Food and Relatives Hodgepodge

 

I'm linking up with Joyce for the Wednesday Hodgepodge!

1. What's something that makes you feel stressed? How do you cope? As much as I love to travel and would really love to go all over the world . . .long airplane rides stress make me stressed . . . and I'm thankful for good drugs!

2. What's a food you eat that evokes a memory? Explain. Homemade Vegetable Beef soup and cornbread would be the meal. As a kid, I loved to crumble my cornbread into my soup. We were also able to walk home for lunch when we were in high school and we had a bowl of Campbell's soup (different varieties . . . sometimes more than one kind mixed together) and a sandwich. We had to listen to Paul Harvey while we ate lunch IF my daddy was home. When I eat Campbell's soup now, it reminds me of those days.

3. This week's Hodgepodge lands on National Visit Your Relatives Day. Will you celebrate by visiting a relative? If so is travel involved? Geographically, who is your nearest relative (not counting those living in your own house)? Every Wednesday night, my husband spends the evening and night with his mother. So he will be participating in Visit Your Relatives Day and won't even know it. I saw Mark at 5:40 this morning as he left for his weekly men's group and I won't see any other relatives today. We have several of Mark's family members here in town - all about a 20 minute drive from us. I have two first cousins here in town, also about 20 minutes away and I only see them every few years. Our son and his family live about 35 minutes away and our daughter and her family live about an hour and a half away. Neither of my sisters lives in town.

4. What's your most frequently used emoji? Do you make more phone calls, send more emails, or mainly text to communicate with friends and family? I use the thumbs up emoji and the heart emoji a good bit and I also like the sideways laugh until you are crying emoji. I talk to my sisters on the phone and I facetime with our daughter but I send LOTS of text messages - both for work, family, and friends.

5. Tell us the story behind a favorite piece of furniture. We have a Barrister's bookshelf at the top of our steps and I love that piece of furniture. We bought it at an estate sale when we were dating (I guess technically Mark bought it). It was in Mark's office for over 30 years until he retired and brought it home. I also love a little half moon table that we bought at another (or maybe the same) estate sale. It sat in our entry hall for 22 years. It didn't work in the house where we are now and our daughter has it in her entry hall. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. A week or so ago, we invited our friends who live across the park to come over for charcuterie and conversation. I thought I would share a few pics of the food and fire.

Mark had purchased a round
of Brie and I went online and found
an air fryer recipe! You mixed up
chopped pecans and brown sugar
and spread that on top of the cheese
and then wrapped it in puff pastry
and brushed it with egg. It
was so easy and I didn't have
to heat up the kitchen!!

I love that little glass mug
of German mustard!

Mark loves Wickles Okra!

Do you see those round crackers
in the middle back of the photo?
They were soooo good! They
were savory but sort of had the
texture of a cookie!

Since this was dinner, I tried to have a wide
variety of meats, cheeses, fruits, nuts, and
even carrots and hummus.

It was actually chilly that night and
we enjoyed sitting outside
with a fire!