All Things EARTH... part 2

[Anita Latte]

Hope all goes well tomorrow Margaret. 

 

I'm continuing with the downsizing but I've taken a new slant on it. I'm hitting the kitchen up. You could call it decluttering the kitchen I suppose...I'm trying to work my way through my pantry and freezer. It's not necessarily a no buy thing or a true pantry challenge...it's more along the lines of having stuff in the pantry that I need to motivate myself to use. I don't want to move too much food again. Things like the bag of split peas...and some quinoa.

 

Anyway, I've decided to blog about it. I like to write and this is all working together to motivate me to cook what I have and thus give me something to write about. I've also given myself a pass on how the thing looks right now. I'm not letting myself get distracted by too much formatting etc. I don't even have a bio or profile. I ended up picking Blogger because it is free. I did buy the dot com of my blog name though because I really like it. If anyone wants to read along, it's all about random food. Really random food. LOL.

 

http://www.cookingwithcache.com

[Sailor_Sally]

Anita , I am enjoying the blog . I will try the chicken recipe this week

Pac Cruise , Sorry your Mom passed so young . That is so hard .

[awhfy]

fun blog Anita. Those chicken Creole looks good

 

had a major scare today. Les all of a sudden lost vision in his left eye, like a blackout curtain descending. I immediately thought retinal detachment & called the eye doc. Ok, they can see us at 3pm. Minor problem...neither of us can drive (my boot is on right foot) & Les can’t see to drive. Thank goodness oldest daughter can drive us. Off we go. Get to doc, Les has vision back but the vitreous gel is separated a bit & the cataracts are backbut not emergent...good news. Scary day, big glass of wine. My foot seems to be healing, I’ll know more next week when they take the approximately 100 stitches out. Melody

[laurspag]

It's interesting, because I am only 53, but I often think about all the things we have, what we use, what we do not.  I feel that if something means something to you, use it.  Put it out on display.  If you don't have room for it, look at what you already have out.  For whatever reason, my husband is firmly the opposite.

 

Let's blame the guys.  :-)

 

I often talk about downsizing some day, and my husband is firmly against it.  We don't have a full bath or bedroom on the main floor, so if we ever have mobility issues, what would we do?  I think he is starting to listen, but he isn't ready to do anything yet. 

 

Anita, I absolutely despise throwing out food, so I often try to use what I have.  It doesn't always work out though.  Seeing that winter is coming, I'm more inclined to stock the pantry, but I fully understand your scenario right now.  I don't know how much of things you have, but your son will be heading away to school in what...about 9 months?  Do you know how soon you plan to move?

 

That dress is really, really cute.  It looks like the kind of thing you can dress up or down.  I like certain types of floral prints, and this is very appealing to me.  Mostly though, I tend to wear shirts in prints, but not dresses very often.

 

My daughter and I were discussing mother of the bride dresses Saturday.  I have already learned not to google that term.  Those just aren't my style.  Based on the type of wedding, and the fact that I don't want to impose that the mother of the groom wear a long dress, I'm going to go with a short formal dress.  I saw a couple of things I liked, but nothing jumped out at me.  Most things that fall into that category seem to have lots of sparkle. 

 

My daughter's wedding gown has some sparkle at the top, but not an excessive amount.  She shocked me...her dress is vintage ivory, so you could say a definite, golden type of off white.  She said she knew it was the right dress when she put it on.  The funny thing is, many, many dresses now are not pure white, and that's okay.  She expected to purchase a pure white dress, and I expected her to.  But she put on this dress, and she just knew.  I have to admit, it brought out her coloring so much better.  She was looking so chalky in the white dresses, and she kept saying they were missing something. I told her to try different things, and she would know it when she saw it.  And she did. 

 

Melody, I'm glad you have the boot instead of the cast.  How are you feeling?

[pacruise804]

Anita -The link worked for me today - super cute dress 🙂 I'm looking forward to checking out your blog.

 

Sally - Mom developed MS very young (early symptoms around 19-20 but misdiagnosed for several years) and it was very aggressive.  By her 40's she was unable to walk and had limited communication.  I am blessed with wonderful memories from early childhood, and even through the illness there were some things to be thankful for.  We are all glad she is no longer suffering, but I still miss her.  One of the hardest things for me is realizing how few people are still around who knew her when she was healthy and functioning.

 

Melody - So glad Les is ok 😮and that your daughter was there for you.  Praying good news for your foot next week.

