It's been such a long time since I've written on here I am afraid I am at a loss for words. I actually moved over to a self hosted blog but have been neglecting that too..
Last night I went back and read old posts of mine pondering whether or not I have changed over the years. Have I? Yes and no. Everything seems to be the same except that I'm older now.
Ashamed of myself for sounding so negative, except I know I still need to be much more optimistic.
Not a lot has changed actually. Solitude leads to thinking and thinking it all in leads to becoming quite morose, except one must become more hopefully and more trusting in an ever-loving all powerful Creator who is in control of all things. Yes, it's true.
I read an article the other day that said we should be entertained by what is going on around us not captivated.

Internet social networking is not all a bad thing, but it's not real, you can't see the other person, you can't reach out and hug them when they feel down, make them soup and tea when they are sick. I oftentimes wonder what life was like years ago. Way back when people sat around the parlor (All right, I know how far back am I talking? *crazy home schooler*) sitting around a warm fire sharing stories and playing music. When the wife stayed home and took care of the children when her husband worked out in the fields. An agrarian society was replaced with a technological one. The sun, stars, snow, rain, dirt, fruit, vegetables, animals, people, that is what is real. Instant gratification is now as easy as instant oatmeal. But is anyone really satisfied?
 

I just made it for the first time... with basil pasta sauce, Not bad. :)

History of Polenta

In Roman times, polenta (or as they knew it, pulmentum) was the staple of the mighty Roman Legions and would eat it in either a porridge or in a hard cake like form, much like today. By this time, milling techniques had greatly improved and the course grind favored for pulmentum had mostly been replaced by farina, a flour. However even though bread was widely available in Ancient Rome, the legions and the poor alike preferred the simplicity and tastiness of their early polenta. For the next few centuries, nothing changed in the history of polenta, much like the living conditions of those who ate it most - the peasantry. However things would slowly improve for polenta, if not the peasantry - the first was the introduction of buckwheat into Italy by the Saracen.

This nutritive grain - known as grano saraceno is still popular in Tuscany for making polenta near and adds a distinctive flavor that was widely favored for centuries. Buckwheat polenta would eventually fall out of favor when a crop from the New World arrived in Italy sometime in the 15th or 16th centuries known as maize. The new crop was a perfect match for the farms of Northern Italy, where landowners could grow vast fields of corn for profit, while forcing the peasantry to subsist on cornmeal. This new form of polenta was abundant, but seriously lacking in nutrients compared to earlier forms of the dish.

-from
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/food/polenta.asp