Tag: celebrations

Weddings and Celebrations
Posted in inspiration, Thoughts, writing inspiration

Wedding and Other Special Occasions

Posted on by Sherri

We just celebrated our wedding anniversary, thirty-two years. We didn’t do anything special since we both had to work but I can’t help but remember our wedding. Since we’d both been married before and we had five children between us, we didn’t want to spend a lot of money on our wedding. I did a lot of the wedding décor and preparations myself. Looking back, I can see how brides turn into Bridezillas. All the craziness beforehand with trying to remake my dress and make my bouquets. When things went wrong, they went very wrong. Desperate and crazy, I called my maid of honor, and we went shopping for a sundress. What is the saying, when the going gets tough the tough go shopping!

We both wore white sundresses and my two flower girls had flowered dresses on white background.  The guys wore black pants and white shirts, except my groom, he wore gray. The ceremony was near perfection. It was pretty close to my dream wedding. We were married outside at my aunt’s home on the river. My father-in-law built us a trellis and we decorated it with flowers. We had a pig picking for our reception. Our brother-in-law cooked the pig. Altogether we probably didn’t spend a thousand dollars including the cake and the food. I’d say it was closer to five hundred.

Because of my own simple wedding, it’s difficult for me to even imagine spending tens of thousands of dollars on a wedding. I’ve watched movie weddings and soap opera weddings, I’ve even watched the royal weddings, but it always seems like such a waste. These kinds of weddings are the fantasy weddings so many little girls dream about but so few can afford. What is it about weddings we love or hate?

I’m writing a bonus story for my newsletter with a wedding. As a reader, what part of the wedding do you want to know the details? I love the dress description, but I also want to know the groom’s expression when he sees his bride coming down the aisle.

So, what would you want to see or read about in a short wedding story? The walk down the aisle with her father or maybe the teasing of friends or siblings? I always loved watching the first dance with the bride and groom, or the bride’s dance with her father. Perhaps you love to see the couple cut the cake and feed each other, or maybe you just like to eat the cake.

Share your wedding photos or tell me your favorite part of a wedding.  

Posted in Recipes

Cajun Chicken and Rice Recipe

Posted on by Sherri

I love to cook but don’t always take the time to do so with a full-time job and trying to write. Usually on Sundays I’ll make something that will last a couple of days but this past Sunday I joined friends for a celebration of a dear friend’s birthday.

Bigshot & Mary

I’d taken out boneless, skinless chicken breasts but when we arrived home from the party our electricity was out and did not come back on until after eleven o’clock that night. I decided the chicken could wait until I got home from work.

It’s not always easy deciding what to fix for supper with no grocery store in town. I can purchase canned and frozen and some packaged stuff locally but to have fresh food, I have to journey to the next town. I hate to go shopping after work but sometimes I have no choice. My recipes depend on staples I keep on hand or can pick up locally or buy ahead of time and store or freeze.

Cajun Chicken and Rice

lard (I used real pork lard but you can use vegetable shortning)

4 chicken breasts chopped into bite-sized pieces

1 cup-flour

spices: cayenne pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, celery salt, & chili powder

2-10 ounce cans of tomatoes with chilies

roasted red peppers

smoked sausage, skin removed, chopped fine

rice

Cook rice according to directions and set aside.

Put a couple of tablespoons of lard in a large pot, heat.

Season flour & cover chicken with flour. (I find it works best to do one breast at a time, removing the browned chicken, and drain, adding in more lard as needed. I only add a tablespoon each time.)

After the chicken is cooked, set it aside. Cook sausage in same grease, set it aside and make a rue with a couple of tablespoons of the seasoned flour in the leftover grease. Brown the flour, add in canned tomatoes, water, bring to a boil, lower heat after it begins to thicken, return chicken and sausage to the pot, simmer.

Serve over white rice.

This would be great with Jalapeno cornbread. Hmm, I think I might make some this week.