Émilie

The bridal party will dress in the adorable Reynold’s Room at the historic Manor House only a few yards away from the arboretum where the ceremony will be held.  No boys allowed!  (They can dress at the historic Mammaw’s house down the road.)  Now if only I could figure out what we’re going to be dressing into!

I’m delighted to inform you that I am going to marry Michael Stewart on July 9, 2011!!!!!!!! Whoopie!

We finally found a venue that was cheap enough and big enough to host our giant framily. We will have the ceremony in the arboretum at Tanglewood Park where my Mammaw and Pappaw celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, so that certainly gives us something to work towards. The reception (yes, I know it’s July) will be indoors and air conditioned in the ballroom at the clubhouse there.

So far it looks like we’ll be able to have my aunt and uncle cater, and one of our dear friends do the deejaying. Robin has, of course, already picked out several boutiques to take me to look at dresses because she’s almost as excited as I am!

Thank you to all of you for your tremendous support as Michael and I have spent the last 3 (almost!) years growing together and discovering how happy we’ll be together for the rest of our lives. We look forward to celebrating with you at the wedding and sharing our lives with you as we get old and wrinkly.

As always when I travel, I seek to experience a new place through its best culinary offerings.  I had superb curry in Chinatown; delectable spinach ricotta brioche; homemade ice cream; homemade frozen yogurt; stupendous Italian food enjoyed by the window overlooking the North End (wish I hadn’t eaten so much so that I’d have had room for Mike’s!); long, delicious Easter brunch of apple brie omelette and sweet potato fries (I have to admit here that the service was TERRIBLE, but the food was outrageously good); savory pub food; and scrumptious chocolate treats towards the end of my journey.  YUM!!!  Thanks, Boston!  And thanks, of course, to my fabulous tour guide!

After Monica has been in grad school at BU for almost two years, I finally booked a flight to go see her during my first day of spring break.  The snow didn’t know this.  My first day of break (Good Friday) turned out to be a regular teaching day…  So after some groveling, my principal allowed me to sneak out a bit early and get on the road to Charlotte to catch a direct flight.  I allowed myself a few extra hours ’cause traffic would be horrid on the Friday afternoon before Easter, right?  Nope.  Happily, no delays.  I arrived early at Nancy and Randy’s house to–much to my surprise–sit and relax for a minute!  The pressure of the journey started to mount in my imagination, however, so I asked if we could go ahead and head out early since the airline had advised that Easter traffic would be heavy.  6.2 minutes to check in, check a bag, get through security, and arrive at the gate is not my definition of heavy, but I’m no transit  expert.  Hmm… What to do with oneself in an airport for two unforeseen hours.  This is not the funny bit, so let’s skip to Boston arrival after an uneventful (yes, army dude trying to hit on me, you were a nonevent) flight.  I arrive at the baggage claim and call Mosie.  She’s a prompt little lady and declared that she was also at the baggage claim.  Haha, funny story:  I bought the flight and received confirmation from United, but the whole sha-bang was actually US Airways, so my baggage claim was not where Mo expected…  Whoops.  No worries, she can easily walk the “0.4 miles” to Terminal B.  If it was 0.4, that must have been according to our old friend Mr. Flying Crow, because it took her twenty minutes at a good pace.  Finally, she arrives at Terminal B.  Supposedly.  I tell her, “Listen, Bub.  I’m here.  I don’t see you.  You are mistaken.  I am at door ‘B103,’ so I am clearly in Terminal B.”  P.S., thanks, Boston, for labeling the doors.  “Oh, no problem,” she says, “I’m at 113, so I can walk towards you and you walk towards me.”  Sounded logical at the time…  I made it to door B106–a dead end.  Monica made it to door B107–a dead end.  We peek outside.  I have a dumpster area and a giant parking lot where Mo claims to be.  Mo has a bank–again, a dead end.  Through some dark magic, wishful thinking, and a Hogwarts Express train later, Mo appeared out of thin air, and my transit karma really kicked in.  We waited less than 60 seconds for each leg of our public transport journey to the Theology Fun House.  Success!

