January 23, 2011
Something fortuitous happened to me this week. I had been couponing a little too aggressively and as a result, I ended up with 7 cans of crushed or diced tomatoes on my shelf. I don’t really like stockpiling food, and all these cans of tomatoes were bugging me. Since I don’t really care for pasta dishes, I wasn’t sure how I was going to use up all the tomatoes. I went to AllRecipes to do a search by ingredients for crushed tomatoes when I came up on this recipe for Tomato Basil Soup.
It’s no secret I love tomato soup. But I’ve gotten picky. I don’t really care for the Campbell’s condensed version (although in a pinch, it will do… especially if there is grilled cheese to dunk in it.) My craving is best satiated by Panera’s version – slightly creamy, a little hint of basil, and great tomato chunk texture. This recipe looked like a perfect replica.
I only made a half batch to see if I liked it, and I made a few tweaks by cutting back some of the butter that seemed extraneous. It was so good. I know exactly where the rest of those canned tomatoes are headed.
Here’s the half-batch recipe (made 4 1 cup servings), with my tweaks. You can still see the original in the link above:
- 1 (28 oz) can of crushed tomatoes
- 8 oz chicken broth
- 10 basil leaves, minced**
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 3 T butter
**I didn’t have fresh basil on hand but I had minced, frozen basil on hand. I get it in the freezer section of Harris Teeter. This is the brand I use.
How to:
1. Add the can of crushed tomatoes to the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Add basil and sugar. Reduce heat to low and stir in cream and butter. Stir until butter has melted.
3. Serve with homemade croutons! (See below).
Homemade Croutons
This isn’t really even a recipe… just a quick how to. Cut up any stale bread into bite sized pieces. Put in a ziploc bag and add just a drizzle of olive oil. Add any type of seasoning you want (I like just a pinch of salt and dried basil). Pour on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Flip, and bake for another 10 minutes. They’ll keep in a tupperware or plastic bag for about a week.
Enjoy! I apologize in advance to Panera on Penny Rd. You will probably see a substantial drop in your tomato soup business now.
****
(Oh hey, stats! In case you’re counting. Per 1 cup serving: 217 cals, 14.5g fat, 628 mg sodium, 6g fiber, 6g protein. Croutons will depend on how much bread and OO you use. I used 3 oz bread + 2 T olive oil. Per serving (4 svgs): 116 cals.)
January 9, 2011
On a wall in my living room hangs a rural scene
A structure so sturdy in a field so serene
The brush stroke that rendered the settings precise
Its value incomparable to any asking price
I imagine the artist as she selected the frame
And in the lower right corner, she signed her name
A painter, a quilter, a gardener and cook
Her talents have always demanded a look
But her greatest creation hangs not on a wall
Nor covers a bed or grows in soil so tall
Its cultivation took years and hard work and love
And support of someone who smiles down from above
Her masterpiece can’t be seen, touched nor heard
Its description requires more than a word
There are seven in fact that she gave herself to
Gave love and belief in all that they do
That first clan has flourished to nine and twenty
From New York to Georgia, love and laughter are plenty
The artist’s hand, both gentle and sure
Has created a piece that through time will endure
I imagine the artist as upon us she gazes
I wonder if she will ever fully hear all our praises
Just like her name on that lower right side
Her name and her touch we all carry with pride
written 12/25/07 for Grandma
****
On Monday morning, I came back in for a run and saw I had missed a call from my Mom. No one ever calls at 5:30 am with good news, so I had a feeling I knew why she was calling.
My Grandma was, as my Aunt Patty put it, the original superwoman. She had 5 kids by the time she was 25, and added two more to the clan a few years later. She could do anything around the house, and she was creatively talented as well. She could paint a masterpiece inspired by a pot of flowers sitting on her kitchen table while a carrot cake from scratch baked in the oven, and finish it off by hand stitching a quilt for someone’s Christmas gift. We ran into one of her best friends at the grocery store today, and woman who had known her for more than 60 years, and she told us that she used to iron diapers. I’m honestly not surprised.
