Sandy J. Hartwick

All the latest from author, Sandy J. Hartwick

Christmas Memories

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Christmas Memories

Looking back on the good memories associated with Christmas, it is difficult to pinpoint one Christmas time that was the “Best Ever.” These special times seem to blur together and I remember bits and pieces.

I remember one magical Christmas–there was a full or almost full moon. I awoke in the very early hours of that Christmas morning and tiptoed around the house. The moonlight made it easy for me to navigate the sleeping household. Forced air from the furnace wafted the silver tinsel on the tree and some of the ornaments gently rotated and swayed in the artificial warm breeze. Everyone else in the house slept on as I moved around the tree, observing the stockings that Santa had filled for us. I didn’t dare wake anyone or my parents would be angry. I remember taking in that simple Pinion Pine, the presents  under the tree and the beauty of it all, with my small child-eyes and realizing how special it was and knowing at that moment that I needed to remember it forever. I sat there in the living room in the moonlight just looking the scene and treasuring it. Finally, I went back to bed and fell asleep.

Another Christmas I remember invoved driving out to my grandparent’s house in Carson City. My grandparents had a cool fireplace which you could see in the kitchen/dining and from the living room. There was a gorgeous fire roaring  there on this Christmas Eve. The tree in the living room was in front of the large window that looked out on the neighborhood. It was framed by the fancy, gossamer white curtains my grandmother favored. It was beautiful.

My grandparents had the most amazing ceiling–at least for a kid–it was a popcorn ceiling with sparkles in it. We kids loved to lie on the living room floor and look at the sparkles which seemed even more sparkly and amazing with the Christmas lights and the fire. 

Before dinner that night, I remember being lucky enough to go with my aunt to fetch dessert from an amazing ice cream store that had 31! flavors–something unheard of in the country valley where I lived. I remember looking in case after case at the store at all of the colors and flavors. My aunt in her wisdom selected a green ice cream that I was suspicious of, but later enjoyed, mint chocolate chip.

Everything seemed more sparkly, fantastic and grandiose at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Grandma had tall, lovely candles on her table and she made her rolls from scratch. All of the food she made was extra delicious. After dinner, gifts were opened. I can’t remember what I received, but I remember my aunts got some cool things like a Spirograph and a Lite-Brite, which my brother and I coveted. I believe we stayed the night, but those details are lost to me.

Another special Christmas was when Santa visited our house and we were still awake. He didn’t have reindeer, but maybe that is because we didn’t have snow that year. I think he drove up with a helper in a Chevy or Ford pickup. Santa brought us some fabulous gifts that night. My brother and I got bikes and my sister got a trike. My bike was a cool purple with tassels on the handlebars and a white basket that was decorated with plastic flowers on the front. We were so surprised that we didn’t question the details too much. We used those bikes for years.

What is it about Christmas past, especially those associated with childhood that make it such a special time? I think that it may be, that as children, we are so focused on the present moment that these memories are seared into our brains with vivid colors, sounds, smells and tastes. It is a cherished time of year for most kids and revved up with anticipation. I hope you have some beloved Christmas memories dear reader and that this year you will have a marvelous Christmas.

 

           

  Photo by Chad Madden on Unsplash

” I remember taking in that simple Pinion Pine, the presents  under the tree and the beauty of it all, with my small child-eyes and realizing how special it was and realizing at that moment that I needed to remember it forever. “

 

Lemon Curd

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   Lemon Curd

 

 Here is another dessert recipe from Sandra Savage, a real life executive chef and cookbook author. She is a graduate from California Culinary Academy (CCA); she has collected and developed recipes while traveling and cooking around the world, including two weeks aboard the USS Blue Ridge in Japan.

 

 

  8 ounces lemon juice
6 eggs
8 ounces sugar
8 ounces unsalted butter, cubed

  In large mixing bowl, blend together lemon juice, mixed eggs and sugar. Over medium heat, whisk mixture until JUST thick. Remove from heat. Add in butter. When melted, stir in.

Serve cold.

 

   

 

 

A Flat Line of Nonstop Serotonin

by Filed Under: Blog, Gratitude 3 Comments

Photo by Caju Gomes on Unsplash

A Flat Line of Nonstop Serotonin

August 3, 2000

What does truly happy, truly mean? Happily ever after and all of that? Can a person be truly happy for longer than a minute, an hour, a day or a week? Perhaps, if lobotomized. Or insane.

What is happy anyway? For me, happy seems to be mostly moments — that delicious first taste of hot chocolate with whipped cream, the beauty of a coral rose, my child giving me a hug and kiss, my favorite song coming on the radio, the smell of rain on earth or my husband phoning me, “Hello Sweetheart!”. Some happy times last longer — a call from a loved one; a walk among purple mountains, blue skies and sugar pines; a day at the lake with the family. But trying to remember a whole week of pure bliss …

Even on the loveliest vacation, some bad moments will crop up. And some of us don’t even get a vacation. How can one make or have a truly happy normal week? Is there a way to be happy? To feel that each day overall was good?

Maybe true happiness isn’t a flat line of nonstop serotonin and endless sappy sweetness. But just life. Life lived with one foot in reality and the other in pure optimism, hope and faith. Gratitude for the simple gift of life and being lucky enough to be here. Savoring the little things we love and realizing how much they add to our lives. Meeting life with a smile. And following the golden rule.

As Aristotle said, “Happiness depends on ourselves.”

Orange Basil Sorbet

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Orange Basil Sorbet

Here is a dessert recipe from Sandra Savage, a real life executive chef and cookbook author. She is a graduate from California Culinary Academy (CCA); she has collected and developed recipes while traveling and cooking around the world, including two weeks aboard the USS Blue Ridge in Japan.

 

 3⁄4  cup sugar

 3⁄4  cup water

2 cups fresh orange juice

1 cup lightly packed fresh basil chopped

3 tablespoons Grand Marnier or

orange-flavored vodka

3 tablespoons orange zest

 

 In a saucepan, combine the sugar and water over high heat. Stir occasionally until the sugar is completely dissolved and the syrup is simmering, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. You should have a little more than 1 cup of syrup.

Combine 3⁄4 cup of the warm syrup with the orange juice, basil, Grand Marnier and orange zest; stir well to combine. Set aside for 30 minutes to 1 hour, according to taste: the basil flavor strengthens as it sits. For faster freezing, transfer the cooled mixture to the refrigerator to chill there first.

Strain the mixture and then freeze it in an ice-cream maker, following the manufacturer’s instructions.

Serve frozen.

 

 

 

Good Grief!

by Filed Under: Blog, Cats, Funny stories Leave a Comment

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

Good Grief!

We all have those days when we wonder why we ever crawled out of the covers. Yesterday was my turn. First thing in the morning, my husband went and put the dog out in her pen. To do this he had to go downstairs, across the basement to her crate, out the sliding glass doors and about thirty feet across the lawn to Bindi’s pen and then reverse it to get back up to the living room. Once there he said, “What’s that?”

I looked down at the carpet at a turd, which looked to be of cat origin. The unpleasant discovery did not end as we found that my husband had stepped in it and was now tracking it on the wool area-rug. In defense of my cat, I had just cleaned all of her cat boxes, she had not been in the house most of the day before and how could we have missed a cat gift in the middle of the living room?

Then the awful idea occurred that perhaps my husband had stepped on this thing outside and brought it all through the house and up the stairs! NO! If you know me, you know that my Howard Hughes type tendencies were popping at this point.

After much CSI investigation, we found no further evidence on the route he had used. Against all odds, we believe he stepped in it outside and because it was on the outside toe of his slipper, miraculously, it did not fall off until he reached the living room. (We know this, because when it was daylight, he found the point of initial contact out on the lawn.) Some of you will say, “At least your Roomba didn’t find it!” An excellent point and you are right, because things can always get worse.

After cleaning up the mess, we hoped our day would get better. My husband had called our internet provider the night before, because we were having terribly low speed and the lady he talked to said, “I remember you, you called about a month ago, we were having a network problem. We still haven’t fixed it.”

I suggested that he call them this morning and ask for a month credit. After being on hold for over half an hour, he finally talked to someone who told him, “We are having a network problem with one of the towers and we will be installing fiber optic cable. You will have problems until December 15.”

Imagine this company charging everyone their regular bill while knowing that their service was going to be substandard and NOT what they are paying for. They did give us a credit for one month, but really!?

Of course we both had a lot of work to do online. I did not get my blog completed yesterday and everything I had to do on the computer took twice as long or longer than it should have.

