Former teacher, lifetime learner, helping others first.
My name is Patricia Davis, but my friends call me Pat. My family called me Patti Jane, and still do. Since I’m not a little girl anymore, that hardly fits, but I could never change it until I went to college. I have been called Pat for almost 40 years now.
My Life
I am the daughter of an army veteran and a school teacher. I knew when I was 6-years-old that I, too, would someday teach, and I did. I taught English, English Language Arts, gifted and talented English and English Language Arts, public speaking, theatre arts, and oral interpretation for…
One story of a blue norther and a failing power grid.
I woke up a week ago last Tuesday and decided to place my order for groceries, just in case there was a run on everything like there was in March of 2020 when COVID-19 lockdowns began. I planned ahead, menus for three weeks, groceries, water, snacks, gasoline, anything I could think of.
Good thing I did. Now all the shelves are bare — AGAIN!
Then on Saturday, with the cold front bearing down on us, we went to Braum’s and bought two gallons of milk and a few last minute, just-in-case items. Sunday night, it hit. …
Recipe
A versatile meatloaf you’ll love. I promise.
When I was growing up, my mother made meatloaf at least once a week. Since that was one of her seven standard menu choices, I soon grew tired of it. She made it the same way every time, and it was boring. Consequently, I almost never made meatloaf for my family.
Until I discovered you could switch it up and keep it interesting. Here is my basic recipe.
Ingredients — Prep time 10 minutes
1 pound lean ground beef (93/7)
1 cup (8-ounce can) tomato sauce
½ cup diced onion
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon beef bouillon granules (or one cube, crushed)
1 teaspoon Grill Mates Montreal steak spice
⅓ cup…
American’s should be angered and saddened
As I sit here tonight watching the news coverage of today’s election certification vote, I am horrified. I have to ask myself, How could this happen?
Not, How were they able to get into a secure building?, but How could this take place here, in the U.S.? But we have been watching this build for months. Our very democracy is at stake.
This is the United States of America. I have to say that I am not proud of who we are today. Maybe we were never the country I thought we were, but this cannot continue.
We are a democratic republic
That means that…
It was a difficult year, but we can feel hope.
This year has been so difficult for so many. We have lost so much — family members, jobs, businesses.
But we have many things for which we can be thankful. In a year when depression and anxiety has increased (at least mine has), I find comfort when I make a list of those things, instead of focusing on my losses.
1. We’re alive.
At the beginning of this year, my father passed away, probably from COVID-19, but we will never know for sure now. His symptoms absolutely matched. The Monday after his funeral, we went into complete lockdown. Isolation didn’t help me through…
Recipe
My grandma’s oatmeal bread recipe is a family favorite.
When I was a little girl, I remember waking up to the smell of fresh bread that my mother had baked that morning. She would cut me a thick slice, still warm, and generously smear butter on it. This loaf of bread would not stay around long because when I wanted a snack, I would eat this every time.
I watched my mom make this bread, but it wasn’t until I was an adult that my grandma taught me how to make bread of any kind. …
Recipe
Make these delicious sourdough discard cinnamon rolls, or use my non-sourdough alternative
I am fascinated by sourdough and using sourdough discard in recipes. I’ve developed a whole list of dishes that use it just so the discard isn’t wasted. I first developed a recipe for biscuits. It was such a success that I was inspired to adapt it to making cinnamon rolls, and this is the result.
Because I wanted to make a sweeter roll, I added additional sugar to my biscuit recipe and reduced the ingredients to make one pan of rolls. I also noticed in researching other cinnamon roll or sticky bun recipes that they often put caramel and nuts…
It is not an honorific, Mr. Epstein, unlike yours.
Shame on you, Wall Street Journal, for perpetuating misogynistic behavior towards women. This Op-Ed is a disgrace to your prestigious reputation and to our society in general. What were you thinking?
As a middle-class, generally conservative (but maybe more progressive than I used to be) woman, I am completely offended at this article. In college, taking journalism classes, I was taught that our media had ethical responsibilities to its readership and society. But more and more, those ethical standards are missing.
I understand that this is an opinion piece, but in printing this piece, the Wall Street Journal showed poor…
Recipe
This mostly homemade dish is on the table in under 30 minutes.
I love when I am able to make a dish from start to table in 30 minutes or less. I especially love it when I am able to use fresh ingredients because I feel like I am serving my family better food. But fresh ingredients doesn’t mean I don’t find shortcuts that still allow me to control what goes into the food.
My chicken Alfredo is a mostly homemade dish that is a crowd-pleaser in my house. I have served it for dinner parties, unexpected dinner guests, and just for us. It is a great way to use up leftover…
Looking ahead to what comes next.
Whew! It’s December. This year has been a long one with many trials and hopefully more than just a few joys. It can only get better from here, right?
In November, I participated in my first NaNoWriMo and I learned so much about my writing habits. I made the mistake of dividing my focus between two projects: a cookbook and my fiction novel. For some reason that turned out to be a bad idea for me because writing the cookbook is easier than writing fiction.
In case you don’t know me, here is my…
