OMG!!!

Snow!!!

We are having a "horrific snow storm" by Albuquerque standards. The air is thick with flying flakes...but nothing is sticking. People are panicking!! Man the air raid shelters! Buy up all the shovels and bread/milk/butter! Stock up on firewood and emergency water supplies! Break out the sled dogs!!

I'm at work and expect to have no trouble going home in four hours. Everyone else will be holed up at home, waiting for spring.

Maybe i'll be able to go snowshoeing tomorrow with my new snow shoes (Christmas). Groovy!! Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!!

amy's orange marmalade.....

and amie's orange marmalade.

My grandmother Amy (after whom i was named) always had her homemade orange marmalade in her refrigerator. It was, of course, best on her homemade oatmeal bread, toasted with real butter. You'll have to check with my sister for the homemade oatmeal bread recipe. She is much more "culinarily gifted" (&/or patient) than i am. I have, however, on many occasions made the orange marmalade. (My sister dislikes all jellies, jams and preserves.)

As i do (much to the chagrin on my mom), i have adapted the original recipe to what i prefer. As you may not share my preferences, i offer you both recipes. Try one, try the other, have a taste comparison, or adapt one or the other to your preferences. Let me know what you think!

AMY'S ORIGINAL ORANGE MARMALADE

1 orange
1 grapefruit
1C sugar

peel the grapefruit and put in cuisinart
slice up the orange and put it (peel and all) in cuisinart
add sugar and pulse to ground

day1:dump in pot, bring to boil and simmer for 20 minutes, cover and let stand for 24hours
day2: bring to boil, simmer for 20 minutes and let stand, covered, for 24hours
day3: bring to boil, simmer about 20 minutes, let cool and place in jars (i use tupperware type, can use glass jars with lids)

chill in refrigerator, freezes well

AMIE'S ADAPTED CITRUS MARMALADE

2 oranges, peeled (throw peel away)
3 oranges, whole (use peel in recipe)
3 grapefruits, peeled (throw peel away)
2 limes (or lemons)(use peel or not, your choice)
1C sugar (or sweet tea mix)
[dash cinnamon/nutmeg if using sugar only]

pulse all in cuisinart to gravel consistency
day1: bring to boil in pot, simmer 20 minutes, let stand 24 hours
day2: bring to boil in pot, simmer a bit, let stand 24 hours
day3: bring to boil in pot, drink your afternoon coffee, look out the window, remember the marmalade, turn off and let cool
package in glass/plastic containers, freezing much of it and leaving one pot/container for the refrigerator

either is fantabulous on toast with cream cheese, or with butter on toast, or dolloped on a baked sweet potato (yummy!!) or on vanilla ice cream or...

first kiss? first crush? first love? first hip replacement?

I remember being 22 and being frustrated and disappointed. I'd been with my boyfriend for almost a year and he was not really wanting to make our time together anything more than "just fun". I was ready for moving in together, love, engagement-- the whole enchilada. He was more than content to just date recreationally (only me but not wanting to make it "official and binding" in any way). Meanwhile all of my fellow students and co-workers (or so it seemed) were busy getting engaged, having babies and settling down. Even my sister (six years younger!!) was talking marriage with her boyfriend (and had been with the boy before too!). I was thinking that i'd missed the boat and was going to be one of those women that just never married.

Clearly, i was wrong as i've been with Joe now for over twenty years.

I was sooooooo excited when we got engaged-- planning the wedding and honeymoon. Planning our first apartment then first house together. Hoping for a baby to make our famliy complete (or at least more complete).

I then remember being "the only one" not having babies. We tried for what seemed like forever (six months) to get pregnant and just nothing was working. Frustrated that my body, which had always done for me what i'd asked of it, wouldn't "toe the line". We did, of course, end up figuring it out and had the two kids that we'd always wanted. First a girl then a boy, just like i'd always hoped.

So, the perfect little life, eh?

So.........now what?

No more "firsts" to look forward to on the horizon. Big fancy wedding, fun honeymoon, first holidays together, first apartment, first home purchased together, first daughter, first son, first move out of hometown (and the many that followed), landmark anniversaries. Fun firsts.

Now i just see the "less-than-fun" firsts ahead of us. First kid driving and more independent. First kid off to college. First week with no kids at home. Retirement. First orthopedic trouble (broken hip, knee replacement, impaired mobility). Woohoo.

My colleagues are now getting engaged (two this past weekend!) and having babies. I'm in the "i remember those days" role as it's been quite a while since i was in either position. I'm closer to my kids having those events than my having them. Even my mom-in-law is getting married (although i'm pretty sure that she won't be having babies....).

Off to think of a "fun first" for me and Joe. There's gotta be something out there better than being a Wal-Mart greeter on one of those motorized wheelie-thingies. :o)

beer cheese bread x3!!

