tammy circeo: telling life stories

Thanksgiving 2009

It's late on Thanksgiving Day 2009. We had neighbors over this evening for pie-sharing and now they are gone, and our home is winding down to a peaceful night's sleep.

This day has been filled with blessing after blessing, the least of which can't even be counted among the least for it is so great. The blessings abound and I have yet to count them all. How can I ever remember them all?!

I had thoughts that I wanted to share with you, but can't quite seem to get them on paper the way they are in my head and heart at the moment. I will let it suffice to say that I'm so very grateful to be the "mom" in our family, to enjoy the love that comes from each individual, and to know that gratitude is not restricted to current circumstances. Gratitude can be enjoyed even when I don't *feel* it the way I want to or think I should. I will always remember the conversation around our dinner table today as we discussed what gratitude is to us. We talked about meaningful relationships, material blessings, and dreams we have for our futures. To do that with my husband and children is what this holiday is all about for me.

I am blessed beyond expression.

Praise God … from Whom all blessings flow.

{Now I want to SING! In harmony … anyone care to join in?!}

Prepping the Thanksgiving “Stuffing”

…or "dressing" as we call it down south …

The last three days have included regular routine, recuperating from the Auction weekend, and best of all, doing the preparations for our upcoming Thanksgiving weekend. It's been nice to have the kids home in the afternoons, watching TV and movies, playing games (I can feel some Yahtzee coming on!), cooking together, and re-enacting SNL sketches. We have been laughing a ton! I have to tell you, in case you aren't aware, that it doesn't get much better than that!

In between lattes in my new gift mug … (and various other drinks, depending on the time of day)…

…I got the pies baked, the casseroles prepped and refrigerated till baking, the rolls baked and waiting another cozy visit to the oven… The turkey is happily brining away in the big cooler, and I'm now relaxing … I love this time of day and this point in the preparations.

A friend on Facebook, Elizabeth, asked for a Cornbread Dressing Recipe. Do you know what Cornbread Dressing is? If you are from the Southern United States, you probably know … because yo' mama, and yo' granmama and lots of mamas in between have probably been making it for decades. Nay, my dear … CENTURIES. However, if you are from 'other parts', you are perhaps wondering how cornbread can be a potential ingredient in dressing because the only dressing you know is for salad. Who the heck would put cornbread on salad?! If you let those Southerners loose, THEY just might do it!

Am I right?!

Thought so.

As I started thinking about how to describe what I do for the Dressing, I thought, "This is worthy of a blog post rather than facebook response." Sometimes, it's hard for me to keep those boundary lines clear, but thankfully, it was clear today.

If I had posted on FB, this is what I would've said:

OK ... so I don't have a measured recipe, but I'll try to give you approximates, OK?

I make a 'pone' of cornbread. Ever heard of that?! ha. Didn't think so. A pone is pretty much a recipe of yellow cornbread. I bake it in a (10-inch) cast-iron skillet ... I believe full-heartily that that is the one and only way to Heaven through the Southern US.

I make it ahead of time, using this recipe:

Heat oven to 450°F. Mix the following and pour into a heated, oiled, cast-iron skillet:

• 1 ½ cup cornmeal
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 2 t. baking powder
• 1 t. sugar
• 1 t. salt
• ½ t. baking soda
• 1 ½ cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup shortening (Heat the ¼ cup shortening in the cast-iron skillet till it barely starts smoking. Then add it to the other ingredients and mix.)

Then pour it all in the hot skillet.

Place in the hot oven for 25-30 minutes. Let cool for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto a large plate.

You can eat it straight like this with butter and honey, or peen-TOE beans. (If you aren't from the South, you would read that "pinto beans".)

Let cool (even overnight), then crumble it up quite small. I do not like large pieces of cornbread in the dressing!

You can make it as far as 2-3 days ahead, but if you make it earlier than that, be sure to refrigerate it or freeze it because it will sour and grow gross mold that only belongs on good French cheese.

Melt ½ cup of butter in a large skillet and add 7-8 chopped stalks of celery and 2 medium, chopped onions. Top with 1-2 teaspoons of salt and a good crackin' of pepper. That means you turn your pepper grinder up and crank it a good while.

Get it? Got it. Good!

Cook on medium until the onions become translucent and everything starts to brown. Add Poultry Seasoning, or a Tablespoon each of thyme and marjoram, and a ton of sage … like 3-4 Tablespoons.

I like sage so that if that's too much for you, add more. Ha.

I usually add the seasonings until it tastes the way I like it.

I really have NO IDEA how much. Perhaps I'll measure next year. Or perhaps I'll keep cooking with just my nose.

When the onions and celery are done, pour them over the crumbled cornbread.

Mix in well. Then add 2 beaten eggs.

Pour in chicken/turkey broth until it doesn't seem dry anymore.

When it tastes seasoned-enough and seems moist enough, pour into a baking dish.

When you're ready (either immediately or the next day or day after!), bake for about 30 minutes or until the top is browned.

Some people add dried cranberries or pecans or even hard-boiled eggs (blech!), but this is my method and I love it!

Now you know why it was blog-worthy! Because I can write however much I want here! It's my blog and I'll ramble t if I want to... Facebook is restrictive … that's not good when it comes to recipes like these.

I'll upload a 'downloadable' later …

For now, I'm off to hang with the kids!

My Right-hand Man

When I named my son, I didn't know the 'meaning' of his name. I do now, though, and furthermore, I know that he has lived up to his name on more than one occasion.

My son's name is Benjamin. I was one of those moms who insisted on his being called by his full name. That is, until he went to school. When cute little kindergartners and 1^st graders call your son a nickname in the hopes of 'being cool', you kind of let it go. So now, we mostly call our son Ben. In fact, when I introduce him as "Benjamin", he extends his hand to shake and says, "Hi, I'm Ben" as if to subliminally correct me and gently make sure the new friend uses an acceptable nomenclature in the future.

The name Benjamin is an ancient Hebrew name meaning "son of my right hand" and the early Benjamin of the Bible was a favored son of Jacob, the father of Israel, along with his brother, Joseph. My Ben is certainly my "right-hand man" and favored son. It probably helps that he is the ONLY son! Those details aside, he is usually quite willing to pitch in and do what I ask him, even when it goes beyond his usual room and trash duty at home.

This last weekend (with the Auction at school) was a big one for me, which not only involved setting all the props in at the Center, but also overseeing their being loaded at the warehouse the day before. Ben corralled a friend of his and they came to the warehouse to help out. This 'Deco Dog' as he has come to be known, wouldn't fit on the larger truck so I volunteered to give him a ride in my Mom Van.

Without being asked, Ben hefted Deco Dog up on his shoulder and took off toward our vehicle. I'm a sucker for 'photos from behind' and this was one I couldn't quite pass up. Thanks for those walking beside me who held up long enough for me to capture it.

And thanks, Ben, for helping me out. You are one rockin' Right-Hand Man. I love you to the moon and back.

Le (long) Weekend-11-21-09

Our weekend was absolutely and totally consumed with our school auction, as was the weekend of many friends of ours. Ken and I volunteer on the Auction Committee … I head the Decorating Committee and Ken creates/or consults on the logo, publishes the newsletters, and creates and runs the screen presentations during the event. Maybe that's called the Marketing Chair?

I arrived at the Center about 8:30-45 in the morning and began organizing all the props to their prospective places and assigning jobs to get them set up. What a quaint little Café Antoine, non? Just next door to La Patisserie. How convenient.

(I know the Patisserie sign is misspelled … it came to me that way and my Flex-&-Roll Muscle got some exercise … because I would rather have used some muscle along with White-Out to fix it!!)

This is a process that begins for both Ken and me way back in the spring or early summer when ideas start floating around the next year's theme. When I heard this year's theme was "An Evening in Paris", I was very excited, as you can imagine!

I have the unique opportunity to work with a wonderful Design Group called Robinson's Designs. Their granddaughter attended our school at one point and that's when they started helping us out with our Auction. Their granddaughter is no longer there, but they continue to invest in us! What wonderfully sacrificial people. They don't charge us … and they so fully enjoy our volunteer staff! If it wasn't for them and all the props and stage stuff they have, there's no way it would look the way it does!

That 'drop' in the photo above is really a 20x30 piece. Only about 15x20 of it is showing! I took this photo from three stories above. We had market scenes and Eiffel Towers everywhere!

I didn't get to eat, but I heard all around that the food was wonderful. Thank you, Meydenbauer Center, for taking care of us!

When I met with Robinson's early on, I told them that I had a vision of the Eiffel Tower on the stage. They said, "Of course!" And, not surprisingly, they delivered Big Time!

This Tower was at least 16 feet tall, lit from below and with a light in the very top as well. So absolutely wonderful!!

Thanks to the AVFactory (and Steve Barr, especially!) for all the lights, sound, filming, and overall presentation.

And if it weren't for my gals on the Decorating Committee, this event would've started way late because I would still been putting things in place—20+hours later! In fact, it might even have been starting just now, with angry guests being served cold food, and exhausted volunteers and staff. And no money would have been raised for our school! My Decorating Gals (who I'll not name here, but they know who they are … A, R, and Y, especially!) come along beside me and support my vision and plans for making this elegant fund-raising evening a reality. They are the ones that executed these centerpieces! Great job!

I challenge my photographer self to take what I call a "contortionist's" shot once in a while. I shot this next photo from *WAY*below the table and facing the stage, all the while dressed in evening finery. I love the blurry Eiffel Tower in the background.

It was a wonderful evening … the culmination of many months' worth of work … the result of which was certainly worth everything. I still believed that after arriving home at 1 AM Sunday morning!

 

Blessed …

I'm one blessed girl …

…in that these two people…

…gave me my husband. This is my mom-&-dad-by-marriage.

Today is my in-laws' 51^st anniversary of marriage. I think they have something figured out. Something that I can learn from and emulate in my own life.

Thank you, Mom and Dad C, for who you are as individuals and as a couple. We love you and hope you have many more years to enjoy your wonderful marriage and to be a part of our lives.

Love, love, love you!

My Real Life—Paris?

In "real life", I am very much like I am here on my blog. If that is not true, I'm sure my husband, my kids, my mom, my sister-in-law, my aunt, my cousins, … my RL friends … everybody, for that matter, who reads this blog! Ha! … will pipe up and make us all aware of this reality. I could count on a couple of sweeties in that list to be sure to do that! But I would never name names …

So here on my blog … I love all things Français, non?

In RL? Ditto. Gimme tons of Français.

Here on my blog … I love food, eating out, trying new recipes.

In RL? Ditto! So much more than I could ever post here! And you thought I posted lots of recipes?!

Here on my blog … I love all things kids. Well, most things.

In RL? I certainly don't relish the idea of my own leaving the nest, and am moved to tears at the plight of those less fortunate. I can't even watch Extreme Home MakeOver without tears!

Ken makes fun of me.

This weekend, Saturday evening, in fact, we are hosting our school's annual auction. I don't mean that Ken and I are, but "we" as a committee, are. I head up all the decorating for this event at the Convention Center in downtown Bellevue so my responsibilities top out at MAXIMUM effort.

Our theme this year is "An Evening in Paris". Apropos pour mois, non? Oui, it's right up my allée! I'm excited to see how it turns out.

I have the unique opportunity (because I stood up and waved my hand irresistibly!) to take photos of class projects. I'm sharing with you the first one that I shot …

One of the grade school teachers coached her class through creating a dessert set with their artwork on it. She had them draw their concept of the Eiffel Tower, put their fingerprints around the edge, and had it transposed onto the Dessert Set. Each piece of the set has a different drawing.

Here's the cake stand …

… la pièce de resistance!

If I was a parent of a child in this class, I would bid on this! I LOVE IT!

Simply Living – Thanksgiving Prep

It's late on Wednesday, a week and about 12 hours before we celebrate Thanksgiving here in these United States. My week has already been filled to overflowing and there's plenty more week to experience. I have a photo to show you, but I think it's worthy of a post all its own … post to come!

As we homemakers and hosts count down to the holiday, there are tons of small tasks that add up to the sum of our holiday meal. I love the planning and the process … most of all, I love the outcome. The meal and accompanying conversation is one of my favorite moments all year long.

I sat down last Sunday afternoon and wrote out my schedule for the days leading up to Thanksgiving and after I took about a bajillion deep breaths, wrote a ton of lists (2 notebook pages worth), and the menu for the Big Day, I felt like I could move forward.

Lesson of the day: Plan, Plan, and Plan. Then breath in … and out. Rinse and Repeat!

I've been doing this for years, but thought I would share a few pointers with you, my dears, and hope that you will benefit from the results of my many deep breaths.

To Do Way Ahead:

• If you invite people over, do it EARLY!
• Menu planning and grocery shopping. I've pretty much always been the hostess because we've not lived close to family for the majority of our marriage so I usually plan the entire meal. For those of you fortunate enough to live close to family and to share that meal and its preparations, choose who is bringing what and you're good to go.
• Order the turkey (especially if you get a farm-raised or organic one … Even if you order it through your grocery store, you must let them know ahead of time.)
• Make cranberry sauce – unless you open a can! ;)
• Make homemade rolls – unless you open a package! ;) If you make homemade rolls, you can bake them thoroughly without browning them completely. Then freeze them, let them thaw the morning of, and jet them in the oven after you take the turkey and casseroles out. They'll just need a moment to put their cozy, crunchy jackets on!
• Think about table settings. Table cloth? Place mats? Nameplates? Which dishes? Chargers? Centerpiece or candles only?
• Speaking of candles, be sure to only use unscented ones on your table!
• If you make Cornbread Dressing, you can bake the cornbread early, crumble it, and freeze it.

To Do a couple of days ahead:

• If you have purchased a frozen turkey, make sure to give it plenty of time to thaw. If you brine your turkey, you should start getting it happy in the brine a couple of days early. I love brining!
• I like to make pies early … but if I do, I have to hide them! ;)

The day before:

• Prep EVERYTHING!
• This is usually the day when I make the cornbread for my cornbread dressing, then make the dressing, cover it and refrigerate it.
• I cut the carrots for Grandma's Carrots.
• I get casseroles put together and put in the fridge …
• The only thing I don't do is cut and mash the potatoes, cook everything, and roast the turkey.

The Day:

So … that's all that's left the day of! All I have to do is schedule out when to cook what so that it all ends up on the table, hot, at the same time.

And when I'm not managing that schedule, I'm watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, playing Yahtzee, or napping!

Over the next few days, when I'm not ensconced in School Auction minutiae, I'll post recipes and tips for the Thanksgiving Holiday. And if you live in a country that doesn't celebrate our American Thanksgiving, perhaps you'll still glean from the preparation tips, menus, and recipes. Let me know if you do! (Many of you post to Facebook and that is so super OK … but feel free to post here as well. The comments section acts very much like a forum in that responses can be made to comments! And I DO check them!!)

 

Sleeves and Recipes

Just look at this notebook sleeve!

It's way too small for my laptop … sadly. I love that someone thought of making a laptop cozy in cable knit! It's great! So for all my knitter friends … get those needles clicking! You could make a ton of moolah marketing these babies …

I spent a few hours yesterday afternoon on my 'un-cable-knit-clad' laptop getting more recipes linked on the Recipes Page so you should find at least a few more to choose from now! There's tons more to do and I'll keep nibbling at the project till it's done. To see the result of all my labor, just click that convenient hyperlink I gave you or click on the button at the top of the screen that says, "Recipes". If you have any trouble with any of the links, please let me know so that I can figure out how to fix them.

Oh and a friendly tip on flowy sleeves in the kitchen … don't wear them there! They drag in the ingredients and could likely catch on fire. Flowy sleeves are much better showcased as a guest, not a chef.

 

 

FREE Holiday Class

I've got an insanely busy week this week since our School Auction is coming up on Saturday (I do the decorating for it at the Convention Center), but for my sanity's sake and what will probably be some needed diversion, I'm taking a Holiday class over at Jessica Sprague this week. It's a FREE class … and I can only imagine you feel about "FREE" like I do! ("Bring it on!")

If you've been 'round these parts very long, you know how I feel about telling stories and supporting them with photos. This class focuses on the stories we have from our Holiday Times and giving us ideas on how to get them told.

The class started today, but registration is open through midnight EST tonight. Check it out and join in the fun with me!

Did I mention it's FREE? You've got nothing to lose!

Best Thing about Mondays

Happy Monday.

I'm reminded of the Carpenter's song, "Rainy days and Mondays always get me down … " It's a rainy Monday here and I'm working up my courage to go pick up the kids from school. Most days, venturing out in the rain doesn't bother me, but today, I'd really like to stay put and have a cup of tea while I bake something! ;)

I subscribe to the posts from the One-Minute Writer and today's writing prompt was, "What is the best thing about Mondays?" For a day that usually gets a bad rap simply for being at the beginning of the week, I was glad to see the potential for a little positive attention to it in people's thoughts and journals.

So what do *I* think is the best thing about Mondays? I can think of several, but the one that rises to the top is that it is a new beginning. If I continue taking breaths, I can always count on another Monday coming and I have the choice to see it as a fresh start. If my Monday turns out feeling "blue", I can be comforted by the fact that I love the color blue. Right?