Tagged

Tagged by buddy and fellow blogger Jenny. She called it right: I'm grumpy about it.

Four Dishes I like to cook (and eat):

1.Bread-I really like to make bread. Mostly I do French bread, but I will veer into other things on occasion. I like to make it because it makes me a superstar in my house. Everyone raves when they see I'm making bread.

2. Fried Eggplant or Roasted Okra-I enjoy the golden brown deliciousness of well-fried eggplant. And the grill lines and smoky sweetness of okra roasted until the slimy-ness is gone. And the eating? Particularly satisfying because I'm the only one that really ADORES this food. So the others will take their required servings and I will eat all the rest. Gorging myself until I'm uncomfortably full.

3. Anything pasta-when I have time I like to putter in the kitchen making my own noodles. But even when I don't have that much time, I always make my own sauce or whatever it is I'm putting in the noodles. I never used jarred sauce unless it's in something like lasagna. Although I will admit that recently I opened 2 jars of Trader Joe's organic marinara and poured it over some pre-cooked and frozen seasoned venison I had done up a few weeks ago. It was simply delicious and a great way to end a day of hard work outside.

4. Pretty much anything I've never made before. I love finding new recipes to try and the more steps they take and the more complicated they are, the happier I am. Putting on some jazz and my apron and hopping about the kitchen setting my mis en place and then assembling in a leisurely manner is my way of busting stress and chasing away headaches.

Four Qualities I Love in People

1. Honesty
2. Integrity
3. Humor
4. Faith

Four Places I've Been

Being a military kid, I could bore you with details of all the exotic locales(ha!) I've hit in my lifetime. So I'm going to go the other way and tell you four of my favorite places to go:

1. Southeastern Minnesota
2. My friend Lis' family cabin in Wisconsin (been there once physically, but in my mind I'm there a little while each day)
3. A beach house in Cherry Grove, S.C.
4. Any friend's kitchen

Four Things in my Bedroom
My bedroom is pretty much unadorned. This will be a stretch

1. A small, wooden carving of a couple embracing. This was a gift from my brother and sister-in-law from their visit to another country (I don't remember where they went)
2. Baseball cards-safely protected in plastic boxes under my bed.
3. A rubber tube that I use for part of my yoga practice
4. My copy of "Is it Hot in Here? Or is it Just Me?"

Four Dirty Words I Like/Tend to Use
I am not proud of this. And this is a family blog. So I'll change this to four idiomatic phrases I tend to use a lot. And I credit my mom, Mary, with the fact that I am a pretty idiomatic person. She is too. I grew up with these and many other colorful phrases.

1. "From pillar to post"
2. "To hell in a handbasket" (do you capitalize 'hell?' Let's not.)
3. "Busier than a one-armed paperhanger"
4. "He/she must have been vaccinated with a phonograph needle."

Four objects I will never part with and will leave to someone to inherit when I die
To be honest with you, I'm not really that kind of person. I mean, I like my stuff, and I would miss it if it were gone, but really? I can't think of one thing. Jenny had a very touching item on her blog: a Tiffany bracelet Raymond gave to her when he proposed. Me? Nada.

Ah...here's one:
1. My organs. I'm an organ donor. I don't intend to part with any (more...I've had to give up a couple so far, but they were unplanned) until I die. Then? Hollow me out and ship me off to parts unknown in myriad pieces. I don't care. Besides, Mom says all my ashes won't fit into a 28-ounce tomato can, so if I can get rid of all the organs before cremation, I figure that increases my chances.

Three more:
2. My All-Clad cookware-I'll probably leave this to Taylor. He likes cooking. And he's good at it. He can have the All-Clad utensils too. It will still all be like brand-new in 60 years anyway...I should leave him a case of Bar Keeper's Friend, too. That's the trick.

3. uh uh uh...I'm absolutely drawing a blank. Wait! I have one...my husband actually saved these, but they have a lot of importance to me too. I have three pieces of paper in my jewelry box on my bedroom dresser (since I have no jewelry to speak of, the box is a good place to put other stuff). On those pieces of paper are the lists of names Mensa Boy and I drew up when we were trying to figure out what to name Taylor. And to further make the lists more special, in the upper right corner of one list, which is actually an index card, is the word "Chagger." That was what then-4-year-old Nate suggested. I will leave these papers to Nate and Taylor.

4. Memories. My husband's memories, actually. I have very little memory. But Mensa Boy remembers everything. In great detail. With great accuracy. I would have a rough time continuing through life without my husband's memories, which are mine too. MB and I will eventually begin a project of preserving those memories (this blog is part of my own contribution), and we will pass them to our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

I'm supposed to tag a couple of people with this. I'll tag Mary, she of Shoe-Dawg-Shoe, because this is just the sort of thing she'd enjoy doing, and Psycho Anita, who also would enjoy doing this if she had time. And Kimberlee of The Buggy Side of the Dog.