What's Cooking

 My nightly dilemma of coming up with dinner ideas has been temporarily solved with my beef producer having another recipe challenge. 

This time it is a slow cooker challenge and to make things more exciting - I am changing the recipes to low-sodium as directed by my new doctors. 

This would have been easy except that I had to make the meatballs, find a low-sodium recipe for dry onion soup, find a low-sodium recipe for gravy mix and find salt-free beef broth in my small town. 

I did find the broth and it was three times the price of unsalted and tasted like water. My solution in the future will be to use the broth from the unsalted beef roasts I cook myself. Here are my recipes:

And here is our version: 

I'm not going to lie, it needed salt.  My next mission is to find a salt substitute with a salty flavor. 

And today we did week 2! 

My changes were to use round steak since that was in the front of the freezer, I added carrots and celery to the mushrooms and onions since I had some in the fridge to use up and I used the rest of my salt-free beef broth and gravy mix.  Cornstarch has no sodium. 

And here is our version:

This is Mr Merry's plate. I had a smaller piece and salad instead of potatoes (which could have been sodium free except I used instant). 

There is enough leftover for two more meals so I hope Mr Merry meant it when he said he liked it! 

I am hoping next week doesn't involve the beef broth/gravy mix pattern, especially with as many times as we will be eating this week's recipe! 

Monday Memories

Please meet my Aunt Patty.  She was born as Pearl May at home in a nearby rural township  in October of 1896 to my great-grandparents Daniel and Wretha.  She was the middle child; my grandfather Louis was born in 1894  and her baby sister Elizabeth (Betty) was born in 1903. 

The fun part of my family is that everyone uses the same names over and over. Pearl May's cousin, who lived on the same road was born in August of 1896 and was named Pearl (same last name) too.  About five Daniels (her dad's name) were living in that township at the time, all named after their grandfather Daniel. 

By 1900 Pearl, her mom and dad and brother were renting a house in town on the same street as my husband and my  first apartment. Daniel is listed as a delivery man.  By 1910 the family had moved to another rental house closer to Main St.  Daniel is listed as a laborer at odd jobs, Mom Wreatha  is listed as a laundress at her home and my 16 year old grandfather is listed as an office boy. My grandfather was supporting the family at this point and Miss Pearl had perfect attendance in the eighth grade and made the honor roll with a 93.2 in 1910 (I can access local newspapers on line). Later that summer she visited friends in a nearby town. 

As a high school senior in April, 1914,  Pearl and a classmate competed in the Northwest District of our state's High School Oratorical Contest with a vocal duet of "In the Dust of the Twilight".  The Medicine Show, which was in town for a week in June of 1914, had a contest for most popular girl. Pearl placed second.  Later in June, Pearl (with her middle name spelled Mae) graduated from our local high school and had a part in the "commencement" play as a maid in waiting. Pearl went on to take a two year Normal course at Miami University in Kent, Ohio. She came home to spend Christmas and Easter with her family. 

In September of 1915 Pearl returned to her studies at Miami University.  Again she returned home for a week at Christmas.  There is no mention of her graduation, but in July of 1916, our local school board hired Pearl for a position at the same grade school my children attended, as a fifth grade teacher. In  October she was a speaker at the Methodist Church anniversary presenting a paper "The Harvest of the Years".  She was a member of the Sunshine Class at the church and was hostess for their meetings. 

In 1917 Miss Pearl directed a large musical show at the elementary school carnival showcasing the students. She spent Easter week visiting friend at Miami University. And in May 1917,  "Scarf dancing, patriotic drills and singing comprised a program by fifth grade girls in green and white dresses at our local theater.  The result showed careful training by Miss Pearl. She continued hosting the Sunshine Class at her family's home. At the end of the school year she prepared high school students for a program of folk and interpretative dances. Pearl was rehired as a teacher for the 1917-1918 school year at a yearly salary of $550.  

In December of 1917 her cousin, the other Pearl Mae O'Dell got married which made my genealogy search of MY aunt much easier.  My Pearl spent the holidays with friends in Indiana.  In May of 1918 the school thanked Pearl for her help with dances for the Patriotic Decoration Day Celebration. In December 1918 Pearl was on the list of persons ill with the influenza.  She recovered to help with a school production with 250 students in May of 1919 and was given a bouquet of pink roses.  Her yearly salary for the 1919-1920 school year was $870. Pearl and another teacher started a dance class for high school girls in December. 

I thought I wouldn't be searching about which article was about which Pearl O'Dell after the marriage of her cousin, but oh no.  Another Pearl, living in New York state and aged 18,  married an O'Dell and they decided to horribly murder her ex-boyfriend. Now to sort through out the articles of the accused murderers who were quite the topic in all the papers, including my local paper. 

In the 1920 census they are renting on another street near Main Street and it says Daniel is a house painter, Wreatha is at home, My grandfather is a jeweler and Pearl is a teacher.  Betty is still a student.

In May 1920, Pearl was the hit of the Eastern Star entertainment as a featured dancer and bit player in the show.  Later in May she helped direct a high school performance.  In June Pearl advertised aesthetic dancing classes. She and friends danced at the Eastern Star banquet in later in June.  Her September salary would have increased by $106.25, but Pearl resigned from her teaching position on July 21, 1920 and accepted a job as a physical training teacher in the junior high school in Las Cruces, New Mexico.  It looks like a year later she is living in Cleveland, Ohio.   Pearl returned to town to "spend a week with her parents" in 1922.  By July 1924 it seems like she is living with her parents. 

In June of 1926, ANOTHER Pearl O'Dell in our county pops up.  She is 18 years old and there is a marriage announcement.  Also in June 1926 my great grandmother (Pearl's mother) and my grandmother (her sister in-law) traveled to Seattle Washington to visit MY Pearl. She changed her name when she went out west and was now going by Patricia Ann, but not in our local papers. Aunt Patty was married in King County, State of Washington in June 1927. I do not believe any family was present as they did not serve as witnesses. 

In August 1933 Aunt Patty and her husband were visiting in the area, "the first time Pearl, a former teacher, has returned in ten years."  She is mentioned as visiting again in 1936 and 1937 and 1938. They would have traveled by train from the state of Washington to the state of Ohio.

Aunt Patty died in 1961 at age 64 in the state of Washington. Her obituary states she was recently teaching classes until her illness.  

Aunt Patty never had children and I like to take the responsibility that she is remembered. 

Here is another photo I found when researching some dates for this article. I believe it is her first year at university. 

Thank You

I would like to thank everyone for their thoughts and concerns after my post last week. This weather has made staying home and doing nothing pretty easy!  

I have lots of random photos and thoughts.  Here is the flower my housekeeper clipped to the board in my room. She was such a sweetie. 

My daughter the nurse Phd came up to make sure I was receiving top notch care. One of the RNs that I was assigned was a former nursing student of hers. Basically all the nurses on the floor were terrified of my daughter (who is 5' tall) but the doctors loved her questions and spent lots of time talking over me.

Both daughters were bored by day two and went to the grocery store. They went to my house and threw out what was in my refrigerator and made me about 30 meals. These included raw green pepper, raw vegetables, fake eggs with raw green pepper, overnight oatmeal (I detest oatmeal), brown rice etc. All in cute little meal containers. Snacks were apples and nuts. This was incredibly nice of them. 

Unfortunately I have GERD like every fat old lady and also can have bouts of IBS (too much information) and I cannot eat nuts or that many raw vegetables, etc and I was very sick. I did lose almost ten pounds which is worrying to my nurse who is calling me every other day to make sure I don't gain over two pounds which could signal the congestive heart failure.  

So I switched to some of the food, like eating the yogurt and berries on top and leaving the oatmeal on the bottom, and egg whites from my farm eggs for lunch. And lean meat and cooked veggie with no salt for supper.  She keeps sending me goofy recipes though, the last one is soaking chicken in almond milk, then  .  . . well I didn't read the rest. 

