Two Approaches to Preparing Talks

On a list of the top ten fears, public speaking ranks second, coming right behind fear of flying, and just ahead of fear of heights.  I'm not afraid to fly and most of the time I'm not afraid of heights, although I don't like sitting at the top of the ferris wheel, but I think it's the openness, and the rocking that make me crazy.  Public speaking, well that one I'm still working on.  In our church, everyone has the opportunity to learn to overcome this fear.  The little children learn to give talks in primary from the time they're three years old.  The teenagers and adults speak in our worship services.  Giving a talk in sacrament meeting can be a harrowing experience, but like most things, it does get easier the more you do it.  And even when you bomb, kind people still tell you what a great job you did.  Mormons are nice that way.

This week, my husband and I both had assignments to speak in sacrament meeting.  Unfortunately, they weren't in the same location.  Mark was able to catch my talk, since we have early meetings and then he rushed off to present his.  What was really interesting for me was the different approaches we took in preparing our talks.  All week, I worked on my topic.  I prayed.  I researched quotes from general authorities.  I poured over my scriptures, trying to find just the right passages.  I typed, and retyped, until I felt pretty good about the talk.  Then I would remember something else I wanted to use and would go back to add it, then reprint.  In retrospect, the whole process was pretty intense.  I worked in the quiet hours of the morning, so I could concentrate without interruptions.  After mulling over things all week, at seven o'clock on Saturday evening, I printed off the last copy and decided it would have to do.

Mark mentioned his talk a few times during the week, but I never saw him write down a thing. Then on Saturday, he was resting on the bed and when he got up, he said, "I know what I'm going to speak about.  I've got it all worked out in my mind."  And that was that.  I am amazed at how he can do this.  Although, I didn't hear his talk, I've heard him speak before and he does a great job. But he uses practically no notes (maybe a few post its), speaking mostly from his life experiences.  I am so jealous!  I want to be able to do that.  I've often thought those who speak from their hearts, instead of their notes are the best speakers.  I've also made the observation that many of those speakers just happen to be men.  Is this a male/female thing?  Are woman more compulsive about having every note in order before standing before a group?

What was confirmed to me this week, is how the spirit works so individually with each of us, tutoring and guiding in the way that works for us.  Also, the Lord knows each of our circumstances and gives us the grace to work within the confines of those limits.  Mark is a busy man.  He works hard and doesn't have the time to sit and study for hours, researching church archives, looking for just the right references.   Yet, because he is willing to serve, the Lord gives him inspiration in a flash.  He says it even surprises him sometimes how quickly the ideas come.  I have to say this doesn't seem quite fair, but the Lord knows me and knows what I need and obviously He feels like I need to work a little harder for it.  There is no "one right way" to deliver a message.  I know this.  And Mark's way isn't better than mine or vice versa.  But I do covet his way. (I know, I'm not supposed to covet.)

Sometimes I wonder what might happen if I just left my notes behind and tried this extemporaneous  approach.  The thought terrifies me.  That's because I want to feel like I'm prepared and in control, but what if I let the spirit be in control?  What might he do with my words?  I'm not ready to go there just yet, but I might try blogging extemporaneously from time to time, just for fun.  Whatever the fingers type will be published.  Just typing that sentence made my little "editing" heart tremble.  Are you willing to read my rambling thoughts?  I'll warn you ahead of time, it could be scary stuff!

How do you feel about public speaking?  How do you prepare?  Do you have tips that you would share?

Managing My Recipes- The" Old School" Way

I have a dear friend who enjoys cooking and perusing cooking magazines as much as I do.  But right now, he's feeling a little under the weather and needs to put all his energy into getting well.  I was honored when he offered to give me a couple of years of back issues of some of his favorite magazines. I say honored, because I know how hard it can be to let go of these treasures!   Magazine junkies, such as George and myself, can accumulate some pretty tall stacks of potential dinner time yumminess, but eventually those stacks can start to take over and you just have to do something with them!  I was glad to help George out with his clutter problem.

For a few days, all my spare time went into reading, clipping and treasure hunting.  I'm not sure how I've made it for fifty some years and never read Saveur , but I think it just might be my new favorite "foodie" magazine.  Travel and food.  Two of my passions all wrapped up into one wonderful magazine?  What's not to LOVE?  I mean, just look at that green chili cheeseburger and tell me you don't want to plan a trip to Sante Fe.  I totally want that in my stomach, now!   Saveur takes you around the world and tempts you with amazing food.  How about a little Toad in the Hole or Bubble and Squeak?  If you've spent time in England you might know what those dishes are, but if not you can learn from Saveur that it's sausages baked in a yorkshire pudding and a fried vegetable hash with potatoes, carrots, parsnips and brussel sprouts.  I would eat both of those.  This magazine is plain fun.  And imagine my surprise when I flipped the pages and found an article about a fish camp, complete with recipes for rainbow trout,  just miles from good ole' Asheville, N.C.  As much as I've enjoyed reading Saveur for the culinary travels, I've enjoyed Cooks Illustrated for the art.

I haven't decided exactly what to do with these prints, but they are definitely too beautiful to end up in a recycling bin.

This is beautiful food art!  On the back of each issue is an illustration of certain types of food, like this one with mesclun greens.  Some of these will be binder covers for my recipe books, but the rest?  I'm just not sure, but I have them safely tucked away for when I figure it out.

So here's where I'm going to tell you about my very "un- techy", "old school" way of keeping recipes.  I have friends who love having all their recipes organized on their computer, but I just haven't been able to go there.  I still like having paper copies of my favorite dishes.  I know you can find any recipe you could want on line ( I just found Carabba's sausage and lentil soup!), and even though I have a pretty hefty "Recipes to Try" board on Pinterest, I still have lots of paper recipes that need to be dealt with.  And since I keep accumulating them, this is the system that works for me.

Whenever I find a recipe in a magazine that I think sounds good, I clip it out and then put it in one of these two binders.  I started out with one, but over the years, as it became so full I couldn't shut it, I needed to have another one. The recipes are organized under lots of plastic tabs.  Sometimes the entire page goes in, like this one for cream horns, or if it's a small clipping, I tape several of them on blank pages.

Some pages are informative, teaching me more about certain foods,

others are cooking lessons.  I still can't make a pretty lattice top pie.  I need to practice this one.

I taped this recipe right onto the picture.  Quinoa Tabbouleh...sounds delicious.

It sounds like a lot of work, but it doesn't take long.  I do this at the end of the month, when I'm going through my magazines, to decide what to keep before recycling them.  I try to rip out anything I find interesting, put it into a binder and then get rid of the magazine.  This keeps me from having piles of magazines sitting around the house.  This time, since I had lots of magazines (thank you, George), it took a little longer.  

But it was fun work!

Whenever I want to try a new recipe, all I have to do is pull the binder from the shelf and turn to the tab "Brownies".  Yes, I have an entire section of brownie recipes.  Doesn't everyone?  Or Salads.  Or Chicken.  You get the idea.  Once I've tried the recipe, if it's a keeper, then I write it down on an index card and it goes into one of my recipe card boxes.  Only tried and true recipes make it into the box.

When I'm menu planning for the week ahead, I go to my cabinet with my boxes and binders and spread everything out on the island.

I also put my calendar within sight, so I know which day I have time to cook a full meal, which meals need to cook themselves in the crock pot because I'm going to be gone all day, which day I might have time to try something new (because a new recipe always takes more time), etc.  I go to the recipe boxes first for ideas for our favorites and then to the binders if I'm going to be trying something new.

I have a pretty folder that holds my menu plan, recipe cards or clippings (from the binders), along with coupons and my grocery list.  This is what I take to the grocery store and the folder I work out of when I cook all week.  As I finish a meal, the card goes back into the folder and once a week (when I'm menu planning- because I have the recipe boxes out), I refile cards back where they go.

I've got my system down pat, so it doesn't take long to plan and prepare for the week.  It took a lot longer blogging about it!  I've found that when I stick to this plan, I always know what's for dinner, I don't have to scramble around at the last minute, and when I'm really smart I even plan my meals so that I can get several dinners from one cooking night.  Cook once, eat twice. Now, that's awesome.

I've set this recipe aside, because I'm planning on making it for George when he comes home from his stay in rehab.  I hear good reports that he's getting stronger every day and when he gets home, he's going to be ready for a good meal.  I'm thinking some garlic mashed potatoes (he loves garlic) and balsamic glazed brussel sprouts to go with it.  Sound good?

Relishing Small Pleasures

First Monday counting...

                       when I share entries from my Gratitude Journal

1861-licking honey off our fingers

1862- a morning in the temple

1863- making won ton salad with Dillon

1864- a son with a "serving" heart

1865- clean, organized cabinets

1866- gazing into a starry sky

1867- sharing a slice of turtle cheesecake

1868- clapping and singing along at an ONS show

1869- TJ Maxx shopping with Sherri

1870- three winter coats for $77

1871- listening to conference on my phone as I travel

1872- fifty something sisters sharing a mirror to put on 

makeup - just like the old days

1873- hot shower on a cold morning

1874- tights and boots

1875- warming up by the wood stove

1876- celebrating Sandy's birthday

1877- toothless grin

1878- glazed lemon cookies

1879- favorite posters finally framed

1880- colored leaves

1881- breaking fortune cookies with Travis

1882- bbq piled high on buns

1883- fuzzy hat with ears

1884- helping a friend in need

1885- finishing a book, then watching the movie

and loving them both (Out of Africa)

1886- Lark Rise to Candleford marathon

1887- picnic on the parkway

1888- a weekend set apart, just to spend time with each other

1889- clearing out the basement

1890-riding through corn fields with Mark

1891- chatter in the kitchen

1892- white squirrels

1893- a new heat pump

1894- a box of seed garlic to plant

1895- chicken pot pie

1896- hot water

1897- a squirrel with an acorn in his mouth

1898- apples from Linda

1899- pumpkin bread

1900- soft, kitty fur

1901- lab work with good results

1902- starting a new journal

1903- standing as a witness of Christ and sharing my testimony

1904- two little Sunbeams singing their hearts out

1905- croissants with brie and pear slices

1906- safe travels to Colorado

1907- "thrift store" find - a suit for church

1908- reading scriptures with Mark

1909- expectant fisherman, waiting and hoping

1910- a thank you note from a scout and his mom

1911- good friends

1912- salmon fillet, cooked just the way I like it

1913- new home for Millie

1914- good health

1915- crunching leaves under foot

1916- visit with Carol and Margaret

1917- first time voters

1918- sun on my back as I work in the garden

1919- the weekend

1920- shelter from the storm

1921-towels warm from the dryer

1922- Yankee Candle "Autumn Wreath"

1923- greek salad

1924- feeling content

1925- gifts from the kitchen

1926- serving with great women in Primary

1927- love sentiments pulled from the mailbox

1928- costumed trick or treaters

1929- the smell of roasting squash

1930- thick crust pizza

"Thing big thoughts but relish small pleasures"

H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Halloween Treat for Big Kids

This morning I was thinking about how busy this holiday can be when you have children at home and how completely boring and uneventful it is when they've all grown up and moved away.  After the drama of finding the perfect costume was over (which I did not enjoy), we used to have lots of fun as a family decorating the house, trick or treating to a few, select homes, attending fall festivals and for years, we invited friends over to our house to party.  It was never a scary time, just a time for lots of fun. 

As I get older, I realize that boring isn't necessarily a bad thing, in fact, I kind of like it.  However, for some reason today,  I was still feeling the need to celebrate this holiday in some way.  Since I already bought, and ate, the candy corn, I had to think of something else to do.  I decided to whip up a little something sweet and do some reverse trick or treating, sharing my goodies with friends.  Flipping through the recipe box, I found a frosted pumpkin cookie that sounded perfectly Halloween-y (I may have just made that word up), in a grown up kind of way.  Pumpkin puree, orange zest, raisins and nuts sounded like a delicious combination. 

Here's where the good part comes in.  These cookies don't have just any old frosting on them, oh no.  I slathered them with an "over the top" orange frosting made with fresh orange juice.  The only thing better than orange frosting on pumpkin cookies might be orange frosting on cinnamon rolls.  Hmm.  Maybe for Christmas?

These cookies are like eating little bites of chewy cake with yummy frosting.  I made them small, so they could be enjoyed three or four at a time.  No guilt friends.  It's Halloween.

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Cookies with Orange Frosting

1 cup sugar

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup shortening ( I use non-hydrogenated)

1 T. grated orange zest

2 cups unbleached plain flour

1 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. salt

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped nuts ( I like walnuts in these)

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix sugar, pumpkin, shortening and orange zest.  Stir in flour,

baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.  Stir in raisins and nuts.

