Patiza/Potica

 This was a weird Thanksgiving. The first without my mother. It's caused me to remember these holidays in context with her. 

There was one constant for this time period. Patiza or Potica it seems to be spelled both ways. It's a type of bread that comes from Easter Europe.

It's similar to German Strudel, but doesn't use fruit.

Growing up both my parents lived in Pueblo, Co. My paternal grandfather worked at the CF&I steel plant. My maternal grandparents owned a small business. They attended different high schools. What they had in common at this time of year was Potica.

The reminisced about always wanting something good to take for lunch so they could trade it for Potica from the other students.

The steel mill brought in a lot of Eastern Europeans. Potica was their traditional pastry for Christmas.

In Albuquerque it wasn't even known, so we kids always wondered what they were talking about.

Skip to my wife. An aside here, I met my wife in March and we were married in November. I didn't know a lot about her family traditions come this first Christmas.

 

Linda's mother came from Leadville, Co. Her father was from Austria in the late 1800's. Her grandmother always made potica for Christmas. Our first Christmas together grandma sent down potica. We had a joint family Christmas at my parents house and her parents brought potica to the meal.

You should have seen my parents eyes light up. They hadn't seen or eaten this bread in decades.

Linda's grandmother passed away and Christmas was devoid of potica. Mom though got the potica bug and in a few years she found a catalog that sells all kinds of sweets and nuts and candy and you name it. It had potica. She started ordering it and we once again had potica for Christmas. This will be the first one without it for some time.

   

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Today's challenge is recipes from fiction books I'd like to try.

I can't remember any recipes. I can think of a few foods mentioned that would be nice to try.

Lord of the Rings: Lamnas Bread.

Harry Potter: Pumpkin Juice and Butter Beer.

I just finished the Red Mountain Chronicles, by Boo Walker. If your a wine lover, this is your set of books. Everything you want to know about the art of winemaking. One of the m ain characters is a woman who is starting a bed and breakfast. She's a health enthusiast and the meals she makes sound delicious. Most of them have kale, cauliflower, broccoli and other healthy foods. They sound delicious. Reading about the different breads and deserts had my mouth watering.

Green Eggs and Ham, by Dr. Seuss. There's a restaurant in town that offers this on the menu. It's scrambled eggs with green chile and cubed ham. Delicious.

Land Prawns from Little Fuzzy, by H. Beam Piper. I love shrimp and to have them wandering all over the land for the picking would be great.

Elephant feet stuffed with pastries, hummingbird tongues, stuffed sea urchins. A few of the delicacies I came across in researching for Optimus: Praetorian Guard. 

The wealthy Romans had a wide variety of exotic foods. The proletariat or masses made do with bread and chick peas aka garbanzo beans.

Time To Count Blessings

 It's time for thinking about our blessings. The song: Count Your Blessings name them one by one. Count your blessing see what God has done.

The greatest blessing is the sacrifice of Jesus who I accepted as savior at age 10. He's walked with me and talked with my all my life and has seen me through good time and bad. Without my faith I would be the most wretched of creatures. 

Here's my many blessings this year:

1. My health. I have my diabetes under control. The new medicine I have needs one injection a week. Getting off the insulin is helping me lose weight.

2. My family's health. Son works at a pharmacy in the liquor dept. He's still healthy, but I worry for him. Daughter and wife are doing fine. Eldest grandson graduated high school, other grandson entering high school and granddaughter middle school. All doing well.

3. Financially we are secure. We have shelter, transportation, and can afford the necessaries.

4. Mother passed away, but her descent was quick and I was there through hospice to ease her suffering.

5. I'm thankful for all our friends and family members who have been supportive as we've gone into a period of mourning. Their cards, phone calls and visits have been a balm on our grief.

6. This year I've updated most of my novels and they are now in paperback at a reasonable price.

7.  I'm thankful for being able to read e-books at reasonable prices to keep my mind sharp.

8. I'm thankful for Top Ten Tuesday and Wednesday Challenge giving me the ability to exchange ideas and opinions on multiple topics to many people. I have commented on those all over the world and they have said kind things to me.

9. I'm thankful for other bloggers that read my stories as I read theirs and then write reviews. Authors are always hungry and thirsty for a fair and honest review.

10. I'm thankful for living in an area with a wonderful climate. Albuquerque is cooler than Arizona, warmer than Colorado, less windy than West Texas and less humid as East Texas. We don't fear earthquakes, hurricanes, or  tornados.

Where does your state rank with Covid?

Covid-19 cases by state percentage as of November 19, 2020

	Location	Cases	Percent
1	North Dakota	67,230	8.82%
2	South Dakota	68,671	7.76%
3	Iowa	195,610	6.20%
4	Wisconsin	350,665	6.02%
5	Nebraska	103,805	5.37%
6	Utah	162,028	5.05%
7	Idaho	86,435	4.84%
8	Illinois	606,771	4.79%
9	Tennessee	325,201	4.76%
10	Montana	50,582	4.73%
11	Mississippi	137,396	4.62%
12	Arkansas	137,617	4.56%
13	Alabama	223,486	4.56%
14	Louisiana	209,914	4.52%
15	Kansas	130,716	4.49%
16	Wyoming	25,275	4.37%
17	Rhode Island	45,911	4.33%
18	Minnesota	242,043	4.29%
19	Missouri	258,762	4.22%
20	Florida	905,248	4.22%
21	Georgia	433,732	4.09%
22	Oklahoma	161,425	4.08%
23	Nevada	125,459	4.07%
24	Indiana	268,222	3.98%
25	Arizona	283,102	3.89%
26	South Carolina	199,447	3.87%
27	Texas	1,091,264	3.76%
28	Alaska	25,588	3.50%
29	New Mexico	70,451	3.36%
30	New Jersey	289,562	3.26%
31	Kentucky	144,753	3.24%
32	Colorado	176,694	3.07%
33	North Carolina	320,862	3.06%

34	Delaware	29,755	3.06%
35	Michigan	303,058	3.04%
36	New York	574,072	2.95%
37	Massachusetts	195,868	2.84%
38	Maryland	171,823	2.84%
39	District of Columbia	19,465	2.76%
40	Ohio	318,828	2.73%
41	Connecticut	97,028	2.72%
42	California	1,059,489	2.68%
43	Virginia	208,833	2.45%
44	Pennsylvania	287,425	2.25%
45	West Virginia	36,266	2.02%
46	Washington	135,424	1.78%
47	Oregon	59,669	1.42%
48	Puerto Rico	43,910	1.38%
49	Hawaii	16,974	1.20%
50	New Hampshire	15,319	1.13%
51	Maine	9,519	0.71%
52	Vermont	3,161	0.51%

·         Source: Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering

 

·         Last updated: November 19, 2020 at 8:45 a.m. ET