Monthly Archives: June 2010

Steak Night

Posted on June 29, 2010 | 2 Comments

NY strip on the grill rubbed with garlic, olive oil, and sprinkled with Borsari seasoned salt. Add some chipotle sweet potato fries (frozen), and corn on the cob and dinner’s on the table. I made three extra ears of corn, which I’ll use for soup or a corn salad.

Yep, it was a good day today. The neighborhood is fine, and it looks like my dad will be around for a while longer as his test results were good. Yea! It did start raining on my newly waxed car but that’s minor.

The nightstand arrived, so sometime this week I’ll have a real printer stand with an open cubby for paper and drawers for my stuff. The printer sits next to the dining table and for a year it’s been sitting on the box in which we packed Jim’s PlayStation! That was his one non-negotiable item to take on the move. Mine was our food processor. That meant I had to leave my beloved Kitchenaid 5-qt. mixer in storage.

I’m working on dinner, Jim’s en route home and the delivery order for tomorrow is complete. Let’s hope that local nectarines are not rock-hard and that there are true surprises in the surprise box. I love the idea of the surprise box, just wish it was organic. It’s fun to try to figure out how to use certain things I don’t normally buy. More later, hope you’re having a good day. Dee

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Posted in Editorial, Recipe Ideas

After Byrd’s Death

Posted on June 29, 2010 | Leave a comment

Ted Kennedy served the second-longest tenure to Sen. Byrd. There was much written before and after his demise. I googled Sen. Byrd and got articles about how votes may go after his death. Wikipedia didn’t even update his page.

People talk about how strategies must be deployed for major legislation and how his position will be filled. I know everyone expected him to die, as he was a very old man, but didn’t expect that his very existence would be annihilated to talk about a few Senate votes.

Yes, he led a checkered existence and I was not even alive when he joined the KKK at the age of 24. The Northern Dems never understood the Southern Dems as the Southerners often joined with the other party on votes. Perhaps little is made of his life and death because he had no regard for any of a different color, and a person of color sits in the oval office.

My life is not remarkable, but when I die, I’d like people to remember who I loved, what I did and that I made a difference. For the media to just count votes is so cold and calculating. It must be done, but the denizen of the US Senate has died and, like him or not, odes or faint praise must be given. Yes, we know that while the service is ongoing, you’ll be counting votes because this has to be one major bi-partisan funeral.

So, promise me this. When the press says “Dee Died, Cookbooks and Culinary Tools For Sale” bring a casserole to my husband and in a few months, introduce him to his new wife. I’ll even leave leave menus, recipes, lists of his favorite things in the kitchen drawer. What kitchen drawer I don’t know, as we still have many adventures ahead.

In memory of someone I abhorred for his racism and admired for the pork he brought to his home state, Dee

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Mastitis Blankets?

Posted on June 29, 2010 | 3 Comments

Bibs and blankets are the theme here. Margie tells me my husband Jim always carried around a diaper or blanket as a toddler. Now I wash at least 12 tea towels per day that serve as a “bib” to make sure Jim doesn’t get egg yolk on his shirt in the morning or spaghetti sauce at night, plus kitchen duty.

There’s one scratchy blanket over the sofa, more like a “lap robe” that he uses when he’s cold, downstairs. Tonight I told him I found the perfect blanket for him on sale down the street. He talked at length about heft, warmth and feel (I know, I’m a woman and older than him and don’t need lap robes) then mentioned a mastitis blanket. And what the heck is that? Dairy cows sometimes have “udder” (akin to other) problems unknown to you and me.

He recalls his mother saving coupons from mastitis treatment packages for dairy cows and whenever you bought enough, you’d get a blanket. Hence the mastitis blanket. It’s too late to e-mail his mom tonight but what does it mean for a non-farm gal who grew up in farm country for a couple of years to hear things like this? It’s scary. Other-worldly. Plus, I was afraid that she’d go into a drawer somewhere, find one and mail it to me! And now she will.

I’m going to try a really soft, light, warm blanket that he can use, I can easily wash, and know he’ll love it, just as he loved the diapers and blankets of his childhood and lap robes of adulthood. He’ll love it and won’t have to think about milking cows ever again, or of mastitis. An update is warranted on this one! Moooooo, Dee

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Posted in Editorial, The Ranch

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Entitlement

Posted on June 28, 2010 | Leave a comment

When we moved here (for 3-6 months that has now been well over a year) we had a few choices of where to live. Either in a homogeneous setting where we did not belong to the group, or in a resort community with a variety of temporary and permanent residents. We chose the latter.

We love our home, our views, the air and the weather, most of the time. Plus, we’ve met some really nice people. The one thing that bothers us the most about living here, however, is a sense of entitlement. Some folks come up here and spend $400/night to stay plus over $100 per family member per day to ski. Some are great! Others just think they’re entitled to whatever the world has to offer, anyone else is the hired help, and whatever these visitors can get for free, just go for it.

One day a temp neighbor came over, irate. He basically said that he was stealing from us, was unhappy with the stolen service we were providing (unbeknownst to us), told us to fix it, and to do so immediately. Hello? What planet do you live on? While we’re temporary as well, we’ve been here over a year and have settled in somewhat. Does that mean we should provide free services that come out of our own pockets to every Tom, Dick and Harry that comes in for a ski weekend?

