The end

 

...about 25 years ago, 50 of my closest friends and family, who had been on an

  e-mail forum with me, sent in recipes in different categories and we compiled a cookbook.

I decided to count those down!

Why?

because one night I was looking thru the cookbook and I said, "I should make every recipe in here for my blog."

The Handyman/Mayor, who thinks he knows me better than I know myself, said "you'll never EVER do that."

Well, maybe I will!  Maybe I'll show him!

Which brings us to recipes #355, 356, 357 and 358

THE END!

I did it! I showed him, didn't I?

What exactly did I show him?

Hmmmm--well, lots of good food and fond memories for a couple things.

And remember how I said that thinking of stories was so hard to come by and I struggled with it after recalling so many of them thru the years?

Well--now tons more memories come flooding back into my brain.  I have so many stories left to tell!

I am relieved and sad... but more about that later. 

For now, here are the last four recipes of the whole cookbook.

I held these until the very end for my own reasons.  They are from 

Traci Marques--because her's was the very first recipe I made for the cookbook.

Shelly Noble--because she has made me beautiful 'cookbooks' of all these blog posts from Shutterfly

and

Barbarba Brown, who typed up and printed the original Friday Friend Cookbook.

(she was the editor and chief) 

Let's start with a little appetizer from our Editor Barb.

Barb and her husband Doug.

I was going to say Barb and her better half, but everyone knows that Barb is the better. 

(sorry Doug)

All of Barb's recipes can be found if you click here

Do it now!

And then we'll also have some beverages to go with our appetizers,

 Traci Marques' champagne punch.

(and yes, we had this entire menu as our meal--it was great)

Traci and her husband Larry.  She too is the better half. 

Larry has to know that, right?

LOL

All of Traci's recipes can be found by clicking here--right here!

Do it now!

  

And the main dish--spaghetti from Shelly Noble!

Which in a way is fitting because we have a total of 26 spaghetti sauces in the Friday Friend Cookbook Countdown.

Twenty-Six!  

I begged the Friday Friends to turn in their spaghetti sauce recipes.  I've always found it funny, how you can take the same basic ingredients, and they all turn out so different.  And they did.   All were good--but how can you go wrong with pasta and sauce?

But Rich (I just said his name!  I've called him the Handyman or the Mayor during the past 11 years of this project.) and I do have a couple that stand out as the best for us. 

We don't feel we are prejudiced, but his mom's and my mom's spaghetti are it for us!

And finally, Lorin and his better half Shelly!

I got that right, didn't I?

And you can find Shelly's entries right here--click now.

And to end this fabulous meal we have some of Traci's 

Saltine Cracker Cookies

(which I call Toffee with a Twist)

Wa-Lah!

I'm done.

No more!

I can't even think of a funny story right now.

I think I deserve a prize!

That was a lot of stuff to make-- and a lot of $$$ just to prove my husband wrong.

It's only taken me 11 years.  My first post was in September of 2013.

I wrote this:

I know that my blog has an interesting name.  A name/title that no one gets, because there are no 'friends' writing posts every week. There is only me. 

Long before I knew what a blog was, I had a group e-mail forum that included my friends from near and far...and originally I would ask them a question on Fridays, cut and paste their answers and  share with all.

So there is the history of my name.  Well, not MY name, (that would be 1950's Debbie Reynolds popularity) but rather my blog's name.  It started as a joke, when I thought that only they would be reading this blog.  Now, over 800 posts later, a few other people do read my blog.
It's nice to have made other friends thru this.  But too late to change my name (my blog's name ) to something catchy like " Debbie's Dishes"  or  "Dining with Debbie" or even "Debbie is a hot dish".   Okay, we can leave the last one out, but you know what I mean....you are stuck with the Friday Friends.

I have about 50 of my closest friends on the e-mail forum.  At first, most of them didn't know each other, (they knew me) but over the past 15 years, we've answered and shared silly--and serious---questions,  exchanged Secret Santa Christmas gifts,  had a dieting contest in which we paid a $1 a week and that money went to a scholarship fund for a Friday Friends son's memorial scholarship, and we went on a great vacation for my 52 birthday.
AND,  we contributed recipes for a cookbook.

I was looking at the cookbook the other night and I said, "I should make every recipe in here for my blog."
The Handyman--who knows me better than I know myself (this happened to be a question on the Friday Friend forum once---does your spouse/partner know you better than you know yourself? said, "you'll never, EVER do that."

The reason I said I was relieved and sad at the same time is because

1)  Relieved that I hit a goal

2) Sad because it was fun to 'remember' all those fun times and write them down.  No what'll I do?

3) Sad because a few of my FRIDAY friends and family are no longer with us.  But what great and fun memories I have.

