A Year in Review

As another years comes to close it's time to reflect on the happenings over the past 365.

Breathed in, Breathed out

Well... guess that about sums it up.

See you next year.

A Pinch of This and a Dash of That

Have you ever been at the point in preparing dinners that everything seems boring? Lisa and I have experienced that of late. We've both cooked professionally (albeit years ago) and have made countless family meals so, one might assume we'd have an endless supply of recipes. Not necessarily so

Don't get me wrong. We've got a good supply of family favorites, but after twenty plus years even those lose their edge sometimes. We feel like a wagon on the Oregon Trail... We're in a rut!

Fortunately my mom just gave me a stack of old cookbooks. Not the ones sold on the shelves of Barnes and Noble and the like. No, these are from church congregations, families doing school fundraisers and even one from a sports teams wives. They range from the mid 60's through the 90's.

I've found some fun things so far. They're a collection of family favorites from all over the country. Mostly simple recipes; not over complicated and not pretentious. Some of the things that I find really interesting are the ingredients. Ones from the sixties have MSG listed. Ha! Good luck finding that in today's cookbooks. Other books have regional ingredients listed. Items that I would never find around here.

I think I've clipped out about a half dozen recipes that I'll try and I'm sure I'll find a few more, but my favorite find so far is the one I found in a church book. The "Chef's" name is Lynda Walp and this is what she submitted:

ELEPHANT STEW

Cut 1 elephant into small cubes; this should take two months. Add enough brown gravy to cover. Cook over kerosene fire about 4 weeks at 460 degrees. This will serve 3800 people. If more are expected, 2 rabbits may be added, but do this only if necessary, as most people do not like to find hare in their stew.

I like Lynda Walp!

Moderation Is the Key

When I decided to fire up the ole' blog again I poked and prodded through a few of Blogger's features. While looking at the comments section I noticed a spike in a few posts I'd previously put up. Wondering why, I investigated further. Turns out that the spammers were having a field day in my absence. All sorts of gibberish and pointless garbage had been posted as comments.

What is it with these people?

I decided that putting comment moderation in place would allow me to filter through their BS and delete it before it made it into "print". It worked, but at the same it meant everyone else's legitimate comments would have to be approved by me before they were visible. This I didn't like.

Alas, I discovered that you can set moderation to "Sometimes". In this setting you can apply a number of days that allow all new comments to appear while ones that are 1, 7, 14 days (or whatever # you choose) to be moderated first.

I like this option. New comments can be displayed right away while anything older than 7 days (what I set it at) have to be approved first. Hopefully this will slow down the spammers. I'd like to say stop, but I know better.

Alrighty then, I now return you to your regularly scheduled blogging.

Meatloaf - It's What's for Dinner

Working on getting my writing game back on. Here's another short bit of fiction inspired by this week's prompt at Sunday Scribblings.

"Meatloaf - It's What's for dinner"

Craig hit the front door at 6:45 pm. It had been a long day; Heck, it had been a long week.

"Honey, I'm home!" he called out as he sat in the foyer removing his brown patent leather shoes.

"Oh good," his bride replied, "You're just in time. Dinner is coming out of the oven as we speak. It'll be on the table in just a few minutes."

At the sound of Craig's voice his beloved and faithful companion Rex came bounding in from the other room. Mostly Golden Retriever, but with a speck of Yellow Lab mixed in, Rex was as gentle and lovable as they come.

"Come on boy, let's go have dinner." his master said while giving him a scratch behind the ears followed by a light pat on his fluffy, auburn colored head.

Craig's wife Carol rounded the corner to the dining room at the same time the "Boy and his dog" (as she lovingly referred to them) did.

A large bowl of creamy-white mashed potatoes and a smaller bowl of green peas with a dollop of butter in the center already sat on the table as Carol delivered the main dish of her famous meatloaf.

She and her husband of twenty years sat and ate and shared stories of what had transpired during their respective days. Nothing exceptionally noteworthy, but that didn't matter. They were together and they were talking. Even after all these years they still enjoyed each others company.

After finishing a plate of dinner and when the conversation began to dwindle a bit, Carol got up and said, "How about another piece of meatloaf?"

"Sounds good honey."

Slicing off another portion and sliding it onto Craig's plate, Carol told him to enjoy and that she'd take care of clearing the table while he finished.

