Tuesday Update

Things are very quiet around here right now. Dick left for his meeting at the church and I am here sitting in the den trying to figure out if anything worth mentioning happened to me last week. Actually it has been pretty quiet around here the whole week, so needless to say it has been one that has dragged along pretty slowly.

I had almost decided to skip this weeks blog but something happened to change my mind. I read one of the blogs I follow, Tima's who lives in Africa. She posted a picture of a place where she goes shopping on the weekend. It looks to me sorta like our farmers market as it has lots of booths that sell fresh vegetables etc. She took a picture of a place where she likes to buy fresh bread. It looked so yummy that I decided to post my oatmeal recipe, hoping that she and her young son, Ethan, would make it one weekend. Ethan is a great little kid who loves to cook and bake. Tima made my Swedish pancake recipe and Ethan loves it and wants her to make it for him often, and whenever they have company. This bread recipe is so easy to make as everything goes in all at once and if you don't have a mixer with a dough hook, you don't have to knead it for a long time. Even if you don't have any kind of mixer, it is very easy to make. So here it is:

Grandma Robbins Oatmeal Bread:

2 pkgs yeast
2 1/2 cups warm water, 1 cup for the yeast and 1 cup for the dough
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup honey
1/4 cup oil
2 cups quick cooking oatmeal
2 teaspoons salt
6 cups flour

Dissolve yeast in 1 cup of warm water with 1 teaspoon sugar in bowl that will allow for yeast to rise.
In largest bowl of mixer put flour, oatmeal and salt
Add the rest of the warm water(1 1/2 cups), yeast, honey and oil
Add dough hook and turn on mixer at #l speed until blended, or, if you don't have a mixer, just stir with a large spoon until blended.
If you use a dough hook, turn on speed to #2 and knead for 5 minutes, or if doing by hand, flour hands and knead dough for 5 minutes.
Cover with a cloth or kitchen towel and let rise until double in bulk, punch down and let rise once more.
Remove dough to a very lightly greased board, flour hands and knead for a couple of minutes more until all the air holes are gone. Cut into three equal pieces and mold each piece into a loaf. Turn loaf over and put into greased and lightly oiled pan that measures 4x8 inches. This will put the seam at the bottom.
Let rise for about an hour or until doubled in bulk and bake in 350 degree for 40 minutes.
Remove from oven and turn immediately onto racks to cool.


Tips:

I always grease pans first and put oil into the bottom of the greased pan, so that when I turn the loaf into it, it makes sure that there is oil on top of the loaf, which you want oiled so that it will make a nice brown crust. Also it insures that the loaf will pop right out of the pan. I also preheat the oven about 15 minutes before it's time to put the loaves in the oven.

Hope many of you will try this, and of course let me know how it turned out.

I used to love to sew, I really did. For years as my children were growing up, I made all of the girls clothes. My son was so disgusted with me because I never made anything for him. I actually felt so guilty that I made him a shirt. He absolutely loved that shirt and every time he wore it, he would make sure everyone knew that I had made it for him. Unfortunately, I never sewed another thing for him ever.

I even made most of my own clothes. I always had a sewing project going. Oh how my girls hated being fitted for their clothes, but I think they were always happy when they got a compliment on what they were wearing.

Why did I start to think about sewing tonight? Because I have so many things that I need to do. Many pants to shorten, both for myself and for Dick. Why can't either of us buy pants that still need to be shortened. I never thought of myself as having really short legs, but I guess I do. I also have so much mending to do, but everything just seems to stay where I put them. The reason for this is that the Singer sewing machine that I loved so much is still on the fritz. We have spent so much money reparing this thing that I hate to have to spend one penny more. It's always the darned tension. It just doesn't work. I would sew a few inches and then it would break. It never used to give me problems and all of a sudden it wouldn't work. I have paid to get it fixed I have also had a couple of really good seamstess friends try to fix it for me. At one time I even bought a used portable, only to find that I hate sewing with it as it doesn't give me a nice level space to sew on like my old one does. Before I bought that sucker, I tried doing a lot by hand, but with my ever increasing pain with arthritis in my hands and wrists I can't really do that anymore. So there everything lies, just taking up space. It is reallly depresssing. I keep telling myself to just get with it and use the portable or try once more to get the old one fiixed professionally.

I don't suppose there is any sense in just worrying about it all the time, but what is a person to do? I don't want to pay for someone else to do my sewing for me and I won't ever ask my sewing friends to do it for me again, so I guess I will just have to let Dick's pants continue to puddle a bit on his shoes (which he really hates) or just get the portable out.

Why ever did I just keep rambling on about this tonight? Because I haven't done one interesting thing this past week, and all I could think about was what I should be doing. I do wish I could figure out a way to keep from putting things off though. I am about as good a procrastinator as I keep telling Dick he is.

Now that I've vented about this, I think maybe I will start to shorten a pair of pants or two. Sorry you had be the recipient of all this venting.

Grandson Chris

This is my handsome Grandson, Chris Cathey. He is the youngest son of my oldest daughter, Nancy. Chris is the one who just got married. He and two of his brothers are firemen/paramedics.

This is Chris and Amanda, the lovely girl he married. She is a very sweet girl and our whole family likes her a lot. We think they are going to be very happy together.

The two of them are pictured here at their engagement party. It was held in the hills above Corona and it was a very windy day. The tent they are shown in blew over when most of us were seated.

Dick and me. We were supposed to come dressed in Western Wear, but this is as close as we got. Dick in a hat somebody loaned him and me in a bandana. I think I did wear jeans.

I am getting to kiss the handsome groom to be. This was taken at the "rehearsal dinner" the night before they were married. Nancy and Charles hosted this affair, and it wasn't just for the wedding party. There were over a hundred there and the restuarant they love closed just for this evening so we could have our private party. It was a long drawn out affair and I was totally exhaused before the evening was over.

The bride and groom are cutting their wedding cake. What a lavish dinner this was. It was held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Garden Grove and there were 250 people there. The most delicious filet mignon is what we chose and believe me, it was a good choice. Unfortunately Dick wasn't in the picture taking mode as he doesn't like to take photos anyway. There were so many people taking pictures and he didn't want to fight the crowds. I think we will have to depend on some other family members to get prints of theirs. It will give you an idea though.

Sorry I didn't get one single picture of me in my new suit, but I think I looked pretty good. One of these weekends I'll get Dick to take one of me when I come back from church.

I want to say, too, that I am so happy that so many of you tried my chicken stew and everyone liked it but Jill, who said it was a little bit too hot for their tastes. It's funny, but I didn't think it was hot at all, but those of you who don't like hot spicey foods (Im one of those people, by the way) might want to use just a fourth of a spoon, or none at all.........no red pepper flakes!

I'm still feeling dizzy and in fact have been quite nauseous today. Darn, I'm sure this will be my new normal.

Take care all of you.................I don't know what is going on about all these follower problems that everyone is worried about, all I can say is that I don't want to lose any of you. If I do, I will just stop blogging.

Valentine's Day

It has been a very interesting Valentine's Day. I am still dizzy, but am trying to do as much as I can to get ready to go to the wedding. We have to leave Friday morning just as soon as I get my hair cut and blown dry. I hope the girl that cuts my hair on a regular basis can blow dry it so that I don't end up not looking like myself. I can only hope.

Dick did give me a beautiful Valentine Cake, which I know is REALLY good because someone brought it to our Relief Society Birthday luncheon last week. I NEVER buy cake at a bakery but I had to ask her where she got this one. Dick was there as the resident priesthood holder so he heard her say where she got it. He surprised me with it and you can see above how beautiful it looks. You'll have to take my word for the fact that it tastes as good as it looks.

We have both been trying to lose a couple of pounds or so before the wedding, so we decided to wait until tomorrow to serve it to our company. We are expecting my nephew and his wife to spend the day and the night with us. I'm afraid Dick is going to do all the cooking because I don't think I will be much help. He is going to do turkey salad sandwiches and salad for lunch tomorrow, a wonderful chicken cassarole that is Sue's recipe (I am going to post it in the next couple of weeks as I know you will all love it.) for dinner, along with rice and my oriental salad, plus the cake for dinner. Then Thursday morning he will make eggs benedick(notice the spelling), his own version which is even better than the original, which he can also do well. So I think we will be covered for meals while they are here. Thursday when they leave we are going to have to do all our packing and laundry. What a busy time. I will be glad when this wedding is over.

