Lisa Zahn

Well, a few months ago. And um, I've practiced exactly once since then. But it was a good practice! My shoulder gets sore, however. I guess if I practiced more often I might get over that. Why, oh why, I keep asking myself did I choose, like, the hardest bluegrass instrument there is? The instrument in which the player plays four times as many notes as anyone else. (Did you know that? Yes, the reason the banjo sounds so cool is because banjo players are playing "roles" of four notes for every one melody note, instead of strumming single notes like most everyone else!) I love my banjo. I really, really do. It's even American-made. A Deering Goodtime Banjo , the very best inexpensive banjo on the market. I love it with a passion. I even want someone to take my photograph with it. Just like the cool girls in this photo... But that feels too fake since I can hardly play a single tune on it. (The book in my photo at top is also the BEST beginner banjo book ever--take it fr...

Because of a request (thanks!), I'll give you this recipe real quick before I call it a night. Walking the new puppy on icy streets and sidewalks has given me an aching back, so it's time to go lay down, but here it is first: Salmon Patties from the Gloucester Virginia Celebrates 350 Years cookbook 1 (15-16 oz.) can salmon 1 egg 1/3 cup minced onion (we leave this out due to DS11 not liking it) 1/2 cup flour 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder oil for frying Drain salmon, setting aside 2 Tablespoons of the juice. In a medium bowl, mix salmon, egg and onion until sticky. Stir in flour. Add baking powder to salmon juice; stir into salmon mixture. Form into small patties and fry until golden brown, about 5 minutes on each side. These are yummy with homemade tartar sauce (mayonnaise with pickle relish) or ketchup or whatever you like. And they're so simple to make even I can do it! When I have to ;-)...

Dinnertime at our house sometimes gets a little crazy. Doesn't everybody's? George does most of the cooking in our house, which he's *mostly* fine with. I don't love to cook, but I don't hate it, and I was starting to feel guilty that he's doing too much of it so a couple of weeks ago we sat down to remedy that so I could take my turn cooking more often. Now, what I do hate about cooking the evening meal is coming up with what to eat and having to think too much at the end of the day. Therefore, we decided to go back to something we've tried, with some success, in the past--a pre-planned, weekly rotating menu. For each night of the week, we set out general guidelines for what we're going to eat that night. We also divided up the cooking so that I cook three times a week and George cooks four. Both of these things take a lot of pressure off us, and I'm actually enjoying coming up with things to cook on my nights. You'll see in our plan below that ...