My Grandma was a fiercely independent and extraordinary competent, but she wasn’t what you would call a "warm and fuzzy" woman. In fact, my siblings and I often quote one of her most famous lines spoken to my brother one Christmas a few years ago when the cousins took over cooking. "Michael, this bruschetta is terrible."
You could trust Grandma to always tell it like it is, like it or not. She may not have always been right, but I can assure you, she was never wrong. Her love was not doled regularly in platitudes, but measured in acts of service – a pot roast delivered to your fridge, a hand painted Christmas card, a made from scratch Boston Creme pie every birthday, a washer and dryer found for a struggling young mother. Grandma’s love language was doing, and if you were listening for that, she never stop speaking it.
When I had been out running on Monday, I saw a shooting star drop from the sky. I literally stopped in my tracks and said "Buddy, LOOK!" (He didn’t, of course, as he was much more interested in dislocating my shoulder in an attempt to sniff a nearby tree.) I’d never seen one before and I was awestruck for a second at how bright it burned, yet fell so quickly and disappeared. Once it was gone, there was no physical evidence that indicated it’s path – just my memory of it.
When we gathered on Saturday to say our good-byes and remember her life, I think we all felt a bit like I had felt on that street corner Monday morning.
Gone are any physical reminders of the path of this fiery, bright life. Now we stand together, a bit bewildered, reminding one another of all the memories that we collectively share that prove that she was there, she touched each one of us, she burned a path through this Universe.
Goodbye, Grandma. We will miss you, and your love will burn brightly in our hearts.
January 2, 2011
This is my 3rd year filling this out (see: 2008 and 2009 here if you want) and every year I love taking the hour or so it takes me to write it to just think back to what’s transpired in the past year, and my expectations and hopes for the future year. To give credit where credit is due, I originally found it on this blog.
1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?
Traveled to California. Twice. Made sushi. Got air on the wakeboard. Hosted Christmas. Took engagement photos. Twice. Took a yoga class.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn’t post my resolutions anywhere public, but I had jotted these down at the end of last year and stuck them in my journal. I came across them a few weeks ago. Here’s how I did:
- Try yoga: I took a beginner’s class with Anne and Crystal in January. I liked it, but never did anything after our 5 classes were up.
- Shoot more people: I do believe I meant photograph more people… and if so, I did this. I shot Katie and Dylan’s engagement photos, and Jess and Charlie’s. Jamie and I also spent an afternoon doing headshots of each other. I loved every moment of these shoots, and I definitely want to do more in 2011.
- Try 12 different wines: I am 100% certain I achieved this goal.
- Make my blog look the way I wanted it to: Well, I didn’t do it but Heather, and then Loren, both made my blog look like I wanted it to. And Loren has made me a logo, so next up is a Facebook page.
- Exert the willpower to be kind: I honestly did try to keep my mouth shut whenever I felt like I was going to gossip or judge. I can’t say that I always did this, but I know I was more conscious of it than I had been in the past.
- Read the books I have: I only bought two new books this year, and I made a good effort to read the ones I had borrowed or bought before. I didn’t read all of them, and I returned a few that I knew I probably wasn’t going to.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes! This was quite the year of babies. Let’s see… I’ll apologize in advance if I’ve gotten birth months wrong. My grad school friend Ellen welcomed twins Haley and Spencer in January. Jamie’s Aunt Gig and Uncle Jon, who Matt and I want to adopt as our own family members after visiting in Utah and Toronto, brought Georgia into the world at the end of January. My cousin Danielle had her fourth(!!), a little girl named Riley in February. Another Baltimore friend, Katie, had her sweet Madelyn in February as well. My bloggy friend Kathryn introduced us to precious Quinn in September, and I love getting to see his days captured in her amazing photography. Another blog/Twitter friend Lindsay had her sweet Claire in March, and I love seeing her grow each month via good ol’ Twitpic. Our residency friends Tim and Crystal had their little boy in November, and that was especially fun because she’s the first friend I’ve ever lived in the same place with during a pregnancy. And lastly, our next door neighbors Clay and Mindy welcomed their Christmas gift, Mason James, into their lives just 10 days ago. 8 babies? That’s a lot of diapers being changed in 2010.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
One of my research participants passed away, quite unexpectedly, in late summer.
