A copy of an email...

...I sent this out earlier today.  Please let me know if you'd like to participate.  Please keep Hank, Jody, their four children, and their extended families in your prayers.

Love,

Jennie

P.S. To VP folks...this is Eliza's (and Judd's) brother.

Hello everyone! I hope you don't mind the mass email. I am looking for some help in providing some comfort for the family of a squadron-mate of ours. The father of the family is deploying for 18 months to the middle east tomorrow. He leaves behind, in Severna Park, his wife and their four young children. Hank is the "chef" of the family, and we would like to help fill his shoes by providing two meals a week for the next 18 months. We can do it.

I will be delivering meals to Jody every Monday. This means that you would have the weekend to make your meal. I can come pick it up, or, you can bring it to me. I will send out more information once I have a list of volunteers.

For military members, and families, the greatest honor is to serve. It's also the most difficult task, because it tears families apart, physically and emotionally. Hank has gone to the desert for his family, and for you and your family. He will miss two sets of birthdays for some of his children, he will miss many meals around the table. Please join me in comforting this family.

If you prefer not to cook, or you live far away, you can make a donation. Money collected from donations will be used to buy meals at "Super Suppers," and fresh fruits and veggies. A card with the name of your family will attached to your meal.

I'll be putting calendars together on a two-month basis, and I'll give you more details, too. Please write back to me if you'd like to be included.

If you'd like to send a donation, and you need my mailing address, please let me know.

With Love and Gratitude,
Jennie

Romancing The Stove

I love to cook.  I really love Thanksgiving time, when I can get going for a week off and on in the kitchen.  My mother-in-law and my aunt were with us for Thankgiving, and they both really enjoyed the meal (or so they said).  My aunt told me that my mom would definitely have been proud of me, and I think my mom is the best cook on the planet...so that meant a lot to me!

If you are looking for love this week in all of the RIGHT places, why not start with a home cooked meal?  Cooking is easy and fun.  Here are a few of my favorite SIMPLE recipes, and their origins.

Grilled Cheese.  This is simple, and this is Alicia's recipe.  Alicia is an excellent cook and hostess...and I think of her (and her quadrouplets, holla!) every time that I make this satisfying sammie.  Here's how you make it.  1)  If you hate white bread, then for the love of all that's holy use the "whole grain white."  If you make your kid a grilled cheese on whole wheat, he or she will hate you forever, and with good reason.  I'll hate you too...BUT I LOVE YOU!  Okay.  Now here is the key.  You put a THIN LAYER (Alicia says that part very loudly and with purpose.  A THIN LAYER.) of mayonaisse (I always say that word like the French...from Cassie, who is French only by association - more on that when she gives me permission) on the bread.  A thin layer, people.  Then make and brown your sandwich as usual.  It works, I swear.  If Mike's on a trip, then we cozy up and eat grilled cheese.  Every one loves it, and I get to think of one of my angels walking the planet.  Get some boxed tomato soup from the natural foods aisle and ENJOY!!!

Next:  DON PEPINO!!!  Don Pepino is canned spaghetti sauce, and pizza sauce, that is made in Philly.  Kelly made us some homemade pizzas with this sauce once, and I couldn't stop asking about it.  Kelly sent me home with two cans...then I realized that they sell it at my grocery...ON THE BOTTOM SHELF!!!  Now, you people know that I love Mom's garden, I love it fresh and local...but you can't mess with the Don.  You just can't.  That sauce is ridonculo.  NOW.  Here's what you do to make authentic tasting Italian gravy, if you don't feel like making a pizza with The Don.  You saute your favorites in some olive oil:  mushrooms, onions, garlic...then you add The Don and simmer.  When The Don gets too thick, you add vegetable broth and continue to simmer. When it thickens, add more broth. Put it over your pasta, OR...add some clams, some gulf shrimp and dump it on your polenta.  You won't be sorry.  Cheap dinner from a can...it's where we are, right Kelly?  Lemme know if you like it!

Thoughtful food:  food serves two purposes - it fuels, and it's medicine.  If you are eating for any other reason, then you need to think about it.  The kids like to make up recipes in the house, and we always call it thoughtful food. It's important to think about what you put into your temple.

Thoughtful pancakes, from Maggie.  Make your batter.  Dump it in the pan.  Add fine chopped dark chocolate bits and coconut.  You only need one with your coffee.  Add a banana or an apple to your meal.  You'll be ready for a great day.  Thoughtful pancakes are made on weekends only.

Thoughtful soup, from Jennie.  Reconstitute dried mushrooms in boiled water.  Set aside.  In a pan, saute mirepoix (carrot, onion, celery).  Peel and grate fresh ginger into mirepoix.  Continue to saute.  Add salt and pepper.  Add veggie broth, mushrooms and mushroom broth. Simmer until it looks ready.  Add mung bean sprouts (not the nasty iddy biddy ones that almost killed Emily when she contracted e.coli...but the ones that you get at Vietnamese restaurants) and chopped cilantro.  Oh my, it's good. Add some shrimp or chicken (cooked already) if you need protein.  You'll love it and you'll feel so full, satisfied and thoughtful after you snack on it!

See?  Cooking is easy!  You deserve something to fill your tummy and your soul.  This week, show a little love by preparing something yummy in your kitchen.  It's cold outside, and you need to eat!

P.S. To Alana...give us the green smoothie recipe!  Heather loved it!

I just called...to say...

A friend of mine has this funny story. She had been on a date with a guy that she had been seeing for some time. He dropped her off at home at the end of the evening, and she kissed him good night before heading in to her parent's house. As he was backing down down the driveway, he yelled, "What's that band? With Bono, and The Edge?"
"U2?!" She hollered.
"Do you like them?" her boyfriend said.
"I love U2!" she yelled...hoping that tickets to a concert were in her future.
"I love you too!" he shouted back...even though the threshold of exchanging "I love yous" had not yet been crossed.
"THAT DOESN'T COUNT!" she shouted as he drove away laughing.

I love saying "I love you." I mean...why not? I have some friends who bristle at the words, or seem a bit squeamish when I hug them and kiss them and say "I love you." They want to say it back, but they are holding back.  They feel silly.  They just say, "Uh huh!  Okay!  Byeee!"  I even have some friends who have told me that they only save those words for special people and they try not to save them very often.  To me that would be like saying, "I only try to breathe when I REALLY need air."  Saying I Love You is a way of life for me.  I guess it's a tradition that started in my home growing up.  Although my parents were firm, they hugged us and kissed us often.  They always were telling us that they loved us.  Even just the other day, my brothers and I got an email from my dad telling us that he hopes that we know how much he loves us.  We do!

My close friends say "I love you" often.  I remember my high school and college girls always hugging and saying "I love you."  The teachers that mentored me when I was a professional would tell me that they loved me at the end of some of the more "trying" days...and my navy girls, well, that just had to happen, or else we would never would have heard it over those lonely months!  Overseas phone calls were too expensive back then, and (I know this ages me tremendously), but we did not have access to skype or even email back then.  I would not change those times.

A note regarding the navy friends...the guys say I love you too.  Our group of squadron-mates ranges from a Harley biker dude who flies for Southwest to a thoughtful, peaceful attorney in downtown Baltimore, and everywhere in between, but when I finish a phone conversation with one of those guys, or when Mike does, we say (and hear) the three big little words.  It means a lot.

We say I love you ALL OF THE TIME in our house.  We are VERY affectionate.  We hug and kiss, we cuddle and we coo.  Sometimes if one of the kids has nothing to say, he or she will just say, "Mom?  I love you."  My response is always the same, "LOVE YOU MORE! Now get over here and let me take a big bite out of you!"  (The "love you more" game is a game that I play with my mom, too.  She'll be walking away from me through a crowded airport, and we'll be shouting "LOVE YOU MORE" at each other.)

So, as Valentine's Day approaches...yet another dumb holiday constructed by people who make cards...I'm going to continue to put my energy into spreading the love.  It feels good, it's healthy, and it's free!  Also, I'll be doing my favorite Valentine's Day trick to really bug all of those people that I love:  taking a nibble out of each chocolate in the sampler and then putting it back in the box.

Oh, and what about my honey, you ask?  How could I not write about him when I'm writing about love? Well he gets his very own post this week.  I already have it in my head...(and my heart!)

LOVE YOU!!!