Posts
Personal gardening this year is booming. More and more people are realizing that they can control what additives or chemicals are put into their food supply. Besides the nutritional and health benefits, gardening is just plain fun. The work can be tedious and tiring, but the rewards are in the harvest - you experience a thrill during the "growing" season as your menu plans include "just picked" and couldn't be any fresher fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Home grown flowers adorn your table and even children can pick and enjoy tossing a sun warmed cherry tomato into their mouths, instead of candy or other sugar-laden treats.
There is one fruit that can be grown with a lot of success wherever you might live. In fact, certain varieties can even be grown in containers on a patio, porch, or deck. Blueberries have come into their own because of the beneficial properties they contain. You can find "wild" blueberries in forests and along waysides when you go camping, hiking, or fishing. These are tasty morsels that will get your inspiration headed to pies, tarts, cereal toppers, french toast, etc.
In the local stores, they can run up to $5.00 a pint when the season is early. However, if you freeze your bounty from one year to the next - and they do freeze beautifully - you can feature "blueberries" at your Easter celebrations. If you choose the early or mid-blooming varieties, you will have edible blue-berries quicker, to add to breakfast, dinner, and even picnics.
Blueberries thrive in acidic soil, much like azaleas, and rhododendrons. A quick trick if your soil may not be just perfect, add your used morning coffee grounds to the base of your blueberry plants and you will see them thrive and blossom beautifully. Low bush blueberry plants make excellent and very edible land-scaping plants. They are one of nature's "gorgeous" members - you will be very impressed.
You can purchase your blueberry plants from reliable nurseries or through garden catalogs, but now is the best time to order them. Read the planting instructions carefully, and remember, if you care for your plant, it will last many, many years. They are definitely a "keeper" and will reward your choice with luscious, juicy, deep blue berries that enliven many recipes.
Blueberries are one of the top sources of antioxidants, which are translated into cancer prevention and a reduction in cell damage in your body. It has also been studied as to blueberries being rich sources of anthocyanins that help ward off heart attacks and can even slow macular degeneration. Blueberries contain vitamin C and are about 40 calories for an entire cup of these berries. They taste great, are nature sweetened, and they add lunch bucket enjoyment to carry lunches or even snack choices for car trips and extra energy when you are hiking or walking in your favorite park or forest area.
Blueberries are fun, healthy, and even kids won't turn them down. Fresh off the bush or in a bowl of cereal, you have a berry that delivers what today's families can't find in processed or packaged foods - freshness, easy to grow, and a delight to serve to family and friends.
It's almost blueberry time - what are you waiting for?
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur March, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Today Is Just the Beginning
It's not a perfect time in history, but it is a "turning" point in life. The situation is world-wide and basically, no matter the country, color, age, or lifestyle, we are all facing a very major change - in some ways for the better.
Here in the United States, we did find out that we don't have to "drive" to the corner for the paper, and that our children can walk to events and school. While saving at the pump, we found a healthy excuse to use our feet and find out just how exhilarating walking with our kids can be. They even enjoyed it which was no surprise. Kids are resilient and they appreciate the "time" not the "method" of getting from here to there.
We now find that the metal box holding the morning newspaper just might become a part of past history as newspapers find readership slowing and advertising money fading away. However, meeting the neighbors and "getting the news" from your area is more pleasant, more personal, and gives you a "heads up" to what is going to affect your area. In the process, you begin to bring together friendships and acquaintances that were "missed" as you sped by with your to-do list in hand every morning.
Now we come to stores closing and major chains locking their doors for the last time. This is sad for the workers but this also eliminates the excuse for that "quick" gift or card that you grabbed, probably never reading it, but knowing it was important only in the fact that you sent it. Not so in today's mindset. Everyone has boxes of "supplies" whether they are sewing, scrapbooking, or just plain a little of this or that. It is a perfect setting for meeting with family, friends, or neighbors and "creating" your own invitations, birthday cards, anniversary remembrances, or even "sunshine" tokens, such as Get Well, and "We are here for you" type of cards. When someone has suffered a major mishap or just let the economy and world situation hit them like a brick wall, going to the mail box and finding a "strange" envelope there is a bright beginning to healing. It is, of course, hand made but so creatively done and signed by the neighborhood, your church, or a group of friends that only knew each other by name but never by heart. Now things are different - meeting for coffee is not "gossip" time but a chance to share and find out how a bit of "give and take" will make children's parties a combined effort and really more fun for the kids. It is welcoming the holidays as "home and family" time and making sure that fun, and togetherness are the active ingredients in your festive undertakings.
It is looking around your home, taking note, and realizing that your pillows on the sofa need a bit of refurbishing and curtain tie-backs that are "seasonal" would give your windows a lift. Don't grab your purse with the charge cards in it, that's a big no-no today. Grab your library card and head out to that impressive building with the walls filled with books. Ideas are between two covers, and pages are just waiting to be turned as innovation and creativity practically grab you by the hand and lead you down a path of "I can do this."
Whether your new found excitement is in gardening (to save on food bills), on sewing (even an apron for when you begin baking again) or scrapbooking (making memories that won't be put on a shelf but in a picture frame or card that will not only highlight an event but give it a lasting, pleasant impression), it is time to use your "natural" resources and make-do, make-new, and make-it-better abilities.
