#117 He Counts His Blessings

One of my favorite Christmas songs has always been, "Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)".  In case you aren't familiar, here's a little bit of it:

"When I'm worried and I can't sleep

I count my blessings instead of sheep

I fall asleep counting my blessings

When my bankroll is getting small

I think of when I had none at all

I fall asleep counting my blessings"

I have an immeasurable amount of blessings for which I am beyond thankful.  This isn't even the tip of the iceberg, but I find it of utmost importance to sit down and recognize my blessings every so often so that when I have a moment where I find myself wallowing in a pool of my own tears I can put everything into perspective by remembering all that I have been given.

1. Family

Dad: My dad recently started a new job and up until two days before Thanksgiving, he was committed to working Thanksgiving day.  That meant missing my delicious dessert breakfast and coming home to a late Thanksgiving dinner, and then getting up early the next morning to do it all over again.  I'm thankful my dad found out he didn't have to work Thanksgiving and was able to spend the entire day home with his family.

Mom: Every year my mom makes our entire feast and doesn't ask any of her children for a lick of help.  Do I think she's crazy?  Yes.  But I'm so thankful for a mother who provides, doesn't demand, and loves unconditionally.

Gram and the memory of Pop: My grandfather, Pop, would occasionally volunteer to pray at our holiday meals.  It was a deeply emotional prayer thanking God that he was alive one more year and able to spend the holiday with his family.  I'm thankful for his memory and thankful to still have my Gram with us.

Siblings: This Thanksgiving, not only am I thankful for my birth siblings, my siblings by marriage, but also for those that are my siblings not only through birth.  I'm grateful for those I got to spend part of the day with and those who are always with me in spirit.

Hubby: My blog says enough for why I'm thankful for my husband, but this picture says even more:

2. Food

My love for eating food has been ever present.  However, my love for cooking food has not always been.  My mother dragged me to a pampered chef party at my Aunt Terry's house the year before I was to be married.  All the women were going around answering the question, "What do you like to cook?"  When it came to me, I honestly blurted out, "Nothing.  My husband is going to starve."  I'm thankful for this inexplicable love of cooking, baking, and being in the kitchen.

I'm also thankful for the tradition of my family dessert breakfast.  You can read about how it began and what last year's was like here: Thanksgiving breakfast.  I'll be posting over at www.theorangestrainer.blogspot.com a few new recipes I did this year.

Like this candied bacon:

And these cinnamon rolls:

And this cranberry butter:

3. Relaxation

It is hard for me to take time to relax.  I have to be severely ill or interested in watching a movie to actually "relax".  Thanksgiving is one of the few times during the year that my couch and I cozy up together with absolutely no regrets.

4. Holidays

Holidays and the traditions within them are a blessing.  I know that I can take the likeness of Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof when it comes to traditions and holidays.  I have a controlling love over them.  Unlike Tevye, who followed tradition because it was all he ever knew, I think I have such a firm grasp to mine because some of the best times of my life have been spent within moments of family traditions.

This was a last minute cell phone shot.  I love it.

5. Home

There are many who can't be home during this time of the year.  Sickness, location, careers, and more keep many separated from their loved ones with no consideration of what time of year it is.

This is a tough one to remember to be thankful for.  It is something that we often take for granted.

Of course we will be home for the holidays.

Of course we will hug our family members once again, eat together, laugh together.

I'm thankful, just as Pop always was, for another year to have the privilege of being home with my family.

#59 He Encourages Me

I've started a new blog.

Have no fear, I will not be discontinuing this blog.

Rather, I have started an alternate blog totally dedicated to my kitchen.  My goal is to make a different recipe everyday.  I know this is rather ambitious of me, especially since I can honestly (and without any shame) say I don't even cook dinner every single day in a typical week.

What can I say?  Crazy people have crazy dreams.  Mine is to be inspired enough each day to make something new, whether it be a whole dinner or simply a side dish or new dessert.  Something new to eat each day.

Visit The Orange Strainer to read on more about my crazy cooking endeavors.

So here's adieu to the cooking posts found somewhere that's green:

I just got extremely hungry all of a sudden.

See you at The Orange Strainer.




  

#18 He Loves Halo Farm--as anyone in their right mind darn well should.

If you are reading this and have never experienced ice cream, milk, juice, or any other splendor from either Halo Farm itself, or a Halo Pub location, you have not lived.