With the sound of dishes clanking in the kitchen sink, Craig felt it was safe and summoned over Rex, who had up to this point been quietly lying in the corner of the dining room. With a tail wagging, a pink tongue hanging out and his head cocked to the side just a bit, Rex was immediately at Craig's side waiting for his master's next word.

Discretely Craig took his remaining piece of meatloaf and passed it to his four legged friend. One quick gulp and all evidence was gone. At nothing more than a whisper, Craig leaned over and told his friend, "Between you and me... I've never liked her meatloaf."

Flood

A short bit of fiction inspired by the writing prompt this week at Sunday Scribblings.

"Flood"

Where was it? Frantically, Belinda searched every nook and cranny hoping in near desperation that she would find it. Through mountains of chaos the ordered and obvious were no more. They had been, in just a few short hours, replaced with upheaval and disarray.

With tears steadily streaming down her smudged face, Belinda moved from room to room sorting through the disheveled pieces of her once well kept home. The mud and debris significantly impeded her progress, but did very little to slow her resolve to find her prized possession. It was here and she was determined that no amount of destruction would keep her from finding it.

Belinda could hardly believe she was now standing in her living room. Two feet to the right lay what was left of her washing machine while another couple of feet away was a mix of broken figurines from the curio and silverware from the kitchen cabinets. Nothing was where it should be. Still she looked.

Daylight now faded and the shadows grew long across her battered home. Belinda felt both emotionally and physically exhausted.

Flashes of red and blue light peeked their way through the front windows and Belinda knew it was the local Sheriff making his way up the street painfully having to order the residents of Carlyle street to vacate their properties.

She only had a few more moments before the inevitable knock on the door would come. One last scan across what used to be the dining room revealed something in the corner that caught her eye. "Could it be?" she thought. Hearing the rap of knuckles on the front door, Belinda quickly dashed to the other side of the room. She grasped at the dark green album that held her greatest treasures; the photographs of her late husband and both of her grown children. It was a little stained on the outside cover from the water, but the pages inside were in nearly perfect condition.

The Sheriff called out, "Hello, anyone in here?"

Belinda replied, "I'm in here."

"I hate to have to do this, but I'm afraid you're going to have to leave immediately." the officer pleaded.  "It's just not safe to be in here any longer."

Through tears and a wee bit of a smile, Belinda replied, "That's ok, I've got all I need with me now."

The Meaning of Thanksgiving

I know Thanksgiving is an American holiday so this doesn't necessarily apply to everyone, but what happened to the holiday? It seems like every year the commercialism creep is more and more prevalent in the days leading up to, and the days directly proceeding Thanksgiving. This isn't going to be an all out rant about the retailers, just a reflection on what's really important to me.

For my family and I, Thanksgiving has always been about having a little down time and spending the day together. As a kid I remember hopping in the car and heading over to my aunt's house about an hour or so away. There would be aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and of course mom & dad and my brothers. Most of the men would be huddled around the TV set watching football games while many of the ladies were futzing about in the kitchen whipping up all sorts of yummy food. We kids would be running about playing games and being shushed by the TV watchers and shooed by the cooks.

This would be our yearly routine until we eventually moved too far away to make it feasible to make the annual trip. My aunt's house was replaced with mom's house. Relatives weren't replaced as much as they were exchanged with local versions, and the children running around don't include me anymore, but are now my own kids.

The constant are the traditions which still remain; family, food and football.

With Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday and even Wireless Wednesday (new for 2012) being thrust upon us, I wonder how much the landscape of Thanksgiving has changed for many. Like I said before, this isn't a rant because I know some people enjoy getting up at O-dark-thirty and hitting the stores with family and friends. It's become a tradition to them just as much as he three F's are to me. I just don't get it personally. To me it seems more like this is feeding the machine that is commercialism, but perhaps my viewpoint is skewed and it's really their way of celebrating the day.

To each their own right?

So whether you're a stay at home with family type or you're a supper shopper type, or any other type, my wish for you is that your day brings you joy and fulfillment.

And to think, all these years I was under the impression that chickens came from eggs.

Nasty!

Well then, it's been nearly a year since my last post. Wowzer! Thought I'd come back with a bang. Kind of been wanting to put some things on the ole' blog for a while now. No promises for any sort of rhythm , but at least I'm out of the gate.

It'll be interesting to see if anyone still has me in their reader. Looking forward to reconnecting with youz guys.