My First Turkey or Highland Park Cafeteria I Miss You!

Every family has their holiday traditions and up until 5 years ago, ours had a dinner tradition unlike most.   And because of this, I used to brag that I made it 50 years without roasting one of America's culinary icons.  True fact!

I live in Dallas - home of the famed Highland Park Cafeteria - why should I bother to cook a turkey?    When we "holiday-ed" in town we would just place our order with HPC.   You could order everything from just a turkey to a full blown meal complete with pies, tea breads and green bean casserole. Everything came in the best containers and the reheating instructions were included. I figured it up one time and by the time you bought everything you needed to make that one meal, it was actually cheaper to have HPC do the work for you. AND they had the best "toting" box for your dinner. Cardboard liner with cutouts for the smaller containers, nice and sturdy. That big box was re purposed for Christmas storage decorations. Sigh...it was heaven....

The day before Thanksgiving and Christmas we would trot ourselves down to the cafeteria parking lot, get in line, tell them our name and they would hand us a box with our order.  Visiting with the other "smart" people (aka other people who don't roast turkeys) was half the fun.  Occasionally you would recognize someone from the previous year and have a nice chat.  I like chatting up strangers in a line.  You never know WHO you might meet. 

Well, things change and eventually HPC stopped selling their meals.  But have no fear!  Central Market came to town!  With even more gourmet catering.  (Loves me their wild rice and fruit pilaf).   A few years ago I called in my turkey order to Central Market.  Thought that year, we would just order the precooked turkey and make the rest of the sides.  That's not too bad, right? 

Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, I march into Central Market and queue up in the Turkey Only line.  The line inches forward, but I am not paying that much attention.  I am mentally making my list, checking it twice.  I get to the front of the line, give them my name and out comes my turkey. 

Let me tell you what happened next is the God's honest truth.  They bring out my turkey.  I look at it and the first thought that crosses my mind is "How did they manage to get that cooked turkey back in the plastic bag?"  Which was quickly followed by the thought "Oh %@&.  I have an UNCOOKED turkey!" 

All I can say is thank goodness for the Internet.  I didn't even bother unloading my groceries.  Panicked I ran in the house, googled "how to cook a turkey".  Then I called my mother's bestie, Katherine.  She is a wonderful cook.  (Side note:  I once mentioned to her daughter Ellen that Katherine's stuffing was the best I had even eaten.  Ellen told me that stick of butter Katherine puts in might have something to do with it.  You have never lived until you have been a guest at Katherine's table.) But...I digress.

I will spare you all the details, but I realized cooking a turkey wasn't too hard and my first turkey didn't turn out too badly.  Life changes and so must we.  Making a new holiday tradition isn't always a bad thing you know.

Enjoy your Turkey Day. 

Martha Wasn't There and We Did Just Fine

Ok, so I didn't get Part II of Martha Ain't Comin' posted on Sunday.  Let's blame it on the time change.  Yeah, that's it.  I wanted to make sure I got my extra hour sleep.  After sleeping about 2 hours later than I normally do, which really made it THREE hours, I also had a 3.5 hour nap and then sort of just staggered through the rest of the day until I conked out at 9:00 pm.  So...here goes.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I too agree with fellow blogger, Carolyn Lackey that our homes don't have to be palatial, our tables decorated and set a la Martha Stewart to entertain friends and that we all should do it more.

We had my parents and another couple over to for a sort-of celebratory dinner for oldest one flying the coop for the second time.  Note:  I actually do miss him, but he is happy to be back in school.  So...  the table fit with the fall season, nothing like what Martha would do, but then I ain't Martha and besides, formal floral arrangements take up too much room and unless you get them low enough, you can't see across the table.

 

closeup of the napkin ring

No, I didn't iron the tablecloth - put enough dishes on it and the wrinkles are hidden.  Pulled out the pewter flatware and used some cute napkin rings I probably have used only once or twice - bought them at some home party.  I should use them more often.  I like the white dinner plates - they go with everything!  Round it out with a few pumpkins from the grocery store, fake leaves and "rodent" candles (yeah, there is a story behind that from oldest one when he was about four and wanted to have room service as he really liked the "rodent" candles that came on the cart.  Took his grandmother forever to figure out he really meant votive candle.  For our family, votive candles will always and forever more be called rodent candles.)