Finally, we are having our bathroom remodeled and thankfully we are blessed with some extra bathrooms, one of them in the basement. I used the toilet in the basement and flushed the toilet and the handle snapped off in my hand. Really?! The timing just seemed too convenient. I thought of Bruce Almighty–“Smite me! Almighty Smiter!”

I know, all of these problems are tiny. They are all first world problems and I know that means that I don’t have any real problems. I am blessed. But sometimes I forget that and just have to say, “Good grief!” a phrase my third grade teacher said often. I remember  Charlie Brown used it a lot too.

For those of you that are wondering about that phrase, “good grief” was originally a mild oath. It’s “a euphemism for ‘good God,’ ” according to The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms (2d ed.), by Christine Ammer. https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2017/07/good-grief.html

 

 

 

 

 

Gingery Jasmine Rice

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Gingery Jasmine Rice

 

 Here is another tasty recipe from Sandra Savage, a real life executive chef and cookbook author. She is a graduate from California Culinary Academy (CCA); she has collected and developed recipes while traveling and cooking around the world, including two weeks aboard the USS Blue Ridge in Japan.

 

  2 tablespoons olive oil
2 small quarter size pieces of ginger, peeled and minced

1 garlic clove, minced

1⁄4 jalapeño, seeded

1⁄2 shallot, minced

1  cup jasmine rice

2  cups chicken stock

1 tablespoon cilantro, minced

salt and pepper, to taste

 

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium- high heat. Add ginger, garlic, jalapeño and shallot and sauté for 1 minute.

Add rice. Toast rice for 1-2 minutes. Add chicken stock.

Add cilantro. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Cover saucepan and reduce heat to low. Cook for 20–25 minutes, or until the rice is tender.

Serve hot.

   

 

 

Creamy Feta Pine Nut Spread

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Creamy Feta Pine Nut Spread

 

Since Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away, I thought it might be a great time to post some recipes. Please check out this recipe. It belongs to Sandra Savage, a real life chef and author.

 

    1 8-ounce tub whipped cream cheese spread

1⁄2 cup plain nonfat yogurt
3 tablespoons pine nuts
2 tablespoons (packed) chopped fresh basil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 7-ounce package feta cheese, crumbled
1⁄3 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped

 

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Spread the nuts on a baking sheet and place in the oven. Toast, shaking the sheet occasionally, until the nuts just begin to change color and are fragrant, about 3 minutes. Remove toasted pine nuts from oven and let cool to room temperature, about 5–10 minutes.

While toasted pine nuts are cooling, place cream cheese, yogurt, basil and garlic in processor. Blend, using on/off turns, until combined. Add feta cheese and sun-dried tomatoes and blend, using on/off turns, until combined but still chunky.

Stir in cooled toasted pine nuts.

Transfer spread to bowl. Cover and refrigerate. Makes about two cups. Can be made up to three days ahead.

Serve cold.

 

 

Colorblind

by Filed Under: Blog, Kindness 2 Comments

Colorblind

It was 1974, and Rex, his older brother Mike and his father, John were headed to Elko, Nevada on a deer hunting trip. It was dark, around eight or nine p.m. They had all of their gear and two horses in their trailer as they approached the Carlin tunnel. The tunnel was under construction and traffic was being diverted from the freeway to the old, two lane highway that followed along the river.

They were about halfway along this road when the lights shorted out on the truck. The road was narrow, but John managed to find a wide enough patch along the pavement to get the truck and trailer off the road. It was not the best place, because there was busy traffic on one side  and river on the other. With the hood up and one of the boys holding the flashlight, he tried to find the problem. The emergency flashers wouldn’t even work.

After struggling for some time, a pickup with a cab-over camper pulled up behind them and put on its emergency blinkers. The man was just returning from a deer hunt himself, had seen them broken down, driven until he had found a place to turn around and come back to help.

He and John worked together and finally found that the winch on the truck had rubbed the wiring apart. John patched the wires and they were good to go again. He shook the man’s hand, thanking him for his help.

He and the boys admired the four-point buck the man had harvested. They said goodbye and went their separate ways. Rex still remembers the man’s kindness and finds it remarkable that out of all of the many cars that passed them, a black man from Oakland stopped in the middle of nowhere to help some white people he didn’t know.

