Just Who Are They Talking To?

Just Who Are They Talking To??

Recently Mike and I made a trip to San Antonio Texas to visit the Riverwalk area.  My husband travels quite often but since leaving my job 12 years ago I now only travel for vacations.  Friend let me tell you, communication has changed! As we waited at the gate to board our plane I noticed everyone was talking, but no to each other!  Everyone (and I mean everyone) had a cell phone!  Entire families, traveling on what I assume to be a “family vacation” had their ears presses to phones, yakking away to some invisible person while not giving a nod to their travel companions.  I found it strange.  I asked my husband; just who are they talking to????  The teenagers might be saying a last goodbye to a boyfriend or girl friend but who is Mom chatting it up with at the airport? A neighbor? A coworker? Her Mother? And what about Dad?  Last minute business details?  Game picks? I really wanted to know who was on the end of that phone line but I didn’t dare question them face to face, perhaps if I had their phone number I could CALL them and ask. My childhood family vacations involved lots of talking too but it was with each other. Am I too young to long for the good ole days???

I have a cell phone but I am kind of an emergency only cell phone user.  Text still seems cumbersome to me….I never get the letter I want so my messages come out in a cryptic code that even I can’t solve once I’ve sent it.  It’s not that I don’t like to talk to people I just prefer a conversation with a real person not a garbled “Can you hear me now?”  And don’t even get me going on dropped calls.  Many times I have been listening to a great story from my sister-cousin only to have her voice disappear at the punch line!  Call me old fashioned but I like to “visit”. My mom often had neighbor ladies over for tea and talk.  These times were chatty and fun.  Recipes were shared, usually a piece of cake or muffins were tasted, and kids played together.  These discussions would have lost their personal touch over a cell phone.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not on a rampage to ban cell phones from homes and airports but can we somehow encourage and improve our personal discussion time?  Maybe limit the use of cell phones during family trips or dinnertime?   And what about (God Forbid) turning the phone off once in awhile? Because after all, is the person on the other end of the line more important than the person sitting next to you???  Just who are we talking to?  Peace, Sandy

True happiness arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self, and in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions. ~ Joseph Addison

Tangerine Glazed Tea Cake

Ingredients

1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
3 tangerines or oranges, grated zest
3 tablespoons tangerine or orange juice, preferably freshly squeezed
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk

Glaze, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Butter a 6-cup loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment or waxed paper, pressing it in firmly. Pour the bread crumbs into the pan and shake to coat the sides, and then tip out any extra crumbs. In a small bowl, combine the tangerine zest, tangerine juice and lemon juice. Stir and set aside. Sift together the pre-sifted flour, baking soda and salt. In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer), cream the butter until fluffy. Add the sugar and mix well. Add eggs 1 at a time and mix well. With the mixer running at low speed, add alternating batches of dry ingredients and buttermilk until the batter is just mixed. Add the fruit juice and zest and mix. Pour into the prepared pan and set on a sheet pan. Bake on the sheet pan until the cake is firm in the center and a tester inserted into the center comes out dry and clean (a few crumbs are okay), 70 to 80 minutes.

When the cake is done, let cool in the pan 15 minutes (it will still be warm). Run a knife around the sides of the pan. Set a wire rack on a sheet pan with sides (to catch the glaze) and turn the cake out onto the rack. Peel off the waxed paper. Using a turkey baster or pastry brush spread the glaze all over the top and sides of the cake and let soak in. Repeat until the entire glaze is used up, including any glaze that has dripped through onto the sheet pan. Let cool at room temperature or, wrapped in plastic wrap, in the refrigerator (well wrapped, the cake will last up to a week). Serve at room temperature, in thin slices.