5. What countries did you visit?
My passport sat in the safe deposit box for the entirety of 2010. Now that’s just sad.
6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
More appreciation for the present moment. Starbucks gift cards. More locally grown food.
7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Feb 14th – my baby sis called to tell me she was engaged
Sept 13th – first day of my new job
Sept 18th – ran my 3rd half marathon
Oct 30th – my Jessie K got married
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Tripling the number of coaching clients I had in 2009. Finished writing my book. (Don’t ask me what the next step is. Unless you know what the next step is, then tell me.) Interviewing and getting a new job. Was I supposed to choose one?
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not being more in the moment / wishing time would hurry up.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I did not. 2010 was healthy – my colitis was in remission and I made it through half marathon training with just a few aches and pain. Very thankful for this.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
an iPad for my hubby, a bunch of delicious wine in Sonoma County and lift tickets in Park City
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My hard-working husband. I am hoping that in our 4th year of marriage his “never complain” policy will finally rub off on me. He was also super supportive when I was going through a rough patch earlier this year, he’s not afraid to use a vacuum and he never erases The Office or The Soup off the DVR before I’ve watched it. How could you not celebrate that?
Also, those Chilean miners were pretty awesome too this year, eh?
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Dooce taught us all an important lesson on “topics of which we shall not blog.” Moving on.
14. Where did most of your money go?
According to Mint.com, Harris Teeter and Wells Fargo Mortgage.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Jess’ wedding. Travels to California and Utah. Hosting our Christmas party for the 3rd time. Running on the Lowe’s Motor Speedway for my half. (Which turned out to be not nearly as exciting as one would hope.)
16. What song will always remind you of 2010? Free by Zac Brown Band. Anything by the Glee cast (sorry co-workers.) Forget You (or you know, that other version) by Cee-Lo.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:a) happier or sadder?b) thinner or fatter?c) richer or poorer?
a) I wouldn’t say sadder, but I feel like this year had some growing pains for me. Martially and socially, I am happier than ever. I have been healthy, which always begets happy. Professionally, it was just a challenging year in many ways and I feel a little ruffled from that still… but not sadder. Maybe just pensive and hopeful about change and what’s to come. b) Thinner, considering this time last year I was on prednisone. Hello, chipmunk cheeks. (Otherwise, the same.) c) Slightly richer, thanks to no longer working in the public sector.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Traveled. Wrote. Prayed. Listened. Blogged.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Complained. Judged. Whined. Cleaned out Buddy’s crate.
20. How did you spend Christmas?
My in-laws came up on Christmas Eve for dinner and exchanging gifts. I spent Christmas Day like a regular Saturday – folding laundry, cleaning, working out – while Matt went to work. My parents and brother came on Sunday, Katie and Dylan came on Tuesday and we did “Claffey Christmas” on Tuesday night.
21. Did you fall in love in 2010? I think it’s fair to say I went head over heels for a little house named “Jimtown” located in Sonoma County. I just pray that it’s not an unrequited love, and I shall see my beloved again one day. (Too dramatic?)
22. What was your favorite TV program?
Glee and How I Met Your Mother
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I will be really disappointed in myself if I ever answer yes to this question – I’d like to make it a lifelong goal to never feel hatred towards someone. Yuck. (So the answer is: no.)
24. What was the best book you read?
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. The Hunger Games series.
25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Vampire Weekend (I heard them on M+K’s blog, loaded them into Pandora and fell in love.) Zac Brown Band. Phoenix. A Fine Frenzy.
26. What did you want and get?
A new job. A new camera lens.
27. What did you want and not get?
Work from home privileges. Buddy to chill out. Frye boots.
28. What was your favorite film of this year?
The Blind Side. (It was excellent, although to be fair I only saw that and Eclipse this year in the theater.)
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
28! We went down to Myrtle Beach for a few days, and then came back to Winston and met friends out at Foothills.
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
A hefty dose of patience and maybe a less anxious dog.
