Happy Thanksgiving!

A Happy Thanksgiving to those of you out there in blog land. Ours was a bit lower key than normal with the work schedules of some of my bunch and the fact that my oldest daughter was not able to come home for Thanksgiving. While many are focusing on stuffing their turkeys, she's been getting ready to stuff shipping boxes since she's moving from the San Jose area to the Phoenix area because of her job.

I didn't even make turkey this year since there were fewer of us, I made stuffed Cornish game hens, though I had to convince one of my daughters that they were not baby turkeys...They turned out great though, and the upside? A much shorter baking time than what I normally spend on Thanksgiving...

You need to have cheese with your wine...

I'm the only "real" wine drinker in the family, it something I learned to enjoy thanks to my father as far as tasting the different varieties and cooking with wine. Which means while I have a nice collection of wine glasses, they are regulated outside of my kitchen since it is so small. However, when I started to do some online browsing, I did not realize that some of the wine glass racks for sale were so inexpensive.

I found several wine glass racks that would work in my small kitchen that were well within my price range. I also noticed that GlassStemwareRacks.com not only offers to meet prices but is currently offering free shipping on most of the stemware racks that I saw on their website. They also had some really neat wine furniture that when we finally get done with the renovations at our house, would be really nice to have since our space is going to triple...

Artichokes are they worth it?

"Artichokes ... are just plain annoying ... After all the trouble you go to, you get about as much actual 'food' out of eating an artichoke as you would rom licking thirty or forty postage stamps. Have the shrimp cocktail instead." -- Miss Piggy

That is actually true, you do have to go through quite a bit of effort to be able to eat an artichoke, especially if you are trying to cook a recipe that only requires artichoke hearts and you want to go for fresh rather than canned or jars. One of my daughters wanted to try to make a Lebanese artichoke stew, she thought ten artichokes was quite a bit until she realized how small actual hearts are. This led some family members to wonder about the history of the artichoke, how anyone discovered what was the edible parts...

It doesn't appear anyone knows that part of the history though I have to personally say while I enjoy the leaves with butter or hollandaise, the heart of the artichoke goes well with alfredo, pizza, veggie subs and sauteed with a touch of lemon and garlic. It is more economical to buy the hearts in cans or jars unless you find a great sale, such as yesterday when my daughter found artichokes ten for one dollar.

Women and children are dying but a lobster is free...

PETA is declaring victory in freeing a lobster that they claim is 140 years old, some say closer to 80. Either way it's become something that's happened often enough that PETA has what they call "lobster libbers" and there is an actual website set up focusing on Lobster Liberation.

Of course for those of us who don't live by an ocean, the chances of freeing a lobster would be a bit difficult. They also have a way for you to have the taste of lobster without killing one. You'll be disappointed if you head over to VegieWorld looking for fake lobster, they don't seem to carry them anymore but they do have the shrimp. I wonder though, would eating fake shrimp still be in violation of Leviticus?

Though it seems as if any animal food comes from killing animals, the focus on lobsters is of course because they are kept live until moments before ending up on a dinner plate. Though it can be debated would a lobster that is that large and that old taste good anyway, experts state those over 5 pounds typically taste stringy...

Remembering elderly neighbors during the holidays...

When I lived in the township I had quite a few elderly neighbors that did not have close family near them. Our family ended up "adopting" a few, helping when we could and making sure that they were not only okay but so that they knew someone cared about them. I learned first hand the difficult decisions they had to make even when the economy was better for many than it is now. After we moved we still stayed in touch and unfortunately now the last one of our former friends passed away last year.

It's made me more sensitive about my neighbors even in our new area, especially in the type of society we seem to live in where few of us even know our neighbors, let alone look out for them. At holiday times we would make a small basket of homemade treats for our friends, it doesn't necessarily have to be expensive gift baskets though for some of you who don't bake that might actually be an easier option (smile). I have to admit though that the gift that always seems to be most appreciated is one of time. My children benefited from the relationships and the stories that were shared with them, and to me that's the best type of a giving moment, when you not only give something but get something equally valuable in return.

Reflections on...popcorn!

One of my favorite snack foods to eat is, popcorn! That said, I'm not a fan of microwave popcorn, I typically make mine the more old fashion way using a coconut oil based oil. I've tried many different varieties of popcorn, my all time favorite is still the Black Jewel one, I know it looks a bit different with the kernels being black but I think it gives the best end result flavor. I used to loads lots of real butter on it, which I still do once in a while but now I opt for the flavored butter powder with some sea salt.

I've often thought about getting one of those popcorn machines since it's impossible for me to resist getting a bag at any type of an event I'm at that has the pop corn machines. The smell alone of freshly popped popcorn is impossible for me to resist.

:-)

Family dinners and dieters...

