Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

food

April showered us with a busy schedule … here’s what filled our month

I thought April would fly by because the first months of this year seemed to drag. But these last 30 days were looooong. Maybe they all will be from now until summer? I don’t know. Anyway, April is over, which means I’ve got another monthly round-up for you. Here’s a summary of What We Did, What We Ate, What We Watched, and What We Read.

What We Did

Welcomed family for a visit. My parents made the trip out here for Easter, and it was so lovely to be together for the first time in seven months.

Why is taking group pictures so hard???

Because they were in town, we celebrated our daughter’s birthday (again). We had a small cake after dinner one night, and she opened presents from her visiting grandparents.

Which meant that the next day, we shopped because the girl had birthday money to spend. I remember when I started to want gift cards for my birthday and Christmas so I could pick out my own stuff, and that is the phase of life we are in now. (Side note: This was my first time out on a true shopping excursion since the pandemic. I didn’t love this kind of thing pre-pandemic and I don’t love it now. I have been training my whole life for avoiding people in public, but some people do not seem to understand the rules of avoidance. We all got through the shopping trip, though. May it not need to happen again soon.)

On Easter morning, we hiked at Shenk’s Ferry Wildflower Preserve. If you’ve been following this space for a long time, you might remember the time we drove our van to this preserve and got stuck on the way out because we took a road we shouldn’t have with the kind of vehicle we had. I was nervous to go back, but my parents were in town and they have an SUV. In preparation for the trip, we learned that the Lancaster Conservancy has since closed that questionable road and made a different parking area. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day and we were just on the cusp of peak wildflower blooming. A redeeming experience for Easter morning, as it should be. 🙂

We had to look closely to find the wildflowers but once we saw them, we couldn’t un-see them.

Speaking of flowers, Phil bought some for our flowerbeds, so one afternoon my parents helped me planted flowers around the house. (We also reclaimed a spare tire as a planter.)

If I can offer the world a tiny bit of beauty, I will do it.

Track meets and lacrosse matches have taken over our lives. We went from a full schedule of practices in March to an even fuller schedule of practices, games and meets in April. It’s a bit of a whirlwind right now but we love watching our kids participate in team sports.

While my parents were here, my mom asked what I wanted for my birthday. I need to update my wardrobe, especially when it comes to work clothes, so she told me about this subscription service she’d heard about. I signed up for Nadine West while they were here, and a few days later, I opened my first envelope from the company. They sent me six items: a dress, a top, a pair of pants and three pieces of jewelry. I kept the top and pants (an outfit) and a necklace. I don’t love shopping, but I sort of love this service so far because (surprise, surprise) I don’t have to leave the house. I don’t have enough experience with it yet to know if I can recommend it to friends, but my next envelope should be arriving soon.

This is the outfit I kept.

Our virtual adventures this month took us to Albania and Miami. (Read more about those in the What We Ate and What We Watched sections.)

Taxes. We put it off this year. It didn’t take that long, but we still didn’t want to make it a priority. Still, they’re done.

Quarantine. Again! Womp-womp. This time our daughter had to stay home and do school from home. She took it like a champ, and we’re glad it’s over. For now.

One Sunday afternoon, I walked with some coworkers from my book club. After reading All the Bright Places, we decided to do something to raise awareness about mental health issues. We organized a week-long event at our school and have been raising money for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention for a couple of months so we participated in the virtual walk by getting together at a local park and walking for an hour. It was a beautiful day with fun company.

The shortest, oldest person in the group (me!) got to take the selfie, so this is as good as it gets!

Summer-like temperatures late in the month had us thinking gardening, so Phil bought some of the plants for the garden and we put them in the ground. This is the earliest we’ve ever planted the garden. Two days later, the temperature dropped and the wind chill neared freezing. We might have made a mistake. I’ve learned that plants are resilient, though, so fingers crossed.

Our baby plants.

What We Ate

Cheese quiche for breakfast Easter morning. I wanted to make something special, and I was pleased with how this turned out.

I love a good breakfast dish I can make the night before.

An Easter feast featuring goat stew, roasted fingerling potatoes, fried cabbage, and kalettes (they’re like a cross between Brussels sprouts and kale) with a cheesecake sampler for dessert. We snacked earlier in the day on cheese and crackers and the like.