Family and Food

This is the picture of my darling granddaughter, Kristin and her oh so handsome husband, Craig. Kristin is the mother of my adorable great grandson, Sullivan, of whom I have written, my adorable miracle child. Sullivan and his mom have been visiting in Southern California with my daughter, Nikki, and we were going to go and see them. Nikki lives about 2 1/2 hours from here, so every time Kris goes to see her mom, we drive in to spend a night and have fun playing with our sweet Sullivan.

Unfortunately, Nikki and Kristin both caught his cold and they had to go to urgent care. They found out it was strep throat, so we couldn't go because I would be sure to catch it. I was just sick about it, because he is such a favorite of mine. I am totally besotted with this child. He is just the best little boy, and will be celebrating his two year old birthday this month. She just posted a picture of him getting his first guitar from his Uncle Tyler, who I will be blogging about on the 4th Tuesday this month. I would love to be able to post this picture, but don't know how to transfer it from face book to here, so will have to wait for Dick to get home and hopefully do it for me. I will be doing a post on Kristin next month so you will learn more about this amazing woman.

This past week has been a bad one for me. I am still dizzy and am beginning to feel like this is going to be my "new normal". I'm surely not liking it much. It is worse at times, when great waves of nausea come over me and I get sick to my stomach as well. But, since I determined I wasn't going to be negative on my posts, I will say no more about this. Needless to say though, I am not feeling much up to doing this. I did want to post another wonderful recipe though, so will tell you a bit about it first:

I made this for the missionaries one time and one of the young men got a weird look on his face when he took his first bite. I asked him if anything was wrong and his response was, " Oh my gosh, this is the best thing I have ever tasted in my whole life!" Well, you can imagine how happy I was to hear that. Then he said, "I just HAVE to have the recipe for this!!" I told him I would be happy to make him a copy and I asked him if he was going to send it home so his mom could make it for him when he got home and he said, "Are you kidding? I'm going to make it myself next week!!" He actually did too, and was ever so happy, so I am hoping you all will make it and be ever so happy too. As always, I hope you will let me know how you liked it after you make it.

Darlene's Singapore Chicken Stew

l lb skinless boneless chicken breasts
2 Tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon hot chili flakes
1/2 teasoon Chinese five spice
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced fine
1 Tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced fine
1 can (13.5 oz.) coconut milk
1 can chicken broth
2 cups lightly packed washed baby spinach leaves (about 4 oz.)
1 1/2 cup frozen petite peas
2 Roma tomatoes(about 8 oz. total) rinsed, cored, and chopped
1/4 cup sliced, canned water chestnuts
1/4 cup thinly slisced green onions
1 Tablespoon lime juice
3 Tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

Rinse chicken, pat dry and cut into 1" chunks. In a bowl mix flour, salt, chili flakes and five spice. Add chicken pieces and mix to coat.

Pour oil into 4 to 5 quart pan over medium high heat. Add chicken mixture, garlic and ginger. Stir frequently and cook for about 4 minutes. Add coconut milk and cook to blend flavors, about 8 minutes.

Stir in spinach, peas, tomatoes, water chestnuts, green onions and lime juice, and cook, stirring often until spinach is wilted, about 6 minutes. Sprincle with cilantro before serving from pan. Ladle into bowls and put a scoop of rice, that has been cooked separately, in the middle of each bowl. Serves 4.

I often double or triple the recipe as I love to have left overs and company.

Also, I sometimes cook the first two paragraphs before hand and then heat it up to just barely a boil and then continue on with the last paragraph calling for the spinach etc.

