Sadie

Sadie was ready for her walk around our beloved Lake Lynn this morning

I made biscuits

Years ago I made biscuits. I worked in a Texaco gas station that had a kitchen. I was originally hired to work weekends, fri, sat and sun nights. The station had a cook that made biscuits every morning but Sunday. Sausage patty, sausage link, steak, country ham, chicken and cheese biscuits. After I had been there for several months she quit, leaving an opening............I had been cooking on Saturday mornings and had a bit of a following..................I got a call, "Patti, if you want the position it's yours...." I was in Florida visiting my parents..had to cut the vacation short. But it was worth it...............I began a journey that ended too soon, a journey that has created great memories, and created the desire to go back to the basics of baking and cooking for people who lined up at 6am to grab a biscuit, a cup of coffee and a smile from the girl in the kitchen who was up to her elbows in flour.........


I loved the job. Loved getting to work at 5am, long before most people even thought about getting out of bed, especially on cold winter mornings But get up I did, at 4am. I loved being up and out and brewing coffee, mixing and patting each batch of dough as if it was a fragile newborn. I made an average of 120-140 biscuits every morning by 7am.......in addition to doughnuts....For a special treat every once in awhile I would whip up blueberry biscuits dipped in a sugar glaze........they flew out the doors.

Lunch would bring pork barbeque, either chicken, meatloaf, salisbury steak, fries, two vegetables and more biscuits.............I made ham sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, bologna sandwiches. And hotdogs, the good german kind. Up to 6 dozen every day
I loved getting up earlier than most people would be willing or able to, knowing that I would be the first person most of the people coming in would see. Coffee, a biscuit, a smile, a kind word, I loved it.. My daughter was young, 3,4,5 years old. She was our official little mascot for the station She would sit with the customers, I believe that her exceptional people skills were born in that little place.
Life went on, a single mom needed to make more money......but over the years, as I get older I realize that my heart belongs to that little kitchen that I called my own all those years ago. I am successful in my field, and I don't regret any path I've taken.
But I do know that if I ever get a chance to get back to the simple joy of baking for the masses, or maybe just for a small following, I would hang up my hat in a minute and move on.............
I made biscuits...........and I am proud of the biscuits I made.....................

Cool pic off my NASA app

Totally geeky and fun!!

Decisions, decisions.

So here I sit, trying to decide what to do for Thanksgiving....
It's not that I have too many invites and can't decide what to do
It's just that the options have presented themselves to me in a way
that I want to sit and do nothing.............
There's option A---Brunch with Jim (my sig other), daughter Emily
and her fiancee Steve. Steve works at noon, so if we choose option A
he could join us............
Option B----Make a small quiet dinner. In atttendance would be Jim
Emily, my Mom (she doesn't like brunch......) and the plethora of dogs
and cats that allow us to live with them. Come to think of it they would
attend the brunch as well. And let's not forget Wallace, the beta that sits
patiently on the kitchen counter watching me bake, cook, brew, chop and
grill my way into Jim's heart.
Option C---MARGARITAVILLE Myrtle Beach. Parrotheads would jump
in the Ram and chow down to the Island Tunes at Broadway at the Beach
A mere 3 hour drive, and we could undulge in some early shopping at the
gift shop as well as have a Buffett style Thanksgiving watching the big blender
blend the perfect Margarita...................
I am not good at decisions...........not that any of these are any more appealing
or torurous than the other, it's just that I am not good at making decisions that
involve the comfort and happiness of the people I love. They will all do any of
them (except mom and brunch, I got nothing on that)
So what to do???????
I am going to put this out in the great void of cyberspace and see what I get back.
Happy Thanksgiving........I am thankful that I have the opportunity to have these
choices............but damn, I still can't decide what to do......................

Sunday morning "office"

Sunday so far

I love weekend mornings. Our Sundays usually are low key, either getting up and out early, bagels, newspaper, coffee, people watching no matter where we decide to have breakfast. Seeing where the day takes us.

Today was a little different. Jim got an early (7:30) phone call from a friend who is sick with the flu. Can he cover a gig for him (they are photographers, more on that another day :) )

Out the door he went to shoot an 8:00 soccer game.

So now I find myself home on a Sunday morning, dogs running around in the yard. It is 36 degrees. BBrrrrr............

Made coffee, lit some candles, pulled up the blinds. Let the sunshine in!! Decided to listen to Holiday Tunes on Sirius.............getting into the holiday mood. Time to bake something. Pumpkin bread sounds good. I love to bake. Anything and everything. I jump on any excuse I can to bake something for someone, for an occasion, anything. I listened to two girls in the nail salon yesterday talking about last year, when the husband of one of the girls was deployed in Iraq. She made the statement that she sent him cookies. Homemade, from scratch. She had never done it before, probably wouldn't do it again. There are generations of people who don't have a clue how to sift flour, measure brown sugar, or fold eggwhites into batter. I am happy to say that my daugher, now 21, can tackle a recipe and produce a hell of a peanut butter cookie,........I wanted her to know and hopefully grow to love the art of baking. It saddens me to see commercials about home baking, when all that it really takes is tearing off the wrapping, transferring the premade dough to a cookie sheet and setting the timer. I know people are busy, lives are filled with too much to do, too little time to do it.... ............but still, it saddens me. I am guilty of falling for convenience myself. But the fact of the matter is, I know how to do it from scratch...........

Well, where did that tangient come from?? I guess it is just having a Sunday morning to reflect.

What do other people do on Sunday mornings? Do tell.......................

Magazines

I love magazines. I love all types of magazines. National Geographic, Real Simple, InStyle, Our State. I subscribe to some and buy the others. The thrill of opening the mailbox and seeing my new publication waiting for me to unwrap it from it's plastic cover never fails me. I love reading the last page first. Most magazines have a little something special saved for the very end. Kind of like a little sweet something right before you go to bed. I love to sit and read a magazine like a book. I don't like to browse through it haphazardly. I won't open it until I have the time to spend perusing through the pages. It is only after I go from cover to cover that I decide what to read first. Sometimes I wait, for days, until the time is right.
Holiday magazines are the best. I find inspiration galore, from shopping to cooking to just appreciating a simple story. It is a gift in itself.
That being said, I love books as well,
but we'll save that for another day

Something new

So I have a new toy, or I should say two new toys. I am the proud owner of a netbook, those cute little mini laptops ("I'll have a hard boiled egg and a cherry lime rickey....") that are so totally portable. I am a Mac user, but I broke down and got one anyway. If they come out with one, however, this baby will be on Craig's List in no time!
Anyway, I also just got an internet card so I am totally portable and ready to go....where? I could look cool sitting in Starbucks or Panera..........lol. Come to think of it, with my Iphone in hand I am hooked up to everything. Facebook, email, news, life is good.
Anyone else out there new to the netbook craze? I got a Toshiba and so far am loving it.