Sally's Ramble: Family is spelled...

Family is spelled, T I M E. You need to spend time with each other. Not fit-in time, but nice calm, relaxed, "in the moment" time.

Yesterday, the four local sibs enjoyed soup, desserts, misc and each other. The nine of us were so happy and the sun was shining, and everything that was made and brought from near and far was a hit.

This is a napkin that SSister#1 gave us for yesterday:

SS#1 and her SHusband made "Beans and Greens" soup (at 7:30am that morning!), a Wegmans's recipe, and really what family with even an ounce of Italian blood in them doesn't like beans and greens eh? And SBrother#2 and his SSigother (she really) made beautiful, tasty vegetable soup with a zillion different kinds of veggies cooked to perfection. I made roasted vegetable soup-a recipe from Ina Garten/Food Network, it is one of my and SHusbands favorites. For SSon, his favorite soup is canned Campbells cream of mushroom soup-I know, I know, but that is what he likes, and "we aims to please"-one year I made him fresh mushroom soup with all kinds of fungi-he hated it-lesson learned-pay attention to what the kid says!

A Wegmans "Menu" book from the Winter 2011 edition gave me a recipe for a spinach flan-which I changed into a 13x9 pan quiche and cooked about 65 minutes, let set for a few minutes before serving, and it was wonderful-the only change I made was to sprinkle some nutmeg on the top before placing in the oven-I use nutmeg in my spinach lasagna so, why not right?-and it looked so naked with the custard sauce-this made me feel better-all about the feelings eh?

I threw in a "palate cleanser"-2 packages sugar free lemon Jello-made according to directions, let chill for three hours-use a stick or regular blender to make it light and foamy, add 1/2 carton mango type of yogurt-blend a little more, put in a nice dish-I used a glass dish that belonged to SH's SMother, and chill until the next day-just something light when you are eating various flavors at a meal, or in our case to put off dessert as much as possible until SH pleads for his sweets!

We had the most rich, chocolaty cake from SBrother#1 and his SWife-the smell alone was intoxicating. I also threw in a apple cake that has a caramel sauce that you pour over the cake when it is still hot from the oven-and it soaks in-SH and others loooved it, I thought it was too sweet.

We discussed business at one point for a millisecond, and then were lucky enough to see some pix on the TV from a trip to a whale watching-breeding area in the Dominican Republic-so beautiful, the scenery was so many vivid colors of blue and green-you all need to go to the Dominican Republic to see it for yourself. SB#2's SSigO has family there, so we got to "visit" them through these pictures also.

The ladies did the dishes for us-I used to be really mean and insist that I would do the dishes when company left-but I was told a few years back that my guests enjoyed the visit while they were all working together-so I give in now. And I just do a few little things later. I enjoy cleaning for a party, cooking for a party, and the cleanup afterwards lets me think again about the people there that day. A triple-header!
On the dining room table was a tablecloth that SS#2 made-that brought her to the party even though she lives out of state, and on the kitchen table was a table cloth that SMatka gave me long ago-she said it belonged to her mother-and since this is the day of my SGrandma Viviani's birthday-she needed to be here also.
When I mentioned the tablecloths to the family, I was also going to mention that the presence of Mom is inside every one of us at the table-but I couldn't say it out loud. I am sure she heard me anyway.

I put out some spring flower arrangements and displayed only one St. Patrick's Day decoration, and look who found it hanging on the back of the bathroom door: