Grandma's Kitchen Table

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  The Assyrian Empire by John Boardman   

LISTENING TO:  Tom Petty (a friend had the nerve to refer to it as "oh, the old tunes" and I am aghast)
SWIMMING NEWS:  High School Girls Sectionals today and tomorrow... Go Lady Greyhounds! 

COOKING BYTES:  Having a great time reading One Big Table and trying recipes from it...a history of regional cooking with personal stories and vintage photos and recipes.  

FAV NEW FIND:  It's February and that means one month closer to spring.  Be still my heart!

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  We had terrible weather this week, snow, ice, sleet, cold...that was NOT my favorite thing, but my favorite thing was that school was canceled for 3 days so I got to have Matt (and Mark for one of the days) home which was really nice...getting to spend time with the guys always a favorite thing.  And, in the photo above, taken yesterday, the icicles are starting to melt a bit...just a bit.

GOING TO:  Hang around the house this weekend...it's still cold and besides girl's swimming sectionals, Mass, choir, etc., am thinking this is a great weekend to stay in and watch Big Ten Basketball and a little thing called the Super Bowl.  IU beat the #21 team (Illinois) last week and the #20 team (Minnesota) this week, so just who knows how far the Hoos can really go this year?  Already better than we dreamed.  Hawks beat MSU which wasn't bad either.

PRAYING FOR:  All those facing surgery and recovery, please join me.

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  The Kingdom of the Hittites by Trevor Bryce   

LISTENING TO:  Fleetwood Mac
SWIMMING NEWS:  CSC Winter Invitational Swim Meet Friday-Sunday 

COOKING BYTES:  There has got to be an easier way to work with phyllo dough.  It drives me nuts.  I had to make something with it this week for FFwD and I had it break on me, had it rip and tear, had it fall apart, etc.  Every time I work with it, it frustrates me.  I am seriously thinking of getting a box and working with it non-stop for an afternoon, one application after another so that I can get the hang of it.  There has to be some sort of trick to it that I am not currently getting. 

FAV NEW FIND:  Just realized Monday is MLK day and Matt has the day off from school, which will be nice after a lot of choir and swimming commitments for him this weekend.  Yep, looking forward to Monday!

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Getting all the holiday decor put away and getting things back to normal around here, which always feels good, believe it or not.  I love the decorations, etc., but I also enjoy things getting back to everyday. 

GOING TO:  Three day swim meet, some choir commitments, and not much else as that should occupy most of the weekend...see you on the other side!

PRAYING FOR:  Prosperity, Health, and Happiness for all of you in 2011, please join me.



Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  One Big Table by Molly O'Neill   

LISTENING TO:  Bizet's opera Carmen
SWIMMING NEWS:  MIC meet this weekend 

COOKING BYTES:  It's always fun when a cookbook author visits your site and leaves you a nice note or emails you thanking you for cooking from their book(s)...had TWO notes this week, so that was fun.  

      And, it's always fun when one of your best friends drops by with leftovers from her party...cookies for the cookie loving guys that live here...thanks Katie W!

FAV NEW FIND:  Okay, don't laugh, but Swifter has a new dusting wand that covers top and bottom and sides, so if you are dusting between things, you don't have to flip it over to get the top, bottom, and sides.  Very nice.  It's the little things, you know.

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  It was fun to get back to school and see all the high school students and hear about their break and holidays.

GOING TO:  Take all the Christmas decor down (yes, it's still all up and I'm still enjoying it), Colts play Saturday, IU plays Sunday night, MIC swim meet on Saturday, a movie on Sunday, hopefully a Twitterbake/cook somewhere along the line...and probably tuck in as much reading as possibly on these cold days and cold dark nights.

PRAYING FOR:  Prosperity, Health, and Happiness for all of you in 2011, please join me.

Friday's Favorite Fare

READING:  My new Christmas gift cookbooks:  Ad Hoc by Thomas Keller, Thirty Minute Pasta by Giuliano Hazan, How Easy is That by Ina Garten   

LISTENING TO:  Billy Joel
SWIMMING NEWS:  Matt's enjoying the high school swim season. He had a great meet today and each senior boy got a blanket with his name on it (photo).  He was happy to get such a nice gift from the team. 

COOKING BYTES:  Need to get better organized in the new year to get all my blog-alongs on track...seems I have fallen behind here at the end of the year. 

FAV NEW FIND:  Hominy...who knew?  None of us had ever had it before the Ellie recipe this week.  Turns out, hominy is quite good.

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Vacation time with Matt and Mark.

GOING TO:  Celebrate the New Year and enjoy this weekend just moving wherever the wind takes me...Monday will come soon enough and then it's back to school and back to work for everyone here. 

PRAYING FOR:  Safe travel for all those going near and far for the holidays, please join me.

Friday's Favorites Fare

PHOTO:  Yearly photo of Matt and Ali at Angels Sing Concert.  The last one...at the end of the school year they graduate and will return to sing with the alumni for their annual yearly number at this concert, but it won't be the same ever again.  A lot of "lasts" this year.  I'm handling it tolerably well.  Sort of.  Okay, I admit, there were a few tears about this when they finished posing.

READING:  Christmas cards and letters!  While many a joke is made over yearly Christmas letters, I have to say, I absolutely love, love, love them.  All of them.   

LISTENING TO:  Christmas Music
SWIMMING NEWS:  Matt has an unprecedented three days off from swim practice...he is enjoying sleeping in and staying up late, a rare treat for him.  Three WHOLE DAYS...I wonder if he will still know how to swim at the end of it.  (Just kidding around about that part.)

COOKING BYTES:  We are officially desserted-out.  This happens every year actually, where the treats don't look like treats anymore.  It will pass, but I am not sure exactly when.  In the meantime, I am making dessert for tonight for Christmas Eve dinner here. 

FAV NEW FIND:  Matt and I went Christmas shopping on Tuesday and I didn't have one single panic attack about the crowds, the parking, the shopping, the whole business of it all.  It was nice to shop with Matt as he is very organized about it:  make a list, check it all off, don't browse around, get out as quick as possible, enjoy the moments, talk Mom into lunch out.

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Matt's Angels Sing concerts.  Here's a few links for those interested, those who aren't, just skip over all this part.  Matt is in the back row, center (there are two guys standing there, Matt is the one on the right as you face the screen, there is a short girl to his left).  Ali is in the front row, 7th from the left side.  These links are not to the televised version of the concert but rather just from one of the other parents' video camera, so quality is not excellent, but it is nice enough since you couldn't be there and all for the real deal, which was very very nice indeed.  The Shaws focus on their daughter, of course, but Matt is near enough to her that there is quite a bit of him as well.  He looks good in a tux, doesn't he...that huge chest from swimming does wonders for one's ability to sing and hold notes for a long time!  Here are the links to four songs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzC50B1oasY&feature=related   O Holy Night; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HBqLFCPWPs&feature=related  Celebrate Chanukah; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADEcg5FBWRk&feature=related  Gloria Fanfare; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1oJn8U89Pc&feature=related  Winter Wonderland

GOING TO:  Celebrate Christmas...we host Christmas Eve dinner, Mark's folks host Christmas Day dinner, etc., and there is Midnight Mass in between the two.  I think the shopping is all complete and wrapped, but going to recheck all the lists this morning just to be sure.  It doesn't matter who has been naughty and who has been nice, it's Christmas and everyone gets gifts!! 

PRAYING FOR:  Safe travel for all those going near and far for the holidays, for First Christmases and Last Christmases, for those serving our country who will not get to see Christmas at home with loved ones, please join me.
Photo is of Reyn (Matt's girlfriend), Matt, and Ali at Angels Sing Concert last Saturday night.  Reyn and Ali had been swimming at a meet for two days straight.  Ali was swimming, singing, and taking finals at school.  Matt was only singing and taking finals.  They are all happy to be on break from school.  Singing is on break until after the holidays.  And, they will all three be back in the water for swimming on Monday.  For all they manage to do, our hats are off to all three of them.  It's a pleasure to know them and follow around in their wakes!

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  Got a whole load of new things from the library...reading bits and pieces trying to decide where to start.   

LISTENING TO:  Christmas Music
SWIMMING NEWS:  Matt is at USA Swimming Nationals (no, I am not there as I've had the flu since Monday).  They left on Wednesday after school and they return Sunday afternoon.  This is a big deal.  A very big deal for a high school boy.  He could hardly stand it knowing that he was actually going and would be swimming in the same meet, in the same pool, at the same time, as the big names in swimming.  The best swimmers our nation has to offer.  College guys.  Olympians.  Matt Gerth.  Pretty amazing stuff.  He didn't care that he was going to be one of the youngest, and one of the last time-wise, etc., he was just so excited to go and BE THERE and have earned the right to be there with a National time cut.  He's done well.  Gets to bring home a new best time for the 50 Freestyle and swam a 100 Freestyle faster than he swam it at state last year, just a hair over his best time for that swim.  He also had three relays and is having a really great time just being there and running into the friends, fellow swimmers, coaches, etc. he has come to know through the years.  He gets to see his future teammates and coaches (Indiana University) compete and compete alongside them for the first time (although not as part of the team yet, still very fun to be at the same meet), and he gets to see Ryan Lochte in his green shoes up close and personal.  What's not to love about all of that?  We are somewhat proud of him...can you tell?  Good.

COOKING BYTES:  Snowy days like this are perfect for baking and watching the snow falling outside my kitchen window (photo above is just such a view)...no swimming down in that pool anytime soon.  Twitterbakes Saturday and Sunday.

FAV NEW FIND:  Several of my TWD baking pals had the opportunity to go to a book signing in Connecticut and meet Dorie Greenspan in person, have her sign their copies of her new book, Around My French Table, and have a great time wining and dining together.  It happened the same week that all the college swimming signing hoopla was happening around here, so I did not get to join in all the fun out there.  Since I missed all the fun, Nancy found a way to have the fun come to me...she sent me a signed copy with a personal note in it from Dorie for me, and crazy silly that she is, she photo-shopped me into the photo of all of them with Dorie at the signing.  How much fun is all of that???  Almost as much as being there...not quite, but very special nonetheless.  Thanks, Nancy!

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Well, I know what my not-so-favorite thing was this week:  I had the flu for five days.  I didn't think it was ever going to leave, so I have to say my favorite thing this week is that it has finally left and I am feeling well again.  I recommend you take a pass if it shows up at your place.  My favorite thing this week, is obviously, Matt swimming at USA Nationals for the first time.

GOING TO:  The guys are going to shovel snow and watch sports on tv, I plan to bake/cook, stay inside with a nice warm and cozy fire, watch Big Ten Basketball, watch Livestream of Matt at the USA Swimming Nationals, and do a few things around here that didn't get done when the flu was visiting and overstaying its welcome.

PRAYING FOR:  Two GCHS students battling cancer, Luke and Stuart...please join me.

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  Things on Sam Houston, don't ask...just got on a kick about something, his name came up, and I was off and reading on Sam Houston for some reason. Someone had to do it.   

LISTENING TO:  My friend Nancy doesn't care for some of my taste in music, so in her honor, it's all Mozart all day.  Better than Axl and Def?  Who's to say?

COOKING BYTES:  Tired of making desserts...it happens every year at some point, usually when everyone else is gearing up for lots of holiday desserts, and it has reached that point again this year...thinking this might need to be a dessert-free week or two. 

FAV NEW FIND:  Not necessarily a new find, but I love, love, love having Matt and Mark home for four days in a row...very relaxing and nice.

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Believe it or not, today we managed to get the house all decorated for the holiday season, so that feels lovely to have all that finished before the busy choir gigs, swimming gigs, and holiday festivities have us all running to and fro.  Matt's friend Reyn came over and helped decorate...photo is Matt and Reyn in front of the tree in the foyer.

