Burrrrrr - February 15, 2016

We are now experiencing more snow falling on President's Day.  We have another foot or more of the white stuff on our deck.  Although the snow is beautiful as it lays white across the land, it is a nuisance and a downer.  Can't get outside and don't want to go anywhere for fear of falling on the ice.  I still have that knee injury from long ago.  It happened when, I was scraping ice off the car to go to work.  The bad knee from this fall on the ice, still plagues today as it did  most of my adult life.
    Can't believe that, I actually loved the snow when younger. My mother and I would look out her picture window and say how beautiful the white snow looked.  We all played in it and did not come in to the house until we were nearly frozen and our fingers needed heating up over the heater.    We ran out of clean, dry gloves every time we played outside.  We used socks on our hands instead.  Mother didn't mind.  Maybe this will be the last snow fall for winter 2016. Hubby and I are ready for spring.  Stores already have Easter items on sale and inside, it feels warm and cozy.  Inside is great except for the furnace always coming on and off.  The electric bill will be extremely high for this month. 
I guess we will be complaining about the heat before long.  Never ending seasonal grief.
Well, guess I will just have to paint and draw Easter bunnies in memory of warmer days that will come around then.  Keep the faith, Your friend, Cooky :)

Comfort Foods - Cheesy Grits And Shrimp

Comfort foods are sometimes entirely different even for close family members.  My two daughters and one son all have families of their own and cook to suit their own taste. However, they love dining at my house
for hubby and my home cooking.
 
For instance, my youngest daughter, bless her soul, loves to fix macaroni and cheese for her family. Her recipes look like those pictures in magazines they are so beautiful.   Her husband loves country style cooking, that he knows how to cook superbly.   Low-carb bread is my oldest daughters' favorite because, she is always on a diet of some kind.  Her many diet creations are low-carb and wonderful to say the least. Her low-card desserts are a vision of beauty.  That girl can make chicken in dozens of low carb ways that taste marvelously delicious.

My son and his family love eating out, anywhere at anytime and any cuisine.    Although his wife is a wonderful, talented cook, sometimes, they get bored with her unique style of cooking.  She leans towards healthy foods prepared in different styles, i.e., tex-mex, low fat, low carb foods.    She learned her country  cooking from her grandmother, who had all the desired knowledge of seasoning country food.  I copied her way of making a big pot of collard greens.  I didn't know that a pinch of baking soda made the greens plump up and taste even better.    My daughter-in-law is not afraid to try lots of different recipes including crock pot recipes, meatloaf and baked sweet morsels, that taste heavenly, as they melt in your mouth.  She sets a mean table for holidays as well.  Her table decorating skills are astonishingly beautiful.  On the other hand, my son cooks like I do,.  That means lots of  fried foods and one-pan wonders.  He and the kids love his wife's cooking best of all.

 Then there is my husbands comfort food cooking.  All the kids and grandchildren truly love my husbands' ribs best of all.  It is so much fun when the entire family come over and enjoy his ribs.  He cooks them in the oven and on the grill with different variations of seasonings and bar-b-que sauce on different slabs of  pork.

I personally love grits.  Always have and always will love them better than even oat meal.  I can eat grits with lots of added ingredients such as, mayo, bacon, sausage and egg.    I had never eaten grits and shrimp before until recently.  They were introduced to me by my youngest daughter.    She and her family had the dish in a recent visit to a restaurant called: "Cornbread And Caviar."  She claimed it was wonderful.  Although, she said her husbands' crab cakes, a chef specialty, were superb.

 I just had to try cheesy grits and shrimp.  My husband always makes shrimp scampi.  It was so easy for him to cook the cheesy grits separately, then add them to the shrimp scampi.  I ate a hugh portion of  both and my taste buds were asking for more.   I was in heaven.  My two favorite foods combined were perfect comfort foods during the January blizzard of 2016.
Take care and keep the faith,
Your friend, Cooky (aka Lora) :) 

My Favorite Potato Soup Recipe

Below is my favorite potato soup recipe created a few years ago.  Since then, I have made it several times and added different ingredients such as cabbage and cooked ham instead of chicken.  

