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Archive for the ‘Nostalgia’ Category

Friday Five – Oh, Autumn, Where Art Thou?

Posted in Books, Food, Friday Five, Home, Nostalgia, Prompts, Resolutions, Writing, tagged , , , on October 17, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Wearing my new boots and long sleeves today. It may be in the 80s still, but I am trying to bring in autumn through sheer force of will. Even if I have to keep the fan on in the office all day.

Some good reads for your Friday:

  • EEEEEEEE!!!!! Mychal the Librarian is hosting Reading Rainbow!!! I’m so excited that kids get to have this little bit of magic as part of their childhood.
  • I love Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, but I suck at morning pages. Nothing has made me want to quit writing altogether more than trying to churn out three pages of stream-of-consciousness every single day (yes, I’ve tweaked it and tried it all sorts of ways. It’s just not for me at this stage of my life. Maybe I’ll try again later when I don’t have to spend most of my mornings rushing to get to my job.). I do enjoy a writing exercise/prompt, though. I’m a bit late to Laini Taylor’s September 2024 challenge, but I’m trying them out over this month and next, and I’ll see how far I get. I tend to collect and use small journals as commonplace books, so I have all I need to get started. Maybe this will inspire me to finish my goal of writing 50,000 words this year.
  • “The wisdom of prayer is the genesis of all poetry, I think.” And “Time gets holier by the minute.” I love this gorgeous piece –  When to call the witches by Joy Sullivan. 
  • Matthew Bound’s chicken and dumplings. Y’all. I made these last week, and it really did take less than 30 minutes. I love my standard low-and-slow chicken and dumplings recipe, but this version is almost as good. I subbed water + an onion soup packet for the broth/stock, and I do not roll out my dumplings (I just pinch off bits of dough into some flour so they get lightly dusted and then fish them out and add them to the pot- if you do it this way, simmer for five-ish minutes more before you add the chicken to compensate for the chonkier dumplings this will make). I followed the recipe the same otherwise, right up to doing that same little dance he does in the video when I took my first bite. Also, I recently read his cookbook Keep It Simple, Y’all, and it is full of fantastic, easy recipes and would be a great gift for a new adult, or anyone who is new to cooking, or anyone who is in a rut, or anyone who likes quick meals…really, anyone.
  • This piece on helping parents sell the magical childhood home hit…well…home.

This upcoming weekend is busy, but I’ve carved out enough downtime. I think. We’ll see. 

I hope you have a great Friday and a restful weekend!

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Days 5 & 6 – Dance

Posted in 31 Days, Alive, Books, Dance, Nostalgia on October 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »

“I was like a woman at a drawer, putting away her party dresses between tissue paper, and there he stood in the doorway– not Stewart Applebaum, but this feeling– gentlemanly, feral, breathtaking, peaceful, something very close to life itself, asking me for one more dance down in the meadow.”
Rebecca Lee, Bobcat and Other Stories

Getting older is strange. It’s equal parts liberating and stifling. It’s a round of “I do what I want” followed immediately by “I’m old enough to know better.” People look at you like you’re the adult in the room, and you are, even though you may reject their definition of what that means and the expectations that go along with it.

Every new change, whether it’s due to aging or sickness or just boredom, comes with packing away or throwing out the things that don’t fit anymore. Sometimes that feels good; sometimes it doesn’t.

Last Sunday, we celebrated a couple of birthdays by going to the goth club we used to frequent. It was my first time going to their new location, and I was nervous about whether I would like it.

I had fun. I missed the chandelier and the multiple bars spaced throughout the club and the second dance room. I had moments of sadness remembering people we used to see there who are no longer with us.

But the music was a great mix of new and old. There was something for everyone, which is one of the big things that drew me to the club back in the day. All the weird things we each bring to the table were welcome. Everyone can play. Just the way the world should be.

It was a good reminder that I’m not ready to pack away all the party dresses. I probably never will be.

As long as I have breath, I will dance through a thousand open doorways and out into the world.

I hope you have a good week, friends.

I’m writing reflections on the things I’ve read this year.

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Friday Five – Delight

Posted in Beauty, Books, Food, Friday Five, Music, Nostalgia on June 28, 2024| Leave a Comment »

This week has been hectic both at work and in my personal life, but there have been so many things that have delighted and pleased me. Here are a few:

  • I am fascinated that such a thing as a happiness expert exists (I’m a fan, to be clear), and I enjoyed this article on their daily habits. 
  • Roxane Gay is saying goodbye to her column Work Friend, and she wrote a beautiful send-off to it. 
  • Dorie Greenspan of World Peace Cookies fame (and baking in general – the cookies are just how I was introduced to her) wrote a lovely piece on getting out of a personal rut/funk entitled “A book that’s bigger than you are.” 
  • Speaking of books, my favorite book I’ve read this week is The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff. It’s the follow-up to 84, Charing Cross Road, and it is just as charming. 
  • I love the Gaia Music Collective (I want to sing with 100+ people!!) but I especially loved this arrangement. I played this song for my piano recital the same month my childhood friend Ginger died, and it always reminds me of her. 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend full of all your favorite things and people!