Some of the recipes I found on Pinterest and some were standbys I have made before.  We started the evening with a signature cocktail - a Ginger + Apple + Bourbon.  It was scrumptious - it works with or without the bourbon.  We also had Red Pepper strips with Hummus and Cranberry Brie Tartlets.  Easy-Peasy.  All three recipes came from Pinterest.  No, I didn't pipe the humms onto the red pepper strips and by pure accident I purchased pre-baked phyllo tart shells, which turned out to be the right things to do! 

The main course were porterhouse pork chops that I marianated for a few hours in Italian dressing.  You can either grill the porkchops, brushing them with apricot preserves or bake them with apricot preserves.  I chose the baking route.  Place the chops in a baking dish, plop a very generous spoonful of preserves on each one, bake at 350 for about an hour.  Sides were roasted (olive oil and salt) zucchini, baby carrots and yellow squash; mixed greens salad (with my special Crested Butte dressing - recipe and story below) and Sister Schubert rolls.  You can't beat a Sister Schubert rolls and you can pick them up in the freezer section of Sam's and your local grocery store. 

Now, every dinner party needs a good dessert and I tried out another Pinterest recipe - The Rolo Brownie Trifle.  I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to "Food In a Jar".  I have been dying to try out one of those recipes. 

 I served trifles in individual pint jars (purchased at Walmart).  Let me just say that if you fill the entire pint jar with a serving for one, your dinner guests will be in a diabetic coma by 9 pm.  Suffice it to say the dessert was a hit.  For an extra special touch, each trifle was topped by a sparkler and lit.  Note to self:  Next time you use sparklers, you need about 6 extra hands to light them all at once.  Maybe if you handed out jewel encrusted lighters as party favors, everyone would be willing to light their own.  Also, you might want to make sure you purchase sparklers around the 4th of July and keep them on hand.  I could only find number sparklers.  Why the number 5?  That is a story for another day!

Let's start a wave to bring back entertaining at home.  Nothing fancy - just good friends, good food!  We will have a blast!

Crested Butte dressing
1 c. oil
1/3 c. balsamic vinegar
1/2 c. sugar or Splenda - both work well

Mix thoroughly in blender and yes, the dressing is brown.  Who cares - it is really good!

Why do we call it Crested Butte dressing?  We skied at Crested Butte a great deal when I was growing up.  It had yet to reach the popularity it enjoys today, but we would always eat dinner out one night during the trip at a steakhouse there.  They had the BEST salad dressing.  After many experiments, we figured out what we thought was probably the recipe.  It was originally made with regular vinegar, but I like balsamic better. 

Happy eating!  And let me know how you plan to entertain!



 

 



Martha Ain't Comin'

So, read a post today from a FB friend Carolyn Kinzbach Lackey.  If you don't follow her blog, you should.  She is a gifted writer - always good for a pick me up.  Today she posted about Becoming Meems:  The Supper Table.  Meems is the name bestowed on Carolyn's mother by her grandchildren and believe me, Meems is a stitch.  I always look forward to posts about Meems and her affinity for wearing her red beret.  Loves me a kindred spirit (my red beret is my chapeau de choice when whizzing around in the Batmobile in the winter).  But I digress...

Anyway, Carolyn has embraced the idea of people coming over for dinner and in this post lists all the reasons she had for not entertaining and how she overcame them.  Solution #2 inspired the name for this post.  Martha Stewart and now Pinterest can make entertaining daunting, but isn't the important thing getting together with friends and family?  Have you EVER had a really bad dinner with your loved ones?  Ok, maybe the veggies didn't turn out so well, but conversation can more than make up for that. 

I love to entertain - cleaning house, not so much.  Inviting people to your home is such an intimate act.  And a generous act.  You are sharing part of yourself with them.  What could be a better gift for someone. 

Now that we are empty nesters (for the second time), it is much easier to keep the house, as we called it when the boys were growing up - company inspection - and with all the pre-prepped goodies you can find at your local grocery store, well entertaining is a snap.  It is probably a good thing I like/know how to throw a party since as a nonprofit fundraising, I have to throw a few shin digs during the year. 

