It’s that time of year again; Chili time

Tags

chili, cooking, delicious, gourmet, postaday2013, slow cooking

I have to say that I know that I sing my hubby’s praises quite often, I can’t help it, he is my hubby after all, if I didn’t do it then who would, it is my job.
But in this instance I can objectively say, and my late father was my witness; my hubby is the king of chili. I’ll never forget the first time that my hubby made his chili for myself and my family, my father really, that was the approval that my hubby was seeking; we weren’t married yet so he was intent on impressing his future father-in-law and boy oh boy did he impress my father! I’ll never forget my father’s reaction to his first bowl of my hubby’s chili for as long as I live, it is set in stone and I’m grateful for it. It was early in the morning and my father and I were in his restaurant, the Bistro Bordeaux on eighth avenue in New York City, my father was in his chef’s coat setting up with his crew for the lunch crowd and I was in the dining room setting up the tables on my end and my hubby walked in with a bowl of his beautiful chili which he presented to my father for his tasting. My father put his nose to the bowl, his eyebrows went up and he fetched a spoon and without bothering to warm it up, started eating it without a word until the bowl was clean. My father put his hand on my future husband’s shoulder and said that was excellent, the best chili that I had ever had in my life. Since that day, my hubby has never made a less than delicious pot of chili; he has the gift, the feeling for his chili that is remarkable. We are going to eat like kings this week!

My obsessions

We all have obsessions. What do you obsess about?

Being a recovering anorexic, obviously it is my weight. When I was in full throes of anorexia my only solace was that in twenty years when I was forty; I would be too old to care about what I looked like. Tell me that wasn't the joke of a lifetime. I hadn't any idea of the stranglehold this dangerous disease would have on me, but I am happy to say that it has gotten better. Who knows maybe in twenty more years when I am in my sixties my obsession will be further diminished and by the time I'm eighty I might even be finally normal.

Learning more about Foie Gras

Tags

cooking video, Foie gras, marinate, pepper, postaday2013, salt, terrine

Good afternoon everyone, I feel much better today and my headache has gone away finally.

My darling hubby had me order a fresh duck liver from Hudson Valley Duck Farms. They are the most reputable duck farm around, their ducks are treated humanely; I might add much more humanely than most chickens, so I feel good about ordering from them. What I am going to do with the fresh duck liver is to transform it into a simple terrine. I know that I did it once before, but I wasn’t ecstatic about it and it wasn’t the duck’s fault, it was mine. I don’t actually remember what I did wrong, but I am guessing that I might have tried to go too fancy. This time, the terrine is going to be simple and elegant. The fresh lobes of duck liver, salt, pepper, a pinch of sugar and good quality Sauternes, full-bodied sweet white wine marinated overnight and then put into a ceramic terrine and slowly cooked in a very low oven and then pressed down with a weight for a few hours and finally re-covered in its own excess fat. I hope that it comes out okay. When it’ done I will take pictures but in the meantime here is a picture of one of my cookbooks; this one is specifically only for Foie Gras.

Here is an instructional video, I know that it’s in French but I love the sound of his voice; it’s soothing and patient. I could listen to him for much longer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12b0gTxKn88&sns=em

will play?

Play it, baby!

As if by magic, you can now play the guitar with great skill. What's the first song you will play?

I absolutely adore the Gypsy Kings. I had their two albums somewhere on cassette tape and I'm pretty sure that both tapes have been worn out beyond repair. I would be thrilled to have the musical ability to be able to play anything that they had created. Since one of their number one hits was "Volare" I would play that. I love the Gypsy Kings!

Taking anything for granted; how do I stop?

Tags

feet, head, painful, painless, postaday2013, taking things for granted, value

Are all of you like me and forget that various body parts exists? I go through days, weeks and even months not even acknowledging my brain works in real time; aside from the fact that it is in constant use, not that I am consciously in tune with the fact that my brain is in constant motion; that is until the day comes that my brain starts to hurt. As soon as the brain starts hurting, that is when I am very cognizant of the fact that I have indeed a brain really attached to my body and pain receptors and that my brain is most definitely miserable. This headache has been plaguing me for two days and I finally broke down and took two ibuprofen but to no avail, this headache is nasty. I’m still able to read and write but in very small doses and I am operating on serious slow motion; any sudden movements starts the pain to lance in my head and that is most definitely not wanted. I wonder if this is in relation to the insane cold spell we are going through? It has been around zero degrees outside for two solid days; trust me in that I am counting the days to Monday when the temperatures will at last come back up to 30!

Another instance where I take a body part for granted is when I abuse my feet until the day I get a blister or I sprain one of them. I have sprained each one of my feet on different occasions several times and you forget how completely vital your feet are to independence until they are rendered useless for a relatively short time. I have bony knees and I have spent days crawling on my hands and knees around the house due to a sprained foot and boy did my knees pay the price. I am so uncoordinated that I was a hazard to myself using crutches, so it made my life safer crawling.

I am reading this as I type and I apologize if it seems disjointed; my brain is disjointed, but I think that overall I made my point. I shouldn’t take anything in my body for granted, I must respect my body parts and treat them with kindness because when they are unhappy, I am unhappy.

Sweet sixteen

Tags

food, Italian sailor, postaday2013, Restaurant, restaurants, style, sweet sixteen, Venice

When you were 16, what did you think your life would look like? Does it look like that? Is that a good thing?

My best memory of my sixteenth year was the day of my birthday. We were in Venice, Italy and my parents, my little sister and I spent the day roaming the city, taking a gondola ride and that night we had the most delicious meal at a small Italian restaurant. I remember the restaurant well because it was empty, except for the female waiters and us, I remember feeling a little ill at ease because the waiters seemed at a loss as to what to do with us, we were there to eat so early. I thought at one point that the ladies were going to come over and feed us, they wanted to serve us so badly and keep occupied. If ever you eat out in Italy, don’t go until eight or nine at night; don’t go at seven, the waiters won’t know what to do with you. It was a fantastic meal, I know that. I remember the first course because it was a seafood salad served in a gorgeous seashell standing up on the plate. I know that it was sublime but that is all that I remember of the restaurant. I remember leaving the restaurant. On the way out as I was following my parents, I felt eyes following me and I turned around and there was a handsome Italian sailor smiling at me, my mother rained on my parade when she took my hand and pulled me with her in the opposite direction. I got a chance to smile and wave at him and he blew me a kiss. I remember what I was wearing, I was wearing red sandals and a very pretty white dress with a red belt around the waist, the neck line had beautiful embroidery all around it. I felt quite pretty that day. Overall I would rate it as one of my favorite birthday memories.

As to the question of what I dreamed of becoming when I grew up, I am pretty sure that I was still planning to go into medicine at that time. I had always wanted to be a surgeon, ever since I was a little girl and that hadn’t changed until the year where I developed an essential tremor in my hands, at sixteen. The same year that I took chemistry and hated it and the same year that I became ultra-rebellious. I stopped planning for a career in surgery and I felt a little unmoored for that whole year. I didn’t get back on track until my senior year of high school. I had a lot of anger during my junior year in high school for a lot of reasons.

I’ll get back to this story some other time, I have a headache right now and it has been plaguing me for two days now. This story needs to be told headache free. On a happy note, Venice is truly a city to visit. I absolutely loved it!

 

 

A tentative book review

Tags

Albert Brooks, book reviews, fiction, futuristic, novel, postaday2013

I named this post a tentative book review because I confess that I haven’t yet finished Albert Brooks novel “2030”. I am a little more than 3/4’s into the book and though I find it to be very well written and engaging, I haven’t reached the punchline yet and I am still waiting wondering when and how it will appear. I say punchline because I have always associated Albert Brooks with comedy, not fall down laughing comedy, more a thinking man’s comedy, but comedy nevertheless. Albert Brooks has had a varied body of work. He has written and directed several films such as Modern Romance and Defending Your Life. The last one is one of my favorite movies of all time; not only is it an optimistic view of the hereafter, but it also informs you that in heaven you get to eat what you want and never gain weight and everything tastes as the most phenomenal bite that you could ever imagine. The whole point of defending your life isn’t about not going to heaven; rather it’s about entering heaven only when you have become the best possible you and not a second before. Essentially your flawed life allows you for a do over until the day when you finally get it right. As I said optimism in all of its glory.

I associate this vision of the world with everything that Albert Brooks does so when my sister gave me his book “2030” for Christmas. I was first and foremost excited and second I was intrigued as to how he was going to weave a story in the future. As I said it is very well written, the characters are interesting and the themes are universal. You would imagine that a medical miracle, the cure for cancer, would be cause for monumental celebration but after some time it is no longer just a celebratory occasion. The cure starts to produce issues and devastating problems the world over and the issues aren’t what I had expected. The quandary revolves around the resources pie and who gets a share of the pie and what to do when there isn’t enough pie to go around. Another question is when do you outlive your usefulness to yourself and to others? Is there a point that if you aren’t set up for longevity economically, you shouldn’t be allowed to continue living on the government’s dime? As I said, I am still waiting for the punchline and I have a sinking feeling that there isn’t going to be one.

I am enjoying this book because I appreciate the questions and issues Albert Brooks raises throughout the book. It is thoughtfully written even when it is pitting the young ones against the “olds”. Within the book, I can’t help but feel empathy for the younger generation who are born into a society that no longer has any opportunity left unless you are already from a wealthy family. In my opinion it’s showing what has happened throughout the industrialized world but depicted as if on steroids.

I am not the book reviewer that my dear friend Jackie Paulson from getreadingnow.org is and I’m sure that if she read this her review would be far superior. I am essentially simply airing out my thoughts and impressions on a very well written novel by an interesting man.

My life — the prequel

Write a 500-word prequel to the story of your life.

My parents were living in Bordeaux where both sides of my family is from, my father was born in Talence Bordeaux and my mother was born in Begles, Bordeaux. My father's parents and his aunt and uncle had emigrated to New York, New York in the mid fifties. He had gone with them then because he had to, he was fourteen when they packed up and moved to the States to join his aunt and uncle who had already arrived. However my father had initially disliked it as a teenager and when he was eighteen he moved back to France to serve in the military, a requirement for all eighteen year olds and after his time was up he started a business with a colleague of his and produced antique reproductions.

He then met my mother who was working somewhere in an office at a mutual friend's party. The courtship started, my mother played hard to get; she was shy and my father had a reputation as a fun loving, charming player so my mother kept her heart close while my father wined and dined her. She required much wooing, I think a solid year or more perhaps. In the end my father's eternal optimism, his easy laughter, his easy going personality won her over and they married. They were married for two years, living it up as young newly weds and then the my mother became pregnant with me. My father's business had encountered a few set backs and he became curious with the Untied States all over again. My mother who had only visited once before to meet my grandparents and my great aunt and great uncle was curious as well. They were both young and the United States was the place to go when you were young and ambitious. So over they came and out I popped. A brand new citizen of my parent's new country.

Carrie Fisher aka Princess Leia

Tags

bi-polar disorder, Carrie Fisher, Craig Fergeson, postaday2013, Princess Leia, Star Wars

I haven’t seen Carrie Fisher in ages and so when I saw that she was a guest on my boy Craig Fergeson’s show, I was instantly intrigued. I know that Carrie Fisher has had to deal with bi-polar disorder which is a challenging mental illness and I was curious to see how she was doing. The last time that I saw her in a movie was, I think back in “When Harry met Sally” and I loved her character as Sally’s best friend. After that I know that she has kept busy writing novels and putting together a one woman show based on her own life. Her show, like her books, have been successes for her critically, so I wasn’t very worried that her creativity wasn’t being fed. I vaguely remember that she had done a weight loss program and was doing very well; having lost the weight and keeping it off.

So I was happy to see her come out, engage with Craig and be happy, self-deprecating, witty and upbeat. She has been a force for many fans since the 1970’s; I remember thinking of Princess Leia as a hero in the same vein as Hans Solo or Luke Skywalker. Princess Leia was no damsel in distress, she was powerful, brave and noble in her own right. I would say that in dealing with her own set of challenges, Carrie has shown us that she is also strong and brave. Not only is being bi-polar a difficult journey to go through but admitting it to the world and being very open about the various therapies and how they have affected you is such a courageous tour de force, I admire her.

Craig was such a gracious host. You could tell that he really enjoyed her body of work and he was very sensitive to her experience with her bi-polarism that she was being so bitingly funny about. He kept on saying “Carrie I am trying to be sensitive to what you have gone through and I know that you can say whatever you want but have some pity for me, I am walking a fine line” and Carrie laughed and hugged him. You could also tell that she had some very real affection for Craig as a friend and fellow comedian and former addict. It was a joy to see the two of them enjoying the interview and each other’s company.

Favorite poem

What is your favorite poem? Why?

What is interesting about the timing of this prompt is that for the first time in a long time, I was reminded of my favorite poem by one of my fellow bloggers, Vivinfrance. She is such a talented poet. ,I before blogging, rarely spent any time reading poetry but since 2010, when I started writing, I have had the privilege of encountering four wonderful poetry writers; Thelaughinghousewife, Weescoops, Vivinfrance and Kolembo. They are each different but so special and inspiring, I love reading their works.

This brings me back to my favorite poem:

Death be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe,

For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,

Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill mee.

From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,

Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,

Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.

Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,

And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,

And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then?

One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,

And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

Death Be Not Proud

by John Donne

My freshman year English teacher had us read Death be not Proud the novel, inspired by the poem, and it touched me much more deeply than anything that I had ever read before. Mind you I was only fourteen and reading a novel about a father watching his only son dying from terminal brain cancer and feeling powerless to stop it, wasn't the standard fare for my age group, but Mister Manion made the emotions and the feelings come alive for myself and the rest of my class. He especially made the poem by John Donne live and breathe and made us understand how one poem could inspire a father to write an entire book dealing with his pain, loss and admiration all at once. This was a poem that had a profound impact and I will never forget it.