Monthly Archives: May 2010

Happy Anniversary!

Posted on May 17, 2010 | Leave a comment

My husband set up this blog for me over Memorial Day weekend in 2008, while visiting his parents and having one heck of a BBQ at the homestead. We’re planning to do it all again this year.

We haven’t seen most of Jim’s family since we moved away over a year ago so it’ll be nice to go back for a few days and visit. We usually see Jim’s dad’s side of the family, but his mom’s side is coming up on Memorial Day so we look forward to that as well.

Last time we were together, Jim’s uncle towed up his custom smoking rig behind the pickup and made 13-hour briskets and probably five hour ribs. Don’t know what’s planned for this year but after talking to my mother-in-law for quite a while on the phone last night she seems to have a lot of cooking planned, for her as well as me!

I’m hoping Jim can spend some time with his dad, brother and grandmother. His mom and our nephew are coming out here the following week to visit. Maybe we’ll be able to take off the snow tires by then.

My tasks include spiced nuts to have on hand for guests, and probably several salads. I’m thinking fresh corn salad that I’ve been working on lately, perhaps an Italian white bean salad with red onions and sausage. We only have four full days and two are already booked solid so I don’t want to over-reach.

One good thing about having all the cookbooks I own (many) in storage is that I don’t rely on the old favorites and if I’ve an idea I look up www.epicurious.com or www.foodnetwork.com or check out chowhound and other sites. But I do think I’ll make up the spice mix for the spiced nuts and take it with me in a zip bag because I definitely have all the stuff I need right here and Jim’s mother doesn’t. But she’s growing a plethora of fresh herbs this year.

We have a dog-sitter, need a fish-sitter (one betta) and I’ll water the plants, pack and go. We travel so seldom now that it’s a chore. When we first married Jim could call and say “let’s go to XYZ” and I’d pack a bag and fifteen minutes later we were on the road. Now with 9/11 and TSA and dog et al, it’s more complicated. Oh well, it’ll be good to see family again and perhaps more guests will visit this summer to get some fresh, cool air. Cheers, Dee

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Posted in Editorial, Recipe Ideas

Party Animals

Posted on May 17, 2010 | Leave a comment

Last night, for the first time in nearly eight months we were able to keep the sliding door in our bedroom open about 18″ for much of the night.

So the neighbors started in right away, first the insects chirping away. The frogs showed up a little later and that’s when it started to get raucous. The Greater Sandhill Cranes started trumpeting at 1:00 a.m., then again a little after two. I’m still trying to get you tape on that one because aside from sounding like trumpeting, it definitely sounds prehistoric, which they are, Eocene era. And their calls can be heard for at least a mile. It sounded like they were our on our bedroom deck sharing a local ale.

I finally closed the slider and came downstairs to try to get some sleep. The cranes started up again at 5:00 this morning like they hadn’t been out partying all night. Life in the country is sometimes louder than life in the big city! Cheers, Dee

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Posted in Editorial

A Thistle Relative?

Posted on May 15, 2010 | 6 Comments

This is what I found today, looks like thistle. I have to find the name and look it up for you. It reminded me of Scotland and a Brit stopped cold by it at the grocery and we both marveled at it. Yes, it’s a weed and I spent $4 for it to remind us of our days in Scotland.

This is what we do when there is no green grass, snow is still melting and the only entertainment is viewing ducks, geese and cranes. Cheers, Dee

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Posted in Editorial, Scotland, Travel

Spring

Posted on May 15, 2010 | Leave a comment

The colors are evident 20 miles away but just today after the air cleared from several days of rain and thunderstorms was a light yellow in the distance. It’s a yellow that will gain in the coming weeks to show that the Aspens are in full color. I’ll take photos this year.

It is a sign, and there are daffodils already out and tulips forthcoming. But I’ve never seen an Aspen close up and hope to do so. In the meantime I’m looking from a ways away and waiting for them to burst as they’re just gorgeous and let us know that spring is here.

Forget the stews. We never gave up the grill throughout the winter but I’m looking for local produce and my favorite market opens next month, we’ll have family visiting and look forward to local produce to find out what to make for dinner. Cheers! Dee

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Posted in Editorial

Three Guys For Dinner

Posted on May 15, 2010 | Leave a comment

My husband came home from work last night with two single guys. One of his fellow highly-educated colleagues has come up to the mountain and taken care of our dog twice. He’s going away for a weekend we plan to be away so has brought another highly-educated colleague to take his place.

Now, Zoe, when bathed and brushed looks gorgeous, exotic because nobody knows her breed but girls think she’s really cute and friendly so this may give these single guys an advantage. We should start renting her out!

So we set up a dinner and I spent the day cleaning up after the human tornado (my husband), planning a menu and list and making dinner.

I bought beef flap (similar to skirt steak, three pounds of it for four people. Three differently sized pieces of meat. The larger one I made Don’s maple/rosemary marinade, the others were marinated in just olive oil, salt and pepper.

The plain steaks were to be dressed with either an avocado/tomatillo/cilantro salsa or a parsley-based chimichurri. The maple-rosemary steak stood on its own. As time was of the essence, I paired canned beans with some grated cheddar cheese and a couple slices of cooked bacon, chopped, and organic fried onions on top. I drained the cans so added a bit of maple syrup and baked it.

I took corn and mixed it with diced red onion, orange bell pepper, sliced scallion with a non-vinaigrette with cider vinegar and a splash of canola oil, salt and pepper.

There was an avocado so I sliced it thinly and served it next to wedges of fresh tomato with olive oil and garlic. We enjoyed tea and watermelon for dessert. I know what my husband likes and is allergic to, know what one guest likes and the other was totally new to me, an Aussie. Put some shrimp on the barbie!

In any case, it was an interesting evening and probably the best meal these guys got all week, homemade at least. That’s something I love doing, not every day, guys. We’re hoping they learn a bit about cooking, use the dog to meet girls and then I’ll have someone to talk to about other than tech stuff at dinner. Cheers, Dee

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Posted in Editorial, Recipe Ideas, Recipes

Adopt a Dog

Posted on May 11, 2010 | Leave a comment

I only get pets from shelters. Except my first cat that traveled 3,000 miles to get to me and he was talking to me, getting the last word in, for 13 years.

Four animals in 20 years. My volunteer work has gone to help others. No longer able to have cats because of my husband’s allergies we have one dog and can’t believe she’s over six years old now, and we had to have her hips removed as a pup. The shelter didn’t know she had severe hip dysplasia as she’s a small dog and it doesn’t present symptoms for several months.

I did tons of research and in the end, at six and nine months of age, both her hips were amputated and she grew her own from cartilage. Most people would have returned the dog, humanely killed it or left it by the side of the road.

Today, an infant could reach into Zoe’s food bowl and take something out and she’d just look at me. She is the sweetest dog and we are so lucky that the shelter gave her to us and that we could afford to have an Aggie vet take out her hips. She’s so happy and loves people and other dogs.

After a lifetime of working with somewhat damaged pets and ferals, we wanted one “normal” dog. Zoe’s no way normal, but she’s ours and will continue to be so for many years. My last dog was loved enough in the community that forty neighbors and friends gave a tree to the city in her memory. She’d been abused her first year, in a shelter I volunteered in for her second year and she was my favorite and couldn’t be euthanized so she spent the rest of her life with me.

If you’re looking for a small dog get to know the people at the shelter, these dogs go first. For a larger dog, or one who’s been abused or has behavioral issues get to know the dog by visiting multiple times. If you have enough money to just order a dog from a breeder, get to know that dog. This takes time. You’ll be with this animal for 8-15 years.

Shelter pets are my choice, mixed breed and precious, each and every one. If you and your kids want a pet, please check out the local shelters and don’t pick the first one you see. Interview the dog/cat, and let them interview you. This is a lifetime job for a dog, a lifetime vacation for a cat.

Give one a chance and see your family in a whole new light. This post is dedicated to our hipless wonder, Zoe. Dee

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Posted in Education

Worst Jobs

Posted on May 11, 2010 | 2 Comments

OK, I have three. The first lasted 20 minutes, second two days, and third, six weeks.

My mother got her paralegal degree. I was 18 and had a drivers’ license. She had me act as a process server, at my request, to make $18. Of course she wouldn’t send me somewhere where I’d get beaten or shot. I only had to go to a nursing home. I didn’t know what the papers said, only that I had to deliver them. The family of the old man was there, and apparently I was delivering papers that gave the family legal control over this man, despite his repeated objections. I left, burst into tears and said that despite the money, I was done with process serving forever.

After spending my life savings on cooking school and a culinary expedition via a non-paid apprenticeship when I returned home with pennies in my pocket I took a job at a local hotel. I had to enter through the basement and didn’t even know how to punch a time card (did it wrong and never got paid). They gave me pants and coat of a 300 lb. man who’d been fired in the past week. I pulled the pants up way above my waist and someone gave me a length of rope so the pants wouldn’t fall down around my feet as I worked.

There was one sink in the kitchen area and it was smaller than a household pedestal sink in a very small powder room. It was filled with cans. My job as garde manger was to scrape cheese off French onion soup bowls that had been through the dishwasher. Two days, 16 hours. Done.