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Friday Five – Welcome to December!

Posted in Books, Food, Friday Five, Fun, Getting It Together, Home, Nostalgia on December 1, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Last week, I was at the family farm and limiting screen time due to a concussion, but I’m feeling much better now. It’s the time of the year when I’m holiday-ing and transitioning to a new yearly theme, but there are still snippets of home that you’ll see throughout each week’s review this month (and of course, there will be a general review of what the theme has taught me near the end of December).

  • I love this tour of the place where the writer lives. So much good stuff about home and honoring the generosity of the earth and all its creatures. Read it slowly with your favorite warm beverage. 
  • Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? by Crystal Smith Paul – I would probably not have picked this one up if it wasn’t suggested for a book discussion at work. I’m so glad I did. The pacing was perfect. If I were teaching a writing class, this is the book I would use to show how it’s done. The writer unfolded the story beautifully, revealing just enough to spark interest along the way and building up to big moments with perfect timing. I felt like I was making discoveries along with the main character. I was never bored at any point, and there are not many books that I can say that about. 
  • The Silent Gondoliers by William Goldman – I adored this small book by the author of The Princess Bride. Similar storytelling style – a lot of charm and humor and quirky characters. Fantastical, mystical…it was a lot of fun.
  • The 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington – This book was about 200 pages, but it seemed so much longer. If you want to brush up on your time management skills, this is a decent guide with solid tips. It’s especially helpful if you’re a person who tends to thrive with short bursts of intense focus and activity. Reader beware, though – there is a LOT of traditional, neurotypical, motivational speaker-y advice on productivity that fell flat with me. If I could hype up or push myself into being more productive, I would have already published 40 books, own a house, be a Pilates instructor, and have a regular workout schedule that seems as intuitive as breathing by now. If you are reading it and find these bits more overwhelming than instructive, it’s ok to put it down. 
  • Y’all. I was looking for my mom’s surprise cookies recipe to take to cookbook club tonight, and I ran across my old blog that chronicled the foodie weekends Maggie and I had. There are only a few posts, and it’s very, very yellow, but it was a fun trip down memory lane. Damn, I loved that kitchen. *moment of silence* Also, I notice that our cocktail weekend didn’t make it to print. That tracks. That was a fun time. And aw, also this one, the blog I had on Blogger for a minute before I decided that WordPress was a better fit for what I wanted to do when Livejournal started getting wonky. Good times.

The weekend is full, but it should also be fun. I hope yours is fun as well!

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Friday Five – Fun Reads From Last Month

Posted in Books, Friday Five, Fun, Joy, Nostalgia on November 3, 2023| 2 Comments »

Since October’s blog was full of foodie joy, today I’m sharing a few of the other things I read last month with you. Some magical cozies and books about spooky houses or other scary things. 

  • The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna – I loved this book. So many people recommended it to me, and it did not disappoint. It’s a cozy fantasy in which the main character is a witch who gets hired to train three young witches. Except she was raised to believe it was dangerous for witches to be together for long periods of time, so as you can imagine, some angst ensues. It’s not just a cute story, though. It’s also a wonderful treatise on the residual effects of chronic loneliness and one of the best explanations of the difference between “nice” and “kind” (spoiler – kind is far better) that I’ve ever read.
  • Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – I liked this book a lot. I think there could have been more buildup in the beginning, but it was a great concept and solid execution. I love any book where the house or the place itself acts as one of the characters, and this story did not disappoint in that regard. 
  • The Book Woman’s Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson – I was introduced to the original book woman and the Blue People of Kentucky in the first book of this series (duology?). This is why I love my book clubs. I probably would not have picked either of these books up on my own, but because someone recommended them for discussion, I got to read them and learn something new. This book started a little slower for me than the last one, but it was still an enjoyable read.
  • The Enchanted Hacienda by J.C. Cervantes – Jenny Lawson was right. It really was like Encanto and Practical Magic had a baby. I loved this story and the way family connections were woven together. There were enough surprises that it kept me interested, but nothing particularly stressful or jarring. Just what I needed last month. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more from this author.
  • Holly Horror by Michelle Jabès Corpora – I ordered this book because I grew up with Holly Hobbie accessories for my room – my first bedspread was Holly Hobbie themed, and I had a tea set as well. The quilt that my Great Aunt Edna made me that I still use today has a Holly Hobbie-esque pattern. This story is a dark twist on the character, turning her into a girl who mysteriously disappeared years ago and now haunts her old house. I enjoyed the descriptions and the way the author introduced all the essential characters. I will definitely read the next in the series!