Glaze Recipe:

1/2 cup freshly squeezed tangerine juice
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar

Glaze: In a bowl, stir the juices and sugar together until the sugar is dissolved

Lemon and Blueberry Tea Cake

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 1/3 cups flour
8 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg
1/2 cup half and half
1/2 cup sour cream
Juice of two lemons
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan. In a small mixing bowl, combine 1/4 cup of the sugar, brown sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 4 tablespoons butter, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Mix well and set aside. Using an electric mixer, cream the remaining sugar and butter together. Add the egg, 1/2 and 1/2, sour cream, and lemon juice, blend until smooth. In a mixing bowl, sift the remaining flour, baking powder, salt and remaining cinnamon together. With the machine running, slowly add the flour until all the flour is incorporated. Fold in the blueberries and lemon zest. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the topping on top of the batter. Bake the bread for about 50 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. Remove the bread from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Slice and serve.

Cinnamon Tea Cake

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons butter

1 cup self-rising flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/3 cup milk

1 tablespoon white sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease one 6 inch round cake pan. Melt 7 tablespoons of the butter. In a medium sized bowl mix together the melted butter, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, and the self rising flour to form soft dough. Add the milk and mix again till smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove cake from oven and set aside. Once cake is cool enough to handle remove from its pan and place on a serving dish. In a saucepan melt 1 tablespoon butter and mix with 1 tablespoon white sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Spread over top of cake. In a small bowl stir together the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Sprinkle over cake.

Remembering a Brother Lost

Remembering a Brother Lost

What if we woke up today with only those things we thanked God for yesterday?  I woke up April 27^th without a brother.  He died in his sleep.  Gary was just 47 years old.  The sheriff came to my house three times to tell me but thankfully I was protected by God for an entire day from receiving this news alone. I am weak when it comes to death.  I fall apart.  I was running errands all day oblivious to the sadness that awaited me that evening at 8:00PM. By then my children and husband were home.  We consoled each other through the shock.        

They say you remember your childhood better if you have a sibling close in age because you see your life and build memories through them.  I was just ten months old when Gary was born. I am sure he is the reason I remember so much. He was blonde and I was dark.  He was tall and I was short. (Maybe that’s why I sometimes think I am a tall blonde….).  He came into the world in a rush, delivered by my Grandma Isabelle in the car in her driveway on the way to the hospital.  I keep remembering that he was a fat baby, but he wasn’t…he just had a cute double chin. From the time we could both speak, we argued.  It drove my mother crazy.  If I said the sky was blue he would say it was aqua….and vice versa.  I constantly corrected him as the worldly and knowledgeable “older” sister.  We shared a room and even a bed for some time when we were little.  We’d help Mom haul the water and Dad chop wood.  We were a team.

At Birch Grove Elementary they put us in the same class and the same grade because I was born in October and had to wait a year and he was born August 31^st, he just made the September first cut off.  This was not a good thing for Gary.  I know I owe him a mountain of apologies for being so competitive.  We were compared every day as if we were twins but he was almost a year younger, it was never fair.  School was a sore subject but I remember we had many good times too.  We swam at Temperance River, went camping on weekends, and built tree houses and forts every summer.  In high school we sometimes worked together.  One winter at Satellites’ Country Inn he cooked and I waitressed. He drove us to work in an 1950 Ford classic truck.  When the windows were frosted over I would hang out the passenger side going down highway 61 and direct him to stay on the road.

Just days after graduation he left for trade school and I moved to the Grand Marais campground.  We were busy starting our lives.  He married and had three children before I even found a career.  My nephews and niece were such a joy to me.  I could get my “baby fix” and not worry about having my own until years later.  He married a second time and his youngest son is very close in age to my boys.  I liked to tease Gary that he had excellent taste in wives as my ex-sister-in-laws are two of the most beautiful women you would ever want to meet. 

Gary and I grew apart these last couple of years.  We would visit only at holidays. He was busy with his life and I with mine.  The last time we were together was 11 months ago when we celebrated our parent’s 50^th wedding anniversary in Schroeder.  He looked handsome.  I don’t remember if I told him that. I should have told him….and I should have thanked God that I had a brother…yesterday.   ~ Peace, Sandy 

The There Were Two

And then there were two…..

