Dear Michael Ruhlman, This is Why I Cook

Food writer, Michael Ruhlman wrote about why he cooks and asked of bloggers to share as well why they cook. This is my response.

The first, and I'll admit-seemingly conceited, thing that comes to mind for me is, "I cook, because I can." That's true and not so arrogant as it comes off ... really.

I cook because I love to eat.

I cook to nourish my family in the best way possible. Letting someone else do it removes me from the process of knowing exactly what goes into our meals.

I cook to earn money. I develop recipes and take photos for a living 9and write about the process), and that end of it is ever fascinating and ever educational. I learn something new each day by doing.

I cook to remember. There is nothing so memory provoking as the aroma or flavor of a food loved as a child. Nothing. I make my grandmother's brownies or my great-grandmother's brown sugar cookies or my mother's fried chicken to recall all that was good and pure and wonderful about my childhood - even if it wasn't all good or pure or wonderful.

I cook to create new memories. Yes, the common thread here is that food is central to my feelings of well-being and health and I aim to continue building those feelings in my children and their children. I want them to have memories of love and home and nurturing all rolled into one loaf of bread or layer of cake. The more I cook, the more chances they have to watch and learn and begin to cook for themselves.

I cook to live. Eating is truly secondary for me to the creation process that takes place each time I make a dish. I tell people often that cooking is an art like no other with an instant gratification (or let-down, whichever the case may be) that you can't get by creating with any other medium. Paintings can take days to months to complete. Books are the same. Recordings, movies, sculptures - they all take much more time to create and to be appreciated. With food, the 'yay' or 'nay' are immediate - you know if your creation was loved or liked or hated before the creation is gone.

I cook to bring others happiness. There's nothing else to say about that.

So, I echo Michael Ruhlman - what are your reasons for cooking?

The Amazing Parents and Their Daring Adoption Feat

I have a very dear friend, whom I have written about before, that is one of the most amazingly amazing people I have ever had the pleasure to know. Her name is Kate. I call her Katiepooh, but that's besides the point.

She and her fantabulous husband are raising a bunch of children just as wonderful as they are. Now, in case you think that's an easy feat, let me shed a little light. Firstly, they are raising 7 children. Having 7 of my own, I know how trying and tiring and utterly wonderful such a thing can be. The only difference is, while I have special needs kids of my own (I don't really see Asperger's as a special need, but hey - that's the label), I don't have children with the needs that hers do.

Kate being the amazing mom that she is keeps in all in check; homeschooling, doctor's appointments, surgeries, therapists and daily life. She does this without batting an eyelash. In fact, many times I've talked with Kate on the phone and she's laughing about life rather than wallowing in pity.

When Marty was injured, Kate was the first person on the phone to me checking in and keeping others updated for me. Kate was the one who set up a PayPal account to help our family get by while Marty was in the hospital. Kate was there in more ways than that and continues to be someone I can lean on and talk to about life, putting her own needs on hold to listen to me ramble.

See, pretty amazing, huh? Guess what? She and her husband Charley are even more amazing than all that. They are now on the road to adopting two very special and precious baby girls from the Ukraine. Not just any baby girls (this is Kate we're talking about) but baby girls with Down Syndrome. They are the sweetest babies ever and even though they will have many issues and many needs, Kate and Charley are up for it and I can't think of any family better suited to take these children in and raise them.

They do need help to reach this goal, however and I want to share with you how you can help.

Money is always welcome and the one thing that they need to most to get these girls home to the U.S. Right now they are looking at is $36,000. Kate's PayPal link can be found HERE if you are so led to help.

Donations of Goods or Services: Kate will be holding raffles on her blog for goods or services donated by friends and family. If you have something you can donate for her to raffle or would like to enter a raffle, please see her blog, Room for More for details.

Prayers - This is the best way to get them where they need to be. Offer up whatever you can on their behalf and the rest is Faith.

Blogging or any other way you can get the word out is fabulous. Even if you can't help, others may be able to and bringing it to light would be terrific. You can add Kate's button to your blog or web page as well:

<a href="http://snadoption.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://i47.tinypic.com/70vq11.jpg" alt="" /></a>

Thank you so much for reading this and considering my dear friend and her family.