And finally, I offer you this excerpt from Samantha Irby’s new collection of essays, Quietly Hostile. When someone rains on your parade or tries to grade your taste, a simple “I like it!” is indeed a sufficient response. When you find joy – wherever you find it – in this world, it’s yours. You get to have it, even if you can’t articulate exactly why you like it (or, frankly, just don’t want to explain). 

I hope you get to do a lot of things you like this weekend!

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Day 31 – The Paprikash (Month in Review)

Posted in 31 Days, Food, Home, Nostalgia, TV on November 1, 2023| Leave a Comment »

(From Season 7 of Grace and Frankie, episode 14 – “The Paprikash,” as viewed on my teeny tiny netbook)

I love this whole show, but this episode (this scene in particular) is easily one of my top five favorites. Grace calls her brother Jeffrey because she keeps trying to make her mother’s chicken paprikash recipe (which turns out to be her dad’s recipe) and it never quite turned out the way she wanted it to. But what Jeffrey wants to talk about is the dad he never knew because he died when he was four, which is a painful memory Grace would rather not revisit.

But Frankie has an idea.

Frankie: “I think there’s a way for both of you to get what you want. Grace wants the recipe and Jeffrey wants to know about his dad. So every ingredient you give Grace, she’ll give you a detail about your father.”

Grace: “Frankie, that is the most insane idea that you’ve…”

Jeffrey: “One quartered chicken.”

Grace: “He slept in the hospital when you had pneumonia.”

And they went from there, alternating memories of their dad with the food they both remembered from their childhoods.

I ugly-cried so hard.

This is what the food I grew up with and all my favorite dishes I’ve made since mean to me. It’s not just a pleasant taste or smell (although most of them are delicious). It’s inherently linked to the memories I have, sitting around the table or on the couch, in the kitchen or at a suitable distance so as not to irritate the cook.

It’s the soup Mom made when she came to Denton to take care of me when I was too sick to stand for several weeks.

It’s the kind eyes of the farmer at the market who snuck more Crowder peas into my bag while I was trying to pull it together after bursting into tears as I told him how my MeMaw always grew them in her garden.

It’s learning that I do like cherries after all and figuring out how to give recipes my own flair.

It’s being a little dissatisfied with most of the chocolate cake and steak I eat anywhere but the farm because no one makes them like Mom and Dad (respectively).

[Seriously – Mom’s chocolate icing – it’s like ganache and buttercream had a baby that got all their best genes. It’s fudgy and decadent and amazing.]

I may have run out of steam a little here at the end (it’s been a hard month). And there are hundreds more stories to tell, but you get the gist. When I think about what home means to me, there’s always food and drink involved in some way. Every place I’ve ever lived has its own menu with memories embedded firmly within it.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the stories and the food, and I hope you get a chance to eat wonderful things with people you love very soon.

We have food at home: 31 days of exploring the tastes I grew up with

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Day 27 – The Last Friday Five of the Series

Posted in 31 Days, Books, Food, Friday Five, Fun, Home, Mental Health, Nostalgia, Seasons on October 27, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Tomorrow, our Rise and Shine book club is discussing spooky reads and there’s a Halloween party in the evening. On Sunday, there is a book fair at a local bar and our annual Spiderdead show in the afternoon, and then I have an RLA interest presentation (the last one I’m giving this year!) early that evening. I’m definitely taking Monday and Tuesday off for what will be some much-needed and long-overdue downtime. 

Here are five food-related/adjacent ponderings I’ve had this week:

  • I especially love this time of year because, while I do enjoy some spooky things and darker themes, I mostly just love how much cozier everything is. Cool weather (actual cool weather, not the “it’s no longer in the triple digits must be a cold front ha ha” phenomenon) is on its way in the next 48 hours. I will wrap up in a blanket with a cup of tea and a bowl of popcorn while I settle in to re-watch a soul-soothing show or movie any time of the year, but cool weather means I can do that without cranking up the A/C. Tonight I’m probably going to watch something hygge/homey/foodie from this list. My regulars are Chocolat or Under the Tuscan Sun, but the list reminds me of quite a few I haven’t seen in a while, and also how did I miss A Good Year?
  • Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree – I think I’ve found the genre I want to write. Cozy fantasy. This one was especially lovely to me because the main character is an Orc who decided to leave the mercenary life to open a coffee shop. I WANT TO LEAVE THE MERCENARY (I mean, Student Affairs, but sometimes it’s basically the same) LIFE TO OPEN A COFFEE SHOP. It’s like The Hobbit, but if Bilbo had just said, “No, thank you, but would you like another spot of tea?” instead of going on the adventure. It taps into my deep-seated desire to have a home that is so cozy and welcoming that I never want to leave and is also a place where I can feed people and watch their faces as they have those little moments of joy that a really good cup of coffee or delicious pastry can bring. 
  • The main thing I like about joining Tertulia is all the discounts I get (and also I enjoy their co-op vibe). Another thing I like is that I get curated lists like this one in my inbox with recommendations to add to my home foodie collection. Alice Feiring’s To Fall in Love, Drink This has been on my TBR for a while. That may be my next Tertulia purchase.
  • I’m pretty good about keeping my pantry and freezer (and to a lesser extent, my fridge – sometimes some questionable things linger in there) reasonably stocked and cleaned out. When space is limited, it only takes a little swerve in the direction of either sparse or out of control to have me ordering takeout more often than I (and by I, I do mean my budget) would like. But occasionally, I get a wild hair and end up buying way more of one item than I need. Right now, I have so many canned beans in my apartment. I mean, as overages go, shelf-stable ones are my preference, but dang. I guess I’m having beans in just about everything I cook at home for the foreseeable future. 
  • I really could have used a list like this when I was first starting out as a new-ish home cook. There’s lots of great advice and resources linked in here. It also sparked a bit of nostalgia through several moments when I thought, “I remember when I learned that!” It took me so long to figure out that “What are your favorite flavors and textures?” is such an important question for me when it comes to a meal plan that I’ll actually use (rather than one that I feel is a good plan I should want to use – very different things). 

My long weekend is so close I can taste it. I hope your weekend is nice!

I’m writing about food and home this month.

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Day 26 – Gross Things That Make Me Happy

Posted in 31 Days, Food, Home, Joy, Nostalgia on October 26, 2023| 2 Comments »

I imagine most of us have those certain foods we love that would make others recoil in horror. Do yourself a favor – DO NOT google “gross foods” to come up with examples. If you must, satisfy your curiosity with this link but also don’t click on that if you don’t want to see some questionable and possibly revolting things (and I only say “possibly” because I recognize that what I might find revolting others don’t, because that list got a lot of yucks from me).

I mean, you do you, but I’m not eating anything that starts with “jellied” and ends with some animal part.

I will absolutely chow down on some chicharrones (aka, pork rinds), though. When the dining hall across the street from my office made them, I was delighted. They remind me of afternoons at my grandparents’ apartment. Mom stopped by several times a week to visit with her mother, and Granddaddy spent most of the time singing Marty Robbins along with his record player in the back room. And these salty snacks were readily available. One of my earliest memories with this set of grandparents was discovering that Smoky the cat really liked them, too.

Jello salads are also on my list of foods I generally enjoy that others often have on their iffy lists. This is another perk of holidays and potlucks – there’s always at least one of them. My absolute favorite is a lime green one with pineapple and cottage cheese (another food people seem to have very strong opinions about). I don’t even mind that it has pecans in it, but I prefer it without them. *sigh* It’s been so long since I had this treat. I may have to make some before the year is over.

I also really crave hot dogs every once in a while, as long as I don’t think too much about what they’re made of.

Most of the foods I love that others side-eye are ones that are strongly tied to memories of home and comfort, and I suspect that’s the same for most people. If I were to survey the folks in my office, we’d get nostalgic gushing about pickle loaf, hot Cheetos with bananas and milk, sucking the heads of crawdads, and various other dubious pairings and practices that, despite all odds, bring them joy. I may not be interested in trying (or reliving) them myself, but I like listening to others rave about their favorite things.

Speaking of suspect snacks, I think I’ll go see what I can find in the vending machine next door.

I’m writing about all kinds of foods – the good, the bad, and the ugly – that remind me of home this month.

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Day 25 – Sandwiches

Posted in 31 Days, Food, Home, Nostalgia on October 25, 2023| 3 Comments »

I ate a lot of sandwiches in my childhood. As a food group, the sandwich has a lot going for it:

  • It’s fast and simple to make.
  • It doesn’t dirty up a lot of dishes/pots/pans in the process.
  • It is versatile, so it’s easier to tailor to picky food tastes than most things.
  • It can be as nutritious or decadent or anything in between as you want it to be.

