Monthly Musings- Memorial Day Weekend

I wasn't going to join this month because I thought all of the questions would pertain to Memorial Day traditions and as you will read, we don't have a lot of MD traditions. Then I read the questions and realized that I did, in fact, have responses so here goes. Thanks for the fun questions and link up, Holly and Patty.

1. We don't have a whole lot of plans. Alyssa will be out of town jet skiing and tubing on a lake in Tennessee with a friend and her family. The rest of us will be here. We have a grad party to go to but that is about it.

2. Favorite ice cream? That is almost as hard as picking a favorite child! No, it's much harder because there are so many flavors from which to chose. There is a local ice cream store whose ice creams are sold in many groceries stores called Graeter's. Their signature flavor is black raspberry chocolate chip. That is as good as any ice cream that I've had so I'll call it a favorite.

3. Travel or no- for many years, Jacob and/ or Alyssa had soccer tournaments on Memorial Day weekend so the travel we'd do was for that. Now that tournaments are no longer a thing, we always stick close to home.

4. Burger or hot dog? Burger all the way- hot dogs are too sketchy part-y for me. That isn't to say that I don't eat them; I would just never take one over a burger.

5. Cookout sides are the best! I could easily go vegetarian at a cook out... I particularly love pasta salads, macaroni and cheese, chips and dip and of course, dessert.

6. White before Memorial Day or not? Decidedly, yes- I've been wearing my white jeans all spring. I have a couple of summery white blouses that I typically only wear after Memorial Day but that's because they are super summery and I don't want to wear them until the temperature is hot which is typically not until June or July.

7. Memorial Day traditions- I wish that we had some but we do not. Our neighborhood pool, which is at the end of our street, opens Memorial Day weekend. When the kids were younger, it was fun to take them there on the first weekend of its opening for the season. Like soccer tournaments, this Memorial Day weekend tradition, too, is in our rear view mirror ;). 

8. Summer recipe: This is for a side dish called ramen noodle salad. The tang of the dressing makes it an ideal accompaniment to a burger or brat. One of my neighbor friends at our first house made it one time at a get together and I asked my friend for the recipe. The next time I saw her, she gave me a hand written recipe card with the recipe on it  Awww, that was in the halcyon days before smart phones, Pinterest, social media- I'm not sure our home had high speed internet yet. All that to say, hand written recipes were the norm, not the exception and I feel a  mixture of being old/ old fashioned every time that I get the recipe card out of my recipe binder. I make this quite a bit, especially in the summer.  Everyone in our family really likes it.

I definitely deviate from this recipe.  I don't add nearly the sugar that it calls for. I only add about 1/2 cup. I always use 1/3 cup of rwv rather than 1/4 (I like the flavor of rwv and by using 1/3 cup, I can use the same cup measurer as I do for the canola oil)  Also, I've made this many times without the almonds or sunflower seeds when I haven't had them on hand. Including them adds a nice additional crunch (besides that which you get from the noodles) but they are not necessary. I just realized that this doesn't say it here, but include the flavor packs from the ramen noodles. The flavor of noodles is listed as "Oriental." That flavor is now known as soy sauce flavor. (Probably any flavor would work and likely wouldn't change the flavor that much but I think I've always used the soy sauce flavor).

The directions are to break up the ramen noodles-  I open the package a small portion to let some air out and then I take my rolling pin and crush the noodles. I add the noodles to a large bowl along with the flavor packs, add the coleslaw mix and then add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl. That's right- I'm so lazy efficient that I don't make the dressing in a separate bowl. I just make sure to stir everything really well. When all the ingredients are stirred together, I place the bowl in the refrigerator. I think it tastes best if it has a chance to chill for a couple of hours but it can be eaten right away. I would definitely make this the same day that it's going to be consumed. We eat leftovers of it the following day (just to not waste it); the flavor is fine but the noodles start to get soggy the longer they sit in the dressing rendering it not quite as good (unless you like soggy noodles ;))

9. We don't go to parades or fireworks for Memorial Day. My mother in law, years ago, when the kids were little would often host a Memorial Day cook out. She hasn't done that in many years. 

10. Red, White and Blue- Love the Stars and Stripes and what it represents!! The schools in our district start the school day off with the Pledge of Allegiance and all the classrooms have American flags in them. At home, I do some decorating for the season but not a whole lot. Holly mentioned that she puts her patriotic decorations up for Memorial Day and keeps them up through July 4th. I think that's a great idea and I incorporated it this year (I used to just put them up around the 4th of July).