Saturday, May 20, 2017

Three Beautiful Things 05/19/17:Phone Call with Mom, Stir Fry, Inside Appalachia

 1. It was 10:30 a.m. in Kellogg and I got a text message from Mom's phone. Mom doesn't text, so I knew it was from Christy or Carol. Carol texted me wondering if I'd like to call Mom, that it would be a good time. Mom and Carol were sitting outside the Kindred facility, soaking up some sun, and enjoying the well-kept grounds. Mom and I had a good conversation about her lunch at Applebee's and what she ate and how much she was enjoying flowers coming into bloom. She's been fighting a cough this past week, but didn't cough at all during our conversation and her mind was working really well -- she was coherent and wasn't confused about anything. Mom wanted to know if the Deke and I have made summer plans yet, and I had to say that we aren't sure yet just how we'll work things out for coming out to Idaho and Oregon.

2.  I volunteered to make dinner to take over to Molly's. I made another recipe out of Cook's All-Time Best Asian Recipes -- this time a no meat stir fry with tofu, carrots, and eggplant. I wish I had digital copy of the recipe, but suffice it to say that the glaze poured over the tofu and the ginger/garlic oil mix added later and the sauce that went over the vegetables in the end made for a very tasty meal combining the flavors of soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame, ginger, garlic, and the tofu and vegetables. I knew the children would not be interested, so I fried them chicken thighs that turned out great.

3. Upon returning to our apartment home, the Deke and I listened to an episode of the podcast Inside Appalachia, entitled, "Inside Appalachia, West Virginia Mine Wars History", here. I had listened to this program a while back and thought we might enjoy it after seeing the movie, Matewan, on Tuesday night. I thought about all the ways these conflicts in West Virginia paralleled the labor conflicts in the Silver Valley back home and made me wonder if I might once again read J. Anthony Lukas' extraordinary and sprawling book about the mining wars out west at the turn of the century, Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of America.

No comments: