cook's night off

Peter is home for a break between his band's cruise ship gigs. He heads back out soon.

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How nice after the holiday busy-ness that he and his buddy Josh - his friend since 4th grade - wanted to buy groceries and make us Mexican pizza.

While I watched with the camera, became ravenous with the smell of Mexican seasoning and also made guacamole, I was thinking, "One pizza? There are four of us, and three are guys." So I quietly resolved to fill up on chips and guacamole if I was still hungry after my portion of pizza.

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They used one of the Boboli-type thin crusts (they're already baked and packaged in the store), ground beef sauteed with taco seasoning (if you don't have packets at the store, here's a recipe for it), vegetarian refried beans (no lard), and cheese, black olives, peppers and tomatoes, all on Josh's cool holey pizza pan that lets air circulate and make the crust crispy. Bake at 400° F for just under 20 minutes.

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So we each ooohed and aaahed while we served up our 1/4 of the pizza, dolloped on the sour cream, guac and salsa, and sat down. I dug in and after 2/3 of my piece I was so stuffed I had to push my plate away and took the rest to work for lunch the next day. The boys all felt just right after one piece.

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I'd like to get one of these high tech pizza pans for "cripsy crust," as somebody in my family used to say. Josh forgot to forget it and leave it.

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Margaritas were the perfect light accompaniment.


I ran a cut lime around the lip of my glass and dipped it in coarse salt for the photo, but we all prefer them without salt since it makes the drink too rich. Besides, salt ain't so good for you. Not that we were terribly worried about that.

Here's the guacamole recipe I use if you're interested, adapted slightly from one at Cooks Illustrated. (I can't link the actual recipe because you need a subscription, sorry.) I used four avacados for four people (yes, we are pigs).

guacamole

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1 ripe avacado

1-2 tablespoons lime juice

salt to taste - remember chips are salty

1 garlic clove, crushed

chopped cilantro leaves to taste

(*cilantro in the Western Hemisphere is the same as coriander in the Eastern Hemisphere, though when you think of cilantro you tend to think of leaves and when you think of coriander you tend to think of the dried seeds)

chopped red onion, optional

chopped tomato, optional

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Mush ingredients together with a fork to your desired consistency. I like it chunky, so I mush one half and cube the other half by slicing cubes right in the avacado shell, then scoop it out. Careful not to poke your finger with the knife through the shell.

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*This used to be me: I hate cilantro.com, then I was converted through one very delicious salad dressing.

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White House Victory Garden

Over at Slow Food Nation I found this Eat the View campaign to get the Obamas to model something good for the nation: devote a portion of the White House grounds to an organic edible garden. You can vote for it here:

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for you, for me, for all of us

Can’t take my eyes off of you

I follow you, like you are a woodsy deer, and I am your tail.
There is no movement I do not feel and see, for I and my eyes are fixed on you,
the way these shiny black stones are fixed in the path’s snow.
With each leap over a log, each delicate side-step around a foot-sized hole I can’t see, with each hand stroke of a low branch held until I am clear,
I am one with your movement - protected, because you are ahead of me.
The scratches that scar your face, don’t scar mine.

As Leonard Cohen’s hunchback says, you say:
Your pain is the shadow of my wound.

Who is becoming my tail?
And what follower is bearing the shadow of my wound?

We are all. We are one.

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green-eyed lady

When my edges feel too rough.

When complications of the human exchange seem beyond my ability to maneuver.

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When I need to cool down.

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When I need to remember that circumstances are not what give, or take away, peace.

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When I need to close my eyes and feel Nature's riches.

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My elegant green-eyed goddess barncat comes to the rescue.

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She looks into my eyes.

She eliminates Time, and Distance, and Separateness.

She says, "I love you."

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And I say, "I love you too."

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young year, old dog

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I like the way 2009 is starting.

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Against my wishes, I learned a new game, Settlers of Catan. Theoretically, I think board games are good for developing young minds to think, and plan strategies. But not the ones I grew up with: Chutes and Ladders, Chinese Checkers and Sorry, which are just for fun - all that slipping and sliding and stealing. I missed developing thinking skills partly because I didn't play strategy games like Monopoly and Chess. So now, at age 52, learning a new game feels like going ice fishing with nothing but a sewing needle to chip through the ice.

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Christmas week I felt unsociable avoiding Catan, but after all, only 4 could play, and I was a 5th wheel. Too bad, so sad. But this week, my sister Ginnie is here (YAY!), Lesley and Brian are gone (BOO!), and there are exactly four of us. Rats. No more excuses. So the other night I fought the delicious temptation to go to bed and sleep at 7:30 (I'm becoming my mother) and at around 7:45 sat down at the kitchen table to learn the intricacies of Catan, feeling dull and resistant. Why do games have to be part of holiday family time?

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About a half hour into game setup and Peter's lyrical instructions, I started waking up. Suddenly it was 9pm, the game was rolling, and I was eager to build settlements and buy roads. I've lost count of how many times we've played Catan since then. I am currently fantasizing how to set up the board differently to get more ore and wool.-

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Today is January 2nd and I've learned something new that I didn't want to one little bit. It's a good way to start the year. Maybe next time Don explains how something like electricity works I'll have a crochet hook for chipping through the thick ice of my brain.

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nature's way

Driving to the cottage for my family's Christmas Saturday we crawled through fog. Soon after arriving I went out to catch how it softened the lake on my digital sensor, which is good because through the day the fog thickened, and the lake disappeared. Warming temps and melting snow made a fairyland - blind and mysterious. When I shot these photos it was raining hard, so my brother Jim loaned me his wide-brimmed hat. That worked so well I think I have to get me one, and another for Mr. Nikon.
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The next day I was leaning back in the hot tub at home, before the sun rose. The wind was gusting at 50 mph, and I was fearful that a branch might bust and fly onto my head. But none did, and I lay there watching the high treetops sway and bob in the wind.
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The weather has been consistently inconsistent all week - ice, snow, rain, sun, wind, fog, warm, cold. Such is Michigan.
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After two days back on the farm I took a morning walk in the sunny meadow.
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Twelve inches of snow had melted in some places, leaving flattened Timothy grass, goldenrod, leaves and the rest of autumn's scattered bits. The sun shone on, and through, morning hoarfrost.




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A caveman must have used a leaf to paint this cave drawing on a crusty snow canvas. I love it. What an artist!-To me it looks like a mouse that's just eaten a snake.



Oh how pristinely the deer stepped.



Fallen sumac looked like flowers blooming winter petals or stamens.



And a friendly surprise: a wee pocket gopher ran across the path. Then he crouched shivering while I snapped away inches from his curious eyes, poor creature.


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Trees, plants and animals - leaning, watching and flexing under the sky's torrents - show how to tolerate the conditions any new day brings. All that bending and reaching without breaking, like doing Pilates stretches so I don't freeze up with age. Ah, close my eyes, pump the air bicyle with my legs above my head, like a locust or birch tree letting its branches bend in the wind.

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family photo

Between eating homemade chicken and noodles and Don's Bûche de Noël (Christmas cake), playing Settlers of Catan, romping in the snow, listening to music, and watching movies ("Iron Man" for one - it's good), we managed a family pic with the help of Mr. Tripod. Peter processed this one with an old look on his Mac. We all wish you a Happy New Year! Left to right: me, Don, Peter, Lesley, and Brian.

I wore the earrings Peter picked up for me in St. John, New Brunswick that Gwen made. Aren't they beautiful? They made me feel tres elegante, like when I was a little girl playing dress-up with bobby pins clipped together and dangling from my ears, only better.

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