Weekend Detour

Our birthday party weekend took a detour last week. Life is like that. One week ago we headed down the interstate to celebrate two birthdays, car fully loaded with cake and gifts. And small suitcases packed for a two-night stay.

The little girls enjoyed a gymnastics party which was fun to watch. (So glad they didn't invite the grandmamas to participate!) And that evening, Daddy-O and I drove into the city and enjoyed a grownup dinner out for the second birthday. On Sunday we had planned to have brunch and then head home.

But Mommy sent a text that the night was a long one and they were headed to the doctor that morning. Since I was still so close, Daddy-O drove back that way and dropped me off for a few days of Mimi duty. I'm not always available to be helping hands, but this time I could do it.

Just taking over the chauffeuring chores—the school drop-off and pick ups, going to ballet lessons, etc—gave Mommy a break. If you've ever driven kids anywhere, you know that car conversation is the best. This time it was just Little Sister and me going back and forth to school. You find out so much with this one-to-one time. And I LOVE getting to watch the ballet class.

Baby Girl stayed home from school this week. She and I kept busy. We played lots of games, read books and we might have sneaked in a few cartoons. Peep & The Big Wide World is a favorite. For both of us.

When she was feeling better, we tackled the thank you notes for her party gifts. It makes me so happy that these girls are learning the importance of "thank you" notes at this very young age.

I will never win a prize for a beautiful cake, but this is an old family recipe that never lets me down. My Aunt Betty was famous for this cake. And Baby Girl requested it for her birthday.

 CHOCOLATE POUND CAKE

1/2 lb butter (2 sticks), softened

1/2 cup Crisco shortening

3 cups sugar

5 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons cocoa 

1 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Cream butter and shortening. Add sugar and cream together well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each egg. Put flour into a bowl and add baking powder and salt. Sift the cocoa into the flour mixture and whisk all of these dry ingredients together. (Or sift all of the dry ingredients together.)

Add dry ingredients alternately with milk to butter/sugar mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Add vanilla.

Bake in a greased and floured tube pan for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Let cool in pan for about 15 minutes before turning out.

And when Ellen at our church bakes a chocolate pound cake, she adds a thick chocolate frosting. After years of serving plain, unadorned cake (which I love) I asked Ellen for her frosting recipe because Mommy loves it that way. I must admit, it does seem more like a party cake when it is frosted. Be sure to read the notes at the end.

CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1 box 10-X powdered sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
2 tablespoons butter, softened
5 tablespoons evaporated milk, plus more to make it creamy & spreadable

Sift sugar and cocoa together. Add softened butter and milk. Mix on medium to high speed, adding more milk by the tablespoon as needed, until it's spreadable. Work quickly to frost cake, as frosting sets up.

This never sounds like enough butter. But it is. And the recipe says "plus more" after you add the 5 tablespoons of milk. I looked back over this blog and one time it says I added an extra 1-1/2 tablespoons. This time I added probably another FIVE tablespoons. Just add the extra one tablespoon at a time until you get a a frosting that is soft enough spread on the cake. 


I'm back at home, a few days later than planned. But happy that I could be there to help. I learned that two days worth of clothes will last for six days if necessary. This was like a practice run for a big trip I have coming up in several weeks. And this morning, I only have minimal laundry to do.

Fingers crossed everyone stays healthy for a while. Me, included. I was showered with love..."Mimi, I wish you could stay here all the time"...and I was showered with germs. ACHOOO!!! My thinking is that the love will germ-proof me.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

It seems like it's been forever since I posted. That might be because it kind of has been. I have been up and down highways so many times. Down the interstate to see Little Sister sing a solo in the church play. Up the highway—and up a mountain—for a knitting retreat in the neighboring state. And I leave tomorrow to head back down the highway to celebrate two birthdays.

With all the coming and going, we have mostly eaten out of the freezer And it's been good to use things up. If you are a regular here, you know that I love keeping a well-stocked freezer. But sometimes we have to remember to use up the food stash before it has lingered in the freezer too long.

Are there rules for how long to keep frozen foods? Yes. I'm linking a couple of reliable resources if you want to learn more.

Storage Times for the Refrigerator and Freezer

Freezing and Food Safety

A huge part of how long foods can be frozen is related to how well you store those foods in the freezer. Proper packaging is so important. "Freezer burn" can ruin food and it's caused by the freezing process sucking the moisture out of the food. Freezer burn won't make you sick. But the food isn't going to taste as good.

