Lately I have been thinking of resurrecting my childhood dream of building a giant Plinko board in our garage.
How cool would that be?
Except, instead of dollar amounts, I would put answers so that you can ask a question, then drop a Plinko chip. Kind of like a giant Magic 8-Ball but more fun.
“It is certain” … ”My sources say no” … “Reply hazy…please try again.”
And it would have running lights and bells and whistles.
Wow. I really have too much time on my hands, don’t I??
I love The Godfather and The Godfather Part II. They’re two of my favorite movies. (But don’t get me started on Part III. That movie, along with Deuce Bigalow, Male Gigolo, never should have even seen the light of day. Those are hours of my life that I am never getting back.)
But back to the greatness that is The Godfather. I’m the kind of person who has Godfather quotes randomly popping into my head. When someone brought an Italian dessert to work, all I could think was “Leave the gun, take the cannoli.” When my friend told me that her goldfish died, I immediately thought “Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes.” But I have appropriate social graces to keep these things to myself. Well, most of the time.
A while back, Farm Boy and I were at Farm & Fleet to get a few supplies for the farm. Farm & Fleet is kind of like the Target for country folks. It offers home goods, work clothes, auto parts and various farm supplies. Farm Boy was in the dairy section, picking up some sort of vaccine or ear tag or something.
I, on the other hand, was wondering. Somehow, I found myself in the equestrian aisle. I absent-mindedly looked through the harneses and saddles. I picked up a book on training show horses and set it back down. Then I happened to look up. And outloud, I said (quite loudly) “Ho-ly CRAP!” Because this is what I saw:
Yes, I get that this is intended to be a sign that essentially says “This is the section where you will find horse-stuff.” But come on! I can not be the only person who is having flash-backs to the Khartoum scene from The Godfather! You know, the most famous scene in the whole movie! One of the most gruesome scenes in the entire trilogy! Is this honestly what the good folks of Farm & Fleet want customers thinking about when they’re shopping for bridles?
I think it might be time to hire a new advertising company…
It seems like most people have heard of “Minnesota nice.” You know, the whole concept that Minnesotans are the most kind-hearted group of people in the country. In traffic jams, they slow down and wave you in if you need to merge. They offer to take pictures of you and your family standing in front of the gigantic spoon-and-cherry sculpture at the Minnesota sculpture garden. They shovel their elderly neighbor’s sidewalks after a blizzard. But here’s the deal: Minnesotans have nothing on Wisconsinites. We’re just too nice to point out the fact that we’re nicer.
Except when it comes to football. That’s when the gloves come off.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past couple years, you’ve heard of the whole Brett Favre debacle. In 1992, Green Bay quarterback Don Majkowski was injured and a young up-start named Brett Favre was brought in to finish the game. Though he fumbled the ball four times, he ultimatley threw the game-winning touchdown with 13 seconds left. I was 13 years old and remember that game vividly. For the next 15 seasons, Favre was a state-wide hero. He played with boyish enthusiasm that was contagious; he became a team-leader that won MVP three times. During critical games, when he’d drop back in the pocket, we’d all hold our breath because he was just as likely to throw an interception as he was to throw a touchdown. But we loved him. Oh, how we loved him.
And then the whole retirement issue started. Will he or won’ he? We held our breath. It became the go-to topic in restaurants and doctor’s waiting rooms. “Sure is hot out there today, isn’t it?…We really need some rain or the corn crop will suffer…Did you hear the latest on Favre?” We skirted the inevitable for a few years…we eeked a few extra seasons out of that maverick quarterback of ours. But eventually it got a little old.
And even I, who had grown up watching Favre play, who could barely remember a different quarterback wear the green and gold, got sick of it. The best I can equate it to is this: If I was married for 16 years and every year my husband told me he was going to leave…maybe not…maybe if I begged, he would stay…but he wants his space…maybe he’ll bless me with his presence for one more year, you can bet your sweet ass that eventually I’ll trade him in for a younger and better looking model. Welcome to Lambeau, Aaron Rodgers.
And Brett Favre went to the Jets. At that point, Wisconsin became divided. Many still supported him, saying that he just wanted to play the game, no matter where he was. Others (like me) shrugged and said good riddance. We are loyal to a team, not a single player. The season went on, we cheered for Aaron Rodgers and the memory of number 4 slowly faded away.
And then the fit hit the shan. The next year, Favre went to the Vikings. The VIKINGS. Oh, no he di’n't!
Every sports team has a bitter rival. The one team they look forward to beating every year. Even if they lose every other game that season, if they can only cream that one team, all is right in the world. And to Packer fans, that team is the Vikings. And our disgraced hero had just voluntarily joined the ranks of the enemy. He was thumbing his nose at the fans who had supported him for over a decade and a half. This was a betrayal of Godfather-like proportions.
