Thanksgiving Whirlpool Whirlwind

Day 1) Twenty minutes after my first trip to grocery store for Thanksgiving dinner it began, my love/hate relationship with the Whirlpool refrigerator. I was so proud of my organization. I ripped up all unnecessary containers and hung my list with times and schedules on the frig door. The big white cube positively gleamed, then the pots start clanging and I start muttering. I have a depth perception affliction, so engineering space for pre-prepped meals in frig is about as appealing to me as folding fitted sheets but eight pounds of potato salad has to go somewhere. I shut the door finally and lean on it, exhausted, like I had just wrestled a bear. Don comes in and wants to know where the milk is. I answer "Far right behind the potato salad bowl, topped with plate of cranberry's and finial-ed with the deviled eggs. If you take the top two plates out, you can pull the milk out from the back." Day 2) I am clanging pots at 5:30 a.m. I watch the first hour of Macy's Thanksgiving Parade while choreographing the timing of the side dishes with the Turkey. Oops, times up, looks like the spiral ham will be for dessert. Yesterday's organization is history. I am stuffed and want the refrigerator to feel the same way. Mayhem. "Where's the .....? is answered with "It's in there somewhere, you'll have to look for it." Day 3) Gleefully, the garbage saw the carcass of the Turkey first thing Friday morning! Hmmm...that means I have yards of space in frig now. I went to the grocery store for drinks and came home with another turkey. I couldn't pass up a fresh turkey for ten dollars! So, I chops spices and brine it in the frig pace I just cleaned out. I start condensing. The 8 x 12 casserole dishes are now in one or two quart Pyrex bowls. The ham is off the bone ready to go into a pot of Pinto's. By the pm hours the deviled eggs are gone, the ham is history and we are talking zip lock containers now. yay! And to boot, The only traffic I encountered on Black Friday was the promenade to and from Mr.Whirlpool. Day 4) I am shocked that the light hasn't blown on inside of frig and I am certain I have a touch of frostbite from the repeated exposure to freezer and frig. Don't even mention Turkey right now. I am craving anything that comes out of a take out box. I tiptoe around the house in the early morning. Drinking coffee and trying hard not to wake up my family. I know the minute their feet hit the floor they are going to be hightailing it back to North Carolina. I open the frig door and shut it immediately. Ughh...Tin foil half covers dried out Macaroni and Cheese. Pies without lids beckon me to finish them off, I even left my spoon in the the Chocolate Pie dish last night. Day 5) I sit straight up in bed at 3:00 a.m. I had a few moments of anxiety before I realized what day it was. No pots to stir, nothing to thaw and the timers haven't been set for days. I lie back down sad. It's over. There are no bodies scattered around the house. I have a slight headache which I attribute to not enough wine or withdrawal from Tryptophan. Mr. Whirlpool and I go at it for a few hours. I put my apron on that my granddaughter handmade for me. She knows I love to cook. I wash up the last dishes while re-hashing the memories of the last few days. I take the Thanksgiving meal plans off of the frig and wipe the handle. Day 6) Grocery list. Wine, Cheese, Chocolate

Friendship Bread, Anyone? | Charlestongrit.com | Bold. Smart. Local. Now. | Charleston, SC

Friendship Bread, Anyone? | Charlestongrit.com | Bold. Smart. Local. Now. | Charleston, SC

Friendship Bread~ Renae Brabham

I was looking through an old recipe book and saw the recipe for friendship bread starter.  I had to laugh.  I have received the starter twice, I dutifully accepted the baggie of bubbly dough with fake smiles and an insincere thank you. The sensation was likened to that of receiving a chain letter. If you stick around long enough you are bound to get one.

A more modern interpretation of a chain letter would be the annoying social media situation of this post "If you really love Jesus, your sister or brother, share this with 10 friends in the next hour, see what happens"

Neither of the starters that I received were from friends, actually they gave the gift to me rather sheepishly as if they themselves had been dumped upon. The process is similar to re-gifting,just pass off a gift that you don't really want to someone it won't really matter to.

But...with the leavened bread starter, the recipient has to actually work the dough starter for a week or so into 4 batches. After which time, you are going to sheepishly walk up to someone and do the same as my "friends" did.
So anyway, there it sat, A sloppy glob gurgling on my desk with a worn instruction sheet on how I am supposed to "Love on it and others"
I thought seriously of a one handed swoop into the garbage can, no looking back. But, killing a starter. I mean, there is something about the activity in that bag that makes you feel like you would if you killed a lady bug or a small marsupial.

So... I took the starter home and followed the instructions.  Add a cup of this one day, a cup of this another, knead 20 times a day and then divvy it up into 4 bags. Ok, so now it's day 7 or 8 or something like that and I am anticipating the end of this process. I have my zip locks on the counter.Let's see, one bag I keep to re-start the whole process and the other I bake. Two bags are left. Now it's time to pick the lucky recipients. One was a co-worker "friend."  The guilt got the best of me after passing that one off so I decided to put a little more effort into it for the next offering. I thought of the pastors wife that worked with me in retail. I walked up to her and held it out, she threw both hands up like it was kryptonite and proceeded to tell me she didn't have time for that %#&t!
So I found another associate "friend" and handed it to her. I felt like the burden of the bread had been lifted. I concluded that if I were ever approached again, I would pull the sweet little pastors wife's two hand show out on them. And so it was for about 5 years.

