Revival of Vintage Family Fixin's

Early this spring I started a recipe column in the local newspaper where I worked. I called it Vintage Family Fixin's. I wanted to offer readers a recipe - or two - from the recipe boxes of my late grandmothers. In doing this I recalled stories about these women, and other members of my family, and found that sharing those memories with an audience resulted in letters and telephone calls from those who knew them.

It was the beginning of a great journey for me that ended too soon. After the publication of only five columns, I suddenly lost my job due to an error in a headline that had nothing to do with the recipe column.

I did not have an opportunity to tell any of the readers about my sudden departure or my blog but it is my hope that as I revive the recipe column maybe you will share this URL with someone who might find it interesting.

Over the next few weeks I will reprint all of the columns on this blog.
 
Here's the first one.

 

Vintage Family Fixin's

Two Ruths

Welcome to Vintage Family Fixin's.

Today begins with a story of discovery, a theme that has accompanied me through the past year (more about that in a future column).

My late paternal Grandmother Ruth (DeVol) McDonald's recipe box is much like my maternal Grandmother Janice (Day) Watson's attic -- full of unexpected surprises, coincidences or perhaps fate.

Looking through Grandmother McDonald's recipe box last week I ran across a dish called Chicken Cashew Casserole by Ruth DeMarco who in cursive wrote her recipe on a large index card that has two holes punched along the top. DeMarco, hmmmm, I know a DeMarco.

Wow!

It just so happens that Ruth's son, Steve DeMarco, is a contributor to [the name of the newspaper where I used to work] of news concerning Cambridge Concert Association. We are periodically in communication as I am his contact at the newspaper. We also are friends on Facebook.

So it was a coincidence that my Grandmother McDonald, who died at age 68 on Jan. 20, 1989 -- six months before I came to work at the newspaper -- at some point and time during her life met Ruth DeMarco.

Grandmother McDonald resided in Caldwell and worked in the Auditor's Office and later Probate Court at the Noble County Courthouse.

Ruth DeMarco lived a very active life in Cambridge and passed away in 2008 at the age of 81.

The women were six years apart in age.

So how did Ruth McDonald know Ruth DeMarco?

"Her mother's maiden name was Riddle. So she has/had lots of relatives and friends in Caldwell and the area," said Steve of his mother.

Steve said of his mother's Chicken Cashew Casserole, "I make it often and it's very tasty!"

More meals from Noble County folk will be coming your way because in Grandmother McDonald's recipe box I found recipes from the old Ralston's (Pharmacy in Caldwell), the Club in Caldwell, and some of my grandmother's friends (Wanda Wheeler, Mary Jane Yontz) and my Grandfather Fred McDonald's sister Ruth Smith.

Plus you'll enjoy fixin's from my husband's late grandmother Bea Loos, plus some from my late birth mother Sandra (Watson) McDonald, my late aunt Peggy (Watson) Ruppel, and my mother who raised me Judy (Spitler) McDonald Behringer.

Today's featured recipe is from Grandmother Watson's recipe box. Grandmother celebrates her 88th birthday on March 25. Happy birthday, Grandmother! You are the best cook and I remember you making this soup for me. I'm so blessed to have you.



Grandmother Watson's Fresh Mushroom Soup recipe prepared by me.

Fresh Mushroom Soup

1 pound mushrooms

6 tablespoons butte or margarine

2 cups finely chopped onions

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/4 cup flour

1 cup water

2 cans beef broth

1 cup dry vermouth (optional)

1/2 tablespoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper
Chop mushrooms. In large pot melt butter. Add onions and sugar. Saute over medium heat, stirring frequently for about 15 minutes or until golden. Add mushrooms and saute for 5 minutes. Stir in flour until smooth. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour in water and smooth until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered 20 minutes.

P.S. I fixed this soup and my family liked it with the exception of Will, 13, who doesn't particularly like mushrooms. Lee, 11, said, "It's delicious."



Grandmother Janice Watson and me.