We have only two children left at home.  I knew we’d have to face this someday but over the weekend it became more real than ever for Mike and me.  We moved our daughter Zoe into her first “real” apartment….you know, with a one year lease, an unknown neighborhood and me, a freaked out mom.  She left home for college last July but she lived in student housing with three other girls, high security and lots of rules.  I loved it, she hated it. She missed two things the most, her cat and candles.  (Student housing has a strict policy against both.)  Now she lives with her kitty Mr. Mistoffelees and vanilla scented soy candles.  She is in heaven and I am left to worry about almost everything.  Are her neighbors nice or creepy?  Will she remember to lock her doors?  How will she do laundry, grocery shop and find the bus stop?   What if she FORGETS to blow out the candles?????  Seriously, how many things can I think of that might go wrong? 

            I remember my first experience at independent living.  My “apartment” was my parents camper set up at the Grand Marais campground the summer after my graduation in 1982.  It was awesome!  I didn’t have a car so I would walk or bike downtown to work and buy groceries.  I had campfires and made “beverages” every night after working long shifts at the Blue Water Café. (My friend worked at Dairy Queen so she would bring the strawberries and we’d blend them up with ice and whatever moonshine we could get our hands on that day.)  Life was good.  I also wanted the company of a pet so I brought my parakeet from home.  Sometimes I would set his cage outside and the native birds would sit nearby and whistle back and forth.  I felt so grown up and ready to take on the world.  It was that surety of myself that kept the fear at bay.  At 18 you don’t know what you don’t know.  I never thought for one minute that my mom might be concerned or losing sleep over my campground shenanigans.

            Author Barbara Coloroso says “Parenting is one of those jobs that once you get really good at it you’re out of a job.” If this is true I still have two “jobs” with Jack and Ben so it will be a few years before I am done…but then I wonder, will I ever be done?  Even though my daughter has moved out she still lingers in my every waking thoughts and sometimes in my dreams.  They don’t tell you when you start having babies that a part of you is with your children all the time. Now it is my choice to make….will I spend every day in worry only bringing on the grey hairs even faster or will I accept the fact that I am no longer in control.  I have sent my daughter into the world armed with her cat and her candles, may she be safe and happy.  Now there are two….. Peace, Sandy

“Just because I laugh a lot, doesn’t mean my life is easy.  Just because I have a smile on my face every day, doesn’t mean that something is not bothering me.  It’s just that I choose to move on from the negative in my life and keep my head up instead of dwelling on the past.”  ~ Wise Author Unknown

2 INGREDIANT SPICE CAKE

1 (18.25 ounce) package spice cake mix

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, mix together the spice cake mix and canned pumpkin until well blended. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool and serve, or store in the refrigerator. This tastes even better the next day.

2 INGREDIANT NUTELLA CAKE

4 eggs
8 1/2 ounces Nutella (weigh this out on a scale)

Grease a 6 or 7 inch round spring form pan. Line with parchment paper on sides and on bottom.  By spraying the pan with oil first, the parchment paper stick on better. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat eggs on high speed in mixer until more than double the volume, about 5 minutes.

Measure out Nutella into a glass bowl. Microwave Nutella for about 20 seconds to make it softer. Add in 1/3 of the egg mixture. Fold with a spatula in a clockwise direction until all of the egg is mixed in. Then add another 1/3 of egg mixture and fold again until no egg streaks remain. Pour in remaining third and repeat.

Pour batter into spring form pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes until knife inserted comes out clean. Let cake cool before cutting and serving.

2 INGREDIANT 100 CALORIE CUPCAKES

1 can Diet 7 Up

1 Box Strawberry cake mix

Mix pop and cake mix together well.  Do not add any other ingredients.  Pour batter into cupcake pan and bake according to package directions.  100 calories each.  Great topped with fat free cool whip.

A Friend is a Mirror

A Friend's Eye Is a Good Mirror.

