Northwest Ladybug

Good riddance, Bank of America!

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:09:00 +0000

I became a Bank of America customer in 1979. In 2012, I will be leaving in disgust.

Until last year, we never paid regular fees for any of our accounts or any regular transactions with Bank of America. Things whirred along nicely, just as one would expect of their bank.

Then, the bank started crapping on us. “Hey, thanks for being loyal customers of 30+ years. Here are a few new fees for you!” It seemed that any time our money came or went, there was a fee associated with it. Yeah, that $5 debit card fee felt like the last straw, but I was too busy then to go through the hassle (and it is such a hassle!) to change banks.

Then B of A revised their website and somehow in that process, they lost or Visa account. Oh, we still had it, but it didn’t show up online. Easy fix, right? Nooooo – it took me SIX hours of waiting on the phone four different times over six weeks to get that resolved.

Grrrrrr!

That experience should have kicked me into high gear toward dumping B of A, but yeah, regular life got in the way. And by that I mean that I was still just too lazy to go through the major hassle of moving all our accounts, changing all our auto-pays and direct deposits, and finessing the timing to go through the whole painful process.

THEN, yesterday…

I get an e-mail alert from Bank of America that Aleks had overdrawn his savings account. (Yes, I’m connected to the kids’ accounts while they’re still in school.) Overdrawn his savings account? The mandatory savings account that we had to open when we opened student checking accounts for the kids? The savings account he never touches? How could he be overdrawn?

I called the bank. “Yes, ma’am. Yes, there is now a $5 fee for those savings accounts.” (Yes, the mandatory savings accounts tied to checking accounts…)

“HUH? I was never told that!” I complained.

“It has been indicted at the end of your monthly statement since August,” I was told.

“I went paperless in August!”

“Well, ma’am, it’s on the paperless statement too.” Guess it’s my bad for not scrolling to the end of my online statements and reading the fine print.

Eye roll.

So… funny thing – as of yesterday, I was “allowed” to close those associated savings accounts. Which I did.

And then I got in the car and high-tailed it to our local BECA office to open a multitude of accounts.

I was seen immediately – though the account manager told me that I was lucky; in November and December, hundreds of people who’d been screwed over by a variety of big banks waited patiently for hours to open BECU accounts.

Within an hour, I had opened checking, savings, Visa, a LOC loan, and a money market account with BECU. After leaving the credit union, I received calls throughout the afternoon from the account manager keeping me apprised on the results of my credit check (suckas, Bank of America, you guys lost a good customer!), reminding me what items and actions were still needed, and just letting us know how things were progressing.

Yes, it will be a pain in the butt to make this change. I’ll be busy notifying all our merchants of the change and trying to time the process just right so that… well, so that we don’t incur any FEES from Bank of America.

Good riddance, Bank of America! You could have kept these customers of 30+ years if you wanted to. You obviously didn’t want to.

Slushy in Seattle

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 06:17:00 +0000

After a week of being cooped up in the house while it stormed and snowed and iced outside, I couldn’t stand it anymore and today I just HAD to get out. Problem is, our neighborhood is still essentially snowed in… or rather, slushed in, with the local hilly roads being rutty with wet, melting snow, making it really hard to drive a normal 2-wheel drive.

So, while Tom took the 4-wheel-drive truck to do some of his errands, I took my own two legs to do mine and I headed out to walk – or, as it turned out, trudge -- to the local store, about a mile away.

This is what I encountered:

Where is all that melting snow gonna go? The ground is completely saturated already!

Unfortunately, I no longer have any snow pants or boots because they were cut off me in the emergency room three years ago…

So I trudged to the store and back in these boots from Kristin (remember THAT great story?!).

Dumb move! By the time I got home with a backpack full of groceries, not only were the boots completely soaked, but my socks and feet were drenched as well.

Tom arrived home from his errands just as I arrived home, took one look at my boots and pants (which were soaking wet up to my knees) and insisted on taking me to REI to get “real winter boots.” I told him that boots on clearance at Target are fine with me, but noooooo….

So bring on the next snowstorm, dudes. My feet will be dry and warm! (And hey -- bring on some summer hiking in the Cascades and Olympics, too! I am ready now!)

Quinn’s first snow day

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:21:00 +0000

Shasta loved it too!

Hunkerin’ Down!

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0000

We’ve had such a mild winter in the Pacific Northwest… until this week! It snowed about 2” in Woodinville three days ago -- which means that (California driver that I am) I haven’t left the house in as many days.

Thanks goodness for Tom who stopped at the grocery store to stock up and who, as I type this, is braving the icy roads to bring Aleks back to UW so he can hunker himself down before THIS hits in the next 24 hours:

As long as there’s no wind to accompany this storm (because wind knocks down trees and knocks out power), I say bring it ON!

But only because I’m lucky enough to work at home in my jams and slippers…

To my Pacific Northwest family and friends, please don’t go out unless you need to. Hunker down, sip hot chocolate, and be safe!

And THIS, homies, is why I love Seattle!

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:03:00 +0000

It’s rare that I use an entire post to link to someone else’s blog post, but this one’s totally worth it.

“All of our pizzas are delivered by seaplane.”

Uh-huh. Really!

Who IS this guy? I might love him.

If it was never my money to begin with, did it really slip from my grasp?

