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Comfort Food

Fried green tomatoes – What an odd treat. Have you had them? They are the specialty featured at some southern restaurants. Green tomatoes, sliced thick, dipped in batter and fried to a golden brown. Wonderful ethnic comfort food, so cherished today, was actually based on what was grown and cultivated in a geographic area – usually in back yards.

Rice in China . . . tomatoes in Italy . . . cabbage, potatoes and pigs in Poland. I think of the mouth-watering stuffed cabbage my grandmother made. And the sauerkraut aged in crocks in the basement. And the potatoes stored in the coal bin all winter.

When we grew up on those foods, we really look forward to enjoying them today. Sometimes they’re just not available – or are far too difficult to fix. Some ethnic comfort food is found commercially, but it’s never quite the same.

I appreciate restaurants and chains that are returning comfort food to their menus. Have you seen KFC and its liver and gizzard Tuesday? Revolting to some; manna to others.

Watch for ethnic comfort foods on menus. You may be pleasantly surprised. And be sure to give fried green tomatoes a turn too. Just delicious, y’all!

[Show #382]

Those Niggling Things

I read this HeartQuote of the Day on the Heartspoken.com website:

Be master of your petty annoyances and conserve your energies for the big, worthwhile things.

It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out – it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.

The author is Robert Service.

Good ole Bob has such a heartspoken-worthy sentiment. Think about the last half dozen things that really ticked you off. I’ll bet most of them were silly, insignificant niggling things. Yet they can take away so much of our energy, trying to make them change.

From putting down the toilet seat…to slamming the car door…to feeding the dog…to remembering where you put the keys; whether these annoyances are caused by others in your life, or by yourself, they sure can take up space in your heart and mind.

Well, there is another side to the story. You have a choice. You can allow the niggling behavior to get to you – or not.

How important is it, in the big picture? Will it still be important, a year from now? Would it be a show of love, for you to do it, instead of the person you expect to do it?

React differently, next time you’re annoyed. Decide in what category of importance it belongs. Move it over to a place where you can have more peace and give yourself better quality time to address the things that really matter.

[Show #520]

The Difference Love Makes

I’ve been trying to grab the feeling of being loved and in love. It’s something so ethereal as to defy description. It makes the very air I breathe sweeter, safer, more nourishing.

Look at it from a practical standpoint. If I did not love someone so much and he did not love me, I would still have my same body, my same mind. I would still have the same values to build on and the same education and age and looks.

But somehow, they are all BETTER because I love and am loved.

You know what amazes me the most? All I have to do to deserve all this love is to BE. To exist. To live one day after the other. Just by doing so, I seem to earn his love and devotion.

Am I being silly? Is this something unique to me?

Or—what a wonderful thought—are there hundreds…thousands…millions of people out there who are as loved as you are, and I am. Well, my goodness, I think that is the case! Millions of people are loved and in love. We all experience this wonderment of the soul.

I want to meet them all. I want to shake their hands and congratulate them and share their joy.

And if you are one of them, oh my, but we are the lucky ones.

[Show #381]

I Had To Sell My House

I had to sell my house! I loved that house. It’s on the river, with views of the mountains, in a wonderful community where people care about each other and help each other.

I lived there for more than a decade and had set down roots. But things changed, and it was time to live elsewhere.

I moved everything out and looked at the bare walls. They looked good and had fared well.

One year, I decided to turn the rest room into a stunning oasis. I built in lighted glass shelves to spotlight treasures that I could change every month or so. Wallpaper set the theme, enhanced by crown molding and pewter side lamps. I added a beautiful antique mirror. The floor was laid with marble tiles and a furniture quality vanity was installed, with granite top. It all blended beautifully. I so enjoyed the feeling of that small, lovely space.

Sliding doors to the deck were replaced with romantic French doors. Shelves were added for displaying my teapot collection. I could see myself in every nook and cranny of the house. I had made it my own. And now, it was passing into new hands. How would it be treated?

Would the next family know joy and happiness here? Would they replace my version of beauty with themes of their own? Of course they will. And I am so happy for them.

[Show #530]

Boys Know How Things Work

Boys seem to know how things work. I have noticed that all my life.

I don’t know how things work. Wish I did. But somehow my interests have never led me to find out.

The lights go on when I turned the switch. I don’t need to know how or why. The house sits up straight on its foundation. I can believe in that without knowing the physics behind it.

But boys are not satisfied with that. From an early age, they have to take it apart, see how it works and put it back together again. Sometimes they get good at it; sometimes not. I used to be amazed at how my husband knew how to fix a drain or wire a lamp. I am still amazed at how my son can operate all the lenses and filters and stuff on his professional cameras. They know how to change tires . . . how to put furniture together . . . how to make broken things work again.

I don’t remember seeing his father teach those things to his son, or his father teaching them to him. Yet somewhere along the way, the boys all learned. I’ll bet I could learn all those things, if I really tried. I once installed a door lock, just by following the pictures on the packaging.

But if I knew how to do those things, then they would expect me to do them. Well, that would not be smart. I will just let this tradition or illusion remain on the books. “Hey guys, look what needs fixing. Come to my rescue.”

[Show #479]

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