Tag: celebration

Mom & Me & Mashed Potatoes

Today was St. Patrick’s Day so I had to make Shepherd’s Pie. Of course I did. And those of you who know my sweet daughter Maggie entirely understand this. For those of you who don’t know her, just accept that she profoundly believes that every single holiday – whether regional, national, or worldwide – is a Food Event that must be Celebrated with an Appropriate Menu (and I mean those capital letters sincerely!).

But I digress . . .

So, I was making mashed potatoes to top off the Shepherd’s Pie and found myself once again missing my Mom, as I do pretty much every time I mash potatoes. Why is that? Glad you asked, because I am in the mood to pour out my heart – just a little bit.

My clever Mom loved to cook and she did it very well – she actually won a number of cooking awards – and she cheerfully indoctrinated my sister and I into the mysteries of the kitchen from a young age. Many of my dearest memories with Mom center on cooking together for holidays and special events – and sometimes just for fun – throughout our lives until she passed away at the age of 88 in 2018.

As you can imagine, we developed all kinds of laugh-laden kitchen habits and traditions, and one of these centered around mashed potatoes. No matter who had mashing duty, we would dirty a silly number of spoons taste-testing for just that appropriate level of salt. You would think two experienced cooks would be beyond this, but it somehow became a shared kitchen ritual – the memory of which puts a little ache in my heart and drops the occasional salty tear whenever I mash those spuds on my own or with my daughter.

By the way, if you were looking for a mashed potato recipe – here you go: Boil and mash a bunch of (preferably) gold potatoes. Add butter, a bit of milk or broth, and salt (add other seasoning, if desired) to taste. Measurements are unnecessary, just taste test using as many spoons as required. Enjoy!

I miss Mom, and I still love sharing about her. Thanks for listening.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

You Matter

On those days your life direction and choices seem to teeter precariously on that terrifying and soul-destroying line between inspiration and insanity, success and failure, self-esteem and self-loathing and you are unsure which path will not totally wreck you, remember this:

Your choices absolutely matter, but regardless of your choices today and their outcome, your life always has infinite value. You are precious to God, so let go of discouragement and anxiety and do not let self-doubt (or the voices of others) convince you that you don’t matter. This earthly life can be precarious and, in any given moment, any one of us could be a raging success, glide peacefully along, or stumble, crash and burn. Still, events on earth are temporary and eternity is permanent – so whatever today brings, look up to see and accept who you are in the Heavenlies, because in God’s eyes you are precious, you are loved, your life matters. Always. Rest in that, be confident, and choose what is eternal.

He is Here.

When you think of Jesus Christ, what image comes into your head?

Every day, every way, on more levels than any of us can possibly understand or imagine, Jesus lives. He is not a baby in a barn, a child in the Temple, preaching in Israel, bleeding on the Cross, currently resurrecting, or even wearing human skin. All of these events are part of His life and message and are worthy of breathless awe and honor, of course! But they are part of His history, not to be confused with what Christ is doing today or where He is right now – which happens to be in Heaven, at the right hand of God, listening to our hearts and being involved in our lives.

So, do these things:

Bow before the Holy Babe in the manger to honor Christ’s great love in coming to us.

Fall on your knees at the Cross and see the sacrifice He made and your own brokenness so you can repent and change your life.

Humble yourself to the ground in gratitude at the empty tomb because He miraculously conquered death to offer you a joyous forever.

Then stand in grace before the living ever-present Christ who is right here for you and is compassionate and powerful and sees exactly who you are from the top of everything lovely about you down to the tippy-toes of everything ugly and still loves you unconditionally, hears you unceasingly, laughs with your joys, weeps with your sorrows, encourages you unerringly, pours grace and mercy all over you, and stays with you wherever you go, whatever you do, no matter the darkness or mistakes – because He is yours and you are His! Reach toward the unfathomable wonder of Jesus Christ in the present and step up with confidence.

He is glorious, He is love, and He. Is. Here.

“I came so they might have life, and have it abundantly.” ~ John 10:10b

“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him.” ~ John 3:17

Sweet, Sweet Mardi Gras

Tuesday was Mardi Gras. There are not a lot of places to celebrate in our area that don’t involve over-21 activities, expensive restaurants, or events that already occurred the previous weekend. But I have a daughter who likes to celebrate EVERYTHING with celebratory food so I looked online and found many lovely King Cake recipes requiring yeast.

Well. That’s not gonna happen. My bread-baking days are over. Maybe. I think. (At my age, I’ve learned to never say never.)

A web search for “easy king cake” netted a delightful recipe using canned cinnamon rolls. Ding! Ding! Ding! Folks, we have a winner! We made a quick trip to our local grocery store and came home with the required items, plus fruit (because something healthy seemed to be called for), breakfast sausage (Deal of the Week: Buy the sausage, get the cinnamon rolls free – what’s not to like?) and, of course, Mardi Gras ice cream. I kid you not. The carton says “Limited Edition, Mardi Gras” and is decorated with people who appear to be playing jazz. I have been quite successful on my diet lately, but I knew right then that Fat Tuesday would not be Dieter’s Paradise.

I usually go light on sugar, but my darling daughter is dieting with me and had strong, profound, and fairly articulate feelings that if we were already messing around with gluten-infested cinnamon-roll based King Cake, we might as well go all the way. She made a reasonable argument and she has high functioning autism, so we take all the good, clear communication we can get. I bought the ice cream because sometimes I’m just a squishy bunny like that.

It all went down much as expected. My hubster came home from work and we had King Cake for snack. I made a celebratory tamale chile bake for dinner, and we had a little more King Cake after dinner with our Mardi Gras ice cream. I consumed the ice cream in extreme moderation because dairy is not my friend, but I definitely consumed enough to form an opinion.

So, what – you are asking – does Mardi Gras ice cream taste like? WELL, if you took a cinnamon King Cake with cream cheese frosting, added something green, something purple, and sprinkles, AND you whipped it with frozen whipped cream, AND mixed in approximately 40 lbs. of undiluted, refined sugar, THEN you would have ONE (and only ONE) gallon of Mardi Gras ice cream. To say it is just a bit sweet is like saying Niagara Falls is just a bit wet. A spoonful would probably be enough to keep your average 3 year old up all night.

My children stay up later than I do; I’m not saying there’s a correlation, but the rest of the King Cake was inexplicably gone by the next morning. I don’t ask questions. The Mardi Gras ice cream languished in the freezer for a day or two before finally succumbing to whatever mysterious force made the King Cake disappear.

I have decided to give up Mardi Gras ice cream for Lent along with any other foods that are in any way reminiscent of cotton candy on steroids.

May God bless you during this season of Lent!