GOING TO:  Spend time with family as Mark's family is all in town for the Thanksgiving holiday, so that means some sort of doings each day.  Swim practice and choir practice and Mass serving for Matt as well.  I might get some time to cook/bake.  Lots of Big Ten sports to watch...IU/Purdue tomorrow at noon, the Oaken Bucket game, IU hoops tonight but delayed broadcast until tomorrow, Hawks tonight live.  Might actually do some Christmas shopping.  Going where the wind takes me this weekend.

PRAYING FOR:  Safe travel for everyone on the road this holiday season...yes, especially you...please join me. 

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  Bits and pieces of a stack of things I have around here that I just wanted to read bits and pieces of...historical in nature, all of it.   

LISTENING TO:  Guns N Roses...it started with November Rain and then I just kept going as I have too many favorites to just pick one or two, yes, it's true.

COOKING BYTES:  Reading up on Afghan cooking for this month's My Kitchen My World...am thinking this one is doable.  Leslie, Margaret, and I are cooking Indian food every now and again together on Twitter, so photo is the shrimp curry and spicy cucumbers that we made last week...Naan was supposed to have accompanied it, but...well, I sort of forgot until it was too late to make it.  Weekends can be like that with a lot of ballgame action and all.

FAV NEW FIND:  It's college basketball season...always love college basketball season.

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Subbed at Guerin all week, which is always enjoyable for me.  This week was particularly fun as the football team became regional champs last week so this week they got to go to semi-state and the students are just so excited.  Little Bitty GCHS won a regional championship, what a fun thing for them all! Unfortunately they lost the semi-state game 20-22, a heartbreaker.

GOING TO:  Watch a lot of Big Ten Football and Big Ten teams in Basketball action, get caught up with cooking and baking since I have been out of the kitchen all week during the days, Pippin and Vash have vet appointments so two of us will wrestle them there and back, CHS Dad's Pancake breakfast for the boys on Saturday morning, a couple of Twitterbakes, getting the house ready for Thanksgiving next week (how did that get here so quickly??), and general bits of other things, maybe even get the outdoor Christmas lights put up while the weather is good even though we won't light them up until after Thanksgiving.  Matt loves to do those and he does a great job.

PRAYING FOR:  Kids with cancer...please join me. 

Friday's Favorites Fare: Signed, Sealed, To Be Delivered Next August

READING:  Various pieces on armistice for WWI...it seemed fitting for the week with Veteran's Day and all.

LISTENING TO:  Soundtrack from The Big Chill    

COOKING BYTES:  Getting caught up on various blog-alongs and guys are enjoying the food from it all.  It's my plan that when Matt goes off to college he wants to return home regularly for home cooking.

FAV NEW FIND:  Seven of the senior swimmers have committed to colleges for swimming and signed their letters of intent this week.  In photo at top:  Sam going to University of Kentucky; Lauren and Matt are going to Indiana University; Mike is headed to Iowa; Kiernan is going to swim at Xavier; leaving Rhiannon and Carly to apply their considerable swimming efforts up at Purdue.  I would say The Big Ten is being represented fairly well by this year's class of seniors with 5 of the 7 going to Big Ten schools.  Harrison committed to Princeton, and he is not pictured here as he goes to Brebeuf High School so his official signing was over there this week.  

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Watching Matt sign his letter of intent committing to Indiana University for college.  The "real" signing took place in our dining room at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, the first day of signing...once signed, it was faxed to the IU athletic department, and the original copy was sent to them by US Mail. 

      Then today, Friday, the high school had a "fake" official signing ceremony where the athletes all "signed" a blank piece of paper and have their photos taken as if they were actually signing, etc.  It was fun...the swimmers really enjoyed it.  Now it all seems real.  (Photos below:  The Three Boys: Kiernan, Matt, and Mike at the signing; Matt and Lauren both going to IU.)

GOING TO:  Watch the opening game tonight for IU Basketball season, so we are more than eager to have that getting underway, another game on Sunday, with the IU football game sandwiched between on Saturday at noon.  This time of year when there is both Big Ten Football and Big Ten Basketball going on, we tend to watch a lot of ballgames...no complaints here. 

PRAYING FOR:  Please join me in praying for cancer patients going through chemo and radiation...that all that pain and suffering brings favorable results.

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  Various pieces, parts of books, online things, etc. on the WWII Atlantic Charter and personalities participating therein.  Fascinating stuff.  I know what you are thinking, so just don't say it and be happy for me.

LISTENING TO:  Mellencamp    

COOKING BYTES:  The new Ina cookbook found its way to my doorstep but it is getting wrapped up for Christmas...I think.  That's the plan now anyway. Patience is a virtue, right?

FAV NEW FIND:  All the CSC Senior Swimmers committing to their various favorite college swim programs...so much fun to hear where they are all going to college.  Signing is next Wednesday...I know I will be so excited and I also know I will cry (tears of joy for all their successes and future endeavors and tears of sadness at the thought of all of them going different directions next year).   

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Carving jack-o-lanterns out of pumpkins as a family last Sunday...the last year we will all be together doing this.  (See above photo:  Alex, left, Mark, center, Matt, right.)

GOING TO:  One of those Speedo/Tux weekends....Matt has an IYC concert on Friday night, swimming on Saturday and Sunday mornings in our Fall Frenzy meet, which means parents work the meet as well as attend, then Matt has choir rehearsal again Sunday afternoon, and whatever else we can fit in between all of that.  Hoping to Twitterbake a couple of times over the weekend.  Oh, and the Hoosiers and the Hawkeyes play football at noon on Saturday...always love a HooHawk game.  (And, a sneak preview to my post who is going where to college next week, Mike V. has committed to Iowa to swim...so much fun for me to think of him there...definitely making a trip to see him swim in IC next year!)

PRAYING FOR:  Please join me in praying for troubled teens, might be the thing that keeps all their parents on this side of sanity.

Friday's Favorites Fare (on Saturday)

Matt and fellow CSC swimmer, Lauren J, during half-time at IU Homecoming football game today.  No, not a date, just good friends, Matt was at game, Lauren was down at IU on swim recruit visit, and the two had a great time at the game with others. 

READING:  The Shadows on the Rock by Willa Cather (Quebec 1697-1698) and One of Ours by Willa Cather (WWI 1914-1920).  These are the last two novels of Cathers that our library didn't have available before when I was reading the rest.  I'd read them both in high school, so it was good to revisit them as an adult. 

LISTENING TO:  ...and watching the IU/Arkansas State football game on television, getting ready to watch the Iowa Hawk/Michigan game next.   

COOKING BYTES:  The season is changing...welcoming soup week straight ahead.  I love soup, could exist on that and salad and never be bored.  It's a simple thing, I am a simple person at heart.

FAV NEW FIND:  The changing leaves, the cooler weather, the return of Orion in the night's sky.   

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  We have had a wonderful week enjoying Matt's decision to commit to Indiana University for college swimming.  We tried very carefully not to express our preferences so that it was his decision and not ours.  That was incredibly hard as we are such IU fans.  You would have been proud, and astonished at our ability to display impartiality.  He flew all over the country for recruiting trips, looking at this college and that, getting offers from here and there, but in the end, it was IU who had his heart.  He got off the plane one Sunday and said, "I'm done with recruiting trips, etc. I just want to go to IU and swim there."  Absolutely music to our ears!  He will be going to college 90 minutes away from here and swimming where we can go and watch the meets.  Don't think we aren't excited.  IU's business school is ranked 10th in the nation, he loves the campus, the coaching staff (one of the coaches was coaching at CSC when Matt was 10-11), the team, and the city of Bloomington.  So excited!!!  You will all appreciate this.  We said, "Are you sure?  We want this to be your decision and not ours."  He responded with, "Yes, I'm sure...I tried to have it NOT be IU, I tried to NOT want to go in-state, I tried to have it be somewhere else, but it didn't work, I just love IU and want to go there."  This is the swimmer who won state last year with a swim he didn't want to swim and was determined to go to college out of state like most of his best friends, but in the end, home is where the heart is in this case, and about that swim, coaches can see further down the line than swimmers...we do what we need to do!  He has been just delighted since the decision and we are all looking forward to him being a Hoo down in Hooville.

GOING TO:  October 15th marks the day that NCAA college basketball teams can commence formal practice so Matt and Mark went down to Bloomington for the opening tip of practice, etc. (along with over 13,000 other people who attended) on Friday night, they stayed over for the homecoming game and festivities today, also taking in a swim meet at the IU pool, Matt hanging out with the swimmers and enjoying some friends who are down there this weekend on swimming recruit visits of their own. Besides that, there is choir rehearsal, etc. for Matt and some time for catching up around here with things that need to be done and enjoyed during fall. 

PRAYING FOR:  Please join me in praying for Bill, Margaret's husband, newly diagnosed with cancer who is undergoing all sorts of procedures and treatments now.

Fridays Favorites Fare

READING:   In the midst of my WWII reading, I am hoping to figure out the aircraft, so have been reading here, there, and everywhere to try to come up with some working knowledge of the different WWII aircraft.  The internet is so great for things like that, so much information at my fingertips.  

LISTENING TO:  Music from the 40's.

COOKING BYTES:  This coming week the French Food with Dorie blog-along starts, the I Heart Cooking Clubs blog-along switches chefs to Giada, so am joining up with that for the next six months while they do her recipes as we get to choose our own and I cook Giada already...it will be fun to cook with others doing that, and the Modern Baker blog-along switches from Yeast Breads to Yeast-Risen Specialties.  Good thing my pool closes after next weekend, meaning more time in the kitchen so that I can try some of this!

Photo Below:  Looks like a normal photo of the guys hanging out, doesn't it...but this one is the guys hanging out in Boston on college visits...Nik attends and swims for Boston University, Matt visiting Boston University, and Harrison visiting Harvard.  They managed to hook up one night and have a good time together out there.  They look pretty happy.  (Left to right:  Harrison, Matt, Nik)

FAV NEW FIND:  Am enjoying watching Matt in the process of recruiting trips as he is trying to figure out where he would fit in best for college with the swimming factored into it all.  He has done two close to home and two more that involved plane travel, etc.  The coaches and swimmers presenting their programs are doing a wonderful job of it all, it is going to be a difficult decision! 

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  It was Homecoming week at Guerin, so that was fun subbing this week with all the students dressed in interesting costumes for the various theme days.  Also fun seeing the CSC swimmers head out of town to their different recruiting trips, so exciting to see who is going to end up where at the end of it all.
GOING TO:  Enjoy what promises to be a wonderful weekend weather-wise.  Matt is off to Boston, Alex has plans to go to the James Dean car festival in Fairland just to browse about at fancy cars.              

PRAYING FOR:  Children dealing with cancer, please join me.

Fridays Favorites Fare

READING:   Willa Cather again, the last two books I can find in the library system around here.  This is your fault, Jessica, I've been on a Cather tear since you went to Red Cloud.  (Oh, and thank you for that.)

LISTENING TO:  Big Band Music...River City Brass at Connor Prairie Symphony on the Prairie tonight.

COOKING BYTES:  Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table cookbook was released this week...and a new blog along group is forming for it starting October 1st, called French Fridays with Dorie.  Oh, yes, French food again! 

FAV NEW FIND:  A degree of peacefulness about accepting things I just can't change...a long time in coming.   

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Trying to work out computer issues.  I know that doesn't sound like it would be a favorite thing, but just the fact that I am figuring some of them out is encouraging.  Some of them.  Not all of them, but some of them.  People are so very patient when they try to help...calms me right down as I tend to get a little impatient and frustrated easily with the computer for some reason.  Anyway, here's to learning more about the beast!!  Oh, and I got a comment on my blog Tuesday from Dorie and it wasn't even my turn to host (she usually comments on the host's blog that week)...always a fun surprise.
GOING TO:  Enjoy a weekend of friends, family, relatives, and factor in some swimming, Connor Prairie Symphony on the Prairie, possibly golf, and just having a good time going with the flow over the three day weekend.  What's not to love about all that?  Okay, I wish you were here, too.            

PRAYING FOR:  My favorite Pixie Chick who is undergoing chemotherapy and journaling her journey on her blog...it is humbling to read, makes me a more compassionate person, and gives inspiration to the meaning "live each day."  Hugs and prayers for Lyn, please join me.

