Safe and sound

It has been quite a couple of months and I am relieved to say we have survived.  I am not in a hurry to repeat it that's for sure.  Things have slowed down even though there are many birthdays this month.  Lucky everyone has had their fill of parties for awhile.

Yet, football season is upon us but I don't have to attend the games.  Joe and Glenda are coming up for a few days and Joe and Andy will go to the game.  This week end Matt and Andy are going to the band show and the game.

My refrigerator is so full I can barely close the door.  I have to stop cooking yet the bounty from the garden draws me to the kitchen.  I am still tossing spaghetti squash on the driveway to split it and am also making butternut squash for Stacy to grind for Madeleine's considerable appetite.  She's an all healthy diet baby and thriving on the garden's gifts. Matt and Stacy are back home and settled down after their glorious wedding and cruise.  I don't know if I would like a cruise now days.  They were on the new Breakaway from Norwegian with four thousand guests. Matt said they had to pay extra all during the seven days--I think it was $28. each per day for room tipping and while you once could go to the front desk and tell them you would take care of your own tipping, it is now mandatory.  That was a big surprise.  Now more often than not the restaurants are not covered.  The general cafeteria is still included in the cost of the cruise, but most of the restaurants are not.  I don't like to be nicked all of the time on a trip.

Well Andy is back from class, so we are off to get those darn mums (can't stand them) for the window boxes.

Hurricane soup

Our son and his little family are in harms way as the hurricane rushes for the inland as well as  southern Florida.  He is prepared, but everything has shut down even in Gainsville...really? That far north? He has never seen anything like it.

So, I fret and cook.  I am wrestling with spaghetti squash at the moment and they are mean to cut open.  I have taken to slinging them on the cement to crack them open.  I've heard of the microwave method, but I don't own one nor do I trust them even now.  So slinging helps to get my frustrations out and to open this wonderful sight as the vegetable splits and offers its goodness.  I was, at the same time, stewing the last of the tomatoes with herbs and vegetables; a stock of sorts and had the idea of putting the baked spaghetti squash in the tomato soup-like stock.  It was wonderful and new to this family.  I suppose someone somewhere has thought of spaghetti squash tomato soup, so I will have to track it down.  If not, I have an original which I will never duplicate because I throw things together as it is cooking and never write down the amounts.  I am not a teaching cook, just a family provider and they get what I create...good or bad. Note:  I was right, there are dozens of soup recipes using spaghetti squash on the Internet.  Sigh. Not so original after all.

The honeymooners arrive home tomorrow night.  They were on a cruise and luckily they selected Bermuda rather than the areas of the hurricane; still I will be happy when they are on home turf and away from the water.

Good luck to everyone in harms way.

Best time in years~

I have not had so much fun in years!  Matt and Stacy's wedding was a lovely event and I danced the soles right off my shoes and had to throw them away when I got home.  I have this dress that I have worn to the last three weddings and they have all been successful.  It is twenty-three years old but looks brand new.  I bought it at this wonderful store in Columbus called The Union.  It is gone, of course, but I have several items I bought there.  One is a pin that is in the shape of a pea pod with the peas being lovely plump pearls.  I also wore a double strand of pearls from there at two of the weddings but I loaned the pearls to Laurie (this time) for her little black dress which looked great.  I bought earrings there too that I save only for weddings. You know there is a favorite dress in everyone's closet that you hope will last as long as you do. Right?  I know we have several weddings in the forecast all in different parts of the country and with different families, so once I get new shoes, I'll be ready to dance.  Gosh it was fun and so well organized and presented.  The dancing also healed my legs, well my left leg has been giving out lately and I swear there has been no leg pain since Saturday night and I have put the legs to the test several days in a row.  It's a miracle. 

We had the family here the day after the wedding and there is still so much food in our refrigerators that it is spilling out when you open the doors.  The guest even took food home, yet it keeps growing. 

You are probably tired of hearing about all of these festivities, but I just had to share the joy of Matt finding the perfect wife.

Here come the pictures!

More pictures on my Facebook.

Mike and Beth

Alyssa, Nate Lechler, Laurie (Beth's sister)

Grandfather Mike and Madeleine

Army Ranger Brooks with Madeleine

Stacy, Matt and Madeleine Lechler

Plans and roles to play

Midnight buffet with the travelers for Matt's wedding. 9/30/2017

Breakfast on the run--Friday with sleep over guests.

Andy and I went to Sam's this morning (Wednesday) before he was off to school.  He attends OSU every day now because he loves the courses and does not want to drop one.  We had Sam's to ourselves which is unusual.  I spun around in the cart and Andy was on foot and we were done with a car load in a jiffy.  We got lovely things and right now I have two crock pots burbling away one with beef stew in wine and vegetables and the other with a big pork shoulder that I have plans for in several dishes.  Everything looked good today so I made a pig of myself and bought what I thought our guest would enjoy over their stay.  And, don't forget the Cincy gang is staying over in a hotel and coming here on Sunday for a big feast. So there will be few left overs...even so, I know what to do with those as well.

In the guest rooms I have snacks and waters on a tray in each room and I will go in search of flowers to brighten things up at some point, although they only have to look out the window for flowers in great array which  are giving up their last gasp and looking lovely.

Sam's had such great meat and fish today and I am itching to get to work on those items.  The vegetables were lovely and fresh, so that's another thought.  Well, no one is home and it is quiet and that is when love to work in the kitchen.  I do take several sit down rests in between dishes and clean up because the schedule is full and I need to be on foot.

As far as the wedding attire, I bought the last thing today which is a tube of lipstick to match my dress.  I think we are all set.  Nate is a little nervous since he plays an important role as best man and get- me- to- the- church on time guy with the groom. Andy and I have no role to play, so we are happy and calm.  Beth and Mike host the rehearsal dinner Friday night. Mike is pleased to be able to bring baby Madeleine home Saturday for a night with he and Beth and to greet the company on Sunday.

Ahhh well, it will all work out and then it's done.


Nate, Matt's brother and best man going to practice and then to  rehearsal dinner.

Brooks, Beth's son, and Madeleine, his girl friend, getting ready to go to Matt and Stacy's wedding rehearsal and dinner.

Midnight buffet under the stars

Fall harvest and items for the midnight buffet center piece.

Well, it won't be a big buffet, but we are ending the summer Thursday night when over night (s) guests arrive from around the country for Matt's wedding.  I thought it would be fun, since they are coming in around midnight, to have candles outside for the last gasp of summer and to welcome guests and fall--fall is coming even if we are entering it dragging our feet. I thought port beef stew and peach cobbler straight from the oven would be well greeted along with flutes of champagne.  We will be meeting Brooks' new girl friend for the first time and enjoying the company of Alyssa and Laurie from New Orleans. Everyone is feeling excited about the wedding and seeing people we love on this special Saturday night.

Beef stew always helps me get into fall.  I love the process of this dish and it eases the stress because it is so forgiving.  It is Andy's least favorite offering, but he will just have to adjust once again.  Andy is not a great meat lover, he is not into chewing for some strange reason. Unless the beef falls apart, and even then, he is drawn to another dish rather than the beef.

I am sure there will be a salad featuring the last of the tomatoes as well. Sigh.  I will miss those rosy  (and yellow) plump, delicious garden favorites.

Did you hear Amazon bought Whole Paycheck (Whole Foods) and cut the prices 43% on the first day? Let's shop!

It's a wedding!

The big day for our first grandson is a week from today.  He is also the first grandchild to be married. While the bride and groom won't be here for the after party over Labor Day Week end, we plan to have a crowd of twenty-five or so mostly from out of town: New Orleans, Georgia, Cincinnati AND we get to meet Brooks' new, serious, girl friend. She will be here for the week end festivities along with Alyssa, Brooks, and Laurie, Beth's sister, from New Orleans. Since they are all coming in around midnight, I thought an outdoor midnight light buffet would be fun with candles under the stars. It would be a great start for a full fun week-end.

I have started cooking, as you might have guessed.  Brooks lost a lot of weight during Army Ranger School, so I am looking forward to putting some weight on him. For him, so far, I have sweetcorn tex- mex chowder.  Also, in general I have chili, ham and beans soup, and a regular corn chowder with smoked sausage.
Tomatoes will be the toast of the time especially sliced and on a brat patty from Carfagna's.  Peach cobblers with peach ice cream from United Dairy fits the bill for afters.

We are ordering in some of the items because there is a time crunch. The party is the day after the wedding which is on Saturday.  They will leave full as usual, so not to worry.  Food is always party ready here.  I have three salads in mind and unusual mac&cheese.  There will be simple starters like a cheese platter, meatballs, and some other goodies that I can do on the rush. The unusual mac & cheese has a package of cheese ends that the Amish package to sell.  They waste nothing.  So it is a variety of cheese, maybe eight kinds, as well as cauliflower, and broccoli.  I've made two dishes and Andy is busy with one of them, the other is ready for the party.

It's wedding week at the Lechlers.

What time?

Who can believe summer has gone and fall is around the corner? I find more and more people asking that question; so evidently time is moving fast for all of us. I also realize I am getting to the end of my blogging days when all I can find to write about is time, the weather, and company.  These next few months are going to be very busy for this family, as it probably will be for all of you.  I know when Nate starts planning his three month journey, Andy starts back to OSU, JD starts his  his second year of college, the plants start to bolt, the yard gets crunchy, and Matt gets married (our first grandson) that times are-a-changing yet again.

We have a big crop this year and I am dicing up butternut squash...one a day.  That is all I can handle.  Those things are delicious but mean to work with.  I don't know how many times today I nearly sliced something off that will be needed at a later date.

The tomatoes are abundant as usual and is there anything that says summer like big slices of fresh picked tomatoes on toast with Hellman's? Well, with bacon but hey, we have to get into our wedding clothes in a couple of weeks, so no bacon!

I hate to see the summer pass on but I do love cooking in the fall and winter.  Andy has his season tickets to OSU football games and all of the tickets are shared with family so that means company is coming to all home games.  That will be nice.

Company's coming

Now that everything is back in working order we have invited Joe and Glenda Lechler to spend several days here at Many Branches.  We so enjoy their company. This picture was taken a few years ago in the spring before the blooms were out. So, we will be playing cards without jackets under the pergola where all the flowers are blooming on the trellises.  I am busy cooking and preparing the simple supper for tomorrow night--steaks on the grill, crack potatoes, and a big platter of sliced tomatoes along with corn on (or maybe off) the cob. Sliced peaches over United Dairy's peach ice cream will be on the menu several nights running.

Fate of Cook's Corner

Everything changes and much of the time we are unaware when it will happen and why. After three and a half years Lisa Abraham managed to bring Cook's Corner back to glory and now she is leaving.  This will be a perfect time for The Dispatch to drop Food and Life sections in the daily paper.  Especially the Cook's Corner section.  When Lisa started they slipped Cook's Corner in with the puzzles, cartoons, crosswords, and TV schedules.  Lisa managed to worm her way back into several of the pages, claiming them for the fans of Cook's Corner.  I know you can find any recipe on the Internet, but on Wednesday mornings after things quiet down I like to take my coffee and Cook's Corner and go out by the pool and enjoy living. Lisa is going to Kent State to write, but not about food.   She does not know who will take over, which is strange in itself.  Well, hopefully Wednesday morning will continue to come for me with or without Cook's Corner, but I would miss its comfort.

That section along with the news of her leaving carried the blue-ribbon winners from the fair. Dulce de leche bar cookies won best of show and they did look tasty.  But I am getting to be a lazy baker, so I probably won't make those.  The pineapple coconut sweet rolls read to be tasty, but yeast--lazy girl has definitely moved into Many Branches.  I think I will bake another of my new inventions: yellow coconut apricot cake.  It looks great and tastes even better. We have about a fourth of it left, but Joe and Glenda are coming on Thursday and staying until Monday.  I know they will enjoy the cake. So off to the kitchen to start preparing for company.

Is it bath day?

Into three weeks without a hot bath or shower.  Today is supposed to be the day, but it is 4:00 and they are not here yet.  I am beginning to get cranky.  The computer man, the pest control man, have all been here today, but where is Columbia Gas?

There was a nice gentle rain today and that is when baking lures me away from trouble into the kitchen.  I took a yellow cake mix, dried apricots diced, and a 1/2 bag of coconut, along with the regular things on the box plus a large spoon of sour cream.  It created a beautiful loaf cake or maybe a sweet bread, whatever...it was great.  Andy has had two pieces so far.