One thing about Jim’s and my upbringings is that we came from humble beginnings, learned the value of a dollar and of treating people as we would want to be treated. If we ever “hit the big one” in business, we are both committed to living our values and remembering our roots. I want to be the gal in the ten year-old car that blends in with the locals and is one with them.

We do find that self-made business people are the most down-to-earth people we meet. The silver spoon set tends to look down on others and try to get things from working class folks like us for free. Oh, well, what can one do? We choose to enjoy this unique experience while it lasts.

Tonight I made the soy marinade and did chicken wings in the oven. I erred on the side of protecting the oven so the wings steamed a bit until I browned them in the sauce at the end, because the oven was just cleaned! My car was just cleaned over the weekend, too, and I took it out for 20 minutes today, as I want to keep it safe in the garage! The dinner was spicy overall, with frozen chipotle sweet potato fries and steamed broccoli with a splash of soy sauce, sesame oil and hot pepper flakes. Yummy.

I’m not a complainer, really, but when something sets me off I have to do something about it. Hope you had a great day and are looking forward to July 4th! Cheers, Dee

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Posted in Editorial

Bitter Greens

Posted on June 27, 2010 | Leave a comment

I know that older generations and folks from different parts of the US and world grew up on bitter greens. How about the younger generations? I don’t know only that I didn’t. We lived in a small town and had farmers markets for 2-3 months in the summer. But if we were to have a salad it would be iceberg lettuce.

As to dressing, I’ve no clue what my mother used before she got the cruet so one could open the packet, put in the mix, add vinegar then oil and shake. That was so cool! And I’m sure she probably had to use cider vinegar at best, and probably vegetable oil. Back then there were not 28 varieties of extra virgin olive oils on supermarket shelves, especially in a small town.

Spinach was always a favorite, especially done in my grandmother’s way, which I’ll have to ask Dad about, if he remembers. Romaine was one of the first to try probably in the 80′s and I loved it. Now I make arugula salads all the time, and learned about cavolo nero (dinosaur kale) and Trevisano (the elongated radicchio of Treviso). I pan-saute the cavolo nero with garlic, and cut the radicchio in halves or quarters, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and place on the grill.

The next challenge was to get my husband to accept anything other than a lettuce wedge with Thousand Island or mixed greens at a restaurant with Ranch dressing. Mr. Meat and Potato is coming around a bit but still prefers Ranch to my homemade vinaigrettes, so I buy him nonfat!

He does like my interpretation of Chasen’s endive and beet salad with walnuts, which I make on special occasions. In certain restaurants he even orders a salad with candied pecans and dried fruit. But he hates spinach. What can a cook do?

Notice I haven’t given up yet. Just as I weaned him from “sweet tea” both the true variety and the non-southern variety laden with sugar or sugar substitute, to herbal tea, I can do this! The next challenge for me is the really bitter greens, including mature collards, kale, chicory and dandelion. That needs more research and testing. I’ve some of the best teachers around, but they’re in books in storage. Edna Lewis, you are a treasure that is certainly missed in life. Is it OK to miss your book too? Cheers, Dee

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Posted in Education, Recipe Ideas

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Simple Summer Dinner

Posted on June 27, 2010 | Leave a comment

After making a spicy sweet and sour pork the other night that was tasty but didn’t sit well with me, I took a simpler tack last night.

I got a whole boneless, skinless chicken breast, split it and pounded it out. Dredged it in a mixture of egg and milk (mixed, of course) with salt, pepper and thyme, then in Panko with the same seasonings and quickly sauteed it. It was just done and very moist and tasty. I added to the potato salad I made the other day, as I’d cooked a few extra red potatoes, then added a quick salad.

Who knows what today will bring? I’ve been up since 3:30 catching up on email et al. Our internet access was down much of the day yesterday. Let’s see. In order to facilitate having guests I’m keeping my computer on the kitchen counter for the time being even though looking at the pantry and frig isn’t my idea of a “view.” I prefer the dining table where I can look at mountains and nature.

The table looks nice and can be extended to serve six, plus as the weather gets warmer we can accommodate more outdoors. We’ve done spring cleaning for the house (except the carpets, later this week) and are working on getting the salt and winter/mud off our cars. And we’ll give the dog a bath today to make sure she sheds everywhere as her undercoat is loosened by soap and water.

A little shopping, as Jim needs socks and wraparound sunglasses (the sun, while going down the mountain every day, is painful) and perhaps a movie to take a couple of hours off a “work weekend.”

Oh, and the cranes were out yesterday. They were pretty far away so even with binoculars I couldn’t see the babies (colts). The grasses grow taller every day! And as of Friday evening the moose were still here. Probably no word on that ’til tomorrow. Have a great rest of the weekend, cheers to you and yours, Dee.

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Moose Update

Posted on June 24, 2010 | 1 Comment

Moose

They walked about 15 feet from our window today. I had to call the wildlife photographer (for the folks whose preserve the moose are currently in) to tell her. From a network of neighbors who also live along the Preserve we know that they’ve been here at least since this morning; what we thought were mother and one year-old (they live with Mom for two years) are probably two juveniles; and we know for certain that a large moose was killed on the Interstate the other night.

