We met my family for 'brunch' on Sunday at a cute little restaurant in Gilbert. Over delicious food, we wished my oldest brother a happy birthday and talked about the upcoming holidays. Driving home, I skipped the freeway in favor of streets that take us by big houses and huge green yards dotted with horses and herding dogs.
Soon enough, the suburban splendor gives way to a pocket of town between the meal and home where you're more likely to see big families pushing a stroller and dragging 3 little ones down the road, each of them clutching a few bags from the grocery store. Doing their part to get the food home without a car. People hanging around outside convenience stores in a way that's completely benign but instills a small flutter of caution in my belly if the store they are haunting is one where I need to stop for gas.
We sat at a red light talking about our plans for the rest of the day, when suddenly my husband asked why I thought that big white car was stopped at such a funny angle, halfway in the center lane used for left turns, one turn signal appearing to blink but showing them turning the opposite direction from that which the car's nose was pointed. My gut kicked in and I answered, "Who knows." and looked up at the red light, waiting for it to change.
"I think they need help," my husband answered. And so, as the light turned I flipped on my blinker to get over to the right lane and turn onto the road behind the car, but someone was in my way. Instead I decided at the last minute to go straight and make a right into the convenience store's parking lot. My husband was compelled to go see why the car was stopped where it was, hastily blocking half a lane of traffic. I'm not as good a citizen as he is and would have driven on, but the truth of my husband is this: you never doubt that you're safe when he's around. It's not just the fact he's bigger than most other men. It's not even his street smarts from growing up in one of the worst parts of the Valley. It's just that I always assume that his knack for talking to people and making them feel instantly safe with him around will transfer to strangers. Even strangers in dodgy cars in dodgy neighborhoods.
Just as I parked the car, a big guy - bigger than my husband - stepped out of its driver side door and went around back to begin leaning his body against the rear fender. Not thinking twice, my husband had his door open before our car was in park and was darting across 2 empty lanes to help. I watched him as he leaned into the trunk as well and his whole lower body hunkered down to move the car forward slowly on sleepy wheels. Within a few seconds, they were crossing the road and the big man was jumping in the front seat to steer the car into the lot where we were parked.
"What's daddy doin', mama?" asked Rohan in back.
"Don't worry, buddy," Luca answered before I could, "he's helping that man with the big car. It's the right thing to do, you know."
A lump sat in my throat as I smiled and caught her eyes in my rearview mirror. I nodded in agreement.
Seconds later, Darrick was pulling open the passenger door. "He ran out of gas," he told me. "Oh," I stupidly answered. My brain wasn't connecting what he was saying, so he did the work for me. "Right over there, on that corner...that station has gas and this one doesn't."
We turned out and made our way to the convenience store across the street. He grabbed a fistful of dollar bills and went inside. I watched him in my car's side mirror as he disappeared through sliding doors and reappeared with a gallon jug of water. Stopping by some plants, he emptied the whole thing and then came to the pump. Three dollars later, the gallon jug was nearly full and we left the parking lot to go back over to the man with the big white car.
I pulled intot he spot right next to him, all 4 of our windows down because the kids were curious and wanted to hear what was happening. "You came back." said the man, astonished and grateful.
I reached behind my seat and pulled out an empty water bottle. With a pocket knife, the man cut out the base of the bottle and used it as a funnel to pour a gallon of gas into his car. Darrick talked to him as he did so, in a voice I couldn't really hear. And anyhow, even if I'd been able to properly listen in, The Grinch was on the radio and the kids were demanding that I turn up the volume.
Getting back into the car, Darrick told me the man had thanked him. He worked just down the street at a restaurant as a chef and had worked an unusual early morning shift to make some extra holiday cash. He thought he had enough gas to make it the three miles home, but obviously he'd been wrong. He turned toward the convenience store to get gas, forgetting that it was the one across the street that had gas pumps. He had offered Darrick money as a thank you. Darrick turned it down. He offered us a free dinner the next night at his restaurant, and Darrick said we'd try to make it.
