This past weekend, I discovered two things. One I rediscovered and the other something I didn't know I'd have such interest in.
The first, a new found passion. The family went to an air show Saturday at Scott Air Force Base just over the state line in Illinois. I thought I remembered attending one or more of these as a kid in Beaufort, SC. My memories are vague if even there by only witnessing some of the fly-bys by chance. I always begrudge Tom when he turns the TV to the Military Channel but I think after the weekend I can watch it with the same earnest Tom shows. Saturday was a hot day, a very hot day. I think the thermostat reached 95 degrees easy. The walk from the parking area to the gates was at least a mile, easy. Once inside, and after having our bags and chairs searched, I caught a glimpse of a B-2 Bomber in a hanger to the right of us. That is the only aircraft I can identify without help. It was impressive and massive. There were about 15 aircraft on display. I actually got goosebumps and a giddy excitement welled up in me. I think the last time I felt that way over metal and rubber was at my first stock car race many years ago. We found a place to put our chairs, about 12 feet from the fence of the flight line. Man it was hot. I read it was at least 10-15 degrees hotter at the flight line. As we were driving in we could see many of the aircraft already in the air. To welcome us, was the Geico skytypers team. (Just as much advertising here as a stockcar race, too.) That was an awesome sight. They wrote "Welcome to Scott AFB, Heritage to Horizons, Geico skytypers", in a circle. I don't know all of the aircraft that were in the air, but was impressed by them all. Seeing Tom get so excited made it a little more exciting for me. He's very knowledgeable about history and I'm rather embarrassed about my ignorance of history. His excitement and my impression of this airshow have sparked enough interest that I think I'm going to start researching past American battles and general history. The fourth of July, Memorial Day and Veteran's Day all mean something to me and they always have, but I think I need to know more. I want to know more. I read a little about some of the aircraft I saw in literature handed out during the airshow so that's a start.
After the airshow we stopped at the famous Soulard Market. We haven't been there yet since moving to St. Louis but due to it's rich history in this town wanted to make it a stop soon. It's only open Wednesday through Saturday until 5pm. We were cutting it close by arriving at about 415 pm. The best stuff is always gone first, but the last stuff they let go cheapest. There is a huge variety of wares. Produce, meats (we won't get any meat from there, however), coffee, perfume, spices, flowers, pets. You name it. We were mostly interest in the produce. We left with pineapple, the most beautiful collard greens ever, okra (again, beautiful), tomatoes, a zucchini the size of a football, broccoli, and crowder peas. I'll bet most of you have never heard of crowder peas. When I went to visit my grandmother in Savannah as a kid, we'd go to the farmer's market and after we got back, I'd find myself sitting at her cramped table in her kitchen shelling crowder peas. Sometimes 3 or 4 pounds at a time. After cooking these peas for dinner last night it reminded me of my second rediscovered passion. I had forgotten how much I like to cook. I cooked allot for a few years and then kind of slacked off as we started eating healthier but since moving and having a little more time on my hands I've made a few pretty good dishes. All still healthy. Our first that I was impressed with was pasta with a Bolognese sauce. I was watching Food Network and caught a quick glimpse of some so found my own recipe and made my own. It was also the first night we had company for dinner; the cable guy, don't ask. Tom and Taylor are usually my indicators for how well a dish turns out. Taylor will try anything and will continue eating it if she likes it. She seemed to enjoy her bolognese. Then the next all Tracey dish that I was happy with was Beef Carnitas with avocado and black bean salsa. I had to totally make this my own because the recipe left it tasting like beef stew. Turned out awesome. Only problem is I used fat free flour tortillas, not good. I almost forgot, for the fourth of July, Tom smoked a pork butt and i made some collard greens (not the ones from the farmer's market) and some fresh green beans with red potatoes. Both turned out okay considering they both came from the grocery store and were not the best quality to begin with. Last night I made the collard greens from the farmer's market and the crowder peas. I feel as if i may have outdone myself with the peas. Even Hale liked them. Partly because she and Taylor were the ones shelling them and she felt a sense of ownership.
My recipe for collards (if anyone wants to try-I know most people don't care for them).
about 12 servings (cause we like left overs)
3 bunches of big voluptuous bright green collards
smoked turkey leg (or wing)
crushed red pepper flakes
salt and pepper
vinegar
oregano
onion (if you want)
I cook the turkey leg for several hours in water until the meat falls off the bone. Take the leg from the water to let cool. Add the collards after cleaning and removing leaves from the stem, to the leg water. Unless you have a large stock pot, you'll have to add in sections. After getting all of the collards in the pot, add about 1/4 cup vinegar to the pot, salt and pepper to taste, about 1/4 teaspoon of the red pepper flakes and about a teaspoon of oregano. While the collards are cooking down, pull the meat from the leg or thigh and add it to the pot. Simmer the collards for about an hour until wilted and no longer tough. Add the onion about the last 30 minutes of cooking to prevent them from being macerated (unless you like macerated onions).
My recipe for crowder peas
About 1 pound of peas in the shell will yield about 4 small servings
1/2 pound of pancetta (a thick slab so you can dice it up)
three garlic cloves (mashed or minced, depending on whether you want to eat large bites of garlic)
pepper
oregano
bay leaf
Cook the pancetta with a little olive oil (depending on how much fat is on it) until it browns some
add garlic (making sure heat isn't too high to burn garlic) cook a few minutes
add about 2 cups of water, the peas, and other ingredients, simmer over med heat for about 45 minutes to an hour until peas are soft and yummy.
I hope my grandmother would be proud.
Cook up your own creations and share them. If anyone tries these recipes, please let me know how they turned out.
Monday, July 9, 2007
Monday, July 2, 2007
Flashback
Just thought today about the drive up here the day we moved. That whole process was a pain in the rear end. As we have moved in the past with and without the benefit of professional movers, I can say for sure, having people move you is the way to go. They can try your patience however, and make a cold beer before, during and after the process quite enjoyable. (I chose upon the delivery day, a wonderfully crisp ale called, Skinnydip.)
Our move coordinator advised us the packers would not touch our bedrooms (ours was going to be a two day event; packers the first day and movers the second day) so that way we'd have a bed to sleep on, clothes to wear and toothpaste to brush our teeth. They showed up at 9:oo am on time and said, "we're going to start in the bedrooms first and work our way down since heat rises." I protested. I had no choice, I didn't have any clothes packed or anything pulled out. They just laughed when I repeated what the move coordinator said about not touching the bedrooms. (No I didn't think about when it would get done, I just wanted a bed to sleep on.)
As they started packing, I wanted to be out of their way, so I left and ran some errands. I started thinking about what they said about the heat (our apartment isn't the most energy efficient place either) so when I returned I went to turn the thermostat down to make sure they were comfortable. No need, they had already turned it down to 68 degrees. They were done in about 4 hours. Very impressive. We don't have a ton of stuff, but four hours seemed awfully short. After receiving our stuff in MO I found out why it only took four hours. They crammed anything they could get into a box. There was no method to packing a box. There were coffee cups mixed with the remote controls to the TV. There were cleaning supplies mixed with shoes. The boxes were so poorly labeled, too. The handwriting appeared to be a subtext of Cantonese. There was no way of knowing what was in what box. This is important because when they deliver our household goods, the movers need to know where to put stuff. Lukily, each box is prestamped with where in the house the contents came from, e.i., master bedroom, living room, basement, etc, they just have to put a check mark. Well we have five more rooms in this house that in our apartment. This is one of the reasons it took so long for us to unpack. Curiously enough, the packers give you a survey to fill out after they pack you but before you unpack. How can you possibly fill it out objectively? Worry not. When it was all over, I got another survey from the moving company and gave a more complete assesment.
The packers were slackards to say the least, our driver was something else. He called a day ahead to ask if there was anything he could start moving. We checked with the packers and they were less than thrilled and complained amongst themselves, loudly. We told him to come anyway if he wanted to, he could at least see for himself. He showed up in a budget rental truck. Like I said, I know we don't have alot of stuff, but I was sure it wouldn't fit in one of those. Anyway, he's the expert. He came and I took him through the house and then the basement. I showed everything that was going and was staying. While in the basement, he saw all of the soccer equipment we have and started talking about his kids and what sports they play and how old they are and how he doesn't get to see his wife much, yadda, yadda. I thought, great, he's not going to get anything done. After ten minutes or so, I lead him away from the basement and the objects distorting his focus. At this point, I had been unable to assess what kind of person he really was. After going through the house, I walked away and left him to it. He pulled around to the basement and in less than two hours, the entire basement and garage was empty minus each single item I said was to stay. All done by himself. Then he came upstairs and loaded what he could get by himself, which was most everything on the first level. Very impressive. Again, leaving everything I asked him to leave. Very quickly his truck was reaching capacity and nothing in our upstairs had been loaded. I asked where was the rest of the furniture going? He explained his 'big truck' (tractor trailer) was parked down the street because he wasn't able to get it into our driveway, parking lot, whatever you want to call it. He was loading all of our stuff on the smaller truck and would then unload and reload it to his truck that evening. So this guy, again all by himself, loaded our stuff to one truck, unloaded and reloaded it again. I hope they pay him well. The next day he came with his loading crew. Two local guys he's never met before. He directed them like Clint Eastwood would. In three hours our apartment was empty. During this time he gets a phone call and is on there for quite some time. After he's done, oh by the way, you'll not get your furniture until Friday now instead of Wednesday. If he wasn't such a great guy, I would have found it easier to yell and scream, but as it was, there was nothing we could do. He left.
The kids came home from school, Hale in tears, Taylor too emotional to show emotion. Both walked in to a bare apartment. It was quite emotional for all of us. We all took a stroll around to remember the last seven years of our lives. Lots of things happened in that place. Good and bad, but all things that have brought our family closer together. Even the cats walked around in disbelief, looking for something to jump on or something that was a familiar smell or sight. There was nothing, but the memories each of us could remember.
We left soon after to grab some lunch before beginning our 400 mile (that was the requirement from Tom's employer in order to be reimbursed for mileage and gas, etc.) trek to the midwest. One last juicy cheeseburger and fattening fries from Ruby Tuesdays. I noticed on my way to another errand a short time earlier a weird sizzling noise coming from under the dash of my car. I didn't think much of it, just thought it was maybe AC runoff hitting something hot. On the way to lunch, it was worse and water flooded the front passenger floor. Another snafu. We called the Honda dealership, explained our predicament and that we were on our way out of the state for good. They said it appeared to be a minor problem and we could drive by one our way out of town and have it looked at. By this time its already 1:30. 400 miles is about 7 hours if you don't stop and there is no traffic. 4 cats and two kids, you'll have to stop. I'm thinking we'll wait atleast an hour to even have it looked at. But we have no choice. Taylor and I leave early while Tom and Hale load up the cats. Kudos to the Honda dealership. They did just as they said. They got my car in there in 15 minutes and took another 15 to fix the clogged AC line. And they didn't even charge me. They said so long, we'll miss good customers like you. Only time we've gotten quick friendly service in three years.
So by this time Tom and Hale and the cats have made it to the dealership. We gas up, switch out kitties and are on our way. I've got Stitch (the seizure kitty) and Fly. They get along pretty good so they are together. Different carriers, same car. I expected lots of noise from Stitch on this trip. He doesn't care much for car rides and I anticipated a seizure riddled trip. Turns out Fly was the noise maker. Stitch pretty much just slept. No seizures. However, a couples hours into the trip (even though we withheld food) Sabre had to let one go. Tom pulled off at a rest area so I could clean up his mess. Thanks! Not a bad mess, at least he kept it off of himself. Flyers, the trouble maker kept peeing on her blanket. I never could tell who it was until he got to the hotel because they were both dry. She somehow managed to pee only on her blanket.
During one of the legs of our travel, we encountered harsh rain and wind. Even with a full tank of gas my car is light. Must have been the first day because Taylor was with me. I swear, my car was lifted slightly off the road. Very scary. The wind was that bad twice on Afton mountain that I remember. Not a fun feeling at all. Both days of driving were pretty uneventful excpet for the weather. Getting into St. Louis, I had a scare. I got a navagation system for my car before heading to St. Louis. I wasn't very familiar with how to use it but didn't think I'd need it. After all I was traveling with Tom and it's a straight shot; west on 64 the whole way. I noticed soon after we started the second day, the power to it cut off, even though it was plugged into the AUX adapter. Didn't worry about it though. As well, my cell phone was on it's very last bar and I had no charger in my car. We get into the city (St. Louis) and hit traffic. Stand still for a while. Then it starts to pick up and before I know it cars in front of me are letting in other cars and the distance between me and Tom gets wider and wider. By the time traffic is back to normal speed, he's nowhere to be seen. Again, has anyone seem National Lampoons Vacation? I start to panic of course. No idea where I'm going or where I am. I was able to squeeze the final juice from my phone just to learn Tom is only a mile or so ahead of me. Take a glimpse into my anxiety over driving in an unfamiliar area.
Part two to follow...
Our move coordinator advised us the packers would not touch our bedrooms (ours was going to be a two day event; packers the first day and movers the second day) so that way we'd have a bed to sleep on, clothes to wear and toothpaste to brush our teeth. They showed up at 9:oo am on time and said, "we're going to start in the bedrooms first and work our way down since heat rises." I protested. I had no choice, I didn't have any clothes packed or anything pulled out. They just laughed when I repeated what the move coordinator said about not touching the bedrooms. (No I didn't think about when it would get done, I just wanted a bed to sleep on.)
As they started packing, I wanted to be out of their way, so I left and ran some errands. I started thinking about what they said about the heat (our apartment isn't the most energy efficient place either) so when I returned I went to turn the thermostat down to make sure they were comfortable. No need, they had already turned it down to 68 degrees. They were done in about 4 hours. Very impressive. We don't have a ton of stuff, but four hours seemed awfully short. After receiving our stuff in MO I found out why it only took four hours. They crammed anything they could get into a box. There was no method to packing a box. There were coffee cups mixed with the remote controls to the TV. There were cleaning supplies mixed with shoes. The boxes were so poorly labeled, too. The handwriting appeared to be a subtext of Cantonese. There was no way of knowing what was in what box. This is important because when they deliver our household goods, the movers need to know where to put stuff. Lukily, each box is prestamped with where in the house the contents came from, e.i., master bedroom, living room, basement, etc, they just have to put a check mark. Well we have five more rooms in this house that in our apartment. This is one of the reasons it took so long for us to unpack. Curiously enough, the packers give you a survey to fill out after they pack you but before you unpack. How can you possibly fill it out objectively? Worry not. When it was all over, I got another survey from the moving company and gave a more complete assesment.
The packers were slackards to say the least, our driver was something else. He called a day ahead to ask if there was anything he could start moving. We checked with the packers and they were less than thrilled and complained amongst themselves, loudly. We told him to come anyway if he wanted to, he could at least see for himself. He showed up in a budget rental truck. Like I said, I know we don't have alot of stuff, but I was sure it wouldn't fit in one of those. Anyway, he's the expert. He came and I took him through the house and then the basement. I showed everything that was going and was staying. While in the basement, he saw all of the soccer equipment we have and started talking about his kids and what sports they play and how old they are and how he doesn't get to see his wife much, yadda, yadda. I thought, great, he's not going to get anything done. After ten minutes or so, I lead him away from the basement and the objects distorting his focus. At this point, I had been unable to assess what kind of person he really was. After going through the house, I walked away and left him to it. He pulled around to the basement and in less than two hours, the entire basement and garage was empty minus each single item I said was to stay. All done by himself. Then he came upstairs and loaded what he could get by himself, which was most everything on the first level. Very impressive. Again, leaving everything I asked him to leave. Very quickly his truck was reaching capacity and nothing in our upstairs had been loaded. I asked where was the rest of the furniture going? He explained his 'big truck' (tractor trailer) was parked down the street because he wasn't able to get it into our driveway, parking lot, whatever you want to call it. He was loading all of our stuff on the smaller truck and would then unload and reload it to his truck that evening. So this guy, again all by himself, loaded our stuff to one truck, unloaded and reloaded it again. I hope they pay him well. The next day he came with his loading crew. Two local guys he's never met before. He directed them like Clint Eastwood would. In three hours our apartment was empty. During this time he gets a phone call and is on there for quite some time. After he's done, oh by the way, you'll not get your furniture until Friday now instead of Wednesday. If he wasn't such a great guy, I would have found it easier to yell and scream, but as it was, there was nothing we could do. He left.