And by you have not lived, I mean that anything you once considered to be ice cream, now, should be seen as child's play.

Trust me, I know ice cream. Look at my second post and you'll see, I'm just a little bit of an ice cream-aholic. (I assure you, I have not always been this way and I do not blame my parents).

Halo Farm is just so fantastico that it makes me use easy Italian translations of English words like fantastico for fantastic.

First, for all of you who are into "natural" foods--yeah, it's that. They make all their ice cream in small batches, they don't use artificial ingredients or flavors, there are no preservatives and no high fructose corn syrup. That makes me feel good inside, but isn't enough to win me over completely.

Now, those of you just into flavor and taste, it is ohhh so much that and then some! Halo Farm was built in 1975 and their biggest competitor then was Haagen-Dazs. (Ben and Jerry's followed behind in 1978). Because of this they worked in order to develop a taste which was better than Haagen-Dazs and cheaper too. Trust me, they have done it. The taste is beyond belief. Theirs is the only ice cream that I can eat plain chocolate and float away on a cloud of complete satisfaction and happiness. But you don't have to just get plain chocolate. They have ice cream with chocolate chips, with cookies and candies, coffee flavored, with fruit, with nuts, liquor flavored, and even sorbet.

I've always gone right to the source for my stash of Halo Farm goodness--the source being: the farm itself. There you can get 3 pints of ice cream for $5 and a half gallon of milk for under $1.50. You can choose from an assortment of fresh juices and also pick up your bread, butter, and other tasty prepackaged delights that you might have a hankering for. (At the same price or cheaper than the supermarket!) And I must mention the delicious delight in drinking their chocolate milk. In high school, I remember there being this big craze over Wawa's chocolate milk. And then once I saw that Turkey Hill claimed to have "The Best Chocolate Milk". Sorry folks. Halo Farm is It. Drinking their chocolate milk is like drinking a bar of chocolate, Swiss milk chocolate. (Toblerone, I hear you calling). It is so thick that in order to prolong the life of my half gallon, I mix it 50/50 with white milk...without affecting the taste. Yes, life is good.

But it was not until recently that I found another fantastico part of Halo Farm: The Halo Pub. I knew of their existence before and think that I had even been in one as an unaware child, but now, I'm totally addicted. Addicted in like a nicotine way, but I'm thinking it could perhaps be worse. Because the pounds will hit my thighs faster than nicotine could hurt my body, and then it will take years and years to undo the damage I've caused.

Ok, I've just had a minor panic attack.

But it's so worth it. First of all, forget about the fact that the Halo Pub not only serves the ice cream you can get at the Farm, but it also serves sundaes, milkshakes, coffees, soft serve, and their very own hot fudge and caramel. (P.S. The soft serve is less calories and you can get it as frozen yogurt--even less calories. But then again, why would you do that?) These delightful treats are worth the trip to Princeton or Hamilton Square for surely. The one thing I will point out is that you should not buy a pint there. The pints at the Pub are about $3.50...and do the math, they are clearly cheaper at the Farm. But, obviously, there are always emergencies.

The quaint decorative touch is what pulled me in and made me promise right there inside the building to never enter another ice cream establishment again (Yogurt Land, you are yogurt and therefore I will enter your premises again).

After I had constantly squirmed my way out of going to a Pub location with my brother by using the excuse that I knew I could get the same stuff at the Farm; I finally conceded to go to the Hamilton Square location with him.

They had me after I opened the door. This Pub is decked out with all the right accessories to give the feeling of life on the dairy farm. Cow bells and old ice cream scoops dangle from the ceiling, cow shaped milk saucers line a kitchen hutch, an impressive collection of milk jugs decorate a shelf surrounded by rural paintings of life on the farm.

As if it couldn't get any greater than this (what with the abounding old fashioned decor and tasty delights) they also every Saturday in the summer have entertainment from 7:00-10:30. From jazz to folk rock, to rhythm and blues, to blues, to rock and blues, to original folk...yes, I am in love.

Go to Halo Farm or Halo Pub now, before you do anything else. Your life depends on it.

(My brother enjoying his tasty delight with that "I told you so" look on his face. Stinker.

*Ice cream has not been pictured to keep you from salivating all over your computer*

**Information about Halo Farm's history and nutrition is taken from their pamphlet, I am not all knowing.**