A Sunnier Version of Sweden

I'm still on track! Two new recipes this week, though one is what I'll call a "swing" recipe, as I made it Saturday but we ate it Sunday. Totally giving myself credit for that one in week 9. First up: Italian Potato-Pasta Soup with Greens for a meatless Friday night meal. Only hiccup: we didn't have it on Friday, because we ended up running errands and going out to dinner. It was still a good Saturday night dinner, though! As has become standard, step 1: gather ingredients. Isn't that fennel and kale beautiful?! I had shopped at our local Festival Foods instead of Walmart sine I was there for Caroline's Girl Scout cookie booth, and their produce section was seductive. Plus, fennel! I've never even heard of it, much less used it in a recipe before. Love this trying new recipes thing. The recipe said one hour for required time, but I've learned that's usually a strong underestimate for the way I cook. I think the difference is in the pr...

Nothing like a good bit of work travel to put a little bit of stress on the ability to keep up with resolutions. For the recipe from a couple of weeks ago, I needed something easy that would work for a weeknight dinner as I was headed out for the entire weekend for a work function. No leisurely cooking in my future in week 9! Enter, Macaroni and Beef Casserole , promising 30 minutes to get dinner on the table. Pasta; beef; cheese. How could I go wrong? Pretty simple stuff, with some dicing and prepping but nothing crazy. Vegetables in the skillet first, add the meat, brown until done. The learning opportunity for me in this recipe: making the cheese sauce! I think the key piece was to control the heat and not let anything scorch on the bottom of the pan, then let the cheese melt slowly after it was off the burner. before adding the cheese Since I was in such a hurry to get dinner on the table that night, I got a picture of the final product but nothing on the plate! Every...

It's weird when you have a work trip over a weekend... it's also weird (at least to me) when a work trip destination is Las Vegas. When two weirds collide you have... my NASCAR weekend in Las Vegas. (NASCAR probably counts as a third weird, but then I would've ended up in a vortex from which there's no escape, and I don't have time or energy for that right now. We'll keep it to two weirds.) As part of my company's corporate contract with NASCAR, we sponsor a driver and car in return for a lot of brand exposure and all kinds of perks associated with race weekends. Since the sponsorship is also part and parcel to a Kroger partnership, I had the opportunity to spend most of the first weekend in March in Las Vegas, with our Kroger merchants, and attending my first NASCAR race! No matter how you slice it, the West is a long way away. On the 5am flight out of Appleton, through Chicago, and four hours to Las Vegas, it was a very early Friday - and a tight fit, ...

It's been a busy two weeks - no more than usual, but maybe a little bit more stressful with so much change going on at work. I've got plenty of things to update on my blog, but have either lacked the time, the energy or both to put them in writing. Over the last couple of weeks I've kept cooking, I've been out to Las Vegas and back for work, we've had a spelling bee, a school play, and various other excitements around the house. I'll get caught up a bit, starting today - I've been using Sundays to write my blog posts for the week, scheduling them to publish throughout the week, but I'll probably begin rethinking that as I try to be opportunistic in finding time to write vs. carving out a set hour or two each week. So this post is as much for me as for anyone else; a reminder that I committed to blogging again and an extension of grace for not necessarily being right on top of everything that happens, exactly when it happens. "I express my pa...

Weirdly, the "I can't believe you were able to get that!" has been the most common reaction to my new favorite car accessory: It's been years since I had a personalized plate; way back when I was still in the Army and had Texas as my home of record, I was the proud owner of the USMA 97 plate that my parents had secured when I was just a cadet. I've driven a company car for so long, I haven't had much opportunity to think about a personalized plate. Moving to Wisconsin, though, where the population is small relative to other places I've lived and where off the top of my head I couldn't think of many graduates who call it home, I thought it might be worth a try. And BOOM! Success!! Whether in Wisconsin or elsewhere, every day, in every way - BEAT NAVY!

In what I'm learning is a very robust arts program in Neenah, we were treated to another performance of Caroline's middle school band. In fact, we had the chance to hear the entire array of band levels at the every-other-year Band-O-Rama! I had been joking with Shauna about having escaped beginner band concerts by virtue of moving to Wisconsin in the middle of Caroline's first year of band, landing in a district that starts band in 5th grade. Alas, here was the moment when I would be subjected to the beginners. I was pleasantly surprised, though, to find that even the youngest players were impressive for their short time learning! For such a small town, there is incredible participation in the band program: From 5th grade to 12th grade, they filled the gym, playing their selections one after another. I think it's a terrific idea; the kids get to hear where they came from and where they're going, depending on their perspective. They also get to be a part of s...