Friends

Here are Sally, our friend Janice Howe, Peggy, and Katie (front row) smiling in the afternoon sun on our back porch in Bismarck.  (Don't know where Tom is...maybe taking a nap--he'd be about two?)  Peggy looks to be about 7 (the missing teeth are always a giveaway for 7-year-olds), so Sally would be 6, and Katie about 4.  Janice lived down the road from our place, and sometimes she'd get off the school bus with the kids after school.  They'd hang out together until I gave her a ride home.  Other days, Sally and Peggy would get off the bus at Janice's and play.  One time Sally came home wide-eyed after hearing the folks at Janice's talk about "Rimrock Rosie," the western ND version of Big Foot.  Rimrock Rosie was reputed to live on the high ground east of town.  Brrrrr!!!  Janice's family always told amazing stories!!

Janice lives in South Dakota at Crow Creek, where she's planning her wedding next month.  Best wishes, Janice!  I'm so glad I found your photo after all these months of searching.  I guess it really does pay to move to another dwelling, even though moving is a big pain!  I hope your wedding day is as beautiful as you are.

We Are No Different, Part II

It's like a tree.  A tree (well, one kind) starts out as an acorn, then a seedling, then a very young skinny tree, then a bigger tree, then bigger & bigger until it gets old and falls over or is chopped down.

Everybody looks at it and thinks "tree."

But what if all the while the tree is struggling to be a tree?  Like, "Omigod, acorns? I have to produce acorns?  Every year???"

We Are No Different

We can all deal with babies and puppies and kittens and baby trees and things like that.  We can watch them grow and enjoy their pleasure in meeting life's challenges as they come along:  the first smile, the first step, the first dog bone they have to really CHEW. We don't seem to be able to deal with ourselves in the same way.  That is, we are always trying to FORCE ourselves to grow or improve or be something LOTS BETTER than who we are at THIS given moment.

Maybe it doesn't have to BE that way.  Maybe we can just trust that we'll grow into whatever we're supposed to be without our standing by with a switch to make sure we get it right!  I mean, we don't need to DO or BE something special if "special" means different.

I'm going to stick my neck out here and say maybe we're as good as we're going to get.  If we're an apple, say, we can always get riper or sweeter or redder, but we can't be a PEAR.  If we're an apple from day one, the die is cast.  Forget about being a pear or a pumpkin or a pork chop. (yum.....you notice how OFTEN I blog about food?  Just plain old FOOD!)

Anyway, hope you liked the recipe for Pullet Surprise in the preceding blog!  It's one of my better ones, despite the fact that I haven't made it since we all lived together on 3rd Ave N. in Iowa.  Maybe I'll make it this week for my pal Cathy, who has been working extra hard on two websites in preparation for next year's teaching.  I think she will love it.

Pullet Surprise....Updated

OK, I'm going from raw foods to a chicken casserole that I can't QUITE remember the recipe for (I sent all my cookbooks to oldest daughter) in two days on this blog.  The chicken casserole recipe was passed on to me at  my first genuine place of employment, Frank N. Magid Associates, in Marion, IA.  The recipe came in a company cookbook and was submitted by J., one of the coding women.  The coding women mostly did not HAVE to work, being married to mostly rich fellows.  J. of the recipe lived in a big house with an indoor swimming pool AND an outdoor one and a dear, sweet old black lab named Fiona. The recipe is to die for. Really good.  Here's what I remember of it.

Cut up two chickens into 14 pieces each.  Dust each peace with flour, salt & pepper, and set aside.

Next, heat some oil REALLY HOT in a chicken fryer-size pan and fry the chicken pieces until they're golden.  Remove to a bowl.  Next add a little more oil to the same pan, keeping it HOT, and saute 3 large chopped onions.  When the onions begin to turn color, add 3 TABLESPOONS of chili powder.  Stir it around, then add the chicken pieces back to the pan. Turn and press the chicken into the onions and chili powder to make sure the chicken is well coated with the chili powder.  Let it saute a little more while you prepare a baking pan big enough to hold the chicken and onions.

Heat the oven to 300F, scrape the contents of the chicken-fryer pan into a 9x13" baking dish,
 and add about 1-2 cups of golden raisins and maybe a whole small (8 oz) carton of half&half or cream.  Now's the time to add more salt & pepper if you want.  Bake for maybe 30 minutes or so, making sure the cream doesn't boil over.  Cook until a nice skin forms, and the chicken pieces are clearly done.

I don't know what you serve it ON.  I just liked the chicken & onions & raisins by themselves.  

All Midwestern recipes end with "ENJOY!!"  So just go ahead and do it.  Enjoy!  It's dang good!

Update: You can make the oven hotter, and cook the casserole longer, but watch to make sure the cream doesn't curdle or separate.   Cook it how you like it--until it smells fab and looks well done.

