Ho Ho Hooey(?)

  Well, here I am, after having taken a jaunt away from writing (a little burned out after classes this fall) I'm back to settle in for a regular blog.
  Christmas has never been my favorite holiday. I tend to lean towards appreciation of Halloween instead. Don't get me wrong, I love the baking of the season. I love the idea of breaking bread with old friends and new. I love the lights, wrappings, and generosity of the season. The part that gets me down, and has for the last 7 years is that I don't get to spend this joyous holiday with my family.
  Last year I spent my Christmas in a type of foggy coma. My son was a month and a half old. My husband and I were both VERY sleep-deprived. I wasn't expected to contribute to the festivities, and I had zero interest in even attempting an effort. We had no tree. (Technically we had /3/ trees, boxed and in the attic... along with all the ornaments, lights, stockings, candles, decorations, wrapping paper, etc.) It took effort to grab a quick shower this time last year... why bother putting up a tree that neither ourselves nor anyone else would appreciate? I couldn't go shopping (nursing every 2-3 hours really puts a cramp on excursions), nor did I want to go shopping. I became a miserly scrooge. bah-humbug.
  This year is different. We have a tree, out of the box and trimmed. We have a healthy son who has graduated to mostly cow's milk. I have baked til my fingers were burned. I have shopped! (Online shopping with free shipping is REALLY a Christmas miracle!) Our little family has received more Christmas cards from Canadian addresses than American ones (And I have never felt more appreciated for being remembered after 7 years of living in the USA and one year of completely skipped Christmas cards coming from us!)
  I am feverishly uploading pictures from our son's first year of life to take advantage of photobook sites and their holiday 'deals' for gifts for family (hey, better 'late' than 'never').
   I even was so bold this year as to invite over friends from our old theater-going days to come have a home-cooked meal with us (because taking a one-year-old out is NEVER an easy task and causes more stress for us than prepping an entire meal for 9).
   While I miss my family back in Canada more than anything at this time of year, I do have those whom I'd call 'family' here in the USA; and it is having these people in my life that has made all the difference.

A Freezer Full of Fixin's

  This weekend lived up to its name. Labor Day weekend and boy did I labor! I spent my lovely long weekend trying my hand at OAMC. (Once A Month Cooking). I now have a freezer stocked with chocolate chip cookies, meat pies, meatballs, spaghetti sauce, lasagna, lemon-dill chicken, squash casserole, breakfast sausage patties, & plain white rice. So far we've had the breakfast sausage on english muffins and they are divine! Who knew that a lil' apple in the mix could impart such a lovely flavor and prevent the patties from becoming hard little pucks??!!!

  All this cooking just made me wish I lived closer to my Mum. She still cooks up big meals daily, not for her family, but for the hoards of company my parents get at their house. I know why they get so many visitors. My mom is an excellent cook. She really knows how to make scrumptious meals on a budget. In fact, she used to tech a budget cooking class at the alternative school in Barrhead, Alberta. (For the kids who were basically considered societal outcasts). My mom could relate to those kids. She didn't talk down to them or treat them like others had. She befriended them and showed them how they could have a love for cooking. Cheap food could be great food.
I never did much cooking when I was at home. Why would I with a live-in chef? She taught my brother and I that all food must be tried before a decision could be made against it. I've eaten tripe in a Vietnamese restaurant, and I loved it! We ate liver a lot growing up, and if prepared right, it is wonderful! "You need to know how to prepare a food to really enjoy it." Calamari is superb if it is not overcooked, but just a flash second too long and you'll be eating tire-rubber. But, back to the budget... We had a garden and those fresh veggies stretched many a meal. grated carrot in the meatloaf... potato pancakes for supper... Yes, we ate brussel sprouts, asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, parsnips, rutabagas. And I still love every one of them to this day. It is all in the preparation.

  When I became a vegetarian in middle school, did my mother turn up her nose at the idea? No. To her it was another opportunity to try some new foods. We had marinated fried tofu. Baked tofu. We used pre-packaged vegan ground in place of hamburger for tacos, in meat sauces, lasagna, shepard's pie. We tried tempeh and TVP in place of chicken. We ate mushroom 'burgers'. From my mom I learned so much about venturing into the unknown and thriving in the process. Sure, I still have flops, but it is from these that I learn what actually works. I am fearless in my kitchen, and I love every second of it!

Ponderings on Peaches

My neighbour has a lovely 'fruit cocktail' tree. What exactly is a fruit cocktail tree you may be asking... It is a tree you order from an ad that sounds like a scam to get some quick money... It is a tree grafted with branches of apples, pears, peaches, apricots and I /think/ plums... It should have died that first year... It didn't. It is a beautiful, thriving tree. Standing stately on the border of our property and his. The branches hang heavy with fruit. I am green with envy. I am also jealous of his lawn. It is immaculate! Granted, he cuts his grass twice a day (or maybe it just sounds like it). He also is a retired agriculture teacher. So I have no reason to try to 'keep up with the Jones'. It is a pointless attempt if I do. But I want to harvest my own 'crops'. I want to be able to walk out my door and pick a fresh peach off the tree... or a pear... or Brown Turkey Figs!!! I am vowing to have something planted to get at least one piece of fruit off of next year. Well, maybe to harvest the year after... I know a lot of fruit-bearing plants require becoming established first. We live on a little over 7 acres of land. Our land. Right here in the city of Athens. 7 acres that I should be able to do /something/ with. 7 acres with a pond. 7 acres with a creek at the back. 7 perfect acres to plant something in. Wouldn't it be lovely to have a peach and pecan orchard right in your back yard? I have wild blackberries that grow thick and full around the pond. How lovely would it be to have some blueberries or cherries too? If I had the money, I'd hire someone to come in and clear some of our 'forest' away in order to put in some plants to thrive. Looks like a project of that magnitude will have to wait until I finish up with college, and by then we may decide it's better to have a house out in Oconee county instead. Taxes in Athens are insane!! Until then, I'm going to seek out a couple peach trees to plant in the back yard... Now to just pick the perfect peach variety.

Oven Braised Brisket - A southern right-of-passage:

  From my oven wafts the mouth-watering aroma of a tender (hopefully), juicy, flavorful (again, hopefully) Cajun dry-rubbed beef brisket. Last night, after I arrived home from work around 9:30pm, I carefully trimmed the 4lb brisket I had cut to order at PigglyWiggly. Walmart only had 15lb uncut briskets, and I am sooooo not ready to play butcher myself, so I opted to drive down the road to PigglyWiggly where the meat department manager had no problem cutting me a great brisket. Back to last night, I trimmed the brisket of the visible fat (which wasn't mentioned in a few recipes I was looking at but was mentioned in others, *shrug* I may learn from experience that this trimming is either necessary or unnecessary.) I bought Weber grill's N'rleans seasoning, and generously dry rubbed this perfect-looking brisket. I bagged that puppy in a sturdy gallon ziploc and went to bed thinking about how great this is going to turn out! When my darling hubby left for work this morning at just shy of 7am, I popped out of bed ready to "do this thang". I unbagged my meat, set it in my already-lined-with-aluminum-foil roasting pan, and pushed that gem into a 350 degree oven, uncovered. I let it roast this way for a whole hour before taking it out, bathing in the heavenly aroma of spicy roasting beef, adding 1 and 1/2 cups of beef broth and an added 1/2 cup of water. I covered the whole shebang tightly with foil and reduced the oven temp to 300 degrees. Checking my recipe, yes, 3 more hours of slow braising before I can pull that glorious hunk of beef out of the oven, let it rest for 15 mins, then slice. We are in hour 2 of the 3, so I decided to just jot this down.
  I've taken on a lot of southern traditional foods in my few years here in Georgia. My home-cooked greens were an absolutely inedible disaster... (I can still taste that horrible bitterness). But in drastic contrast I can make one mean Pecan Pie that will make you think your momma never had a clue about southern cooking! On the Pecan note, I still need to figure out how to make some perfect pralines... suggestions/recipes are welcome.
  Back to the brisket, I can't help but think that cooking this brisket is giving me a comparison to life. That ol' saying, "Slow and steady wins the race". Coming into this in a wild and spicy whirlwind I must still have patience (Every recipe cautions 'no peeking', which I'm notorious for doing. Damn my lack of patience!!! My history in rice-cooking yields many a burnt-bottom-pot) If there is no patience, the end result is a dry, tough, inedible disaster. The few times in my life when I have been completely impatient (who am I kidding? I lack all forms of patience... just now that I have a lil' baby am I starting to show patience!) I have had disasterous results. My husband can testify to that. This brisket is not only a right-of-passage for me, but it is a reminder to slow down and enjoy!
  So I challenge you to find something yet un-mastered in your life and to go ahead and master it! You may just surprise yourself, and learn more about yourself along the way. I am going to enjoy my brisket and tweak my Master recipe as needed... though from the aroma, it won't take much tweaking. Mmmmmm. 

Is it hot? I hadn't noticed...

  It's about 5 million degrees outside and the humidity is making for one bitchin' sauna... Problem is, I don't love a good sweat. I'm from the great white north. I'm pretty sure that ice running in my veins is a necessity for survival!
  So my summers are spent indoors with my beloved A/C, or in the car and then a quick jaunt into a building with more beloved A/C. I don't do well with the tropics, so my idea of a perfect getaway is a cabin in the snow-capped mountains. I'm not a hottie in a swimsuit and I therefore layer on a sarong, or T-shirt, making the heat that much more unbearable. It's best if I just stick to the winter-y cabin retreats.
  With a little one, we aren't finding time or opportunity to 'get away'. So here I sit, in my lovely air-conditioned, and mildly cluttered home. Sippin' ice water. Watching bad reality TV (Yes, I watch ALL 'The Real Housewives of...' shows.) I'll admit it, it makes me feel better about myself and my life to see just how jacked-up their lives are. My husband doesn't understand that. I don't know why it works for me, but it works, and that is all that matters. They have so much in financial assets, yet they are paper-thin as far as personalities go. Those women are so busy going to clubs, going for drinks, or going shopping that they have no time or interest in their families. My Lil' Man took his first steps this week. I just couldn't help but think if I had him in a daycare, or had a nanny, I would have missed that. I made the best choice in the world when I went part-time at my job. The decision Mike and I made to not put Matthew in childcare is the best decision for us as a family. I want to be the kind of mom that my mom was. Involved! You just won't see us outside unless we are in temps under 80 degrees, and I'd have to wake Matthew up extra early, or keep him up extra late for that now...

They Myth of the Perfect Job

Yea, ok I'll admit it. I really did hate my job. I dreaded just setting my alarm every night in anticipation of having to get out of bed in order to get to work. I hated the drive to work. I hated that I had to run through a drive-thru on my way to work in order to pick up a hot cup of joe so I could make it through my morning at work. I hated walking in the door of the building. I even hated typing in my login and password at work because that process really did signal that I was stuck there in this horrible pit of despair. I really disliked my coworkers. No, wait, 'dislike' is too friendly a term. I loathed them. I wanted all my coworkers to just zip their lips. I wanted them to not say a word to me, or each other, and to just do their job as was outlined in their job description. And if I didn't like my coworkers, that was nothing compared to how I felt about management! So, "why didn't you quit?" you may be asking... Let me start by saying, "I kinda did." What does that mean? It means I had shut down. I shut down long before I started to hate my job. I shut down when I first moved to the South. I shut down the moment I drove away from the place I called home for the first 21 years of my life. And it was in that very moment that the part of me that was good, kind, caring, and empathic began the slow decline into where I sat, festering, until May 2009... What happened in May? I hit my personal rock bottom. I finally decided that if I wanted to see my situation change, if I wanted to see myself turn back into the person I used to be and loved so dearly, /I/ had to change my situation. So, that's when I took a DRASTIC cut in my hours and opted to only work 24hrs every other weekend. Yes, 2 weekends a month is all the time I would spend in the place I was blaming for all my problems. And since I switched my schedule, I have learned much more about myself and I see now that the workplace wasn't the problem. I was the problem.
I spent a lot of my youth trying to be the change I wanted to see in the world. I was quite the budding lil' activist. I started the first SADD chapter in Barrhead, AB. I was a member of PETA. I was one of 13 members of a Youth Advisory Panel to the Government of Alberta, reporting directly to the honorable MaryAnne Jablonski, MLA, RedDeer. I was recommended to be a youth advisor to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner of Canada. I received a Canada Day youth award for my achievements in volunteering. I was a BUSY 'kid'. But All this extra stuff really held me back from discovering who I was. I spent so much time trying to please others. I spent my youth trying to make things better for other youth. Largely, my youth was spent with adults. To quote one of my fav. bands, Social Distortion, "I grew up fast, I grew up hard." I have spent so many years being a force for change that once I hit a standard job, I still was pushing for change, except in this environment, no one wants change. I started to resent the people I worked with. Why didn't they want the same things I wanted? Simple, "Lili, you are not always right." There is a HUGE difference between fighting to prevent drunk driving versus fighting to change a work-flow process. OF COURSE people support stopping drunk-driving! But all that stuff I did in my youth warped my mind into thinking I am ALWAYS right in my endeavors and my opinions. Talk about an ego! So instead of realizing that, I just kept on pushing and pushing and getting more and more angry until I just couldn't stand it! But I've never been a quitter. NEVER. So I stayed with the same job, just reduced the amount of time I spent there. I have come to realize that my job is a pretty great job. I encounter something new and exciting every day. I'm not chained to a desk. I'm not afraid to speak-up. I thoroughly enjoy the people I work with. We all know how to take jokes, and we all know when to get serious. I was so blinded by my own damn filters that I never took the time to just ease back and enjoy the job for what it is.
I still have a lot of work to do on me, but at least I can see the light ahead of me now instead of focusing on the shadows.

Southward Ho!

  Well, here I go... a lot behind the general population, but I'm determined to get my thoughts down on paper, or in this case, 'up in Blog'. If I amuse a few people along the way, wonderful! If no one really reads this, no biggie. I've put on my big girl panties and won't cry over lack of readers.
  Ok, quick backstory, while I was in high school I met the love of my life, online. Yes, online. Back before e-harmony, or match.com, or any other crazy dating site. We were both in high school and started out 'chatting', remaining just friends/penpals for a year before we decided he should travel on up to Alberta to meet me and my family. So he boarded a plane and arrived in the great white north, well, in the summer, and from there our love grew. Several years with summer and winter break trips back and forth between our two great nations, and I took a leap, got a fiancee visa and was Georgia bound! Since 2002 I have been your friendly neighborhood resident alien.