Lucia Flips a Nickel (or something like that)

Lucia turns five today, and I can't help but go back in my mind to the day she was born. Time passes amazingly fast, and on milestone days like this, I'm especially reminded just how quickly it goes.

The very first photo I took of Lucia.

I've probably spent two hours this afternoon going back through old blog posts with a "Lucia" tag on them - I actually started with the very first one - reading snippets here and there and watching her change from fresh newborn baby to joyful little girl through the many, many photos of her I've taken and posted here over the years. And there are a LOT of them...

At one point last week I got the idea to pull together a birthday photo book with "The Very Best of Lucia Nell Vernon - Birth to Age Five" but was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number of photos and her fast approaching birthday. I might still be able to make the photo book happen - I mostly need the help of an editor - and I figure as long as I get it done by the time she turns six, it'll still count.

We celebrated Miss Lu's birthday this past Saturday. In the morning Lucia had a "paint your own pottery" party with about a dozen of her friends at Third Coast Clay at The Factory in Franklin, which was an ideal location. Each of the children painted a Christmas ornament, and when they were finished, they enjoyed the cupcakes and other refreshments Sis provided. Third Coast's large, private room came with an assistant to walk the children through the steps in the ornament decorating process, make sure that they had the paints they needed, and keep that part of the party on-track. Mom, Dad, Jack, and I also painted, but we selected bowls to decorate, and quite frankly, we had every bit as much fun as the kids did. Jack and I are both pretty excited about seeing how our creations turned out, but we have to wait a week for them to be fired and picked up by Sis.

There was an impromptu visit with Santa while at The Factory.

Later on in the afternoon, the family got together for a lovely birthday dinner at the Baby House, complete with a beautiful and delicious cake from good friend, Shelli Williams of the Smithville Sweet Shop.

Lu requested that her cake be decorated with "a fruit bowl full of fruit" in homage to a painting Mom did years and years ago, which currently hangs in Sis' kitchen. The colors are bright and vibrant on kind of a chocolate-brown background, and that's what Lu picked for her birthday cake. No, it's not your normal five year old's birthday cake, but then again, Lucia isn't your normal five year old when it comes to things like that.

We wrapped up the day with Lucia opening her presents and celebrating together the wonderful gift of family.

Lu's Birthday Party - December 7, 2013

Lu's Birthday Party - December 7, 2013, a set on Flickr.

Here's the full set of photos from Lucia's birthday parties on Saturday.

Our First Josie-versary

December 4, 2012.

I had errands to run. I was already late, because all-too-often that's how I roll. Dad was waiting for me to either drop something off or pick something up at the farm. The bank would close in less than an hour. I'd left home without the grocery list, a realization I made around the same time I noticed that my shirt was inside-out. My mind was churning on about a hundred different things as I sped along one of my favorite stretches of country road.

Then I saw the dog. It was running up the center of the road about a hundred yards ahead of me, and as I slowed down to approach her, a car topping a hill from the opposite direction came within inches of  hitting her.

"WATCH OUT, PUPPY!" I yelled to the empty interior of the car.

The dog turned and headed toward the ditch but quickly jumped back into the road, and I could see that she was dragging something - a leash or a wad of weeds... She darted side to side to get away from the end of whatever-it-was, which was whipping back and forth around her front feet as the loose end bounced around on the pavement.

Realizing that the dog was in trouble, I pulled into a convenient driveway and stopped the car.

"Here, puppy," I called once I'd parked and opened the door. "Come, let me see about you."

The dog, an obvious hound, trotted toward me, sniffed my hand, and jumped across my lap into the passenger seat. 

I promise you, the very last thing I was prepared to deal with that afternoon was a lost dog, but animals in trouble hit one of those soft spots in my heart, and as I looked over at her, I had no choice but to help her. The thing she'd been dragging was a strand of Christmas lights, which, for whatever reason, had been tied to her collar.

I petted her for a few moments. "Do you have a tag? No, of course you don't have a tag. Having a tag would make things entirely too easy."

As soon as we were underway, she jumped into the back seat, made herself comfortable, and promptly passed out.

