And the trail ride
Sam loaded this video to his own YouTube channel. Michael shot it, and you can hear him at one point chiding the horse, Trevor, who didn’t appear to cooperate at the gate.
Tonight Sam talked about this ride in a way that he hadn’t shared before. I had walked by him sitting in the recliner on my way to my own chair in the living room and gave his knee a pat.
This is something that typically makes him recoil from my touch, so I rarely do it, but I try from time to time. He recoiled, of course.
But after doing so, he told me that he had strong reflexes and that it can be a problem when riding horse. He said that he has to try to control them, otherwise his body sends the horse the wrong signal of what he wants to do.
“Like when we were at the gate,” he said.
Overheard in the Wolfe House #258
Sam (finishing a yawn): Oh my, that was a heavy one.
Excellence on horseback and that 10,000 hours expert thing
Sam competed again in Chisholm Challenge this year, and he earned another belt buckle for his English equitation ride, his sixth in about 10 years.
I started thinking about Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, and this concept of how long it takes to become an expert at a thing.
Sam looks like an expert on horseback to me. See for yourself (brother Michael is the videographer):
Michael says that when Terry Evans interviewed Sam and him for this piece in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Evans was surprised that we didn’t own a horse even though we lived in Argyle. (Dude, it’s Aubrey where the horses outnumber the human population, but I digress.)
But I thought, I should count up the hours he’s been riding. Maybe he comes close to that magic number in Gladwell’s book at one hour per week, and about 40 weeks per year, over 21 years …
840 hours – not even in the ballpark and couldn’t even get close in 40 more years of riding. But I’m sure he’ll have a blast trying.
Overheard in the Wolfe House #257
Sam (suddenly stomping upstairs): Oh! Ack! Ack!
Peggy and Paige: What is it? What’s wrong?
Sam: I’m eating a bug.
A Christmas tradition: cinnamon rolls
My mother had a few recipes from her Aunt Bea that were in her regular rotation, including baked beans and sweet rolls.
When we were little, I think the whole family could afford the calories from the sweet rolls a little more often, but eventually, they became a Christmas tradition. So much so, that they get a mention in the book.
I imagine Mom is making them tonight, just as we are. It just wouldn’t be Christmas morning without them. Here’s the family recipe:
Cinnamon rolls
1 ½ cups milk
1 cup butter, cut in small chunks
¾ c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 pkg. yeast
¼ cup warm water
2 eggs, beaten
6 cups white flour
More melted butter and cinnamon sugar (2 T. sugar mixed with 2 tsp. cinnamon)
Scald the milk, stir in butter, sugar and salt. Butter will melt as it cools. Sprinkle yeast over warm water. When milk-butter mixture cools to about 100 degrees, stir in yeast mixture and eggs. Incorporate flour one cup at a time, beating in the same direction until you achieve a sticky dough that’s just starting to come together. Place in greased bowl and let rise until doubled. Punch down and let rise again. When doubled, knead gently for a minute. Roll out into a rectangle about one inch think. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Roll up into a log, slice crosswise, 1 to 2 inches thick, place each slice in muffin tins. Let rise 15 more minutes, bake at 375 degrees F. for 15 to 20 minutes. While hot, dip in more melted butter and cinnamon sugar to top.
Overheard in the Wolfe House #256
Sam (as Pandora ventures to other artists on an Enya holiday station): You can’t listen to that when you’re depressed. It makes it worse.
DIY: Egg Nog
My Sigma Alpha Iota sorority sisters put together a cookbook to raise money for our service projects when we were in undergraduate school (back then, in the olden days, it was called North Texas State University).
The NTSU Flying Worm
The project did very well. At one point, to boost sales, we entered people’s names in a drawing for a dinner we’d cook for them (on a night of their choice in the Green Room) out of recipes in the cookbook. That was a talker, too.
I’ve kept that cookbook, as have others I know, because it has some rockin’ good recipes in it.
My roommate submitted her excellent egg nog recipe, but in the Texas, anything-worth-doing-is-worth-overdoing, spirit, I’m offering up Elena’s. When you see the first two ingredients, you’ll see why.
Elena’s Egg Nog
12 eggs (very fresh, from a supplier you trust), separated
1 bottle cognac (a fifth)
1 1/2 quarts milk
1 c. sugar
1 pint heavy cream
Cinnamon or nutmeg for garnish
Beat egg yolks until light. Continue beating as you gradually add sugar and beat until very light. Stir in milk and cream. Pour in cognac, stirring slowly to mix. Cover and refrigerate one to two hours. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold in with yolk/cream/cognac mixture. Sprinkle with spice. Yields 20 servings.
