Nurses' Week

"Nursing care comes in many forms.  Sometimes it is the ability to make someone feel physically comfortable by various means.  Other times it is the ability to improve the body's ability to achieve or maintain health.  But often it is an uncanny yet well honed knack to see beyond the obvious and address, in some way, the deeper needs of the human soul."    ~Donna Wilk Cardillo, A Daybook for Beginning Nurses

Erma Bombeck on Mother's Day

I have laughed til I cried at some of Erma Bombeck's witty remarks.  But this one is so tender-hearted....  And, it's one that is worth remembering over and over again - and passing on to our children and our children's children...


We all know that being a Mom is the hardest, most rewarding job on the face of this Earth.

"You don't love me!"
 
How many times have your kids laid that one on you?
And how many times have you, as a parent, resisted the urge to tell them how much?
Someday, when my children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates a mother, I'll tell them...

• I loved you enough to bug you about where you were going, with whom and what time you would get home.
• I loved you enough to insist you buy a bike with your own money, which we could afford, and you couldn't.
• I loved you enough to be silent and let you discover your hand picked friend was a creep.
• I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your bedroom, a job that would have taken me 15 minutes.
• I loved you enough to say, "Yes, you can go to Disney World on Mother's Day."
• I loved you enough to let you see anger, disappointment, disgust, and tears in my eyes.
• I loved you enough not to make excuses for your lack of respect or your bad manners.
• I loved you enough to admit that I was wrong and ask for your forgiveness.
• I loved you enough to ignore "what every other mother" did or said.
• I loved you enough to let you stumble, fall, hurt, and fail.
• I loved you enough to let you assume the responsibility for your own actions, at 6, 10, or 16.
• I loved you enough to figure you would lie about the party being chaperoned, but forgave you for it...after discovering I was right.
• I loved you enough to shove you off my lap, let go of your hand, be mute to your pleas and insensitive to your demands...so that you had to stand alone.
• I loved you enough to accept you for what you are, and not what I wanted you to be.
• But most of all, I loved you enough to say no when you hated me for it. That was the hardest part of all.

Erma Bombeck

Children's Book Week & Mother's Day

"Children's Book Week" began on Monday May 2 and ends on Sunday, May 8th otherwise known as Mother's Day. 

Do you think it's a coincidence that "Children's Book Week" ends on Mother's Day?  I don't!
As mothers, we read to our children when they were young.  As grandmothers, we read to our grandchildren when they were young.  And always, always, we tried to instill upon them the importance of reading.

Whenever I'm asked about my favorite children's book, I have to answer "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch.  I often wonder if the author (and the publisher for that matter) ever dreamed about how popular this book would  become.  To date it has reportedly sold over 1 million hardback copies and over 6 million paperback copies since it was first published in 1986!

In a slim little book with engaging and heartfelt illustrations by Sheila McGraw, the book's lyrical flow moves through the life cycle of the human race in a profound and bittersweet way.  It begins with a young mother rocking her son to sleep while singing "I'll love you forever.  I'll like you for always, as long as I'm  living my baby you'll be."  The boy grows and the mother continues to remind her son of her never-ending love and the connection they share.  Then, one day, the roles are reversed.  The son is a grown man, his mother an elderly woman.  The son holds his mother in his arms and sings "I'll love you forever.  I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my Mommy you'll be."  When the mother dies, the son finds solace in the act of rocking his own baby daughter while singing the song his mother sang to him many years before.  "I'll love you forever.  I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be."

So,  in honor of "Children's Book Week" - I just couldn't let it pass without giving a nod to my favorite children's book.  And, in honor of Mother's Day tomorrow  I couldn't let the opportunity pass to remember my own children and grandchildren sitting in my lap while I read this tender story to them.  What poignant memories have surfaced in the writing of this post!  Happy Mother's Day to all !  And, if you've never read this little book, find yourself a copy and read it - it's a treat not to be missed.

Sweet Potato Bread Pudding ??

Yes, it's true!  Sweet potatoes, pecans, dates ... in bread pudding.   And so, in honor of this week that encourages bread pudding recipe sharing, I offer you another twist on the more traditional one I posted earlier today...  WARNING:  This could be habit forming!


