At Long Last, I May Have Found it

I have been looking for a coleslaw recipe I liked for a long time.  I tried several recipes but chopping all that cabbage by hand can be a lot of work so the quest sort of fell by the wayside for a while.  But then last summer I got a new kitchen tool and the quest resumed.  While the coleslaw I made that day turned out pretty good, and it also showed me that with this new tool making chopped cabbage dishes is no work at all. That particular coleslaw recipe I tried billed itself as "southwestern coleslaw".  It was good for what it was but it wasn't the coleslaw recipe I have been searching for.

The Internet and social media is a rabbit hole you can get lost in for a long time, if you're not careful.  But its also a great place to find almost anything you want in the way of information.  So I kept watching and collecting recipes for coleslaw.  Several weeks after the go-around with the southwestern coleslaw I tried a different recipe.  This one said it was supposed to be the recipe for Chic-Fil-A coleslaw so I thought maybe it would be worth a try.  That, even though I've never eaten at Chic-Fil-A.  Well, it turned out to be pretty darn okay!   So today I had a head of cabbage in the back of the refrigerator that was starting to get pretty old and, knowing that age doesn't do for cabbage what it does for cheese and certain other foods, I decided to see if the Chic-Fil-A recipe really was all that good, see if I could reproduce the same or similar results.

I got everything out and got started.  There really isn't that much in this recipe, it strikes me as pretty basic.

The recipe says to make the sauce first, everything that doesn't have to be chopped, so I did that.  Then I set it aside while I got to chopping everything else.

Unlike the southwestern coleslaw, "everything else" really is only cabbage, carrots, and an onion.

I usually run the carrots and onions through as I do the cabbage since its all going to end up mixed into the same bowl anyway.

When you do a whole head of cabbage you end up with a little more than what the recipe calls for so I have to up the amounts of everything else a little.  This time I did everything for the sauce half again what the recipe called for.  Then, if it still doesn't look moist enough, I add a little plain yogurt until it looks right.

Then you stir it up real good and stick it in the fridge to cool a couple of hours.  I imagine that also helps the flavors blend together better.

Anyway, when it was all done and cooled as directed, it turned out pretty good!  I think I'm going to have to keep this recipe and use it some more.  Coleslaw is good stuff!

Commonplace Book

A Commonplace Book. “Commonplace”, from the Latin 'locus communis', meaning “a theme or argument of general application.”  For me, it is a collection of thoughts, ideas, anecdotes, poems, observations, and quotes that stood out and caught my attention, some with comment, some without. Essentially a scrapbook, a repository of thoughts too good to just pass over and let go.



“Life is all about how we handle Plan B.” Anonymous

Patient “Why did the ER call it a retinal break?”

Doctor: “Next time you have an eye emergency see an eye doctor.”

“Ever busily winding the golden thread that bound them all together, weaving the service of her happy influence through the tissue of all their lives, …”

Charles Dickens, The Tale Two Cities

How well this could be said of the dear woman I've been fortunate enough to be married to all these years; she is the magic that holds us all together. 

“Sometimes people are like turkeys when they go to church. They’re taught to fly and then they walk home.” A Comment Made by a Bishop during Ward Council

It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about? (Henry David Thoreau)

Maimonides’ axiom: It is natural to be influenced in character and conduct by your friends and associates, and to follow the fashions of your fellow citizens. Therefore, one ought to ensure that your friends are virtuous and that you frequent the company of the wise so that you learn from the way they live, and that you keep a distance from bad company.

“President Heber J. Grant put it in context when he said: “Prosperity comes to those who observe the law of tithing. When I say prosperity I am not thinking of it in terms of dollars and cents alone. … What I count as real prosperity … is the growth in a knowledge of God, and in a testimony, and in the power to live the gospel and to inspire our families to do the same. That is prosperity of the truest kind.”

Sister Yaeko Seki experienced part of this precious promise. She writes: “I was pregnant with our fourth child and was feeling rather tired, so I lay down under the trees. … I began thinking about our financial problems. My heart became overwhelmed, and I burst into tears. ‘Lord, we are full-tithe payers. We have sacrificed so much. When will the windows of heaven open unto us and our burdens be lightened?’

“I prayed with all my heart. Then I turned to watch my husband and children playing and laughing together. … Suddenly, the Spirit testified to me that my blessings were abundant and that my family was the greatest blessing Heavenly Father could give me.”

(James E Faust, of the Quorum of the Twelve, October Conference 1998. Quoting Pres Heber J Grant and Yaeko Seki.) 

“We oftentimes believe, “I’m going to have this perfect understanding, and then I’m going to transform that into what I do.” I would suggest that we have enough to get started. We have a sense of the right direction. Faith is a principle—the principle—of action and of power. True faith is focused in and on the Lord Jesus Christ and always leads to action.”

(David A Bednar, “Seek Learning by Faith” [address to Church Educational System religious educators, Feb. 3, 2006]) 

“When the Lord wants to change the world, he doesn’t send armies or use powerful groups.

“When it was time to lead the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage, the Lord didn’t send an army; he sent a baby boy to a Levite home. This baby boy was later to be known as Moses, whom we know as the great lawgiver and the one who delivered the children of Israel from bondage.

“In the meridian of time, the Father sent his own Son to be born of a virgin mother in a lowly manger. The whole world was affected by his brief life’s mission, and he still remains the only hope of mankind, here and hereafter.
“When it was time to restore his gospel to prepare the world for the second coming of his Son, he again sent a baby boy to the home of a righteous father and mother.”

Rex C Reeve, of the Quorum of the Seventy, October Conference 1985

When the Lord needed a great work done he sent a baby. But first He placed a great woman to be that baby's mother. 

“I think there’s been a trend toward higher expectations of teachers, instead of saying that it’s the child’s responsibility to learn and be successful. I have a hard time with that. I always tried to teach my children that you’re responsible for your learning, and you’re going to have teachers that are really entertaining and you’re going to have some that are boring, but what you get out of it is what you put into it.”

Anne H Zachry, author. “Retro Baby”, “Retro Toddler”, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics 

“No one knows precisely how strong winds in the strongest tornadoes are. That's because the strongest tornadoes have always destroyed wind measuring equipment.”

Gannet Publishing, 5/4/2018 

"There is a phenomenon known as “helper's high” which refers to the lift people get from knowing that they're really making a difference in someone else's life.”

The Power of Vitality 

"When sore trials come, you will learn why the Holy Ghost is called the Comforter."

(Boyd K Packer, of the Quorum of the Twelve, October Conference 1994)

“Think of what you possess not as something you own but as something you hold in trust for the benefit, not only of you and your family, but also of others. In life, ask not, “what can I gain?” But “what can I give?” You will travel more lightly and with greater joy. You will enhance the lives of others. You will feel that your life has been worthwhile.  [W]hen it comes to giving, scale does not matter. Be a blessing to others and you will find that life has been a blessing to you.”

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Behar-Bechukotai 5778

He Loves His Uncle

There's been a little boy staying with us that has decided he likes his uncle. He likes that he lets him sit on his lap and watch train videos, or fire engine videos, or truck videos, or other such videos.

His sweet, smiling self!

At bed time, not only does this little boy like it, but its very helpful.  You can see that he's got one down and the other is yawning, getting closer to sleep.

Sometimes they just play.  He likes the rough housing, rowdy play that his uncle likes to dish out.

He will actually put up with quite a bit of "guff" from his uncle.

Whether they're watching videos ...

... or using him as climbing equipment, this little boy enjoys wallowing on his uncle.

The two of them can sometimes just go on and on, playing, laughing, and giggling.  The little guy does most of the giggling.  The big one just gets those big smiles that let you know he's having a good time, too.  When they're little its not much work to throw them around and they do seem to enjoy it so.

 No, he's not killing him.  They're just playing.

He likes wearing his uncle's hat and shades, pretty cool, no?

He tolerates a lot of his uncle's teasing and playing.

But then, I guess its pretty much mutual.  It goes both ways.  And they get along wonderfully.

You can tell it goes both ways because of little things, like the desktop picture on Himbeere's phone. Yeah, it goes both way.

Another Good Day, Mostly

The other day, last Saturday to be exact, we went to the temple again.  Hopped in our little red Sonic and hit the road.  This trip has been on the calendar for a month, a "do not miss" trip, but that's another story.  Anyway, it was back on the road again.

This time we went to the other temple.  A little smaller than Chicago, and probably an easier drive because the drivers in this area are not as prone to foolishness as in the Chicago area.

Anyway, it was a good visit.  We have recently learned about the "stake file" where people from our stake leave bunches and bunches of family names they've researched out but haven't been able to get done yet, and then anyone that wants to can pick a name out and do the work for that person.  Kind of nice.  We both picked names and took them through.  The one I did had been almost three years since the previous ordinance had been done.  Even at the brink of having all the work done it's still a wait, I guess. 

Anyway, after we finished at the temple we decided we needed to eat before the long drive back so we went to a restaurant nearby and had lunch.

It was hot, we were in the middle of a heat wave on Saturday, so it was nice to get back into the air conditioning.  This must be our favorite place in the area because we end up at this place pretty often.

We both had the salad bar.  Exciting, right?  It was pretty good.

Then, instead of going straight home, we headed to where Schwartzbeere and his family were moving to.  They had found a little place that was a good deal and were moving in this weekend.  So we stopped by to watch all the hard work.

When we got there they were in the process of moving a crib from the front room into the back bedroom where the baby they're expecting will be.

Himbeere was there, helping out.  That's a happy thing as he is a very helpful kind of guy, if you catch him in the right mood.  See what a good mood he's in?

The hall was a tight fit, well, getting around the corner at the end of the hall was the tight fit.  They had to take the crib apart enough to get it around the corner.

Then, of course, it had to be put back together.  The Dad's job is taking furniture apart and putting it back together when moving.  Schwartzbeere was doing it well.

Moving brings lots of chaos but the family was doing quite well.  Stuff was getting organized and unpacked, rooms were getting their furnishings, and everything was unfolding quite nicely.  They were able to stay in their new place that night for the first time.  Way cool.

I'd like to be able to say the rest of the day went as well but, alas, our trip home involved a side trip to the emergency room at the local hospital.  No blood or broken bones, but it seemed like a good idea, nonetheless.  But that's also a different story.  It was after midnight before we got home and to bed.  Needless to say, it had been a long day.  But there were some very nice parts to it and I'm glad we were able to go.

Sunday Thoughts

It's been an interesting experience these last several weeks as I have prepared a lesson nearly every week for priesthood and then, for one reason or another, ended up not giving it. This has happened the last four or five times I've prepared a lesson.  Some of those lessons I have really struggled with while preparing them, struggled to find what felt like the right message out of the material.  Being third hour, these lessons are usually taken from the most recent General Conference.  As the quorum leader, it's typically me that selects the talk.  You'd think that would make it easier.  Neither do I normally feel constrained to limit myself to the selected talk to use as resource material for these lessons, although I do try to keep whatever material I use on topic and supportive of the message.  That seems like it ought to make it easier, too.  The struggle has been finding the right message in the talk, the right material to convey that message, and then putting together an outline to use in presenting the message.  Sometimes it just seemed really hard to feel like it was coming together right.  

The thing I find noteworthy in all this is that as I have struggled to prepare I have prayed for help and every time it has come, even though the Lord knew I would not be giving the lesson.  How easy it would have been to just let me struggle and worry since He knew that whatever I prepared would not be presented.  You know, the blessings of adversity and all that. But instead, each time the Lord answered my prayer and helped me, blessed me to be able to get the lesson to where I felt prepared, ready, and comfortable.  I look upon it as the response of a merciful God to a child calling for help.  I've long felt that I usually gain more than the class members when I teach because in preparing I study and see lots more material than I ever end up presenting in class.  So all these lessons I've prepared but never given were not wasted in the least.  On top of that, the help I've asked for has been given even though it was just for me.  He does that, in little things as well as big things.

"In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears." II Samuel 22:7

Now We Know

This afternoon I was out mowing the lawn on my riding lawnmower.  I like that machine.  Anyway, as usual, there were a number of "hazards" on the lawn.  These items were mostly toys that belong to the grand kids and dog.  As I mow along on the pass before they would be in the way, I stop next to them and move them.  Usually throw them off to the other side of the mower where I've already cut.  Today, however, there was a large, blue ball.  Like two feet in diameter.  My usual approach wasn't working.  Every time I'd get close to it some part of the mower would bump it before I could grab it and it would roll away.  After a few times of this I figured it was working well enough that it would be okay.  The only downside was that each time I'd bump it, it would roll out into the area where I hadn't yet mowed.  That's why it kept happening.  Then came the time as I approached the ball that it was directly in front of the mower.  Fine, I figured, I'll just bump it out of the way again.  That ought to work again, right?

Wrong.  Before I knew it, the front end of the lawnmower raised up and the ball started to go underneath.  Then, suddenly, the ball popped and the front of the mower dropped back down to the ground. Pieces of the ball were all over the back yard.  Lots of them.  Some pretty small, some pretty big.

Lots of them.  Took me a few minutes to pick them all up.  I didn't want to run over any of them again because that would just chop them up further and make a bigger mess. Lesson learned; next time just get off the mower and move it.  But for this particular ball that isn't a problem anymore.  Nope.

Back in the Kitchen Again

Today was Mother's Day so I decided I'd try to make something special for dinner.  And I wanted it to be a surprise, at that.  So I picked a menu and got the stuff.  I'm not sure what I was thinking because the menu I settled on was a bunch of stuff I have never fixed before.  Experiment on the big Mother's Day meal?  Experiment on the mother of my children?  Yeah, I was taking a big chance and feeling the pressure.  But what the heck.  Charge and move forward, right?

So I did the shopping and got all the stuff.  Then I decided to see what I could do ahead of time because we always come home from church hungry and I didn't want to make everyone wait a long time.  But, having never fixed this stuff before, I wasn't entirely sure how long it would take. Sure, lots of recipes gave preparation times and cooking times.  But how reliable is that?  I dunno, I usually don't pay attention to that stuff.  So I went through everything and picked out what I could do ahead of time.  Then on Saturday I fixed a couple of things early.

The main course was going to be marinated salmon.  I figured I could make the marinade ahead of time.  That part went pretty smooth.

One of the side dishes was a pasta dish, a mix of pasta and zucchini, with roasted tomatoes.  The recipe called for julienne cut zucchini. Julienne cut, umm.  For that I would need a julienne cutter.  For that I would need to know what a julienne cutter is.  Google is a wonderful thing; only took a minute to find out it is a tool we don't have in our kitchen.  But, happy day, my little spiralizer can do the same thing, or at least close enough.  So that's what I did.

So I ran the two zucchini through it and ended up with some wonderfully cut zucs.  And probably a heck of a lot easier than a julienne cutter would have done anyway.

Asparagus was also on the menu so I cut the woody ends off and set the rest to soak in water overnight, to soften it up.  My recipe said that was a good idea.  So once all that was done it all went into the fridge and I was done for the day.

I had intended to put the fish in the marinade before we left for church but I forgot.  Oh, well.  Soon as we got home that was the first thing I did.

With the fish marinading I started on the pasta.  First things was to roast the tomatoes.  I've never done that before but it was easy enough.  So I got that going and then put the asparagus on, as well as some hollandaise sauce, which is mostly milk.

That's where things started getting intense.  All this stuff cooking at the same time, a couple of the things needing constant stirring.  Alas, photos fell by the way side.  The last thing I wanted was to burn the Mother's Day dinner.  And I must confess, Mullbeere was here and helped with the desert.

But in about an hour it all came together and was on the table, ready to eat.  And it looked pretty good, too.

And when it was all done and everybody had eaten their fill, Brombeere said it was pretty good.  She said it is not the menu she would have come up with if she had been asked but she was pretty happy with it anyway.  That, and the fact that everybody had seconds of something or another, made me pretty happy.  I was happy with how it all turned out.  Happy Mother's Day!