Family + food = an abundance of love....

Monday I drove to Tazewell, VA for a really great visit with my cousins and dear Aunt Itsa, who was visiting from Richmond. I held my breath for most of the trip, in fear that the steady rain would turn to snow. I was lucky, the weather did not change until Wednesday, several hours after my departure.

As usual, when my mother's side of the family gets together, it is all about food. My cousin Vicky just happens to be one heck of a cook. Monday night we dined on crab cakes, roasted potatoes, sauteed vegetables, cornbread, coleslaw, sweet pickles and fresh, locally made apple cake with whipped cream. Tuesday night we had roast, asparagus, smashed garlic potatoes, corn, salad and strawberries with yogurt and whipped cream. I rolled out the door for the drive home, I would have enjoyed hanging around for more good cooking.

The rest of the trip was filled with lots of conversation, laughter and catching up. Last year, at the age of 55, Vicky took up watercolor and as it turns out, is pretty good. We spent some time looking at her paintings and drawings. It was a lot of fun and encouraged me to pull out my sketch pad again.

I returned home just in time to rush to the hospital to spend a couple of days with my mother. She had an overnight panic but is home now and doing well.

Cousin Eric and Aunt Itsa. Itsa was married to one of my mother's late brothers. She is originally from Greece, lived in a mountain cave during WWII and arrived in the US after the war to go to nursing school. She planned to return to Greece after graduation but met my Uncle Tom, fell in love and remained in the US. Lucky us!!

This is a photo of the apple cake. Apparently an elderly resident of Tazewell has been making apple cakes for years, based on an old family recipe.

Another locally made food item, bread and butter pickles. These pickles are made with the juice of a lime which is apparently what keeps them so fresh and crisp tasting...or so I am told.

Cousin Vicky in her great room with China, her sweet little pup (9 year old pup but all dogs are pups to me).

Backpack 68, Bob's Bald....

This backpack was billed as a winter event and it is the end of January, so we were not surprised to be a bit chilly as we headed out for our 1st backpack of the year. Our destination ... Bob's Bald in the southern section of the Cherokee National Forest.

We were on the trail around 2:30 PM. The skies were sunny but unfortunately, the sun did not take much chill out of the air and we started out totally bundled up; me in a long sleeve shirt, fleece vest, fleece jacket AND rain jacket. The higher we hiked, the higher our body temps climbed so we stopped several times to peel layers.

For the most part, the trail was clear. As we neared the bald, we encountered an inch or so of snow around a rhododendron thicket along with some water and slush. This indicated our hike out could be a frozen mess because the overnight temperature was expected to be in the mid 20's.
Sunset arrived on Bob's Bald around 6:00 PM. We cooked dinner in the dark, our meal, a less than satisfactory concoction that was suppose to be "Shepherd's Pie." It was too yucky to photograph (mashed potatoes, peas, corn, spices and soy meal starter) and not much better to eat.
Will and Kim warmly bundled against the cold
Duane cleaning up after dinner

A big fire with the express purpose of warming the group of 13

Warmed by a blazing fire, everyone stayed up till nearly 10:00 PM, very unusual on a cold, winter night. The later bedtime and warm sleeping bags resulted in difficulty getting out of the tent this morning. We had a relaxing few hours while we talked over breakfast, followed by the task of tearing down camp. While most of the group spent the late morning hours exploring areas adjacent to the bald, Will, Kim, John and I hurried down the trail. Kim had a previous engagement and I plan to leave for Virginia in the morning.

All in all, this was a lot of fun. Thanks for leading another great winter backpack, Ron!!

A good day for change...

Today I woke up to a this...

The world woke up to this...

Today is a good day for change!

In search of accumulation...

Today began cold and grey with light snow. Since snow is usually pretty scarce around here and John had the day off for the MLK holiday, we took a quick hike up House Mountain in search of a little accumulation.

House Mountain is an easy 30 minute drive from downtown Knoxville. We arrived at the parking lot and were not surprised to find the lot full of cars and trucks. Many others seemed to have the same idea.

Light snow at the base of the mountain

Flurries continued to fall and we did find a little more snow near the top. This is, however not a big snow.

Stark, brown trees are a nice contrast to the white snow and grey sky

Nice way to enjoy a day off!

A Sunday afternoon hike...

This afternoon we went on a hike of sorts. We hiked from John's house to Market Square for Sunday brunch and back, a round trip of about 5 miles. A stiff breeze was blowing and shady areas were quite chilly but we had a lot of fun and figured we walked off at least some of the brunch.
We had brunch at Market Square Kitchen on Market Square in downtown Knoxville. I had an omelet and biscuit, John had chili and a sandwich. We both agree that my brunch was better than his. Before we headed back out into the cold, I indulged in this really yummy cup of hot chocolate with REAL whipped cream. I am not grimacing, really!