And then, one Christmas a dear friend, an older lady that I cared for deeply, gave me the most precious gift. My friend knew the story of my previous starter experiences.  I had unexpected company late one evening. I opened the door and my friends daughter walked in wishing us a Merry Christmas placing a weighty solid package in my hand. The card read. "This cake was baked from a thirty-seven year old ~Friendship Bread Starter~ a family starter. I hope you enjoy it." Part of me didn't even want to eat it, but that passed quickly. The aroma, the richness and the beauty of that bread is forever etched in my mind.

I am here to tell you that I have never, and would venture to say, will ever eat another bite of bread while I am on this earth as good as that cake. So many things had to come together for that bread to be the best.  The quality of the ingredients, the time and care that was kneaded into the starter, for seven years to boot!, and finally the continuity, doing what we need to do each day, even when we don't want to. These are the things that make a bread like the one I was gifted the best I have ever had. A true Friendship bread. And aren't these the same ingredients that are in our true friendship's?

Unleavened bread has no past. No starter to pull from. No history to pass down. Dough without leaven represents haste, a break with the past, an absence of extra flavor, simplicity, inactivity, powerlessness and a lack of labor.
I am richly blessed with wonderful friends, with leavened bread. Our bread is good. We pull from the past, keep it tended and keep the starter alive.

What Christmas Is For: Chase Rivers & Rachel Owen

What Christmas Is For  Just beautiful!

Brabham's Painting is back!

Yeah I know, It's going to sound like I am tooting our horn. As an artist in any genre, you tend to look at the work of others in the same field with interest. It's just a thing we do. We see a new house, we check out the paint job. There are good paint companies out there. But, I seriously have not encountered the quality of work that Don performs with Brabham's painting. I believe it is because he brings with it a level of pride and professionalism that assures his customers a good working relationship. Brabham's Painting: Interior or Exterior Quality Painting. Please check out the before and after photo's,remembering these are novice photo's.Now imagine the true vectors of light. These clients were extremely happy. Well, we are one state down in the Carolina's now. SC has been out home for three years and we are back in the biz here. Check out the website. And click the links for a in depth feel of the company.

http://www.brabhams.net/

True Grit, Charleston Grit | Charlestongrit.com | Bold. Smart. Local. Now. | Charleston, SC

True Grit, Charleston Grit | Charlestongrit.com | Bold. Smart. Local. Now. | Charleston, SC

Well Butter My Grits

I am telling you that I have truly enjoyed the Charleston Grit world this year. I wish all of Charleston knew what they are missing out on by not visiting daily. It is an amazing storefront window into the Charleston community. I feel like I am part of an exclusive club. Like a modern day speakeasy. Peephole in the door, secret knock, you get the picture right? Charleston Grit is fresh, visionary and runs the gambit with Arts...Sports, Fashion, Shopping, Expertise, Food and Adventure, just to name a few. As a middle aged (bottom of the middle) writer. I find there is something for everyone. A friend and I were discussing Cullen's Barber Shop experience this week. His Street People story was incredible as well. I You Tube the music that Devin Grant covers so that I can stay in the loop. Band names are dangerous territory for me. I have been messing them up since the 80's. I called Uncle Kracker that White Cracker for months before my daughter called me out. Three blind mice for by some blonde band from the era also. I make notes about shops, restaurants and events covered. I share them with family and friends. I vow to create meals like Holly Herrick. I try to imagine what hubby would look like in Desmond's styles. John Abess pulls me right onto the couch for a therapy session while Jane Perdue tells me to pull my big girl panties up and move on with it. Some days I am mentally in the chair, under the airbrush as Andrew Peterson fixes me up and tells me how beautiful I am. If I feel like sparring a little, I'll check out Prileoux, he knows how to stoke the fires. Natalie Mason inspires me to do projects that I probably wouldn't normally do, just because she makes them look so easy and fun. Her photo's are great as well. Carolyn Evans, well...you know. Rebeckah Jacobs, awe inspiring photography art. Different blogs do different things for me. Some days I am in the mood for some seasonal inspiration, others a pick me up on a melancholy day, and yet others a good laugh ie. E. Louise A bat in my Boudoir. Chastity, Courtney, Tara,and the list goes on and on. I am grateful for the standards of all the bloggers. I am motivated by quality of their writing. I shore myself up and am inspired by the wonderful reflections and optimal musings of these incredible bloggers. I tell out of state friends that long for Charleston, that it is one of the quickest and most informative ways to keep up on the happenings around the Holy City. It is so beautifully presented. Easy to maneuver and chock full of content. Serious kudos’s to the Grit staff. I can't wait to see what' in store for Grit for 2013!