goat milk yogurt and Marge Kraft

When I was young(er?), my mother had a good friend/former co-worker named Marge. Marge was very interesting in many ways (more stories of her another time) but there is one that I wanted to share with you today.>>>>>>> Marge liked “funky foreign foods” but didn’t like to cook. She liked to read and collect cookbooks but never made anything from them. Her husband didn’t like “weird food”, having lived the first 60years of his life on frozen chicken pot pies and deli meat sandwiches and other processed food “delights”. >>>>>>> My mom, being a Midwestern mom of two, cooked every day. So, Marge and my mom had a barter/deal worked out. About once every week or two, Marge and she would get together, look through the recipes that Marge had chosen and come to an agreement about two or three of them. Marge would supply the “outstanding ingredients” (not the flour/everyday spices/bread crumbs) that my mother would not otherwise have in the house and the main protein (the chicken/lamb/beef needed), my mother did all the cooking and dividing. They would then split the goodies. >>>>>>> We ended up trying all sorts of fun stuff, sometimes as fancy as “city chicken” (pork kabobs—very “exotic” to Cincinnati!) and pastitsio (Greek lasagne-type dish), often as commonplace as chili or various casseroles with cheese.>>>>>>> Fast forward to today. I have a girlfriend here in Atenas that loves this goat milk yogurt that she buys at the local COOPE (our grocery). The cost for one bottle (yes, the goat milk yogurt comes in individual glass bottles...tres chichi!) is more than the cost of two (2!) gallons of milk. And she eats goat milk yogurt every morning for breakfast, topped with blueberries, granola, nuts, etc. It's her indulgence and starts her day off with a smile. I really wanted to try it too after she so raved about it but couldn't get myself to pay $8 for a bottle of yogurt that i might not like when i make my own yogurt that i love <3 at a fraction of the cost.>>>>>>> So, to review....1. I love to cook and try new things. 2. My girlfriend here in Atenas loves goat milk yogurt. 3. I make yogurt. 4. I’m always looking for a new thing to do, new way to do something that I already do, new adventures. 5. I like to do/give things to people that i like in the hope that i can make them happy or make them like me. >>>>>>> So....i was thinking. What about I go get some goat milk from Coope and make yogurt for us for this week? I invited her to come here, we try to the yogurt, compare to what we are used to (her goat milk yogurt compared to my usual cow milk yogurt). Then, if she loves it, she would take home the yogurt and not have to buy it from the COOPE this week. And, if it was still an inferior choice, she could leave it and i would eat goat milk yogurt for the week. That i wouldn't like it as much is of little concern to me. I have less exacting standards on some things. That the goat milk yogurt is an experiment with a friend would make the yogurt all the sweet enough.>>>>>>> I presented all of this to her...and was turned down. Apparently, she is too busy this week to get together (and doesn't want to try it?). She said that now that the COOPE stocks goat milk, she can make her own yogurt if she wants but will probably just keep buying it. I hope that she really is too busy over the next week but, being the insecure chick that i am (still a five year old, sad to be excluded on the playground!), i think that this may just be an excuse. >>>>>>> Anyway, i have not bought the goat milk to make the yogurt for myself. I really wanted to try goat milk yogurt first to see if i'd even like it but cannot get myself to spend $8...only to take one spoonful and BEURK. So, it may remain a mystery.>>>>>>>Then again, we go out to an "afternoon tea" get-together with friends every other friday (no one drinks tea, they all drink A LOT of alcohol). Hubster feels like we have to buy something there to justify our taking room in the restaurant, so he gets a drink...Fresca/Sprite or coffee. And his two cups of coffee are $8. So, maybe i should just bite the bullet...and nibble the yogurt? >>>>>>> Anyway, this is long enough. Let me know what you think. >>>>>>>

Fort Bragg Macaroni Salad

When Christian was at Fort Bragg for basic training, we went to his graduation. At this event (a whole weekend of fun!), we bought a cookbook of recipes from the families of service members on that base. This is one of those recipes that was a hit with our family too. It looks weird...but is strangely good!! >>>>>>>SWEET MACARONI SALAD<<<<<<< *******1 package (16 ounces) elbow macaroni *******4 medium carrots, shredded *******1 large green pepper, chopped *******1 medium red onion, chopped *******2 cups mayonnaise (i use 1 C and 1C yogurt) *******1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk (fat-free sweetened condensed milk has the same calories and tastes like crap) *******1 cup cider vinegar (can use white vinegar but not balsamic or red wine varieties!) *******1/2 cup sugar *******1 teaspoon salt *******1/2 teaspoon pepper *>*>*>*Cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain and rinse in cold water; drain well. In a large bowl, combine macaroni and vegetables. Whisk together remaining ingredients until smooth and sugar is dissolved; stir into macaroni mixture. Refrigerate, covered, overnight.

Hubster and i aren't _completely_ the same.

The Hubster is uniquely skilled for the occupation/calling that he fulfilled throughout his professional life. He was (is?) a pediatric anesthesiologist and he loved it. It matched with his skills and life goals. This is in direct contrast to me but more on that in a moment. How was this perfect for him? Let me explain.>>>>>>> 1. He has to be _the best_ at everything that he does. He will not accept "good enough"...it has to be perfect. He will not do something, no buy something, not go somewhere, unless it is perfect. He chooses the most difficult instead of the easy way out. Being a doctor was the hardest profession available to him on graduating from high school, so that was the one for him. And, being an anesthesiologist (ie. "the one who keeps you alive while the surgeon is putting holes in your body") was the hardest field. Adding the "pediatric"part with another fellowship? Bring it on.>>>>>>> 2. In any situation, there is a solution, a way of doing things. Hubster is never happy with just one solution but always, always is thinking of "Plan B"....and "Plan C""..and the entire alphabet. Surgery with kids, even more so than with adults, can be dicey and things can change rapidly. Hubster was always ready with a back-up plan to address situations that could, maybe, possibly, by-any-stretch-of-potential occur.>>>>>>> 3. Hubster doesn't have to eat..ever. I don't know how many times he would come home to tell me that he didn't get to lunch until 4pm or not at all. That he wasn't relieved for a break or couldn't leave his patient.>>>>>>> 4. Hubster doesn't have to pee. I know! He regularly will go all day without having to use the restroom, which is perfect for someone who is in an operating room for hours on end without a way to just "pop out" on the spur of the moment.>>>>>> 5. Hubster is so gentle with the kiddos and gained their trust (and that of parents) so that the kids were less angry/stressed/frantic when they went back to the operating room. This meant that they often didn't need pre-meds to separate from parents, thus getting less sedation that had to wear off after the procedure and allowing the families to see their awake kids sooner. This was better for everyone. Nurses loved that "his" kids didn't come out asleep for long, long times.>>>>>>> 6. Hubster is never sick. So, in the 20+ years that he worked as an anesthesiologist (including during his training when he got 2 days off a month!), he only missed two days for "illness". One. And that was the day that i delivered Alessandra. The other was the day that he picked me up from the hospital after i delivered Christian. (He had off/traded for the day that i delivered Christian) He worked every other day.>>>>>>> 7. Hubster is the utmost in confident that he can handle any situation, can master whatever life needs from him. This made his work more goal-driven and reassured his associate professionals that he could be relied upon to succeed in whatever situation. So, the surgeon could do his part. The nurses could do their parts. The parents felt more comfortable trusting their child to him.>>>>>>> 8. Hubster doesn't give a rat's a$$ if anyone likes him. He likes himself and that's enough for him. I would never, ever, no, not ever, have been able to do anything but what i did. Certainly not what he did.******* 1. I have to eat every three hours. I had an incident early in my nursing career (that brief period of time that i was a full-time, career-path RN) when i was sent to lunch at 1:30, having been working in the ICU where one cannot leave or eat, since 0645. I took one sip of my soda and fell backwards into a seizure. Low blood sugar. So, not eating for hours on end is not a possibility for me.******* 2. I find what works for me and do that over and over and over, for the most part. When i was in nursing school, i moved to a new apartment which was on the other side of a bridge from my college. Soon after i moved in, the bridge was closed to car traffic for repairs. I knew one way to get to school and one way to get to my parents' house. I would either drive nearly all the way "home" then back to campus or just leave the house an hour early and walk across the bridge and up the hill to campus.....then home in the evening. This continued for nearly a year. Every day. I knew one way to do things and that was how it was done.******* 3. I am the queen of "good enough". I don't have to have the bestest brand of this or that food, the "perfect" piece of clothing, the "perfect" seam when sewing. Good enough is often good enough. I'm not saying that i sew clothes that are noticeably wonky or that i wear bedraggled, stained clothes. But, if the shirt fits but isn't _exactly_ fitted to my body, i make it work. I have never been perfect and rarely make anything perfect. Good enough allows me to remain sane as i know that i'm not perfect...ever...and wanting to be would just make me crazy.******* 4. We won't even talk about my bathroom needs. I have a walnut size bladder and cannot honestly remember a night that i've been able to sleep through the night. I don't make it through a film in the evening either. Ever. I am like those Betsy Wetsy dolls from days of old. Fluid in...fluid out.******* 5. I have been sick before and missed work. Actually, my "retirement" from nursing was a result of my being "sick". I had an injury that prevented my typing or speaking and left me a bit "fuzzy" (closed head injury). I took off for 4 weeks....and just never went back. Sadly, no one from work ever contacted me to see how i was, when i might come back, if i was recovering. It was like i'd never been there.******* 6. I don't have the confidence that i'm "good enough" at anything, really. I've always looked around to make sure that i haven't screwed up too badly, rather than being confident that i was doing the bang-up job that many situations require. I _need_ that reinforcement that what i've done (the recipe that i've made, the dress/scrub pants that i've sewn, the child that i raised) is "good", in the eyes of others. I rarely rely on my own evaluation. Shoot! I go to JoAnn fabrics to choose fabric for a project and find that i ask strangers "which of these two fabrics/patterns do you think is the better?". I do nothing on my own evaluation.******* 7. I _need_ to have people like me and have always, always tried to do what others want/need to "make" them like me. This means often going out of my way to give people what i think that they want although it often is just what i would want for them or if i were them. I have for 30+ years tried to "surprise" Joe with one thing or another, going out of my way, only to find that my sacrifice is for naught. He would have been just as happy with a peanut butter sandwich instead of the bagel that i walked down to the bakery, stealthily bought and hid in the cupboard,then toasted and topped with butter. Then i'm disappointed with my efforts not being "valued" and the "benefit" of the sacrifice is lost. This extends to people that i'm not as close to as well. I joined Mary Kay and did "parties" and gave away a LOT of product to "make" people like me (My director, Barbie Gizzo, told me "when you give people stuff, they like you.... and it will increase your party bookings and sales"). I didn't make director but tried really hard for years and was so disappointed that my efforts and sacrifices didn't work out. I took it personally and ended up feeling worse for myself. So, i'm uniquely qualified to be..... a mom. Not just to my children (who are no longer children, i know) but to my world in general. To do the extra little things, imperfectly!, that make my loved ones feel loved. And to strangers (nice shoes! wow...you're such a good mom! gee, your baby is so cute!). It makes me happy to make others happy and i just had to find a non-professional way to do so. Oh! and to only sew for myself and select items (quilts with scattered designs) for others. Pura Vida.