Am I the only Andy Hardy fan in the crowd? For those in the dark, it was a character played by a very young Mickey Rooney in a series of movies. There was always A Girl, A Problem and it always culminated with the kids giving A Show. Judy Garland was a frequent co-star. I wonder if Netflix has them…

I don’t really want to have a show, I want YOU kids to send in your favorite recipes, winter category. Looking at the responses to my pork loin plea (only two) this is a silly venture. Don’t get stuck on favorite. What do you really enjoy making or what was your family digging this past winter.

Please.

Sherry’s “Chad Potatoes” carried my family through the Fall and fairly far into the winter. We had it, if not once a week, at least a couple times a month. In the early days I made it for dinner for the family and then left for a meeting. I came home, anticipating my own dinner from their leftovers and there were none. I think someone had even licked the pan. It was 10 pm but I was quite hungry. I pulled out a skillet, sliced up the potatoes, sausages and onions sauteed them and had a delicious dinner, albeit a late one. Someone else who helped demolish the first batch came and helped me with the second. If the kids had been up they would have probably gone another round too. We loved that meal!

THAT is what I am talking about.

Have I mentioned that The Man continues to leave the country?

I think this is very BAD MANNERS.

He justisfies this under the auspices of “Making a Living” and “Paying Bills”, citing our addictions to heat and toilet paper.

I can see his point but I don’t always like it.

Paul travelling was once an even bigger monkey on my back. When the big kids were quite young he needed to take a lot of little trips. He would be gone every other weekend for months at a time. It was so hard. When he quit that job to go into a job that was full commission, concern about the loss of health benefits and steady income was balanced by the rosy prospect of him NEVER HAVING TO TRAVEL.

When he was pursued for his current position we had adjusted to our new life. I didn’t really think he would want it and was surprised when he was leaning towards accepting. The way we make decisions is we talk about things, pray about them and then wait for the peace to come. I understood that this new job would certainly require travel and international, at that and yet the peace came.

If the Past Me could travel into the future to hear the Present Me utter statements like, “A five day trip isn’t a big deal,” she would flip.

Of course a five deal trip is a big deal; Paul leaving for the office every morning is a big deal, but we have learned to cope. I have learned that a trip which exceeds a week, every day extra is like seven and so Paul does what he can to limit trips to a week or less.

This month he will be in Thailand for 11 days. When I think about this trip I inhale sharply and almost have to put my head between my knees.

And so if I come to mind at any point this month, know that it is the LOW-WARD and please pray for me, my colleagues and the travelling man.

Thank you.

“My hans are sticky fwum dah Tuckus Deelaht. It is vewy soogah-wy.”

1. I am really into soups right now.

2. I am also craving pineapple – have been for weeks. Pineapple drinks, pies, cakes, cupcakes – anything sounds delicious. I don’t know if it is the enzyme I want, but this need must be satisfied.

3. I am ALWAYS into chocolate in small, quite moderate amounts, of course.

Yesterday Lydia and I were a flurry of cookery. As I was pulling things out to make dinner she asked how old she would need to be to take a cooking class. I told her there were classes for all ages but I didn’t think she needed to take one and offered to teach her. Last spring we had begun her culinary education but with the addition of all her other schooling it had fallen by the wayside. She was very excited to resume her learning. Together we made a potato and sausage stew that the family loves. She cut the sausages, browned the onions and did most of the stirring. It was great to have her help and her company.

While we made the soup I baked some chicken that was marinating from the day before and made rice to serve with it. Assembled, the dish was a little disappointing, but I put it in the fridge and figured I would be able to spice it up today.

The stew was quite good and Lydia happily ate a bowl for lunch and then dinner. All of the children were going to Paul’s mom’s for a sleep over as we had tickets for a concert of an award winning choir.

Just as the choir was walking out I realized that I had forgotten to refrigerate the soup. I whispered this to Paul.

“That would be a serious drag if all that went to waste especially before I got a chance at it. Did you turn off the burner?”

I thought for a moment. “I don’t know…I think so…but I know I left the soup out.”

Further conversation was not possible. I thought about the burner. It hadn’t been a concern until Paul said something. I figured it was probably fine, and yet…I comforted myself with the thought that the alarm goes if I think about burning toast so it wouldn’t be long before the fire department was there and maybe just maybe they would break down the front door (hideous beyond belief) to get to the fire, enabling us to claim a new one on our insurance. With that happy thought I turned my attention to the concert.

When we got home that night there were no traces of fire but the sad pot of soup was on the stove – uncovered even. I couldn’t bear to throw it out, covered it and threw it in the fridge.

The sum total of yesterday’s exertions were: a once tasty stew now harboring unknown diseases and a dish that somehow managed to be bland and repellently lemony at the same time.

This afternoon I contemplated the chicken and rice. What could be done? I couldn’t bear to serve it but didn’t have any idea on how to spice it up without making it worse. Fortunately I remembered a “Thai-ish” soup I absolutely love. I took out the chicken and rice added chicken broth, coconut milk, tumeric and a little bit of peanut butter and now have a delicious soup.

Isn’t that a happy ending to such a sad tale?