MONDAY MUSING: ZOOMING LEFTOVERS?

 Due to COVID-19 Thanksgiving 2020 couldn't be held like previous years. In fact, last year our home was fuller than usual as our kids had travelled from Atlanta, San Francisco and Madison to make Thanksgiving for us as Natureman had just had surgery a couple of weeks before.  The kids arrived with staples to make us a lovely Thanksgiving 2019. Natureman and I could just sit and enjoy our 2 year old granddaughter.

 BUT for Thanksgiving 2020 due to social distancing, tables all over our country were smaller with less bodies encircling them. The table was still set and traditional dishes were still made... We had to preserve some kind of normalcy, right?

It might have been a lot quieter at home in 2020 but many families congregated on Zoom to share their words of gratitude. We saw family members from Holland, Minnesota, different parts of California, Oregon, Ohio, D.C., Arkansas, Georgia and Massachusetts.  The conversation certainly matched the traditional bounty of food. And guess what? We survived.

Thanksgiving 2020 has come and gone without company to send food home with and a lot of us have been left with an abundance of Turkey Day leftovers.  Luckily, there are a lot of recipe ideas of how to incorporate those leftovers.  I don't know about you, but I actually tried some...

An entire stuffed turkey may not have been on our table but even a 5 lb Butterball breast with bones can have stuffing and provide a carcass to make a hearty tasty turkey soup. Add to that our garden swiss chard and sweet squash substituting for sweet potatoes. The additional twist was using leftover stuffing to make dumplings. Yes, they indeed do look like matzah balls!

 And then the following day some of the homemade cranberry sauce was blended with an equal amount of mayo to spread onto the turkey sandwich bread along with leftover stuffing adding another layer...

The taste of Thanksgiving all over again along with the memories of all those faces and conversations...

Those are definitely the best kind of leftovers...

FOTO FRIDAY:THE PARTY ZOOMING'S OVER

 FOTO FRIDAY's day of holiday and zooming is over for the day...  I'm so glad I had almost all the prep finished before Turkey Day. We are so thankful to have been able to see so many family members.

So the party's over, it was time to call it a day. We're indeed blessed with our bounty...

Thanks for sharing your Turkey Day photos...

Did you see  GOTCHA  in last week's x rated FOTO FRIDAY?

FRIENDSGIVING, A LOT OF GIVING FROM THE PAST AND TODAY...

Last week I participated in not only my very first "Friendsgiving"   on Zoom as COVID rages through our state, but to make this event even more unusual was I only knew 2 other people of the 50+ participants. 

Chef Adrian in her home kitchen

Although I had seen the event advertised on FaceBook, friend Heidi had signed up and the closer the date got, the more appealing it sounded.  This Friendsgiving was part of  restauranteur Adrian Lipscombe's endeavor called 40 Acres and a Mule Project involving community eats, meal kits and a live virtual cooking class from her very own home kitchen. 

For the evening, the transplanted Texas architect/city planner and now restauranteur of La Crosse's Uptowne Cafe had partnered with both Madison's Pasture and Plenty who serve Madison and its surrounding towns with local food and community experiences, and Enos Farms, a meat and local foods CSA.

Forty Acres and a Mule Project is Chef Adrian's vision to have a farm sanctuary emphasizing and archiving Black history's culture of farming, its food and stories. Her GO FundMe was set up to raise monies for the these very purposes of purchasing at least 40 acres of land to be Black owned providing farm to table food and preservation of the political act Black Legacy to the land, involving its past and future in Black foodways of studying the silences.*  

So for this Friendsgiving our menu would include Adrian's family recipes expanding some midwestern 'White' palates for sure with our evening's preparation of Gumbo, Cornbread, rice and Sweet Potato Pie with Chantilly Cream. 

$75 would include the Friendsgiving cooking class and a meal kit for 4,  to be picked up locally/ one could just join the cooking class for $25. All participants would receive the booklet of recipes. 

Since we grow a lot of our own food, I figured I had everything on hand. It would also be one less hour round trip drive to town to pick up the food kit so I just joined the cooking class with my emailed recipes, spending the afternoon chopping for the gumbo, and making the sweet potato pie. There was only one ingredient that prevented cornbread that evening. True confession : the Tupperware stored unopened bag of cornmeal had to be given to the chickens. You guessed it: mealybugs. Oooooh, the chickens were happy- me, not so much.

  beginning

The most difficult part of the prep was my first time making a 'dark' roux ( flour and butter). It did take me a complete hour of stirring in the suggested caste iron cookware.  Heidi had texted me a photo of her kit's roux and it was really 'dark' chocolate. My roux did eventually get darker as you can see. 

final stage of roux

midway

                                                                                          

And by the time the chopped veggies were added to be sauteed it indeed was rich and a pretty color. After sauteeing, spices and  liquid were added before the chicken and  apple and chicken sausage.

