Team Turtle Walks in San Antonio

This year the Association of Corporate Counsel Annual Meeting was in San Antonio, a city where my family has lived since the late 19th Century.  A number of years ago, I started Team Turtle so people can get together and walk in the morning before the sessions began.  This is a time to socialize, but being in a hometown (of sorts) I had to add some history to our walks.

An historic T-shirt that I wore on one walk.

For those who were available on Sunday morning, I suggested we go to the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in Texas, Missions National Park.  Most of us arrived in time to walk around and some went to see another mission while others took the early tour of Mission San Jose.  Our guide was happy to pose with Turtle, our walk mascot.

Day 1 of our official walks, of course I had to take the group to see The Alamo.

It was before opening hours, so we had to peek through the fence.

San Fernando Cathedral, home of the oldest
continually active religious community in the city.

Bexar County Courthouse, oldest continually
operating courthouse in Texas.

Day 2 we went to El Mercado, a bit challenged due to roadwork, and again before the shops opened.

Dia de Los Muertos decorations abounded.

Too early for churros.  Turtle was sad.

Day 3 we went to La Villita, which I chose because it was close.  My mother insisted I be sure to take the group there, because of its history and current status as an arts community.

One of the many sculptures in La Villita.

Ojos de Dios on the fence surrounding the church.

We passed the Briscoe Museum of Western Art.

The parties were too late for Turtle to be out, but I went to a few.  Not many pictures except of the man hand-rolling cigars.

This style is called a cheroot and is completely by hand.

A constellation of gifts

It was a hectic week, and next week will be also.  I am going to San Antonio for the Association of Corporate Counsel's Annual Meeting.  It's been a long time since I visited the city - I think my Cousin Amy was still alive, or maybe I've been there once since her death.  Strange since I lived comparatively close when I was in North Texas.  My other has other cousins there also, and my parents planned to come with me to visit them, but things came up and they cannot.

One thing planned for the social part of the meetings is walking around and taking a tour of Missions National Park.  It wasn't formally planned, but I mentioned it as a possibility, and the next thing I knew, about twenty people from all over the world said they want to join.  I called the park to be sure this wouldn't be an issue, and the ranger confirmed they can handle any crowd that comes.  So we go!

I am trying to figure out what projects to take - a cowl that I struggled over starting finally is on track, and I think I need at least one other item.  Knowing the way I pack, more like two.😁  I thought I had ones ready, but keep changing my mind.  It's probably why I have things started and not getting finished.

Except that I made, and am wrapping and labeling, a flight of snowflake-shaped soaps (which look a bit like stars in the photo) to take as gifts to friends in the Dallas area:

Two different scents: Peppermint (blue/white) and Cannabis Cashmere

I also finished the crocheting of the little pink jacket, so it just needs final finishing and buttons:

Buttonholes are big enough for these - hurrah!

Otherwise, the week has been busy with work and scattered with packing and planning what to take, and organizing walks, and answering emails from people who want to meet - tonight I have to finish either eating the fresh foods, or figuring out how to store them until I return.  Luckily the event on Tuesday happened as scheduled, so the blueberry bars I'd made (subbing in gluten-free flour, which was very much appreciated) for the originally-scheduled date (postponed due to storms and damage) are now out of the freezer.  They were very well received.

"We will only have peace when....."

It's been a week, in many ways.

This quotation from Golda Meir is striking to many of us right now:

In non-political news, work has been busy and I am getting ready to go to a conference that begins next Sunday, and then I drop by to see a friend in a play in North Texas on the way home, going on a Thursday evening so I can be here for the North Carolina Opera's season opener.

    

Tonight finished the local play where I'd done props and set dressing - not much needed of either:

I haven't finished the blanket I started last week, but it's close.  I am at the chaining-up phase.  One reason I didn't finish is that I realized in putting the cakes together that I would end up with a very wide band of the dark brown, and I didn't like it.  So I took out a bunch by making a blanket piece for Warm Up, America!  Since it would be a solid colour, I wanted to do some definite texture, and decided to practice the looping-up technique.  Stitch counts all made up by me on the fly:

Just before pulling the loops through each other.

I am REALLY not sure how this happened.

Finished block, with a border because it was
a bit smaller than the standard size.

Because I needed something small to carry around, I started a cowl.  Four times.  I am still having issues with getting the stitch count correct for the initial band.  But persevering!

While looking for something small and carry-around, I decided to start a baby item for the fall Arts & Crafts Collective Holiday Sale, since I have a cake of very pink yarn that wasn't used in the purples-and-pinks blanket.  After looking at patterns online and checking yardage, I decided on Bernat's Striped Crochet Coat:

After being several rows into the bodice I realized I needed to make an adjustment and increased the size of the buttonholes to accommodate the buttons I want to use.  Yes, frogging was involved.

Reading-wise, I gave up on Don't Pee on my Leg and Tell Me It's Raining, which I think would make a good essay but is much too long as a book.  Or I was too involved in that type of court when I was in private practice, and so none of what the book says is new to me.  I'm now reading Charlie Wilson's War, which is one of the suggested readings for a programme I am attending in November.  Definitely much more interesting to me.

