Obama Inauguration Brings Us Hope

Today the United States welcomed her 44th Commander in Chief, Barack Obama. I watched as much of the inauguration ceremony as I could, from pre-ceremony crowd gathering to the administration of the Oath of Office, to the parade and this evening's balls.

Historically I haven't been enough of a political wonk to watch every presidential broadcast, much less glue myself to the TV. State of the Union address? Yawn - too many interruptions by legislators clapping wildly after every sentence. Presidential press conferences - yammer, yammer, yammer.

As I've gotten older, the topics have become more pertinent and of increasing personal interest, so I'm attentive. Yet I watch today, not out of practicality but because I have hope for the future. The Obama inauguration is history in the making; the festivities have an aura of optimism that has long been missing from our national political landscape.

Much work lies before us and the focus will be on our newly inaugurated president. May we be patient and as willing to be part of the solutions, as we are to be critical of the problems.

God bless President Obama and God bless the United States of America.

The Best Gifts of Christmas 2008

The holidays have come and gone, and we've moved into 2009 ready to shake off bad karma from 2008 and venture forth with a clean slate. Before we officially say "good-bye" to last year, allow me to recap some of the best gifts from Christmas - the ones we most liked, that my teenagers liked (shockingly enough!) and that friends received with the most enthusiasm.

In no particular order... My son LOVED his belt with the cool buckle. We ended up buying it from Fosterweld, which makes "Original Metal Art" - belt buckles, furniture, cuff bracelets and amazing mirrors. The quality is very good and so is the service. I ordered the buckle online the Friday before Christmas (yes, I know, I'm a slacker) so I needed a quick turnaround; the package arrived Monday, just as Chris (the owner) promised. Then, we needed to exchange the buckle (ordered the wrong color) and the response and exchange process were speedy and easy. The price was excellent, too - as a holiday special, Fosterweld offered the buckle WITH belt for only $29 (Check It Out - the offer was still posted on the website today!). I'm a very satisfied customer and my 16-year-old son is happy, too.

Another popular gift was brandied peaches, which I made in late summer using fresh peaches. The process was easy: Peel and slice ripe (but not over-ripe) peaches and put them in a wide-mouth glass jar (with lid) along with a cup of brandy and cup of sugar. Every time I added more fruit (every few days over about six weeks), I put in more brandy and sugar. When the container was filled, I put the lid on and stuck it in the fridge, stirring about once a week, until it was time to put it into jars and share with friends. The peaches turned a beautiful dark gold color and are delicious served over ice cream or pound cake. But warn your friends - these peaches are POTENT!

Some of my friends also received pepper vinegar: Plain white vinegar in which small, hot "sport" peppers have been steeped. I actually grew my own peppers this summer (I surprised myself about that - the only "crops" I'd ever successfully grown were herbs). The peppers grew throughout the summer and were plentiful. Once picked off the plant, I washed and added them to a large jar of vinegar. To mix it up a bit, I also added peeled cloves of garlic. The peppers ranged in color from green to red (the red ones were ripest and, I imagine, hottest). To share it, I divided the vinegar, peppers and garlic among individual bottles so each would be flavorful and attractive (well, as attractive as vinegar gets, anyway).

One of the best things about these two homemade gifts was the cost - they were VERY inexpensive to make and when I considered how much people seemed to like them, they earned high marks on my "bang for the buck" scale. I'll be on the lookout for new homemade (homegrown? home-soaked-in-booze?) items to make in this year.

Another great gift item was Flying Wish Paper. I'd given it as a gift before and decided to use them as Christmas gifts, but had never personally tried the product until they arrived just before the holidays. THESE ARE AMAZING! It's kinda tough to figure out exactly what the product is, in spite of the detailed description on the web site, but here's what I discovered: You write a wish or prayer on a 4" x 4" very thin piece of tissue-like paper, crumple it, straighten it out, roll it like a tube, place on a special "platform" (piece of card stock) and light with a match. The underlying symbolism may not be meaningful for everyone, but watching the paper burn and rise into the air (at least several feet or more), then slowly float as a light large ash back down is very, very cool. It's impossible to watch this the first time without your mouth gaping open. Our friends had never seen them before and all were impressed. Even my son pronounced it "sick" (teenager slang for "great"). Flying Wish Paper has become a personal favorite and I can testify to how delightful they are.

The last stand-out gift from 2008 is a Threadless "TypeTee" shirt that we gave to our son and a very close family friend (is a 20-year-old college student). Both guys loved the shirt - in spite of the fact that it's pink - because of its wit and sarcasm: "Meat is Murder. Tasty, tasty murder." The college student's mom is one of my best friends and I know she strongly dislikes the shirt, but has been a good sport (after all, her son is going to take it back to college and probably lose it somewhere, so as long as she doesn't have to look at it...). My son wore his to school today and gets to show it off to friends, including a former girlfriend who is a vegetarian. Hmmm. He should have an "interesting" day.

What were your favorite gifts for 2008? Let a comment and let me know. I'd be thrilled to steal, uh, borrow one of your ideas for '09. You know, imitation being the sincerest form of flattery and all...

Black-eyed Peas and Collard Greens for a Year of Good Luck

Yeah - I'm Southern all right. For me, the only proper way to start a new year is with plenty of black-eyed peas and collard greens, accompanied by corn bread, ham, white rice and pepper vinegar. You non-Southerners might doubt this recipe, but my good luck started January 1st, when I enjoyed this traditional spread at the home of friends. (How lucky is that? I didn't even have to cook!)

I picked up a tip for cooking collard greens that I'll be using from now on. If you aren't familiar with this food, collard greens are one of those vegetables that, candidly, don't smell so great when they're cooking. (Trust me - your kids will complain and your husband might grump about the odor, too.) They can taste bitter, too; however, when properly cooked with salt pork or a ham bone, they're quite yummy (nothing like the smell). I usually mask the bitterness with pepper vinegar, but the collard greenss Betsy prepared at the New Year's Day open house we attended were the best I've ever eaten and not bitter at all.

Betsy's secret: Adding sugar while the collard greens cook. It's a taste-as-you-go process for her and the goal isn't making the greens taste sweet, but simply to remove most of the bitterness. They were delicious and I'm adopting this trick in my kitchen!