Category Archives: Editorial

Welcome to the blog

537 To Go

Posted on May 6, 2015 | Leave a comment

Actually 536 after I complete this one. It is always a pleasure to write, and to write for you dear reader. I set my goal at 1,000 posts.

Now I’ve 536 to go before my new goal of 3,000 posts. It is a niche blog and I appreciate your dedication to this site.

I make up a lot of recipes, some from my childhood, many I just make up but don’t test for you or provide tasty photos. Many recipes I love can not be published because I really don’t want to be sued by book publishers and asking for permission is akin to getting sued.

It has always been my method in life and in cooking to share with others. How else does one learn and grow? This blog is something my husband created for me years ago and I was so frightened I researched and did my best serious work, my cookbook and pantry series.

Then I let Dee out and told stories, personal and political. One blog took me off their site because I wasn’t doing 90% food. I let them go. This is not in any way a monetized site and their site is heavily monetized and I want nothing to do with that business. And please don’t invite me to a monetized party. Gals, you know what I mean.

What is the next step? My husband has always wanted me to write a book. I’m afraid of that and don’t think WordPress has a template for it. If I do it I’ll do it from scratch, like my cooking. But I’ve over 500 posts to go to reach my goal so I’ll be around for a while. Cheers! Dee

 

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The Candy Man

Posted on May 6, 2015 | Leave a comment

Love is in the air. I took our old dog Zoe out for a late last, last chance as her first one was too early.

Yes, there was a guy with two snickers bars and a package of M&M’s. He was giving them to his girlfriend because he finished off the last of  her Girl Scout cookies. Imagine once they’re married, telling that story to their kids and grandchildren.

I know a guy who was and still is in love with me. How do I know this random guy is in love? Who would do that if he were not? My husband moved halfway across the country two weeks after he left me. We’d been going out for three weeks. A former neighbor he introduced me to asked why he moved back and he said, “her.” And you thought he had me at hello.

Walking a dog introduces you to many interesting people and I’ve many stories to tell but I hope this one has a happy beginning, as did ours. Cheers, Dee

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Chef’s Table

Posted on May 6, 2015 | Leave a comment

Haiku ode to Dan Barber;

On a farm we grow

Our soil, fresh fruit and veg, meats

All come from our land

Dear Chef,

Not a great Haiku but I did love your segment on Chef’s Table. Your approach is mine, though I went to cooking school I only cook for my husband and guests these days. Perhaps someday I could sit at a table at which you allow us to dine.

Forward and into our history, you go. I love your brain. Readers, if you’ve Netflix you can see this. It’s extraordinary for any foodie. Cheers and good eating, Dee

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Silent Commands

Posted on May 6, 2015 | Leave a comment

My husband is brilliant but not good at this or changing toilet paper rolls. He doesn’t send a signal to leave a party. I do. Sometimes he understands that signal.

Who does understand these signals? Our dog. Lucky for us. I learned from my first dog’s trainer nearly 25 years ago to use hand signals for come, sit, stay, down and whatever.

Said trainer would have used German commands for his Shepherds as he ascertained my old dog to be rude and look his Alpha dog in the eye. Verboten. But I learned a lot from him and she went on to a sweet life after being abused by a Deputy Sheriff and dumped at a shelter for a year before I rescued and rehabilated her. She was the darling of the Park and it was so sad to tell the kids she was gone.

Now our “new” 11 year-old dog is the unofficial “mascot” here as she loves everyone and doesn’t pee every time someone pets her head. Hand signals. Silent commands. Learn them. Your significant other will appreciate you for that knowledge.

When my husband needs sleep I can get Zoe out of the room with a simple hand gesture, not a word spoken. For family happiness and all of dog-dom, Dee

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Simplicity

Posted on May 6, 2015 | Leave a comment

Strange, yes, but I go through the complicated ramifications of everything done and simplify it. If necessary I fix it. I am a problem solver.

For example, take a recipe for Rosti potatoes, a potato pancake from Switzerland. Recipe instructions were to twist all the water out of the shredded potatoes in a clean kitchen towel. That will stain your towel forever. I just made it easy, didn’t put the shredded potato in water, just placed it right in a hot pan with salt and pepper in bacon fat. Ten minutes covered, flip (you can use a plate) and another ten open and it’s done. Simplified.

