A Girl's Reflections

God looked around his garden
and found an empty space;
He then looked down upon this earth
and saw your tired face.
He put His arms around you
and lifted you to rest;
God’s garden must be beautiful,
He only takes the best.
It broke our hearts to lose you,
but you never went alone,
for part of us went with you
the day God called you home
–Author Unknown

Rest in perfect peace uncle Jimmy

A young lady sent to pickup mom’s hospital bag announced my little brother’s birth. It was five days to Christmas and J felt like an early present to our family.

He was a happy, healthy baby and mom raved about him being a great baby who never got sick. When J was about 22months old he got sick for the first time. Grandma seemed happy that he was sick and I was confused. I gathered courage one afternoon and asked grandma, why she was happy about J being sick, her response was…

“Now, we know he is a healthy boy, we know his immune system works.”

I remembered this moment yesterday while reading results from a career personality test I took. Which states –

Pearlsa sees a cloud in every silver lining”.

I thought the cliché is “Every cloud has a silver lining”

It left me wondering if I look for the cloud in every silver lining, just as grandma looked for illness in healthy baby J.

Recently, I overheard a lady recounting her story of her fist time in a kitchen, plus how she subsequently learned to cook. It had me thinking of my own childhood kitchen encounters.

At age seven I decided I was a “big girl”, I wanted to cook. I took a cassava (a root vegetable) and a knife. Just as I have seen done countless times, I hacked off one end of the cassava cutting the tip of my thumb off along. I was banished from the kitchen “forever”.

Two years later, I was allowed back into my grandmother’s kitchen. She would let me cook alongside her for my uncle who has food allergies. I would be given all of the ingredients needed, pre-chopped and pre-blended. Using separate pots, pans and utensils, I would watch and mimic my grandmother’s cooking. We would make the same meal, mine minus uncle Sammy’s allergens. My uncle would rave all day about how good his food was, something he did not normally do when I was not his cook. I was encouraged and became his official cook whenever I was around.

Making this pasta salad was the first time I had cooked with arugula. It is similar to a leafy green I have used before, cooking with grandma.

Ingredients –
• 1 ½ cups tri-color fusilli or rotini (or similar type pasta)
• 3 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon dried red pepper flakes (or to taste)
• ½ cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and finely chopped
• ½ cup sliced black olives
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 4 tablespoon capers, rinsed
• 2 111g oil-packed Italian tuna, drained
• Salt to taste (if needed)
• Handful of arugula leaves

Directions –
1. Cook pasta following pack instructions, drain and cool under cold running water and set aside
2. In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat until hot
3. Add chopped onions, pepper flakes and sun-dried tomatoes, stirring constantly for about two minutes.
4. Lower the heat; add the vinegar and capers stirring frequently for about a minute
5. Add tuna, stir and flake with spatula until it’s evenly distributed.
6. Turn off heat and add the cooked pasta, mix and add salt if needed.
7. Add arugula and serve warm.

Bon Appétit

Confession #11

He kept saying I tasted like Mountain Dew, a flavor he loved and could not get enough of.
He started calling me “Sweet”

Do you know you taste like Mountain Dew? Have you ever been told?

A few months later I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

November is Diabetes Awareness Month
November 14th is World Diabetes Day
November is also my diabetes diagnosis month

I have fun memories of smarties from my childhood. My uncle gave my first box of smarties to me.

I was fascinated by the colorful little candies. I separated them by color and eat them one color after another savoring every piece.

The summer child, recently made a batch of smarties cookies, they are delicious and pretty.

INGREDIENTS –

2 cups of flour
1 cup of turbinado sugar
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup smarties
2/3 cup grapeseed oil
¼ cup almond milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp dark molasses

DIRECTIONS

Combine all dry ingredients in mixing bawl.
In a second bowl combine all wet ingredients
Add the wet mixture to the dry – mix well
Then add the smarties
Roll dough into compact balls and place on a cookie sheet
Slightly flatten the compact balls
Bake in a 350 degrees preheated oven for 8-10mins