Aren’t they just?  I spent the past five days with my best friend, Monica, up in Boston where she is finishing her second year of seminary.  The post title above was shouted at us by a creepy Boston Red Sox fan as we tenaciously shoved our way through the crowd at Fenway for some delicious local frozen yogurt down the block.  Monica swears she heard a less polite word that also rhymes with “glasses,” but then the quote would not accurately sum up my trip.

I stayed with Mo in her delightful unair-conditioned room at the Boston University Theology House, and remembered all of the reasons that I loved living with her.  Her room overlooks the Charles River and is situated on the 3rd floor of a strikingly charming (read “old”) mansion with enough crown molding and architectural features to make any HGTV host wet themselves.  Unfortunately, I always failed to remember to take pictures seeing as how I always wound up light-headed after climbing the 7 flights of stairs to reach Monica’s room.

I’m very proud of these. Check it out!
http://picasaweb.google.com/ejmays

It’s not as difficult as you might guess!

Ingredients:

Chicken (2 thighs, 2 breast for optimal meat output and flavor)

Salt and Pepper to taste, 2 tsp Rosemary (optional)

1/4 vegetable shortening

3/4 cup boiling water

1.  Cook the chicken.  If you have a pressure cooker, this is a great way to make it happen quickly; otherwise, cover chicken with water (1.5-2 qts), add salt, pepper, and I like to add 2 tsp rosemary.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer, cook covered for one hour or until thigh juices run clear and breasts have no pink.  (Tip: Since thighs take longer to cook, frozen breasts and fresh thighs can cook together beautifully.)

2. Cool chicken.  Cut meat from bone.  Set aside.

3.  Strain the now delicious chicken broth you’ve created and measure 1 qt + 1 cup broth (this amount matters) back into large saucepan.  Bring to a boil and add the chicken.

4. Pour self-rising flour in large bowl.  Cut in shortening.  Add boiling water, a small amount at a time.  Shape mixture into a ball.  Roll out.  (THIN is very important or you will have tough dumplings…definitely no more than 1/4 inch, maybe thinner.  Remember since they have self-rising flour, they will puff up plenty.)  Cut out dumplings (1.5 inch squares work well).

5. Drop dumplings into broth/chicken mix.  (Tip:  drop only 2-4 at a time or they will stick and become chicken and one dumpling.  Also, it helps tremendously to have a buddy, or your left hand, to use a spatula to push down existing dumplings in the pot to expose plenty of fabulous boiling broth for the incoming dumplings.  As soon as the new ones hit the broth for 2-3 seconds, they are far less likely to stick to each other.)

6.  Cook until mixture thickens as desired and dumplings are tasty.  (Tip:  Stir occasionally because dumplings love to burn and become permanent additions to the bottom of your favorite pot.  Trust me.)

Enjoy!

Strawberry Shortcake Recipe

1/4 c. sugar

2 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

1/4 t. soda

6 T. shortening

3/4 c. buttermilk

Sift dry ingredients.  Cut in shortening.  Add milk and stir with fork.  Put dough in two round, glass pie pans.  Bake in 450 degree oven for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Strawberry Topping:

Crush about 1/2 lb of strawberries (I use a potato masher).  Add half-and-half (don’t ask me how much… I really don’t know…about 1 cup?) and sugar to taste.

To Thoroughly Enjoy:

Cut yourself a wedge of shortcake and slice it through the middle as if to make two pieces of “bread” for a strawberry sandwich.  Layer some delicious strawberry slurry/topping stuff on the bottom layer of shortcake.  Put the top back on.  Add more strawberry goodness.  Add dollop of whipped cream.  Taste heaven in strawberry form!

Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe

1 lb (apprx 1 qt.) frozen strawberries, finely chopped

1 cup brown sugar

7/8 cup plain sugar

1 qt half-and-half

6 cups of 2% milk

Mix, Freeze, Enjoy!

Recipe for Strawberry Pie

1 pie crust, baked and cooled

Cook until thick:  1 cup sugar, 2 Tbsp cornstarch, 1 cup water

Remove from heat.  Add 4 Tbsp strawberry jello.  Stir well until completely dissolved.  Let mixture cool completely, stirring occasionally.

Lay sliced, drained strawberries in pie shell. (Approx. 1/2 qt, leaving some space for liquid mixture.)

Pour mixture over strawberries.

Chill at least 3 hours.

Enjoy with whipped cream on top!  Yum!