I zoomed through a quick visit with Dad and explained that I didn't have time to explain when he spotted the "beagle dog" looking out the window of my car. I finished my errands with just enough time to swing by our vet's office to have her scanned for a microchip. 

"No microchip, but she's been spayed," the vet assistant said, pointing out the small green tattoo on the dog's belly.

Before leaving the parking lot at the vet's, I snapped a photo, the one at the top of this post, and shared it on FaceBook, thinking that this adorable dog likely had a family and that they'd soon be worried about her.

Arriving at home, I had some explaining to do - mostly to our pets - about the little hound-doggie and why she was camping out with us...

Jack (who has his very own soft spot for animals in trouble) and I initially hoped we'd be able to find the dog's owners, but the more we discussed the situation, the more troubled we were that she was dragging a string of Christmas lights down the road. Despite that, in consideration of what we'd been through when Moose was stolen and knowing that her real owner might not be the person who tied her up with a string of lights, we left her photo and our contact information available online.

In the days to follow, we only received one call about her, and as soon as the redneck on the other end of the line gave the wrong answer to the "Has she been fixed?" question, I thanked him for his interest and hung up the phone.

Thinking that another dog would be too much, we contacted a rescue organization, but by the time they got back in touch with us, Josie had a name, dog and cat friends, a new collar with a tag, an official record at our vet's office, and a forever home in plenty of time for Christmas. 

Happy Josie-versary!!

Smoky Mountain Breakfast

After posting about my 1983 trip to National 4-H Congress, I began reminiscing online with some of my fellow delegates (thank you, FaceBook), and the memories came flooding back.

One thing that has stuck with all of us over the years is the famous (or infamous) "Smoky Mountain Breakfast," which was routinely served at one of the opening sessions at Tennessee State 4-H Congress and certain other special occasions. Most of us had heard about it from our older 4-H friends and extension agents, but even those kids from East Tennessee who'd lived their whole lives in the actual Smoky Mountains had never eaten it before.

The first time I ever experienced Smoky Mountain Breakfast was in 1980 at the Downtown Sheraton in Nashville, which hosted the annual event. Seven o'clock in the morning is already early enough for most teenagers, and a lot of us had stayed awake entirely too late the night before. As we sat there in a banquet room, discovering the medicinal quality of morning coffee, the wait staff began delivering plates of the most delightfully insane breakfast in the whole world - creamed, chipped beef over a baked potato.

Unlikely as the combination might sound for breakfast, it was wonderful - hot, creamy, savory. Jokes abounded - it's Shit on a Spud - but those of us in that breakfast room saw it as a rite of passage, and we ate it.

That trip to Chicago in 1983, when delegates from all across the country were treated to "Tennessee Breakfast," was the last time I had it, and in the process of reminiscing, I found myself suddenly hungry for Puke on a Potato.

This morning memory lane led me to the kitchen, and I introduced Jack to Smoky Mountain Breakfast.

Smoky Mountain Breakfast

4 medium or 2 large baked potatoes, piping hot

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1.5 cups warm half-and-half

1 3-ounce pouch dried, chipped beef (Kroger has the best - it's near the lunch meat edited 07/2020 Bresaola, which is an Italian-style dry cured lean beef is the absolute MMMM of the dried beef options, but use what you can find), cut into strips

A pinch of cayenne pepper

A dash of black pepper

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add flour all at once and whisk to form a roux. Continue whisking constantly until the roux becomes a rich, golden color - about 4 - 5 minutes. Add the strips of beef and whisk them around briefly. Slowly whisk in the half-and-and half. Increase heat to medium-high, keep stirring (at this point I'd switched to a slotted spoon instead of a whisk, but that's just me), and allow the mixture to come to a boil. It will quickly thicken at this point, so be ready. Remove from heat. Stir in cayenne and black pepper. Serve over piping hot baked potatoes. 

Enjoy!

Blast from the Past

Thirty years ago today, I made my first trip to Chicago as a delegate to National 4-H Congress.