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:   Roosevelt:  The Lion and the Fox by James MacGregor Burns  (a political biography of FDR)

LISTENING TO:  Wagner's Lohengrin

COOKING BYTES:  I'm in despair of ever catching up with some of my cooking/baking blog-alongs and am figuring that I just need to calm down about it and pick and choose what I can, trying to overcome the compulsive in me that says I need to do it all.  Picking and choosing from here on out.  Yep, that's what I am thinking to do. 

FAV NEW FIND:  Loving being back up at Guerin subbing as I missed everyone over the summer, was so great to see them all.     

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Mark came home this week with a dozen roses in shades of pink and white for me for absolutely no reason at all.  Oh, so sweet, oh such beautiful flowers...always my favorite things.
GOING TO:  Swim as much as possible, I can see the summer winding down, not tomorrow or anything, but soon enough; schools are all back in session so that means football games and choir rehearsals and swim practice and life as we know it involved in all of that coming up; and weekends spent enjoying the last bits of summer things before fall starts advancing upon us.    

PRAYING FOR:  In your charity, please pray for the repose of the soul of Mark's aunt, Jane Gerth, who passed away after surgery this week.

  

Friday's Favorites Fare

 

This is what competitive Junior National swimmers do when they aren't swimming at swim practice:  they swim.  Daniel, Harrison, Trish, Colleen, Matt, and Rhiannon in our pool this afternoon.

READING:   More Willa Cather, More College Materials, and bits and pieces of family history following links where those might lead which is always enjoyable.  One more week until I can send the guys off to JNats and have a whole week to start some serious reading on WWII, at least that's the plan now.

LISTENING TO:  For Caitlin:  James Taylor, For Margaret O.:  Billy Joel, and for myself, of course:  Tom Petty (with and without the Heartbreakers)

COOKING BYTES:  Yesterday I made a Texas Sheet Cake in memory of my Uncle Tony who passed away this week.  It was just something I hadn't done in forever and it was his favorite dessert.  My Granny would make it for all the family gatherings, and those of you on that side of the family will smile at these memories because it was easy, inexpensive, and served a lot of people at a time.  My Uncle Tony, who was always a big hit with the nieces and nephews because of his jokes and winning personality, would pronounce the "Sheet" part of this cake with a little southern drawl for fun to make it sound like a word that all little boys and girls were not allowed to say, not quite saying the word, but sort of implying it, which delighted all the youngsters to no end and set my Granny to chastising Tony for his "bad manners in front of the little kids."  The "little kids" were quick to run outside (where of course no grown ups would be able to hear them shouting) and run around yelling, "We are having Texas Shit Cake for dessert!!!"  No end to the fun with Uncle Tony around.  He will be missed by all.

FAV NEW FIND:  Not exactly new, but my impatiens are growing and blooming this summer and I am enjoying the color every single day.  Heretofore we have never been able to get impatiens to grow at this house.     

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  We had a good time up at Purdue for Sectionals last week, no new best times, but that was not expected since the JNat swimmers are not tapered and all, but it was just really nice to be away at a meet and see all the swimmers, go out to eat with them, and have them popping in and out of the hotel room between swims.  I will say, with the boys at least, the whole week was about swimming and eating and then swimming and eating and then swimming and eating.  My word those teen boy swimmers can eat!
GOING TO:  Our church has Seton Fest going on this weekend, so fireworks the next two nights in what is essentially our backyard, we can sit on the deck and watch a splendid show; Matt, Harrison, and Nik all have birthdays this week, so Harrison is hosting a birthday party for friends Saturday night at his house; Matt's actual birthday is Saturday, so on Saturday I will have an 18 year old...where did that time go?  Family birthday celebration for Matt and odds and ends of things that always seem to need to be done around here in the works as well.  Hope you all have a great weekend.    

PRAYING FOR:  In your charity, please pray for the repose of the soul of my father's youngest brother, Guy Anthony Baker, who lost his battle with cancer this week.

Friday's Favorites Fare

Hamilton County 4-H Ten Year Members Awards - Matt right side of stage, second riser, yellow shirt. 

READING:   College materials, will it never end?  Matt is headed out to Junior Nationals in California in three weeks and after the meet is over, the college recruiting coaches are allowed to talk to the swimmers...would be nice if we knew the academic values of each school he is interested in going out there before all the swim talk ensues.  That's the plan.  Reading a bunch of odds and ends along with all this, will be happy when my regular reading time is back to what I love:  history/literature.

LISTENING TO:  Neil Young

COOKING BYTES:  I get more cooking/baking done because of Twitter than any other reason.  I have my Twitter limited to 30 gals, only ones I cook/bake with on a weekly basis in the blogalongs.  Each morning we check in and someone or other suggests something or other to bake or cook that day and before you know it others join in and we are all busy in our kitchens comparing notes and making food for our families.  Clarice (my computer) sits on the counter on those occasions.  It's like having friends in the kitchen with you.  A lot of them I have known for over two years so it's sort of like a little cooking family at this point.  Something to look forward to and enjoy each day since obviously one has to cook/bake at some point.

FAV NEW FIND:  Sometimes things you think you couldn't do come around in time and you can do them after all.     

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Watching all the little swimmers come and go for their lessons each day, it's fun to see them all trying really hard and giving it all they have for "Mr. Matt."  They range in ages from 4-13.  It's also my father-in-law's 88th birthday today.  It starts off the birthday celebrating around here as Mark's is Monday and Matt's is the last day of the month.
GOING TO:  It's 4-H Exhibit and Fair time...for the first time in 31 years I have not been a leader and a project leader and it feels strange, I have to say, it feels very strange not to be up there in that capacity.  I think everyone else up there thinks it is very strange as well.   Matt turned in his very last 4-H project on Sunday and was awarded the Ten Year Member plaque (members are only allowed ten years) at the Queen Contest last week.  At any rate, we'll be going to the fair all weekend, to look at projects and what not, most of the "what not" being the guys liking to score fair food every day.  It's always fun to see all the projects the kids in our club turn in and others I have known through the years.  I can't believe how old my first 4-Hers are now and when I see them each year I wonder how they got so old and I didn't!  Matt is getting his senior photos taken today. On Tuesday we leave for USA Swimming Sectionals, fortunately they are at Purdue this year, but it still involves a loading up and travel trip mentality...home again next Saturday.  Okay, I rarely, if ever, admit this, being the IU person that I am, but my favorite place to watch a swim meet is at the Purdue pool as it is just great for swimming and watching, the windows so large, the ceilings so high, the gorgeous decor and diving well...it's my favorite pool.  Shhhh...don't tell anyone I said that, okay?    

PRAYING FOR:  Summer travelers, this is the start of the swimming competition season where all the swimmers are on all the roads all the time for the next three weeks, there are meets for every level of swimmer and our club has them at every level, safe travel and good times for ALL travelers, please join me.

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:   Willa Cather, just decided to revisit her works full force.  It's been nice, very calming and gentle for these busy days.

LISTENING TO:  Rod Stewart, every once in a blue moon I dust off the oldies but goodies.

COOKING BYTES:  Trying to figure out the chocolate world, which kind works best in which recipes, etc.  This is rather more complicated to do when one does not like chocolate so must be done without actually tasting it.  Making notes on brands everyone uses and testing them out on the guys who seem to love them all.  I may never figure it out.

FAV NEW FIND:  It's not so difficult to host a home visit for recruiting swim coaches after all.  We made it through our first one Thursday night and it was fun.  One down.   

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Having Mark home on Monday for the holiday...always nice to have extra days for him to be hanging around, he's very good company.
GOING TO:  Hang around the house for the most part, we have an awards night to go to for Matt's Ten Year Member 4-H accomplishments, Matt and quite a few of the guy swimmers are going to Daniel's family's cabin at the lake for the weekend after practice on Saturday, Sunday is the turn-in day for 4-H projects, so hopefully the very last 4-H project will be completed today and turned in at that time...the very last one after dozens and dozens of projects over the past ten years, it hardly seems possible.            

PRAYING FOR:  This morning Matt's swim coach's mother lost her battle with cancer.  Please pray for the soul of Eleanor P, and for safe travels to and from New York for Chris and his family.

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:   Decided to read a bit on India's history and culture since I was doing the cuisine from there last month, so have been passing my reading time with that and some Willa Cather that I dug out and hadn't read in years, oh, yeah, and more college materials.

LISTENING TO:  The Traveling Wilburys

COOKING BYTES:  This month's My Kitchen My World cuisine is USA, so guess that will be an easy one and I don't really need to read up much for it.

FAV NEW FIND:  Windows all freshly washed, all 45 of them!  It always makes the rooms seem so much bigger with them so clean.  The outdoors just moves right inside.  Love it.   

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Well, July 1st came and went with great success, as well as July 2nd.  July 1st is the first day that colleges can call high school swimmers entering their senior year regarding recruiting them for their college teams, according to NCAA rules.  Elite swimmers everywhere look forward to the date, wondering if colleges will call them, hoping the colleges they want to call them will call them, and nervous about it all because figuring college choices out is hard enough without needing to factor the whole swimming thing in there as well.  Recruiting has begun with a bang around here.  Our phones were ringing non-stop from 7:40 a.m. until Matt hung up finally with the last coach at 10:30 p.m. on the first day...everyone he wanted to call did call, some he had no clue were going to call, called, and all in all, it looks like he is going to have some fine choices for college, all five of his Top Five called within the first few hours.  The second day was more of the same.  Life is good.
GOING TO:  Celebrate the Fourth!  Conner Prairie Symphony on the Prairie with Patriotic music on Saturday, Elwood for family gathering on Sunday, Fireworks, and to top it all off, a big party at Ali's house on Monday with fireworks because Buddy just can't resist celebrating in a big way...this year's theme includes remembering the IYC trip to Italy on the Fourth a few years ago, so have to think of something Italian to take along.          

   

PRAYING FOR:  Praying for our leaders, our service men and women, and prayers of thankfulness for being able to live here in the USA, please join me.

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:   Still trying to sort through college materials, reading some quick mysteries on the side, catching up on publications, a lot of "pick up and put down" quickly things.

LISTENING TO:  Usually when I am sitting here typing I have a little music going on my computer, etc., but today, after a week of painters and such, I am just really loving the gentle quietness of the morning.  Oh, yeah, and the sounds of the washer and the dryer in the background.

COOKING BYTES:  I received a lovely and thoughtful gift this week from a blogging friend who was fortunate enough to have gone to the Willa Cather Conference in Red Cloud this year.  Jessica lives in D.C. and is working on her thesis, taking a little side trip for some fun and extended learning.  She cooks/bakes with me in a few of the bake/cook alongs and I have gotten to know her over the past couple of years.  She and I have somehow managed, despite our ages and locations, to have been on a parallel reading course...we tend to read and like the same things in great literature.  What a fun find for me, to have someone to share this with.  When she was in Red Cloud she got me a wonderful book At Willa Cather's Tables:  The Cather Foundation Cookbook, so I have been reading that all week as it has such fun information in it about the stories and WC's life, etc.  Cooking/baking runs consistently throughout the stories/books, so what a treat to have this book.  

FAV NEW FIND:  It feels great to have the house freshly painted!   

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  I can't think of anything specific, it was just a good week in general, getting caught up on a few things, etc.
GOING TO:  A final graduation party to go to, a three day swim meet, Reds baseball game, and some fun and relaxation time!             

PRAYING FOR:  Safe travel for everyone this summer, please join me.  Lots of traveling happening, hope it is enjoyable and safe for everyone.

Friday's Favorites Fare

 

READING:   Am figuring WWII is going to need to wait a bit as all I am getting accomplished with reading seems to be college catalogs and recruiting materials.  Yep, July 1st is just around the corner and Division 1 colleges can contact Matt in regards to visiting them for recruiting visits, etc. for swimming.  Figure we should be up on what colleges offer what and all that...he wants to have all the signing done by the fall date if possible so he can be finished thinking about it all and just concentrate on school and his senior year of swimming.

