Monday, September 28, 2009

Cooking Together

Chrissy has spent most of her life preparing food and while her desire to cook is still with her, she is unable to remember ingredients or follow the process on her own. We seem to have settled into a rhythm of cooking together, something we really never have been able to manage. So, much of this past weekend Chrissy spent at my house and we baked and cooked!

I had recently stumbled on a new website, http://www.theothermama.com/, and found a microwave apple crisp recipe that I thought might be good to create with my mom. Sure enough, Chrissy sat at the table,peeled and cut up all the apples and stirred the mixture as I measured and poured. After baking, we added French Vanilla ice cream and at 11:00 AM we decided that recipe was a keeper. Next we began working on a crock pot chicken and vegetable soup I had printed out earlier from Rachel Olsen with Proverbs 31 Ministries, http://www.rachelolsen.blogspot.com/ With this recipe I just opened ingredients and sat them out for Chrissy to dump in the crock pot. I even was comfortable letting her add seasonings as I knew much of their flavor would be lost by adding them so early. The soup turned out well and is also a keeper! The following day while looking at the October issue of Southern Living we found a recipe for caramelized apples. So, I brought up more apples from downstairs and again, Chrissy peeled and stirred. With this dish, everyone agreed our own recipe was better; we use butter, much more brown sugar, and cinnamon. That afternoon we made a chicken and rice casserole, a recipe I have used for years and know by memory. While Ms. Chrissy poured and stirred, she asked several times if I was sure about the recipe, the ingredient or the amount, as I didn't have anything to follow. That evening when I prepared Chrissy's plate of casserole, she grinned and said she had already tasted it and it was no good! She continued laughing and said I had done something wrong and there was no use of trying to fix it! She then requested vienna sausages, seriously!
Chrissy is such a hoot.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Time Away

Oh my, it has been over a month since my last post! We have been on vacation with friends and returned fully rested. While away, Chrissy took a fall one morning as she was coming in the back door from the deck, ending up with soreness and a bruised and scraped elbow. When the lady who stays with her arrived, Chrissy told her that she was dizzy but didn't say a word about falling. That afternoon I received a call from the lady that mother was missing me and wanted to know when I was coming back. While I am so thankful nothing was broke as it could have been so much worse, I just hate it that she was alone when hurt.

Moving along, while my sister from KY was in visiting mother, her precious daughter came over and the three of them played rummy! Of course Chrissy loves all her grandchildren but this granddaughter brings out the laughter whenever she and Chrissy are together. I hear that Chrissy plays really well and that she won more times than not! While allowances were made whenever a card was laid down and Chrissy would change her mind, both my sister and niece agree that she plays rummy really well and it's just amazing!