On this very night in 1983, Martha Jo Tolley stood in front of a group of hick kids from the sticks of every corner of Tennessee and taught us how to use complicated silverware, break apart and butter a "Yankee Hard Roll", and represent our state in a way that celebrated our accomplishments as Tennessee 4-H'ers without embarrassing anybody.

The Tennessee delegation walked sixteen blocks from the Conrad Hilton Hotel to a supper club, where national winners received orange corsages or boutonnieres and the rest of us received white ones.

Before returning to the hotel, we were herded into elevators at the Sears Tower, which, at that time, was the tallest building in the world, and observed the contrast of bright lights/big city with the unending twinkle of the surrounding suburbia.

I remember thinking of home as I looked out into the distance, wondering how many families were putting up trees or decorating for the other winter holidays. Mind you, during this time in my life, I was  really fascinated by Jewish boys...

My time with the people in this picture was magical, even though many of their names don't come to mind after all these years. We shared something special and wonderful, and for the memories of this experience, I am forever grateful.

A Food Post: Beef Stroganoff

When cold weather starts rolling in around this time every year, people have different ways of coming to accept it. For Jack and Pam at the Lake, the fall to winter transition means several things, not the least of which is the arrival of comfort food season, and this week we prepared one of our very favorite chilly weather dishes: beef stroganoff.

I remember eating beef stroganoff when I was growing up and always enjoyed the tender beef and creamy sauce over egg noodles. The dish my family ate when I was a child didn't have mushrooms, but as an adult, the stroganoff I've come to expect includes a generous number of them.

Beef Stroganoff dates back to 1861, when the recipe for Govjadina po-strogonovski s gorchitseju (beef a la stroganov with mustard) appeared in Elena Molokhovet's classic Russian cookbook, "A Gift to Young Housewives." 

Interestingly enough, the original recipe, like my mother's, doesn't have mushrooms OR onions. The dish consists of lightly floured cubes of beef, browned in fat and braised in broth until the beef is tender. After braising, the dish is finished by removing the liquid, mixing it with sour cream and mustard, and returning it to the cooked meat to create a tangy, creamy sauce.

After the fall of Imperial Russia, beef stroganoff began appearing on the menus of restaurants throughout Europe and Asia. and during World War II, it became a favorite for American servicemen stationed abroad. Soldiers brought home stories and recipes, and by the middle of the 20th century, beef stroganoff had become a true "American classic."

Food history tells us that mushrooms and onions were added to the recipe around 1912, when a cooking contest challenged competitors to improve upon the original stroganoff recipe. Over the years Italians added tomato sauce, and versions of the dish served in Japan were frequently braised in miso and served over rice instead of noodles. In Scandinavian countries stroganoff came to include their traditional sausages of reindeer meat, and the dish remains popular in the Middle East and Mediterranean as a way to prepare goat or lamb, using yogurt instead of sour cream for the sauce.

For our beef stroganoff, Jack and I used a variation of Martha Stewart's recipe:

• 2 pounds beef chuck, cut into strips (appx. 1/2 inch thick and 3 inches long)
• 1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
• 1 pound white mushrooms, quartered
• Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• Cooked egg noodles (for serving)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium high heat until hot. Add beef, mushrooms, and onions and saute until meat is brown and the mushrooms and onions begin to sweat. Add 2 cups of water, cover, and cook in preheated oven for 2 to 2.5 hours until beef is tender.

When that's finished, take it out of the oven. In a large mixing cup (at least 2 cups) or medium sized mixing bowl, whisk cornstarch together with 2 tablespoons of cold water. Ladle about 1 cup of the cooking liquid from the Dutch oven into the cornstarch mixture and whisk until smooth. Transfer this mixture into a small saucepan and heat to a boil. Stir mixture for about one minute, until it begins to thicken. Once it begins to thicken, stir it back into the Dutch oven with the meat, mushrooms and onions. Add sour cream and mustard. Stir until sauce is creamy, and serve hot over egg noodles.

With the addition of a couple of brown 'n serve rolls, I can't tell you how delicious this meal was. I should have taken a picture, but I didn't. I was ready to eat.

