Happy Birthday Mamaw

Today my Mamaw would have been celebrating her 78th birthday. I think about her and miss her every single day. Of course there's the old cliche that you don't know what you've got until it's gone, but in that case I don't think it's true. I knew what I had, and I loved my Mamaw like crazy. Of course, there were times when she drove me crazy, too. All good relationships are like that. But what I didn't realize until she was gone was just how much she had influenced my life and the person I have become. I wish that I could tell her thank you for that. Mamaw passed away when I was 21. Andrew and I had just gotten engaged a couple of weeks before. She didn't get to be there for my wedding, and she'll never get to meet my kids. But I'll have so many stories to tell them about her. And it's because of her that I'm the person I am. Every once and a while little things will dawn on me, and I'll see her influence in my life. As you can tell from reading my blog, two of my favorite things are cooking and reading. Mamaw was such an amazing cook and always encouraged me to help her in the kitchen. We would spend weekends together picking out recipes and cooking away. My earliest memory of reading are of the cassette tapes Mamaw used to record of her reading me stories so I could listen to them when she wasn't there. I'd give anything in the world to have just one of those now.

For my cousins and I, Mamaw was a constant in our lives. She was there for us at times when our parents couldn't be. For me, she was there through my parents' divorce. I was only 2 years old when my parents divorced, but I know it would have been a much more difficult time in my life without Mamaw there to shield me from it. Mamaw lived through some difficult times in her own life, but I remember the big smile she would have on her face any time she was around her family. Thinking about her tonight, I have a smile like that now.

Adele - Rolling In The Deep (Live on Letterman)

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Books #13-17 of 2011

In addition to trying to read 100 books in 2011, I also hope to eventually read all of the Caldecott medal and honor winners. The Caldecott Medal is given every year to the most distinguished American picture book of the year, based solely on the illustrations. Lucky for me, the education library on campus has an awesome selection of school media materials (including children's and young adult books) and even has all the Caldecott winners separated into their own section. So the other day on my lunch break I went and sat down with a few of them.

Arrow to the Sun, illustrated by Gerald McDermott is based on a Pueblo Indian tale and was the winner of the medal in 1975. It is about a young boy who came into being when an arrow was sent to earth from the sun. When he gets older, he returns to the sun in search of his father. The illustrations are created out of geometric shapes in bright colors and are really beautiful. 4 stars

Prayer for a Child was written by Rachel Field and illustrated by Elizabeth Orton Jones and won the Caldecott medal in 1945. It is an illustrated bedtime prayer, with sweet traditional illustrations. For me the best part of this book was seeing an example of an early children's book and thinking about the all the children who have read it over the years. 4 stars

The big surprise out of this group was the winner of the 1978 medal, Noah's Ark, illustrated by Peter Spier. At first glance it's simply the story of Noah's Ark told entirely in illustrations. But once I started to really look at the illustrations, I fell in love. The illustrations are extremely detailed and funny and just generally gave me the warm fuzzies. I feel like you could find something new in the illustrations every time you read the book. I especially liked the scenes showing how Noah took care of all the different animals. I never thought too much about it before, but that would be a big job! 5 stars


The very first Caldecott medal was awarded in 1938 to Animals of the Bible, illustrations by Dorothy P. Lathrop accompanied by text from the New King James Version of the Bible. Not exactly the text we would give a book geared towards children today! It was definitely interesting to see the first medal winner, and the black and white illustrations were beautiful, but this wasn't my favorite book ever. 2 stars


Finally, I read the 1997 medal winner, Golem by David Wisnieski. It is kind of a Jewish folk tale set during the persecution of Jews in 15th century Prague. This is one of those Caldecott winners that is not really appropriate for young children, as many of the themes and images could be frightening. The story was interesting, but it was obvious to me that the illustrations, made out of layers of cut paper, were the real star here. 3 stars

Book #12 of 2011

Book #12 was The River Wife by Jonis Agee. It's a novel about several generations of one family, all connected by the family patriarch, Jacques, and all living in the same house over the years. Jacques was a river pirate along the Mississippi, and the book features the stories of his first wife Annie Lark, a freed slave named Omah who assisted him with his pirating, his second wife Laura, his daughter Maddie, and his grandson's wife Hedie, who finds the books containing the stories of all these women years after the fact. I don't really have anything exciting to say about this book one way or another. It was one of those books that was just kind of there. It wasn't great, it wasn't awful. None of the characters were particularly likable, and at times the writing was rough. I wouldn't particularly recommend it. 3 stars

Cheese Grits

Tonight I'm cooking cheese grits and this one of my favorite recipes, not only because it's so yummy but because it's also super easy. Cheese grits are a great side for pretty much anything if you ask me. Sometimes we have them with shrimp and sometimes with chicken sausage and diced tomatoes, which doesn't sound all that special but is actually really delicious. Tonight we're having them with jerk pork chops (grilled by Andrew the grill-master).



Here's the recipe. It's from the February 2008 issue of Southern Living. I didn't take many pictures because it's so easy and quick there's hardly any steps to take pictures of!

1 (14 oz.) can chicken broth
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup uncooked quick-cooking or instant grits (I use instant)
3/4 cup Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Hot sauce

Bring first 3 ingredients and 1 1/2 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat (Note: Once it starts boiling, the milk will cause it to boil over fast, so watch out); gradually whisk in grits. Reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened (the time this will take will differ depending on what kind of grits you are using, the instant ones usually take less than 5 minutes). Stir in cheddar and Parmesan cheeses. Season with hot sauce.


See? So easy. You can see from my picture that I use fat-free and reduced-fat milk and cheeses and they taste just as good I promise. So that's a good way to cut a few calories. Hope you like 'em!

Cameo Candies

These cameo chocolates make me smile! I kind of want to buy the molds and make some myself and then throw an old-fashioned tea party. Actually, I think they give me the warm-fuzzies because they remind me of my grandmother. I can remember her wearing a cameo necklace (it was pink, on a long gold chain) and I also remember her making mints similar to these for receptions and parties at church. I found these in this month's Country Living.