Family and Food; How We Mix - Rough Draft

Every family gathering for as long as I can remember has revolved around food. From the time I was very young maybe five or six, my father would take us down to his hometown of Lamar, Co. for a family visit. Lamar is a very small college town located in southern Colorado. When we would visit, I was always aware that I was referred to as Tim's daughter, it was if I had no identity of my own. My father would take us from house to house and at every location there was always a large array of food, along with any one of my aunt's saying " eat, eat". Everything was strange to me, mostly because my mother didn't cook the traditional Mexican food that my fathers family grew up on. The homemade pinto beans and tortilla's are some of the foods I remember being present at every household. I can almost remember the hushed conversations about how skinny and tiny I was. I was also one of the few children who not only couldn't speak Spanish, I was also the kid who couldn't eat the spicy traditional foods being served at meal time. As I have gotten older I have gained weight, this stems I know from my love of food. I know all my bad eating habits, trying to change my habits has proven to be some what of an obstacle for me. I cannot seem to stay away from the carbohydrates and refined sugars that are in all my favorite foods. I am also not afraid to try new foods as long as their not too spicy. Don't get me wrong, I simply love driving by those chili street vendors with their signs boasting of the best roasted chili's in town, the smell is intoxicating. I just can't eat them. To add to my personal woes, I've developed acid reflux which has led me down the path of sorrow.(www.acid-reflux-cause.net/) Not only do I have to take medicine daily, I've had to reduce my intake on some of my favorite food choices. Examples of these items are chocolate, tomato based products i.e. lasagna, spaghetti sauce, and caffeinated drinks, just to name a few. As each year passes, my weight seems to increase while my metabolism decreases. In recent years both my husband and myself have watched as members of our family have developed health issueshttp://(webmd.com/heart-disease/) which wind them up in the hospital having heart surgery ranging from triple by-pass to having stints put in. This topic opens a level of fear in each of us. My husband and myself have decided we don't want to be sixty or so and having to be in the hospital for heart surgery due to clogged arteries. We have tried to modify our diets which seems to be difficult given the current economy, along with our statis of the ranks of the unemployed. There's nothing more he and I would love to do than eat more organic foods, adding more fruits and vegetables to our diet, however with the rising costs of food, it's virtually impossible. We are both currently unemployed so our funds are much more limited. There have been quite a few times my husband and I would choose to go and spend eight dollars at Taco bell rather than spend twenty or thirty dollars for all the fixings for a healthy meal. When I was growing up I remember my family wasn't the traditional family that sat down at the dining room table and ate dinner together. Every family member in my family had different schedules, at least on the weekdays, so we all ate in shifts. My mother used to say she always felt like she ran a boarding house as opposed to a family home. The only day of the week we ate dinner as a family was on Sundays. Everyone in the family really looked forward to Sunday meals. My mother had her select meals she would serve , always rotating each /Sunday so we didn't have the same thing two Sundays in a row. Our choices were Pot roast with vegetables and potatoes and gravy, or chicken that was either fried or baked served with scalloped potatoes and cooked carrots, lets not forget the meatloaf and mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans or sometimes cooked carrots, and last but not least one of my dads favorites were the fried pork chops with fried potatoes and green beans. Mom would always try and have a dessert on Sundays which was something we children looked very forward to. My mom always made her pies from scratch, especially the crust. To this day if I make a pie I pull out my mothers recipe for pie crust. I refuse to use those all ready made pie crusts they just don't taste the same. When I cook I use a lot of recipes my mom used to, however I've altered some of the recipes to match my and my husbands tastes. I have my mothers old cookbooks, the one that is my all time favorite is her Betty Crocker cookbook.(BettyCrocker.com) I have a copy of my own of the same cookbook but mine was published sometime in the 1980's and hers I think was published sometime in the 40's or 50's. Plus her cookbook has character with the cover missing, spots here and there where something was either dropped on the page and wiped off or when mom had the mixer too high and batter went flying. My mom used to love her pressure cooker, and we all remember the day she was cooking beans and whether her heat was too high or they cooked too long, either way the top blew off and the next thing we knew there were pinto beans all over the kitchen ceiling.What a mess that was. With our kids grown and gone I don't cook as much as I used to. Since my husband and I moved back in with my father I pretty sure he's delighted about having home cooked meals once again. My father is eighty and he really doesn't eat too much anymore, I do try and get him to eat something resembling a well rounded meal. I sometimes think he's going through his second childhood, because I can hardly ever get him to eat vegetables. My father insists on making his own plate and thats how he gets away with not putting the vegetables on his plate. As far as cooking goes my favorite time is the holidays for trying new recipes and doing a lot of baking. I simply love all the web sites for looking up recipes. My husband likes the fact I don't have a gazillion cookbooks lying around taking up a lot of room. During the holidays my husband and I usually get together with his side of the family. For dinners everyone is responsible for bringing a dish which leads to way too much food with lots of varity. But thats okay we usually get doggy bags to take home. The holidays are fast approaching and I can already begin salivating over the thought of all those yummy baked cookies and cakes and pies. YUM!!

