Book Review: Little Gale Gumbo

In this novel, Camille and her two daughters (Dahlia and Josie) move from New Orleans to escape Charles, an abusive husband/father.  They originally have their eyes set on Canada, but they end up making a home in Little Gale, an island off of Maine, instead.

There, they rent a room from Ben and his son Matthew.  Camille and Ben are attracted to each other, and the girls soon form a triangle of sorts with Matthew, who becomes their friend and protector, since the islanders are quick to welcome outsiders.

Camille opens a restaurant using her Creole recipes, which quickly becomes a success.  But this success and the make-shift family that has formed with the blending of the two families is threatened when Ben is the victim of an mysterious accident.

This was a great story, including recipes that I can't wait to try.  Read my full review here.

Holiday Knitting

I am soooo far behind.

I have a wedding gift that was supposed to be done about three weeks ago.  But I got into a funk Rhinebeck weekend, and I stopped knitting for two weeks.  Had I not lost those two weeks, I'd probably be okay.  So I just need to kick things into hyperdrive and stay focused.

One of the gifts I had planned (a scarf) might be shoved to next year, and I might have to think of something else for John.  The other two gifts (a hat and a cowl) are shorter projects, so that would take a lot of pressure off.  A man's scarf is no joke, people!

But I may be able to crank a lot out during Thanksgiving weekend since I'm one of those people who has absolutely no obligations whatsoever (other than, you know, gluttony and couch potato-ing).  And since I don't do the Black Friday thing, I can make use of that time, too.

List #34: My Least Favourite Candy

(In honour of Halloween)

1.  Tootsie Rolls
I don't like how they feel in my teeth, but I like the flavour.  This works out well since my mom inhales them.

2.  Necco wafers
Worst idea ever.  They feel awful on my teeth, the flavour is awful, and I don't even like the feel of them in my fingers.  I even just shuddered typing "Necco wafers" (again).  UGH.  (Again, my mom inhales these.)

3.  Whoppers
Who the hell invented these????  Why do people make things that feel so gross on my teeth??????  Stop doing this!

4.  Milk Duds
Are they supposed to be chewed? dissolved?  It's like a candy with an identity disorder.  I can't take it.

5.  Candy corn
These are just disgrossting.  (Srsly, my mom will stab you for these.  Hmm, there's a pattern emerging here.)

6.  Orange peanuts
They don't taste good, they feel weird, and... okay, really - no redeeming value whatsoever.

The Death of a Relationship

I had been feeling kind of bad that Orin and I hadn't had any contact since I found out he had lung and brain cancer.  So I told my mom, "What if he's sitting there thinking, 'Here I am going through all of this and all my daughter does is send me a damned card?'"

So she said, "Well, if you really feel that way, go ahead and call him.  And if he starts acting like a jerk, tell him that this is why things are the way they are between you and hang up."

Today, I did just that.  When we started talking, I asked if he had received the card.  "Yes, and I didn't call you.  That was my choice."  Oh.  While he continued to talk and tell me about his treatment, I mulled over in my head "Is there any way I can take that other than 'I didn't want to talk to you'?" and I keep coming up with "Nope - that's pretty much what he meant."

I won't go through every detail, but by the end, he was accusing my mom of being a liar, he was yelling that he is NOT a racist and he stood behind the emails he sent me (that led to me changing my email address), and then he hung on up me.

So I called him back and I said, "I just want you to understand that THIS is why our relationship is not a good one.  I want to wish you well with everything you're going through.  I love you, but this is the last time I'll be talking to you.  Good-bye."

And that is that.

Recipe: Southwest Chicken Casserole

2 large onions, chopped
2 jalapeño peppers, chopped
2 T butter
6 c cubed chopped chicken
2 10-3/4 c cream of chicken soup
16 oz sour cream
10 oz frozen chopped spinach
8 oz shredded Monterey Jack cheese
12-1/2 oz nacho tortilla chips, crushed 
4 green onions, sliced

1.  In a Dutch oven, saute onions and jalapenos in butter until tender. Stir in the turkey, soup, sour cream and spinach. In a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish, layer half of the turkey mixture, cheese and tortilla chips. Repeat layers.

2.  Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with green onions.

Yield: 12 servings

Notes:  The original recipe calls for turkey, but I had a chicken on hand, so I used that.  I also subbed in cream of portabello mushroom soup, because that's what I had.  I used fat-free sour cream because I rarely use regular sour cream.  I used a 16-oz package of spinach because that's what Trader Joe's sells, and I wasn't about to figure out what to do with six extra ounces of thawed out frozen spinach, nor did I want to waste it.  TJ's also had a Jack cheese blend - regular Jack, pepper Jack, and a habañero Jack, so I used that (normally, I would have added another jalapeño, but since I was using spicy cheese, I didn't).  I also didn't use nearly as much chips as the recipe calls for.  I have no idea what I used, but I had less than half of a 16-oz bag of chips left, and I wasn't going to buy a new bag just for this.  So I just crushed the chips directly onto the casserole until the layer was done.  When both layers were complete, I still had WAY over half of what I started with left.  I didn't use the green onions on top, but only because I didn't have any on hand; I meant to sub in another onion but forgot to. 

This was extremely good, and I will definitely be making this again.  I may play around with shoving different veggies in there instead of or in addition to the spinach.  Ideas welcomed!

Halloween Candy Overload

Yesterday, several people at work brought their leftover Halloween candy to work.  And we have a large department.

One woman buys full-sized candy bars for her trick-or-treaters.  The one thing I'm enjoying is sampling things that I've always thought sounded good but I haven't wanted to buy an entire candy bar of to try it.  For instance, I've discovered that Snickers Peanut Butter is quite good (these were the small "squared" bite-size pieces, not the full-sized, so I let myself have a couple).

My mom wants to know if we're all going to go on a group shopping trip for larger clothes.  At this rate, we're going to have to.

Blog Contest by Fabulous Designer

As most of my Ravelry/knitting friends know, I moderate a pattern testing group on Rav.  Over the past (nearly) two years that I've held this role (although I've been a member of the group a bit longer), one of the designers I've grown particularly fond of is Corinne.

The great news is that she is currently holding a contest on her blog to celebrate her two year anniversary of designing.  Visit her blog sometime this week and enter to win two of her great patterns (excluding ebooks).  All you need to do is let her know which of her patterns you like most.  If you are new to her designs, just take a peek at her design page on Rav or look at around on her blog -- you'll find them!

Good luck, and happy knitting!