Miss Alaineus

Miss Alaineus is a delightful children's book about a missed vocabulary assignment. (I love children's books.) Anyway, today's post is a bunch of stuff.

A friend gave me a bag of plum tomatoes from her garden. I ate as many as I could in salads (tomato, garbanzo beans, feta cheese) and then made the rest into some delicious soup. I made up the recipe and it turned out fabulous. I chopped up some onion and slowly cooked it in some olive oil (I don't use exact measurements) while I chopped up the tomatoes. Then I added them along with some basil and simmered it for an hour. I mashed it with a potato masher but that wasn't fine enough and I couldn't find my "ricer" so I put it by cupfuls through the blender and that worked great. It was DELICIOUS! Sprinkled a bit of Parmesan cheese on top, dipped in toasted homemade french bread and was in heaven.

The other day I cooked up some chicken quarters, de-boned it all, and put it into containers for the freezer, except one portion for dinner. After some pondering I decided to make a soup. This time Cream of Chicken and Vegetables. I chopped up a carrot, onion, two ribs of celery, and a few potatoes, added some frozen peas, a little bit of thyme and parsley, covered it all with water, brought it to a boil, turned the heat down and simmered it while I made the cream sauce (flour, butter, milk). When the veggies were done along with the sauce I added the chopped chicken, and the white sauce to the veggies, stirred it up and set the table while it was heating through. HEAVENLY! Even Dandylion liked it. Autumn and soup just go together.

We are moved into our new-to-us house. It has many advantages, one of which is the spacious kitchen and working oven. It has fewer rooms but they are larger. Still some work to be done but it's good to be in here before the snow flies. Next projects will be new curtains for my bedroom, the kitchen, and living room.

I began this blog as a way to document my weight loss, but that didn't work and I didn't lose any. In June of this year I joined T.O.P.S. (Taking Off Pounds Sensibly) after reading a piece in the local newspaper about a man who had lost close to 100 pounds. TOPS was touted as encouragement and accountability, which is what I needed. I joined and have lost 15 lbs. so far. There is value in having to weigh in and report each week; not to mention the great women I've met there. I notice a difference in my body, but as I wear loose clothes anyway no one else has noticed. My first goal is another 15 lbs. (Doctor wouldn't approve any more than that) and when I reach that goal I'll set another, 20 lbs. lighter. When I was 42, after having had five children I weighed that much (or little) and looked and felt great. I want to get there again.

I haven't hit the thrift stores for a while, keeping my eyes on the goal of spending less. I did make Noble a cute skirt for her birthday this summer, which she really liked. I promised to make another one in wool for winter. (Still have to set up my sewing room.)

I know I've done some other frugal things, but my mind has gone blank and I don't remember what they were. You understand I'm sure!

Lastly, this Saturday I'm teaching a class at a church women's conference. The class is Cooking with Basic Commodities. I teach three sessions, each 25 minutes long. How am I supposed to cram 30 years of cooking knowledge and experience into 25 minutes? Not going to happen. What I will do is go over reasons why we (well not me) don't cook from scratch, good reasons for doing so, overcoming the obstacles, starting to cook from scratch (The Principles), and then give some resources and recipes to help them on their way. I'm looking forward to it.

Rain in a thirsty land

Last week I had the privilege of assisting at an Iraq-Afghanistan Conference of NGO's (Non-governmental Organizations) and meeting almost two dozen wonderful persons involved in making life better in the war ravaged lands of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The conference organizer, a friend from church, asked me if I was willing to assist in a few tasks such as picking up and taking attendees to and from airports, taking notes, operating the computer/projector, and setting up a Skype call. I told Rick that in a former life I'd been an executive secretary, and administrative assistant so I figured I could handle whatever he needed.

I missed the opening session of the conference on Tuesday while picking up that night's keynote speaker at the airport in Des Moines. Cindy Fogelman and I had a wonderful conversation on the drive back (over an hour). We arrived back at the Danish Immigrant Museum at the end of the introductions, followed by a delicious lunch at the Danish Inn in Elk Horn, Iowa. The afternoon session was time for each representative to introduce his/her organization. This is when I helped with the computer/projector for the PowerPoint presentations.

Dinner was held at a renovated livestock sale barn in Kimballton, Iowa, catered again by Danish Inn. Cindy told the story of her organization's involvement in caring for orphans and street children in Baghdad with a captivating slide show.

Wednesday's morning session included two speakers, the first, Jan Bradley on Sustainability, and then Julie Mierau (former Director of Entrepreneurship at Iowa Western Community College) on Innovation. After a really tasty lunch from Vittles, in Elk Horn, the participants decided to move forward with the breakout sessions planned for Thursday morning. I took notes for the Iraq group.

That night at the Cottonwood Barn we enjoyed another great meal from Vittles and heard Charlotte (Charlie) Ponticelli talk about her experiences working with women's issues in Afghanistan while at the State Department during the Bush Administration.

Thursday morning was a review and wrap-up session. I had to leave early to take Charlie and Allison, another participant from the Denver/Baghdad Partnership, to the airport in Omaha. When I returned to the Museum, everyone was gone except my friend Rick.

I thoroughly enjoyed being with these intelligent, educated, passionate people! My mind came alive and my heart was touched. I hadn't even realized how "dehydrated" I was, but I soaked up the conversation and camaraderie like the proverbial sponge. At each session and meal I sat with someone different so I could get to know as many as possible. At one session Ann Geiger from Sister Cities International was reaching for her bag to retrieve something and I stood up and got it for her. She said "I'm capable." I said, :"I know, but I'm the assistant so I endeavor to assist." We had a good laugh!

Many thanks to the participants: Linda Egle of Eternal Threads, Ginna Brelsford of Ayni Education International, Don McKay of Iraqi Hope Foundation, John and Jan Bradley of The Lamia Afghan Foundation, and Marshall Plan Charities; Mary Baumgarten from Food for Kidz, Ann Geiger, Sister Cities International, Lee McManus representing Council Bluffs, Iowa local sister city; Allison Sharp, representing the Denver Baghdad Regional Partnership for Peace; Adam De Jong from Dwell Earth, Monty Simus from The Bayat Foundation, Cindy Fogelman of The Sponsor Iraqi Children Foundation, as well as Charlie Ponticelli; Ken Choquette; Steve and Randi Nelson from Nathan Hale Middle School; Troy Muller, Pat Crossly and Dr. Scott Smith from New Century Art Guild; and Aseya, college student from Afghanistan (forgive my spelling, I never saw it written).

Thank you Rick for asking me to participate, we can fight over who got the most out of it, but I know I'll win. This was truly a saw sharpening experience for me.