Bright Spots

Sub-zero temperatures and a wintry landscape with only brief glimpses of the sun could send some spirits spiraling downwards this time of the year, but fear not, I have found some bright spots worth mentioning.

This past week I went to Como Park Conservatory to check out their holiday Poinsettia display. WOW, some hundreds of plants provided a dazzling array of color. It was hard not to overdo taking pictures and I am sharing a few with this blog. The tropical plants and warmth of the building provided some reflective moments thinking how nice a tropical get-away might be.

Another bright spot for me was reading on the Internet about the huge success Susan Boyle is currently having with her album which is sailing off the charts in sales. I am one of her biggest fans. What a heart-warming story her rise to fame has been! She was quoted as saying..."I am still the person I always was the wee lady from Blackburn. I still live in the same house. I still like the same things. I have never wanted to change. I have only wanted to be a professional singer and perhaps that's the way in which I think differently about myself now. I feel like a professional. "

Susan's journey has been amazing with her big dream to be recognized in the music profession. So my word of advice to you the readers, Dream big, anything is possible. FYI, I have put a request on my Santa list for her new CD. So lets hope it shows up in my stocking, which has been hung by the chimney with care. I have tried to be good!

Speaking of stockings, are any of you missing some? I have been wondering if those threads that I have seen on the floor and near the door are ones from a Christmas sock which is missing its mate. Could those mischievous fairies be busy at work? Perhaps they have been snatching up socks for the yarn to knit sock accessories for their friends as Christmas gifts?? The weather certainly is cold enought for leg and arm warmers much needed items. I have previously mentioned them in my blogs.

I am bringing this salad to a lunch today and thought it might be an easy one for you to try

Cashew-Pear Tossed Salad

Ingredients:

• Mixed greens with baby spinach leaves
• 2-3 ripe pears-cut in chunks with skin on
• 1 cup salted cashews
• 1 cup dried cherries
• 2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
• 1 large cucumber diced
• Vidalia Onion Poppyseed dressing

Directions:

• Mix greens, pears, nuts, cherries and cucumbers together
• Grate cheese on top and add dressing just before serving

Bon Appetit Blog Envy Bake-Off

Dear Readers,
I am submitting this dessert recipe for a bake-off contest sponsored by Bon Appetit magazine. This brownie dessert was posted on my Thanksgiving blog but I am rewriting and posting it in this blog and submitting a photo as part of Bon Appetit submission process. You are encouraged to go online and vote for my recipe @ bonappetit.com/go/bakeoff
The deadline for voting is December 13th. Wish me luck.

Decadent Brownies

Ingredients:

• 1 package (10 oz.) Ghirardelli Bittersweet Chocolate squares (62% cacao) plus half of another 10 0z. package
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/3 cup of butter
• 2 TB. of coffee(liquid)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3/4 cup flour plus 2 TB. of flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 cup of chopped walnuts
• 2 TB. Kahula

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325
• Line a 8 inch pyrex pan with foil and grease
• Heat in saucepan on low heat: chocolate, sugar ,butter, coffee stirring until smooth
• Pour into a medium bowl and whisk in eggs one at a time till mixed.
• Add vanilla, flour and salt and stir well.
• Add chopped nuts and stir well
• Bake 25-30 minutes until toothpick comes clean from the center
• Cool pan on wire rack and remove cooled brownies from foil
• Serve with whip cream or dust with powdered sugar
• For a festive holiday touch sprinkle peppermint chips over whip cream

This recipe was adapted from one called Nestle Chocolatier Grand Chocolate Brownie Wedges found in a magazine.

Twas The Night before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas, all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas would soon be there.

