Monday Musings

Yesterday was the least exhausting Sunday we've had in a long time, visiting churches within an hours drive. So that was nice. What was even nicer was having a "family day".

We're at our daughter's for a week, and our son and his wife came down to join us yesterday afternoon. My DIL brought yummy ham and bean soup AND cornbread. Ahhh, life is good :-)

We played games after lunch and laughed so much. First we tried a new game they'd recently bought called "ImaginIFF..." and then a round of "Apples to Apples" which we've played before. I learned that if I were a dance I'd be the "Hokey Pokey". Not quite sure how to take that!

I get most of my news online. We quit getting the newspaper ages ago and unless we're home AND remember to turn the TV on at 6:30 p.m. we don't get the television news either. I find myself drawn to the bizarre, like this article. And did anyone else read about the Stiletto Stampede in Amsterdam last week? Weird!

Our daughter was home over spring break for a few days, and when she had to come back for work, I came with her. She started working in an upscale restaurant a few weeks ago and is still learning the menu. To help out, she's been bringing home two tapas a night 'cause she says it's easier to remember the food when she's seen and tasted it. I'm all for helping her learn! The duck with blueberry and green peppercorn chutney was amazing, as was the pork with strawberries and balsamic reduction. I'm starting to drool just thinking about it.

This is a perfect job for daughter, who is total foodie. She once said that our family spends a lot of time making food, eating food, or talking about it. And she's quite daring about trying new things these days, which is odd considering she was my picky eater when she was little. Our policy was always that the kids had to try everything and we gave them small portions. Our son would eat anything while the daughter was finicky. But I guess consistency in the battle won out, and now she finds food an adventure! She said her dream job would be that of a food/restaurant critic for a big city newspaper. Hopefully her pursuit of a degree in communications will help make that happen. And in the meantime she can enjoy a job where she gets to try interesting food on a regular basis.

Our son and his wife are also foodies. Both of them like to cook and try new things. And the DIL likes to bake and is really good at it. She made me a birthday cake two years ago that was so pretty I didn't want to cut into it. But hey, it was chocolate so I did anyway :-) Mmmmm, chocolate cake with raspberry filling and a chocolate ganache frosting ringed with fresh raspberries. Just a minute while I get a napkin to wipe off the drool.

Yeah, I guess you could say my daughter was absolutely right about us spending a lot of time on the subject of food :-)

I've come a long way, baby! When I got married, the only thing I knew how to cook was Hamburger Helper. Wanting to impress my new husband, I'd go to the library and check out gourmet cookbooks and attempt to actually make some of the recipes. Hubby affectionately remembers that time not as gourmet but "gormee". There were a few occasions when he [gently] suggested we go to Burger King instead. Bless his heart. Well, he survived and so did I, and over the years I've learned enough to successfully navigate my way through most recipes. At least I know enough to NOT tackle certain ones!

The Ultimate Blog Party has been fun! What an interesting and diverse bunch of bloggers :-) With 1054 (last time I checked) participating, this is the biggest group I've been in for a long time. I've been blessed, encouraged, laughed myself silly, and just plain enjoyed reading different ladies share their hearts. And now I'm going to finish this up and go check out some more of their blogs. Hasta la vista!