Recipe: Sweet Potato Bread Pudding
Ingredients:
•5 1/2 to 6 cups torn croissant crumbs, about 8 ounces
•1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
•1 cup pitted and chopped dates
•3 tablespoons melted butter
•1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
•1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
•1 cup light brown sugar, packed
•2 1/2 cups half-and-half or light cream, or 1 cup heavy cream and 1 1/2 cups milk
•3 large eggs
•1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
•1 1/2 cups mashed sweet potatoes
Preparation:
Butter a 2-quart baking dish. Heat oven to 350° F.
In a large bowl toss the croissant crumbs with pecans, dates, melted butter, and spices.
In another bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, and brown sugar; add vanilla and blend in the sweet potatoes. Pour the sweet potato mixture over the bread crumbs and stir until well blended. Let stand for about 10 minutes. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until set. Serves 8 to 10.

Serve this bread pudding with Caramel Sauce or Brown Sugar Sauce.

Bread Pudding

The week of May 1 - 7 is "Bread Pudding Week". 

There are probably more bread pudding recipes floating around than there are friends on my facebook account!  And each one has its own special ingredient that allows it to be "the best ever" in someone's opinion. 

The very best bread pudding I ever tasted was from a small family owned restaurant in Naples, Florida:  The Cajun Hideaway.  It was totally a family affair -- and the family was an authentic cajun family who had relocated from Louisiana.  While their recipes for the bread pudding and its out-of-this-world sauce were a well-kept secret, I have spent the last few years testing various recipes.  The hope, of course, being that I would happen upon one that tastes "almost as good as" that "best-ever" dish I remember.

So, since it's bread pudding week, I thought I'd share the one that gets my vote for coming close to The Cajun Hideaway's dessert:

BREAD PUDDING with WHISKEY-VANILLA SAUCE
(Yield: Serves 8)

Ingredients:
•BREAD PUDDING
•1 tablespoon softened butter
•1 cup pecan halves
•3 eggs
•1 cup sugar
•2 teaspoons vanilla
•1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
•1 teaspoon ground cardamom
•1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted and cooled
•3 cups whole milk
•One 8-ounce baguette, cut into 3/4-inch cubes

•WHISKEY VANILLA SAUCE*
•1 1/2 cups sugar
•1 1/2 cups cream
•1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
•1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
•1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
•2 tablespoons butter
•1/3 cup whiskey
•1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
•1 teaspoon vanilla
*Brandy may be used instead of whiskey, if desired. If you'd rather not use liquor, fresh orange juice may be substituted for the whiskey.

•GARNISH
•1 cup whipping cream

Preparation:
BREAD PUDDING
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spread the 1 tablespoon softened butter on the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.
Toast the pecan halves in a dry frying pan over medium heat for 5-10 minutes, or until fragrant (don't allow pecans to burn). Remove from the heat.
Whisk together the eggs, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom, melted butter and milk until mixed.
Place half the baguette cubes in the buttered dish, top with the pecans, then with half the liquid mixture. Add the remaining baguette cubes and top with remaining liquid. Cover with plastic wrap and let set for 30 minutes, gently pressing the cubes underneath the liquid a few times. Remove plastic, cover with foil and bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes.
Uncover the pudding, drizzle a 1/2 cup of the warm Whiskey Vanilla Sauce over it, and bake for an additional 5 minutes, uncovered. Let set for at least 5 minutes before cutting. Serve the remaining Whiskey Vanilla Sauce with the pudding.

WHISKEY VANILLA SAUCE
While pudding is baking, combine the sugar, cream, spices, and butter in a small saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. When the butter is melted, combine the whiskey, cornstarch, and vanilla in a small bowl, then slowly whisk into the gently boiling sauce.
Boil gently for 5 minutes, stirring often.

GARNISH
Whip the cream and keep in refrigerator until serving time.

TO SERVE
Dish up the hot pudding, place a dollop of whipped cream on top, and drizzle with some of the Whiskey Vanilla Sauce (serve the remaining Whiskey Vanilla Sauce with the pudding).

Cinco de Mayo

May 5th - It's Cinco de Mayo!   And, just as on St. Patrick's Day everyone is "a little bit Irish," on Cinco de Mayo everyone is "a little bit Mexican."  "Anything for a good reason to party" I'm told!

How many of you have always thought that Cinco de Mayo is "Mexican Independence Day?"
Well.... if you are among the many who have believed that for a long time, you've been misinformed!

