What a difference a year makes

Last Friday, a year ago, I said goodbye to one of my best friends. She was beautiful, fun, feisty and always up for adventure. You knew something was up when you saw a streak of tabby running either towards the dog or away from him.

Did I not mention that she was my cat? Her name was Bright Eyes.

While no one ever wants to say goodbye to a beloved pet, after thinking about it, she really enjoyed the last few years of her life. Running about bossing Charlie around. Being the queen and knowing it really did have her at her finest. In the year since we parted ways, a lot has happened. 

We got Misty. When we got home from vacation, we noticed Charlie was depressed. He was unhappy unless we were both home. Always looking for her under the bed, waiting by the door, looking in 'the cat room'. We knew he needed a companion and even though we weren't entirely ready for a new cat, we took the plunge and went to the shelter. Misty's personality was so bold and in your face, we knew we had to scoop her up before someone else took her. She's been a fabulous edition to the family and we couldn't ask for a better kitty companion to Charlie.

We moved in August- with only a week's notice. While packing up the apartment, I realized that she would have hated the fact that I would keep moving her stuff around. Trying to console Charlie was bad enough. Telling my poor feline that we were once again leaving for a new home would probably have upset her more than just a little.

We lived with my grandparents for three months. They own four little dogs. Bright Eyes despised little dogs. They got into all her tiny hidey holes and made life miserable. Even our much younger, much more laid back Misty had a hard time with them, but she managed to keep them in line just enough.

We bought our first home. While we're certain she would have loved it, with all it's great big, bird watching windows, and the comfy furniture and new places to explore, Bright Eyes hated chaos. A move in three month's time would have been a boon and a curse. With all the wallpaper peeling, painting, and boxes moving in and out and in and out, she probably would have been happier with my grandparent's and their tiny terrors for the first two months!

January was pretty much an utter disaster of a month. I think we'll just skip it.

Finally, we got Monty. When we moved away from my grandparents' Misty was happy. Charlie was not. He had grown used to having little companions to be with him all the time and whenever I left on a weekday (leaving without Zach was a clue that something was 'up'), he would exhibit serious separation anxiety. We did all the normal things we could to try to get him to understand that everything was ok, and that I was always going to come back, but after filling out the *mumble mutter* job application and coming home to find drool all over the floor of the front door, new claw marks, and a panting dog that could not stop for forty five minutes after I got home- in sixty degree weather, we finally decided that a new dog was really what he needed. So we went to the local shelter and picked up our fuzzball. Now I have a happy dog at the door and an excited one in his kennel when I come home from a foray into the field for whatever I need to do.

I still miss her. I still love her. You never forget your first pet, and she was mine. but something I know is that no matter what happens, there's always a reason. We don't always know it, and we don't have to like it, but it is there. Remember what happened, but don't dwell on it. Love the memories, don't hate how they are over.

God bless and see you soon,

Joelle

Cheese Soup

I have a lovely friend who lives in the UK. She recently told me of her visit to the US several years ago and her experience with a food called 'cheese soup'. She told me it was nasty, gloppy, cold, and all around awful. While her description does make it sound pretty terrible, I was distressed because I MAKE cheese soup and know it can be wonderful. Last night, I made it, so I decided to dedicate this blog post to the process and prove that, while it can be done wrong and nasty, cheese soup is really something to enjoy and appreciate.

First thing's first. We need a quart of chicken stock. I'll keep the icky details out of it, but making your own means it will taste like chicken and not salt. If you don't have time to make your own, store bought will do. 

Now to the mise en place- all these lovely ingredients will turn into lovelier soup within an hour-

Melt the butter in the pan, then add all the vegetables and cook for eight to ten minutes.

Then add the flour and cook for a few more minutes. Add the garlic...

And the chicken stock and bay leaf....

And bring to a boil.
Cover and cook until veggies are soft.

Remove bay leaf and add cream. If you have an immersion blender, use it to chop the carrots, onion and celery up into a puree. I do not own an immersion blender, so I used my regular blender to pulverize said veggies.

Return to the pot and heat thoroughly. Then take your ten ounces of shredded cheeeeeeeeeeze (We used Havarti, but any good melting cheese will do. DON'T use cheddar unless you want a slick of oil on top or mozzarella unless you want tiny balls of cheese instead of smooth meltiness.) and add it very slowly to your soup. It will take some time, but don't rush it unless you just want a ball of cheese at the bottom of your pan.

