Consider: A Christmas Carol

The annual holiday season is upon us in full force again, and we are constantly bombarded by ads urging us to buy everything under the sun. It doesn’t matter where you turn; they are everywhere. So many of us react by being completely turned off by Christmas, and I admit I’ve been there too, that it makes you wonder how Christmas manages to survive as a viable holiday, let alone many people’s favorite. There has to be more to it than businesses depending on it for most of their annual income, or parents wanting to give stuff to their kids. There has to be something truly special about it, or we would just all give up on it and walk away.

Perhaps a clue may be found in the many Christmas tales entertaining us at this time of year. I have always found Charles Dickens’ story of Ebenezer Scrooge to be quite interesting and one I can apply to my own life. To his way of thinking, Scrooge is a paragon of his society: He is industrious, clean living, and not wasteful. Money seems to be the one thing his society values most, and in that pursuit he has excelled, amassing a rare fortune. He is not a wastrel, nor does he burden society with his upkeep—indeed, there is nothing he despises more than those who are and do. To others he is a mean man, and not in the sense we think of the word today. He is mean, because he is “small,” and not in the sense of stature. He is small-minded because he thinks of and considers no one but himself. He has no sense of generosity and no intention of it, and he truly cares for nobody—not even himself, if he ever took a good look. That is what happens. He is given a revelation as to the true nature of his life and how other people view him.

The lot of most people in England during that time was unenviable. What we mostly see in the televised novels by Jane Austen is the life of privilege enjoyed by the landed gentry written from their point of view (Pride and Prejudice, Emma). Leave it to Dickens to show us the other side in such stories as Oliver Twist and Hard Times. There was a huge gulf between the rich and the poor, and there were many more of the poor. There was such a thing as debtor’s prison where you could be locked up for the smallest crime with no hope of ever getting out. Factories were horrific places of virtual slave labor, and then there were the workhouses. People who owed Scrooge money shook in their boots when he walked by, because they were well aware that he could have had any and all of them packed off to debtor’s prison anytime he wished. They knew how much they owed him, and it wasn’t just money, for which he also charged a hefty fee.

But Dickens’ Christmas Carol  is a story of transformation. Scrooge comes to see the error of his ways, and the best part is that, as he doles out toys and money to those around him, he becomes a happier man who finds a place in the hearts of those same people. Scrooge finally recognizes that all his money has not made him happy. Instead, his mean-spiritedness has cut him off from the one thing that could make him happy: other people, and it is bringing those people into his life and caring about them that transforms him, not the decision to give away his fortune. You cannot buy love.

We all need other people, even loners like me, whose families live far away, who have no children, and who have few friends. As the poet John Donne so accurately put it, “No man is an island complete in himself.”  That is what makes Christmastime so special, because it is this particular time of year that forces each of us to confront our relationship with humanity head on; and we must remember that Jesus commanded us to “Love one another.”  He especially meant those among us who are not so lovable and even our enemies, for as he said, there is no special virtue in loving your friends—anyone can do that.  If Christmas is worth anything at all, it should be in its ability to heal our hearts and the chasms between us by forcing us to look outside ourselves.

Reflections on Sandy

Ever wonder what happened to the New York Doomsday Preppers when Sandy hit? Me too. Actually I haven’t heard zip about them, nor can I find any news about them on Google, but that’s probably good. They were prepared. One thing kept going through my mind as I caught a few glimpses of the HOURS and HOURS of network news coverage of the hurricane: It didn’t look like many of those folks were prepared for a disaster. One word of advice I would give them is to start preparing right now for the next time, because there most certainly will be one.

I suppose if your house was destroyed, you could be forgiven for not having any supplies, but that’s why you have a safe place to stay and store your stuff. By “safe,” I mean a place that no hurricane, tornado, or gang of angry, hungry survivors can breach. You need a stash of food, water, money, fuel for your vehicle, and possibly even some weapons in case you need to defend yourself. And while I’m on the subject, I don’t call pointing a pistol at someone in line at the gas station so you can cut in, “defending yourself,” and I don’t think many other people would either.

I can’t be too judgmental, however, because there are holes in my safety net too. We have plenty of food, but not nearly enough water, money, or fuel put by. Since we live in the shadow of Mt. Rainier, trouble could come at any time, so it would bode well to be really prepared when disaster comes. Regardless of where you live, it will come someday. There is more than enough information out there on what you need to do. Just go to Google or Bing and type in “disaster planning.” Two of the sites you will find are http://www.ready.gov/and FEMA’s site http://www.fema.gov/. Both are excellent.  

Hey, I’m hoping when “the big one” hits, I don’t have to read about MY friends and family on the nightly news! And while you’re at it, plan to have more than you need, so you are in a position to help others when the time comes. You already know your neighbors, family, and friends will all think of you and show up on your doorstep. What will you do? Turn them away?

Are We DONE Yet?

A subjective reflection on the campaign process in the United States:
 

I’m certain I am not alone in looking forward to Election Day this year. I normally don’t discuss my feelings and opinions regarding politics or religion unless asked, but I have to speak out. The election process in this country has got to be one of the most insane, ludicrous, and wasteful activities ever conceived, and I doubt anyone out there will disagree.

It doesn’t matter which “side” you happen to be on; you are bombarded incessantly day and night with the most wretched excesses imaginable. And pretty much all negative. This goes on for years, reaching a fever pitch in the last month—in which time it’s moot with many of us who can now vote by mail. That time and money is totally wasted on reaching US, because we’ve already made our final decisions.

I don’t know how much money, not to mention time has been spent on this height of ridiculousness, but IT HAS GOT TO STOP! Otherwise many more voters will elect not to participate in the process. We just want out, but moving to New Zealand is not an option.

This year I did something I have never done before: I contributed to a campaign, and not just once. What that got me was a daily tab of at least six or more emails, purporting to be from the individuals concerned (but more likely from lower paid surrogates), hounding and begging me for more money. If I didn’t “give $19 more today, we could lose it all.” Hogwash. You got all you’re gonna get from me, so deal with it. Next time you’re only getting a buck.

Yes, I DO care who wins, but will I donate again in the future? Probably not—but not because I don’t care. Triple negative! I’m NOT a millionaire or billionaire with $$$ to write off on my income tax. Chances are I won’t be able to write off any of it, since unless it amounts to more than the benefit I’m allowed from the standard deduction, it won’t matter a whit to my net income. Right now I just want it to be over so I don’t have to listen to any more merde!

(Sigh) ARE we done yet?

Pie

I had to chuckle today when Sam announced to me that pie was back “in” again. He had just looked over the new Journey magazine (published by AAA) that arrived today, and since I was engaged in making a pie for dinner, he felt it was a relevant topic. That pie had ever been “out“ was news to me, but then not being much of a Mainstream type, I don’t keep up on such things.

Pie, as an after dinner dessert or mid-day snack, has always been more popular in my family than cake. In fact, if you took a poll, I’m quite certain most of my relatives would vote for pie by an overwhelming margin, especially the men.

I was fortunate to learn the art of pie baking from a master: my Grandma Rose. When she was yet an unmarried girl, she came out West with her sister Estyle, who had just gotten married and moved to Oregon with her new husband Carl. Carl had gotten a job with the railroad, and so Rose came along with them. She had to earn a living though, and she did it by baking pies. Once she worked as a cook for a rooming house, and the rest of the time she worked as a pie baker at restaurants. After meeting and marrying my Grandfather Lloyd, she continued cooking for him, plus all the cowboys and hired hands at his ranch until they had to sell it and move to town. Then she just cooked for her family and friends, and when I was a little girl, she taught me most of what I know about cooking. Grandma didn’t make a great variety of pies, but those she did were memorable. She never cared much for cream pies, but all manner of fruit pies, pumpkin, and mincemeat pies were her stock in trade, and she was a particular master of lemon meringue.

