Tag Archives: family

Mother’s Day Weekend

Posted on May 5, 2016 by AnnieRie

Interesting and exciting things to do with mom.

Want to do something new? Not just that breakfast in bed thing?

Look enticing? A Mother’s Day tea and scones social with the bonus of garden tours. At the Howard County Conservancy this Saturday. Sign up is here.

Or, a Sunday visit to a working farm. With an opportunity to make a flower arrangement, and take a hayride, and also, bring a picnic for the family. At Sharp’s Farm.

I suggest making this simple salad for mom, and bringing it to a picnic wherever you can.

This salad is simple. Arugula. Marcona almonds. Strawberries. Berry vinaigrette. Pepper. The vinaigrette is from Breezy Willow. Arugula and strawberries from my Friends and Farms baskets. Almonds, Costco.

For other options to visit, there is always Brighton Dam, for the azalea gardens.

Or, the Sheep and Wool Festival. The largest we have heard of. We have to brave the traffic and visit the festival on Sunday.

Don’t just settle for a boring breakfast or brunch. Get out there and support local businesses and give mom something different.

1 Comment

Posted in Community, Family, Farms, Food, Friends and Farms, Local Businesses and tagged community, family, farms, Food, Howard County, local businesses, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Hoppy Easter

Posted on March 26, 2016 by AnnieRie

As the Easter Egg hunts, and egg rolling events accumulate this weekend, we have yet to establish if there really was an egg laying hare, aka “Oschter Haws” as the Germans called it. You have to admit, for those of us scientifically inclined, it is mind boggling to contemplate bunnies laying eggs.

I did dye eggs this year. Kept some older ones around, to be used for display purposes, so I cheated and used the Paas dyes.

Brown eggs are always interesting to dye. And, the slightly speckled eggs come out very nice. I should have done the natural thing and made dyes from our red cabbage, or from the turmeric in my spice cabinet, but with all the painting and sanding and hammering this week, I was surviving in a corner of my kitchen.

They are done, more or less. Just some carpentry and plumbing to finish. I even got my grandmother’s china back into her cabinet in the dining room. Just in time to make the bone in ham from the CSA last week.

Traditions for the holidays? Do you have them? Are they ecofriendly and healthy, or are some of them bad for you but you do them anyway. One of ours is the ceremonial Peeps. Has to be just one small box. The other one, Rhebs Candy.

Who hasn’t been in that long line to pick up candy, up off Wilkens Avenue by St. Agnes Hospital. When we were young, my Dad brought the candy home from their stall in Lexington Market, which closed down in 2008. You can get the candies ordered online now and have them sent to you, but going into the store, smelling the chocolate, and picking out your own assortment was a real treat.

Well, I need to stop reminiscing and get a few things done for Easter. While putting the rooms back in order, hanging pictures and curtains, and finishing up from the six weeks spent making half the house look great.

3 Comments

Posted in Family, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Nature and tagged family, Food, holidays, local businesses, Locavore, nature, traditions. Bookmark the permalink.

Thankful for What We Have

Posted on November 26, 2015 by AnnieRie

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. A time spent with family and friends to celebrate. To be thankful for everything we have.

For the ability to travel freely. For the ability to say what we wish. For the ability to get a good education. To have clean water. Relatively clean air. Food, water, shelter. We take it for granted, many of us.

Carneros at Thanksgiving

We don’t always do enough for those who don’t have all of the above. Or, don’t have most of the above. I only do a small part. Those weeks last summer that I spent doing the food bank garden are only a drop in the bucket.

Want to help in a small way all winter long? I know a few ways to help, and I am making a note to remember to do those things before Christmas. Go to an outlet. Buy a large amount of socks, mittens, gloves and/or scarves. Find a local church or nonprofit who is collecting items to be given to those who need them to keep warm.

Head over to Costco with a plan. If you can afford $50 or $100, fine, but any amount helps. Buy those bulk packages of canned goods. Tuna. Beans. Two good candidates that help the Howard County Food Bank. Keep the Costco receipt and staple it to your donation acknowledgement. The food bank really needs useful foods. Not the cleaning out the pantry stuff, but things that people who only have a hot plate, and maybe a microwave, can use.

We learned when we put our garden together that certain foods are used the most. Many of the people who need the services don’t have the ability to make meals from scratch. They lack the pans, the baking sheets, the ovens, or other items that we take for granted.

Go through your closets and donate any sweaters, coats, sweatshirts, warm pants that you no longer wear. Winter is harsh around here. We have been downsizing our life, by eliminating all those extras just taking up space and never getting used.

I missed making a post for “Giving Tuesday” a few days ago. But, we shouldn’t need a day for giving. We should think about how lucky we are, to be sitting in front of a computer, or writing on a tablet, while warm, with the turkey in the oven, and all our family around us.

And, while we are at it, tomorrow, we will be Opting Outside, even if it’s only to string a few hundred yards of power cable to the radio tower. Maybe we will get over to Old Westminster Winery to see the new tasting room. They are open with music on Friday and Saturday evenings. I think it’s a better way to spend Black Friday.

1 Comment

Posted in Commentary, Family, Volunteering and tagged commentary, family, holidays, volunteering. Bookmark the permalink.

The Luxury of Time

Posted on December 21, 2014 by AnnieRie

Ned Tillman commented on yesterday’s post about taking time. “My wish for everyone is that they make the time to spend more of their life out in the woods, on the rivers or in a meadow.”

It is a great resolution, to spend more time outdoors, just enjoying nature. Not even “doing” things. Just walking or sitting.

For so many years, between commuting and traveling for work, we didn’t always take time to sit and do nothing. Or, to leisurely do things without feeling stressed. Like making cookies.

I spent three days making this year’s cookies. Taking the time to do them right. Slowly. No rush. But I made them simpler, too. Using one basic recipe and making three cookies from it. Thanks to my trusty old Gourmet magazines. These are from 2003.

I made basic butter cookies. Recipe is on Epicurious web site. I also made the almond spice cookies. And, one more. Basic cookie baked like a shortbread and then covered and baked again with a brownie topping.

The ones above were the sugar cookies, made with the basic dough. They almost taste like my mom’s, but since hers used margarine and these use butter, the taste is a bit different, as is the texture.

I did other things in stages, as well. Like wrapping presents. And putting the lights outside. I just finished that task this morning. So what if we are last in the area at putting them up. I did get there eventually.

I know I am lucky to be retired. I know I can hit the stores tomorrow morning for those last two items I wanted to get. After everyone else goes to work. Not competing for parking or standing in lines with those who have the limited time on weekends and at night to get it all done.

Still, I realize that I used to get caught up in the frantic rush to get everything done. Wanting to be finished, and then being totally wiped out by the time the holiday came around. No more, I say. I intend to keep this resolution. To do less than I did before, and to make what I do meaningful. To spend more time with friends and relatives. To spend more time outdoors.

And less time trying to overachieve. A less ambitious garden. Easier meals. Less TV. I’ll see how I do when spring comes.

Leave a comment

Posted in Commentary, Food, Hobbies, miscellaneous, Retirement and tagged commentary, cooking, family, Food, hobbies, holidays, retirement. Bookmark the permalink.

Giving Thanks Again

Posted on November 28, 2014 by AnnieRie

Today. Instead of mindlessly spending money at crowded shopping centers. Like a number of my local counterparts, I completely avoid the downtown mall in Columbia and any of the megastores between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Tomorrow I will go out and get the beginnings of our Christmas decorations, namely the garland and the poinsettias. From our local farms. I may head up to Breezy Willow to get some presents, but with the Howard County Conservancy holiday natural crafts fair next Saturday, the 6th, I may just do all my shopping there. Making my presents to friends and family completely locally sourced.

Today, though, we had our private Thanksgiving. Where we gave thanks for continued good health. For 35 years of Thanksgivings together. For friends who we will be seeing over the next few weeks at holiday parties. And family who will get together again for Christmas eve.

Yesterday we went to a family dinner, like we have done for most of these 35 years. It wasn’t until about 10 years ago that I made my first turkey as we were always in PA for Thanksgiving.

Now, we stay home. With no close relatives left on my husband’s side of the family, we no longer deal with the congested, sometimes icy and snowy trip up I-81. Watching the weather Tuesday night into Wednesday, I could understand the thoughts and actions of those trying to get home in bad weather.

Still, my MIL did the turkey in PA. My brother does the turkey here in MD. I never cooked a whole turkey in my life until 2006. Our second Thanksgiving after moving here. Our first without a trip to PA. We do Thanksgiving on Friday for us. Just a small “hen” from Boarman’s. This year was 12 pounds.

This year I “did good” on the brining and the browning. Not so good on the gravy.

Even though I washed off the brine before baking the bird, the pan drippings were too salty to make gravy. Happily, the turkey was moist enough not to need gravy and the stuffing was moist as well. We did a simple meal. Turkey. Stuffing baked on its own. Brussels sprouts. Dinner roll. And, I forgot to bring out my homemade cranberry relish.

Served with a light pinot noir. Leftover pumpkin roll for dessert. As for that cranberry relish. It will get used with all the leftover turkey.

I have a whole container full of breast meat to make meals. I also have the carcass and the innards in the crockpot making stock.

Turkey soup next week on the menu definitely. Here’s to the holidays! Full of friends and family, and great local food.

Leave a comment

Posted in Family, Farms, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Remember When, Weather, Winter Eat Local and tagged cooking, crock pot cooking, crockpot soups, family, farms, Food, foodie, holidays, local businesses, Locavore, real food, traditions, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

CSA’d Out

Posted on November 18, 2014 by AnnieRie

I can understand it. Our first year we were overwhelmed at the end of the CSA season. But, we hung in there and learned from it, and drastically changed how we approached the weekly deluge of veggies.

I say this because at our first pick up last Thursday for our fall CSA, we heard that about 5 of our summer CSA members never picked up their last week of veggies, or fruit, or meat, or eggs. The food bank did well, as did our site host’s friends, who benefited from things the food bank doesn’t want. Like all that chicken and meat.

We are down to 30 members, from close to 50 in the summer. Enough to keep us going. Those fortunate enough to join us got new and exciting things, like these.

Watermelon radishes. I roasted mine.

Salanova lettuce. A red multileaf variety. So sweet. So flavorful. Devoured in a lunch mix with some poached chicken breast on top.

Baby Hakurei turnips. Thanks to Elizabeth at Three Beans on a String these will be honey glazed with Larriland apples and served for dinner in a few days.

The whole haul.

Napa cabbage. Will be a slaw soon, with apples. The beets. Already roasted and eaten. The potatoes. Made their way into a potato leek soup today, thanks to Friends and Farms having extra leeks for me to pick up this morning. Sweet peppers. Sliced in salad. Put into a frittata for tonight’s dinner. A couple of them are left.

As for that glorious cheese share.

Biweekly in the fall. That stinky funky six year aged cheddar. The “Lanchego”, which is simply awesome. A Colby. New to us, from this supplier. Creamy and delicate.

I can honestly say I am not CSA’d out. I am really enjoying the variety, and of course, the freshness. You don’t have to rush and eat it all in one week. With food this fresh, in two weeks, I swear it is still better than grocery store produce.

Tomorrow is my husband’s 64th birthday. Stand by to see what I put together to celebrate. Will I still need him? Will I still feed him?

4 Comments

Posted in Commentary, Community, CSA, Food, Friends and Farms, LFFC, Remember When and tagged commentary, community, cooking, CSA, family, Food, foodie, real food, value of CSA. Bookmark the permalink.

To Honor Our Dads

Posted on November 11, 2014 by AnnieRie

Both our dads served in World War II.

My dad:

A SeaBee. Construction Battalion. Enlisted at 17. Built airfields all across the South Pacific. Including the one at Okinawa, where my nephew is deployed, and a pilot flying out from those airfields. Truly something special for us, as he was in high school when my dad passed away. He never saw him graduate from Annapolis, or earn his wings.

My FIL. Ten years older than my dad, and a Staff Sergeant in the Army Air Corps.

Their paths may have crossed in the South Pacific. Like on Thanksgiving.

We have my FIL’s service memory album.

My mom probably has most of my dad’s paperwork. But, my MIL and FIL passed away and we have all of it. For most of us in my generation, our families were touched by WWII. So Veterans Day means a lot to us.

We are thankful they returned, met and married our moms, and we were born into this great country. For us, Veterans Day is special. Personal. We will never forget the sacrifices our servicemen made.

Leave a comment

Posted in Commentary, Family, Remember When and tagged commentary, family, holidays. Bookmark the permalink.

And So This is Christmas*

Posted on December 24, 2013 by AnnieRie

*credit to John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

One of my favorite holiday songs. Particularly the line “and what have you done?”

Interestingly, Christmas isn’t my favorite holiday. Thanksgiving is. But, Christmas is when almost all the family gets together.

Tonight, three generations of my father’s side of the family gathered. The closest ones. The first cousins. Their children. Grandparents.

To me, watching the little ones smile is my favorite part. We don’t do presents much anymore at our level. We don’t need lots of “things” these days.

I prefer giving to getting now. And, I like to expand the giving in the days after the holidays.

So, I will head out to the food bank with all the extra items purchased for cookies and candy that wasn’t made. Things like butter, sugar, nuts. Add a stash of items like beans and rice and grains. Stop and pick up some “on sale” foods, now that the holiday is past. This is the time the food bank can use items. After that holiday rush of giving.

Plus, I will compensate for those new items we do get, like the scarves and sweaters. I will do another run through the drawers and the closets looking for warm clothing to add to the St. Vincent de Paul bin, down at Kendalls’ hardware store.

The holidays are special. Let’s keep the remainder of the year, and beyond, just as special.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

hocoblogs@@@

3 Comments

Posted in Commentary, Community, Family and tagged commentary, community, family, holidays, traditions. Bookmark the permalink.

Christmas Cookies Round Two

Posted on December 21, 2013 by AnnieRie

The cookie baking marathon continues. This time I am striving to make thin crispy buttery sugar cookies, similar to my mom’s.

I used the Bon Appetit Ultimate Sugar Cookie recipe, with a few very slight modifications.

My first sheet of cookies. A little thicker than I wanted. But, they have a really good taste so I soldier on, learning to make them thinner and getting into a rhythm so as not to have them stick to the paper.

The dough starts out as one that is pretty difficult to roll, unless you get it to just the right temperature. I had quite a few messy cookies, and of course, we make ugly ones to eat (just to see how they taste).

I like that one in the middle that looks like the state of Indiana. Cookie blobs, made specifically to taste, are part of the fun of baking for the holidays.

Finally …

… a container with about three dozen for us and friends, and a separate container of the best, to give to my mom.

She called today and we talked about her cookies. Hers are made with margarine, and I just can’t bring myself to use it. This recipe is the closest tasting to hers, the right balance of sugar. I don’t frost my cookies, just use the sprinkles on them.

Up tomorrow, the chocolate pistachio cookies from the same Bon Appetit. They are chilling in the fridge overnight.

Finally, there will be gingerbread. And, maybe some chocolate toffee bark if I have time.

Getting in the spirit now. Three days to go.

hocofood@@@

1 Comment

Posted in Family, Food and tagged cooking, family, Food, traditions. Bookmark the permalink.

Not A White Christmas

Posted on December 20, 2013 by AnnieRie

Well, the snow was pretty while it lasted, but these warm temperatures are making it go away rather quickly.

This Sunday we may see temps near seventy degrees, and maybe a thunderstorm. All on the first day of winter.

It is one of the more endearing aspects of living here. The weather can take a rollercoaster ride, from below freezing to short sleeve weather. All in the same week.

I gather we are above our rainfall requirements. That is good for the water table, and our wells should be healthy for the time being.

I have to admit, around here, it is never dull. We have the hawks back. The bluebirds visited the bird bath during the freezing weather last week. The robins are all over the lawn now that the snow has melted.

We are overrun with deer again. Although they seem to be getting hit by cars on a weekly basis not far from our house. They also are starting to eat the tips of our azaleas, a sure sign they are having difficulty finding enough food.

Enough about the weather. This is the final weekend before Christmas. Time to finish the shopping, wrapping, cooking and keep the Christmas music as the background as I work.