Category Archives: Editorial

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Blame

Posted on November 20, 2015 | 1 comment

We have had someone burglarizing forty floors of residents and the only thing the management office could do is send out an email, blaming us.

There are glaring errors in security here. I told them about the most vulnerable points of access. I walk our dog several times a day and know the neighborhood. When the wind comes up and the weather turns bad I look into other entrances to our place.

Why blame us? It is lack of security. The email should have said they were sorry and everything is being done to assure safety in our homes. Instead they tell us we are at fault and here is what we need to do.

There’s a new adminstration here and this is not a good sign. If my husband is traveling for work and doesn’t think I and our great dog Zoe are not safe, we will not live here anymore.

Thirty days notice. Women and retirees in this place do not feel safe. Do not blame us for break-ins, blame your lame security devices/access points and staff who don’t watch the cameras. We’ll just leave, and when we leave, many others will as well. Dee

ps All the dog owners in the neighborhood don’t call me Aunt Dee for nothing. I got a crosswalk installed and re-painted two years later. No-one stops. But the city owned one side and county the other and I got them to work together for change.

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Choices

Posted on November 20, 2015 | 1 comment

I love my husband. I have many books with recipes in them, good books, some of the best, he has a book called Numerical Recipes. We’re both technicians of a sort, a very different sort who happen to get along together.

Last night I made a classic Beef Carbonnade (beef, onions, bacon and beer) stew that I let simmer for a few hours. I decided to make spaetzle, something my father would like. I used a recipe from Tyler Florence http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/spaetzle-recipe.html and just added a bit more milk. Probably atmospheric conditions and that I used Italian 00 flour.

I try to multi-task both in kitchen work and appliances. There are few items out on the counter, and minimal storage space so I choose gadgets wisely. The first tools I used in cooking school were a chef’s and a paring knife. I still use them but have changed to an 8″ Santoku and 8″ ceramic blade. Yes, I’ve at least 12 knives up on the magnetic strip, easy to access even for a left-hander.

When my husband is out at a specialty hardware store and sees something he thinks I need, he buys it. He knows 5% of what I know about cooking but likes the science and mechanics of it. PLEASE don’t let him find Harold McGee on the bottom shelf as he’ll read it and drive me bonkers! He remembers everything, even what is the difference between baking soda and baking powder. He doesn’t understand, as a physicist, why bakers need both. Double indemnity? I don’t bake. I cook.

So, back to the spaetzle. Simple recipe, and he chose the best tool with which to drop the drops into boiling water. NO, don’t go buy a spaetzle maker, dearest. We can use your old college colander. You got me a potato ricer. At the specialty hardware store over the years you also bought me a food mill.

Food mill, he said. I poured the mixture I made into the food mill with the largest disc while he stirred, poised over the boiling pot of salted water and watched the nubbins come to the top. We took them out with a Chinese mesh “spider.” Then they went into butter with a bit of salt and pepper and were perfect with our tender, tasty Carbonnade.

Teamwork. After we were done I said congratulations, dear, you just made pasta. I did? He’s very proud. There’s a lot more Carbonnade so he may decide to make his own spaetzle tonight.

My fear is that he does not do mis en place, asks for every step, uses every pot and pan in the kitchen and thinks dinner ends with dinner. No clean-up. That’s why he’s only allowed in to get ice, water or Dr. Pepper. Cheerily, Dee

 

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Fool Me Once

Posted on November 16, 2015 | 3 comments

A colleague was sent to pick up my husband for work several years ago.  They drove a good distance, my husband showed him around and my dearest love was out of work the next day. Guess who was his replacement? He stayed on, other clients but it was a crummy way to do it.

Later on, the same driver/usurper asked him to dinner at an expensive Italian restaurant and chose not to show up because he said my husband had “not confirmed.” That is not true. Adding insult to injury, my husband had that table and had his Dr. Pepper and waited. Nothing. Yes, he has a cell phone.

I believe what happened is that his boss ran into my husband at a work event, driver/usurper told boss man what my husband had been doing for the past year and the boss was blown away because my husband landed a much larger fish than they ever had caught from their tiny pond, or will, so forbade any employee from speaking to my husband.

Get this. It’s called agile. Making sure all the kids get along in the pool or on the playground. It’s about servant leadership, someone who mentors people and negotiates the technological and team potholes or sand traps or relationship struggles between departments and makes things work for the company.

