Category Archives: Uncategorized

I Love Robert Klein

Posted on April 24, 2017 | 1 comment

And he still can’t stop his leg. My parents took us to see him in the early 70’s when he was doing much of his fifties stuff. They were stories of being a kid. The kid who dropped the flag and kissed the tassels, the homogenized milk where he saw the word “homo” and wondered what was going on.

Mr. Klein, comic, actor, rocked my world when I was still a kid, in Washington D.C. He was opening for Ms. “Delta Dawn” and I could google her name but he was all I remember. We got an album and my sister and l laughed with him for years.

We must have missed many “adult” references at the time but parents telling kids when they could swim? Thirty minutes. Jello. Ten minutes. Franks and beans, you’re going down to Davey Jones’ locker. Those are his thoughts, not his words.

He taught me, along with Dad, that I could be the smart kid. Later in life I could write legislation that affected 34 million people. As I aged I could write about experiences, food and opinions. I no longer sat in the back of the class being shy. Now I’ve a blog and let my opinions be known, at least when my husband can get my new computer. monitor, printer and keyboard to play well together in the sandbox. I take care of everything else. He’s a physicist/software engineer so takes care of electronics.

Thank you, Mr. Klein, for opening my eyes to opportunities. To Dad for opening my mind to simple things like learning to lick an ice cream cone, fair play with neighbors in two-base baseball where we carried babies and they purposely fumbled the ball, he died over the holidays. He introduced me to the wild wacky world of yours and I am able to tell stories. Cheers! Dee

 

1 Comment

Posted in Editorial, Uncategorized

Tagged , ,

Men and Menus

Posted on December 24, 2016 | Leave a comment

It’s my husband’s birthday, well, yesterday. He was flying in and it started snowing and I heard of dire weather conditions. His plane was delayed an hour but then there were other issues with the car.Let’s just say he was two hours late, maybe more.

Every Friday he asks me to go to the gas station up the way and get a certain frozen pizza and a 2 liter bottle of Dr. Pepper. He had to get food at the airport, a burger, so oh, no! His pizza is still in the freezer!

It’s his birthday so I reciprocated in kind. He says, dear, I don’t know what kind of jewelry you like so I go to airport gift shops and get you a refrigerator magnet. Aw, shucks.

I get him his gas station pizza every week, with the DP so decided to get him a birthday gift. Hi dear, I don’t know what kind of jewelry you like so decided to get you some organic beef jerky. He liked that, then crashed.

Our holiday and menus are simple. A roast chicken for Christmas Eve with mashed potato and green beans. Perhaps cereal and fruit for breakfast and and a burger at lunch at home, cooked on the grill.

Christmas Day will be a late festive breakfast, no lunch, then dinner a deux with filet mignon, baked potatoes (loaded, a fillip to the beef jerky birthday treat), roasted heirloom carrots and, sautéed Brussels sprouts with pearl onions and bacon. Dessert is planned and may be made and not eaten. Limoncello panettone as either a trifle or bread pudding. Yes, the panettone is purchased, not hand-made.

The funny thing is that my husband likes to do scientific things in the kitchen. Over the past year or so we’ve hand-cranked fresh pasta, made fluffy pancakes with whipped egg whites, (he reads the recipe and I do the work) so hopefully we’ll redo some  of these and perhaps try another suspect, like the ricer? Root vegetable puree, no rutabagas. We’ve an entire week together! Imagine that! The dog is so happy to be up snoring on the bed together with him, too loud for me until they calm down a bit.

The rest of the week is a potential list of menus he likes, things he is unable to get in restaurants. They’re mostly family favorites. My side of the family, not that there are sides. Time is so precious with his mother around Thanksgiving that I don’t learn the food he loves on a regular day.

M, it’s chicken enchiladas, and your fantastic egg rolls. He’s the birthday boy today, getting in very late, and I’d love to be able to surprise him next week if you give me recipes or hints.

Thank you, family. He really wants egg rolls! The weekend is taken care of but one day next week….. your secrets will be safe with me. Cheers! D

 

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Editorial, Uncategorized

Tagged ,

Haiku for Dad

Posted on October 1, 2016 | 1 comment

The kitten found me

Our deaths were not an option

We kept each other warm

 

***

Parents sent me to camp for a week. I hated it. Five mile hikes in the rain and 40 degree weather at night, my lame sleeping bag let me not sleep because of the cold then I had to drink prune juice every morning and use the loo with other girls into a chemical toilet.

My younger sister thrived on this stuff a week earlier. Now I spent my ten cents a day on two Peppermint Patties, wrote a postcard home and awaited my release.

That kitten saved both of us, and that has been a theme for many years and tears. He crawled under my crummy sleeping bag near my feet, I finally slept without freezing and we kept each other warm all night. I freaked out to find out there was a critter, and we checked it out. He was removed and probably killed.

For years I’ve worked for as a volunteer for feral cats and for shelter dogs and cats. He inspired me. The earliest memories are the purest of heart.

I think we should name him. I was just eight years old and thought the camp people were being nice. They were getting rid of vermin. He saved my life from frostbite. To this day I regret his demise.

Nathan and Mickey, I know you’re taking care of him up in the big blue sky. He inspired your unique personalities. At age eight, I did get a sense of what to do but forces were overwhelming and I didn’t have Dad to help. There were no cell phones, even land lines, there.

Paladin, “Pala to me” means character, nobility and courage. He saved my life. Cheers, Dee

 

1 Comment

Posted in animals, editorial pets, haiku, Uncategorized

Uncategorized

Posted on July 25, 2016 | Leave a comment

That’s why I do not like WordPress’ new system. I come up with an idea and want to write and you present me with challenges that, when I hurdle through all of them, can no longer write.

Keep me on the old one, or I will leave. I have my own domain and can do anything I wish but would like to stay with you because you used to be good to me over many years. Sincerely, Not Uncategorized, just cookingwithdee. Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Baby Goats

Posted on March 11, 2016 | Leave a comment

I named them. They were tiny females so I figured they needed strong names. I named them Eleanor (Roosevelt) and Rosa (Parks), not because of color, but personality.

They were placed in a goat pen that had been cleaned out by FIL with an “igloo” dog enclosure. One of those fiberglass thingies with a dome. Well, the goats loved to be at the top so took turns standing atop the igloo.

Now I’m the igloo and guest dog jumps up on me all the time. Mommy’s coming home tomorrow so I see no reason to break out the crates, yes we have three, one airline ready with a plastic pouch for travel documents, water, ice, a battery-powered fan and all kinds of stickers about Live Animal et al my husband wanted to print and stick on.

Actually I’ve a large wire crate folded up in the laundry room…. no, she went out twice this morning and is closed out of our bedroom because she pooped in there yesterday. She’s slept for a couple of hours. That is good.

I’m trying to get ready for my husband’s homecoming tomorrow. Grocery list, laundry, cleaning, dishwashing. Right now I’m taking a brief break before a late lunch/early dinner. NY strip, mashed potatoes and sauteed cavolo nero in Italian, lacinato or dinosaur kale. Take out the rib, use it for soup, but it tastes quite like spinach. The kids may love it!

My girl is here by my desk. Guest dog is sleeping on my pillows and hopefully not pooping on the carpet. Cheers! Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged

Lyrics and Music

Posted on February 25, 2016 | Leave a comment

Think of Top Chef or Chopped. To be on TV would be a disaster for me because I’m a mess in front of people and cameras. Yes. I was on camera several times over many years trying to gain dog-friendly parks.

As a kid, girlfriends and shopping took over my interests over violin and piano. Yes, I became a gymnast, not a great one but I was made captain in two weeks. I was a better leader than a gymnast.

I had to learn violin and piano as a child, and ballet. I gave them all up. “Santa” gave me a cheap guitar at age 12 and I created a band and we actually sang on stage once. Luckily they didn’t have cell phone cameras back then. Even with the three of us, two tone-deaf, I believe we came in at 2nd place. Imagine that.

On April 15 at age 50 after turning in our income taxes I went out and bought a guitar and started taking private lessons. It was the wrong guitar and I found a new one, a preacher teacher, then new drummer teacher, and found a part of me.

They didn’t let me learn. One was about religion, the other was a drummer so he was always about the beat. I was in an unforgiving state, the religious zealot left me. Forget my learning basics. I was learning on my own and one day sang the drummer the last stanzas of American Pie and did a riff. Then I learned another and started singing harmony to him and he followed me.

Then he got mean, and he said “you have perfect pitch.” Yes, I’ve been told that by my father who has relative pitch and by a few music teachers in grade school and high school. That was the end.

I’ve a beautiful guitar now, that I keep hydrated. It’s a Seagull Artist Folk that I’ve not had the heart to take up again until I read lyrics and imagine the chords. It may be OK to play and sing for my husband and kids. The artistry is in my mind and voice, not in my fingers. I play at the guitar, I do not play it.

