my whole life I’ve avoided saying goodbye at get-togethers and just slipping out in order to forego the inevitable hugs that ensue… now, my body is betraying everything I know by drawing me towards her…
she was kind about the awkwardness that ensued… I could tell she didn’t need to hug me as much as I was longing to wrap my arms around her… maybe she was worried that a hug that was 20 years in the making might be a let down… perhaps she thinks I am showing visible signs of losing my mind…. it could be the fact that showering once a week is not working out for me as well as I thought it was… whatever it was, she politely laughed as said ‘oh I sure wish we could hug too… darn Covid’
potato gnocchi
Ingredients:
4 russet potatoes (around 2 cups mashed)
1 tsp salt
cracked black pepper
1 egg
1 cup all purpose flour (more if needed)
Directions:
boil potatoes – either peel first or pull peels off after
boil them for 20-25 minutes and drain
mash or use a potato ricer
let cool a bit and then in a bowl, add the salt, pepper, egg and then the flour until you can form a ball
on a floured surface, roll parts of it into a log and chop into small ‘pillows’
in batches, place in boiling water and as soon as they float, let them float for 30 more seconds and then remove
put in a dish with a bit of olive oil so they don’t stick to each other
use immediately or keep in the fridge to use later
I like to use the potato ricer to get really fluffy mashed potatoes for the dough… my daughter and I had a lovely little assembly line going of me rolling and cutting the dough and she was boiling and straining them…
the plan was to add a mushroom cream sauce on them with a parmesan topping and bake… but after all that work, I curdled the milk and ruined the entire sauce… my guess is the temperature was too high for adding the milk…
iceberg lettuce chopped salad with french dressing
Ingredients:
Salad:
1 head iceberg lettuce, core removed and chopped
4 radishes, chopped
4 scallions or green onions, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
1 cup shredded carrots
Dressing:
3 tbsp white wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
3 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
kosher salt and cracked black pepper to taste (not needed)
Directions:
put salad ingredients in a large bowl
shake up dressing
pour over and serve immediately
and I have to say that I am mortified if I have made ‘spurned-huggers’ feel the way my lovely friend was ‘forced’ (we’ll say that) to make me feel the other night… all these years, I never knew the anguish I was causing so many by not just giving them a hug… however awful it used to feel for me to hug, the feeling of having an unrequited hug is worse!
I do have a suspicious feeling that this lure to hugging I am having right now is purely founded upon the fact that we are not allowed to hug and throughout the course of my life, I am generally only attracted to things I am not supposed to be doing… similar to the critically acclaimed Netflix show “Too Hot to Handle”, where couples are not allowed to kiss (etc.) and find themselves even more attracted to each other than if they could kiss… this was an old Bible School trick… one I fell for ‘hook, line and sinker’ and ended up marrying a farmer at the ripe old age of 20…
who knows – only time will tell if this pull to hugging is merely an act of rebellion or a step forward in becoming a nicer human being… after the pandemic, if you don’t get the open faced sandwich hug, the shoulder to the throat hug, the middle school dance hug or the burping the baby hug but instead it is replaced with a soft, delicious ‘hugging your grandmother’ type of hug, you will know something deep down has been switched in me… and you might want to read my old blog on how to avoid hugging – cuz I’m coming for ya…
peach cobbler
Ingredients:
3 quarts canned peaches, strained (or 12 fresh peaches, sliced)
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
zest of one lemon
2 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup cold shortening, cut into small cubes
1 cup whole milk
Directions:
mix sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, lemon juice and zest in a saucepan on medium/high heat
add peaches and boil and gently stir for 1 minute
pour into a 9×13 greased dish
cut shortening into flour, sugar, baking powder and salt mixture
add milk and mix until sticky
spoon over the peaches and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes
serve warm if possible
i feed a farmer 
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