Rough Draft- Recipes: A Window to the Past

Recipes are like a foundation for families. They are traditions passed down through the years to generation after generation. Many families have their secret recipes that no one wants to share because they are sacred to that family for many reasons. Recipes have always been a huge part of my family because to me recipes are the windows into my past and my families past. One of my favorite family recipes is Apple Betty. The first time I tried Apple Betty is still a vivid memory to me.

We were at my Grandma's house having a normal dinner with the family. Everyone was gathered around the table having warm melt in your mouth pot roast, creamy yet chunky mashed potatoes, and crisp buttery asparagus. All the smells were intoxicating and left my family craving more. Soon after we sat down to dinner a smell started wafting into the dining room. It was the smell of warm crisp apples baking in the oven. Granted the adults knew what it was, but none of the kids knew what that delicious sweet aroma was. None of us could ask fast enough what the delicious smell was. My Grandma simply said,"It's Apple Betty." All of a sudden everyone was miraculously full of dinner and ready for dessert. We all waited and waited and waited for that oven timer to go off, the Apple Betty to be pulled out, and be cool enough to be eaten. Finally, when it was done and after my Grandma had clinked and clanked the spoon against the pie plate to scoop out the Apple Betty, it was time to eat. We were finally able to eat the scrumptious looking dessert in front us and no one hesitated to dive into their plates. The first bite I put in my mouth made me melt. The sweet crumbly topping mixed with the gooey crisp sweetness of the apple made me drift into a coma. All the flavors swirled in my mouth making my taste buds explode like fireworks. Immediately I related this Apple Betty to my family and its past. The history of this dessert is like my family history because it has been passed down from generation. I am not sure who wrote this recipe or if they got it from another person, I do know that this recipe has been in the family for a long time. My Grandma who first made this dessert for me is my Father's Mother. She received the recipe from her Mother who got it from her Mother. This recipe goes back more generations and describes the type of family we have. Our family is the sharing kind and we love to help anyone we can. This recipe to my family is like the biggest comfort food for us. Where as someone might go for a piece of apple pie as their comfort food, or I should say comfort dessert, my family goes for Apple Betty. Apple Betty has always been in our family and has always been one of favorite desserts. We have it every year when my Grandma's apple tree out back has apples. Some of our past family members use to live on farms and have apple trees to make Apple Betty. The structure of the Apple Betty, meaning how it is made, is like the structure of my family.
The structure of this dessert is the best part of the entire dessert because it reminds me of my family. The components of Apple Betty are the pan, apples in the center, and the topping. Obviously there is more to it then that, but these are just the basics. To mean this dessert is very symbolic of how my family is structured. The pan is the support of friends and how they help the family stick together through everything. Friends are always there when they need to be, should be, and can be. Friends are an important part of any family. The center is the family and even though every family has their problems they still come together when needed. While making Apple Betty you have to sprinkle orange juice on the apples so they do not turn brown. This shows that every family has their problems because not all the apples will stay the same. Families grow and change over time, but they still stick together when they need to. The center of the Apple Betty is gooey, warm, sweet, and crisp. Which describes our family because we are warm, stick together, loving/sweet, and strong. Then we get to the topping which for me symbolizes the people that are going to come into our lives. It might be who we are going to marry, new friends, or new family members. The new people are like falling angels because the topping is sprinkled on. The topping is sweet, savory, and warm. Which hopefully describes the kind of people that will enter into the family whether they are new friends, a significant other, or a new family member. This is why to me Apple Betty's structure relates to my family's structure. Different recipes remind different people of something.They remind them of someone, something, someplace, or some time in their life. Everyone has that one special dish they hold near and dear to their heart. Mine happens to be Apple Betty because its what I have grown up on. Whether you realize it or not you have different dishes that you relate to a person, a place, or a time. A dish may have reminders of a passed family member because the recipe is from that person or they made it all the time so it was their dish. While visiting a certain place even if its away or just a family members house a dish may have a certain amount of impact making that dish special. There could have been a certain time in life where a dish was made and something happened causing the dish to bring back memories of that time. There is always a dish that brings back memories of a certain time, place, or person. Everyone also has a certain food that is a comfort food.