Food should be wrapped air-tight with a freezer appropriate wrap or bag. Use the FREEZER bags, not the storage bags. Use HEAVY-DUTY foil and not regular. Two layers of regular foil do not work as well as one layer of heavy-duty. The freezer products are thicker and made to prevent that moisture loss that causes freezer burn.

Your freezer should stay at 0º. Use a thermometer to check. If you get really picky, a non-self-defrosting freezer is the better choice because self-defrosting freezer are constantly thawing and freezing. It's that cycle that keeps the frost away. I've had the old-style freezer. I'm going to stick with my current frost-free version and live with the consequences. Defrosting a freezer is not fun. Seriously, I have not had a problem. It might be that using the foods up fast enough is the solution.

So, what have we eaten up in the last few weeks?

Chicken Taco Soup
Turkey Pumpkin Chili
Salsa Chicken
3-Packet Pot Roast
Stew Beef
Swiss Beef
Hot Dog Chili
Spaghetti Sauce
Baked Ziti
Bourbon Marinated Pork Tenderloin
Applesauce Muffins
Cinnamon Rolls

Foods, like soups and stews and saucy recipes, are good freezer choices because that extra liquid helps prevent freezer burn. Some casseroles freeze well. We have learned which ones we like. Baked goods freeze well, but they won't keep as long as meats and casseroles. Again--freezing longer won't make you sick, but the quality won't be as good.

When we get home from this trip, it will be time for me to replenish the freezer. I don't do the big freezer cooking sessions that are so popular. (Google if you want to know more.) Since there are only two of us here, I make my regular recipes...sometimes I might double one...and divide it into meal size portions. Or, even single serve portions. Then Daddy-O can grab and thaw something when I'm away.

Now I'm headed to the kitchen to bake a birthday cake. And next week I'll start cooking again. Daddy-O will be happy.

This week's super moon shining on our barn.

I Wish I Could Thank You...

Let me take a minute to tell those of you who take time to make a comment here on the blog how much I enjoy reading them. For a long time I replied to each one. But for computer-y reasons I don't understand—or internet reasons which I understand even less—I can no longer reply to a comment. I've tried to do in all the ways possible. Rest assured each of your comments is read and appreciated even when you don't get a direct reply.

To the most recent commenters...Barb, I love hearing from you. I feel like I know you now. Chloe, I'm happy the pork chop recipe worked out well for you. We've used that one for ages. And GoodnightGram, I read your blog and know you are one busy lady. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your wisdom. Angela, where we live, one hour of falling snow counts as a snow storm! And Jane, this hat is so cute on a newborn head! I've made dozens of them.

There are other readers who let me hear from them by email and texts. And some locals will tell me in person when they've tried a good recipe from here. And if you only read and never comment that's okay, too. It's all good.

Some of you have told me that you've found it hard to make a comment here. I've searched all over the web to find out why. I've changed a few settings, but I'm not sure that made any difference. But I did try. There might be a more efficient blogging platform available, but I'm old and not sure I have the wherewithal to start this whole thing over in a new place.

Let me toss in a few other blog thoughts while we are on the subject....one thing I would love to have here is a "print" button for the recipes. But "cut & paste & print" will have to do for now. Not fancy but it works. The coding to add a print button is more than I can handle. Maybe you have noticed there are no ads here. Nothing popping up in your face. No affiliate links. I don't make money from blogging. I do this because I enjoy it. Let's put it this way...I'm embracing simplicity!

Maybe one day the blog platform will flip back over to the way it was. (I've lost some other tools, too.) But until then please accept this as a blanket reply and a big thanks to all of you for reading and sharing your thoughts!

On & Off The Needles

Pattern:  Herald, by Janina Kallio

Yarn: BlueberryChickYarn Kiawah Fingering

Needle size: 7

One of the "beach girls" said last week that our beach retreat had turned into a knitting retreat. There is some truth to that because everyone knitted somewhere during the week. I took this shawl with me for easy knitting and finished it soon after I got home. I plan to take it with me next week on a mountain knitting retreat. To provide a little pre-retreat group activity, we were all invited to make something green that we will wear for a group photo while we are there. Something green because this retreat ends on St. Patrick's Day.

I'm pretending it's summer. It's cold outside!

I won this hand dyed green yarn last year at another retreat. So the shawl will be a lovely souvenir of both retreats and of knitting time at the beach. When this shawl was finished, it blocked out light and airy and large enough (nearly 70 inches across) to wrap around my shoulder. I'm ready for summer. 

