warmer weather, at least for now.

What a spell of blowing winds and below zero temperatures we've had!  Apparently a lot of folks had the same problem.  We were blessed in that our electricity didn't give out, although the lights blinked off and on a few times.  We both stayed in the house unless there was a need for something to be done outside, and those times were few.  It was just us, Christmas day, but we enjoyed ourselves.  For the last month I've been making sure I got a good taste of my favorite Christmas foods.  I made a fruitcake, my mom's recipe, directly after Thanksgiving; almost every  day Cliff and I would have a tiny piece of it, and I personally ate the last of it this morning for breakfast.  I made brown sugar fudge, a childhood favorite, that very few people like:  Cliff says it's just too sweet.  I made cranberry bread, apple pie, and sweet potato pie over the period of a month.  I even made some gingerbread, and made real whipped cream to top it off; Cliff doesn't care for gingerbread much, either... something about the spices in it.  That's OK, because I made him his favorite chocolate cake at some point in the last thirty days.  The only thing I didn't manage to make was my mother's cranberry salad, and that's because I didn't have any crushed pineapple.  I plan to remedy that this weekend, and then we'll get back to normal. 

We were out and about yesterday, so I bought some black-eyed peas for luck; I don't believe it works, but it's fun, and last year I finally found a way to fix them that even my husband enjoyed.  You'll  find the recipe HERE.  It isn't healthy, but we found it to be delicious.  I halved the recipe, since the amount it makes would feed a crowd.  Even then, as I remember, I put some in the freezer to eat later.  Along with the black-eyed peas we'll have cabbage and creamed carrots; cabbage for the green that represents cash, and carrots to represent coins.  Again, I am not superstitious.  It's all in fun, and the two of us will probably be the only ones participating and continue to be the poorest people on our little dead-end road; but nobody is any happier than we are together, and that's where the real wealth is.

Good news!  Next Tuesday my husband will get the cochlear implant activated and the journey to hearing really starts.  He has his doubts about the whole thing, worrying whether it will really work for him.  He is by nature a worrier, more so as he grows older.  We'll both be glad when it's all over.  It isn't like he'll suddenly hear again as soon as they enable it.  It takes time and effort, and it's so hard to be patient.

This morning I read Psalm 148, part of my daily Bible reading, and it reminded me of a song we sang in the Church of Christ when I was a youngster.  Churches of Christ only sing acapella, and they learn to sing their parts (soprano, alto, tenor, and base) at a young age.  Their songbooks have shaped notes and they even used to have week-long "singing schools" to learn how to sing to the shaped notes.  I loved the parts in the song, and sang my alto at the top of my lungs, I'm sure!  I looked it up on Youtube and there it was, acapello!  Just listen to this harmony.  I think this morning was my first time to hear it in over sixty years.

By the way, I'm adding my sister's recipe for meatballs here.  The way I keep losing the recipes in my recipe box, I need them here where I can do a search and find them.  A friend asked for this recipe after I'd posted this entry and since I had to type it out for her, I decided to copy it and add it here; two birds with one stone.

Barbecued Meatballs

My sister’s recipe

3 lbs. hamburger

2 cups quick oats

1 large can of evaporated milk

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

2 tsp. salt

2 eggs, beaten

2 tsp. chili powder

Mix ingredients and shape into balls.  Brown in oil,  Mix sauce ingredients (below), pour over meatballs, and bake 1 hour at 350°.

Sauce:

4 cups ketchup, 2 cups brown sugar, 1 tsp. garlic powder, three tablespoons liquid smoke, and 1 cup chopped onion.