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
Ann Taylor Loft + Ebay/Goodwill + Target. Skinny jeans with flats or riding boots. Lots of scarves.
32. What kept you sane?
My hubby, gratitude journaling, wine, best friends, monthly wine nights with best friends, my mom, running.
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I fancy Oprah, with a side of Jamie Oliver.
34. What political issue stirred you the most?
I don’t really follow politics due to the teeth clenching it usually provokes, but I have to say I am still scratching my head that we’re debating gay marriage. I’m quite certain we’re going to look back at this issue in 20 years and think we were ridiculous for not making it legal sooner.
35. Who did you miss?
My parents, my sis, and far-flung friends.
36. Who was the best new person you met?
I can’t remember if it was the end of last year or early this year, but we met our friends Kate and Charlie through our friends Anne and Locke, and I’m thankful for our friendship with them and I’ll be doing my best to make sure they intend to be long-time Winston residents like us.
I also met a number of friends through Twitter first, and then in real life. I love when social media turns real life social.
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.
Happiness is an act of purpose, a result of intentional thinking. It doesn’t just happen and it’s not about luck or circumstance. And it’s not about stuff that happened in the past or is going to happen in the future, it’s about being grateful and present in the right this moment now. I hope I carry that lesson with me firmly into 2011.
January 1, 2011
5…4….3….2….1….
Should old acquaintance be forgot and ne’er brought to mind…?
(Um, no? I should hope not. I must say I never quite understood how such a sad song became the way we kick off each New Year.)
We rang in 2011 with good friends and a good meal. The Meyers hosted our little gang for a potluck dinner. As we ate, we all discussed how happy we were to be in a cozy home with good friends instead of corralled on a cold New York City street with strangers and porta-potties. At midnight, we gathered round to count down for the big drop. Happy 2011!
December 30, 2010
On Christmas Eve, we hosted Matt’s parents for dinner and a gift exchange. I had had a hard time deciding what to cook for dinner until I saw that prime rib was on sale at Harris Teeter, and knowing that was a favorite of Matt’s, decided to go with that. The day before, I emailed my Dad to ask for directions since it was my first time cooking prime rib.
Or so I thought, until a few days later when I looked back at a post from Christmas last year and saw that was my first time cooking prime rib.
Not only that, but the battery in my meat thermometer died again this year.
Or more likely, I haven’t used it since then.
I don’t know why but 2010 seems to have gone so fast. Maybe because there weren’t as many hugely significant events this year as last year (2009: buying a house, getting a dog, graduating from med school.) When I think back on 2010, things like California in March, or going to Utah in January, or running my half in September all seem to have transpired in just a few weeks time. In fact, it seems like Christmas 2009 was just here, and yet somehow the calendar tells me it was a full 365 days ago. When I was looking back on last year’s post (and discovering that my memory is not so sharp), I felt like I was reading something I had just written a few days ago.
Anyways, I’ll save those musings for my year end review post.
I didn’t attempt to make homemade yeast rolls again this year, but otherwise the menu seemed to be quite similar from last year’s: roasted asparagus, roasted sweet potatoes, salad and rolls. I guess I have a go-to Christmas menu now. (No one seems to be complaining…)
I also added a new dessert to my repertoire: jam cake. I had never heard of jam cake, but Matt’s Dad had asked me a few weeks before Christmas if I knew how to make it and said it was something his Mom always had at Christmas, so I set off on a mission to make it. Matt enlisted the help of his Dad’s former next door neighbor, and she sent us a recipe via Facebook. Using that recipe, and a few iterations from ones found online to make a brown sugar glaze (heaven), I made jam cake.
I was so excited for my big reveal…. until I learned that Matt’s Aunt Paige had also made jam cake the night before! She had come across a recipe in a cookbook, so we’ll have to compare notes later. Anyways, it wasn’t quite as exciting or nostalgic as I had hoped, but Matt’s Dad seemed pleased to have a second crack at it. After dinner, we did a gift exchange with Matt’s parents and sent them home with hugs for Nanta and Pa, and of course, the remainder of the jam cake.