The kids came home from school, Hale in tears, Taylor too emotional to show emotion. Both walked in to a bare apartment. It was quite emotional for all of us. We all took a stroll around to remember the last seven years of our lives. Lots of things happened in that place. Good and bad, but all things that have brought our family closer together. Even the cats walked around in disbelief, looking for something to jump on or something that was a familiar smell or sight. There was nothing, but the memories each of us could remember.
We left soon after to grab some lunch before beginning our 400 mile (that was the requirement from Tom's employer in order to be reimbursed for mileage and gas, etc.) trek to the midwest. One last juicy cheeseburger and fattening fries from Ruby Tuesdays. I noticed on my way to another errand a short time earlier a weird sizzling noise coming from under the dash of my car. I didn't think much of it, just thought it was maybe AC runoff hitting something hot. On the way to lunch, it was worse and water flooded the front passenger floor. Another snafu. We called the Honda dealership, explained our predicament and that we were on our way out of the state for good. They said it appeared to be a minor problem and we could drive by one our way out of town and have it looked at. By this time its already 1:30. 400 miles is about 7 hours if you don't stop and there is no traffic. 4 cats and two kids, you'll have to stop. I'm thinking we'll wait atleast an hour to even have it looked at. But we have no choice. Taylor and I leave early while Tom and Hale load up the cats. Kudos to the Honda dealership. They did just as they said. They got my car in there in 15 minutes and took another 15 to fix the clogged AC line. And they didn't even charge me. They said so long, we'll miss good customers like you. Only time we've gotten quick friendly service in three years.
So by this time Tom and Hale and the cats have made it to the dealership. We gas up, switch out kitties and are on our way. I've got Stitch (the seizure kitty) and Fly. They get along pretty good so they are together. Different carriers, same car. I expected lots of noise from Stitch on this trip. He doesn't care much for car rides and I anticipated a seizure riddled trip. Turns out Fly was the noise maker. Stitch pretty much just slept. No seizures. However, a couples hours into the trip (even though we withheld food) Sabre had to let one go. Tom pulled off at a rest area so I could clean up his mess. Thanks! Not a bad mess, at least he kept it off of himself. Flyers, the trouble maker kept peeing on her blanket. I never could tell who it was until he got to the hotel because they were both dry. She somehow managed to pee only on her blanket.
During one of the legs of our travel, we encountered harsh rain and wind. Even with a full tank of gas my car is light. Must have been the first day because Taylor was with me. I swear, my car was lifted slightly off the road. Very scary. The wind was that bad twice on Afton mountain that I remember. Not a fun feeling at all. Both days of driving were pretty uneventful excpet for the weather. Getting into St. Louis, I had a scare. I got a navagation system for my car before heading to St. Louis. I wasn't very familiar with how to use it but didn't think I'd need it. After all I was traveling with Tom and it's a straight shot; west on 64 the whole way. I noticed soon after we started the second day, the power to it cut off, even though it was plugged into the AUX adapter. Didn't worry about it though. As well, my cell phone was on it's very last bar and I had no charger in my car. We get into the city (St. Louis) and hit traffic. Stand still for a while. Then it starts to pick up and before I know it cars in front of me are letting in other cars and the distance between me and Tom gets wider and wider. By the time traffic is back to normal speed, he's nowhere to be seen. Again, has anyone seem National Lampoons Vacation? I start to panic of course. No idea where I'm going or where I am. I was able to squeeze the final juice from my phone just to learn Tom is only a mile or so ahead of me. Take a glimpse into my anxiety over driving in an unfamiliar area.
Part two to follow...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
