Domestic Goddess

This is me with my neighbor of 9 years and amazing friend Cherish. Cherish is what you would call a "Domestic Goddess." I don't know whether she would appreciate this title or not, but I mean it in the most complimentary way. Cherish can make a loaf of healthy, whole wheat bread that will knock your socks off. If it's raining out, she will most certainly have a mouthwatering pot of homemade chicken noodle soup on the stove, I've never had a cake she made that came from a box and her spaghetti sauce recipe is now our family's favorite. She can sew anything (she made her own wedding dress), paint her entire upstairs (including ceilings) when she is 8 months pregnant, and her storage room shelves are always lined with beautiful rows of canned fruit and yummy, home-bottled salsa.

Before my twins where born and consumed all my free time, I used to go over to Cherish's, sit in her kitchen, and watch her at work, it was like watching art being created. My favorite was when she would stand on a stool to knead bread because she was too short to do the job standing on the floor. Cherish is careful, deliberate and mindful about everything she does. It's beautiful really. It's refreshing to watch someone do the things she does in the way she does them. So many of her skills are becoming lost arts in today's world.

If you go to her house at just the right time, you might be able to try a piece of her bread, hot and fresh from the oven. I hope she doesn't mind that I try to make up reasons to go over when her kids tell me she's home making bread!

The best thing about being friends with Cherish is that she is so willing to share all of her wonderful skills and she's an able teacher. Because of her, I can do things like make a decent loaf of french bread, mix up delicious freezer jam, and make my granola with olive oil instead of butter for a more healthy breakfast. I'm still working on the wheat bread though. I'm not sure I'll ever be up to her speed on that, but knowing Cherish has made me a better housekeeper, cook, mother and wife.

Last week, my neighbor gave me a three gallon bucket of tomatoes he didn't want. Being the Mormon girl that I am, I felt compelled to use them. I thought making and bottling salsa sounded good, but I had no idea how to bottle anything, so yep, you guessed it, I went to Cherish's. She lent me all her equipment, and all the instructions/tips I would need and today I bottled 20 pints of homemade salsa. I'm dedicating those pints along with the freezer jam I made this fall to Cherish. Because she is my friend, I'm feeling a bit like a domestic goddess myself. Thanks Cherish for teaching me what you know. It feels good to accomplish some of these things, to have food on my shelves and in my freezer that my family can enjoy. Now I've got skills! Maybe tommorrow I'll practice wheat bread again, and maybe next fall, if the wind shifts just right I might have you teach me how to bottle peaches!