Sam’s Dad Herb loved lemon meringue pies, too, so I resolved to make one from scratch once when we had invited them over to our new house for dinner. We had just bought a lovely little turn of the century farmhouse, so serving a lemon meringue pie for dessert was to be the piece de resistance. Of course I had never made a lemon meringue pie before, but how hard could it be? As it turned out, more difficult than I thought, and to make a long story short, the pie LOOKED great, but the lemon filling had not set up, so we had lemon soup for dessert! I was mortified. Everyone was very kind, however, and I survived.

As soon as everyone left, I called Grandma in tears, explaining what had happened, and I will never forget her words when I asked her secret to making lemon meringue pie. She replied, “I always use lemon pudding and pie filling—I never make them from scratch.” You could have knocked me over with a feather, I was so shocked.

That was many years ago, and I’ve made lots of lemon meringue pies since—and yes, I always use lemon pudding and pie filling too. Tonight, however, we’re having apple pie, which is by far much easier to make!

An Adventure in My Kitchen

Today I did something I’ve always wanted to do: I made cheese! Yes, it was fun, but before going any further, I must say there were some surprises. I proved the old adage that says things never quite turn out the way you expect. The cheese was great, but making it was an eye-opening experience.

30 some years ago, Sam and I used to have a flock of dairy goats and made cheese—that is, Sam made cheese. I milked goats and cleaned up the mess. The cheese was really good, and we had a bunch of folks back then encouraging us to go into the goat cheese business, but they were largely unaware of the many challenges involved. None of them had any money to invest in our business. We were both busy working full-time jobs and going broke, so we didn’t have any money for the venture, so to make a long story short, we sold the farm, the goats, moved to Seattle and completely did a 180.

Now we are a year away from retirement, looking at how we want to live the rest of our lives, and have bought a small acreage back in Oregon. Unless we want to be totally dependent on Social Security for our income, we need to be able to provide for our own needs and/or find a way to make a living, ergo the interest in making cheese, among other things. I, for one, do not intend to bag groceries at Safeway or end up a Wal-Mart greeter.

I don’t envision a return to the ways we used to do things. For instance, I am not going to return to milking 15-20 goats twice daily for the rest of my life! I have osteoarthritis, so that won’t be happening. I do want to have a couple of decent milkers, however, and my experience tells me that will translate to 2-4 gallons of milk a day. Hmm, what to do with it? Well, we will drink some of it (we LOVE goat milk, admittedly an acquired taste, but other milk tastes so boring in comparison), we can make butter and buttermilk (Yum!), or we can make cheese. Fortunately, goat milk makes great cheese, and you can make all different kinds and age some of it.

For today’s effort, I decided on a simple fresh cheese. As I usually do when embarking on a new project, I researched several books and consulted a few on-line recipes before deciding what to make. I finally chose to make one from Martha Stewart‘s Website: Herbed Fresh Buttermilk Cheese. I pretty much followed her recipe, though I made it from a gallon of whole milk and a quart of lowfat buttermilk, adding dried oregano from my garden and fresh ground black pepper. It’s still draining in the kitchen sink, but I plan on serving it over fresh-sliced sourdough bread for dinner.

The cheese was easy to make, but there was more of a mess than I anticipated—and lots of whey. Yikes, what to do with that? I don’t have any chickens to feed it to these days (they love it), and I ended up with three quarts of whey after making cheese from one gallon of milk! Not a problem, Martha Stewart to the rescue: a video on her Website recommends using it for poaching fish, for example (not that I poach fish often, but I guess I will now) or in soups, so I poured it back into the gallon milk jug to cool off and then froze it in ice cube trays, later putting the cubes into a plastic bag to store in the freezer.

There was also the problem of milk scorched on the bottom of my stainless steel soup pot, but I easily removed that by re-heating the pot and pouring in about ¼ cup of water, so the scorched milk lifted right off (I learned that trick from caring for my cast iron pans for many years). That left only a little bit that I had to scrub off, and then everything but the big pot went into the dishwasher.

So, if you want to try this for yourself, you’ll probably want to follow Martha’s recipe, which calls for only one quart of milk and makes about six ounces of cheese. You might even want to go to her Website, watch the instruction video, and try one of the other variations. What could be nicer on a summer evening than some fresh herb cheese on sourdough French bread with a glass of chilled Chardonnay?