BEER CHEESE BREAD #1

SERVES 6 , 6 slices (change servings and units)


2 1/2 C flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons dried sage (or basil)
1 (12 ounce) can cheap beer
1 cup shredded any kind of cheese (cheddar, swiss work well)

Directions
1Preheat oven to 375.
2Grease and flour 9 inch loaf pan.
3Mix all dry ingredients, stir in beer and cheese until well blended.
4Spread evenly in pan.
5Bake 50 to 55 minutes.
6Cool 10 minutes.
7Eat!!

BEER CHEESE BREAD #2

8 ounces (1C)all-purpose flour
4 ounces (1/2C)whole-wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill
4 1/2 ounces sharp Cheddar, grated
12 ounces cold beer, ale or stout
1 to 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds, optional
Directions
Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Coat the inside of a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan with the nonstick spray and set aside.

Whisk together the all-purpose flour, wheat flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and dill in a large mixing bowl. Add in the cheese and stir in the beer just to combine. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan. Sprinkle with the sunflower seeds, if using.

Bake on the middle rack of the oven until the bread reaches an internal temperature of 210 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, about 45 to 55 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Transfer the loaf to a cooling rack for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

BEER CHEESE BREAD #3

This savory quick bread pairs well with soup or chili and is ideal for an open house or casual get-together.

Yield: 16 servings (serving size: 1 slice)


Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
13.5 ounces all-purpose flour (about 3 cups)
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 (12-ounce) bottle lager-style beer (such as Budweiser)
Cooking spray
2 tablespoons melted butter, divided
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Heat oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion to pan; cook 10 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally. Stir in pepper and garlic; cook 1 minute.
3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk; make a well in center of mixture. Add onion mixture, cheese, and beer to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.
4. Spoon batter into a 9 x 5–inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Drizzle 1 tablespoon butter over batter. Bake at 375° for 35 minutes. Drizzle remaining 1 tablespoon butter over batter. Bake an additional 25 minutes or until deep golden brown and a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.
Apple-Cheddar Beer Bread: Substitute 1/2 cup minced shallots for onion. Place 1/2 cup shredded peeled Gala apple in paper towels; squeeze until barely moist. Cook shallots and apple in oil over medium heat for 7 minutes. Substitute 1 cup shredded extrasharp white cheddar cheese for Monterey Jack. Substitute 1 (12-ounce) bottle hard cider for lager. Yield: 16 servings (serving size: 1 slice)
CALORIES 151 (27% from fat); FAT 4.6g (sat 2.5g, mono 1.6g, poly 0.3g); PROTEIN 4.4g; CARB 21.9g; FIBER 0.8g; CHOL 11mg; IRON 1.3mg; SODIUM 265mg; CALC 87mg
Manchego-Jalapeño Beer Bread: Substitute 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions and 1/4 cup finely chopped jalapeño pepper for onion; cook over medium heat for 3 minutes. Substitute 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Manchego cheese for Monterey Jack cheese. Substitute 1 (12-ounce) bottle Mexican beer (such as Dos Equis) for lager-style beer. Yield: 16 servings (serving size: 1 slice).



Now, you just have to pick one and find that can of beer, lost in the back of your refrigerator, from the BBQ last summer! Is it too extravagant to make a whole loaf of bread just to get rid of a misfit bottle/can of beer? Not when it's this yummy!

who _are_ these people?

So, i went to the memorial service for my father last week in Ohio. It was rather unreal. There must have been forty people milling about, chatting with each other and watching a video of 50 pictures of my father that repeated every minute.

I rode there (and stayed with) my sister and her family (husband and two cute kids). I saw my father's wife and his sister, her husband and her son. My sister and her husband were pretty busy with the kids. I watched the film/pictures and looked at the flowers. Then it struck me what was so odd. Other than the aforementioned people, i knew no one.

The father of my childhood had been gone for a long time, replaced by this person that i didn't really know.

His BFF of the past 12 years (that was how he started his presentation), Greg, got up to speak at the formal ceremony after the two hour visitation. He spoke of different events over the past years, told a couple stories then sat down. I not only didn't know any of the stories, i didn't even know that there was a Greg.

A couple other people got up to speak, relate stories of the Paul that they were mourning and missing that day. Other than his friend from college (60's), i again knew no one. And didn't know the story that Bruce related.

So, while there was much crying on the part of many of the attendees, i didn't cry. The man that they were mourning wasn't the father of my childhood. He left long ago. The ceremony just further drove home that fact.

Maybe it just hasn't hit me (so say others). Or maybe i'm just a cold bitch (so i've also been told). Or maybe i'm just relieved that he is out of the pain and discomfort that were the bookends of the last couple years of his life.

Having been the only person in our family to have left (except Elizabeth), i've been "out of the loop" of the family for so long that it just doesn't seem like i'm still a part of the family. I have my little family here (for a while, until they leave too). But the rest of the families, on both sides, with their dramas and stories and continued lives, seem so separated. Not only geographically but psychologically and emotionally. We're not involved in the day-to-day with the families so when something happens, good or bad, we hear about it in short bursts. We're not party to the gradual, only hearing the results.

No more weddings or births of new babies. We're now in the season of sickness, funerals and decline. Happy, happy, joy, joy.

Time to go back to work. Save lives. Smile at patients and families. Give out stickers and narcotics and discharge instructions. Hurry home to drive kids to their fun Friday night events.

Thanks for letting me babble at you. :o)

beer cheese bread

recipe was requested. i'm working on finding it in my kitchen. don't give up hope. check back? groovy!

life stages

There are some truths that seem to be universal. Few will dispute that baby anything is cute. Kittens, puppies, lion cubs, even baby vegetables are more attractive than their larger versions. And babies are always cute... (ok, most).

But, while they may always be cute in an "awwww" kind of way, i think that there are life stages to one's appreciation of the whole baby experience. A young woman or young couple thinking of starting a family looks at all babies as gorgeous and desirable and with a wanting eye. That same woman or couple a couple years down the line looks at that stranger's baby in the market with a more complete understanding having presumably already been through some of the "new baby" experiences (not all good, not all bad). Then there is the older individual who has had the baby/child experiences of his or her desire and is now "over it".

As you know, i'm no longer the young woman waiting for the babies. Nor am i the young mom with babies of her own. I must say, this past week has shown me, i'm in that last group. Having cared for some months old kids (11mo, 21mo, etc) and some preschoolers, i'm kinda over the whole baby thing. Yes, they're cute to look at. And cute to give back. :o) I like being able to say "get in the car" and be done with it. No car seats, sippy cups, diapers, "magic blankets", children's menus or nap times.

That's not to say that i didn't love, love, love being a "young mom". Or that i didn't love, love, love having babies and preschoolers and grade schoolers. I was able to stay home for most of it and experience every first (and second and third). And it was a great time that i wouldn't change for the world.

I just wouldn't want to be there now. Or start again. Yikes.

So, if you have little, itty-bitty ones and want a break, great. Bring him/her/them by and i'll watch them for the afternoon so that you can have a whole cup of coffee, by yourself, without having to put it in the middle of the table and reheat it three times. But know that you have to come back at some point, when your little dear is ready to be back with mommy and i'm ready for my return to the relative quiet of having two teens.

While they're cute in their blankets, all snuggled in their bedside cradles, i'm learning to appreciate how cute they are in their car seats, waving bye-bye. Just call me a young (always looking for a way of being anything young!) curmudgeon!

black bananas

My mom was just complaining that she had black bananas on her counter and had to do something with them. Now see, you have to take into consideration what makes a banana "black". I like bananas ripe enough that, when you walk in the kitchen, you say to yourself "wow, smells like bananas in here" and can see the brown freckles on their skin. My mom,however, considers a banana "black" when the stem is no longer green but the fruit is still firm. I like bananas "spreadable" (yes, you can make a face and say ick!). Anyway, the following is the best thing to do with black bananas, whatever you consider post-ripe.

BLACK BANANA BREAD

3 over-ripe bananas
2 eggs
2C flour (i use 1/2 white and 1/2 wheat, not self-rising!)
3/4C sugar (brown, white, cinnamon-sugar, whatever)
1t Arm and Hammer baking powder
1/2t salt
1/2 C "stuff" **

mix all, pour into Pammed 9x5 loaf pan and bake in preheated 350 oven for 55 minutes

**stuff= raisins, craisins, chocolate chips, dried fruit of any sort, coconut, chopped nuts, etc.
* can also add cinnamon, any extracts (coconut and/or almond are excellent)
*** can also add 2T alcohol (amaretto, bailey irish cream, coconut rum)

yummy! easy! now you can walk in the kitchen and say to yourself "wow, smells like banana bread in here!" :o)

old and crunchy? already?

What makes one an adult? Is it attaining a certain level of schooling (out of high school? college?)? Is it the moment that you have kids and are thus bumped up a generation? Is it attaining a level of professional accomplishment (being made manager, etc)? Or is it when the generation above you starts to compress?

First, Joe's dad passed in 2004. We were very close with him (although not as close as those more geographically proximal) and it was a hard time for all of us. Joe's Aunt Louise was then the doyenne of the family. When she passed in November, that left only Aunt Carol of that generation.

