Our Time in Texas

We sure know how to pack a lot into a short visit, even with both parents sick with the epizootus (I was already on antibiotics, but I think we picked up a virus at the airport because Mama and I are sick all over again--I didn't have a voice for most of the trip.)

Here's a non-sequential list of what we did:

• boat rides:  I love a boat ride.  Always have, probably always will.  Wind in my hair, kinda bumpy--it's a great time for reflection or day dreaming.  Sis said it's like cantering on a horse; she likes boat rides, too.  She even drove some.  On our second ride, Sis saw churning water and we then saw a dolphin!  Must have been chasing up some fish.  It stayed around us for awhile, curious, surfacing so close to the boat once that it's blow hole squirt splashed my cheek.  Beautiful creature.  I couldn't get a good picture, though--it surfaced very quickly and in unpredictable places.  My back handled these boat rides much better than four years ago.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• driving the golf cart:  Sis and Bud had their first non-MarioKart driving lessons!  And no one was injured.
• fishing:  Bud and Pop went fishing early one morning in the harbor, before anyone else was awake.  They caught some catfish.  On another morning, the whole crew went fishing in the harbor and each kid caught a catfish, with Bud catching the biggest one.
  
  
  
  
• tubing:  Sis was definitely in her element.  She loves going fast and thus loved being pulled behind a motorboat on a huge tube, especially when she flew off into the bay!  Yes, she had on a life vest.  She said the best part was bouncing two feet off the surface of the water.
• sailing:  Sis also went sailing with Gommie in the little Sunfish.  She liked it much better than her sailing lessons at Mystic because it wasn't as windy and rough.  
  
• swimming:  the kiddos took to the warm, muddy water right away, even though both were stung by little jellies.  They especially liked jumping off the pier into the water.  I went into the water myself, never my favorite activity at the bay (I'm irrationally scared of Jaws, though there aren't any threatening sharks there, and I don't like jelly fish), and floated around with the kiddos.  Even with sunscreen,  I got burned a little.
  
• family:  I think Gommie and the kids counted and they met 60 new people, more than half who were relatives--Gommie's siblings, her cousins, my cousins, my second cousins, my second cousins' kids . . . . It's a bit overwhelming, but the kids managed.  Though, Gommie did help by drawing out the family tree. Bud even shook everyone's hand!  Of course, our goal in going to the bay, besides their experiencing Gommie's very favorite place, was spending time with Aunt Banana and kiddos.  It was a bit strange at first for Sis and Bud because they aren't around little kids much at all.  Sis took to them well enough and even Bud did chalk art with Cousin M.  I don't know how much chance they got to talk to their aunt and uncle; it was pretty chaotic and busy the whole weekend.  I'm not sure I got to really visit with them!  I did do some art and juggling with Cousin M and played "slide the baby off the roof" of the dollhouse with Cousin B.  And I had some nice chats with my Aunt T, Aunt A, and Aunt J.  It was good to be together.  
• fireworks:  My cousins put on a lovely fireworks show off their pier one night.  Bud and I walked down to see it close up.  I really liked the ones that explode into a giant array and then the "spray" explodes into smaller arrays.  There were also some very striking red and white fireworks.  And you could see other displays all around the bay.  Unfortunately, some of those fireworks, on another night, caught the back fields on fire.  I was already back at the hotel with Mama, but Pop, who'd driven me to the hotel, couldn't get back to the bay house because the road was closed.   Everyone was safe--there were a dozen water tanker trucks between them and the blaze, which the fire departments amazingly put out very quickly, not before it burned a few acres.  But it could've reached the boat houses and all those boats with 100-gallon gas tanks.  The kids called me in the middle and weren't scared, just wanted reassurance.  I knew they were safe with Gommie and Aunt Banana.  Still, scary and impressive.
• Mikeska's:  Nothing like eating ribs and chopped beef sandwiches surrounded by taxidermied dead animals!  But I love their banana pudding and sweet tea.
  
