Good news for Eric!

Eric was notified this week that he's been accepted to the University of South Carolina School of Music, approved for piano performance.  This is a major accomplishment, since he began serious piano study rather late, and we are very impressed with (and grateful to) his piano teacher.   The picture is of Eric performing last summer in a piano competition.

Trip to Virginia

Over the weekend, Fred and I made a quick trip to Virginia to visit Lois and Rick.  They moved to Virginia a couple of years ago or so, and are now living in the house Rick built.  Very cool house in a woodsy setting, with wood stoves and a built-in fish pond.  Lois and I were best friends all through junior high and high school, and Lo, Rick, and I had a good time reminiscing about high school friends -- Fred, poor guy, was sort of left out that!

Snow, Snow, Snow

Left work early this afternoon to avoid traffic complications due to snow. They are predicting four to six inches here -- more than enough for drivers not used to driving in snow.

Tonight I took a picture of the snow falling.  I thought it was cool (so to speak) that the flash made the snowflakes visible.

And I really DIDN'T want anybody out driving tonight. Nevertheless...

But David is safe. Let's hope the car doesn't slide down the slope before we can get it towed back home.

Cabin Fever at Lake Murray Contra

Cabin Fever played at the Lake Murray Contra Dance on Saturday, Feb. 6. They have a really beautiful dance hall specially built for contra dancing. The turnout was a little light, due to the weather, but a good time was had by all. We were glad Woody could join us, since he is still recovering from his recent triple-bypass surgery.

Corn Chowder

Our refrigerator is on the fritz and everything in the freezer thawed. So one of the things I did in an attempt to salvage the frozen goods was to make corn chowder. This recipe is adapted from "Is It Soup Yet?", by Dot Vartan.

1 20-oz. pkg frozen corn
6 cups or 3 16-oz cans broth
2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
1 cup milk (2% or greater)

Cook the corn, in microwave if desired, according to package directions. In a stock pot, saute onion in oil for 5 minutes, add chopped pepper and cook 10 more minutes, stir in the cubed potatoes and cook 5 more minutes. Add the broth, salt, pepper, cayenne, and thyme, and stir well. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer until potatoes are soft (about 30 minutes). Stir in half of the corn, and using a food processor, puree the soup in batches. Return the puree to the stock pot, and stir in the rest of the corn and the milk. Heat through before serving. Serves about 10.

Baked Bean Soup

1 cup onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 celery stalk, chopped
2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
1 tablespoon flour
1 16 oz can baked beans
1 14 oz can broth
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestshire sauce

Saute onion, garlic, and celery in oil for 5 minutes.  Stir in flour.  Add baked beans, broth, tomatoes, barbecue sauce, and Worcestershire sauce.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Serves 4-6.  (adapted from "Is It Soup Yet?" by Dot Vartan)

I like to serve this soup with sweet muffins of some sort.

Thanksgiving Day

We all took a walk in the Congaree Swamp, except for Fred and David, who stayed home and cooked and set up for Thanksgiving dinner. For the first time, we served Thanksgiving dinner buffet-style, which made for a less stressful experience at the dinner table. Nana contributed cranberry sauce, Colleen pies, and I made the sweet potatoes. Later on in the afternoon, almost everybody player Settlers of Catan. And Colleen made cappuccino for all who wanted it. Yum!!