Do You Have An 11?

I was listening to an interview with Anna Quindlen on her new book "Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake" on Fresh Air yesterday.  Quindlen said that she the 11 removed from between her eyebrows.  11?  What is she talking about?
Oh.

Bar Too High?

I read a line in a book I was reading recently (Some Assembly Required by Anne Lamott) that advised the author to “lower her bar of expectations”.  This is one of my problems... my bar is way too high.

 I remember years ago when I was an administrative assistant to the principal in an elementary school (and I say this with all humility….I basically ran the office), and we had a janitor, Vinnie, who drove me nuts.  He would leave his pail that he had mopped the floors with for days in his janitor’s closet.  You would pass by and wonder if some sequestered student had gone to the great beyond.  I would watch him mow (a sit-down of course) right over a piece of paper, which if he had picked it up BEFORE mowing would have been one piece, but then would suddenly become a thousand.  In a conversation one day with his supervisor, I mentioned these annoyances and he said to me “Sylvia, you are getting out of Vinnie all he can give”.  This statement has resonated with me for years and often pulls me up by my bootstraps.  I expect far too much from people.

Am I a perfectionist?  Not really, as I myself am quite flawed.  I do like things nice and tidy.  I like my house to be esthetically pleasing.  A friend tells me that my animals are good for me as they counterbalance my “perfectionist” side.  Possibly true.  Especially today when my dog rolled in something very “fishy” and is nauseating to be around aside from several cleanings.

I pray every day for help to accept others as they are.  I continually hear my daughter saying, when I am ranting about something “Mom, it is none of your concern”, and she is right, but I feel this compelling need to change some parts of the world.  HELP!

My friend Susan often comes for dinner on Sunday night.  She works at a full time job and has a mini farm and works far harder than I do (she is also 10 years younger than I am), so she comes to dinner and we sort of wrap up the week and prepare for the upcoming one.  Now I love to cook so am always happy to try new recipes on her.  This one is a definite keeper.  It was absolutely delicious and not too much work. 

Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Figs, Prosciutto, and Gorgonzola

From Sunday Roasts: A Year's Worth of Mouthwatering Roasts, from Old-Fashioned Pot Roasts to Glorious Turkeys and Legs of Lamb by Betty Rosbottom (Chronicle Books, 2011). Copyright © 2011 by Betty Rosbottom. Photographs copyright © 2011 by Susie Cushner. All rights reserved. Used with permission of the publisher.

Serves 4

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Start-to-Finish Time: 40 minutes
Materials: Short wooden skewers or sturdy toothpicks, soaked in water for 30 minutes

A celestial trio of Italian ingredients -- dried figs, sliced prosciutto, and creamy Gorgonzola -- makes an irresistible filling for boneless chicken breasts. Once stuffed and skewered, the breasts are pan-seared, then quickly roasted until golden brown. A glaze made with honey and balsamic vinegar gives the chicken a polished look and complements the distinctive flavors of the stuffing.

• 4 large, boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, 7 to 8 oz/200 to 225 g each
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 8 thin slices prosciutto (4 oz/120 g)
• One 5-oz/145-g wedge Gorgonzola, crumbled
• 1/2 cup/80 g thinly sliced dried figs, preferably Black Mission
• 1-1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup/120 ml balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup/60 ml honey
• 2 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley
• Fleur de sel

1. Using a very sharp knife held parallel to the work surface, make a horizontal slit through a chicken breast, stopping just short of cutting it in half, and open the breast up like a book. Repeat with the remaining breasts. Cover the breasts with plastic wrap/cling film and pound until they're 1/4 inch/6 mm thick, then salt and pepper them.

2. Cover half of each breast with 2 prosciutto slices, and then divide the cheese evenly over the prosciutto. Divide the figs evenly and place over the cheese on the breasts. Close each breast and secure each with 2 or 3 wooden skewers. Salt and pepper the breasts on both sides. (The chicken breasts can be prepared 2 hours ahead; cover and refrigerate.)

3. Arrange a rack at center position and preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C/gas 6.

4. Heat the oil in a large, heavy, oven-proof frying pan set over medium heat. When hot, add the breasts and cook for 1 minute per side. Place the pan in the oven and roast until the chicken is very tender and the juices run clear when pierced with a knife, for 12 to 15 minutes, turning once after 6 minutes.

5. Using oven mitts, remove the frying pan from the oven and transfer the breasts to a carving board. Tent them loosely with foil.

6. Add the balsamic vinegar and honey to the frying pan and, again using mitts since the handle will be quite hot, place the pan over high heat. Cook, stirring often, until the mixture has reduced to 1/2 cup/120 ml, for about 5 minutes.

7. To serve, use a dish/tea towel or mitts to remove the skewers or toothpicks and cut each breast crosswise on the diagonal into slices 1 inch/2.5 cm thick. Arrange the slices on a platter, slightly overlapping. Drizzle with some sauce and garnish with a sprinkle of parsley and fleur de sel.