New Book of the Week

My home library, now dedicated to preserving actual BOOKS against the e-future, grew today.  The new addition, purchased against the time when there will not BE any books, is Raw Food for Everyone, by Alissa Cohen.  If you think a life spent eating uncooked food would be grim, you haven't seen this particular book.  What drew me was the table of contents! It goes from basic information on raw food (why to eat it, what foods and equipment to buy, "Fruits and Vegetables: Where the Magic Happens") to RECIPES!!

The chapter on fruits & veg even has a good word to say for bananas!  Bananas are always with us and often maligned because they are "tropical" or "fattening" or too green to eat when they arrive at our local grocery.  (Bananas do ripen after they are picked.  I leave mine in a bag until the skin develops the good yellow color with brown flecks.)

Cohen states unequivocally, regarding bananas: "A raw food enthusiast's best friend.  Available year-round at reasonable prices, a couple of bananas stave off hunger when there's nothing else at hand."

If you've ever tried eating just raw food, you will appreciate that great good sense.  Some days, especially the ones on which you're dying for a cheeseburger or french fries, and you're far away from your own kitchen and its supplies, you can almost always find a banana somewhere close by: at food carts or local bodegas & 7elevens.  Better than a candy bar!

Moving down into the recipes, I fell in love with the recipe for a smoothie called "Popeye," and I haven't even tried it.  Cohen says, "You won't believe how delicious these two ingredients are together."  I believe!

3 cups packed spinach leaves
3 bananas
1 cup ice

I'm seeing all kinds of ways to get in my 5-7 fruits and vegetables each day, and with this new book to inspire me,  a lot of them will be raw.

The book's beautiful design and clear, impeccable printing also make me very happy. Think of the hours of human labor the purchase price supported.

Let's Hear It for Locally Owned Bookstores!!

I absolutely don't understand why people are buying those horble e-reader things. Borders is gone, Barnes & Noble is going. Are the people who own stock in these places so hungry for profit that they'll kill bookstores to make it??  Or are people so old and feeble they can't carry a big book? (Fine...read a small one on the bus or metro.)  Dear, locally owned Kramerbooks & After Words is still here and still on its feet (I hope).  I'm going to patronize their cafe more often.  When I worked at the Mt. Vernon General, it did not have a liquor license. The owner said he didn't want one because he couldn't stand drunks. But he also said that a restaurant makes its money selling liquor, not food.  (This was shortly before they went out of business.)  Maybe Kramerbooks is thriving because of its cafe (which has a liquor license)?  People go there to buy books, eat, and drink, in that order.  I'm going to start buying books there every week. And I'm going to eat there once a week, too--the food is GREAT!  And have a shot of Auld Frothingslosh. Sounds like a recipe for happiness to me! I will never get too old to carry my own book and read it. That's what backpacks are for.

Early Summer in ND

Fun to remember that we once were all so very young. Dear little Katie had been bald as an egg, as were all of her siblings until they reached the age of about 18 months, but there is a little wisp of blonde hair growing on the top of her head.  So she must be a year and a half, maybe a little more.  The Chinese Elm has new leaves, so it must have been about May or even June.  It never got reliably warm there until August.  And then it started getting cold again.  This photo was taken in the side yard where the kids played on their swing set and in the sand box.  I was cutting my own hair in those days, too.  When you live out of town, and the roads are icy, and there's no way to get to a beauty parlor, you learn how to cut your own!

Fran Lebowitz's Diet List

Want to diet the Fran Lebowitz way?  Choose your meals from these foods!!  These and more are found in "Fran Lebowitz High Stress Diet & Exercise"program from the Fran Lebowitz Reader.

Fish
Chicken
Duck
Turkey
Beef
Lamb
Fruits
Vegetables
Honey
Eggs
Sugar
Maple Syrup
Bread
Rice
Pasta
Cereal
Cheese
Butter
Milk
Cream
Coffee
Tea
Wine
Beer
Scotch
Cookies
Candy
Cake
Pie
Ice cream

I'm sure I've scrambled her listing and left out many important foods, but you get the drift.

Remember Fran's timeless advice: "Food is an important part of a well balanced diet."

Happy Birthday, Sam! Canada, too!

When Sam & Co. lived in Massachusetts, Sam's favorite occupation was kneeling behind the vacuum cleaner so the warm air could rearrange his curls. Joe thought this was VERY FUNNY!

 Happy Birthday, Sam. You've brought so much joy to our lives!! Joe, too.
You were beautiful kids, and now you're beautiful young men.

                                                                                                                                                   

Joe

Sam

Word has come to XE from one of her favorite bloggers in the frozen north that July 1 is Canada's birthday, too. The Duke & Duchess of Cambridge are up there helping everyone celebrate. Have fun, eh??