they don't make them like they used to

When I got married, many many many many years ago, it was the beginning of the crockpot era.  I got one of these new appliances as a wedding gift and at the time wondered what I was supposed to do with it.   I used the little tiny cookbook that came with it to learn to make bean soup, stew, chili, and a few other handy items that served me well for many years. The crockpot alsoserved my entire neighborhood well.  My good friend borrowed it frequently for teacher soup parties, the crew team used it for chili dinners for the kids, the Girl Scouts had many meals from it.  It wasn't a fancy appliance  but it always worked.

A couple of years ago, for reasons that will never be clear to me, my husband bought me a new crockpot.  At this point we have 1) no children at home and consequently no need for handy, filling, inexpensive meals,  2) my other crockpot worked just fine, and 3) we were no longer involved in activities that required feeding hoards of hungry children and teenagers.  But, his excuse was "This one has a removeable crock."  Yes it does which is totally unnecessary.  The old one had a big warning "DO NOT IMMERSE" as the 'crock' was not removable from the 'pot'  but it was easily washed.

I have tried to cook with this new crockpot and everything turns to mush.  I carefully follow instructions that I have used for years and years and years and they don't work.  Today I tried again.  Beef stew, on low, carefully following the instructions.  It is now mush.  Careful internet research yielded this note:  "New crockpots are often 40 degrees hotter than older ones."  Forty degrees!  For a crockpot that's like 25% hotter.  No wonder everything cooks down to mush - on LOW.  I thought the whole point of a crockpot was a low temperature.  I think if I use this one again I'll just use the 'warm' setting.  I can't imagine using the 'high' setting.  But I think the real solution is to pull my old faithful crockpot out of the cupboard and donate this new one to the thrift store.

"The business of life is the acquisition of memories."

I'm catching up on "Downton Abbey" while I fold laundry.  It has really sunk to the level of a soap opera but it still has a special British charm.  Today I was struck by a comment by Carson, the butler.  I don't actually remember the story line to which it refers. but I was totally struck by the quote - "The business of life is the acquisition of memories".   When it is all over we don't need the china, the sofa, the car, the TV, the house, but we do need the memories of the times with friends, and family, and the experiences of sights and smells and trips which will keep us engaged and entertained and allow us to relive them through our memories forever.  So my goal is whenever I need to make a decision between "stuff" and a memory, is to always make a memory.  Thank you, Downton Abbey.

Cauliflower and Leek Soup

As part of my to-do list to cook new things I've been concentrating on soups.  Last year I did a great job of trying new soups almost each week.  This year I haven't been as good at planning ahead and shopping for ingredients so I've just been making meals out of what I happened to have in the pantry and freezer.   Yesterday I had a head of cauliflower sitting in the fridge with no plan so I pulled out one of my soup cookbooks and found a recipe that I had tried and enjoyed last year.  After a stop at the grocery for a couple of leeks I did this wonderful cauliflower and leek soup.  I like it much better than broccoli soup, which I made last week, and it really is a filling dish for a cold winter day.   Also note that my husband hates cauliflower and he actually didn't know that this is made with cauliflower as the main ingredient.

Caulliflower and Leek soup

2-4 T of butter
2 large leeks
1 large head of cauliflower
4 cups chicken broth
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 cup parmesean cheese (divided in half)
1/4 cup greek yougurt
Pepper to taste (don't need much salt as the broth, cheese, and butter are salty.
Parsley to garnish

Chop the leeks, including the green stems up until they get tough.  I keep peeling back the outer stems to get to the softer inside parts.
Saute leeks in butter until soft - about 5 -  7 minutes.
Add cauliflower florets, chicken broth and cayenne pepper and cook until cauliflower is soft - about 20 minutes.
Use an immersion bender to blend to a creamy consistency.  You can also use a food processor or blender to blend in batches.
Stir in 1/4 cup parmesean cheese and the yougurt.
Heat thoroughy.

Serve with a hefty garnish of parsley and a sprinkle of parmesean cheese.

This can be made ahead, frozen, reheated.  It's very forgiving.  With a nice crusty bread it makes a great winter dinner.

Every now and then I look on my sidebar and see the things that I've noted as "Things I want to do" and my "DIY projects" list.  I put those up there a few years ago and very little has moved off the lists.  It's not that I've done nothing for the last couple of years but not all those things hit the top of my priority list. 