And if you don't have time to make beef stroganoff in the oven at the end of a long work-day, here's a link to the same basic recipe using a slow-cooker. 

http://www.marthastewart.com/336714/beef-stroganoff

Prep your ingredients the night before, throw them together in the morning, and when dinner time rolls around, all you have to do is boil some noodles and finish the sauce to have a tasty, satisfying, home-cooked feast.

Chow!

Bea's Christening

Greetings! I hope the latter part of November finds you all well and good and embracing the spirit of the Thanksgiving season.

Jack and Pam at the Lake have been staying busy with annual "leaf patrol", which when you live in the woods is a lot like an exercise in futility until the limbs on the beech trees are empty. Jack and his leaf blower have made countless, daily sweeps across the yard, and our compost pile is the size of a two-car garage right now, yet we still have leaves EVERYWHERE. We'll get there - it just takes awhile. 

Little Beatrice got christened this past weekend, so we tripped over to join the family at Franklin First United Methodist Church for the festivities, and despite wet, nasty weather, it was a beautiful day. The congregation at the church is friendly and welcoming, the minister is a great speaker, and the church's gorgeous, historic sanctuary exactly what you'd expect to find in the middle of one of the most beautiful little towns in Tennessee. 

Both girls were on their best behavior, but as soon as the actual christening part of the service was over, Beatrice was tired of excitement and snugged up with Sis for the kind of power nap most adults I know can only wish to have.

Before the passing of the collection plates, I looked down at Lucia, who sitting by me, quietly playing with a few small toys provided by the church for children to "borrow" during services, and asked, "Do you have any money to put in the pan?"

Not missing a beat, she looked up at me and whispered, "Pammy, I don't have any money;" she held up a small stuffed bear and a mini Magna-Doodle. "This isn't even my stuff."

Luckily her daddy had some to spare, and she got to pitch something into the kitty.

After church we had a delicious lunch from The Franklin Chop House. To avoid waiting in line or dealing with cranky, hungry girls - present company included - we got take-out, and I was surprised at how hot and tasty the food still was when it arrived at The Baby House. My meatloaf with brown gravy was not quite as good as Jack's homemade, but it still gets an hearty thumbs-up from me, and the mashed potatoes were scrumptious. Jack gave his hickory fired pork chops high marks, and Sis' chicken fingers looked fantastic, but the next time I have a chance to eat food from Franklin Chop House, I'm going to follow Lucia's lead and go with the fried fish - and okra instead of green beans. As good as everything was, she had the tastiest-looking plate at the table.

Sis ordered a beautiful cake to celebrate the occasion, and when time for dessert rolled around, Mom and Dad's sweet "Franklin neighbors", the Covingtons, joined us. If I forget between now and next Thursday, let me just say that I am thankful that my parents have Debbie, Jim, and Matt in their lives and across the street when they're at their home-away-from-home. 

Hair down.

Lucia also drew a cake - "Happy Baptism Baby Bea" was the name of her artwork, and it was great. There were exciting candles and some most-excellent uppercase "B's". I was tasked with supervising Lucia while she used the grown-up scissors. Mom's parting words after she handed them to Lu were, "Don't you cut your hair!"

Sudden flashback to my childhood - six years old and alone with scissors and hair falling down into my eyes. I shuddered and didn't take my eyes off Lu the whole time she was working on her project. I ended up finding a pony tail holder and improvising "braid of safety" before all was said and done.

Hair back with completed artwork.

Jack and I took some pictures, and the whole set is at this Flickr link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54684154@N02/sets/72157637822801773/

Mom pointed out that the first pictures are of Lucia, even though it was Beatrice's day - and I'll explain to everybody like I explained to her that when I put photos on Flickr, I keep them in the same order in which they were taken for organization's sake. I don't intend for it to be off-putting or confusing, but it helps me keep things in order. 

Unfortunately Chris' mother wasn't able to come to Tennessee and join us - Martha, we missed you!

