Category Archives: Uncategorized

De-Frosted

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I have been gone for a week when I go to the store on Thursday so I kinda stock up.  I buy pork, chicken, cheese, a couple of different kinds of lettuce, carrots, celery, humus, lemons, yogurt, english muffins and wine.  

Nothing like a full larder to make me feel competent and comforted.

Breezing toward the weekend, we have a doctored-up pizza Thursday night and spiced-up pork chops Friday. Saturday morning, I drop the frozen chicken breasts on the counter for a spell and then  shove them in the refrigerator just before we go and help Sig’s mother pack; she’s moving to a new apartment in May. 

Later, as I look at the wrapped un-cooked chicken, Sig offers to go out and pick something up. Yay, I say — he comes back with grilled chicken meals from KFC. I pick all of the meat off the bones.

The next day, we leave right after lunch for more packing.  It is nearly 6:00 when we come back home. I check my e-mail, finish reading the paper, talk to a friend — then, “Hey, are you cooking something tonight — or should I just eat cereal?”  

Chicken breasts, I think. After I saute the filets and serve them up with a pilaf and a salad, it occurs to me that de-frosted meat has waaay too much control.

Memoir a trois

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It is not too early to start your summer reading list. If you don’t do it now, garden work or spring cleaning or some pushy self-improvement program will catch you by the throat and suck up all of your energy.

I’m recommending a memoir a trois.

I really like a memoir. A memoir is beyond “just the facts, ma’am.” It is an inside-out portrait of what someone finds when they dig in and make note of those things they believe made them who they are. When it’s good, it is a treat to be at the table.  

A match that worked for me: three women of around the same age, recalling really difficult childhoods with honesty, humor and an amazing turn of phrase.  They are Alexander Fuller, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight (2003), pictured at left.

 

The Liar’s Club (2005) by Mary Karr.

Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle   (2006).        

Similarities link ’em. Throw all three sets of their parents on a spinning carousel and each could naturally take up with where ever it stops. The adults are all sassy, free-wheeling, irresponsible, passionate, mostly alcoholic, reckless, and lovin’ sorta — that, pretty much in retrospect. The daughters are smart, loyal, put-upon, vulnerable, innocent and mostly resilient.

Whoosh, you’ll think when they all make it through. And you’ll want to call them up and ask them over ’cause you’ll feel like you know ’em and it’s your turn to host.

Funeee!

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 Every day that I spend a little time on the internet, I am astounded at the inventiveness and good-natured humor that bubbles up from everywhere. The over 2 million people who have watched this video know exactly what I’m talking about.

Thanks Joyce, for sending it on.

So Not Ordinary

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I got a postcard yesterday from Asiatica announcing their upcoming trunk shows. I always keep their postcards for a while because they are so interesting and well designed. 

The one from spring, 2010 has a shirt with its arms folded in front as if its wearer left it in charge while stepping away for a break. 

The fabric is silk with ribbed rectangles in pale green, blue and lavender.  It is an eastern version of a preppy windowpane dress shirt. 

Asiatica  makes clothes from deconstructed antique kimonos and new fabric designed by Reiko Sudo for Nuno, a Japanese textile corporation. Their clothes look and feel fabulous – as if you are to the manor born.

If you are not in the market for investment clothes shopping, check out their Japanese pottery and other art objects, jewelry and scarfs. Hmmm, you just never know what you will find in your own backyard.

All things considered

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I arrived at the airport in DC at 3:30 this afternoon. I printed a boarding pass at a computer station and checked my bag. I bought the New York Times and a bottle of water. When I reached my gate, I ate a granola bar and a banana and watched people come and go until I boarded at 4:30.

Two hours and fifteen minutes later I was in Kansas City.  

If I had made the same trip April 12, 1830, I would have arrived in Kansas City three and a half months later.

My wagon would have been packed to the top of its canvas roof with 1,600 pounds of food fixings such as flour and lard. I’d be packing water kegs and cooking equipment. No books, no games. I’d have to get used to the ride since the wagon didn’t have springs — or brakes. I’d travel the 1,081 miles at the rate of 10 miles a day if nothing broke down. 

If I was lucky, I would survive the trip – although the odds were high that I would be accidentally shot or drown. All things considered – I really don’t miss those tasty airplane meals.

DC Street Food

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I think it is right and just that a spicy sausage is a signature dish in the nation’s capital.

Called a half-smoke, it looks like a hot dog on steroids seasoned with red pepper flakes. Half-smokes are often half pork and half beef and can either be smoked or steamed.

The sausage is said to have originated from Briggs and Co meatpackers in DC; Raymond Briggs reportedly started selling them in the thirties.

Here is a dolled-up half-smoke from Ben’s Chili Bowl, a Washington landmark restaurant. It is one of the first places President Obama had lunch when he first came to town.

Looks pretty democratic to me.

Garden Party

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Well, it wasn’t exactly a garden party, but it was a garden and it felt like a party. Twice a year, the Gardens at the White House are open to the public.

What is the most striking thing about the White House is its human scale. It was designed as a residence as opposed to a monument. Walking around the grounds, it is easy to imagine a family feeling comfortable living there despite the fishbowl feeling.

The White House grounds are the oldest continually maintained landscape in the United States. And just like home gardens, it has evolved over time. Although located in the heart of the city, landscape architects have created a rolling, rural-like backdrop.

Here is the Rose Garden that borders the Oval Office.

The Saucer Magnolia tree in bloom was planted by John Kennedy in 1962.

Recent additions are a play set for Malia and Sasha Obama and of course, the much heralded vegetable garden. There is also a White House Beehive that produces enough honey so that the President and Mrs. Obama can give away jars of it probably at state dinners and Sunday brunches.

Diana or Dino?

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I have never been a great fan of exhibits that chronicle a person’s life with glass cases full of their favorite things. For some reason, I feel a disconnect in thinking that I learn a whole lot about someone from looking at say, his or her old clothes or shoes.

I am thinking about this because Diana, A Celebration has come to Kansas City. Coinciding with a major royal wedding this spring, the event handlers are hopeful for record attendance.

With the sound of Candle in the Wind/Goodbye England’s Rose in the background, the exhibit has a collection of personal effects that highlight Diana’s life. There are school report cards, toys, family photos, the wedding-dress-with-10,000-pearls-and-the-25-foot-train, a dozen or so designer gowns and a tiara or two. Sorry but the

Celebration doesn’t hold a candle to the recent Dinosaurs Exhibit. Now there was something: the huge loud dinosaurs, the full size skeletons, and the eggs from 245 million years ago.  If it’s between a garage sale and Jurassic Park, where would you rather be?