It started with a large bowl of thinly sliced potatoes now sitting in cold water in the frig.   I had tried making microwave potato chips from a pinterest recipe the night before.  Although the chips turned out fairly good - nothing beats good old store-bought potato chips. Incorporating them into a nice pot of soup sounded like a plan. Normally, I used chunks of potatoes.  However, these slices were sturdy because of the soaking and would not fall a part or crumble.  Starting with half and half milk, butter, spices, I threw in a few vegetable and chicken stock. After the soup simmered for about twenty minutes, cooked, chopped, breast of chicken was thrown in.  Of course, these ingredients can be easily modified and substituted with your favorite meat/vegetables and seasoned to taste.

Cream Of Potato Soup 
With Chicken & Vegetables 

 4-5 large potatoes (thinly sliced and soaked in cold water overnight)
1 Quart of Half & Half Milk  (Milk is ok but less flavorful)
4-5 cups of chicken broth (I used homemade stock)
1 cup of thinly sliced and chopped carrots
1 cup of thinly sliced celery and onions (minced)
1 cup of frozen green peas and 1 cup of frozen corn
1  half a stick of butter
1 dash Dill
1 dash Oregano
1 dash Basil

Spices Included: 1/4 teaspoon of basil, dill, bay leaf, half a teaspoon of old bay seasoning.  You can add a pinch of oregano, sage, thyme, garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste.   Of course, you can add or tweak the recipe to suit your own taste by adding your own favorite ingredients. Finally,  add  2 tablespoons of flour dissolved in a half cup of cold water to the soup to thicken it a bit.   Let it simmer for another 10 minutes, cool and enjoy this creamy deliciousness !

Keep the faith, your friend
Lora (aka Cooky :)

Merry Christmas Coming This Way

Holiday Ribbons And Bows:
I found this pattern on Pinterest the other day.  It makes a beautiful paper bow for placing on Christmas presents or anywhere.  My first bow from this pattern was so pretty, I had to copy the pattern onto my computer for later use. Directions: On the top piece, curl one side at a time toward the middle and secure it.  Attach it to the second piece. Wrap the third piece around the middle and secure it.  That's it.
I'm not sure, if it will work on cloth-type ribbon.  I will try some wide ribbon and let you know.
Everyone is getting excited about Santa Clause around this time of December.    The madness of black friday and cyber monday have passed easing tension caused by those shopping frenzies.

    My son and his wife hit a few stores and succeeded in procuring a few  surprises for their two teenage sons and daughter.  The boys are not so easy to shop for.  Give them anything technical and expensive and they are good to go.    Their daughter, is serving in the Army in Germany at this very moment. She is so easy to please.  Mom and Dad keep her well supplied with goodies and items from home. She loves the Army and traveling all over.  I really miss her and hope that she can come home on leave one of these days.

  I found out last week that my little Canon copier can do way more than originally thought.  It can spit out beautiful photo cards in minutes with the "My Image Garden" appt that comes installed with it. Any color or size font,  quite a few templates to choose from for every occasion.  Its user friendly and it will arrange the cards automatically if you want.  It will also make suggestions with one push of a button.  So easy, now that I have figured it out.    Well, take care folks and enjoy this time of year now, because it goes so quickly.

Christmas Is Almost Here 2015

I love the true meaning behind Christmas.  I don't care for consumer driven holidays.  Youth keeps it going for sure. Nothing is sacred anymore.

 Traditions that families have privately shared for decades, is now broadcast all over the world. Good traditions are discussed right up there with all the murders, crime and disasters by news people. Anchors beat a dead horse to death in my opinion. Every channel seems to be competing with each other for ads, news updates and public attention.

 Just like football announcers. The former football stars or announcers talk excessively all through the games about anything and everything to do with players, the statistics including where they went to college, family, injuries, and much more about each player and play.  So much yada one has to turn the volume down to enjoy the game. 

The news people discuss even the most microscopic details for every holiday. No leaf is left upturned, especially  for Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

The TV is now controlled by advertisements on every channel. One has to flip the channels and listen to the few lines actors say between the ads.  It is hard to listen to so many ads.   Who can afford all that stuff advertised?  Not me and millions like me.  Our paychecks do not go up, although the prices of food and everything else has gone up.


 

"Happy Thanksgiving"

It is time once again for our Thanksgiving holiday season and all it entails.  We have so many things and people in our lives to be grateful for,   Sometimes,  it is a hard fact to realize, that there is so much hunger and anger in this world with not to much we can do about it.  Yes, every little bit helps though.

 The least we can do, is to give back to our communities and special people in our lives with donations to local food banks and charities.   Perhaps to "pay it forward,"  is a good way of describing a way that, we can personally help others.    Sometimes special people stand out in our lives who give more than expected. 

