There's No Place Like Home

I had 2 sets of plans that were going to keep me away from home all day but both were cancelled due to rain. Instead I spent most of the day at home decluttering my home and watching football with my son and husband. As we were heating up our cooking co-op left overs for dinner, my husband said how the commercials have it wrong- the best celebrations are not done away from home but at home. Exactly! Instead of spending Saturday driving here and there, I spent the day " cocooning" at home and loved it. Some money managers today are investing in companies that benefit from"cocooning"- spending more time a home due to the economy. General Mills has had great earnings as we eat at home more and I would suspect the sale of slow cookers are jumping. So how much money did we save by eating our left over tuna cakes and pasta with shrimp instead of orderring pizza? $20-30? Here's what the first week of our new cooking co-op at work included( one out on vacation): Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon, shrimp and pasta, and my tuna cakes all with delicious sides. Let your home be that protective covering where you get your batteries recharged-enjoy dinner at home!

The Power of Making a Commitment

So 22 years ago, I made a commitment in Charlotte, NC to be a part of my first cooking co-op.  I was not wild about the idea, but I liked the group and reluctantly said yes.  I was hooked after the first week. Then 6 months ago I made a commitment to blog once a week about the cooking co-op or the importance of dinnertime in your own home.  Hopefully, you are being encouraged but I have been amazed at how much I have enjoyed and learned from this commitment.  Just last week, I took my own advise and ASKED 3 potential co-oppers to be a part of our new group at work- 1 no, 2 yes.  So tonight I will receive a coq au vin dinner from a Senior Vice President, also mother of 3, and Thursday night, a male financial adviser, another Vice President, father of 1,  will bring a shrimp pasta dinner.  Both are tremendous cooks!  I now realize I need to ASK more.  My husband, son and I have been coming up with 3 things we are thankful for-can't repeat.  My husband discovered our son was thankful for Dad taking him to the UVA football games despite a 0-3 record.  Priceless!  What would happen if we became a nation of people making commitments?  Try it and be energized.

You Just Need to ASK

What an incredible Saturday I had!  The 14th president, Janet Morgan Riggs, of Gettysburg College was from my class- how often does that happen.  But I had not thought about going until I got a personal postcard from Karen Peters saying why don't you think about coming.  I checked my schedule, figured out I could do it, made plans.  What a blast seeing Karen, Dale, Karen K., Jayne,Kathy, Susan, Patti, Janet and all.  There was the inauguration ceremony, general reception, special reception for our class, dinner at the Dobbins House(great restaurant in G-Burg) with our class, get together at a B&B on the battlefield, then get together at the president's home for our class.  The memories of freshman and sophomore years made me feel young and of course we all have aged beautifully.  I would have missed all of this had it not been, someone asked me to come.  Ask(A) and it shall be given.  Seek(S) and you will find.  Knock(K) and the door will be open.  ASK.  Just ASK some special friends, neighbors, co-workers to try a new twist on putting dinner on the table.  Give cooking co-op 30 days to change your life!  You will be hooked after the first time saving week!

My First U.S.Open

Went to NYC to celebrate Lisa's milestone birthday(fellow cooking co-op devotee)- also in attendance was Debbie(still trying to convert)- both ladies in my cooking DVD.  My daughter, Parker, who lives in NYC, also enjoyed our amazing 2 days of tennis.  In our first match,  we watched 17 yr. old Melanie Oudin upset #4 seed Dementieva and we literally bumped into Rafa Nadal at midnight as he was laughing and cutting up with his friends in front of his hotel.  I did not realize that the entire complex in Flushing Meadows, is named the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.  This takes me back to her book, PRESSURE IS A PRIVILEGE.  One of her rules for life from lessons at the dinner table, is to show gratitude.  Definition for gratitude:  appreciation or thankfulness for having received any favor, kindness, or good fortune.  How do you feel when you are grateful?  Calm, centered, joyful?   As we enter the fall, let every dinner begin with 3 things each person at the dinner table is thankful for- circumstances, relationships, abilities, talents.  My goal with my DVD and web site is to encourage you to keep the dinner hour.  Cooking co-op has helped me.  Dinner is a time to count our blessings!

One Day Late, One Good Habit

Yesterday, our family ran errands and drove to Washington, DC to board our 2nd daughter, Anne, on a plane bound for Paris.  We will not see her till Dec. as she will be studying abroad this fall.  Please read, under the tab About Ginny on this web site, the memorable moment about cooking co-op's influence on Anne's love of languages.  So with lump in my throat, I read her text message Sept. 1, 1:28 am- Got here safely.  Love you all!  Recently, our family went to Kiawah, SC.   While there I took a number of fantastic tennis clinics and one of the instructors, David Boyd said:  "One bad habit can really hold you back."  So for 22 years, I have been involved in cooking co-op which has given me the structure needed for one good habit.  Anne this morning is in France, speaking french which she began learning in 5th grade every Thursday night when Ivy came to our home for dinner and then spent 30 minutes tutoring Anne and sharing her wonderful stories of her time studying abroad.  One more quote from Kiawah tennis, in honor of the U.S. Open, "To be successful in tennis, as in life, you must be focused and pay attention to the details."  Roy Barth  Get focused with cooking co-op this fall!  

Samuel Johnson's Thoughts on Happiness and Choice

Next month marks the 300th birthday of this great moralist, lexicographer and writer.  You will see one of his quotes on my home page of this web site which hit me right between the eyes when I read over 10 years ago his advise on happiness.  He wrote a book, Rasselas, about this subject and it was published in America 9 years before our Declaration of Independence defined the pursuit of happiness.  But duties, not rights, were at the core of Johnson's ethics.  As you prepare to start your cooking duties in September be inspired by Johnson's wisdom from this book- "perseverance and persistent self-persuasion" are key to a quest for happiness and " the pursuit may derive more meaning from the activity than from it's prospects of reaching fruition."(from Thomas Keymer's article on Johnson)  Translation:  The weekly duties I have taken on by choosing to commit to prepare and deliver dinner for my family and 3 others for these past 22 years, has required perseverance and lots of self-persuasion, but the joys of being in my own kitchen, creating one special meal a week for my family and friends has brought me much happiness which I wish for you.  Choose today what you will serve!

Come September- Be fruitful, Not Just Busy

Schools here in Virginia don't start till after Labor Day- your schools might already be underway. In any case, have a goal to start a cooking co-op in September- revolutionize your schedule to be fruitful and get dinner on the table in an affordable manner. Now is the time to show my DVD to your friends and propose the idea of banning together to get dinner on the table. Battles are fought by banding together to fight the enemy. The enemy is your schedule of busyness. I maintain that the joy of sitting down with your family at mealtime on a reular basis will help your week fall into place. So to get started, you need 3 other people to help with the cooking(remember 4 is the perfect #). Also go shopping now to get the equipment you need. You will need a slow-cooker(I think every family should have 2), a food processor, 2 large cooking pots, a large skillet, and a very large bowl(to mix dishes like home-made mac and cheese for 20 servings). Also get pyrex casserole dishes- some to use for baking and some 4 smaller pyrex dishes to deliver your meal. One friend found fabulous pots and pans on E Bay and I have found great skillets and large cooking items at Tuesday Morning stores. Map your way to the vineyard in these last weeks of summer.