Tag: meal

A thank you to friends

Growing up, my family was not one who had desserts all the time. But we did have them occasionally, and everybody had their favorites. I’ve mentioned before that I planned to make my brother some chocolate bread pudding like our mother used to make when he was here last fall–then I forgot to do it.

The recent visit from my siblings fell between my sister’s birthday and my late mother’s, and I decided to lay out, along with meals, some of our favorite desserts as part of the celebrations.

For my sister, it had to be a coconut cake (that’s what my mother always baked for her). Some of you may remember the last time I made her a coconut cake and the dire consequences. There were no catastrophic repercussions this time, but as you can see, there’s also another cake in the photo. Since some of us are wheat intolerant, and some are downright allergic to wheat and gluten, I snagged a Betty Crocker gluten-free yellow cake mix and some Duncan Hines gluten-free dark chocolate frosting. It was an experiment and it worked; the cake was delicious. It just didn’t rise the way I’m accustomed to cakes rising.

Along with the two cakes, my sister made banana pudding–another of my brother’s favorites that my mother always made for him (and I don’t make because bananas are something I can stand in only small doses). And he finally got his chocolate bread pudding (which I overcooked, but it was still good).

My family’s all safely back in their homes now, and for Craft Night, I decided to try the Betty Crocker gluten-free chocolate cake mix. Everyone thought it tasted good, but again, it didn’t rise very much. If any of you use this mix and know a secret for getting fluffier cake, let me know.

Tom asked if the Craft Night cake was for a special occasion, and I said no. But of course, as I mentioned earlier, March 4 is my mother’s birthday. And it was kind of cool to realize, as I sat around the table with Tom, Lindsey, Rhonda, and Kathy, while we drank coffee and had cake and ice cream, that we were all together with my mother on her last birthday, when we took chocolate cupcakes to her hospice room.


Photo by Lindsey

I figure it’s time to mention again how much I love my family and friends, who are here with me through the fun times and the sad ones. You’re all great.

It’s called comfort food for a reason

Friday night while we were crafting*, The Brides’ potential brunch plans for Saturday were canceled. I suggested that we do brunch here–my sneaky way of getting Tom to make pancakes–and everyone was agreeable.

Saturday while Tom was manning the griddle, Lindsey cooked the OMGdelicious bacon she and Rhonda brought. I was sitting at the computer talking to them when the news hit about the shootings in Arizona. There’s really nothing more a person can ask than to be around people who know that a bit of silliness can carry us over some rough moments.


If it looks like a duck…


It’s probably not the Twitter bird.

After we ate our pancakes, bacon, and fresh fruit with some coffee, we escaped reality for a while by watching Eclipse. I really didn’t mean to make Rhonda watch it; I’ve been enjoying threatening her with it since early December. Now I have to wait a year before I’ll have another one to use against her.

Also, Lindsey and I had a Shoe vs. Shoe moment:

*By crafting, I mean painting, sketching, and the like. I thought I should clarify this lest you think we sit around casting spells and using voodoo dolls. That’ll be a different post. 😉

Now for leftovers

The previous three Thanksgivings, I think we’ve been at Green Acres. Today it was the three of us–and five dogs–at home. On the menu:

Baked hen, dressing, squash casserole, crowder peas, mashed potatoes and gravy, and salad.
ETA: Cranberry sauce.

The Big H and her driver, also known as Rex’s former attorney, came by briefly to drop off a homemade pumpkin pie which was extremely delicious.

I’m thankful for the abundance of good people, dogs, books, and other wonderful things in my life. I’m also thankful that Tim won’t tell anybody that I put the tablecloth wrong side up.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Faint heart never won fair lady

Whenever I make tuna salad, I think of my brother-in-law Wayne when he was wooing my sister. He’d come over on Saturdays after Debby and I did our housework. I’d make a pest of myself while they sat in the living room and listened to records and tried to talk and flirt. Most Saturdays, my mother would make sandwiches for our lunch, often tuna salad.

It wasn’t until after they were married that Wayne finally confessed that he hated tuna salad.

Food memory

It stuns me that we ever had leftover biscuits when I was growing up, since my mother’s biscuits were so good. I didn’t eat them, so maybe that’s why. My mother used to freeze the leftovers and when there were enough, she’d make chocolate bread pudding with them. That I liked.

When I knew my brother was planning to visit, I started hoarding and saving leftover biscuits because I intended to surprise him with chocolate bread pudding. I even found a recipe online that seemed very similar to my mother’s.

Only I forgot about the Ziplock bag in the freezer while David was here. Sorry. I made it tonight for Tom and Tim. Must have tasted okay, because this is what the 8×8 dish looked like when I took my migraine to bed early:

The recipe is here, if you’re interested.