He thanked us profusely. I put my hand on my husband's arm as we drove away, told him he did a good thing.
"Nah. He needed help. We've all been there. It's the right thing to do, you know," he replied, as Luca caught my eye in the mirror and smiled.
Showing posts with label Thanksgiving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thanksgiving. Show all posts
Monday, November 28, 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Thankful Wall.
Last year, we had the Thankful Tree. This year, I wanted to do something like that again, but different. And what better place to do it than surrounding the new french doors we installed this summer?
Nevermind this totally highlights the fact we need to finish the interior door frames. I am loving having fall all over that wall.
The process is simple. I free-form cut leaves out of red, orange, yellow, and brown construction paper and try to get at least one member of the household to tell me what they are thankful for each day. It gets written down, attributed, dated, and taped to the wall. Some of my favorites include Luca's proclamation that she is thankful for her 'buttocks' and 'Santa' and Rohan's proclamation of thanks for 'pretty awesome'. I can only assume he's being thankful for his own astounding level of awesome with that one. It's sometimes a challenge to get a 'thankful' from the kids each day. Luca sort of gets it, partly because she remembers doing this last year and partly because they do 'thankful' activities all of November in preschool. Mo, on the other hand, stares at you like you just spouted a second nose if you ask him to tell you what he is thankful for. Instead, I ask him what makes him happy or what/who he loves.
But my favorite leaf, hands-down? This little red guy who lost his stem and won Luca's favor. I asked what she was thankful for, and she grabbed the leaf and said she'd write it herself thankyouverymuch. She even added her name (though I cheated and did the date for her, since dates are still a very abstract concept for her):
Nevermind this totally highlights the fact we need to finish the interior door frames. I am loving having fall all over that wall.
Also, while you're excusing my door frames, pleae also ignore the mess. I DO live with 2 little kids and a husband.
The process is simple. I free-form cut leaves out of red, orange, yellow, and brown construction paper and try to get at least one member of the household to tell me what they are thankful for each day. It gets written down, attributed, dated, and taped to the wall. Some of my favorites include Luca's proclamation that she is thankful for her 'buttocks' and 'Santa' and Rohan's proclamation of thanks for 'pretty awesome'. I can only assume he's being thankful for his own astounding level of awesome with that one. It's sometimes a challenge to get a 'thankful' from the kids each day. Luca sort of gets it, partly because she remembers doing this last year and partly because they do 'thankful' activities all of November in preschool. Mo, on the other hand, stares at you like you just spouted a second nose if you ask him to tell you what he is thankful for. Instead, I ask him what makes him happy or what/who he loves.
But my favorite leaf, hands-down? This little red guy who lost his stem and won Luca's favor. I asked what she was thankful for, and she grabbed the leaf and said she'd write it herself thankyouverymuch. She even added her name (though I cheated and did the date for her, since dates are still a very abstract concept for her):
And just because I am in love with how this looks, another angle on the whole wall of thanks:
Friday, November 26, 2010
It was good.
Thanksgiving, that is.
But also: the cheesecake was better than it looked and the pie fell apart (would have been better in a baking dish rather than served as pie) but was delicious.
But also: the cheesecake was better than it looked and the pie fell apart (would have been better in a baking dish rather than served as pie) but was delicious.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Baker's Apprentice.
Every year, my mom makes Thanksgiving dinner early and then heads to LA for the actual day. Her mom, sister, brother, and neices and nephews are all there, and my sister is a 5 hour drive away. This frees us up to spend the actual day at home with our little family and then at the inlaws' house for dinner.
As I like to do, I offered to make dessert. Let's be honest: dessert is the most fun part of the meal to make! I'm not much of a cook, but I might be one of the best bakers in the family, and I really love putting the time and creativity into making something delicious for people to savor.
My in laws are not huge into pumpkin pie. They do love pecan, but I'm not a big pecan fan and if I do make it I prefer to make it completely from scratch, which takes a lot more time and patience than I wanted to put into it this year. So instead I decided to do two desserts I've made in the past, but not in a long while: cheesecake with port wine cherry sauce and an apple steusel.
The cheesecake I put together last night because I wanted it to set overnight since most cheesecake recipes get a little better with timel.. I used this recipe (and though I've made cheesecake before, this was the first time with this particular recipe), adding a little pumpkin pie seasoning to the crust and some vanilla to the cake itself. I've yet to sample it, but I'm excited to. The frustrating part was that it took almost TWO HOURS more to bake than it said it would (if I'd read the reviews I'd have known this...lesson learned), so I had to wait until this morning to make the sauce to accompany it.
The crust was graham cracker, sugar, melted butter, and a touch of both cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice.
That would be FIVE blocks of cream cheese. I chose this recipe over others specifically because of how unhealthy it sounded! Hey, go big or go home, right?
Stirring in the vanilla. I really wish I had whole vanilla beans to use, but I didn't plan ahead enough to get those this year.
Mmmmmm
Hm. So I have to admit I am hoping this tastes better than it looks. I'm a bit disappointed at the appearance, but seeing as how it's going to be smothered in that cherry sauce I mentioned, all that really matters is flavor.
Speaking of the cherry sauce, here it is. I loosely follow a recipe to make this, but add my own touches:
Port wine (you can use tawny or ruby...I used ruby), sugar, and a splash of vanilla. If you have vanilla beans, you can add them in at this point, and remove them before you add the cornstarch mixture (see below).
Pitted cherries. When cherries are in season, it's totally worth the effort and time to buy fresh and pit them yourself, but these were frozne which works as well.
Bring to a rolling boil, and stir continuously for about 5 minutes, until the cherries soften and break easily and the mixture is like very watery syrup.
When it's done, it will appear shiny and be thick, almost like cherry preserves. And it will taste so good you'll make excused to lick the bowl.
In addition to the cheesecake, I also made an apple struesel that I predict to be to die for. Luca helped with this, so here it is in photo essay format. I'll say this: I didn't use a specific recipe. With the sliced apples (skins on) I added lemon juice, cinnamon, sugar, and nutmeg. The apples are granny smith, and for variety I added two sliced gala apples. I prebaked the pie crust for about 10 minutes with some butter brushed on it, then added the apple filling and placed foil over the top. Baked for about 15 minutes until the pie filling was bubbling, then took it back out and added the topping (whole oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, melted butter, a bit of flour) and put the foil back on. Baked for about 40 more minutes at 375 until it started to bubble over a bit.
As I like to do, I offered to make dessert. Let's be honest: dessert is the most fun part of the meal to make! I'm not much of a cook, but I might be one of the best bakers in the family, and I really love putting the time and creativity into making something delicious for people to savor.
My in laws are not huge into pumpkin pie. They do love pecan, but I'm not a big pecan fan and if I do make it I prefer to make it completely from scratch, which takes a lot more time and patience than I wanted to put into it this year. So instead I decided to do two desserts I've made in the past, but not in a long while: cheesecake with port wine cherry sauce and an apple steusel.
The cheesecake I put together last night because I wanted it to set overnight since most cheesecake recipes get a little better with timel.. I used this recipe (and though I've made cheesecake before, this was the first time with this particular recipe), adding a little pumpkin pie seasoning to the crust and some vanilla to the cake itself. I've yet to sample it, but I'm excited to. The frustrating part was that it took almost TWO HOURS more to bake than it said it would (if I'd read the reviews I'd have known this...lesson learned), so I had to wait until this morning to make the sauce to accompany it.
Hickmans eggs are local. I buy them whenever I can not only because they have cage free, they are local, and they are sold at a locally-owned grocery chain. I also buy them because Hickman donates thousands of eggs to food banks every year. It feels good to support a local business doing good things in its own community.
Speaking of the cherry sauce, here it is. I loosely follow a recipe to make this, but add my own touches:
Separately, mix cornstarch, fresh lemon juice, and a bit of water. Pour into boiling cherry mix, which will kill the boil for a few minutes. Wait for it to begin to boil again, and then reduce heat to a simmer.
In addition to the cheesecake, I also made an apple struesel that I predict to be to die for. Luca helped with this, so here it is in photo essay format. I'll say this: I didn't use a specific recipe. With the sliced apples (skins on) I added lemon juice, cinnamon, sugar, and nutmeg. The apples are granny smith, and for variety I added two sliced gala apples. I prebaked the pie crust for about 10 minutes with some butter brushed on it, then added the apple filling and placed foil over the top. Baked for about 15 minutes until the pie filling was bubbling, then took it back out and added the topping (whole oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, melted butter, a bit of flour) and put the foil back on. Baked for about 40 more minutes at 375 until it started to bubble over a bit.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Thankful Tree
Remember this guy?
The tree, I mean. Well I was really feeling like 2 weeks of having it in our house wasn't enough and wanted to find a way to include it in our ongoing fall holiday celebrations. So I came up with a Thankful Tree. I had grand plans to cut leaves out of something that would not be at risk of catching fire if it hit the lights, and writing a 'thankful' note on it each day. And then I changed my mind because I can be pretty indecisive, and I decided I didn't want that bare looking tree in my house for another month.
But out of that idea was born the real Thankful Tree.
Luca used streamers to make this grass, which she asked me to tape to the bottom. As you can see, a real, live 19 month old boy lives here and got his hands on the tree. Nothing a little scotch tape can't fix!
Every day, Luca and I sit down and talk about what she's thankful for, and we write out at least one leaf. Some days she wants more than one leaf, and other days someone else will add a leaf. We keep adding branches as the month goes on so that we can make more room for Thankful Leaves.
If you're looking for other ways to celebrate the Thankful spirit with your family, check out this post on YHL and this post from my friend at Cupcake Monkey. Both of their ideas for family traditions to celebrate the month of thanks are beautiful!
The tree, I mean. Well I was really feeling like 2 weeks of having it in our house wasn't enough and wanted to find a way to include it in our ongoing fall holiday celebrations. So I came up with a Thankful Tree. I had grand plans to cut leaves out of something that would not be at risk of catching fire if it hit the lights, and writing a 'thankful' note on it each day. And then I changed my mind because I can be pretty indecisive, and I decided I didn't want that bare looking tree in my house for another month.
But out of that idea was born the real Thankful Tree.
A leaf for each family member, plus one for Ruby and a special one for Miss Piggy, who floats in our world still.
Top heart designed by Luca, bottom heart with all our initials.
Every day, Luca and I sit down and talk about what she's thankful for, and we write out at least one leaf. Some days she wants more than one leaf, and other days someone else will add a leaf. We keep adding branches as the month goes on so that we can make more room for Thankful Leaves.
If you're looking for other ways to celebrate the Thankful spirit with your family, check out this post on YHL and this post from my friend at Cupcake Monkey. Both of their ideas for family traditions to celebrate the month of thanks are beautiful!
Thursday, November 26, 2009
This Year.
I'm thankful for my husband who loves and supports and protects me and our children. I'm thankful he works hard at a job he loves shaping the minds and lives of the next generation. I am thankful to be married to my best friend and the best dad my kids could ask for.
I'm thankful for Luca, who made me a mom and has taught me unconditional love and patience. I'm thankful she encourages me to slow down and also to take from life what's there for the taking. She makes me smile, laugh, swoon, cry...she is all that is right about the world, wrapped up in the body of an amazing little girl!
I'm thankful for Rohan and for the lessons about love and patience he has taught me. I'm thankful for the way his nose crinkles when he smiles, and for the sparkle in his eyes. I'm thankful for the generous and loving spirit I already know he is. I cannot wait to get to know his personality as he grows!
I'm thankful for the things, good and bad, I went through in the past year. For a healthy pregnancy and a birth experience that taught me not only about my own strength, but my husband's...and one which enabled me to feel pride in my body which I'd never felt before. I'm thankful for the lessons I learned from the hard times and for the laughter I had to carry me through.
I'm thankful for my family and my in laws. This life wouldn't be as rich as it is without family!
I'm thankful for ALL my friends who provide me laughter, support, and understanding of life's challenges. I'm also thankful for the people in life who remind me to appreciate the bad with the good, and for those who challenge me to think about things in a different light.
Happy Thanksgiving Day to you and yours!
22/30
I'm thankful for Luca, who made me a mom and has taught me unconditional love and patience. I'm thankful she encourages me to slow down and also to take from life what's there for the taking. She makes me smile, laugh, swoon, cry...she is all that is right about the world, wrapped up in the body of an amazing little girl!
I'm thankful for Rohan and for the lessons about love and patience he has taught me. I'm thankful for the way his nose crinkles when he smiles, and for the sparkle in his eyes. I'm thankful for the generous and loving spirit I already know he is. I cannot wait to get to know his personality as he grows!
I'm thankful for the things, good and bad, I went through in the past year. For a healthy pregnancy and a birth experience that taught me not only about my own strength, but my husband's...and one which enabled me to feel pride in my body which I'd never felt before. I'm thankful for the lessons I learned from the hard times and for the laughter I had to carry me through.
I'm thankful for my family and my in laws. This life wouldn't be as rich as it is without family!
I'm thankful for ALL my friends who provide me laughter, support, and understanding of life's challenges. I'm also thankful for the people in life who remind me to appreciate the bad with the good, and for those who challenge me to think about things in a different light.
Happy Thanksgiving Day to you and yours!
22/30
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving!
The turkey is brined and prepped and in the oven, the pies are almost done, the potatoes are peeled and ready to boil and mash...Thanksgiving is here!!
To all our friends and family: have a glorious day, and thank you for being in our lives!
To all our friends and family: have a glorious day, and thank you for being in our lives!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
You Should Know
I am not posting any blog entries for a good reason: I am boring right now. Our life lately has consisted of coaching wrestling and getting physical therapy (for him), trying not to obsess over baby stuff and fighting what appears to be the never-ending cold (me), and piles upon heaps of cuteness, counterbalanced by some bum rashes and explosive diapers (hers, not mine).
That said, tomorrow will bring one piece of big news, but you have to WAIT to get it. I know, I know..the suspense is killing you all. It'll be good, though, so expect a photo essay.
In addition to that, we're hosting our first annual Jammie Thanksgiving this year. We were supposed to go to the inlaws' house for dinner, but due to scheduling conflicts and my mother in law's KILLER school schedule (apparently, getting a PhD is hard work?) they begged off hosting. I totally understand, but my fetus insisted on a real turkey dinner, complete with huge piles of mashed potatoes (no skimping on the butter and pepper) and your choice of homemade apple and/or pumpkin pie. For the record, since I'm baking them I plan on at least one piece of each. We did decide to change things up from how the inlaws do it, though. Don't get me wrong; holidays at their house are always a TON of fun with the wine and food and wine and card games and wine and my brother in law getting pissed about Gin Rummy and the wine. But we cannot accomodate the level of je ne sais qoui they can, so we opted to not even try. Instead, we've instructed the family to come as they are, jammies preferred and shoes optional. No nice clothes allowed, and absolutely no crystal goblets, real silver flatware or antique dishes. I love those things, but in my house it's likely the kid would drop the crystal stemware and you'd get dog hair all over your Sunday's best, so we think it's safest to not even try to pretend we're that classy. It should be fun, except that someone just told me that apparently turkeys can have feathers in them still when bought from the store....so I plan on pawning bird prep off on Darrick. Love you, honey.