As you know from my past posts following the recipes the first time as they are written is my habit but next time this gumbo recipe's amount of cayenne pepper will be lessened.  Although half as much required as the jambalaya I had made 2 weeks before, a little toning down wouldn't hurt.  From now on at least 'half'ing those pepper amounts and adding more if desired before serving/ having the hot sauce at the table. Well, in a southern household hot sauce is always on the table!

Kudos and thanks to all the those who made this event possible and for giving us this insight to the rich cultural Black traditions. I can't wait for another community learning experience and expanding my knowledge about Black History something omitted for way too long from our American History texts.

Did you know?

 "If Lincoln's order never been overturned, it's estimated that there would be land worth $4.6 trillion in the Black American community today."

* Jessica Harris Culinary historian coined the term "studying the silences" Black people have been in the room, but for so long they were so good at being invisible."It should not be forgotten America's culinary traditions  include the contributions of its black slaves. 

CREDIT :All history photos and quotes from Friendsgiving booklet.

We've been having that delicious sweet potato pie for breakfast and snacks. It might not make it to Turkey Day tomorrow... Oh well, I can make us another and this time remember to cover those crimped edges so I don't have to remove them!

Want any of the recipes? Let me know and we can make a deal... ie donations to Forty Acres and a Mule Project sounds like a great plan, don't you think?

PLEASE PASS THE SALT...

One thing I have little patience for is Natureman's use of salt. The man adds salt without even first tasting the food. Grrr. But, it turns out perhaps I should have been encouraging salt intake this past couple of weeks since in spite of all his stable lab vitals, his sodium level is now too low, another dang side effect of the chemo drug regimen.

That possible 6 week infusion regimen vs every 3 weeks was not meant to be. In addition to the normal 3 week infusion, he received an IV of saline solution.  Natureman will need to return next week to repeat labs. Just when we were hoping to decrease visits, there's this sodium kink and an extra visit. 

If the low sodium issue has not been resolved by next week, along with having to take a break from his medications, a steroid will be necessary making him even more immuno compromised. Fingers crossed all this can be averted.

In the meanwhile, he has homework to do as he needs paperwork from the social security office to be eligible to reapply for the medication assistance from Pfiser with the new year approaching. This has an early December deadline...

You know it just dawned on me I  forgot to mention a change in Natureman's appearance.  That head of thick, wavy hair has been replaced by silky smooth, straight hair. His barber who would be me, is going to need some you tube video watching for cutting straight hair.  Thanks goodness it's cap wearing weather just in case a bad haircut ensues...

MONDAY MUSINGS: C D B VS CDC

Monday Musings have to do with our younger generation's love affair with texting and acronym'ing everything possible. LOL. In fact, I'm  really wondering if the the next generation will even know how to spell. 

I was thinking about a book we had in the house when my daughter was in kindergarten by the Caldecott Medal-winning New Yorker cartoonist William Steig. He, my friends was preparing us for this texting phenomena by using just the alphabet letters as words to convey a sentence.  Do any of you remember his children's book C D B from the late 80's? A later edition added more color. Below is the original front cover.

Do you C D B? S E-Z? Right? All the pages could be deciphered by these one letter words. But even back in my Dad's age there was an old poem he taught me written in autograph/year  books. See if you can read it .  

Y  Y  U  R,

Y  Y  U  B.

I   C  U  R

Y  Y  4   me.

Could you decipher it ?

(Two y's) Too wise you are, too wise you be. I see you are too wise for me. 

What I am afraid of is perhaps many who may be that 'y s'  may have forgotten that some word abbreviations/today's acronyms actually represent words.  Specifically the letters CDC. You know CDC, our nation's world reknowned Center for Disease Control and 'Prevention'. Maybe the P should be emphasized as the CDC, Center for Disease Control, based in Atlanta,Georgia, has issued a statement saying:

 "No travel during the holidays, stay home."

 "Anyone who has not lived in your household for the last 14 days should not be considered a member of your household." 

