That's my brother Dave, he gladly gave his permission to be included in this Peace Garden episode. He's the sibling of whom I had shared a very heartfelt poem, reguarding a plight which I'm sure is not totaly unique, regarding families growing up, & sometimes apart not only due to miles, but also due to the childhood histories & personal narratives.
My brother David came by for desert last night, which was a sweet delight, as he arrived at the precise moment when I was on the phone with our youngest sibling. It was truly the first time ever that all three of us had the opportunity to discuss an ongoing situation concerning our elderly mother.
Above we have my first every Smoky Pumpkin Pie, the little coal-like face in the left hand corner below the pies, are the charred remains of whatever it was that went up in voracious flames in the oven when it was in it's preheating phase of 425 degrees, making it necessary to use up what ever salt I had left in it's cardboard cylinder in order to put out the, yes fire, as it just kept burning, & burning,.. & burning,... smoking up the kitchen, & then the whole house.
Oye, I thought, & then of course yelled, I need some help here, there's a fire in the oven, & I can't get it to go out, but I did get it to go out, eventually, & afterward getting the fan going, & a window or two open, my husband cleaning up the oven, & the sweeping, & dust busting, to get all the salt off the floor, then only then, we were finally, back in business!
This recent episode sort of reminded me of when a dear friend of mine was preparing to enter a local baking contest. She had gotten all of her ingredients together to make her outstanding Blueberry Cake, which is of course a true favorite of all her fam, & friends alike. So there she was, in the midst of gathering everything so her ingredients would be of the finest quality~
"I always use fresh ingredients whenever possible, that gives you the best flavor.", she would often say, & then
a major aspect of her water system failed. Water, most essential, to run not only a kitchen, but an entire household right in the midst of entering her first ever, cooking contest, & she is an exacting gourmet cook, I must add, of cooking, baking, all sorts of food prep. It is her passion, & now right in the middle of all this she had to bring in bottled water to wash everything.
She's right of course, in her pursuit of the finest & freshest ingredients, & sticking to her standards, & would you believe, she was one of the winners in this, her first contest ever!
On the way home from our drive back from Philly to attend the beautiful Memorial Concert in our friend Glen Douglas' memory last weekend, we stoped for a light lunch in the town of Old Greenwich, Ct.
We've lived in Connecticut a good part of our lives, but my husband & I have never been to Greenwich, never, ever, until...
we finally did make the stop, which really was quite nice, just outside of NYC. I can see why Meryl, Letterman, & does Martha live there too...?
For us it was just right, we stopped at a well established deli right on Sound Beach Ave., walked arround just a little before heading back to the highway, for the last leg of our trek, but not without giving into a very prominent crave for the very best chocolate chip icecream I ever had in my entire life, at~
Darlene's Heavenly Desires
185 Sound Beach Ave., Old Greenwhich, Ct. 06870
203-698-9441 & also on facebook
It was at Darlene's, in the photo above, where I got the two foil colored chocolate turkeys for our grand kids, as this Nana was now living in the sugared moment!
A new tradition, our Apple Crisp Pies..
and of course the main dish, which really did come out of our cleaned up oven perfect, a few minutes after my husband had set our table, awaiting the last of our traveling family members to arrive.
Beyond the 18 hours compilation of food gathering, & prep, & the much lesser amount of time spent in the actual consumption mode, it truly was priceless...
Our extended family traveled in from the various directional points of~ north, south & east, we're the west. Not being a foodie the menu this year was pretty much traditional, yet quite good; and this time making a true effort to not go overboard with the extended baking projects I usually set my mind on doing. I made a couple of traditional pumpkins, but tweaked the apple, & on my husbands request, I gave the apple a crumb topping instead of my traditional top crust, but this time I elevated the crumb topping to the best part of an apple crisp & voila my apple crisp pie, which I was told by far, is the best I ever made! Who ever would have figured, the simplest of all, turned out to be the best of the best. I never would have guessed.
We're still in the cleaning up mode, as we speak, we're running the second batch of dishes through the dishwasher, & the family china & crystal are still sitting patiently on the counter, awaiting a one on one hand washing, which has kept everything pristine over these numerous decades.
As far back as my teenage years I've had conflicting thoughts, & feelings regarding Thanksgiving; but have worked most of the issues through, as for several decades now our feast has become a compilation of everyone pitching in, preparing, & contributing helping hands, in a much more helpful & enduring way, then it had been in the first few decades of my life from the embedded role of childhood. Voila~ again as time does heal, & can be it's own reward, practice does make better, in our attempts to be real with ourselves, & therefor enabling us to be so with one another,~ moment by moment, one day at a time.
Enjoy the left overs, for it's true that this part is, the best of the best, & a continuation of a wonderful season, even though at times, it is a lot of work; speak up communicate, for in the long run, by helping one another we ultimately help ourselves, as this too helps to create a more peaceful world, one realization, & one encounter at a time. So with that said, I'll be sure to navigate myself most judicially around the deserts that continue to present the greatest of temptations for me, a realization of knowing will power is often my only way, away from the various sweet treats that still lurk in the fridge.
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© Mother Lightning of Mother Lightning's Peace Garden
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