The Widows' Cooking Club

  The “leftovers” I refer to is leftover ham from the typical Easter dinner baked ham.   Using leftovers is the frugal “Yankee way” up here in Maine, and lots of casserole dishes show up at   pot luck dinners which can prove how tasty leftovers can be!   I am sharing two recipes this month.   One is really quick to make, less than fifteen minutes start to finish.   The other requires advance preparation, soaking beans overnight. This recipe features Jacob's cattle beans, a heritage bean from the Passamaquoddy Indians.  My family heritage is from Eastport, Maine and a drive into Eastport goes right through the Passamaquoddy reservation, Sipsyik. The “little things” are all the small things that add meaning and trigger emotions in our lives.   The last weekend of March was Maple Sugar Weekend here in Maine.   A couple who have been friends with us for years, and who have remained steadfast after my husband died, stopped by and picked me up on t...

  I’ve been though this a couple of times now, since I lost Bruce in the summer of 2020, and I still feel a nudge from the beast we call grief when I face yet another holiday without him. I have saved the Valentine’s Day cards he gave me and treasure them. Valentine’s Day is the most romantic of holidays and I recall coping with being alone on this many years ago, after a divorce.   I felt resentment watching couples enjoying the romantic rituals to celebrate their love.   It is a similar feeling now in my widowhood.   Not resentful anymore, just wistful.   I often take my black lab for a walk so that we can both get some fresh air and exercise, but with winters in Maine, it is hard to find a place to walk that is not slippery with ice and snow.   Trails can be hazardous unless there is sufficient snow to use snowshoes.   I found the perfect solution, walking from the main road up a well-groomed sidewalk in our local senior living complex.   Ind...

  It’s been a long time since I posted a blog entry!    I am pleased to report that I made it through the series of holidays, from Thanksgiving, to Christmas, New Years and most challenging of all for me, my wedding anniversary on January 2 nd , without being overwhelmed with sadness. Some tears now and then but I was able to rebound and keep going.    I am thankful for friends and family who buoyed me up by visiting and calling. My “cabbages” are brussels sprouts and I am sharing three recipes that are vastly different.   Even if you never liked brussels sprouts, you might find one of these appealing.   The salad seems like an oddity, but it is really very good, and has a great crunch factor.  I first had a brussel sprout salad at a restaurant in Naperville, IL, loved it and tried to replicate it. The air fryer sprouts are a great way to change the mind of someone who doesn't like veggies! If I were queen for a day, I’d make something happen ...

  I am sharing a shrimp recipe, so this blog title is fitting.   But what I really want to share is the story of the slow transformation I’ve been going through, from being a cloistered hermit to a careful but elated extrovert.   I’ve always been a social creature, but the pandemic put an end to that for all of us for a while.   I became a widow at the peak of the pandemic during the first summer, with no vaccines and significant restrictions on travel and social gatherings.   I was experiencing the solitude of living alone and missing my companion, compounded by the isolation I endured and a visceral fear of the virus. It was a shock to discover that I had turned into an introvert over time, a willing prisoner! I had to convince myself to go out and do things.   I felt like turning down all invitations and just staying home.   It’s so easy to be trapped!    My inner voice said: “Stay home and do nothing!”   I am sure that many people ...

  I just made it through two of those sad dates:   it was two years ago, July 19 th that Bruce passed away, and two years ago August 6 th  was the date of his military grave-side funeral service.   I have been contemplating what has changed since a year ago, the first anniversary of these dates.   I feel that it was a bit easier this year.   It’s hard to explain how it’s different, maybe just a bit less acute emotionally.   My advice to myself and others who must cope with the loss of a loved one is, don’t try to pretend the date doesn’t matter.   If you do, you’ll find that the significance will creep up on you when you least expect it, triggered by something that might be mundane but loaded with sentimental meaning.   Don’t fight the feeling of grief, and don’t suppress it.   It’s O.K. to let it flow, including the tears.   I shed the first tears in a long time today, when my smart phone “shared” memories of past photos from th...

                                          So I seem to have disappeared from the blogger world altogether!   I haven’t posted an entry since April.   What happened?   Well, you can put it down to the giddy joy that comes with the long-awaited warm weather in Maine!   May can be a show-stopper with everything starting to blossom, and days that just demand that you sit on the porch and watch the water.   And then, my boat went in the water before Memorial Day.   Whenever the forecast is favorable for calm seas and gentle breezes I take the boat out for a lunchtime cruise, pack a sandwich and a cold beer!   The bottom line is that spending time in front of a computer is not as appealing these days.   Add to that a much-welcomed extended visit from a family member and the blog fell by the wayside.   I’ll probably post less frequently during th...

  My grandmother, “Nana” had an April birthday so this month’s blog entry is in honor of her. Did you have someone in your life as a child or youngster who fostered your devotion to a particular interest, skill or hobby?   For me that person was my Nana, my maternal grandmother.   By the time I was born she was living beside my parents in a multi-family home.   So I had the pleasure of her companionship every day.   She was born in Eastport, Maine in 1898, one of seven children, five girls and two boys, a poor, hard scabble family.   She learned to cook from her mother, on a woodstove in their drafty kitchen, fetching wood from the woodpile and water from the well.   She inspired me to love cooking because she did it so well and she was a great storyteller.   For every recipe she had a fascinating story, like getting stung by bees while gathering blueberries for a pie when she was little.    My earliest memory of her showing me how to ...