A moderator boss once said that “We teach Servant/Agile leadership. We don’t have to do it.” Yes. that is a fact. My husband is a threat to him because he is successful, honest and true to the principles he has learned from life. My husband just wants honest work at a decent rate. No harm, no foul. I was placed on earth to protect him, and him, me. I’ll have to get get better glasses to have eagle eyes on anything and everything. Also, perfect my father’s stare at any boyfriend I ever had. Old Eagle Eyes. Except those glasses on my husband, of course. He passed muster.

And the beat goes on, keep it up Sonny and Cher! He’s coming home with pizza and tickets to tomorrow’s ball game. Dee

 

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Diner a Deux

Posted on November 16, 2015 | Leave a comment

I’ve been getting so bored with meals these days because my husband is home for a bit and always wants beef. We eat for two so there is no prime rib here. Just skirt steak with chimichurri, a burger, meat loaf or an occasional NY Strip.

Today I resurrected a thought, a recipe my mother had in my childhood (Dad hated it). Orange chicken. She made a complicated recipe using part of a can of frozen orange juice.

Today, I took a cup of rice and put it on to simmer. Sliced one chicken breast on the diagonal. Then I asked my husband (he’s in town today) to juice three California Clementines (often called cuties). He ate the next one so zested the rind and juiced the last.

I sauteed the chicken pieces while getting the sauce started. Everything was going well. I needed a bit of a cornstarch slurry, a couple of teaspoons of water and cornstarch, mixed. It thickened up right away, and I re-seasoned and placed it over the cooked rice. Salad was plain green arugula with his favorite dressing. I can make many, he grew up with and likes bottled dressing. I can make my own. I can also eat fish when he’s out of town for a few days.

We have a small freezer and much of it is taken up with dog food. Most of the things I cook are last-minute and should not be frozen after they’re cooked. Perhaps I can do more stews and chili over the winter. I think it’s going to be a cold one. Cheers! Dee

 

 

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Sleepwriting

Posted on November 12, 2015 | 1 comment

Yes, I awakened this morning sleepwriting. I’ve only sleepwalked a couple of times in grade school.

I was writing a recipe. It didn’t have a name but I had a few ingredients measured such as flour. I don’t usually bake. I cooked. Baking was under the watchful eyes and hands of my mother and younger sisters.

Yesterday I received a pen, an old-fashioned nib pen with ink cartridges that do not leak. My husband bought one a few weeks ago and I liked it so bought myself one. It was my birthday, after all.

I do think I was typing, however. I thought I might have my 1957 Smith-Corona portable electric typewriter reconditioned near where my husband was working and make it ready to write a book, old-style. Yes, it was one of the first, and made me the most popular pre-computer gal in college. Now that I’ve dragged it cross-country several times (the heaviest laptop I’ve ever had) I know it goes for $6 on eBay, even the original 1957 model that I own.

Price doesn’t matter. My aunt the English teacher gave it to me for high school graduation. That’s all that counts. In the end I don’t know if it’s the pen or the typewriter that led me to this vivid dream, sleepwriting. I could be Lucy in Charles Schultz vignettes and charge five cents to interpret your dreams! Dee

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Our Girl Zoe

Posted on November 12, 2015 | Leave a comment

We got her, already spayed, at six weeks of age. She’ll be twelve years in January. As we traveled we’ve had her stay with friends, with sleepover caretakers, and at the vet.

She loves driving with us in my car with her orthopedic bed but some distances are too far to drive and she can’t fly anymore, according to me.

Zoe had bad hips and needed them excised at six and nine months of age then underogo therapy, which my husband and I did. Yes, he did sneak her into a pool for water exercises every night. She grew her own hips from cartilage.

As I see most dogs don’t live beyond 13 years I’m scared of her turning twelve. She passed her ten year senior blood panel and aced it. I was told by her hip surgeon in another state to skip a year and do it again at 12. That’s coming up.

I’ve euthanized two of my very ill older pets. Helped a neighbor with another, very sad, a pup with Parvo. I don’t know that my husband can handle this as he loves her too much. So do I, but I know my responsibility is her and if she lives five years more it will be up to me to decide. If her quality of life diminishes it is up to me and I’ll be there to supervise and hold her. Why? That’s my job.

Kids want chicks and bunnies for Easter. What happens to them? What happens to a pup you buy a kid for Christmas? Parents. And the chicks and bunnies die. The dog is yours for 13 years when the kids are through college and don’t want them anymore except for a pat on the head when they pass through.

We love our Zoe. My husband is a big guy who is always called in to help carry caskets, but he doesn’t want to be there when his loved one dies. Especially when I call “the shot.” To veterinarians everywhere, thank you for allowing us to work with you to make a wise decision that our pet does not need to suffer. Dee

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Wheat and Chaff

Posted on November 12, 2015 | Leave a comment

I will separate them and take everything I provided to TripAdvisor and nullify it. You do not get my reviews before, and certainly not in the future. You’ve taken 87,000 readers and over 250 reviews for yourselves and are making money on them.

The WordPress venue has also been unkind to a loyal visitor and writer. I wanted to hit a certain number but will pass on that.

You’ll all be in my book. Thanks for being judgmental and nasty over the years and tell me something that happened 40 years ago is not to be published because you’ve been paid by the venue to dismiss it. Dee

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Kids and Thanksgiving

Posted on November 12, 2015 | 1 comment

Get some cheap plastic wine glasses for the kids. Add a box of graham crackers, a plastic zip-top bag, also a quart of vanilla Greek yogurt and a bunch of berries.

The kids slam the graham graham crackers inside the sealed air-tight bag. I like irregular pieces, whatever they want. The girls tend to roll, the boys use the rolling pin like a baseball bat. Our neighbors’ grandkids loved coming over to do this as a surprise for their parents and grandparents last summer. Yes, grands C and A do tend to hover at our door and whisper Zoe’s name so our old dog will come out to play or go for a walk. I figured they could make a gift for their parents and grandparents. Dessert.

Cracker crumbs, yogurt, berries. Layer. The plastic cup lets a kid know his or her composition and watch as it gets to the top.  I am hoping that one of the teens will teach her young cousins how to do this and make it fun for them.  If each little one does two, it’ll make a great dessert.

We love kids and Thanksgiving. The young cousin I’m targeting to teach the little ones will know what to do. I’m sure of it. Happy Thanksgiving! Dee

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Pen and Paper

Posted on November 11, 2015 | Leave a comment

Everyone loves my Dad. He’s the one who was called on every night to play softball or touch football and everyone got to play, the baby from down the street was carried to the goal or home base.

He gave me paper today. I don’t know who packed it but as of 11 when I “last chanced” the dog it was there on my doorstep. It took me 1/2 hour to get to it. Four lovely bottles of wine, for my birthday. It is so kind of you to do so, Dad. He also sent me Italian olive oil and soaps.

Hey, Dad, I took a box cutter after I lifted the interior case out of the exterior. It took me 1/2 hour to get through the tape! You have gifted boxers. Luckily I am one as well. Apparently not as well as yours as I can undo my moving boxes with a cutter in ten seconds.

Today I received my first fountain pen. I had to work through paper and instructions and it works. It really works and does not stain as yet, and I’d love to use it for some personal letters to be sent by mail.  Isn’t that quaint. Not if you’re my Aunt, the English teacher. Luckily we moved before I had her in 9th grade for Romeo and Juliet. Thanks to Aunt L, that’s one of my favorite plays. She still will not use the Internet. I have had the original 1957 portable electric Smith-Corona typewriter since high school graduation and will not let it go so simply take the heaviest “laptop” in the world everywhere. Write, Dee

I love the family thing and have all my life, just thought being in her class would be strange. Cheers from Dee

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Rusty

Posted on November 10, 2015 | Leave a comment

Ah, that dog. He is so smart. They needed to give him away and no-one wanted him because he was too smart. So he kept on tending the goats and cattle for a while.

Then one day someone wanted him. Then they said he wasn’t smart enough. Years of experience and excellence in the field and they say he doesn’t have the chops to deal with a new herd. He begs to differ with that opinion. Yes, this dog has opinions, he’s my neighbor and I know him well. We’ll see what happens.

Of course I’ll miss him on another farm but will wish him well as he meets other challenges. That’s what life is, a series of challenges. Life, health, work. We do our best and become experts. We have a Zoe dog, who has traveled nearly everywhere with us and adapted to new lifestyles.

We’re in a high-rise at present and guarding me is boring so Zoe guards the entire floor. A new pup moved in a couple of weeks ago and he’s clueless. She knows when he’s old enough they’re going to have a showdown and divide the floor. She’ll lose half her territory. She must keep our neighbors across the way. Their grandkids come by a few weekends per year and whisper her name at the door until she hears them and barks to come out and play or go for a walk or help us make parfaits for their family. I don’t know about the kids but Zoe is exhausted after a weekend with these kids.

Rusty loves new things as well, and excels at challenges, revels in them. You should have seen him with his first two goats, who were a bit weak so needed strong names. I named them after strong women. He is smart, a protector, a savior, a problem-solver and someone who knows the bottom line. Dee

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