The Year of Living Simply

At the beginning of last year I set out to slow things down a bit in my cooking life. Contrary to my desires, things got a bit out of hand and I did more work than I had planned and made many things that were far from 'slow food' (or, slow -er as I'd called it).

This year, however, I have a renewed sense of needing to simplify. I don't mean dumbed-down dishes or 3-ingredient casseroles, I mean simple as in, REAL. The less real ingredients, the better.

Gone from my vision are laundry-lists of ingredients with arm-length dissertations on preparation. In are the dishes like simple roast potatoes with garlic and rosemary or French bread made with no more than yeast, flour, water and salt. Desserts like flour-less chocolate cake fill the bill as well as stove-cooked puddings and custards with a handful of fresh ingredients and topped with fresh fruit.

Less is more in this instance, and I wholeheartedly and longingly embrace it. No more guessing about what is in a specific dish; I'll know and be able to recite each one to anyone inquiring. Moreover, I'll be helping the health and well-being of my family by providing food that remembers where it came from.

What is more delicious or comforting than a well-prepared stew contrived of meat or poultry, fresh potatoes, carrots and onion and a stock made yourself with the simplest of ingredients and freshest herbs? Add to that a loaf of egg bread made by hand and butter churned in a jar from fresh cream. I dare you to dream for yourself of a meal made completely of foods that are not processed or added to. I know you can, and if you can't you'll be able to turn to this blog for inspiration and recipes. Please come along - and bring your appetite.

Ian (5), Lara (2) and Katie (8)

What is it about Popsicles (which is a brand name, by the way) that is so perfectly Summer? I've written about them before, at Family.com (click for the full article), and my children's love for them is as strong as ever.

Somehow today the only flavor left in the box was orange and the 3 youngest sitting on the stoop, barefoot and enjoying them was too rich to pass up. I haven't had a freeze-pop for a long time, but today when Lara wasn't able to finish hers, rather than tell her the usual, "Drop it in the sink", I took it from her chubby, sticky little hand and finished it. I'm not sure an orange popsicle has ever tasted so good.

Grandma's Confetti Cookies

When I was a child I spent part of nearly every summer at my grandparents' home in Tipton, Indiana. Grandma Sharp, my maternal grandmother, having only had one child of her own, spent her time herding my four brothers and I off to activities and church and cooking mountains of food for us - no small feat.

She had several specialties, one of which was Confetti Cookies, a recipe she had gotten from her cousin Juanita Searfoss. They are a delicate pink color filled with rainbow colored nonpareils, or confetti, and dusted with powdered sugar. My mother didn't make them so we always looked forward to having them at grandma's.

When I got older, I was given the recipe and started making them for myself and thoroughly enjoyed each batch. Just the aroma of them baking brought back happy childhood memories for me.

Just before the birth of my first child, a girl, my husband and I were living with my in-laws. I had made several dozen Confetti Cookies just days before our daughter arrived. When my mother-in-law came to the hospital to visit with her new granddaughter, she brought along a container filled with those cookies and a note about "...pink cookies for your baby girl." As a first-time mom, and only 21 years-old, I was comforted greatly by that little bit of home she delivered to me.

In the early 1990's when grandpa passed away, grandma was also ill and needed care. She came to Pennsylvania to live with my mom and step-father in their home. Part of grandma's illness caused her to not be able to eat many of the foods she loved. One of the few things she could tolerate, though, was Confetti Cookies. It was time for roles to reverse, and it was now my turn to make the cookies for her. I made them as needed over a 12-year period and was honored to bake and deliver them to grandma. The time visiting with her when I dropped them off was so special and she was so very appreciative; her face lit up each time I handed them to her.

Grandma is gone now, she passed in 2005 at the age of 97, but that recipe lives on. I make Confetti Cookies often for my 7 children, changing colors to suit the occasion, but they never taste exactly the same; they never taste just like the ones that grandma used to bake.

Confetti Drops

Mrs C.L. Searfoss

1 c spry (shortening)
2 c flour
6 T sugar
1/4 c milk
1 oz confetti candy (multi-colored non-pareils)
1 t vanilla or almond extract
1/4 t salt
red food coloring
powdered sugar

Mix shortening and sugar and salt. Add red food coloring to milk so it distributes well-ebough so the dough will be a pretty pink. Add extract to milk also. Add flour alternately with milk. Add confetti and mix well so it gets throughout the dough.

Roll into 1" balls and flatten slightly on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes. Do not let them brown!
The original recipe says to roll them in powdered sugar while warm but I always wind up with a sticky mess if I do this so I let them cool first.

Getting Back

We are officially moved. Not officially unpacked, but moved. Our new home has many small differences that we're adapting to, but I think we'll be settled in no time.

I always find it difficult to get back into the swing of things after having been gone for some time. It's really only been a week and a half since I last posted, but it feels like much longer to me.

I think I'll start back with two great gifts I won from other bloggers. The first was a lovely basket full of soy candles from Janine at Things That Make Scents in 'Jersey Shore scents' that I won at Life, Lightly Salted, Michele's blog. These candles smell so wonderful and the fact that they are made from soy (semi-locally, no less) makes them all the more wonderful to me. The basket and colors will go perfectly in the new upstairs bathroom - one thing I was looking forward to here at the new digs.

The second was a $50 gift certificate for any one item at From the Farm which I won from Jenn's place at The Leftover Queen for the March/April Foodie Blogroll Giveaway. There was so much to choose from; cheeses, meats, oils, produce etc., but once I caught sight of the Clementine Mandarin (Algerian) Dwarf Tree from Four Winds Growers, I knew that was the gift for me. It came on Earth Day - very apropos - and already had tiny little clementines growing on it and many more blooms ready to go.

So, we are moved, we are acclimating and I am hopefully back to blogging!

Don't Forget About Me

It's been nearly a week since I posted last and I don't want any one of you wandering off in my absence. We are in the midst of a move. Our landlords, who are missionaries in Uganda, are coming home earlier than expected and we've had to find a new place. We've done that, and now comes the really awful part - packing and moving.

I'm just so busy with all of it that I may be MIA from here for a bit. I have several book reviews coming up and a product or two you'll want to read about when I return. In the meantime, check out my older posts and the rest of my site, preferably with a cup of coffee or tea in hand.

Humble Pie

My maternal grandmother played a very large role in forming who I’ve become, and although she is no longer with us, she continues to impact me in positive ways.

One way is the legacy she left behind with recipes. Grandma didn’t have a book that she kept for herself, but she did often submit recipes to various churches for publication in their fundraising cookbooks.

None of her recipes were ever very fancy or spicy or complicated; it was humble food, reflecting the era she belonged to and the area she grew up in.

Grandma was a true Midwestern cook; heaping portions of hearty food filled with local ingredients (corn and pork) and served with love.

Born in 1908, she came of age at a time when the nation’s economy was at its worst – a bit like today. Much of her cooking was influenced by lack rather than abundance and this recipe for buttermilk pie reflects that era very well.

I will share the recipe how it was originally written and add deciphering notes at the end for anyone who may need them.

Buttermilk Pie

Sift 1 1/2 c. sugar together with 2 1/2 Tbsp. (rounded) flour and add 1 c. buttermilk. Beat 3 egg yolks separately and add to first mixture. Melt butter (size of egg) and add. Then add juice of 1 lemon or season to taste. Pour into an unbaked pie shell and bake 20 minutes at 425 deg. Reduce heat to 325 deg. and bake 20 minutes longer. Add meringue (made from egg whites) and brown.

Icebox Pie Crust:

Mix together 5 c. flour, 1 tsp. salt and 1lb. lard. Beat 1 egg in mixing cup and fill cup with water and add to above mixture. This recipe makes enough crust for 3 – 2 crust pies. Keep unused crust in refrigerator.

Meringue:

Add 1 Tbsp. water to each egg white and beat until they form peaks and add 1 Tbsp. powdered sugar and continue beating until the sugar is dissolved. (This almost doubles the amount of meringue.)

Printed in “What’s Cookin’ In South Bend, Indiana” 1954

Notes:

• Recipe used to be written with the mindset that the person reading it would already have some knowledge of cooking, and the fact is, there used to be more knowledge about cooking 50 years ago than there is today. Many people just don’t know how to do it because of all the shortcuts offered nowadays.
  
• People also used to cook with lard on a regular basis. Certain Hispanic communities still use lard frequently, but I’ve left it behind for slightly healthier fats. This does change the flavor of many foods, though – so be careful about which choices you make for substitutes. Sometimes Grandma’s pies, cookies or cakes just don’t taste the same now because lard is no longer used as a fat.

