My Rock

My mom is one of the strongest people I know.  It's her birthday today and I am so thankful for her strength.  She is watching her best friend, my dad, go through his third bout with cancer.  Dad has been fighting tonsil cancer since July.  We thought it was gone and he was on the road to recovery when we found out this past week that it was back.  My mom is the reason we found out it was back.  Doctors kept dismissing my dad's pain as a part of the healing process.  But after my dad had lost 30 pounds and was starting to refuse to eat because it hurt his throat too much, my mom raised hell with his doctors and got stuff to happen.  The news has been overwhelming and it has been an emotional few days, but it is making me realize how thankful I am for my two parents.

What do I love about my mom besides her strength?  I love how she becomes a completely different person when you put a baby in her hands (especially when it's her own grandbaby).  Her eyes light up and her tone of voice changes.  My mom has the best laugh.  When you can really get her going, it's awesome.  I love her drive and cut the crap attitude.  When my mom wants to get something done, watch out-there's no stopping this lady.  I love it when her "mama bear" side comes out.  Don't mess with her two babies.  I love how she still lets me sit in her lap.  I love how she always answers the phone when I call her on my way to work.  Our daily chats at 7 a.m. or earlier have been happening ever since I started working 6 years ago.  I love it when she picks up the phone and says, "Hi sweetie!"  I love that my mom can outrun me right now.  She's a beast when it comes to running.  She just ran a half marathon a couple of weekends ago with the best cheerleader there to support her:  my dad.  I love my mom's sense of style.  I'm the one shopping at Target for clothes and she's the one making sure she gets good quality clothes at Nordstrom.  I love her cooking.  You all know that.  She can cook up an amazing meal.  I love how many dishes she goes through just to get that amazing meal to the table.  Believe me, I've washed many a dish of hers in my time.  I love how I rarely call her 'mom.'  This seems too formal to me.  Yes, I have lots of different names for my mom:  Mommy (even at 27 I still call her this), Mama, Mammers, Mammer Jammer, Marmie...  Most of all, I love how my mom loves my dad and her family.  My mom is my rock and I hope my own daughter has as much respect for me as I do for my own mom.  Happy Birthday, Marmie!

My mom is the reason why quiche is one of my favorite meals.  So, in honor of her birthday here's a quiche recipe to make this week:

Quiche Lorraine
1 (9inch) unbaked pie shell
2 tbsp. butter or margarine
1 med.onion, diced
12 to 14 slices bacon, or equivalent ham (I usually just use however much bacon we have in the house)
4 eggs
2 c. half and half (or part half and half-part milk)
3/4 tsp salt
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of cayenne paper
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 c. grated Swiss cheese
Prepared Dijon mustard

Saute onions in butter until soft but not brown.  Fry bacon until crisp.  Drain and break into small pieces.  Combine eggs, cream, salt, nutmeg, cayenne, and pepper.  Beat until well mixed.  Spread mustard onto pie shell.  Sprinkle pie shell with bacon.  Spread onions over bacon.  Cover with grated cheese. pour egg mixture in carefully.  Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 300 degrees and bake 40 minutes or until knife inserted into center comes out clean.