Thankful for The Dearest of Friends

Our best friends spent last week in Florida for a much needed and deserved vacation.  While they were there, Tonya celebrated a monumental birthday.  You know, one of those we don't want to acknowledge.  I phoned her to wish her the happiest of natal days.  We talked for a while, caught up on the latest, and then she asked if we would be okay with them stopping by and staying with us Saturday night on their way back to our old home town in southern Indiana.  Would we mind?  Oh no, we would be delirious if they would come and visit!  We moved here to middle Tennessee five months ago and we have only seen them one time when I had to return to decorate a wedding reception for the daughter of a long time friend.  I was so excited I almost cried.  We talked some more, I wished her happy birthday again and we hung up.  Time to start planning.

We met Tonya and Jeff when our sons were in sixth grade... middle school, you know that dreaded time in every child's life?  They chummed up and spent a lot of time together.  Craig became another son.  We met Craig's mom and dad, because I liked to know our children's friends and family.  It was instant rapport.  Not often in your life do you meet a couple and everyone seems to like each other.  It was karma as far as I am concerned.  For 10 years we spent a LOT of time together.  After the boys graduated high school and went off to see the world, we both became "empty nesters" because  they were our youngest.   We would meet for dinner several nights a week, or they came to our house when I cooked because I always made enough for an army and somebody had to eat it.  We didn't have to do much.  We would play games, watch a movie, talk, drink coffee, eat something sweet I had baked, talk, drink more coffee.  So many great times.  When they purchased a new house two years ago, we worked side by side with them getting the painting and flooring done so they could move in.  We had a great time.  Their house looked wonderful by move in day.  We are those kinds of friends.   Always there for each other.

We have four children, two of whom live here in middle Tennessee.  One daughter lives in Dallas and our other son lives in Chicago.  Their daughter finished her doctorate in physical therapy and moved to Little Rock, Arkansas.  Our sons who had been friends for so many years, moved to middle Tennessee.  I had owned my costume business for ten years and my husband was a middle school history teacher, retiring after 38 years.  We had planned to move to Nashville, but we all know what happened to the economy.  We stayed where we were for two more years.  Then, our daughter in Nashville had a baby boy in February a year ago.  Nashville was calling.  We would be closer to our daughter and her family in Dallas and our two children here in Nashville.  Our older son who had been living here got a role in a show in Chicago and his family moved there.  (It's like musical chairs when you have this many kids.)  We moved the last weekend in January and Tonya and Jeff were there from early morning, helping load the truck.  They came to Nashville with us and helped unload the truck.  What would we have done without them?  I really don't know.  They spent the night, helped again the next day until afternoon when it was time for them to head back home.  But, it was no longer our home.  One of the saddest days in my memory.  We said our goodbye's and knew we would keep in touch with promises to visit. Finally, it was here.  Their first visit.  We were so excited.  Now, what will I serve?

We had been to the farmer's market and I had a lot of fresh produce and fruit that I had purchased.  I had boneless, skinless chicken breasts also.  I will make chicken salad and serve it on a bed of romaine lettuce surrounded by fruit.   Oh, and some yummy sour cream corn bread muffins.  That recipe was given to me by our daughter in love now living in Chicago.  Time to get to work.  Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3 ribs celery

two cups grapes

1/2 small onion, chopped

1/4 - 1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 heaping TBSP sour cream

1/2 cup toasted pecans

a few sprigs fresh thyme

salt and pepper to taste

1 head romaine lettuce

assorted fresh fruits  (I used pineapple, strawberries, blueberries and bing cherries)  

Place chicken breasts in a pan and cover with water.  Cover pan, cook until done.  Dice celery and onions.  Place in large bowl.  Add grapes.  When chicken is done, drain and chop into bite sized pieces.  Add to bowl with celery, onions and grapes.   Start with 1/4 cup mayo and the sour cream.  If you like your chicken salad creamer, add another 1/4 cups mayo.  (I use 1/2 cup mayo)  Salt and pepper to taste.  Remove leaves from fresh thyme and add to bowl.  

Toast pecans in the oven at 350.  Place on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.  Watch very closely as they burn easily.  As soon as you smell the pecans, remove from oven.  Remove from the pan as they will keep cooking.  You don't want them to burn.  Add to chicken salad.

I used shallow soup bowls to serve the salad in.  Chop the romaine into thin slices and place equal amounts in the bottom of each bowl.  Place about 1 cup of chicken salad in the middle of the bowl.   Surround the mound of chicken salad with fruits of your choice.  Serve.  Very easy, delicious and ideal for hot summer weather.

I will post the recipe for the corn muffins at a later date.  They are heavenly and a great complement to the chicken salad.  You could also use banana nut bread or strawberry bread.  

We ate, we talked, we talked and we ate.  After the dishes were removed and put in the dishwasher, we all came out on the deck.  It was a beautiful evening.  Dan made coffee and we enjoyed fresh peach cobbler with ice cream and talked late into the night just like old times.  

We went to our favorite coffee shop for breakfast and spent another few hours enjoying each other's company until it was time for them to head home to prepare for a busy work week.  Were we sorry to see them leave?  You bet!  Will they come back soon?  Yes.  When they do, we will take up right where we left off,  enjoying each other's company, talking, eating, and drinking coffee.  It's all about the special bond.  Here's to dear friends! 

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

‎"Each of us has an inner dream that we can unfold if we will just have the courage to admit what it is. And the faith to trust our own admission. The admitting is often very difficult."

"What we really want to do is what we are really meant to do. When we do what we are meant to do, money comes to us, doors open for us, we feel useful, and the work we do feels like play to us."