I won’t go into the details of the season, because if you’re still reading this post, I’m sure you already know what happened. The Vikings had a spectacular year. The Packers had a so-so one (though I am still very proud of how they did and am looking forward to the 2010-11 season!) But this is what I would like to say: for personal reasons, my family had a pretty tough week this past week. Not much has brought me joy in the past few days, but there is one thing that made me smile. And here it is:
Oh, you can call me evil. You can call me vindictive. But there is nothing sweeter than Paul Allen in those last few seconds. All is right in the world of sports.
If I ever become a hip-hop super-star, I will go by the name @ndre@.
Now, I just need to develop a sense of rhythm.
And get over my case of tone-deafness.
Yeah…I’m not giving up my day job. But you can still call me @ndre@.
It’s starting to get cold here in Wisconsin. Not horrible (yet), but enough to remind us that it is indeed winter. I’m okay with the whole cold weather thing, because Christmas (my absolute favorite holiday) is coming in less than a month. In my book, Christmas isn’t Christmas without snow and you can’t have snow without freezing temepratures. Ergo, I am okay with cold weather. (Did you see how I threw another smart person word in there? Pretty spectacular, huh?)
But last night, I was sorting some pictures on my hard drive and I came across this one:
I took this picture during one of our walks. It’s just an old fence on the back edge of our farm; nothing too special. But I love it. This picture just stirs up feelings of nostalgia and peace inside me. It makes me think of Pa Ingalls building a fence in a Little House on the Prairie book. It reminds me of something that would be on the edge of the Green Gables property. It makes me want to lay on my back and stare up at the clouds for hours. It makes me miss summer.
But I’ll deal with that after Christmas. For now, I’ll just set this picture as my screen saver and go back to wrapping presents. I have all of January and February to wallow in cabin fever!
I love Thanksgiving.
No, I don’t think you understand me. I. LOVE. THANKSGIVING.
In my book, it’s second only to Christmas (which I get just giddy over–but I’m sure I’ll get to that soon enough.) Seriously though, what’s not to love about Thanksgiving? You get to look back over all the things you have to be grateful for, you get to hang out with your family and you get some pretty awesome food on top of it all. I couldn’t have come up with a better holiday myself!
And, I have to say, Thanksgiving brings all of my favorite dishes together into one meal. Turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, scalloped corn (I think that’s a Scandinavian thing) and stuffing. Oh, yeah, stuffing. I could make a whole meal out of the stuffing that my dad makes. And honestly, I usually do. When we have our “leftovers meal”, I usually just eat stuffing. One big ol’ plate of stuffing. So, I’m going to share our family secret recipe with you today. I can do this with good conscience because my parents don’t have the internet so they don’t know that I’m about to divulge Grandma’s famous stuffing recipe to the masses. (And by “masses,” I mean the 7 people that read this blog.) So, here, in my Grandma’s own words is the recipe for The Best Stuffing Ever.
The Best Stuffing Ever
- 1/2 lb. pork sausage
- 1/2 cup onion
- “lots of” celery (about half a bunch)
- 1 can chicken broth (divided)
- 1 can cream of chicken soup
- 1 bag croutons (Dad uses Brownberry seasoned croutons)
- 1 Tbs. sugar
- 1 tsp. poultry seasoning
- 1/2 tsp. sage
- salt and pepper to taste
Okay, from here the recipe is kind of vague (since it was, you know, very specific up to this point.) Brown the sausage. Chop the celery and onion, put in a small pot and cover with water. Simmer until tender. (Yeah, Grandma was never very good with specifics…and I never really pay enough attention to timing. I walk off, then come back and check on things…) Mix everything together using only about half of the chicken broth. Place in a baking dish and bake at 350 until done. (I want to say its about 30 to 45 minutes, but its been a few years since I made this.) Check the stuffing often and use the rest of the chicken broth if it starts to get dry. And, something that my dad often uses that my Grandma probably never heard of was craisins. Dad’ll throw a few handfulls in and it makes the stuffing over the top. Seriously, amazing.
So, there’s a bit of Farm Girl Thanksgiving for you. It’s another one of those “bit of this, bit of that” kind of recipes, but aren’t those usually the good ones? And it’s a tradition that comes straight from my dad’s mom’s cookbook. On a day like Thanksgiving, you’ve got to appreciate something like that, right? Yeah, that’s what I thought.
This is another one of my fall-back recipes. It’s a perfect go-to meal to have in your repertoire–simple, cheap and oh-so-good. If you have left-over chicken, you could have it whipped up in about ten minutes. You can’t beat that on a weeknight! I will admit that its a bit more of a summer-type meal, but I’ve never been one to adhere to those kind of rules. I’ll eat soup for breakfast and scrambled eggs for supper. I make chili in June and chicken salad in November. What can I say? I’m a wild and crazy guy! (Remember that SNL skit with Steve Martin? I hope so, because otherwise I look like one very confused farm girl…)
Southwestern Chicken Salad
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 lb. uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- ½ cup fat-free mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup fat-free sour cream
- ½ tsp. ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp. chili powder
- 1 small sweet red pepper, chopped
- 1 small green pepper, chopped
- 2 medium scallions, sliced
- 15 1/4 oz. canned yellow corn, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Place chicken in a glass baking dish and bake until juices run clear, about 25 minutes. Chop into bite-size pieces; set aside. Combine mayonnaise, sour cream, cumin and chili powder in a medium bowl. Stir in chicken, peppers, scallions and corn; mix well. Gently fold in beans. Cover and chill at least two hours.
Serves: 4 WWP: 5
Serves: 5 WWP: 4
This past summer, Farm Boy and I spent many evenings walking around our farm and the adjoining farm that we rent to keep our dry cows and heifers. (Don’t know what makes a cow a “dry cow” or what the difference is between a “cow” and a “heifer”? Hmm…mental note: good idea for a future post…) And while we were walking, I took pictures. I mean, I took a lot of pictures. Like, unhealthy amounts of pictures. And I’m sure that as the winter stretches on in the next few months, I’ll post a few (translation: more than you probably want to see) on here.
But for our first installment, I wanted to share this one:
As we were walking along the edge of one of the corn fields, I saw this interesting plant. I thought it was so pretty…that green base with deep burgundy, almost purple leaves. So I took a picture. Then I changed my angle a little bit to include a bit of the sky:
Oooh…I love me some Wisconsin sky. And then I adjusted my aperture a bit to make the corn in the background a little blurry:
I’m still learning all the technicalities of photography, but I have fun with aperture. Plus it makes me feel smart when I say the word “aperture.” It’s kind of like when you try to throw words such as “byzantine” or “dichotomy” into everyday conversations. Only, sometimes that doesn’t work very well.
As I was revelling in how pretty these photos were going to turn out, Farm Boy wandered over. He took his hat off, ran his hand through his hair and put his hat back on. He adjusted the bill of the hat, paused, then said, “Why are you laying on the ground taking a picture of stinkweed?”
Stinkweed? Really? Huh. Did I mention that I didn’t grow up on a farm?
So I got up, slapped the dirt off my jeans and headed off to find some cows to take pictures of.
You know how when you have a bad day, there are certain things that can make you smile no matter what? Yeah sure, there’s always the obvious things like a laughing child or a hug from your husband or a purring cat curled up in your lap. But I’m not talking about that kind of stuff. No, I’m talking about something that, despite your crankiest, orneriest mood, despite the fact that you just want to sit there and stew in your grouchiness, despite your dedication to being a Krabby Patty, you just can’t help but laugh.
This is one of those things for me. No matter how many times I’ve seen it, I still laugh at it. And, in case you have the same strange, warped sense of humor that I do, I’m going to share it with you. Hopefully if you have a bad day sometime in the future, you will remember this link and it will help you rise above. And now, I present, this total awesomeness:
Over-suprised guy!! Oh, that still gets me!
So, for about the fourth time this calendar year, I’ve decided to get my butt back in gear and lose these pesky ten pounds that have been following me around. A few of my co-workers and I are doing an at-work program together, so I’ve got the encouragment during the day taken care of. Farm Boy always has my back, so I’ve got my cheering section at home figured out. I’ve dusted off my treadmill and weights, so that should guilt me into working out a few times a week. And now…on to the food!
This weekend, Farm Boy and I were planning our menu for the week. I was trying to reach way back in my memory of Weight Watcher standbys and was coming up horribly short. (I’ve never been a think-on-your-feet kinda person.) And out of nowhere, Farm Boy said, “Hey! How about that stuffing thing? We haven’t had that in a while!” Now, because we have a very abbreviated, kind of pathetic way of communicating, I knew that “that stuffing thing” was really “Chicken Bruschetta Bake.” I also know that when he suggests something that is neither hamburgers or pizza, its something he really likes.
So, here’s the recipe. I think it originally came from the back of a Stovetop Stuffing box. I’m not going to include a picture because, well frankly, it’s not a very pretty dish. But it is pretty tasty in a down-home, middle-of-the-week, wintery-day sort of way. Does that make sense? Yes? No? I lost you at hello? Anyways, here it is:
Bruschetta Chicken Bake
Yields: 6 servings 6 pts per serving
Ingredients:
- 1 can (14 ½ oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pkg. dry stuffing mix
- ½ cup water
- 1 ½ lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 tsp. dried basil leaves
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F. Place tomatoes with liquid in medium bowl. Add garlic, stuffing mix and water; stir just until stuffing mix is moistened. Set aside. Place chicken in 9×13 inch baking dish; sprinkle with basil and cheese. Top with stuffing mixture. Bake 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
Serves: 6 WWP: 6
