A lovely day

Dear Friends and Family,

Merry Christmas to all, now almost at its conclusion for another year. I hope your day was as pleasant as ours was here, with three of our sons and one lovely daughter-in-law, and a phone call from the fourth son and his darling wife. The spinach pie, made correctly (except for absence of pepper because Harvey does not tolerate it well) by Harvey under my direction, the string beans, and the curry-potatoes pleased almost everyone. Sandy made and brought with her from CT (whence she drove this morning alone, Harvey already being here to spend four days with us while I was in the hospital) an orange-flavored cake with thick chocolate icing for the birthday boy (who loves those flavors), and delicious spaghetti squash for supper. A good time was had by all.

My energy level is low, probably a symptom of low oxygenation. So I spent a lot of time sitting and being waited on or lying down to rest.

A highlight of the day was a phone call from our Pittsburgh friend Dave Segel, who suffered a terrible concussion a few months ago, to wish Merwin a happy birthday (for seven months Merwin in a year older than I am). To hear Dave speak, if haltingly at times, was a thrill. He just recently became able to do some email and still has trouble reading. So slowly, slowly he is improving. His wife, Betty, also spoke to us. She sounds tired, as well she might be. Thank goodness she has lots of family support.

With a late lunch and then cake about 4:00, no one was interested in supper except me. I made myself a repeat performance of spinach pie, string beans, and curry potatoes, plus spaghetti squash. Sandy joined me and used the string beans as a sauce over the squash. Recipes follow for those interested.

Here is the recipe for spaghetti squash.

Cut squash in half and place cut side down in microwave. Micro for 15 minutes till it is done (soft).
Using the tines of a fork, separate the strands of squash into spaghetti-like threads. Add butter and seasoning of your choice. She used one from Trader Joe, lemon-pepper in a grinder bottle. Wow, tasty.

I also had time to sit with Lincoln and get the lowdown on Nana's date nut bread. I have the version she wrote for me on a typical 3 x 5 card. Lincoln worked with her to make the loaves:

Use I C chopped dates or more. Seed, cut off hard ends, place in strainer, dip into 1 and 1/2 C very hot water (teakettle should whistle before you pour the water into a 2 C measure), a spoonful at a time, to soften them and make them easier to cut.

Cut dates in half and remove seeds to strainer. Dip knife in hot water to get rid of stickiness. Pour hot water over the seeds (in strainer over the bowl with prepared dates) to capture all the attached sugars.



Add to the dates and liquid in the bowl, 1 egg, 2 T oil.
Add the wet to the dry ingredients. Mix in 1 and 1/2 C chopped nuts
Mix well but do not over mix.

Put batter in one greased loaf pan or in two small greased loaf pans.
Bake 50-60 minutes if using one pan; 40-50 min for small pan. Press top lightly to test for doneness. The toothpick method doesn't work because the mixture is moist.

Enjoy!