I’ll be in touch with the Preserve people tomorrow, as they were closed tonight. What magnificent creatures they are! I only hope they can live on their own at this stage of life. Right now they’re in a fenced preserve (with a fence they could jump but that may mean the highway and being run over by a semi) with food and water and no real predators. If you were a fox would you try to bring down a 1,000 pound moose?

I do know that the cranes haven’t been seen at all today, but it was a hot day and I closed the shades to keep it cool in here for several hours. They probably haven’t left the preserve, because I don’t believe their “colts” are able to fly just yet.

Life in the wild is interesting. Glad I bought a cowboy hat and have some sturdy boots, no, not cowboy boots, just rain and snow boots. Cheers! Dee

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Posted in Editorial, Utah

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Moose!

Posted on June 24, 2010 | Leave a comment

Yes, a mama and her year-old “baby” were out on the Preserve just a bit ago, a rare sight indeed. The danger is that they have to jump the fence at some point and may be hit on the highways. But I invited the photographer for the local Preserve up to our deck to get some shots from above. She promised to send me a photo.

I had binoculars and we caught them foraging near a stream, sitting down some of the time. They’re almost black with lighter brown on top. Magnificent animals. I love living on a nature preserve! Cheers, Dee

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Posted in Editorial, Utah

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This Year’s Cranes

Posted on June 21, 2010 | 2 Comments

We’ve been quite worried about “our” Greater Sandhill Cranes this year, in this part of the Preserve. Last year, as the eggs became colts for 30 days or so, one crane came out to feed, then the other. Then when the colt hatched, that pattern continued as the colt became strong enough to walk around and feed.

The adults have been together but far apart. Perhaps there was a predator and the male was warning it off? I wouldn’t get near these guys as I’ve seen them dismember an animal in less than a minute and when they see a person or dog close by (50′, off the Preserve) they kick. I wouldn’t want to be kicked or beaked and I’m an adult human.

I worried that they had no egg or the one that hatched didn’t go well so they ate it (yes, they do that.)

Well, this evening I had to take out the binoculars as they were only several hundred yards away. They have not one, but two colts, nearly newborn, 1/3 the size of the one on the other end of the Preserve. In a few weeks we won’t be able to see anything because the grasses will grow so tall we may not even be able to make out the adults and they’re 6′ tall!

It’s good to know that they have their family. It’s a joy to see them because they’re very protective of their others and their young. The red-winged blackbirds have their say as they peck at them to keep them from raiding their nests in the rushes. Ah, that’s Spring in the west.

It’s supposed to be summer now but here it’s barely spring. Many trees don’t even have buds on them yet and it hailed last week, leaving ice in the grass and coming down in shards from the roof.

Let the coyotes and hawks beware. There are two feisty cranes protecting these colts. Attack them and beware their wrath. Here’s to nature, hold the oil, Dee

ps still can’t get a good photo but if I can I’ll post it.

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Posted in Editorial

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Semi-Italian?

Posted on June 21, 2010 | 1 Comment

Word has it (Serious Eats blog) that gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo is dating Semi-Homemade semi-cook Sandra Lee and that there was a lasagne cook-off between Ms. Lee and Mrs. Mario Cuomo.

Yes, Ms. Semi-Homemade vs. a true Italian Mom, Matilda Cuomo. I’m glad I’m not in NY State working the phones, lit drops et al for the Dems this year because simply by his choice of this blonde bimbette living in the governor’s mansion would be enough for me to vote for another candidate.

Please, on a photo shoot she had two spoons in front of her, one plain and one slotted. She was asked to pick up the slotted spoon and had to ask which one that was. I don’t know if she can even read a book yet read one aloud as New York’s “first lady” to a library full of poor pre-school children.

I do know that she has her staff (those poor set decorators) change the decor every time she films. I don’t believe KitchenAid even makes mixers in those colors. That’s OK, she’s never used one and it’s probably just a prop, minus the motor. Who needs a motor when you can open up a can of this and a box of that?

Perhaps she set herself up as the gracious loser in this cook-off (or her staff did) by using cottage cheese and canned tomato soup.

Ms. Matilda, you certainly don’t know it but I lived directly across the street from the governor’s mansion when you lived there. We were burglarized twice and had to leave. But I’d walk across the street or fly across the country for your lasagne, veal parmigiana or spaghetti and meatballs.

Your son is in a serious business and is old enough to know that in this business of politics which I lived for many years he has to convey that he is settled in his personal life. While I certainly don’t expect him to be flirting underneath airport bathroom stalls, the thought of a semi-homemade partner may not sit well with the voters. Oh, I don’t expect him to tell people from my neck of the woods about gingham dresses either, for what it’s worth Ed Koch. Yes, I ran into Gov. Carey at 4:00 in the morning running down the back steps of the Capitol after the Speaker rang the gavel and announced that year’s session closed, so I’ve been around a while.

Cheers, in the spirit of good cooking and interesting politics, Dee

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