I Heart Family

Adrian and I drove up to Albany by Berkeley to visit our family. Our trailblazer in life, Peter, just turned 70. Yes. An amazing age. But shouldn't he be old? He goes sailing in San Francisco bay whenever he can. He and my sister travel because they can't stop. He did finally retire from his real estate business last month. Don't you agree that a celebration was called for?

My brother Jeff and his wife, Sandi, flew up from San Diego. They are the new grandparents of the adorable Aydin. It was amazing to see them there. Family is very important, so anyone who could be there was there. In fact, Julie flew down from Eugene OR to celebrate her dad's birthday. She had to leave her boys because they had just been down the month before. Julie and I don't usually get to visit this much because she has had two little boys to watch out for. Her husband, Adam, is wonderful with the boys and tries to keep them entertained so Julie can visit, but it really does take two parents most of the time. I loved this time together.

Adrian is on a new regimen that has been building up to a full month without carbs. This month. And he was our chief chef for Saturday's dinner. Karen requested the pizza that I had raved about. Adrian is a trooper and baked 4 of them. They were good again, even though he didn't get to taste any of it. I'm not sure what he ate that night because I made the pear in chocolate dessert mentioned before. Not on Adrian's diet. Julie was going to help me peel pears, but was deep in conversation, so Tara helped me. Tara is now working as a lawyer for the immigration courts and is loving her job. She has a newish boyfriend who she adores. So LIG there. Francisco is teaching her how to cook. Cool. I thought I would get to do that when I moved up north. So I got a more experienced cook to help me.

Speaking of helping and amazing things, Chris and Gabriella were the first to arrive on Saturday. Chris is always late. I'd say "Brava, Gabriella." I don't know what magic she worked to get him there early, but I think it could have included a request to help her prepare fabulous cheese rolls. I'm not sure what all was in them, but they had to roll them into balls when they got there. Chris did a great job of rolling and the results were delicious.

Mark and Trina hosted Jeff and Sandi for the weekend. Mark hasn't had a moments rest because he's been traveling to Pittsburgh every week on a new project. You may have heard of it. They shoot objects from space with their air-to-air system. But it is wearing. He is gone Monday through late Friday. It makes a lonely house for Trina. I'm so glad they were there. I'm sure they would have loved to spend the time alone, reconnecting.

We did have one little one at the party. Our little Maggie brought her parents. She is a delight and I love to see her with Karen. They enjoy each other so much.

We went to her house the next day for a Valentine's day lunch. Natalie fixed a pink delight of a meal. She didn't know about Adrian's new diet when she was shopping and planning, but was able to regroup with ease. Karen and Peter took Julie to the airport after lunch and took Maggie home with them to spend the night. Kevin and Natalie were going on a swing dance date for Valentine's Day. But before they left, we four played a new game. It's Apples to Apples. They have the children's game to play with Maggie. I hear there is an adult version. Can't wait to play it because we had a lot of fun with the kid's version.

Good weekend. Good people. I am so glad they are my family.

It's All Relative

When I was thinking about why I haven't read more lately, all I can think is - It's All Relative. I had a surprise visit from one of our Canadian relatives, Michael. No, I won't tell you his last name because I didn't see it, just heard it and it's Polish. So, here's how it works: my Dad's older brother had 11 children; the fourth child is/was Connie; she is the mother of Michael. They live in Jasper, Alberta. If you ever consider going up to Jasper to hike or explore, you must stop at the bungalows on the Athabasca River. Adrian and I stayed there when he was 7. It is truly beautiful. And now it is very green, in the best sense. They have won several awards for this.

Michael is a true hockey fan, and minor league referee. He decided to spend the off season at the bungalows watching hockey with his referee friends. He went to San Jose and Manhattan Beach with the sole purpose of seeing a few games. While here, he called Jeff, got my number and we hung out for the day. It was just starting to rain, so I mostly let him out at places and drove around for a while. We went up to Griffith Observatory, which I haven't been to in about 30 years. But I found it! And we went around Olvera Street, Little Tokyo, Chinatown, that beautiful old train station, and Hollywood Blvd. All in the rain. We also saw three accidents on the freeways.

It was fun. We just had 27 years to catch up on. He should be getting home any minute now.

The needlepoint is progressing. Above you can see the top half just before I finished it. I've been having a heck of a time with the cat's face. I made a mistake somewhere and I will probably have to tear it apart. But I decided to work around it to see what thread I have left.

The picture below is the beginning of the bottom part. The top is done except for the outlining and adding the names of the books. They are very cat oriented.

It's been raining cats and dogs here so maybe it's appropriate to make a cat oriented needlepoint. I've realized that it is hard to listen to really dense books while doing counted cross-stitch. I started Richard Dawkin's book, The Greatest Show on Earth. It's about evolution. He uses really big words and if I'm not paying close enough attention, I get caught on the word. I'm usually thinking how unusual it is to hear the word and then start thinking about it and that one sentence more than hearing what happens next. So I've put off serious non-fiction for the immediate future.