Downtown Knoxville on a very clear but cold day

John, standing on the Gay Street bridge, looking down at the Tennessee River

Knoxville from the south side

Hike: 5.0-miles

Spade Smackdown...

Friends, Sonya and Mac and their son Micah came over for pizza and Spades on Saturday night. We fixed two pizzas, the first with a basil pesto base, turkey pepperoni, onions, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, goat cheese, mozzarella cheese and mushrooms. The second pizza was tomato based with sweet Italian spiced turkey sausage and similar other ingredients. The food was pretty good!! One of these days I will learn to make pizza crust instead of buying it but this was not that day. Too bad the pizza disappeared before I remembered the camera.

After dinner, we were ready for Spades! It has been over four years since we last shuffled a deck of cards together and John and I have not played since. The Cissnas, on the other hand, were on top of their game and arrived like they always did, talking smack with a bottle of wine under each arm. We were sunk before the first card was dealt.

Sonya cracked open a brand new deck for the game. The cards, a gift from her daughter-in-law, were manufactured as a breast cancer fund-raiser. Damn if all the cards weren't pink and white and it was near impossible to discern between the suits. Everyone at the table was reduced to wearing reading glasses and we laughed a lot as we exposed secrets in our hands when a spade was thrown down for a heart and vice versa.

Sonya laughing as she tries to separate her pink clubs, spades, hearts and diamonds

Mac, with an almost empty glass of "Strong Arms" Shirz 2007, is analyzing his "tricks"

John can't believe he is playing with pink cards. He did keep up with Mac on the wine, glass for glass

I am just tickled to win a trick or two, this was a lot of fun

The note pad says it all. We (BJ-left column) stayed close for a while, at least within striking distance. We were blown out of the game on the last two hands when Sonya went Low 50. We will be gunning for the Cissnas on the next game, I think we have our card legs back!!

5 Weeks MIA

The Christmas presents are open, my tree has been recycled, the New Year celebration has come and gone and I just reached a PW (personal worst)...five weeks since my last post.

Christmas trees waiting to be recycled at the local nature center

I don't know if it was a result of the down turning economy or just the need to connect, but it seems like our friends were really reaching out to each other during the holidays. We attended more parties and casual get togethers than I remember in the past and the enjoyment of sharing food and laughter felt more satisfying than ever! We even caught up with some old friends that we haven't seen in a long while!

The actual mechanics of Christmas almost slipped by me. In mid-November, I went to work for Williams-Sonoma as part-time Christmas help but by early December, the part-time hours turned into nearly full-time. Aside from being very tired after each shift, I enjoyed the people, product and the daily contact "with the outside world".

My meager holiday preparation was pushed into the few hours I had available. I almost passed on putting up Christmas decorations but when I went to a local tree lot to purchase a wreath, the owner took pity on my poor unemployed self and gave me a real deal on a tree. Hey, it was a good deal and I looked pretty pitiful :-)

My mailbox decorated with some fake and mostly live treasures from the yard...white pine, nandina berries, laurel and holly

Not quite a Charlie Brown Christmas tree but certainly a little sparse near the top. Unfortunately, the decorations did not go beyond lights, I just never pulled the boxes and boxes of ornaments out of the attic

As we have with the past several Christmases, we spent Christmas morning with mother at Shannondale. It was just the girls, a "hen" party according to my dad. He had GI problems and wasn't feeling well. We really didn't want to share in his stomach issues so we were okay with him staying at home. I cooked breakfast and took it with me. Not sure what I did to the grits casserole, but what a disaster! John spent the morning cooking pancakes for his boys and opening presents at his house. We got together in the afternoon, watched football and vegged!

Me with my new shawl, a gift from Carol

Leslie and Mother

Carol opening a gift

Our final event for the holiday season was a New Year's Eve party, hosted by Will and Kim at Kim's home. Twenty some people attended and while we didn't stay till to see the clock strike 12 AM, we did watch the ball drop in Times Square on TV. Must be the first New Year we been awake for in 4-5 years. The pictures below were taken by friend Will Skelton and lifted right from his Picasa site: http://picasaweb.google.com/theskeltonview

Happy New Year!

Kim and Will

Look at the food spread

Christmas in Knoxville...