In the pie recipe: ‘butter the size of an egg’ is about 1/4 to 1/3 cup. Use whichever you like.

‘Season to taste’ for a buttermilk pie can be any extract or flavoring you like – so long as it doesn’t equal more than 2 or 3 Tablespoons of liquid.

‘Add meringue (made from egg whites)’ is the 3 egg whites left after separating the yolks used in the filling.

Book Review: Table Talk

Every so often a cookbook comes along that captures my attention, keeps me reading until the very last page and leaves me feeling as though the author were a close friend. Table Talk by Carol McManus, owner of Espresso Love on Martha's Vineyard, is one such cookbook.

Once I picked this book up I was not able to put it down until I read it from cover to cover. I holed myself up in a comfortable spot and devoured it in a single hour. I was up and making Presidential Muffins before the book was fully closed and thinking about our next meal together as a family. I was inspired to do exactly what this book intends to inspire: sit us all down at table and enjoy one another without feeling like I needed a rest after making dinner.

The recipes in this book range from special to everyday and each one is something even a novice cook can pull off. The best part is that each recipe is tried and true and designed to make a parent's life in the kitchen easier so that more time can be spent with their family. Being a mother to 5 children and a grandmother to boot, Carol McManus knows what she's talking about. She urges us all to slow down and spend some time at the dinner table with our respective families. I can personally attest to the fact that eating together bonds people like no other activity. Children do better in every aspect of their lives and we as parents are afforded the chance to do something we feel rewarded in accomplishing. It really takes far less effort than you think and Table Talk is a most wonderful tool to help us

Broken down into six delicious chapters and eighty glorious recipes, this is a book you will turn to again and again. You can buy your copy of Table Talk at TableTalkCookbook.com and Amazon.

Get the Vote Out for Illick's Mill!

This has nothing to do with food, but is dear to my heart, so here it is. This is a grant that my daughter, Megan has written for a local organization. They need your help to be in the top 15. The voting ends on January 9th, so there is a little time left still. Please read this and vote if you feel led to. Thank you!

*****************************************
I am part of the Illick's Mill Project. In October, I wrote a grant for $10,000. Tons of people applied for this grant. How it works is:

1. 30 finalists are chosen from the all of the applications,
2. People vote for which two teams they like the best everyday through December,
3. The 15 most voted for all win $10,000.

The Illick's Mill Project was chosen as one of the 30 finalists. We could really, really use the extra $10,000. So, I'm asking you to help us by voting for us.

How to Vote:

Either-
A. Go to www.genv.net/bestbuy and choose the Illick's Mill Project and one other team to vote for (you must choose two teams!),

OR

B. Text BBYV4 to 32075.

YOU CAN DO BOTH! You can vote once a day, but it will be exactly 24 hours before you can vote again.

Tell everyone you know and vote every day. The money would be a huge help to us. I worked really hard on this grant and I would hate to see us not win because not enough people knew to vote.

Thanks!

Marty Update

What a whirlwind year-and-a-half we've had! Yesterday was yet another trip to Philadelphia to see Marty's newest doctor added to the mix, a spine specialist. He is with the same group that his main ortho belongs to, so we're very confident in his findings. Marty has a disc in his back that has herniated as a result of the fall. Rather than being simply uncomfortable, because it is in his thoracic back (upper) it is causing more pain than a disc herniated elsewhere would cause.

He is often miserable in pain or simply sleeping to avoid it, which makes our family life rather difficult. Nearly every task falls to me, and although Marty does his best to help, it's often at the cost of great pain.

After a round of therapy for his back that didn't change the pain level at all, the doctor has decided to have Marty try steroids. There are several reasons that this is good, and several reasons it's bad - one being that steroids can cause the hip joints to deteriorate or become necrotic. With Marty's hip still broken (it will be that way for the rest of his life, we suppose) that risk is upped a bit, but the doctor feels the benefit of the steroids outweighs the risk.

The doctor we saw yesterday mentioned the Marty had "permanent nerve damage" in his leg and foot. This is the left leg and foot where he has neuropathy pain - badly enough that he is taking the maximum neurontin dose daily for it. Marty's main doctor has always tried to be positive about this, saying that there is a chance for regeneration there and trying to make Marty feel better about it. We pretty much knew after a year and a half of no change that it was permanent, but hearing it said in such an offhand way was difficult. I don't know how the main doctor would feel about this being told to us, but it may be better off just knowing rather than clinging to false hope.