Comfort foods have been a part of every one's diet. Imagine not being able to have that food that is comforting in a time of need. Not being able to eat that particular food when it is needed because of something that happened would be like not having a steak with potatoes. Comfort foods are just that, they comfort someone in a time of need. Like a Mother's hug when a little kid falls and skins their knee. Some traditional comfort foods are macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, apple pie, chicken noodle soup, chili, meatloaf, and fried chicken. Every family has their own comfort foods and they are not all the same. My family's comfort foods will vary from someone elses comfort foods. Comfort foods may come from past generations, magazines, TV shows, or other friends. Recipes are all around us.

Recipes do not have to be all about food, there can be recipes for just about anything. Food is a major staple in our society today. Food is what brings a family together. It gathers them all around the table for family bonding time. My favorite recipe that brings the whole family together is Apple Betty because that is my comfort food. Food is not just something to eat because your hungry it is something to eat to help you in a time of need. Recipes are traditions in families, whether its something you make once a week, once a month, or once a year. That recipe is the one thing you can always rely on. Recipes are the window to the past.

From Generation to Generation (Rough Draft)

One of the strongest memories I have started in my childhood and continues to reoccur in my adult life. The memories of spending my early years in California with my grandparents, and even before those memories, I look at pictures of myself as a very hefty infant on a farm out in the desert in California. I'm being held in the arms of a very old man, a man well loved by everyone who is in the Hart family. I'm speaking of my Uncle George. Although I don't remember him, I know from the pictures I see and the stories I hear that he loved me very much. Uncle George had leather-colored, sun-beaten skin from all his time in the desert sun. His wife, an incredibly frail but very loving woman, was of similar skin tone from all the time she spent in the sun alongside him. Everyone in the Hart family loved both of them dearly, and while they have both passed away, they left some things with us that in a sense make them live on in our lives.

Despite the long drive from the port of Los Angeles to the middle of the desert, my family did not mind at all. There was nothing like being loved on by this couple, and also, whenever we drove down the pothole littered, dusty road and all the bumps from the cracked pavement, we were not only greeted by very loving people, but by wonderful food.

Uncle George and Auntie Pauline spent a lot of time tending to their orange groves and other plants, but were phenomenal chefs. Uncle George was Armenian, and obviously being Armenian knew a lot about Middle Eastern cuisine. Falafel, Baba Ghanouj, you name it, he could make it. The one thing that everyone in the Hart family knows how to make and Uncle George is famous for even after his death, aside from himself, is his hummus. Now I can guess what most of you are thinking. You are probably thinking "Hummus? That stuff is disgusting. I tried it at Garbanzos, I tried it from Costco and the grocery store, it's all terrible." My response to those of you that feel that way is a humble: "Absolutely not."

The hummus we have here in the states from the super market is absolutely terrible compared to the authentic hummus I have known since I was able to eat. This hummus is hands down, the best I have ever had. It is so good in fact, that everyone who has tried it has not only been pleasantly surprised, but asked for the recipe to make it themselves! (Sorry, it's a rule that my grandmother has that this recipe is not to be shared with anyone who is not of Hart blood. You can try some! But don't expect us to tell you how to make it!)

To further reinforce my last statement, when I went to Israel this past summer and experienced hummus from Arabs and Jews, the hummus I enjoyed there was very similar to what I have known at my grandmother's house. You have not enjoyed hummus until you have made it from an authentic recipe. (Actually, from what I hear, not many people enjoy hummus when it is not authentic.)

The thought of my grandparents I instantly equate with memories cemented in my head. I do not know all of the names of the streets where my grandparents live, but I could drive there from memory from the countless times Southern LA has been my stomping grounds. The other memories cemented in my head involve her food. Along with her pickled vegetables, and my uncle's homemade salsa, my Uncle George's hummus is always on the same counter I have in my mind.

Back in the states, one of the first people I visited following my world travels was my grandmother. I landed at LAX, drove down the same highway I always do and got off at the San Pedro exit right by the port of Los Angeles. I drive down the same streets I've driven down for 19 years and arrive at my grandmother's yellow stucco house. I smell the dichondria and the other vegetation my grandfather is responsible for up and down the street. The smells of these various plants is so entrenched in my brain that I can imagine it here in my living room. I hear the noisy neighbors next door and their kids screaming as they play, but smile, because I associate those noises of chaos with a sense of peace and contentment when I'm with my mom's family.