Earlier this week, I picked up my phone when it whistled. The text message read, "Mom, do you happen to have any baby hats ready? I'm going to a baby shower soon." I did have one ready, but I also have a baby shower on my calendar. These sweet hats are quick and easy, so I cast on another one for her. And almost immediately I decided I didn't like the color. Silly me kept knitting away thinking I'd like it better as I went along. Hoping the blotchy appearance was going to change. (What was I thinking?) After knitting four rows, I was sure I didn't like it. But in the knitting fantasy going on my head, I kept waiting for the colors to turn into softly blended shades of gray. Not gonna happen.  

I grew up thinking that "you finish what you start." That applied to books, food on my dinner plate, movies, classes, bottles of salad dressing. Anything. Everything. Even if I didn't like it. It's that waste not, want not philosophy that my parents taught us. That's not a bad thing, but at my age, I'm rethinking it. Do I really want to spend my time reading the rest of a book that I'm not enjoying? Or finishing a salad dressing that isn't a flavor I like? Just because I bought it. Or, in this case, knitting something that isn't knitting up like I hoped? I don't want to be wasteful, but my time is valuable, too. More valuable than a skein of yarn.

Finally I was honest with myself. Honest after four inches. I should have been honest after four rows. And last night I pulled out a nice solid blue yarn and whipped out a traditional baby boy hat. In time to deliver to Jessica this weekend. The half-done hat and three more skeins of this gray tonal yarn are going into my "donate" box. It might be a real treasure for someone to find at the thrift shop.

And while I was in hat mode, I cast on another hat in a deep denim blue. I grew up in the era of pastel blues and pinks for babies but I think this will be a fun baby choice. The next time I get a call for a baby hat, I'll have one ready to finish in no time. And that baby will probably be a girl!

Now this afternoon I can get back to my regular knitting. This one is Piper's Journey in a bright green alpaca yarn with the color name "Bells of Ireland." I didn't know this was the color name when I bought it, but I think it's a sign. I'm getting ready for my knitting trip to Ireland! The countdown is now in weeks, not months.

PS...here is the link to the baby hat that I've made dozens of times.

Friendship

I got home last night from the annual "beach girls" trip. We qualify for the term "girls" only by gender, no longer by age. But "beach girls" we shall be forever. Trips like this are how friendships move from casual and to close to dear. Early morning quiet conversations in pajamas with a cup of coffee in hand give us opportunities to share. Truths are easier to speak without the filters of makeup and jewelry, maybe because we are more vulnerable. 

We are such a mix. We hold different views of the world. Our ages span more than a decade. We have varied backgrounds. Some of us want our food spicy, others like it mild. When we leave the beach house, some of us are decked out in beautifully coordinated outfits while others—like me—throw on a pair of jeans and a turtleneck and declare it enough. We have the good sense to avoid political discussions. And the differences matter not one bit.  

It takes years for bonds like these to grow and deepen. Although I've known a few of these ladies for 40 years, I'm newer to this beach trip mix than some. But they have made me feel like I belong. If you have friends like this, consider yourself blessed. It is nice to be included.  Being "included" is a validation of our worth. Thanks to whoever said years ago, "Let's invite her to come. She might be good company."

A picture of victory.

What do we do in our days away? Besides eat? That seems to be number one on the list. Eating in. Eating out. Snacking in between meals. We end one meal with a conversation about where we will have the next meal. I love it. 

As of this year, we are all knitters. The last non-knitter of this group learned to knit on this trip. Knitting is a great activity for a group. And for binge watching a favorite TV show (800 Words.) The more experienced knitters help the newer ones. We are never too old to learn. 

Why is there a picture of a yarn ball posted above? That is a photo of triumph. I should have made a "before" photo of the tangled mess that it was. It was truly, without a doubt, the biggest, worst, most impossible tangle of yarn I have ever seen. I'm not even sure how it was possible to do that. But not wanting a newer knitter to give up on her first significant project, I volunteered to untangle it. I'll admit I didn't think it would be so hard. I've untangled lots of yarn. But this nearly defeated me. 

About four hours of serious focus and utterances of frustration and maybe some help from the knitting gods, the yarn was useable again. Another beach girl and I got the mess of yarn rewound into a beautiful ball so this newer knitter could start again. This photo is also a picture of patience and perseverance. This is what friends do for each other.

It was a wonderful few days away, but I was happy to wake up in my own bed this morning and have Daddy-O bring me coffee. Life is good.