• Prasek's:  KOLACHES!  Fruit, sweet cheese, or sausage-filled pastries.  Best kolaches in the world.  And really good Tex Mex chocolate sheet cake, too.  The Prasek family's bay house is right next to ours and we had told one of the grandchildren how much we loved their kolaches.  Lo, and behold! Mr Mike had someone deliver 3+ dozen more kolaches to us!!!  Love that Texas hospitality.
• Buc-ee's:  Oh, you know how I love Buc-ee's.  It's like the Texas version of the Vermont Country Store--food, souvenirs, homey, except Buc-ee's isn't quite as upscale.  But they have iced tea!  And I met a new food--the Frito Burrito!  Yep, that's right--a tortilla filled with chili, cheese, onions, refried beans, and FRITOS!!!!!!  We like their plain bean-and-cheeses and also breakfast burritos, too.  And I got a bluebonnet pillow.  I knew I wanted my Texas souvenir to have bluebonnets on it and I found the perfect throw pillow at Buc-ee's.
• Whataburger:  Not "waterburgers," even if we pronounce it like that.  Mama spent two days asleep at the hotel where we were staying as "overflow" (Gommie and Pop's house isn't big enough to comfortably fit three families.)  I took her Whataburger a few times, once with the kids.  I love the chicken bites and creamy gravy with Texas toast (which is just thick white bread.)  And of course, iced tea!  Sis liked them, too.  Just seeing the orange-and-white stripes makes me smile (I remember the steak fingers of my childhood, but they don't have those anymore.  Or was that Dairy Queen?)
• Food:  In addition to all of the food at restaurants, we also ate back at the bay house.  Mama and Aunt Banana had coordinated meals so we each took different nights.  We made Cowboy Supper but added cubed chicken breasts to the usual sausage; she made these great pulled pork tacos.  She also had this yummy Greek pasta salad.  Gommie brought French Dip sandwiches for the first night.
• Palacios:  I had wanted to visit the town where my great-grandmother had lived and so Gommie, Mama, our twins, Aunt Banana, and Cousin M and I drove over one afternoon.  We had a good lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant (noodles with grilled chicken and egg rolls, shrimp and veg with noodles, somethink like a bird's nest with fried noodles, spring rolls, Vietnamese iced coffee (like Thai iced coffee, with sweetened condensed milk), and this great banana pudding.   Then we drove around to all the sights:  grandmother's house where Aunt Banana and I would spend the weekend (separately) across from the hospital, her real estate office which is still a real estate office, the restaurant Pederson's where we always went for Sunday brunch but which is now a bookstore (still has the bar and mural, though), the Texas Baptist Encampment, the shrimp boats, the piers where there used to be a pavilion for dancing, abandonned Camp Hulen which held 10,000 WWII soldiers in pup tents and where my great-grandmother was a typist and met my great-grandfather, and the old Luther Hotel, with the same screen door I remember passing through four decades ago.  It's a grande ol' dame of a hotel but has seen better days.  We saw a little white kitten there with one blue and one green eye (so probably deaf), covered in fleas but cute.  Pop almost got a new cat!  Aunt Sis and I remembered the vanilla wafers Grandma Mildred kept in the refrigerator, with their delicate and crispy brown edges, the burger place we often ate, and the shops she would take us to.  
  
  
  
  
• pina coladas:  this is one of the popular drinks down at the bay and both kids learned how to make them!  Sis was sure to make a "virgin" pitcher for herself.  Directions, as far as they recall:  1 cup Coco Lopez, 1 cup pineapple juice, blend it with 2 cups of ice and 3 oz of rum (they don't remember.)  When I was a child, I would make bourbon and cokes for my uncle.
• games, including Mexican train and "hand and foot" canasta:  The bay is full of game players and both kiddos got to play.  They learned a domino game called Mexican train and a card game called "hand and foot."  And both of them won.  I was really pleased to hear that they were good winners, shaking hands and thanking others for a good game.  I was even more pleased that I didn't have to play!
• walking on the pier at night:  We went out our last night there, just for the experience of it.  I always feel like I'm walking above clouds on the pier at night.  
• bird sightings:  This part of Texas is a birdwatcher's paradise.  I wasn't trying too hard but did notice many species I don't often see in CT, including the brown pelican, laughing gull, cattle egret, some kind of heron, snowy egret, mockingbird, Mexican eagle/caracara, gray hawk, white-winged dove, purple martins, and even baby buzzards.  I spotted my first caracara squaring off with a buzzard over some road kill.  They flew away as I drove off and the buzzard got back first.  As for the pelicans, I'm still amazed to see them everywhere; they weren't many of them at the bay when I was a child.  Now, they fly the coast every morning and evening; it's awe-inspiring.  And they really do look like dinosaurs.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• hammock time:  Mama liked the hammock under the porch, as does Pop.
  