I'm going to pick a new goal.

I think I mentioned that I stole my mother-in-law's recipe box when she passed, and we were cleaning out her home? 

She has index cards with menus on them!

Maybe I'll make the Mayor some of his childhood menus!

They were written back in the day of four:

1. main dish/meat

2. veggie

3. a starch -- potatoes, rice or noodles with every meal.

and 

4. a salad.  My MIL would write 'green' salad or 'tossed' salad

I wonder if she had a difference.? 

I am meandering now....

but this is it--I'm going to recreate and modernize my mother-in-law's menus 😁😁

As I've said before---this feels like I'm saying goodbye to my friends.
I am so sappy sentimental!!

It's ridiculous.

Anyway--this has been fun!

Bye!

Friday Friend Recipe #312 -- Chicken and Asparagus Rolls

My Friday Friend Cookbook Countdown #312

My favorite Mother-in-law's Chicken and Asparagus Rolls

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

Don't let the pictures or the (kind of weird) name throw you off.

I, too, was skeptical--but once I made them and tasted them, I discovered this is a real fancy appetizer!

Do not go by my photos alone!  Serve these cool or at room temperature.

You could even make some fancy dipping sauces.  These are yum, yum, yum!   

Now comes the story--it's getting harder and harder to think (one, because I'm getting old and two, because memories are hard to think of on demand.  Like right now!)

First of all---this is my mother-in-law's 13 appearance in the Friday Friend Cookbook Countdown.

You can check out all her recipes by clicking here.

She was a great cook. 

I had my first Lobster Thermador at her house before Rich and I were married.  It was so fancy!

She made things like Chicken Curry (I had never heard of curry)

And Frankfurter Puffs---Not just frankfurters, but in puffs! (who knew that a frankfurter was just a hot dog--not me--until I ate one.

And variations of Franconia potatoes (that's what her recipe card says anyway.  As far as I can tell, it's just baked French potatoes, cream filled cottage potatoes, stuffed baked potatoes)

These were fancy sounding dishes/recipes to me.

I was in awe. And heaven!  I was in heaven because food is a love language, right?  Her children loved her cooking, I, just being introduced to the family fell in love with it too.

We were lifelong recipe sharers, so one time I asked her what her favorite meal was as a kid, and she answered in a letter:

I loved my grandmother's homemade chicken and rice soup.  I loved plain boiled potatoes.  I guess the thing I looked forward to the most were grandma's raviolis and her homemade noodles. I've always loved hamburger patties with the boiled potatoes.  My mom made the best red Jell-o with bananas sliced in it and served it with whipped cream.

She served her family Beef Wellington, Lobster Thermador, Chicken a` la king, and yet hamburger patties and plain boiled potatoes were her favorite?

HAMBURGER PATTIES AND PLAIN BOILED POTATOES??!!

And red Jell-O with sliced bananas.

Interesting.

Here is the only photo I can find of my mother-in-law in the kitchen, it was my kitchen, and it also had my sister-in-law, my father-in-law, my mom, and my dad in it.  All with big knives in their hands (except for my FIL Phil--he had food.  He always had food in his hand)

This was for a big event--maybe one of my kids was getting married and everyone was helping out for the big BBQ after rehearsal.

Shortley after this was taken, my husband and other son had a disagreement. (We owned a small business and he worked for us, but he was also a teenager and well, he might have walked out cuz he was mad at his dad.  Okay there was no 'might have'.  He did!)  

I was mad (tired, anxious, exhausted) at the Handyman because he was going to RUIN this wedding!!  I don't know---maybe he wasn't a good boss?  (truth is---teenagers should never work for their parents.  He is an excellent boss )  I know he was a good dad. 

Anyway, I came thru the door to all these wonderful family members helping out and looked at my mother-in-law and said, "The wedding is ruined--and it's all YOUR son's fault" and then I burst into tears.

It got very quiet, and everyone went back to chopping.  

Then she said, "I know it is".  

And I loved her so much--SO MUCH for not being "that kind of" mother-in-law. 

She knew that everything would be fine, and I just needed to vent.

Soon after the Handyman and our son came home, and everything was fine between them.

Wedding was fine, dinner was fine, life was fine.

She was the best!

The best!

I'm throwing in a picture of my in-laws with grandkids (my 3 are in there) taken about 35 years ago.

Happy Cooking everybody---and really, try the chicken and asparagus roll ups. They're good!

Or just have some plain old hamburger patties and boiled potatoes and Jell-o.  It's all good.

And this my friends is

recipe #312 

Only 55 left to go!

I can do it!

WOO HOO!  I am below 100 recipes now.  Yay!  Yahoo! Whoopie!