"Cocooning"

At least one money manager is looking to invest in companies benefiting from "cocooning"- families spending more time in their homes. That was what was so special about Thanksgiving vacation. My daughter working in NYC made it home Tuesday night - so we sit around the table as she eats her bowl of Brunswick stew and catch up. Then Thursday, stoking up the hearth of the home- the kitchen- as we all pitched in to get our Thanksgiving meal and table setting ready. Afterwards, sitting around the gas fireplace and talking, laughing, then talking long distance to our daughter studying in Scotland. Friday night all of huddled around our 1 working TV(other TV went on the blink Weds. night) watching Bolt- all of us laughing out loud at Rhino- the hampster. Saturday puttering around putting up Christmas decorations then coming back from the Hanover High School football district win to have another bowl of Brunswick stew. Keep Thanksgiving going throughout the year with special dinners created by you or your cooking co-op. Theirs no place like home- enjoy it with family and food!

Stress Light

WSJ in an article "Are We Too Stressed To Reduce Our Stress" bring out the fact that overall stress levels in America are high and we are not doing enough about it due to a lack of time. I am a senior VP at a national brokerage firm, my husband works, I have 1 daughter working in NYC, 1 daughter at UVA and a 14 yr. old son who just finished football and today starts practice for basketball. My husband is a minister and we are very involved in church activities. Plus I am a die-hard USTA tennis player. We have a lot of balls up in the air, but we find time for a family dinner time on a regular basis. If you can cook every night and still enjoy that special time to celebrate the day with your family- perfect! But I need help cooking, planning, recipe searching etc. so for 22 years I have and still am a cooking co-op(supper swap) evangelist. If it's Tuesday, it's my night to cook, but if it's Wednesday, it's my night for a tennis clinic. Cooking co-op saves approx. 2 hours/week- read this web site. The best way to reduce stress is to get going and think of others- your family and cook extra for a family in need. As you sit at your Thanksgiving dinner, become determined to stress less, cook more and enjoy life more!

Cooking Co-Op and Courage

Last week I read this: "Commit to acts of compassion that will alleviate distress and inspire courage, spirit, and hope." I zeroed in on the word courage and that word kept coming up. I saw part of "The Wizard of Oz". I always loved the cowardly lion singing "If I were King of the Forest." It turned out that all the lion really needed was a medal of honor. Then this morning I read in Becky Tirabassi's newsletter about "...courage to change the areas of our lives that are stagnant...the need for something to excite us...start doing something that is healthy." So here is the definition for courage: That quality of mind or spirit enabling one to meet danger or opposition with fearlessness, calmness, and firmness." There is a great deal of distress and stagnation centered around the dinner hour. And it takes COURAGE to try cooking co-op and face the internal fears of cooking in quantity, the fear of putting your cooking to the taste test, facing the opposition of ads saying let us cook for you, and the calmness and firmness to deal with the inevitable mishaps(firetruck arrives at my home after trying a new recipe). Joy is the medal you receive for cooking dinner-an outstanding act of service for your family!

Discover Dinnertime

I had the opportunity last week to go to Charlotte, NC and meet Susan Dosier, a former Southern Living Executive Food Editor. I came away with a gem of a cook book she and Julia Dowling Rutland(currently the Food and Entertaining Editor, Coastal Living) created as a guide to building family time around the table. Included with some unbelievably good-looking recipes are 8 good reasons to eat dinner with your family. 1) Your child will read better. 2) Good conversation shapes the future of our country. 3) Shared mealtimes give your family a unique identity. 4)Eating together may reduce children's behavioral problems. 5) Table time gives your children a regular time to talk to you-and you to them. 6) You're likely to eat more nutritious meals when you eat with someone else. 7) Preparing meals together teaches your kids to cook...and clean up. 8) There's no better time or place to teach good manners. At selective stores, I am packaging this cook book and my DVD with a green ribbon around it for Christmas gifts. Recipes Susan highlighted I can not wait to try with my co-op- Creamy Pecan Chicken and Slow Cooker Picante Pot Roast served with Quick Cheese Grits.

A Word About Kitchens

This month 13 years ago, we moved into our home. And I still love my kitchen. You can see it in my DVD and in pictures on this web site especially if you look at the slide show on the helpful resources tab. This week as I was cooking my meal which had a lot of "moving" parts, I was thankful for it's modest size- any bigger and it would be too many steps from sink to stove top to refrig. And unlike many magazine kitchen photos- I do not have an island in the middle of my kitchen and I do not have a big hood over the cook top. I have a microwave with a fan over my gas cook top. An island can crowd and/or block your path to the needed item. When I recently asked a homeowner where she had her microwave(she instead had a beautiful wood vent over her cook top), she confessed it was in the utility room. It is so convenient to have the microwave right over the cook top and it is so perfect to have shelving above the microwave as that is where I keep my non-stick sprays, soy sauce, vinegar, worchester sauce etc. My countertops are white formica- not the expensive variety but they sure "pop" in pictures, slide show and my DVD. Small and affordable kitchens cook many a good meal. Easy does it!

Peak Fall Foliage= Brunswick Stew Time

I delivered my Brunswick Stew to my new cooking co-op along with ham rolls and some home-made chocolate cake(my daughter came home from NYC and so while making her a surprise, I made an extra cake to share with my co-op). Brunswick stew is one of my easiest meals to make. But once again, I found it to be everyone's favorite- one husband said it was his favorite meal and the male gourmet cook in our co-op loved it. One mom was surprised how much her children enjoyed it. See the menu on the recipe tab and in my DVD "If It's Tuesday, It's My Night To Cook" I demonstrate the making of this recipe. It also helped that it was a cool, rainy day that I delivered my meal. Read the tab About Ginny and click the memorable moment in which I first received the best Brunswick Stew of my life from a soon to be cooking co-opper. Her recipe was wonderful but time-consuming so I simplified it. It's best to have 2 slow cookers and make 2 batches because you can give some away to someone with the flu and freeze the rest. It's easy to shop for as most of the ingredients come from the freezer section. So ladies and gents- start your engines..um..slow-cookers!

Resolution: Resolve to Perform What You Ought

This week I read a fascinating article on US Airways Capt. "Sully" Sullenberger http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703790404574469160016077646.

.html. And I also read a statement: " Character" and "Virtue" have been replaced by "Values". So what's the difference? Values implies a benefit but character and virtue implies something right and true. The title above is one of Benjamin Franklin's 13 virtues which he wrote at age 20 as a plan for how he would live his life. Often I try to share the benefits of preparing and having dinner together as a family. Samuel Johnson talks of "private duties" leading to happiness. What if having regular mealtimes with your family-even if just husband and wife- is a duty? Jeffrey Zaslow in the above article said:"...it wasn't only his skills...that carried him in those tense moments over Manhattan. It was also his upbringing, his family bonds, his sense of integrity...Sulley's entire life led him safely to that river." The name of the book on Sully's journey-"Highest Duty:My Search for What Really Matters." Duty calls!