Anyway, not sure that I mentioned I wore my oldest, most ratty, ugly, gramma nightgown to the hospital. When I got home, one of the first thing I did was order new pjs, some to wear at home and some to pack in a bag by the door in case this ever happens again. 

I got a couple pairs of these. Black so they don't show fluids, short sleeves for IVs, button front for chest stickers, and crop length so they hit my ankles!  I was so embarrassed to show up like I did. Thank you Walmart. 

Further embarrassing my children were my actions in the hospital. Our 50th wedding anniversary is coming up and I was on several fan sites, etc, that had codes for early bird purchases. I had set alarms in my phone. The original plan was to purchase them on my laptop so I could see what was doing. I was receiving alarms every time they were going to do a medical procedure and having to let them time out.  The first day was a total flop.  I actually was able to purchase the tickets and all the extras, like the big bucks parking so I don't have to walk far and tickets to a special bar/deck area which has a private restroom for those patrons (you see where my mind is) right before I went down for the heart cath. Success! And as silly as this seems, this concert at the end of July is goal one. 

In more disappointing news I had signed up for a Bridge Brigade which is a group of protesters who show up on an overhead bridge over the highway, each holding a letter to spell out a message. I received my first alert and had to contact the coordinator and explain I am out due to health reasons. And today the local party called me and I told them the situation before we got started on the ask. 

I notified the charity that I won't be around for several weeks at the very least, until I get my act together.  They actually wrote a prayer for me.

"Loving Lord, We ask Your healing grace for (Miss Merry). Bless her for her faithful service with the Saint Vincent de Paul ministry. Restore her strength, grant her peace and hold her in Your loving care."  (and this made me cry.)

I think this was the Friday snow? Saturday? Anyway the base layer. I have no idea how much we have at this point. So glad I am stuck indoors. Tomorrow schools are cancelled again for both snow and super super low temperatures. 

I am not in this picture. 

My arms are now black, blue, green and orange from all the needles and whatevers at the hospital. My husband is afraid I am turning into the president. 

The events of the weekend have left me sad and angry and devastated and crushed.  I recently saw the videos of the VA nurse reading at the bedside of a deceased veteran and the honor walk that the VA center performed for Alex.  I was present when these rituals were performed for my own father and it was one of the most meaningful things of my life. Watching them with this young hero left me crying for hours. 

Memory Monday

My grampa was a jeweler in our small town. His dad had an alcohol problem and left the family (or they left him) about the time my grandfather finished 8th grade. He apprenticed to the town's jeweler, Mr. Mayle. 

My grampa is on the right. This should be late teens or early 1920's.

Our city built a large building with several stories called The Glass Block. Retailers, such as jewelers, could rent floors or spaces.  The jewelry store, which I think might have changed to Mayle O'Dell Jewelers moved in. 

Here is the Glass Block with the Dinky going down the street. The Dinky ran from one edge of town to the other along Main Street. The town is in the midst of digging up Main Street to the center of the earth and removing the tracks. They removed the tracks at the end of my street last year, dashing my hopes of a Dinky revival. 

And here is the Glass Block in August 1923 after a huge explosion.  The top floors of the building were removed and the current building is one and a half stories. This was a Sunday and the only two men in the building were killed.  A woman waiting on the street car was tossed into the building and died a day later. 

Mr. Mayle decided to retire and my grandfather moved about 3 buildings down on the right of the Glass Block. Most of the furnishings were moved to the new building. 

These are family snapshots from the Christmas season in the 40's or 50's. 

At some point my grandfather scaled back into more jewelry repair and the music store next door cut an opening and expanded into this space. He was still working part-time doing repair work in this area in the back when 1972 he suffered a heart attack and died. My mom and I, along with one the ladies pictured above, inventoried and closed the store. 

The beauty of a small town is that whenever the town historian is contacted by someone wanting to sell memorabilia, he calls me.  I have quite a collection. 

I also have some of the store window display pieces. These are in the best condition. 

And I have a ridiculous amount of jewelry.  And I am a person who does not wear jewelry. I have a codicil leaving it all to my daughters.