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 04:14:00 +0000

We’ve been paying college tuition for almost TEN solid years now – sometimes for as many as three kids at once. The college accounts dried up long ago and now it’s a matter of fretting big time when Aleks’ and Kat’s tuition statements come in, just hoping that we can squeak by every three months with enough saved to pay that quarter’s tuition and room and board.

I woke up yesterday in a bit of a panic, knowing that UW tuition for winter quarter (Aleks’ and Kat’s next-to-last quarter – and our next-to-last EVER college tuition payment!) is due in a few short weeks and wondering how tight the situation really was.

I sleepily walked across the hall from our bedroom to my office, fired up the computer, and checked the college account balance. I was hoping that we had at least the coupla thousand necessary for January tuition, knowing that I’d already paid Aleks’ fraternity bill and Kat’s January rent had been paid.

Staring back at me was a number that made NO sense whatsoever in my pre-coffeed state: the account had well over $9,000 in it! I refreshed my browser (my default first troubleshooting action), then exited and re-entered the bank’s site.

Yup. Well over nine grand!

This made no sense whatsoever. We certainly didn’t put those extra thousands of dollars into the account. So where did all that money come from? I had no idea.

For more than a split second, I pondered how nice it would be to OWN that money, to pay Aleks’ and Kat’s last two quarters of college expenses stress-free, to breathe. To…

Oh, damn! I can’t keep the money! It’s not ours to keep.

I started digging around my online banking account and found this:

It was a deposit slip for $8,636.13 with our college account number handwritten clearly on the bottom. It also contained the name and phone number of the person who deposited it – presumably into her own account.

I had no choice but to dial the number on the slip. I mean, there it was, staring me in the face! And there was a name to go with it!

Roslyn.

Roslyn who was probably wondering where in the world her big deposit was.

Of course I wanted to do the right thing, and of course I wanted the good feeling that goes along with doing the right thing. There was never any doubt that I’d remedy all this. And there was never any doubt that if I didn’t the bank eventually would.

But damn -- eight thousand dollars sure would have been nice!

I called Roslyn and explained to her what had happened. She sounded stunned. As it turns out, she had made the deposit (in the bank branch, it turned out, where the teller mistakenly wrote my account number on the slip instead of hers, omitting just one digit) and she hadn’t given it another thought after she left the bank, confident that the money was in her account. As we talked, she checked her account online and realized that the funds hadn’t made it to her account after all!

I assured her that I’d take care of it with the bank, then spent the next (grrrr!) 85 minutes on the phone and on hold with Bank of America. Had I not already made a personal connection with Roslyn, I just might have hung up, furious that the bank was making it so hard to simply do the right thing!

Roslyn now has her money and our college bank account is back to “sleepless” levels. But I feel better. And I KNOW Roslyn feels better!

I think I’ll go buy a lottery ticket.

Christmas Thrifty and Crafty

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:33:00 +0000

This will be my only attempt at a holiday craft this year, but I kinda like how it turned out.

It took about 5 minutes and cost under $5 because I already had a few of my own added embellishments.

The fresh wreath with a few embellishments already on it was on sale at Costco for $4.00 (and hidden way in a back corner – maybe left to die?). I had four red candles so I added those and then I filled a glass bowl with a few green sprigs from the yard (one of the reasons to live in the Pacific Northwest around Christmas time!), added some frozen cranberries, water, and a floating candle.

Now I’m just waiting for the Christmas spirit to come upon me………….

Happy Holidays from the Sniders!

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:42:00 +0000

Free newsletter design customized with Smilebox

File this under “Strange Coincidences”

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 02:03:00 +0000

Shasta’s collar has been missing for a few days now. I’ve looked everywhere she and Quinn normally play, assuming that it got pulled off during some especially vigorous roughhousing. But it’s nowhere to be found.

This morning, as I was tidying up some boxes that have been sitting on the deck for a few months gathering water (and, lately, ice), I noticed something shiny at the very bottom of the box. I dug around and there, encased in a mixture of mud and ice was a red collar with a brass dog tag and two rabies tags… exactly what we’d been missing!

I brought the collar into the house, filled the sink with warm, soapy water, and began to scrub the collar that had gotten exceptionally muddy and dirty in the matter of just a few day. And hey – how did it get there, anyway? Shasta and Quinn play on the deck, but how did Shasta’s collar find its way to the very bottom of a box that was off in the corner?

No matter, I thought. It’s just good that it’s finally been found after a week. I’ll wash it off, dry it, and put it back on Shasta, who will surely be happy to have her familiar collar back.

I reached into the water and pulled out the collar, ready to give it a good scrubbing, and this is what I saw:

Sweet Tahoe!

Tahoe was our first Golden Retriever, who died suddenly at the age of 14 on Christmas Day, 2004 (the same year that my mom died on Easter morning).

Sweet, sweet, well-behaved Tahoe!

Just… things that make you go “hmmm.” And break your heart a little bit.

It’s the A-Boo-minable snow kitty!

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 19:20:00 +0000

Let’s say you were a fly on the wall at our Thanksgiving celebration…

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 22:28:00 +0000

This is what you’d have seen:

The table was set by Tuesday. I’ve learned my lesson on this one: if you wait till Thanksgiving day to set it, you’ll be scrambling for silverware, not to mention glasses and plates!

Also completed ahead of time -- this year, at least -- was all food except the turkey, the stuffing, and the gravy – which Tom (turkey and stuffing) and Peter (gravy) are responsible for.

I only captured some of the cooking in photos. Ulli’s yeast rolls: (The link is to my Thanksgiving menu/recipe post)

Creamed onions:

Mashed potatoes:

And Tom’s signature stuffing, which takes most of the day to make:

But really, the day is about the people.

First to arrive was Elisabeth and Danny. Look at the beautiful flowers Danny brought!

Kat and Josh brought delicious hors deurves:

Look at that veggie tray. See the turkey? And that cranberry dish that they made up… who knew that cranberries, cilantro, and cream cheese tasted so good together?!

I love this photo of my girls and their guys:

And this one of Josh tasting his first radish! It was not a real big hit.

Pretty soon there was a whole gaggle of people at our house! (Yes, “gaggle” is a Thanksgiving-specific term. It’s a gobble-gaggle.)

Carrie and Noah, friends of Elisabeth’s, spend Thanksgiving with us each year. It’s always great to see them!

In addition to eleven people, there were three dogs.

(Or make that two dogs and a horse?!)

…and one very spoiled kitty:

It was great to finally have enough room in the kitchen to actually visit!

Josh, who works at Microsoft, brought his Kinect. What a blast THAT was!

Elisabeth and Kat dance to “Toxic.”

Just before we ate, Carrie snapped our obligatory annual family shot:

Time to eat! Look at all this delicious food!

We are all truly thankful!

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Happy leftover day!

Bring on the giving of thanks!

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 22:57:00 +0000

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday for a multitude of reasons, among them:

It’s pretty hard to commercialize a holiday that centers on family, friends, and food – which means that companies and corporations have a hard time monetizing it.
There’s no religious component to it – which means that there’s no “reason-for-the-season” stuff that tends to divide people along philosophical/religious lines. If you believe in good food, friendship, and gratitude you pretty much believe in Thanksgiving!
There’s nothing quite like a “tryptophan afterglow.” (Damn Black Friday for messing with this!)
The colors of the season are just so beautiful.
You don’t have to cook dinner for at least a few days afterwards. (And I’ll be damned if I’m cooking tonight!)
The house smells amazing all day.
It means that my birthday is imminent (though it never falls on Thanksgiving). That’s not such a big deal now, but it used to be.

Because I’m not working now, I’ve been able to get a lot done before anyone shows up. Tom is responsible for the turkey, stuffing, and gravy, so tomorrow will be busy for him, but other than making the mashed potatoes and green bean casserole, my job is done.

I even set the table using Mom’s Rosenthal dishes! And having a gorgeous new kitchen helps a lot too. All six of us will be here, of course, and we’ll also be joined by Kat’s boyfriend Josh, as well as by at least two (and possibly four) of Elisabeth’s friends whose families live on the East Coast. This is when it’s hard being so far away from our parents and siblings, but we make do and enjoy the day. My dad and Lou were supposed to join us, but my dad is still recovering from open heart surgery so there was just no way.

Bring on the day!

There’s something I need to tell you

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:08:00 +0000

I can’t type with 10 fingers. Never could. I type with two or three fingers. And I’m lightning fast! But still…

I enrolled in a typing class during senior year in high school (no second grade keyboarding classes for us back then), but ultimately dropped it because it was offered first period and I didn’t have another class till noon. And because I had no plans to become a secretary, which was the only reason to take typing back then, I figured it would never be an issue.

Oh, how dismally wrong I was! I have always been a writer. Now I’m also a social media fanatic, a blogger, a business owner, and an all-day typist. There’s simply no excuse anymore!

Those last three short paragraphs have taken me about five minutes each to type. Why? Because Peter is standing over me, forcing me to type without looking at the keyboard.

“For how much you type every day, Mom, you really should learn to type!” he insists. And he’s right. So the next few weeks are going to be extremely frustrating for me, as I learn to slow down, re-map my brain, and actually learn to use the keyboard correctly.

Be patient with me!

(That’s the longest it’s ever taken for me to write any blog post!)

My annual Thanksgiving menu, shopping list and recipe post

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 17:58:00 +0000

With love, again!

For a few years now, I've been slowly committing our family's Thanksgiving menu, shopping list and recipes to "paper." It's been a slow process but, by jove, I think I might have it just about finished this year.

I've learned through experience that families often assume that favorite recipes will somehow be passed on through the generation -- but if no one takes responsibility to actually document those recipes, they can easily get lost over time. My father knew this and documented Mom's fingergolatschen and zimptsterne Christmas cookie recipes, but I know that many more recipes could easily get lost if we don't make a concerted effort to document them.

And hey -- why not share the joy?

So, from our family to yours…

…here's our Thanksgiving dinner, presented as a series of lists -- menu, shopping and recipe how-to's. But within this simple list are memories, laughter, joy, and some amazingly wonderful family memories. Some of these recipes, such as the creamed onions and the green bean casserole, can be found pretty much anywhere. But some of the recipes, like my aunt Ulli's rolls (warning: they take all day to make!), Nana's pumpkin chiffon pie or Omi's raspberry cheescake, are dearly beloved and coveted recipes that have been passed on in the family for over 50 years.

Tom's delicious stuffing is absolutely adored by both sides of the family, but when I asked him to sit across from me and recite how he makes it (my mouth is watering as I type this!), his attitude was much like Mom's attitude about both cooking and learning German: "Das fuehlt man!" ("one just has a feel for it!"). "Just use what's around," he says. That's hard to put in a list, but take note!

So from our house to yours, Happy Thanksgiving week! ENJOY!

(Please excuse inconsistencies, formatting issues, typos, etc. This is NOT a professional document! Also, I adore linky-love, so feel free to share this post with your family and friends, but please respect the spirit with which it was posted and only share it with people you know.)

Our Thanksgiving Menu, Shopping List & Recipes

(Serves 10 – 20 people)

Menu:

Hors D’eurves (Apricot brie & crackers, veggies & dip)
Turkey (and Tofurkey)
Tom’s Stuffing
Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
Green Bean Casserole
Ulli’s Rolls
Creamed Onions
Betty’s Cranberry Mold
Suzie’s Caramelized Walnut and Pear Salad
Nana’s Pumpkin Chiffon Pie
Omi’s Raspberry Cheesecake

Shopping List:

Meat:

Turkey
Tofurkey for vegetarians

Produce:

Apples (2 - 3)
Orange (1 - 2)
Potatoes (1 sm. bag Yukon Gold)
Baby Greens (2 bags)
Green Onions (1 bunch)
Yellow Sweet Onions (3 large)
Cranberries (2 bags)
Celery (1bunch)
Baby carrots (1 bag)
Cauliflower (1/2 head)
Radishes (1 bunch)
Pea pods (some)
Cucumber
Lemons (1 - 2)
Baby pearl/white onions (2 pounds)
Fresh garlic (lots!)

Dairy:

½ & ½ (1 quart)
Whole milk (1/2 gallon)
Butter (2 - 3 pounds)
Sour Cream (1-2 quarts)
Eggs (1 - 2 dozen)
Whipping cream (1 qt)
Brie with apricots (sold as a package)
Cream cheese (1.5 pounds)

Dry, Canned and Packaged:

Crackers for Brie (2 boxes)
Graham crackers or graham cracker crumbs (2 - 3 boxes)
Turkey stock (1 large can)
Onion Soup mix (1 box)
Olives (1 can)
Water Chestnuts (1 can)
French friend onion toppers (1 can)
Mushroom soup (2 cans)
Unflavored gelatin (2 envelopes)
Canned pumpkin (2 large cans)
Dark brown sugar (1 -2 boxes)
Raspberry Jello (1 large box)
Flour
Wondra flour
Pears (1 reg can, or better yet, fresh)
Craisins (1 package)
Raspberry dressing
Granulated sugar
Corn starch
Yeast (fresh?)
Raisins

Breads:

Pumpernickel
Sourdough
Cornbread
Other breads for stuffing, as desired
Bread crumbs (1/2 c at most) for creamed onions

Herbs, Spices & Nuts:

Chopped walnuts (1 bag)
Cinnamon
Ginger
Allspice
Garlic
Rosemary
Thyme
Oregano
Sage
Cayenne pepper
Basil
Parsley
Bay leaves
Salt (including sea salt) & pepper
Juniper berries
Vanilla

Frozen:

French Green Beans (2 bags)
Raspberries (2 bags)

Liquor:

Red & white wine
Beer
Sherry
Etc!

Other Liquids & Drinks

Coffee beans (regular and decaf)
Sparkling cider
Pop/Soda
Juice
Bottled Water
Chicken broth (you can hardly have too much!)
Worcestershire sauce
Soy sauce
Olive oil

(This year I want to add this to the hors deurves:)

Recipes:

Brining & Cooking the Turkey:

Brine: Use any aromatic spice or herb you like: rosemary leaves, bay leaves, sea salt, dried apples, juniper berries, lemon peel, garlic, rosemary, thyme, black pepper, and bay leaf. On Tuesday night, soak rinsed turkey in bring ingredients, mixed with water in an ice chest, cover for 24 hours.

Turkey: ½ to 1 pound per person, cook as directed after brining.

Tom’stuffing:

Combine dry ingredients: Pumpernickle, sourdough, & corn bread, cubed and dried.

Combine: Sliced black olives, celery, cubed apple, raisins, Craisins, walnuts (if desired), water chestnuts.

Combine: chicken broth, red wine, soy sauce, garlic, onions, Worcestershire, at least 1 stick butter, thyme, oregano, rosemary, sage, basil, salt and pepper to taste (be careful with salt!), olive oil, etc per “feel” (das fuhlt man!”).

Mix together in big VAT until it feels right. Loosely stuff some into turkey and put remainder in casserole dish. Bake till done.

Gravy:
Pan drippings
Wondra flour
Chicken broth

Use the pan that the turkey cooked in. Drain excess fat. Place pan over two burners, set on very low heat. Slowly (very slowly!) add Wondra to soak up pan drippings, scraping drippings from side. Slowly add chicken broth as needed to add volume, keeping the gravy thick. (Warning: It’ll thicken further, even after removed from heat.)

Mashed Potatoes:

(12 servings)

5 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed
2 (3 ounce) packages cream cheese
8 ounces sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1 cube butter, softened
2 teaspoons onion salt
ground black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

Place potatoes in a large pot of lightly salted water. Bring to a boil, and cook until tender, about 15 minutes.

Drain, and mash.

In a large bowl, mix mashed potatoes, cream cheese, butter sour cream, milk, onion salt, and pepper. Transfer to a large casserole dish. Store in fridge a few days, if desired.

Let stand at room temperature, 30 minutes. Cover, and bake for 50 minutes in the preheated oven.

