Good thing I didn’t commit to any of the everyday/356 blogging projects going around, because I would have fallen off the wagon already. I really did have the best of intentions to start off this year right. I was going to cook up a storm on New Year’s Eve then stay up all night blogging about it and wishing all my friends well for the New Year. Ah, they were grand plans!

I had such high hopes and I almost pulled it off! I did cook up a storm worthy of the winter wonderland we were blessed with on Christmas. For the New Year Eve’s supper I had lined up a surf and turf meal (ribeye steaks and shrimp scampi) complete with loaded baked potatoes or rice, a huge salad and I forget now what was dessert, but I know we had something. I can’t remember because beyond getting all the food prepared, everything quickly became a faint and hazy memory. See, as soon as I pulled the steaks off the broiler, that damned migraine, the one that I don’t usually have to mess with but once a year, decided to strike before I could put them steaks down and it struck hard! You’d think something jumped out of the oven and hit me over the head!

I heard dinner was great and the girls got to talk to all our family in California via Skype. I heard some mini sausages even got fried into mini-corndogs and they were great.

I wouldn’t know. I was splayed out in bed, my arms over my eyes and wishing sleep would claim me and save me from the torture. I woke up on the first morning of the New Year still with a pounding headache despite several Tylenol pills.

I stayed in bed for most of the day, but I couldn’t possibly let the first day of 2011 go by with me lying in a darkened room and nothing cooked, could I? Of course not!

I dragged myself up and called up my girls who turned out to be troopers. Way to start the year, girls! Between us, we managed to keep the kitchen clean and put together a pretty decent first dinner for 2011.

We baked some cornish hens but not with the sweet glaze or rice stuffing as we did in the recipe posted on our blog. It was just plain roasted like you would a turkey or chicken. By the way, don’t you just love how the six cornish hens fit perfectly in the paella pan?

In addition we also had some cornbread stuffing, black-eyed peas, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, and gravy. Oh don’t forget the canned cranberry jelly! So shoot me. lol! they were good and we found a can in the pantry, so there!

After dinner though, it was back to bed for me and for the rest of the weekend all the way into Monday when I finally got to see my doctor to adjust my meds and all was made well again.

So today is officially my first day of the New Year. I got out of bed with just a trace and fading hint of a migraine, the sun was shining, I got dressed and got to work and nothing disintegrated in my absense. All is good.

Happy New Year! And here’s to more days like today!

P.S. excuse the photos, my daughter took them from her cell phone. It was just too much effort to pull out my camera and plate stuff.

I think the One-Day-Work-Week is ideal for me. That’s what my schedule was this week and I love it! You’d think I would have had more time to blog though; but NO! I’ve fallen off the everyday posting but that’s ok. I picked up my girl from school and we’re all home again and all is good. Having my family together and complete for Thanksgiving if perfect. That we are spending it just us and hassle free, we don’t even to get dressed up if we don’t want to, is sublime. We have a feast to last days and tomorrow we’ll go see the Deathly Hallows. Can it get better than that? I am thankful for the little things and the big things life has thrown at us. HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES!

Carrot Cake and Sweet Potato Pies for dessert. Can’t wait!

From Wedding

I’m sure many married people have asked themselves this question. At one time I did too.

My answer was: YES, I did marry the perfect person for me. The man I married 19 years ago knew just what I needed when I needed it and how I needed it.

He has driven me to madness but he has also propelled me to happiness.

He made me want to be a better person than I was; although he would have been perfectly happy with the girl he married, he makes me want to be worthy of his love.

He makes me smile. Even at my worst, this man can make me smile. And during the lowest of low moments when nothing could bring forth a smile, he was there to cushion me until I could muster one.

After 19 years of togetherness is our marriage perfect? Of course not. Nobody’s is. We make love but we also make wars. And I’ve learned that it’s all good because it’s what happens in between the loves and wars that truly matters. It’s the mundaneness of living everyday with the same person that is important. It’s the day’s hellos and goodbyes, the good mornings and good nights that matter. It’s the mere words and acts that we take for granted. It’s those that when you make a conscious effort to inject love in the ordinary and actually mean it, they become extra ordinary.

When you say ‘HELLO’, for instance, say it as if you said ‘hello! I am truly happy to see you’. When you say ‘GOOD MORNING’ say it as if saying ‘I am glad to open my eyes and you’re the first thing I see. I am glad to start another day with you and I can’t wait until we are back in this moment again to say GOOD NIGHT.’

To the man who still can make me smile and can still make me feel beautiful as a girl but respects me as a woman and friend, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY. We don’t look the same as when we said I DO but neither would I say ‘I DO’ the same way. Today, if I were asked again to answer, I will say I DO more confidently and ardently because I know what is to come…and I do not regret one moment of what has come to pass.

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We had such a huge brunch today that we ended up not having dinner and just snacking. I was going to fry up some buttermilk fried chicken for our Sunday dinner but the thought of something fried after this humongous meal just was not appetizing anymore. So I’m saving the chicken for tomorrow’s dinner.

My husband who just love breakfast nearly swooned when he saw me putting this meal together. It was close to noon and we hadn’t had anything to eat but coffee and the girls were just getting out of bed. I decided to clean out the refrigerator. I took out sausage, liver pudding, and bacon. There was also some greens left over from Friday’s dinner so why not? Why not have some veggies to balance out all these fattening meats, right? Besides, it was sinfully good.

Midway to cooking breakfast, my husband nonchanlantly mentioned, “It would be nice to have some sausage gravy“. Well the man has been working hard, I figure, why not? So I made him gravy too on top of everything else.

So this was his plate and on it is: Neese’s ‘hot’ sausage patties, Neese’s Liver Pudding, 2 eggs over easy, and garlic fried rice smothered in Sausage Gravy. Along the side are some sliced tomatoes, some leftover greens and toast. He was a happy man!