Here are the updated lists:. 

Things I want to do

• Knit something more complicated than "cast-on, knit, knit, knit, cast-off"    I have managed some some nice scarfs with color work, and a bit of lace, and some things that look much more impressive than they are hard to knit so I'm declaring this a success.  I have a long way to go in my knit and crochet skills and my next goal will be to make a sweater (not a baby sweater as I can do that in my sleep but a sweater for me!)
• learn finance (again)  Actually this is my father's goal for me and I am totally hopeless at this.
• Cook new and interesting things  I do this in bits and spurts but I have expanded our menu selections (not always for the best!) and I have a wonderful bunch of new soup recipes to try
• Practice piano
• Photography class (again)
• Yoga classes  I just wish the gym had more yoga classes but I think that the pilates and other stretch classes should count toward this.  I particularly like the Sunday morning yoga instructor and just wish I could go to that class more often.  It's at the same time as my dad's Sunday brunch time at my house so unless he's out of town I always miss it  :-(

DIY projects

• Frame sailing picture   I do have the frame catalog for these two items but I haven't adjusted myself to how expensive framing is.  Even the do-it-yourself frames are expensive and the last thing I framed took me forever and I think I wore out the patience of the nice people at the frame workshop.  These are two huge and odd shaped pictures so I don't even want to show my face at the workshop with these projects.
• Frame Sedona poster
• Wash windows - after yellow pollen season - And I can't cross this off because they got washed but they need it again! 
• Paint bedroom Done!  and a lovely shade of tan  (actually called Mushroom Bisque) with (not yet finished) white trim.  The bedroom is getting complete do-over.  Charlie made a built-in cabinet under the bay window for some extra storage so I could get rid of a dresser that was crowding the room.  Next on the to-do list is to finish the trim paint, put up crown mouldings, and hang the curtains!  So in crossing off one thing I've added three more!

One of my favorite people just announced she's no longer going to maintain her blog.  I do thank her that she posted her announcement and didn't just leave me hanging and worrying as I have for some other blogs that I read and then had them just stop. 

This blog, bushafullofgrace.typepad.com, was very special to me, it was actually the first blog I really followed and connected with, and I've always wished we could have connected IRL (in real life - I'm starting to understand some of the new text lingo).  He life had its ups and downs, and rounds and rounds but she kept it "real", as we said in the 60's.  It was not sugar coated, or turned into a sarcastic rant, or made into a TV sitcom.  It was her life, her family, her happiness, her troubles.  She kept me grounded reminding me that we have to see the beauty where we find it, we have to accept the pain along with the joy, and we are never going to make the right decision every time. 

I think this may portend the end of the blog era.  People are moving to Facebook where there is more immediate feedback and more pithy writing, but I was looking for the story, the person, the commentary, the personality, that I found in her blog. 

So, Marianne, so long, I'll miss you.  You know where to find me. Stay in touch.

I love you so much. Please go home.

My children have been home for Christmas week.  Now that they are adults and are not living close to me I only see them once or twice a year and at the most stressful times, generally Christmas or Thanksgiving - when there are just far too many expectations of what it "should" be like.   I've always said that the best thing about living close to my father is that I don't have to visit him for more than a couple of hours at a time.  I visit frequently but in short bursts.  I think that would be best with my own children, too. We had a fabulous visit during our "Kidsgiving" where we were only in town for 36 hours for our visit with them.

Being back in the childhood rooms seems to have some power to make them children again.  Redecorating the rooms didn't remove the aura of old grudges, fights, hurts, and disappointments.  They try to push past it all but boredom, exhaustion, and drink all get in the way of maintaining that hard-fought-for control of hurt feelings.  Then someone lashes out at someone or makes a hurtful comment or just takes offensive at something completely unintended and innocent and the room either goes quiet or erupts.  Hard to tell which way it will go.  I've tried to make an effort to just not react or come to anyone's defense this year which makes me just sit staring into space much of the time. They must think that I'm drugged.

I love them both so very much but I do wish that I could have their visits in more frequent, smaller doses.  And I bet they do, too.

Instead of panicking I should just be grateful that over 50 people want to spend Noche Buena with us. Off to grocery for more cheese, crackers, and maybe meatballs!  I'll slice the pork roast thin and add a couple of cans of beans.  Fun night ahead!