Invictus Movie Review

Though it dragged in certain parts, this was a wonderful film. Morgan Freeman was the highlight -- his portrayal of Nelson Mandela was masterful. You love Mandela in the story. He was a modern-day Lincoln, wisely working to bring rival factions together through the sport of rugby. The grueling sport of rugby is vividly portrayed by Matt Damon and the other team members. What a brutal sport! Basically, it is football without any padding or protection! While some story elements could have been trimmed, the overall story was educational and inspiring.

Thanksgiving Recipes

Just wanted to share a couple wonderful recipes that were hits for Thanksgiving - some family favorites and some new. We enjoyed our Thanksgiving meal with family, and then had a leftover night Friday night with some of our neighbors. Everyone brought a "specialty" they had prepared - it was great! You can't get too much Thanksgiving food!

GRAMMY'S CRANBERRY-APPLE RELISH

My grandma always prepared this for Thanksgiving - it is delicious and so pretty in a cut-glass bowl!

1 lb. cranberries
3 oranges (some rind)
1 large can crushed pineapple
3 red apples
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cups sugar

Mix cranberries, oranges, and pineapple in food processor with metal blade. Remove to a bowl. Core and slice apples - squirt with lemon juice. Use grater blade to grate apples and transfer to the bowl with the cranberries. Add sugar and stir - keeps 1 week in refrigerator.

PHYLLO WRAPPED ASPARAGUS

I got this recipe from my vegan daughter - easy and delicious! There was none leftover, and since it's a vegetable, that made me feel good.

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

Ingredients

* 8 or 9 asparagus spears, depending on size
* 1/2 (16-ounce) package frozen phyllo dough sheets, thawed
* 1/4 cup butter, melted
* 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Snap off the tough ends of the asparagus. Unwrap the phyllo and cut the stack in half lengthwise. Reserve 1 stack for later use. Cover the phyllo with a damp towel to keep it from drying out. Take 1 sheet of phyllo and brush lightly with some melted butter. Sprinkle with some Parmesan. Place 2 to 3 asparagus spears on the short end of the sheet. Roll up, jelly-roll style. Place each piece, seam side down, on a baking sheet. Brush with more melted butter and sprinkle with more Parmesan. Repeat until all the asparagus spears are used up. Place baking sheet in oven and bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy.

Great Walking Songs

Gimme Three Steps - Lynyrd Skynyrd
You May be Right - Billy Joel
Burning Love - Elvis Presley
An American Girl - Tom Petty

Book Review - Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad

This is a real page-turner - another true story I could not put it down! A true story about a young man who survived a small plane crash in the 70's. In the very first chapter, the plane containing the author and his father crashes in the California mountains. The next chapter begins the story of Mr. Ollestad's life, focusing on his larger-than-life father, a surfer and skier who tried to pass on those skills to his son. Using alternating chapters to tell both stories, this riveting story hangs on and never lets go. Read this book!!!

Book Review - My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme

All foodies must read this book! I'm always sad to see a wonderful book end, but especially was saddened to finish this one. All through the story, I could hear Julia's lovely lilting voice talking to me about her truly remarkable life. Following her husband to France where he worked as a civil servant, Julia's life was completely changed. I didn't know that she was basically a non-cook when she fell in love with French cuisine. Taking to French cooking with absolute intensity and study, she rapidly became a true gourmet. The book, which was co-written with the help of her nephew, completely captures the warmth and intelligence of both Paul and Julia Child. What a treasure they were to our country and our world. READ THIS BOOK!

Book Review - The Woman Behind the New Deal by Kirstin Downey

Wow. It's wonderful to read a book about a subject you knew nothing about that affects how you see the world. This well-researched book is a biography of a fascinating woman - Frances Perkins. Ever hear of her? I never had, and just happened to hear the author talking about this book on NPR. I got the book from the library, and still didn't open it for weeks. But once I did - wow. Ms. Perkins was an amazing woman. She (NOT FDR and certainly not Eleanor Roosevelt) was truly the brains behind social security, unemployment insurance, the 40 hour work week, and the minimum wage. And talk about a work ethic! She worked right up until her death in her 80's. Frances was the first woman in the cabinet, and in a male dominated world, she continued to quietly fight for worker's rights, even though she dealt with a lot of gender-based prejudice. What a woman! What a book!

PWSD (Post-Wedding Stress Disorder)

After a 9-month engagement, our only daughter married her longtime best friend in a beautiful ceremony. Everyone told us that the ceremony and reception would be a blur, and of course they were right. And - also - of course there were a few blips over the course of the 2 days of festivities that did not go as planned. But over all, the bride and groom and all the guests had a wonderful time - so those potholes along the way are not at all important and will eventually fade into funny memories.

Here are some highlights:

• We had over 30 out-of-town guests for the wedding - many of them had never been to our town (Atlanta) before. They all seemed to enjoy the location and the hotel where we all stayed was wonderful (Spring Hill Suites - Marriott - highly recommend!)
• We had such good room rates that we rented a suite just to be a hospitality suite. This was very popular - especially with the young crowd!
  
• The groom played guitar on 3 numbers with the band during the reception - he rocked!!! Everyone was so impressed!
• The ceremony was so personal - the officiant talked individually about the bride and groom and what attracted them to each other. So very sweet.
• The bride wore the same wedding dress I wore 30 years ago. She also wore a cameo that was owned originally by my great-grandmother (I also wore it on this dress in 1978).
• We rented a 15-passenger van to transport our many guests to the rehearsal dinner and to the wedding. On Friday, Dad did the driving. For the wedding, we hired one of our son's friends to drive a loop all night taking guests from the reception to the hotel (so no one had to drive impaired). This worked out really well!
• The hall we rented for the ceremony and reception was a hit - it was beautiful, comfortable, had a great bar and everyone enjoyed the food (or so I heard).
• The flowers were lovely - exactly what the bride had in mind.
  

Of course, we had never given a wedding before, so there were some things I wish we had done differently (or we didn't do them at all). I would share this to anyone who was planning a wedding in case they could use the info. Here they are in no particular order:

• Make a list of all the people you want pictures taken of on the wedding day. I didn't do this, and therefore, we have no formal pictures of the family groups who traveled long distances to be there.
• Our ceremony was almost 30 minutes late because a key person got lost. Don't know the answer for this except be sure to have someone who knows where they are going beforehand. :->
• After the ceremony, we took pictures for 30 minutes. Then we asked the band to announce the wedding party. The bride and groom were then supposed to dance. Woops - we forgot to bustle the dress first! Bustling did not go smoothly in spite of practice. Oh well.
  
• Don't schedule things too close together on the wedding day. I knew it would be difficult to get all 6 girls plus my hair and makeup done in 2 hours - well, I was right! It actually took twice that amount of time, which caused some real backups in the schedule for the day. One thing I should not have done - had my hair washed at the salon! I could have saved so much time if I had done it at home before I came. :-> The poor wedding party nearly starved because we had to rush from the hair appointments to the pictures.
  
• I should have emailed the entire timeline to the wedding party ahead of time so they would have an idea of when things were going to happen.
• Another dumb thing - I told the band to announce the bride and groom were leaving before being sure the limo driver was here to drive them away.
• I wish I had had time to take the bride around to all the people that we invited to the wedding just so she could thank them for attending.
  

In spite of all of these problems, the wedding was one of the most memorable days of our lives - especially for our daughter and her new husband. We can't wait for the next family member to get married so we can party again!