 

Laurie - Glad your daughter found "her" dress - the color sounds lovely and white-white can be harsh.  Hoping you can find your perfect dress too.

 

I'm so proud of my Dad.  His health hasn't been the greatest the past few years and something clicked this year to motivate him to lose weight.  He checked out surgery but they determined it would be too risky with his other health issues.  Through diet and walking though he has lost over 40#, eliminated one type of insulin and cut the other in half, and is now walking 3 miles most days (before he could barely walk 1/4 mile).  He's also letting go of more stuff in the house, which I know is hard for him.

 

It's a rainy day here, so hopefully a good day to go through some of my excess to purge.

 

[pacruise804]

The blog is great!  It sounds like we are similar cooks (I just did a similar pasta dish) and with similar issues with recipes and cookbooks.  That's one of my big purge areas - so many recipes I look online if I need it anyway so I really need to bless others with the books and recycle the magazines.

[Sailor_Sally]

Melody , I am so glad Les is okay . That would really scare me .

Laura, Your daughter's dress sounds perfect . My daughter and I went shopping for her dress and when they put the veil on her I cried , It was such an emotional moment .Gary does not want to downsize and is resisting it but I am moving ahead . We really need to get this done before we get too old to do it .

[Anita Latte]

Scary Melody. I'm also glad Les is okay. The situation illustrates to me how fortunate you are to have so much family close by. It's important to have people around you that are willing to help you at a moment's notice. Friends can be like that too, but either way, important people in your life.

 

Your daughter's dress sound beautiful Laurie! I can only imagine the difficulty in finding a mother of the bride dress. You really can't look with those terms...the results aren't anything like what I would imagine you wearing. I'm excited to see what you pick out! I hope you have as easy a time as your daughter!

 

Thanks for all the good vibes on the blog! I'm like you Laurie...I don't like to throw anything out, but it can't be helped sometimes. Too often it's just because I forget what I have too...I'm hoping the blog will help me stay on top of it all.

 

DS will be going to college in August or September next year. We will be moving in May!!! And I know where we are moving to...*drum roll*...DH got a job offer in Orlando!! Woot woot!! Details are still in the works. The job offer came in overnight last night. It sounds like a pain to be moving right before DS heads off to college BUT I'm really happy that he will be able to partake of the being of this new season for DH and I. That way, when he comes home, it won't be to a completely strange and new place. We'll have the summer together...well, the part of the summer that he spends with us LOL! I know he has plans to do some things with friends too.

 

So I will be moving in less than 7 months! Time to get packing!

 

Actually...it's just time to make sure that I have less to pack. Time to be real about getting the kitchen down to the bare bones. It's been a while for most people...but I'm talking about the look the fridge has when you first move in, before you have your stock of mustards, ketchup, pickles, olives and other condiments and things that tend to hang out in the fridge. Time to run out of stuff and then decide if it really needs to be replaced. That's the goal here. To run out of stuff and just keep running out of stuff.

 

And then of course, the very real goal of completing the downsize before we move. I made good headway before the move to NC but since we rented sight unseen, we didn't know exactly what all would fit. And since we have on site storage, we could still have more than we need to have.

 

My sister in law teaches college in St Petersburg so we'll be relatively close to family. She's expecting her first so that'll be a funny position with ours leaving home and their family just starting.

 

We'll have to get together Sally!

 

It's all been well and good to be talking about how I've been working on the clearing out, but I have a date on the calendar set now. Now it's all very real.

 

pacruise...Mom and I were just talking about cookbooks earlier. The fact is that it is very easy to find recipes and reviews online, but splattered pages in a recipe book are special. Especially if there are notes in the book. I used to have an even bigger collection, but I have whittled it down...and that's one of the purposes behind my blog is to figure out if the ones I've kept are still worth keeping and moving. There are a few that are definitely keepers but a few that are questionable.

[pacruise804]

Yay for the move, it's nice you'll have family close (relatively).

 

I definitely have a few splattered recipes that will stay 😉 

[pacruise804]

Anita - your blog inspired my lunch today 🙂 I had some sautéed snow peas left over from dinner (son didn't like them), reheated and added scrambled eggs, topped with cheese and sriracha,  then placed on a tortilla shell that was left over from tacos earlier in the week.  It did take me a minute to read your blog title correctly too: my husband works in IT and I kept reading it as 'ca-shay' (computer language) instead of 'casch' like treasure 😉 Once I read the intro it made more sense though.

 

I saw a tip on layering that I hadn't seen before but made sense to me:  if the top layer is closed (pull over sweater) the bottom layer should be longer, if the top layer is open (cardigan) the top layer should be longer.  I've often liked the more pulled together look of layering, but never felt I did it "right."  Yesterday I tried adding a longer button down shirt under a sweatshirt and was really pleased with the look.  It was still very casual for just basic errand running, but I felt more pulled together and not so "frumpy" as wearing just the sweatshirt or even if I had a tucked-in shirt underneath.  Hope it helps someone 🙂 

[MJC]

Anita, I enjoyed reading your blog. When I left home my mom gave me a Betty Crocker cookbook and that's all I had for a long time. I really truly learned to cook after getting Marian Burros's "Keep it Simple." That's where I learned how to stock a kitchen and what can substitute for what. I actually became a pretty good cook within the constraints of what DH will and will not eat (he's quite particular).

 

Laurie, I'm quite excited to see what you will pick for your MOB dress. That category for searching seems to pull up the same three styles that even my grandma wouldn't have worn -- she wore a long sleeve Donna Karan style wrap dress in a dark navy charmeuse and sky-high heels to my wedding. 🙂 She was only 5'2", she would have died in heels if she could have arranged it.

 

pacruise, I like what you posted about the layers.  I love long cardigan sweaters, down to the knee, I wear them like a jacket with a shell or other lightweight top underneath.

 

Anita, exciting news about the move to Orlando! When I go to visit my sister it will be you, me, and Sally at Cracker Barrel. Meet you in a rocking chair. 🙂

 

I had more oral surgery yesterday as my infection came back (or hadn't actually left). So, another round of four stitches in my gums and antibiotics for a week. I had just stocked my kitchen with real food and now I'm back to applesauce and protein drinks. At least I got the okay to fly on Friday, since I'm going to visit my dad for the weekend.

 

Speaking of surgery, how is that foot coming along, Melody?

 

Here is my favorite catalog outfit this week. In my catalog, it's the first photo and she's wearing kneecap-high brown suede boots with tights. Yum.  https://www.garnethill.com/via-spiga-coat/womens-fashion/coats-jackets/318909?listIndex=3

Edited November 7, 2018 by MJC

[awhfy]

Ouch Margaret, good that this will be done prior to Africa. Do ask your doc for a Zpack to take with you just in case. 

 

Anita!  FL resident cruise prices!  Easy flying!  Congratulations to your DH on the new position. When we were moving around all the time with the AF I never stocked our pantry other than canned goods, nothing that would expire. I still have a hard time buying multiples of mayo & ketchup 😂😂. 

 

Really glad we have have our new furnace (& thermostat is Bluetooth enabled) as we’re undergoing a nasty cold snap. 

 

Foot is slow. I get the (over 100 stitches) removed next week, that’ll give me a better sense on how it’s really doing. Not much discomfort (other than pulling from the sutures). Melody

[Anita Latte]

pacruise...however you want to pronounce it, one of the reasons I loved the name was because I thought it was modern and somewhat historical all at the same time. That is also the best complement for me! I don't think that I'm doing anything too terribly special, or unusual really...and I don't necessarily think that anyone would copy me out right...the whole idea is to be inspiring for readers. Complicated cooking has a time and place but everyday cooking hasn't been the topic of too many blogs, but I think it can be inspiring to see simple things too.

 

Margaret...that idea of learning technique and then how to combine different things is exactly what I'm talking about. I'm going to see if my library has that cookbook. I did pick up Julia Child's one that is more like that in spirit too called The Way to Cook, IIRC.

 

Melody, I really admire how positive an outlook you express so often even when you have to deal with such awful things! I'm currently reading a book titled Gratitude where the author purposes to be more grateful and express it for a year. You are striking me as a very grateful person.

 

I'm something of a hoarder in the kitchen! I like to stock up but I don't really like to use my stock LOL! I just like to see a pantry (cabinets now that I don't have a pantry) full of food...and a freezer full of food. But I haven't yet learned how to rotate through the stock well. DS actually helped me with that a bit last year when he decided that he only wanted to eat fish. I always order seafood from Alaska and have a stash in the freezer but tended to want to hoard it and not necessarily use it...so when DS wanted to eat fish only for animal protein, I really learned to actually use my freezer of fish. I was so glad when he decided to go back to the eater he was before...and then I started hoarding my fish again!!

 

OH...and yes on the FL cruising...OMG...I'm hoping that DH and I can catch some sweet last minute deals too.

[MJC]

Anita, what appealed to me about the Burros cookbook was that they are 30 minute meals. When we were first married and our work days were long, it was too easy to live on pizza and Chinese food. I wanted to make an effort to start cooking healthier dinners but they had to be quick because we were tired and hungry. Her salmon poached in vermouth is one of the recipes that is in fairly regular rotation here.

 

The one thing I hoard is chicken. We eat a lot of chicken. I buy the giant bags of vacuum sealed tops (will CC let me say breasts?), and one of my cookbooks is 365 Ways to Cook Chicken. 🙂

[Sailor_Sally]

I learned to cook with Joy of cooking . I still have my very stained book .I would love to get together after you move . You are in an ideal location . Driving distance to all the ports and eligible for resident passes for disney .

[pacruise804]

Something that helped me not hoard food was realizing that while I was saving the really good food so I'd have it for a special time I missed some great opportunities to create a special time and/or by the time I got around to using the food it wasn't as good (freezer burn, stale, etc).

[awhfy]

Ouch Margaret, good that this will be done prior to Africa. Do ask your doc for a Zpack to take with you just in case. 

 

Anita!  FL resident cruise prices!  Easy flying!  Congratulations to your DH on the new position. When we were moving around all the time with the AF I never stocked our pantry other than canned goods, nothing that would expire. I still have a hard time buying multiples of mayo & ketchup 😂😂. 

 

Really glad we have have our new furnace (& thermostat is Bluetooth enabled) as we’re undergoing a nasty cold snap. 

 

Foot is slow. I get the (over 100 stitches) removed next week, that’ll give me a better sense on how it’s really doing. Not much discomfort (other than pulling from the sutures). Melody

[awhfy]

I’m not cooking much right now, standing is pretty much an issue. I did make a crockpot chicken cacciatore yesterday (Les was so happy). I was even able to have a glass of wine. Not sure how many of you have Costco in your area but the Kirkland brand Pinot Grigio is truly excellent. It tastes, to me, exactly like Santa Margarita Pinot Grigio (at twice the amount for less than half the price). 

 

Laurie, look at Dillard’s or Alex Evenings for dress ideas. That’s where I got my blue dress that you liked. Best prices are right after New Years. I paid under $75 for it & they had many different dresses & many earthy colors. Your daughter’s dress sounds lovely. 

[Anita Latte]

We eat a lot of chicken too. When DS said that he wanted to try just eating fish...he threw me off my kitchen game in very bad way. I was fortunate that I grilled so much chicken, so that was a relatively easy sub...but the limitations of that particular diet...wow...it was like I had handcuffs on in the kitchen. We're back to a lot of chicken. 

 

I learned to cook from Mom!! I started helping in the kitchen when I was 6? We had one of those electric skillets that we would use to brown ground meat for spaghetti sauce and many other dishes. Spaghetti, Tamale Pie, Enchiladas, Lasagna. These were the dishes I first learned to cook. Being a helper in the kitchen...I can't even pinpoint my learning really.

 

Sally...I'm going to be the most touristy resident! Proximity to all the ports is a very exciting prospect. 

 

pacruise...I completely agree with what you wrote. If you save something for too long, it loses quality...and in some cases, many times for myself...something happens and you don't ever get to use the thing that you were saving for a special occasion. I've often wondered what that is that prompts that kind of thinking...that saving for a special occasion thinking...but I'm pushing to be the opposite of that. For whatever reason, for me, that's work. Using things and not saving them. It's kind of fun though. And I find that I get a kick out of actually using something up.

 

Melody...rest up. Don't push it. You might so stir crazy but it is probably best that you take it easy and work hard at the doing not much of anything that recovery sometimes requires. 

[MJC]

Check out this cute crossbody bag:

 

https://www.signals.com/cgi-bin/hazel.cgi?action=DETAIL&ITEM=HX7172

 

 

[Member123]

And, here's my first attempt to post something under this "new" forum. 

 

I just have been having such a great time reading the communication here! Melody, I'm sure you know my thoughts are with you and prayers for comfort. Your story about Les really unnerved me! I hope that he's doing fine. 

 

I thought I'd share a family chuckle or too, since Anita is having some food memories, etc. That electric skillet was one of the BEST kitchen appliances, back in the day. A GE appliance, as I recall. Just set the temperature and rely on it cooking the food perfectly. Miss Anita would get up on a kitchen step stool and stir the ground meat in the pan as it was browning after it got to the point where there wasn't a possibility of grease splatter. Cautious Mom! She was a helper in the kitchen. One of her favorite foods was spaghetti. 

 

So, fast forward the story. Anita was visiting with her Great-Grandma Mary cause the day care she attended physically shut down for a week during a time when I couldn't get my own time away from work. So a car trip to Southern California and a visit for a week with Grandma Mary. Apparently, one night she told her Grandma that she knew how to make spaghetti and she made it for us, ALL THE TIME. So, Grandma let her into the kitchen and she took off and made dinner for them. And, apparently, it was so good that Grandma had her cook some spaghetti for a lunch for the Ladies Who Play Scrabble. Anita was quite the hit! She told them that she was teaching me how to cook! I didn't even know that she'd paid such attention to the process that she could accomplish this feat. 

 

Of course, now we have kids competing in Master Chef and going on Chopped and participating in Guy's Grocery Games. But, back in the day, it wasn't a "thing" to let your kids into the kitchen, described as the most dangerous place in the house. 

 

I, though, have a fuzzy memory of how I learned to cook. I remember that my Dad got out of the Air Force and went to college on the GI Bill. Mom went to work to help financially, which was such a BIG DEAL in the 60's. I started out getting dinner "started" so that she could finish the details when she got home from work. Gradually, I increased my dinner preparation from just getting it started to completing. I know I was 11 when that all started. But, for me, I loved to bake. I got out of yard work by baking a cake for my Dad. The conversation went something like... I could go pull those pesky weeds, Dad, OR I could bake you a cake. The cake card was played all the time and I always won that hand.

 

Enough rambling. 

[MJC]

How I learned to cook:

 

When my brother and I were a senior (him) and junior (me) in high school, my mom announced that we each had to plan one meal per week and she would help us cook it. Thats when I learned to read recipes and do prep, and the different means of cooking like roasting, sauteing etc. We did that for a few months and then he got a job and I made it into the school musical and that was the end of that. I had often helped with baking and I still like making cakes, though I dont do it as much because the eating of cakes usually follows. 🙂 Oddly my younger siblings were not thrown the gauntlet and I dont think they are nearly as good at cooking as us as a result.

 

Here is my packing for three days in Michigan (where it was snowing as I landed):

 

Shown - gloves, small crossbody, scarf, jeans, brown sweater with tank and fab necklace, tweed hat, suede and shearling booties, Coach tote.

In the duffle bag - green and brown sweater, pashmina, sleepwear, undies, tech stuff, cosmetic bag, brown Skechers, round brush, vitamins, extra jewelry, umbrella.

In the tote for on the plane - In Style, disinfecting wipes, zinc lozenges, good earphones, tablet, sleep pillow.

Missing - workout outfit, since I cant until my stitches are out. 😞

 

https://image.ibb.co/cBTf0A/20181108-100654-crop-1050x

 

Edited November 10, 2018 by MJC

[Sailor_Sally]

Margaret , You win the packing light contest for sure .

 

My first husband taught me to cook . He owned a German restaurant so He was a great cook . I am an okay cook .My Mom was a great baker so she taught me baking but I rarely do it anymore because I really do not like cake .That sounds unamerican but it is true .

[Anita Latte]

That is a fab necklace Margaret! Nice pack for a weekend getaway!

 

I like what your mother did Margaret. We've been talking about doing the same with DS. He brought it up himself but he mentioned doing a kitchen intensive next summer...I don't think we should wait that long. We too often let the busy-ness of schedules get in the way. I fall into the trap of thinking that I'm better off just doing it myself...but that wouldn't be the point. DH talked about doing it as a way for the kitchen pressure to be off me at least one day a week. I could supervise and explain without having to actually do. 

 

Mom...I remember writing down a recipe for something for Elena...she lived next door to Grandma Mary on the one side. They thought I was really cute, the way that I had the recipe memorized.

 

Today was our first real cold day...shouldn't get out of the 40s today. I don't actually have a lot of cold weather clothing. I've never completely adopted the fact that I live in a more 4-season climate since leaving Houston. It'll be good to get back to that with the Orlando move. I've been treasuring all the evidence of autumn though...it's my favorite season and I know how that will basically disappear in Orlando.

 

Trying to be very rational in picking out where and what we want to rent in Orlando. SO many choices. I'm just trying to learn about the different neighborhoods right now. I LOVE google maps for this purpose. I get on the street view and "drive" all over.

[Sailor_Sally]

When looking in Orlando try to find something that does not relay on RT.4 . That is considered the worst highway in the US.