Thirteen Crayon Stars

Oh, to be in England now that April's there,

And whoever wakes in England sees, some morning, unaware,

That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf

Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,

While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough in England - now!

And after April, when May follows, and the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!

Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge leans to the field and scatters on the clover

Blossoms and dewdrops - at the bent spray's edge -

That's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,

Lest you should think he never could recapture the first fine careless rapture!

And though the fields look rough with hoary dew, all will be gay when noontide wakes anew

The buttercups, the little children's dower - Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!

– Robert Browning

Scrappy Checkerboard

"When I was young, I thought that feasting was simply having a big meal with rice, sushi, and soy sauce. I now know true feasting is more than enjoying a delicious meal. It is an experience of joy, nourishment, celebration, sharing, expressing love to families and loved ones, communicating our thanksgiving to God, and building relationships while enjoying abundant, incredibly delicious food. I believe when we feast upon the words of Christ, we ought to be thinking of the same kind of experience. Feasting upon the scriptures is not just reading them. It should bring us real joy and build our relationship with the Savior. I bear testimony that feasting upon the words of Christ can happen at any time and on any occasion if we prepare our hearts to receive them. Feasting upon the words of Christ will bring life-sustaining revelation, reaffirm our true identity and worth before God as His child, and lead our friends unto Christ and everlasting life." - Takashi Wada

San Diego

I haven’t loved all the patterns in this year’s Quilt Etc. Block-of-the-Month class. I thought October’s “Steps to Glory” and February’s “Jig-Jog Puzzle” were clumsy and inelegant. This month’s “Old Maid’s Puzzle” (April 24 and 25) bothered me from the moment I first saw it. I didn’t like the way the little hourglass sub-blocks in the corners sat, and something about the “Hole-in-the-Barn-Door” center looked unbalanced somehow; out of perspective. For a short while I contemplated substituting a “Churn Dash” or “Dragon’s Head” in its place, but then I settled on a “Sawtooth Star” instead. I love the way the little red star in the center echoes larger pink star. I flipped the hourglasses in the corners so they’d do more of the same, like little ripples in a pond. Suddenly the block I disliked has become my very favorite. I looked it up in my block books and found I even like the name.

Another Fresh Start

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy started working together onstage and in films dating back to the 1920s, but by the time they made it to Ireland in 1953 their careers were waning. Irish fans didn’t know (or very much care) that the duo had fallen out of favor with Hollywood, and when they arrived in Cobh, Ireland on the deck of the SS America in September 9, 1953, the city rang out its bells in jubilation. The bell-ringers weren’t just swinging the bells in random arcs or circles the way church bells are generally rung to celebrate weddings. They actually played “The Dance of the Cuckoos,” Laurel and Hardy’s theme song. When the comedians disembarked they were mobbed with fans, but the first thing the comedians wanted to do was head off to the church so they could think the bell-ringers who had welcomed them to the country.

Old Maid's Christmas

If you plan to serve bacon to a crowd, the best way to cook it is in your oven. Preheat the oven to 400F. Take a large baking sheet (mine’s a jelly roll pan – 12x17”) and line it with foil. If you like extra-crispy bacon, or if you want to crumble it later, say, over soup or a salad, put a cooling rack atop the foil. Fill the pan (or rack) with a single layer of thick-sliced bacon. Bake about 20 minutes, checking frequently. Remove when it’s ALMOST as done as you like; it will keep cooking a moment or two after it’s out of the oven. Let the bacon grease in the foil cool completely, then place it in the rubbish bin. Never pour bacon grease down the drain. Serve in a warm paper towel-lined slow cooker. Be sure to make a lot more bacon than you think you need. No matter what else you’re serving, the bacon will always disappear first.  