Sides: Serve this chicken with buttered linguine or orzo and with tender green beans sprinkled with toasted pine nuts.

Leftover Tip: For lunch or a light supper, garnish a mixed greens salad tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette with cold slices of the chicken and enjoy with some crusty peasant bread.

I know I am getting old but...................

            I am far from a techie, but I do try to keep up in that world.  I am already way behind owning only a laptop and a simple cell phone.  I don’t text, read books on a Kindle, or own an iPad.  I do, however, have an iPod that a friend gave me.

            I recently took a tutorial at our library on how to download books from the library’s collection which, amazingly, I did successfully (mainly because the woman taught the class so well) .  I then decided to get some sort of device so I could listen to it on the car radio, so headed to Best Buy and bought said device.  I got home and opened it.  The instructions were written in 2 pt. type and the typeface color was misty gray.  There were instructions in every language save Pig Latin.  I could not read them even with reading glasses.  I packed it up and returned it.  When asked why the return I told them and of course got the “look” from some young whippersnapper.

            Why?  Why would you write instructions so no one can read them, especially someone whose eyesight is aged?  And often if I can read the instructions, they are written as though you are very up to date in the techno world.  Would you give Tolstoy to a 3^rd grader to read?  I expect to have instructions that go step by step that are easy to follow for everyone.  OK, enough said.

          

  I am in Maine this week.  The weather has been lovely.  There is something about the Maine sky that looks like it goes on forever and ever.  This is a picture of the park I walk to each morning with my dog.  It is a very pleasant walk along the water and takes about an hour.

            The landlords of my building have offered me a larger apartment….the apartment below me.  I looked at it this week and am excited about moving in.  It has the same view as my present apartment, which I love, of the water and the Portland skyline, and faces NW so I see those lovely sunsets.  It has a porch facing this view.  It will be much easier for me with the dog.  It will also allow me to spend more time here.

BOOKS:  I listened to Blood, Bones and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton.  This was a great car book….I barely registered the ride up here I was so engrossed.  I am now reading Reading My Father  by Alexandra Stryon.  The next book on my list is “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed.  I enjoy reading these tales about people who do things that I would never do, being the cautious creature that I am.  I am always amazed when people just take off and go on some adventure.  There are things I would love to do but don’t have the guts.  I am working on it though…………

           

What Pure Joy It Is...................

My grandkids visiting my apartment..............

What pure joy it is to take an early morning walk on these spring days.  I just love to hear the birds and delve in the fecundity of smells.  And then the sun comes over the hill, glistens off the sap buckets, my spirit is lightened and I can truly begin my day.

I am asking for help these days.  It’s the new me, replacing the old “I can do it myself” me. I am hiring the big guns to come in and clean up my lawn.  I may even hire a cleaning person.  Believe me it was not easy finding someone for the lawn clean up, not many crews of landscapers around here. I could hire some kid but I don’t want to spend days supervising.  I want it done in one day.  I called a few places but they never called back.  This is such a no-no in my book.  How can you do business if you don’t respond to people? Even if you have to respond in the negative, at least leave somewhat of an impression of responsibility…..my rant of the moment.

MOVIES:  My DVD watching has been mostly British as usual.  I got totally ensconced in Downton Abbey and am just finishing the last season of Lark Rise to Candleford.  I found this series delightful…just loved the characters. 

BOOKS:  My reading has been all over the place.  When I was in Maine last week I read two books that required little of me but were delightful - Rosamunde Pilcher's Under Gemini, and Joanna Trollope's Marrying the Mistress.

For the three member book club that I am in, we are reading the new Dicken’s biography by Claire Tomalin.  It is good, but so long.  Does one really need to know every detail of his ancestry?  I don’t retain this information for two minutes, so it is of little value to me.

Debarking from Dickens, I am reading Townie by Andre Dubus III.  This book makes me so glad I was born twenty years earlier than he was.  Who knows what I would have done if I had been born in the 60’s………it is such a scary thought, I don’t even like to contemplate it.  This book also makes me realize what a normal, loving household I grew up in and for that I am extremely grateful.

Next on my list is The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker.  This is a recommendation from my sister who also liked The Darlings by Cristina Alger.  I have the essays by Marilynne Robinson When I Was a Child I Read Books on my night stand.

FOOD:  Because I bought some “precious” wooden sword for my grandson from a fancy catalog, I got a preview magazine called Taproot, its main themes gardening, farming, etc., which I am not into these days. I passed it on to my friend Susan.  But in there was an interesting recipe for Kale Salad where you massage the kale and make it sweet.  I tried the recipe and it is delicious, so I pass it on here.  The nice part too is that it is better the next day.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Kale Salad With Apples and Gorgonzola

1 bunch kale

1 teaspoon sea salt (I used kosher as I didn’t have sea)

1/3 cup dry-roasted sunflower seeds (original recipe calls for toasted sunflower seeds or candied walnuts). You could add any nut here.