LISTENING TO:  Right now I am listening to a lot of pounding as some workers are here to fix a couple window sills that needed tending to before the painters arrive next week to paint the house.  It's driving the dogs nuts.  Earlier in the week I listened to the sound of our beautiful 18 year old Bradford Pear tree crack in a bad storm, splitting it in two.  Sadly, it has all been taken down and carted away, even the stump, not a trace of it left.

COOKING BYTES:  Embarking on the BBA Panettone recipe...a four day process from making the seed culture, to making the barm, to making the dough for the Panettone.  Apparently that Panettone we all buy at Christmas time involves a bit of work...maybe why a good one costs so much.

FAV NEW FIND:  Seeing all the college swimmers home for the summer and swimming with the team again.  They have all grown up so much!   

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  I am just really enjoying having Matt home for the summer for lunch and popping in and out all day between swim practices and such.  On Sunday after Mass we hosted the senior altar servers from the young Knights for a pitch-in cookout.  Matt, Jack, Chaz, Mr. Higgins, Colin, Steven, Matt F., Derek, and Mark cooking with Matt J. standing and that was a fun time for all of us, even though the swimming portion was rained out.
   

GOING TO:  Three more grad parties this weekend, DM concert Friday and Saturday nights, and Father's Day with Mark's folks with the family all home for celebrating.  A full weekend of fun...lots to love about all that.      

PRAYING FOR:  Fathers everywhere, please join me. 

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  Finishing up bits and pieces before I start on WWII era, so a little of this and a little of that all over the place over here. 

LISTENING TO:  It's a Tom Petty kind of day.  Of course, I pretty much think every day is a Tom Petty kind of day, what can I say? 

COOKING BYTES:  This month's My Kitchen My World recipes are to be from the country of India, and I have not a clue on the cuisine of India, which is good because I will learn something, or maybe a whole lot of somethings.  Maybe I need to go to an Indian restaurant first and see what I am aiming toward.  Any help????? Heading to the library to see if there is a cookbook of sorts geared along these lines.  Suggestions, send me an email...am totally lost on this one, but I have all month to figure it out.

FAV NEW FIND:  Finally found a place in the yard where impatience flowers seem to be growing and thriving. It's been a long search. The roses are absolutely gorgeous around here this year...maybe all this rain?  Tons and tons on every single rose bush. So pretty.   

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Matt teaches little children swim lessons out of our backyard pool, so it was fun to see them arriving this week all ready for their lessons and happy to have "Mr. Matt" with them back in the water.  We haven't seen them since last August, so it was amazing how much everyone has grown and how much they remembered from last year.  So cute.  

GOING TO:  It's summer, so there is just the loveliness of having a wonderful yard and pool, etc., and fun to see everyone enjoying that all summer, grilling out, etc.  A few grads are having parties this weekend, so there is the fun of making the rounds on those.  Nothing else special planned, just relaxing a bit and enjoying life.      

PRAYING FOR:  Your choice...send me an email and let me know how we should be directing our prayers this week.

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  Finishing up bits and pieces before I start on WWII era, so a little of this and a little of that all over the place over here. 

LISTENING TO:  Starting to listen to music from the 1940s.  And, of course, "School's Out." 

COOKING BYTES:  Rachel has been making things with Golden Kiwi, so I am on the lookout for those as I have never seen them here.

FAV NEW FIND:  Finally getting my mind made up about the color of the paint for the house exterior.  I have been debating for over a year what color for the trim (our house is brick), and just could not picture it any other color than it is, so guess what?  We are going with the same color as we have now, buttercream.   

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Matt is out of school for the summer and I am so looking forward to having the kid around more, he is always fun and just a great one in general to hang around with on a daily basis.  He has a whole list of things he wants to do over the summer.   

GOING TO:  It's Race Weekend here in Indy...and that means one thing:  we hang around the house as much as possible, straying down into the Indy area Not At All, and hope it all passes quickly and without incident.  We are not race fans in case you could not tell, so while it is nice that the tradition continues, it pretty much continues without us.  We have people over, go up to Mark's parents', picnic here and swim.  I think there were rumors that it might be a good weekend for cleaning out the garage and spiffing that up a bit.     

PRAYING FOR:  Please join me in praying for safe summer vacations for all the teens now out on the streets that school is out for the summer...CHighS let out yesterday and all of a sudden, 5,000 teens moving about for the summer, am sure, although the numbers may differ, it's the same where you live.

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  With the death of Tony Hillerman (and so no new releases obviously), I was happy that Mark found an author, Margaret Coel, who writes mysteries centered at an Indian reservation in Wyoming that sort of fill the gap left behind by Mr. Hillerman.  Have been reading a couple of those to break up the longer historical work these past couple of weeks.  The kind of book you can bring along on a wait somewhere.

LISTENING TO:  A mix of this and that and nothing at all with a theme, just shuffling.   

COOKING BYTES:  I received Jeffrey Hamelman's Bread book for Mother's Day, so now I can bake with the Mellow Bakers group...unofficially.

FAV NEW FIND:  I finally have made arrangements to part with all the homeschooling materials we had left in the house.  Some of them were very hard to part with, but I am figuring it's a start, hope to start downsizing in a couple of years, so it's best that these things find new homes where they will be used and appreciated again.    

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Just a really nice week of catching up on things around here, time for myself, time for the family.  

GOING TO:  A three day swim meet at home starting Friday, ending Sunday; IYC concert performance on Saturday; thinking that's about all we will be able to fit in over the weekend.

PRAYING FOR:  Please join me in praying for all the high schoolers preparing for finals to end the school year.  Remember those years, the tendency to want to just slack off at the end of the year figuring summer is just around the corner? 

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  The Dark Valley: A Panorama of the 1930s by Piers Brendon, 692 pages (with an additional 77 pages of notes) leading up to WWII.  Give me a few weeks on this one, it is long...still reading it. 

LISTENING TO:  It's Mother's Day Weekend, so I get to choose, and we all know what that means:  Tom Petty all weekend!   

COOKING BYTES:  I am surrounded (floor by my chair, top of crock, my end table, and the coffee table) by no less than 21 different cookbooks.  These all have a nice place to reside in my pantry, but if truth be told, I constantly shuttle them about planning meals each week and getting organized for the cooking blog alongs.  It's just not handy with them in the pantry all neatly filed away, well, that's my story for the guys anyway.

FAV NEW FIND:  I am stronger inside than I ever thought possible.
Photo:  Vash, King of Comfort...he always manages to make the place he naps look like the most comfortable, wonderful place in the house.  He's a great cuddler, always willing to share his spot for the price of a tummy rub.    

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Katie is one busy friend, so when I get a chance to spend some time with her, it's always a favorite thing.  We had a great time talking books and politics and history and all sorts of things that we don't always get a chance to discuss because we just don't always make the time.  I have to got start making more time for things like this on a more regular basis.

GOING TO:  Plant things in the yard and get my new herbs potted for the year; Mark's family is all in town for Mother's Day, so there will be times with them and a big family dinner; Sunday I get to do whatever I want all day long for Mother's Day, haven't decided just what that will be yet.     

PRAYING FOR:  Please join me in praying for all Mothers everywhere, particularly those who are feeling the pain of having lost a child. 

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  The Dark Valley: A Panorama of the 1930s by Piers Brendon, 692 pages (with an additional 77 pages of notes) leading up to WWII.  Give me a few weeks on this one, it is long! 

LISTENING TO:  Last week I was listening to the music from the 1930s, this week I have been backing it up and going for the music from the 1920s as a sort of comparison.   

COOKING BYTES:  This past week I worked every day and my family as feeling the lack of homemade goodness around here...fortunately, midweek, my Secret Baker package arrived from Di and we had a wonderful Lemon Almond Cake...a cake To Di For!  Thanks, Di, it was wonderfully delicious.

FAV NEW FIND:  You can make crossword puzzles on the computer...just pick out your words and their definitions, plug it all in, hit the "make" button, and the computer prints it all out in crossword puzzle form.  Fun party game for things like showers, birthdays, and those getting to know you ice breakers for kids.   

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Matt was in a one act play at school for an English class, so that was fun to see.  He did really well and had a good time with it.  They had a performance on Tuesday evening and Mark and I enjoyed going to that.  It was a busy week of subbing this week, as I was there all week.  Am already starting to panic at the thought of this year's crop of seniors heading into graduation, I will miss them so much next year.   

GOING TO:  Probably hang around the house more than normal as it supposed to be rainy all weekend...no planting of summer things yet.  Matt has prom on Saturday, with all the doings that accompany that...prep, dinner, dance, after party at Margaret's, concluding at 2:00 a.m.   

PRAYING FOR:  Please join me in praying for the repose of the soul of my Aunt Mary, the first of my mother's siblings to pass, who died last Sunday, April 25th. 

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  The Dark Valley: A Panorama of the 1930s by Piers Brendon, 692 pages (with an additional 77 pages of notes) leading up to WWII...Roosevelt, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Franco, Chiang Kai-Shek, Mussolini, Orwell, Riefenstahl, Hemingway, Paris, Kyoto, Vienna, Shanghai, Magnitogorsk, Norris, Dust Bowl, Night of the Long Knives, Ethiopia, Guernica, Anschluss, Piccadilly Circus, the Kurfurstendamm, Ginza, etc., etc. I know, you all stopped reading after "Roosevelt" but I am one happy reader to have found this book.  All in prep for my summer delving into WWII era.  Someone has to do it, and you didn't want to, so I guess that leaves me.  Not that I mind. 

LISTENING TO:  The music of the 1930s...here is a little preview for you, but there's lots more! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5tucwcS-_o

COOKING BYTES:  This week I was gifted, by two dear friends, David Lebovitz's new cookbook Ready for Dessert, for my birthday, so now I can bake along with them on Twitter from this book.  Alex was delighted to see that it had chocolate featured on the cover, and I was delighted to see that not even fully half of the recipes are chocolate, so there is plenty of variety for people who, for instance, don't like chocolate.  Wonder who that could be?

FAV NEW FIND:  Matt is a romantic!  He asked a girl to prom by spelling it out in marshmallows at a bonfire and presenting her with flowers...awww...how sweet is that?  All his idea, we didn't know a thing about it until afterward.  She said yes.   

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Scott dug out this old photo for his facebook page of the four boys in their first relay podium win back when they were first swimming.  Scott (10) with the sunglasses, Matt (9) beside him, John (9) in left front, with Michael (11) beside John. All the boys are still swimming. My this seems like such a short time ago, and yet again, like such a long time ago.  Every parent will understand this statement, even though it seems contradictory.   

 

This week I also had a really great birthday on Wednesday, lots of emails, cards, calls, etc., and it's not over yet, as I still get to go out for Chinese food on Sunday, Sunday being the earliest day we could get all our schedules coordinated at dinnertime. Some weeks are like that.  I was born in 1955 and this year I turned 55...that must be some kind of good karma somehow, right? Who knew we would get this old this fast?  Inside I still feel like I am in my 20's, don't even try to explain that to teenagers. 

GOING TO:  Matt's serving the Confirmation Mass on Friday, we are going to order tux for prom, order wrist corsage for prom date, try to figure out dinner arrangements for prom, and we have a college visit for Matt, CSC Spring Awards Banquet, and whatever else comes along. 

PRAYING FOR:  All the Confirmation kids this weekend, please join me.

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger solely because Matt needs to read it for his English class.  I haven't even thought much about it since I read it in college, although it is probably one of the top ten books that everyone reads at some point or another.  A book about a lot of nothing much is how I have always viewed it...nowhere near the top ten on my list of must-read books.  At any rate, figured it was worth a re-read as it is always nice to have a chance to chat about things like books with teenage boys.  Don't imagine Matt and Caulfield have a lot in common, Matt being about the direct opposite of CH as I can imagine.  If nothing else, since Salinger died a couple of months ago, it's a fit salute for a man who participated in WWII at Utah Beach, The Battle of the Bulge, and was one of the first soldiers (Jewish himself) to enter a newly freed concentration camp to walk the incarcerated Jews out to freedom.  Yep, the man deserves a salute.   

