Sunday, November 25, 2012

Rachel brought an awesome Thanksgiving Activity:



We used recycled catalog cards to share our thoughts. After dinner we passed the pitcher, selected a card and read it aloud, giving everyone the opportunity to guess who had fashioned that particular sentiment. Sometimes it was difficult, sometimes easy. See how you do.

Thankful for:
  • Lita providing us with the start of a Family Compound
  • Nap
  • Two Thanksgivings
  • Jonathan
  • 12/12/50
  • That our wedding ran smoothly and that so many friends and family were able to come
  • To be alive
  • Such great friends
  • My car
  • Ham biscuits
  • All of the new jobs in the family
  • Good cooks in the family
  • Such wonderful in-laws 
  • Having an awesome boyfriend who puts up with 3 cats and a very stressed out student teacher 
  • Baby Vassar and looking forward to meeting ... it? next year!
  • My furry family that includes Gabe
  • Going skydiving ... and being alive to tell the story
  • New life in the family
  • That our kids are not love-rejects, and that those who chose them are so awesome
  • Dolly Dog
  • Netflix
  • My new computer
  • (hope)     (an ode to Christina Fisher)
  • For my new nephew and my nieces and I'm thankful to have another niece or nephew on the way
  • Family compound
  • Free haircuts!
  • The size of my family has doubled, but not my waist
  • Bamboo
  • Linus, an unexpected addition Xantha, and an even more unexpected addition baby Duke
  • No one has dreadlocks in our family
  • Lolladog
  • Batman
  • Kids & kids-n-law that are willing to live in vicinity with us
  • Rachel and Ivan and the fish and the cats and the dinosaurs
  • That Foo is still here
  • 4 More Years!
  • Auntie Lee who took me in when I was 18
  • Being able to enjoy three amazing Thanksgiving Feasts
  • Free haircuts!
  • New house
  • Thanksgiving
  • Surviving 5th grade and Kindergarten (thus far ...)
  • There is no bamboo in my yard and that I won't be a grandfather until I'm at least 62
  • Cabin Home
  • Oysters
  • Tonia Bear
  • Rachel's Thanksgiving Activity
  • Next-door-in-laws




Thursday, November 22, 2012

'Tis the season to be fruity

In an odd twist of circumstances, Mom asked me for a recipe. Actually, it was her recipe that she couldn't find.

Last Christmas, Antonia and I baked fruitcakes from her handwritten card and sent one to her. She gave us very high praise for the result. I don't think ours were any better than hers, but maybe she just liked the fact that someone else was doing the baking. Honestly, we didn't care for it much at first, but I think that was because we hadn't let it age long enough. Later in the season, Antonia and I both agreed it tasted better. Maybe even good.

Antonia found the hand-written recipe, but I got curious about its origin. Since it had some product names in it, it wasn't too hard to find on the web. It looks like it came from a Gold Medal Flour recipe, calling itself Wesson Fruitcake. The copy I found online has a torn and stained image of what someone's grandmother used. You can use that one, or go with the improved version below from Grandma Duke.

You know which one I would recommend.