Green Bean Casserole:

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup
4 cups cooked green beans
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup milk
1 1/3 cups French fried onions

Mix soup, milk and pepper in a 1 1/2-quart casserole dish. Stir in beans and 2/3 cup of the fried onions. Bake for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees F. Top with the remaining 2/3 cup fried onions and bake about 5 more minutes, until onions are lightly browned.
Serves 6.

Ulli’s Rolls:

2 cups milk, scalded and cooled
1/4 cup butter, dissolved in hot milk
2 cakes fresh yeast, dissolved in 1 T lukewarm water
1 T sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 t salt
4-3/4 cups flour

Beat the eggs, add sugar and salt. To beaten eggs and

sugar add milk mixture and dissolved yeast. Then add the

flour. Beat well. It will not be a very firm dough. Let

rise. To make the rolls, you have to keep your hands

well floured, or the dough will stick badly. Pinch off

pieces of dough, roll into a ball, roll in melted butter

and arrange in angel food pan. Let rise. Bake at 400°

for 30-45 minutes.

To serve, invert the angel food pan onto a platter. The

rolls can easily be broken off.

Creamed Onions:

1 pound small white onions
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
1 cup heavy or whipping cream
chicken broth, milk, or onion cooking liquid to thin sauce
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon Salt
Splash of sherry

Peel the onions. Cook in about 3/4 cup water until tender. Make white sauce. Melt butter in saucepan over medium low heat then stir in flour; gradually add cream and sherry, stirring constantly until thickened and bubbly. Cover with bread crumbs, if desired.

Betty’s Cranberry Mold:

1 large raspberry or cherry Jello

Make Jello according to directions - add 3/4 cup sugar.

When Jello is half set, mix in:

2 cups cranberries - raw and chopped
1 small orange
1 apple, chopped

Fill into oiled mold, refrigerate.

Suzie’s Caramelized Walnut and Pear Salad

(4 servings)
6 cups mixed baby greens/Romaine mix
1 cup Caramelized Walnuts (recipe below)
1 cup crumbled bleu cheese
2 pears, cut in 1/4-inch dice
1 cup thin strips of red bell pepper
1/2 cup Raspberry Vinaigrette
Pear slices and julienne red peppers, to garnish
In a large bowl, toss together the greens, walnuts, bleu cheese, pears
and red pepper in the Champagne Vinaigrette. Place mixture in a salad
bowl, then garnish with red peppers and slices of pear
Caramelized Walnuts
1/2 pound walnuts, about 1 3/4 cups
1 egg white
1/3 cup sugar
Preheat oven to 350º. Mix walnuts, egg white and sugar together in a
medium bowl. Place on sheet pan and bake at 350º degrees for 15 to 20
minutes. Let cool, then break into pieces if necessary.

Nana’s Pumpkin Chiffon Pie:

10” pie shell (see ingredients below)
¾ c milk
2 ¼ c canned pumpkin
1 ½ c brown sugar
1/8 t salt
¾ t ginger
¾ t cinnamon
1/3 t nutmeg
5 eggs
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/3 c cold water
1 ½ cups cream
¾ t orange rind
1/3 c sugar

CRUST (per crust):

1 ½ c graham cracker crumbs
¼ c sugar
½ c melted butter
1/3 t cinammon

Combine ingredients and bake for 5 minutes at 350 degrees.

Heat milk, pumpkin, sugar, salt and spices together over medium to low heat. Dissolve gelatin in cold water. Separate egg yolks from egg whites. Beat egg yolks and add to heated mixture, which is still over low heat. Heat until thickened. Remove mixture from heat and add softened gelatin. Cool mixture until further thickened. Whip cream and slowly add orange rind to cream. Chill.

While both mixtures chill separately beat egg whites and slowly add sugar until peaks form. Remove both pumpkin mixture and whipped cream from fridge and gently fold all three mixtures (pumpkin, whipped cream and egg white) together. Pour into baked pie crust(s) and chill.

Omi’s Raspberry Cheesecake:

1 3/4 c. graham cracker crumbs
1/3 c. butter, melted (the original recipe calls for margarine)
1 1/4c. sugar, divided
24 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 tsp. vanilla extract (I use 3)
3 eggs
1 c. dairy sour cream

Combine crumbs, butter and 1/4 c. sugar. Press on bottom and 1 1/2 inches up side of 8 or 9 inch spring-form pan; set aside.

With electric mixer on high beat cream cheese, remaining sugar, and vanilla until creamy (this is a great time to taste it too

Beat in eggs, one at a time. Blend in sour cream. Spread in prepared pan.

Bake at 350* for 60-70 minutes, or until center is set. Turn off oven, leave door slightly ajar. Leave cheesecake in oven 1 hour to prevent it from falling to much. remove from oven and cool completely. Pour raspberry sauce on top!

Raspberry sauce:

1 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. corn starch
1/2 c. sugar
frozen raspberries

Cook all together.

Pour onto cooled cheesecake.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Breakfast muffins

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 20:48:00 +0000

I’ve been a bit (understatement) of a Pinterest groupie lately. If you haven’t explored that site, stand warned: it’s addictive. “Nuff said!

This morning I made these breakfast muffins and all I can say is “Yum!”

I hardly even need to provide you with a recipe or instructions because the photos make it pretty obvious. Suffice it to say that you’ll be chopping up fresh veggies and herbs (and anything else that you’d normally put into an omelet), putting them into greased cupcake tins, covering them with grated cheese, pouring raw beaten eggs over it all, topping each with more grated cheese, and baking in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

That’s it. Easy enough?

Oh, baby, baby!

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:47:00 +0000

It was a life-affirming day.

On Monday I went to lunch with my neighbor Kim and her adorable daughter Abby (yes, this Abby) and noticed how low Kim was carrying her pregnancy. I had a feeling things would happen soon, but I had no idea how intricately I’d be involved in the whole adventure.

On Tuesday afternoon, I got a call from Kim who had taken Abby to a routine OB appointment. At that appointment, the doctor decided that the baby’s heart rate was dangerously low and had suggested an immediate C-section. But what to do with Abby? Kim’s voice was shaky as she asked me to come to the hospital immediately to get Abby, who she had to leave in the care of nurses.

No matter how loving and kind the nurses were (and they were), this is a terrifying experience for a 2-year old. When I arrived, she was crying her poor, sweet eyes out in the arms of a nurse, surrounded by three other nurses who were doing their best to console her.

I couldn’t console her either. Until, that is, I asked her if she wanted to “go see Shasta and Quinn.”

Abby stopped crying for just a quick second, looked at me again as if she was just realizing who I was, and then reached out to me to hold her.

(Insert melting heart here.)

My intent was to take Abby home, feed her dinner, play with her a bit, and put her to bed in her own room. But I had no car seat so we had no choice but to stay at the hospital until I could somehow get a car seat from Kim’s car. A nurse took us to the room where Kim would be brought after her surgery and suggested that we wait there for her (and hopefully for her husband Zach, who Kim had, of course, also called when things got wacky).

Once Abby settled down, we explored a variety of photos and games on my iPhone (alright, who taught this girl to play Angry Birds?!), took a few walks, found an area with children’s books, toys, and a small train table, and even found an Elmo doll for her to hold. An hour or so passed and then who should appear but Abby’s mommy (wheeled into the room in her bed, of course), her daddy in his OR duds and, in his arms, her new baby brother, Ty! (Who was perfectly healthy – guess the decreased heart rate was a momentary fluke…?)

I brought Abby right up to Zach and Ty. Zach introduced Abby to her new baby brother and asked if she wanted to touch him. In a move that I somewhat expected (because the same thing happened to us years ago), but Zach likely did not, Abby turned defiantly away from Zach and Ty, burying her head in my shoulder and tensing every muscle in her little body. Clearly this little girl was already on sensory overload, and now a baby brother too?!

As Abby caught sight of Kim being wheeled into the room, she said every so quietly, “Hi Mommy,” almost as if she were asking a question. Surely everything was out of context and confusing for Abby! Mommy is in a big moving bed, surrounded by strangers in matching outfits. Daddy, if that man IS Daddy, has weird paper clothing and a hat on and is holding a bundle that looks funny and makes funny noises. What is going ON here?

Zach seemed to know exactly what to do. He sat down in a chair and took off the paper OR cap. “Hi Daddy!” Abby said confidently. He IS Daddy after all! Again, Zach asked if Abby wanted to touch her new baby brother – which is exactly when I took this photo:

Things were finally beginning to make sense to Abby. So THIS is Ty! “Mama’s belly isn’t named Ty,” Zach told Abby. This little guy is Ty! He’s your new baby brother!”

And then they were a family of four.

And all was good with the world.

Well, that might be a bit optimistic. If Abby is anything like Elisabeth was when Peter arrived…

(Insert melting heart here.)

…it will take a little while for them to find their “sibling groove,” but it will happen, and I am sure that Abby will be an awesome big sister to baby Ty!

Isn’t he adorable? And doesn’t he look so much like his big sister?

Shortly after I snapped the photo of the new family, I quietly slipped out, as Ty and Abby’s REAL grandma had arrived and Kim’s extensive extended family was beginning to arrive.

I’ll have to be patient and wait for my own grandchildren to arrive when the time is right. But for now, I feel so honored to have had the opportunity to share this amazing event with Abby and to be among the first to meet Ty.

All is good with the world when a new baby arrives in it!

A late Autumn stroll through Ashland’s Lithia Park

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 01:32:00 +0000

Dad is home from the hospital after his open heart surgery a bit over two weeks ago. The plan was that I’d come to Ashland to help Dad and Lou after his surgery, but dummy me – I got sick and had to stay away for an extra week, necessitating quick action from my brothers. Amazingly enough, we were all able to come together and work things out and I finally got here last Sunday, almost a week after initially planned.

I’ve been cooking up a storm for Dad and Lou for a few days and today, after filling their freezer with casseroles, I took some time to go for a walk in Ashland’s beautiful Lithia Park.

I missed the perfect Fall colors by about two weeks, but still, it was gorgeous! Behold!

(Yes, the deer were that close – and closer! They live in perfect harmony with humans here, not at all afraid, just a bit curious, and even seemingly aware of their beauty and spectacle.)

(Look at that! Someone knit the tree a sweater for the winter! Here, tree, let me warm you up a bit…)

A golden Golden Gate day

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 15:37:00 +0000

Aleks and I flew to the Bay Area yesterday for what was supposed to be a big family get-together with my dad to discuss his book and the possibility of publishing it. Obviously, with Dad in the hospital after open-heart surgery (which went relatively well), that’s not happening as planned. But Dad insisted that we still all get together so Aleks (a political science major and very passionate about Opa’s book for a variety of reasons) and I kept our tickets and flew from rainy Seattle to Sunny San Francisco yesterday.

My brother and sister-in-law picked us up at the Embarcadero BART station and after a quick lunch in Chinatown, we spent the rest of the afternoon admiring the Golden Gate Bridge (and the City, if you turned your head) from far and near.

It’s had living so far away at times like this. If my whole family were here, all 11 cousins would be together. As it is, Aleks will meet his 5-year-old cousin TJ today for the very first time. That’s just not right!

My father's heart

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:20:00 +0000

Remember this video I took of my dad and his soon-to-be wife, Lou, playing a mean game of ping-pong EXACTLY three years ago today?

Well, Dad's heart isn't playing ping-pong these days. In fact, for about an hour and a half today, Dad's heart won't be pumping at all. Instead, it's (literally) being put into the capable hands of a heart surgeon who, through multiple bypass surgery, will attempt to bring oxygen back into this heart that, as of last week, was "days, not weeks" from stopping altogether.

I have never, ever heard Dad admit to being scared of anything. But last night, when I called him to wish him well (and he was stressing over an unbalanced checkbook -- grrrrr!), he told me that he was scared -- and who wouldn't be? Dad has never had surgery or been in the hospital for more than relatively routine procedures, so this is new for him.

I'm not the praying sort, though at times like this I envy those who are. The most I can do today is think positive thoughts, fill my own heart and mind with the love I feel for my daddy, and trust that the universe is working exactly as it should. Your positive thoughts, in whatever form they work for you, are welcome as well.

I love you, Dad. I trust your heart, just like I always have. Everything will be fine.

In the Pacific Northwest, moss always wins

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:25:00 +0000

Dear hubby,

It seems that you might have won a battle or two but you have definitely lost the war.

You simply can’t fight moss in the Pacific Northwest and expect to win. A lawn? You want a LAWN? I think your “lawn” wants to be moss.

OK, I agree that one COULD take a gestalt view of all this and conclude that our backyard looks like lawn…

“Oh, what a lovely backyard lawn!” someone might say, when they’re looking at our backyard from a distant vantage point.

But when you look closely, you really have to admit…

…that our yard wants to be moss. It’s begging to be moss!

Lush, bright green, needs-no-mowing, fends-for-itself MOSS!

What do you say, Mr. Environmental Engineer? Can we wave the white hanky and surrender?

(Quinn would like to remind you that it’s Be Kind to Moss ~~week~~ ~~month~~ year.)

Love,

Your defeated wife (and diggy dog)

A quick Autumn walk around Cottage Lake Park

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 03:37:00 +0000

As I was headed home from doing a few errands in town, I passed Cottage Lake Park – something I do nearly every day. But today I couldn’t help but pull into the park’s lot, take my camera out of my purse, and shoot a few quick photos. Oh, how I wish I’d had Kat’s Nikon D-40 with me!

These pictures just don’t do the Fall colors justice.

Just look at that blue sky!

Then I came home to this:

There’s no mystery. This perfect angel didn’t do it:

This little bitch did:

Quinn vs the (almost) empty dog food bag

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 10:49:00 +0000

What’s she so scared of??

English muffin breakfast casserole

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 18:14:00 +0000

Help! I have a new kitchen and I can’t stop baking and cooking!

I have never really been the domestic, live-in-the-kitchen type goddess (nor have I ever been any other type of goddess), so this recent urge to cook and bake is really beginning to baffle – and concern – me. Not only is this not good for my already disconcerting weight issues, but if I don’t stop this soon my family might begin to (gasp!) expect it.

That said, I had a significant surplus of English muffins hanging out in the bread box lately and, being a lazy Saturday morning, it was time to finally do something about it.

Since one of the half-used bags of muffins were the cinnamon raisin variety, I decided to make a tasty breakfast casserole. I had no idea how I was going to go about this, but figured that the first step was certainly to toast them.

While they were toasting, I beat together

8 eggs
2 1/2 cups of milk
1/2 cup flavored coffee creamer (Only because I had it around and it sounded good. You can also use 3 cups of milk.)
1/3 cup white sugar
a dash of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Then I beat this whole mixture together for about 5 minutes…

…while I tore up the English muffins and placed them at the bottom of a 13 x 9” Pam-sprayed casserole dish. (It turns out that I needed an 8 x 8 pan too. This makes a lot of casserole!) Then I covered the muffins with the egg mixture…

…dabbed on some butter and cinnamon… (But remember that I lined the dishes with Pam instead of butter, so we’re still good -- right?! Pffffft!)

…and let it all sit for about 10 minutes before popping it all into the 350 degree pre-heated oven.

Oh look! There at the back of the stove (because a certain un-named puppy has been known to steal food off the counters… do you want her?) are the last of the oatmeal raisin cookies I made last night when Aleks came home. I’m telling you, all this cooking and baking is becoming a problem.

Dang new kitchen!

(NOOOOOT.)

I’m surprised that the luscious smell coming from the kitchen right now hasn’t roused Tom or Aleks from their Saturday morning slumber – or beckoned Kat home from visiting Portland, Peter home from visiting Leavenworth, or even Elisabeth home from Seattle – because it really does smell heavenly!

Ooooh! They’re almost done!

Hmmm… something must be wrong. Breakfast is finished, coffee is hot, and certain guys are still sleeping!

I better go make sure they’re still breathing.

German citizenship: 70 years to full-circle

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:51:00 +0000

My grandfather was a German Jew. Because he had converted to Christianity in his youth and married a non-Jew, he believed, at least in the beginning, that his Jewishness was a non-issue. He was wrong, of course.

Beginning in the 1930’s, my grandfather was officially identified as a Jew by the German government (see ID below with the “J” to identify him as a Jew) and his independence and his livelihood were slowly taken away from him. He was forced to relinquish his position as vice-president of a prominent bank and then was forced to sequentially give up small but significant rights – such as the right to own a telephone.

My father, the child of a Jew and a non-Jew and the product of what was known as a “privileged mixed marriage” was, according to the very detailed and specific Nuremburg Laws, dubbed a “mischling ersten grades,” or “mixed breed of the first degree.” He was forced to resign from school and be taught by other persecuted Jews (which, it turns out, led to an excellent education) and, unlike most of his peers, he was not “allowed” to join the Hitler Youth – which at the time, was hard for a young teen who wanted to be accepted.

There’s so much more to tell, and my father has been writing about it all for years, but he doesn’t want me to share details on the internet, so to respect his wishes I will be vague -- except to say that, because of my grandfather’s and my father’s experiences in Germany during World War II, my children and I will likely have the option to obtain German citizenship, and my father can very likely have his own German citizenship reinstated. None of us would have to revoke our American citizenship; instead, we would all have dual citizenship.

The application for German citizenship/naturalization is complicated, with very specific requirements and requiring many qualifying documents (which, fortunately, my father has) and other information. I have been in the process of preparing these applications for a few months now and I’ve been working with my father to gather the many required documents that prove the lineage and the persecution of the family under the Nazi regime.

A primary impetus to head down this road is Aleks’ strong desire to work and live in Germany or elsewhere in the EU. He’ll graduate from the University of Washington next June with a degree in International Relations and minors in history and political science. He then wants to go on to earn an Erasmus Mundes master’s degree in European Economy, State & Society (the IMESS program), so having German citizenship would help greatly for his ability to work and live in Europe. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Aleks “brings the family back” to Germany after two generations in the US!

Peter, too, has entertained the idea of working and living internationally – possibly in Australia – and he’s been told that having an EU passport would help his chances immensely. So there’s that, too.

And yes, there’s just a small twinkle in my head and heart called Ruhpolding, my favorite place on earth. Is it possible that perhaps Tom and I could retire, at least part-time, there? I don’t know, but having options is a good thing.

And you never know when radical politics and insane leadership could drive people from a country that they’ve loved since they could remember and would never consider leaving… until the unthinkable happens. Ah yes – full circle.

Rosenthal “Maria Weiss” dishes and memories of my mother

noreply@blogger.com (Carol) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 21:30:00 +0000

I miss my mother every day but today, nearly eight years after her death, I miss her a lot.

Today was the day when I finally fully inherited Mom’s Rosenthal Maria Weiss dishes. I rarely saw these dishes on a table when I was growing up because they were used for only the very fanciest of occasions. But I often admired them as they sat on the shelf in the built-in hutch of the dining room in our turn-of-the-century Berkeley home. I wish I had a photo of Mom’s Rosenthal dishes in use during my childhood. It would almost certainly have been taken during a Bavarian Christmas Eve dinner (a tradition I still continue with my family today), weisswurst and kartoffelsalat on the beautiful white hexagonal plates, and eager children, ready to eat quickly because we knew that presents would be next.

After Mom’s death, Dad packed up all the Rosenthal and called to let me know that Mom had wanted me to have the set. I was thrilled, but knew that there was no way they would fit into our small, already-stuffed kitchen. But we have a new, larger kitchen now, and today I finally brought Mom’s Rosenthal from the wardrobe in the garage where they’d been stored for so many years…

…into the new kitchen, where I carefully unwrapped each delicately wrapped dish…

…and laid it on the dining room table.

In the box with the dishes was a brochure written in German, which I had picked up in a Rosenthal store in Munchen when Mom and I went to Germany together in 2001.

I couldn’t help thinking how much Mom would have liked helping me – and how much I would have loved for her to be be there. (Which is silly because if she were still alive the dishes wouldn’t be at my house!)

Some pieces brought back such powerful memories of my mother – her voice, her touch, her smell. Maybe she was with me after all… somehow.

What is this piece?

It’s the stunningly beautiful coffee pot! I absolutely love this piece!

I remember when a coffee cup chipped and Dad painstakingly fixed it, so careful to glue each tiny piece back onto the cup. It never looked quite right again, but it had become the “special” cup.

Every so often, stores like TK Maxx would sell Rosenthal knock-offs and both Mom and I would grab them up, almost as if they were as much a treasure as the originals. But really, no way!

This is the insignia of the true treasure:

I’m not even sure what this is:

Something to use at afternoon tea, perhaps?

Look at these itty-bitty espresso cups, just an inch or two high:

Eventually, all the pieces had been unwrapped and placed on the table.

This is by no means a full set. There are missing dinner plates, extra cups, and partial sets.

This lid, for example…

…belongs to a butter dish that was broken by an un-named grandchild not so very long ago. Maybe I can find just the missing piece somewhere on the internet.

When we were designing our kitchen, I specified glass-doored cabinets specifically with Mom’s Rosenthal in mind. And look!

I’m not sure how much we’ll use these dishes, but I feel better just finally having them out of the box and in our home. I think Mom would have preferred this, too.