LISTENING TO:  The birds chirping like mad on this sunny morning, but am probably gearing up to listen to Def in a bit as it is a morning to try to get a lot accomplished.

COOKING BYTES:  Dorie Greenspan has a new book coming out, Around My French Table:  More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours, not yet released, but available for pre-order.  This will need to go on my Christmas list as I am not buying myself anything new this year, but be assured, it will be on that list!  And, btw, I so so so so have to get back to my French cooking, have sort of let that drop recently, and truly miss it.  Summer is coming, school will be out, I won't be subbing, all my herbs and things will be growing nicely, and then I am dusting off those French cookbooks and going back in. 

FAV NEW FIND:  I am learning a lot about swimming colleges...kind of fun actually to figure out what the different ones have to offer, etc.  I like ones nice and close...just saying.

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Matt was named 2009-2010 High School Boy Swimmer of the Year for our county, so that was kind of fun, a nice big article and photo in the paper and all.  As a junior he is ranked 65th in the nation...not bad considering that is less than 2 per state on average.  

GOING TO:  Spring clean, yardwork, CSC Triathlon (working, not participating), swim and choir practice, going to a play, and Alex is looking for another job as the BK he is working at doesn't give him enough hours...we all have plenty to do this weekend.

PRAYING FOR:  Our service men and women, please join me.

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  The Tea Shop Mysteries by Laura Childs.  Finished all ten that our library has on hand, probably just going to do some catching up with odds and ends around here until after Spring break.   

LISTENING TO:  And watching, the Butler/MSU game in the Final Four.

COOKING BYTES:  First post for the Modern Baker group coming right up.

FAV NEW FIND:  It's Spring! Trees are budding, flowers are blooming, the weather is very lovely, birds are back and singing and nesting, and I think I can say with confidence that we are so over the snow!

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Spring break started Friday and I am so happy to see Matt get a chance to kick back and enjoy life without a having to be here and there with all his commitments, although he likes it like that, he also like to have a bit of down time now and again.  We are all looking forward to some time off.  

GOING TO:  Celebrate Easter and watch a whole lot of Final Four this weekend.

PRAYING FOR:  Safe travel for all the fans traveling to Indy for the games this weekend...please join me.

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  The Tea Shop Mysteries by Laura Childs. I like to have books at swim meets that I can pick up and put down quickly because swim meets are very distracting for attempting serious material...swims to watch, photos to take, people to chat with, etc.  Also reading Henry James (after my Edith Wharton kick, I felt it was only right and all, and then maybe after HJ, I should segue into re-reads from college days of Turgenev, Flaubert, and Zola...if you get the connection between them all, you either have an extensive reading background or were a literature major in college.  I have decided that Henry James is like reading Hemingway in timing:  he takes way too many pages to say he went from one room to the next and why.  My patience is not very simpatico with Henry James or Ernest Hemingway, despite their reputations as great writers.  After spring break, I am moving back into more serious fare, thinking of doing WWII finally through the rest of the year.  Yep, thinking.   

LISTENING TO:  The Beach Boys...something light, fast, fun, and conducive to getting blog posts caught up.

COOKING BYTES:  Phyl, the bread baking lawyer from Ohio who has already completed all the breads in the BBA Challenge, is getting up a new group to blog the book The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri.  I like the book as it is filled with new and different things to bake (some savory, some sweet), things that Tuesdays with Dorie doesn't necessarily have, or maybe different recipes from what that group has going with that book.  He is going to do the book over the next two years, starting in April.  I figure that I have eaters here for the next 18 months or so, then not so much, so if I want to bake, I better do it now.  Look for posts from that book every now and again, thinking maybe Saturday posts for that one is the plan at the moment.

FAV NEW FIND:  It's always fun to find a package on a cold, rainy, and busy day.  So it was that day when Margaret's Secret Baker package for me arrived, filled with three different kinds of cookies and a loaf of pumpkin bread.  (She knows the guys are big eaters, so I have a feeling she packed that box with them in mind!)   

 

Let's see, there were Coconut Oatmeal Cookies, Snickerdoodles that melt in your mouth, seriously, and Unbelievably Great Peanut Butter Cookies with Reese's Chips in them (Alex loves Reese's Peanut Butter Cups).    It was all very much appreciated, and very quickly eaten by very appreciative guys...I loved the Coconut Oatmeal Cookies the best as it was a recipe created by Margaret, so I hid a couple of those away just for me.  In a household of guys, cookie hiding is sometimes necessary.

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Well, it wasn't this week, rather last week, but it was awfully fun to watch Matt go up and get his trophy, medal, letter jacket, etc. for the CHS Swimming Championship at the awards dinner.  Since he transferred schools, and CHS swimmers do not get letter jackets until their second year of participating, I was surprised that his lettering the previous two years at Guerin transferred to CHS and he got to have a letter jacket, etc. this year.  He was very excited about all that, naturally.  Just fun to see.

GOING TO:  The USA Sectional meet are these four days (Thursday through Sunday), both morning prelims and then evening finals, so if you're looking for us, I would start there.  In the meantime and off-times are the NCAA Championship games.  I can't think that we will fit a whole lot more in of the weekend.

PRAYING FOR:  People suffering...awful to be the one suffering, awful to be the one watching...please join me. 

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  The Tea Shop Mysteries by Laura Childs.  Something just a little fun and light to read as it has been that kind of week! I am learning a lot about tea, too.  

LISTENING TO:  All Def All Day

COOKING BYTES:  Definitely going to be the year of bread around here as I am finding that I love baking bread, it could be that I will need to locate people who would like to have the extras as I am baking so much of it, so far the guys can keep up, but almost every day I think to myself, "What kind of bread can I make today?" I might be becoming a bit compulsive about it.  Compulsive, me???  Just maybe.
 

FAV NEW FIND:  Matt can actually swim a decent butterfly!  Who knew?  Not us, that's for sure.  For years he looked like a drowning moth out there trying to swim that swim.  His strokes are the freestyle and the backstroke and he looks good doing those, yes, he does.  But the butterfly?  Not so much.  Until now.  At the swim meet this week his coach put swimmers in events that they don't usually swim and Matt swam the 100 butterfly.  He took first place, took two seconds off his previous time, and now has the second best butterfly time on the high school team, second only to his good buddy Mike, and he looked good doing it.  Yep, that's definitely a favorite new find!
 
FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Well, I can think of a couple of things that were not my favorite things this week, but I like to keep things upbeat around here, so let me think a moment.  Oh, I know:  IU almost, yes, almost, beat Purdue last night, who happens to be ranked something like 8th in the nation right now.  The baby Hoos played a full two halves of the game and put forth, I think, their best performance of the whole year so far.  It came down to the last shot, yep, the very last shot in the very last second. Things are looking up, definitely a fun thing to see.
 
GOING TO:  Watch a lot of ball games, that I know for sure, especially a little thing the Colts are in called The Super Bowl, have you heard of it?  High school girls sectionals for swimming are this weekend, so we work, we watch, we cheer, we spend a lot of time at the pool.  Cooking/baking/reading/enjoying family time about covers the rest.

PRAYING FOR:  An early spring, I know that is terribly selfish and all, but I am really really tired of winter and I haven't been able to get away this winter, so an early spring would be really really nice, please join me! 

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton.  I developed a love for Edith Wharton's books/stories in college and it seemed like a fine time to visit an old favorite, the one that won her the Pulitzer Prize.  She was first woman to win one. I love the fact that no matter how you think you can figure out how her stories will end, you are never right (unless you have read them before, of course).  The ends are always totally unsatisfyingly satisfying.  You will need to read something of hers to understand what I am talking about in this regard.  Go ahead, read Edith Wharton and tell me how you hate to love her work, but that you do.

LISTENING TO:  Started with On Eagles Wings and now to Music from the 1920's...what a kick!

COOKING BYTES:  Not only is my tarragon plant sprouting new shoots, so is my sage plant...I know this doesn't particularly excite you, but it does me.  I thought all the herbs would die within weeks of bringing them inside, so this just thrills me to no end.  Cheap thrills, I know.  Putting Giada's books into play for awhile...not getting enough playing time with them around here, so plan to step it up.

FAV NEW FIND:  The Eiteljorg Museum has an exhibit opening in a couple of weeks called "Pistols: Dazzling Firearms" which at first I sort of skimmed over, but then I was thinking one night when I couldn't sleep, that I should check into the description of that exhibit because, maybe, just maybe, the "dazzling" part might, just might, refer to the decorations/engravings/etchings, etc. on the pistols themselves.  I first became interested in this venue when I was visiting the Frasier Museum in Louisville a couple of summers ago and stumbled on a couple of rooms that I thought to pass by and decided to just give a peek inside.  After all, I had no particular interest in guns, so it would just be a minute or two.  Two hours and then some later:  Wow, I had no idea that guns could be so decorative, so personally decorated, so interesting, so historically wonderful, and so beautiful.  So, I pulled up the little ditty describing the upcoming Eiteljorg exhibit and guess what????  The exhibit explores the history of handgun decoration! A gift for me in February.  Go ahead, roll your eyes, or you can click here and read all about it and come with me! 
FAV THING THIS WEEK:  The swim meet last weekend was nice, nothing great in the way of swim times, but great in the way of good times, friendships, and just being together.  Sometimes those things say every bit as much as the swim times themselves.  Not sure the coaching staff would agree, but as parents, it is fun to see the kids all having a great time together doing what they love.
  

GOING TO:  Have a weekend of reflection, I think, just doing a little of this, a little of that, enjoying the simple things in life.  Going to finish knitting another baby blanket for Project Gabriel, read (of course), cook some nice meals for my family, look at the flower catalogs and find something new we can plant this year, watch Big Ten Basketball, and maybe take a trip to the museum during the Colts game when no one will be there and I can wander about to my heart's content.  Alex needed transport to and from work on Sunday, so I gave my ticket to the IU/Iowa game to Matt's friend Mike so the guys are headed to Hooville for that on Sunday night (new game time is 6:00, not 5:00, due to Colts' game) and I am planning on cheering from my wingback chair by the fireplace.  Staying close to home, the time of year when I like to just curl up and be on my own for a bit.  What's up there?

PRAYING FOR:  Both for loved ones who have gone before us and the families/friends left to give thanks for their lives and the wonderful memories they have left behind, please join me. 

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  The Murder of King Tut:  The Plot to Kill the Child King - Nonfiction Thriller by James Patterson and Martin Dugard.  Goes between the time of Tut, the time of the discovery of Tut's tomb by Howard Carter, and present day. 

LISTENING TO:  Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado, Indianapolis Opera is performing it in March.

COOKING BYTES:  My herb pots from the deck that we brought in for the winter to try and save, i.e. keep growing so that I could have freshly cut herbs all year instead of needing to buy them in the winter, are doing GREAT!  I have been snipping away daily for the past 3 months and the tarragon has even started growing new shoots at the base of the old ones.  Chives are a little sparse, and Basil died before I even got it into the house, but everything else is going strong.  Just thought you'd like to know, in case you want to try it at your place next winter. 

FAV NEW FIND:  Cold, windy, snowy, icy January is half-way over!  So want to see greenery and blooming things, walk barefoot in the grass, and just feel the warm sunshine every single day.   

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  I loved having all the Christmas decor around, but it was good to get it all squirreled away and things back to normal.  I like normal.  I like normal on an everyday basis.  It was a good week filled with nice times and enjoying the most simple of things with my family.  

GOING TO:  Three day USA swim meet at the Nat in Indy.  Our club hosts, so that means our family works the sessions as well.  Matt was asked to be one of the two altar servers for the Ravens' Mass before the big game with the Colts on Saturday and then he will get to do some fun things and be a guest at the game, so he is also looking forward to that.  Sunday for him is swimming, choir rehearsal, and then swimming finals at night.  I hope this is a light homework weekend!

