This post is inspired by the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge by Amy Johnson Crow. The week 10 challenge is “Strong Woman”. I grew up listening to my daddy tell stories about his French fur trapper ancestor – a great-great-grandfather named Joeseph Lemaitre. We went on wild adventures as he narrated the 19th-century fur-trade. I had images…
Every time I go somewhere and see a pressed penny souvenir machine, I dig for 2 quarters and a shiny penny. I’ve done this ever since I was a kid. It began as a child’s fascination … sometimes a challenge to crank the machine … and is now something I love adding to my collection….
This post is inspired by the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge by Amy Johnson Crow. The week 7 challenge is “Valentine”. When JD and I were married, my dad presented me with his grandmother’s wedding ring. It was my “something old” to wear on my wedding day but he meant for me to keep it thereafter….
This post is inspired by the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge by Amy Johnson Crow. The week 6 challenge is “favorite name”. One of my favorite things about genealogy is discovering names and naming patterns that have been used throughout my family’s history. The farther back I reach, the more unique and sometimes unusual the names…
This post is inspired by the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge by Amy Johnson Crow. The week 5 challenge is “In the Census”. When I was a kid, it was hard for me to think of my grandparents as anything other than grandparents. My grandpa was 55 years old when I was born, my grandma was…
This post is inspired by the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge by Amy Johnson Crow. The week 4 challenge is “Invite to Dinner”. Food has always been a central part of my life. From holidays to family celebrations to culinary travel adventures, food is part of my identity. When I was growing up, dinnertime was a…
This post is inspired by the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge by Amy Johnson Crow. The week 3 challenge is “Longevity”. As defined, longevity means long life or long existence. Today, looking for inspiration, I asked Noodle if she knew what longevity meant. She just turned 11 so I didn’t expect a “yes”. I didn’t get…
This post is inspired by the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge by Amy Johnson Crow. The week 2 challenge is “Favorite Photo”. My Time Machine The hallway in my house is like a time machine. One that takes you back 150 years through family photos, old cookbooks, and little trinkets that represent various lives well…
I’m at it again this year … 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, thanks to Amy Johnson Crow. The theme for week one is “Start”. Oh, so many ways to interpret that. But we all start somewhere … The Start of it All I was 11 years old when I fell in love with history –…
Egg salad is not fancy or aristocratic. It’s not sexy nor is it particularly attractive. Egg Salad is yellow and served on white bread. And it is my all-time favorite comfort food in sandwich form. It also has a few roots in working-class America. Egg salad sandwiches were a staple at my grandma’s house and…
My family loves breakfast! On the weekends, I tend to cook a big farm breakfast. In the summer, however, I don’t want to eat that much food, let alone stand in front of a hot stove cooking it. This breakfast frittata is a perfect compromise and uses up leftovers from the week. I make…
Every time I go to the bookstore, I pick up a cookbook or two from the bargain bin section. This is why I have more cookbooks than I need … and why Noodle tells me I don’t need anymore! I recently discovered Southern Living’s 5 Ingredient Weeknight Meals and grabbed it up! We’ve loved everything…
Salad dressing is one of the things I learned to make early in my life. This vinaigrette is what my grandma and mom would “whip up” for every type of salad known to womankind. It is great for potlucks and picnics because it is vinegar based, and it can be remixed with nearly any type…
I will only eat asparagus two ways … grilled and roasted. Asparagus was one of my least favorite vegetables when I was a kid. In fact, I wouldn’t touch it … and gave a couple cans of it away to the food pantry once, much to my mother’s dismay (apparently it wasn’t cheap!). Today, however,…
Oink, Oink! I get tired of the good ole fashioned hamburger … we eat a lot of them in the summer. No matter how much I love them, I like to experiment with what goes between the bun. While searching for some inspiration, I ran across these BBQ Pork Burgers from Leite’s Culinaria. They looked darn…
I recently discovered the 31 Days to Better Genealogy challenge from Amy Johnson Crow and decided I need some motivation to get moving with my research again. Over the next several weeks, I will be sharing my own progress with this challenge. It will take me longer than 31 days – but you will hear from me…
I recently discovered the 31 Days to Better Genealogy challenge from Amy Johnson Crow and decided I need some motivation to get moving with my research again. Over the next several weeks, I will be sharing my own progress with this challenge. It will take me longer than 31 days – but you will hear from me…
I recently discovered the 31 Days to Better Genealogy challenge from Amy Johnson Crow and decided I need some motivation to get moving with my research again. Over the next several weeks, I will be sharing my own progress with this challenge. It will take me longer than 31 days – but you will hear from me…
I’m very thankful that the RootsTech 2017 conference is live streaming – and over 100,000 people are watching! Also very thankful that I’ve had sometime this week to watch the great sessions that are being streamed. I’ve learned a lot and made some new friends along the way. During the general session on Wednesday morning, FamilySearch…
I have been off work for a couple weeks recovering from carpal tunnel surgery, and have had more time than usual to watch my favorite morning TV shows. This week in particular, I noticed more food TV personalities sharing memories of the food they ate during their childhood. The Chew aired an entire show about…
Slow cooker Italian beef is the perfect meal this time of year. It’s comfort food that feeds a family with plenty left over. Autumn in southern Illinois is when Mother Nature can’t decide if she’s going to be hot or cold. We go from 65 degrees to near 100 degrees over the course of just a…
I love pimento cheese. I love it on crackers as a snack. I love it between bread as a sandwich for lunch. It’s the quintessential “munchy” that combines the creamy, smooth texture of cheese with the pungent bite of roasted red pepper. It is also one of the foods I remember most fondly growing up. It…
Good Morning America is a morning ritual for me. Sometimes I watch 15 minutes, sometimes I watch all two hours (if I’m home for the day!) This morning, they aired a segment titled “Secrets to a Better Marriage: Splitting Chores Can Help” that described how changing the traditional roles of who does what in a…
I love this article and video about puffed eggs from Colonial Williamsburg’s historic food blog. I’ve eaten eggs many ways for many meals, but I haven’t seen eggs made this way before! Eggs weren’t just for breakfast in the 18th century. In fact, they were often a side dish to a meal, and not just…