There’s not much snow but it is a joy to see kids on their sleds going down the hill.
We got two aluminum sleds with Scottish plaid mats and used them to go down a 10′ hill. Here the kids have a bigger hill and families flock to it. It’s joyous enough to want my husband to go down that hill… with the dog!
There’s really not much snow here, just a couple of inches but the kids need to do their thing. Yes, I do remember those days with chores but no worries. Dee
Everyone knows that Terminator line. I’m thinking of all the friends and neighbors who have left. They never come back. Few keep in touch.
I’m lucky to be friends with folks from grade school, high school, college and beyond. All from different places. The internet has been a boon here and has put me in touch with people I’ve not seen in decades.
It’s sad to think of the people who left me behind and those I left by moving away. I always wish them well and think about them often.
What I do like is remembering the good things, the funny things like J and me standing under this big tree in a thunderstorm and me saying “I hope we’re not in the news tomorrow, two old ladies stood under a tree and were hit by lightning.”
I suppose we remember people who made a difference in our lives and try to re-connect whenever we can, wherever we can. Right now I know that we live in nice, transient communities and people leave and it’s neither here nor there.
Just don’t take it personally. People leave because they want to or have to do so. Some “stick” and some don’t. That’s life. We wish them well. Dee
Posted in Editorial
I’m the gal you want to put hands on a cold mold to un-mold it. While my body temperature usually is low, if I’m ill it’s normal, my hands are what chefs call “hot hands.”
I tried to make pastry dough the other day and even cutting the butter I melted it and had to refrigerate it for a few minutes. My pastry was a disaster.
It’s about 80% humidity outside but in here my hygrometer reads zero. I checked the pastry and it held together even after adding more ice water than was called for. A day later, it was crumbly and wouldn’t do anything.
Would a pate sucre or sablee be more forgiving? I recall a pastry dough at a wonderful restaurant where I could just take it out of the frig, make it into balls and press it into tins and that’s the kind of dough I like because if I was called away, I put the rest into the frig and came back to it later.
Forgive me, dough, as I melt butter so cannot make puff pastry, so I don’t bake. Also, my mother and sisters were bakers. It was up to my brother and me to take on the main course. Any ideas? Cheers, Dee
Posted in Editorial
Tagged baking, food, hot hands, pastry, pastry dough, pate sucre, puff pastry
We had a lovely Christmas dinner then dessert with friends. While I was making dinner, I was putting together my new favorite brussels sprouts and cauliflower casserole/gratin. I had steamed the veg, was grating cheese and had separately toasted bread crumbs and pine nuts.
All of a sudden the cream, reducing on the stove with shallots and herbs, boiled over behind me. I grabbed it off to another cold burner and lost a few tablespoons and spent the next 20 minutes cleaning the stovetop and steeping the cream rather than reducing it further. When I turned on the oven 20 minutes later I smelled a little gas, which is normal for the first few seconds as it fires.
We ate, then went for dessert. This morning I got up early and took the dog out and I smelled gas outside our door and when the key turned, it was horrible.
My husband had a headache from it but didn’t smell it, so I called it in right away and repairmen were here in moments. They couldn’t find out what was wrong and tested the line and everything.
Now I know what happened. I am a good cook and have graduated from two cooking schools. Just as I am adamant about cross-contamination and sanitizing dishes, I am about making certain the oven and all the burners are off, and the doors are locked.
When the cream boiled over it cut the flame to the burner but the gas was still on. I spent a lot of time cleaning the stovetop and was doing many things for Christmas dinner so even when I checked that the oven and burners were off, all the burner controls were in the vertical position but one was half-way on, still vertical but the wrong way.
These GE controls do not easily show whether the gas is on without a flame, so my husband put a red dot at the top so we could always know it was off. We have smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors but we did not know that for 16 hours we had a serious gas leak in our home.
We’ve had windows open all morning and continue to open them in windy, freezing cold for a few moments every hour or so.
Please check your gas controls. If they are badly designed (cheap) fix them so that you and your family are safe. Glad to still be here, Dee
p.s. Thank you, professional sniffer, our dog Zoe, for pointing out this issue to us. Not! Instead you slept for 9 hours but did kick me out of bed at 5:30 this morning.
Stove knobs with drilled hole filled in with red nail polish
Posted in Editorial
Tagged carbon dioxide detectors, cauliflower casserole, cooking, food, gas stoves, GE stove controls
are that I got more spam from Louis Vuitton pushers than gun enthusiasts today! I’ve never owned either.
The NRA, however, is personalizing attacks against bloggers, sending multiple personal hits to scare people. Shame on them and how they fool people to think this is all about the 2nd Amendment.
Hon. Mr. Boehner, can you please try, once again, to rally your party and tell them you’ll take no more money from the NRA? Happy holidays, Dee
Yesterday started with a barrage of hard rain, which later in the afternoon turned to snow. Fat, wet snow propelled by high winds and an angry lake.
All in all, I think we got about an inch of the white stuff, just enough to coat the grass and parks and nearby rooftops. While it is still wet and windy, it does look pretty for the holidays though I heard more sirens yesterday than in any day here.
