Month of Thankfulness - Day 8

Two days ago I wrote about fixing Potato Bologna for supper and a couple of my bloggy friends said they hadn't heard of it.

It's a Swedish thing. My mom is a full Swede, the second generation born in this country. (Her two grandmothers came to this country when they were girls.) My mom fixes Swedish Potato Bologna for Christmas dinner every year. It's a very simple recipe: Ground Beef, Ground Pork, Onion, Potato, Salt and Pepper. (Right Mom?) The onion and potato are grated and the whole thing mixed together and then put in casings. My mom has a sausage stuffer that she attaches to the kitchen table, the meat mixture is put in the top, crank the handle, then it oozes out through a tube into the casing. I know Mom used to get the casing from a local meat locker (pig intestine --ew), I don't know if she still does. (Mom?)

Anyway.

There is a grocery store chain that is an Iowa based chain and near Christmas-time they carry Potato Bologna. This small town has one of those stores and when shopping there earlier this week, I wandered by the meat counter and saw they were selling Potato Bologna! I did a little happy dance and bought some for us. I will likely repeat that over the next few months several times. To cook it, I boil it for about 30 minutes. Then I brown it in a skillet. My mom says her mother would do the browning step. Mom doesn't, mostly because she makes so much of it, logistically it would take just forever and who has forever when there is a swarm of people waiting for Christmas dinner?

So that's Potato Bologna. Any questions bloggy friends?

Yesterday I took my car to get new tires. I got to go to The Big City! That is a reason for a happy dance for this city-girl-stuck-in-a-small-town. My book and I enjoyed a lunch at Panera (of course), the car got its work done, then there was a little bit of shopping. I even squeezed in a visit with my sister-in-law. I was at a store just a few miles from her house and decided to text her to see if I could stop by for 30 minutes. She was home and said to come on by. I checked the time on my phone as I walked up on the house and was determined to only stay for 30 minutes. ha. I was there for 75 minutes. What can I say? Sister-in-law is easy to talk with!

I am thankful for...
...the traditional foods my mom fixes
...the pretty new tires on my car
...The Big City
...my sister-in-law's compassion (when I was telling her about something hard she got tears in her eyes before I even did)
...a phone call from a friend this afternoon who talked me through a decision I was trying to make