Fifteen years! Where did the time go?

At this moment fifteen years ago I was hanging out at the hospital waiting for #1 to arrive.  In my dreams this baby arrived early, after a very short labor and was a tiny little boy.

Ha!

I got none of that.  (You could be reading this at 11:30 at night and my first sentence would still be true!)

Baby was 3 days past due.  OK.  Maybe baby was 3 days early.  It all depends on which due date you believe was the right one. 

Daddy had played golf on the day baby was due (according to the doctor); thus, Daddy had a pretty wicked sunburn when baby arrived.

Mommy had gone shopping on due date.  It was hot out there and I was miserable.  And then two days later I went looking for rose bushes at the garden center with my family.  Yup, that was even more miserable.  But what was I going to do?  Sit at home in the air conditioning and hope something happened?

Back to the story. . .labor was long.  Twenty four hours long in fact.  The baby was hardly tiny.  Nope, close to nine pounds of baby there.  And it was a girl.

So much for my dreams eh?

Today it's hard to believe that this grown up girl started out so small.  She's taller than her mother (and loves that very much).  She hardly had hair when she was born. . .now it's down to her waist.  For the longest time her feet were so small we thought she'd never learn to walk on those little things.  Now her feet are, erm, bigger.

She sings.  She plays piano.  She reads (all. the. time.)  She's an excellent student.  She loves to talk.  She always did.  She loves to be with older people--it's like she's more comfortable with them than any other age.  She is mature beyond her years.

And she's still my little girl.  The one who sat on the tall stool in preschool, wearing her little peach dress and tennis shoes with the tie-dyed laces all untied, with her messy little head of curly hair, just waiting for the photographer to be ready to take her picture.  (A snapshot was taken by a student photographer--and I cherish that little snapshot that showed the rest of the story)  Yes, she's the one who wasn't sure she was ready to go to kindergarten. And the one who had a moment's hesitation about heading off to high school--a different school from the kids she had gone to school with for the previous nine years.

My grown up little girl.

Happy birthday!

(Play the song little girl. . .it's from 15 years ago like you!) 

Japanese Chicken Salad

This is a recipe I picked up from a friend many years ago.  Sometimes we make it without the chicken too, just because it tastes so good.  I love the dressing with this salad!  It's a great little meal on a hot summer day! 

1 head lettuce
6 green onions
1 cup cooked chicken, diced
1 pkg Top Ramen noodles (break in bag, don’t use spices)
2 T sesame seeds
½ cup slivered almonds

Brown top ramen, sesame seeds and almonds in 2-3 tablespoons of butter.  Mix with other ingredients

Dressing (add just before serving)
2 T sugar
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup salad oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sesame oil
½ tsp white pepper

Stompin' round the cemetery

Yesterday we had a little family day for the girls in this family.  We took a drive to one of the hangouts from when I was a little girl.  It's a state park with a working farm. . .except they weren't really working the farm.  We did get some really cool pics though:  (Hey, indulge me a little, OK?)
 

I am disappointed by the very modern table in the cabin.  Back when I was a little girl the table was much more authentic looking.  I was also disappointed that they seem to have tour guides instead of an actual working farm now. 

None the less while we were in that neighborhood I had the bright idea that we should just through a few more stops into the day.  So we went over to the town my daddy grew up in and stomped all around the cemetery.  We found graves for two of my uncles, an aunt, a couple of first cousins and most importantly, my grandparents.  My grandfather was killed in an accident before my daddy was even born.  And my grandmother died about six years before my parents even met.  I think today was the first time I ever actually saw where they were buried.  And the cemetery is literally just up the hill from the house my daddy was born in.  I really wanted to get some pictures of the house but since it's a small town and someone else lives in that house now, I couldn't exactly go taking pictures of it. . .or even knock on the door and say "My daddy was born here, can I take a look around?" 

But overall I think it was a good trip for the kids.  A little bit of life as I used to know it and some strong connections to those who came before them.

Good stuff.

Fresh Peach Ice Cream

When I was a little girl we went to Lloyd's Ice Cream (no longer exists, sadly).  My parents either got butter pecan ice cream or chocolate almond.  I got fresh strawberry.  My sister always got fresh peach.

For our Race Day party I decided that we needed a little bit of my sister present.  So on a whim I mixed up peach ice cream.  The recipe originally came from Rival, the manufacturer of my ice cream maker.  But I had to modify it a bit so here's what we did:

1 cup of milk
7/8 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of half and half
1 cup of heavy whipping cream
1 cup of milk
1 tsp vanilla
3+ cups of chopped peaches

Scald 1 cup of milk.  Remove from heat and add the sugar and salt.  Pour into the ice cream maker bucket then add the half and half, whipping cream, milk, vanilla and peaches.  Refrigerate for an hour or two then follow the instructions for freezing.

Delicious.  A little piece of summer time heaven.  