Marty's hand is as far as it will ever get. The fact that he even has it and has some use is better than the alternative. He has no grip strength in the last two fingers - which is where all of a person's grip strength comes from - so he can't hold on to simple things like grocery bags for more than several seconds.

The memory problems continue despite a neuropsychologist telling us that there was not much of a problem beyond very short-term loss. What I am seeing at home is far different and we'd like a second opinion. Very major life-changing events are being forgotten along with other insignificant things - it's disturbing regardless of the magnitude of the subject that's being forgotten.

So, we are on to the steroids - Marty is done with outpatient therapy for the moment and the depression really needs to be dealt with, as well. He sees guys from work occasionally and gets very sad that he is not out working with them. We will pass buildings he has helped to put up and he mentions wanting to go back.

I'm trying to keep us above water with all that needs to be done, but even at this moment we don't have a Christmas tree up and not one thing for the kids has been shopped for. I'm trying not to get depressed myself! We're hanging in, as we will continue to do - it can only get better, right?

Christmas Memories, Part One

This year marks the 40th Christmas I will have had in my life. That's a lot of Christmas. I certainly don't remember them all, but there are a few that really stand out in my memories and I wanted to share them.

I've found that the leaner the holiday, the better it was, so I'm hopeful that this year will be a good one. We've never gone without, but we've been so close on many occasions to having nothing at all and those were the times that we witnessed real miracles.

I don't remember even one Christmas before I lived in Pennsylvania. We moved here when I was 4 and shortly after that my parents separated and eventually divorced. Prior to that we'd lived in North Carolina, Indiana and the state I was born in, Michigan. Although there were 5 of us kids, not long after mom and dad's split two of my brothers went to Michigan to live with dad and 3 of us, oldest, youngest and middle-child, all stayed here with mom.

My oldest brother took on a sort of fatherly role that he has never quite lost for his siblings and was a very large part of every Christmas. He was allowed to hole up in mom's room and wrap gifts until his fingers cramped. He was quite good at it and he took charge when it was time to hand out gifts. We always exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve and always one at a time. He also helped with the tree - always a 4 foot tall tree that sat on a small round table in our front window. Mom and Bobby would decorate painstakingly so that everything was symmetrical. The house was decorated impeccably, the food my mother made was nothing less than perfect; Christmas was looked forward to very much in our home.

I still remember the year I got my favorite doll, My Baby Beth - it was also the year my youngest brother, Sean, got his Spider-man action figure and helicopter. Really cool stuff for way back then. One year in particular I wanted a Barbie styling head. I wanted that more than any other gift ever. I was not a child to ask for things over and over or to let it show that I was upset if I didn't get what I wanted. So, when the gifts had all been passed out and she was not there, I did my best not to do exactly what I wanted to do - cry.

Just as we were cleaning up, my brother came down the stairs from mom's room with another unwrapped gift. Mom said, "Oh, look! I guess we forgot a gift." I was swoony over that silly plastic head of hair, but just like My Baby Beth, I can still recall the way it smelled and how soft the ultra-blonde hair was and how not-as-easy-as-the-commercials it was to get make-up on it.

My childhood Christmases were never of the too-much kind. We didn't have a lot and mom sometimes just did as much as she could with what she had. She had remarried, but my step-dad was a steelworker and didn't make a king's wage. Other than that baby doll and doll head, my two other favorite gifts were a beautiful pink sweater my mother had actually gotten at a thrift shop and then packaged beautifully for me, and a clear cased Mickey Mouse watch. I really wish I still had all four gifts, but what I'm really grateful for is the memories I still have of them.

I'll be sharing a few more stories soon, so please check back.

The KFC $10 Challenge? I'll Take That.

Have you seen the newest add campaign from KFC? It portrays a mother and two kids at a grocery store trying to rustle up the ingredients for a fried chicken meal without going over $10. They can't seem to clear this hurdle, so they head off to KFC for dinner, instead. You can watch the ad HERE.

I think with the recent financial woes this country is facing that this is just a bad idea. I can take that same $10 and make that meal twice. When was the last time you were at KFC? The so-called sides are pitifully small and the belief that you could really feed your family of 4 on a meal like that is even more pitiful.

