I bought a decorative sign once that said, "A wise man travels to discover himself." It's become one of my anthems in life. I grew up in a large family, on a tight budget. Vacations were usually a three hour drive to visit grandparents in Vicksburg,MS, a few road trips to Fort Worth, TX to stay with family friends, and trips to wherever my aunt happened to be living at the time in Kentucky. There were a few long weekends, as I got older, that I'd call family getaways. There wasn't money in the budget for week long yearly travel. Yet, even as a kid, listening to Daddy tell stories of being an over the road trucker, the gypsy soul seed was planted in me. As a teenager, I'd planned to travel the world, once I left home. Once grown, the reality of being a young mother and trying to keep a roof over our heads became a top priority. Yet, I still found time and money to explore, by car, with my young son strapped in the back seat. We'd visit friends in Louisiana, family in Vicksburg, and a childhood friend who moved to middle Tn. Once, with a friend, we ended up in Iowa, drove all the way across the state.
Until my son was five years old, I never went anywhere without him. In 2006, I bought a plane ticket to San Diego, C.A., to visit my brother who had recently moved to Southern California. I left my son for the weekend with my sister and off I went to see the West. It was truly a wonderful trip! California had been on my list since I was a child, hearing stories of my Daddy as a young Marine. I explored the desert both alone and with my brother. I ate great food, met some awesome people, and came home more determined than ever to see America. I made myself a promise that every few years, even if I got married and had more children, I would take time for myself to travel. I got myself a passport, determined to fill it up.
I've been fortunate, in the past twelve years to feed my inner gypsy. Last year, 2017, was a record year for me in traveling. From mid May to the end of June, I drove from Memphis to Brawley, C.A., then down to the Baton Rouge, L.A. area, then up to Northern, K.Y I wasn't home much. Then in October, we took a family cruise to the Bahamas. Literally going coast to coast, and even out of the country twice in one year was truly a dream come true. I'm thankful for the financial help of others, including my mother and hard working husband, that gave me the ability to do that. The only trip my kids weren't with me was the cross country trek. What a trek it was!
Traveling has showed me how people eat, all over this diverse country of ours. We choose to stick with local places on our adventures, to both eat like locals and expand our pallets. Some of the best Italian food I've ever eaten is in Deming, N.M. It's a map dot, not too far from the Mexican, Texas, New Mexico border. I can taste the marinara to this day. When I returned from California, I brought home Mexican pastries, vanilla, and though purchased at a grocery store, homemade fresh tortillas, made in house. On our Carnival cruise, my younger son discovered he loved salmon eggs benedict.
I think, in order to fully envelope yourself in whatever local area you happen to be visiting, eating local helps that. You bring home a taste, and the memory of excellent meals, and hope to replicate it in your own kitchen. With your children, cooking something they especially liked on vacation, helps them also remember. It keeps the conversation going around your home table. You discuss what you ate wherever you were. Then plot your next family adventure.
I read an article recently about how it's more important to travel with your kids, than buying expensive toys. I fully agree with that. My kids love a big breakfast cooked over a campfire, they love fresh seafood from whatever coastal place we're visiting, and they carry that with them. Travel, with your kids, shows them there's more to life than where you happen to call home. It, hopefully, will help them develop into more tolerant and accepting adults as well.
Travel can get expensive, that's the most common excuse I hear among my peers. "Well, we simply can't afford it." I say you can! You spend your money on what you want to. I choose to shop thrift stores and cook primarily at home. That way we can stash a few extra for our next trip. Until last year, our family vacations have been camping trips. It's such a fun affordable way to visit new places. I married into a camping family, learned so much, and now love it. Road trips, like mine last year, were to visit with friends and family. Having a free place to stay really helps with the bottom line. Now that my kids are older, we've discovered cruising. In fact, last year it was cheaper to take a five day cruise, than paying for five nights at a Gulf Coast hotel. {I also hear, "Well, my spouse won't go to XYZ." My reply, with respect to their relationship is, "Go without them! Load those kids up and head out!"}
I know I've gotten long winded. My point is, don't limit yourself to the same spots every single year. Yes, go to the beach. Trek up into the mountains, just change the view. This world is a big place. There are amazing people everywhere you go. There's great food to be had in so many tiny map dots you may find yourself in. Look farther than those golden arches. Stop in at a local diner. Meet locals. Bring that experience home to your own kitchen. Get a passport, for yourself and kids. Over age, I think fifteen, they last ten years. We're already booked on another cruise, to Mexico next year, as a family. This time, Nana, my Mom, is going too. Try something new. See it all!
Monday, May 21, 2018
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
To Instant Pot or Not
Lately, electric pressure cookers, also known by the name brand Instant Pot, seem all the rage in kitchens across America. I was hesitant to purchase one. I also don't purchase something for my kitchen just to keep with trends. My favorite cooking vessel is my Granny's sixty plus year old cast iron skillet. Though I cook a wide variety of foods in my kitchen, and love gadgets, I'm a bit old school. I'll peel, chop, and use all my dishes to compose one meal. At my husband's request, I bought HIM an Instant Pot for Mother's Day. Not Kidding. I knew I wanted the name brand one, because I'm anti Teflon. Instant Pot brand isn't Teflon coated. I debated spending $79 or $99 dollars. The more expensive had the yogurt making feature and a different screen. My husband point blank asked how often I saw myself making yogurt. My quick reply was, "Never!" We'll stick with Yoplait around here. A quick Walmart run and we had an Instant Pot of our very own.
When I got home, I read the directions several times. Texted two very dear friends who'd both been after me to purchase my own. They were tickled for us and happily answered any silly questions I had. I got it washed up, plugged up, and googled how to instant cook potatoes for potato salad. It seemed easy enough, but I was still a skeptic. Could it really cook potatoes in about half the time? The answer is YES! Think in a Southern woman way, "YEAYUS!", with glee and high pitched. I cooked five pounds of peeled and chunked potatoes, three eggs, and 3 chopped carrots in about twelve minutes. That includes opening it half way through cooking, because I didn't know what the hell I was doing. The eggs were perfect, potatoes creamy, and carrots just slightly al dente. (If you haven't added a few chopped carrots to your old fashioned potato salad, do try it. Trust me. I have a reputation, locally, in my adopted community for making killer regular and loaded potato salad. Not to brag...It makes me feel good that being a good cook is attached to the reputation I've built.)
That evening I also cooked a small pork butt for sliders. That got a bit tricky on cook time. Here, near Memphis, pork is cooked low n slow, in a dry rub, and usually on a smoker or grill. After some hits and misses, I finally got the butt fall apart tender and shredded in its own juices.
It was then I decided I was converted to Instant Pot cooking. I looked around online to make sure I got a good deal. Both Amazon and Walmart have the basic six quart model for the exact same price. Amazon has a wide variety of brands. If Teflon isn't an issue for you, then by all means, save a few dollars, or in some cases upwards of forty dollars and try a non Instant Pot brand. If you decide it's a tool you simply can't live without, splurge later on a more expensive model. Some of my girlfriends have a Bella brand cooker. I would search for "electric pressure cookers". Choose the one you want, within your budget. This tool would have been beyond handy, even more so than the crock pot I had, back when I was a working single mom.
Don't be afraid to try both your own tried and true recipes, new ones you find online, or like I've been doing this past week, make it up as I go. I'm still very much learning as I go. Today I learned I can cook pinto beans, from dried to completely cooked in just under twenty five minutes. With a hot Southern Summer upon us, I have zero doubt my Instant Pot will be my go to tool to get nutritious meals on the table without standing over a hot stove or running the oven hours on end. I'm so glad I caved to peer pressure and purchased one for our home. I'll periodically share my own creations, with pictures, as I write more and more on this blog.
When I got home, I read the directions several times. Texted two very dear friends who'd both been after me to purchase my own. They were tickled for us and happily answered any silly questions I had. I got it washed up, plugged up, and googled how to instant cook potatoes for potato salad. It seemed easy enough, but I was still a skeptic. Could it really cook potatoes in about half the time? The answer is YES! Think in a Southern woman way, "YEAYUS!", with glee and high pitched. I cooked five pounds of peeled and chunked potatoes, three eggs, and 3 chopped carrots in about twelve minutes. That includes opening it half way through cooking, because I didn't know what the hell I was doing. The eggs were perfect, potatoes creamy, and carrots just slightly al dente. (If you haven't added a few chopped carrots to your old fashioned potato salad, do try it. Trust me. I have a reputation, locally, in my adopted community for making killer regular and loaded potato salad. Not to brag...It makes me feel good that being a good cook is attached to the reputation I've built.)
That evening I also cooked a small pork butt for sliders. That got a bit tricky on cook time. Here, near Memphis, pork is cooked low n slow, in a dry rub, and usually on a smoker or grill. After some hits and misses, I finally got the butt fall apart tender and shredded in its own juices.
It was then I decided I was converted to Instant Pot cooking. I looked around online to make sure I got a good deal. Both Amazon and Walmart have the basic six quart model for the exact same price. Amazon has a wide variety of brands. If Teflon isn't an issue for you, then by all means, save a few dollars, or in some cases upwards of forty dollars and try a non Instant Pot brand. If you decide it's a tool you simply can't live without, splurge later on a more expensive model. Some of my girlfriends have a Bella brand cooker. I would search for "electric pressure cookers". Choose the one you want, within your budget. This tool would have been beyond handy, even more so than the crock pot I had, back when I was a working single mom.
Don't be afraid to try both your own tried and true recipes, new ones you find online, or like I've been doing this past week, make it up as I go. I'm still very much learning as I go. Today I learned I can cook pinto beans, from dried to completely cooked in just under twenty five minutes. With a hot Southern Summer upon us, I have zero doubt my Instant Pot will be my go to tool to get nutritious meals on the table without standing over a hot stove or running the oven hours on end. I'm so glad I caved to peer pressure and purchased one for our home. I'll periodically share my own creations, with pictures, as I write more and more on this blog.
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Begining to Garden, Black Thumbs and All
Last Easter, 2017, on a whim, I decided to plant squash seed in my front flower bed. Our large dog and winter had mananged to kill yet another set of small hedge bushes. I wasn't going to sink another hundred dollars, that's on the cheap side, to re purchase, plant, and mulch the flower beds. Thinking I wasn't aiming for yard of the month, I'd attempt to grow food as an experiment. A few weeks later, we had squash plants. As soon as I saw the first seedlings burst from the Earth, I dug in deeper. literally. I'd purchased my husband a sack of purple seed potatoes around his late Winter birthday. The intent was to sprout them at home, then ask my mother inlaw, a master gardener, to please grow them again in her ample garden. She'd done it before with minimum success. I decided we'd grow them here on the Funny Farm... but where? A google search taught me I could grow most foods in containers. I looked around the yard and attic. Noticed there were lots of empty plastic totes. I then proceeded to purchase a few bags of potting soil, and took my 9 mm hand gun, and shot holes in the container. Next thing we know, there's potato sprouts. Last year I turned my Daddy's old trot line tubs that I'd mounted on each end of my flower beds, and planted flowers in the year prior, into herb gardens. I took and old kiddie pool, we'd had for ducks, that had also grown beautiful flowers, and planted some cucumber seed. I took a few more storage totes and planted a few tomato vines. I googled as I went. I learned last year, after years of killing simple house plants inside, I had a knack for growing food in containers outside. No one was more tickled by the fruits of not much labor than I was.
It was a long cold winter here in West Tennessee. It gave me plenty of time to survey our very hilly yard, and plot and plan. I decided I was going to grow on a bigger scale this year. I wanted to actually till up some yard in addition to my growing container garden venture. Last year was simply a test to see if I could grow anything. This year, we borrowed a tiller, sold off the camper, bought seed and plants and got to digging in the Dixie dirt.
