Subj : Re: food and family was: To : NANCY BACKUS From : Janis Kracht Date : Wed Dec 04 2019 14:47:00 Hi Nancy, >>> so long, it's almost funny when I look in my closet I have this >>> velvet outfit I sewed a bazillion years ago that I'm hoping to wear >>> this holiday season.. It's pretty cool... velvet knickers and jacket >>> ... works great with boots and a satin blouse :) >> How pretty... :) >> Yeah, it is really pretty outfit I made quite a long time ago when I >> was sewing all my clothes and for the kids as well . > Two of my sisters have done that sort of sewing... I never got quite > that proficient... :) I did help make my wedding dress (quite a simple > one), but one of those two did most of it.... :) Still, that's cool that you were able to help with it :) I started sewing all my clothes when I was in about 7th grade because my arms and legs were longer than the pre-packaged "sizes" allotted for from clothing store racks ... I dug up my grandmother's sewing machine (It was an ancient Singer that would probably be worth a ton of $$ now. My youngest sister finally swiped it and used it as living room "show-piece"). It was totally "mechanical", so it sewed really well with very even stitches. By the time I was in High School, working summers at our local Hospital, I was able to save up enough $$ to buy a more modern Singer (still mechanical as opposed to electric) and that made sewing even easier. At some point in High School I had a job working for a dress shop in Warwick, NY where the 'well-to-do' Hollywood types that lived in Warwick liked to shop... so I sewed a dress for Gloria De Haven (most people don't even know who she was I think )... It was cool because of course people like her wanted dresses made from exotic fabrics, etc. And because of people like her and the dresses I sewed I had enough $$ to make my dresses for High School proms, etc.. like a sari silk dress, and also a gold lame dress. I _think_ I still have them here somewhere ... After I married Ron, he bought me a 'dream' machine that was electric, did embroidery and all that stuff . Back then Singer allowed you to trade in your old machines as a down payment on a new one, so when Singer came out with the Athena 1000 I bought one of those... it was such a great machine (still have an Athena, it's an Athena 2000)... I sewed for everyone in the family, my kids, my sisters, my mom...creating daring dresses for my sisters (as couples my sisters/their hubbys, and Ron and I used to go out dancing in Jersery at night clubs owned by some friends of my Dad... that was incredibly neat). When my youngest sister got married, another of my sisters couldn't find a bridesmaids' dress in her size, so I made a copycat dress for her from scratch that matched everyone elses. She was so happy, I remember :) >> You are so right as to everybody's body being different in how it >> processes its fuel... Mine certainly isn't as accomodating as yours >> is... >> Well, there are days when I would like to just be 'normal' but I guess >> the combination of my height (geez, I'm not that tall, but ~5' 6" >> maybe) and my pulse clocking in at about 70 do it.. got me... :) > Apparently you've also got a very efficient metabolism... mine tends to > shut down all too easily... :) Understand, one of my sisters has a metabolism similar to yours. It can be hard for her as well, so I always sewed dresses for her. >>>> For sure on the meds making things worse... but I guess it does sound as >>>> though she'd already been slipping some... >>> Yes, this week continues to confirm what we feared after we heard >>> about the stroke.. with essentially no progress, her insurance will >>> slip into Medicaid as opposed to medicare. >> She might have been having little strokes all along that just weren't >> noticeable... that would also have played into the ability/mindset for >> doing the rehab... >> Sure, that makes a lot of sense, really. She still won't try anything >> along those lines. They wheel her down there I guess, and then wheel >> her back. > Sad. I suppose that at her age, and given the stroke, it might have > become more than she actually can do anymore.... And that's if she can even understand what the staff is saying to her... If she cannot even recognize family members you have to wonder where she thinks they are trying to take her, and for what purpose. >>> And today I felt great because I ordered a number of 'seed pods' for >>> my aerogarden - that is a always boost :) :) That company is so great, >>> I love it... I ordered eggplant, sweet peppers (not into hot ones >>> ), tomatoes and bok choy :) Should be here in a couple days >>> so that's just great :) >> That's a mood booster, for sure... :) And you'll have the fresh >> veggies to look forward to even as the season gets less appealing >> outside... ;) >> Yes, I was so happy to see they've expanded the veggies they package >> included eggplant (they are smaller, purple ones almost like japanese >> eggplant). > Oh, that sounds really good... I do like eggplant, especially the > japanese sort... they cook up very nicely... :) Yes, and they are so sweet. I love japanese eggplant :) >> The seed pot kits arrived a few days ago... now I have to sterilize >> the aerogarden "Farm" we have in the living room so I can plant the >> new pods. :) > It's for a good cause, after all... ;) Yep - just a bit of work... you really have to sterilize everything thoroughly with bleach. Thankfully it's not hard to do, it just takes a little time. >>>>>> Just need to keep at it... nibble on good stuff between meals if you >>>>>> can... make the cookies specially nutritious... ;) >>> My favorite recipe for peanut butter cookies is one that I've used >>> since "forever".. it is so good, just 2cups peanut butter, and 2 cups >>> sugar (I cut down the sugar to about 1 1/2 cups), and no flour. >> Those would be rather nutritious... and be an easier way to eat the PB >> than on a spoon from the jar... >> Oh yeah, I munch on those anytime I get hungry :) > Good show... :) Easy to keep handy, too... :) I'm out of them now and have to make more - I was thinking about it this week but I still have some Thanksgiving deserts left that I made :) Pumpkin pie is gone, but there is still some Italian Ricotta Cake left (great for breakfast haha). And there is still some_ Chocolate Cake with vanilla pastry cream between the layers covered with Chocolate butter cream frosting left. For that cake, I split each layer then filled the split layers. >> Today I made pumpkin pies with that frozen pumpkin I defrosted.. >> Thanksgiving should be great this year... > Yes... Happy Thanksgiving, by the way.... :) Same to you and yours :) I was able to send a ton of leftovers home with my daughter's oldest son, so he was happy about that :) >> We also are trying something different this year... we'll see how it >> goes ... Wegman's had an advertisement for a turkey dinner for 12 with >> all the fixins' So I thought, geez, I'm old enough to enjoy just >> sitting around like everyone else on the holiday hahaha... so we have >> an order in for it. Ron will pick it up on Wednesday this week for >> Thursday's Thanksgiving, and according to their instructions in an hour >> and half or something like that we'll have Turkey Dinner :) > Did that work out nicely, as advertised....? I've thought about it, but > since I'm not feeding 12, or even half that, never really figured it was > worth doing for us... :) But it does look like a nice deal... :) It worked out great, and there were plenty of leftovers which to me was important ... I love turkey and gravy openfaced sandwiches... My only complaint if I was going to be really picky was that their cranberry sauce wasn't as good as mine. You could tell it was made from fresh cranberries, but they used big chunks of orange peel in it.. some may like that, I wasn't crazy about it... Also, without the carcas you can't make turkey soup but that is not so critical :) If I hadn't sent the leftover legs/thighs home with my grandson I could probably have done it :) Oh, and they didn't include sweet potatoes.. can you imagine a turkey dinner with _only_ white mashed potatoes??? :) But the turkey and the gravy were plentiful and very good. They included the whole turkey (whole turkey breast sliced, 2 legs, 2 thighs, 2wings)... tons of food. Now I'm thinking about Christmas but I think I'm going to do what I've always done in years past... Roast turkey/gravy/sweetpotatoes/mashed potoes/veggies as the first course, then homemade cheese ravioli and meatballs as the second course. It's really easy to do if you plan ahead and freeze the ravioli until it's time to cook it. :) Take care, Janis --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-4 * Origin: Prism bbs (1:261/38) .