Focused at Fifty

It was John's birthday the beginning of November and I presented him with a cake at the Lake Wynonah Lodge while he was bartending. Everyone sang "Happy Birthday" for the self-proclaimed angry bartender – at least he is when the Philadelphia Eagles are losing. I put on these garish candles which were supposed to be sparklers but they just sputtered out. I think they were from 1970 or something. Before you say how wonderful it was that I baked a cake, I will retort, "Are you crazy?" I got the next best thing, a Pepperidge Farms 3-Layer Cake!   The funny thing was that John was with me when I picked up the cake. I couldn't get away from him in the supermarket so I faked a received text from my friend Sue. I told John it stated that she needed a cake for her grandchild's birthday. I couldn't even get out a real name for the kid, just instead referring to it as "one of her grandkids, I dunno which one."  Unknowingly, Sue ...

After a month off, I am finally getting back to this blog, my labor of love. At the end of September, John and I went off on vacation for a week staying in cabins at various states parks of Northwestern PA. We encountered bugling elk, mischievous young deer following us, and an angry beaver which chased us out of his swamp. Luckily, we survived and had a wonderful week getting back to nature. I was back to work for 4 crazy days and then went out on surgery leave for a hernia operation on October 11 th . It was successful. As you can guess I milked my pain for everything it was worth. J   John, my sister Sheryl, and good friend Sue took good care of me. The first week was a struggle as I found every movement involves your abdominal muscles which were now sporting three small incisions. Well I recovered and am now back on track with normal life. I did write a lot during the 3 weeks off, just not material that I am ready to put out yet. I will begin though, with the ...

This is a easy recipe that my Mom gave to me in October of 2008, exactly 5 years ago. What makes it so poignant is that Mom was diagnosed with cancer just two months later and then suffered her car accident in January of 2009, eventually succumbing to her injuries that following April. Pretty sad huh? In addition, Mom's writing on the recipe card is rather shaky. Her writing used to be so flowing, with loops and scrolls. Her writing shows the effects of fibromyalgia which she was suffering from at that point. With this being officially the "last" recipe she had given me as simple as it is, it now has special meaning. I had never made this recipe but with the advent of the chillier Fall weather, I thought it would be a perfect time to try it.  I did make some minor changes to suit my own needs but her original recipe appears below.  Cabbage and Sausage Stew   CABBAGE AND SAUSAGE STEW 1 head of cabbage 1 can "RO*TEL" brand tomatoes and green chil...

 Campin' with John. When I was a kid, the only food that mattered while camping was toasted marshmallows over a campfire. We weren’t a ‘smores family. Marshmallows suited us just fine. My family “camped” at Parvin State Park in southern New Jersey for years over long weekends in the Fall. We stayed at one of the CCC -built rustic wooden cabins. Cabin #13 was our favorite for whatever reason. The cabins surrounded a small lake named Thundergust Lake. We would spend the weekend going on family hikes or trying our hand at fishing in the lake. Year after year the fish at Parvin evaded my brother and me but we were persistent, always trying the next year. Anyway, these days John and I spend a week every Fall camping either in a tent or cabin in some State Park or wilderness area we haven’t been before. Our trip this year was to three Pennsylvania State Parks: Parker Dam , Clear Creek , and Cook Forest . It was an incredible trip with some great hikes accomplis...

 Very exciting stuff, chopping green onions!    After I received a comment from someone on the 'basic nature' of the recipes I was posting, I felt I needed to reiterate the purpose of my project. I will have recipes for meatloaf, baked chicken, zucchini bread, cookies, and veggie dip among others. These are home-style family recipes which many of you already have. I just have never made them and want to be able to say in a years' time that I have accomplished that. You can doctor them up as you wish and some of them I have and will note it when I do. This blog project is not about making gourmet foods (although I reserve the right to venture down that path in the future.) These are not cooking channel glossy magazine recipes. It is not about me cooking or rather stumbling through some famous chef's cookbook. This project is about cooking through my own families' recipes. Most are my Mom's, but some are my Nana's, sister's, cousin's, a...

My sis Sheryl and I ventured out to North Jersey (as we call it out here) over the weekend to spend time with our dear cousins, sisters Anne and Jennifer. We reconnected a couple years ago after a long absence. It is a funny thing when you get older, you realize that those cousins you hung with in your childhood years are almost the only family left and hopefully ... and if you are lucky, you reconnect with them or stay connected with them. If getting older has taught me anything, this is not always the case with friends and families. I live in a very special world where I am very lucky that my family loves each other and loves getting together. I know of plenty of dear friends which this does not happen. It is sad but something that I have come to accept. I cannot impress the close relationships of my family on others. Some families, unfortunately, will just not be that close. As an adult, I have come to accept that I cannot influence my friends in that regard. I ...

This is my Nana's recipe for sweet noodle kugel. I posted about this once before but never posted the recipe. Kugel is a holiday mainstay in Jewish culture and cooking. I remember having this on Rosh Hoshana, Hannukah, and Passover. It is fitting that I am putting this recipe up during the holiest of holidays periods, the 10 High Holy days between Passover and Yom Kippur. Kugel can be made in variety of ways:  apple sauce kugel, potato kugel, noodle kugel, matzoh kugel, savory spinach kugel, carrot kugel, and of course, my Nana's recipe below for the sweet noodle kugel with raisins. I love this recipe as I have eaten it as a side dish, dessert, or even a quick breakfast on the run.  My sister Sheryl makes a great spinach kug. I remember my brother Adam and I loving this recipe below when Nana and Mom made it in the 70's. We would fight for the pieces which had the most crunchy noodles on top. I made the recipe this evening. You could smell the apples, nutmeg...