Tonight we are celebrating oldest one getting out of the house and going back to school.  Nothing too fancy - we are eating in the kitchen.  I have my standby white dinner plates and black tablecloth and sparklers to make the dessert more festive.  Menu:  Cranberry Brie Tartlets  Red Peppers with Hummus, marinated pork chops, roasted vegetables, Sister Schubert Rolls (another standby) and a green salad with my homemade dressing.  I will post and share recipes and evening highlights tomorrow.

Party on dude!

PS Am breaking out the fancy glasses to use for the pre-dinner cocktail.  About 6 years ago at Thanksgiving dinner, youngest one said (of the "good" china)  "I didn't know we had these dishes.  I have never seen them before."  Use the good stuff!

Tunnel of Fudge Cake - At Last I Found You!

In 1966 a new recipe from the Pillsbury Bake Off burst on the scene and wound its way into my mother's kitchen.  If I remember correctly, this cake, called Tunnel of Fudge, didn't even win the Cook Off but was a runner up.  It also introduced the bundt pan to America.  Note:  my bundt pan is HEAVY and a lovely avocado green, so that tells you how long I have had that puppy! 

It was our family's favorite cake growing up, but alas and alack, the secret ingredient that made the fudgy gooey center of the cake  - the Pillsbury Double Dutch boxed icing mix (dry) has not been made for many, many years. 

Since that time I have been on a quest to find the perfect Tunnel of Fudge cake recipe.  I tried one where you used canned frosting - ugh.  Don't even go there.  Let's just say the "tunnel of fudge" managed to escape the middle of the cake.  I tried one recipe which had you use a box of another chocolate fudge frosting mix.  Too dry. 

However, thanks to Pinterest, I stumbled across another recipe - this time from a blog called Annie's Eats.    Nirvana - I think I have found it!  The only thing I would change in this recipe is to add pecans or walnuts, because that is how my mom made it!

The true test will be serving it up to my Dad tomorrow night.  If it passes the Larry test, we are good to go!  I'll keep you posted. 

Come On In - The Water's GREAT!

I recently attended a seminar in which one of the sessions was about Social Media.  I have been dabbling (for work) in the social media pool since about 2008-ish.  I love social media and more times than not, if there is a discussion group on social media, that is where you will find me.  Even though I have been doing this a while, something new is always coming down the pike and if I walk away with one new nugget of information, it is a seminar worth attending.

Having a presence in social media is a hot topic for nonprofits.  They know they need to be out there, but don't know 1.  how they should enter the pool, 2.  what pool should they be swimming in, 3.  who should be responsible and 4.  where will they find the time. 

Here are some of my not so secret thoughts/suggestions.

1.  Should you be swimming in the pool?  A resounding YES!  There has long been the attitude in academia that you must "publish or perish".  Well folks, in this linked in world in which we live, the same can hold true for nonprofits.  Not that many of us ever could afford to purchase newspaper ads or billboards to publicize our nonprofits, but in this down economy, advertising will be cut before programming.  We have to find new and creative ways to publicize our missions.  Notice I didn't use the words FREE.  Yes, social media doesn't require you to cut a check to a business, but it does take staff time.  For everything you say yes to, you have to say no to something else.  If you aren't out there, unless you are paying for Google Ads (remember - advertising budgets are pretty much nil at most nonprofits), you are not going to appear in the top ten searches that Google, or any other search engine does. 

Facebook is a good place to start and I recommend a blog.  People LOVE to read about other people.  Share the stories about how you have been serving the community, making sure NOT to say "we have done this" but rather "our supporters have made XYZ possible" (that is a whole 'nother blog topic).  Ooo ADD setting in - let's get back on topic. 

If you are going to blog you need to be regular.  Set up a schedule.  Last year I blogged on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays for my nonprofit.  No, they weren't all essays.  Tuesday I posted pictures from our historical archives, because we have 94 years of darling baby pictures.  Wednesday was an article and Thursday I shared the best from Twitter.  I also didn't sit down and blog every day.  I would set aside usually a couple of hours at the end of the week (Fridays are good for me) and set up my entries for the upcoming week.  Hit the schedule button and the blogs would automatically post.  How cool is THAT!  Now I am back to blogging once a week.  I have an editorial calendar - learn more about that in an upcoming blog article I am doing with the Center for Nonprofit Management.,  You KNOW I will post that here!

2.  Who should be responsible for your agency's social media?  First and foremost it needs to be someone who enjoys it.  Just my opinion, but for social media to work, you have to be engaged.  Not someone who grudgingly is checking a task off their list.  It doesn't have to be your development person.  Maybe another staff member.  You might be tempted to turn it over to your intern - might not be the best idea, HOWEVER, if you have your marketing/PR/development staff or ED supervising them, an intern (college or high school level) is sure going to know their way around social media.  That is where they live.  Just make sure the intern is sending out the message you want. 

3.  Where do you find the time?  If it is important to you, you will find the time.  With all things, the more you do, the more efficient you become.  There are articles out there that say you can do social media for your nonprofit in as little as 20 minutes a week.  I laugh!  Social media is all about engaging with your followers, your supporters.  You need to check in more frequently than 20 minutes a week.    I check my personal facebook usually in the morning, around lunchtime and in the evening.  While I am there, I swing by the office Fanpage.  Whenever I am "electronic hoarding", oh excuse me - I meant pinning on Pinterest, I actually have a board that is specifically pins for the office Pinterest boards.  Makes it very easy then to repin those items.

Take a deep breath, hold your nose and JUMP!  The water is fine.

She Works Hard for the Money...

Tonight I was a "Celebrity Bartender".  A local restaurant, Komali, held a guest bartending event benefiting the nonprofit I work for.  Two hours.  A portion of the sales was donated back to my organization.  Did I say I tended bar for two hours?  Plus, we got to keep the tips.  Two hours, right?

Oh my goodness.  Whatever you tip your bartender, double it.  Komali's resident mixologist, Leeann was wonderful.  She works hard! She gave great instructions and was very patient as I tried to remember all the steps.

When someone comes up to the bar, lay down the napkin.  The marketer in me noted that it was probably a good idea to lay it down logo side up!  (Do I get points for that?)  Make sure you get a credit card to start a tab or get their cash.  Whew!  Everyone started tabs - that was easy.  Don't know what I would have done if I had had to make change. 

Now this bottle has their specialty Komali margarita.  No salt on that one.  Skinny margaritas are in that bottle.  Beer and wine behind you.  Leeann, along with giving us, well mostly me, instructions was also running the cash register.   Be sure and tell her what drinks go on what tabs.  Oh yeah - remember to smile and chat up the customers.  Ah, that one was easy to do.  Most of them are  supporters!

Put ice in the shaker, fill up the mix to the ice.  Top it with another glass.  Make sure the two fit tightly together and shake, shake, shake...shake, shake, shake (yeah that KC and the Sunshine Band song was swirling through my mind).  Pour it in the glass.  Don't forget the lime garnish.  Set it down with a smile.  Lather.  Rinse.  Repeat.

I had a BLAST!  However, I have no plans to quit my day job.  Did I mention that bartending is REALLY hard work?

PS  Here I am wielding a wild shaker!

PSS And as a tribute - KC and the Sunshine Band

WHAT am I thinking?

At times I have no filter - I will say whatever pops into my lil ole head - hence the name of my blog "My Not So Secret Thoughts".  Now why in the world would I need to write a blog - I write one for work and barely have enough hours in the day without any more projects.  But then, we all know that we make time for those things we want to do. 

I don't consider myself a really gifted writer.  I am so envious of Carolyn E. Lackey (see I remember your many years with NMI, Carolyn) who writes Finding the Funny - she always has the best turn of the phrase and just the right amount of humor.  Paige McDaniel, my friend and a nonprofit peep always posts entries that make me think AND make me want to take action.  Long time friend Jennylou, doesn't have a blog, but she has written a book about her triumph over cancer years ago.  She gifted me with a photocopies of some of her stories, which I still have.  She makes me cry, she makes me laugh.  I hope she publishes her book some day. 

What WILL I write about?   I spend my days and many evenings and many weekends raising funds for a local nonprofit - there will be posts about fundraising and donor relations.  I like to try new recipes -  expect reports on my culinary endeavors.  I love to laugh, so I must just post funny videos, like my favorite "Ultimate Dog Tease".

Enjoy the ride!

Me and the Batmobile