A Visit from St. Nicholas 1822

written by Clement Clarke Moore

But while... those children were nestled all snug in their beds...the sock fairies, like St. Nicholas, spoke not a word..and went straight to their work. Their gossamer wings made not the slightest bit of flutter as they gathered up socks and sped through the night hoping to just stay ahead of jolly old St. Nick. As we all know, Christmas socks are colorful, come in variety of sizes but often are mismatched and generally are not hung in pairs. Fairies are quite careful at each home to leave at least a sock or two behind so St. Nicholas has something to fill. This story is shared to you, the reader, in case you hear of any unhappy children whose Christmas stocking has gone missing. Try to assure the child that the sock fairies are indeed on an important mission doing their job. They are doing their best to make sure every home that has a child snug in their bed while visions of sugar-plums dance in their heads has a stocking out for St. Nicholas to fill.

So if you should spy out on your lawn any bits of fuzzies and loose threads know that the sock fairies are out and about doing their best to make the holiday season just a little brighter for others.

Note that the feast day of St. Nicholas is December 6 and it is a custom to leave a your shoe outside your door before going to bed. Warning: I said shoe, but no socks!

This past week I have been on what I call a wisdom diet... soup. Since my jaw is still quite sore soup is easiest to handle. This recipe is quite tasty and makes a satisfying lunch/dinner.

Chicken Wild Rice Soup

Ingredients:

• 4 cups cooked wild rice
• optional: shredded cooked chicken or chunks of ham
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 chopped onion
• 2- 1/2 cups fresh mushrooms
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup finely grated carrots
• 1/2 cup flour
• 32 oz. container of chicken broth (Swanson low sodium)
• 1/2 tsp. of the following spices... curry, dry mustard, paprika, marjoram, parsley flakes and 1/4 tsp.pepper
• 4 TB sherry or white wine
• 3/4 cup half and half

Directions:

• Saute onion, celery, carrots and mushrooms in butter and set aside
• In a soup pot on medium heat add chicken broth, whisk flour into broth with spices
• Cook till slightly thick about 8 minutes
• Add cooked wild rice, celery, onion, carrot, mushroom mixture and chicken or ham
• Reduce temp. to low heat and stir in half and half and sherry or wine cook for about 30 minutes

Tips:

• Do not let mixture boil and if need soup to be thicker can add 1-2 TB flour using a whisk
• If making ahead add sherry or wine right before serving

GOT WISDOM?

Wisdom the ability to perceive or determine what is good, true or sound, common sense;sound judgement

Yesterday I mourned the partial loss of my wisdom which has carried me up to middle age. One of my impacted wisdom teeth was extracted and considering the discomfort I am currently experiencing the tooth fairy should leave a rather huge chunk of cash as a bit of consolement for the inconvenience.

Wisdom Tooth last molar tooth on either side of of the upper and lower jaw usually appearing between the ages of 17 and 25.

Interesting that I have been one of those rare people who at my age would still have a wisdom tooth to lose which then got me to thinking a bit more about the other meaning of wisdom and how some strive for it and others just naturally gain it during the course of life.

I found on the Internet some quotes about wisdom attributed to certain people and thought I would test your knowledge. But need to mention how disappointed I was that that out of all the questions on this one trivia test not one women was mentioned so I had to look at other sources to present a balanced sampling.

1. Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.

Alexander Bell

Gandhi

Freud

Thomas Edison

2. Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.

Frances Scott key

Ben Franklin

Thomas Jefferson

3. A picture is worth a thousand words

Napoleon

Leonardo da Vinci

Michaelangelo

4. Speak softly and carry a big stick and you will go far

Franklin Roosevelt

Woodrow Wilson

Theodore Roosevelt

5. You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do

Henry Ford

J.D. Rockefeller

W. Vanderbilt

6. Because men and women are the complement of one another we need a woman's thought in national affairs to make a safe and stable government

