Live Oak Equals Our Living Marriage

May 5, 2011 note:  Today I went to the tag agency and while I was waiting on my requests to be processed I heard a man next to me provide his home address to the clerk.  I was surprised to hear he lived on “Clover Glen,” the street where Mick and lived in our first home.  This has been a week of weird coincidences, so I decided perhaps there was more at stake than just coincidence.  Therefore, I’m reposting this entry I wrote almost a year ago in preparation for another I’ve been writing for three days.  I’ve been writing, and thinking about, and researching, and writing more about the process of falling in, out, and perhaps…back in love again.
The gentleman at the tag agency ended up being a resident of the house you see in this photo on the left – he would have been our neighbor to the south.  He said he still gets mail for our former neighbors, and they’ve been gone over 20 years.  See you here tomorrow – Red Dirt Kelly
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The setting was a cold February, 1986.

My husband and I had been married about six months when the bottom of the oil bust hit Oklahoma.  Thousands of homes in Edmond were being vacated after the interest rates within a group of “negative amortization” loans began to skyrocket as the oil jobs started drying up.

For newlyweds living in a tiny apartment like us with adequate income, the housing market was a real opportunity.  We purchased our first home from builders who had been paying interest on it for over a year.  They were desperate and we felt lucky.  We closed on the deal very quickly. Continue reading Live Oak Equals Our Living Marriage

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Stockyards City Cookbook Cook-Through: No sun? Warm up with some cheesy soup!


Its that time of year. Do you put the space heaters and electric blankets up yet or wait until June?! My friends and I say all the time “Only in Oklahoma…” will you have the air and heat on all in the same day. I’m quite sure there are more places that have the same issues, but its something to laugh about!

I have to admit I have not been cooking much lately. Its hard to have motivation some days to cook for just one after being on your feet all day at work. I justify my microwave “cooking” by saying that one day I will not be able to eat Lean Cuisines and cereal every night. The Stockyards City Cookbook definitely has plenty of amazing recipes to cure the cereal kick!

Since it was dreary and cool today I decided to go with the Cheesy Chicken Soup. This soup is hearty and easy to make.

 

Cheesy Chicken Soup
By Kim Stewart

2 cans lowfat cream of chicken soup
1 can lowfat cream of mushroom soup
2 chicken breasts cooked & shredded (I boiled mine)
2-3 cans water (2 was enough)
1 can Rotel (I used Spicy, it was yummy)
2-lb. block of light Velveeta cheese
1 chicken bouillon cube

Mix all ingredients. Soften Velveeta in microwave-add to mixture. Heat and serve with or over tortilla chips. (see photo) Continue reading Stockyards City Cookbook Cook-Through: No sun? Warm up with some cheesy soup!

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The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 18

#18 of 52 : JAY
Imaginary Family Project - Week 18

External Photo Clues:
None

Imagine:
This is a picture we took of my son Jay while we were moving. I had taken a job in Oklahoma City, so we packed our things and moved Jay away from all his friends and favorite places. He was sullen for weeks before the move, and the day we left his mood had not improved, so we stopped here to cheer him up. We let him pretend he was the Jay after whom the restaurant was named, and the waitress was nice enough to play along with the charade. It cheered him up long enough to smile for this picture.

We moved in next door to George and Harriet Turner and their daughter, Mary, who was a year younger than Jay. My wife Lily always had a bad feeling about George, though I couldn’t for the life me understand why. Call it what you like, but she could always see things like that in people.

Jay and Mary became fast friends, and we grew close to the Turner family over the next few years. By the time our kids were in high school, it was obvious to everyone except Jay and Mary that they were falling in love. Kids always seem to ignore what’s right in front of their noses. But by the time Jay was a senior in high school, even he had realized that he was in love with his next-door neighbor and best friend. Continue reading The 2011 Imaginary Family Project – Week 18

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Ode to My Truck

The following is the third guest post from David Roberts, who is one of the best high school English Teachers in the land by day and a defender of all things awesomely manly by night. He also happens to be my brother-in-law.

Enjoy!

[michael]

 

Despite what Ford and Chevy might have us believe, a truck does not make a man. However, as a t-shirt my wife bought me says, “A man and his truck is a beautiful thing.”

Red, you turned twelve this past April. I remember the first day we met–what a surprise you were. I had no clue what was in store for us.

You took me to college that August, your first of many trips up and down the I-35 corridor between Dallas and OKC. All my worldly possessions–mostly clothes, but some keepsakes, too, and my bucket of cleaning supplies to give you your regular bath–were in the passenger seat and your bed. I was worried some of those items might fly out, but your lovely aerodynamics kept everything snug. If you are planning to buy used cars in palos hills il, be sure to choose a car that is well-maintained and looks pristine.

You turned heads on campus from the beginning. I had you “duded” up a little bit–headlight covers, tinted windows, subwoofers & amp. I didn’t know then, as I do now, that you didn’t need any embellishing. But you put up with my young ways.

I remember that time we crammed six or eight of us in the cab and bed for a trip to the lake. We were trying to avoid paying admission for more than one vehicle (the park charged by the car, not the person), and you were perfect for the occasion. That was to be a trend.

While at college, I also met my future wife. You took us on our first date, and we sat inside your cab for our first kiss. Years later, you would take us from the church after our wedding.

I also started mistreating you a bit on campus. I dinged you when I carelessly backed into a low fence post; I scratched you parking too close to a cedar tree. Continue reading Ode to My Truck

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My Little Victory Garden: Buttermilk Biscuit Throwdown, PLUS Cauliflower Isn’t Cabbage!

Oh the agony of it all.

I recently received my first delivery from the Oklahoma Food Cooperative system and now I have to think about how to use my food!  In my mind the first thing I knew I had to investigate was the Buttermilk from Wagon Creek Creamery.   I wanted to know if I could bake with it, and how the product would act in a recipe.  My solution?  Have a Buttermilk Biscuit Throwdown and ask my family to judge the results.

Here is the description from their listing on the Coop website:

Our buttermilk is the direct byproduct of our buttermaking process. This buttermilk is not cultured (so it isn’t as thick nor as sour as what you purchase at the supermarket.) We freeze it to keep it fresh. Just thaw and use in your favorite biscuit, pancake, fried chicken, etc. recipes! Packaged in a sealed 8 oz. container. Because it is a by product of the butter making process, it may contain a little salt. Ingredients: buttermilk, salt.

Although I have always been fine using Braum’s Buttermilk, a small voice inside my head said, “Do it.  Order the buttermilk and see what it’s like.”  So I did.  I comes frozen in a plastic pouch.  I set it in my refrigerator on ordering day and noticed the defrosting time was about 48 hours.  This product sells for $1.99, so it’s clearly more expensive than the Braum’s counterpart.

Let’s look at the Braum’s product.  Here is the description of their half-gallon from their website:

Braum’s Grade A Pasteurized Buttermilk is real old fashioned buttermilk! Made with low fat milk fresh from our dairy herd on the Braum Family Farm…you can’t get any fresher than that! Great by the glass or use it as an ingredient in your favorite recipe!

Now for the ingredients: Cultured Grade ‘A’ low fat milk, stabilizer blend (modified tapioca starch, carrageenan, locust bean gum), gelatin, salt.  I’ll refrain from my commentary fighting to erupt out of my fingers right now. Continue reading My Little Victory Garden: Buttermilk Biscuit Throwdown, PLUS Cauliflower Isn’t Cabbage!

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Showcasing Red Dirt culture ~ authored and managed by contributors with connections to the great state of Oklahoma.