Yes, we really had goat on Easter. Africa hasn’t left our hearts or our bellies.

“Forgotten” cookies. I made these meringue cookies because I have a lot of egg whites to use up. I thought it was going to be a disaster, but it actually turned out okay. They were a tasty snack for days.

After all the meringue-ing, these were super simple because you just leave them in a warmed oven.

Potato Musakka for our Albanian virtual adventure. Layers of sliced potato with a beef and onion mixture in between, baked with eggs and milk. Comfort food.

Creamy, eggy potatoes with beef. I would make this again just because.

Angel food cake. Because of the egg white situation. I followed a recipe that was very clear, and I was a little confused about the cooling process, but this cake turned out edible, even if it wasn’t perfect. I will try it again soon.

It wasn’t pretty but it was delicious.

Roburrito’s, a local burrito place, for our April takeout. I had a taco salad in a fried bowl that took me back to my college days when I ordered one of these once a week. Others in the family had nachos and burrito quesadillas.

Arby’s. Because we needed a quick dinner on a lacrosse night. This was my first fast-food drive-through experience of the pandemic, I think. Curly fries=yum.

Carrots. From our garden. That we planted last fall.  They were sweet and tender and got me in the mood for gardening. Phil “discovered” this harvest before he tilled the garden in preparation for our planting. (He knew they were there and took the time to dig them up. I probably would have ignored them or figured they wouldn’t be any good. I’m glad to be wrong!)

They slept all winter and still made a tasty side dish for us.

Mint milkshakes that we made with vanilla ice cream and creme de mint milk from a local dairy.

We aren’t actually sure how to make milkshakes but this turned out okay.

Frita (Cuban hamburger) for our virtual adventure. A mixture of meats for the burgers topped with a spicy ketchup and shoestring fries. Yes, it was tasty.

As good as it looks

Pierogies from a new stand at Central Market where my husband works. These are not your grocery-store frozen pierogies. Plump and delicious. He paired them with a kielbasa skillet for dinner one night.

What We Watched

Nailed It.  This is good for a laugh on a Friday night when the kids and I are winding down from the week. The new season has pairs of bakers–brothers and sister, partners, moms and daughters. It’s double the fun.

So I finished Cheer and I just can’t with the parents of some of these athletes. Cringe-y at best. And I cannot stomach the tosses that end in bone-crushing drops. It’s a compelling series but I didn’t love it like so many people did last year.

We also finished Space Force, which made me laugh SO loud and hard, and Men in Kilts, which made me want to book a flight to Scotland at the first available and safe moment.

Baseball. The Cubs are pretty terrible this year, but that doesn’t stop us from watching a game every now and then.

Call the Midwife. Lifts my spirit every single time. I finished season 7, which was a hard season but good.

Wild Flower, a documentary about a 77-year-old Albanian woman who lived her whole life unmarried so she could help her brother raise sheep and farm. This was part of our virtual adventure to the country. The documentary is subtitled, a new experience for our children as we watched.

Spider-Man: Far From Home. Thank you, Samuel L. Jackson for my new favorite movie line that includes a swear. All around, a fun movie that left me with a lot of question for the future of the Marvel universe. 

Footloose in Oxford and York with the Rixons. If you need a chill and sometimes cheesy travel documentary of interesting places in Europe, check out the Footloose series on Amazon Prime. The Oxford and York one is their newest and it was filmed last summer during the pandemic after some restrictions had lifted.

By far my favorite thing we watched in April was Nate Bargatze: The Tennessee Kid, a comedy special on Netflix. We had a hard week and I requested a show with some good laughs. We all needed the healing power of laughs, and this fit the bill. I laughed so hard I almost choked on my dinner. And I’m still laughing just thinking about his delivery of jokes.

WandaVision. I know. We’re behind. We were catching up on Marvel movies. This Marvel-meets-Bewitched series is oddly compelling. We’ve only seen two episodes so far, but more to come.

Poldark. I still don’t love season five, but it’s only been two episodes. Maybe it will grow on me?

For our virtual adventure to Miami, we watched a couple of travel documentaries about the city. I honestly never thought I’d want to visit Miami in person but now I do.

History of Swear Words, also on Netflix. I needed some “low-brow” comedy one night when my brain couldn’t handle anything else. This delivered. I now know more than I ever wanted to about the f-word and the s-word. I can’t wait to learn more about swears!

What We Read

Truman. Will. I. Ever. Finish. This. Book? (Yes, if I read no other books, but that is not how I operate.) I have a couple hundred pages left, which in McCullough translation is probably closer to 400 regular pages.

A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny. The Gamaches on vacation? In the woods of Canada? What could go wrong? Thoroughly enjoyable to see some of my favorite Three Pines characters in a different setting.

How Not to Be Afraid by Gareth Higgins. I finished this one in time for its release on April 13, and I so loved its gentle invitation to transform fear through the telling of better (truer) stories. Transforming fear doesn’t ignore that bad things happen but it asks us to look for other things happening in the world, to pause and be grateful, and to face our fears with curiosity, at times.

Breathing Under Water by Richard Rohr. I finally finished it, long after the Lenten season ended. It’s a small book that packs a spiritual punch in all the best ways, and I’m grateful for its lessons.

Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick. One of the classes I help in is listening to this as a read-aloud, mostly for fun. I haven’t ever read it, and I am constantly impressed with middle-grade fiction’s ability to keep readers interested and turning the pages. I’m hooked and eager to find out what happens.

Evicted by Matthew Desmond. This is our next book club pick. A second time reading for me. Still as moving and shocking as the first time.

Sidney Chambers and the Perils of the Night by James Runcie. Short stories about the vicar-who-solves-crimes. Enjoyable.

The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann. It’s described as Harry Potter meets The Hunger Games, and it is another YA book that hooked me. There are more in this series that I want to check out. Maybe this summer.

To Sir Phillip, With Love by Julia Quinn. Bridgerton series number five, and they just keep getting better. If you’re sad that Regé-Jean Page won’t be returning to the Netflix series, please let me assure you that there is plenty of good Bridgerton material left for the showrunners to work with.

The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny. I started it just as the month was ending. Back to Three Pines for me. I can never get enough Inspector Gamache.

Our son read Slacker by Gordon Korman and is working his way through more Theodore Boone books as well as Stick Dog Takes Out Sushi.

Our daughter is on a Percy Jackson kick along with the Warriors series by Erin Hunter.

Husband started Wild Seed by Octavia Butler but had to return it to the library when it was due.

I’m sure May will be another full month for us. Check back here in June for a full round-up of our activities. In the meantime, you can see some of what we’re up to and what I’m reading on my Instagram feed.

 

Burns Night, quarantines, and introducing our kids to a classic movie: A January round-up

We’re on our second snow day in a row today, and it’s been snowing for three days, so I’m convinced we now live in a snow globe. At the beginning of the year (was that only a month ago?) I decided to start keeping track of the things our family was doing, watching, eating and reading each month and at the end of the month I would publish the round-up. Some of it is super ordinary, but it’s helping me appreciate our days more. You might find some of it interesting, you might not, and that’s okay. This is one of those things I’m doing for me. As I did with a post late last year, I’ve broken it out with headings so if you’re only interested in the books we’ve read, for example, you can skip to that section and ignore all the shows we watch.

What we watched/are watching

Movies

We’re gradually working our way through the Marvel Universe. This month we checked these movies off the list:

  • Ant-Man. I love Paul Rudd!
  • Avengers: Civil War. It’s SO intense.
  • Doctor Strange. The first time I ever watched this, I was SO confused and did not really like it. The second time was better, but it’s still a strange (ha ha!) movie.
  • Guardians of the Galaxy 2. Baby Groot! Also I find myself now saying, “And I didn’t say ‘frickin'” far more than is probably healthy.

We were supposed to watch the first Spiderman movie but we had to get it from the library and they closed for COVID and then snow, so we decided to introduce the kids to Napoleon Dynamite. They laughed at the physical comedy parts, but I’m not sure they loved it as much as I always have.

TV/Streaming Series

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? We started the third season of the animated version on Netflix.

Grantchester, season 4 on Amazon Prime. This includes a significant turning point for Sidney Chambers, which made me sad. I once described this show to a friend as “hot vicar solves mysteries” and I stand by that description still.

The Crown, season 4 on Netflix. Diana deserved better! Also, this part of the story is traumatic for me because I know how it ends. Is this what it’s like to watch fictional creations of history you’ve lived through?

Bridgerton, on Netflix. Brilliant. There are subtle creative touches like the orchestra playing contemporary songs at the balls and in the background of scenes. I will admit to having never watched a series by Shonda Rhimes before. Is she a genius? Yes. I watched all the episodes and I might watch them again while waiting for the first book to be available from the library.

Mr. Mayor, the new NBC comedy starring Ted Danson. Can we just be honest and say that Ted Danson has only gotten better with age?

Schitt’s Creek. Phil and I are still working our way through the series, mostly because we don’t want it to end. We just finished season 5 and are a few episodes in to season 6, the final season. Does it have to end?

The Presidential Inauguration. Because of my quarantine (see the “What We Did” section) I was able to watch it live all day with Phil.

Daily press briefings. Phil has a little crush on the new White House press secretary, so he tunes in regularly but also we just appreciate the wealth of information being disseminated from the administration.

What we ate

Our son picks the meal on Saturdays and helps make it. One meal in his rotation is pork chops. He decided he didn’t want to make an onion sauce this time around, so we did caramelized onions. I followed the recipe in Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything cookbook (a MUST for every kitchen. It’s comprehensive and accessible) and I fell in love with my own cooking for the first time in a long time. (Usually I consider myself adequate.)

Homemade chicken soup. While we waited for Phil’s COVID test results (again, see the next section), I made chicken soup for dinner. Because I believe in science and medicine but I also think food contributes to healing. Did I pull the frozen bone broth out of the freezer to make the soup? Yes. Did I drink all the broth that was left in the soup pot? Also, yes.

After I learned I would be quarantining, I searched the Internet for foods that boost your immune system, intending to give my body a head start, in case it would need to fight the virus. I made a soup with a variety of vegetables, bone broth, and miso paste. It was delicious, and it makes me feel like I’m doing something to help my body.

I called it “immunity soup”

During the inauguration, Phil and I ate summer rolls, sushi and samosas, a nod to the multicultural heritage of our new vice president. (And because it’s good food and we wanted something sort of special for our quarantine date.) For dinner, we researched some of the favorite foods of our new president and vice president. Kamala Harris likes seafood gumbo, and Phil got a cookbook for Christmas that celebrates black cooks, so we picked a gumbo recipe from there that has meaning to the African-American community. Marcus Samuelsson, the cookbook’s author, honored New Orleans chef Leah Chase, who ran a restaurant in New Orleans during the Civil Rights era (the restaurant still exists) and served everybody, regardless of race. Chase’s gumbo recipe is what we ate, and it was GOOD.

Leah Chase’s seafood gumbo

We picked up some of Joe Biden’s favorite ice cream, a brand called Jeni’s, made in Ohio. We tried three different flavors:

Peanut butter almond brittle, salted peanut butter with chocolate flecks (the President’s favorite), bramble berry crisp

January 25th is Scottish poet Robert Burns’ birthday, and because the pandemic is feeling like it will never end, I decided to do something sort of crazy that also made me happy. I planned a sort of Burns’ Night Dinner for the occasion. Here’s what was on the menu:

  • Cock-a-leekie soup (chicken and leeks with barley and plums).
  • Scotch eggs (soft-boiled eggs wrapped in sausage and deep fried).
  • Selkirk Bannock (a yeast bread made with raisins; sort of scone-like). I was proudest of this because I don’t always do well with yeast breads.
  • Orange Cranachan for dessert (a layered pudding dessert with toasted oatmeal).
  • I also drank some Scotch whisky that tasted like I was licking the hills of Scotland.
Selkirk bannock
Orange cranachan (it’s typically made with raspberries but we used what we had)

Phil plans and executes the meal on Wednesdays, so one night we had a plant-based burger taste test. Phil cooked two kinds of plant-based burgers–Impossible Burgers and Beyond Burgers–then gave each of us half of each kind to decide which one we liked better. We did not tell the kids, at first, that they were plant-based protein. Three of us liked the Beyond Burger better; one preferred the Impossible Burger. And the biggest surprise of all was that our son, who is a meat-atarian, liked the Beyond Burger so much that he added it to his Saturday menu rotation.

We’re trying to eat local takeout once a month, so for January we went to Noodle King for pho and egg rolls. There was a time, pre-pandemic, that we ate at Noodle King once a month. The kids are convinced this is what kept us so healthy.

My bowl of chicken pho from Noodle King

What we did

Our son figured out how to play his Switch online with friends–one from school and one who lives on the other side of the country, and I couldn’t love this more. He now hosts regular online meetings with his friends to play video games together. He’s being social.

We left our church. There’s a lot I could say about this, but the decision has taken up a lot of emotional and mental space in my head, so I’m just going to leave it at that for now.

We took the Christmas decorations down and put them away for the year. I miss the tree’s presence in the living room, but I have some evergreen/pine candles to re-create the scent.

I played Minecraft with my children. A highlight: My son saying, “I’m going to revive Izzy because she’s more helpful.” I also played an old-school Nintendo game with my son.

Phil got a COVID test and we isolated at home for a day (or two). Then I quarantined for a week. These were anxiety-induced days, but we made it through without either of us testing positive or developing symptoms.

On two consecutive nights, I watched the International Space Station pass overhead from our backyard.

I finished a puzzle of Cinque Terre, Italy. Sometime last year, Phil and I watched a travel documentary about Cinque Terre. When I saw the puzzle, I had to have it. Now, I’m dreaming of the Italian coast.

Cinque Terre, Italy is now on my must-see travel list

I unintentionally cleaned the area around my desk while searching for some documents I needed to fill out paperwork. 

Isabelle and I attended a Zoom meeting live from Dadaab, the largest refugee camp in Kenya. The meeting was hosted by the co-author of a book we read this month–a man local to Lancaster now who grew up in the refugee camp. It was heart-opening.

The kids went to a new dentist. It was an overall positive experience but the practice’s policies are different than our previous dentist and it was a bit jarring at first. (The kids went back to the cleaning with the hygienist. I waited in the car with a pager.) Both have healthy teeth, though!

What we read/are reading

Most of what I list here will be what I read, but I’ll include some from the rest of the family as I can.

Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other by Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish. If you’re among those who are in Droughtlander (the time between release of Outlander TV series seasons and/or books) right now, this is a suitable substitute. There is A LOT of history in this book, but it actually just makes me curious to know more. If you’re familiar with these two actors as personalities, the book will be that much better for you.

I started reading Truman by David McCullough as part of my It Was Always Burning reading challenge. It is slow going, but mostly because it’s a thousand pages long. The politics section I’m in right now feels like a slog.

3,000 Miles to Jesus: Pilgrimage as a Way of Life for Spiritual Seekers by Lisa Deam. Full review on this in a separate blog post. I met Lisa at a writing retreat several years ago, and I was pleased to be able to read her book in advance of its release.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. My daughter and I both finished this as part of our school reading. I don’t remember if I ever read it as a student. Her conclusion? It’s such a good book. I agree, although sometimes the vast descriptions are difficult for students to sift through to find the main actions. Part of my job was to help with that.

When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed. Omar lives and works locally in my city. I’ve met him and heard his story through one of the refugee resettlement organizations. I’ve had his book for months and wanted to read it before he hosted a Zoom meeting from the Kenyan refugee camp where he once lived. (See previous section, “What We Did.”)

Selected poems by Robert Burns. This while drinking the peaty Scotch.

Monster by Walter Dean Myers. Another one for school. I’m only a few “chapters” into it. I read along so I can better help my students. (It’s not a huge sacrifice to me.) Myers is quickly become a go-to author for a quick but meaningful read.

Raisins and Almonds by Kerry Greenwood. Back to the Phryne Fisher mysteries.

The next two books deal with mental health issues and suicide, so if those topics are triggering for you, please feel free to skip.

I started All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven for a book club I’m in. I’ve read the first quarter of the book, as needed for book club. It was really hard to stop but I don’t want to read ahead and accidentally spoil for someone else!

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. A few weeks ago, I checked this out of the library and then had to return it because it was on hold and I couldn’t renew it. Second time’s a charm! Unforgettable. I finished it in a day.

Our son likes the Stick Dog books by Tom Watson and he and I are reading one together at night. (There are also Stick Cat books, which is where he got his start.) These are quirky, humorous stories about a band of dogs who get into a little bit of trouble now and then.

If you want to keep up with my reading in real-time, you can follow me on Instagram, where I post a picture and short review every time I finish a book, or find me on Goodreads.

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Well, there’s a bit of what we’ve been up to. You can check in towards the end of each month for another riveting update of our lives in media, food, activities and books.