The Recipe for a Cookout (includes German potato salad and American potato salad)

Our family tradition is to have our first summer cookout on Race Day (aka, Indy 500 day).  Other people wait until Memorial Day but we always had ours on Sunday.  We spent Memorial Day focused on the sacrifices made by our soldiers for our nation. (Check the internet/paper/news stations to see where Memorial Day services will be held in your own community)

For us, it's always a busy week right before Memorial Day.  This year we got out of school on Tues/Wed/Thurs (staggered schedules--yay!)  Friday was all about graduation practice, room cleanup and then graduation.   Saturday we had a vocal recital, Mass and another graduation.

So planning was the key to success.  We fit grocery shopping in between events on Friday afternoon.  Then on Friday evening the girls worked together to clean the house.  We cleaned the kitchen then watched a movie.  Then we cleaned the dining room and living room before watching another movie.

Saturday morning was food prep.  Ten pounds of potatoes had to be washed and boiled.  A ton of broccoli needed cleaned and cut up.  Onion had to be sliced and diced.   Grapes had to be rolled in jello and then put in the freezer.

The menu?  German potato salad, American potato salad, Broccoli raisin salad, Watergate Salad and Jello coated grapes. That was the Saturday prep list. All of which needed to be done by 1:00 so we could get ready for the recital. Sunday called for deviled eggs, then BBQ chicken breasts, hamburgers, hotdogs and brats.

I've shared True German potato salad before which is the recipe from my cousins.  Today I'll share my mom's recipe.  This one is tougher to type because mom never measured.  She just poured until it looked right, smelled right and tasted right.  I measured best I could to get a good idea for you.

Boil 5 lbs of potatoes until they are soft but not mushy. (Sorry, I didn't time this step.  Some potatoes were huge and others small so I just stuck a knife in them occasionally to get an idea when they were ready.)  Remove from water and let cool to touch.

In the meantime, take 2 slices of onion and dice them.

Fry 1/2 pound of bacon.  Save the drippings because this becomes the base for the sauce of the potato salad.  Let the bacon cool then crumble it to add to the potatoes later.

Add 3/4 cup of vinegar, 1/2 cup of water and 3/4 cup of sugar to a few tablespoons (3-4 tablespoons should be enough) of bacon grease.  Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves. 

Then get another 1/2 cup of water and whisk in 3-4 tablespoons of flour.  Once this is mixed well, slowly add it to the vinegar/sugar mixture.  Whisk so there are no lumps in the sauce.  This will thicken to a smooth gravy.

The final step for the sauce is to add about 2 tablespoons of mustard.  Again, whisk it into the mixture so that it blends.  This can stay over a very low flame or you can turn the burner off while you peel and dice the potatoes.

Carefully peel the potatoes and dice.  Add the diced onion then salt and pepper to taste.  Finally, pour the sauce over the potato mixture and stir.  Finally, add the bacon crumbles.

This potato salad is best served warm--not hot.  I don't usually serve it from a crock pot but I did once; I simply undercooked the potatoes during the initial cooking phase so that they would still be a bit crunchy when they went into the crock pot the next day (for a pot luck at work).  I turned it on low a few hours before we were set to eat and it worked out really well.

American Potato Salad is even easier.

Boil 5 pounds of potatoes as above.  Dice up 2 slices of onion as above.

Peel the potatoes and dice them.  Add the onions.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Then add approximately 1 1/2 cups of Miracle Whip Light and 1/4 c mustard.  Mix well.  The potatoes should be coated but not drowning in Miracle Whip.  (Mom used to reserve a potato or two, just in case we put too much Miracle Whip in--remember we never measured at home)

Sprinkle with paprika--it looks festive!

Hope you and yours have a wonderful day!

Feeling Glad All Over!

And why not.  Summer vacation is here.  (Apologies to those of you who are not yet on vacation.  You can feel better about yourselves when you are still on summer vacation in August--and we are not!)

Heard this song in the grocery store yesterday while shopping for our big family cookout for Race Day.  It's long been a family tradition to have a cookout on Memorial Day weekend, except we always had ours on Sunday while listening to the Indianapolis 500.  No idea why this race has always stood out for us, but it has.  So we go with it.

This was another of those songs I used to here playing from the record player in my parents' living room when I was just a little girl.  Such a happy song from the Dave Clark Five.

Enjoy!

Last day. . .oh how far we have come!

One year ago today our oldest graduated from the eighth grade.  She was sad to leave behind the clasmates she had known for the previous nine years.  They were a small group of kids.  She was nervous about what the new school year and new school without that group of classmates would be like.

Today, she is a sad girl again. . .only because she is ending her freshman year at the big high school and she feels like time got away from her.

She as a good group of friends.

She has adjusted to the rigors of honors academics.

She has found her way.

In the meantime, the younger two have grown tremendously too.  Middle E will be in seventh grade.  She has gotten so tall.  She's becoming an athlete. . .and continues as a musician.  There's a part of me that hardly understands how she got so grown up all at once.  And then there is Baby Girl.  Oh my how she has grown.  She started third grade, struggling with reading. . .not quite understanding why we love it so much.  And then suddenly it clicked and she progressed more than anyone else in her class this year.  Fourth grade for my Baby Girl next year.  No longer an elementary student but an "intermediate" grader.

And so it goes.  Another school year ends.

It's summertime!