Many of you have written in asking for recipes. The holidays are upon us and many of our traditions are centered around food – be it turkey and stuffing or cookies and hot chocolate. If you ask me it’s really comfort we seek. So Margaret and I have decided to share a favorite recipe from each of us for each of you. Enjoy and Happy Holidays!
From Helen:
As much as I love this web page blog, I love my family more. So now I need to go and get everything ready for the holidays. At my age, you never know how many more of these times you’re going to get. So many things to do and so few days left to do them before the first wave of family begins to arrive. Mind you, I’m not complaining. At least this isn’t the Palin house where guns and evidently now drugs need to be checked at the door this year! You gotta believe that woman is praying harder than ever for end of days to get here.
It starts before Christmas and continues several days past. One family comes before so that they can be with the in-laws day of. Can’t imagine why I never got the “day of” visit but they say a son is a son until he gets married… how true. Now how you can have a suitable holiday when your in-laws are vegetarians is beyond me. No ham? No turkey? No thank you. And then we get another house full on Christmas morning, but they are in-town so I really don’t give them a choice in the matter. I feed them well so it can’t be all that bad.
My family has grown so much these past few years. Sons became husbands and their girlfriends became daughter-in-laws. My own precious daughter is now a Mommy of three. Seven grandchildren total and a whole mess of nephews and nieces and great-nephews and nieces. And most recently we are excited that the first great-grandchild will be joining us in 2009. Now when did I get old enough to be a Great Grandmother? It never seems to slow down. You never really do get to sit back and say, “There. All done. Now I can just relax and have a piece of pie.”
I do have much to be thankful for… much to be joyous about. When I look at my children and their children and soon even their children, I find it hard to believe that it was ever even close on who would be our next President. The audacity of hope… audacity indeed. I believe America is in good hands. Maybe, just maybe I can relax now. Maybe…
But about that recipe: Bacon. Forget about sausage, nuts or god forbid fruit for your stuffing. That’s all just a bunch of crap. The surefire way to have the perfect holiday meal is bacon. Unless, of course, you are Jewish or vegetarian. Then I can’t help you. A little day-old, plain, white bread, some butter, onions, seasoning, a little celery and a pound of bacon – fried crisp. Mix it all up complete with the bacon grease from the pan. You can’t go wrong. It’s the perfect stuffing every time.
And that will have to take us into the New Year everyone because I’ve got a family to feed.
From Margaret:
Well, Helen dear, here we are again on the verge of yet another Christmas. My but the days do seem to be flying by, don’t they? I can just picture you in your very active household. I can tell that all is indeed well in your world. The day you tell me that you just can’t fix another meal or stir another drink is the day I will know that my dearest Helen is slowing down. Won’t happen anytime soon, I know.
Howard and I do wish you and your Harold the best of Christmas. It will be only Howard and me for Christmas this year since we spent Thanksgiving with his family. You know me, Helen; this is the way I love spending my Christmas. Me, Howard, the dogs, and my beloved bird. Presents for the dogs and bird are wrapped. My work here is done.
And as for that recipe? Buy a pie at Hannaford’s…life is too short.
Happy Holidays to all our new friends out there. Celebrate as if they were your last. Leave a recipe for all to enjoy. And do stop by again in the New Year. We mean it. Really
Helen’s Perfect Stuffing (Unless You’re Jewish or Vegetarian)
3 loafs day-old white bread, air dried
1 lb bacon
1 stick butter
1 large onion
1 stalk celery
2tsp poultry seasoning
Salt & Pepper to taste
Prepare the night before. Chop the bread in a blender or food processor. Fry the bacon but leave the grease in the pan when you remove the bacon. Add stick of butter to the grease to melt. Chop onion and celery and cook in the grease/butter mixture. Combine contents of pan with bread and crumbled bacon. Toss in poultry seasoning and salt/pepper. Mix well and if the dressing isn’t “gummy feeling” go ahead and moisten it with chicken broth or warm water. Refrigerate until morning. I like to stuff my bird - just make sure you adjust your cooking time to accommodate. And forget about all that crap you hear about not stuffing a bird. Been doing it for 60 years and we’re all alive and well. Enjoy.
шокер
электрошокер
By: tariely on March 15, 2010
at 7:21 AM
What a pleasant surprise! My New Year’s resolution was to find a fun blog and discard the ones that were, quite frankly, sending me up a wall.
So, hi everyone…I’m new….and I love to cook so will provide a few favorite recipes before long.
I really love the idea of these two lovely ladies…they seem to have great fun and witty comments to offer.
By: deber on January 8, 2009
at 1:24 PM
Been off awhile doing the holiday bit. It’s great to read all the posts here, and now there’s a new commentary by M&H! Hooray! It’s a great new year with Obama coming in. I’m filled with hope.
JuneauJoe, glad you made it back to Alaska. This weather in Oregon is CRAZY! I-84 closed today both ways out of LaGrande (high winds and blizzard conditions); 11 closed out of Pendleton to Walla Walla; 204 closed over Tollgate.
Happy New Year to all of you!
By: Jan on January 5, 2009
at 11:38 PM
Oh-Werner took one for the porch/parlour team.