1/4 cup diced red onion

1/2 cup dried cherries (original recipe calls for 1/3 cup currants)

3/4 cup diced apple (about 1/2 of an apple, I like to use Fuji apples)

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons unfiltered apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled (or feta)

De-stem kale by pulling leaf away from the stem.  Wash leaves.  Spin or pat dry.  (You need to get as much moisture off the leaves as possible so the dressing will stick to the leaves, it doesn't stick to wet leaves.) Stack leaves, rollup and cut into thin ribbons (chiffonade).  Put kale in a large mixing bowl and add salt.  Massage salt into kale with your hands for 2 minutes.  (If using plain sunflower seeds, toast them by putting in a dry skillet over low to medium heat and stir constantly for a few minutes until they change color and give off a nutty aroma.  If using dry-roasted you do not need to toast them.)  Put kale in a fresh bowl and discard any leftover liquid.  Stir onion, currants, apple, sunflower seeds into kale.  Dress with oil and vinegar and toss.  Taste for salt and vinegar, adding more if necessary.  Toss in cheese crumbles.  Serves 6.  (IF you have leftovers, this will taste even better the next day.)

You can see I have not been posting as much.  This is more in the form of my old Gray Zone newsletter and several people have mentioned that they prefer this, so I will give it a try for awhile.  

OK off to massage my kale……………. 

My Father Would Have Been 100 Today.

My father would have been 100 today and rarely does a day go by that I don’t think about him.  He died at age 64 when I was 33 and I have felt as though I was cheated out of his presence for many years.

He was probably the most influential person in my life.  Growing up I didn’t always agree with him as he was very critical of me…..but in hindsight I realize that he only wanted the best for me, just didn’t go about it quite in a way that was easy.  I was an overweight, taciturn child and when he criticized me, I would just retreat further into my shell.

Since we lived in a small town and he was the town’s physician, life was very busy and not easy, and moments of peace few.  We never took vacations.  He had a great love of books, nature, and classical music. He would often take up a hobby and pursue it to perfection and then go onto something else.

He was one of the first joggers, running before it became a craze.  He also loved all sports.  His final job before he retired was as a school physician for a private school, which was right up his alley, as he could attend all the athletic events.

My daughter was the first grandchild (my sister’s daughter was born the spring of the year he died) so she was the only one able to benefit from his great love of children.  The photo above, taken when he was in China during the war, is so fitting of his personality.  He would have been very interested in my niece’s adopting a little Chinese girl.

He would not have dealt well with the present state of the medical world…..the bureaucracy alone would have done him in.  I always remember when April 15^th rolled around we were told to leave him alone as he had left the taxes until the last minute…cannot imagine how he would have handled the Medicare/Medicaid situation.

I still feel his presence on my morning walks, when he whispers in my ear when I take too long a shower, when it is a beautiful day and I am not out enjoying it.  I think this poem by Robert Mazzocco, Dynasty,  is so fitting.

Family voices; you still can hear them,

Ever so dimly, there in your own voice:

Your father’s voice, even your mother’s voice.

The older we get,

The more you’ll hear them,

Though no one else does.

Just as you still can see them, all over

Your body, though, of course, no one else must:

Family scars and family kisses.

Is It Just Me?

The Granddaughters on my recent Maine trip.

Several years ago in my monthly newsletter The Gray Zone, I wrote about giving a wedding present of a basket filled with all sorts of scissors – good scissors.  If I were giving that same gift now I would add a few things to it that I find essential for everyday living. 

One Gray Zone reader, Paula, told me about seam rippers.  These are great to stab and tear those plastic packages sealed for a millennium.  On my recent trip back from Maine (and being without one of these handy gadgets), I had forgotten to pack a snack for the front seat and didn’t want to stop.  I realized that I could reach the bag of Trader Joe goodies and get the falafel chips' bag, but I could not open it!  I tore at it with my teeth, tried to tear it with both hands and was about to throw it at the dog to see if she could get it open.  I finally gave up which was probably just as well as I would have eaten the whole bag they are so addicting.

Is it just me that wonders why everything is so tightly wrapped?  And I am not a wimp but fairly strong having lugged wood all winter amongst other things.  But then I wonder, because when I enlist the help of my 6 year old grandson, Eli, he can immediately tear things open.  Is it a vast conspiracy against everyone over 65?

On another note, I have a great idea that I have been proposing to pharmacies.  They have blood pressure machines available, why don’t they have a scale?  It could be enclosed in a little booth so one would have privacy and it would have a weight chart on the wall.  I weigh myself everyday, which I am sure many think rather obsessive, but I know if I overdo one day, I can cut back the next.  Not all scales are created equal, but it would be great to have a medical quality scale available.  

When You Know the Grandchildren are Getting Smarter than You..............

Walking the dog with my six year old (his birthday is today) grandson, Eli.

Eli:  “ Clog, what is the smallest particle there is, is it a microbe?”

Clog quaking, pretends not to hear him.