After our greetings, I am drawn to the kitchen by the familiar smells I equate with great food. I wait in the kitchen while my grandmother is preparing food on the counter. The food of the imaginary counter in my head is now on the counter in reality. My grandmother looks up from the pickled vegetables and my Uncle George's hummus she has just placed on the counter. Uncle George has lived and passed away. My grandmother has always been present in my life, but someday she too will pass away, as my mother will, and so will I. But all of those people will live on because of one thing we all had in common and was passed down the generations, and that is Uncle George's Middle Eastern cuisine.

What is a real snack?

sitting amongst the whole class you can smell the suger filling the air. we offered everyhthing from chocolate suger filled brownies to chips and salsa. brownies smells like sweet chocolate paradise, the aroma is calling to me to feed my pallette, with an outrageous amount of sugar. the moist brownie makes my teeth hurt just looking at it.

Powdered fruit in a package, I remember eating Pixi Sticks as a child. The sweetened dust is better than fairy's. it provides magical feeling and a return to youth, simultaneously sparking fruity flavored goodness.

AirHeads, blueberry, orange, watermelon, and mystery- flavored taffy. Air Heads are artificially flavored fruit in a chewy long lasting stick that sticks to your teeth as you devour it.

An assortment of goodies for the classroome to consume and describe. A perfect one hour class

MAK Daddy Table's Sensory Journey

The first stop is Air Delight Hershey Kisses with a Hot Tamale and Hugs Hershey Kisses. The MAK Daddy table calls the combination Hugging Cinnamon Heiress. Love at first taste with a melting chocolate river flowing through your heightened cinnamon stricken taste buds. As the sensational experience starts to dwindle a new interest is sparked. The first experience with the Que Mango leads the taste buds on in a salty tango. The Que Mango's shape reminds the adventurer of a little blue Smurf. The bitter mango is hinted at as we move to the next great adventure...the Airhead. While breaking open the shiny wrapper the sweet aroma of sugar entangles the nose of an unexpecting victim. What these gifts from heaven lack in nutritional value they make up for in embracing the soul with a cast of rock hard sugar meant to face any heartache.

We've Had Too Much Candy

If you checked your email today, you would learn that candy is the word of the day. The instructions were to bring snack (dang, what’s with all the candy). Judging by the hyperactivity of those in the room, you can tell who brought candy and more importantly who might have consumed mass quantities before class. We have all sorts of crappy, possibly indigestible, unhealthy and but more importantly YUMMY snacks. Some thought of salty pretzels, crunchy chips with hot salsa and chocolaty brownies. Others went straight for the high fructose corn syrup sweet heaven of sugar nirvana.

It is so interesting to see a classroom of twenty plus year olds turn into chatty, foot tapping, preschoolers yelling over each other for talking room. How long will the sugar high last. Will some go home to disbelieving spouses looking for answers to the strange behavior exhibited buy usually mild mannered adults? Will children be left crying on the floor asking “Where is candy”? What can take this away?

If Only I Was Hungry

Dude did you eat that salsa. Chewing on this pink air makes me feel like i am chewing on a pretty pink flamingo that flaps his wings to the beat of my bite. While shedding feathers of pink lemonade, staining my tongue pink like a bed of pink roses. As the salty sweet goldfish enters my mouth, nicknamed Nemo by my tongue since once he was found him he found love, my tongue is taken on a trip of searching of salty sweet goodness. Pepsi falls down my throat like a caramel-colored, 150 calorie Niagra Falls, tingling me with its invigorating caffeinated vortex with a touch of natural flavors. Brownies enter my mouth taking me on more than a sugar rushed filled trip, maybe for this reason the rest of these foods tasted so vividly.

The Awesome Table

Walking around the room looking at all the assortments of sugar, gathering these scrumptious treats to send us into a full blown diabetic comma, we found out who the food hoarders are in our group. Jamie and Kat had pullled forward as the alpha's of gathering. While Cole and I were prone to sending said gatherers to do our dirty work for us. The massive amounts of food that we had gathered ranged from powders to fruity flavored things to chocolate goodness. We also were blessed with the liquid gold that is Pepsi. Kat continued to comment that her air heads were tickling her taste buds while Jamie sucked on a chili incrusted mango loli-pop from our good friend Kevin. While Cole was overwhelmed by all the sugar and was soon over it. I however posed us all for a picture and sipped my delicious Pepsi.