A Baby House Visit

Fall is chugging right along, and since the last blog post, Jack and Pam at the Lake have become the proud owners of not one, but two, lovely pumpkins, so we're all set to celebrate Halloween in style. We haven't carved them yet, but both Jack and I are brainstorming some design ideas and will be pulling out our odd assortment of carving tools sometime in the next day or two. Stay tuned for photos in the next few days. You never know what we're going to come up with --

So... I'd been missing the little girls - and the big girls, too - and last week seemed the perfect time to trip myself over to the Baby House for a big, old dose of happy. Lucia was tickled to see me and glad to have me as a playmate, but poor Beatrice was in no mood for such nonsense. Her daddy was out of town at a week-long conference, and she was on the verge of sad already. Then, when Papa said, "Bye," to everybody and took off to come home to the farm shortly after my arrival, she hit the wall. Sweet baby loves her men-folk and misses them when they aren't around.

She's enough like Pammy, though, that a good nap can cure a bad disposition, and by the end of the day, she was smiling, showing me her puzzles, and mugging for the camera just a little bit.

Lucia and I made a pizza for everyone for dinner. Well... actually Jack did the hard part - he made the dough from scratch and sent it with me from home. Lucia and I put the pizza together. She grated the cheese like a champ with a real grown-up grater and did an excellent job dispersing the pepperonis onto the top of the pie. As far as she was concerned, making it was more fun than eating it, as she's recently decided that pizza isn't one of her favorite things, and no amount of including her in the process was able to change her mind. Beatrice, on the other hand, thought it was fantastic, and I scored that as a point in the win column.

Mom and Sis both loved it, too, as it was food they did not have to prepare after spending a long day with little children.

I didn't over-do it on the pictures this visit - I was too busy - but what good ones I did take are at this link:

Baby House 10/25/2013

October

We've officially hit fall, and I'm trying hard to convince myself that I'm ready for the change of seasons and impending cruise to winter, which begins this time each year with the nerve-rattling "BLAM-tink-tink-tink!" of the first acorn to hit our metal roof.

Football season alone almost gets me there, but some years I'm simply not ready for summer to be over, and no matter how exciting a game between Georgia and Louisiana State might be, I long for the scorch of a summer evening when darkness doesn't leave the starting gate until 9 o'clock, and the air is sweet with the scent of the invasive honeysuckle that's taken over one whole corner of the yard.

Maybe if I was one of those people, who sees each month as a new opportunity to recreate the theme of her home decor, I'd be a more willing participant in the change of seasons, but I'm not. I'm just not. No offense to those of you with an "occasions closet" and neatly organized boxes of tchotchkes for the spectrum of major, minor, and made-up holidays - I applaud you. I follow your boards on Pinterest and am amazed at the amount of creativity you commit to "National Stay-at-Home-Mom Month", which, I've learned, occurs each June and is celebrated with the colors of lavender and silver.

This time last year one of my facebook friends bought three hundred dollars' worth of pumpkins for the seasonal display in her front yard and had a different wreath to hang on her front door for each week in the month of October. There was the "Indian Corn" wreath, the candy corn wreath, and the homage to mini-gourds with hot pink breast cancer awareness ribbon. For the actual week of Halloween, she created a wreath with old baby-doll heads, mini-skeletons from Dollar Tree, Spanish moss, battery-operated LED lights, and a festoon of black velveteen ribbon. It was fancy. And creepy.

I grew up in a house where we carved a Jack O'Lantern for Halloween - well, we (as in Sis and me) didn't carve it; Dad carved it, because knives are dangerous, and pumpkins are full of yucky, weird-smelling stuff. Our Jack O'Lanterns weren't candle-powered like most still are to this day, because fire is dangerous, and Halloween costumes are flammable. Ours were lit by a 100 watt bulb dangled into the pumpkin by an length of old lamp wiring, because electricity is so much safer. Stuff like like that NEVER catches on fire.

The National Retail Foundation reports that in 2012, Americans spent $8 billion celebrating Halloween. Average spending on costumes, candy, and decorations is up 55% since 2005. Extending those numbers out to the entire "harvest" season and what is spent on straw, corn-shocks, dried corn, pumpkins, pots of chrysanthemums, and creepy yard sale baby doll heads makes the month of October as much of a spending holiday as the whole of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day.

Good, bad, or indifferent, that's the way things go.

