Entries categorized as ‘Education’
If you’re young and perhaps unsure of how to plan your future, talk to people. I remember when I was 16 on a beach in Florida, a dad spoke to me about how he planned his future. He asked me what I wanted to be and I didn’t know. He said he could have been a doctor or lawyer, but they only deal with problems. He chose to be an architect to realize peoples’ dreams. I’ve remembered that for a long time.
Most people don’t give a darn about their interns, I know I didn’t as they were just another weight on me. I should have been better and became better as a consultant and, on weekends, as a lead volunteer.
Today, my cooking only fulfills my husband’s dreams, and sates the appetites of our guests. We have the luxury of meeting interesting people all the time and savor the camaraderie and knowledge gained.
If you want to cook, find the finest chef and try to apprentice in his/her kitchen. If you want to do anything else, find the best and try to get an internship there. Before that, take the right courses in school. Challenge yourself. Math and science are the roads to success these days. Push yourself and after college/grad school you can choose what you want to do.
And if you’re in college or high school, surround yourself with interesting people. Don’t be in one group. And when you consider getting married……. that’s another post. Cheers! Dee
Categories: Editorial · Education
Tagged: advice, careers, food
Earlier today I went to the cleaners to drop off a number of Jim’s shirts collected over the holidays. Due to putting XC skis in my car, he had taken the shirts out and all my re-usable bags so I stuffed five of his shirts into a canvas Whole Foods bag.
When I unburdened myself of its contents today, only to fill it again with packages next door, I met a woman who asked if I did all my shopping at Whole Foods. We got into a conversation about food, food costs, delivery services et al.
I find it humorous that my father spent much of his life lamenting that all the women in his life did was plan the next meal. He ate and enjoyed most of these meals but didn’t want to talk about food each day of a family gathering. Now he does the cooking, simple, healthy and mostly Italian. He’s sending ME recipes!
When it comes down to it, we all need food. Whether it’s rice and beans or caviar, food is is a common denominator that can introduce one to others and make friends. It helps to be able to talk about other topics such as politics, history, art, science and the like. Everyone needs to eat. Some of us like talking about cooking and meals and eating. I think I got a C in 7th grade Home Economics. Our team decided to do everything chocolate, my decision because I wanted to take Shop and they wouldn’t let me because I was a girl.
So now I talk and blog about food. Go figure. Thank you, Betty Crocker Boys and Girls Cookbook, early 1960’s version. At age eight, you rocked my world. Keep cooking! Dee
Categories: Editorial · Education · Utah
Tagged: Betty Crocker Boys and Girls, Dad, food and conversation, The Cook
Isn’t that what Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney had at that lovely Vermont inn, home of the General? Danny Kaye did “choreography” and Bing sang his most illustrious holiday song…..
I want a sappy Christmas movie! Or at least a song on the car radio that makes me break down in tears and be thankful for all my blessings. My blog has snow (must have initiated itself because somehow I asked for it last year). It’s pleasant but the real stuff is falling and Jim’s car spun out this morning and I tried like heck to have him switch cars and take my AWD with brand new snow tires down the mountain. He made it there and back, thank goodness. There’s something to be thankful for.
Yesterday, two of Jim’s colleagues and their children came over for lunch and video games (Star Wars). She brought a nice bottle of Chianti and five pounds of black, seedless grapes of variety I’m unfamiliar. They look like Concords but are twice the size and oblong. She must have read my blog about the grapes!
So, we can’t eat them all and I’m thinking of a grape pie from the new cookbook my grade school music teacher just sent me, or a grape crumble I found from the grape growers’ website, and perhaps schiacciata con a’l uva, a grape pizza of sorts.
Thanksgiving is not the only time to be thankful. I’m thankful to have my dear husband, and to know that most of my family is alive and speaking to one another. Jim’s family is doing well with some losses this year and more babies we didn’t get to meet on turkey day. And every day we’re alive and living in a winter wonderland is precious and should be cherished. With All Wheel Drive. And snow tires.
The coolest thing is that six-year old Michael, upon exiting our home yesterday, said “We’ll be back tomorrow!” So I guess we have to be thankful that we’re not old fuddie-duddies like we thought we were.
