0% of 10708 people are like you...

Dec 26, 2008
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... at least according to 43 Things. I'm an Extroverted Traveling Self-Improver, whatever that means.

The 43 Things idea seems interesting, though. If I follow up on it, I'll let you know.

You call that a rainbow....?

Dec 2, 2008
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Your rainbow is shaded violet.

What is says about you: You are a creative person.

You appreciate beauty and craftsmanship.

You are patient and will keep trying to understand something

until you've mastered it.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

I'm not a vegetarian...

Sep 9, 2008
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... nor do I play one on TV, but sometimes I cook like one.

This is the recipe for my end-of-summer casserole, mentioned over on Teho's blog. It turned out seriously yummy. Not necessarily the healthiest dinner in captivity (cheese is about 100 calories an ounce, most of it from fat), but with all those veggies, I think I can get away with it.

Theo suggested adding andouille sausage and serving with some wine (even with the sausage - which, if you're not familiar, can be quite spicy), it still feels like white. Gewurtztraminer is good with spice, but a little sweet; somehow I'm thinking something fuller, maybe a Chardonnay... Or beer... If I'd had a few more tomatoes, I might have made some of my 'Salsa Bruschetta' (just what it sounds like: spread homemade salsa on crunchy toasted artisanal bread) to go along with it.

End-of-Summer American Southwest 'Ratatouille'

Serves 6 - 8

5 ears fresh corn

3 large fresh tomatoes (preferably home grown, but heirlooms from the farmer's market worked great)

3 smallish fresh zucchini (we're not yet to the baseball-bat stage...)

1 large onion

3 cloves garlic

2 pasilla peppers (the blockish but pointed very dark green Mexican peppers I originally learned to call poblanos - they're anchos when they're dried - very mild, but with a much more pronounced flavor than bells)

1 orange bell pepper ('cause it was there)

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1 pound grated cheese (your choice; I used a mixture of five California cheeses, including some Mexican-style ones, mostly pretty dry and salty, but about 1/3 essentially mild cheddar)

a couple of handfuls of crushed tortilla chips.

Using your preferred tool, remove the corn kernels from the cob. (I have the Oxo corn stripper.)

Cut the tomatoes in half across the 'waist', and use your finger tips to remove all the gel and seeds from the interior. (This keeps them from making the dish too wet.) Chop the tomatoes into about 1/4-inch dice.

Trim the zucchini, cut them in half lengthwise, and then into about 1/4-inch half-rounds.

Chop the onion into about 1/4-inch dice. Mince the garlic. Cut all the peppers into about the same 1/4-inch dice.

Put a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a pre-heated pan. Saute the onions until they start to get translucent. (You may add salt, pepper, and fresh basil if you have it - I didn't; my hydroponic system is between crops - or any other herbs you fancy at any time in the following process. Put dried herbs in early, since they need to absorb some of the juices from the veggies to reconstitute.). Add the garlic and saute another couple of minutes. Add all the peppers, and sweat about 5 minutes. Throw in the zucchini and tomatoes, and stir until about half-cooked. Add the corn and all the juice, and stir until warm (but not really hot). Taste and season, remembering that all that cheese will likely be pretty salty.

Spray a big oven-safe pan or casserole with olive oil. Spread about 1/3 of the veggies in the bottom, then spread a little more than 1/3 of the cheese. Repeat the layers, ending with the last a-little-less-than-1/3 of the cheese. Bake about 30 minutes at 375 degrees F. When everything is hot through, crunch up the tortilla chips and spread them over the casserole. Put back in the oven until the chips are lightly browned and crisp.

Food meme

Sep 1, 2008
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OK, foodie that I am, I can't resist this one...

Directions:

    * Copy this list of 100 foods (ranging from the mundane to the exotic) to your blog
    * Bold any items that you have eaten/tried
    * Star (*) any items that you love/consume regularly

* Cross out any items you would never consider even trying

and I'm going to add italics for dishes/ingredients I've actually cooked myself, since cooking's sort of a hobby for me.

