In Memory of Mr. Novak

Mr. Richard Novak was in my life in many ways. The first time I saw him was in 5th grade. He was walking his daughter, Cindy, into our school for her first day after just moving to Saginaw. I may have only been eleven, but I knew he was distinguished and I thought he looked like a movie star. So for awhile he was just Cindy's dad.

Then they moved to Warren Street just a block away. He then was a neighbor to me. Also at this time for me he was Mrs. Novak's husband. For most of my life if I saw one the other was there, too.

Then he was my Mom's lawyer. She was confident he was the best and never worried about her legal issues. So for much of my life he was a lawyer.

After I was married I remember my Mom telling me that she had told a couple of his sons how lucky they were to have such wonderful parents. She respected and admired them.

After my Mom died he was the lawyer for my Aunts Dorothy and Bernice. He gave us invaluable advice. Both he and his lovely wife would take phone calls from Aunt Bernice when she worried so much. He made sure everything was in order and helped us through a very difficult time.

When a Diocesan event was at the Cathedral they both would be there. It was such a joy to see such a devoted couple. I was always so pleased to see them. They both were always so gracious and interested in my life. I thought of them as friends.

My heart goes out to the Novak family. May your hearts be filled with love and good memories. I know mine is, too.

Kabobs

We always buy the large packages of steak. That way we grill them all and have leftovers. Pat grills two medium and two rare. They are so huge that we have six large servings. Since we take something to our tenant whenever we cook it ends up being two dinners.

Last night we had the yummy medium steaks. This morning I made kabobs to marinade until dinner.

Leftover steak cut in large cubes
3 zucchinis
Grape tomatoes

Alternate steak, zucchinis and tomatoes on skewers. Put flat in casserole dish.

Mix in bowl
1/2 cup Italian dressing
1 cup red wine
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime or lemon juice
Tbs Worcester sauce
Garlic powder
Oregano
Mrs. Dash
Salt

Pour evenly over kabobs.

Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for several hours. Turn every couple of hours.

I took them out if the casserole dish and put them on a foil covered cookie sheet. Broil 10 minutes turning 1/2 way through.

The flavors were delicious. Served over rice.  There were 2 kabobs left. I'll put them in a frittata for breakfast.

Dang

I decided to try the sliced fries that Tyler did on Food Network. I got out the mandolin and proceeded to slice very carefully.

I was done when I thought I wasted too much of each potato. I literally was on the LAST SLICE and I sliced the tip of my thumb off. Dang dang, dang. It finally stopped bleeding but it is throbbing and it hurts.

Dinner was amazing steak on the grill and shoestring fries. The pain is nothing a bottle of wine won't cure!

Words with friends

I started playing words with friends tonight. Amy and Jan both play and I thought I would give it a try.

I am waiting to play quinoa if my opponent leaves the n alone. I fell asleep for a couple hours so he may have gone to bed.

Tempting Treats

Here are the baked goods pictures. The Jello cookies turned out cute in stacks of six. The triple berry cobblers looked delicious.

http://www.iheartnaptime.net/jello-cookies/

I'll be posting pictures later today

I can't wait to start baking. I received a call from a student who is a parishioner at St. Pete's asking for baked goods. They are having a bake sale to pay for her mission trip over spring break.
So I went downstairs and found five tart baking dishes and six white luncheon plates. I am going to make mixed fruit cobblers and Jello cookies. I found the cookie recipe on Pinterest and can't wait to make them.
Watch for pictures of the baked goods later this afternoon!

Julie, Julie, Julie

When we lived in Midland the little girl next door demanded two spoons when eating her yogurt. Back to this in a minute.

I love the Black Cherry Chobani Greek Yogurt. I stir just the top of the yogurt leaving the fruity jam like stuff on the bottom. Then I leave that sweet stuff and throw it away. The yogurt ends up having just a touch of black cherry flavor. It is yummy.

Today when I was stirring the yogurt my spoon handle was all yucky! I immediately thought of Julie and I understood why she demanded two spoons. So I think I owe Julie an apology for dismissing her demands as being crazy all those years ago!

Love you Pat's girl!

Richard Blanco 2013 Inauguration Poet

Since Robert Frost was asked to read a poem for the inauguration of John F. Kennedy I have been keenly aware of the inspiration this day brings to all of us. I was so excited when Maya Angelou wrote her poem for Clinton's - I remember going out to the break room with Martha and both of us watching in awe. I was not disappointed today by Richard Blanco. His poem was filled with gratitude, unity and deep roots of our American ways.

An Evening to Remember

The Michigan family, Jim and Cindy, Kathy, Mary Lynn, Pat and I went out for our annual dinner at Fandangles'. Everything was perfect. Tom the greatest host, the service impeccable, and Steve's food was delicious.

It is so nice to be able to get together and talk with each other. The seating is placed perfectly and the atmosphere has such ambiance that it is easy to forget there are other diners in the restaurant.

As a special treat Tom invited us to go to the Flint Symphony Orchestra for the evening. It was such a great concert.

