Thanksgiving Compliments

My sister and her husband joined my son Ryan and me for Thanksgiving dinner today. I had cooked up a storm, of course, and we had quite a spread. In addition to the usual turkey and dressing, I had my favorite orange cranberry relish and pumpkin pie. I'm not much on casseroles, so we had a variety of vegetable dishes which, in retrospect, were actually pretty healthy (as far as holiday food goes).

Yesterday, I text'd the menu to my sister, proud of my culinary prowess. Her reply was not at all enthusiastic considering the magnificence of the menu. I was surprised. No "Yum".  No "Great!"in reply. It all sounded good to me. Who doesn't like roasted root vegetables? What's not to like about rutabagas?

We all ate more than we should today, as usual, and were sitting around the table enjoying the last crumbs of our pie. My brother-in-law looked at me and delivered a stunning compliment. "Well, 'Anna, I have to say this is the first time I've ever eaten at your house when I actually liked everything you cooked!" What??? I was shocked. Having put his foot in his mouth up to his knee, he tried to explain that I served weird food that he didn't recognize, cooked in ways that were unusual and unexpected. It was not that my food was not good, it was just strange. I was incredulous! What foods were weird? I wanted specifics. You may be as surprised as I was by his list. Kiwi, artichokes, avocados, and pumpkin pie. Apparently the creamed rutabagas and roasted parsnips today were also candidates for the weird list, but had gotten a pass because of their deliciousness. Joe went on to explain that the weirdness was mostly because the foods were unfamiliar. I had simply introduced him to something new, but perhaps a little too often. He has come to expect the unexpected (at least menu-wise) from me. 

That whole idea of introducing someone to something new reminds me of the disciple Andrew. He was good at introducing, too. He introduced his brother to Jesus and, later, introduced the boy with the loaves and fishes to Jesus.  Apparently Andrew kept his eyes open for people who needed to know The Messiah, and he didn't hesitate to introduce them. Andrew's kind of introducing seems a lot more important than mine, doesn't it?

As Thanksgiving winds down and we begin the Advent season, let's make an effort to be more like Andrew. Who do you know who needs Jesus? Now is a perfect time to introduce them. 

The unexpectedly Grateful Heart - part 16. Maggie sings the blues

You are probably not going to believe this, but it is absolutely true. I looked at Maggie and said, "What am I going to write about tonight?" I've had a very wild (and not completely fun) day. I wasn't sure I had anything to write about. Maggie responded by grabbing up her little squeaky toy that makes an outrageous sound. She can play a little tune with it and she sings to it. Arrrrough!! It's very wild and hilarious. We call it "singing the blues". If she's not getting the attention she deserves, she will sing the blues, which always garners an abundance of applause. When I least expect it, just to add some spice to life, she will sing. Tonight, she was right on target.

I know I have told you a few Maggie stories, but have I told you about all the tricks she knows?  In addition to singing the blues (admittedly a stellar trick), she can sit and stay, take it or leave it, drop it (unless it is a live chicken), shake hands, high five, dance like a ballerina, walk like a lady, and sneak like a spy. Sneaking and dancing are especially cute. Oh, I almost forgot! She can roll over and she can roll over three times in a row if you tell her. I think that means she can count to three. 

Have I mentioned that Maggie can herd cows?

She has wonderful tricks, but she also has a compassionate heart. When my mother was in her final illness, Maggie would sit on the bed with her and snuggle in as needed.  She willingly confined herself to my mama's bed during those last few days, and I will always be grateful for the comfort that little fur ball provided.  

Maggie the Wonder Dog IS a wonder! Smart as a whip and cute as a button! What a combo. 

Tonight, I'm thankful for that sixth day at the beginning of earth, when God decided to make some creatures.  Cows, horses, goats, cats, and dogs.  God made them all and pronounced them good. I've spent the last twenty-four years with quite a menagerie of these good creatures, and tonight I'm especially grateful that God graced me with such a wonderful, pastoral life. Of course, I'm also grateful for Maggie the Wonder Dog!

The Unexpectedly Grateful Heart, part 9

Thai is my new favorite food, and the new Thai restaurant in Tupelo is awesome! Their presentation is lovely and the spices are perfectly balanced. Texture is just right. I'm very particular about presentation, spices, and texture. The icing on the cake is that they know about being gluten-free so they are very helpful with menu choices.

The only really odd thing about their menu is that the spring rolls have vermicelli listed as an ingredient. I couldn't imagine why anyone would put spaghetti in a spring roll, so I asked. "No," they assured me. "We don't have vermicelli in spring rolls.  We have shredded cabbage."  I guess it was some kind of very strange typo that they decided not to correct. 

Spring rolls are one of my new favorites, so I had springs rolls for lunch on Thursday and again for dinner on Friday. Actually, I had spring rolls for supper Saturday.  Sorta. I had bought some spring roll wrappers months ago at the Asian market in Atlanta and carried a recipe around for weeks. Saturday afternoon was the big day. I assembled my supplies according to the listed ingredients. I didn't have garlic so I substituted garlic powder. A chopped yellow onion substituted for julienned green onions.  Portobello mushrooms substituted for shiitake mushrooms. Shrimp substituted for tofu (who wants tofu anyway. Gross!) When I realized I didn't have bean sprouts either, I nearly despaired, but saved the day with chopped celery. It wasn't the same at all. I added some julienned carrots trying to help with the texture. This might not have been going in a good direction. There was no fish sauce in the cabinet so I used anchovy paste. It turned out that about the only ingredient I actually had was cabbage.  I had sugar too, but by that time I was so confused with all the substitutions, I accidentally forgot it. 

Once I had the ingredients all together, I read the next part of the recipe and realized I was supposed to stir fry it all separately. Well, I didn't. It was like a short cut, which, by the way, never works out too well for me. 

I had made such a mess of the ingredients that I moved on to wrapping them up. I'm not sure how you are supposed to wrap something as brittle as glass and as crunchy as a potato chip, so I soaked it in water. That makes it very sticky and I don't recommend it. At last, I had all the ingredients wrapped in one (and sometime two) wrappers. I'm not sure who thought up this food preparation technique, but I wonder if they were on drugs. This was insane. 

Once all this sticky wrapping was done, I had to fry them. Since I only learned how to fry food last week, that was also an adventure. I managed it, and only burned one side of one just a little. You couldn't see it at all if I kept the burned side down. 

Finally it was time to eat. I was sure I had plum sauce for dipping but, alas, it was actually this curry sauce. Totally not the same at all. You will not be surprised that I substituted apricot orange marmalade for that. 

Dinner time finally arrived and I could sample my hard work. They were actually pretty good. Ugly but tasty. What they were not was spring rolls. They were more like fried salad sticks dipped in marmalade. 

I sent Ryan the Wonder Son a picture of my spring rolls. 

"Mom, those don't really look like spring rolls", he text'd. As I look at them now, I am horrified. They look awful. That's because they are not really spring rolls. Just kidding!  They are really fried salad sticks! I have a great recipe for them. Let me know if you want a copy. 

Tonight, I am grateful for all the ingredients in my cabinets, adaptability, instant communication, and the ability to turn failed spring rolls into fried salad sticks in an instant. Tada! Yummy supper after all. 

What I hope for you is that you will look at the failures in your life and think about how those failures can be repurposed in such a way that you find good even in what looked hopeless. That's why I  didn't throw the failed spring rolls away. I could see something good on the other side. I hope you can too.