Thelma's Beans

I've been lucky to have a lot of wonderful people in my life. The bonus is when they also happen to be wonderful cooks. This is the case with my Aunt Thelma. Affectionately known as 'Grandma #3', Aunt Thelma is my mom's best friend's mom. Have I lost you yet?
Growing up I have a lot of great memories of time spent with Aunt Thelma. My brother and I would go to her house and she'd paint my nails, let us do endless arts & crafts, and, of course, feed us amazing food. From pasta fagioli to caramelitas, Aunt Thelma served up a variety of tasty treats, but one thing was always consistent - everything tasted amazing.
We spent this past Christmas in Pittsburgh and I was reintroduced to a Thelma classic: bean casserole. It was so yummy that I had to get the recipe and share it with you:

- 2 cans of baked beans
- 2 cans of green beans (drained)
- 1 can of kidney beans
- 1 can of lima beans (drained)
- 6 oz. can of tomato paste (plus one can of water)
- 1 cup of brown sugar
- 8 slices of bacon
- 1 diced onion

1. Brown the bacon and onion together.
2. Mix tomato paste, water and sugar together before mixing with the beans.
3. Combine all ingredients in a 9x13 baking dish and bake for one hour @ 350 degrees.

This recipe makes a ton, so it's a perfect dish for a picnic or potluck. Enjoy!

Up next - a recap of our amazing road trip.

Hermione the Wonder Dog's Amazing Kill

This is Hermione. She belongs to our friends Nate & Jessica. Yes, she's cute and cuddly-looking, but would you believe that she's a ferocious predator? Well, believe it. Allow me to reconstruct the scene.
On an average fall day, Nate and Jessica came home from work and settled into their evening routine - feeding their daughter and putting her to bed, making dinner for themselves, and relaxing. During the aforementioned activities, Nate let their little dog Hermione out in the back yard. Just as a little background, Nate and Jessica live out in the country and they've got quite a bit of wide open space behind their house.
A little later they went to let Hermione back inside and this is what they discovered:

It would appear that Hermione had gone head to head with local wildlife - and won. According to Jessica, Hermione started out just bringing tiny mice onto the porch, but it quickly progressed to larger mice, moles, bones of other animals, and finally a deer leg!
It's now time for you, fair readers, to decide - cute and cuddly or ferocious predator?

Medical Adventures...

First, let me bring everyone else up to speed. One week ago my right eye started bothering me. Nick noticed that it was red, but I just chalked it up to dry eyes/allergies. If only I was that lucky.
Since then, my eyeball has become bright red, my eyelid has practically swollen shut, and a stye was discovered over near my tear duct. Basically, my eye was starting to look like Sloth's from The Goonies...only one eye wasn't halfway down my face.

Anyway...despite the fact that a stye might not seem that funny, there have been a few things that have happened that I can't help but laugh at.
1. I gave in and went to the doctor on Tuesday. While I sat in the waiting room, a unique-looking man walked up to the counter. When the girl asked what they would be seeing him for he replied "They told me to come back when I wasn't on something." Uhhh...yeah.
2. When my mother-in-law found out about my problem, the first thing she said was, "I would LOVE to see that!" Seriously??
3. The fluorescent lights in my office are irritating for my eye, so I kept them off today. A man walked into my office and asked what was wrong and I told him about my eye. He proceeds to tell me that he's had styes so severe that the doctor has had to CUT THEM OUT OF HIS EYELID!!! "Yeah, it's no big deal. They just roll up your eyelid and cut 'em on out." No big deal?!?!??! That was the least comforting news I've heard all week.

Here's hoping that my new eye drops will make me good as new by the end of the weekend! I'm tired of looking like a freak at work.

Stuck in an airport

Today we started out on a journey to Norfolk, Virginia, to attend my cousin's wedding. Little did we know that NOTHING would end up going according to plan. For a recap of our ill-fated travels, check out Nick's adventure blog by clicking here. 

As for me, I'm going to continue to sit here at the airport in our nation's capital, waiting and hoping to see if our flight will actually take off for Norfolk on time while listening to an older gentleman screaming Russian phrases into his cell phone. 

