The glass butter dish

 If you know me at all, you know that I love dishes.  I can't help it, I just do.  I give credit to Mom and Grandmother for that one.  Along with the love of antiques they instilled in me, a love of nice dishes goes along with that. And that goes hand in hand with entertaining.  I love to set the table, as you should have figured out by now LOL To me, that sets the mood for a meal.  The food just enhances that mood LOL

I have several sets of china.  I admit it.  I am addicted to it.  But I also really like to collect different serving pieces.  While it's fun to have the table laid out in one pattern, I like to add to that with different serving pieces.  This butter dish is one of them.  I found it at the Golden Antiques shop in Summerfield, NC.  It was one of those I just turned around and it was there experiences.  I have several different butter dishes, but I was drawn to this one for some reason.  I did not have a glass one yet. 

Glass butter dishes are not hard to find, and they range from reasonable to relatively expensive depending on the age, pattern and quality of the piece.  I love the fact that most antique glass butter dishes are round.  It's a reminder that people used to make their own butter and then mold it into shapes.  You don't often find round butter in the grocery store.  I don't think I've ever seen it actually.  Anyway, I was drawn to this particular one because of the simplicity of its design.  And most butter dishes are flat on the bottom, but this one has a small foot on the bottom. I love any dish that's footed, so that was a plus.  And it's versatile because it can go with all kinds of sets of china.  

While I haven't churned my own butter, I have made some herb butter which goes nicely in this dish.  Like most of what I buy, I love to use these kinds of things and look forward to having this on my table for years to come.

Recipe of the Week - Mazetti Casserole

 Apparently, this recipe (and its many versions) has been around for years. I have no idea how I missed it.  We didn't have it growing up and I don't recall anyone else serving it to me.  But when I saw this on an episode of Cooking with Meme on YouTube, I thought I would give it a try. I really did enjoy it.  It is not something I would want to make all the time, but every now and then it will be a good dish for Sunday Dinner!  If you have never tried it, let me know what you think.  If you have or have your own version, I would love to hear some of the different things you add to it.

Mazetti Casserole

12 oz package of egg noodles

2 lbs ground beef

1 lb ground pork or pork sausage

1 pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 Tbsp garlic powder

2 cups chopped celery

2 cans tomato soup

1 jar of sliced mushrooms

8 oz cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 325.  Cook noodles as directed.  Drain and set aside.  Brown meet.  Drain.  Sauté vegetables in butter.  Add garlic powder.  Toss meat and vegetables together.  Add noodles.  Add soup and mushrooms.  Pour into casserole.  Top with cheese.  Bake uncovered for 1 hour. 

Enjoy!

One Drawer at a Time - Back into the kitchen

 One of the downsides of this process is that when I am working on one room, another room starts to get out of control.  This is not something to feel badly about, it is simply the reality of the process.  And that is happening to me.  While I have been working in my den going through everything, my kitchen is getting somewhat crazy.  I realized this the other day when I went to get a pair of tongs out of the drawer and had a hard time getting the drawer opened because it was so full.

The kitchen is an easy place just to stuff something in a drawer or cabinet because it's convenient in the moment.  That's where my issue is, I believe.  That and the fact that plastic containers seem to be able to multiply when no one is watching.  It is just starting to get out of control and I don't like that.  Overall, I am probably using my kitchen more than any other room in the house, so I need to have it organized better.  That is why I am going to ditch my original plan and get back into the kitchen.  It's the heart of my house, so once it is in good working order I believe everything else will fall into place more gracefully.  That is the plan, anyway.  We shall see.

You're a nice guy but...changing how I deal with rejection

 

Taking rejection personally is a natural emotion.  I hate it when people say, "don't take it personally".  How else is one supposed to take rejection?  Of course it's personal.  But it does not have to control how you handle rejection unless you let it.  That has been one of my biggest problems in any kind of relationship, be it a partner or a friend.  I have spent years believing that I was not good enough for something or someone.  Years of rejection will do that to a person.  And in the past, I have always let those feelings dictate whatever followed in my life.  Eventually life would even out, but until then I was fueled by the feelings of not being good enough.

I have been working on that very hard over the past few years.  I have not always been successful, but it is getting better. One of the reasons that I am single now and will be for the foreseeable future is because I do not want to put myself in realm of rejection right now.  Yes, I know that if I don't get out there and take a chance, I could be missing something.  You have to risk being hurt to find happiness.  Blah, blah, blah.  I have told myself that over and over and yet here I sit alone in my house.  

I read this quote today online and it struck a chord in me.  I realized that I have been giving others control of my self-perception.  I believed that no one would want me because one person didn't want me.  I know in my heart that is not true but it's something that is going to take a while to process and work through.  There isn't an overnight solution to these feelings.  But I know now that the person I am working on becoming will eventually be able to get back out there and see what or who I find. It is just not time for that yet. 

I am enjoying getting to know myself again.  I am enjoying the growth that has occurred over the last few years.  Well, not the growth as far as my stomach goes, but oh well.  The relationship that I am building with myself is going to be the foundation of any relationship, partner or friendship, going forward.  It is exciting to want to improve my life for myself and not because I think someone else is going to like me more because of it.  Yes, rejection sucks but it is a part of life and the bottom line for me is that I am learning to cope with it in a healthier, more productive way.

Organizing sheet music

 I often like to repurpose pieces in my house so that they are used to their full potential.  Then something happens that makes me want to use the piece for its intended purpose.  That is what I am working on right now.  Well, not really working on it but it's in the back of my mind as another project so we shall see how that goes!

As I have been going through boxes in the garage, consolidating and getting rid of things, I came across several boxes of music.  My piano music.  Not just mine, but music that belonged to generations before me.  Thumbing through that music brought back so many good memories.  I really miss sitting at a piano and playing.  It's so therapeutic for me that I think it would do me good to get back into it.  Now, to find a piano.  Anyway, I have a lot more sheet music than I anticipated.  My personal sheet music spans from my beginnings in piano playing circa 1980 up through college.  I stopped buying music for the piano after that simply because I didn't have anything to play it on.

I didn't have to throw much of it out, which was nice.  But I would recycle things that were incomplete.  I used to make lots of copies of music that I borrowed from others and there really is not a point in holding onto it if I don't have the completed piece.  Luckily, that was at a minimum.  So, what I need to do next is organize my music and start to catalog it.  You know I love a good inventory LOL  But going back to my original thought is my music cabinet.  I want to store my music in the cabinet like it should be stored.  Right now, the cabinet is full of linens.  I can eventually find another place for them so that I can make room for the music.  Once I did store records in there because the shelves are the perfect size for it.  But now they have their own home which works.

It really has been fun looking through the music.  There are all types of genres there.  Multiple hymnals.  Classical music, new age piano, showtunes.  I have several books of early 19th century popular songs that Mom and I used to sit at the piano and play and sing.  Music I played in church with Suzanne Jewell back in the days at FBC Monroe.  So many good memories.  Even the recital pieces I played.  I was never a fan of recitals, but I can look back on them fondly now. 

So, I am adding that project to my ever-growing list.  I think that if I have everything organized and where it should be, I may just get motivated enough to find a piano to start playing again.  We shall see. 

Murder By Cheesecake and Maybe Happy Ending

 I finally finished a book LOL  It only took me about 2 months this time, so I'm getting faster.  Maybe.  Oh, well.  Still, I got it done.  That makes it sound more like a chore than something for fun but I did actually enjoy it.  It was a mystery called Murder By Cheesecake.  It's a novel by Rachel Ekstrom Courage and based on the characters from The Golden Girls.  It appears that this will be a series of mysteries involving the four ladies.  I enjoyed it but I didn't love it.  The author tries very hard to put in references from the show and those parts really fell flat.  Timing was a key element of the tv show and sometimes that does not translate to the written form.  The author did best when she took those basic characteristics that we already knew and built upon them.  There were times that I laughed out loud from something creative she added.  I will probably read more in the series to see how thing evolve.

Last night, Marcia and I went to see Maybe Happy Ending at the Tanger Center.  I got tickets through their lottery system.  We were literally in the last row of the theater.  I really didn't mind that but do wish we had been a little closer.  No big deal.  But the show was utterly charming.  I knew nothing about it, which is always fun for me going to see a show.  It is the story of 2 retired robots who journey together to an island. One to find his former owner and the other to fulfill a dream.  Along the way, their friendship grows and becomes something deeper. I was very entertained and I recommend anyone seeing it when it comes by your area.

That's been about it for my fun list lately.  I have cooked some new recipes that I have enjoyed and will share them on my blog later on. I am hoping to go hear a concert Monday evening and then spend next weekend with Dad for his birthday.  The weekend after that I have a few days off so I am figuring out something fun to do.  I'll keep you posted!

Recipe of the Week - Jalapeño Chicken

 Sometimes I will look for a recipe based on what I've got on hand so that I can use it up and not waste it.  This recipe was one of those.  I had an open jar of sliced jalapenos in my fridge and some chicken in the freezer I wanted to use.  The internet search resulted in this recipe from Allrecipes.com.  I really enjoyed it and it was not too spicy for me so it will go into my recipe canon.  

Jalapeno chicken with garlic lime cabbage

Jalapeno Chicken

6-8 boneless chicken thighs

1 cup chicken broth

2 Tbsp Honey

Juice from 1 lime

1/4 cup minced jalapenos*

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp salt

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp black pepper

Mix broth, honey, lime juice and jalapenos over medium heat.  Cook down until thickened and syrupy.

Mix spices together.  Coat chicken in rub and arrange on a baking sheet.  Cook 15 minutes at 400.  Baste with broth mixture.  Cook 15 more minutes.  Baste again.  Cook 10-15 more minutes. 

*the original recipe called for 1/2 jalapeno minced.  I just guessed the translation into pre sliced jalapenos and this seemed to work well.