“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, family, Thoughts on December 28, 2022| Leave a Comment »
“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, family, genre fiction, inspiration, music, Thoughts, writing on November 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »
It’s funny how much you can absorb without intending to. The other night I put on a classical channel in the background. An elegant but weighty piece came on and I looked up to see that it was by Brahms. Makes sense, I thought.
The next tune was lighter, a sparkling Baroque presence. Telemann. Ah yes, I thought.
Finally, a dramatic, Romantic sound that spoke of strength with warmth. Dvořák, of course.
Of course? What do I know about classical music? Nothing, that’s what. But my father played it all through my childhood and apparently some of it sank in.
It’s the same with writing, I find. I’m not great at picking apart a story into pieces like sixth-grade sentence deconstruction. (That may have something to do with my memories of actual sixth-grade sentence deconstruction. Ugh.)
Whatever genre I’m exploring, I prefer to swim in it, absorb it, dive deep until I am close enough to understand why some readers love it, even if I don’t.
That way, I absorb more than I know.
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Posted in Food and..., tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, family, food, home, memories, Thoughts on June 28, 2022| Leave a Comment »
My father’s mother baked from scratch, but she always had a container of Cool Whip in the fridge when we came to visit. Did she always stock it? I don’t know, but it was a special treat for us.
I don’t buy it for myself but even now the taste of Cool Whip reminds me of hot summers and warm smiles.
Last week, I whipped up a bit of cream to go with fresh strawberries from a farm down the road. I usually add a bit of Grand Marnier but this time, I decided to try a slight twist.
It turns out that heavy whipping cream plus vanilla, sugar and a dollop of sour cream creates a thick whipped topping that tastes a lot like Cool Whip. Not as it is, necessarily, but as I remember it. Fun, flavorful, special.
Let’s call it Cool Whip for adults. All of the memories, none of the additives.
Thanks, Grandma.
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Posted in Entertainment, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, family, history, inspiration, music on June 20, 2022| Leave a Comment »
As a bonus Father’s Day gift, today I’m featuring a podcast I know he’ll like.
A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs
In it, Andrew Hickey discusses the history and culture of rock & roll as seen through 500 songs. He’s up to episode 150.
If you prefer to consume your media via the written word, each episode includes a transcript. I also found myself somewhat at a loss as to which, what and where, so (being me) I made an episode list with links. (If an index already exists, I didn’t see it.)
Note: I built the list by translating episode titles into URLs in Excel and haven’t tested every link, but hopefully they’ll get you to where you’re going.
Enjoy!
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Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, family, inspiration, Thoughts on June 19, 2022| Leave a Comment »
“I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren’t trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.”
― Umberto Eco, Foucault’s Pendulum
Or in my father’s case, not so little. For passing on wisdom, an open heart, sharp editorial eye, love of cooking, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and so much more, thanks, Dad. Happy Father’s Day!
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Posted in Food and..., tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, family, food, recipes, Thoughts on April 28, 2022| Leave a Comment »
My doctor may not agree* but some days you just need to go all in. This recipe is one example**:
Mom’s Mashed Potatoes
Peel, cook, mash, mix. The secret to success is lots of everything good; more butter, more milk, more salt.
Simple. Good.
* I use this rule in moderation, which makes the times when I do even better.
** Lest one accuse my mother of writing an incomplete recipe, I admit that there was originally more to it than this. I’ve stripped it down to the essentials:)
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Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, family, home, inspiration, memory, Thoughts on April 5, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Today would have been The Whippersnapper‘s 109th birthday. I was hoping to post another photo of her but my father, keeper of the family album, is out of town.
For now just let me say to my grandmother, dancer, baker, tea maker and all-around excellent human being:
I miss you, but I love that you were here.
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, family, Thoughts on January 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »
For various reasons I need a dose of cute today. Here it is, in case you do too.
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Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, cooking, family, home, Marcus Samuelsson, Thoughts on December 24, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Today is the first time I will be making Swedish meatballs for Christmas Eve. I’ve helped my father, many times, but have never made them in my own house.
The recipe we grew up with was my grandmother’s. Every year we would pull out the little wooden recipe card box and find a three by five index card in her handwriting, with my father’s annotations at the edges. You could tell which one it was by all the lingonberry stains.
I loved that it was a family recipe, and that every time we made it I remembered Christmas as a kid at my grandparents’ house in Chicago.
I will admit that I didn’t exactly love the recipe. A decade or so ago we all admitted that maybe, just maybe, the meatballs weren’t all they could be (sorry, Grandma!), and tried an alternative. Here’s what I had to say about that:
… a few years ago we made the shift from Grandma Johnson’s handwritten recipes (so homey!) for dishes like Swedish meatballs and limpa and roast pork to the spectacular versions of same in Marcus Samuelsson’s Aquavit. Yes, an Ethiopian-born immigrant throws down on traditional Swedish food and wins big. See what I mean? The food still says home, only better:)
— The Universal Language? | J.R. Johnson
So this year we’re doing the new old family recipe. It won’t be the traditional Christmas Eve smorgasbord with family, but it will feel like the holidays.
Mr Man and I have already made the quick-pickled cucumbers and are letting them steep (half the sugar though, and no apologies!). As soon as the juice is at full flavor it will be time to make the meatballs.
Until then we’ll kick back, listen to classic Christmas music and make the most of this Christmas Eve.
God jul everyone!
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Posted in Food and..., tagged #365Ways, family, memories, recipes, Thoughts on December 20, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Today, a recipe that has an important place in our family history.
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Swedish Pancakes
(Mike Johnson)
Mike: The history of this recipe begins with Olga, my father’s father’s (far far in Swedish) sister. For most of her life she was a live-in maid and nanny for a rich family across town, from the time when Swedish girls were brought over to replace other ethnicities in the service industry. She also cooked for her brother and his children, and later grandchildren on the weekends. After that she took care of her son. She worked all her life, living with the same family for 30 years and only retiring at 85. She died at the age of 99, tired and more than ready to go.
Jen: My father often spoke of Olga and how she would stand at his grandfather’s stove flipping seven thin pancakes at a time in the special cast iron pan, piling plates high on Sunday mornings. She didn’t have a recipe, just mixed the ingredients together until they “looked right.” Dad finally made up his own and still uses it to play the role of Swedish grandmother, eating over the stove as the rest of us spread butter and sugar and lemon or lingonberries on the pancakes,* then roll them up to eat. Delicious!
Ingredients:
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* We do the dishes after so Dad can relax. We’re not monsters!
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