Veterans Day 2019 - Don't Forget

Growing up in a military family, Veterans Day and all the other patriotic holidays are important to me.  During World War II, Dad started out in the Army Air Corps, which became the Air Force.  After retiring from military service, Dad opened his second act as a college professor.  After retiring from academia, he returned to the military and joined the Indiana Air Guard, eventually retiring as a Brigadier General. 

I'm one of Those People who tear up singing the Star-Spangled Banner or during an Independence Day parade or a Memorial Day or Veterans Day commemoration ceremony.  These are days to remember.

Veterans Day originated as Armistice Day to mark the end of World War I.  Although the actual peace treaty, the Treaty of Versailles, wasn't signed until the following year, the Armistice took effect at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the year 1918,

I know we've heard it so much it's become a cliche, but freedom ISN'T free.  There are veterans all around us, and we should thank them.  So please, at eleven o'clock this morning, remember.

Give Thanks for Pumpkin Pie - YAY!

As I wrote in an earlier post, we had Thanksgiving at our house, and that means PUMPKIN PIE.
Well, Thanksgiving is over, and Christmas is coming, and that means MORE PUMPKIN PIE!!!

When I was little, my mom used to make a no-bake pumpkin pie using unflavored gelatin and Dream Whip mix or something like that.  Those pies were cold and pale, but they were delicious.  That was the only kind of pumpkin pie I’d ever had.   Most baked pumpkin pies looked burned and unappetizing to me until I went to my sister’s house, she had made baked pumpkin pies, and we ate them WARM!  What a concept!  So here’s my pumpkin pie recipe.  I started with the recipe on the back of a can of Libby’s pumpkin, then tweaked it over the years until I came up with the flavor I wanted.

Pumpkin Pie (2 9” pies)
Filling:
1 28-oz can 100% pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix)
1 13-oz can sweetened condensed milk
4 eggs
1 1/2 c dark brown sugar
1 t vanilla
1 t salt
2 T flour
4 t pumpkin pie spice

2 unbaked pie crusts, crimped, in 9” pie pans

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Mix all filling ingredients together and divide between the two pie crusts.  Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 degrees and bake for another 35 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.  When you remove the pies from the oven, the centers will not be firm.  They will finish cooking as they cool.

Thanksgiving Lessons Learned - WARNING: May be TMI

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year - the first time in about 5 years, what with Mom in an extended care facility and not being able/willing to go out anywhere.

We'd had Thanksgiving dinner at our house for several years, and I have a notebook of schedules and lists telling me exactly what to do when for the entire week preceding the event, so I was ready, right?

Well.

As I indicated in my previous post, I added a new festive touch to the week by scheduling a full colonoscopy on that Monday. That was okay, right? That's my scheduled Monday off.  No big deal - just my doctor celebrating the fact that I turned 55 in September. Oh, goodie.

So Sunday, I had to "prep" for Monday. That means you eat NOTHING all day, and take these nasty pills, then later start drinking this nasty concoction - a half gallon of it! UGH. And I couldn't GO anywhere. Well, except the bathroom. FUN. So, the first day of Turkey Day activities came and went with nothing accomplished except my personal cleanout.

I got through all that, and The Great Day arrives. O. M. G. They knock you out! Then you get to sleep it off after you get home. Then you eat like a crazy person because you haven't eaten anything for about 40 hours. So another day down the drain with nothing accomplished.

I worked both Tuesday and Wednesday, so I only had the evenings to clean up the house (oh my - how did it get that way???) and make the food that didn't have to be made on Thanksgiving itself. I was getting worried!

But Thanksgiving came, and I pulled it off. The food was good, the house looked fine, the company was great, and everyone had a good time. But I learned my lesson, and I learned it well enought to print in big letters across the week of Thanksgiving in next year's calendar - NO MEDICAL APPOINTMENTS THIS WEEK!