A Life Lost But Lessons Learned

Today's blog has a slightly different tone than usual. On Sunday, my dear grandma, my mom's mom, passed away. While it didn't come as a huge surprise, the death of a loved one can be like seeing the first snow of the season. It stops you dead in your tracks, makes you nostalgic for the good ol' days, and by the time you realize that you have to start moving again you feel blessed just for having those memories.

My grandma was the one who first taught me to play the piano. She was a professional musician who played in the nightclubs of Cleveland, OH. As she strolled through the dining tables with an accordian between her hands taking requests, she would belt out popular tunes, new and old. While she was a fantastic musician, she was too nice to be a good piano teacher. Piano teachers need to know discipline and rigor, neither of which my grandma possessed. But, this wasn't a fault of hers. It's merely a condition that affects the seriously gifted. She had perfect pitch and could sing and play a song flawlessly after hearing it only once on the radio. I, on the other hand, was born with a sluggish left hand and an immeasurable desire to spend my after-school hours outside instead of at the piano keys.

My grandma also taught me the importance of a good sense of humor. One of my favorite memories is when my older cousin Bill came to visit us for Thanksgiving while he was on break in college. Bill accidentally sprayed canned whipped cream onto the front of grandma's shirt. While, for some, whipped ice cream topping and a woman's breasts might evoke images from the movie Varsity Blues, this had quite the opposite effect. I will never forget the look of terror that spread across his face when he realized what he just did. In response to this, Grandma simply said, "Oh! My foo foos!", and wiped it from her shirt into her mouth. Foo foos, you see, was my grandma's term for boobs. At once, everyone burst into laughter. She had the ability to make an uncomfortable situation hilarious with a silly made-up word.

Grandma also proved to me that the term "soulmate" isn't just something that the Disney and Hallmark corporations have contrived over the years. When I was 11 years old I wound up in the hospital for a week with an appendicitis. It was awful being trapped in a hospital with my predominant company being the troop of med students who came into my room for morning rounds and the nurses who came in hourly to inquire about my stool. (I quickly picked up on the fact that, in a hospital, 'stool' does not mean 'bench' or 'chair' after I had a somewhat lengthy and extremely confusing conversation with the nurse about a stool my grandpa made for my mom to use in the kitchen). But one night my grandma and grandpa paid me a visit and entertained me for hours with stories about how they first met, their courtship and the early years of their marriage, holding hands the entire time, like one of the couples in When Harry Met Sally. Grandma caught Grandpa's attention with her gentle spirit, sharp sense of humor and sultry singing voice. And Grandpa caught Grandma's attention with..... well, he had a convertible.

Instead of mourning her death I find great pleasure in celebrating her life and the wonderful lessons she taught me.

So, in honor of my grandma I made Dubliner Stew to celebrate her (and my) Irish heritage, which she held dear. I served the bowls of stew with thick slices of Sweetwater 420 Ale Bread I found at Whole Foods. I figured bread made with beer would befit an Irish supper. And it was delish! The stew is a hearty mixture of lamb, potatoes, carrots and peas, flavored with thyme. It was quite good, as long as you like lamb. And for dessert, I made Apple Cranberry Cobbler, also in a crockpot. This dish smells and tastes like Christmas, but it's not your typical cobbler. Rather, the dough tastes more like sugar cookie dough cooked over top the apples and cranberries. This was also delicious and a hit with my dinner pals, Bindi, Amish and Valerie.

Recipes are from The Best Cookbook Ever...

Dubliner Stew
Place the following in the insert of a slow cooker:
 12-14 baby carrots (I used 30 baby carrots)

 14-16 new potatoes
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.
Sprinkle 3 pounds lamb shoulder, cubed (I used 2lb) with salt and pepper. Brown on each side in batches and transfer to insert.
Add 2 cups pearl onions, peeled to the same skillet and cook until they begin to color (about 4 min). Add 1 1/2 cups chicken broth to the skillet, scraping up brown bits from pan. Transfer skillet contents to slow cooker insert.
Stir in 1 c beef broth and 1 tsp dried thyme.
Cover and cook on high for 3.5-4 hours or 7-8 hours on low.

Skim off any fat from top of stew. Stir in 2 cups frozen peas.
Mix 2 TB room temperature butter and 2 TB flour until smooth and stir a bit at a time into the stew.
Cover and cook for another 30 minutes on high until sauce thickens. (I didn't really notice much of a difference in the thickness of the sauce when I did this and would probably omit this step next time).

Note: If you are preparing the night before. Cut lamb into 1-inch chunks and refrigerate and place the carrots and potatoes in slow cooker insert the night before. You will have to brown the meat the day of the meal.

Apple Cranberry Cobbler

Coat the insert of a slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray.
Add the following ingredients to the insert and stir to combine:
   6 large apples, peeled, cored and chopped

   One 12-oz bag of fresh cranberries
   1 c sugar
   1 TB cornstarch
   1 TB cinnamon
   1 tsp cloves (next time I would use ground cloves instead)
   1/8 tsp ground ginger
Stir together the following in a mixing bowl:
   3 sticks (1 1/2 c) butter, melted
   2 c flour
   1 1/2 c sugar
   1/4 c maple syrup
   2 large eggs, beaten
Spread batter over the apple mixture.
Cover and cook on high for 2 1/2 hours on high until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean
Uncover and cool for 30 minutes.
Serve warm cobbler with vanilla ice cream.