Drop onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned.

Immediately remove from cookie sheet.  Let cool, then spread with frosting.

Frosting

1/4 cup melted butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 t. orange extract

2 T. oranges juice - you may need to add more or less to get it to 

the right spreading consistency.

Stir sugar into melted butter.  Add extract and orange juice.

Growing Garlic

It's almost the end of the calendar year, and most gardener's are pretty worn out by this time.  I know I'm ready for a break, but there's just one more thing I have to get in the ground before I can rest.  Yes, it's time to plant the garlic.  Because I love cooking with garlic and use so much of it, I think I need to grow my own.  Last year I experimented by planting some garlic cloves and was pleasantly surprised when I harvested a dozen heads this summer.  Since I really didn't know what I was doing, I think I got lucky.  But it just made me want to learn more and grow more!  So I took a class.

If you know me well, you know I like to take classes and boy was this one worth a few hours on a Saturday afternoon.  Christopher, from Red Wing Farms in Asheville helped me learn everything I needed to know to feel confident in growing garlic.  And lucky for you ( and with his permission), I'm going to tell you all about it.

Garlic is a close relative to onions, shallots. leeks and chives and because it's a bulb plant, the ideal time to plant them is in the fall.  The first thing I learned is that there are two main kinds of garlic; hardneck and softneck.  The garlic you buy in the grocery store is a softneck variety.  That's because softneck garlic has a longer shelf life and if you are growing commercial garlic, that's very important.   Another thing I learned is that the softneck garlic is the only kind that can be braided after harvesting.  So even though I didn't know it at the time, what I planted last year was softneck garlic.  I  bought a head of garlic from the co-op for planting and that was a lucky decision too.  Because now I know that conventionally grown garlic is often sprayed to prevent it from sprouting, so buying organic garlic for planting is important.  

Even though softneck garlic has advantages, the hardneck garlic is supposed to be more flavorful than softneck and grows scapes in the spring.  Scapes are the flowering part of the plant and are tasty in lots of dishes.  I kept wondering why my garlic didn't have scapes last year, now I know.   It was because I had planted softneck and it doesn't have scapes.   This year I decided to grow some of both.

I ordered seed garlic from Filaree Garlic Farm in Washington state.  I loved looking through their catalog and they were really helpful in answering questions about my growing area.  I was thrilled with the quality of the seed garlic.  Each head was big and healthy and ready to plant.  If my garlic grows well this year,  I can save some of the largest heads to plant as seed next October.  That would be great, because seed garlic is expensive.  But there are so many different varieties of garlic with varying flavors that I think I may just have to try something new out of that catalog for years to come.

Before planting, I had to prepare the garden bed.  Doesn't that soil look nice?  After about five years of working these beds and adding composted material back into them each season, the soil is happy and brimming with worms and such.

I separated the cloves, reserving the smallest ones to plant as spring garlic.  They won't develop into full heads, but milder than regular garlic, they can be chopped and eaten like green onions. 

If each one of these cloves grow into a full head of garlic, I'm going to have plenty for storage.  I planted Kilarney Red as my hardneck variety and these will need to be eaten first when harvested in July.  I planted twice as much of the softneck variety, Silver White Silverskin, and hope these grow really well, so I can make more of those cool braids to store for winter, or maybe give for Christmas gifts?

The bigger the clove, the bigger the potential head of garlic will be.  

The cloves were planted like this, about 2 inches deep, and six inches apart.

After the garlic was planted and covered, I spread straw mulch over the bed.  This will help maintain moisture as well as  protect it from extreme freezing conditions through the winter. 

Last step was giving it a good watering.  And that's it.  Now, I basically forget about it until summer.  Some plants may send up green shoots during the winter, but when spring arrives the garlic begins it major growth spurt.  The hardest thing for me about growing garlic is wanting to see what's going on under that straw...and having to wait to dig it up.  I feel that way about all my root vegetables though.

Growing garlic is easy.  The only negative I can see, is it has to be in the ground for eight to nine months, monopolizing important garden space.  But if you have the room, it's a rewarding growing experience and having your own fresh garlic is huge for this cook.   This bed will probably be home for my garlic  for the next few growing seasons.  However,  I have my eye on a space to put in a few more raised beds before spring.  I am a big fan of growing food in boxes.