Uncategorized – Misadventures Over 40

March 27, 2020March 27, 2020

COOKING IN TIMES OF COVID: A LIGHTER FARE WHEN THOUGHTS ARE HEAVY

It’s been nearly two weeks of Stay at Home, first a strong suggestion and now a State order. Today I find myself with a clear schedule and a hankerin’ for some fun. Since all in our household are blessed to currently be in good health, for me right now fun looks like trying my hand at a new recipe, one of those I’ve-been-meaning-to-try-that recipes, stashed away for whenever I made time. I never did, until now. The pièce de résistance? Carrot dogs! A vegetarian substitute for the tasty but arguably unappealing (I mean, think about it) bit of classic Americana: the hot dog. I admit when I first heard such a concept existed, even I thought, “That’s crazy talk,” but the idea stuck in my mind and my curiosity grew.

Since COVID-19, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about food, inventorying what we have, what to eat now, what to save for later. We want to be able to stay in for another two weeks if necessary. I’ve got two perishable carrots in the fridge, so they’re a “now” food. Canned goods by and large are “laters”. Two carrots by themselves? Not a meal. Two carrot dogs, now there’s a meal!

Time to begin my recipe search in earnest. Holy Imitation Meats, Batman! What’s with these ingredients? Liquid smoke seems to be essential in nearly all of them. What the heck is it? Turns out it’s basically an essential oil derived from actual smoke. It gives food that smokey goodness flavor without all the setup or time commitment. Super cool! But, alas, I have none and won’t be going shopping anytime soon. Substitutes? A list of other things I don’t have. I Google search for recipes that exclude the word “smoke” and find some others. All contain some variation of equally obscure ingredients like Juniper berries, fennel seeds, whole peppercorns, coconut aminos (never heard of it), Chipotle in adobo (ditto), etc. More things of which I’m fresh out!

Another problem? Soy sauce. It’s in most of these recipes. We have it, but not a lot. With a big ol’ bag of rice in the cupboard, a future of stir fry may be in order; and if things get really dire, just plain rice. Rice is a “now” food if used with fresh vegetables and a “later” food for emergency. I can’t justify using the last of our soy sauce on this project. One, plain rice is just sad. Two, carrot dogs might turn out to be nasty even to me, the only vegetarian in the household. That would be a real waste! Worcestershire sauce is a substitute, but it contains anchovies. I’m not that desperate yet.

Light bulb moment: Steak sauce! Surprisingly, this has no meat-based ingredients. Believe me, I look every time I use it because it just seems like it should. But nope, the ingredients never change no matter how many times I check the bottle. We have a decent amount, and rarely use it. So steak sauce shall be my dual substitute for Liquid Smoke and soy sauce. Now we’re cookin’ with oil! (But not really because we’re kind of low on that and are rationing it for only the really important purposes, like the box of chocolate cake mix we’ve set aside for when we need a real pick-me-up.)

After scouring dozens of recipes for one that best fits my pantry supply, I hit the jackpot here: https://makingmyown.com/recipe/carrot-hot-dogs/ . Using the steak sauce substitute, the only one of nine ingredients I didn’t have was a garlic clove. No matter. I had minced garlic in a jar. Bam!

At this point, it was noon. I’d been up since 6:15 and had not eaten. I began this project hungry, but by now my stomach had given up on the idea. I don’t normally feel okay about going this late in the day without eating. I also don’t get up voluntarily at 6:15 on days when I wouldn’t have had to. I’m a sleeper-inner. But this morning, my legs were cramped with restlessness, my thoughts were urgent with matters of COVID and prayer, and the allure of a fresh cup of coffee was even greater than that of more sleep. Indeed, these are not normal times.

So onward I go! After gathering all the ingredients, I peel and slice the carrots to perfect hot dog length (step one), put them in boiling water (step two), and begin creating the marinade while they boil (step three). I look ever-so-slightly ahead to see, “These need at least four hours to marinate but can be made the day before and left to marinate.” Uh-oh! Four hours?! I did not see that coming. Looks like my lunch plans are shot and the quest for carrot dogs shall carry forth unto a new day! Or at the very least until dinnertime.

On a good note, the marinade smells AMAZING! I also gave the carrots the old “flexibility test” and they’re slightly less bendy than a regular hot dog, but bendy nonetheless. I am hopeful even if they turn out tasting nothing like a hot dog, they will still be delicious!

It’s now 1:30 p.m. and I’m off to scavenge for a new lunch. I keep a good attitude and look forward to trying the fruits of my labor later today or tomorrow. I’ve come this far; I shall persevere.

God help us, so shall we all.

How has COVID-19 social distancing changed your eating habits or attitudes about food? Have you tried any new recipes while Staying at Home? Feel free to share!

carrot dog with mustard and ketchup, carrot dog with sauerkraut and bbq sauce

UPDATE: Since I had to wait to enjoy the carrot dogs anyway, I thought I’d give them the extra time of a whole day to marinate and soak up the goodness. Then I fried them for 10 minutes before placing on whole grain white bread with my chosen toppings. (A week and one day post our last grocery run, we are now a bunless household.) On a scale of “Nasty” to “Freakin’ Awesome”, I give these a “Pretty Darn Good.” The only other person in my household willing to try them was my husband, who gave them an “All Right.” I actually prefer them to the veggie dogs from the store and are probably a lot healthier. They were really tangy due to the steak sauce. I would definitely try them again, even with this modified recipe, but when things get back to “normal” I will also try the Liquid Smoke and soy sauce version. Two thumbs up!

Matthew 6:9-13

January 7, 2019January 7, 2019

Now, What Did I Come In Here For?

My daughter’s eyeglasses had been missing for a while. Her prescription isn’t strong and it was not unusual for her go without wearing them for stretches of time, so neither of us had been too concerned at first, figuring they’d turn up in relatively short order. But after she’d checked the usual places, plus the school office, with every teacher, her locker (twice for good measure), and the car, we were becoming increasingly perplexed, and I was realizing this might actually be a “thing.” A thing that would require scheduling an appointment and ponying up for a new pair. Can I just tell you at this particular moment in my life more adulting, even just one more telephone call on top of the gazillion other tasks already on my mind, was enough to send me straight to diva town. Location? My bed. Invitees? Me, myself, and I, and hot tea, possibly booze. It was about then I noticed my own eyeglasses case on my nightstand. I picked up the case, opened it, and inside were…my daughter’s glasses!

I have no memory of putting her glasses in my case. I rarely use it, opting instead to live dangerously, leaving my own specs out naked and exposed. Yet there they lay. I had a good hard laugh at my own expense about this. Plus I was relieved to have evaded the extra adulting. My daughter was less amused, the careful soul that she is, having spent considerable time looking and anxiously wondering. But she was glad to have her glasses back, and I dare say has not much taken them off since!

So should I be worried I mistook my daughter’s glasses for mine, stuck them in my case, and then forgot about the incident entirely? A solid maybe. But more likely, it’s just me being me, someone who’s always been rather forgetful of the “little things”, and sometimes even the big things, and while my hands were in motion cleaning, my mind was wandering distractedly. Perhaps about the cat that needed to go to the vet, or the child that needed picked up after practice, or the prescription needing filled, or the insurance company needing called, or that email needing returned, or that remark so-and-such said the other day, or any other number of monkey mind thoughts jumping around in my head.

Monkey mind. I first encountered that term in a book I was reading some years back. I can’t remember the title, or the author. I tried to look it up to cite here, but to no avail; the topic is just too vast and my memory of the particulars too vague. What I know is it was part memoir, part self-help. You know, one of those books I alluded to in an earlier blog post that my daughter included in her school-assigned Mother’s Day booklet. “My mom likes to read!” Complete with drawings of anxiety and panic-related book titles. Anyway, this author learned from some Buddhist monk (whose name was given, but – you guessed it – I can’t recall) that monkey mind is where your thoughts jumble and skip all over the place, leaving one feeling out of control and scattered. Mindfulness and meditation were techniques offered to overcome the “monkey mind.” To be honest, the book was not a home run for me, but it had a couple golden nuggets, and those are the things I held onto. Monkey mind, now that resonated. That stuck.

It saddens me that my memory, frankly, sucks. There’s so much cool stuff in there, and I just can’t reach it. I wish I could remember every cute mispronunciation my kids ever made, and all the times they made me belly laugh. One evening when my kids were about 2 and 5 years old, I was having a ladies dinner out with a handful of friends. The mothers of the bunch, one by one, started recalling the most darlingest things their little darlings had done over the past month since we’d last seen each other. I was listening and delighting in their stories, and then someone asked, “How about you? Have any cute stories to share?” I couldn’t think of a single one. And my kids delight the pants off me practically every single day! Yet my mind was blank.

I keep a wooden chest full of various keepsakes, including decades-old letters and cards, mementos of a past self, some of which I’ve many years later held in my hands bewildered, as if I were seeing them for the first time that very moment. Had my name not been on them I might have believed they belonged to someone else. There were traces of friendships that, although I’d never forgotten we’d been friends, I forgot the depths that the letters evidenced. Others were cards from family, some now passed on, my eyes stuck on the handwriting. I pictured them writing my name, and theirs, using their very-alive hand to wish me well and send me love. I appreciated it all over again, probably now more than the first. So as I sat bewildered, I also felt nostalgic and loved, but sad, as well. Once packed away, the mementos will lay dormant in the chest waiting for their next resurrection, at which time – who knows? – they may again seem brand new. But many of the relationships themselves will never reappear. They exist only in my memory now, my wholly holey memory.

In talking to other 40-somethings (and up), I know I’m not alone. We worry about our memory, or lapses thereof. Usually these brain farts are funny, often centering around, “Now what did I just come in here for?” But sometimes they’re startling and worrisome. Raise your hand if you’ve ever taken a Free Online Alzheimer’s Test. Raise them both if you’ve done it more than once just to be sure! Since my memory has never been that great anyway, I’m hoping to just maintain; the rest of you can come to my level.

The good news is I don’t know that a bad memory is altogether a bad thing. You can’t dwell on a past you can’t grab hold of. Some memories hurt. I don’t know all the painful past experiences I’ve forgotten. If I did they wouldn’t be forgotten! But I know I must have. And I’m glad they’re gone.

I sure hope I remember the “glasses incident” for the rest of my life, though; bringing it up occasionally with my by-then-adult daughter, laughing about it all over again. I think by then enough time will have passed that she’ll find it funny, too, or at least endearing as one of “mom’s quirks.” But in the end I have to accept I have no control over that. I can try to stay healthy, keep my brain engaged and exercised (blogging counts, right?), but the Journey takes what the Journey wants. We may go through it all completely spry, or we may lose every bit of who we think we are piece by piece along the way. It brings to mind the popular phrase, “The past is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present.” That’s part of the point of this blog site. Looking back can be tough, though we do, even if through brimmed eyes. Looking ahead can be scary, though we must, even while the breath catches in our throat. Standing steady and soaking in the right now, finding the adventure in just being, really is a gift. One that I can hopefully remember to appreciate!

If you’d like to share your thoughts about this blog post, or your own experience with memory issues, please leave a comment! As always, thanks for reading!

July 16, 2018July 16, 2018

Lake Magic

Maybe it was a midlife crisis. A year ago, my husband and I took the family on vacation and simply never returned. At least that’s how it feels. We sold our cookie-cutter subdivision home in the city, quit both of our jobs with no guarantee of future gainful employment (I’m still wondering how the mortgage loan went through under such circumstances), moved across state lines and into a modest lake house being sold by a friend of a friend. We always wanted a lake house but never thought we’d actually be able to afford one of our own. This was probably a once-in-a-lifetime chance! We could seize the opportunity now and leave our safe and carefully constructed harbor for, literally, unknown waters with no idea if we would sink or swim, or we could let it pass by and continue with life as we’d known it.

My hubby is a forty-something like me. We’ve been a couple since 1996, when we were both young and beautiful and free. We had grown a wonderful life together up until this point, but we were no longer any of those things. And it was starting to show, on our bodies and in our spirit. My husband had been a displaced Michigander, working laboriously to help support his family for the past 20 years. He’s got lake blood in his veins (kinda like tiger blood but calmer and without the drug-fueled crazy) and most ills he has in life can be cured with a fishing pole in hand. But there was no space for that in the life we’d built. Along with our own competing work schedules, the kids were always busy with band, baseball, taekwondo, or some other such thing, which meant we parents were always busy with one activity or another. I would watch him day after day come home grouchy from work and head straight to the recliner, exhausted. The gusto was gone.

On the other hand, I was doing so wonderfully that I’d developed a panic disorder. My biggest trigger was driving, which was extremely convenient. But I’m no one-trick pony, mind you! I could also suddenly panic in a store, at work, in a crowd, while alone, and even in my own home. I was functional (most people probably wouldn’t notice that it was taking all I had just to breath in rhythm and not flee from the room) but worried that if things kept on this path, someday I might not be.

Aside: I remember being so proud one Mother’s Day my daughter made me this lovely storybook “All About Mom.” One page said, “My mom likes to read!” I thought what a great example I was setting by modeling reading to my children! I looked closer at the titles of the books on the page she had drawn: Overcoming Anxiety!, How to Cope with Panic Attacks! Your children will humble you. Oh, yes, they will humble you.

At this point, we’d been 15 years into our “starter home” that we’d initially only planned to keep for three to five years. It was a fine home, to which we’d done pretty much every major and most minor renovations possible over the years, and the only home our kids had ever known. Every corner was a memory. Anyone who has left not just a house, but a home, knows it’s not an easy decision. You know your heart will break when that door closes. We drove ourselves silly weighing pros and cons and trying to decipher every possible outcome of what life might be like were we to stay versus if we were to go, along with prayer – lots of prayer – for direction. While we had a chance to achieve a dream of living on a lake, it meant giving up stable employment with good benefits, displacing our kids from their schools and friends, leaving our Ohio family and our own friends, and starting completely anew. Only now we’re older and want to be in bed by 10:00 p.m.

My husband and I had the discussion, “On your deathbed, would you be okay knowing you had this chance and never took it?” In the end, that was it. We were going to throw caution and responsibility to the wind, and we were going for it! We earnestly hoped and fervently prayed it would be a good decision for everyone, but admittedly, it was ultimately for my husband, and it was for me.

Those first few weeks in the home were, first of all, a lot of work. I never want to see a paintbrush again! But it was also like flying, and falling, and flying up again, and not knowing if up ahead was a gentle landing or a free fall. It was an adventure! I felt like the heroine in Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer”! I wore my hair up, walked around sans makeup and shoes, listening to loud music out of a boombox that the previous owner left behind. I swam in the lake, kayaked for the first of many times, and sat in a hot tub sipping on Coronas or wine. I really had no clue what the next year was going to bring, good or bad, but I fully released myself to the fact I didn’t have much control over the matter at this point, and we really never do in life anyway. I floated along and let any sadness or grief I’d been storing up mix with any peace and joy and hope I had still within me without judgment and, sometimes, without much thought at all. There was a kind of magic, a refreshing feeling that whispered, “You are young and beautiful and free. Still.”

Lake sunset

A year later, things are looking promising. For one, we haven’t been foreclosed on yet! I am now among the ranks of the self-employed (another new adventure, more to come on that in a future blog) which has allowed me to support the family and have much less stress and less panic. The hubby still enjoys his recliner daily, but the call of the lake just past our back yard puts a renewed spring in his step. He smiles more. The kids are adjusting and seem to be happy. A happy teenager can be elusive, but it’s a wonderful thing when you catch sight of it. Teens experience their own kind of crisis; the “coming of age crisis”, perhaps?

If midlife crises do exist, maybe it’s a preemptive strike against possible regrets, knowing that you – that I – have a finite time on this earth, and the clock is ticking. And then taking chances! Even if it means doing something completely out of character for your previous self. It’s going to vary from person to person. For me, there was no brightly-colored convertible sports car involved. Instead, I traded life as I knew it in for a simpler one. Less is the new more. The beauty of the lake and her creatures within and near makes everyday different, everyday beautiful, and I’m so glad I got this chance and that I took it, for however long it lasts.

Maybe while in the throes of midlife is not the best time to veer abruptly off the course you’ve faithfully tread for roundabout 20 years. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s the perfect time.