Here is the "Cliff Note version" of what is really behind the Cinco de Mayo celebration compliments of
vivacincodemayo :



The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day, but it should be!  And Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday, but it should be.  Mexico declared its independence from mother Spain on midnight, the 15th of September, 1810.  And it took 11 years before the first Spanish soldiers were told and forced to leave Mexico.

So, why Cinco de Mayo?  And why should Americans savor this day as well?  Because 4,000 Mexican soldiers smashed the French and traitor Mexican army of 8,000 at Puebla, Mexico, 100 miles east of Mexico City on the morning of May 5, 1862.

The French had landed in Mexico (along with Spanish and English troops) five months earlier on the pretext of collecting Mexican debts from the newly elected government of democratic President (and Indian) Benito Juarez.  The English and Spanish quickly made deals and left.  The French, however, had different ideas.
Under Emperor Napoleon III, who detested the United States, the French came to stay.  They brought a Hapsburg prince with them to rule the new Mexican empire.  His name was Maximilian; his wife, Carolota.  Napoleon's French Army had not been defeated in 50 years, and it invaded Mexico with the finest modern equipment and with a newly reconstituted Foreign Legion.  The French were not afraid of anyone, especially since the United States was embroiled in its own Civil War.

The French Army left the port of Vera Cruz to attack Mexico City to the west, as the French assumed that the Mexicans would give up should their capital fall to the enemy -- as European countries traditionally did.
Under the command of Texas-born General Zaragosa, (and the cavalry under the command of Colonel Porfirio Diaz, later to be Mexico's president and dictator), the Mexicans awaited.  Brightly dressed French Dragoons led the enemy columns.  The Mexican Army was less stylish.

General Zaragosa ordered Colonel Diaz to take his cavalry, the best in the world, out to the French flanks.  In response, the French did a most stupid thing; they sent their cavalry off to chase Diaz and his men, who proceeded to butcher them.  The remaining French infantrymen charged the Mexican defenders through sloppy mud from a thunderstorm and through hundreds of head of stampeding cattle stirred up by Indians armed only with machetes.

When the battle was over, many French were killed or wounded and their cavalry was being chased by Diaz' superb horsemen miles away.  The Mexicans had won a great victory that kept Napoleon III from supplying the confederate rebels for another year, allowing the United States to build the greatest army the world had ever seen.  This grand army smashed the Confederates at Gettysburg just 14 months after the battle of Puebla, essentially ending the Civil War.

Union forces were then rushed to the Texas/Mexican border under General Phil Sheridan, who made sure that the Mexicans got all the weapons and ammunition they needed to expel the French.  American soldiers were discharged with their uniforms and rifles if they promised to join the Mexican Army to fight the French.  The American Legion of Honor marched in the Victory Parade in Mexico, City.

It might be a historical stretch to credit the survival of the United States to those brave 4,000 Mexicans who faced an army twice as large in 1862.  But who knows?

In gratitude, thousands of Mexicans crossed the border after Pearl Harbor to join the U.S. Armed Forces.  As recently as the Persian Gulf War, Mexicans flooded American consulates with phone calls, trying to join up and fight another war for America.

Mexicans, you see, never forget who their friends are, and neither do Americans.  That's why Cinco de Mayo is such a party -- A party that celebrates freedom and liberty.  There are two ideals which Mexicans and Americans have fought shoulder to shoulder to protect, ever since the 5th of May, 1862.  VIVA! el CINCO DE MAYO!!

Habits

HABIT–noun  ( dictionary.com)

1. an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary.

2. customary practice or use.

3. a particular practice, custom, or usage.

 

 

Depending on which source you reference, it takes from 21 - 66 days to turn a practice into a solid habit.
And, it has been said that it only takes FIVE days of not performing that habit to break the habit!

That being said, I didn't want another day to slip by without a post!  I've missed two days and that's more than I intended to miss.  There are posts that have been percolating.  There have been a few minor electronic glitches (like misplaced USB connector for camera to upload pictures).  And, most of all, there has been one very very tired nurse who, by the time she was able to put on her "writer's hat" just didn't have the ability to do the writing justice.

So, here you have it!  I am posting and then going to fine tune some of what has been percolating so they can get up here on the blog as well.  This gal's not gonna let the habit of daily posts be broken if she can help it!