For the past several weeks I have been working on entering my vast collection of recipes - some "favorites and some "want to try" - into a recipe database. Yesterday, I finished the first "wave" of recipes - my file folders filled with "want to try" recipes. Once I finished that I was ready to begin my next recipe project - entering in the recipes from my Grandmother's recipe box.

This box has roughly three hundred recipe cards in it (I'm guessing probably more.  I'm just too lazy to count each card since I will, over time, access each and every one of them.  THEN I can tell you exactly how many there are.).  I expect it will take me quite some time to get them all entered into my database (with pictures scanned of the card itself), but I'm twenty cards into the project and already having fun.

This index card has the recipe for Butterscotch Ice Box Cookies. It's just one of the many recipe cards in my grandmother's recipe box, yet it holds so much information and history. The fact that they're called "ice box" cookies already indicates their age, and my grandmother, who always had a refrigerator from the time she went out on her own, grew up with an ice box.  In fact, my great grandmother didn't replace her ice box with a refrigerator until around 1950, and only then because it was getting more and more difficult to get ice.  After all, the ice box still worked (sure, what's to break on a box that holds ice cubes?), and apparently she was quite frugal.

The card itself is tattered, yellowed, and has food splatters on it attesting to its age and "favorite" status among the recipes.

The date, "5-22-43", carries with it a sort of Pandora's box of historical information;

• the first US jet fighter was air tested on this day
• Stalin disbanded Komintern (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comintern in English, or in German here http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kommunistische_Internationale) which was an international communist organization dating back to 1919
• the German submarine U-569 was sunk by US Avenger aircraft in the mid Atlantic and its crew sent to a POW camp in Perthshire Scotland
• newspaper headlines are filled with war news like "Allies Down 285 Planes Blasting at Italy", and "USAAF Smashes U-Boat Bases in Reich"

And (my maternal grandmother) a young wife from central Illinois (living alone in Virginia at the time, I believe) writes down recipes from her mother while her husband is serving in the US Navy aboard a small battleship converted into a "flat top". He is now aboard the USS Card.  Only two weeks before he would have been on the carrier USS Lexington in the Battle of the Coral Sea where "Lady Lex" was hit.  Because of the flames, the US Navy would "scuttle" her before nightfall, but not before getting as many men off the ship as they could.

I would later hear from my grandfather how he helped move the wounded from the sinking Lex to the rescue ship.  He was one of the last able-bodied sailors to leave the Lex and board the rescue vessel.  Men, trapped below deck on the burning, sinking Lexington, sent final messages to their families by way of the ship's radioman.  Such a sober task. Such a haunting thought.

Now aboard the Card, my grandfather was on the flagship of a hunter-killer group formed to hunt German subs; a task it and its crew did quite well, apparently.

So much rich history wrapped up in one 3x5 recipe card!

Gingerbread!

My first official holiday baking is now complete. I quintupled my gingerbread recipe so that I could make two gingerbread house forms, a Christmas tree, and lots of gingerbread men and snowflakes.

Perhaps tomorrow we can do some assembling of the houses and tree.

Ready for Thanksgiving

Grainy rolls, plain rolls, seedy rolls, and cornbread, brownies, and poppyseed lemon cake. It's been a long day in the kitchen, but I made it. Tomorrow I will make the green bean casserole.

Now, where are my elastic waisted skirts?

Blessed beyond words.

They humored me for this picture, but that says a lot about who they are.

Allow me to introduce you to my parents. That's my stepmom, my dad, my stepdad, and my mom. And, yes, they are all standing in the same room at the same time. This is not a Photoshop photo, nor is this a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence or a new development. Somewhere in my inventory of photographs is a photo of these same four people in a sailboat for a day of sailing with me (around my college years).

Although I was young when they divorced, my parents remained united in their love for me. I don't know for sure, but I suspect they went through great pains and made sacrifices along the way so that I could feel that way.

This photo is a tribute to my parents and the maturity that they have gained over the years through this process of being divorced, remarried, and raising children in the midst of it all.

I love all of you.

My turn to ride!

This last weekend, Joerg and I completed our motorcycle training class for a license endorsement. Now that the class is over and we are officially legal we are on the hunt for motorcycles.

Our first purchase is this 2002 BMW R1150R. That's a lot of letters and numbers, but basically it's a nicely powered motorcycle that I can handle and that makes Joerg all goofy. No kidding, he's like a kid with a new toy. However, THIS toy he has to SHARE with his WIFE...until we get bike #2.