  
  
• chalk art:  Cousin M and Bud did a great big chalk mural under the house on the concrete.
  
• water balloon fight:  The cousins also had fun doing a water balloon fight.
• birthday parties:  There was a big train birthday party for my 3-year-old nephew (I added the train tracks to the cake!)--it was funny to see him smear cake on his face!--and a pinata for our 12-year-olds.  It took awhile to smash the pinata so by the end they were not even using a blindfold; several of the cousins helped out.
• the land:  I forget how flat it is in our part of Texas.  So flat, with views so far in the distance.  We passed huge cotton fields, corn, maize, but not as much rice as when I was a child.  There are old abandonned farm houses in some places, lots of cows, some windmills, lots of barbed wire fencing, silos in the distance, small towns of 200 people with all the businesses on main street closed, and Sis counted at least 277 horses!  It's not bluebonnet or Indian paintbrush season, but I did enjoy seeing some flowers.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• mosquitos, high humidity, and Trump supporters:  Let's just say the bay would be a nicer place without any of these (let me revise that last one:  it was hard to believe that all my extended family (not my immediate family, i.e. parents, sister, BIL), who love us, also voted for HIM.  I'll keep the family, just dump #45.)

The only thing I didn't get to do while at the bay was honor the memory of my aunt and uncle and cousin in any way.  This was my first trip back since they'd all died and I had hoped to get a chance for some kind of quiet observance.  But I never quite figured out what that would be and there didn't seem to be a good time, with Mama and I both not feeling well.  Next time, perhaps.

Whew.  I'm tired just writing about it.  Good thing it's summer and there's not much I have to do right now.  Except laundry!

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Giada De Laurentiis's Pulled Pork Tacos

                        2 teaspoons ground cumin

                        1/2 teaspoon ground coriander 

                        2 teaspoons salt 

                        1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 

                        2 pounds pork shoulder roast 

                        2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 

                        1 onion, chopped 

                        3 cloves garlic, smashed 

                        1 chipotle in adobo plus 1 teaspoon adobo sauce

                        1/2 cup beer

                        1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest (1/2 orange) 

Garnishes:  lime wedges, cheese, avocado, etc.

For the pulled pork: In a small bowl, mix together the cumin, coriander, salt and oregano. Rub the spice mixture all over the pork roast.

Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork roast and brown on all sides, about 3 minutes per side.

Meanwhile, in a 3 1/2-quart slow cooker, combine the onion, garlic, chipotle and adobo sauce, beer, and orange zest. Add the browned roast along with any pan juices. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 6 hours.

When the pork is cooked and fork tender, shred it using two forks. Add the shredded meat back to the slow cooker and toss with the onions and cooking juices. Keep warm in the slow cooker for people to help themselves and assemble the tacos with all the garnishes.

Aunt Banana's Greek Pasta Salad

bow tie pasta

cooked chicken, cubed

kalamata olives

cucumber 

tomato (optional)

bell peppers? (I can't recall)
**I saw a recipe on myrecipes.com that includes 3 cups baby spinach

red onion

feta cheese

Greek salad dressing

Cook pasta al dente then toss with vegetables and chicken and coat with Greek salad dressing.

Aunt Banana

Milk-Can "Cowboy" Supper, Bay Version
adapted from Cook's Country

2 lbs. kielbasa, cut into big chunks about 1 1/2-2" long 

4 chicken breasts, cubed12 red potatoes, washed but unpeeled
1 small cabbage, cut into wedges and unstacked
1 1/2 cups baby carrots (oops, forgot to put this in)

1 red pepper, chunks

1 onion, cut into wedges
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
7 ears of corn, halved
4 cups chicken broth

1/2 can beer

salt and pepper to taste

Brown the kielbasa and chicken until browned all over (about 6-8 minutes on medium high.)  Remove from pot. Layer ingredients in pot in this order, bottom to top:  red potatoes, cabbage wedges (unstacked and all spread out flat), baby carrots, onion, garlic, and corn.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper; add bay leaves and thyme.  Distribute kielbasa on top and pour in chicken broth.  Bring to boil, cover, and simmer approximately 15-20 minutes.  Add green bell pepper on top and cook 15-20 minutes more until potatoes are tender (use long skewer to test doneness.)  Remove to serving platter.  Enjoy!