A friend’s eye is a good mirror.  This is an Irish quote I really like.  I had a few friends over last Friday night.  One was a new friend as she bought my alpacas recently; one I worked with and she helped me edit my book, one was my sweetest neighbor, three I have breakfast with at least once a week and three were friends from grade school and high school who surprised me by making the trek to my house finally after ten years!  At one point during the evening it was suggested that one say what they admired about me.  I know totally cool right?  Even so my stomached tightened just a bit.  Knowing some of these ladies as long as I have, they could say almost anything!  As we all know an “old friend” can have a lot of dirt on you when she’s known you since kindergarten.  She likes to tell people I pulled her hair the first day we met but that’s not true.  The teacher pulled her ponytail because she had stuck her tongue out at me and I only laughed!  (I am sure you would have laughed too!)  We later became friends and agreed our kindergarten teacher wasn’t very nice. 

At Birch Grove Elementary, my grade school, we would celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by making shamrocks from three green hearts cut from construction paper.  At some point we were told about leprechauns leaving a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.  I spent many hours after a rain looking for this pot.  I did find some interesting glass bottles and jars in the woods but none held anything more than a little dust and rain water.  It didn’t stop be from liking St. Patrick’s Day though, as green was my very favorite color! 

Mike and I were married a week after St. Patrick’s Day in 1998.  We asked our guests to write us notes with words of encouragement or marital advice.  We gathered them all up and read them on the way to San Francisco for our honeymoon.  I had two favorites:  Mike’s aunt wrote “I vowed that I would never get divorced but I never said I wouldn’t kill him.”  (As my mom would say, you better sleep with one eye open pal.)  Other had a more Irish flair:  “May the road rise up to meet you.  May the wind be always at your back.  May the sun shine warm upon your face; and may the skin of your ass never cover a banjo.”  (It was years before I realized the skin he was referring to was not actually mine, but the skin of a donkey.)  Throughout the reception there were heartfelt toasts, supportive conversations and in the end we were able to see ourselves as a couple through our friend’s eyes.  It’s a good mirror.  Peace to you.  Sandy

May you always walk in sunshine.
May you never want for more.
May Irish angels rest their wings right beside your door.

Easy Irish Soda Bread

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 Tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup margarine, softened
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Lightly grease a large baking sheet.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and margarine. Stir in 1 cup of buttermilk and egg. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead slightly. Form dough into a round and place on prepared baking sheet. In a small bowl, combine melted butter with 1/4 cup buttermilk; brush loaf with this mixture. Use a sharp knife to cut an 'X' into the top of the loaf.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 30 to 50 minutes. You may continue to brush the loaf with the butter mixture while it bakes.

Irish Beef Stew made with Guinness Stout

2 Tablespoons olive oil

3 bay leaves

2 pounds beef stew meat with some fat, cut in 2 inch cubes

1 large yellow onion, peeled and sliced

2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1 teaspoon dried thyme, whole

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

2-3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

3/4 cup beef stock

1/2 cup Guinness stout

1 Tablespoon chopped parsley

1/2 pound carrots, sliced

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a 6-quart stove-top casserole. Then add the oil and the bay leaves. Cook the bay leaves for a moment and then add the meat.  Brown the meat on both sides on high heat. Add the sliced onion and cook for a few minutes until it is clear.  Reduce the heat to low and add the garlic, thyme, rosemary and flour, and stir well until smooth.  Add the beef stock and stout; simmer, stirring, until the stew thickens a bit.  Add the remaining ingredients and cover.  Place the pot in a 275 degrees oven for about 2 hours, stirring a couple of times.  Season with salt and pepper to taste before serving.

Apple Pie "Dublin Style"

1 9-inch pie shell

1/2 cup honey

1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups sliced apples (1 pound 4 oz. each)

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

2 Tablespoons butter

Preheat oven 425 degrees.  Combine undrained apples and all other ingredients except butter. Mix lightly.  Spoon ingredients into pastry shell. Dot with butter.  Bake for 40-50 minutes until crust is golden brown.  This Irish dessert recipe is delicious served cold, but even better warm, with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.