My husband and I are especially grateful for one of these persons.  Today, he brought over a box full of  assorted foods and groceries including a plump turkey.  That thoughtful deed of sharing with us is not the first time he has done that.  There have been many times before, when he was thoughtful enough to share his bounty of  food with us and many others.    We truly have appreciated his many gifts.    Life has not been easy for him and his wife. They have very little themselves.  However, sharing with others is what they always do.

A gift of food is right up there with gifts of kindness, love and thoughtfulness in my book.  I am grateful for all God's Blessings.    By His Hands we all are fed, thank you, God for this our daily bread. Amen.

Is The Joy Out Of Christmas?

Are the holidays bringing you joy or leaving you exasperated?  They don't even say the word "Christmas" anymore to label Jesus' Birthday.  It is called "The Holidays". Guess that is what they are calling Thanksgiving and New Years Day as well.    Maybe days off will soon change to all of them being called just that, a plain old holiday.

I was glad to hear and see that teens, young adults and lots of older people were celebrating Halloween. It is not just for little children anymore.  We take every opportunity to have a day off to celebrate something or another.   I am sure everyone will also celebrate Christmas even though it is just a holiday according to some.  I notice that the television news folks, just laugh and accept the new terms like they do everything else.  Why don't they take a stand on some issues?  This seems to be a good one to start with.  Make it right and don't accept those that say it is just another holiday season.  Wonder what is going to happen to Easter ??  Keep the faith.

November - 2015

Hello Folks:

Happy Veteran's Day to all our Vets out there.  I believe the Vet Hospitals should do something about their poor service to our Vets.

 Several important happenings this Fall season for us  One thing important is that, it's open season for health insurance.  In addition, Veteran's Day comes along with its many sale-brochure mail outs. End of golf and baseball happens as well. Our favorite shows are now repeats.    

 Open season OPM folks have added "member +one"  if you choose to elect that insurance, versus member + family coverage.  That is of course, if you have more than one dependent.     I spent better part of the morning the other day, going over and over dozens of informational pages regarding the different scenarios of  health insurance related matters.  I did not want to spend money to get the proffered comparison tool, much less, give them my card to pay for it.  I had to read through pages and pages of yadda at their site in order to squeak out the parts that pertained to my family. .  So many twists and turns getting to the underlined addresses.  It's hard to find the exact answer to whatever question you want answered.  When you finally find the stuff you want to know...well it's written in "general" terms versus specific terms. Then they have the audacity to want you to rate whether the question was answered or not.   I wish it were simpler.

Veteran's Day is to honor our Vets in some way or form. Why can't stores do something nice for our veterans rather than being so consumer oriented to get that almighty dollar.  Merchants Veteran Day sale papers come in the mail by the pound.  These sales and products look no different than any other holiday sale.  The exception is, that  the prices have been raised to make you think its a last-chance sales event.  There is no change from everyday since, sales occur in every store, and flyers come every day in the mail. 

November marks the end of the baseball and golf seasons as well.  The Kansas City Royals
won the world series as rightly they should. The first win since thirty some years they say.
They played awesome baseball and looked liked they enjoyed every minute of each game
against the NY Mets.

Golf dwindled down the last few tournaments with the younger players managing
super-wonderful wins. Ricky Fowler, McElroy, Speath, and Day won every so easily.
Bubba Watson hung in there as well.  Gosh it was great watching all the young energizes
players winning over and over again.  I will miss golf this winter.


Thank goodness for late night shows.  Take a long nap during the day so you can stay up and watch the four young men hosting these late night shows.  Two new, young British guys taking the place of  David Letterman, whom I miss terribly and Ferguson's late late show.   Jimmy Kimble, Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon are a must see. Even if its only to see their sweet young, smiling faces.  They are all our friends that entertain us in our own living rooms each night.

In summary,  it is on to football, hockey and basketball with a few good shows thrown in between.
Television and cable offer  new movies and productions, however, they introduce them slowly during the months ahead,  filtering in a few  new shows monthly in between the reruns.   Thank goodness, the Brown Family is coming on again.  At least their struggles are so much worse than our own, the show actually makes me feel good, especially when they triumph over bears and everyday alerts.  Good Luck, to them this new season.  I did read that a bear broke into their house causing havoc and breaking out a window.   In addition, I hope at least one of the boys finds a soul mate... However, bears scare me to death.... 
It is going to be a long, cold winter. 