Christmas Day turned out to be rather quiet and uneventful. Matt and Buddy snoozed for most of the morning, so I did laundry and cleaned the house, just like a regular Saturday!
After Matt went to work, I was feeling sort of low that it was Christmas and I wasn’t really doing anything Christmas-y so after far too long reading about other people’s Christmas on Facebook, I shut down the computer and picked up one of my favorite books, Two From Galilee.
Matt had been given this book from Nanta a few years ago, and I stumbled upon it when we were packing him up to move in together. It’s the story of Christmas, but it’s told from the perspective of Mary and Joseph. I remember picking it up to read one night when I was looking for something to read before bed, and becoming totally transfixed. I never had really given much consideration to what Mary and Joseph must have experienced. I think about the stigma that’s attached to unwed, teen mothers today and imagine that it must have been a thousand-fold worse for Mary. And for Joseph, to have believed that she hadn’t been unfaithful to him and to stand by her, was incredibly courageous, and then the way he falls in love with his infant son despite it not being “his” is so endearing. The story moved me the first time I read it, so I decided that it was the perfect way for me to remember that while there’s Christmas (celebrating with family, opening gifts, eating sticky buns), there is also December 25th: the birthday of Jesus. We celebrated Christmas with Matt’s family on the 24th, and were going to celebrate with mine on the 28th, so this ended up being a perfect reminder of what December 25th is really all about.
My parents and brother arrived Sunday evening, after a harrowing 12 hour drive through some major snowstorms. We had a nice dinner together, and sadly, an early evening as I had to go to work the next day. Katie and Dylan arrived on Tuesday, and when I got home from work, we kicked off our Claffey Christmas. It was an odd mash-up of traditions: Dad wearing the Santa hat handing out gifts one by one (although we always claim he does this to save all of his for the end), opening our stockings, getting a new pair of PJs, laughing and making fun of each other. But there was much that was untraditional: for starters, that we were celebrating at night time and took a break when dinner was ready. (Prime Rib, round 2.) Instead of our breakfast Bloody Mary’s, we had vino and beers that were kept cold in the snow drift on our back deck. And of course, that we were at our house instead of home in New York in our living room. But the most important pieces were there: we were all seven together, celebrating Christmas and Dad got a Dilbert calendar.
My favorite gift was to my parents from all us kids. At home, there’s a picture of the 3 of us – Michael, Katie and I – on the mantel that was taken in 2003. It’s a nice picture, although Katie doesn’t like it because it was during her Barbie-blonde hair and super thin eye brow stage. Guess I wouldn’t have wanted a picture from my senior year of high school captured forever on our parent’s wall either: my Fiona Apple middle part hair and penchant for tube tops were no better. Anyways, my mom has been saying for the last 2 years that she wanted an updated picture, now that Matt and Dylan were part of our family. (Well, to be honest, Dylan still has 6 more months to decide if this is in his best interest.) So I enlisted the help of Jamie over Thanksgiving, and us kids snuck off to do a little photo shoot. Jamie was a trooper, because it was dark outside and there were five of us to round up. But with a heavy dose of patience, a good use of flash and a little photoshop to lighten, we got a good shot and had it blown up on canvas and framed to give to my parents. Here’s the pictures we used. And my favorite, an outtake.
On Wednesday, Mom made her traditional sticky buns and we tried to create some order out of the wrapping paper chaos. Matt hit the slopes for some snowboarding on Wednesday, so the rest of the clan got ready to head down to Charlotte to spend the rest of the week since I was still working. We hit the road at the same time, and I waved good-bye to them as I took the exit for 40-East and they went 40-West. I got a little knot in my throat as I watched them drive away in the rearview mirror, because the holidays were officially over.
Fast as they got here, the holidays seemed to go by even faster. I’m thankful that both sets of parents, Matt and mine, were accommodating to our crazy work schedules (mine was the unforgiving one this year!) and were willing to make the trip to see us, or celebrate on non-traditional days. It was nice to extend our celebrations out over almost a week, and sure helped delay the onset of post holiday blues for a couple extra days. (Although it does make for one long blog post!)
Merry Christmas, ya’ll. Hope that no matter what day(s) you celebrated, you were with loved ones!
December 26, 2010
The next day after the snow fall…. beautiful, quiet hushed morning. And a very excited puppy dog.
The world is so magical after a snow fall. (Or at least it feels that way when you only get 2 or 3 a year!)
December 25, 2010
We actually had a White Christmas here in North Carolina! I couldn’t believe it when I looked out the window to see snow falling in the mid afternoon… and then it just kept snowing and snowing. Around dusk, I packed up my camera and Buddy and drove over to Old Salem to shoot some photos of the lovely snow with the Christmas decorations up. It was quiet and hushed outside, but through windows I could see families gathering, fireplaces light up and Christmas trees winking. A perfect Christmas evening.
December 19, 2010
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la…
(Yes I did sing that out loud to make sure I got the right amount of la’s.)
This was our 3rd year hosting our Tacky Christmas Sweater party and each year our friends keep upping the ante with more creative and tackier costumes. There’s something about celebrating with your closest friends all looking goofier than the next that brings out the merry, merry in everyone.
This year’s oh so stylish looks included: a fu man chu….
an Uncle Eddie get up complete with a homemade dickie and Jamie rocking a turtleneck that I think she went back to 1994 to borrow…
guys proudly sporting vests with festive Christmas kittens, homemade sweaters, and blinking bow ties and reindeer antlers…
a candy cane cane….
… homemade sweaters (Anne getting the award for most time invested in creating her outfit), and of course, our guest of honor, 3 week old Ethan sporting his adorable reindeer outfit.
My friend Jenny even made the trip all the way from Raleigh to rock out in her Christmas duds and be festive with us.
Matt and I had a great time hosting, and were so thankful that so many of our friends were able to coordinate their residency schedules to have the night off.
Here’s all the ladies sporting their fabulous apparel. Sometimes I worry that in another 20 years, we won’t be wearing this outfits ironically.
And huuuuuge special thanks to Jamie, who took all these pictures and allowed me to borrow them. Because here’s the only picture that was on my camera the day after the party:
In my defense, the Swedish Fish were pretty important to the success of the party.
Merry Christmas, friends! Hope your season is merry and bright, and hopefully just a tad silly too.
December 15, 2010
I just love walking through my house seeing little touches of Christmas. Whenever my house is decorated for the season, I wish it looked like this all year round…. but then it wouldn’t be as special, would it?
December 5, 2010
We had our first snow fall of the year! It started Saturday night, and the snow actually stuck around Sunday to make it really feel like a winter wonderland.
You’d think after 18 years of living in upstate New York, snow wouldn’t really phase me anymore but since we only get it a real snow fall maybe three times a year here, it’s always pretty exciting. When you don’t have snow all the time, the few times it shows up you still get that magical, hushed world feeling like a little kid as opposed to the grown up version of snow which is just being annoyed at how winter weather makes traffic bad, cars salty and hems of jeans permanently ruined. I drove around Sunday running some errands and felt a teensy bit homesick seeing the snow covered trees and thinking about not going up to Rochester this year or Utah for New Years and getting my real snow fix.
Saturday night we put a big dent in our Christmas decorating, which of course includes testing all of last year’s lights to see if they work. Buddy is good at that. I just love the way our house looks at Christmas time. There’s nothing like the glow of twinkly lights and the fireplace flickering. I remember sitting on the couch one night last year during our big snowfall and looking around at my glowing, warm home and having it really sink in that this is our home. When you’re in your 20s, it feels like you move every single year. I haven’t had the same address for more than 18 months since leaving Guilford Way on August 21st, 2000. It hit me last year, in my Christmasy home, that we bought this house and it’s ours. Provided the job hunting gods are good to Dr. C next year and no other unforeseen circumstances arise, I can go ahead and order the large roll of return address labels. That’s a good feeling. After all, there’s no place like home for the holidays and we’re fortunate enough to be about to spend our second Christmas in our home. With this little guy. Merry Christmas to us.