Now all you need to do is add your Worcestershire and hot sauce- as little or as much as you like. It makes pretty patterns.

 Then eat it straight out of the pot! Or maybe get a bowl... We love it with crusty bread.

Bon appetit!

Recipe-

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 cup small diced onion 
• 1 cup small diced carrot
• 1 cup small diced celery
• 1/2 teaspoon salt for sweating vegetables, plus more if needed at end of cooking
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 quart chicken broth, heated to a simmer
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 10 ounces Fontina, shredded
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce

Directions

Melt butter in large heavy-bottomed soup pot over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, celery, and salt. Sweat for 5 to 10 minutes or until the vegetables begin to soften, stirring occasionally. Sift the flour over the vegetables and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 to 3 minutes.

Gradually add the chicken stock and bring to boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and add the bay leaf. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until vegetables are soft.

Remove bay leaf. Turn off the heat, add the heavy cream, and then puree. Gradually add the cheese, 1 small handful at a time, and stir until melted before adding next handful. Stir in the Worcestershire, hot sauce, and white pepper. Taste and add additional salt if desired. If soup is not hot enough, return to a low heat until warmed through.

God bless and see you soon,

Joelle

Father's Day.

I was a terrible daughter and posted nothing for Mother's Day, but I am sitting here an hour before Father's Day and thinking about a few things.

A department store came out around Mother's Day with an add that I vehemently disagreed with. In my opinion, it was callus and, while I understood what they meant, I thought it belittled what the day was about. I was very surprised when they came out with a new add for Father's Day along the same lines.

The Mother's Day add stated, "Mother's Day is not for celebrating mothers. It is to celebrate everything mothers do for us." The Father's Day add starts the same way, but the second half of the sentence clarifies differently, "...it is for celebrating everything our fathers are." This phrasing is not quite as offensive, but I do not see the logic in either add. The advertisements point back and specify things or characters, not at the man or woman who did all those things or played those roles.

Yes, I love that Mom kissed my boo boos and Dad played King in the castle. I love everything they've done for me, but that's not all they are. And it's most certainly not all I should be celebrating. They were people long before I came into the world and they are still their own people now. Celebrating Mother's and Father's day isn't just about rejoicing in the things parents do for their children. It is also about trying to understand them as people. To know that they are much more than I could ever know, because I wasn't always there.

To objectify our parents, like the adds, is incredibly easy to do. To look at them as a list of things they've done or should have done. To love and appreciate them for those things, or to despise them for the same reasons is something that's practically ingrained in us. We've known them our whole lives. For a time, they were ALL we knew. During 'Parent' days, I think it is incredibly important for us to step back and appreciate them for everything they do and everything they are, but not the way the commercials state. We need to remember to simply be thankful for them.

The Parent...

The Person.

God bless and see you soon,

Joelle

I hate you

Every week they pull you out.

You're big and red, with lights, bumpers and way too much noise.

I hate you.

You run around the house and I follow. I try to bite you. To grab onto you and destroy you.

You don't seem to mind and continue to drag Mommy around the house as you plunder on your merry way.

I hate you.

You pick up all the hair Charlie, Misty and I work so hard to decorate with.

You mix it with dirt until it's unrecognizable, unusable, and has to be thrown out.

I hate you.

Daddy comes home and tells Mommy she did such a good job today.

I'm sure he knows as well as I that it's not easy to stay alive while being dragged around by you.

I hate you.

Then you stand guard outside my favorite room.

Keeping me from playing with the lovely toys in it.

I hate you.

One day, I shall destroy you. I'm sure that under those gray eyes of yours is something soft and tender. 

Something I can destroy you with.

I'll get you.

My Arch Nemesis.

The one they call 'The Vacuum'.

God bless and see you soon,

Joelle

I love...

That yummy feeling when you turn on the AC for the first time in the summer.

.20 ears of corn in the grocery store.

Grilling said corn on gas burners.

Going outside for a few hours to come back in to a cool, cool house.

It being warm enough to go swimming.

It being sunny enough to go swimming.

How incredible water just from an hour in the freezer tastes.

How hiding in he house is now considered safe, not introverted.

Warm tomatoes fresh from the vine.

Summer family blockbusters.....

Yep. Summer is pretty awesome.

God bless and see you soon,

Joelle