Daily Archives: October 14, 2008

Pot Roast, Again

Yesterday I made Bolognese sauce with ground beef and sweet Italian sausage. It was too thick so I thinned it with some red wine left over from a dinner party. So we had spaghetti and sauce, with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano last night.

Tonight I am making pot roast, Mom-style with noodles. Jim worked from home today, having some dental work done at lunchtime. I go in again in the morning for removal of a wisdom tooth. Don’t know that it gave me any, wisdom that is, only pain.

Tomorrow is easy lasagne with the rest of the meat sauce, the sauce to be tasted in advance and possibly doctored by me.

My assignment, should I choose to accept it (I must) is to write something profound about Mom that can be calligraphied onto a 4″/4″ piece of origami paper and folded into a crane. At least I get to send it by email and the calligraphers, my sisters, will transform the words into something that looks beautiful. Luckily I don’t have to do that part, because I’m a lefty that writes from above and the entire paper would be smeared.

Now I’ve got it! Society didn’t like lefties so they wouldn’t allow them to do calligraphy! Works for me! Hey, when I was a kid I got the rounded scissors because lefties are dangerous, and I always had to tell the teacher that I could only use scissors with my right hand (true). And no matter what Steven or Melissa said, I never ate paste in kindergarten. And you can forget about folding. I cook, OK?

Sisters have asked family and friends to write something about Mom, rather than having a reception. Her ashes will be placed this weekend and in another ceremony in her home country later on.

It smells good in here and I had the water boiling for the noodles and the meat is cooling, but Jim and Zoe went AWOL. I’ll just keep on going at my temporary site as Jim took over my desk and monitor all day today. Perhaps I can consider it a rental! Cheers, Dee

“The Custom at Chautauqua…

is Silence After Chimes.”

Mom has that hanging in her home, and all my siblings today seemed to think that was something I needed.

The chimes ring in the traditional quarterly hour pattern from the signature bell tower. In addition, at certain hours, there were special songs played on the bell tower organ. When I worked there, my head driver (of five) Frank’s sister was the bell-ringer.

Silence would have probably fit the religious/Methodist tradition that started the Institution. The sign shows something that is long past, now that Chautauqua is a rural retreat for the rich. I suppose that by restoring the grounds and program my father had something to do with that, love it or hate it.

Chautauquans have always been good at embracing change then hating it for increasing the value of their investment. There’s no way I’d open up a restaurant or store there. Stopping by on a winter’s day, yes I do that nearly every year since 1985.

But I’ll never be a Chautauquan, because I was only staff. On the culinary front, I worked my first year at Glen Park Cafeteria, which had a cafe line but “boys” to take the old people’s trays to their tables and get tips. We didn’t get tips. I lived in a lovely home on the waterfront and ate every meal there but was charged for room and board regardless and was paid $1.25/hr. Criminal. And that was my college money!

But the next year I elected to work 14/hours a day 7 days a week for less than that just to move up in the world. Things changed.