Sarah Chang (I wish I had a picture from the concert) and the Flint Symphony Orchestra performed Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story. It was enchanting. The music is some of my favorite. At times she was bent backwards at an alarming angle as she played. She was dressed in a vibrant red mermaid gown that contrasted with the black garb of the orchestra.

Ms. Chang is one of the world’s great violinists. She had her debut with the New York Philharmonic at the age of eight. In 2006, Chang was honored as one of 20 Top Women in Newsweek Magazine’s “Women and Leadership, 20 Powerful Women Take Charge” issue.

Maestro Enrique Diemecke conducted. He is wonderful to watch. Tom told us before the concert that the Maestro uses no music, everything is from memory. It was amazing.

After Chang's performance the Flint Symphony Orchestra performed Anton Bruckner's "Symphony No. 7."  The entire concert was enjoyable.

As we drove home I was thinking of the staff at Fandangles' that still had hours of work ahead of them. The afterglow party was coming for dinner after the concert. Including the Maestro.

It truly was a night to remember.

Eleanor Bakes Premiers

My sweet niece, Sarah, started her blog. She is the most fabulous baker. Most of her baking includes some experimentation. My kind of baking!

She says her cake was a bit dry and asks readers for suggestions on portion amounts of milk to ricotta. This type of interaction will perfect her recipes. She wants to own a bakery some day.

Look at these images. (Note the chocolate on baby Ella's head.) It just makes me want to rush back to Tulsa and bake with her!  You go Sarah! Best of luck with your new venture.

Click on a picture to go to her blog.

Chicken Vegetable Soup with Dumplings

Necessity is the mother of invention.  I wanted to make chicken and dumplings for dinner. I found a great recipe on Pinterest and started getting the ingedients together.

To see pictures on how to make the dumplings go to the Tasty Kitchen

I had cooked chicken breasts thawing. I made the dumplings according to the recipe. Then proceeded to make the soup. I only had 32 oz (a box) of chicken broth!  I needed two! Let me digress here a bit. I did have three boxes but it was the second Sunday of the month and I put two in the bag to donate to the food pantry last Sunday.

So I added mixed blend Green Giant frozen steamers to the broth. After they thawed I put them in the food processor and blended them into a puree. I also added some leftover Chardonnay. Then I added the dumplings. Added the chicken. And YUM, DELICIOUS.

Dumplings
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
2 Tbs butter
Blend in food processor
Add 1 3/4 cup of milk while processing
Add a little more if needed until it forms a ball

Roll out onto the counter with lots if flour. They should be rolled thin. Cut into two inch squares. Put them on a well floured plate making layers with flour sprinkled in between each layer.

Soup
1 32 oz box chucken broth
2 11 oz pkgs Green Giant Market Blend steamers
1 Tbs Mrs. Dash
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp sage
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups Chardonnay
2 cooked chicken breasts torn into pieces

Cook until veggies and in broth to thaw, add herbs then put into food processor (no need to clean in between dumplings and puree) puree until well blended. Put back in pot. Add the Chardonnay Bring to boil.

Add the dumplings one at a time and stir gently as you add them. Add the last of the flour from the plate.
Gently boil for 20 minutes then add chicken.
Cook a couple more minutes then serve.

Family

We decided to go out with the Jacklin and Martinez families.  We met at Famous Dave's.  Sheala is leaving to go back to Ferris tomorrow, so we wanted to get together one more time.
We were pleasantly surprised to see Javie. He was going to his Grandma's for the weekend, but Caroline asked if he could come to dinner first. We took turns passing Romeo around and Ayva had fun with the Galaxy tablet.
Robbie was teaching Javier how to blow his paper from his straw and as Grandma Caroline disapproved he taught him how to blow a spitball!  Sheala held Romeo.
We had a great time. Love being with family.

A Glorious Traverse City Morning

We are on our way home after a couple days in Traverse City. We had such a nice time.  We went for long rides in the sunshine on both peninsulas. No stops at any wineries we still have a stash from last trip!

We met Fred and Kelly for lunch.  We spent three hours catching up on our families. It was so nice. We went to Sleders which is a 130 year old restaurant in Traverse City. We sat in a sun room laughing and talking away the afternoon.

It was a nice couple of days. We will be back home in a few hours.

Bowling

Had fun today watching Robbie bowl.  He is on the Bay City Western team.

AR, Carey and Saraj

Continuing on the Aunt theme we started the New Year with a luncheon with Pat,'s family.

Carey is Pat's brother David's daughter. She lives in Toronto with her husband AR and son Saraj. We had never met AR and Saraj.

It was a pleasure meeting them. AR is such a loving Father and Saraj is such a happy little fellow. And it was oh so good to see Carey.

We had a nice day.

Mmmm New Snack

Triscuits topped with ricotta mix then topped with mozzarella and broiled. Then with salami, coppa or prosciutto on top.

Ricotta mixture
Small tub ricotta
Olive oil
Pesto