Invaders!

"Something's been eating my tomatoes!" said Mama Bear.

Little Rewards

Since a large chunk of our business is based in Middlebury, there are periods of time where I find myself frequently on the road. While I'm driving, I will occasionally encounter a view that just begs to be photographed, but I am usually without a camera or short on time.

Today was both, but I couldn't resist pulling out my cell phone to capture this shot.

Ausable Chasm, New York

As a family outing, we took the ferry from Burlington Vermont to Plattsburgh New York for a day at Ausable Chasm. It's mostly wet activities so I don't have that many pictures of the day, but as we were leaving the park I was able to stop and capture some images of the falls. This is one of my favorites. (Imagine this picture in full fall foliage glory!)

 

Unexpected Treats

It's our second year getting vegetables from Jericho Settlers Farm. I'm used to getting a bushel basket full of veggies that have been harvested and boxed for me to come and collect, but this year I'm learning a whole new level there.

During yesterday's pick up, the women at the farm said that there were pick-your-own beans. So if you're willing to do the picking (which I was) you can get MORE vegetables. So I did. I even had help from a super picker helper (Katherine).

As we were leaving with our beans, we were invited to cut flowers from the flower gardens! What a treat.

Canned and Frozen

This is our second summer participating in a CSA (community sustained agriculture). We get a large selection of vegetables each week; salad and leafy greens, root vegetables, herbs, tomatoes, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, and the list goes on. We don't get all of these things every week, but we haul home about a bushel basket full of goodies each Monday.

Last year I worked hard to use up all the vegetables each week, pushing two and sometimes three veggies on my family at each meal. Sometimes I didn't get enough of something to make a complete dish (for example, when we get green beans we get 1/2 pound, but that's not enough for our family. So I would buy more at the grocery store to fill the gap). To add insult to injury, I have a small garden in the back yard where I grow tomatoes, herbs, and whatever else strikes my fancy at spring planting time. By the end of last summer we just couldn't look at another vegetable.

Then I got smart, but too late in the season to be of any benefit.

This year, I am putting up the vegetables that can be easily frozen (like green beans and peas) or canned (like beets), using some for baking (like zucchini), and serving the rest (like leafy greens, carrots, and cucumbers.

It's pretty fun to be preparing foods that we'll be able to enjoy when snow has blanketed our little patch of earth and gardens have gone to sleep for the winter.

And I do mean ENJOY, for we have rediscovered the pleasures of flavorful produce. Conditioned by years of eating mass produced vegetables, we have grown accustomed to food with mild or washed out flavor.

And another benefit to storing vegetables for the winter is that we no longer dread my weekly runs to the farm to pick up more vegetables.

Maybe it's time to go blueberry picking and start planning for apple season.

Mystery Solved

Unless you are the type to look for it, it isn't often that one gets to experience mystery, adventure, or unexpected learning. For Patrick, me, and my parents on Isle LaMotte, today was one of those mystery-leads-to-unexpected-learning days.

My parents bought a beautiful home on the shores of Lake Champlain a few years ago. They have entertained there, renovated the kitchen, painted walls, rebuilt the basement, and spent summers enjoying the views of their cliff-top dwelling. In that time, they have surely walked in and out of their front door a "gazillion" times.

Either completely unnoticed or noticed but not pursued, a small curiosity has been quietly waiting to be discovered by these new homeowners. Today, the wait was over.

After spending the afternoon playing in and lounging by the lake, I was putting my wet shoes by the door when I noticed this small thing attached to the frame of the transom window. At about eight feet high, it was difficult to see, but I thought it might be a lever to open the window or a special key of some kind. I poked at it and wiggled it a bit to see if it would come down, and it turns out that two small finishing nails were all that held it to the window frame…so I removed it.

It did indeed seem to be a key of some sort, but it wasn't clear what it would be for. And to make it more curious, on the front of this "key" was a pictograph that was in some way familiar to me. It didn't take long to conclude that the pictograph was actually a Hebrew symbol, but we still didn't know for sure what this thing was. As we discussed the possibilities I remembered back to my days at Trinity babysitting for many orthodox Jewish families. They would often have a thing attached to the wall near their front door that was important to the practices of their faith. Could that be what this "key" is?

Enter Google. A little research revealed that, as a matter of fact, what we had discovered was a Mezuzah placed there by the previous owners.
A mezuzah is a piece of parchment inscribed with specified verses from the Torah. These verses comprise the Jewish prayer "Shema Yisrael". A mezuzah is affixed to the doorframe in Jewish homes to fulfill the mitzvah (Biblical commandment) to inscribe the words of the Shema "on the doorposts of your house" (Deuteronomy 6:9. The parchment is prepared by a qualified scribe who has undergone many years of meticulous training, and the verses are written in black indelible ink with a special quill pen. The parchment is then rolled up and placed inside the case.

Wait. A parchment scroll? So far all we had was this thing with the Hebrew symbol on it. Could there really be a scroll in this tiny thing? It took some surgical digging (tweezers, forceps, and a patient hand), but that's exactly we found. How fun!

I continued to research the mezuzah. The Hebrew symbol on the case turns out to be the Hebrew letter "Shin" which stands for the S in Shaddai – one of the names for God. The Shin also serves as a one-letter acronym for "Shomer Daltot Yesrael" which means "Guardian of Israel's doors".

The case is mounted on the door frame and is to serve as a constant reminder of God's presence and His commandments.

The scroll has the following passages printed in Hebrew:

Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 11:13-21. 13 So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the Lord's anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you. Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.

My last act was to reroll the parchment scroll, replace it in the case, and replace the case to its original position "on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates".

My favorite part of camping

It's Not Easy Being Green

Summer CSA pick ups have begun! Check out today's load; leeks, scallions, escarole, leaf lettuce, mesclun mix, Asian salad mix, baby bok choy, baby spinach, potatoes (although I didn't take any since they're not on our protein diet), and parsley!

I'm not exactly sure how we're going to get this all eaten before next week's pick up, but we'll do our best.

In addition to all this green stuff, I've come home with a dozen roasting chickens.

Memorial Day

My favorite visitor to the Essex Junction Memorial Day Parade.

I wonder if they need a tuba player.

Let the Garden Grow

Yesterday I weeded the garden (with some help from a handsome handyman) and turned the soil.

Today I planted the stuff that came in my Burpee order.  I placed the order a couple of months ago and the shipment arrived the day after Joerg and I returned from our trip to Indonesia.

Two kinds of tomato (the third variety they sent was the wrong one - not what I ordered), two kinds a hot pepper, basil, sweet peas, and green beans.  I still have some herb seeds to sew, but I should be able to get that done this week.

I also set up the sprinkler system.  I really like my Mister Landscaper stuff!

Indonesian Sunset

Spring School Program

Each year, Trinity puts on a couple of programs.  This year's Spring Program was on Friday night and included three short plays, each acted by different grade groups.

The second and third grade class did the story of Johnny Appleseed and his missionary efforts.  The fourth, fifth, and sixth grade class did a story about six travelers who each had a special gift that would come in handy during their travels.  And the fifth and six graders did the story of The Proud-Minded Princess who had to learn some humility before she could fin joy and contentment in her life.

The stories were cute, well-acted, and funny.  Even the costumes were fantastic.

Happy Anniversary to Us

An Anniversary Bouquet from my mom! It's only a month late, but then again I was out of the country on my actual anniversary. :)

And really we should celebrate every month, not just in February.

San Andres, Colombia

More Vacation Bling

Phone pictures don't really do this set justice. I'm not very impressed with my wire-wrapping skills, but hope to remedy that with a class. However, I like simple coloring, and how the simple necklace allows the pendant to be the real focal piece.

The other thing that I like is that this necklace was also done completely out of inventory. I didn't have to make any runs to the bead store to "fill gaps".

Getting ready for vacation!

I finished this set last weekend. It has a wonderful jellyfish pendant of blown glass (that I bought at an artist fair last summer in Montana), fresh water pearls (from a necklace I made 21 years ago), mother of pearl, sodalite, and faceted green sea glass.

It is a "modular" piece that can be warn twisted all together or with just the "jellyfish" necklace or just the "cascade" necklace.  I can't wait to wear it when we go on vacation.

Work Avoidance!!

I don't really want to take the Christmas decorations down...so let's play instead! Chocolate pretzels and jammin' to some Blue Moo kid songs!

Pajama days gone by

I was searching through some photos in search of a picture of our old house and I stumbled upon this great picture of the kids in their animal print pajamas (made by Oma).

Katherine has long-since outgrown her pajamas, and Patrick has outgrown his (fortunately I haven't outgrown mine), but now Katherine is wearing Patrick's...although by next winter I'm not so sure.

Weren't they cute?