Ate Dessert First

It was an unusual Thanksgiving for us, though we had pretty the same guests and menu.  Our goal was a relaxing, low-stress holiday with more time for connection.  To accomplish, since I do all the cooking (and that won't change), this year we changed the menu somewhat--fewer dishes and not everything made from scratch. (Sure, my heart hurt a bit to forego seasonal, fresh, and even organic for this celebration of food and family, but, when I did do all that, I could rarely even enjoy it.) Gone were three kinds of homemade cranberry sauces in favor of that jelled can that holds its cylindrical shape.  Gone was the homemade mushroom cream sauce for the fresh green bean casserole in favor of, gasp, cans of condensed soup and green beans.  The extra sides--brussel sprouts, mashed potatoes, roasted butternut squash, spinach salad, broccoli rice casserole, lime jello salad, whatever--were banished.  So were the three pies usually made by me (pecan, pumpkin, apple); I made a cake instead and bought the pies from the special pie shop.  And we only had two appetizers--Texas Trash and cheese dip.  The turkey (made using the new NYTimes splaying method with dry rub), gravy, rolls, yams, and dressing remained the same.

And you know what? I got to sit and enjoy the parade!  We watched and chatted and laughed and didn't worry about the cooking.  I drank coffee and ate orange biscuits with the family and my in-laws.  It beat running back and forth, checking the schedule for everything and not being fully present.

When my brother-in-law arrived after the parade, we broke out lunch.  See, second big change:  we were having our big meal late in the day, closer to 5 pm than the usual 1 pm.  This gave us more time to relax and connect, which was more important to me this year than others, with the loss of our dear Mo and my uncle and the illness of my cousin and the loss of the election and just all the shit in the world (DAPL, Flint, Syria, the need for Black Lives Matter, both the inspiring and the depressing stories of women and liberals on Pantsuit Nation, everything I'm not even mentioning, etc) . . .  But we needed to eat so . . . .

Big change number three:  we ate dessert first!  Yep, we had coconut snickerdoodles and pumpkin bread made by Goo, along with my glazed orange-cranberry bundt cake, Sis's Swedish apple pie, and several little store-bought pies.  Plus there were the appetizers and some cold Szechuan dishes Mama picked up for savories (noodles and beef.)  It was fun to sample everything without being stuffed from turkey etc.  My cake was delicious, as was Sis's own Swedish apple pie.  And I liked Goo's coconut snickerdoodles.  And we all had fun sampling the various nut, cream, and seasonal pies.  (Sis likes the lemon chess best.  I like that and the coconut cream and also chocolate peanut butter.  Tomorrow we eat the key lime!  They're small, like a store-bough chicken pot pie.)

Then the cooking started. But--change #4--I didn't do most of it.  Mama and Bud made his oyster dressing.  Bud and Goo made the green bean casserole.  Sis and Goo made the yams.  I had made the rolls and the regular dressing.  Mama, as usual, made the turkey.  And Sis made the gravy all by herself.

And it was delicious!  Best gravy ever.  It was all delicious.  And I could enjoy it much better.  I think we all did.  And not only because there weren't many leftovers.  Everybody said they liked the late meal because they weren't trying to cook while socializing or later socializing through a food coma. The kids and their uncle also liked dessert first.  I did, too.  Who can enjoy pie after turkey?  The only downside with the late meal was that my in-laws left pretty much right after we ate, but Goo hung out with us playing games and such.  We always have a good laugh.

And then it was pretty much bedtime.  A lovely day, for which I am thankful.

Especially for dessert first.

Blank Canvases

Look at this print, entitled Things That Are Awesome, by Funnelcloud.  It's got almost 200 little drawings of:

Starfish, ukuleles, tipis, daiquiris, llamas, flashlights, guacamole, lavender, flip flops, log cabins, ice bergs, bagels, sloths, cupcakes, aliens, mix tapes, raindrops, horse shoes, submarines, the Big Dipper, peanut butter, hot water bottles, hang gliders, wine, jeans, modern chairs, hot cocoa, fireworks, gila monsters, slide whistles, palm trees, cookies, conch shells, foreign coins, spotted toadstools, tractors, hot dogs, bakeries, earth, concert tickets, cheesecake, in-line skates, bulldogs, shish kebabs, UFOs, twisty straws, snowflakes, glow sticks, bobbleheads, narwhals, blueberries, grills, birds of prey, lip balm, castles, venus flytraps, windmills, lemonade, sunglasses, buttermilk biscuits, jellyfish, bicycles, cacti, milkshakes, pyramids, popsicles, canoes, passports, sea shells, candles, homemade bread, hockey, fountain pens, fresh peaches, steel drums, geckos, cameras, fireflies, neon signs, bubble gum, maps, mason jars, sprinklers, tree houses, drive-in movies, crepes, bubble baths, clawfoot tubs, ampersands, bridges, bacon, igloos, light bulbs, exclamation points, gnomes, pizza, sharks, french crullers, picnics, hiking boots, chocolate milk, computers, motorcycles, crayons, corn on the cob, deep sea anglerfish, beer, hazelnuts, grizzly bears, trampolines, chalkboards, wiener dogs, double rainbows, butterflies, campers, hammocks, cowboy boots, hot air balloons, tubas, chocolate-covered pretzels, cheese, telescopes, rockets, sailboats, flippers, sunflowers, shooting stars, chocolate, strawberries, books, autumn leaves, olives, convertibles, octopuses, record players, champagne, pine trees, sea horses, greyhounds, unicycles, letters, snorkeling, kayaks, bighorn sheep, bulldozers, rafts, sticky notes, gelato, cheeseburgers, camping, mountains, marsupials, jack-o-lanterns, picture postcards, banjos, water slides, barns, chicken & waffles, sunrises, sunsets, pajama pants, robots, the moon, avocados, lilacs, islands, sangria, thunderstorms, snow tubes, goats, wrecking balls, bison, pasta, frozen custard, gumball machines, pies, surfboards, didgeridoos, gargoyles, airboats, hummus, dinosaurs, coconut rum, monsters, lanterns, crabs, campfires, lighthouses, wildflower bouquets, gin & tonics, funnel clouds, and twinkle lights.

I love the whole thing (and just purchased a print!):  the little drawings, the combo of words and images, and just the whimsy of a list of good things.  I can't wait to spend time discovering the 194 awesome things.

And it got me thinking.  We have a big green chalkboard taking up a whole kitchen wall.  It's been a Hobbit hole door almost all school year and it's time for a change.  I think we're going to draw things that we think are awesome, maybe particularly summer things.  I don't know.  I'm thinking of hanging the print across from the chalkboard on the basement door so we can see it all the time, both to be inspired artistically and also to be grateful for the little things, the ordinary miracles of each day.

What would your list include?

I'm going to enjoy making mine.

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Secondly, I LOVE this work, We Do Geek by Crafts by a Geeky Mommy.  It's a take-off of all of those sweet "We Do Family" lists, with things like "In this family, we do hugs, we do mistakes, we do laughter . . . . "  And while that's a nice list, it's kinda milque-toasty.  I like this one better:

In This House

We believe in Magic
We have epic adventures
Once upon a time and in 
Galaxies far far away
We do wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff while 
Going where no man has gone before
We know the answer to 
Everything is 42 and that
The odds are ever in our favor
We do cosplay and passion
And we aim to misbehave
And we don’t care what others think
Because in this house

We do Geek

I bet we could adapt this list to us (since we're not into Hitchhiker's Guide or Hunger Games yet.)  It would have to have Studio Ghibli and Minions.  And we would "manage mischief" instead of "misbehave." But it's such a great list (and looks even better with all the different fonts), fun to play off of.   

Advent Activity: On the First Day of Christmas

And so December starts, with all the early celebrations of Christmas.  The kids were very excited about their Advent calendars yesterday, each receiving a Lego calendar.  And they gave me something too:  a mini-figure of action heroes/mutants Wolverine and Cyclops to add to the Christmas village as we count down to my birthday! So I'm guessing the theme is superheroes??  Not sure.  I'll have to wait and see, just like them.

We don't have the Advent socks up yet, but the activity was making paper chains.  Sis made the first, long garland, which we hung between our living and dining rooms and then Bud added a shorter one, hung in counterpoint to the first.  Festive.  When the tree goes up, it will stand in front of the window in the dining room, framed by the chains.



The tree.  We haven't put the tree up, so busy with prepping the basement and house for the new cats who arrive this coming Saturday.  We've decided to pare down the decorations, opting to use paper origami creations and our cookie cutter collection to decorate, both of which are more cat-friendly than tempting non-edible ornaments.  This way, our new cats whom we don't know yet and our old cats who will probably be in a heightened state of agita won't hurt or be hurt by the tree decorations.  We hope to put it up in the next day or so.

Because, for us, Christmas will be early.  See, Goo is a doctor now, his first year as a resident, and he is not off on Christmas, he recently learned.  We had considered splitting Christmas with him and my in-laws into two smaller celebrations, but the kids roundly objected.  And so we got a dispensation from Santa to have him come early for Christmas, the weekend before.

Which means, we now are going to Texas a couple of days early to spend some extra time with our family there.

So, if I had already thought the holiday season between Thanksgiving and Christmas was short--only 3 school weeks and preparatory weekends--it just got much shorter!  (And the kids are asking if they can open the extra doors on their calendars early!!!)

But to quote Olaf, "All good things, all good things."

Sign of Three

I probably read it in Hands-Free Mama, the idea of a family sign and someone used three taps, one each for "I love you."  (I've read elsewhere of secret phrases--my own family used "love you like a rock!")  And so I suggested it, knowing that pretty soon the hand-holding and cuddles and "I love yous" might wane a bit as we head into the tween/teen years.  And it's catching on, especially with Sis who had given up the hand-holding awhile back.  She likes the 1-2-3 and will do taps or squeezes or pokes.  Tonight, she even came back down the stairs to tap Mama three times.  It's subtle yet significant--a symbol of the bond between the four of us.

Favorite Family Stories

Having seen the post on FB, I just read an article about telling family stories to kids alongside books and imaginary tales and I got to thinking that we don't tell that many family stories.  But the kids do ask, most often about Aunt Banana stories (her funny Ramona-like antics--sorry, Banana!)

So why don't we tell more family stories?  I suppose in a way this blog is one long, detailed, rambling story of our everydays.  Sometimes, family stories just don't have much in the way of narrative arc or deeper meaning, and I often misremember or even make up details, but I can see that they still have value in creating a sense of belonging and connection and shared values.  So I've been thinking on the stories we already tell and the ones I probably should tell.

We do retell (and this is most but definitely not all):

• Aunt Banana stories:  the time she hung upside down in the coat closet; the time she tried to go to school in nothing but a plastic rain coat; about sleepin in her backyard fort
• Pop:  wanting a bicycle but his siblings told him he was getting a hand-trained parrakeet; riding the city bus to school; his mom taking him to the circus in a real circus tent; Aunt Sis taking him to see Sophia Loren in a movie; (we don't not talk about him and the Wildwood boys being mean to cats);
• Mommy:  planting my feet in the mud and saying I would grow; how I met Mama at the university library; catching a fish with no bait; insisting as a child on baking the exact same number of snowmen, gingerbread men, etc; being a Brownie and later working at Girl Scout camp for children with special needs; learning how to juggle; trying so hard to learn to crochet; 
• Mama:  drawing with her grandmother;
• Goo:  practicing for years to play piano;
• Sis:  "The Empress;" Shirt and Amy; in utero, she hit him during an ultrasound; she liked to pet and follow Morgan the cat; she would resist falling asleep in the car by twirling her hair and kicking her foot; how Sis scooted across the top of the snow after the blizzard
• Bud:  "Waving Bud;" (we don't tell about his stitches in his finger from the deer feeder or the staple in his head from the playground); loveys; in utero he would kick when I ate pineapple; he would fall asleep in the car with his arms tucked behind his head; 
• Sis and Bud together:  how they would roll over on each other and not be able to roll back; how they both liked to empty the contents of boxes; how I switched them at the hospital and didn't know I had til I changed the diaper!

Wow, that's not a lot.

Some I could tell:

• scary stories with silver linings:  hiding in the basement during the microburst when the tree hit the house and van; the blizzard with 3' of snow and higher drifts; being without electricity during Hurricane Irene; about Gommie and Pop's fire; also about the burglary when I was young; Ma and Gong in Hurricane Sandy; Mama and I living in NYC on September 11;  we already talk about Newtown.
• adventures:  my archaeological dig in Carthage, Tunisia; Mama climbing the rocks near the lighthouse in Maine; Mama and her family seeing the sunset over the mountains and driving fast to catch it over the ocean; Mama going skiing with Ma and Gong;  
• inspiring:  my cousin who found his calling as a Catholic monk in France; Goo working so hard to be a doctor; Ma and Gong immigrating to a foreign country (and their parents doing it before them!); my "life in a bed" and getting better; 
• funny or embarrassing:  my speaking to 1000 teachers only to discover later that my shirt was on inside-out!  Mama almost fainting when we found out we were having twins!  Gommie, who was in a cast with a broken foot, then getting gum in her hat's veil while shopping "in the big city."
• family history:  my ancestors fighting the Civil War; Mama's grandfather leaving China for Bangkok; Gong as a Buddhist monk; Gommie's dad fighting in WWII; the KKK running Gommie's grandad out of town because he was Catholic; (later) Gommie's mom being saved from an abusive husband by her brother; Pop's grandmother running a boarding house at the turn-of-the-20th century; Pop's mom going all the way to Berkleey in the twenties and earning her MA in History with a thesis on the Colfax riots; my great grandmother working at Camp Hulen during WWII and meeting her husband there;
• trips to Disneyworld and Disneyland (both Mama and I as kids separately, as adults together, and now with the kids); Nashville, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, "the bay," New Orleans twice (once during a tropical storm, no less), Chicago, Washington DC, Arkansas, Georgia, Philly, Boston, and NYC plus Greece, Italy, Turkey, Tunisia, England, France, Japan, Korea, and Thailand.

But there have to be others.  

For those of you who know me IRL (in real life) as they say, what would you add?  I'm going to work on remembering and valuing them as stories to pass along.

As a friend commented to me, when I said I couldn't remember many good stories:

Maybe there are no good ones. There are explanations of how things came to be, how you learned to do or not do things, things that remind you of other things. I think you just observe and talk - and observe and listen to your children, because they have stories too. Everyone should have the experience of being heard and considered.

More Family Food Fad Fines

I had the wonderful opportunity to sit and talk about family recipes with Gommie's older sister, Aunt Quilt, inspired by my recent reading of Fashionable Food.  Here are some of the recipes I photographed, more for posterity than for reading off the blog (I have copies of the originals):

Red Velvet Cake--I think this is Bammie's recipe (Gommie and Aunt Quilt's mother) in Gommie's writing

"The Green Stuff"--A favorite in Aunt Quilt's family

Turtle Cake

Carrot Cake, the one Aunt Quilt made for Gommie's 60th, I believe

Part 2 of Carrot Cake

The famed cheesecake of Mrs. Korm

THE custard pie recipe Aunt Quilt uses, this time chocolate.  She made Coconut Custard for Gommie's birthday,  just omit cocoa and add 2 handfuls of coconut to the custard and then sprinkle more on top of the meringue (which is just 3 whites and 6 T sugar whipped)

Mmmm, I remember buttery-pepper Pasca Manale's shrimp from childhood.

I think I remember sour cream shrimp, too.

We did Bana Caulda at Aunt Quilt's house at least once.  You simmer the above in  an electric skillet then  cook beef, shrimp, fish, and vegetables in it.

Not the family's Shrimp Remoulade but one from the local department store.

Aunt Quilt is a great baker.  Here, Sally Lunn bread.

And biscuits.

Hmmm, I didn't know there was more than cheese in cheese grits.

Watergate Salad--with Cool Whip AND mini-marshmallows!

Aunt Quilt really likes this Milk Chocolate Bar Cake.

These are from Gommie's dessert recipe files, to supplement the ones from Aunt Quilt.  On the second day of our visit, Gommie had found her great-grandmother Grammy's recipes, stashed in a 1915 cookbook put out by a baking soda company, but I totally forgot to copy those before I left.  :(  Next time.  Here are ones I did remember to copy on the last day we were in Texas.

My own typed Coca Cola cake recipe

Bammie's Christmas Lizzies

Bammie's lemon pie, apparent in Gommie's dad's handwriting

A famous "Peach Pie-Cake" recipe

A recipe card Gommie typed for her "hope chest," from Bammie's recipes

They say this is a great Poppy Seed Cake.

Grandma Hungry's sister-in-law's lemon chess pie!

Lemon Chess Pie part 2

"Sister's pralines," meaning those of Grandma Hungry's sister Blythe

Terrible name, apparently good cake--with baby food!

Gommie likes these, too!

Handwritten version, by Gommie, of Mrs. Korm's famous Cheese Cake.

Bammie's Divinity

Bammie's "Red Cake," aka Red Velvet Cake

Bammie's recipe

I think these are Great-Grandmother Hungry's Forgotten Cookies.

Great-Grandmother Hungry's Date Pinwheels

Cont.

The custard pie again.

Part 2