BONUS RECIPE

Ruth DeMarco's Chicken Cashew Casserole

1 (3 ounce) can chow mein noodles

1 1/2 cans cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup chicken stock

1 breast of chicken (or 8 ounces of any cold chicken, more if desired (cooked chicken)

1/4 pound cashews, cut in quarters

1/2 cup celery, cut fine

1/4 small onion, cut or chopped

Dash salt and pepper

Set aside 1/2 cup noodles. In 1 1/2 quart casserole, combine the rest of ingredients. If cashews are not salted, add more salt. Sprinkle reserved 1/2 cup noodles over top. Dot with butter.

Bake 30 minutes in 325 degree oven.


Originally published on March 23, 2014; reprinted with permission from the publisher of the newspaper where I used to work.


　
 


　


　
　




　
 

811 Days

It's been 811 days since my last post.

That's two years, two months and 20 days.

We're all still here, the Old Man and our three sons, and me, the Old Lady.

Here's a recap of my time away from you.

2012

Christian had his heart ablation and the accessory connector was removed, successfully.

In May I was assigned to a new position at the newspaper, returning to reporting and writing, and working remotely from home.

I started to explore my grandmother's attic.

On June 29, our town was a victim of the North American derecho that killed 22 people. Our family lost electric power for four days. We were spared any severe damage to our home. I, however, was traumatized.

I developed "Mouse Elbow."

We bought a generator.

I read Lorle Porter's book "Sara's Table: Keeping House in Ohio - 1800-1950."
 The Old Man became a grandfather, and I became a stepgrandmother.

I learned I was officially in menopause.

I had a heart-to-heart talk about Santa Claus with Lee (who was 10 at the time).

2013

Our longtime child care provider fired our family.

I enjoyed the brief return of Cheesy Tots, my all-time favorite food snack, at a well-known fast food restaurant.

I decided I'd better find out what was the source of swelling in the right axillary breast area of my armpit.

Several tests and a bit later swollen lymph nodes detected.

I quit smoking!

Lee had his left nostril cauterized after suffering from frequent and heavy nosebleeds.

I made my TV debut on a Cleveland station. The reporter and videographer interviewed me at our house about my experience with identity theft via the IRS.

I found my mother in the farmhouse attic.

In May, Christian received a clean bill of health and was deemed cured.

I thought about becoming a falconer.

I started removing the wallpaper from our bedroom.

We bought a boat.

We gave away our three-legged cat Whiskers after I no longer could tolerate the allergies.

I got to experience the joy of being on a team when Christian joined Babe Ruth baseball.

I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.

We enjoyed following the Cambridge cross country team and watching Will run with the middle school pack.

I got my first full-body massage.

I regularly watched the TV shows "Parenthood," "Switched at Birth," "Saturday Night Live," "Breaking Amish," "Gold Rush," "Live from Daryl's House," "Myrtle Manor."

Will and Christian got braces.

In October, I hired a cleaning lady.

We hosted a Minecraft-themed birthday party in November.

2014

I managed to live through two dozen calamity days from school with three boys while working from home.

I finished removing the wallpaper from our bedroom walls.

The cleaning lady quit.

The swollen lymph nodes in the carotid artery area of my neck finally went away after eight scary months.

We took a weekend road trip to Deer Creek State Park and I photographed sunrise.

We followed Will as he traveled with the track and field team, jumping hurdles and running great distances.

I started a recipe column - Vintage Family Fixin's - that was published every other Sunday in the newspaper.

I helped my grandmother celebrate her 88th birthday.

I bought Season One of "Little House on the Prairie" on DVD.

Christian completed his eighth grade advanced art ceiling tile project of Pablo Picasso.

I got fired from my job of 25 years over an error in a headline that I did not write.


Here's my newspaper desk in a tote. I think there's a Soopr Day post in here somewhere ...

I wrote a new resume but for the first time in my adult life I didn't have to go to work.

The Old Man continues to do his job well so I can stay home, for now.

I signed up for COBRA.

I slept past 9, 10, 11 and noon.

I thank God.

I hug and kiss my boys and the Old Man.

I write.

God's plan

In the immediate days that followed our son’s diagnosis with a congenital heart condition, I was wrought with worry, overcome with anxiety and debilitated with fear.

Thank God I knew what to do – seek Him!

