Thursday, February 9, 2012

Reality TV?

I am not a fan of reality television.  In the last year, I've become someone who really doesn't watch much television.  When I do watch tv, it'll be the news, evening game shows that we can watch with the kids (WoF and J!), or something "nerdy" like a documentary. 

However....

Sunday night after the Superbowl - which I hardly watched, even for the commercials - was over, I ignored the tv while The Voice came on.  It didn't take long for me to be very interested.

You see, I've quit watching tv - especially reality shows - because they seem to be full of mean people, greedy people, or people that make very poor decisions.  Sitcoms, evening dramas, even morning talk shows - I get so annoyed by all of the "drama" that fuels these shows.  So I just quit watching them.  (And maybe I traded them for facebook and twitter and blogs and pinterest - but even there I try to get away from the drama, taking bloggers off my reading list, unfollowing tweeps, hiding or unfriending folks on fb.)

But The Voice - so far - seems different.  The artists/judges are encouraging.  OK, so Christina was a little mean to that Maroon 5 guy - but to the artists that are auditioning, the judges are generous and caring.  It is such a nice change to see 'good' on television!  

Before Sunday night, I had no idea who Cee Lo was (is?).  I still don't, really, but I know that he was in the Super Bowl halftime show with Madonna.  And when I googled Blake Shelton, I found out that he and Miranda Lambert sang before the Super Bowl.  I missed that part.  And apparently, he's a country musician.  I did know of Christina prior to seeing the show.  In fact, she's the reason I thought I wouldn't like it.  Let's just say that her style is different from mine.  (Here I am blogging about a show that's "nice" and I feel mean for saying that.)

My husband found this last bit terribly funny.  I am pretty out of touch (obviously) with current music unless it's contemporary Christian music.  It's the only thing on the radio that's appropriate for our kids to listen to, so that's where my radio station is set.  Don't get me wrong, I like a variety of music, but I usually listen to it when I'm driving.  And a lot of that time, the kids are with me. 

Even for the songs I like, it's rare that I know the title or artist.  I guess I'm just not that into music.  But I am into The Voice.  At least for now!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

My Recipe Collection

I have a mish-mash of recipe cards, cookbooks, pages torn from magazines, and notebooks of pages I've printed out.  Search engines, blogs, and pinterest make it really easy to find recipes online these days, but I'm still a fan of having them on paper in front of me.  Much easier to make notes that way - to double a particular recipe next time, use only half as much of a particular ingredient, or any other note on how I may have varied the recipe. 

Some of my cookbooks and recipes remind me of particular people.  These lists of ingredients and instructions are more than just how I turn basic ingredients into something wonderful.  They come together to form a scrapbook of sorts.

Grandma's Macaroni and Cheese
Mom's Chocolate Frosting
JA's Blueberry-Orange Muffins
The cookbook that N gave us as a wedding gift
Zucchini bread - reminds me of our friends, B and S.  My recipe makes two loaves, and until they up and moved across the country, I'd always give them one when I made it. 
 
Tonight, I was making JA's muffins.  The house was fairly quiet - the kids already in bed and my husband working late - so I was alone with my thoughts.  I realized I was out of orange zest (I usually keep some in the freezer), and wondered if the same thing had ever happened to JA.  I thought about her family.  Thought about how we originally connected (through the internet - I've never met her) and what we had in common (peanut allergy).

As I measured, sifted, poured, and mixed, I had a chance to not only be thankful for my full pantry, but also to be thankful for my friends and family.  As big and busy as the world can seem, sometimes something as simple as a recipe from a friend can remind me of what's most important.