A Little Thanks Is Better Late Than Never

I know it seems a little strange that I am just now doing a Thanksgiving related post, but I do have good reason...I promise. It all started the weekend before. Our Boy Scout troop always has a special campout in Missisippi. The boys and their families come down for a weekend of fun and fellowship. It all culminates in a huge Thanksgiving feast on that Saturday night. We gather around, say a prayer...

...and eat!

This is one of my favorite times of the year. I'm one of the cooks for this event. It is hard work, cooking an entire weekend for over seventy people, but it is an experience I wouldn't give up. I can't think of a better way to show my thanks to all of the boys for all of the hard work they put into making the troop as great as it is, and to their families for putting their faith in me and the other leaders to help turn their boys into great leaders.

The other reason I go on this campout is my son, Joseph. I am so thankful for him and to him.

 

What I am not necessarily thankful for is the stomach bug Joseph brought home with him from the campout. Not only did it keep him home from school for two days, it jumped to his sister, then to me. A little more about that later.

The holiday started out well. The wife and I took Wednesday off. It was to be a day of preparation for the holiday. Well, it ended up being a day of babysitting. A coworker of Neva's needed us to watch her granddaughter for the day. It certainly wasn't how I planned the day, but it was loads of fun. I'd love to show you a picture of the little princess who gave me my grandpappy fix, but I don't have permission. It was certainly an unplanned day that I am greatful for. Then came Thursday...

I am downstairs at 6AM, getting the Turkey on the grill for smoking. I get the turkey started and set the alarm for two hours later. The couch sure looks like a good place to lay down for a couple hours. Two hours later I wake up with the realization that my wonderful children have passed their stomach bug on to me. This Thanksgiving, I am truly thankful for the couch in the living room. It proved to be a comforting place to spend the day.

Fortunately, things started looking up some the next day. Not enough for me to join the early, early shift with hotdog sales a Lowes (sorry, Danny and Jeff), but at least I was no longer needing to keep close to a certain room. It's a good thing my energy was coming back. I would need it the next day.

Saturday came. It started out with two people in the house. Sissy had spent the night at her best friend's house, while Joseph spent the night with Sissy's boyfriend. I know those are strange arrangements, but they are certainly preferable to Sissy spending the night at the boyfriend's house! By Saturday evening, the house went from two people to six. Yes, the Strickland population was multiplying like rabbits. We found ourselves suddenly with three teens and one just past his teens sleeping that night...boys downstairs, and girls upstairs.

I don't want it to sound like I am complaining. I am certainly not. While having four youngun's at the house is certainly tiring, it makes me feel special. Our house is not neat by any means. In fact, I think we have the market cornered on dust bunnies. Let's just say it is very...VERY...lived in. Fortunately, there is something in our house that can be found in even more abundance than the dust bunnies and cobwebs. It is love. I am truly thankful for that love. It is amazing what your kids' friends are willing to overlook when they feel the love and comfort of family in the house. So I would like to say a special thanks for my kids...all four of them.

The weekend ended with lots of Christmas decorations inside and out. It was certianly a strange Thanksgiving holiday for me, but all in all, one I will remember fondly. It is amazing how God can turn a potential disaster into something special. Thanks.

Embrace Life! Take Chances! Eat something you can't pronounce!

All to often, we humans have a tendency to stick with what's safe. We were all brought up eating a certain type of food, and we rarely try to venture away from those dishes and foods that make us comfortable. This is too bad. There are so many tasty adventures waiting and waiting for someone to partake of them.

It just so happens that one day I was riding with Neva, taking Christina to driving school way out in Germantown. On the way out, we passed the Cordova International Farmers Market. I vaguely remembered reading an article in the Commercial Appeal when this market first opened. I convinced Neva and Christina that we needed to stop there on the way back home. Most people think of just a few things when they think of Memphis Culture; blues, rock & roll, and barbecue. All three of these are definitely core parts of Memphis culture. What many people don't realize (including native Memphians) is that Memphis and the surrounding suburbs have a very large and diverse immigrant community. In recent years, this has been reflected by the opening of an international farmers market on Winchester, followed by it's slightly larger sibling, the Cordova International Farmers Market (CIFM). I know I am a little late to the game of trumpeting about this place, but better late than never.

The CIFM is on Germantown Parkway, in the location that housed the old Seesel's supermarket. When you first walk in your jaw immediately drops. If only every supermarket could have a produce section the size of this one. Wow! Walking through all of these fruits and vegetables immediately becomes an adventure. You find your self surrounded by fruits and veggies you are very familiar with, as well as some you may have never heard of. Have you ever heard of a pomelo? I hadn't. They look like deep green grapefruit. Come to find out, pomelos are actually a much older form of citrus than grapefruit. In fact, grapefruit are a hybrid of pomelos and oranges.

What about chinese okra? Let me warn you, they look nothing like the okra we are used to here in the south. It turns out they aren't even remotely related. Chinese okra are diced, and used as a green vegetable filler in Chinese dishes. If allowed to grow to maturity, they become extremely fibrous and are used to make loofa scrubbers.

The entire produce department is like this. One amazing item after another. And the prices! You will be hard pressed to find better prices anywhere. On a funny note, after seeing "Made in China" for so many years on so many products purchased in the US, it was refreshing to see Chinese Eggplant: A product of the United States of America.

This market doesn't just end with the produce. It has a wonderful fresh fish and seafood department. One of the first things you see when approaching this department is rows of tanks, full of live catfish and tilapia. I did notice that some of the seafood seemed frozen. Is seafood still considered "fresh" if it is frozen at the sight of capture? Either way, it still looked wonderful, and there was definitely a fresh fish odor about this section, which is always a sign of good quality.

The meat section did not seem quite as large as some of your larger supermarkets, but it had a very wide variety of products. Chicken feet anyone? How about bull's um, unmentionables. While the beef selection was not as large as most supermarkets, it was certainly high quality, and at a fabulous price. The CIFM had some1"-1.5" beautiful ribeye steaks for $5.59/lb. That is only $1 more than I bought my chuck eye steaks (the poor man's ribeye) at Kroger.

Once you get past the meat section, you get to the rest of the market. At first, it resembles the rows of packaged goods we are accustomed to getting at a supermarket. However, if you are willing to be adventurous  don't shun this part of the market. Each aisle contains food from a specific country, or area of the world. There is food from Japan, Korea, Mexico, Brazil, the Caribbean, Europe, India, and much more. It is fun walking up and down these aisles, seeing how different, yet the same, we are with other cultures. Our family has already fallen in love with Mexican Cokes and some flavored water drinks from Singapore.

Needless to say, I could not leave the CIFM empty-handed on my first trip. Upon stopping, I already had something on my mind to make. I had been wanting to make a ratatouille. The name sounds fancy, but it is a simple French vegetable stew/casserole. It is hard to say which it is because ratatouille is one of those dishes that is made in a variety of ways, and everyone swears that his/her recipe is the true version. Some people sauté ratatouille, some stew it in a pot, and others bake it. The version I chose was a baked version. Christina and I quickly walked through the produce section again and picked up some red and green peppers, yellow squash, zucchini squash, onion, garlic, Italian parsley  and some of the most beautiful purple and white variegated eggplant. The recipe called for skinned, diced, and seeded tomatoes as well. That's what canned tomatoes are for!

I diced all of the vegetables, and minced the garlic and parsley. I then sautéed the eggplant, onion, and garlic until the eggplant was nice and tender (about 10 minutes). At the last minute, I added some of the parsley. I oiled my lasagne pan with olive oil, then spread the eggplant mixture across the bottom. I sprinkled that layer with salt and parmesan cheese. Then I layered the red and green onions, followed by another sprinkle of salt and parmesan, as well as more Italian parsley. The next layer was the yellow squash and zucchini, followed by...I think you know. The final layer was the canned diced tomatoes, followed by the salt, cheese, and parsley. By the time I was done, I couldn't add another layer of anything in that dish. I baked it at 350 for one hour, and ended up with this.

It is certainly colorful. I paired this ratatouille with some nice marinated pork loin chops for a healthy, but VERY tasty supper.

It looks even tastier once you've taken a spoon and mixed all the vegetables together. I love how it retained the bright colors. I wasn't sure how the ratatouille would be taken, since Joseph is not a fan of half the vegetables in the ingredient list. Suffice it to say there was only enough left for Neva and I to take a small amount in our lunches the next day. I would call that a hit.

Christina and Neva have already made a second trip to the Cordova International Farmers Market. I look forward to going there on a regular basis myself. I hope to see you there some time.