While I was getting my hair cut, my sister and Elegante Mother went to the Farmer’s Market. It’s still early in the season, but they came back with some treasures. Cherries, Red Raspberries, Strawberries, Sugar Snap peas, some Green Beans, Crimini Mushrooms, and Rhubarb were just some of the things they picked up for me.
Sis found exceptionally nice baskets on sale, half price. Had I been there, I would gave snatched up all their stock! I LOVE baskets!
I have SUCH a taste for Strawberry-Rhubarb pie. EM used to make it for my Dad when I was a kid. To make it easy on myself, I think I’ll use ready-made pie crust, but everything else will be fresh. I may visit the Simply Recipes blog to see if there’s a good recipe in the archives.
Dear Husband called it. My sis bought a kohlrabi. She loves them! She eats them raw, rather like a funky apple.

Last week, when our exercise group met for our annual pot luck brunch, one of the ladies brought chicken salad to share. Normally chicken salad doesn’t do anything for me. I’ll eat it, but it’s usually not at the top of my wish list.
This salad was incredible. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t know what was it it, or I might not have tried it. I thought it was so good, that I asked her if she would mind if I made it for the Red Hat Ladies luncheon tomorrow. I also asked her if I could share the recipe with you. She gave me her blessing on both counts.
J’s Chicken Salad
Simmer 4 half or 2 whole chicken breasts in a small amount of water, seasoned with garlic. (J said that usually she uses cloves of garlic, but when she doesn’t have cloves at hand, she’ll use a little powdered garlic or garlic salt.)
When cooked through, cool and cut into small pieces.
To the chicken, add:
1 cup celery, cut fine
1 cup red grapes, cut in half
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup fresh dill, cut fine
Salt and Pepper to taste
Mix 1 cup of sour cream and 1 cup of mayonnaise together and add to the chicken mixture. Refrigerate overnight.
J said that the measurements are not written in stone. Some days she adds more of one ingredient and a little less of another, and it still turns out fine.
Dear Husband helped me make this tonight, and his burning question was….”Do I cut the grapes in half vertically or horizontally?”

I tried something new to me, but old to almost everyone else, today.
I am a tea drinker. I drink hot tea and iced tea. If I’m drinking iced tea, I prefer Lipton’s Black, mixed with Tazo “Awake” black tea. If I’m drinking hot tea, it’s Lipton’s Black, or a variety of other teas, such as Earl Gray, English Breakfast Tea, Darjeeling, or occasionally black tea flavored with a hint of orange. I don’t usually care for fruit teas, except for one apricot tea that’s lovely on a cold evening. I don’t care for herbal tea, either. I just want plain black tea that is brewed strong.
I probably have twenty kinds of tea in the cabinet. My family must think I’m difficult to buy for, because I frequently get gifts of tea. I don’t mind. It’s the perfect gift. One of my nieces has also created a collection for me of one and two-cup tea pots and cups. The most recent one has a Japanese look. It’s cast iron and sits on a small round cup meant for a warming candle or Sterno can.
So…back to today. I have heard it suggested that rather than water your drink down with ice cubes, you can freeze what you plan to drink in ice cube trays. When you add the ice cubes to your drink, it doesn’t get diluted!
I tried it today. What a simple idea! I can’t believe that I haven’t done it long before this. I have iced tea, with iced tea cubes, and my tea is still as strong as when I brewed it.
Go try it. Iced coffee, Iced lemonade….hmmmmmmm I don’t think alcohol will freeze….

Easter dinner will be held here for about half of my family. At the moment we’re expecting 24 people, but that number will change back and forth until we have eaten. There are always unexpected changes, and we just go with the flow. Those who can make it will be fed, and those who can’t will get take home meals.
The menu is listed below. I think in honor of Dear Husband there will be Mozart playing quietly in the background during dinner. I hope to steal all the young adults and have them to myself at one table, if they’ll let me. They are of an age when they might prefer to mingle with the adults…..a rite of passage in our family.
Saturday and Sunday will seem odd because Dear Husband, the person I so depend on to pull off our gatherings, will be in Florida. Our son was a part of the largest group of Bears fans to gather outside of Chicago, in the Orlando area. They are holding a golf tournament on Saturday, and it’s been named in his memory. So, DH is going to fly down to play in the tournament, and will fly home Sunday morning. Luckily, my youngest sis and her family will come late Saturday evening, and my oldest sis will come early on Sunday to be sure we have things under control. *G*
Elegante Mother and I found tablecloths in pastels to cover two of the tables. I’ll use antique crocheted mats on the third table, and each table will be set with a different pattern of china. I’m going to do a bouquet of tulips for one table centerpiece, and two small arrangements of spring flowers for the others.
I think I have the schedule in place to get everything done, but we’ll see how it turns out. Truth be told…..I’m the only one who will notice if not everything is done to my expectations. My family tells me to relax, and I have…a little. I’m NOT going to use paper plates, though!
I know that I’ve rambled on about preparations, when actually, the gathering of my siblings and their families are really what’s most important to me. I love having family around me, and working with them to prepare a meal. I wish it was possible to do it more often, but as the family grows, each person is pulled in two or more ways. I choose not to make the kids feel bad if they can’t attend a gathering here, but that doesn’t mean I don’t miss them when they are away.
So, this Sunday, we will celebrate life, and family and I will tuck the memories away to savor in the future. I’m blessed, I know.

Sunday, April 16, 2006
Chilled Shrimp and Cocktail Sauce
Pesto/Goat Cheese Spread, with assorted crackers
Salmon Pate and Chevre with Sesame crackers
Spiral Sliced Ham
Baked Ziti with Parmesan Cheese
Cheesy Potatoes
Steamed French Green Beans
Pickled Eggs and Beets
Cold Corn Salad
Caesar Salad
Vernice Kastman Rolls
Cornbread Squares
Olives, Sweet Gehrkins and Dill Pickles
Easter Cookies, Brownies and other assorted Desserts
Coffee, Iced and Hot tea, Soda Pop, and Wine

Have you ever noticed that laughter has a way of bubbling up when you are supposed to be at your most solemn?
I don’t belive that you must go to a wake or a funeral with a grief-stricken face. I personally feel that we go to celebrate our friend who has passed on, and for many people, that celebration has to include funny memories.
The man who did the eulogy for my step-son was his childhood friend. We laughed a lot at the stories he had to tell. We could easily imagine the youthful hi-jinks that went on from the tales he shared.
I’d rather have a speaker dwell on the good, and the funny memories, than feel it’s inappropriate to lighten the somber air of the day. I think that it’s natural to feel the laughter, and that it shouldn’t be suppressed but rather, encouraged.
Yes, we feel grief at our loss. Yes, at times we express it in a solemn way, but I’d rather be remembered in a positive or a funny way, if you give me a choice. And that’s how I choose to remember my step-son.
So, the next time you’re at a funeral, and a bubble of laughter is threatening to well up within you, please grin, and say a prayer for my kid.

I found two new recipes for Christmas treats this year. One is ridiculous and the other is sublime. *S*
The sublime cookie is a shortbread based treat. You make shortbread from scratch. The recipe makes 48 triangles of shortbread. We discussed it, and feel that we could actually get more cookies from the recipe because it makes such a big cookie.
When the shortbread has cooled, you finely chop pecans, melt 24 caramels, and in a separate bowl melt half a cup chocolate chips with two teaspoons shortening. For each cookie, you dip one side in the caramel, and then in the nuts. When you’ve finished that step, you drizzle the chocolate over the cookies, and chill to set the chocolate. It’s a lot of work, but it makes a lot of cookies. They look and taste wonderful. The hardest part is melting the caramel.
My family says they’ve heard the other recipe called “Haystacks.” You melt chocolate chips and mix them with chow mien noodles and peanuts. It sounds odd, but tastes great!
Chocolate and nuts, how can you go wrong??

Saturday was Cookie Day! It’s just one of the reasons my blog has been blank for a bit.
We’ve been in this house 16 years, and shortly after we moved in, I invited my sisters and their grown daughters to come for a day to bake cookies for Christmas. We’ve held a Cookie Day every year for the past 15 years. With organization, we might be able to have six women making cookies. This year there were just three of us, my oldest sister, my brother’s daughter and me.

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I did a quick search to see if I’d given this recipe in the past, but I don’t find anything. I love the smell of cinnamon when the house is closed up. I associate it with Thanksgiving and Christmas. When I can’t bake using cinnamon, I have candles scented with vanilla and cinnamon or pumpkin and cinnamon.
A number of years ago a friend shared the recipe for a simple dough made of applesauce and cinnamon for Christmas ornaments. I made several batches and we cut out angels, and gingerbread men, and rocking horses. Let me share it with you.

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The apple butter is done. I had some on toast this morning. Have I told you I’m addicted to cinnamon?? This was sweet and thick and full of cinnamon.
I have a few more thoughts to share with you about apple butter before we move on to other subjects. When my links are up, you’ll find “Simply Recipes” listed among them. Elise has a recipe that is almost identical to the one I gave for apple butter, with one exception. Her recipe calls for apple cider vinegar. I thought that maybe it was an error, but according to Elise it’s just a variant on the recipe. I prefer my apple butter sweet and spicy, so I use apple cider instead.

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