Fall Television - Oct 14, 2015

Cooler weather, perfect temperatures during the day and at night.  Still running the air conditioner part of the day. Seeing many of my family members going to pumpkin patches and grand kids playing softball and baseball.    Baseball and golf seasons are almost over for the year.  Cold weather games begin...

I will miss my favorite baseball announcer, Bob Carpenter and FP (Frank Peter Santiago) for the Nationals.  Their voices are soothing and so nice to listen to. They don't shove every bit of detail down your throat like others do.  And, they are most interesting to watch and listen to.  After all, Bob Carpenter did win best announcer in Baseball last year.  He deserves it so much.  FP  is charming and well versed to say the least. Both are handsome young fellars and good family men. 
 I really find the football announcers most annoying.   So many more sports now than ever before it seems.  Many of the  announcers for the games are loud and obnoxious. There are so many announcers covering the sport teams.  There is pregames and post games and lots in between.    Wow, to much talk and comparisons.    All announcers, and there are so many of them at once, competing to get the last word in regarding every play and every player.  Do we really need to know each player's life history and injuries??  The announcers tell you microscopic details.  It's as annoying as those television commercials.    All I want to do is relax and watch a good sports game.  Doesn't matter which sport.  Just give me a little peace and quiet at these games.   However, the announcers are loud, sometimes screaming with excitement, when there is a touchdown or goal made. I guess they are trying to drum up some excitement for television viewers, as well as, audiences.

I hope the Mets get the win for the trophy of best team in all.    They beat the Nationals easily during their three days of play. They deserve to win it all.   There will be endless games all through the week and weekends from now until the Superbowl, then months beyond January.    I can't keep up with them like I used to when younger.  My hubby stays glued to the sports channels.   Give me the slower pace of
golf anytime over these body-clashing sports games.
Keep the faith, Your Friend,
Cooky :)

Happy Halloween - 2015

I love this time of year, when leaves are turning gypsy colors and the weather has turned colder.  The nights seem long; and television has a few new good shows. Fall and Autumn are exciting and
are a perfect prelude into Thanksgiving and on into Christmas. Family time with cooking and gift giving are a wonderful tradition for all. Including animals.
 My cats don't like going outside, when its cold or
when it is raining.  I wonder how they will react when it snows.  Our Doggy does not mind cold
weather at all.

We all should remember our wild animals and birds in the winter.  They need extra seeds, nuts, fruit and bread during the coldest weather.  I remember, when we fed the swans. that came up to our dock for handouts.  One winter two, a male and female, came to shore because of the ice on the river.  We threw them bread which the male grabbed first bite.  He then sweetly turned to the female and gave her his piece of bread.  The next spring, the same swans came back to visit with their group of little swans following behind. Enjoy this season.  Remember to thank God for his abundant love and gifts of nature.

Take care, and keep the faith,
Your Friend, Cooky :)

2015 Fall Fun In The Mountains of Luray, VA

The weekend Halloween-fall festivities at Jelly Stone Camping Park, near Harper's Ferry and Luray in the Blue Ridge mountains, are about to begin in October.  Three weekends of fun are provided by the park.  These times are jam packed with those who usually booked  a year in advance.  However, you can go there just to visit friends also.  You pay by the car load.    Lots of  happy campers and kids in the club house and outside completing fun activities such as hay rides and decorating pumpkins.

Many campers decorate their site in various Halloween fashion trying to win the prize provided by the park for the best site.  In believe there is a contest for kids in costume.    The weather varies from being mild to very cold some years. So be prepared to build a campfire.    Leaves go swirling and floating around in their beautiful fall, gypsy colors and the excitement is catching.  Folks are happy and pleasantly festive during these three weekends when the park is open for this celebration.  Many book their site a year in advance like my family does.    If you are lucky enough to get an electric cart to ride its easier on the knees for us oldies.  Cabins are available that accommodate families who stay together in a row.   Grand kids, cousins, all end up sleeping in the cabin and watching tv, with a lovely fire and relative comforts of home.

 My granddaughter's October birthday was celebrated at Jelly Stone Park one year on one of these nice mild weekends.     I couldn't make it for the last few years because of my health.  I did send lots of treats and presents for all of the grands.  Seven last time I counted.  The campfires are warm and welcoming and being outside when its mild is so great.  The mountain air is fresh and clean.  The colors are spectacular.
Even the drive up there passing by and through the mountains is usually a feast for the eyes and well worth the trip.   Sorry I'm going to miss it this year because my ole arthritis is acting up but...maybe next year.

September Glories 2015

It is a hazy, September morning, as the sun rises higher over the tree tops, slowly engulfing all that is left of the summer of 2015's morning glory flowers.  They grow along the rail of my small deck looking so beautiful during mid-summer, autumn and fall.  I love peering at the blue flowers from my window and out my front door.  They have a calming effect as they brighten the deck.

I am glad to be alive to see them blooming another year, because my health has been poor this year.  I sit in my wheelchair by the propped-open storm door, watching my dear hubby, as he takes the last few pictures of the them.  Actually, most of the pictures turned out blurry when downloaded to my computer.   I didn't have the heart to pull him away from his Sunday paper to ask him to redo them.  He tries so hard.  I told him they were good enough, when he asked how they turned out.  I am lucky to even be alive and able to enjoy the lovely flowers this year because of bad health.

The end of the 2015 season is upon us.  The kids will start school the day after labor day around here. With the change in the weather, 60 degrees today, these lovely morning flowers won't be around much longer.  They have already begun to turn brown and have small holes in the leaves from bug bites.  No matter how much you spray, the bugs always seem to get to the leaves.  Very soon after the sun rises higher in the sky, the flowers close tight against the hot rays and do not open again until the next morning. When winter arrives, the flowers will have turned to seed pods sitting on gnarled, brown vines.  If we leave them alone and don't cut them down, the seeds will fall to the earth below and come up, in full bloom, next summer.  However, since the empty vines look so dismal,  cutting them down seems to be the appropriate action, along with fall pruning of my two lovely rose bushes.   However, some of the seeds will make the fall-to-earth around the outside of my deck and endure the winter, to become lovely flowers enjoyed next year.

Everyone should get outside and enjoy those beautiful  gypsy colors of orange, red, and gold, that will soon be falling from the trees.  Take care, always, your friend, Cooky :).

May Rewards

10.  May Rewards:  Wow, flowers blooming everywhere. The grass needing cutting already?  The rainy and cool days off and on.  Birds are chirping early in the mornings.  Still dreaming of the kind of weather that we say: "Aww,  its so nice outside, just a perfect day."  Almost grilling time outside.  Love it, love it, when its nice outside.

Do you believe the foot of snow dumped on Denver?  What a mess that must be.
Memorial Day is fast approaching - pools and beaches will begin there summer crowds and all that goes with them.  My oldest daughter is heading to the beach that weekend.  She can hardly wait to see the ocean and sand dunes of  Nags Head.
Keep the faith

Potato Soup

Below is my favorite potato soup recipe created a few years ago.  Since then, I have made it several times and added different ingredients such as cabbage and cooked ham.

It started with a large bowl of thinly sliced potatoes now sitting in cold water in the frig.   I had tried making microwave potato chips from a pinterest recipe the night before.  Although the chips turned out fairly good - nothing beats good old store-bought Lays potato chips. Incorporating them into a nice pot of soup sounded like a plan. Normally, I used chunks of potatoes.  However, these slices were sturdy because of the soaking and would not fall apart or crumble. 


Starting with half and half milk, butter, spices, I threw in a few vegetable and chicken stock. After the soup simmered for about twenty minutes, cooked, chopped, breast of chicken was thrown in.  Of course, these ingredients can be easily modified and substituted with your favorite meat/vegetables and seasoned to taste.

Cream Of Potato Soup 
With Chicken & Vegetables 

 4-5 large potatoes (thinly sliced and soaked in cold water)
1 Quart of Half & Half Milk (more or less to taste)
4-5 cups of chicken stock or broth (I used homemade stock)
1 cup of thinly sliced and chopped carrots
1 cup of thinly sliced celery and onions (minced)
1 cup of frozen green peas and 1 cup of frozen corn
1 Quarter stick of butter

Spices Included: 1/4 teaspoon of basil, dill, bay leaf, half a teaspoon of old bay seasoning, plus pinch of oregano, sage, thyme, garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste. If, I had Allspice, it would have probably been included.  Not sure if it would have changed the taste. Of course, you can add or tweak the recipe to suit your own taste by adding your own favorite ingredients. Finally,  add  2 tablespoons of flour dissolved in a half cup of cold water to the soup to thicken it a bit.   Let it simmer for another 10 minutes, cool and enjoy this creamy deliciousness !

Keep the faith, your friend
Cooky