No time is better than now to dust off the cobwebs that may have gathered because "convenience" was easier. It never was quite right and you know it. Hand made or better known as heart-made is the mantra for today and it has so many strings attached to it. There are strings of accomplishment, completion, enjoyment, and togetherness. Not bad for getting up in the morning and realizing that life does go forward and so can you. It is seeing the sunshine and ignoring the storm clouds for a bit. It is looking at your hands and realizing that yes, they are the finest tools this old world ever had - and that yes, you can do it, but you need to get started. Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur March, 2009
Here in the United States, we did find out that we don't have to "drive" to the corner for the paper, and that our children can walk to events and school. While saving at the pump, we found a healthy excuse to use our feet and find out just how exhilarating walking with our kids can be. They even enjoyed it which was no surprise. Kids are resilient and they appreciate the "time" not the "method" of getting from here to there.
We now find that the metal box holding the morning newspaper just might become a part of past history as newspapers find readership slowing and advertising money fading away. However, meeting the neighbors and "getting the news" from your area is more pleasant, more personal, and gives you a "heads up" to what is going to affect your area. In the process, you begin to bring together friendships and acquaintances that were "missed" as you sped by with your to-do list in hand every morning.
Now we come to stores closing and major chains locking their doors for the last time. This is sad for the workers but this also eliminates the excuse for that "quick" gift or card that you grabbed, probably never reading it, but knowing it was important only in the fact that you sent it. Not so in today's mindset. Everyone has boxes of "supplies" whether they are sewing, scrapbooking, or just plain a little of this or that. It is a perfect setting for meeting with family, friends, or neighbors and "creating" your own invitations, birthday cards, anniversary remembrances, or even "sunshine" tokens, such as Get Well, and "We are here for you" type of cards. When someone has suffered a major mishap or just let the economy and world situation hit them like a brick wall, going to the mail box and finding a "strange" envelope there is a bright beginning to healing. It is, of course, hand made but so creatively done and signed by the neighborhood, your church, or a group of friends that only knew each other by name but never by heart. Now things are different - meeting for coffee is not "gossip" time but a chance to share and find out how a bit of "give and take" will make children's parties a combined effort and really more fun for the kids. It is welcoming the holidays as "home and family" time and making sure that fun, and togetherness are the active ingredients in your festive undertakings.
It is looking around your home, taking note, and realizing that your pillows on the sofa need a bit of refurbishing and curtain tie-backs that are "seasonal" would give your windows a lift. Don't grab your purse with the charge cards in it, that's a big no-no today. Grab your library card and head out to that impressive building with the walls filled with books. Ideas are between two covers, and pages are just waiting to be turned as innovation and creativity practically grab you by the hand and lead you down a path of "I can do this."
Whether your new found excitement is in gardening (to save on food bills), on sewing (even an apron for when you begin baking again) or scrapbooking (making memories that won't be put on a shelf but in a picture frame or card that will not only highlight an event but give it a lasting, pleasant impression), it is time to use your "natural" resources and make-do, make-new, and make-it-better abilities.
No time is better than now to dust off the cobwebs that may have gathered because "convenience" was easier. It never was quite right and you know it. Hand made or better known as heart-made is the mantra for today and it has so many strings attached to it. There are strings of accomplishment, completion, enjoyment, and togetherness. Not bad for getting up in the morning and realizing that life does go forward and so can you. It is seeing the sunshine and ignoring the storm clouds for a bit. It is looking at your hands and realizing that yes, they are the finest tools this old world ever had - and that yes, you can do it, but you need to get started. Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur March, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Gardening with our Feathered Friends
It's the time of year when everyone just wants to get outside and enjoy some warm weather. Garden catalogs are filled with colorful pictures of plants, trees, and shrubs. Ideas come from all over for landscaping your land to growing that perfect tomato or fragrant rose. Spring is the perfect time to enjoy the many birds that return to your area as they follow the seasons. They make the "outside" more fascinating and they can help you with your gardening chores.
You can have the best of both worlds - a luscious and bountiful garden and a paradise for birds of all species. It may take a bit of extra work, but the rewards, as the saying goes, are priceless.
Hummingbird feeders at both ends of your garden will give you the opportunity to view these tiny creatures as they zoom in and out. So tiny and yet so very busy all day long. If you have a pea trellis in your garden, you will not only attract the hummingbirds because of the white blossoms that are sweet and full of nectar, but other birds will join them. Bluebirds will perch on the trellis and their snack of choice is caterpillars. Their eyes will catch them and they will snatch them up quicker than you can. They get a taste treat and you get rid of some pesty critters.
A compost pile near your garden with attract a myriad of birds that look for bugs. Allowing the "weeds" in your compost pile to grow, especially those that produce seeds will keep the birds healthy and your garden safe as well.
While you may worry about damage from some birds sampling your garden victories, scattering a few "treats" will take care of any worries. Blue jays love peanuts and dropping a few in your garden aisles will satisfy their cravings. If blackbirds or ravens bother your corn stalks, leave some field corn on the outskirts of your garden and that will keep them busy and occupied outside of your garden space.
Other tips to keep birds nearby but your produce safe, use untreated wood for trellis items and wooden cages. Woodpeckers won't peck and other birds prefer trees to test their beaks on. Hallowed out gourds that you grew last year will blend in perfectly in your tomato patch if allowed to hang from a line just above your plants. The gourd will be hidden by the foliage of the plants, and soon the soft sounds of tiny birds will fill the air while you work in your garden. A perching post somewhere in your garden will give birds a perfect place to keep a keen eye over your hard work and eliminate pests for you. These morsels give them the nutrients they need and birds are great workers. They never tire and best of all - you don't have to pay them.
If you have the room in your garden, placing a bird bath in the middle, surrounded by a patch of gravel, sand, or plain soil will allow the birds a bit of relief from the noonday sun and heat, and the sand will keep lice out of their feathers. They are also a bit safer from predators kept out by your garden fence.
After the first hard frost many of us love to "clean up" the garden of the past year's vines, and leaves. If you enjoy birds, don't pull up the plants - this can be done next Spring. Grosbeaks, goldfinches, wrens, and even robins that may stay a bit longer than other birds will enjoy doing the "cleaning" for you. Cardinals, nuthatches, and woodpeckers will also thank you for the winter food supply. Whether it is left over herbs or even a green tomato left in a tomato cage, this will give them food when the snow covers the rest of the land.
Birds, like many of us, are creatures of habit. They know the "good spots" and are just a bit uneasy to try new places. However, they do venture and while they may not flock to your first attempt to attract them, they will find your garden and its added features that you included just for them. After that, you will be on their flight path and will enjoy their beauty, songs, and help for years to come. That's a great way to join with nature and enjoy the great outdoors.
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur March, 2009
You can have the best of both worlds - a luscious and bountiful garden and a paradise for birds of all species. It may take a bit of extra work, but the rewards, as the saying goes, are priceless.
Hummingbird feeders at both ends of your garden will give you the opportunity to view these tiny creatures as they zoom in and out. So tiny and yet so very busy all day long. If you have a pea trellis in your garden, you will not only attract the hummingbirds because of the white blossoms that are sweet and full of nectar, but other birds will join them. Bluebirds will perch on the trellis and their snack of choice is caterpillars. Their eyes will catch them and they will snatch them up quicker than you can. They get a taste treat and you get rid of some pesty critters.
A compost pile near your garden with attract a myriad of birds that look for bugs. Allowing the "weeds" in your compost pile to grow, especially those that produce seeds will keep the birds healthy and your garden safe as well.
While you may worry about damage from some birds sampling your garden victories, scattering a few "treats" will take care of any worries. Blue jays love peanuts and dropping a few in your garden aisles will satisfy their cravings. If blackbirds or ravens bother your corn stalks, leave some field corn on the outskirts of your garden and that will keep them busy and occupied outside of your garden space.
Other tips to keep birds nearby but your produce safe, use untreated wood for trellis items and wooden cages. Woodpeckers won't peck and other birds prefer trees to test their beaks on. Hallowed out gourds that you grew last year will blend in perfectly in your tomato patch if allowed to hang from a line just above your plants. The gourd will be hidden by the foliage of the plants, and soon the soft sounds of tiny birds will fill the air while you work in your garden. A perching post somewhere in your garden will give birds a perfect place to keep a keen eye over your hard work and eliminate pests for you. These morsels give them the nutrients they need and birds are great workers. They never tire and best of all - you don't have to pay them.
If you have the room in your garden, placing a bird bath in the middle, surrounded by a patch of gravel, sand, or plain soil will allow the birds a bit of relief from the noonday sun and heat, and the sand will keep lice out of their feathers. They are also a bit safer from predators kept out by your garden fence.
After the first hard frost many of us love to "clean up" the garden of the past year's vines, and leaves. If you enjoy birds, don't pull up the plants - this can be done next Spring. Grosbeaks, goldfinches, wrens, and even robins that may stay a bit longer than other birds will enjoy doing the "cleaning" for you. Cardinals, nuthatches, and woodpeckers will also thank you for the winter food supply. Whether it is left over herbs or even a green tomato left in a tomato cage, this will give them food when the snow covers the rest of the land.
Birds, like many of us, are creatures of habit. They know the "good spots" and are just a bit uneasy to try new places. However, they do venture and while they may not flock to your first attempt to attract them, they will find your garden and its added features that you included just for them. After that, you will be on their flight path and will enjoy their beauty, songs, and help for years to come. That's a great way to join with nature and enjoy the great outdoors.
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur March, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Bringing a Bit of Sunshine Into Recession Cooking
Recession or depression, whatever word you decide to use - it can be daunting to realize that you depended on a whole lot of "quick" foods that may have added dollars to your food budget, but things were better and jobs were not disappearing like snow on a sunlit day. It has happened, and it may continue to happen, but you still have to eat and serve meals to your family or keep yourself nourished if you live alone. It is a matter of economy because medical costs are going through the roof and today it is much cheaper to stay healthy.
Many people are looking to "gardening" as a way to get fresh, and nourishing food with a little bit of elbow grease. Fruits, vegetables and herbs taste "oh so good" when they are just picked and used for dinner. You can't beat the taste of tomatoes that are still warm from the sun, or a cucumber sweet enough to brighten any salad. Adding home-grown basil to dishes gives you a new taste appeal, and parsley will not only dress up your plate, but it is absolutely fantastic fried for a few moments.
You can have a little bit of fun when you do more cooking and that is "dressing" up your family's dinnertime entrees. Even breakfast can be "flowery" when you use candy molds (you can get some great ones at yard sales or tag sales) and press softened butter, margarine, or cream cheese into the mold. Refrigerate to harden, and then pop out your flower, leaf, or whatever design you have chosen. Place a lovely yellow daffodil on top of morning toast and believe me when I say a person's whole day will light up and they will begin their activities with a "sunnier" disposition. It works!
Cherry tomatoes give tomato roses appeal with any meat dish. While all this "creativity" may take a bit more time, you will be the mom who is truly "cool", the neighbor who is asked to help with party plans because of your inspiration, and well, you will look at the anticipating faces at mealtime and know that the job you are doing is rated E for Excellent.
Using a sharp knife, slowly remove the skin of the cherry tomato, starting at the bottom, not the stem end. Remove the skin in one long piece, which forms the petals of your rose. The peel should be about 1/2" in width. The "meat" of the tomato should be inside and start to curl your peel from the bottom, forming a very pleasing red bud rose.
When you serve a sandwich, make a dill pickle fan to dress up the meal. Cut the pickle into slices but do not go completely through. Stop about 1/2" from the end and gently fan out the slices.
Using fruit as a garnish, don't forget that oranges cut in a zigzag mode completely around and through. Gently pull apart and you have two halves of saw-tooth orange beauty to place with a steak or BBQ ribs.
If you serve hot dogs or hamburgers, place the condiments in hollowed out green peppers (use red, yellow, or purple too if they are reasonably priced). Fill these pepper baskets with mustard, ketchup, pickle relish, chopped onions, and tomato salsa. They are colorful and after using, empty the baskets and slice up the peppers. Place in a plastic bag in your refrigerator and use whenever you need some green peppers for fajitas or steak sandwiches. With this one, you win twice.
Taking a cucumber, stripe peel the cucumber (using your vegetable peeler, peel and leave a peel, and peel again and do this completely around your cucumber. Using an ice cream spoon, hollow out the center to remove all the seeds. Using your favorite "filling" such as tuna fish salad, ham salad, etc. spoon the filling into the hollowed out cucumber. Wrap in foil and place in refrigerator for about 30 mins. Just before serving, slice the cucumber into 1/2" slices and place on a bed of lettuce. This salad is very appealing and quite a "treat" for your appetizer choice.
These are just a few examples of using food to make food more interesting, beautiful, and to give every meal a bit of a festive "design". Try your hand at other vegetables and you may just discover how artistic you really are.
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur
March, 2009
Many people are looking to "gardening" as a way to get fresh, and nourishing food with a little bit of elbow grease. Fruits, vegetables and herbs taste "oh so good" when they are just picked and used for dinner. You can't beat the taste of tomatoes that are still warm from the sun, or a cucumber sweet enough to brighten any salad. Adding home-grown basil to dishes gives you a new taste appeal, and parsley will not only dress up your plate, but it is absolutely fantastic fried for a few moments.
You can have a little bit of fun when you do more cooking and that is "dressing" up your family's dinnertime entrees. Even breakfast can be "flowery" when you use candy molds (you can get some great ones at yard sales or tag sales) and press softened butter, margarine, or cream cheese into the mold. Refrigerate to harden, and then pop out your flower, leaf, or whatever design you have chosen. Place a lovely yellow daffodil on top of morning toast and believe me when I say a person's whole day will light up and they will begin their activities with a "sunnier" disposition. It works!
Cherry tomatoes give tomato roses appeal with any meat dish. While all this "creativity" may take a bit more time, you will be the mom who is truly "cool", the neighbor who is asked to help with party plans because of your inspiration, and well, you will look at the anticipating faces at mealtime and know that the job you are doing is rated E for Excellent.
Using a sharp knife, slowly remove the skin of the cherry tomato, starting at the bottom, not the stem end. Remove the skin in one long piece, which forms the petals of your rose. The peel should be about 1/2" in width. The "meat" of the tomato should be inside and start to curl your peel from the bottom, forming a very pleasing red bud rose.
When you serve a sandwich, make a dill pickle fan to dress up the meal. Cut the pickle into slices but do not go completely through. Stop about 1/2" from the end and gently fan out the slices.
Using fruit as a garnish, don't forget that oranges cut in a zigzag mode completely around and through. Gently pull apart and you have two halves of saw-tooth orange beauty to place with a steak or BBQ ribs.
If you serve hot dogs or hamburgers, place the condiments in hollowed out green peppers (use red, yellow, or purple too if they are reasonably priced). Fill these pepper baskets with mustard, ketchup, pickle relish, chopped onions, and tomato salsa. They are colorful and after using, empty the baskets and slice up the peppers. Place in a plastic bag in your refrigerator and use whenever you need some green peppers for fajitas or steak sandwiches. With this one, you win twice.
Taking a cucumber, stripe peel the cucumber (using your vegetable peeler, peel and leave a peel, and peel again and do this completely around your cucumber. Using an ice cream spoon, hollow out the center to remove all the seeds. Using your favorite "filling" such as tuna fish salad, ham salad, etc. spoon the filling into the hollowed out cucumber. Wrap in foil and place in refrigerator for about 30 mins. Just before serving, slice the cucumber into 1/2" slices and place on a bed of lettuce. This salad is very appealing and quite a "treat" for your appetizer choice.
These are just a few examples of using food to make food more interesting, beautiful, and to give every meal a bit of a festive "design". Try your hand at other vegetables and you may just discover how artistic you really are.
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur
March, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Making "Good" Out of a "Bad" Economy
Lifestyles change with every page of newspaper headlines or a new televised report of stocks falling or companies closing. It's sad and for many it is heartbreaking.
There can be a bright side to every sad disheartening tale but they are sometimes hard to find and still harder to take in. One of the best changes that is occuring because of the economy is a turn around to home-cooked meals, more natural food and less chemically laced ingre-dients. It can even include growing your own fruits, herbs, and vegetables. By sharing the knowledge of how foods started with simple seeds can and do turn into fantastic meal entrees and delectable desserts, you and your family have new inroads into healthy and sustainable eating habits.
Holidays are also getting a "change" when it comes to entertaining, gifts, and decorations. Families are finding out that home-made has and always will be heart-made and that something given that is unique, and one of a kind, not manufactured or mass produced will give lasting memories. A meal served simply but with mouth-watering tastes, colors, and textures can surpass an expensive restaurant experience. How many times have we been disappointed with a meal that we thought would take our breath away and instead just took the dollars out of our wallets? It happens and this does not mean that eating out is a no-no. It only represents the fact that you can, with a little effort and planning, prepare feasts when monetary famine rears its ugly head.
Remember that cookbooks and recipes are maps or guidelines for certain dishes. You can and should include your family's favorites when you prepare a meal. If your family prefers corn to artichokes, make the change if it is appropriate for the dish. Improvise and tuck and trim and you will be delighted with the results. If not, and the family gives you the thumbs-down, then you know from this experience that these ingredients just did not go well together. There is nothing wrong in trying because "tried and true" recipes have evolved from many false starts and "maybe" ingredients, until the final result is a passed down to generations "keeper."
Going to garden shows or nurseries as a family, you will find that the kids enjoy the varieties of vegetable plants and flowering treasures and would consider it more "personal" if you let them pick and choose a few varieties. Their interest will be more in tune because they had input and their choice just may be the stellar star of your own garden show.
In home decor, let the children try their hand at decorations from vacations past or tidbits just lying in boxes collecting dust. If you enjoyed a vacation at the seashore a few years back, those shells may be re-invented to be used as curtain tie-backs, or even glued to a vase or tray. Glass balls from a tourist trap, placed in a clear bowl, can be a colorful and eye-catching mantle piece that reflects colors and rainbow accents. A skirt from a spa venture just never fitted right but was just too good to toss. It can now cover a pillow for porch or deck and its new life will bring back memories once again.
It's all a matter of choosing how to deal with down-turns and making sure that they don't turn your life downward. An old saying of "This too shall pass" is a wonderful mantra, but in the meantime, using your creativity and talent, your inspiration and dedication to trying your hand at new ventures, is the right "recipe" for dealing with anything the economy or this life can throw at you.
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur March, 2009
There can be a bright side to every sad disheartening tale but they are sometimes hard to find and still harder to take in. One of the best changes that is occuring because of the economy is a turn around to home-cooked meals, more natural food and less chemically laced ingre-dients. It can even include growing your own fruits, herbs, and vegetables. By sharing the knowledge of how foods started with simple seeds can and do turn into fantastic meal entrees and delectable desserts, you and your family have new inroads into healthy and sustainable eating habits.
Holidays are also getting a "change" when it comes to entertaining, gifts, and decorations. Families are finding out that home-made has and always will be heart-made and that something given that is unique, and one of a kind, not manufactured or mass produced will give lasting memories. A meal served simply but with mouth-watering tastes, colors, and textures can surpass an expensive restaurant experience. How many times have we been disappointed with a meal that we thought would take our breath away and instead just took the dollars out of our wallets? It happens and this does not mean that eating out is a no-no. It only represents the fact that you can, with a little effort and planning, prepare feasts when monetary famine rears its ugly head.
Remember that cookbooks and recipes are maps or guidelines for certain dishes. You can and should include your family's favorites when you prepare a meal. If your family prefers corn to artichokes, make the change if it is appropriate for the dish. Improvise and tuck and trim and you will be delighted with the results. If not, and the family gives you the thumbs-down, then you know from this experience that these ingredients just did not go well together. There is nothing wrong in trying because "tried and true" recipes have evolved from many false starts and "maybe" ingredients, until the final result is a passed down to generations "keeper."
Going to garden shows or nurseries as a family, you will find that the kids enjoy the varieties of vegetable plants and flowering treasures and would consider it more "personal" if you let them pick and choose a few varieties. Their interest will be more in tune because they had input and their choice just may be the stellar star of your own garden show.
In home decor, let the children try their hand at decorations from vacations past or tidbits just lying in boxes collecting dust. If you enjoyed a vacation at the seashore a few years back, those shells may be re-invented to be used as curtain tie-backs, or even glued to a vase or tray. Glass balls from a tourist trap, placed in a clear bowl, can be a colorful and eye-catching mantle piece that reflects colors and rainbow accents. A skirt from a spa venture just never fitted right but was just too good to toss. It can now cover a pillow for porch or deck and its new life will bring back memories once again.
It's all a matter of choosing how to deal with down-turns and making sure that they don't turn your life downward. An old saying of "This too shall pass" is a wonderful mantra, but in the meantime, using your creativity and talent, your inspiration and dedication to trying your hand at new ventures, is the right "recipe" for dealing with anything the economy or this life can throw at you.
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur March, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
Talk Radio - It's Full of Pork
It may be old-fashioned to think that radio was a form of entertainment in days gone by. Today it has become a way to intimidate, threaten, and rally the troops towards hatred, greed, and retaliation.
Under the Bush administration, it would be considered high treason to say anything demeaning against the President or the Vice President for that matter. We were in war and this would never have been allowed. You would find home-land security on your driveway and the SWAT teams on your roof.
We are still at war, but with the new administration, talk-show hosts are asking the listening public to hope and pray that the current administration fails and that cartoons of racial undertones are funny. Some talk show hosts are telling tales of underground move-ments to take back the country and to counter any move from the Democratic Party.
While freedom of speech is presented as a defense to such verbal abuse, we as a people listen, laugh, and find it enjoyable as we head to work or take the kids to school. Consider, how-ever, that the ride to work is probably short-lived as unemploy-ment nears record numbers, courtesy of a former administration who decided that bombs, and artillery was more important than jobs and schools. Some believe that a war makes a land prosperous. This spoken by a lawmaker on national radio and television.
If war was so good for a country, why are we in this deep
recession with the money problems that we currently have to
endure. We have been at war for well over six years, and with
two wars going on at the same time, why are we not in the lap of
luxury and enjoying a bountiful lifestyle?
This type of scenario is morally sick. War kills and destroys, but those "with vision" made profits from no-bid war contracts, supplying guns and ammo, and giving security companies the right to shoot and kill, at their discretion. As a society, we should have hung our heads in shame, but we did the right thing - we decided that "change" was needed and this came in the form of a new administration.
Legislators like Mr. McConnell from Kentucky and Mr. Boehner from Ohio are loud, and vehement as they denounce not only the ideas, but the periods and commas that they believe were missed in a document. In other words, they would be against Santa Claus if he was part of the new administration. This type of "idealism" is harmful and childish. If no new ideas came from the Republican rule for eight years prior, then what makes any idea unacceptable and to be denounced and to make people believe that such ideas are conceived in the back-rooms of demon terror. Talk radio feels that freedom can allow it to create unrest, unjust assumptions, and personal insults towards anyone and everyone who does not toe the line to a single drum beat.
That single drum beat brought pain at the pump, and Wall Street,
car companies, and banking institutions to come with tin cups and
haggard faces to the very people they enjoyed taking advantage of,
in the first place. What goes around, comes around fits this, don't
you think?
No party has or ever will have all the answers, but at least doors are opened and windows are allowing a breath of fresh air. If there is a source of contention, then speak the words, but do it with civility and honor. Mr. Limbaugh fits into neither of these words, and if he is the new voice of the Republican party, then prayers are in order because our young deserve better and an example of such abusive behavior should not be tolerated by parents or adults.
Talk Radio needs to clean house a bit and to ask everyone to hope that the administration will fail is Unamerican. You cannot be an American and fight any new ideas, methods, or department leaders. It is a very short time since the new Administration began, but the loss of an election is no cause for such bitterness and hatred marketing. They had their chance, they failed, and hopefully, they will change their ways. Public input was ignored, the public was closed out of documents and dealings, and money was given, spent and could not be accounted for. I still remember one prominent Treasury official stating, "How could you keep account of billions of dollars?". The public should ask in return "How could you not?". We are in a dire economic situation and to allow Talk Radio, both male and female to denounce, threaten and intimidate is allowing freedom to be turned into tyranny.
Radio is a wonderful invention and should be used for the purpose of informing, and entertaining. It is not informative to hear "hate" preached and it is not entertaining to be told that there are "underground" groups forming to make sure that this country is taken back - ask yourself what this country would be taken back to - war, secret meetings, shredded documents, kick-backs, profits from devastation and death, prisons that caused torture to smear its ugly tar onto an entire nation of decent, and hard working people. Companies abused money they took for jobs they never performed, Wall Street and the banking industry gave the high-five when they knew that the money bubble would burst but they had already put into place their billions in "perks" and "parties." If you want to take the country back - take it to a time when radio was family-oriented and you did not have to cover the ears of your children when the likes of radio jockeys rode their mouths like spoiled, arrogant children who have no control, morals, or pride. Talk Radio - it's time to grow up and do what Radio was intended for.
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur March, 2009
Under the Bush administration, it would be considered high treason to say anything demeaning against the President or the Vice President for that matter. We were in war and this would never have been allowed. You would find home-land security on your driveway and the SWAT teams on your roof.
We are still at war, but with the new administration, talk-show hosts are asking the listening public to hope and pray that the current administration fails and that cartoons of racial undertones are funny. Some talk show hosts are telling tales of underground move-ments to take back the country and to counter any move from the Democratic Party.
While freedom of speech is presented as a defense to such verbal abuse, we as a people listen, laugh, and find it enjoyable as we head to work or take the kids to school. Consider, how-ever, that the ride to work is probably short-lived as unemploy-ment nears record numbers, courtesy of a former administration who decided that bombs, and artillery was more important than jobs and schools. Some believe that a war makes a land prosperous. This spoken by a lawmaker on national radio and television.
If war was so good for a country, why are we in this deep
recession with the money problems that we currently have to
endure. We have been at war for well over six years, and with
two wars going on at the same time, why are we not in the lap of
luxury and enjoying a bountiful lifestyle?
This type of scenario is morally sick. War kills and destroys, but those "with vision" made profits from no-bid war contracts, supplying guns and ammo, and giving security companies the right to shoot and kill, at their discretion. As a society, we should have hung our heads in shame, but we did the right thing - we decided that "change" was needed and this came in the form of a new administration.
Legislators like Mr. McConnell from Kentucky and Mr. Boehner from Ohio are loud, and vehement as they denounce not only the ideas, but the periods and commas that they believe were missed in a document. In other words, they would be against Santa Claus if he was part of the new administration. This type of "idealism" is harmful and childish. If no new ideas came from the Republican rule for eight years prior, then what makes any idea unacceptable and to be denounced and to make people believe that such ideas are conceived in the back-rooms of demon terror. Talk radio feels that freedom can allow it to create unrest, unjust assumptions, and personal insults towards anyone and everyone who does not toe the line to a single drum beat.
That single drum beat brought pain at the pump, and Wall Street,
car companies, and banking institutions to come with tin cups and
haggard faces to the very people they enjoyed taking advantage of,
in the first place. What goes around, comes around fits this, don't
you think?
No party has or ever will have all the answers, but at least doors are opened and windows are allowing a breath of fresh air. If there is a source of contention, then speak the words, but do it with civility and honor. Mr. Limbaugh fits into neither of these words, and if he is the new voice of the Republican party, then prayers are in order because our young deserve better and an example of such abusive behavior should not be tolerated by parents or adults.
Talk Radio needs to clean house a bit and to ask everyone to hope that the administration will fail is Unamerican. You cannot be an American and fight any new ideas, methods, or department leaders. It is a very short time since the new Administration began, but the loss of an election is no cause for such bitterness and hatred marketing. They had their chance, they failed, and hopefully, they will change their ways. Public input was ignored, the public was closed out of documents and dealings, and money was given, spent and could not be accounted for. I still remember one prominent Treasury official stating, "How could you keep account of billions of dollars?". The public should ask in return "How could you not?". We are in a dire economic situation and to allow Talk Radio, both male and female to denounce, threaten and intimidate is allowing freedom to be turned into tyranny.
Radio is a wonderful invention and should be used for the purpose of informing, and entertaining. It is not informative to hear "hate" preached and it is not entertaining to be told that there are "underground" groups forming to make sure that this country is taken back - ask yourself what this country would be taken back to - war, secret meetings, shredded documents, kick-backs, profits from devastation and death, prisons that caused torture to smear its ugly tar onto an entire nation of decent, and hard working people. Companies abused money they took for jobs they never performed, Wall Street and the banking industry gave the high-five when they knew that the money bubble would burst but they had already put into place their billions in "perks" and "parties." If you want to take the country back - take it to a time when radio was family-oriented and you did not have to cover the ears of your children when the likes of radio jockeys rode their mouths like spoiled, arrogant children who have no control, morals, or pride. Talk Radio - it's time to grow up and do what Radio was intended for.
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur March, 2009
If We Don't Change - We Lose
Reading the few remaining newspapers that are still printing, getting your news on the internet, or listening to talk radio while in your car - a few ways to find out exactly what is going on in the world around you. We listen but we have a specific agenda in our minds about what really interests us and what will have an impact on our daily lives.
Being part of a world community, sometimes we get so absorbed in our own path that we "hear" what is going on but we really do not take it in or find it something to garner our concern. While every single one of us is human and a citizen of the entire world, so to speak, we usually just meander as to our local, state, and federal news items. If the truth be known, deep inside the recesses of our subconscious mind we have heard about the total and unrelenting abuse of people all over the world by their own governments or by warring factions that want to be their government. Darfur is one example, Mexico is still another, and the Guantanemo abuse story is old news to many of us. However, these atrocities happened, are happening, and while they may not be right there on our doorstep, we can all realize one issue. Cruelty and abhorrent behavior is on the rise and there seems to be no way of stopping it. We are repulsed by the news but we feel helpless and unable to do much about it. The "side effect" of feeling this way is that life loses some of its "special" and important assets, which is one reason why violence thrives and grows.
When a nation cannot feel pity and pain at the death and devastation of people of other ethnic, color, or religious beliefs, then we have given apathy a free reign in our thoughts. This is inherently dangerous to us as individuals and as a society. There is numbness that grows in our hearts and minds and when a child dies from bombs and war, we see it, read it, and it dies somewhere in our soul, because it is not "one of us." Bringing the issue closer to home, we pick and choose our political affiliations and being what they are, when a Republican does what a Democrat just might do but hasn't, they are praised and put up on a pedestal. When it is reversed, the Democrat is verbally stoned and the thought of "tar and feathering" is there but maybe not in so many words. This can be turned around with the Democrat being on top and the Republican battered. It just depends on what side of the aisle you are on.
There is such a very transparent malady that we all see and hear, but many choose not to deal with. We no longer judge issues on their merit, but we decide the outcomes by petty grievances held against a certain party, nationality, or religious sect. We, as a people, have lost our ability to do our homework, regardless of what side we sway towards, and to do what is right because the facts speak for themselves and there is only one right way - the way that will benefit humanity and do the best by those who are suffering. Whether we want to acknowledge Darfur, an Iraqi child killed by misguided rage, or something as close to home as the danger our young people are in. in the battle of drugs and sexual exploitation, we need to stand up as adults, and act as adults. Mexican drug problems have crossed the borders into our country, brutality in violence is astonishing right here and right now, and even harsh outrage against those in our government needs to have the restraints of civility and just actions - not demeaning people of different color, or bank account balances. The rich sometimes feel they have all the answers and they deal with the less fortunate, never knowing what it is like to go to bed hungry or to lose a job and your pride at the same time. They have never experienced it and therefore do not have the right to assert they know the answers. Wall Street cannot take taxpayer dollars and "party" while those who gave stand in long lines for food stamps and unemployment benefits. While their existence is worlds apart from day to day experience, they need to examine, and find solutions that will benefit all and not just a few chosen ones such as their families, relatives, and friends.
The point of all this is that we as human beings need to begin to "walk in someone else's shoes" before we complain that they do not hurt or bind. We need to do less of the "talk the talk" and more of the "lean on me" mind sets. Lately, prominent and highly publicized government officials argue, and denouce each other, no matter the issue. This example to our young is that if you are on one side of the fence, make sure that the rocks and stones you throw are indiscrimately aimed, just so long as they hit a target. It doesn't matter if you know that what the other side is doing is right and is for the good of all, pick up that stick and strike with all your might. In the end, you just might convince yourself right along with all the others you are trying to convince. Power after all is the prize and control is the sought after gold pot at the end of the rainbow.
Civility demands a change in our attitudes, and we must pick our fights against those who kill and brutalize, not those who work toward peaceful negotiations and ways to correct crooked paths. Party affiliations, religious rights, and ethic barriers do not solve problems for the multitide, but they do create a gap that cannot be bridged or water too deep to tread. We were blessed with minds and hearts, and if we don't use them to the best of our abilities, then we have no one to blame when the war comes into our own back yards, and it is our children who learn that "might makes right" and "the bottom line is all that really matters." Those who steal money from others in scams and in bail-outs that were caused by their own greed and inept behavior are thieves and should be treated as such. Rewarding them with perks and allowing them to reside in regal surroundings only teaches everyone that money is the goal and greed is the way to get there. Those who are abusive to children, the elderly or to those who win over them in competitions or campaigns, they are the true "terrorists" and their reign is unacceptable and needs to be overthrown.
Facing issues, using our intelligence, and working so that "all" people live in the best of ways in the best of times is our goal on this planet. There is no color we should see, there is no ethnicity we cannot accept, and there is no religious or party affiliation we can't throw aside and work for unity and freedom. We are not the color of our skin, or the church we were raised in. We are not a government party or a chosen ancestry - we are people and we are "equal" because God did not give up His/Her job just yet. The position is filled and we, while only a small pebble on the beach, we are a vital and vigorous entity that can find solutions and reach across oceans, aisles, and prosperity inequalities. We can, but we have to want to - this is the first step.
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur March, 2009
Being part of a world community, sometimes we get so absorbed in our own path that we "hear" what is going on but we really do not take it in or find it something to garner our concern. While every single one of us is human and a citizen of the entire world, so to speak, we usually just meander as to our local, state, and federal news items. If the truth be known, deep inside the recesses of our subconscious mind we have heard about the total and unrelenting abuse of people all over the world by their own governments or by warring factions that want to be their government. Darfur is one example, Mexico is still another, and the Guantanemo abuse story is old news to many of us. However, these atrocities happened, are happening, and while they may not be right there on our doorstep, we can all realize one issue. Cruelty and abhorrent behavior is on the rise and there seems to be no way of stopping it. We are repulsed by the news but we feel helpless and unable to do much about it. The "side effect" of feeling this way is that life loses some of its "special" and important assets, which is one reason why violence thrives and grows.
When a nation cannot feel pity and pain at the death and devastation of people of other ethnic, color, or religious beliefs, then we have given apathy a free reign in our thoughts. This is inherently dangerous to us as individuals and as a society. There is numbness that grows in our hearts and minds and when a child dies from bombs and war, we see it, read it, and it dies somewhere in our soul, because it is not "one of us." Bringing the issue closer to home, we pick and choose our political affiliations and being what they are, when a Republican does what a Democrat just might do but hasn't, they are praised and put up on a pedestal. When it is reversed, the Democrat is verbally stoned and the thought of "tar and feathering" is there but maybe not in so many words. This can be turned around with the Democrat being on top and the Republican battered. It just depends on what side of the aisle you are on.
There is such a very transparent malady that we all see and hear, but many choose not to deal with. We no longer judge issues on their merit, but we decide the outcomes by petty grievances held against a certain party, nationality, or religious sect. We, as a people, have lost our ability to do our homework, regardless of what side we sway towards, and to do what is right because the facts speak for themselves and there is only one right way - the way that will benefit humanity and do the best by those who are suffering. Whether we want to acknowledge Darfur, an Iraqi child killed by misguided rage, or something as close to home as the danger our young people are in. in the battle of drugs and sexual exploitation, we need to stand up as adults, and act as adults. Mexican drug problems have crossed the borders into our country, brutality in violence is astonishing right here and right now, and even harsh outrage against those in our government needs to have the restraints of civility and just actions - not demeaning people of different color, or bank account balances. The rich sometimes feel they have all the answers and they deal with the less fortunate, never knowing what it is like to go to bed hungry or to lose a job and your pride at the same time. They have never experienced it and therefore do not have the right to assert they know the answers. Wall Street cannot take taxpayer dollars and "party" while those who gave stand in long lines for food stamps and unemployment benefits. While their existence is worlds apart from day to day experience, they need to examine, and find solutions that will benefit all and not just a few chosen ones such as their families, relatives, and friends.
The point of all this is that we as human beings need to begin to "walk in someone else's shoes" before we complain that they do not hurt or bind. We need to do less of the "talk the talk" and more of the "lean on me" mind sets. Lately, prominent and highly publicized government officials argue, and denouce each other, no matter the issue. This example to our young is that if you are on one side of the fence, make sure that the rocks and stones you throw are indiscrimately aimed, just so long as they hit a target. It doesn't matter if you know that what the other side is doing is right and is for the good of all, pick up that stick and strike with all your might. In the end, you just might convince yourself right along with all the others you are trying to convince. Power after all is the prize and control is the sought after gold pot at the end of the rainbow.
Civility demands a change in our attitudes, and we must pick our fights against those who kill and brutalize, not those who work toward peaceful negotiations and ways to correct crooked paths. Party affiliations, religious rights, and ethic barriers do not solve problems for the multitide, but they do create a gap that cannot be bridged or water too deep to tread. We were blessed with minds and hearts, and if we don't use them to the best of our abilities, then we have no one to blame when the war comes into our own back yards, and it is our children who learn that "might makes right" and "the bottom line is all that really matters." Those who steal money from others in scams and in bail-outs that were caused by their own greed and inept behavior are thieves and should be treated as such. Rewarding them with perks and allowing them to reside in regal surroundings only teaches everyone that money is the goal and greed is the way to get there. Those who are abusive to children, the elderly or to those who win over them in competitions or campaigns, they are the true "terrorists" and their reign is unacceptable and needs to be overthrown.
Facing issues, using our intelligence, and working so that "all" people live in the best of ways in the best of times is our goal on this planet. There is no color we should see, there is no ethnicity we cannot accept, and there is no religious or party affiliation we can't throw aside and work for unity and freedom. We are not the color of our skin, or the church we were raised in. We are not a government party or a chosen ancestry - we are people and we are "equal" because God did not give up His/Her job just yet. The position is filled and we, while only a small pebble on the beach, we are a vital and vigorous entity that can find solutions and reach across oceans, aisles, and prosperity inequalities. We can, but we have to want to - this is the first step.
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur March, 2009
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