- Julia Cameron

Soaking Up Some Vitamin D

Thankfully, the sun finally decided to show it's face in mid-Tennessee today and it was certainly appreciated.  It heated up to a balmy 72 degrees, so that meant it was time for some yard maintenance.  The vegetable garden needed weeding, there were recently purchased blooming plants to repot, deck furniture to clean and trees and shrubs to trim.


Dan weeded the garden while I repotted plants.  I had bought lovely red geraniums, electric red-orange and yellow gerbera daisies, and red and purple petunias.   After transferring to decorative pots, I put some of the plants around my grecian urn fountain, added a boston fern and a red mandevilla.  Other pots were placed around the deck and on the steps.  Colorful patio lights are hung from the deck rail (purple, blue, emerald green and fuchsia) ready for all the summer nights ahead. The birdbath was cleaned and set up awaiting all it's winged summer visitors.  Dan trimmed low hanging tree branches while I gave all the holly bushes their summer haircut.  Things are starting to shape up.  Dan turned over ground for the herb garden.  We planted a few more heirloom tomatoes, basil, rosemary, dill, oregano, cilantro and thyme.  Nice.  Now it's time to move to the front porch.  


We have a bench our daughter Annie made when she was in middle school. That was some time ago.  It has always had a place of honor on our front porch, so it was cleaned and given it's rightful place.  Red and purple petunias were planted in the big planter on the porch, and a boston fern was hung from the porch eaves.  The white vintage ice cream table sits waiting for us anytime we want to drink our morning coffee on the porch.  Hot and tired, we were done for the day.


We went around back to sit on the deck and cool down.  I listened to the fountain joyously bubbling as I at in the sun, soaking up some vitamin D.  A delicate butterfly landed on my arm.  I sat ever so still until it decided to depart.  Dan named it Bob.  Nature showed all it's glory today, the magnificent magnolia tree in bloom, the scent of honeysuckle in the air, gentle breezes beginning to blow.  The Clarke Oil tug chugged down the Cumberland as it does every day.  Time for the General Jackson to turn around and head down river.   There is comfort in predictability sometimes.  


As I sat in my chair cooling down, I thought of all the wonderful drinks I can make this summer to enjoy  outdoors.  Easy, natural ingredients, cool and refreshing.  I thought I would share some of these recipes with you since Memorial Day is rapidly approaching and the official summer season begins.  My thoughts turned to sweet tea and fresh squeezed lemonade.  Ever try cucumber water or fruit flavored water?  How about celery soda?  So delicious.  Here are the recipes.  I use a 3 quart pitcher so you may have to adjust the recipes slightly if you use a different size.


SWEET TEA


4 small tea bags, or 2 large family sized tea bags.  I prefer Luzianne Tea
simple syrup
cold water


Place 4 tea bags or 2 large family sized tea bags in about 2 cups of water in a pan on the stove.  Heat water and tea just until it boils.  Remove from heat and let tea steep for at least 5 minutes.  Make the simple syrup by adding 1 cup of sugar to 1 cup of water.  Heat while stirring just until the sugar melts.  Remove the tea bags from pan and pour tea into pitcher.  Add simple syrup.  Add about 10 cups of cold water.  Put tea bags back in pan and run cold water over them, squeezing any excess tea from bags.  Add to pitcher. Pour over ice in glasses and enjoy.  You can add lemon slices or mint if you prefer.


FRESH SQUEEZED LEMONADE


6 whole lemons
simple syrup
cold water


Heat lemons in microwave for 30 seconds.  This helps extract more juice from lemons.  When lemons cool, roll on counter top with your hand until lemons feel softer.  Cut lemons in half and juice.  I use an old fashioned juicer, but you can use a reamer or one of those newfangled juice extractors that are yellow and you put 1/2 a lemon in and bring the handles together extracting juice.  One of these days I will get one of those.  After juicing all 12 lemon halves, I pour the juice into the pitcher through a strainer to remove pulp and seeds.   Add the simple syrup and about 10 cups of cold water.  Slice 1/2 a lemon into rings and place in lemonade.  Place ice cubes in glasses and pour lemonade.  There is nothing powdered that tastes like fresh squeezed lemonade.  Nothing!   If you want to fancy it up a bit, add some sliced strawberries or a handfull of raspberries.  So good on a hot day!  It lemonade tastes too watery, add more lemon juice as needed,




CUCUMBER WATER


1 small cucumber or 1/2 large cucumber, thinly sliced


Place cucumbers in the bottom of pitcher, add about 12 cups water.  Place in refrigerator overnight.  You can addd the juice of one lime if you want, or some sliced honeydew melon.  So delicious and refreshing on hots days.  They drink a lot of this in the southwest.  Unbelievably good.




FRUIT FLAVORED WATER


6 strawberries, sliced in half
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
2 slices orange
6 slices cucumber
1/4 cup cilantro or mint, whichever you prefer (I like Cilantro)


Place in pitcher, add about 12 cups cold water.  Place in refrigerator overnight.  So, so good and no sugar added.  Don't toss fruit out, can be used for several days until strawberries get squishy, just keep filling pitcher with water




CELERY SODA

2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup water

2 TBSP freshly ground celery seed

soda water

Place the sugar and water in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  Stir to combine.  Continue to stir frequently until all sugar dissolves.  Remove from heat and add celery seed.  Cover and allow to steep for 1 hour.  Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a heat proof container and place in refrigerator uncovered until completely cool.  Place in an airtight container and store up to 6 months.

TO USE:  add 2 TBSP celery syrup to 1 cup soda water and stir to combine

This is Alton Brown's recipe from the Food Network.  I made this for our daughter in Dallas when we were there in the heat of summer.  She also used it with Prosecco to make a refreshing cocktail.  Sweet and delicious!

These are just a few of the possibilities for refreshing summer drinks.  I hope you try these recipes and enjoy them throughout the summer.   Let the fun begin!

Things to remember:

Gratitude is an attitude!