Anyhow, the day after Thanksgiving we're caravaning with the inlaws down to Rocky Point, Mexico for 4 days of fun in the sun. And the extra special bonus in that is that my wonderful brother in law is getting MARRIED while we're there to the most fabulous of women ever! I am so, so excited to get a new sister-in-law, and Luca's already put her order in for some girl cousins, which Brandon and Sydni promise to get to work on straight away. I can't believe how great those two are together, and their wedding is going to be this teeny little awesome affair, complete with candles and music and good food and lots of love. Oh, and tons of tequila for everyone but Luca and me. :::sigh::: But I can do without the tequila and be drunk on...happiness? :) Plus, I already appointed my amazing psuedo-sister in law K-Lee as my designated drinker for the weekend. She is now required by the bond of almost sisterhood (shit, after 8 years dating one of 'the brothers', she's as close to being family as you can get) to get drunk and have lots of fun on my behalf.
Anyhow, my post on how I have nothing to post turned into a post on lots of things. Interesting how that happens. But for now, that's it for my update. Come back tomorrow night for my photo essay on why change is good.
That said, tomorrow will bring one piece of big news, but you have to WAIT to get it. I know, I know..the suspense is killing you all. It'll be good, though, so expect a photo essay.
In addition to that, we're hosting our first annual Jammie Thanksgiving this year. We were supposed to go to the inlaws' house for dinner, but due to scheduling conflicts and my mother in law's KILLER school schedule (apparently, getting a PhD is hard work?) they begged off hosting. I totally understand, but my fetus insisted on a real turkey dinner, complete with huge piles of mashed potatoes (no skimping on the butter and pepper) and your choice of homemade apple and/or pumpkin pie. For the record, since I'm baking them I plan on at least one piece of each. We did decide to change things up from how the inlaws do it, though. Don't get me wrong; holidays at their house are always a TON of fun with the wine and food and wine and card games and wine and my brother in law getting pissed about Gin Rummy and the wine. But we cannot accomodate the level of je ne sais qoui they can, so we opted to not even try. Instead, we've instructed the family to come as they are, jammies preferred and shoes optional. No nice clothes allowed, and absolutely no crystal goblets, real silver flatware or antique dishes. I love those things, but in my house it's likely the kid would drop the crystal stemware and you'd get dog hair all over your Sunday's best, so we think it's safest to not even try to pretend we're that classy. It should be fun, except that someone just told me that apparently turkeys can have feathers in them still when bought from the store....so I plan on pawning bird prep off on Darrick. Love you, honey.
Anyhow, the day after Thanksgiving we're caravaning with the inlaws down to Rocky Point, Mexico for 4 days of fun in the sun. And the extra special bonus in that is that my wonderful brother in law is getting MARRIED while we're there to the most fabulous of women ever! I am so, so excited to get a new sister-in-law, and Luca's already put her order in for some girl cousins, which Brandon and Sydni promise to get to work on straight away. I can't believe how great those two are together, and their wedding is going to be this teeny little awesome affair, complete with candles and music and good food and lots of love. Oh, and tons of tequila for everyone but Luca and me. :::sigh::: But I can do without the tequila and be drunk on...happiness? :) Plus, I already appointed my amazing psuedo-sister in law K-Lee as my designated drinker for the weekend. She is now required by the bond of almost sisterhood (shit, after 8 years dating one of 'the brothers', she's as close to being family as you can get) to get drunk and have lots of fun on my behalf.
Anyhow, my post on how I have nothing to post turned into a post on lots of things. Interesting how that happens. But for now, that's it for my update. Come back tomorrow night for my photo essay on why change is good.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Thanksgiving
We celebrated Luca's 1st Thanksgiving with Darrick's family today. It waas a great day of lots of food and baby cuddles and great weather. We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Luca and Sydni
Luca and Uncle Brandon
Luca eats her hat while Grandma looks on.
Grandpa tries to get Luca to be a fan of pickles. Mission failed.
Luca and her mommy
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
LinkWithin