In our neighborhood, it’s nearly impossible to park on the street. Even if one does get a space, it usually must be vacated in an hour or two and the parking police are nothing short of vigilant. While I’ve thought paying to park two cars underground for a tidy sum is outrageous, I’m beginning to see the beauty of it. I can get in my car, park underground for free at the local grocery store, and never shovel or scrape the windshield or get my feet wet. Nifty!
Are there any new ideas out there for holiday menus? I’m thinking of a couple of pepper-crusted steaks, baked potatoes and perhaps brussels sprout gratin. Mincemeat tarts, to bring friends who are having us over for dessert. Now all I have to do is brave the weather to clean the grill.
OK, ladies. After tomorrow my husband is off work until next year! Any projects you can think of? We’ll definitely try a couple of museums, and get his snow tires put on, maybe take a day trip or two. Any ideas? Thanks, Dee
Please tell me how one can become a gun enthusiast. I understand chess, stamps, dogs and cats, even trinkets.
I don’t understand computer enthusiasts either. A computer is a tool with which to do something else. A pencil is a tool with which to write. A knife and pan and spatula allow one to cook. I’m not enthusiastic about any of them.
A gun is for shooting for sport, to practice or hunt game with a license in season and within the law, or to kill varmints that threaten your herd or flock or crops. Also to scare off the guy who breaks into your home, though my great grandma did that with a broom once. That guy never came back.
Lest you think I detest weapons, I’ve always been afraid of them. I was forced to take both archery and riflery when I moved below the Mason-Dixon Line at age 12. I excelled at archery and everything else in gym class but shooting a bb gun gave me the shivers. I was passed by the skin of my teeth because I tried and did excel at every other challenge presented to me.
I’ve a retired Navy man who’s OK with taking me to a shooting range, because no sane woman wants her husband to teach her to drive much less shoot.
We do not have any kind of weapon in our home (some pretty sharp chef’s knives, though) and I do not want one. This was set up weeks ago and I look forward to hopefully not shaking so hard I can’t hit anything.
Some of these weapons were made not to bring down a stag, but to kill humans. In addition to strengthening laws to prevent what I will call “assault weapons” for convenience, we must look into schools and psychiatry to identify those individuals who may have certain risk factors that may lead to violence. Why aren’t these crazy websites flagged?
I’m sure my email is read and phone is tapped and blog read to make sure I’m not out to do another 9/11. There are already metal detectors in schools. Let’s try to find the troubled kids before these massacres happen. That’s all I ask. Dee
I would like to thank my extended family (especially AL and J) for giving me a great childhood and letting me explore. Also my husband’s extended family for providing love and support for our marriage for the past ten years.
Thanks to all the dear friends I have and had. For one who’s moved so many times it is always wonderful to still have friends from grade school, high school and college days.
As to cooking, I’d like to thank Betty Crocker for the Boys and Girls cookbook I got for my 8th birthday, because it led to cooking and Mom getting Gourmet magazine and I loved it, still do, well not Gourmet anymore because it went bust.
To the people who’ve hired me throughout my life, from gymnastic instructor at age 16 to consultant much later. To my teachers, from everywhere. My mentors started in 2nd grade with Mrs. Johnson and continued through Mr. B in algebra and Breezy, topped off by two dear friars. My music teachers were always inspirational, from Mrs. Smith to Mrs. P and Mrs. H and even now. They made me want to reach for the stars.
Thanks also to my dogs and cats for providing love and comfort. To the remarkable fellow volunteers who worked with me on many issues and made things happen.
Finally to my dear husband, who I was lucky to find, and him me. But we came together by chance (I think it’s fate) and we’re best friends and love each other forever as soul mates.
Dear Santa:
What I want for Christmas is that you pass by our home and know that we don’t do presents so don’t want anything but a happy life together, with our dog Zoe.
If you do pass by a store, no, I can’t think of anything. My husband is even getting toilet paper through Amazon. Thank you, Santa, for all the gifts you’ve given since the day I was born. A family, friends, mentors… oh please let my father get through this latest cancer thing. Thanks so much. I hope I’ve been good this year. Holiday Cheers! Dee
My aunt has been with me through my entire life, present, absent, always available by regular mail, and in my heart always.
Photos of hiking, being in the mountains, childhood birthday parties, Christmas with the family. One year we had to dig her car out as she tried to get downhill to our house.
As much as my mother, she and J taught me how to cook. Yes, my dad was a bigwig and had to host parties and they catered them. We kids all helped in one way or another, passing platters or cleaning up (that was me).
One of the greatest gifts she gave to me is learning to try something before asking what the ingredients are. Now, when I taste something, I know what went into it. Thank you!
There was a red checked dress in a closet that I asked her to keep for me. She used it for square dancing and it was beautiful. That dress made me think she was the greatest aunt in the world.
My aunt has loved her family, close and extended, for her life. She climbed Pike’s Peak, drove across the country in a 1966 Mustang for a job in San Francisco but came home to teach English to high school kids.
We moved before I could have her as a teacher, but she pioneered breathtaking works to encourage love of language and writing including Native American women and the Holocaust.
Happy birthday, Aunt L
ps What’s my grade?
Cooking with Dee 