Yes, my grandparents have all died (starting with Ama in 1997, finishing with Amy in 2008) and that was sad but expected. As Grandma Amy told us "we're old...dying...it's what we do".

Then my Dad got cancer and went through the horrors of treatment. Then the horrors of refusing treatment and letting nature take its course. His passing was anticipated... just the date was unknown. With his passing last week, there is similarly only one person left in the level above me. I'm the oldest in my generation (only one sister) and the layer above me is thinning.

So i guess i'm an adult now? When did i go from being "footloose and free" to over the hill and wrinkly? First "crinkly eyes", then menopause, then grey hairs at my temples and now this. I kept my focus on the kids and my honey and work and then i looked up to find all of this. Yikes.

I'd best go back to playing with play-doh and coloring with markers. Thanks goodness that the visit to Indiana/Ohio this weekend includes staying at Erica and Steve's with their cute-as-a-button kids. I'll be able to color and play and pretend that i'm less the responsible adult that i should be (really, after having passed all the "adult landmarks").

Bring on the silly putty, marshmallow fluff and silly printed t-shirts. At least for a little while longer?

oops

I thought to include recipes with almost every post but that last one just didn't lend itself to anything particularly yummy.

So, you get a random recipe from the past week.

SECRET CHOCOLATE CAKE

Shhhhh. Don't tell the kids what's in it and they'll never know. You can just sit back, smug, knowing that it's secretly (kinda) good for them (comparatively) while they know that it's really good. :o)

1pkg chocolate cake mix
1-2 eggs
1 can (15oz) pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
1T oil (optional; i never do but you can)
1t cinnamon (optional but good)

mix all for 3 minutes to fluffy
pour into Pammed 13x9 pan
bake for 30-35 minutes at 350

dust with powdered sugar (looks pretty and is no-fat), serve with lots of really-cold white milk (kids) or coffee/tea (big people)

also works well with spice cake mix..or yellow cake mix... (add additional spices as desired, and raisins?)

BFF

My daughter and i have a joke about BFF. The first time that i saw it (in her Seventeen magazine), i wasn't sure what it meant. She told me it was "big fat friend" and the "nickname" has stuck. Yes, we both know that it's supposed to be "best friend forever" but we still giggle at our inside joke. She's used the phrase off and on since then, on the 'net with IM's and in letters and stories. In print, on television, in "text-speak" and even in spoken language, it seems that everyone is talking about and has a BFF.

But what does that mean?

Does anyone really only have one best friend? And does that stay the same?

I know that it hasn't for me. Or for Alessandra, actually.

She had Julia in Columbus when we lived there. For the first three years that we lived in NM, she and Julia kept track of each other. Visiting over Spring Breaks and summers. Writing back and forth on the internet and chatting on the mobile phones. Then....the calls and e-mails trickled down... and Alex started confiding more to local friends.

Then she had Jessica.......who moved to South Carolina.

Now it's Jadziah........who has Steph as her BFF and neighbor. So Alex is second-fiddle (not that she seems to care). But will this endure or will Jadziah give way to the next "forever" BFF?

Is that how this works? Or is that just in adolescence?

When i was young(er?), i had BethAnn Snider (now Beth Price). She and i used to pal around everywhere and do everything together. Most every day, i'd come home from school, drop my books and head over to BethAnn's. Knock on, and walk in, her back door, go upstairs and do.........anything. Listen to records. Flop down on her waterbed and look at TigerBeat magazine and drool over Andy Gibb/David Cassidy. Talk about Dave Ostrowski and what an annoying human he was. Plan our next trip to Beechmont Mall. Try to talk her mom into letting us bike to the Convenient Food Mart and buy candy (she was ok with the candy, not the biking part).

Then came college and we grew apart. She found new friends at her college and we stopped seeing each other on breaks. She was at my wedding (i was not in town for hers). We brought our kids to each others kid birthday parties for a while then even stopped doing that. The e-mails and holiday letters (with, then without pictures) got farther and farther apart. We lost touch.

Other friendships have similarly started out "hot and heavy" to become just tepid then abandoned, by one or the other participants. Really, except for Joe, i don't know that i have any others that i could consider even candidates for BFF status. Someone that i'd ask for (and offer) a ride to the airport. Someone with whom to share my joys and concerns. Someone to go "Black/Happy Friday" shopping with or just out for coffee and bagels midweek.

Is that just something that one has in teen years and leaves behind? Like a Clearasil habit and drinking games?

Or have i missed the boat?

I wonder. I see other women drinking coffee and eating bagels and shopping....not alone. There cannot be that many sister pairs! Maybe it's just me?

Yikes.

Am i un-BFF-able? Am i that grating? Is that why i'm writing this to a blank screen that no one will read instead of asking my girlfriend on the phone?

Double Yikes.