Remembering the best of ’98
Wow, 1999 is here! Looking back at 1998, we at TEAM Resources were reflecting on some of our favorite things. Here they are:
Favorite budgeting idea
For Betty Ann’s teenagers’ birthdays this year, they decided to give them a clothes shopping spree. The conditions were they all had to go as a family, they had three hours to shop for clothes only, and they had a limit of $150 to spend. Any money not spent in three hours, they didn’t get.
Read Also
Late season rainfall creates concern about Prairie crop quality
Praying for rain is being replaced with the hope that rain can stop for harvest. Rainfall in July and early August has been much greater than normal.
It was fun for all. The kids got some great clothes, looking for bargains to stretch their dollars. The parents enjoyed the fun of rushing to the change room with a different size for them to try as the time clicked away. Often a pair of socks was added at the end to ensure the last dollar was used.
Favorite cookbook
Alma likes Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard’s Put A Lid On It, published in 1997 by MacMillan Canada. It describes how to make the most of fruits and vegetables all year ’round. It contains easy recipes for small-batch preserving of jams, jellies, marmalades, conserves, curds, butters, low-sugar spreads, pickles, relishes, salsa, sauces, chutneys, special vinegars and flavored oils. It includes recipes in which to use the preserves and informs the reader of up-to-date safe preserving techniques.
Betty Ann’s favorite is Saskatchewan 4-H 80th anniversary cookbook 1917-1997. It has many family-tested basics and crowd pleasers that you may have had at a pot-luck, such as Shredded BBQ Beef and Japanese Cabbage Salad. The recipes are personalized by having the name of the contributor and 4-H club beside each recipe.
Favorite holiday
Betty Ann’s family rented a lakefront cabin for a week as part of this year’s summer holiday. The five of them, plus the dog, had a great time relaxing, fishing, playing games, walking and being together. By renting a boat they didn’t have to worry about transporting, launching or maintaining a boat, thus making it a holiday for all. Fishing was great, and it became a joke to see who caught the smallest fish.
Favorite preserve
Jodie’s son Carter likes toast and jam and she was pleased to find a preserve sweetened with grape juice concentrate rather than refined sugar, and made from 100 percent fruit ingredients. It is produced by Golden Valley Foods Ltd. in Abbotsford, B.C., and is called All Fruit Spread.
Favorite recipe
For Jodie it is chicken fajitas from Kraft Kitchens. It is a quick and easy recipe that everyone enjoyed served with sliced vegetables and dip. My daughter, Jaime, and I enjoyed it over the holidays as well, only without the salad dressing. It is a good way to use leftover turkey.
Chicken fajitas
Stir-fry one each sliced red pepper, green pepper and onion with one pound (454 g) of boneless chicken breasts cut into strips in 1Ú2 cup (125 mL) of Kraft Calorie-wise Catalina dressing. Spoon chicken mixture into the centre of tortillas. Top with shredded cheese and chopped lettuce.
For Betty Ann, a favorite recipe was soy-lemon marinated kabobs.
Kabobs
1Ú2 cup soy sauce 125 mL
1Ú2 cup lemon juice 125 mL
1Ú2 cup salad oil 125 mL
1Ú2 tsp. seasoned salt 2 mL
1Ú2 tsp. garlic powder 2 mL
2 lb. sirloin beef, 500 g
steak, pork loin, or
chicken breast cut
into 1Ú2 inch (2 cm) cubes
Mix liquids and seasonings together in a six-cup (1.5 litre) plastic container with a lid. Add meat cubes, cover and shake to coat the meat. Refrigerate for eight to 24 hours. Shake several times to recoat the meat.
Soak wooden skewers in warm water for 15 minutes to prevent their burning when put on the barbecue. Thread meat on the skewers alternating with onion cubes, green pepper chunks, whole mushrooms and cherry tomatoes. Precooked potatoes, carrots and broccoli could also be used.
Brush marinade on the kabobs. Place on a hot oiled barbecue or grill, close lid. Turn several times during cooking and recoat with marinade. Cook beef about 10 minutes, pork about 20 minutes or until juices run clear and chicken 10 to 12 minutes or until no longer pink. Serves six to eight.
Favorite reading
Reviving Ophelia, Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls by Dr. Mary Pipher is a book about the everyday dangers of being young and female, and how adults can help.
I followed that up with Pipher’s The Shelter of Each Other, Rebuilding Our Families, published by Ballantine Books, New York. This is an excellent read that draws on the fascinating stories of families rich and poor, angry and despairing, religious and skeptical.
Emotional Intelligence, Why it can matter more than IQ by Daniel Goleman is the ground-breaking book that redefines what it means to be smart. Published by Bantam Books, the author turns his attentions to the workplace and speaks about how self-awareness, self-discipline and empathy add up to a different way of being smart.
Achieving Emotional Literacy, A Personal Program to Increase Your Emotional Intelligence by Claude Steiner, Ph.D. with Paul Perry and published by Avon Books, New York, is about having the ability to understand and manage your feelings and the feelings of others.
Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach and published by Warner Books is a book Jodie read every day for the last year, and found the daily readings most helpful in acknowledging the positive aspects of life. Another book by this author, Something More, Excavating Your Authentic Self, I added to my collection.
Free to Fly by Judith Rajhathy, published by New World Publishing, Halifax, is a book Jodie enjoyed about reaching a state of wellness, and how our environment and diet affect our health.
Menopause, The Silent Passage by Gail Sheehy is an indispensable reference for women. The publisher is Pocket Books.
The Breast Cancer Prevention Diet, The Powerful Foods, Supplements, and Drugs That Can Save Your Life by Dr. Robert Arnot, is published by Little, Brown and Company, Boston.
Favorite bath products
I have enjoyed eucalyptus and peppermint bath beads, and also Whipped Peppermint Body Scrub by Naturally. Jodie recommends trying the Green Teatherapy Body Soak by The Healing Garden. She recommends adding a Green Teatherapy candle to further enhance the time in the tub. If you prefer bubbles, try The Body Shop’s Satsuma Bath Bubbles, a great cleanser that is gentle. Some use it as a handcleaner to remove grease or pour some in the bath for toddlers. Jodie also discovered another product, Soap Berry Shop’s Love Baby Powder, that clears up a diaper rash and itchy skin unlike anything you have ever seen before.
Spinner parts
Column reader C.Y. phoned to say she had an address for P.P. who was looking for parts for a Scharpf laundry spinner. The company, Strada Enterprises Ltd., at 2523 Bessborough Place, Regina, Sask., S4S 6Y9, phone 306-585-1940, was not selling the machines but did have parts the last time C.Y. contacted them.