PRAYING FOR:  Those struggling with learning to live without a loved one, please join me. 

READING:  The Murder of King Tut:  The Plot to Kill the Child King - Nonfiction Thriller by James Patterson and Martin Dugard.  Goes between the time of Tut, the time of the discovery of Tut's tomb by Howard Carter, and present day. 

LISTENING TO:  Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado, Indianapolis Opera is performing it in March.

COOKING BYTES:  My herb pots from the deck that we brought in for the winter to try and save, i.e. keep growing so that I could have freshly cut herbs all year instead of needing to buy them in the winter, are doing GREAT!  I have been snipping away daily for the past 3 months and the tarragon has even started growing new shoots at the base of the old ones.  Chives are a little sparse, and Basil died before I even got it into the house, but everything else is going strong.  Just thought you'd like to know, in case you want to try it at your place next winter. 

FAV NEW FIND:  Cold, windy, snowy, icy January is half-way over!  So want to see greenery and blooming things, walk barefoot in the grass, and just feel the warm sunshine every single day.   

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  I loved having all the Christmas decor around, but it was good to get it all squirreled away and things back to normal.  I like normal.  I like normal on an everyday basis.  It was a good week filled with nice times and enjoying the most simple of things with my family.  

GOING TO:  Three day USA swim meet at the Nat in Indy.  Our club hosts, so that means our family works the sessions as well.  Matt was asked to be one of the two altar servers for the Ravens' Mass before the big game with the Colts on Saturday and then he will get to do some fun things and be a guest at the game, so he is also looking forward to that.  Sunday for him is swimming, choir rehearsal, and then swimming finals at night.  I hope this is a light homework weekend!

PRAYING FOR:  Those struggling with learning to live without a loved one, please join me. 

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  What If? edited by Robert Cowley...827 pages, so give me a couple of weeks, okay? Have some lightweight reading going on as well. 

LISTENING TO:  Yiruma's River Flows In You (Shari got me started and now I am listening to it once a day)

COOKING BYTES:  Made flatbread for the first time this week...so easy, so tasty, and so much fun!  Thanks to Tracey and you can find the recipe here.  (It's supposed to be a little brown at the edges.)

FAV NEW FIND:  Matt struggled academically this first semester making the change from Guerin Catholic High to Carmel High and we were beginning to panic about the drop in grades during the adjustment period. Panic, truly panic.  But, the boy with all his swimming, his choir commitments, being president of his chapter and also president of the state chapter of the Knights, and making the change in schools as a junior, managed to pull off a 3.1/4.0.  Kudos to the kid.  School does not come easily for him and his time for studying is at a premium.  3.1 sounds like heaven to us!   

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Don't tell anyone...I still have all the trees and Christmas decor up and around. I begged the guys to let me have it all up just one more week, and they agreed.  I enjoyed every moment of every single day with the twinkle lights on and everything.  It was my favorite thing all week.  It comes down tomorrow.  Seriously, it does.  

GOING TO:  Enjoy the weekend being inside as much as possible wherever I go this weekend. It is COLD here and snowy, and windy, and icy, and I keep tapping my heels together three times chanting "There is no place like San Diego..." but apparently tapping one's heels together and chanting only works in movies with munchkins and yellow brick roads as I am still here.  Swim meet should warm me up!

PRAYING FOR:  Safe travel for people on the go this winter, please join me. 

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  What If? edited by Robert Cowley...What if...827 pages of speculations such as (but not limited to) ...Pontius Pilate hadn't ordered the crucifixion of Christ...Abraham Lincoln hadn't abolished slavery...a Confederate aide hadn't accidentally lost General Lee's plans for invading the North...The Allied invasion of D Day had failed...the Mongols had succeeded in conquering Europe...etc.  by various illustrious historians.  You get the drift...a fun way to end/start the New Year. 

LISTENING TO:  CATS...I never get tired of it.  

COOKING BYTES:  For Christmas I got the new Ellie Krieger book So Easy: Luscious Healthy Recipes for Every Meal of the Week and I am thinking of cooking All Ellie All The Time for a couple of weeks at least!

FAV NEW FIND:  I actually have a New Year's Resolution this year.  Was going around the house the other day thinking, "I should use this more often.  I should wear this more often.  I should get this out and enjoy it more often," so I am resolving to try to buy NOTHING new for myself all year and enjoy, use, and wear what I already own.  Looking forward to it actually.    

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  All the extra time with my family around...just enjoying the day-to-day with husband and kids.  

GOING TO:  Enjoy the weekend just hanging around...okay, you caught me, I might, just might, go back and see the Sacred Spain exhibit one more time before they dismantle after Sunday.  You know, every time you see an exhibit, you notice something you missed the previous times.  It won't ever be back you know.  It's FREE, the parking is FREE, the entry into the IMA is FREE, so there really is no reason not to go one more time.  I figured you would see my point eventually.

PRAYING FOR:  A Happy, Healthy, and Enjoyable 2010, please join me. 

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  Bits and pieces of things around here that I have set aside so that I can get all caught up for the new year and start fresh. 

LISTENING TO:  Christmas music, of course!  

COOKING BYTES:  This month the Secret Baker group decided to bake cookies for the exchange.  Margot got my name, saying she was happy to have gotten it as she knew my guys liked cookies and would eat a lot of them.  She sent wonderful melt-in-your-mouth shortbread, spicy and delicious ginger cookies, and some toffee that Matt and Mark declared the best they have ever eaten.  Armed with Margot's recipe, I shall endeavor to learn how to make it after the new year:  they are insisting. 

FAV NEW FIND:  In the baking aisle at the market, just in time for Christmas baking, bags of crushed peppermint pieces for decorating and using in recipes...yahoo, I no longer need to smack peppermints with a mallet to break them up, only to have them fly every which direction in the process. (See photo below of them on the top of some chocolate covered chocolate-center bonbons.)  

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Has to be the IYC/ICC Angels Sing Christmas concert...so wonderful to go and hear the choirs with the songs they have chosen to sing for us.  So fun to watch our son in a tuxedo singing his parts and enjoying it all so much. 

GOING TO:  Attempt some work getting everything ready for Christmas and some fun getting to go out for festivities and parties...my kind of weekend!  Will I get the shopping finished before weekend's final call, hard to say at this point, but have a very good start at it all.

PRAYING FOR:  Struggling teens who are trying to find their way, please join me. 

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  Daniel Webster:  The Man and His Time by Robert V. Remini...the last of the three: Clay, Calhoun, and Webster, someone had to do it, and since you didn't want to, it had to be me. Written by the same author as the Clay book...huge and full of detail after detail.  What a joy! 

LISTENING TO:  Puccini's La Boheme as the Indianapolis Opera company just finished performing this.  I am always partial to this opera as Matt had the opportunity to sing one of the street children's parts with them when they performed it the last time.  Matt then grew faster than his voice and the children's parts were no longer available to a child who was taller than some of the adults! 

COOKING BYTES:  If you have the patience, am hoping to work on getting my posting more current for the blog-alongs in the coming week.  Have been cooking/baking most of them, but just not finding posting time.

FAV NEW FIND:  After months and months, 3:30-8:30 p.m. in our schedules is now free again...makes a huge difference is what I can get done in a day.  And free time cannot be over-rated, ever.  Am most appreciative.

FAV THING THIS WEEK:  Was worried that Matt's broken hand would slow him down too much in the water and cause some time increases in his swims, but the boys had their first high school swim meet on Tuesday and he took first place in his individual swim and swam great times for his lengths for his two relays, anchoring one of them to a big finish and lots of cheering. Guess he can swim okay even with a broken hand.  Sigh of relief.  Short course Nationals are next week.

GOING TO:  'Tis the Season and all, so doing much and throw some basketball and football games in there, some work, some fun things...and it all probably pretty much looks like your weekend as well!  Enjoy!

PRAYING FOR:  Safe travel for the CSC swimmers this weekend in Nashville, TN and next weekend for the CSC swimmers who are competing at Nationals at Ohio State in Columbus, OH, please join me.

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING: Julie & Julia by Julie Powell.  I am probably the only person who has not seen this in movie version yet.  The book was interesting and a very fast read.  Daniel Webster is patiently waiting for me. 

LISTENING TO:  Moody Blues, every once in awhile I give them a twirl for old times sake

COOKING BYTES:  There is a French restaurant in Denver which bills itself as "affordable French food" and is called Le Central, you can click on the name and view their site, their menus, and other interesting tidbits.  Each month on the Third Tuesday, they host a Wine Dinner which is several courses, each paired with a wine, so that one can go and learn about both French food and French wine.  It's a great deal for $35 a person.  For the past three months, the Wine Dinner menus have been a salute to Julia Child's recipes and her book Mastering The Art of French Cooking.  I excitedly tune in each month when they post the new recipes to read what the menu is going to be, what the wine selection is going to be, and think which of those dishes I can make at home from the book.  It's almost November, so I am eager to see the new menu and see if the Julia recipes continue.  It's been fun following along.   

FAV NEW FIND:  Apples:  I bought an apple variety at the store that was new to me:  Honeycrisp.  I have never had them before but the description sounded nice, so I figured Mark would enjoy an apple pie (always a given).  They are crisp and juicy, and to me they have a little bit of a wine taste.  Very delicious for just eating out of hand.  I was a little worried when I saw how juicy they were that they would make the pie soggy, but they did not.  They tasted lovely in the pie. 

FAV THING TODAY:  Taking Matt to meet the bus for the retreat weekend.  The Knights of the Holy Temple have a retreat each fall for two days down in lovely Brown County at the CYO camp.  Gorgeous leaves, wonderful weather, just a fun time for them.  Matt is the President of the Indiana group this year so it was his responsibility to help get it all planned and executed.  He has been working for a couple of months on this and it was fun today to see him greeting the boys and directing how things were going to go, etc.  It was also great to see the other boys, many familiar faces, and chat with parents dropping their sons off.  Had a wonderful time seeing Marshall's mom, Lisa, a lovely friend, and we sat and chatted long after the boys and the bus had driven off. 

GOING TO:  It's been Fall Break, so we have had a nice time ambling about doing this and that and enjoying time together.  Matt had the retreat this weekend, Alex had to work at his job and a trip to the movies with friends.  Mark and I had things to attend to around the house, watching ballgames, etc.  Sunday more of the same, with museum factored in there for Mark and I. The leaves are absolutely gorgeous this weekend, today turned warmer and sunny...can't we have Autumn for 5 months and winter for 1 month?  Please???

PRAYING FOR:  All the High School boys at the retreat this weekend, please join me. 

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING: The Henry Clay book was 800 pages of very tiny print, so took a break this week before venturing on with Daniel Webster to read this book: My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme.  It was a very delightful read actually, enjoyed it immensely.

LISTENING TO:  Cantiques and learning about Jean-Denis Daulé

COOKING BYTES:  This section is going to change in character.  It seems a bit redundant to list the books I am cooking from and the recipes scheduled when I also usually include them in the posts for that group when I cook with them that week.  So in this section each week I am just going to share something from that week of cooking rather than all the listings of upcoming recipes for each group.  This week I am planning on going into detail with my Whisk Wednesdays post about the future of the Whisk Chicks since the first part of the curriculum has ended, so that will appear on Wednesday.  

FAV NEW FIND:  Alex has a job!  Seriously, Alex has a new job at a fast food restaurant and seems to be enjoying it.  This was his second week. 

FAV THING TODAY:  Friday was extra nice subbing at Guerin as it was a history class.  The teacher had set aside the movie Swing Kids for the students to watch.  I had never seen this, or even really heard about it in all my readings of history and Nazi Germany, so am in the process of learning a little more about it.  If you watch the movie, have Kleenex at hand.

GOING TO:  Work around swim meet this weekend.  First meet of the short course season, so always nice to see The Swimmers back in the water for competition to see what the year has brought as far as swim times...usually drop in the swims they don't consider "their swims" and stay about even for the first meet in the swims they do consider "their swims," so just a chance to get wet and compete. 