An Alien Experience X2

The little flat flying saucer invades my dreams. An alien compilation of science fails on impact becoming a powerful meltdown while crashing apart into several distinct parts. Crumbling quickly the evidence dissolves into a stream of fluid compounds that wreak havoc on the body and all of its highly developed senses. Most who witness this disc of "deliceocity" want to make the evidence disappear.

Don't tell mom, there are only crumbs of a trail.on't tell mom, there are only crumbs of a trail.

As I approach the table all of the colors grab me, Shaking Me into the realization: I cant choose just one.

Chocolate rules!

...

Chocolate goes with everything. Kit Kat, with the layers of crispy wafers laced with chocolate is almost too much to pass up. However as I reach for the shiny foil wrapped Hershey Kiss with its flag waving salute, my mouth springs to salute as the melting march trails down my tongue.

Weekend Adventures

Saturday afternoon began my epic weekend adventure of excitement and metal therapy. The Ultimate destination of this trip was my best friend Courtney's Cabin up in Grant Colorado only about an hour drive from Lakewood. Accompanying me on the drive up to the cabin was Jessica Courtney's cousin who is new to driving and is deathly afraid of high way driving. So being the speed racer I am and loving to drive especially in the mountains I offered to drive ourselves up the mountain. The whole drive up was a mixture of weird silence, fuming nerves, and impatiently awaiting arrival at the cabin. I could feel the tension evaporating off Jessica's body as she firmly grasped the, "holly shit handle", around each windy turn up down and around each mountain bend. Surely though the feeling of relief seemed to swarm over her face as we pulled into the cabins drive way after what seemed to me the longest drive of my life. Once I excited the car and inhaled a deep breath of the mountain air, I felt the sensation of ultimate relief from not only my sore butt from the drive but from the life stresser's I left behind me at the bottom of the mountain!! That for one weekend my stresses could not irritate me for two whole days I was free to let go and let loose. For me there is something about the mountains that provides a medicinal effect on me to clear my mind, enjoy myself in the great outdoors of Colorado, and for a moment escape the overwhelming life I live. The weekend festivities consisted of getting a bit silly and jamming out with my best friends to some classic tunes and working on are not so gracefully two stepping skills which lead to a few miner injuries. And after our dance sessions we worked up an appetite and drove the the Famous Coney Island Restaurant home to the ultimate hot dog experience. Which honestly is hilarious that we chose Coney Island because Courtney and I are vegetarains and a hot dog is the last thing either of us would eat. But the experience of the restaurant was the purpose of the dinning destination and I discovered my new favorite place to chow down on some delicious cheesy fries. The trip was a weekend I will hold in my memories of a long time and have developed some ridiculous inside jokes for me and my friends that will be shared over and over. Sadly as all things do the trip came to an end but gave me a boost of confidence and an ultimate feeling of rejuvenation to return back home to the reality of my life.

Sand Dunes by Jerrett Tidwell

For my senior class trip we got to take a two day camping trip to the Sand Dunes. There was 40 of us that went on this trip. It was a lot of fun because we stayed up all night around the camp fire talking and partying. The next day was the best though because we had two teachers that came with us and one of the teachers Mr. Miller was very athletic and he took us all up to the top of the highest sand dune, it was about a four hour hike up there. It was a lot of fun because one of my friends Dante brought his snowboard and we snowboarded down the dunes. It was a really fun trip and I will always remember this senior class trip.

SoCiaL-SuiCidE

According to sources from the infamous Internet, the social networking site, known as facebook, will be shut down by anonymous hackers.  The reason why; we as facebookees expose way too much information about ourselves. Rendering us extremely vulnerable to the government, and potential “I.D. jacker” threats. Such source say the this social media site sales pertinent information to the government, almost like they are always "keeping an eye on you," what activities you partake in and who your friends are. Such information can range from your job , the school you attend, where you live and/or your current address to even you social status. Was this site really created by the government for this reason, leading you to believe that is was strictly for "keeping track of Friends" or "staying connected with the world." If this is the governments way of keeping track of us, the sheep we all are, then it has now been exposed. I for one will be ditching my account, saying goodbye to my 506 fake Friends, for I don't need the government keeping an eye on me and what I do... Later FB.

  Check out this link:

Is this a violation of our rights?  Maybe, NO-it-is.

Happy Halloween

With the month of October coming up...keep in mind to stay safe.