If you can, listen to Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You, which she wrote for Porter Wagoner when she left his show back in the day. Then listen to Whitney Houston butcher it in the movies. Dolly’s is all heart and simplicity and sweetness. Whitney’s was a show-off piece. Both voices were great but Dolly wrote it and knew how she wanted to sing it and she didn’t show off even though she could have run circles around Ms. Houston in terms of voice.

The following is is the antithesis of simplicity. Yesterday we honored Cinco de Mayo and I made chicken fajitas. I made my own salsa from heirloom tomato, onion, poblano chili I dry flamed on the stove, salt and pepper and a bit of ancho chili powder and lime juice. Then I mashed avocado, added a tablespoon of salsa and made guacamole with more lime. I marinated the chicken in lime and ancho and chipotle powders and let it sit for an hour before cooking.

Then the sweet onion and green pepper I’d cut was placed in a hot pan with oil to caramelize, taken out and the chicken (minus the marinade) was seared. They were put together while I was dry-toasting the flour tortillas.

It was a put-it-together yourself kind of dinner with grated cheese, sour cream, limes. It would be a great dinner to do for kids as they can help and make their own fajitas. It was a pleasure to make this for my husband and I took time to call my brother to wish him a happy Cinco de Mayo, that’s another story. Dee

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Posted in Editorial, Recipe Ideas

Parties

Posted on May 5, 2015 | 2 comments

These are my favorite parties that I did not have a hand in hosting.

As a kid, my birthday party was in our garage. I recall photos of pin the tail on the donkey behind my good friend and neighbor’s head. His head failed him shortly thereafter with a brain tumor and he was gone, and it had nothing to do with pin the tail on the donkey.

Another childhood party took place after we moved up the road from a dairy and we had a great time running through the pastures (my sister and I were dressed in blouses, skirts and Mary Janes) and building hay forts in the barn, boys vs. girls. With muck on our shiny shoes I don’t believe we went there for a while.

This is about adult parties (not that kind), and some of the best have come from out of the blue and we had nothing to do to plan them. Sadly, they were all going-away parties.

Shortly after we married we were off to another state and a friend said “Hey, I’ve a few people coming over tonight, don’t lift a finger, it’s all taken care of.” K brought the party to us with pizza and guests and we all had a great time. At the end she cleaned up and helped me pack up the wedding china my father bought me. What a good friend.

Sent to Scotland for a while we had a favorite restaurant owned by a former Italian cop. Yes. They had great pizza and mussels. We had to get up early for our flight home. The owner gave me Sicilian treats. I gave him my new Frank Sinatra CD of my favorite album of all time, Come Fly With Me.

My husband, who does not drink alcohol, was induced to sing a Texas song at the restaurant. He sang a passage from the classic El Paso. We moved tables and the entire Italian restaurant sang Back In The Heart of Texas. It hurt me to leave. He remembers it as a great party, as do I and  I still miss the bagpipes on the street. Plus their pizza and mussels. My grade school music teachers would be proud that I married one with such a great voice. Ah, his keyboard technique is better, not piano, computer……

We had a quiet gathering up in the mountains a few years ago with friends and co-workers. It was just good to get together with neighbors and everyone to celebrate our lives there. Good food and camaraderie, that’s what life is all about. Several had come to ski and take care of our dog Zoe while we were away so it was like family. We miss that place.

We miss the people from everywhere we’ve lived. Sometimes I wish we could settle down and have a small place in the country. Of course I’d need room for a chest freezer for dog food et al. I’ll ask about that as I know the expert.

Here’s to Tommy, my old friend, Dee

ps Of course there will be a guest room!

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My Future

Posted on May 5, 2015 | Leave a comment

That’s Dad behind me keeping me safe. All I want is the dog. That’s the photo I found this morning. Decades later it makes me think I’ve done OK with my life and work. Oh, I look a bit different these days as I was only a few months old at the time, blogs were not invented and I did not know how to type.

This photo means so much to me now as Dad and I grow older. I do not remember that setting but know I was loved and cared for and Dad said I could be anything. Cheers, Dee

DeeFirstDog

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Preserving

Posted on May 5, 2015 | Leave a comment

My husband just got me a new hard drive and it messed some things up, sorry!

I remember when I first got bay leaves off a tree in Northern California. It was a revelation. Nowhere near there now, once a year I find fresh bay leaves at the market, rinse and thoroughly dry them, bag and freeze them. They’re so much better than dried bay leaves.

In addition, with the reboot/computer overhaul today I found a photo of my father and I, I was about five months old, given I was born in November and we were picnicking in short sleeves (ok, I was in a onesy and not standing).

Dad was seated behind me on the blanket and was making sure I was safe by having his arms around me, yet a dog came up to me and I had my arms out to pet the dog and he let me reach out and connect.

All my life I’ve always reached out to people, dogs, cats, anyone in need. I just didn’t know until today when it started. I thank my Dad so much for keeping me safe and letting me go. This is about preserving memories, Dee

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Politicians/Legislators

Posted on April 30, 2015 | Leave a comment

It’s not enough to ban unions. Now is the time to disenfranchise at-will employees. We live in a union, middle class manufacturing state where most of the jobs have gone away.

Our governor wants to be president in 2016 and he’s sealing his bid with a kiss. It is a kiss goodbye to all people who are paying taxes for pothole-filled roads, roads that are never plowed, pedestrian walkways which State law says that one must stop. No-one ever stops. They honk their horn to tell you to get out of their way.

In my mind it is the kiss of death. While cozying up to the Tea Party base, this governor is now trying to mess with the lives of everyone else in his state, via legislation that demands employees never to to work with anyone they’ve ever met before for six months to two years.

For example: I work at the corner gas station and got a job for twenty cents more at the mini-mart that has a gas station but my non-compete clause says I can’t pay rent or buy food for my kid for at least six months.

This is what our governor wants to do to become President of the United States, disenfranchise all the voters of his state and others that find out what he’s doing. He’s embracing poverty, and running the middle class elsewhere because of the two-year ban he’s placing on getting work.

I don’t know about you but I don’t have two years in the bank to live on while awaiting a paycheck. Our quarterly savings amounted to three cents interest. At least our banks are making money off of ours.

Years ago my husband was offered a job at a huge bank. The contract stated that no matter how long he worked for them, they owned every idea in his head from the day he was born until the day he died. We had a problem with that. In the end they got rid of him after the contract was signed one day, he resigned from his employ, and the next day they said not to report to work on the following day. We didn’t sue them, but the story is legend and everyone thinks we should have sued them as that bailout money would have helped us out.

I always come back to loyalty, trust and steadfast work in an honest profession. Wisconsin is to become a total welfare state with only out-of-work factory workers and all the people who get sick of huge taxes will move out because gangs are on the streets that have huge sink holes, the street lights no longer work, there is no gas or electricity. Yes, this governor is going to be a president. Of the Mastodon Society, perhaps. Hopefully not the USA. Dee

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Why Cooking With Dee?

Posted on April 29, 2015 | Leave a comment

This morning I got an early call from the concierge saying that a taxi was waiting to take me to the airport. I have no flight, no taxi scheduled but I was asked to come down to address the issue.

I’ve an ancient Celtic name that is difficult to spell and pronounce. Before my voice and words kicked in, the first day of school was always agony when the teacher said Duh, Duh, Duh…. and I raised my hand and asked her to call me Dee. My full first and middle and sometimes last name were only used in our home to summon me downstairs because either my sister or I was in trouble.

It turns out the car was for someone else with the same first name. And the concierge’s mother has the same name minus a letter. Never have I seen the confluence of so many Dee’s in one block.

In college I got an apartment with a few (turns out to be many) gals and I cooked for 12-14 per night. The first night the group of six legal residents assembled for my frugal but tasty creation and I asked to be seated on an end where I wouldn’t elbow a fellow roommate because I was leftie. They were all leftie!

I’ve worked with lefties, creative people, all my life. Never have I had such confusion over my first name because it is quite rare. A few weeks ago a new concierge called me about a package. It was certainly my name on it, first, not last. I left it with him to find the rightful owner.

Growing into the name took about 23 years, with a job and life of my own. I do hope that parents don’t start naming their kids after ancient Celtic personas because that first day of kindergarten is tough! Slainte, Dee

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