Herbed Fresh Buttermilk Cheese

Yield Makes one 6-ounce round
Serves 4 as a snack with crackers

Ingredients

• 1 quart whole milk
• 1 1/2 cups whole or low-fat buttermilk
• 2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 1 teaspoon dried herbs, such as tarragon, oregano, or basil

Directions

1. Cut out three pieces of cheesecloth into 12-inch squares. Line a colander or medium strainer with all three layers of cheesecloth. Set colander in sink.

2. Combine milk, buttermilk, salt, and herbs in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, and heat over medium-high heat until mixture has separated into white curds and translucent whey, about 8 minutes. If using lowfat buttermilk, separation occurs at about 180 degrees and the curds will clump together readily. If using whole buttermilk, separation occurs closer to the boiling point, about 212 degrees, and the curds are finer-grained. When using whole buttermilk, let curds and whey stand off heat for about 3 minutes after separation, so the curds cling together and facilitate the straining step.

3. Ladle the contents of the saucepan into the prepared colander. Let the whey drain, 1 to 2 minutes. Lift the four corners of the cheesecloth and gather them together. Gently twist the gathered cloth over the cheese and press out any excess whey.

4. Cheese can be unwrapped immediately and served warm or let stand until cooled to room temperature, about 10 minutes more. To serve a firmer cheese, transfer cheese, in its cloth, to a small flat-bottomed dish or pie plate; refrigerate until cool, about 10 minutes. Unwrap cheese and gently invert onto plate; discard cloth. Tent cheese with plastic wrap and keep refrigerated up to 2 days. Remove from refrigerator and let stand for 10 minutes at room temperature before serving.

Do-It/Raise-It-Yourself: Healthier Food and Relief from High Prices

Sam and I have always been Do-It-Yourself-ers. Growing up during the 50’s and 60’s, and part of the Green Revolution that rose out of the Hippie movement, it felt entirely normal to us: I grew up on a 160-acre ranch backed up by thousands of acres of BLM land up on the mountain, and Sam’s parents owned a small acreage in town, at least half of which was planted in food and flower gardens. Both of us were only two generations off the homestead, so going back to it was easy. As a kid, I had my own horse and learned how to care for chickens, cows, and a garden first hand, by doing it. It was what was expected, since all the womenfolk in my family had gardens and usually at least a few chickens out back, unless they lived in town. Cooking, canning, and caring for animals was what women did; and it’s no joke that I’ve probably forgotten more than most people ever know about raising goats. In fact, the local veterinarian used to tell people to call me when they had a problem, saying that I knew more about goats than he did, though personally, I just don’t think he wanted to be bothered with them.  (Photo above is from Willow Bird Baking's Blog Site).

One basic life lesson I learned as a child was that I could easily make things for myself, rather than buying them in stores. My Grandma Rose taught me nearly everything I know about cooking; and being a professional seamstress, she also taught me to sew, knit, crochet, and do embroidery. I made most of the clothes I wore to school during high school and college. I’m embarrassed to say that I haven’t done that for a while, though I’ve made some unusual items through the years, including quarter sheets for my horses and my own riding breeches. I’ve knitted sweaters and shawls, crocheted ponchos, and made felted bags. This year I bought a small loom and am learning to weave. 

Now Sam and I are planning a return to that lifestyle, with retirement slightly more than a year away. We just bought land in Northeastern Oregon with plenty of space for chickens, goats, and horses. If we want fish for dinner, there is a river full of hungry trout half a mile from our front doorstep. We will not only enjoy eating them, but we will have the fun of catching them as well—loads better than going to the supermarket and fresher too. Of course, you have to take the time to do it, and it won’t be so easy to run to the store, since the closest grocery is 30 miles away. I will need to accustom myself to running to the pantry or the root cellar instead and making staple items for myself. I will need to figure out how much of any one thing we need to have on hand for a year: My own tomato sauce, homemade butter and cheese, fresh greens, and maybe even my own catsup. Sounds like a challenge, but fun. Then again, it may not BE so fun when I’m pitting the 20^th quart of cherries and my fingers are all stained brown (tsk, tsk, so much for my manicure) or milking the goats during a howling blizzard (we must face reality), but it will be healthier and immensely more satisfying. I distinctly remember my Mom leading me to her pantry one year and proudly displaying all the preserves, pickles, and sauerkraut she’d laid by for the winter, and I look forward to doing something like that myself.

Since I’ve baked my own sourdough bread for many years, rather than buying it, I became curious about making some other things I routinely buy, such as bran flakes or pasta. Yes, you CAN make them yourself, and I’m excited about giving it a try. And, have you noticed the sky high price of food lately? Well, DUH! All that processing and packaging, not to mention hauling the bags and packages of everything thousands of miles all over the country (or the world) costs a fortune, especially since the price of gasoline and diesel fuel is going through the roof. And I’m not going to get into the use of additives and preservatives in food other than to say that they probably aren’t good for you, so why not leave them out unless they need to be there? I’m talking things such as salt, sugar, or Vitamin C here. Yes, salt and sugar are used to preserve food, not just to flavor it, but you can probably do without the sodium glutamate and benzoate. If it’s a chemical, and you don’t know what it is, it’s suspect.

Fortunately, if you have a connection to the Internet, you can easily find recipes and learn how to do or make nearly anything imaginable, so learning how to make flake cereal was literally only a click away. I also found a cookbook called The Homemade Pantry by Alana Cernita, that I saw advertised on Green Peace’s On Earth Website ( http://www.onearth.org/blog/everything-tastes-better-homemade ). In it are recipes for 101 things you buy at the store, including such things as toaster pastries and marshmallows. It’s available in soft cover and on Kindle (I downloaded the Kindle one for $13.99; the paperback is available from Amazon for $16.49: http://www.amazon.com/The-Homemade-Pantry-Buying-ebook/dp/B007EEJCX6/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2  ). While you’re at it, watch her video on YouTube.com for making toaster pastries, and no, I will not make any money from mentioning her book or videos!

R.I.P. Carol Charles

Sometimes life has a way of kicking you in the head. Times like today, when I learned my friend Carol had suddenly passed away. I last spoke to her about three or four weeks ago, regarding a lunch date that had been postponed several times for one reason or another since the first of the year, and she seemed fine. Not feeling well, but nothing earth-shaking—or so it seemed at the time. She was going to call me when she felt better. I had intended to call her this week to see how she was doing, but somehow something else always intervened, so I didn’t.

Now today I can’t call her. It’s too late, and my friend and I will never share time together ever again. I’m still in shock, I guess, and there are so many things I wish I had said. You truly never know when your time will be up, and as St. Nicholas (the second spirit to visit on Christmas Eve) tells Ebenezer in the movie Scrooge!, “Suddenly you’re not there anymore.”

I feel at such a loss for words trying to say what’s on my mind.  How do you? The best thing about Carol was that she cared. She genuinely cared about the people around her, and knowing her made a difference in their lives. She was kind when she didn’t have to be, and she reached out to people (me among them) who probably would not have reached out to her. She did the little things that count so much, like bringing over lunch when I felt too sick to go out. I miss her, and I will be missing her for a very long time, because she made me a better person simply because I knew her. It’s the highest praise I can think of. Rest in Peace, my dear friend. You are missed!


ON THE SUDDEN LOSS OF A FRIEND

I meant to call you
All last week,
And even the week before,
But somehow I always ended up
Busy
Or sidetracked.
Then, this morning Sam came home
And said,
“I’ve got a shock for you.”
I couldn’t imagine what
He would tell me—
Certainly anything about you
Could not have been farther
From my mind.

We never got our last lunch date,
And there were so many things
I could have said
About how wonderful you are.
I can’t remember you
Except smiling and laughing,
And you were the kindest person
I knew.
You were the one who
Took me to chemo
And held my hand when I cried.
You were the first one
To ask for a copy of my book,
And you never cared
If there was dog hair on my floors.

You were the best, my friend,
And I will miss you.