Retired now, I like to be able to imagine and even do any lyric I read, any recipe or cooking idea I come up with. I’m retired from consulting, lobbying and government. It’s been a great ride and so is volunteering, 20 years. It may be time to take up the Seagull again.

When I awake, I may do so with a song. I translate it to notes in my mind and ways I can make it sing. It depends on the song what I play. Dee

ps Thank you WP for making my trip not a safe one. The typo above has been corrected about 100 times but WP keeps adding to it because they’ve nothing else to do. How about ping pong? Or would you like a nice game of chess. Cheers, Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged ,

To Catch a Thief

Posted on January 7, 2016 | Leave a comment

Yes, one of my favorite movies with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. This thief was no “cat” and certainly no Cary Grant.

A woman has been plaguing us for months, I’ve heard it was a part of a gang initiation. She jiggled door handles, stole wallets, cash, cell phones and jewelry. No John Robie.

One neighbor caught her on a floor where there are not cameras on the elevator lobby, counting “her” cash and smoking a cigarette.

Are people careless here? Yes. They assume that because there’s security 24/7 that they can take out the dog, or the trash, or recycling and go back upstairs and all will be well.

My husband was on the road a lot last year and I always double-check the front and back doors, stove, oven and good to go to sleep. Lately I’ve been hiding my wallet and new cell phone at night.

The security service that does sometimes 2nd and always 3rd (graveyard) shift caught the thief at another building where they have a presence. We had her photo and fingerprints and she was in police custody in moments.

Thank you, Security, for me feeling safer living here. I no longer have to hide my passport, wallet, cell phone and jewelry from a thief. Let’s hope the people she robbed here will testify against her and she’ll go away for a while and from here forever.

 

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Editorial, Uncategorized

Tagged

The Three Amigos

Posted on December 27, 2015 | Leave a comment

Yes, that’s us. Husband, dog Zoe and me. It was his birthday so we had to celebrate. I did make him a nice dinner but his birthday present was………

an apple. If you ever saw the film with Steve Martin, Martin Short and Chevy Chase you would know that there was a villain named El Guapo.

Once El Guapo asked if he had a “plethora of pinatas.” I bought my husband one apple I’ve never seen before. It is a pinata. If he likes it, perhaps we’ll have a plethora of pinatas! Happy holidays, Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Omnibus

Posted on December 21, 2015 | Leave a comment

Some define it as “containing several items.” As in a multi-trillion dollar US budget we pay for and lots of candy for legislators and their districts. Like ships the Navy never asked for. A new Coast Guard cutter that was never asked for.

Over a billion dollars in REIT’s that casinos asked for.

Isn’t that just a sweet term, omnibus? Just a few little things. Teeny things that make sure you won’t make your mortgage this month, or car payment.

We elect these people, reader, and expect them to put our collective thoughts in mind before they add even more pork to the budget for which we pay. Not just getting a ship built in a local harbor that is not even wanted, in order to put people to work for something that is not needed.

I want this for my district. I want that for mine. Let’s just bill the nation for our little pet projects like the Alaska bridge to no-where. Let’s just put bridges over all the Great Lakes, also the Atlantic Ocean. While you’re at it, let’s put an escalator above the bridge between Mexico and San Diego without Customs personnel. Great ideas? Now let’s double the salaries of our senators and congresspersons and give them all Washington D.C. homes made of 18K gold. Not a happy thought, Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Neighbors and Holidays

Posted on December 18, 2015 | Leave a comment

This neighbor brought me boughs from their tree. He wants us to come and see their tree, which has a papier mache horse head at the top (I’ve seen it in past years) but he says this is an interesting year.

If only he could stop cutting off boughs for us! First year we met they’d misplaced all their ornaments. We didn’t have a tree so lent them mine/ours. We had a lot of swirly artisan aluminum ornaments we bought in Vermont years ago with my in-laws and they needed some kind of attachment to the tree. He used fishing line.

I went to storage this morning, found the box and got out a few precious ornaments. Two wooden stockings from the first months my husband and I met. Tagboard ornaments from kids and friends from an event I created 20 years ago, and there is one I added to the table that I keep by my desk every day.

It’s a golden retriever with a halo, my dog who died in 2001. No, she was 3,000 miles away from 9/11 and died earlier in the year. 9/11 is how I met my husband and we’ve been together over 14 years. I try to get us ornaments every year so we can know who we are and where we’ve been over the years. See
Close Your Eyes.

We will ask our neighbors over this weekend to share a glass of wine, from a bottle my father sent for my birthday last month. The caveat is that we need to see their tree. Also, for them to see what I’ve done decorating with the boughs. With thanks to friends and family I remain, Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , ,