Comfort Me With {caramel} Apples

It’s supposed to be Fall after all. But Summer hasn’t collapsed yet. It is hot and humid and happy to stay that way. While I’m waiting, I’m comforting myself with apples. Apples dipped in creamy caramel. Caramel cooked so lazily that you don’t even have to open the can of sweetened condensed milk before you cook it. I used my Instant Pot and followed these simple instructions. You should too. Then be like me and eat an apple a day to keep Summer away, each tart bite of crispy Pink Lady dunked in sweet, molten lava the color of the golden leaves that we are waiting ever so patiently to see. You can also spread this tawny sauce on toast, or dribble it deliberately over salted popcorn. Maybe, just maybe if we comfort ourselves with enough apples and copious amounts of caramel, Fall will come. 

*Meet Me for Lunch* at Xian

"Let's meet for lunch!"

Fellow foodie and friend, Shirley Unruh and I have said these words to each other for months now! Yesterday we finally made it happen at Xian Noodle Place. 

(pic from their fb page)

Shirley arrived before I did, (believe or not lol) and was animatedly conversing with the patrons in the booth next to ours. They were diehard foodies too also dining at Xian for the first time. The restaurant was spacious and clean with quiet background music playing; not many people dining. More arrived while we were there. We chose steamed pork dumplings and pot stickers for starters. Both equally delicious. For our main, I chose Braised Beef with Noodles and Shirley selected Soy Sauce Chicken with Noodles. Both bowls were savory and satisfying, but not nearly as gratifying as pho. Even though this wasn't trying to be pho, it was hard not to compare. But the star of the lunch to me was my Grapefruit Fresh Tea with Popping Peach Boba! It put the capital D in Delightful!! Both of us rated it higher than Shirley's Peach Oolong Milk Tea. 

Although I don't feel like I'll be clouted with a craving to slurp up their noodles again, I totally know I want to go back to Xian for another tea!

Outside my Window on the Thirteenth of September

 

Outside my window....the barren branches of my porch pot tomato plant that was devoured (twice) by squishy fat green tomato worms taunts me with failure.

I am thinking....that I should aspire to step 12,000 steps per day!

I am thankful...that I was able to go to work at "My Real Job" aka Secretary for Faircloth Land Services today. Although spending the last two days mostly working on Comforter Committee Sewing duties was also a blessing!

In the kitchen...sits the copper cookie tin from WeCare that I use for my slop bucket. I love it as much as one can love a slop bucket.

I am wearing...an Old Navy terra cotta colored t-shirt dress.

I am creating...another batch of Brown Sugar Cinnamon Simple Syrup.

I am going...to give myself and others more grace than usual because it's Simple September. Simply love, simply give.

I am reading.... Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl. 

I am hoping...to keep on track with my Cleaning Schedule this week. I now identify as a person who cleans her house weekly!

I am looking forward to...finalizing Tax Season 2022.

I am learning...that if you want others to respect something, you first have to respect it yourself.

Around the house....real life is being lived. A Lego set half-built on the table, miscellaneous stuff from Danl's truck spread out on the couch being sorted, piles of papers on my desk.

One of my favorite things.... is hearing about Danielle's school day on the drive home. 

Life in Five Senses

Here’s a book club book review for you! 

Life in Five Senses by Gretchen Rubin was my pick for August. It was an interesting and delightful book to read! I had the hardcover copy which was a birthday gift from Rhonda, so I invited her as my guest for the evening. The print copy contains a good many fascinating photos which really makes the content come alive. Gretchen goes through each of the five senses in a memoir-like way as she finds ways to engage more thoroughly in the world around her. In the “Sight” chapter, she writes about attending Beyond Van Gogh, the Immersive Experience. Serendipitously, this pop-up museum was in Pensacola right over the date of book club! Most of us were able to attend this enthralling event before coming back to my house for a Sight & Sound Supper where the rest joined. I welcomed everyone inside by asking, “How is your nose?” which is a greeting that Gretchen mentions in her book while the 

Infinite Fractal and Falling Shepard Tone played on my Bluetooth speaker in the background. Then we discussed the infamous dress and discovered we were about half and half on team Blue & Black versus team White & Gold! Wow. On to Laurel or Yanny? Some heard both, most heard Laurel. Meanwhile, Heidi provided us with thee most pleasurable boba tea drinks! I for one, found the slurping most satisfying. A row of ketchups which is a splendid example of the flavor umami, even included a homemade version provided by Gloria! We dipped fries and chickens tenders and ate salad with toppings that completed all the colors of the color wheel. Blind taste tests on popular soda flavors were going down as well; poor Mr. Mt. Dew got confidently falsely confirmed as Coke! It’s harder than you think to get them right! Stacia even flubbed on her dear Dr. Pepper! We shared Sensory Memories, sampled jelly beans with our noses plugged, sniffed favorite scents, and ended up with ice cream. Four kinds, all marketed as “homemade or homestyle” iconic, wide world over loved and lauded - Vanilla. With scratch & sniff stickers and Pop-Rocks for party favors, the sensory night came too quickly to a close; senses stimulated in the best way! It all began with a book! 

Simple September

I love an artful alliteration, so I’ve been pondering if this September should be Reset September or Simple September or Say No September or even Surprise Me September?? September is a delightful month which has always been “The Other New Year” to me. I adore the fresh start feel of Back to School, falling into Fall which is mostly a state of mind in the South, and the renewing of resolutions to be DILIGENT and do all the things I know and want to do. (I’ve even decided to choose a WOTY for the 2023-2024 school year! #diligent. Thanks for the idea, Karma!) Anyway, September hath arrived along with some gratifyingly rainy weather. As I’ve been ruminating while watching the raindrops spatter, what settles the most alluringly on my heart is SIMPLE SEPTEMBER. I long for empty day blocks on my calendar, No Sweat Suppers with scant dishes to do, and time to sit on my front porch (the beauty of the back porch has dissolved due to chickens and a large black dog; life is real over here!) sipping a mock Starbucks Shaken Oatmilk Espresso sweetened with homemade brown sugar cinnamon syrup while reading a book (but NOT a self-help book!) The summer was sweet; I really did feel like a tourist in my own home town! But now I’m tired, and want to stay home. This means I will have to say no, which will surprise myself and others, but will result in life feeling like it has been reset. Welcome, Simple September! 

Full Circle

(Back in 2021 for the 50th Anniversary Celebration of WHCS, I wrote these memories. With school starting again this past Tuesday, they were fresh on my mind; hence my decision to post them on my blog!)

Bring some school memories,” they said. “Sure!” I said. “I’ll just wing it! How long do you want me to talk?!” 

Because when I think about school, memories flood my mind! But so many memories begin to generate, that my mind feels muddled and I’m not sure I’ll be able to wing it in a way that will make any sense to anyone! Memories of being a student! Of being a teacher! And now of being a school mom! So I begin to write in order to order my mind. 

