recipe

The Spin Cycle this week is to share a recipe and the story behind it.  I guess mine would be not so much as a recipe as what I do with the left over turnkey from Thanksgiving and Christmas. I think I shared before about my “Hot Browns” I make.  Now how and where they came about.

When I lived in Greenville, North Carolina years and years ago, before I met my husband I used to go with my friends to this restaurant called Sweet Carolines.  I think it was supposed to be sort of chic and French and I guess it was for back in the day in a college town like Greenville.

They had an item on the menu called Hot Browns and I used to love it.  I didn’t really know how they made it or what the recipe was so over the years I kept having that dish pop up in my head and I kept thinking how great it would be to have one of those hot browns again.  Since I now live in Georgia (and as far as I know Sweet Carolines closed down many years ago) I FINALLY decided that I would “make up” my own version of hot browns to the best of my recollection.

Since the only time we ever really cook a whole turkey is Thanksgiving or Christmas that is the only time I make it since it takes leftover turkey. I supposed I could buy some of that carving board turkey at the deli but I don’t think it would be the same. My family loves it and this past Thanksgiving my son in law told me oldest that he refused to leave until he got his hot browns. I suppose if I’d been thinking I should have put off making them for a few days to force them to stay!

I take the leftover turkey and chop it up into bite sized pieces or cubes.  I buy a good roll from the bread department but you can use hamburger buns or even hotdog buns if you like. It just needs to be something a little more substantial than sliced bread.  I cook a whole pound of bacon (I never said this was good for you or that it wouldn’t shoot your cholesterol through the roof!), let it cool and then crumble it up.

I lightly toast the buns then layer on top of it turkey and crumbled bacon.  Then I make a cheese sauce.  I take a simple white sauce and add about a cup of shredded cheddar to it.  I pour that on top of the buns and meat and then throw a little more cheddar on the top just for good measure.  I toss the whole thing in the oven and let it bake for about 15 or 20 minutes until it’s bubbly and starts browning.  Voila!  Hot Browns!

Yum Yum!

1. What is one of your quirky traits?

When I make sandwiches IF I put mayonnaise and mustard both on the sandwich they have to be on opposite pieces of bread and it can be very thin but it must cover every little piece of that side of the bread…all the way to the crust. I know, weird.

2. If you could be given ANY gift what would it be?

Health

3. What chore do you absolutely hate doing?

All of them! I am essentially very lazy.  I don’t like drying dishes or scrubbing floors though.  I will let dishes drain in the drainer until they are dry if it’s just me home. 

4.  If you could play any sport professionally what would it be?

IF I were younger, and thinner, and athletic, and if there had been such a thing when I was younger, and if I’d had one iota of athletic ability I would have loved to have been a competitive cheerleader or figure skater.  I always wanted to cheer and my mom would never let me and figure skaters have always fascinated me. When I was younger, there wasn’t anywhere around us to skate, either ice or roller so I didn’t even skate for the first time until I was over 18 and by then had learned to fear falling so I have never been good at skating, plus I have weak ankles and then the whole non-athletic thing rears it’s ugly head again.  I would actually have loved to have been athletic but since I was never allowed to participate in any sports when I was younger I never knew if I could have been any good at anything at all.

Hope to last through the harsh winter

Hope I can stay on this rock!

Hope he will adopt me!

NO, adopt ME!

I hope I can finish my nap first...

But look how adorable I am!

I hope they open the door and let me in!

I hope that dog chokes on his food... STUPID DOG... They should let ME in.

E-Rock

Elevation 2407 feet

Exquisite View

My maternal grandparents, Estes and Elizabeth

My grandmother Elizabeth

Dream Job

Last night I had a crazy dream…..

This week’s spin is on your perfect job.  Have you ever HAD the perfect job?  What would it be?  I have had some jobs I really enjoyed and I’ve had some jobs that I didn’t.  Actually most jobs I’ve had I have enjoyed… the jobs themselves, it was the people that I had to put up with ON those jobs that made them unpleasant.

I can honestly say that I can’t think of a job that I’ve had that I really really disliked except for the short stint I had as a “door to door” encyclopedia sales person. Yeah, I really did that.  And even then, it wasn’t the job itself so much because I enjoyed meeting the people, again, it was the people I worked with/for.  They were very disorganized and just really didn’t do a good job of follow through.

A “dream job” for me wouldn’t be that difficult.  It would involve working with people, preferably new ones each day!  I actually really like working retail in the respects that I got to meet new people every day and the same with working at the chiropractor ‘s office.  I got to meet new people almost every day.

The other thing I really like to do I HELP people.  I felt like I did that at the chiropractor’s office (even though I wasn’t the one actually making them feel better) and that made me happy.  So, helping people would be a big priority.

I also love giving things to people or just giving things away.  And I know when I volunteered on the umpteen committees and fund raisers for the kids activities that always made me happy.  Meeting goals and raising money and giving things away…. Yeah, that’s all good.

