![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamflowerWell, everyone, dinner with the pastor and her husband was a roaring success! The DH and I did a lot of cleaning yesterday, and he did a lot of yardwork, so today all we had to do was a last minute dusting and running of the sweeper, and pick up a few groceries. We did the latter errand while we were out picking up my paycheck this morning.
Food stuff behind the cut...
I spent the afternoon cooking. I put tenderizer and McCormack's Smokehouse Maple rub on the sirloin steaks the DH was grilling. Then I fixed the loaded mashed potatoes and prepped the corn, wrapping them all in aluminum foil for the grill, along with some portabella mushrooms stuffed with herb butter. I used the bread machine on "dough only" cycle to start the dark rye rolls, and then I made my two-crust lemon pie.
Double crust pastry
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
2 lemons, peeled, seeded and thinly sliced
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, slightly beaten
Place the pastry for the bottom crust in a 9" pie plate.
Combine lemon rind, slices and sugar, stirring well. Let stand 1 hour. Add eggs, stirring well.
Pour into the pastry-lined pieplate. Cover with the top crust and slit in several places to allow steam to escape; seal and flute edges.
Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes; reduce temperature to 375, and continue baking for 20 minutes. Cool before serving.
I usually brush the top crust with an egg wash and sprinkle just a little sugar on top before baking, for pretty!
(This is from "The Southern Heritage Company's Coming Cookbook". It has several of my favorite recipes in it.)
I also made my favorite salad dressing, Roasted Pecan Vinaigrette
1/2 c. minced onion
1 TBS. minced garlic
1/4 c. Balsamic vinegar (I use raspberry balsamic)
1 tsp. dry mustard (recipe calls for more, but I cut it in half)
1/3 c. dark brown sugar (when I make it for company I use the regular brown sugar, but when I make it just for us, I use the Splenda brown sugar blend)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
(I do salt & pepper to taste)
1 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 c. roasted pecan halves, coarsely chopped.
Combine the first seven ingredients in a non-reactive bowl and mix well with a wire whisk. Slowly pour in the olive oil while beating constantly. Stir in the pecans and serve over seasonal greens.
(To roast the pecans, spread them on a small cookie sheet and place in a 350 degree oven. Roast for about 10 minutes, until crisp and lightly browned, stirring every few minutes to prevent scorching.)
I decided to wait until they arrived to set the table, as the table is Miss Belladonna's territory and I did not want her prowling around up there after it was set. I also waited to throw the salad together. The DH was waiting to start the stuff on the grill till they arrived, also. I harvested some radishes (some of which were the size of hen eggs!) and some green onions to also put on the table.
They came right at 6, and it was really nice. Sophie, however, decided to get all territorial and serious, so we ended up having to shut her away in the bedroom after all. And since keeping Miss Bell off the table would have been difficult (especially with steak on the table!) she was banished to the bathroom.
We had a really pleasant time talking and eating and eating and talking. I was really surprised when we realized it was eight o'clock! After the meal, she blessed our new rings for us. She was very pleased to do that for us-- she said it was the first time anyone had asked her to do that!
Our house is coincidentally right between two other church members, and one of them an elderly lady I will call Mrs. G. was out on her front porch when we were seeing our guests out, so the pastor and I went over and talked to her for a few minutes before they left.
She's being reassigned, so she will be moving to her new church by the end of next week. I will miss her. Our new pastor is also a woman, but I don't know much about her yet. I will probably Google her name later tonight.
The DH and I whipped out cleaning up the kitchen together-- it takes a little longer at this house since we have no dishwasher here.
A very pleasant evening! And our son called us earlier in the afternoon-- he wants to take the two of us out to supper tomorrow night! And we are planning to go see Men in Black III tomorrow as well.
Fannish stuff behind this cut...
You know how some foods are comfort foods, like mac n' cheese or chicken soup? A food that makes you feel all cozy and warm and fuzzy? Well, there is also comfort reading, and there is (IMHO) no better comfort reading than re-reading favorite fanfics.
And one of my most favorites is![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
grey_wonderer's story If I Had a Hammer! It has all the perfect comforting and cozy elements I love: it's fairly long; it's pre-Quest friendship fic, and it has all four hobbits; it has Frodo taking care of and defending his younger cousins; it has Sam being his capable self and ,BTW, an excellent teacher; it has just enough realistic growing pains and ordinary conflict to keep it interesting; and it has an annoying antagonist to stir the pot. And it is full of G.W.'s trademark humor from start to finish. I love that story so MUCH! It's not my only favorite "comfort fic", but it's sure up there near the top.
Do you have any favorite "comfort fics"? What are the elements that make a fic a good "comfort read" for you?
Food stuff behind the cut...
I spent the afternoon cooking. I put tenderizer and McCormack's Smokehouse Maple rub on the sirloin steaks the DH was grilling. Then I fixed the loaded mashed potatoes and prepped the corn, wrapping them all in aluminum foil for the grill, along with some portabella mushrooms stuffed with herb butter. I used the bread machine on "dough only" cycle to start the dark rye rolls, and then I made my two-crust lemon pie.
Double crust pastry
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
2 lemons, peeled, seeded and thinly sliced
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, slightly beaten
Place the pastry for the bottom crust in a 9" pie plate.
Combine lemon rind, slices and sugar, stirring well. Let stand 1 hour. Add eggs, stirring well.
Pour into the pastry-lined pieplate. Cover with the top crust and slit in several places to allow steam to escape; seal and flute edges.
Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes; reduce temperature to 375, and continue baking for 20 minutes. Cool before serving.
I usually brush the top crust with an egg wash and sprinkle just a little sugar on top before baking, for pretty!
(This is from "The Southern Heritage Company's Coming Cookbook". It has several of my favorite recipes in it.)
I also made my favorite salad dressing, Roasted Pecan Vinaigrette
1/2 c. minced onion
1 TBS. minced garlic
1/4 c. Balsamic vinegar (I use raspberry balsamic)
1 tsp. dry mustard (recipe calls for more, but I cut it in half)
1/3 c. dark brown sugar (when I make it for company I use the regular brown sugar, but when I make it just for us, I use the Splenda brown sugar blend)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
(I do salt & pepper to taste)
1 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 c. roasted pecan halves, coarsely chopped.
Combine the first seven ingredients in a non-reactive bowl and mix well with a wire whisk. Slowly pour in the olive oil while beating constantly. Stir in the pecans and serve over seasonal greens.
(To roast the pecans, spread them on a small cookie sheet and place in a 350 degree oven. Roast for about 10 minutes, until crisp and lightly browned, stirring every few minutes to prevent scorching.)
I decided to wait until they arrived to set the table, as the table is Miss Belladonna's territory and I did not want her prowling around up there after it was set. I also waited to throw the salad together. The DH was waiting to start the stuff on the grill till they arrived, also. I harvested some radishes (some of which were the size of hen eggs!) and some green onions to also put on the table.
They came right at 6, and it was really nice. Sophie, however, decided to get all territorial and serious, so we ended up having to shut her away in the bedroom after all. And since keeping Miss Bell off the table would have been difficult (especially with steak on the table!) she was banished to the bathroom.
We had a really pleasant time talking and eating and eating and talking. I was really surprised when we realized it was eight o'clock! After the meal, she blessed our new rings for us. She was very pleased to do that for us-- she said it was the first time anyone had asked her to do that!
Our house is coincidentally right between two other church members, and one of them an elderly lady I will call Mrs. G. was out on her front porch when we were seeing our guests out, so the pastor and I went over and talked to her for a few minutes before they left.
She's being reassigned, so she will be moving to her new church by the end of next week. I will miss her. Our new pastor is also a woman, but I don't know much about her yet. I will probably Google her name later tonight.
The DH and I whipped out cleaning up the kitchen together-- it takes a little longer at this house since we have no dishwasher here.
A very pleasant evening! And our son called us earlier in the afternoon-- he wants to take the two of us out to supper tomorrow night! And we are planning to go see Men in Black III tomorrow as well.
Fannish stuff behind this cut...
You know how some foods are comfort foods, like mac n' cheese or chicken soup? A food that makes you feel all cozy and warm and fuzzy? Well, there is also comfort reading, and there is (IMHO) no better comfort reading than re-reading favorite fanfics.
And one of my most favorites is
grey_wonderer's story If I Had a Hammer! It has all the perfect comforting and cozy elements I love: it's fairly long; it's pre-Quest friendship fic, and it has all four hobbits; it has Frodo taking care of and defending his younger cousins; it has Sam being his capable self and ,BTW, an excellent teacher; it has just enough realistic growing pains and ordinary conflict to keep it interesting; and it has an annoying antagonist to stir the pot. And it is full of G.W.'s trademark humor from start to finish. I love that story so MUCH! It's not my only favorite "comfort fic", but it's sure up there near the top.Do you have any favorite "comfort fics"? What are the elements that make a fic a good "comfort read" for you?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 02:43 am (UTC)Mac & Cheese. Yum!
no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 02:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 03:22 am (UTC)Dinner sounds fantastic! Every bit of it. But that salad dressing! Whoa. That looks really good. It is now duly copied and pasted now into a Word file and tucked away on iLúgburz's hard drive. So is the recipe for the lemon pie. It's reminiscent of lemon bars, which are a favorite in the Pandë!household.
It's great to hear of more women pastors in the UMC. When I was visiting my mother last summer, the pastor dropped by to see my aunt who was recuperating from a very bad winter (she's fine now), and yep. My hometown's UMC's pastor is a woman. She was very engaging, and I enjoyed chatting with her.
Hmmm. Comfort fan fics. I can think of a number of fan fics I like, and they range the gamut, but not necessarily comforting. I do have some comfort DVDs, i.e., movies I can watch again and again.
Well, back to work. Oh! Oh! I have a draft completed! Just tweaking here and there. Once I get this CSR out before the weekend, I can turn the DM's attention to recreational writing.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 12:53 pm (UTC)The last time we went there was for my s-i-l's birthday. They'd just come out with a cookbook of the restaurant specialties, and the DH got it for me. It has the dressing recipe in it.
And then came Katrina, and The Gumbo Shop was gone...
I'm so glad I got that cookbook!
no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 03:26 am (UTC)As for a specific story, I'd have to go with Larner's story "Reunion." It gives me such a sense of peace and makes the end of life such a wonderous and almost sacred thing rather than the tragedy some people portray both in fanfic and published stories and novels.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 12:56 pm (UTC)"Reunion" is a beautiful story! I love "The King's Commission" best of hers because that was my introduction to Larner's stories! And it's such a nice long read!
no subject
Date: 2012-06-02 12:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 04:38 am (UTC)And thanks for the rec. I think I read it a long time ago but I'll refresh my memory of it.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 12:57 pm (UTC)It's one I re-read often-- I always get the "warm and fuzzies" from it!
no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 04:43 am (UTC)As for comfort fics: I like me some hurt/comfort, so my comfort fics may have a bit more tension than yours. Yes, ironically, there may be some excitement in my comfort fics, but overall, there is good characterization, and, I suppose, I have read them often enough they have become like comfortable old friends. Also, if I'm in particular need of cheering comfort, I like them to have enough meat on their bones to allow settling in for a while. For this kind of comfort, I like "A New Reckoning" and "The Life of a Bard."
And, for sweet and/or humorous comfort, Baylor's "Tea and Small Talk" and "Goodhobbits" are always good to revisit as well.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 01:00 pm (UTC)Yep. There don't seem to be nearly as many long stories being posted anymore. *sigh*
And it's so nice that you think of those two stories as "comfort fics"! Thank you!
I love Baylor's stuff too. Her "Care and Feeding" is probably at the top of my favorite list!
no subject
Date: 2012-06-02 12:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 07:35 am (UTC)I find Shirebound's stories always are comforting and make me feel good.I Also like other stories where Aragorn heals and comforts. Grey Wanderer is a very talented writer.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 01:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-02 12:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-02 12:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 12:19 pm (UTC)What a delicious dinner!
no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 01:03 pm (UTC)but I gravitate towards hobbity sweetness, comfort, food, and humor.
*grin* I think we are twins! LOL!
no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 02:16 pm (UTC)I like to write ficlets that are comforting, though. I just wrote a ficlet yesterday called "Cuddle" :))
no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 07:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 09:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 02:30 pm (UTC)My comfort fics, too many favorites to list, lean toward the h/c side of things so I can revel in the cccc parts.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-01 07:27 pm (UTC)H/C is very popular for comfort fics-- I guess because comfort's a part of them, LOL!