Athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh

Go mbeire muid beo ar an am seo arís ~ May we be alive at this time next year. 

I decided that 2021 should be welcomed with as much luck as can be found, so I've been reading about Irish New Year traditions in an effort to help ring in the new year in style. 

Flinging Bread Against the Door. 

This tradition seems especially apt this year. To banish the greatly feared dangers of hunger, a piece of cake or bread is dashed against the door by the man or woman of the house, while reciting a verse that translates to: We call on famine, out as far as the land of the Turk, from tonight, to a year from tonight, and from this very night, be gone. 

I baked a loaf of soda bread this evening. I'll be flinging some, while saving enough for a nice midnight snack. I didn't have any buttermilk, so I curdled milk with vinegar. I'm anxious to sample it. If it's not good, I'll fling it all in to the backyard for the squirrels. 

Clean, clean, clean. 

Quite frankly, I tried to ignore this one, but it kept popping up. The idea is that a clean house represents a clean slate. 

I spent the day cleaning and I'll admit that it is nice to look around and see some order to the madness - although my table-turned-work-area still needs some work. 

Mistletoe, Ivy, and Holly

People who are alone on New Year's Eve are encouraged to put a spring of holly, mistletoe, or ivy under their pillow - the tradition says that you will dream of the one you are to marry. 

I snipped a sprig of holly from by beloved holly bush this evening. I'll keep you posted! 

Out with the Old and In with the New. 

This one seems to have two versions - one is to open your back door before midnight to let the old year out and to open the front door at midnight to welcome the new year in. The other version calls for entering your front door at the stroke of midnight and walking out the back. I'm planning on both, just to be safe. 

Honoring the Dead. 

This is the most famous tradition. On New Year's night households across Ireland set a place at the table for those lost the year before and door off the latch. 

I've really been thinking about my friend Lana, who died in March. We last worked together at the Red Key three years ago this evening. I'm so sorry that I didn't push her for a photo of us together - she was busy arraigning and rearranging and making everyone feel welcome. 

I've started several posts about Lana and haven't been able to properly capture her spirit - I'll make sure that I do that soon....https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/indystar/obituary.aspx?n=lana-june-seacott&pid=195941953

Tomorrow I'll put a plate out for her and the others that have died this year. 

In the meantime: 

Misfortune Be Gone, And Happiness Come In, From Tonight To A Year From Tonight, In The Name Of The Father, And The Son, And The Holy Spirit, 

Amen. 

Another Gouda Day

I opened my Advent cheese this morning, since it it worked out so well for lunch yesterday. 

The Mustard Gouda paired nicely with the ham, although I shouldn't have tried to grate it - it was way too soft. I didn't have any salad dressing and it didn't miss it at all. 

I've been tried to shave WW points here and there to make up for the crazy eating that I've been doing at work. 

So much candy! I'd lost nine pounds since March and have gained three of it back in the last six weeks. What the heck is wrong with me? 

Tomorrow is the start of a new Weight Watchers week - my goal is to track, track, track - and ignore those delicious Reece's trees. 

 

It's a Red Leicester Day

 

I peeked at today's Advent cheese early this morning. It was a new one to me. A little nibble showed that it was crumbly and yummy. I grated it into my lunch salad. 

It's amazing how fluffy half an ounce of Red Leicester cheese clouds into. 

It paired really well with the arugula (some from my container patch), cucumber, Brussels sprouts, my last garden tomato, and slice of ham. 

Maybe before the month is over I'll get classy and pair the cheese with wine or something...

It's a Gouda Day

Today was a good day. 

I'm a cheese purist at heart. I ate this beautiful slice of gouda as is. 

 

Onion and chive cheddar-icky

 

I suppose it was inevitable - I met a cheese I don't like. Today's Advent cheese was laced with onion and chive - aren't those the same thing? 

I'm in the small camp that believes that onions aren't food. 

I tried to balance it out with slices of my last garden tomato and the peppery arugula that it still growing in it's covered container. 

I couldn't do it. I took a nibble to say that I tried it. The onionness was too much. 

Cheers to tomorrow's cheese! 

Another Gouda Day

Today's Advent cheese surprise was Mediterranean Gouda. It had little flecks of um, Mediterranean stuff. I wound up just nibbling at it while baking cookies. 

I worked a little later this evening. I try not to grouse too much about going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark, but it's hard to stay motivated. 

My goal for this evening was to do some inside holiday decorating. 

I didn't manage to do a lick of decorating. Or cleaning. 

I did bake another batch of Snickerdoodles and popped them in the freezer. That counts for something, right? 

I'm working at Second Helpings early tomorrow morning and the Red Key tomorrow evening. Tomorrow's at-home chore list is small - eat cheese! 

Gouda Evening!

Happy December 3rd...or Black Pepper Gouda Day. 

My intention was to melt whatever the cheese of the day was on to a serving of turkey chili for my dinner, but somehow black pepper cheese on chili didn't sound appetizing. 

I'm really struggling with my weight. I'd stayed at my Weight Watchers goal weight for three years and let it go to hell two years ago. Somehow I've managed to lose six pounds during the pandemic and just need to lose four more to get back to my goal weight. 

I've really been buckling down on counting points and trying not to blow the progress I've made, but it's been a struggle the last two months. We have so much candy floating around Second Helpings and I've been baking.

 I tried to make this meal last....the next struggle is not to sample the Snickerdoodles I'm baking....I wouldn't take any bets on my willpower. 

Hello Cheese!

The pandemic has caused me question some of the things I held close to my heart. 

As much as I'm a collector of things....I'm lookin' at you PEZ...I've never been one to stockpile food or paper goods or cleaning supplies. My mantra is was, "I live in the 17th largest city in the country, there is no need to buy ahead." 

Boy was I wrong. 

I quickly regretted my habit of not buying another package of toilet paper before I was down to one roll, which led to me being grateful of my habit of keeping a box of tissues in every room. 

And I didn't want to be in the stores more than necessary so stopping at the market just to pick up one or two things felt crazy, even dangerous. I now have a running grocery list and after work on Wednesdays has become my shopping day. The fact that the new fun stuff in Aldi's "aisle of surprises" shows up on Wednesday is a bonus. 

Having food in the cupboard and freezer has led to me cooking more than my standby meals. This summer I was obsessed with rhubarb. I even planted some this fall, hoping for a next summer harvest. 

It's the season for my obsession for cranberries and have gone a little nuts buying bags of the tart fruit. Last week I made Grandma Leona's cranberry salad and experimented with baking cranberry-lemon bars. 

I still have three bags of cranberries in the fridge and two in the freezer. 

This morning I cooked down a bag of cranberries with the zest of one lemon and a tablespoon of sugar and a bit of water. Delicious! 

This evening it was the perfect topping to today's Advent cheese. 

*I just realized that my fingers are the same color as the ham. Ewww! 

Countdown to Christmas....or one day closer to 2020 being over?

I'll totally admit that my was attitude this morning - we were one day closer to the end of this crazy year. 

On the way to work all I could think about was getting back home to my cheese Advent calendar. Wouldn't you? And I'd shown great restraint in last the two weeks that it had been peering back at me in the refrigerator. 

On the way to the promise of Edam it turned out to be a great day - a real slice of the great things that happen at Second Helpings each day. 

It's Giving Tuesday so there were the happy sounds of thank you calls to Second Helpings donors happening around me. We may have set a new record for pounds of food rescued in one day. Volunteers and my co-workers made thousands of meals that will be distributed at no cost to the community. 

I am constantly blown away of the support the community shows to Second Helpings. I got to field a phone call for a generous financial donation, coordinate a pasta donation, and marvel at all of the beautiful food that is donated. That's a lot of use of the word "donate" in one sentence - but we seriously couldn't do it without the donors. 

Happy December First. May your countdown to Christmas be full of light and cheese. 

 

birthday.

I've been a little melancholy about turning 59 today.

Being in your 50s is one thing, but 59 is barreling straight toward being in your 60s. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it just doesn't seem like it could be true.

I have wonderful friends, my parents and siblings are all healthy and we all love each other, I have terrific and rewarding job/s, I have a lovely home, and I (mostly) like myself.

Still, 59! What the hell?

One of goals for this last year of my 50s is to get in better shape. I met my weight goal three years ago (thanks to WW) and held steady for two years and then whoosh! 

I could blame last year's broken ankle, the cake recipe I was testing for the State Fair, slowing metabolism, work....any number of things. My disappoint in my self if that I know what to do.

I decided to kick off my new year by starting to do something about it. I walk/jogged the Mini-Marathon this morning. All 13.1 miles in my small house, pajamas, and bare feet. 

I took today off and my plan was to walk through the neighborhoods to downtown and back. But it was raining. My back ached. I was hungry. Where were my ear buds? I could tell that I was losing steam and was ready scrap the idea.  

I launched out of bed and went for it. I came in first (of the people in my house, anyway)!

I did take time to set up my own finish line.

hunker down projects

On social media I see so many friends tackling big projects while they're sheltering at home. Making quilts, painting furniture, landscaping, homeschooling, cleaning out their garages.....doing big stuff.

Even though I'm still working full-time at Second Helpings, I'm not working Saturday nights at the Red Key or the occasional Sunday at Marigold. I don't have any writing deadlines, I can go to Mass on my own schedule, and any concerts or parties have been cancelled.

Since I have an abundance of energy in regular times, you'd think I'd channel it and all of my free time into painting the house or starting a novel or scanning the boxes of photographs in my closet or writing letters or organizing my Christmas ornaments or cataloging the PEZ collection....or even keeping up with Words With Friends and birthdays greetings on Facebook.

Nope.

I spent the first few weeks overwhelmed and tired. Second Helpings is doing amazing things and we were working seven days a week in a combination of onsite and at-home shifts and conference calls and planning.

Leaving the house and coming home felt exhausting. I leave my shoes and anything that I was bringing home on the porch, take my clothes off inside the door, run to wash my hands, sanitize the door knob and my keys, toss my clothes down the laundry chute, shower, sanitize my watch and jewelry and glasses, start laundry, sanitize my purse and lunch bag on the porch and fall into bed.

Not that I was sleeping well. I was waking up several times a night in a panic - taking my temperature and realizing that I was hot because the cat was laying on my head or was shivering because the blankets had fallen away. Worrying about COVID-19 symptoms messes with you dang head.

I've certainly settled down. Work has evened out. It's a true testament to how nimble Second Helpings is that we pivoted overnight in how we deliver meals to the community. Not to mention doubling the number of people that we're serving.

I'm sleeping (mostly) through the night and I no longer obsessively take my temperature (now just before I leave the house).

I was feeling guilty that I didn't have a good answer to the question that invariably comes up in Zoom meetings, "what are you doing to keep yourself busy?" Answering "laundry and keeping the cat alive" doesn't seem ambitious enough.

I finally realized that getting through this is a big enough accomplishment in itself. In order to quit feeling like an underachiever I've given myself a list of small things that I can do to feel like I've accomplished something.

This evening I separated a jar of coins from the buttons, pocket lint, and safety pins that had collected there. I went as far as rolling the pennies and separating the Euros from the Canadian coins.

Look at me go!

happy saint patrick's day

Back in February - that seems so long ago - when I gave up booze for Lent and gave myself a Saint Patrick's Day dispensation, I assumed that I'd be drinking Irish whiskey in a crowd and toasting with friends today.

Boy was I wrong! We're in the midst of social distancing and staying home to attempt to curb the devastation of COVID-19 

I worked from home today. I got a great deal done and am close to cleaning out my email queue. I took a big walk after work - keeping at least six feet from people. It was great to soak in some sunshine and see other folks, even if I didn't talk to anyone.

I decided to have my own Saint Patrick's Day celebration. My dinner consisted of an Irish banger, steamed carrots with a pat of Kerrygold butter, potato salad, and pea shoots served on a Belleek plate. I put the mustard in a little pot from an Irish pottery company. Guinness and a wee pinch of Tullamore Dew rounded out the meal.

Oddly, I'm having a hard time finishing the beer and whiskey. Probably just as well. Tomorrow is a new day of work that is sure to bring even new challenges. I'm proud of the way that Second Helpings is reacting to the crisis. You can read more about that by clicking here: https://www.secondhelpings.org/4-days-ago

In the meantime, take care of yourself and wash your damn hands!

Sláinte mhaith!

Happy Pancake Tuesday!

Today I was contemplating how to celebrate Shrove Tuesday - or Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras - all names for Ash Wednesday Eve.

As kids we took full advantage of getting in one last shot at whatever you pledged to give up for Lent. It was the time for one last chance to pinch your sister or roll your eyes at your brother or to savor a coveted chocolate bar. Mom would make a special meal that included dessert and we would whoop it up, Boone County farm kid style.

I still take Lent very seriously, not only giving something up (usually booze) but trying to do something extra (typically pledging to write notes to folks to let them know how much I appreciate them).

This evening, I considered my stand-by walking to the Red Key for a Jameson whiskey or driving to a fast food joint for French fries and a diet soda. I'm giving up the drink this year - both booze* and diet soda.

I remembered reading that the Irish celebrate by eating pancakes. According to lore, the tradition started because you needed to use up your eggs and sugar - things that were not allowed to be consumed during Lent. I really enjoyed this explanation. 

As luck would have it, I had all of the ingredients at home. In the spirit of using things up, I added lime zest to the batter and made lime syrup.

I poured my diet Pepsi in an Apollo glass in honor of Katherine Johnson, who died yesterday. I used my Lord's Prayer glass for my carefully-measured ounce of Irish whiskey.

I think it was a pretty decent way to celebrate Shrove Tuesday. Although I'd totally pinch my one of my sisters if I happened to see one of them in the next hour and a half. 

Wonder how many pancakes are being consumed in Ireland today? Here is the surprisingly precise number: 
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/offbeat/pancake-tuesday-irish-people-love-to-go-on-the-batter-1.2989835

*I'm reserving the right for a Saint Patrick's Day dispensation.