Old Maid's Puzzle

“Mama” Lee Wachtstetter loved to travel with her husband. “Mason was a banker and real estate appraiser,” she says. “He taught me to love cruising. During our 50-year marriage we did 89 cruises together.” She kept cruising after Mason passed away. Over the years she’s been to nearly every country with a port. When her daughter and many of her Fort Lauderdale friends had also passed, she made a bold decision. She sold her house, her car, and most of her possessions. She’s been cruising ever since. Since 2008 her home has been the Crystal Serenity, a ship that holds 1,070 passengers and a crew of 655. Mama Lee still chats with her family. “I’d talk to them twice a day, so long as I don’t have to be there.” She seldom disembarks. “When everybody goes ashore it’s so quiet and I have the whole ship for myself.” She’s even published a book: “I May Be Homeless but You Should See My Yacht.”

Fresh Christmas

John’s not doing keto anymore, and we’re all relieved. I remember something a cardiologist said last September when asked about the ketogenic diet. He replied that people who eat keto will still die, just like the rest of us. But they'll have a miserable time getting there. I’m thinking of serving this May 5. If anyone’s dieting then, I’ll skip the brown sugar.

Mexican Chicken

4 pounds chicken breasts

1 cup medium chunky salsa

6 tablespoons brown sugar

2 four-ounce cans mild diced chilies

2 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 to 2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons EACH ground cumin, garlic powder and onion powder

1 teaspoon EACH smoked paprika, oregano, and pepper

2 teaspoons liquid smoke

Load ingredients into slow cooker. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours or high 2-3. Shred chicken (Did you know you can do this with a stand mixer?) and return to pot for another 20 minutes. Serve with corn tortillas or rice.

Fresh Start

“Nearly one year ago, our daughter Alisa died. She had struggled with cancer for almost eight years. We watched her condition deteriorate as she came to the close of her mortal life. It was excruciating to see that happen to our precious daughter. I thought my heart would break. Last year at Easter time, a little over a month before she passed away, Alisa wrote: ‘Easter is a reminder of all that I hope for myself. That someday I will be healed and someday I will be whole. Someday I won’t have any metal or plastic inside of me. Someday my heart will be free of fear and my mind free of anxieties. I am not praying that this happens soon, but I am so glad I truly believe in a beautiful afterlife.’ The Resurrection of Jesus Christ ensures the very things Alisa hoped for and instills in each of us a reason for the hope that is in us.” – Elder Paul V. Johnson

Easter Cross

 Not now, but in the coming years, It may be in the better land,

We’ll read the meaning of our tears, And there, sometime, we’ll understand.

Then trust in God through all the days; Fear not, for He doth hold thy hand;

Though dark thy way, still sing and praise, Sometime, sometime we’ll understand.

We’ll catch the broken thread again, And finish what we here began;

Heav’n will the mysteries explain, And then, ah then, we’ll understand.

We’ll know why clouds instead of sun Were over many a cherished plan;

Why song has ceased when scarce begun; ’Tis there, sometime, we’ll understand.

Why what we long for most of all, Eludes so oft our eager hand;

Why hopes are crushed and castles fall, Up there, sometime, we’ll understand.

God knows the way, He holds the key, He guides us with unerring hand;

Sometime with tearless eyes we’ll see; Yes, there, up there, we’ll understand.

-          - Maxwell Newton Cornelius (1842–1892)

One More Arrowhead

We’ve all heard the story: God sends Moses to Egypt to demand that Pharaoh let His people go. When Pharaoh refuses, Egypt is cursed with horrible plagues: a blood-red Nile, frogs, lice, dangerous wild animals, diseased livestock, boils (personally, that alone would do it for me), storms of hail and fire, locusts and three days of darkness. Finally, Moses predicts that every firstborn among the Egyptians would be slain by an avenging angel. I try to picture what this would have been like. Without the firstborn, our noisy Sunday dinners would have at least five fewer attendees – including me. To keep this avenging angel from their doors, the Israelites were to mark the posts and lintels with lambs’ blood. Passover begins tonight at sundown and lasts up to eight days. It marks the day the angel of death passed over God’s people, their deliverance from bitter bondage, and the exodus from Egypt.