Here's what they are pitching: 7 pieces of chicken (please note that they count wings as a full piece), one side and 4 biscuits. I know complete incompetents that could make that meal for less than $10.

Just in case you're wondering about the ability to accomplish this, check out the LOK/CWA Challenge from May/June, which was to feed your family for a dollar or less per person, and the submissions HERE. I'll be writing more on budget cooking soon, especially since we're all so in need of ideas lately, but for now, please don't be fooled by KFC and their claim.

Spoiled

We've been spoiled with Harry & David again by Marty's Uncle Joe and Aunt Joan. At least it's not ruining our disposition any, not that I know of. In other words - spoiled, but not rotten. You know you're liked when this is delivered to your door:

Marty and I may share with the kids; if they're good.

One Year Ago Today ...

If you don't regularly read this blog, you may have no idea what transpired in my life a year a go today. You can always check out this link and catch up (you'll have to backtrack to the beginning), but if you don't have time, I'll summarize.

One year ago today I was hanging out with the kids (August 2nd was a Thursday last year) and doing our normal 'lazy summer day' nothiningness. Marty - my husband - called and asked for the web address to my Family.com blog; he wanted to show off my work to the guys on one of their cell phones. I obliged and we hung up. Shortly after that, maybe half an hour or so, I got a call from his office manager, Sasha, that began, "We don't know the extent of the injuries yet ..." I think I went blank because, while I know the details of what was said, I can't remember exactly how it was spoken. All I knew was that my husband had fallen off of the roof he was working on and was being airlifted to a hospital. The height of the roof has changed a few times and it was finally found that he was 27 feet up - or 3 stories - when he fell. He suffered severe traumas and was not coherent, including being in a medically induced coma, for two weeks' time.

To say that he should not be here would be a gross understatement. To say that he is a miracle, would be closer to the truth. When I got to the hospital, instead of being greeted by a single doctor to have things explained to me, I was met by four doctors who questioned me repeatedly about whether Marty had a heart condition or not. He had some fluid around his heart as a result of the fall and his heart rate would not steady. He had several fractures to his pelvis, a severely broken right wrist, a suspected break to his right elbow (that turned out to be just a laceration), a large gash to his right cheek, severe bruising to his chest and right lung. Not two days after his fall, his lungs went into ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome) and they nearly lost him. He had internal bleeding in his pelvis, which was found after many units of blood failed to bring his hemoglobin levels up. He had a fever, near kidney loss, bloating all over his body ... it was really horrible.

Marty was more than 60 miles away from us at Hahnemann University Hospital in center city Philadelphia. The trip there and back took 4 hours out of each day. I went almost daily and waited for him to wake up. It was 11 days after the fall that they were finally able to operate on his hip, so the wait for him to wake seemed interminable. He still has a long road ahead of him, his hip is still broken and he will most likely need surgery to correct it. He has short-term memory loss and we are now dealing with neurologists and neuropsychologists added to the mix of orthos we see on a regular basis. He's still in therapy 3 times a week and will be there for some time.

I would be remiss in all of this if I didn't acknowledge several individuals who helped to make this miracle happen or at least made the trauma more bearable for all of us.

Firstly there would be my brother, Bobby. As soon as I got the call (I was sitting at the computer, of course) I sent an IM to Bobby and asked him to pray. As God would so have it, Bobby was just blocks away from Hahnemann University Hospital and called to let me know he was on his way there. It would take me nearly two hours to get there, so he went ahead and got as much information as they would share with him. He called me often to update me on what was happening. That was so comforting to me to know that family was there when I couldn't be.

Secondly would be Katiepooh (Kate to the rest of the world) who saw my frantic post on Lots of Kids and called me immediately to find out what was happening. She would then relay messages to my friends at LOK and keep them updated. I loved having her on the phone, she was like the calm in the storm - just talking and being distracted helped me to keep from becoming overwhelmed. Unbeknownst to me at that time, she had set up a PayPal account for donations to help us. She's been there so often with her own children, especially her youngest, who has had numerous surgeries that kept Kate far from the rest of her family. She knew firsthand that it would take a lot of money to travel daily and keep things running. I am so grateful for that - it really did help. It didn't take any of the hurt away, but it eased the burden so much.

Third would be Sasha, the office manager for Allentown Applicators and wife of Marty's best friend, Lodi. She didn't blink an eye when it came to getting me to HUH. She came here and picked up the baby and me and drove us to Philly to be with Marty. I thought she was going to get the Worker's Comp stuff taken care of, but when I asked her if she was going in to talk to the nurses, she told me that she was just taking me there.

In no specific order are the men and women who were there for Marty from the start. The ambulance crew who picked him up, the helicopter crew who flew him to the hospital - these are the people that made all the difference in Martin staying alive. They stabilized him and got him where he needed to be quickly. I have no idea who they are, but plan to find out soon so I can let them know how much they mean to us.

The nurse that called me from Hahnemann to let me know that Marty told her, "Make sure my wife knows I love her".

The trauma doctors that took such amazingly good care of Marty - especially the one who "got it" when I showed him the photo of all the kids. Before that moment, he seemed brusque and uncaring, but when I showed him the kids and said, "Everything you're doing for him, you're also doing for them," he nodded and said, "I get it." He was my very favorite doctor from that moment on, and I have no idea what his name was.

Doctor Susan Harding. When you say her name at HUH, it's like the sky opens up and sunshine pours down as angels sing. I didn't understand at first what all the fuss was about. Now I do. When she did Marty's first surgery on his wrist, it was midnight that first night and she called me at 6 am when it was over and explained things so well that I had no questions at all for her. After she did the surgery on his hip, she was on the phone with me for 20 minutes to explain it all. No other doctor has EVER stayed on the phone with me that long - for anything. She has sat and talked to us for an hour during visits and she leaves no stone unturned when it comes to Marty's care. She and her entire team (especially Katie McGloughlin, her P.A.) are absolutely amazing. When I questioned Marty staying so far from home, I was told that Dr. Harding is only one of two doctors on the east coast of PA able to have handled his wrist injury. I don't think it's a mistake at all that Marty was flown to Hahnemann.

My mother-in-law, Pat. When I left that first day, I took the baby with me and the 6 other kids stayed home. When she got off of work, she came by and picked them up to take them to her home, and every day when she got off at 2 p.m., she would come and get them. I didn't doubt that my older girls could take care of the younger kids, but it helped me feel secure knowing that she was there with them.

Michelle and Molly at White Trash Mom. They put up a lovely post about everything going on and got the word out to others who may have wanted to help. I was working with them at Family.com, and it hadn't been very long at that point so I was so surprised to find that they had reached out.

The 'Constant Man'.

Kfarmer. That girl sent me gifts to help, one of which was a box full of apples from her orchard. It lifted our spirits in that dark time, and still lifts my sprits whenever I think about it. She is a real gem.

We had family from afar send cards and gifts - family we hadn't heard from for some time - and it was so nice to hear from them. It re-kindled old relationships and brought us all together again.

I think that's about it - I know it's a laundry list and this is a long post, but if you made it this far, add yourself to the list just for caring enough to read.

This week ...

I have some food things I want to share this week, but life, as usual, is a bit crazy here.

Today is my Ian's birthday, he is 4! He shares his birthday with my grandma, she would have been 100 today. We'll celebrate for her with extra cake. His cake and a snippet of him with his favorite gift are HERE.

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I lost a step-brother on Sunday evening. He lost his fight with leukemia at 51 years old. His wife and two young-adult daughters are devastated as is my step-father. Steve was one of the truly good guys in the world and he dearly loved his family.

Mother's Day

I know of mothers who receive lavish gifts on Mother's Day; things like pearls or diamonds or large-ish household appliances. I am not one of those mothers, and I prefer it that way. I was spoiled absolutely rotten today by my children, and it didn't involve precious gems or machines that go, "whirrrrr".

These are the children responsible for my loverly day:

Quite cute, aren't they?

My oldest daughter (the tallest one in the back), Cassidy, started out my day with an idea that had sprung from my second oldest daughter's head (she's the second tallest in the back, Megan). Cassidy made me a most delicious breakfast of crepes. Yes, crepes. She had asked on Friday if I would teach her to make crepes. I did just that and then she surprised me by duplicating them precisely. We had a choice of apple stuffed or strawberry stuffed and I chose both. Of course. There were also raspberries, sliced kiwi and grapes to go along.