Shopping and Dropping

Just read in a magazine the other day about a gal that just kept her Christmas tree up all year and just changed the ornaments on it for whatever holiday it might be, valentine decorations for Valentines Day, colored eggs for Easter (of course you would have to blow the egg out first--that way they would be really light weight on the tree.), flags and other red, white and blue things for July 4th. ect. That would work very well for a small tree, but not so well for my pretty large one. Oh well. All I can say is that it seems really baren and colorless in my living room now. I guess I will just have to get used to it until Christmas come again.

It's been a very uneventful week and I must say that I almost felt like a released prisoner when Dick took me out last Thursday to go to my hematologist to get a blood test. It really seemed like and occaision, something to celebrate. My test was good---11.8, so I don't have to go back now until April. Hurrah! I thought for sure I was going to have to get another iron infusion.

I felt so good that we stopped at the Mall and did a little shopping. I have been looking EVERYWHERE for about three months now to try to find me a nice little black jacket that I could wear over a skirt and blouse for church. My arms always get so cold there. I was lucky to find one(or to be more exact, Dick found it for me, while I looked for the shoe department so that I could find a place to sit down. Why don't department stores have a chair somewhere when old people like me need to sit down pronto.) Anyway, he found one and had me try it on. It fit perfectly so I went back to my chair while he paid for it. On the way out, I had another thought. I asked him if he remembered if he saw any black pants in the same material, same color. Of course he hadn't been looking for that so we went back there. They didn't have any pants, but they had skirts, so I tried one on and it too fit perfectly! A great day for me as now I have a new black suit. Of course it wasn't on sale, but I do love it and I haven't bought any clothes for so long. I keep getting my two daughter's cast offs and my closets are usually bulging, as they are now. I don't think it would be right to wear a black suit to the wedding next month, so still may have to go shopping again. I'm not looking forward to that! I wish Dick had taken a picture of me Sunday, when I wore my new suit, then I could post it tonight.

Wasn't my week an exciting one?

4th Tuesday

At least this week I have something positive to write about. I am truly feeling a whole lot better! I'm almost back to normal.

We actually started taking our Christmas down today. I think we may have about half of the Santas boxed and ready to put back into storage for another year. Why does the house look so barren? We will finish the Santas tomorrow and do the tree the following days, and I do mean days! We are going to take our time with this as it took forever to get it all up and decorated and I'm sure it will take at least that long to put it all away. It's getting closer though.......hurray!

The next big thrust is our grandson, Chris's wedding. It will be February 18. I have absolutely no idea what to wear. I hope I don't have to go shopping as that is torturous for me these days. I can remember when I loved to shop! My, how things have changed. That's why I don't do it, unless I actually have to. I hope we get lots of pictures so that I can post some. He is such a sweetheart and we love Amanda, his fiance, too. That will be one more down and eight to go. The last two are too young though, but the other six really should find someone and settle down. I want lots more great grandchildren before I die.

I'll have to show you some pictures of one of my grandsons, Jordan, who will be graduating from NYU this year. It hardly seems possible, especially when he looks SO YOUNG.

This was taken last month. He looks like he should be in High School. He never reads my blog so I can say that. He would be very offended if he read this.

Another recent picture. At least he is all bundled up as it gets very cold back there.

Here he is with his older brother, Tyler, whom I will write about in another blog, and his dad in the middle.

Jordan and his dad, Perry, at a basketball game, getting in a little father and son time.

He is trying to look older by wearing a beard. He is shown here with his long time girl friend, Amy, whom we all love. She was with us at Sue's for Christmas. I'm sure they will marry as soon as Jordan gets settled, doing his thing in Hollywood. He has been majoring in film and wants to be a writer/director. He was chosen to make a short movie at NYU and was given quite a bit of funding from the University, but not all it will take, so he has been raising money and I think he just about has enough. He wrote it and will produce and direct it. He will be very successful I'm sure, because he is at the top of his class and has never gotten anything but an A all through school . He has been around film making all his life. His dad is a production designer who does all of Adam Sandler's movies. He has done a few others too, without Adam, but is pretty well type cast for the crazy movies that teens like. Jordan has worked with his dad a lot.

I've decided to write a bit about each of my grandchildren on the 4th Tuesday of each month. That will give me something to write about other than myself.