Going back to my beginning at Walnut Hill Christian School as a sorta scared little first grader with spindly braids in Miss Joyce Johnson’s classroom, I fondly remember the structured orderliness. And my own little bunny trash can made of a Quaker Oat can wrapped in calico with a cotton ball tail. After first and second grade, I moved into Miss Susan Smith’s room, never dreaming at that point in time that I would one day be privileged to teach alongside her with her as my mentor. We learned how to speak some Spanish and how to sing La Cucarracha while we built more life blocks on the firm foundation that Miss Johnson and Miss Eraina Koehn had given us. The circle continued, and I moved northward a classroom into Miss Karen Reimer’s room for 4th grade. She enthusiastically read us stories by old fashioned lamplight and let us take turns having Libby the Lobster at our desks. Then I was blessed to have Mrs. Emily Peaster as my teacher for grades 5 & 6. “Character, Character, and more Character!” was a lesson we learned daily! But we also got to spend time in the “booth” in the back of the room, expanding our imaginations with a myriad of puppets and LEGO. We loved when she would pull out her tall black hat and read us, Miss Nelson is Missing. Looking back, Mrs. Peaster was the teacher who lit the flame of my desire to be a teacher! And who was behind the inspiration to always have some sort of Reading Nook in the back of all my classrooms, reminiscent of the old “booth” days! For 7th grade, I went back across the hall into the windowless classroom to be taught by Miss Laurie Toews. She was more than patient with my preteen troubles and even took all of us girls camping on the teachers’ yard! Mr. Cameron Boeckner was my upper grade teacher. My 8th, 9th, and 10th grade years were good years filled with learning more life lessons, having small scale members meetings during revivals, peanut gallery discussions, playing intense volleyball tournaments, honing our budding writing skills with essay after essay, water coloring while listening to classic stories like “The Monkey’s Paw,” skipping classes to chalk the program backdrop for “Mrs. Seymour’s Christmas” that Rhonda had sketched, and painstakingly cutting out all the letters (this was the pre-cricut era) to wrap our classroom in a Christmas carol. A couple years after graduating, I went back to WHCS as an aide. I loved decorating the library and interacting with the students; flashing endless stacks of flash cards, and helping them check out my favorite library books like The Golden Name Day and King of the Wind. Life continued, and I said yes to getting married instead of going to teach in a mission school. Then I was asked to finish a school term at Walnut Hill Christian School which proved to be challenging and inspiring! After signing a contract for the next year, I boarded a plane with my former classmate Vanessa Holdeman, for teachers prep class in Kidron, Ohio! That proved to be an enlightenment! Even though I was so excited and felt ready to teach, there was so much I still needed to learn! And learn I did! Along with my children, I watched our pet garter snake eat trees frogs until it died, sang “Amazing Grace” at the funeral of our beta fish Flo-Flo, and heard things parents probably wished I hadn’t. I struggled watching my kids struggle and wished for better ways to make learning an even playing field. The circle of life went on and I hung up my teaching hat for approximately four years, coming back to finish a term that love had ended. It felt so good to be back, that I ended up teaching two more years! Stargazing parties, Andrew Pudawah writing sessions, PowerPoint presentations with popcorn, the beginning of Barton classes, learning to love and light the windowless classroom, and after school teacher hashes once again made my soul sing! Along with writing, planning, and practicing programs; performing the Joseph’s coat musical, and attempting to give the auditorium a coffee shop feel complete with little tables and chess games for our epic Krispy Kreme donut fundraising evening, I learned that my kids will always feel like my kids. I don’t know how it happened, but somehow I was blessed to be able to teach all the best students of the best parents, have the best co-teachers, and work with the best school board members! I’m sorry for all the rest of you! And I’m sorry for all of you who have never had the privilege of teaching! I’ve always said that teaching is the only job that never felt like a job! Anyway, life goes on and now I’m on the other side! I’m the schoolmom who isn’t sending her child to school loaded with toast and eggs! (Just chocolate milk IS sometimes the best you can do!) Today, I give my thanks to God because it feels like life has come full circle. I was at Walnut Hill Christian School for all of my student days, for all of my teaching days, and now I am more than happy to send my daughter to this school for all of her school days. 

Don’t Rain on Someone Else’s Parade

My thoughts are kinda jumbled tonight, but I’ve been thinking umbrellas per making one like the adorable little book page one above for the Li’bry today. Umbrellas make me think about rain, which made me think about the personal policy I’ve recently adopted which is “Don’t rain on someone else’s parade.” Just because I’ve adopted it, doesn’t mean I’m good at it. I’ve adopted it in an attempt to become good at it! I don’t think of myself as a party-pooper, but it seems like lately I’ve found myself making negative comments about projects I’m not passionate about, or elaborating on reasons why things might fail when honestly I’m just too lazy or content to make any changes. This habit isn’t refreshing, for me or for those around me. The Bible says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice!” for a reason. Accepting ourselves for who we are while realizing that we don’t have to do everything or be enthusiastic about all the things that others are doing is wisdom. Choosing to celebrate, applaud, and encourage the good things happening around us instead of raining on other’s parades is like putting a rainbow in everyone’s sky!