This year, on the Funny Farm, there is about a two hundred square foot patch in the Earth. There's tomatoes, cucumber, peppers,beans, and one twenty cent corn seed packet planted. There is about a one hundred square foot potato patch thriving. I've got cabbage planted in the former flower, cucumber pools. There is squash in one flower bed and melon planted in the other. A social media request gleaned me two old kiddie pools that I planted peas in. Plus, ten containers with tomato, peppers, and potatoes planted. It's a true hodgepodge of growing vessels around here. It's not exactly yard of the month worthy, for sure. To be totally honest, because we do live out here in the Boonies of West Tennessee, the grow containers don't bother me at all. We did invest in some new landscape timbers from Home Depot to outline the potato and larger Earth garden. We tilled in 10-10-10 fertilizer to everything. Purchased a few grow mix dirt scoops from the local nursery. I've planted countless seed packets of wild flowers, marigolds, and zinnias. Zinnias are my personal favorite. You always need to plant flowers near your food, to encourage bees. Bees are the true garden helpers, by way of pollination.
We had a few non starts, due to above mentioned long winter. After planting squash seed, cabbage, and potatoes, we not only had three more frost, we also had an unholy hail storm in the wee hours one morning. I planted cabbage and squash seed again. The potatoes seem non the worse for wear despite the varying temperatures around them. So far most everything planted from seed and purchased plants are thriving. I've done two plantings of beans and cucumber. Plan on one more seed sewing, to hopefully get a continual crop.
The plan is to home can and freeze whatever surplus fruits of our labor we yield. The weather has still been a fighting factor. We seemed to have gone straight from Winter, to pollen, straight to summer. Record high temps are being currently set in my corner of Dixieland. Stay tuned to see what happens, and if I can cook a full meal of home grown vegetables for my growing boys.
It was a long cold winter here in West Tennessee. It gave me plenty of time to survey our very hilly yard, and plot and plan. I decided I was going to grow on a bigger scale this year. I wanted to actually till up some yard in addition to my growing container garden venture. Last year was simply a test to see if I could grow anything. This year, we borrowed a tiller, sold off the camper, bought seed and plants and got to digging in the Dixie dirt.
This year, on the Funny Farm, there is about a two hundred square foot patch in the Earth. There's tomatoes, cucumber, peppers,beans, and one twenty cent corn seed packet planted. There is about a one hundred square foot potato patch thriving. I've got cabbage planted in the former flower, cucumber pools. There is squash in one flower bed and melon planted in the other. A social media request gleaned me two old kiddie pools that I planted peas in. Plus, ten containers with tomato, peppers, and potatoes planted. It's a true hodgepodge of growing vessels around here. It's not exactly yard of the month worthy, for sure. To be totally honest, because we do live out here in the Boonies of West Tennessee, the grow containers don't bother me at all. We did invest in some new landscape timbers from Home Depot to outline the potato and larger Earth garden. We tilled in 10-10-10 fertilizer to everything. Purchased a few grow mix dirt scoops from the local nursery. I've planted countless seed packets of wild flowers, marigolds, and zinnias. Zinnias are my personal favorite. You always need to plant flowers near your food, to encourage bees. Bees are the true garden helpers, by way of pollination.
We had a few non starts, due to above mentioned long winter. After planting squash seed, cabbage, and potatoes, we not only had three more frost, we also had an unholy hail storm in the wee hours one morning. I planted cabbage and squash seed again. The potatoes seem non the worse for wear despite the varying temperatures around them. So far most everything planted from seed and purchased plants are thriving. I've done two plantings of beans and cucumber. Plan on one more seed sewing, to hopefully get a continual crop.
The plan is to home can and freeze whatever surplus fruits of our labor we yield. The weather has still been a fighting factor. We seemed to have gone straight from Winter, to pollen, straight to summer. Record high temps are being currently set in my corner of Dixieland. Stay tuned to see what happens, and if I can cook a full meal of home grown vegetables for my growing boys.
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