I had had those awful feelings before (when my ex-husband left me while I was pregnant in 1997; I lost the child and later learned he had been having an affair). During that time in my life I sought Christian counsel, attended church and renewed my faith and commitment that Jesus is my Savior, and those were some of the best days of my life.

As part of God’s plan, I soon met my husband and within two years I had a new family including a new son, whom we named Christian because my husband I are are both Christians. We also have two other sons ages 9 and 11.

Christian, 12, has been a healthy child for the most part. Only for the past five years he has suffered from what initially was believed to be hypoglycemia (ruled out) and what last summer was finally diagnosed as migraine headaches. So last month’s revelation that he has a congenital heart condition came as a great surprise.

All part of God’s plan.

On March 26 I spent the evening in the ER with Christian who had a heart rate of around  200 beats per minute for several hours that day. It was a scary time for me but Christian was cool. The doctor performed what appeared to be a magic trick that involved a breathing exercise and pressure that took the high rhythm down immediately. Diagnosis was supraventricular tachycardia - SVT. And follow up at a children’s hospital was arranged. Normal heart rate for a kid is 80 to 120.

The next day Christian and my husband returned from the children’s hospital with a bigger diagnosis - something he apparently was born with; they confirmed the local ER's diagnosis of supraventricular tachycardia but discovered it is SVT using an accessory connection - a tiny piece of muscle, smaller than a hair, that bridges the atria and ventricles.

The condition is called Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. I will not go into detail here about WPW or its complications but do know that Christian will soon have a procedure to hopefully get rid of the fiber. Please pray for healing and protection for Christian.

On March 28 I sought Christian counsel. I met with a pastor of a local church. I prayed. My family started attending that church, something we’ve done just a few times over the past decade, but never a month of Sundays.

All part of God’s plan.

Thanks to social media, I sought prayer on Facebook as I attempted to lay this burden at His feet, I emailed friends and asked them to place Christian on their church prayer lists. Thank God for the Internet!

We have been blessed. And I know that prayer works and I know that God has a plan. I am not in control. He is.

I also received Scripture from a friend that I want to share because maybe you are experiencing worry, anxiety and fear. Maybe you need to hear God’s Word or maybe you need to read words about God.

John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

Matthew 11:28 "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is tailor-made and my burden is light."

Another friend shared this with me on Facebook:

God knows exactly where you find yourself, and He is faithful and steadfast. HE also knows Christian's body inside and out and has given doctors great knowledge. I will pray for comfort and peace as you discern the route to take for his complete healing. Be strong and take courage.

Today I have peace even though one month ago I was wrought with worry, overcome with anxiety and debilitated with fear.

All God’s plan. Praise the Lord!

The Amazing Artist

Lee recently turned 9. For at least the past five years he's produced hundreds of drawings on white computer paper. He's entered his artwork in the Salt Fork Arts & Crafts Festival Student Art Show the past two summers. He's won awards. He's received O's (outstanding marks) in art class at school.

Lee's creativity amazes me. His father, the Old Man, is artistically inclined and still has many drawings from his youth. I am not.

Our oldest son, Christian, 12, was as interested in art as Lee at a young age but sadly he rarely picks up a pencil anymore. Middle son, Will, 11, also likes to draw and exhibits talent but he tends to navigate toward using only wide ruled notebook paper which annoys me to no end.

Lee's artistic ability has surpassed any expectation I ever had for him. I think he's a genius. His imagination is wild. He surprises me every day. And yesterday was another gift.

First we took his Letter to Santa to the post office to mail it.

Then we went to Big Lots to get some big boxes of cereal at big savings and there he asked to buy a cheap set of T-shirt markers - 10 colors for $2. I rarely turn down a request by him to buy art supplies. At the store I told him he could use an old white T-shirt from his pajama drawer on which to draw.

We arrived home and within a half hour he had created a most amazing holiday shirt with a theme of lava and volcanoes.

"don't think about lava

think about Christmas"

***

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

The Last Pumpkin

Imagine that you are a pumpkin - the last pumpkin in the field. The nights are getting colder and there is snow in the air. Won't someone come and take you home to a nice warm house? You hear voices and see someone coming toward you ...


I'm in a pumpkin patch. I've been dreaming for this day for months. I see a teen-ager with his dog. The dog is a black lab. He is sniffing me. His nose felt so wet and moist. He walked away. His dog didn't want to go. Then he jerked the leash and the dog went with him. I saw him looking at the other ones. Just then I was getting tired. I tried to keep my eyes open. Then I saw him. He was coming toward me. He picked me up, took me to his house, put me on his porch, and lit me.

Written in October 2010 by Will, 9, as part of a fourth-grade writing assignment.

"L" is for Lisa and First Love

My fifth grade son has a girlfriend. The last week of school, this past May, he announced he was going to kiss her, but that never materialized.

The two did not correspond or see each other over the summer. She lives on the other side of town.

Last week he mentioned her again. School resumed two weeks ago. Apparently they are still “together.” Two nights ago, as he kissed me good-nite, he said he was going to try to hug his girl the next day. Yesterday morning he ate his breakfast and ran upstairs to brush his teeth. That’s when I heard the shower running – 10 minutes before we had to leave for school.

He came downstairs smelling like Axe.

On the way to school he said that not only was he going to try to hug her, but also kiss her and hold her hand. After that I must have lost consciousness because my friend, who was dropping off her child at the school too, said she waved to me but I did not see her.

My son came home from school. He said he did not get a hug, a kiss or a hand-holding session. He said that he and the girl talked at recess. Asked what they talked about, he replied, “Business.”

I believe this girl may be my son’s First Love.

With all of these feelings surfacing from my dear boy, I started thinking about my First Love.

His name was Tim.

Tim and I were classmates. It was the third grade.

I don’t know whose mother made the arrangements but Tim ended up at my house, in my backyard, where we played on my swing set until nearly dark. Then he stayed for dinner. My first “date.” I don’t remember what we ate, all I remember was Tim was at my house and all was good. I don’t know if it was that day but at some point during that school year Tim gave me a present. I’m sure his mother picked it out – it was perfect. The initial “L” on a chain. My initial. Beautiful. I still have that gold necklace. Here it is.

Tim’s mother lives in my town now. Tim lives just down the highway between the town where we grew up and where his mother and I live. My First Love was not a physical relationship. I had feelings. I’ll bet he had feelings too. In third grade we did not act on those feelings.

In fact we never acted on feelings but we continued to be friends. I remember going to my first co-ed party at his house, for his birthday. He lived just on the outskirts of town where his house, located at the base of a cliff, was surrounded by a small wooded area. There were grapevines intertwined among the trees. We swung on those grapevines and I remember this like it was yesterday.

In high school I went to a couple of big parties at his house. We were getting older and the parties were getting more mature. There were no grapevines to swing on then but there were cold beverages consumed. My parents learned about that party and my behavior, and I was grounded for a month.

I see Tim's mother from time to time and we speak – catch up on Tim and his wife, and my husband and three sons. And though I only see him every five years at our class reunion, I remember the boy, my First Love, with fondness.

Fill in the blank

Will, our fourth grader - the one who nearly two years ago decided that "Old Lady" would be a suitable title for me on our blog - recently received an assignment.

I asked him to fill in the blanks and complete these sayings, or idioms as they are commonly referred.

Anyway, here are some keepers.

You may have seen these other places, but never like this.

Remember, I gave him the first part ; Will's answers are underlined.

1. Honesty is the best when in trouble.
2. The grass is always greener when you're good.
3. A penny saved is a penny earned.
4. A woman's place is in the house.
5. It's always darkest before the day.
6. Crime does not solve problems.
7. People who live in glass houses should not break down.
8. You can't teach an old dog how to walk.
9. Where they're smoke there's trouble.
10. Never underestimate the power of God.
11. Love all, trust everyone.
12. Two is company, three is family.
13. Don't bite the hand that helps you.
14. If you lie down with dogs be careful.
15. No news is fun.
16. Fight fire with power.
17. You can lead a horse to water but not a cat.
18. When the cat's away, stay away.
19. Children should be seen and not heard.
20. A fool and his money are funny.