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| Thanksgiving 2024 at the Reales, Sanford, FL |
Susie, Riley, Grace, Lionel, Mike, Carlos, Gloria, Cassidy, Hailey.
Apologies for such a long delay between blogs, but Life intervened in a series of disasters: being left to cope with the Shawl Committee's contributions to the Church Fall Fair alone, as everyone else was singing in a performance of the Messiah. Followed by two wasted afternoons due to my car's starter dying (waiting for AAA, waiting for Toyota to fix it). And then . . . my dishwasher died, only a month after a costly repair. No putting good money after bad—new dishwasher time. Followed by . . . Aargh! My Internet bit the dust on the afternoon before Thanksgiving. Thank goodness Spectrum sent someone right away when I reported the outage after the holiday. So I am now playing catch-up. Sigh.
The following quote has been hanging fire since just after the Election, but, with all the most recent headlines, it seems even more applicable now than it was three weeks ago.
Below, a quote from the Reverend Friedrich Niemöller—written post-WWII & now a permanent part of the Holocaust Museum. These are words that apply to ALL. Insert whatever non-Aryan race, religion, non-accepted gender you choose.
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
~ * ~
Last night at Thanksgiving with the family, my oldest granddaughter - the only one to see Wicked so far - was raving about it, showing Ariana Grande videos, etc., etc. Then, this afternoon, I got a Wicked meme from my daughter-in-law in Connecticut with the following message:
Since the Wicked premiere was last night, I think now is a good time to remind everyone that Wicked is a story about a weak man gaslighting an entire land into believing a woman was their enemy, all because she had the guts to try and stop him from silencing and stripping the rights of a significant part of the population, inherently political, and unfortunately, relevant.
My DIL also sent a meme of a traditional Pilgrim/Indian Thanksgiving dinner. The caption:
CELEBRATING THE DAY AMERICANS FED UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS FROM EUROPE.
~ * ~
FEATURED RECIPE
Back in September, for Riley's birthday, my daughter asked me (at the last minute) to make Bacon Bread. I groaned and told her I needed more notice. She shot back, "Thanksgiving!" So . . .
Covid put "paid" to this family favorite, a pull-apart bread, where everyone just dives in and grabs. Sigh. But the time had come to revive Bacon Bread. I hunted out the recipe, acquired all the ingredients, and once again began to play with a recipe created for the earlier, smaller version of Pillsbury's Buttermilk Biscuits. Below, please find Bacon Bread 2024. (I guess this version was the best yet, as my son-in-law's mother and two of the grandgirls asked for the updated recipe.) Plus the entire Bundt-sized bread disappeared in record time. So here it is:
Pull-Apart Bacon Bread - 2024
The original recipe was for the 7.5 oz. Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits, almost impossible to find any more, so I have attempted to revise the original recipe, using “Grands.” Two “Grands” make quite a bit more dough than three of the smaller biscuit packages, so I have adjusted the other ingredients accordingly. Needless to say, there is quite a bit of leeway for you to adjust the recipe to your taste, including increasing the amount of bacon, which remains the same in this recipe as in the original. In this 2024 update, I have increased the amount of butter, cheddar & fresh herbs.
Grace Note: This recipe is much easier if you do the preparations ahead of time - several hours up to a whole day. Cook the bacon to crisp. Cool & crumble. (I cut the strips into quarters before frying.) Shred the cheese; chop the onion & pepper. Snip the herbs into small pieces. Refrigerate until an hour or two before putting the bread ring together.
Shortly before taking the biscuits out of the package, melt the butter. BUT allow enough time for butter to cool a bit, perhaps 10 minutes, or you will burn your fingers when you mix all ingredients "hands on."
FINAL PREPARATION:
Prepare a Bundt pan with a generous coating of solid shortening (such as Crisco), plus a dusting of flour.
1 medium onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
1 medium green pepper, finely chopped (about 3/4 cup -optional)
1½ teaspoons vegetable or olive oil*
1 lb. bacon, cooked & crumbled
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1- 1½ cups shredded Cheddar cheese
Fresh herbs, chopped (if available)**
2 pkgs. (16.3 oz. ea.) Pillsbury “Grand” buttermilk biscuits
While vegies sauté, preheat oven to 350°.
Sauté onion & green pepper in oil until tender. Cut each biscuit into four sections. In a large bowl, gently toss onion & pepper mix, biscuits, bacon, butter, cheese & herbs, until combined. (This is a hands-on process—every biscuit piece needs to be thoroughly coated.) Transfer to Bundt pan, keeping mixture as evenly distributed as possible. Bake at 350° for c. 35 minutes, or until golden brown. Let stand for 5-10 minutes.(No longer or butter will harden, making it difficult to unmold.) Carefully run table knife around the outer & inner edges of the bread before inverting onto a serving plate. Serve warm. Refrigerate leftovers. Reheat in microwave before serving leftovers.
*I sauté the onion & green pepper in the bacon fat (pouring off all but what I need). But sautéing in olive oil would certainly be considered more healthy.
**rosemary, thyme, parsley, basil, oregano, dill, etc. (dry, if absolutely necessary)
~ * ~
There's a story behind this week's featured book, Paradise Burning (with crossover characters from Shadowed Paradise). The climax of the book is a major fire destroying huge tracts of pinewoods on Florida's Gulf Coast. When I wrote it, it was fiction. Two or three years later, it became fact, the very acres I wrote about going up in flames.
Suffering from burn-out, Mandy Armitage, a vital member of her
family's international investigations agency, is sent on a working
vacation to Florida—as research assistant to a best-selling author. The
only problem: the author is the husband she hasn't seen in five years.
As if that weren't enough of a challenge, her assignment plunges her
into the darkness of international human trafficking and the ruthless
men who run it. As the world around her literally goes up in flames, the
girl once known as Mandy Mouse metamorphoses into a dynamic,
independent woman as she discovers how easily black and white can
dissolve into shades of gray.
Author's Note: Although PARADISE BURNING is a stand-alone book,
reading SHADOWED PARADISE first (which contains several cross-over
characters) may add to your enjoyment.
~ * ~
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Thanks for stopping by,
Grace (Blair Bancroft)
