Leave A Note

A good friend of mine recently sent me a link to an article that suggests that in some cases there might be a better or more effective way to communicate with persons with dementia.  According to the article, it seems that even though words don't always make a lasting impression, and leads to the Alzheimer's patient repeatedly asking the same question, sometimes pictures and/or the written word can prove more effective and comforting to the person.

And isn't it good to remember that even though it can be disconcerting for family members and other professionals to deal with those suffering from Alzheimer's, it can be just as frustrating for the person suffering with the disease. Family members and professionals, it seems, can be not only the caregivers, but also develop tools to become comfort givers. 

Check out the article at http://www.parade.com/health/2010/11/21-unlocking-the-silent-prison.html.  And thank you for all that you do.

Red Cabbage Divine

This is one of my favorite winter recipes.  Delicious both hot and cold.  It's sort of a sweet and sour red cabbage but much milder.

Ingredients:
  1 medium head red cabbage cut into thin strips
  1 cup pineapple juice
  1 t salt
  1/2 cup golden raisins
  Tarragon vinegar - measurement to come later
  1/300 tsp Stevia - that's a very small sprinkle

In a large kettle bring pineapple juice, cabbage and salt to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

While this is going on put the raisins into a  1/2 cup measuring cup.  Next, pour in the tarragon vinegar to cover.  When the first 20 minutes has expired toss this in along with the Stevia, mix, cover, and simmer for another 20 minutes.  That's it.  This is one of those dishes that tastes better the next day after it spends some time in the refrigerator getting to blend all of its flavors together.

NOTE ON TARRAGON VINEGAR: I make my own tarragon vinegar by purchasing cheap bottles of red wine vinegar and stuffing fronds of fresh tarragon into the bottles.  This tarragon is growing in my garden and comes back every year.

A PICTURE IS WORTH???   I actually did take a picture of this dish.  In fact, I took about a dozen pictures.  All of them looked like a dish of purple worms.  Sorry I had to be so blunt about it and I hope you're not eating right now. So instead of a picture of the cabbage I've included a picture of my dad.  He's 96 and doing well and he loves sweet and sour purple cabbage.  At least he loved it when he still had teeth!

Talking Turkey

Here's a quick and easy table decoration for your Thanksgiving table.  Supplies include a cardboard tube, some construction paper or wallpaper sample book paper, glue, a bit of ribbon, and googly eyes if you have them.  Drawn on eyes also work well. 

To begin, cut simple feather shapes out of the construction paper or wall paper samples and glue into a fan shape onto the back of the cardboard tube.  Bathroom tissue tubes work well, as do mailing tubes.  You could use food containers, such as containers from Pringles, but you'd need to cover them with paper or paint before attaching the feathers.  Glue or draw on two eyes.  The beaks are a small square of construction paper folded in half and pasted onto the tube just below the eyes.

We then glued the tubes onto circles of brown construction paper and added green or orange feet, which gave us a chance to use up some green and orange construction paper.  Finally, we added a ribbon to make our creation more festive.

We did attempt to attach wattles, or that red hangy thing as we called it, but that got a little too complicated so our turkeys ended up hangy thing free.  We still think that they're cute as can be and are a nice touch to the tables in the dining room.