Saturday 12 March 2016

SEEMS LIKE YESTERDAY

Yesterday, March 11th,  one year ago my mother died.
One year ago.
Funny how fast this past year flew by and really it does feel like only 
yesterday.
Every day since,  I have replayed all the events that transpired during the weeks I spent with her during the whole ordeal and then the weeks afterward just plodding through all the details that follow a death.

Mostly I ruminate about what I could have or should have done differently.  Silly, yes, as we all did the best we knew how and every decision and action was fraught with so much emotion.
It brought some of us in the family closer and it caused disintegration of the already tenuous ties with others.
The 'new order'  in the family is now different and in so many ways 'better'.
I guess when your last parent dies there is permission granted to become a full-fledged adult once and for all.
No need anymore for pretense.
So say what you mean and mean what you say but try to do it kindly.
Maybe that is their parting gift to us, their children -- a final letting go for us to figure things out for ourselves.
Well, for me it has been a sad year and a very introspective year as well as a year of shifting priorities and loyalties.
My mother was honest,  sometimes annoyingly so,  but I admire that more now than ever.  She didn't always sugarcoat her assessments and she rarely wavered on an opinion.
Since her death I realize I need to be more like that and also because
 all our stories will end the same way -- one moment, one day,  we will just stop living.

Thanks, Alyce,
                                                   for everything.

 


Sunday 6 March 2016

PLANTS...so Yum!


Almost any 'traditional'  dish can be made and made deliciously with all vegetables.   A perfect  example is my 'vegetable pot pie'.  I merely made a few adaptations on the classic 'chicken pot pie' recipe that I absolutely loved for years and what you see is the result.   Its beautiful and full of carrots, potatoes, peas, mushrooms,  celery, onion, green beans, sweet potatoe, butternut squash and I think that is it.   Oh and also handfuls of herbs (savorie, thyme, rosemary, sage,  garlic, salt & pepper...really anything works),  and an organic vegetable broth base mixed with a flour rue of sorts to thicken it slightly








I'll leave the crust up to you.  I make my own or sometimes use the frozen 'tasty-flake' ones.
I do not claim this to be 'vegan' but it just might be!
My goal is to try to be completely meat & dairy free which if you know me my biggest challenge is my morning coffee
WITHOUT
CREAM!
I am working on that one and may have found my remedy.
I'll keep you posted on that.

Enjoy the 'pot pie' if you give it a try.