We lunched on a lot of peanut butter (creamy) and jelly (grape). When it was cool outside, we got soup and grilled cheese with white bread and American slices (cut on the diagonal, the way nature intended). We also ate a lot of bologna and cheese, and my favorite way to do that was toasted in the toaster oven. It was fun to watch the slice of bologna curl as it heated.

There always seemed to be a jar of either chicken or tuna salad (or on occasion, their weird cousin, ham salad) made in the fridge. Mom’s chicken/tuna/ham salad usually included the same basic elements:

  • Hard-boiled eggs
  • Shredded (chopped? diced?) chicken/tuna/ham
  • Miracle Whip
  • Salt/pepper

Occasionally she’d put pickles in it, or celery and grapes if she was making it for her sorority or an adult luncheon of some sort. But for us, it stayed simple.

My favorite sandwiches, though, were special treats. They required a specific bread. I’m pretty sure it was a Mrs. Baird’s product, but they looked like the Wonder Bread Philly Cheesesteak rolls. White bread roll with sesame seeds. You take the bottom of the roll and layer thinly sliced deli ham. On top of that, you sprinkle shredded mozzarella. Put it in the microwave long enough to melt the cheese. Spread the top of the bun with ranch dressing (specifically Hidden Valley Ranch – accept no substitutes) and place on the melted cheese.

When I make a sandwich today, it’s typically on bread from Ravelin or The Market at UNT. The meat and/or veggie specifics vary, but there’s always some kind of cheese involved. It’s often open-faced (because it’s usually lunch and an abundance of bread makes me sleepy) or half a sandwich that I eat in conjunction with something else, like a cup of soup or a salad.

But my ultimate comfort sandwich is still that hot ham and mozzarella hoagie. Heaven.

What’s your favorite type of sandwich?

I’m writing about homey foods and comforting snacks this month.

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Days 23 & 24 – A Warm Beverage

Posted in 31 Days, Food, Home, Mental Health, Nostalgia, Seasons, Wild on October 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »

This month, y’all. It’s a wild one. I like my new job, but I miss my easy Octobers. Also, the world seems to be a little bit more on fire (proverbial and otherwise) than usual. I’m taking a couple of long weekends and some extra nights off this week, but I need a real break. And I need a breath to process all that’s happening so that I can actually wind down well enough at the end of the day to get more than 3-4 hours of sleep. Don’t know when that’s going to happen.

In the meantime, I am embracing the slightly cooler weather with all my favorite comforts. Soups, easy one-pot meals, and breakfast tacos are on the menu for the week. I’m also enjoying a near-constant intake of warm beverages.

Coffee and tea are my staples. Hot Tang is also a frequent visitor to my repertoire (although clearly, I’ve been doing it wrong by neglecting to add whiskey). I even drank a plain cup of hot water the other day. I love warm beverages.

Coffee brews all day at the farm and has for as long as I can remember. Mom doesn’t like it strong, so the caffeine release is significantly slower (allegedly). Tea was always iced unless you were sick (because Texas). I didn’t start drinking hot tea in earnest until I came to college, but now it’s my usual way to drink tea.

But there was one hot tea drink we had growing up that was an instant comfort to me. I’ve heard it called Russian tea and friendship tea, but to us, it was just spiced tea. Mom often made it around the holidays, and she made a lot of it because we gave it as gifts. She would mix all the ingredients together and fill pint-sized jars with a cross-stitched lid that read “spiced tea” with a picture of a cup beside it (I think – my memory of the picture is hazy at best). She would do the same with hot chocolate mix (I can’t remember if she mixed her own of this as well or just bought it in bulk) with another cute cross-stitched label that read “hot chocolate.”

I can’t seem to find the actual recipe, but I often helped with the mixing (even I could be trusted to stir). I think the proportions of a batch went something like this:

  • 2 cups powdered Tang
  • 2 cups powdered lemonade (always Country Time)
  • 1 cup instant tea (always Lipton)
  • 1 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Do yourself a favor – mix up a batch of this, pour hot water over a couple of heaping spoons in a cup, stir, and enjoy. Feel free to play around with the proportions. It’s very sweet, but that’s just part of its charm.

I’m on an Irish Breakfast Tea kick right now, but I may have to add these ingredients to my next grocery list so I can have this mix on hand. I may also dig around for the cross-stitch patterns next time I’m home. I know some people who need this mix and a cute jar in their lives.

A cup of Mom’s spiced tea may be just what I need to make this hectic October a little sweeter.

I’m writing about the recipes and foods that feel like home to me this month.

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