Mmmm....bread

This weekend has been pretty busy in my kitchen with two family dinners in one day. For Sunday's lunch our menu featured Italian food. I was asked to bring the bread, so I decided on some herb focaccia bread. It's pretty easy and super tasty, so I thought I'd share the recipe.
Here's what you'll need:
4 to 4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup warm water
1 tsp. active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. rosemary
coarse salt

- You'll need to start this the night before you need it. Combine 1/2 cup of flour, 1/2 cup warm water, and the yeast. Beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let this stand overnight at room temperature to ferment.
- Stir in 1 cup warm water, 2 tsp salt, rosemary, and just enough of the remaining flour so that the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enoguh of the remaining flour to make a stiff dough that is smooth and elastic. lace dough in a lightly greased bowl, turning once. Cover; let rise in a warm place until double (approx. 1 hour).
- Turn dough out onto a well-floured baking sheet. Place an extra large bowl upside down over the dought to cover it; let rest 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven and a bread stone to 475 degrees. Shape dough on the baking sheet into a circle about 11 inches in diameter by puling and pressing with your fingertips.
- Make 1/2 inch deep indentations in the dough. Brush it with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with coarse salt. Carefully slide focaccia onto the preheated bread stone.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden, checking after 8 minutes and popping any large air bubbles with a sharp knife. Remove focaccia from bread stone with large spatulas. Cool on a wire rack and serve warm.
This bread makes your whole house smell amazing while it's baking. You'll love it.
More on the second meal later!

Good viewing

Clearly trying to fill the gap caused by the writer's strike, NBC has come up with yet another winner. My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad is like American Gladiators starring the average dad...with a few exceptions. To start the show, the dads came out in unitards for an event called 'Alphabet Soup'. The goal of the game is for them to crawl into a bowl of green sludge to search for letters to spell out a key word. Falling repeatedly on the slippery surface, their perseverance was put to the test - especially when their bratty child is screaming "Come on, daddy! Hurry up!"
If you thought that there wouldn't be trash talking because little kids are involved...you would be wrong. In fact, most of it was done by the kids. To the parent of a competitor, one snotty kid yelled "You're gonna lose!" I was really hoping that the other kids would gang up on her and take her out, but they just watched respectively.
Now for those of you thinking that it's not fair to go by athletic ability alone, never fear. There was a quizzing lightning round that asked the tough questions like 'what temperature does water freeze at?' and 'who is Spongebob Squarepants' girlfriend?' Remarkably, the dads knew the answer to the Spongebob question and not the one about freezing water.
The best part of the show was when they brought out a van with 'The Scorpion Kings' painted on the side. It was highly entertaining watching the tough Navy Seal dad squeal like a little girl when he had to carry scorpions from a conveyor belt over to an aquarium.
All in all it was a fairly entertaining show, but I have to say that I am so thankful that the writer's strike is over and great programs are going to return to television soon.

John "Pap" Ungerman 1927-2008

Last Thursday was a bittersweet day in our family. My Pappy, who had been suffering from various health challenges, left us and went to be with the Lord. We realized that his home going was for the best - he isn't in pain anymore, he's rejoicing in Heaven, and he was reunited with his sweetheart on Valentine's Day (my grandmother passed away 20 years ago). But there is still that very human part of us that still wants him to be here with us. And with good reason - my Pappy was one of a kind.
Greeting everyone with a smile and an emphatic "Hey Duke" or "Hi Dear", Pap never met a soul he didn't like.
One of his greatest joys in life was spending time with his family. Looking back, I can't remember a sporting event, school play, or concert that Pap wasn't there for. You couldn't wipe the smile or look of pride off of his face when he was watching his grandkids on the soccer field, basketball court, or stage.
And when it came to traveling, all you had to do was say the word and Pap was game for a trip to Disney World, the beach, Atlantic City, and especially Vegas.
Always a connoisseur of the finer things in life, Pap loved old movies, musicals, episodes of Seinfeld ("Ahh, great show!"), and let's not forget The Three Stooges (nyuk, nyuk, nyuk).
With too many memories and great stories to write about, suffice it to say that Pap was loved, will be greatly missed, and will never be forgotten.