For me, this list is far from inclusive. For example, I made it a point to visit a 'bush tucker' restaurant when I was in Sydney to sing at the Opera House (very good food, actually), and one of the great joys of living in Southern California is the wide ethnic spread of our population, and the number of people who've opened restaurants and groceries so they can eat 'like home'.

The List

1. Venison * (best I ever had was in Yucatan, years ago, and was brought in by hunters who worked for the - then, at least - best restaurant in Marida... Carne asada style...)
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros *
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue *
8. Carp

9. Borscht

10. Baba ghanoush *
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi *
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (and mead - from honey - made by friends)
19. Steamed pork buns *
20. Pistachio ice cream *
21. Heirloom tomatoes * (made tomato sauce with heirlooms from the farmer's market on Saturday, actually)
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras (but probably will never do so again; way too rich, like eating butter, aside from the possible cruelty issue...)
24. Rice and beans * (many variations, from Louisiana-style red beans and rice, to Cuban Moros y Cristianos, and a bunch of others in between; legumes and rice is one of those combinations that can be played with infinitely...)
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper (if it's a pepper, I've consumed it... and probably cooked with it... but, no, I didn't bite into the pepper itself. It was minced into salsa, OK?)
27. Dulce de leche *
28. Oysters (As cooked by an Aussie chef who had a local - now unfortunately closed - restaurant, they were terrific. Raw on the half shell... not so much)

29. Baklava * (I have a friend, of French/Egyptian descent, who makes the best. Mine - although from her recipe - isn't quite as great, but is certainly edible...)
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl (but other soups/stews/chouders/chilis in bread bowls, yes...)
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut (there are a number of neat things you can do with it, but I buy it already made...)
35. Root beer float *
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea (Hey, folks, I do a presentation for women's clubs and such on British types of tea - the meal, not just the beverage. High tea isn't what you think!)
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O (How about champagne jelly/gelee *???)
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat (nothing against it; just haven't had it curried.)
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more (Ok, I rarely drink - Mom and my SO are both teatotal - but I've got a stash of good wine and liquor that runs to roughly 20 bottles at the present time. All of it is for cooking with, though, and whiskey is about my least favorite tipple, anyway.)
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala *** (Yum...)
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut (vastly overrated...)
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini (see #45...)
58. Beer above 8% ABV (see #45 - beer comes in a very close second to whiskey on the 'no, thank you' list, anyway)
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips (in my wasted '60s-vintage youth... I go for the Sharfen Berger, now...)
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst (well, an American version...)
65. Durian

66. Frogs' legs

67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake (all of the above...)
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe (see #45)
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill

76. Baijiu (see #45)
77. Hostess Fruit Pie ('fried pies', yes, but I don't know if any of them were actually Hostess)
78. Snails
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Lutefisk
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict (try Sauce Maltaise instead of the Hollandaise - just use orange juice instead of lemon... Maltaise is also seriously yummy on asparagus and broccoli.)
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant (and, no, you don't want to know what it cost - for just me; I was alone - but, yes, it was wonderful!)
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare (does rabbit count?)
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa (ok, the harissa I familiar with doesn't have rose in it - it's a North African hot pepper condiment - but I've infused rose petals and used rosewater in a lot of things. In medieval and Renaissance times, it was used pretty much any place we would now use vanilla, and I worked at Renn faires for years...)
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano * (in the style taught to me by a lovely lady in Oaxaca when I was working there...)
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta *
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake (we caught it ourselves, too... Crazy archaeologists...)

Dusty in the spotlight

Apr 29, 2008
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Wow, your cat is Madonna!

Madonna

American Queen

Come on, let's just face it: We are living in a material world, and Dusty is a material girl. So go ahead and thank your lucky stars—Dusty is the one and only Madonna!

