My Friday Friend Cookbook Countdown #296
My Fresh Corn Casserole
(aka corn bread with some cheese and corn in it)
and you know all the whys and wherefores of this countdown, right? Homemade cookbook, friends contributed, Handyman said I couldn't/wouldn't do it, I'll show him, yadda yadda yadda....
...and the rest is cookbook history!
Just remember, the countdown is not all about pretty food and food design---it's about the people and the stories.
And (the most important thing) proving my husband wrong--and that I can and WILL make every recipe in this cookbook
As I stated above---it's corn bread. With some corn and cheese in it.
If you like corn bread, you'll like this. Or you can keep your own corn bread recipe (which is probably just as good or better) and if you don't like cornbread--that's okay too. (you weirdo!)
I have many cookbooks. They make for a great photo background as I rarely cook from any of them anymore.
(sigh)
This is my sister-in-law, LeAnne. No, this recipe is not hers, nor does she have any in this cookbook countdown. She did not turn any in.
But this is my recipe, my story so it's about LeAnne and I and how we love to laugh.
Also--I adore her.
I have 12 sisters-in-law. You read that right, I have 12 of them.
I adore a lot of them. It's a given that I adore Meghan, Sylvia and Cherrie Lou Who, as they turned in recipes for this countdown, but when it comes to...
Oh never mind! Just let me stick to the story and quit being a people pleaser.
I adore her!
She flew across the country with me when my granddaughter Evalynn was born, 15 years ago.
From Seattle, WA to Richmond, VA
We both hated to fly back then.
I thought we're going to crash at any moment, and she is claustrophobic and thought everyone was stealing her air.
(you'll be happy to know we have overcome our phobias and will travel anywhere)
Neither one of us had ever been east of Idaho (a slight, but only slight exaggeration. Maybe Utah) at the time, so we were very excited to see all the things and do all the things we could see and do.
After a few stops, she noticed that I was bending my knee when we were getting photos taken.
All of the sudden she turned to me and asked,
"What the hell are you doing? "
I said, "I'm taking 15 pounds off the photo!"
(never mind the spare tire/muffin top in the middle)
And then I explained to her that the newspaper guy (I work for the Chamber of Commerce, I have to get my picture taken every so often) told me:
If you stand front on to the camera, arms by your side, legs together you tend to look widest.
He might have said it nicer than that. This was also confirmed by my friend, Theresa who is a dance teacher. She used dance language tho. It sounded French. I have no idea what she said.
All I could think was DON'T STAND FRONT ON TO THE CAMERA!
So, I bent my knee.
And look! By the end of the vacation, LeAnne too, was 'bending her knee".
Don’t forget too to stretch and elongate your body too rather than slouching, this will make you appear longer and leaner.
These are the Life Lessons I learned from a newspaper man and a dance teacher.
When I look back on those pictures, I just see an old lady (me) with a death grip on her purse. ( I was doing it in so many photos!! I was not even 50 years old, but the death grip on a purse? Such and old lady thing. LOL )
We had fun! Besides seeing my beautiful grandbaby and places around Richmond, we went to Colonial Williamsburg and took the train to Washington DC.
And my LeAnne story? Because that story above was my story--- this one is hers:
She and I always laugh.
One time we were sitting in my back yard early in the morning having coffee and she said, "Hey Debbie, there's something red in your tree out there."
I said, "That's an apple."
And then we laughed so hard.
This weekend when LeAnne came down to visit for a few days was also the weekend of Harvest Hops and Grapes, The Chamber's biggest fundraiser of the year. There was no way to get out of it--and the Handyman had agreed to be the bartender that year. LeAnne said no problem, she would volunteer also--which was great, as we always need volunteers.
Earlier I had told LeAnne that her brother might be the bartender but later neglected to tell her that someone else had volunteered.
So, LeAnne is sitting in the kitchen of the Convention Center doing some food prep or something, this guy (who is the real bartender) comes in and asks,
"Can the bartender get some ice?"
LeAnne (who thinks her brother is still going to be the bartender) says,
"Let me tell you something about the bartender.... he's an ass..."
Guy/bartender, "I am?"
LeAnne, confused, "You are?"
Guy/bartender, "Well, okay, can I have some ice?"
LeAnne turned as red as that apple in my tree and tried to explain that she thought her brother was the bartender.
They guy says, "I'm not your brother."
It went on from there.
We laughed.
Because, well.... we laugh.
And all Rich gets out of this conversation the next day is, "You think I'm an ass?"
And again, we laughed.
That's my LeAnne story.
And this my friends is
recipe #296
Only 71 left to go!
I can do it!
WOO HOO! I am below 75 recipes now. Yay! Yahoo! Whoopie!
Altho.... do you remember when I counted wrong before? I think I did it again.
I keep counting what I have left by recipe AND by person and it does not add up to 71- it's more like 65.
Which would make me very happy, but for now.... I'll stick to the 71 until it gets closer to the end, and I'll recount what I have left.