DIY: Hot Buttered Rum
Yesterday afternoon I had occasion to share a version of this recipe. One of the co-owners of Beth Marie’s, an awesome ice cream shop in Denton that makes its own, was talking about how tough the past week of the ice storm has been on business (I believe the exact phrase was “selling ice to Eskimos”)
Beth Marie’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor, Denton
Folks around him started brain storming about ice cream drinks, and then adult ice cream drinks, as a way to help and then just because it was fun to talk recipes. Beth Marie’s is a family friendly place, so that’s not going to happen. But it was fun to share this one my mother made occasionally.
Hot Buttered Rum
Base recipe
1 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 pint vanilla ice cream, softened
Cream butter, sugars and spices. Fold in softened ice cream and re-freeze in a sealed container.
To serve
Spoon 2-4 tablespoons of the mix into a mug. Add jigger of rum or brandy (“or brandy” is always an option with people from Wisconsin) and 1/2 cup boiling water. Stir with cinnamon stick and serve.
Adaptation
A friend warned us after Dixie was diagnosed with diabetes one month ago that she would go blind. I wish I’d known how fast that would come. She already had cataracts going into this (an early sign, perhaps) and last week, before the ice storm, she got an infection in one eye.
By the weekend, her vision was completely gone.
Dixie, Spring 2013
I saw my home in a new way. It is not, by any stretch, an age-in-place kind of abode. But I downloaded a primer with 65 tips on how to help a dog that has gone blind. We’re doing what we can.
What’s been tough for Dixie is the speed of the loss. She hasn’t had a lot of time to adapt, the way you might if your vision slowly fades from aging. The ice storm didn’t help either. She has the most confidence when we get the leash and go for a walk outside, but the ice is cruel. It hides important clues under the feet and yields unexpectedly.
The storm allowed me time to observe her closely and make changes we needed to make quickly and speed her adaptation. But, for a few days, I also watched her wake up each morning, and from naps, having forgotten for a brief moment that she was blind.
Just like other December mornings some years ago, when I woke up each morning not remembering, for one or two glorious seconds, that Mark was gone.
Comfort in the storm: Chicken and dumplings
We are socked in after a bad ice storm because the one thing you can usually count on about Texas weather — it’s changeability — isn’t happening. We’ve been below freezing for about 50 hours and we still have about 20 hours to go. And that non-frozen window is only supposed to last a few hours tomorrow afternoon.
So much sleet fell it looks like snow.
Time to get out great-grandma’s chicken and dumplings recipe. Seventy years later, the notepaper she used to write it down for Aunt Regina is just about as interesting. I’m going to have to consult other recipes on making chicken and dumplings. I’m finding I’m having to do this with some of the recipes Regina kept. During our last visit, Regina, Patti, and I were talking about the skeletal information she had on her recipes and she admitted, “Yes, we wrote them out for people who already know how to cook.”
(I started the fruitcake last weekend. It’s like an Irish soda bread or other boiled fruit cake. The cloves and cinnamon smell so good, as does that brandy.)
Update: Here’s a complete recipe. The kids give it two spoons up.
Chicken and Dumplings
Inspired by Great-Grandma Minnie Dillard and Gourmet Magazine
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon each salt and pepper
1 whole chicken
1/2 cup carrots, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
1 onion, diced
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
6 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup apple cider
2 cups flour
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
½ cup buttermilk
½ cup milk
2 Tablespoons butter
Wash chicken and cut into serving size pieces (wings, legs, thighs, breast cut into quarters). Mix salt and pepper into flour, dredge chicken pieces in flour.
In Dutch oven, melt butter and oil. Brown chicken on both sides and set aside. (may need to do this in two batches)
Saute diced onion, carrots, and celery in the oil, butter and chicken bits for several minutes. Add thyme and turmeric and stir a few seconds until it becomes fragrant. Pour in chicken broth and apple cider. Mix well and then gently return chicken pieces to the broth. Cover and simmer 20-30 minutes.
Combine flour, salt and baking powder in bowl. Stir baking soda into buttermilk. Add ½ cup to ¾ hot broth to buttermilk. Stir into dry ingredients and make a rather stiff dough. Roll out thin and leave 10 minutes to rest. Cut in strips and peel off pieces, putting a few at a time in the hot broth until all are added.
Finish the broth with milk and butter.