A perfect way to close out the year: So many firsts!

I didn't intend to spend so much time away from my blog. The holidays are a time of confusion, worry and fear for newly diagnosed gluten intolerant folks, and so I had intended to share my favorite holiday recipes with you. And, then I had a family emergency.

My grandpa was not well, and we rushed to be at his bedside. Unfortunately, we got stuck in the first (and practically only) snow to track through the central United States. We did not make it in time to be with him, but we made it in time to support my family and to lean on them as we all grieved. After that, I've been in a funk. I haven't been able to get myself into the mood for much of anything. Christmas was something we tried to muddle through even though we never really felt like buying gifts or doing anything festive.

But we did it.

We got our annual Christmas letter out on-time, albeit very pared down from previous years. I think pretty much everyone got a gift from us. I'm behind on my thank-you notes, but I've done what I could to this point. The last item on my holiday checklist is my Three Kings Cake. I make one every January 6, hide a baby Jesus in it, and we make a game out of seeing who can find the hidden baby in a slice of cake. I have made a different style of King Cake every year, and I was searching through some of my favorite blogs to see what I could make this year.

One of my favorite bloggers is Gluten Free Girl, but she has started making all of her recipes by weight, which left me only able to enjoy her recipes visually. I felt unable to bake by weight, but her writing and culinary creations still inspired me.  As curious happenstance would have it, my dear best friend bought me a kitchen scale for Christmas. Only a week later I happened upon this gem of a recipe for Cardamom Fruit Bread on Gluten Free Girl's blog. I decided this bread would be a perfect challenge for me. My Grandpa had an uneaten fruitcake in his refrigerator before he went into the hospital. For whatever reason, I could not stop thinking about that fruitcake. I had never had fruitcake before, and had never really thought of trying it. I believed Johnny Carson that only one fruitcake was in existence and was re-gifted throughout history. But, there had been one in Grandpa's refrigerator, and this fruit bread on GFG's website looked like something I wanted to try. Besides, I had a kitchen scale now and had no excuse not to make it.

The only things I didn't have on hand were candied fruit and cardamom. Cardamom was easy to get, but I could not find any candied fruit without high fructose corn syrup. So, I bought golden raisins, dark raisins, chopped dates, green and red maraschino cherries (Yeah, I know, not healthy at all), and an orange. I chopped the cherries and the orange zest and then followed this recipe for candying fruits. Super simple! You should give it a try! I blanched the orange peel twice and then followed the syrup recipe. Once I made the simple syrup, I poured in some rum and then brought all of the dried fruit and orange peel to a simmer for 30 minutes.

I didn't have a bundt cake pan, but I did have an angel food cake pan. The end result was beautiful!

Lots of color throughout. My favorite part was the candied orange zest. Yum!

We worked on the bread for a couple of days, and then I decided to make french toast with the rest of it. I sliced up the leftover bread and used my recipe for Almond French Toast. I topped mine with a sprinkle of powdered sugar.

And so, my hope for you is that your new year will be filled with newness. Try a new recipe. Bake by weight, if the fancy strikes you. Go out and accomplish that goal you've always dreamed of but were too afraid to try. Candy some fruit. It really isn't that hard. Whatever it is that you do, do it to the best of your ability. But, above all else - love. Have a very happy, love-filled (and fruit-bread-filled) new year!





September Writers Group Topic - "Dirty Work"

Time for a little writing. :)

For this month's writers group, we were challenged to write something to go along with the theme "dirty work." We didn't have much direction, and I didn't think I would have much to write about. When I sat down to write, something welled up within me, and it just poured out. It brought back memories I had totally forgotten about!

--------------------------------
Dirty Work - A short-lived summer job when I was 19 years old

I always try to clean up after myself when I stay overnight in a hotel room. I try not to leave the garbage can overflowing or the linens in piles across the floor. I have had people tell me, "Leave the clean up for housekeeping; that's what they get paid for." But I can't do it. So, if my kids make a mess of animal crackers, we clean it up.

You see, I spent two weeks cleaning hotel rooms one summer and it was the worst job I've ever had. My bosses demanded that I come to work 15 minutes earlier than I was scheduled, but I was never allowed to clock in for myself. I was paid minimum wage, which at that time was $5.25 an hour. At 8 AM sharp, we (all of us in housekeeping) were sent out to begin cleaning. We were told we would all be clocked in at 8, but no one ever saw it happen. Our mission was not cleaning, but to make things appear clean, and we were instructed to use as little cleaning fluid as possible. Water would have to suffice.

I will never forget the first hotel room I cleaned. I walked through the door and was horrified. Kentucky Fried Chicken buckets were strewn around the room, and mashed potatoes were ground into the carpet. I tried to make the bed, but instead saw images in magazines I wish I could forget. On the nightstand there was a picture of a woman and two children, and I assumed they were the guest's family. I had barely begun cleaning when I was whisked to the next room and told I would have to pick up the pace if I was going to keep my job. I spent hours trying to clean the filthiest rooms I had ever seen and only to be pushed along with with hardly scratching the surface.

Clocking out was the same as clocking in. We worked longer than scheduled without compensation. After two weeks, I quit. I gave no notice and went home. They altered my pay rate and found a loophole that allowed them to give me less than minimum wage.

And so, I go out of my way to help out housekeeping when I stay in hotels. The people holding down these jobs work hard at dirty and thankless jobs. I hope I make their days even just a little easier.

Who Am I?

I am feeling self-reflective this evening, and I hope you will stick with me even if I take a break from posting about food. Today has been one of those "up and down days." You know, the days that start out really great, only for something to bring it down right away. But it doesn't stay down,  something wonderful happens followed by something lousy. I feel a bit like I hitched a ride on a yo-yo. I'll be honest, I'd really like to get off this ride. I was pitting some cherries this evening in preparation for tomorrow's lunch, when I blurted something out to my husband before I had really thought it through.

I said, "With everything that has happened today, is it a good day or a bad day? Should I feel good about it, bad about it, or just go to sleep and start over tomorrow?"

He said, "I vote for go to sleep and have a new day tomorrow."

I said, "I kinda knew you would say that."

But he's right. Any of you who know my husband are free to let him know that at this moment, here in cyberspace, I'm admitting that he was right and I, well, wasn't. What I was looking for was whether or not I should consider today a failure. Maybe I even thought I was a failure because of a few of the things that happened. But, none of today's events define me. I am not the sum total of all  the good and bad things that have happened around me since that day thirty years ago when I took my first breath of real, honest-to-goodness air. It isn't about how successful I am at my job, or about how many people like me, or about how many wonderful things I create (food or otherwise). My self-worth is not defined by whether I move up in this world or whether I am stuck in the doldrums. There is something deeper - something intangible - something that is there when you strip everything else away. That something is me. The real me.

Who are you? What are you allowing yourself to be defined by, trapped in, or stuck under? What things are preventing you from being who you really are?

As you end this day (no matter when you read this), I hope that you are able to close your eyes, breathe deeply, and smile. Tomorrow is a new day to be you.

***Coming Soon: Recipes for wheat-less wheat thins and gluten-free brownies, and a look at what you can do with a large, crochet hexagon...