PRAYING FOR:  Deb O, just discovered Stage 4 breast cancer, please join me in praying for Deb and her family.  I hope there are no typos in that sentence because I cannot bear to go back and read it again, it was hard enough just writing it.

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:

Still reading 800 pages of:  Henry Clay:  Statesman for the Union by Robert V. Remini...going for all three: Clay, Calhoun, and Webster this fall, someone has to do it, and since you didn't want to, I guess it will be me. Finished Calhoun already but this one on Clay is huge.

LISTENING TO:  Neil Young

COOKING THROUGH:  Le Cordon Bleu at Home (Le Cordon Bleu School of Cooking), this week's assignment is Beignets aux Pommes, Sauce Abricot (Apple Fritters with Apricot Sauce) pages 160-161; Baking:  From My Home to Yours (Dorie Greenspan), this week's recipe is Split Level Pudding on pages 384-385; The Bread Baker's Apprentice (Peter Reinhart), this week's recipe is English Muffins on pages 157-158; The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking (Marcella Hazan), this week's recipes are Pan Roasted Lamb with Juniper Berries, page 411 and Sliced Potatoes Baked with Porcini and fresh Cultivated Mushrooms, Riviera Style, page 522; Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Julia Child), I think Carottes a la Concierge, page 480 will be my choice; The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger, this week's recipe is Chicken Chop Suey, page 207.  You can cook/bake along, too!

FAV NEW FIND:  University of Iowa is getting a brand spanking new competition swimming pool scheduled to open for next year's college swimming season.  I'm just saying, that due to the pool currently in play, we had not even put them on the list of visits.  When they built that pool in the 1920's, it was the largest competitive swimming pool in the world.  In the 1930's the butterfly stroke was created in that pool at the U of Iowa, so it has had it's day in the headlines for sure, but as far as modern swimming, the attractions of so many years ago were not a heavy draw.  I'm just saying....

FAV THING TODAY:  Since I am running a little late this week, and it is actually Sunday as I write this, my favorite things on Sunday are watching the CBS Sunday Morning show; fixing a big breakfast for the guys afterward, having a whole day with the family around, and today is a gorgeous sunny day already.  Matt has choir rehearsal all afternoon and Alex has family time all to himself, not sure what he will choose for us today.

GOING TO:  It's Homecoming week, so game, parties, dance, etc. with all of that; take in all the potted plants, go through the flower beds, etc. to winterize (yikes I don't like the sound of that word); watch Big Ten football games; hopefully get a lot of reading time.

PRAYING FOR:  Lauren J who missed all week of school with knee problems, is on crutches, had to miss the homecoming dance (but not a little of the party before), and is possibly looking at surgery which will jeopardize her swimming for this year...Lauren is a Senior National Swimmer and the best backstroker on the CSC girls team...this is serious business, please join me.

PHOTO:  Alex planted morning glories along the back fence this year.  They are so beautiful, really have enjoyed them, hope he plants them again next year!

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  Henry Clay:  Statesman for the Union by Robert V. Remini...going for all three: Clay, Calhoun, and Webster this fall, someone has to do it, and since you didn't want to, I guess it will be me. Finished Calhoun already but this one on Clay is huge. 

LISTENING TO:  Ravel

COOKING THROUGH:  Le Cordon Bleu at Home (Le Cordon Bleu School of Cooking), this week's assignment is Pets de Nonnes (Choux Pastry Fritters with Apricot Sauce) on pages 130-131; Baking:  From My Home to Yours (Dorie Greenspan), this week's recipe is Chocolate-Crunched Caramel Tart on pages 355-357; The Bread Baker's Apprentice (Peter Reinhart), this week's recipe is Cranberry Walnut Celebration Bread on page 154-156; The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking (Marcella Hazan), this week's recipe is Braised Finocchio with Butter and Parmiagiano Reggiano on pages 503-504; Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Julia Child), something from the menu Le Central is serving in honor of Julia Child; The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger, this week's recipe is New York Breakfast, page 25.  You can cook/bake along, too!

FAV NEW FIND:  A faster route through Noblesville during rush hour every day.

FAV THING TODAY:  Chip, the little ground squirrel, is back for his annual fall feasting with my tomato plants on the deck...he loves to hop up on the railing and help himself to tomatoes.  It is such fun to see him from the kitchen window as he goes about his little routine of selecting the tiny cherry tomato, hauling it up to his favorite spot and ripping into it.  He eats several at a time several times a day.    

GOING TO:  Get the yard ready for winter.  Pool is going to be closed on Monday, flower beds need to be cleared and fall flowers trimmed, etc. Deciding which herbs to try to winter-over.  More fall cleaning.  Just a nice weekend around the house with not too much going on and plenty of time to watch college football.

PRAYING FOR:  My friend Cathy's sister who is undergoing serious medical problems after giving birth to her son this past month, please join me.

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  John C. Calhoun by Irving H. Bartlett...going for all three: Clay, Calhoun, and Webster this fall, someone has to do it, and since you didn't want to, I guess it will be me.  

LISTENING TO:  Strauss' opera Ariadne auf Naxos (Opens the season here first week in October)

COOKING THROUGH:  Le Cordon Bleu at Home (Le Cordon Bleu School of Cooking), this week's assignment is Pets de Nonnes (Choux Pastry Fritters with Apricot Sauce) on pages 130-131; Baking:  From My Home to Yours (Dorie Greenspan), this week's recipe is Cottage Cheese Pufflets on pages 148-149; The Bread Baker's Apprentice (Peter Reinhart), this week's recipe is Cornbread on page 150-153; The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking (Marcella Hazan), this week's recipe is Pork Loin Braised in Milk Bolognese Style on page 417; Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Julia Child), something from the menu Le Central is serving in honor of Julia Child; The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger, this week's recipe is Spicy Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, page 95.  You can cook/bake along, too!

FAV NEW FIND:  Top Chef TV show, now if I can just remember when it's on so I can watch it regularly.

FAV THING TODAY:  Having a new stack of library books!   

GOING TO:  Football game, choir retreat, swimming, fall cleaning, baking, whatever else comes up.

PRAYING FOR:  All the college freshman living away from home for the first time, that they may have a successful and safe year, please join me. 

Fridays Favorites Fare

READING:  Sweet Revenge by Diane Mott Davidson...one of the recommended mystery fiction choices submitted by Elise and also Paula.  I chose it first as I have read the other 13 books in this series already. 

LISTENING TO:  Stones

COOKING THROUGH:  Le Cordon Bleu at Home (Le Cordon Bleu School of Cooking), this week's assignment is Mignons de Porc Arlonaise (Pork Tenderloins with Beer) on pages 367-368; Baking:  From My Home to Yours (Dorie Greenspan), this week's recipe is Vanilla Ice Cream on pages 428-429; The Bread Baker's Apprentice (Peter Reinhart), this week's recipe is Challah on page 133-134; The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking (Marcella Hazan), this week's recipe is Zabaglione on page 599; Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Julia Child), surprise as I don't know yet.  You can cook/bake along, too!

FAV NEW FIND:  Mark Bittman's book How to Cook Everything

FAV THING TODAY:  Hanging out with Matt today and getting his things for the start of school in three weeks.   

GOING TO:  Enjoy hanging around the house, swimming, getting things done around here, doing a lot of family stuff together, Indians baseball game on Sunday, etc. Weekends pass incredibly fast, don't they?

PRAYING FOR:  Those still in search of employment after losing their jobs, please join me.

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:

Last week I received quite a few suggestions for novel reading, so I am gathering those and going in on those next week while we have a lot of swim meet time and I can read!  In the meantime, now, I am finishing up odds and ends and some magazine articles I have put aside to read.

PHOTOS:  Swimming Lessons with Matt (1) Dominic (2) Jacinta (3) Luke (4) Monica...all having a great time learning to swim! So cute!  

LISTENING TO:  Billy Joel and Elton John...how large are those concerts??!

COOKING THROUGH:  Le Cordon Bleu at Home (Le Cordon Bleu School of Cooking), this week's assignment is Velouté Du Barry (Cream of Cauliflower Soup), pages 419-420; Baking:  From My Home to Yours (Dorie Greenspan), this week's recipe is Blanc Manger on pages 398-399; The Bread Baker's Apprentice (Peter Reinhart), this week's recipe is Challah on pages 133-134; The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking(Marcella Hazan), this week's recipe is La Florentine Grilled T-Bone on page 385.  You can cook/bake along, too! 

FAV NEW FIND:  Matt's rankings in the Psych Sheets for upcoming Sectional Meet...pretty good for a 16 year old, yep, pretty good!  Actually, they are pretty good no matter the age since he swims Open (15 and older) these days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FAV THING TODAY:

Okay, yesterday...dinner at the Hamilton County Fair...a charcoal grilled ribeye sandwich and a lemon shakeup!  I get one every single year...it's a tradition for the past 30 years.   

GOING TO:  Celebrate birthdays...Mark's Dad's was yesterday, Mark's is Sunday, and Matt's is the 31st, so we will head up to Elwood and celebrate with the three of them together.  The fair is going on, so we will be in and out of there looking at various projects our kid and our friends' kids have entered.  Getting Matt ready for sending off to the Sectional Meet on Sunday morning.

PRAYING FOR:  Safe travel...a lot of people vacationing and going various places...please join me.

Fridays Favorites Fare

READING:  A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horwitz  Almost finished with it, and then I need to read my token novel for the year:  one of which everyone immediately recognizes the name and/or author and fulfills the goal for seeming to be mainstream America, "with it," and part of the "in crowd" (i.e., not my usual standard reading fare in other words)...so submit your favorites to my email now, so that I can choose something from amongst them! 

LISTENING TO:  Symphony on Prairie is doing Bach this weekend, so I am in a Bach kind of listening mood this afternoon.

COOKING THROUGH:  Le Cordon Bleu at Home (Le Cordon Bleu School of Cooking), this week's assignment is Velouté Du Barry (Cream of Cauliflower Soup), pages 419-420; Baking:  From My Home to Yours (Dorie Greenspan), this week's recipe is Brioche Plum Tart on pages 54-55; The Bread Baker's Apprentice (Peter Reinhart), this week's recipe is Casatiello; The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking (Marcella Hazan), this week's recipe is Pasta and Pesto with Potatoes and Green Beans on page 177-178.  You can cook/bake along, too!

FAV NEW FIND:  That last week's little surgery resulted in all negative results...what a relief!

FAV THING TODAY:  Just enjoying the summer day with Matt.  Fun to see all the little swimmers and how good Matt is with teaching them to swim.   

GOING TO:  A mish mash of activities this weekend...World Swimming Championships are here in town, so that means working as well as watching; hopefully, the Bach through Bluegrass concert at the Prairie this evening; and the biggie...getting 4-H all wrapped up and turned in for judging by Sunday evening.  Trying to decide if I am entering anything this year or not...still haven't made up my mind definitely on that, but mine doesn't have to be turned in until later, so I can procrastinate a few days before I need to decide.

PRAYING FOR:  Pick something close to you heart to pray for, and please join me.

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horwitz  This is a strange little book Mark got as a Christmas gift from his sister Nan.  Horwitz, of course, is a well-known, respected, and awarded writer.  I was expecting something different when I started it, am not sure I really like it all that well, and for some reason can't put it down.  It's a sort of story in a story.  The premise being that Horwitz sets out to "discover" the lands that were discovered by the famous explorers back in their day.  You get the original story of discovery and then you get today's version of the same areas of discovery.  I'll see it through...it has large print, and maps, and I love anything that has maps!  A strange little book. 

LISTENING TO:  Big Band Music from various artists

COOKING THROUGH:  Le Cordon Bleu at Home (Le Cordon Bleu School of Cooking), this week's assignment is Velouté Du Barry (Cream of Cauliflower Soup), pages 419-420; Baking:  From My Home to Yours (Dorie Greenspan), this week's recipe is Tribute to Katharine Hepburn Brownies on pages 96-97; The Bread Baker's Apprentice (Peter Reinhart), this week's recipe is Casatiello.  You can cook/bake along, too!