I guess then, my ideal job would quite possibly involve working for a non-profit of some kind.  I enjoy organizing fund raisers, I enjoy making people happy, I enough working with people and meeting new people and I enjoy giving things away!  SO… if any of you guys out there know of a job in the Atlanta area that involves all those things THAT would be my dream job.  Oh, an being able to work from home and work my own hours or at least not your typical 9 to 5 hours wouldn’t hurt either!  Is that too much to ask?

I have a dream…. A dream job… I just don’t know where to find it!

So what’s your dream job? Spin it up and head on over to Gretchen’s Second Blooming to tell us all about it!

Storm

I wake to the sound of thunder rumbling

I pull the covers back over my head, grumbling

“Is it still going to rain all day today?”

NO, please no, let there be another way.

Forecast calls for occasional storming

And to watch out for tornadoes forming

It’s been raining and storming for over a week

My back yards a lake and my roof’s gonna leak

I have no problem with Mother Nature

Doing her job with occasional adventure

But day after day of continual rain

Is getting on my nerves, being a pain

The lightening crashes all around

It does look beautiful as it streaks to the ground

But then my internet and cable go out

That makes me angry and I want to shout

I shake my fists to the heavens and growl

Why do the winds have to blow and howl

I thought “light rains” were in the forecast

How long are these downpours going to last?

Day after day and hours upon hours

We endure these “occasional” thunder showers

Oh wait! Is the sun poking through clouds in the sky?

Nope, that’s just the street light opening it’s eye.

I’ve put up with this cold and wet without end

Mother Nature is definitely not being my friend

I guess I should shut up and let her put on her show

Or she could decide to turn this rain into snow.

This poem was brought to you by way of Mama Kat and her Pretty Much World Famous Writer’s Workshop and prompt #2.) Write a poem about inspired by the word: Storm.

1. If you could choose anyone, who would you pick as your mentor?

Jesus, Mother Teresa or Ghandi because of their ability to see the good in everyone and always turn the other cheek and their love of helping others.

1. When was the last time you had an amazing meal?

I always have an amazing meal whenever my husband cooks!  I’m spoiled.  But other than my husband’s cooking I’d have to say either the last time we went to Pacci (before it closed) or when we went to the wine dinner at Leoci’s in Savannah.  I always have great meals so for me to consider it AMAZING it has to be spectacular.

1. Would you rather take pictures or be in pictures?

I would much rather take pictures. I hate having pictures taken of myself. I really do not like the way I look but I love how everyone else looks so I’d rather be on the back side of the camera!

1. Describe yourself in seven words.

Family oriented, loving, giving, humorous, kind, stubborn

If you’d like to participate, head on over to Cee’s and either hook your post into hers or leave your answers in her comments section!  It’s that easy!

This morning I stumbled on a blog titled Our Simple Lives through another new blogger friend, Jen at We’re Living a Full Life.  Jen had written a letter to Homeland Security on behalf of the couple and I plan to do the same thing and I hope you all will too.

The situation kind of reminds me of several years ago, a friend of ours, who is in a heterosexual marriage and had been married to the same man for about 20 years (at the time) and her 4 children with him, was in a quandary because her husband just happened to be of Iranian descent.  It was shortly after Desert Storm (the first war over there) started and even though he had lived and worked here for over 2 dozen years paying taxes and being an upstanding citizen (though not legally), he was almost deported because he was of Iranian descent.  Of course they didn’t say that was the reason, they simply chose NOT to renew his green card.

Here we go again, almost 20 years later but basically the same situation.  Mark Hames and Fred Deloizy of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania have been together for 22 years.  They have adopted 4 children together.  4 years ago they got married.  Fred’s visa recently expired and he is now facing deportation because DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) does not recognize their marriage as legal.  If they were a straight married couple, Mark could sponsor Fred to renew his visa but since they are a gay married couple and DOMA does not recognize their union, he cannot sponsor his spouse and the father of their children.

Fred, Mark and their children Jonathan, Claire, Jacob and Joshua

Looking at how many broken single family homes there are in America and how many children are being raised by one parent, I’d think that the U.S. and DOMA would be happy to allow a happily married loving couple the privilege of staying together happily to raise their children in a loving two parent home.  I’m not going to pretend to understand all of the nuances of the whole situation.  I only know that I find it unconscionable that we would deport a hard working production member of society and rip him away from his children because we are too bigoted and simple minded to open our hearts and minds and see the bigger picture.

I am going to provide you with links to both Jen’s (We’re Living A Full Life) blog post concerning this so that you can read her beautifully eloquent letter to Homeland Security and Mark’s post about their being interviewed by CNN regarding the whole situation.  And I implore you, if you have a heart PLEASE send a letter to Homeland Security or Senator Casey.  The addresses are:

Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr.

393 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

Phone: 202-224-6324

Toll Free:  866-802-2833

Fax:  202-228-0604

Or

Secretary Janet Napolitano

Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Washington, D.C. 20528

202-282-8000

Just because you may not agree with their lifestyle, it shouldn’t stop you from trying to keep this fine upstanding man from being ripped from his family’s life.  Please take a moment to write a letter on their behalf. If you click the link below it should take you to the CNN report on this.

Gay Spouse faces deportation under DOMA