Hope you’re enjoying the holiday season and not stressing too much. Cheers! Dee
Categories: Education · Utah
Tagged: blessings, grapes, White Christmas
We were committed to going out for lunch Thanksgiving day and the only restaurant open offered one solution, the family Thanksgiving meal. We brought back the leftovers, a few breast slices and about 1/4 cup of ham. Yesterday I cut up carrots, onions and celery and poured in a quart of chicken stock. Later I added some water and too much stellini (star-shaped pasta). I tried it and it needed salt. Then Jim was resting upstairs so after cooling the pot of soup in ice water several times I anchored a gallon bag in a large measuring bowl to chill/freeze it, it collapsed and I had broth and carrots all over the counter.
Jim didn’t come down to help because he’d spilled his water upstairs and was mopping up as well. All turned out for a family-less Thanksgiving weekend. Perhaps we’re supposed to have our disasters at other people’s homes. No, that doesn’t happen elsewhere, only at home!
As for my easy Thanksgiving soup, I’ll bring it to the boil again, add some fresh herbs and chicken stock, and perhaps a can of drained and rinsed cannellini beans. That could be dinner, with a nice loaf of French bread. Dinner for me. Jim wants meat and potatoes. Hope you enjoyed a long weekend with family and are home and recuperating from your vacation! Cheers, Dee
Categories: Editorial · Education
Chowhound has an interesting piece this week on a subject dear to my heart. I recall making a complicated meat sauce, boiling noodles and basically spending four hours to turn out a lasagne for my husband and I. I asked how he liked it and he said it was “OK.” Now I make the ten-minute version and he likes it just fine. After the four-hour lasagne, I made chicken breasts sauteed and finished with lemon and capers and the result? “Wow! That’s the best chicken I’ve ever had!”
The most time consuming meals I’ve ever made include a cassoulet I made for my family over 20 years ago (now they have a kit with the appropriate sausage, duck, duck fat et al) and an entire side of salmon covered with scallop mousse and topped with 1/2 rounds of zucchini to look like scales. Plus deep-fried parsley as a garnish. That was for graduation from cooking school for my family, godparents and my cousins.
I now buy mainly local ingredients, the best I can find, and don’t mess with them. Local organic butter, good olive oil, local produce. Pop things into the oven or onto a hot grill and they’re delicious. We just bought an inexpensive patio grill so plan to use it even with snow on the ground! Simple things like grilled radicchio (tossed with salt and pepper and a little olive oil) taste fantastic when browned a bit on the grill.
We mainly use healthy ingredients, OK too much beef but that’s Jim’s preference, not mine. I’d have more fish if he weren’t allergic to anything that swims. We splurge on occasion and have scalloped potatoes with half-and-half, or buy a pint of chocolate ice cream (I add milk and a banana and make a milkshake for breakfast).
The holidays will be interesting this year. Jim can’t take any time off from Sunday until Christmas so we won’t get to Thanksgiving at Nanny’s, my first in eight years to miss and the first Jim will miss in his entire life. I may actually have to cook a turkey! We’re talking leftover soup and sandwiches for two weeks! I’ll need to work on that menu and figure out if I can get him to like Brussels sprouts. Cheers! Dee
Categories: Education
Tagged: simple food
October 25, 2009 · 1 Comment
Someone to talk to. A best friend, so you don’t go astray.
If you’re lucky the person above is your significant other.
A loving and cohesive family, whatever the combination of that family.
A job that you love, or at least like.
Things you like to do together (lunch, movies, cooking, bowling, whatever)
Wanting to live life and learn at least one new thing every day.
That’s my version, what’s yours? Dee
Categories: Editorial · Education
Tagged: best friend, life, love
A few days ago I found the company with the mountain goat logo, a local company that sells mountain gear. I spent some time researching one jacket that I needed to complete my winter repertoire. I still need one pair of silk-lined leather gloves to drive in, and wish I could go to Florence to that wonderful glove shop…. but will have to go down the mountain to a department store to find a pair that fits.
So, in honor of the Concord grape, that has spurred thousands of hits on this site, I bought a purple jacket for half the price, last one they had in the store, goose down with 800 fill power. It weighs ounces but is very warm. So, as part of my winter gear, I’ll be walking around like a large Concord grape! Thank you, Chautauqua County, for entering and staying in my heart since I was three years old. Thanks to the Assemblyman I helped elect 25 years ago for being willing to introduce me to the local grape folks to link to this site.
The purple jacket is the piece de resistance. The blue jacket I got in Scotland three years ago and will serve as a windbreaker and rain/snow shell with hood. The Pippi hat is a gift from fellow WP blogger pdxknitterati. I’ve polartec gloves and just bought some Hunter boots, bright yellow, for heavy snow and rain. Photos of those later, don’t want to awaken Jim right now.
Now you know how to find me walking down the street! This week I’m working on two trifles. One the berry that I made once for family, and I’m making up another with a cranberry/orange theme.
Both are for Jim’s folks at work. It’s always good to have a challenge and use my imagination and talent to create food that people enjoy. Cheers, Dee
Categories: Editorial · Education · Utah
Tagged: Trifle
Why take up something at age 50 that I quit at age 12? Why quit a career and spend my life savings on cooking school. I’ve done both.
Yes, I wonder why. Cooking is a no-brainer. I love sitting at table and having conversations with family and friends. I enjoy being the “mom” who takes in “orphans” for Christmas dinner. I love reading and collecting cookbooks and using that knowledge to be a comfort to others. While I was trained in classic French cuisine, I tend to do more Mediterranean foods of Italy, southern France, and Greece. Fresh, great ingredients and don’t mess with them too much.
It’s not that I’ve become the Julia Child or Hubert Keller of the kitchen, of that I’m certain, but I’m confident there as long as the only dessert is ice cream with raspberry coulis or a trifle.
Music is different and I’ve been having a hard time of it the past few months as I took up acoustic guitar. It’s unfamiliar territory and while I have a good ear, according to Dad, guitar is different. One friend, PDXKnitterati (see blog list) asked whether I wanted to play the guitar to play the guitar, or to play the guitar to sing. My new teacher told me my left hand is my band, the right hand is my rhythm section and that I’m the vocalist.
This week I’ve thought a lot about it as I figure out a couple of key songs. I don’t want to just play the guitar or piano. I want to tell a story. It’s all about the lyrics when it comes to rock/pop/country/folk music. It would be great if I learned to write my own songs, but for now there are much better people out there to learn from. Just as in cooking. It’s a joy just to learn (not to practice, sorry K).
It got to the point that I hear songs in my head (even in my dreams) and want to learn to play them. Not for an audience, OK maybe Jim and Zoe, the dog. I have to thank several people for promoting an interest in music: my father (and his father, who died shortly before I was born); all my music teachers in grade school, middle school and high school; singer/songwriter Juni Fisher (www.junifisher.net); Douglas and Korky; and my husband Jim who plays the keyboard every morning before work, mostly doorbell sounds that irritate the dog.
Don’t worry, I’ll keep cooking. Perhaps next week when the weather turns cooler I’ll try a cassoulet. Check out cassoulet on WordPress.com and you’ll find I’m top dog there. Oh, the writing will continue as well. Cheers! Dee
Categories: Editorial · Education
I’m in a quandary about our food delivery service. Normally I get milk, OJ and fresh-squeezed apple juice delivered every week, plus eggs, bread and usually wonderful applewood-smoked bacon and a couple of frozen rib-eyes.
They charge $1.50 per milk bottle, which we rinse and return per instructions. We have never gotten a credit for a returned bottle and keep getting charged a fee every week. The milk has started going bad much sooner than the other organic milks we can get at the grocery or Whole Foods. We tried out a new grill this week and our ribeyes were cooked to perfection but were tough. So I cut out milk and steaks from this week’s order. It means I’ll have to tote more stuff home from the store, so be it. I gave them a second chance with the $20 organic food surprise box so we’ll see what that brings tomorrow morning.
First I was awash in fruits and vegetables and was giving things away, while other items went bad. Since that’s not a responsible way to use food, I’m making changes and may cancel this service altogether. Remember, winter is on its way and it might be a godsend to have essentials on the doorstep every Wednesday morning! We’ll see. It’s a great service to have. Cheers, Dee
Categories: Editorial · Education · Utah
Tagged: home delivery
We’ve been working off a small gas grill that came with the place for six months now, and it uses micro propane cartridges that cannot be refilled. So yesterday we headed out to buy a real grill with a small footprint. I’d have a larger grill that was more versatile for indirect grilling or smoking but we have very little space so chose a Char-Broil “Patio Caddy.”
We tried it out last night, and it took my Jim an hour to assemble. Our steak was cooked perfectly but was tough, must be the meat. Tonight I think I’m making Julia Child’s French Onion Soup. All I need is some French bread for croutons, and Gruyere cheese.
Trifle will also be on the menu tomorrow, a gift for others but I’ll make a mini-one for us. If you have any ideas as to what to give a group of strangers for a food-related gift, let me know. I picked berry trifle and as the fates would have it, my trifle bowl is in storage 1,500 miles away so first thing, I have to buy another. I don’t bake. Remember that. Cheers, Dee
Categories: Editorial · Education
Tagged: grills, Trifle