Last night we decided to get in the holiday spirit by participating in the lighting of the holiday trees in John's neighborhood. John lives in an old, historic neighborhood and most residents have a real community spirit. In past years, this has been a big social event with lots of caroling, hot chocolate, cookies and conversation. Over the past year or so, some of the newer residents (along with some older residents) have been trying to impose a historic overlay plan on the neighborhood that will restrict remodeling and landscaping. This has caused a rift that has apparently affected neighborhood events.

As we walked from John's house to the small children's tree, we were not surprised to find mostly young families rushing to the lighting. We were disappointed to find no singing, no organization and a very unceremonious plug of the tree lights into the power source. Immediately, the crowd (about 30 adults and children) departed the children's tree and hurried to the other end of the boulevard for the lighting of the big tree.

When we arrived at the second lighting, a few others showed up, I would say maybe 40-50 adults and kids total but it was not the gathering John had experienced in the "early" years. We realized that this was not going to be the festive occasion we had hoped for so we quietly slipped out of the group and walked home.

Our next stop, downtown. After dinner at Trio, we strolled through the city and enjoyed the festive decorations. Since John has been under the weather this week, we wrapped the evening up early. A few pics from our adventure are below, more can be found in our Picasa sight. Hopefully we will add more holiday pictures as the season progresses!

http://picasaweb.google.com/johnandbeverly74/ChristmasInTheCity122008#

Holiday lights at Trio

Mannequin forms dressed up in holiday finery at the "Reruns" shop
Looking in at the baked goodies in the window at Cafe4, Market Square's newest restaurant and bakery
John warming himself by the outdoor fire

Christmas tree on Market Square

Spinach and penne pasta...

I don't usually have a refrigerator full of food but a trip to the grocery on Tuesday provided me with a number of choices. Tonight a bundle of spinach caught my attention and I decided to make one of my favorite meals, sauteed spinach and garlic on whole wheat pasta.

The is a quick meal, cook the pasta while sauteing spinach, big chunks of garlic and a little salt in hot olive oil. When done, drain the pasta, top with the spinach mixture and add whatever protein you want. I added chicken (grilled last night) a little pepper and a small amount of grated Romano cheese. Perfect comfort food on a dreary, rainy day.

Why is it that a big pan of spinach reduces down to a fist full of cooked spinach? Spinach in hot olive oil just beginning to cook. The chunks of garlic will be added in a few minutes, I don't like overcooked garlic.

The final product

Running has been good of late and I have been steady with my core exercises. Although the runs are short, only 3 miles, and on a treadmill, I am pushing myself to be faster. I have thrown out my 2008 mindset to hold back till the end of a run and started dialing up the pace with each mile. I love the feeling of freedom as my arms and legs move through the motions, running is exciting again. My goal is to see a significant improvement in my time for the New Year's Day 5k with an eye toward a faster time in the Straw Plains 10k.

3rd and 4th grade...

This morning I was up early to volunteer at my sister's school. I spent about an hour and a half with some well-behaved 3rd graders and another couple of hours in reading class with a group of 4th graders.

I learned a few things today.

1) I still remember the pledge of allegiance.
2) I do not want to sing The Star Spangle Banner with 20 angelic voices. I cannot carry a tune. Mouthing the words works perfectly fine.
3) 3rd graders enjoy the fact that they know more than you do. Who knew the island of Ireland looks like a peanut?
4) 3rd graders are very confident and want to share everything they know. Shades of self-consciousness begin to show up in 4th grade. What do you think happens over the summer?
5) Sitting in a classroom is less stressful than sitting at a desk crunching numbers and trying to explain to management, buyer, salesman, _____ (fill-in the blank) why sales are not exceeding overaggressive business plans.
6)I am not smarter than a 3rd or 4th grader.

Look what has been happening outside my window.

Big flakes but only a few are hanging around the fence line. Hopefully the early cold weather and snow are a sign of things to come this winter!

The last day of November...

Today has been a cold, rainy last day of November. So, we enjoyed this...

And did this...

As we flipped between channels to watch the Brothers Manning win their respective football games. Meanwhile, a thunderstorm hit. After several flashes of lightening, we looked out the window and discovered John's car covered in this...

But the snow stopped as quickly as it began and all traces have been washed away by more rain. Happy last day of November!

I missed all local Thanksgiving related races this weekend so before I settled into an afternoon of TV and sleeping, I went to the gym and ran a nice 5k on the treadmill. The run went better than other recent efforts, something that I attribute to working on replacing negative thoughts with positive ones. After the run, I completed a few sets on the jump rope then headed home for a round of pushup-situps. Not too bad for a dreary Sunday afternoon!