Today is the last day my mother in law and her partner are visiting here in Ohio, and it was Sunday which is when I try as often as possible to have all of my bunch here for dinner. Everyone managed to show up today and my mother in law was surprised at how I can manage to feed that many people all with different diet requirements, my son who can not handle any dairy products, one daughter who's a vegetarian who's also using weight loss pills as part of being on a diet, the one daughter who won't eat red meat...I think you get the idea (lol).

So what did I make? Beef shish kabob, veggie kabobs, chicken breast (with and without barbeque sauce, potato salad, cole slaw, guacamole dip with tortilla chips and for those who aren't dieting? Cheesecake with cherries and/or a brownie with non-dairy whipped topping drizzled with caramel sauce...Everyone had a great time and since my mother in law had not seen my son in five years, it was a good chance for her to spend time with him, his wife and their baby daughter. Amazingly? No sibling squabbles...

Oyster jokes...

Two oysters walk into a bar, as one gets eaten the other one says, "Don't look at me, the sign said 'Oyster Bar'." You can blame me for creating that joke, and I found two more on the net that I thought were amusing:

Waiter, I can’t seem to find any oysters in this oyster soup.
Would you expect to find angels in angel cake?

What did the girl oyster say to the boy oyster?
"You never open up to me."

Beyond being cute, the reason behind making oyster jokes in a post is to draw attention to a website that focuses on Gulf oysters. The goal of their website is for you to learn tips and information on how to best enjoy oysters and to avoid being affected by the Vibrio vulnificus bacteria which can be a huge issue for people with weakened immune systems, liver disease or diabetes. You can still enjoy oysters but the recommendations for those who are at risk are to make sure they are not raw or undercooked. Which for me, is easy to follow since I personally prefer my oysters cooked.

One advantage of less computer time...

One advantage of the tech frustrations I was dealing with yesterday was the decision to have a quiet dinner with my husband since all of my assorted children were elsewhere after we returned from the opening of a local art gallery. Anticipating the evening we picked out our dinner items which included some nice strip steaks from the store and spent a bit of time pursuing the wine racks at our local grocery store to debate which wine we would agree on. That alone can be a challenge since he's not much of a wine drinker, so we ended up agreeing on Freixenet, which was even on sale.

:-)

First Bill Clinton tempts me with chips now Hillary with a sandwich...

I could not resist the temptation to try to "win" watching an upcoming presidential debate with former President Bill Clinton and a bowl of potato chips, needless to say I didn't win. So today when I received this email, I was torn with one of those "Publisher Clearing House" moments of "you can't win if you don't enter":

Dear Lisa,

Contribute today, and you could join Hillary for a lunch on the campaign trail.
You're my secret weapon.

All the other campaigns are busy talking about me. But with your support, I'm staying focused on what's important in this race. I never forget what we're working for when I'm out on the campaign trail. That's why I'd like one of you to join me for a day.

I'm so proud of what you and I have accomplished, and every day I see the results. More and more people are joining our campaign for change, and what you and I do in the coming weeks will make the difference in this election.

So I want to invite one of you and a guest to join me for a day to see what we're building together. With just a few weeks until the first caucuses and primaries, there's no more exciting time than now. There's also no better time to help.

Your support has meant so much to me in this campaign. Will you help me again and make a difference in the first few primaries and caucuses by contributing today? You could join me out on the campaign trail. We'll take a few minutes to grab a sandwich and talk.

Enter to join me on the campaign trail. Make a contribution today.
Click here to make a contribution.

If they throw in chips with this one? Could be hard to resist...

Friday's Feast 137 at new eatery!

This week's Friday's Feast is at the new website, which looks pretty darn spiffy. So, join in and make sure to visit other Feasters!.

Appetizer
What are you proud of?

This is a hard one, I'm proud of many people, my children, my husband, my best friend who decided to go back to school, my community for starting to join together to make a difference...

Soup
What is the best thing you’ve ever won as a prize?

When I was five years old, I won a color contest in our local newspaper and I won a Kool-Aid tent that I used in our backyard, it was to a five year old, a very huge tent with red and white stripes that I used until it finally ripped beyond repair several years later...

Salad
Name something you do that is a waste of time.

Argue with people that I know won't change their minds...

Main Course
In what year of your life did you change the most?

Another hard one, so I'll start with the first one. My step-son who was five years old had epilepsy and one night he had a severe grand mal seizure in his sleep and died. I did not hear anything, and did not discover he had died until I went in to wake him up that morning. I was told later that given the severity of the seizure that even had I been in the room and called for medical attention I would not have been able to do anything but, it changed my life forever. It made me as a parent never forget to spend as much time as I could with my children and since everyone in the family was falling apart I learned to step up and take responsibility, then fall apart later. That's a trait I still have today when dealing with death and other major crisis...Looking back had I not learned to be strong at that time period many of the other things I later went thru would have been much more difficult to survive thru.

Dessert
Where is a place you consider to be very tranquil?

I have a special spot down by the Maumee River that used to be my father and I's special place. It's still today where I go when I need to feel at peace, and I can feel his presence with me when I'm there.