"My friends are my estate." ~ Emily Dickinson

In my very first blog post, I wrote about celebrating my first official day of retirement with a dear group of friends. I shared how we have laughed and laughed together over the years, supporting each other through good times, and not so good times. Some of us have lost loved ones since that first post. Now, for the first time, we have lost one of our own.

At 85, she had lived a good, long life. She had long since retired from the Junior High before I began teaching there, so I did not know her in the same way that many of our group did. When we all gathered monthly however, she never failed to ask me about my family, or to share the memories of the many trips that she had taken with her husband over the years. 

In a few short weeks, our group will gather to celebrate the June birthdays among us. It will not be the same - and the seasons, they go 'round and 'round. We will miss you Birdie.

"Life and death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides." ~ Lao Tzu

Many of you may have already seen the video below - I posted it to my Face Book page over the weekend. I felt that I simply needed to add it here however. I often post about yarn, knitting, and other handicrafts. This video is a cross between those things, and exquisite story-telling, music, and movie-making. 

I doubt that any of you will view it without emotion.

"Good food is very often, even most often, simple food." ~ Anthony Bourdain

After a several month hiatus, BITE is back in business! It was so wonderful to see Ellen, Tierney and Chris! This was our first gathering since before Christmas! We met at Chris's home, and she chose "Southern Hospitality" as her theme.  Since she and I spent our winters in the south, this seemed particularly appropriate.

As a disclosure before I begin sharing our dishes - I left my camera at home. There is a fair distance between Chris's house and mine, so I did not try to go back for it. So - cellphone pictures it was!

To start out our evening, Chris prepared two variations of sweet tea - a southern favorite. One had alcohol, the other did not. Both were plenty sweet! Ellen then shared two appetizers that she brought. One was a stuffed mushroom dish, for which I do not have a recipe - sorry! The other was pimento cheese spread with crackers. Delicious! I finally had to move away from the dish - this could clearly be a downfall!

 

Tierney's side dish, scalloped potatoes and onions, was wonderful, with a real bite from Emeril Lagasse's "essence". It was creamy and had bacon - need I say more? Sadly, I did not get even a cellphone picture of this (sorry Super T.!) - the one below is from the recipe site.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/emerils-essence-recipe.html

Next came Chris's main dish of picnic oven fried chicken. I love fried chicken (even KentuckyFried, which I hate to admit). Chris's also was spicy and delicious.

To finish things off, I made New Orleans pralines (no baking involved). We had pralines in Savannah last year on our way home from Florida, and Bruce and I both loved them. It's fair to say that my results did not taste the same, but they were good! I made two batches, the first of which came out looking as pralines are supposed to. The second batch? Not so much. I think I cooked the mixture too long and added too many pecans. The result was a crumbly, but yummy, mixture- hence the ice-cream. I decided that it would taste good spooned over a dish of vanilla, and it did!

   

It was wonderful to see my friends after so many months apart. We spent the evening catching up on what is going on in each other's lives, eating good food, and sharing good laughs. Wonderful!