Five Geese Flying

Leif Elisson was a trainee chef at the Hasselbacken restaurant in Stockholm in 1953. He is credited with inventing the popular dish called (in Swedish) Hasselbackspotatis – Hasselback Potatoes. Essentially you take a baking potato and cut it into very thin slices, but not all the way through. Then you fan the potato out and stuff the slices with various toppings – cheddar, chives, bacon, whatever – and bake it. John’s still going keto at the moment, so potatoes aren’t on the menu. Instead, we made three Hasselback chicken breasts. Each breast got five deep slices, almost to the cutting board. Each slice was stuffed with half a grape tomato, a fat basil leaf and a slice of mozzarella. I drizzled them with olive oil and sprinkled Italian herbs on top, then baked them at 400F for half an hour. While they cooked, I sautéed broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, red onion and crushed garlic to serve with them. Yum!

Ribbon Star

I read the other day that the new owners of Gateway Mall report a “dramatic” reduction in crime and are urging customers to come back. I can’t imagine what’s there to come back to. Coldwater Creek isn’t; neither is Christopher and Banks. Bombay and Company is long gone. Franklin Covey is missing, and so are Brookstones, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Barnes and Noble. Anthropologie moved to City Creek and the Virgin Megastore simply disappeared. All my favorite Gateway eateries: The Happy Sumo, Rumbi Grill, McGrath’s Fish House, Z’Tejas, Ben and Jerry’s, and Thaifoon are history. I can’t afford Fleming’s, and I really shouldn’t try to afford Tucanos. There’s still a Megaplex at the south end of Gateway, but we have a better movie house less than two miles from home. It’s no wonder Gateway has no customers. Wait. Could the dramatic reduction in crime be a result of a dramatic reduction in people?

Four Corners

John loves Sizzler’s Malibu Chicken, but just one has eleven carbohydrates, and they generally come in pairs. Earlier this month we tried a low-carb version at home. I flattened three chicken breasts a bit with a mallet. I stirred together half a cup of mustard and half a cup of mayo. I coated the chicken breasts with half the mayo/mustard mix, reserving the other half for dipping later. I dredged them with a mixture of half a cup of crushed pork rinds, half a cup of finely shredded Parmesan, and half a teaspoon of garlic powder. I baked them at 350F for 50 minutes. Ten minutes before they were done, I topped each chicken breast with a thin slice of ham and a thin slice of Swiss cheese. We enjoyed our Malibu Chicken with steamed broccoli and cauliflower. It was a lot of work for a weeknight, but not for a special occasion.

Night Music

“Since ancient times, fear has limited the perspective of God’s children. I have always loved the account of Elisha in 2 Kings. The king of Syria had sent a legion that ‘came by night, and compassed the city about.’ Their intent was to capture and kill the prophet Elisha. We read: ‘And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?’ That was fear speaking. ‘And Elisha answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.’ But he didn’t stop there. Elisha prayed, and said, ‘Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.’” – Elder Ronald A. Rasband

Hummingbird

Cobey Thomas is twenty-three and has nonverbal autism. His favorite thing to do is swing.  "We always had a swing set in the backyard, or we’d go to the park,” says his mom Jennifer, "Then he started getting really tall.” Cobey graduated from his Knoxville school last year. Towards the end of the school year, Cobey would come home with bruises and welts on his legs. He’d grown too big to ride traditional swings. Jennifer called every handyman and contractor she could find to try to build a custom swing set for her gentle giant. “I’d say, ‘He’s 6'10'', 200 pounds, and he functions on a 3-year-old level.’ They’d go, ‘Heck no!’” Then she found Adam Ellis. “He was here the next day.” Ellis measured Cobey to get the right dimensions, then he started to build. Cobey was thrilled with the finished product, but Jennifer feared the bill would run into the thousands. She needn’t have worried. Ellis gave them the swing free of charge.

