A tale of two packages

A few weeks ago, before the world started spinning at a tornado-ish pace, we received two things in the mail.

*One was for my daughter Emma and one was for me.
*Both were from dear friends across the miles on separate sides of the Unites States.
*Both were very silly, yet very meaningful little packages.
*Both arrived totally unexpected.

The first was a package from another pastor's wife friend of mine. There was quite a discussion on cornbread recipes on a message board we go to and so she posted hers. Here it is:

This recipe is on the Martha White Self Rising Cornmeal Mix bag.

1 egg, beaten

1 and 1/3 cups milk or 1 and 3/4 cups buttermilk (I usually use milk)

1/4 c. vegetable oil

2 cups Cornmeal mix

THis is my secret ingredient--I add about 1/3 c. sour cream instead of buttermilk ( I do add milk)

1. head oven to 450F. Grease 9-inch cast iron skillet. I put enough oil in the skillet to coat the bottom and put it in the hot oven for about 10 minutes.

2. In large bowl, combine all ingredients well. Pour batter into hot greased pan.

3. Bake at 450 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes

And so I,  I who used the 49cent Jiffy cornbread mix regularly, decided to tease poor Donna. I asked her what cornmeal 'mix' was and accused all women in the South of having secret products from which they produce lovely southern dishes which the rest of us cannot replicate, even if we follow their recipes. This escalated until I received this in the mail from Donna. I had NO idea what was inside.



It was the secret product!!!  Which, after reading the bag, decided it is just a half and half mixture of cornmeal and self rising flour. ;) (the egg was just for decoration, not for making the recipe)

I made the recipe:



To which there were very favorable reviews by the people who live here. It was yummy and very southern tasting....kind of like the cornbread from Cracker Barrel, but better. It held my honey with love and corniness.

Thank you Donna!

The next package was from a friend of Emma's (and mine). She has moved off to college in the northwest and is having great adventures there. It was an odd package, as one might expect from Sara. She never does anything normally and this is a good thing, not a weird thing. ;) It may have been an envelope at some point, but it was totally covered in duct tape of all different colors and patterns. And I had to wait very impatiently for Emma to get home to open it. Cutting off one end with scissors, Emma dumped out a whole cache of little green army men and one little note. It said something to the effect of: "Portland moves to attack Phoenix, will one die or two?" And yes, on closer inspection there was a decapitated army man and several missing limbs.

Such violence....lying on my dining room table.

How dare they declare war on us, we said! Immediately we set up the battlefield. We humiliated the enemy by making them dress like cartoons.




They looked goofy, but I think it sent the right message:





They were devastated!



So there Sara! Are you devastated? Are you shocked?