FAV NEW FIND:  The new stoplight at 131st and Gray Road in Carmel. We now have a left turn arrow.  I am pretty sure this is going to catapult us even higher in the rankings for the Top Ten Cities in the United States for Raising a Family.  I know it just made my life a whole lot easier.

FAV THING TODAY:  Okay, let's say yesterday instead of today as I loved going to the Symphony on the Prairie last night at Conner Prairie.  Yes, it was a bit chilly, can't remember for instance when one needed a sweater or jacket on the 2nd of July!  It was all patriotic music and then a tribute to the Big Band Era during the time of WWII, so that was very enjoyable.  Fireworks at the end accompanied by the symphony.  Very nice evening.

GOING TO:  Let's see:  Some are going to Cincinnati to the Reds game, some are not; some are going to Elwood on Saturday, some are not; Some are celebrating clear into Sunday, some are not.  You are on your own to figure out who is doing what when.  Hope you are having a great 4th of July holiday!

PRAYING FOR:  Peter's family as Peter lost his three year battle with cancer last weekend, a braver child, I cannot think, a more faith-filled family, I do not know.  Please join me.

Fridays Favorites Fare

READING:  The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz  Anniversary present...new cookbook, well ice cream sorbet, granita cookbook.  A decidedly summer kind of reading book to have in one's possession.  Actually reading a number of other things, but figured you would all want to check out an ice cream book, right? 

LISTENING TO:  Bryan Adams

PHOTO:  Iris and Peonies from our yard in vases by my kitchen sink..such a joy to have flowers around.

COOKING THROUGH:  Le Cordon Bleu at Home (Le Cordon Bleu School of Cooking), this week's assignment is Civet de Lapin a la Francaise (Rabbit Stew with Red Wine), pages 452-4533; Baking:  From My Home to Yours (Dorie Greenspan), this week's recipe is Honey-Peach Ice Cream, and can be found on page 437; The Bread Baker's Apprentice (Peter Reinhart), this week's recipe is Bagels.  You can cook/bake along, too!

FAV NEW FIND:  Sourdough bread yeast starter that I won from a give away on a fellow BBA baker's blog.  I named it Phyl after the original owner as it is traditional to name one's starter.  It's a small world as Phyl is originally from Indiana and went to Notre Dame Law School.  He has been baking for 30 years as a hobby.  His breads are gorgeous.

FAV THING TODAY:  Matt went a 21 in the 50 Backstroke today.  WOW.

GOING TO:  Have an enjoyable relaxing weekend.

PRAYING FOR:  With Flag Day coming up, praying for all the service men/women who are protecting our way of life.  Please join me.

Fridays Favorites Fare

READING:  The Great Upheaval: America and the Birth of the Modern World (1788-1800) by Jay Winik.  Sharing this book with Mark simultaneously, so also reading monthly city magazines that come our way to see what exactly I wish to do in June around here. 

LISTENING TO:  Bizet

COOKING THROUGH:  Le Cordon Bleu at Home (Le Cordon Bleu School of Cooking), this week's assignment is Longe de Porc aux Pruneaux (Roast Pork Loin with Prunes) and Mousseline de Celeri Rave (Creamed Celery Root Puree), pages 122-123; Baking:  From My Home to Yours (Dorie Greenspan), this week's recipe is Cinnamon Squares, and can be found on page 210-211; The Bread Baker's Apprentice (Peter Reinhart), this week's recipe is Greek Artos (Celebration) Bread, and can be found on pages 111-114.  You can cook/bake along, too!

FAV NEW FIND:  My new digital scale for weighing flour and yeast and all sorts of things!  Very nice.

FAV THING TODAY:  It's sunny, it's beautiful outside, last day of school for CHS, it's summer! Almost.

GOING TO:  Graduations parties!  Other bits...all of it fun.

PRAYING FOR:  All the 2009 High School Graduates...May your lives be filled with productivity and magical times!  Please join me.   

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  The Great Upheaval: America and the Birth of the Modern World (1788-1800) by Jay Winik.  Ooh, la la, Mark brought this home and said, "You are going to love this book."  He bought it for himself, I think, but right away offered to share it with me, as in I'm encouraged to read it simultaneously while he is at work, etc., as he probably deduced I would steal it one way or another anyway.  America, France, Russia, the Age of Enlightenment, etc., what's not to love here?  Starts after the Revolutionary War, encompasses the embracing of the ideas/ideals of such and how they led the way for the storming of the Bastile and the revolution in France, the uprisings in Russia, etc.  Washington and all the usual players in America, Louis XVI and all the usual revolutionaries in France, Catherine the Great (and her son Paul after her death in 1796), and all the usual suspects in Russia...oh, I am a happy camper!  Everything else around here can wait.  Just kidding, but this book is excellent.  Steamships and canals...again, on hold.  Just not enough time in a day. 

LISTENING TO:  Mozart's Requiem...Totally depressing for May, I know...I am blaming Nancy E...she started it.

COOKING THROUGH:  Le Cordon Bleu at Home (Le Cordon Bleu School of Cooking), this week's assignment is Salade de Foies de Volailles Tiedes (Salad of Warm Sauteed Chicken Livers), pages 306-307; Baking:  From My Home to Yours (Dorie Greenspan), this week's recipe is Chipster-Topped Brownies, and can be found on page 94-95; The Bread Baker's Apprentice (Peter Reinhart), this week's recipe is Greek Artos (Celebration) Bread, and can be found on pages 111-114.  You can cook/bake along, too!

FAV NEW FIND:  Brotforms...am getting ready to learn how to make baguettes.

FAV THING TODAY:  Early morning swim:  Let the summer begin!

GOING TO:  This is easy:  stay home as much as possible...it is Indy 500 Weekend here and no one in their right mind thinks getting around the city in this amount of traffic and craziness is using the better part of reason.  A time to get the yard/gardens in shape, swim, watch movies, cook out, and let people make their way here if so desired, but staying put is my idea of a lovely lovely Memorial Day Weekend.  I am not a race fan, can you tell?  Now, the Final Four here next year is a different matter altogether.

PRAYING FOR:  Safe travel for all the travelers this weekend, please join me.   

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart.  Another cooking/baking blog along...just couldn't help myself.  Some of my favorite TWD bakers found out about this group (BBA) that was just starting (limit 200 bakers), and I was encouraged to join in and learn how to bake all kinds of bread.  With Yeast.  And all sorts of varieties requiring all sorts of new techniques.  So, on every other Monday I will post the bread I made for the class.  Shelley's doing it, too.   

LISTENING TO:  The Grass Roots...remember them?  OMW...found them, dusted them off, and now am wondering how time could have gone so fast...feels like I am still the girl in high school listening to them while I am doing my homework. 

COOKING THROUGH:  Le Cordon Bleu at Home (Le Cordon Bleu School of Cooking), this week's assignment is Gratin de Fruits au Marasquin (Fruit Gratin with Maraschino Liqueur), page 376; Baking:  From My Home to Yours (Dorie Greenspan), this week's recipe is Fresh Mango Bread, and can be found on page 45; The Bread Baker's Apprentice (Peter Reinhart), this week's recipe is Anadama Bread, and can be found on pages 108-109.  You can cook/bake along, too!

FAV NEW FIND:  All the blooming flowers around here!  Above is a photo of the Siberian Iris bed down by the pool...and YES, the pool is finally OPEN!  Not swimming yet, too rainy, but it is just there waiting.  Thank you, Bill!

FAV THING TODAY:  Well, okay, this was yesterday: lunch with Margaret.  You might remember that Margaret and I are eating our way through the alphabet for lunch, originally intended for a once a week or every other week occurrence, (in order) according to restaurant names as her husband Rex started this with his co-workers and we thought it would be fun.  I think Rex and his co-workers have made it through the whole alphabet, in order, at least twice.  Margaret and I are on "D" and we have been at this for 17 months...as you can see, we haven't been very diligent.  We went to Dooley's here in Carmel and had, in honor of Cathy who recently made these for her Derby party and I had not a clue what they were, a Hot Brown sandwich.  (The cholesterol poster child's nightmare, but very tasty and worth a splurge just to see what all the fuss was about.)  It came with chips but Margaret and I replaced those with steamed broccoli to ease our guilt at eating cheese sauce over turkey, ham, bacon, and tomato, all on an open face bun. This Hot Brown business is really really good...no more than once a year, but maybe on Derby Day each year.... Favorite part of lunch, however, was learning that Kate has received a full ride scholarship for tuition, fees, expenses, etc. to college for four years.  We are so proud of you, Kate!  And, to Margaret and Rex:  great job homeschooling that girl all these years...she is a gem!

GOING TO:  Well, it's a swim weekend...prelim/finals sessions together, so that means Matt swims Friday night, Saturday morning, and Sunday morning only...no evening sessions, which is a good thing as he has some lifeguard thing Saturday afternoon, followed by an IYC concert Saturday evening, and on Sunday afternoon he has an IYC rehearsal.  I could not keep this boy's schedule.  We will be the parents, following the child about this weekend, and also have a few other things going on of our own, so no doubt the weekend will pass quickly.      

PRAYING FOR:  Seniors...taking their final exams, getting ready for graduation, looking toward their futures...as I was subbing up at Guerin today, I could feel it in the air...they are getting ready for flight, and come next fall, I will be missing them dreadfully...praying for all the seniors, please join me.

Friday's Favorites Fare

READING:  Undaunted Courage:  Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Stephen E. Ambrose.  Still reading this as I keep getting distracted, if you don't understand this, you should try reading this book without stopping and doing a quick search for all the areas described on the maps, all the birds/animals mentioned that were newly discovered (plover/avocet, etc. etc. etc.), let alone all the plants (redberry, serviceberry, snowberry), etc., all the different Indian tribes (Snake Indians are actually Shoshone), boat/canoe shapes (pirogue), etc. etc. etc.  Every single chapter has dozens of familiar yet unfamiliar terms.  I would just be sleepless each night wondering what it all was if I didn't look it all up...so be patient...I think Lewis will be back in Washington by the end of the weekend and I will be able to move on.  I think. 

LISTENING TO:  Peter Gabriel.  Blame Shelley...she started it with his tune called Book of Love, so I dusted off Peter and now I'm even sorta starting to be happy Shelley got that tune playing over and over in my mind.  Sorta.  More importantly, I have been enjoying his cache of music for the past three days.  Usually I am bored long before three days.  Shelley's other play for the week was The Carpenters...there is no trusting Shelley's musical taste...just when I think we can ride down the road in the same vehicle flipping through the stations with glee, she comes up with something like "Oh, please stop...'Close to You' is one of my favorites!"  WHAT????????  Out...out of this car, right now, Shell!  LOL.  Enough giving Shelley grief...we can always listen to Def together for any ride anywhere anytime.  Right, Shelley?

COOKING THROUGH:  Le Cordon Bleu at Home (Le Cordon Bleu School of Cooking), this week's assignment is Rouelles de Veau Bourgeoise (Veal Shanks with Pearl Onions and Mushrooms), pages 18-19; Baking:  From My Home to Yours (Dorie Greenspan), this week's recipe is Tartest Lemon Tart, and can be found on page 336.  You can cook/bake along, too!

FAV NEW FIND:  Lovely photos with flowers and trees and many things blue; restaurants and menus; photos full of history and things of mystery...always love the photos, etc.  (Photo today is of our dwarf lilac bushes ready to burst into full bloom.  So pretty...and so many of them!)

FAV THING TODAY:  Well, pizza night.  We have decided that Friday night is going to be pizza night as Alex loves pizza and it seems like a fine family outing before everyone goes their separate ways on Friday nights.  6:00 be there, different place each week, so you will need to check weekly location if you are joining us.

GOING TO:  Mark's whole family is assembling this weekend for Mother's Day, so we will be making the hour trip back and forth to assemble also.  I like that they live so close, easy access and you can come and go at will.    

PRAYING FOR:  Mothers, those present and those no longer with us, please join me.