Bear Paw

The April book for Quilt Etc.’s block-of-the-month class is To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey. I was skeptical going in, afraid it would be written by someone ignoring Mark Twain’s sage advice, “Write what you know.” I kind of wish I could unread Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha and Jon Krakauer’s Under the Banner of Heaven; writers who are much better at shoveling crap than they are at actual research. But Ivey clearly knows her subject well. The unique way she’s written this novel leaves the reader with the impression that they know Alaska’s rich history. But while she describes the weather, terrain and cultures with detail, the events in her book and the names of the people and places are all fiction. Like so many other great books, this one whets an appetite for more. Maybe I should find some nonfiction about Vitus Bering, George Vancouver, or Henry Tureman Allen.

Twenty-five Log Cabins

March 31 we attended Rob Gardner’s Lamb of God at Abravanel Hall during the time we usually set aside for our family Sunday dinner. It was a rich experience made even sweeter by the presence of talented family and friends among the orchestra, choir, narrators and soloists. Instead of an evening meal together, we shared a late lunch of Chicken Tortilla Soup and this dish:

Mole Chili

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 pounds ground beef

1 large onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies

16 ounces tomato sauce

1 quart beef broth

2 tablespoons chili powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

2 teaspoons paprika

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 tablespoon peanut butter

2 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained

Brown beef in oil, drain and place in slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients and stir well. Cover and cook on low four hours. Serve with sour cream, grated cheddar, sliced green onions and chopped avocado.

Twelve Crayon Stars

Avrohom Levitt is a Queens real estate broker who, as he puts it, tends “to lose things a lot.” He was celebrating Purim in Manhattan when his wallet fell into a plastic bag in his car. He tossed the bag in a trash can before heading home. He didn’t realize the wallet was missing until the weekend. His wallet didn’t contain much – a few replaceable credit cards and $68 in cash – but it also held his toddler’s passport card that he would need the following Tuesday for a family trip to Poland. The New York sanitation department located and held the garbage truck in question until Monday, then helped Avrohom sift through 2,000 pounds of trash until the wallet was found. Louis Guglielmetti, a supervisor who helped with the search, said, “I’ve been finding stuff in the garbage for the last seven years, so I’m good at it.”

Twenty Log Cabins

We’ve been calling this dish “Chicken Tortilla Soup,” but it’s missing a lot of the stuff that name would lead you to expect. We’ve had it twice since I found the recipe, and we’ll definitely have it again. Load the slow cooker with two pounds of chicken breasts, a cup of diced onions, a cup of chopped celery, four cloves of crushed garlic, a tablespoon of chopped chipotles in adobo sauce, a teaspoon of cumin, half a teaspoon of chili powder, half a teaspoon of paprika, two tablespoons of lemon juice, a tablespoon of lime juice, and a quart of chicken broth. Cover and cook on low four hours. While it’s cooking, bring an eight-ounce brick of cream cheese to room temperature. Shred the chicken meat and whisk in the cream cheese. Serve with sour cream, grated cheddar, sliced green onions, minced bell pepper and chopped avocado. You COULD also serve it with chopped cilantro, but why would you do that?

Vintage Block

“One young man wrote me in an email: ‘I know God has all power, and I know He will help me if I’m worthy, but I’m just never worthy enough to ask for His help. I want Christ’s grace, but I always find myself stuck in the same self-defeating and impossible position: no work, no grace.’ I wrote back and testified with all my heart that Christ is not waiting at the finish line once we have done all we can do. He is with us every step of the way. Grace is not a booster engine that kicks in once our fuel supply is exhausted. It is our constant energy source. It’s not the light at the end of the tunnel but the light that moves us through the tunnel. Grace is not achieved somewhere down the road. It is received here and right now. It is not a finishing touch; it is the Finisher’s touch.” – Brad Wilcox

Thirty-six Old Italians

According to the legend, Alfredo’s wife suffered from morning sickness. As a remedy, he whipped up a batch of plain fettuccine for her and tossed it in a bowl with a little melted butter and Parmesan. At our house, we start with half a cup of butter and half a cup of cream. We melt them together in a pan, stirring, until the mixture starts to bubble. Then we turn the heat down a bit and let it simmer about six minutes. We stir in 3/4 cup of grated Parmesan, and add a handful of cooked chicken, steamed shrimp or diced ham. We serve the sauce over huge bowls of steamed cauliflower and broccoli, with minced fresh basil and more grated Parmesan as a garnish. We still call it Chicken (or Shrimp or Ham) Alfredo, although I’m sure the original Alfredo would never recognize it.

