of enchiladas. I took one of the
small pans to a friend who needed some extra care. Some of the family has arrived and everyone else will
come today. I took my mom to get her hair done yesterday, and today woke her early;
to have her bathed and dressed before anyone comes over. She usually sleeps all
day and stays up all night reading or doing word searches. Her short-term memory is declining rapidly. The last
few times we have been in the car to do errands, etc., and have been together
most of the day; she has asked me over and over again the same questions. She
doesn’t know even what month it is, or day, she couldn’t remember about the
reunion, who was coming, and so forth. Even this morning she asked me why she had to bathe and
when I reminded her of the reunion, she asked me all about it again. I compensate by writing things down and have her read
them again and again, hoping they will be moved over to her long-term memory
which is still functioning okay. Everyone is excited to have cousins here and to be all
together. Oh, and I picked up a hitch-hiker on the way home from
an evening class yesterday and ended up driving her to her destination,
although it was about 40 miles out of my way. It was a young woman and she was
7 months pregnant. It was 101 degrees yesterday, and when I saw her walking, I couldn’t
help but stop. Her story is one I see too often: ill-educated, bum husband,
no job, no future, one of despair and struggles. She is Native American, so I tried
to convince her that education is her ticket out of the dark hole she is in,
and as a Native American she qualifies for free college. We talked about her
options and her life, and hopefully, I encouraged her. But now Fito is mad at me because I didn’t call him and
tell him where I was (which I agree is dumb, because if something had happened,
no one knew where I was). But I didn’t dare call him, because he disapproves of
me picking up people (which I only do occasionally, and only if I feel
absolutely calm about doing so…). One of the dilemmas in relationships… Just one cute story from one of my ESL (English as a
Second Language) classes. Joseph, one of my students who is from Vietnam is in
Toast Master’s which is an organization dedicated to building leadership and public
speaking skills. They have extemporaneous speaking at their weekly meetings. Joseph was given a slip of paper that said, “Your cup
of tea,” which was his topic to speak on spontaneously. He did so, everyone applauded,
and the meeting went on as normal. Well, two days later, we were in ESL class, and had
about 15 minutes left. I said, “Let’s start on this worksheet that I have on Idiomatic
Expressions (common sayings). I would read a sentence with the expression, then tell
the class what it meant. I read a sentence that contained “my cup of tea” in
it, and explained that this expression means: Something or someone that one
finds pleasing. Joseph started laughing so hard and then explained to
us through his laughter what had occurred at the Toast master meeting: He said, he thought he was supposed to talk about tea
and did just that. He gave a short speech about the different types of teas and
their uses. I asked him (while still laughing) if anyone in the
meeting had explained to him later what “my cup of tea” meant or if they had
said anything at all. He said that no one said anything. I guess they thought
his “cup of tea” was tea! |
 |
|||||||||||
 
Categories20132016 2018 Blessings Bread for Fund Raiser Cheese Cake Recipe David's Blog Dogs Fall 2013 Fall 2014 Family. Finally...time to Food Storage Grand babies Lambie Laundry. Life Ebbs Marriage and Fidelity Organizing Pride and Prejudice Punishment. Spanish Diet Spring 2013 Spring 2014 Spring 2015 Summer 2013 Summer 2014 Tamales The nursery Tony's Graduation Trip Tornado West Point Graduation Why cook? Why people home school. Winter 2013 Winter 2014 |
|
 |
|||||||||
    |
|||||||||||