My first trip back to my alma mater brought a temp job that corrected applications for college scholarships. Yes, these geniuses couldn’t even fill out an application. As I corrected by school district, I got many poor areas and even my school, in a fairly well-off neighborhood. The numbers frightened me and years later I got to work in education in some of those poor areas. But that’s not the point. The point is the pencil with the name “Ned” on it. Ned was a year-round unionized employee and he labeled all his pencils. We were allowed to use our pencils to edit applications, had scheduled breaks and it was as if we were robots. No time off was allowed.

When I asked for time off for a job interview (this particular job was only six weeks) I was denied. I asked to give up lunch and two breaks was denied. Fifteen minutes before the interview I quit, walked across the street and changed my life. I was offered two jobs that week, each would have sent me in very different directions. In the end I said no to the arts job that would have me as PR person in the summer and secretary in the winter. When I turned down that dream job I told them I had my own secretary.

Cheers, Dee

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Posted in Editorial, Education

Ideas

Posted on May 10, 2010 | 2 Comments

The wiser I grow, the more I know that it’s about ideas, idealism (sometimes) and being true to yourself. The more ideas that are generated, problem-solving ideas, the more negativism comes to bear and everyone who has never had a positive thought in their lives comes out of the woodwork. They just say “no” and attack people.

That’s how it goes, I know. We work hard to solve problems, big and small. All we can do in the end is be true to ourselves.

Picture two people seeing a home to purchase. One sees the bones of the structure and sees possibilities. The other doesn’t like the color of the paint in the guest bathroom or the chandelier in the dining room. You’re buying a house. If it takes $200 to make it a house you love, do it! Solve the problem. See the big picture.

And the big picture is more than you realize. It’s not your home, it’s the US housing market. It’s Greece putting world markets in freefall.

So we don’t care that the wall in your prospective dining room is yellow and you want it to be green. Just do it. Whatever it is, do something positive, rather than closing yourself off to any new ideas about anything.

Supreme Court Justice? Hey, we’ll have the Supremes right there but don’t know that they’ll be singing everyone’s tune. Arizona’s racial profiling law? Well, if I had a Latin surname and was driving in Arizona as a US citizen, I’d look for another state where being of Mexican origin wasn’t cause for being pulled over and searched while my kids were in the back with seat belts and child safety seats.

Ideas, cooperation, new ways of getting along with each other. That’s what I do. And it’ll be the end of me. But only after another fifty years. So stick around. Cheers, Dee

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Posted in Editorial

Mothers’ Day Drive

Posted on May 10, 2010 | 3 Comments

We took a jaunt yesterday, even for ten miles or so on a closed road and saw some beautiful scenery. Jim drove the first third of the trip then I took over. That way he got to call his grandmother and wish her a wonderful day, as she was at church earlier.

The dog enjoyed the trip, sleeping whenever the speed limit was constant and sitting up in back (cargo net over the folded-down seat with 4″ orthopedic mattress and a tie-down, plus water.

We stopped at my favorite grocery and Jim was surprised that I had not one but three butchers waiting on me and the aged ribeye we bought (after I said, “what are you making me tonight, honey?”) was expensive but worth every bite. It’s the best steak I’ve had since Italy a few years ago. Let’s just say that we would’ve spent 3-4 times that much with one evening at a prime steakhouse because the potato and corn/red bell pepper salad were included.

Tonight it’s fajitas and I’m dipping a knife tip into Rick Bayless’ pool. Tomatillos are out so I’m going to manufacture an avocado and tomatillo salsa, but I got one pasilla that I’ll roast and I don’t have any cilantro, just did it on the fly so we’ll see what happens. I do have a white onion and will rinse it under cold water to tame the sting.

I’m going to marinate my chicken and roast the pepper and let you know what happens later. Cheers, Dee

ps And cheers to the butchers. Maybe I can convince them to order a capon for me this year because I found an organic provider. If its’ castration they have a problem with, what do they think of letting them live twice as long without breeding? D

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Posted in Editorial, Recipe Ideas

Tagged ,

Happy Mothers’ Day

Posted on May 9, 2010 | Leave a comment

The power went out and so did dog Zoe’s lights. She let me sleep after 7:00. When we went out we saw the cranes, they even came close by and we tried to walk slowly in order not to disturb them, as when I first saw them they were sleeping with their heads curled around their back, like flamingos.

The first is a flock of glossy Ibis. Looks like a crane is flying in to join them. Second, view from this morning after our walk. the mothers’ day gift (nothing from the dog) is daffodils and tulips finally pushing up out of the ground, and shoots of grass where last winter’s grasses are laid to rest.

I don’t know what’s for dinner this evening. I’ll see what inspires me during the day. Meantime I look forward to visits to see family and visits here by family. Enjoy the day! Cheers, Dee

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Posted in Editorial