Enjoy Your Company Over a Bowl of Stew

We met some very special friends at the omelet station in Ashville, NC 2 1/2 years ago. They came to visit this week and spent 2 nights. Right as they left, my daughter brought 4 friends home for the week-end. I didn't have much time to fix anything so I went to my now 20 years-in-the-making Brunswick Stew in which I place all the ingredients in a slow-cooker and then let it cook overnight. So late Wednesday night, we sat down and enjoyed our friends from Birmingham, AL over a bowl of stew, biscuits, and a slice of Caroline's Six Layer Caramel Cake my mom sent just in the nick of time. Then Sunday for lunch, we ate the remaining Brunswick Stew enjoying the conversation with 5 beautiful, smart young ladies in their 20's. What a blessing! We hated to see both groups of our company leave. Conversation and good food go hand in hand. Cool weather is here. It's time to fix my Brunswick Stew ( see recipes tab) and invite friends and neighbors into your home. The laughter and fun will brighten your week!

Happy Columbus Day!

In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue... So speaking of sailing, here is a Mark Twain quote on commitment which is needed as you resolve to cook more home-made dinners via cooking co-op or any other plan you can devise to keep you vigilant in protecting the family dinner hour. "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

"Never, never, never,never give up!"

- Winston Churchill during WWII. What a week-end! My 7.5 combo team from Keswick, VA won our division at the state tennis districts in Va. Beach in dramatic fashion. First and most importantly 10 different personalities with different talents all came together and played as a team. The most gifted players were humble and willing to play with any partner. Poetic justice was literally served when one of teammates, months away from double knee replacement, served to win our 2nd match and played her best points of the match to seal our victory. To win our division, another team were down 0-6, 1-4 to come back and win 0-6, 7-6, 1-0. ABC Sports does not get any better- the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat! Our team never gave up. They analyzed what wasn't working and came up with a plan. And so the point is, just because you have tried and tried to be more organized with your home-made dinner plans, verses eating out, pizza etc.- never give up! Try something different. Get a special four-some together to try cooking co-op as a way to eat more natural foods as opposed to processed foods while saving money and stress at the same time. Miracles do happen.