Sixteen Arrowheads

My husband and I asked for bunless burgers at Five Guys a few weeks ago, and the kid taking our order panicked. “Are you,” she gasped, “allergic?” She was right to be concerned. Five Guys is the last place you’d want to be with severe food allergies. But John’s just avoiding carbs in an attempt to lose weight, and it looks like I have non-celiac gluten sensitivity. If I had celiac disease, I doubt I’d ever be able to eat out for fear of cross-contamination. Even the way the sacrament is prepared in my congregation – gluten free wafers in cups handled by the same fingers that tear bread – would be catastrophic. I’m not avoiding digestive issues with my weird diet; just debilitating joint pain. It does seem to be working. A nice side benefit: my stylist says since I cut out wheat, my hair is growing thicker. She’s probably noticed I tip better when she says stuff like that.

Forty Trees

I’m sharing two little poems today; both are Robert Frost’s. Both describe a particular color. Both of them, to me at least, speak about this time of year.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature’s first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf’s a flower; but only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.

Fragmentary Blue

Why make so much of fragmentary blue

In here and there a bird, or butterfly,

Or flower, or wearing-stone, or open eye,

When heaven presents in sheets the solid hue?

Since earth is earth, perhaps, not heaven (as yet)—

Though some savants make earth include the sky;

And blue so far above us comes so high,

It only gives our wish for blue a whet.

Thirteen Arrowheads

Bacon/Mushroom Pork Chops

6 strips uncooked bacon

3 boneless pork chops

8 ounces sliced mushrooms

2 garlic cloves, minced

2/3 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup cream

Cut up bacon into bite-size pieces. In heavy pan fry bacon until crispy; set aside. Cook chops in bacon grease over medium heat 5 minutes on each side; set aside. Sauté garlic and mushrooms in remaining grease. Add broth and cream and stir. Return chops and bacon to pan and continue to cook until the centers of the chops are no longer pink. We had ours with steamed asparagus, but it would have been delicious with broccoli, zucchini, cauliflower or spinach.

Sixteen Log Cabins

I’ve been wheat free since Christmas, and John has been on a low carb diet for about a month. Putting dinner on the table (and breakfast and lunch) is taking more creativity than usual, and what I serve isn’t always well received. One dish in particular has been a really big hit, and I think it would be just as popular if no one in the house was dieting. I brown and drain a pound of ground beef, season with salt and pepper and set it aside. I take three cups chopped lettuce, three chopped dill pickles, a small sliced red onion, a chopped avocado, half a cup of cherry tomatoes, and half a cup of shredded cheddar. I divide these equally among three plates, then top with the ground beef. I serve our cheeseburger salads with ranch (1 carb per serving) or thousand island (3 carbs per serving) dressing. I get no complaints and  zero leftovers.

Six Houses

“We refer to His mission as the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which made resurrection a reality for all and made eternal life possible for those who repent of their sins and receive and keep essential ordinances and covenants. It is doctrinally incomplete to speak of the Lord’s atoning sacrifice by shortcut phrases, such as ‘the Atonement’ or ‘the enabling power of the Atonement’ or ‘applying the Atonement’ or ‘being strengthened by the Atonement.’ These expressions present a real risk of misdirecting faith by treating the event as if it had living existence and capabilities independent of our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Under the Father’s great eternal plan, it is the Savior who suffered. It is the Savior who broke the bands of death. It is the Savior who paid the price for our sins and transgressions and blots them out on condition of our repentance. It is the Savior who delivers us from physical and spiritual death.” – President Russell M. Nelson