St. Louis Meatball Sandwich.... "a hot mess"!!

I've learned a couple of things while living amongst the St. Louis West County-ers  ..... one is that you know "the Hill" serves "legit italian" fare here in West County and it is very special.   My neighbor tells a story of going into a restaurant on "the Hill" one day, he heard a pop....pop... and looked toward the hustling and shuffling men's dress shoes sound that was connected to the popping and he realized that he had just heard a "hit" go down as the car screetched away........ I asked him what he did and he just said plainly, and like the question was crazy, "I proceeded inside to get a table and ordered lunch....?  why? "  Need I say more?    I happen to make a pretty "legit" St. Louis Meatball Sandwich and it is pictured above.... BAMB!

Cooking over the holidays.....

Hopefully this looks good to you..... It's local organic (st. louis) White Bean and Chicken Chili with Corn Fritters, Tupelo Honey and Sweet Iced Tea...  that is the sort of stuff that I'm making the family to eat over the holidays.  This is only important because, as you all know, I've lost 115 pounds recently and I've discovered the secret to a) losing weight and b) keeping it off......  SOUPS!  and, healthy other stuff.  The other meals I will post as well in case anyone is really interested in what we are eating over here.  I've had a lot of personal questions with respect to what it is exactly that I eat now.  It's pretty obvious that whatever is going into our bodies needs to be EFFICIENT in it's energy and vitamin transfer.   As both a cook and a eater, soups are the answer for me and hopefully, you will be encouraged to try them as well.  Peace!

What do You see in a Sunset?

Last nite I saw this amazing sky with JD while driving to work.  It is often that he and I notice sunsets and cool clouds.  He tried to take a photo for me on his new phone and he hasn't yet even read the manual.  Out of a moving auto, I think he did great.  Unfortunately, there isn't a camera or anything that can equally depict the glory of God in the heavens above us on many a night.   4S!  So, last nite, a train (a super long and heavy train) decided to stop and linger for a good 10 minutes,  so I had plenty of time to truly take the sunset in and I prayed that the Lord would just help me to stop and take in whatever He wanted me to receive and here is what I observed:

I was drawn to the many colors above me in the sky.  The background sky was it's normal sky blue and layered over the top were these "cloud stripes" that most resembled the lines within a seashell.  Just stretching across the sky in these beautiful stripes of blue, and green, red, but most of all, PINK, and every aspect of the color of PINK - the salmon, the magenta, to put those together on a canvas would have an artist thrown out of art school.  Those colors absolutely do not make any sense together and yet, when God does it, it's just breathtakingly beautiful!  OMG!  I was truly in awe of God as an Artist in that moment.  The great artists like Monet, Van Gogh.... they appreciated color and were both known for mixing their own colors and I thought to myself, " That's the message, isn't it, God"?  He began to show me through the continuation of the sunset before me, that with time and the wind, those many clouds began to turn and run away, leaving others behind to try and hold down the design in the sky.  But their efforts were in vain, as the dispersal revealed that each of those clouds were gray in color.  All of them.  All that time, I realized that it was the LIGHT, and how the cloud RECEIVED the light, was what gave each the illusion that they possessed their own color.  The simple truth seemed to stun me.   I think that I am a colorful person, and I see all kinds, and love all kinds of colorful people.   It came as really no surprise that all along, I was seeing how they "reflected" God's light.   How cool is that?

Christmas Cookies are the Bomb.....

                             

I love Christmas Cookies.  The ones that have a touch of Anise are my favorite as my german grandmother used to make them.  In fact, as grandchildren, we had complete "open access" to any and all Christmas cookies for the entire holiday at her house!  That was the most wonderful news to hear each and every year as we lumbered up the driveway after our long drive.  To know that at any time, day or night, I could go get a Christmas cookie if I wanted one, at age 5 was just the best and I will absolutely do this for my grandchildren.  She baked like a 1,000 cookies to keep up with all of her grandchildren's greed.  She never once ran out of freshly decorated Christmas cookies and I was amazed at that.  We tried, believe me, to eat her dry of cookies.  The german in her wouldn't let her run out of cookies and disappoint her grandkids.  No way.  I miss Bertha's cookies more than I can tell you. 

JD loves Christmas cookies, too.  He's the one who insisted on taking this picture.  That really makes me smile.

I've really got to get a move on as it pertains to the many different kinds of cookies I intended to make this year. 

I made a breakfast thing that would be great on Christmas morning:  Take a large foil pan and slice a loaf of french bread into 3/4 inch slices.  Dip each slice of bread into egg/milk and place in the pan.  On each slice of bread place a dolip of creme cheese and a spoon full of raspberry jam and top with the other slice of bread to make a little sandwich.  Top the sandwiches with sliced almonds and cinammon, a little honey and melted butter.  Bake in 350 oven for about 50 minutes (the sandwiches should be only slightly brown) if you need to cover to keep from over browning, then cover by all means.  Serve with a side of protein as it is VERY, VERY sweet.  But, the family really enjoyed it!

More Merry Christmas!