Always desperately seeking attention, Dusty is multi-talented and savvy, not afraid to get her paws dirty and experiment with new methods of getting into the groove in order to reach her peeps. She commands respect everywhere she goes, a sophisticated traveler who insists upon the best—and more often than not, she gets what she wants. Appearance is everything for your true-blue diva and while her look may change as often as the Pellegrino in her water bowl does, her commitment to exercise is unwavering. Dusty's in tip-top shape, which makes her age in pet years a non-issue. Despite the hard fur and the no-nonsense approach, she's a softy when it comes to her devoted owner. It's fair to say that Dusty is, yes, crazy for you.

Take the quiz again »

Badge_madonna

All the news that's fit to print...

Feb 23, 2008
5 comments

You probably haven't noticed that I haven't been around all that much since last year, since I'm not around all that much anyway, but things got either really wonderful or really complicated (depending on how you look at it) in the middle of October.

You see, I found out that the company's pension-predictor website had been lying to me for years. My real pension calculation came out at roughly one-and-a-half times what the website said... I officially retired on Novemeber 1.

I'm not old enough to get Social Security yet (if ever...) but I can live - quite handily, thank you - on my actual pension. And I am old enough to take money out of my retirement accounts, so I have paid off all my debts (except my mortgage), and can now consider myself A Free Woman!

(What I really want to know, though, is how I did everything I needed to do and worked full-time, too. It can't really simply be that stuff expands to fill the available time, can it?)

However, after letting myself enjoy not getting up at 3:00 am nine days out of every 14 for November and December, in January I accepted a new part-time job. I am officially the costume designer for the summer-musical-theater-program-for-youth that I've volunteered at for the last 11 years.

We're doing (our version of) Jungle Book this year, and I've got to produce roughly 70 furry jumpsuits and ten or so Indian villagers, including Mowgli's mother and the little girl she's adopted. We'll use real Indian clothing styles for the villagers, in bright colors to differentiate the humans from the animals, which will mostly be grays and browns, and mostly really stretch velvet trimmed in fur pieces. Mowgli will be wearing only the traditional loincloth - it's actually supposed to be the turban he had on when he was separated from his parents - so we've been searching for a tiny microphone transmitter we can hide under his wig and not have the mic cord visibly taped up his back... And I don't yet know how I'm going to costume some kid as a white cobra and make it look halfway decent, but I'll think of something.

(I may end up doing props again, too, but we don't think there're more than one or two in the whole show, one of which is a banana. It's a jungle out there, you know...)

Just a little different from rocket science, right? But now I am finally fully and completely a theater artist - albeit a technical one, not a performer - with No Day Gig. After years of letting engineering pay for my theater and music, it's really nice to be able to concentrate on where my heart has always actually been.

And not getting up at 3:00 am is still pretty neat, let me tell you!

Once more into the meme, dear friends...

Jan 12, 2008
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OK, here's my take on the current literary meme:

1. Grab the nearest book.

2. Open the book to page 123.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.

5. Tag 5 different people.

Well, nobody directly tagged me, but I'll take little miao's blanket tagging as permission any day. (Thanks, LM!)

Here's what I found on page 123 of Patterns of Religion, by Roger Schmidt et al. (It's an anthropology textbook, the lead author of which turned out to be the father/FIL of some friends of mine. I didn't know that when I bought it, and, yes, I'm the sort of weird person who reads textbooks, even when I don't have to, for fun. Why it's in the office next to the computer is a mystery, though...)

"For sunny and placid weather had suddenly come upon us after a frosty yesterday; and the tuneful birdlets, coaxed out by the warmths of the Spring, were softly singing sweet hymns of blandishment to the Mother of the Stars, the Producer of the Seasons, the Mistress of the Universe. The trees also, both those that blossomed into fruit and those that were content to yield only sterile shade, were loosed by the southerly breezes; and glistening gaily with their budded leaves, they swished their branches gently in sibilant sighs. The crash of storm was over; and the waves, no longer mountainous with swirling foam, lapped quietly upon the shore."

This is from a reading to accompany chapter 2, Ancient Spirituality. The goddess in question is Isis (including her alternative aspects as Ceres, Venus, Diana, Proserpine, etc., "a single godhead venerated over all the earth under maniflod forms"), and the text is from The Golden Ass by the 2nd Century Roman philosopher Lucius Apuleius, translated by Jack Lindsay.

Anyone who wishes to may consider themselves hereby tagged (again)...

I'm Dreaming of a Meme Christmas...

Dec 10, 2007
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1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper, with the biggest, fanciest bows I can manage…

2. Real tree or artificial? None – because of the cat. I did buy a 2-foot-tall tree made of paper pieces you link together, ‘cause I didn’t think Dusty could hurt that. But she chewed on it…

3. When do you put up the tree? Decorations go up sort of whenever… If I were hosting a party, we’d decorate for that and leave them up. The outside decorations aren’t up yet, either, ‘cause we’ve had rain… (Rain is a good thing – fire season should now be over – but putting out electrical stuff in the rain isn’t fun…)

4. When do you take the tree down? Again, whenever… We’re probably going to do brunch on January 6 (Twelfth Night…), and won’t get much decorating done before that, and will take everything down before the maids come the next time.

5. Do you like eggnog? Love it. Unfortunately, I’m the only one in the family who does, so there’s never any around.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? My parents gave me a hard-bound score of Handel’s Messiah when I was in high school and just starting my singing career. (I was probably about 15, since I was only 17 when I graduated. Yes, I was singing professionally that early.) I sat in the corner ‘reading’ it all afternoon. It’s still around here someplace, although a bit the worse for wear by now… (I use a newer edition to actually sing out of these days.)

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes. Sometimes, though, I make one out of gingerbread (with a chocolate-cereal-and-marshmallow-treats stable thatched in shredded wheat…) instead.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My brother – he usually just gets money

9. Easiest person to buy for? My SSOO. He has so many interests there’s always something that suits.

10. Worst Christmas gift ever received? Can’t remember any truly awful things. I’ve gotten some unlikely things that made me wonder who the giver thought they were buying for, but I guess I figure the important thing is that they thought enough of me to get something, anyway.

11. Mail or email Christmas card? Snail mail, almost exclusively. Although it occurs to me that I’d better come up with something for my Vox neighborhood, too. (Oops…)

12. Favorite Christmas movie? It's a Wonderful Life

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Whenever I start seeing things that would work for the various people I give gifts to. If that’s in August, OK. Actually, as of today, I’m done. (Don’t’ tell the SSOO – he declares there’s something wrong with anybody who finishes before Christmas Eve… 8-)

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I admit it… Yep…

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My famous (or infamous) Fresh Mincemeat Pie. But even that’s not an official Christmas treat; I’ve made in in July…

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? I’d love a real, green tree with clear, gold and silver ornaments, and lots of tiny clear lights. Not gonna happen, though…

17. Favorite Christmas song? I have no special favorite. But I love singing carols at the piano during my SSOO’s alma mater’s annual Christmas buffet party before their big Christmas choral program. We usually acquire some other folks, and end up with a small ensemble, and the pianists who volunteer are friends and enjoy having us sing along.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay at home? I've done both. Christmas in Williamsburg, VA, was wonderful the year my family did that. (I sent a box of cooking equipment and special ingredients ahead to the rented condo, so that we could have a big special dinner, and the programs Colonial Williamsburg put on for the holidays were great.) But at home, we have the University’s program, my professional choir’s Christmas program (and Messiah sing-along), the church’s activities including the children’s pageant (this year with actual flying angel – courtesy of the SSOO and his brother, former circus performer and rigger, respectively)

19. Can you name Santa's reindeer? On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer and Vixen/ Now Comet, now Cupid, now Donner and Blitzen… I have a headband with antlers and a name badge from the North Pole Enterprises Transportation Department – ‘Vixen’ – that I sometimes wear this time of year.

20. Do you have an angel on top or a star? I have a lovely Madam Alexander tree-top angel (not, unfortunately, gold, silver or crystal). But no tree...

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Never having any time to enjoy the season between rehearsals and performances. (Don’t ever try to schedule a musician for anything between Hallowe’en and New Year’s…) But I love doing it, or I wouldn’t, so I can’t realistically complain.

Kitchen Shakespeare

Nov 13, 2007
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Down on your knees,
And thank heaven, fasting, for a good man's recipe.

Which work of Shakespeare was the original quote from?

Get your own quotes:

Sometimes you can go back again...

Sep 27, 2007
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As you may have figured out by now, I love to cook on week-ends, usually some sort of brunch. This may have to do with having to be at work at 0-dark-30 during the week (I leave home between 3 and 4 am), or just simply that I like the sort of things that one usually has for brunch.

Years ago, when I used to do a flight school’s books to help pay for my flying time, there was a terrific little bistro-ish restaurant just across the street from the airport. The guy who owned it had some sort of association with the flight school – I think his girlfriend was one of our pilots, but I don’t really remember – and the crowd started going there because of it. It was also convenient to my home, and I’d go there on Saturday mornings sometimes, just because.

My favorite dish was the Gnocchi With Browned Butter and Caramelized Onions. I would have it at the restaurant with a couple of lovely big sausages in natural casings, with fresh orange juice and hot black coffee. (This was before Starbucks had introduced us all to cappuccinos and lattes, which I think would be excellent with it.) Over the years, I have remembered that breakfast/brunch fondly, but I moved away and don’t even know if the restaurant is still there –frankly I would guess it’s not; it’s been that long.

And somehow, in all that time, I never got around to trying to make it myself.

But I was in Trader Joe’s this last Saturday morning, to pick up some stuff for what I was planning for dinner, and my eye fell upon a package of Whole Wheat Gnocchi in a vacuum pack, imported from Italy. I knew there were onions and butter at home, and I was hungry… (You know what they say about shopping when you’re hungry!)

So I grabbed a couple of packages and used one of them to make my version of that long-ago food memory.

And I nailed it! It was so good that the-kid-home-for-the-week-end insisted I make it again for Sunday supper so that a friend from high school, who was hanging out with her, could taste it.

We didn’t have the sausages, nor did I dig out the espresso machine, but ordinary drip coffee and fresh orange juice still complement it nicely. This makes small-adequate servings for three or ginormous ones for two, and neither batch had any leftovers.

Gnocchi with Browned Butter and Caramelized Onions

2 large yellow onions, or 1 yellow and 1 red

about 1 oz thinly sliced pancetta (5 - 6 slices)

5 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 tsp kosher salt

2 – 3 large cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves

500g package gnocchi (about 1 lb, frozen or vacuum-sealed)

¼ cup pine nuts

Grated Parmesan cheese

Cut off the ends of the onions, peel them, halve them top to bottom, and slice thinly. It will look like a lot, but will cook down.

Melt 1 Tbsp of the butter in a large, heavy skillet or sauté pan and add the pancetta. Cook until the meat is crisp. Remove the meat, drain on paper towels, and set aside. Leave the melted butter and rendered fat in the pan.

Add the sliced onions to the pan and toss to coat in the fat. Sprinkle with salt and cook slowly over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally. The onions should soften and release their moisture before even starting to brown. Stir more frequently as they cook down. When the onions are just starting to brown, sprinkle in the minced garlic. Continue to cook until the onions are a rich caramel brown. They will have developed an amazing sweetness from the concentration of their natural sugars, particularly if you have used a red onion. Remove them from the pot and set aside.

Cook the gnocchi according to package directions (generally just until they float). Drain but don’t rinse.

Melt the remaining butter in the same pan. Watch – and sniff – carefully and cook until the butter is lightly browned and smells deliciously nutty. It is perilously easy to burn butter instead of browning it, so constant attention is essential. When the butter is ready, throw in the thyme leaves (stand back – they’ll spatter!) and cook for just a moment. Add the pine nuts and toast for a moment more; watch carefully, as they also are easy to burn.

Add the cooked gnocchi to the pan and toss them in the browned butter sauce. Add the onions. Crumble the crisp pancetta into the mess. Cook over low heat just until everything is evenly warmed.

Serve sprinkled with Parmesan cheese to taste. (Personally, I don’t think it needs much.)