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Sarah Palin

Eleanor Roosevelt

7. We are pencils in the hand of God -writing love letters to the world.

Emily Dickerson

Golda Meir

Mother Teresa

8. You are unique, and if that is not fulfilled then something has been lost.

Whoppi Goldberg

Martha Graham

Amelia Earhart

9. Lasting change is a series of compromises. And compromise is all right, as long as your values don't change.

Jane Goodall

Abigail Adams

Hillary Clinton

10. Sometimes questions are more important than answers.

Maya Angelou

Margaret Thatcher

Nancy Willard

Answers: Just in case you need them

1. Thomas Edison 2. Thomas Jefferson 3, Leonardo da Vinci 4. Theodore Roosevelt

5. Henry Ford 6. Elizabeth Stanton 7. Mother Teresa 8. Martha Graham 9. Jane Goodall

10. Nancy Willard

Recipe request for using a slow cooking pot/crockpot

Three Bean Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground beef cooked and drained or pork sausage can be substituted
• 1 cup of chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 cans of baked beans in tomato sauce (21 oz.)
• 1 can (150z.) lima beans drained
• 1 can (150z.) kidney beans drained
• 1 TB. dry mustard
• 2 TB. white vinegar
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1 can chunky tomatoes basil/garlic/oregano
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• about 8 pieces of bacon cooked crisp

Directions:

• Fry bacon and set aside
• Cook hamburger or sausage and drain
• Mix the meat mixture with all other ingredients
• Place in slow cooker and cook on low heat 1 1/2 hours covered
• To serve sprinkle bacon on top

Writer's Notebook

Ralph Fletcher is one of my favorite authors. He has published children' s novels, poetry books, short stories and books on the writing process for teachers. One of my most treasured books he has written, besides Fig Pudding, is a very small compact book called A Writer's Notebook Unlocking The Writer Within You. He notes in this book that keeping a writer's notebook is one of the best ways he knows to live a writing kind of life. He does emphasize that it is not a diary, but a place where you can jot down the important little details you notice or hear in daily life. Mr. Fletcher suggests that having a writer's notebook provides a good place to include personal entries, poems, lists of books you have read, favorite words, interesting quotes, goals, artifacts and photographs. He feels a writer's notebook is like a scrapbook to be a gathering place for your writing and at a later date provide you with inspiration. It is quite possible you might even have several notebooks/journals on going at the same time.
Over the years, I have kept many notebooks/journals. My current one is a fairy journal in which I have collected lots of fairy information, documented some observations, listed fairy books and valuable internet sources. So all of this brings me up to the Fairy Handbook, which I would like to put in the beginning of my sock fairy manuscript as an introduction, or at the end as a glossary. This would give the reader some information and answers to any questions they might be thinking about. Some ideas planned are definitions for the following words: fairies, fairy circles, meeting places, fairy gifts, fairy wands, fairy lights, fairy wings and information on how fairy messages are sent and some creatures they fear. What I would like is some input on placement. Would it be better placed in the beginning of my story as an introduction or at end as a glossary. If you have any thoughts on this please send to me by way of the comment box.
This is one of my favorite Ralph Fletcher quotes..."I have often been asked how to become a better writer. I always say, go out and live the most exciting life you can, and never quit writing about it. Don't mix up the order."
If you have any special requests for recipes you would like to see included in this blog please let me know.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 8,000 Calorie Poem

May your stuffing be tasty

May your turkey be plumb

May your gravy and potatoes

Have nary a lump

May your yams be delicious

And your pies take the prize

And may your Thanksgiving dinner

Stay off your thighs

Anonymous

Thanksgiving gives us a chance to express our gratitude towards our family and friends and even strangers for their help. Here is wishing you and your family a wonderful day!

Brownie Chocolate Wedges

after you have worn off your Thanksgiving dinner

Ingredients:

• 1 package (10 0z.) and 1/2 of another (10 oz. package) Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate (62% cacao) that come in squares
  
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/3 cup butter
• 2 TB. coffee(liquid)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3/4 cup flour plus 2TB.
  
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 2 TB. Kahlua

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325 and line a 8x8 baking dish with foil that has been greased
• On stove heat on low heat sugar,chocolate, butter and water. Stir constantly till smooth and chocolate is melted
• Pour into a medium bowl and stir in eggs one at a time
• Stir in vanilla, flour, salt, nuts and Kahlua
• Mix all ingredients using a spoon
• Bake 25-30 minutes
• Cool and cut in wedges and remove from foil