“With the hood up and one of the boys holding the flashlight, he tried to find the problem. The emergency flashers wouldn’t even work. ”

Photo by Jonas Verstuyft on Unsplash

 

 

 

 

Kindness from Strangers

by Filed Under: Blog, Kindness 3 Comments

Photo by Lisa Fotios from Pexels

“He was a veteran; I could tell, because he was wearing a ball cap that mentioned his service in Vietnam. “

Kindness from Strangers

Have you ever experienced kindness from a stranger? I am not talking about the general civility of holding open a door for another person or letting someone into line in front of you at the grocery store, which are wonderful things and sadly seem to be becoming rare events. I am talking about someone going out of their way to help you, turning a bad situation into something better.

In an age where people judge you for most anything, your political affiliations, your tattoos or whatever, it is refreshing to experience such kindness or let’s call it what it is…love.

A few years ago I was at lunch with my parents at a popular Italian restaurant chain. My father decided he needed to use the restroom and it was a long walk from where we were seated to the bathrooms.  My father was tottery, the Parkinson’s disease he suffered with was making him dizzy and it was difficult for him to walk. I held his arm as we walked slowly to the back of the restaurant. I had no idea how I was going to help him once we reached the restrooms.

As we reached the restroom door, a man older than me, but younger than my father, approached and told me he would help my dad. He was a veteran; I could tell, because he was wearing a ball cap that mentioned his service in Vietnam. I was so relieved and amazed that someone had come to help me in this situation!

After a while they both came out the restroom and I thanked him profusely. I walked my father back to the table feeling grateful and blessed.  To some, I suppose it was a small thing, but to me it meant so much. I didn’t have to humiliate my father by taking him into the women’s restroom or embarrass both of us by taking him into the men’s room. A stranger saw the situation and got up from his meal to help us.

So many say they want to bridge the divisiveness we are seeing in our country these days. Let’s do it. Start by showing kindness to your fellow man. Do something without expecting  any thanks or compensation. And most of all, don’t prejudge your neighbors, you do not know their hearts or experience. Kindness is free.

 

 

 

Thanksgiving Circa 1970-1984

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Thanksgiving Circa 1970-1984

Reflecting back on the Thanksgivings of my childhood, I seem to hone in on the ones spent at the Soderstrom residence in Mason, Nevada. This is the house where my father’s parents Gladys and Dave lived.

By some arrangement, we almost always spent Thanksgiving with my father’s parents and Christmas with my mother’s parents. I recall the men sitting in the living room watching football, the women working like mad preparing the feast in the kitchen and all of the kids running around outside, as long it wasn’t freezing.

It was rare that all of the cousins would be together on Thanksgiving, but when it happened, there would be nine of us hellions running around and having a blast. I remember riding the big, red trike around the concrete walk that circled the house, playing tag or horses or some other game with my cousins. All of the running would keep us warm, because most Thanksgivings offered brisk temperatures.

I remember the long dining table decked out with a lace tablecloth, fine china and real silver for the adults and a couple of card tables set up as the kid tables. My grandmother was really good about setting up little paper cups filled with M&Ms for all of us kidlets.

When the turkey was finally done, one of the men finally did some work and carved the bird. Even the kids were excited to sit down and eat. Grandma’s mashed potatoes and gravy were especially delicious.

After all of those hours of work, it seemed the meal was over quickly. Everyone was stuffed and the kids wanted to go play again. Once we were old enough, my cousin and I were put to work washing dishes, an unfortunate privilege of being the oldest girls (I don’t remember my brother ever having to do dishes!). Grandma didn’t have a dishwasher.

Eventually there was room for dessert, pumpkin pie as always, which Grandma served with Cool Whip. (I remember Cool Whip as such a delicious treat, but  once I got older and learned a little about nutrition, it’s something I never let my kids eat.)

As the evening passed, the adults would visit and sometimes the football game would be over and we might be lucky enough to watch the Snoopy Thanksgiving special. The visiting went on and on until it was late and then leftovers were loaded along with sleepy kids into the car.

When you are a child it seems like things will never change. I can still remember the golden November sunsets in my grandparents’ backyard and the shouts and laughter of all the cousins.

Time does its work and you get to sit at the grown up table, which turns out to be not as much fun as the kid table and then Thanksgiving changes, because Grandpa and Grandma are not up to hosting. New traditions arise as cousins marry and move away.

I wish someone had told me to treasure those times, because they are not forever.  Maybe everyone else thought it would go on and on too.

             Photo by Dex Ezekiel on Unsplash

” It was rare that all of the cousins would be together on Thanksgiving, but when it happened, there would be nine of us hellions running around and having a blast.”