While she was slaving away in the kitchen (crepes for 9 is a true feat!) the rest of the kids showered me with gifts.

A garden made by Erin, complete with climbing Blue Bells along one wall.

Two fabulous cookbooks that Cassidy found in a used bookstore in Kutztown. How neat!

This card is from Erin. She made each of those boxes out of paper. True talent!

Erin taught Declan to make a box, and so he did. He put two lollipops in there for me!

One of Megan's signature cards. The entire inside is full of hand-drawn pictures and funny text that makes me smile.

A card from Katie (she's 7 this week!) that says, "You Rock, Mom". How sweet.

A place mat made by Katie that echos the sentiment of her card. She made this in school.

A Sun Star plant. I saw them at the store and showed Marty. He picked one up for me to have today.

Lilacs garnered on a stealth mission at 1 A.M. by daddy and Declan. Late night walk, indeed.

Megan thought I would like this cake. I've been asked by no less than four of my seven children if I would share it with them.

Lunch was sandwiches with a side of goat's cheese and a French baguette and also whole wheat pita and hummus. Megan knew these were my favorites and made sure to get them.

THEN ... oh yes, there's more ... Cassidy made a dinner of two pastas and two sauces; penne and angel hair, and Alfredo and four-cheese Marinara. It was all topped off with Italian bread, green salad, and the double chocolate cake I had made the night before.

Now, tell me, how on earth could diamonds beat that?

A Thursday Visit

This is a "Dr. visit week" for us, which always means a bit more hectic than usual. I have several posts I'd like to get up, but there's a lot to do so I may not get the chance.

Really, it's not all that far away, 2 hours one way no matter which route we take, and all-told we're usually gone less than 12 hours, but that seems to be really trying for the kids with both of us parents gone for the day. I need to have everything "just-so" before we head out at 6 a.m. so nobody explodes while we're gone. It's funny, it's nowhere near as difficult as my friend Kate's trips to the hospital for her son, but challenging in it's own way.

Usually one of the older girls is home with several of the little ones and we take the two youngest. Well, last time that was a fiasco. We had SO much to discuss and neither Lara nor Ian would sit still or be quiet. We talked to the doctor for an hour, and whole it was awesome getting so much time in with her, it was rather hellish trying to keep those two kids quiet so I could hear.

Marty could very well go in alone, except that he has no recollection of the accident or first several weeks after his fall. He also doesn't retain medical "lingo" too well and needs to look to me often for answers. So, in reality, it's more like I'm visiting the Dr except that I don't have any injuries.

At any rate, Marty has decided to have arthroscopy done on his right shoulder. Not a big procedure, but a procedure nonetheless, and one that he needs to be sedated for. He's not looking forward to that, and neither am I since it means a 3:30 or 4:00 a.m. departure time on that day.

This visit will be with his ortho and the trauma doctors that cared for him while he was in the STICU. He's never "met" them at all, and I just wonder what they will think when they see him walking and talking.

Hopefully we'll get some answers about the memory losses Marty has suffered (both long and short-term) and the swallowing difficulties and whether or not there is brain damage that is just now rearing it's ugly head.

He also needs an EMG for his leg so they can check out nerve response there and decide if he will ever have normal range-of-motion with is left foot.

I'm betting it will be a longer day than usual with a whole host of doctors, including a hand specialist running in as a special request of Marty's ortho.

Thoughts and prayers, if you will, for everyone that day!

One of those weeks

I didn't forget Ready, Set, Cook! and I certainly didn't forget Veggie Wednesday, but this week has been really crazy with the 8 year-old home longer than I expected and weather woes causing early dismissals and snow days. So, I will post R,S,C! submissions next Tuesday (February 19th) and get back to Veggie Wednesday next week as well.

If you didn't get a submission in because you've had "one of those weeks", too, then please feel free to email it to me (irishones7 (@) juno.com) before next Tuesday and I'll gladly add it. I seem to have noticed that this week was a bit bad all around for many people I know. Let's all hope next week looks far better.

A Little Sunshine in the Winter

Aren't these pretty? I've always wanted to try Harry and David's Royal Riviera pears, but hadn't had the chance yet. Marty's Aunt Joan beat me to it; happily. She had these sent along to help Marty feel a little better about his latest hurt. They're making me feel better, too.

I can't think of a better way to soothe an ouch - except maybe chocolate...