Lila’s Macaroni and Cheese

My grandmother, Lila, is one of those old school cooks. She’s from that generation where they made due with what they had and learned how to squeeze rich, flavorful foods out of every possible part of the garden haul. (Proof of this is the fact that the only reason I love cabbage is thanks to her.  She’s found ways to make the lowly cabbage plant blossom into delicious dishes that has elevated the vegetable to my most favorite.)  She’s also of the generation that never wrote a single recipe down.  Her macaroni and cheese is incredible and the most-requested thing she makes and when I originally went to get the recipe from her, the response I got was, “Well, let me think about it for a minute.  Get a pen.”  So now, Mamaw’s recipe is written down.  I make it whenever I can and, since I hosted Thanksgiving dinner here yesterday, I got to make it.  I thought I’d share it here.

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Christmas trees, musicals, and making a community

I’m taking a break from dinner preparations to get this post up.  I’m having a “Transplant to Seattle” Thanksgiving dinner today at my house, and I’m hosting a few of my co-workers and their spouses who also uprooted their lives this year and moved out here to join our team.  Being two thousand miles from home means that, if we let ourselves, we can become very insulated out here.  With no family and no “community” to speak of, it would be very easy to say that we live here, but do we live here?   Continue reading

I love Washington! Yay! New car! Yay! General Conference weekend! Yay! (Major update)

I really am going to get better at updating this blog.  I’ve been neglecting it for months and I always have the best of intentions of updating it, but at the end of a long workday, I can barely keep my eyes open long enough to put on my pajamas, let alone string together words. We’re getting situated and settled in here and I’m so in love with Washington state that it’s ridiculous.   Continue reading