As for Jack and Pam at the Lake; we'll carve a pumpkin, and maybe, just maybe, I'll buy some mums.

Mosquito Proof

Thanks, all, for the positive comments and nice e-mails about the last few blog posts. I appreciate you readers so much --

Yes, the photo at the top of the blog is a "simple as anything" citronella lantern. It's made from a Mason jar and a length of wicking. Nobody needs Pinterest for this shit. Drill a hole in a lid flat. Poke some lamp wicking up through it. Put citronella oil in a jar. Screw it all together. Wash your hands. Apply fire. 

Seriously, though. When it comes to mosquito control, Jack and I have found that letting our local spider population do their thing is as effective in enhancing our porch "bug protection" as anything, but when they need supplementation during this time of year, these citronella lanterns are perfect. 

Food Finds: Golden Eagle Mongolian Stir-Fry in Murfreesboro

This is my Yelp! review of Golden Eagle Mongolian Stir-Fry. After eating there with Sis and the little girls a few weeks ago, Jack and I have been back. Twice.

"Golden Eagle is a great place to have a casual meal in Murfreesboro. The ingredients are fresh, and being able to select exactly what you want your "bowl" to be is a nice concept.

The array of seasonings and spices one can include in his or her bowl is extensive and goes far beyond what would normally be expected in a fast-casual Asian joint, which means there really is something for everyone. 

I was a little surprised to see things like Italian seasoning, Alfredo Sauce, and rotini among the choices, but they provide opportunities for diners to express their individual "likes" and allow for a truly personal touch in fusion cuisine.

The Mango-Habernero sauce is hot as hell but has a delightful flavor. The Golden Thai sauce isn't  actually "golden", but it is thick, spicy, and delicious. My favorite of the sauces (so far) is the Honey-Garlic, supplemented with a squirt or two of the Golden Thai and a sprinkle of crushed, red chili flakes. 

Give Golden Eagle a try. It's a fun dining experience for either a casual date or a family meal. Kids eat free on Wednesday, and when I went there for dinner with my sister and her two young children, they were fascinated with watching their food be prepared with "broomsticks" (my niece's observation) on the big, round grill. 

Note: have a dollar or two to throw in the tip jar for the dudes who prepare your food.

Stack your bowl wisely, and you'll have enough leftovers for tomorrow's lunch. If that's your plan, spring for the extra starch ($1)."



http://www.goldeneaglestirfry.com/

A Visit to The Baby House

A Visit to The Baby House - 2013 August 21 & 22, a set on Flickr.

Because this seems to be "catch-up week" for Jack and Pam on the Lake, here's another new post and some awesome (if I do say so myself) photos from my last trip to The Baby House.

I hadn't seen the girls since July 4th weekend or however it fell this year, and really wanted to see them, so I took a mid-week trip to Franklin and had some great quality time with my favorite girls.

Beatrice, who took her first few stumbling steps at the farm during the July "Jamboree visit", is now fully afoot, and she's everywhere. She's smiling and laughing a lot more and seems less concerned about life in general than she has during her whole, sweet life. She loves flowers but decapitating them is way more fun than just smelling and looking at them.

In one particularly cute and funny moment during my visit, Beatrice was finally able to behead a small, yellow zinnia she'd been loving-on and went steam-rolling toward Papa, holding the mushy bloom in her little hand - "Got it! Got it! Got it!". I've never seen such a look of satisfaction on a baby's face.

Well, I don't guess she's really that much of a baby anymore -- based on the description I just provided, she's definitely moved into the beginnings of toddler-hood.

Now that she's barefootin' in the free-world, foot maintenance becomes a potential issue, but as you'll see in the photos, Papa is an expert at helping little girls deal with their toe jam. And sometimes it's hysterically funny.

Lucia is all smart and girl and conversation. I rode with Sis and the girls to Murfreesboro, because Sis and Lu needed haircuts, and on the drive home, Lucia's sleep-starved narrative included this gem:

"Well, my favorite thing, really, to talk about is me."

Her statement was followed by a dreamy giggle.

Girl knows how to be honest.

May she always be so...