Another thing.

Although I have a pile of partly-finished items, and it's "Aftober" on KnitTalk, which means we are challenged/encouraged to finish things, I started a new one:

This is the Radiant Rays Blanket, and I'm doing it in the pattern yarn, which is discontinued but I have some cakes.  Not the six the pattern requires, but the final version is around 55" across with all that yarn, so my three cakes (and a smidge I might use from a similar colourway) should do a decent-sized baby blanket.  As you can see, one cake in and it's about 21" across.

Once you get to the penultimate row, you stop and take all those chain lines, then link them together from the centre to the edge.  The final row locks the loops so they stay in place.  I am debating whether to also add a small border so it's a bit more finished, but I'll see where I am when done with the third cake.

The first two or three rows were challenging, then the wedges had enough stitches to be visible.  Now it's almost at autopilot stage, although the first stitch after the chain line is fiddly.

I've also been doing chores.  And listening to news.  I know people in Israel, and when I was there it was during the Lebanon war and we were traveling close enough one day to hear the shelling.  I've heard quite a bit from friends about the air raids and bombings, and I suppose it being the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War was too tempting.  Plus Shabbat, when many Jews would be observing the day of rest.

I try to not be political on this blog - there are so many of those, if you want to read them.  But how can I not mention this?  I've mentioned the war in Ukraine, which is well into its second year.  Parts of my family may have come from that area (documents are a bit sketchy), certainly from that part of Europe.  Both seem to be just more examples of how certain factions of the world want to destroy Jews.

Genocides and wars keep happening all over the world, not just in these two areas, although they are of the greatest attention to most Americans.  That level of hatred and fear of people - so great that you want to wipe them off the face of the planet - is something I just cannot comprehend, despite the examples that show themselves day after day after month after year............

Like a Day in August 1942

Well, not quite.

Catching up on some magazines, I read an article in my university alumni's summer issue about meal planning during WWII.  In addition to information about Meta Given and The Modern Family Cook Book and her meal planning and "diet pattern" (this from the days when "diet" meant "how you eat overall" and wasn't automatically a slimming plan), it includes a sample menu for a day in August.

I decided it looked interesting, and wanted to try using it for a day's meal planning.  Not wanting to wait until August, I decided to use what I have on hand.  In addition to these accommodations, I don't drink either coffee or milk, the two beverages listed, so you'll see glasses of cold tea (I don't like ice in it at home, as it dilutes the drink unnecessarily, and I have a pitcher in the refrigerator) with the meals.

The next problem was that at least one meal includes a cooked item for which I need a recipe - which cookbook to choose?

After a quick perusal of my cookbooks of approximately that era, I decided The Joy of Cooking made the most sense as a homemaker might have received a copy as a bride, and would still be using it.  I have a facsimile of the 1931 edition, so that's close enough.  I found a YouTuber who used the 1943 edition, which might be closer given the dates in the article, but the recipes she made require ingredients I don't have and the ones I need doesn't appear to be things that would change much in 10-11 years.

Breakfast does not need recipes:

• White grapes
• Prepared Cereal with Top Milk (= cream)
• Toast with Butter, Jam
• Coffee for Adults
• Milk for Children

This is mine:

I did not have grapes, so substituted a banana, on Raisin Bran.  Glass of green tea at right; I am finishing the pitcher so haven't made a more standard tea they would be likely to have in the 1940's.  Yes, my toast has butter on one side and peach jam on the other, because that is how I felt like eating it today.  I don't generally like having both butter and jam on the same piece of toast.

The peach jam is a nod to the original menus (peaches show up at supper), and is an old-fashioned style from the farm in Connecticut that hosted my first CSA shares.

I don't have much milk so decided to put orange juice on the cereal.  I like the combination, which I started using in college when the milk machines failed and we didn't have milk for a while.  That's also what put me off drinking milk.

Lunch required some cooking, but not much:

• Creamed Eggs on Toast
• Sliced Tomatoes and Lettuce Wedges, French Dressing
• Fresh Pears
• Hot or Iced Tea
• Milk for Children

This required a recipe for "creamed eggs".  I didn't know whether it would be hard-cooked eggs in a cream sauce (I have something similar to that for curried eggs, and have seen variations for ladies' luncheon menus), or eggs scrambled with cream, or what?  It turns out they are shirred eggs with white sauce:

I buttered the cup and sprinkled in seasonings, then added two eggs in the cup since there was room (Meta Given recommends one per day, or 3-4 per week, and since I haven't had any this week, I splurged), to make a heartier lunch.  I don't have parsley or celery, but remembered some fresh spinach, so tucked a few leaves (washed and torn) into the cup:

    

Left is at the beginning; sorry it's blurry.  On the right is the cooked eggs and they are blurry because of steam.  I didn't check the timings.  While they cooked, I made white sauce:

I made half the recipe, so one tablespoon of butter and a bit less than a tablespoon of flour, melted and stirred together.  Then a half-cup of milk (I had a bit less, so increased with water), stirred until it got thickish, then added seasonings.  Since I forgot the nutmeg in the eggs, I added it here.

The cookbook includes two recipes for French Dressing, and in the interest of time I'm doing the simpler but will try the other at some point:

So this is the final result, without sauce, showing the seasonings from the bottom of the egg cup:

I have romaine lettuce, so it's slices/shreds instead of wedges.

Now I have added a few spoonfuls of sauce to the eggs - not very photogenic, sorry:

The salad is lightly dressed, so the dressing is not visible, especially as it's a vinaigrette.  Not shown is the glass of cold tea.

It was a fairly tasty lunch but more fussy than I usually do; if I were to have eggs on toast, it would be something quicker like fried or scrambled.  The white sauce is very nice and I thought I'd cook the rest of the spinach and blend them together to make creamed spinach for lunch tomorrow.

Dinner menu required several adjustments:

• Cold Sliced Fresh Boston Style Pork Butt
• Corn on the Cob
• Creamed Turnips
• Grated Carrot, Apple, and Orange Salad
• Bread and Butter
• Fresh Peach Tarts
• Coffee for Adults
• Milk for Children

I almost never eat pork, so substituted the last couple slices of some deli roast beef.  The reason the menu refers to "Fresh Boston Style Pork Butt" is that this distinguishes it from smoked or cured pork butt.  It is actually part of the pig's shoulder, the blade roast.  In case you wonder how to cook it:

I do not have turnips or oranges, and peaches are not in season.  Since Meta Given includes a serving of potato in her daily food group, I thought that would be a natural substitute for the turnip.  I looked up a few recipes to figure out substitutions.

When I read the last line, I remembered the leftover cream sauce from lunch.  So I boiled a small potato, cut into chunks, in the same pot with the corn on the cob.  After they were done, I fished out the corn, drained the potato chunks (realizing too late I should have retained some of the water), and stirred them into the leftover sauce.  It had thickened in the refrigerator, and the ratio of potato to sauce didn't leave much for being soppingly creamy, but it was sufficient and disposed of leftovers.  So, no creamed spinach tomorrow.

While those boiled, I looked up carrot salad recipes; there weren't any for apple salad.

Not helpful given the menu description.  So I simply diced the carrot and apple into small bits, since I could not find my box grater, and added a splash of orange juice instead of French dressing.

I did get some plums at the weekly farmstand, but didn't feel like doing a crust and tart for one person.  So I finessed it with a fresh plum and shortbread cooky, which I thought is fairly close to pie pastry in terms of ingredients and being baked.  This is my result:

Clockwise from the top:  Carrot and Apple Salad with Orange Juice; leftover roast beef; fresh boiled Corn on the Cob; Creamed Potato; fresh plum, shortbread cooky, and bread and butter, which looks oddly-shaped as it's the rest of the slice from lunch, from which I'd cut the round bit to toast.

Overall the meals were good and more variety than I usually include in my menus.  For a family it makes sense to have multiple dishes; I often will eat more simply, as a sandwich or salad at lunch, and for supper I'd have about half the items the dinner menu included.  Bread and butter at every meal adds a filling item that would be easy to adjust in quantity for each person; I generally don't have it with a meal, I wouldn't have both cereal and toast at breakfast.

It's helpful to have menu suggestions when cooking a historical meal, as otherwise it's a bunch of recipes collated with my personal, more modern sensibility.  Now I am curious to track down a copy of The Modern Family Cook Book (she published other books as well, including a two-volume Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking) and learn more about Meta Given.

Yep, I did.

First time voting in the new place I live.  I had to confirm that I am over 18 years old and have lived here for more than thirty days, and that I can understand the ballot.  It's the first time I have lived in a place with early voting, so there wasn't a line and it was very quick.  Also, only two questions on the ballot.

This weekend is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and when I was in Dallas I picked up a box of mooncakes.  So I have been happily eating them for breakfast this weekend.

Buying six scored a box for gifting or displaying the mooncakes.  I gave one to the friend with whom I stayed that week, ate one because I couldn't resist, so used the two open spaces to transport two of the Dragon Boat Decorations I made.

I also knitted two hats this week:

The one on the left is made of sock yarn leftovers, plus a ball of Kroy Sock that I purchased with a coupon, so inexpensively.  The other is Wool-Ease Thick & Quick.  Both patterns mostly made-up, although I based the righthand one on a pattern that came with the yarn.

Work was busy, especially the last couple of days, as it was not just monthend but end-of-quarter, and for some reason it seemed people forgot until Thursday that the last business day was Friday.  So all of a sudden, everything was escalating and documents were flying around for signatures.

So naturally on Thursday I had to attend a donor thank-you and fundraiser for the North Carolina Opera.  Luckily they had food and drink which served as dinner, and I could handle a couple easy things on my phone, then got back to work as soon as I returned home.

And the House of Representatives decided that they needed to stop their playground squabbles and agree on a budget measure to keep the government running for the next 45 days.  Rather a near thing.  Let's hope they decide to be more collaborative and get a final budget put together before time runs out.