Daily Archives: June 29, 2009

Pizza Night

But easy.  I usually make my own dough but just got back from my guitar lesson so am letting some whole grain dough from Whole Foods (punched it down, formed it and will let it warm up for an hour so I can roll it out) sit a bit, with flour, on the counter, covered by a large bowl.

Jim gets mozzarella and pepperoni, perhaps mushrooms if I’ve got time to saute them.  I get spinach with garlic, topped with feta.

Thanks Foodies for stopping by.  Please let me know what kinds of things you’d like to see in the future.  In the meantime I put a lot of work in my cookbook selections and pantry items so you may want to check them out – it doesn’t cost anything!  Cheers, Dee

The Good Stuff

No-one ever talks about the times we sat around an outdoor table, under an umbrella, eating fresh cherries from the farmers’ market.  Being a Brownie leader, going on field trips, or supervising us at the pool while we fish (we were all fish) swam.

I wrote a longer piece but it was swallowed up by who knows what.  I had to reboot a Mac and that’s rare.  Must be all the hits I’m getting today!  Thanks, folks!  Keep cooking.  Dee

Hospice

I haven’t been able to talk about this but need to do so not because of my family situation but the nurses and aides and doctors that participate in what one might call “a good death.”

My mother died nine months ago.  For nearly two weeks she was in hospice care.  She was brought against her will to hospital, was offered another surgery and reneged, and was moved to hospice across the street.

We were very lucky in several respects.  She worked for the owner of the hospice years ago and set up his accounting systems; her pain medication expert physician was head of the hospice; the nurses and staff were very accommodating; and no-one dealt with us with “business” issues while we were there.  They allowed, no, encouraged us to be with Mom every moment of every day.  Yes, they did kick us out for bathing and we took meal breaks while she slept.  I’m not saying that connections are essential to good care, it just happened that way for us.

I’m friends with several folks in the medical profession and one has moved to hospice care.  I have to tell you I couldn’t do it.  These people deserve extra rewards in heaven for what they do on a daily basis.

While turning a patient over on his side or providing extra pain medication is routine for them, they acknowledge not only the patient’s humanity, but the family and friends who are sitting by the patient’s side.  One sees experience, but a newness to every patient and family that is comforting,

Something in me would like to think that by caring for an end-stage family member/friend/patient we give something back to the caretakers as well.  All I really know is that I appreciated the care my mother received.  Do not think of this post as a “downer.”  Think of it as a way to help a loved one move on.

I’ve been thinking of Mom a lot, especially with the oatmeal cookie recipe.  I even remember the recipe’s name.  When I do get the time to try it out it may be necessary for a volunteer to do same at sea level.  Ready, PDX?  Know anything about small body guitars?

It is my goal to make a book of recipes that Mom gave to us “kids.”  Unfortunately her recipes may be in a sealed unopened box that appeared two days before we put everything we owned in storage.  It can wait.  She and my aunts and many others taught me how to cook and I look forward to sharing that knowledge with you, once I find the key and drive 1,500 miles to storage.

Take care of your family and friends. Cheers, Dee.

Balance

Our families are involved in different things.  Retired and in his seventies, my father is working to create a new ballet company.  Jim’s father owns a cattle ranch.  Jim majored in physics but is a software engineer and inventor.

Lately, I take care of the home.  It has been a year since Jim created this blog for me.  I was so scared at first, now some of my friends don’t email anymore and do facebook and I feel OK on the blog but facebook is something I want no part of.

Recipes.  I’d like to do a book about family recipes and may have received that box a few days before our temporary move.  It remains unopened, in storage, so you’ll have to wait as will I.  If I do a really complicated recipe, I like to have it in front of me while cooking, otherwise, unless it’s baking, that’s not my interest, I’ll guess-timate after the first  couple of times.

With a solid background in French cooking I skew towards southern France, Italy, Greece and the Mediterranean for ideas. Otherwise for Jim it’s some version of meat and potatoes, as he’s allergic to fish.

His technical books are about numerical recipes, mine are about food.  But I didn’t bring one book with me on this short-term journey.  I love my cookbooks and hope you’ll take a look because I chose the ones I feature judiciously.  They’re in air-conditioned storage right now.

The balance is between us, physics and cooking, science and art, software and being a dog’s “mom” and taking care of a household.  No, I never thought I’d be here, but living in the mountains for a couple of months isn’t a bad thing.  As for boiling water for tea at high altitude, I chose Overstock’s electric Kaloric kettle, that comes with placemats and two mugs.  It boils water in 1/4 the time it takes the gas stove to do so.  Again, we’re living at high altitude so your results will differ.

I’m looking forward to my first surprise organic basket Wednesday morning so will do minimal shopping tomorrow.  Will let you know how it goes….  Take care, Dee