30 Days of Creativity: Day 21

I went back to the kitchen for today’s creative effort. Here are the results:


Breads: homemade banana nut bread and cornbread
Soup: lentils, beef, carrots, onions, potatoes, peas, green beans, rice, corn, celery
Salad

Oh, and Tim got creative, too, JUST FOR LINDSEY:

Which made Margot smile.

For 30 Days of Creativity.

30 Days of Creativity: Day 7

I can grill a mean steak and some rocking burgers and dogs, but chicken on the grill is something I’ve done less than a handful of times in my life. So why I chose this as the meal to create tonight is beyond me. You can’t see the somewhat charred chicken that’s hidden on the bottom of the bowl. Fortunately, the five kids who’re eating tonight have chicken nuggets and Rice Krispies treats (not made by me, I might add), and at least eight of the adults should be ravenous after kayaking down a river, so maybe they won’t notice my less-than-stellar grilled chicken. Wish me luck!


Tossed green salad, potato salad, baked beans, and grilled chicken.

For 30 Days of Creativity.

Another of those random “Did you notice I haven’t posted much?” photo posts

I was called for jury duty the other day. I didn’t get picked. I didn’t even get called to a panel for the voire dire process. Several cases were settled and I was among prospective jurors sent home. Doesn’t matter to me whether I serve or not; I’m not a jury duty hater. I was amused when the bailiff made an announcement that someone’s car was in a judge’s space on the third floor of the parking garage and it would behoove that person to move the car ASAP. I guess it’s not good to piss off a judge. It’s also apparently a bad idea to piss off a veterinarian.

I shot that photo when Tim and I played fashion photographer to some Scout’s Honor dogs last week. They were saved from death row and OMG, CUTEST DOGS EVER. If you want to see some of their happy faces, check out the Scout’s Honor Flickr group where we share their photos. I’m assuming at least some of them, along with other great dogs, will be available at this weekend’s Scout’s Honor Adoption Day in the Heights, Saturday, May 1, from 10am to 3pm, at 1128 Heights Boulevard (between 11th and 12th Streets), Houston.

Just to entice you, a favorite of my photos:


Brew, totally posing for Tim.

April 28 is the birthday of my late friend Steve R, and as I have every year since he died, I enjoyed chocolate cake with friends. That’s what he did on his last birthday in the hospital in 1992, and I love honoring his life each year with the laughter and good feelings that exist among friends. The group around the table may change from year to year, but he’s always remembered.

However, I think you should know that anticipation can lead to jazz hands:


Kathy S, Tim, and Lindsey

Among our Christmas gifts from my sister Debby was a beautiful fantasy puzzle that Tom finished last week with very little help from the rest of us (although Lindsey, puzzle hater, did place three pieces, and I swooped in when all the hard work was done and found some key pieces to make myself look clever):

I shot this photo before I took it apart. I’m sending it and the Lord of the Rings puzzle we got last year from Rob E to Debby for her to do while recovering from back surgery. Because back surgery is not torturous enough. =) Get well soon to my favorite sister!

Make it right

It has come to my attention that some of my readers feel cheated that I never posted anything about my thirty-fifth birthday. It was a wonderful day. Along with a pile of funny and sweet cards (some with gifts of the spending kind!), texts, e-mails, calls, packages, and the like, I enjoyed a happy evening with friends.


Me, Tom, and Tim
Lynne, Lindsey, Rhonda

sitting in front of a pile o’ grilled steaks, baked potatoes, salad, and garlic bread that they all brought and cooked without my assistance. All I had to do was eat! It was DELICIOUS. Kathy S arrived later with a wonderful plug-in candle for scented candle tarts that are also delicious (smelling).

Please click here for more photos and stuff behind the cut.

No, the Crazy Dog Lady lives a couple of blocks from here

An extraordinary set of circumstances has left us with a plethora of dogs at The Compound. My decision to temporarily foster the dachshund sisters coincided with a promise I’d made to Lynne to keep two of her dogs for a few days, and of course, there are the Compound Four, not to mention visits from Sugar and Minute.

Dog wrangling’s not so hard with several people sharing duties. Mealtimes get a little crazy because the only dog here who doesn’t act like starvation-is-imminent-WE’RE-ALL-GONNA-DIE! is Paco. But I’ve been amazed at how peacefully all these different personalities and sizes are co-existing, sometimes even playing with one another. Here are some photos from the past few days.

We decided that ValentinesGiving is now an official holiday, including turkey:

along with mashed potatoes and gravy, squash casserole, steamed chard, rolls, and salad that had Lynne, Tom, Lindsey and Rhonda making the sign of the heart:

Or maybe it was the brownies and coffee.

Today after I finished a really good book, I worked on sewing and photographing my Project Runway design. And tonight…


Paco, Sparky, Amber, and Esther


Rex, Margot, and Pixie


Guinness

Not exactly Mardi Gras or Olympic excitement at The Compound, is it? When Lindsey was shopping the other day, she picked up a button that expresses the mood around here. She knows me so well. I offer it to you as a bonus pre-Button Sunday gift: