I got this from Debra at
Your rainbow is shaded white and green.
What is says about you: You are a contemplative person. You feel strong ties to nature and your mood changes with its cycles. People depend on you to make them feel secure. Those around you admire your fresh outlook and vitality.
Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.
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Bette!
What.A.Dump. (wild gesturing with a cigarette)
You are a Bette -- "I must be strong"
Bettes are direct, self-reliant, self-confident, and protective.
How to Get Along with Me
What I Like About Being a Bette
What's Hard About Being a Bette
Bettes as Children Often
Bettes as Parents
http://www.helloquizzy.com/results/are-you-a-jackie-or-a-marilyn-or-someone
Mom is still in the hospital. She's passing blood - something that had happened before several years ago, but this is different - without getting too graphic, it's not a blood and *use your imagination*, it's blood and mucus. Not good. The CAT scan showing some inflammation, so today they are going to follow up with a colonoscopy. I spent yesterday with her, bathing her and just holding her hand. She'll be 81 in a few weeks and it just seems as though her body is breaking down. This is a long drawn out affair, tough on everyone, but I can't even imagine how hard it is on her - for years my sister and I always said that my mother is childish and completely narcissistic. She is, but she is also far tougher than I ever imagined. We were talking about next steps and she just talked about how she would handle whatever treatment or surgery came up. It never occurs to her to just let go. I've always thought that if in her shoes, when I got to a certain point, I would just want to concentrate on the time I had left and to love my family as much as I could before I went. My mom doesn't feel that way. As long as there is a breath in her, she will fight.
On a lighter note - I stopped at Moore Brothers wine company on the way home from the hospital. It is my all time favorite wine store and I rarely get to go. I selected two Chinon Cab Francs and an Alsatian Pinot Blanc (mind you I have no.more.storage.space) and was in the middle of a tasting when my phone rang. It was the owner of Amalthea Cellars vineyard and he wants me to start working there on weekends! I have precious little time, but I really want to do this. I think my next career will be associated with wine - if I were ever to be in a position to follow this dream. Wish me luck!
Friday morning I received a phone call....my mom's blood pressure was all over the place and they couldn't get it stabilized. Long story short, they took Mom to the hospital and when they found that her hemoglobin was dangerously low, they had to transfer her to another hospital for transfusions and dialysis. It seems she's bleeding internally - again. This happened a couple of years ago - no cause was found and after a week or so, it went away. It's just that the maladies are coming closer and closer - you just learn to hold your breath day after day, wondering what will happen next.
I also had an small hiccup at work - I wasn't selected for a job - and I think the way I presented myself to the client had a lot to do with it. I was trying to help and challenge the customer to do the right thing, but I could have been a little less "Jersey" about it. All I can say is that it was a real learning lesson and I will approach these things in a much different manner from now on.
I had a little break this week. A very good friend came into town and we got to spend some time together. It was a life saver...:)
What sauce? What is the secret? Can anyone help me out here? I recently signed onto the SITS blog roll, I visit some of the blogs on the follower list and have found some really great blogs, Such as Words of Wisdom From a Smart Mouthed Broad, Like Sand in an Hourglass and of course A Devonshire Design. So, my question is "Now What?" I'd like to create more visibility for my blog - any ideas? Just what is the secret in said sauce? Any help is greatly appreciated.
I'm a devoted reader of the Amateur Gourmet. His recipes are, for the most part, spot on, and his restaurant reviews are great. Adam often receives cookbooks and recommends several a year. He has a new sidebar on his blog that has a recommendation list and the other day, I noticed "All About Braising: The Art of Uncomplicated Food" by Molly Stevens. His review was very positive so I jumped over to Amazon.com and checked it out, and every review on the site was superlative. That was it, I had to get it.
Today, the book arrived and after leafing through it for a few minutes, I could see why everyone is so high on this book. It's incredibly well written, the pictures are beautiful. I turned to one of the recipes, Braised Leeks and Halibut and decided to give it a try. I had thick filets of Steelhead Trout in the fridge and a few leeks left that I hadn't figured out what to do with. So I decided to give this recipe a try. In keeping with the recipe, I prepared the leeks by splitting them in half and chopping the halves into nice sized chunks:
Molly advises you to rinse twice and I followed that - I've had gritty leeks before and that is NOT a pleasant experience.
While the leeks were soaking, I minced two cloves of garlic and about 1 1/2 TBS. of fresh thyme. After rinsing and draining the leeks, put a small braising pan (or small saute pan that has a lid) on the stove and heat using medium heat. Add a 1-2 glug of olive oil, then add the leeks, garlic and thyme and stir to coat with the oil. Season with salt and pepper and continue to saute until the leeks are glossy. Add a half cup of dry white wine (or dry vermouth) and bring to a boil. Cover the mixture with a piece of parchment paper that has been greased with a little butter.
Place a lid on the braising pan and put into a 350 degree oven on the center rack and braise for 45-50 minutes or until tender, you may have to add a little additional wine if the leeks are dry.
When the leeks are tender, remove from the oven and add about 1/4 C. of heavy cream (I used half n half, I would change it to light cream to make it a little creamier but keep the calories down) to the mixture and stir until smooth and creamy (I didn't measure the cream, I just eyeballed it).
I pan fried the trout and steamed some baby zucchini:
Excellent! Leeks, when slow cooked become mellow and almost sweet. R, who is not an onion fan, scarfed them right up!
Adam Roberts is sooo right about Molly Stevens.
Now that I have all of these wonderful cookbooks - I really have to get it together and make a weekly menu to make my shopping more efficient.
What was your favorite dish this week?
It's been a wonderful and weird weekend. I talked about my loverly Friday night in my previous post. Saturday, Devonshire and her hubby came down to a wine tasting at the vineyard where I may start working in the spring. As she mentioned in her post, not your typical Jersey wines (sweet fruit wines, yuck) - lovely varieties made in the Bordeaux and Napa styles. We came back after each buying several bottles and made an antipasto of Tuscan white bean salad, sliced red peppers, sopresatta and olives with sliced crusty seeded baguette. It was a great afternoon, watching golf and picnicking in my den.
After they left to to play chauffeur to their son, I got ready for a dinner party (already fooded out, mind you). I had invited a friend of mine who recently lost her husband and another friend to dinner. I made Tunisian Chicken with Olives, a basmati pilaf and arugula salad with blood orange and mint. We had Green Dragon Chardonnay and Clos D Bois Pinot Noir. It was a lovely dinner and we sat around chatting - except my widowed friend kept jumping up and either running out to pet the cats who were sleeping in the sun room, to the bathroom or to answer her phone which rang repeated through out dinner. We had good conversation, but I found that the repeated exits and entrances disturbing. I didn't say anything (I realize that she feels very alone and is almost neurotic about missing a call), but it really bothered me. Would you have said anything?
