Gathering Around the Table with a Good Friend and a Keeper From the Recipe Box

Last June my friend Tracy came to spend a few days at our house. We drove around and took photos, relaxed, I prepared some favorite dishes, and we got her blog going. Then we made plans for a return visit. That week-end we planned in June began tonight. We both took a personal day from teaching tomorrow. We will de-stress in the greenhouse, take photo walks, drive to Bangs Mountain, do some writing, and solve world problems. Tracy and I met during my teaching days in Kennewick and have been friends for about twenty years.  JEJ has to raise his hand to get into the conversation once we get started.
Tonight I tried a recipe I have had for awhile. I knew Tracy loved ginger and we decided this recipe is a keeper. Instead of the whole chicken, I just used thighs. Easy and very tasty!
 
Indonesian Ginger Chicken

Copyright, 1999, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, Ina Garten

Ingredients

nocoupons

• 1 cup honey
• 3/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup minced garlic (8 to 12 cloves)
• 1/2 cup peeled and grated fresh ginger root
• 2 (3 1/2 pound) chickens, quartered, with backs removed

Directions

Cook the honey, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger root in a small saucepan over low heat until the honey is melted. Arrange the chicken in 1 layer in a shallow baking pan, skin side down, and pour on the sauce. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the baking pan in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover the pan, turn the chicken skin side up, and raise the temperature to 375 degrees F. Continue baking for 30 minutes or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh and the sauce is a rich, dark brown.

Celebrating With Special Authors

 One of my favorite assignments at school this year is to be the elementary writing coach. I visit each elementary classroom once a week and do writing activities with the students. I have loved every minute of it. I got a special invitation Monday to be part of the Writing Celebration in second grade. They had each contributed a story to their first class book.

 The most important part of the celebration was hearing each second grader read their favorite story they had written first quarter. After each reader shared their story and picture the audience exploded in applause.

We ended the author reading with a toast (with yummy Fruit Punch) to all the talented second grade writers. We then enjoyed a feast of  Mrs. Potter's delicious pumpkin cake, Cheez-Its, gummy bears, and  cookies. 

Perfect Faith

 Leaving You

Just before I left we sat at the kitchen counter
and there was something very sweet
about your child's foot
on top of mine,
the way your arch curled around my anklebone
and cradled it there. I wondered
what you were thinking about, smiling as if the best thing in the world were right then,
our breakfast and the sun.

I was remembering when you were born.
I would hold you,
your eyes looking at me,
your hand touching my cheek,
my hair, and when sleep
took you, you lay in perfect faith
that I would hold you forever.
-Kate Schmitt

Kate Schmitt wrote this poem her younger sister. She said in a book I was reading recently that "we are poems ourselves- the poems of our parents." I loved that line. This poem reminded me of moments I shared with my younger sister that I revisited recently as I spent time scanning old photos. When Silver Valley Girl was a baby I think she did "lay in perfect faith that I would hold her forever."

Here Raymond Pert and I are holding her forever as we posed on the snow.

Cornucopia Lily

 When I wander around outside I never know which cat I am going to find where. Saturday was no exception.

One minute Lily was in the driveway, the next she was getting away from the dogs by running up the ramp to the cat door. She stopped to consider her next move.

Lily must have been in a happy harvest mood.  She just seemed to belong with the cornucopia. She couldn't decide if she liked the regal front pose or the casual side pose the best. Nevertheless, I got in the Thanksgiving spirit just taking the photos!

She had enough of that posing and decided to wait until the dogs found another activity. The dogs love Lily and would never hurt her, but their idea of playing doesn't always catch her fancy!

Acquainted With the Night

Last night I experimented with my camera out the front door at night.

Acquainted With the Night
By Robert Frost

I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain--and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.
I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,
But not to call me back or say good-by;
And further still at an unearthly height
One luminary clock against the sky
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.

Memories of Summer: A Greenhouse Tour

I love Saturday because I can be home when there is light.  Even though it is gray and cloudy today I was able to return to summer as I wandered around the greenhouse. I think some plants are actually doing better now inside than they were outside in the summer!  Take a tour with me!

This poinsettia was all but dead this summer, but with some expert watering and fertilizing by JEJ the plant whisperer it is back to life.

I love this geranium color....

and this one

.... and this one.

Whenever I need to revisit summer, I just sneak in here and take a tour.