Oh yuck- Hope you are feeling better soon Werner. Somebody here said vinegar gets the slime off pretty welll
By: Alaska Pi Δ on January 5, 2009
at 10:17 PM
Hey greytdog and all
I just about manged to click away from team Sarah before I needed that barf bag, but now I am here in the office feeling all sick, and that on the worst day of the eyar (monster call ammounts since everyone and his brother can’t remeber their passwords…. why do all people leave theior brains in the holidays? ……. LOL
But uurgs again to team Sarah, where do they find all that braindead goo? I just don’t get it!
well till later, werner
By: Werner Oderwer on January 5, 2009
at 1:42 PM
AnnΔ
It has seemed open and obvious that you are part of the 3rd wave… it is a solid piece of ground to occupy even if more work to maintain footing … Hamas seems happy to hold up their dead babies as proof of righteous hatred. The hope must lie within the broader populace of Palestinians…And it is not wrong to be wary of the “grave menace” of Hamas…
By: Alaska Pi Δ on January 5, 2009
at 9:06 AM
Just to expand because I am often too concise- the position of the third wave described by Pfeffer is where I have been for 20 years and just keeping quiet.
By: AnnΔ on January 5, 2009
at 8:52 AM
I still feel stronger than previously the grave menace of Hamas.Is Israel the canary in the mine- will we have young girls blowing up in our malls ?While Israel vacates its schools to protect its children, the targeted leaders of Hamas store their weapons in mosques and in homes along with their wives and children and cry out about it.Are they crying about their children or their ammo? There is another part to this 3rd wave;when I speak to other and smaller than before group of Jewish american liberals;it is this”maybe we have been wrong”…I am struggling with a changed outlook.What will Obama stand for-15 days.
By: AnnΔ on January 5, 2009
at 8:46 AM
CO almost native said-
“AKM warned not to link to Team Sarah from Mudflats, so I would suggest them same from here- I got off and used Google…”
Thanks for taking a hit for the team CO. It all sounds spooky- the gov brings out spooky folks- here at home and Outside.
————-
AnnΔ – I hope you are getting your bearings back today… getting your feet back under yourself. Greytdog’s cite of Pfeffer puts a lot of things back into human perspective- the kind of exercise that always helps ME.
Jean is right about hatred being a choice. Fear is just a reaction…very real and very intense… but it is not thought.
Feeling some stupid crowd’s blind hatred of you- in the Jewish sense of you- ought to scare the heck out of you . It should scare the heck out of everyone- whether they are part of the reviled group or not.
It is the truest , most utter failing of our AK gov that she refused to recognize what she whipped up in crowds here at home-about Mr Obama -in her selfish zeal to get crowd approval when stumping for VP.
Amongst other things, Δ is for change…often measured as change in a system measured across time…
We can borrow that lil piece of science lab shorthand here … hang in there neighbor!
By: Alaska Pi Δ on January 5, 2009
at 8:08 AM
Good Morning everyone! Ann, have no fear – I found this on the J-Street Blog http://www.jstreet.org/blog/?p=69 :
Anshel Pfeffer, correspondent for Ha’aretz, portrayed the debate within the Jewish community outside Israel today slightly differently than Rabbi Yoffie. To him, the three parties to the debate are, first, the “large number of Pavlovian flag-wavers, good and innocent Zionists and Jews who see only the trauma inflicted on the people of Sderot, Ashkelon and other parts of the country’s south-west” and, second, those on the far left who feel “compelled to atone for Israel’s manifold sins and join its enemies in the demonstrations and sign petitions accusing the Zionist entity of war crimes.”
Then, says Pfeffer, there is a
“third stream of Jews – perhaps not the widest one, but I believe quite significant – who have more complex and uncomfortable feelings on the matter. They care deeply for Israel and understand even why its government felt compelled to launch the devastating Operation Cast Lead, but they are extremely disturbed and hurt by the level of civilian deaths and destruction that almost seems part and parcel of the action. Surely, they say, there must, there has to be another way of doing this. And they live with those doubts, often unexpressed, even among families and close friends because the worst thing they find is that others around them don’t seem to discern between the different nuances, and can’t find in themselves compassion for the dead and wounded on the other side. They begin asking themselves very awkward questions: Are they surrounded by latent racists, or is something wrong with them that denies the feelings of certainty of those around them? Or does everyone have similar doubts but are simply afraid to express them?”
Yes I support Israel, but support does not have to blind or Pavlovian. True support requires critical thought, questioning, and providing alternatives to a set action. Unquestioning support of a government is not support at all – it is national fascism.
By: Greytdog Δ on January 5, 2009
at 6:42 AM
Dear, dear Ann,
I am so sorry you were frightened. You can’t let some silly little 18 year old who doesn’t have a clue about what the conflict is all about to get to you. She is only mouthing words that somebody else put in her mouth and has succumbed to the ‘mob mentality’. You are stronger than that!!!
I can certainly understand how you feel. Anyone with an ounce of empathy knows that this is all wrong, wrong, wrong and is not solving anything. It only perpetuates the ancient enmity. I had hoped by giving the historical basis for this, people could understand the roots of the hatred and how ridiculous it is to perpetuate it.
Propaganda goes after the GNP (Gross National Psyche) when the real underlying reasons are the Gross National Product!
My brother was killed in World War II in Italy at age 24. My younger sister died of Hodgkin’s Disease at age 27. I have looked death squarely in the face three times myself and stared it down.
My mother often said, “Experiences like these can either make you BITTER or BETTER, whichever way you CHOOSE to use them.” I chose to make me better.
You have choices too! You can CHOOSE not to be frightened. And not to hate either. Hatred is a poison whose first victim is the hater.
Aloha!
Jean
By: Jean on January 5, 2009
at 1:12 AM
I have lurked on Team Sarah, and it’s sister site Susan B. Anthony List. I wanted to point out their choice of title was ironic: Susan B. Anthony was very pro-womens rights and against the Church teachings, but you have to register- not for me. Their focus is anti-abortion, getting rid of Planned Parenthood, and spreading the love they have for Sarah Palin (gag). No other issues, like support of the war, no taxes, are mentioned- not even family values. Oh, there was a rant about “90 radicals” spreading lies on their site, but I don’t know what that was about.
Neither site lists the founding members, unlike other political sites.
AKM warned not to link to Team Sarah from Mudflats, so I would suggest them same from here- I got off and used Google…
By: CO almost native on January 5, 2009
at 12:27 AM
Well the problem with getting frightened is bringing more hate into the world…but maybe agressive action could end the hate-and so it goes.My mom had an epiphany in 1978 after my sister was killed in a plane crash and she knew the loss of a child just like the mothers of the soldiers. She became active in Peace Now.We took the education and friendship route for a long time..maybe that Hamas rally was my epiphany -I saw real hatred of great intensity and fundamentalist religious cmmittment to conquer the world. It is more real to me now. That is so scary. Imagine being threatened every day like that. But of course I would be pretty mad if enemy tanks bulldozed my house because my first cousin once removed was a suicide bomber…it sucks all around-So anyway I appreciate that you do not want to spread germs Alaska Pi ,Thanks.You too Greytdog .
By: AnnΔ on January 4, 2009
at 10:38 PM
Well… maybe we can get JuneauJoe to do the manly swashbuckly thingy and check the ts.org place if we take up a collection for hipwaders for him. I’m not much for letting a fellow do a lady’s work and in real life I have waded through more real waste-of ALL types- than most could imagine…
I’m just SPed out right now and session hasn’t even started. I just can’t do it right now!!
By: Alaska Pi Δ on January 4, 2009
at 10:25 PM
I was torn about googling Team Sarah. I did google though then decided I didn’t want them to give their traffic ticker another hit. But I am curious that their website addy is a .org – so are they a non-profit organization? Hmmm… maybe they’ll help pay back the RNC for Palin Shopapalooza gig. Or use whatever nonprofit funding to kit her and hers out for additional gig?
AnnΔ, I get frightened too over the news coming from Israel. For me, knowledge is the armor – so i’ve been trying to read more of the Peace Now blogs as well as some of the proPalestinian blogs. The Peace Now blogs have both immense sadness and an undercurrent of . . . I’m not even sure I can adequately “label” it – so I just remember Psalm 121
By: Greytdog Δ on January 4, 2009
at 10:16 PM
I didn’t have the guts when I saw AKM’s mention of this , Greytdog.
“For night fright fans, google “Team Sarah”. Bring along your brown barf bag and disinfectant though.”
——————-
Do we need to borrow the power washer Mr Obama’s transition team has lined up for the pre-clean of Oval Office to hose each other off with after a visit?
————————–
AnnΔ –
I still have a cold so I won’t offer even virtual hugs…
I’m sorry people are so stupid.I can’t fix em… but I’m sorry whenever someone like you gets scared.
By: Alaska Pi Δ on January 4, 2009
at 10:07 PM
For night fright fans, google “Team Sarah”. Bring along your brown barf bag and disinfectant though.
AnnΔ, I’ve always found those kind of rallies to be counterproductive and soul-eating. Glenn Greenwald @ Salon.com had an interesting article on the Israel/Hamas conflict but the comments that followed were of more interest to me. You might, if you feel like, want to go there and read that. . .it’s simply another perspective.
By: Greytdog Δ on January 4, 2009
at 9:49 PM
Thanks…my ex in Jerusalem sent me word of a destroy Hamas rally in Miami today….I did look at the website I confess: and it did turn me off. I also turned to Faux News briefly but it was not of interest. Guess I will be alright.
By: AnnΔ on January 4, 2009
at 9:29 PM
Oh AnnΔ, don’t worry – it’s from your mouth to God’s ear
God knows I’m a rambling rabble rouser. . .you’re only in peril if you head out to South Beach on a weekend night during season. I suspect you’re much too intelligent for that!
By: Greytdog Δ on January 4, 2009
at 9:19 PM
oi vey greytdog; my existence seems in peril. I am not feeling so liberal or even historical,theological although I give you and Jean kudos for the info.
By: AnnΔ on January 4, 2009
at 9:04 PM