 "Regardless of where they’ve been, if they’re coming home and they haven’t been living with you, you definitely need to take precautions. Having their own bathroom for someone who is spending the night, for example."

Well, some of you got it as in understood it but if not, may get it/ give it , 'it' referring to COVID-19. 

Dr. Fauci is urging Americans to "think twice" about traveling and having indoor gatherings for the holidays...

Please stay home and be safe. 

N-Q.

TBT: SHEP LOVED KAYE, HIS WORKSHOP & KITCHEN

Going back to a post from February 12th, 2015. Only 5 years ago...

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2015

TBT: This Throw Back Thursday includes a Friend from Younger Little Rock Days and dedicated today to buddies Kaye and Shep z'l. 

Our recent Little Rock trip included some squeezed in visits with friends from younger years. One of these was down the hill from the Heights to Hillcrest to visit friends Kaye and Shep who have actually made it to the End of Rainbow Valley for a visit. 

Kaye and I became buddies back in elementary school. ( We do need to find a photo from back then.) Facebook actually reunited us... But anyway we always joke about my Mom thinking Kaye was a bad influence and wouldn't let me go over to her house as we got older. Now due to Mom's Alzheimers, Kaye and I figure it's safe to mention we were hanging out together...

Any'hoo' one common denominator we share as couples now is we all really enjoy being creative in the kitchen.  Knowing that we'd be dropping by Cafe 315 (their abode), our good fortune was finding some new recipes awaiting us: delish roasted nuts with a nice kick and two kinds of pinwheels one savory and the other sweet. Those plates were full before we got there...

      

One was 

roasted

pesto dried tomatoes and goat cheese and the other mini elephant ears.  Super yummy!

 It was Natureman's first time in Cafe 315 so he could also see and admire first hand Shep's fine woodworking in all the great furniture pieces throughout the house. We were even offered a visit to Shep's workshop. 

How could we pass that up? 

So we jumped in the car and saw where all the magic happens and that beautiful furniture gets made.

Even Shep's tool organization is artful. The place is spic and span. This artist takes care of the tools of his trade.

Below is pictured the first tool cabinet Shep made and isn't it a beauty?

Look at the inside of his drawers. Impressive, eh?

I think his DeWalt saw and I are about the same vintage. We both are still working really well. Is this where I say, knock on wood?

It was really awesome to get to see where these two special folks create their magic both in the kitchen and the workshop...  

 Looking forward to reciprocating when they head northward again. We'll be right here in the End of the Rainbow Valley...


We'll have to plan a joint cooking project the next time. 

One thing's guaranteed when we're together there'll always be good food and good conversation...

FOTO FRIDAY: GOTCHA...

This week's FOTO FRIDAY has to with unusual extra activity as you will see. 

Warning: Photos today have X rating

Look closely to see where this took place...

Gotcha. I wonder if he has a friend?

Then although a good photo should speak for itself. This does need a background story. Flo, our goat, was not herself this week as she not only got out of the pasture, she came right up to visit on the front porch with the dog. When I opened the door to let the dog in, before I knew it she had followed him in. Not knowing what might ensue, she was ushered out. Well, turns out the gal is in heat and so she was taken to be 'freshened'.

Here she's meeting her new beau. Handsome guy, right?

Beau's on the left

Then, one sniff and...

Guess 'Got your goat' has new meaning now, doesn't it?

Happy Friday!

UPDATE:  RAV4 - 2  Opposing Team ?

Last week's FOTO FRIDAY's a good one in case you missed it:

LOVE STORY

PLURALISM WITH THE SALAD BOWL/ THE MELTING POT?

 Amidst  the negatives of technology, many of us are benefitting   during this time of social distancing as different organizations have taken advantage of this technology for outreach programming. 

I attended one such event last night with a live broadcast called For the Love of Israel where a restauranteur, sommelier and tour guide Avihai Tzbari  (r) shared stories and history of some favorite Israeli foods and how the East met the West in the small country of Israel. 

*The following photos used in this blog entry are of our presentor's videos and power point presentation. 

Through numerous waves of immigration starting in the late 1800's Ashkenazi and Sephardi brought with them their different cultures and languages and foods which have come to play a role in popular dishes now in Israeli marketplaces and restaurants.  

The Ashkenazi  descended from France, Germany and Eastern Europe whereas the Sephardi (Iberian) Jews were from Spain, Portugal, North Africa and the Middle East. 

Avihai,  being of Moroccan and Yemenite descent had his family play a game of guessing some popular Israeli foods's origins. Here was their quiz with their answers.

Avihai's  Moroccan Mom was kind enough to prepare 2 Moroccan dishes of her choice. One was fish balls in tomato sauce and the other  dish was also in a tomato base.  But the interesting cultural addition in her preparation and presentation was inbetween her two Moroccan (Sephardi) dishes was Challah bread, an Ashkenazi food.

A chef friend of Avihai's also prepared a dough which she rolled out and cut out circles upon which a cheese&cherry filling was placed, each was folded and crimped making a dumpling. 

She uses this dough in many different dishes and this krepelach reminded me of Chinese sweijyau dumplings/Italian ravioli or the drier version the empanada latina /Cornish pasty.

In the discussion of  origins it behooves us to recognize if the food in question is in the Tossed salad / Melting Pot category. Does each ingredient add its unique characteristics as different ingredients in a salad / does it all meld into one as in the Melting Pot? (I use this same analogy in the US discussion of multiculturalism as to how we now view our society- the old melting pot analogy is out and the salad bowl is in!)

Take for example Rugelach below, the rolled crescent shaped pastry whose origin is Polish (who knew? I always thought it was either Russian/German) was used as an example as to how it has morphed in Israel and why... Take a gander.

And so it becomes apparent from Israeli menus each influx of immigrants brought their culture which included ethnic dishes and spices which have enriched Israeli cuisine. 

The pita schnitzel sandwich ( far r above) with Turkish salad, eggplant and peppers on the far right is very popular now. Yum.

Well, we might not be able to travel and taste these delicacies personally but will certainly appreciate their recipes as we attempt them in our own kitchens. ( to be added later.)

Avihai, thanks so much for sharing your presentation at 3 am your time! As it is said,  "Next Year in Jerusalem." 

BYE, BYE, B....

 One of my ongoing decluttering projects has been scouring both houses for books. Books that have been read at least once if not multiple times. It's time to lighten our load.

Since the guest room has not been used for guests in the last 8 months the book boxes have been gathering there awaiting new homes but alas all the planned fund raising sales have been postponed and no one including the library, jail, churches, etc... were accepting them due to the virus.

Finally, I thought of an on line book store less than an hour away who probably had the warehouse space to store them and allow me to start another decluttering project. Box by box I repacked them distributing weight to protect our spines in moving them and exposing their spines so that their titles were visible.  I didn't alphabetize 'em but they were pretty much by genres. 

We ended up donating over 300 books which will eventually be filling someone else's shelves and night stands. 

Even Natureman's "reading room" looks a bit sad... 

Down to his 'light' reading of Monthly Reviews filling that second shelf which he promises will eventually be donated to the Democratic Socialist Association of La Crosse.  Or I presume will end up tinder for the winter fireplace. Check out those titles. Yawn.

But books are like holiday decorations as soon as you think you've found them all, you see the place you've forgotten...

 Oh yeah the kitchen, does anybody want some cookbooks?

MONDAY MUSINGS: ACTIVE DO GOODERS

For all the bad behavior we read about daily there are many more DO GOODERs among us. To prove my point was last Thursday's 2020 YWCA's Tribute to Outstanding Womxn via a live link where 11 community members were honored for their efforts to help in the Y's mission statement of eliminating racism and empowering Women by promoting peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all.

Usually there's a sit down dinner with each honoree giving a speech but due to being socially distanced the planning committee had a virtual evening with a moderator introducing us to the honorees with pre recorded brief intros and also questions about what the honor means to them, the significance of the removal of racism, a quote or mantra they live their life by and what advice they would give to those wanting to remove racism and empower women.

*I'm borrowing the Y's poster of their Honorees 

Left to Right are the 2020 honorees

Top row:

Michelle Richgels named Emily Sis Huston Volunteer of the  Award who promotes self sufficiency, is a Guardian Angel for Family and Children's Center and a member of the YWCA La Crosse Board of Directors.

Diariana Herron, Community Project of the Year, Celebrating Youth Voices for Justice Logan High School

Shantae Sheard , Young Womxn of Tomorrow, Holmen High School senior who after suffering racism within school and lack of administrative help formed Diverse Cultural Alliance for minorities and allies.

Middle row : 

Brianna Washington Community Project of the Year Celebrating Youth Voices for Justice :Logan High School

Mia Davis & Chaya Davis Community Project of the Year Celebrating Youth Voices for Justice: Logan High School

Dr. Xong Xiong: Linda Riddle Community Advocate of the Year  thanked other local and state women's groups who help women advance their causes, ending gender based violence, an advocate for many years at our Hmong Community Center, co-founder of Cia Siab, for young Hmong women which helps maintain their language and culture  in the Coulee Region in promoting their voices here and across the state

Bottom row :

Claudia Delgado, Young Womxn of Tomorrow: Onalaska High School senior who founded Students for Dialogue and Social Change.

Dr. Caroline Wilker, Sustaining Leader of Today, internal medicine physician at the Center for Women's Health at Mayo in La Crosse in addition to serving as chair for both Clinical Quality and Diversity and Inclusion and White Coats for Black Lives .

Friends Heidi and Scott Blanke Olga Schleiter Philanthropic Memorial Award *

Yes, the future looks more promising and protected as the young women from 3 different high schools work for equity, fighting injustice and racism with peers for local and national issues using their voices to fight injustice and racism and white privilege.

Kudos to all these 2020 honorees who give of their time, vocally, physically/ monetarily and to all those who daily help those who may not have a voice... We can all be part of the solution.

*Monetary donations to the YWCA are always appreciated.

   

FOTO FRIDAY: A LOVE STORY

Although it's FOTO FRIDAY today's photos have to come with a story.  Hey, it's my blog...

Sadly, a week ago one of my childhood friends lost her partner who passed away in his sleep.  And while sometimes we wonder how certain couples are together, this particular one was something special. Here in the country we'd say "they pulled well in the harness together."

Shep, who I just recently learned was named Charles Sheppard Miers, brought a calmness to my friend Kaye. His Southern charm matched hers and Shep was a terrific listener. When he spoke his southern accent enveloped you. 

The two fostered each other's strengths and interests. Together they were quite a pair in beating the pans in the kitchen.  Both Kaye and Shep have the reputation of  being wonderful hosts in sharing their culinary delights and setting a mighty fine table. It wouldn't be unusual to end up in their cozy well equipped kitchen around the stunning center table Shep had made. You see, he was a master arquitect of wood, turning pieces of wood into gorgeous functional pieces of furniture.  

Their adventuresome palates included more than just Southern fare although Shep's grits and griddle corn cakes were among my favorites. One visit they were game to learn how to make Chinese dumplings the way I had learned while living in Taiwan. It was always a gastronomic delight being together.  

We even shared Crystal Bridges in northern Arkansas and, of course, I had to order shrimp grits for lunch that day...

On FB we all could enjoy their cooking endeavors and travels to discover eateries they had heard about, returning to their favorites over and over again and even replicating recipes in their own kitchen. 

Shep turned their back deck into another 'room' to enjoy both gardening herbs and veggies in raised garden beds and entertaining. After brining meats, they would be smoked out back. The two made a mean pastrami/ brisket and bar-b-que.  And most recently the front yard was transformed into another outside room to really enjoy during social distancing. 

The two also made the most of local bike trails and beautiful days to get some exercise together. They had enjoyed Rendezvous 'ing with like folk who dressed up and lived like early settlers for weekends ( not utilizing modern day equipment) Shep had made the fanciest wooden concealed potty. While not quite as rustic, they even journeyed to southwestern Wisconsin to visit us in the End of the Rainbow Valley and Amish country. We cherish their visit.

 

In the last couple of years the two put their heads to learning about spinning wool as Shep made / honed the necessary equipment for Kaye's knitting projects. 

Kaye and Shep shared church going together. We never spoke about religion but now I know have missed that possible conversation where I'm sure I would have been enlightened by him. But Shep's 'being' exuded his beliefs. 

One visit South Shep took Natureman and me to visit his workshop. His home away from home. It was an educational field trip. Over the years Shep had shared his craft teaching hundreds of Art Center students wood working including my Dad, no less. I hold regrets of never having something custom ordered but I thought there was time...

Through difficult health issues over the years these two took turns caring for the other with emotional and physical support. I loved the way Kaye was protective of her Shep. 

Thanks Kaye for sharing your 'Love.'  Indeed you two are quite a love story... You really did get lucky in love.

I, The Sherm, will be among others who will miss the gentle giant with the greatest enveloping bear hugs... May Shep's memory always be for a blessing.  xoxo