A story - "Special Talents" - and Cabbage Salad and Freezing Celery

 A story:

Special Talents

It was a casual invitation but Lisa felt like making a special effort.  She put on her outfit:  grey dress pants, lavender cashmere sweater, pearl earrings.

"Not too shabby," she complimented herself.  Her children were impressed.

Six other moms came with their children for the gab fest with finger foods.  Lisa smugly surveyed the other moms: yoga pants, baggy tops, hair roots showing.

Suddenly a friend's son tugged on Lisa's arm.  "Come."  Intrigued, she followed him.

Soon she had worked her magic.  The boy grinned enthusiastically at her and exclaimed, "I knew you could unblock the toilet."

We had an inch of snow on the ground this morning. I thought a colourful salad would be nice to brighten up the day.  Here's more or less what I put in it.

               1 cup chopped red cabbage

               3/4 cup chopped celery

               1 chopped apple -  I used a MacIntosh

               1/4 cup pecan halves

                2 very small carrots - 1 yellow, 1 orange

                Mayonnaise to desired taste - about 2 tbsp.

                You could also add some yellow and red peppers, some onion, sunflower seeds.

                I should have garnished it with some parsley but I forgot.

Even though we had snow, we did not get frost.  Sometimes when the temperature is right around 0C, that happens.  Anyway, I pulled  the last of the celery out of the garden.  That really is the end of the garden.  I kept some fresh in the fridge but blanched (about 3 min) and froze the rest.  When I have chunks of vegetables like this celery or diced peppers, I put them in a large freezer bag and spread them out flat.  Then I carefully place the bag flat in the freezer so the vegetables freeze in a single layer.  When I want to use some, I can easily break off what I need.  You can, of course, freeze vegetables on a cookie sheet and then put them in a bag.  

The snow is pretty well gone. It was just a warning :)