Happy 4th of July
Hope you have a wonderful weekend full of food, family, friends and fireworks! We enjoyed our fireworks last night and had a small get-together with friends here at Chiot’s Run.
How are you celebrating this beautiful holiday weekend, with fireworks?
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A Big THANKS!
Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War (it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the civil war), it was expanded after World War I to include American casualties of any war or military action.
Since Memorial Day is traditionally a weekend where a lot of gardening is done, take the day, enjoy the long weekend and spend some time in your garden. Just remember to take some time to honor those that have died to allow us this freedom.
Brian and I had the honor of filming the memorial and committal ceremonies for local young veteran this past week. It was a sad way to observe Memorial Day weekend, but very moving. If you’d like to watch the video we made visit our business blog.
I’d like to take the time today to honor all of those that have served and currently serve in the U.S. Armed Forces, especially those that have died in service to our country. I’d like to offer a big THANK YOU to all of you who have fought for the freedoms we enjoy. I’ll be spending my day in the garden celebrating!
How do you celebrate Memorial Day?
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Happy Valentine’s Day from Chiot’s Run
Mr Chiots and I aren’t big celebratory people. Last year Brian and I were working in the office unaware that it was our 10 year anniversary. My mom e-mailed me a Happy Anniversary message and I looked at Brian and said,
“OH, it’s our anniversary. Happy Anniversary.”
He looked at me and said,
“Oh, it is isn’t it. Happy Anniversary.”
Then we went back to work. So naturally we don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day. Mr Chiots thinks it’s a holiday dreamed up by the card companies during a dead zone between other holidays (he may be on to something).
I know many of you celebrate this holiday of love, so I thought I’d share a few photos of love-themed goodies I spotted on my recent trip to West Side Market in Cleveland. I got a great variety of things to make sure to cover all the bases.
If you celebrate with chocolate, here’s some chocolate for you.
For those of you who like cookies and other delights, I thought you’d like these.
For those of you who prefer something sweet but not of the chocolate realm, some beautiful little cakes for you.
If you prefer something a little different, how about some dark chocolate Guinness stout cake?
If you like flowers I’ll give you some from my gardens.
For those of you who just want some time to relax, take a cue from Dexter and enjoy your Saturday.
My all-time favorite, “A Bunny for Your Honey”. Now that’s right up my alley, who needs chocolate bunnies when you can eat the real thing!
How do you celebrate this day of Love? Do you do anything exciting, over the top, romantic, not so romantic, boring?
(take the new poll)
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For a Prosperous New Year – Eat Sauerkraut!
It is a Pennsylvania Dutch (German) tradition to serve sauerkraut and pork on New Year’s Day to ensure a prosperous year. Usually the sauerkraut is accompanied by mashed potatoes and dumplings. We have celebrated this tradition in my family since I was little (and for many years before I came along).
This tradition has been passed down from my dad’s side of the family, so naturally my dad is the chef for this special meal. Through the years he has developed his own special sauerkraut recipe. This year I made the sauerkraut in October with some cabbage I bought at the local farmer’s market and my dad added his special touch on New Year’s Day. He was also able to use some tomatoes that my mom picked green from her garden at the end of the season and was storing in the fruit cellar. I was hoping it would be good and boy was it!
For dessert I made a blackberry pie with all those blackberries Mr Chiots and I picked this summer. It was the perfect finish for a delicious meal!
In case anyone wants Dr Dale Meade’s famous sauerkraut recipe, here it is:
Spectacular Spareribs and Incredible Kraut
Guaranteed for prosperity
2 racks of pork spareribs (4 to 6 pounds of local pastured pork)
3 to 4 pounds of sauerkraut (preferably homemade)
4 finely chopped unpared tart apples (about 2 cups)
4 finely chopped or shaved (with vegetable peeler) large carrots (about 2 cups)
3 cups of home canned tomato juice (or V-8 Vegetable Juice)
1 cup of diced tomatoes
6 finely chopped dried apricots
1 cup of brown sugar
4 teaspoons of caraway seed
Cut ribs in pieces, season with salt and black pepper (approximately 2 teaspoons of salt and ½ teaspoon of black pepper); place in a large stock pot with olive oil and brown well. Combine the kraut (which can be rinsed to reduce production of gas) with remaining ingredients; spoon over ribs to mix thoroughly until well mixed.
Simmer covered for three hours at low heat making certain the liquid covers the kraut and ribs. Skim off excess fat. Then remove lid and allow the kraut to simmer until some liquid had simmered away, leaving top of kraut exposed. Then make dumplings and place on top of the kraut and over, allowing the dumplings to bake for about fifteen minutes. Makes approximately ten servings and will warm your house for days.
Fluffy Dumplings
2 cups of sifted all purpose flour
4 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
…
1 cup of whole milk
4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together and make certain the dry ingredients are well mixed. Add the milk and oil and kneed with pastry blender until moistened. Drop onto the kraut and cover. Do not lift cover and let mixture return to a slow boil for 12 to 15 minutes. This will make 10 generous dumplings.
Does anyone else eat sauerkraut for New Year’s to ensure a prosperous year? Or do you have another family tradition you celebrate?
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Merry Christmas from Chiot’s Run
Last year Mr Chiots and I made up our own Christmas cards. We had a blast doing it, although getting the cats to pose the right way took a few tries! As you can tell the Chiots is the center of the family around here.
This year we didn’t mail out Christmas cards. We decided to save the money and donate it to charity instead. So by not sending out cards we were able to pay for a year of schooling for a child in Colombia. I’m sure our money will be much more effective that way!
I know Detailed Breakdown did the same this year, they donated funds to Heifer International. What about you? Anyone else going the charity route instead of the card route this year?
