Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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FEBRUARY 19-25, 2014 UCW 5 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Years ago, a friend who was an occasional columnist for a local publication penned a charming piece entitled something like "Walking in the Snow with Someone I Love." It was a lovely column, full of images of quiet, white beauty, the peace and serenity of a beautiful snowfall, and the thrill and hope of a new romance. Her words painted a memorable picture of she and her new love strolling slowly through her Haymount neighborhood, holding hands with their tobogganed heads bent close together and surrounded by a blanket of white. The problem was my friend's snow- walking buddy was someone else's serious boyfriend, a fact which generated significant social fallout among my crowd of mostly single friends. My own most memorable confinement came when the Precious Jewels, two elementary school students and one preschooler, were home for a week with some miserable childhood condition like earaches or stomach flu, followed immediately by another week at home feeling great and energetic but stuck by what had to have been Fayetteville's biggest snow ever. To say I was ready to go back to work at the end of our two-weeks at home is a vast understatement. Fast forward to last week's gorgeous snow, an occasion, which rendered me housebound again, and loving it. No meetings! Few phone calls! Lots of books, magazines and movies! Lots of computer time, for good and for ill. And lots and lots of soup! First I made taco soup, a spicy concoction with ground beef, three kinds of beans, corn and tomatoes. Children love this one. In between bouts of cooking, I caught up on emails, did some overdue online research on various topics I need to know more about — different strains of breast cancer, and some just for fun — First Lady Michelle Obama's dress by Carolina Herrera worn to the most recent State Dinner at the White House. I also had a bad moment on Amazon during which I ordered some needed household items and a big impulse item, a pearl and bronze pin I have long admired on Cumberland County Arts Council Executive Director Deborah Mintz. Oh, well! I hope she knows that imitation is a sincere form of flattery. I also hope Internet shopping while housebound will not become an issue. Then came white chili using rotisserie chicken and fresh peppers from an online recipe that has so many likes and stars that I knew it had to be great. It is! Number three Precious Jewel is wild for this one. The best snow movie I watched is 20 Feet from Stardom, a documentary about the women backup singers who make stars like Mick Jagger, Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen look good but whose names people like you and me rarely know. They and the music were terrific — enough to make one get up and dance, though some of their stories do not end happily ever after. One that does is that of Darlene Love, who has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. One book I finished during the great snow is The Hotel on the Roof of the World by Alec Le Sueur, a young Englishman who found himself employed at the then-Holiday Inn in Lhasa, Tibet. Stunningly, I have stayed in that very hotel, though it had lost its franchise by the time I arrived. The book is a sad tale of Chinese authorities' brutal attitude toward and treatment of all things Tibetan, which I also witnessed, spiced with hilarious tales involving yaks, bureaucrats, various collisions of cultures and something I am sooooo glad I did not know about when I checked in — the hotel's ongoing infestation of "Himalayan hamsters" — Le Sueur's euphemism for rats! This is also the only hotel I have ever stayed in that had an on- site 24-hour clinic where guests could zip in for a little hit of oxygen since Lhasa's altitude is 12,000 feet. Back to the kitchen to whip up another soup, split pea with ham, one of my own favorites. I shot a sideways glance at my nearby computer and heard the siren song of online shopping but, blessedly, kept my distance. Then my Kindle went dead, requiring a prolonged charge, which sent me back into the kitchen for the best snowbound soup of all time, black bean with bacon! This version involves tomatoes and jalapenos which give it some kick and is best served topped by sharp cheddar. Did I mention that during my confinement I also made my own hummus —easy and yummy, carrot muffins and cornbread iced with pimento cheese? I hope you will recognize me next time we cross paths. After all this food, you might be wondering whether I took a walk, or a waddle, in the snow with someone I love. Yes, in fact, I did but only when the ice began to go. Lilly, the Lab, and I are very careful girls. What Did You Do During the Snow? by MARGARET DICKSON MARGARET DICKSON, Con- tributing Writer, COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET Snow means soup, lots of soup, reading and online shopping. Contest&RequestLine: 910-764-1073 www.christian107.com KeepingtheMainThing...theMainThing. visitusonline FocusontheFamily 20Countdown Magazine Adventures in Odyssey Serving Fayetteville Over 50 Years! 484-0261 1304 Morganton Rd. 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