Which leaves me Robert Crais. Audible had a sale on this book, so I snapped it up. And snapped up reading it. It's only 8 hours long. Crais reads it. Very good. The protagonist is his tough detective, Joe Pine. I really like him. He's not as goofy as Elvis Cole. Goofy is good now and then, tough is always good.

Aah, Oops

I went early to the Elf event last night and listened to the end of a book while I waited for the hour to arrive. As I was waiting, I got a call from my brother, Jeff. My overjoyed, besotted brother Jeff. Seems he is now a grandfather of this most adorable bundle, Aydin.

My dear nephew, Bill, is his father. Aren't they sweet together? Jeff says that Bill tweeted updates of the birth throughout Sunday. Aydin arrived three weeks early. That might be a worry, but he is well over 6 pounds and has all appendages in tact. He also has his priorities in tact.

His Aunt Cathie and Uncle Tyler were in town for Thanksgiving from Ohio. Three weeks later and they would have missed out on all the fun. All this came out in the joyful phone call I received from Jeff. As I sat in my car in front of my friend's house. One week early for the party that will take place next Monday.

But here's my thought on that. If I hadn't been sitting there, I'd have been in my house, fooling around with my computer. I would have gotten the news from Cathie's lovely email and blog. I would have missed the unraveling of the story from Jeff. Not all mistakes are bad things.

Now We're Cooking

Adrian and I have been cooking a lot since I've been home, but never together. This little apartment and kitchen do not lend themselves to working together. Until today. Adrian is taking food to a friend's house for dinner and he asked me to help him. My job was to rasp the orange peel off an orange, grate garlic and chop pecans. Chopping nuts is tough because they tend to fly all over the place.

I remembered that I had one of those cute little choppers advertised on late night TV. I didn't buy mine that way, but I love it like those people on the infomercials. Adrian said I was having too much fun with it, so he used it to chop mushrooms. Fun. And it was much easier to chop the garlic fine this way rather than grating it with the rasp.

I was also about to throw out this old bottle of Armagnac because the cork had rotted. I'm not sure where I got this, maybe when I was in Armagnac years ago. I somehow got the cork out and Adrian used some of it in his dish. I saved a little for me. It was like lighter fluid. I'm sure it will be good in the stuffing.

Stuffing? No, not an early turkey. Adrian does not like turkey. He has stuffed a huge pork tenderloin that he had butterflied. He made this shortly after I came home in October. He didn't have string that day and asked the butcher for some when he picked the pork up today. But I had recently seen Jacques Pepin use the method you see below. It was easier to put tin foil trusses around the roast than to figure out how to tie it with string.

Those lucky guys will be eating Adrian's pork roast and potato salad for dinner tonight. And lucky me had the fun of helping him prepare it.

About Social Security

One of the problems I had in Virginia was that I wasn't making enough money to allow me to do all the things I wanted to do. I thought that if I moved back to South Pasadena I would want to do less and could live on less money.

So far that's been true. What I've been doing most is cleaning and stowing. But then, I've only been back a week. I've also been looking for certificates: marriage, divorce and birth. One thing I had decided to do as I was packing to leave Virginia was apply for Social Security. You can do that on-line. Then a lovely lady from the Pasadena SS office called me to tell me that I could get my ex-husband's social security. That was pretty stunning. We divorced before he died. But the rule is that if you are married for 10 years, you can still get the money. Imagine!

So for all you guys who didn't understand why I didn't divorce him years earlier - - HA!

It all works very well for me. That and being home. I really enjoyed being in Virginia, like Dorothy in the Emerald City. But there really is no place like home. And my Toto cooks amazing food. Life is Good.

The Campbells Have Come

Kevin, Natalie and Margaret came to Arlington a few weeks ago. Natalie grew up around here, her parents still live in the house 4 blocks from our house. What a coincidence. They did a lot of stuff while here. We were lucky to see them at dinner at Eventide pictured above. Then we went to dinner at John and Edith's to have great ribs and talk.

Kevin came over to check out my new abode before dinner on Sunday. Eric was thrilled to have a fellow techie to show his project to. Kevin and Cindy talked about the Sony e-reader, Kevin's work project. Cindy has a lot of good ideas and needs for a portable method for reading everything. I just got to show him the gardens and my room. Not nearly as interesting. But I loved seeing him. And his charming woman folk.

While Kev was here, he and Natalie went to Baltimore and took the Wire tour that Adrian and I failed to take. He left and the three generations of women went to New York for a very girly adventure. American Girl, Little Mermaid at the theater, and art museums. When they got back from there, they did a little local travel then went to the beach. So busy. All this was done while I was working. Now all are at home. Resting.

All Our Children

All our children have been very busy lately. Here are just three of them. Adrian, above with his mother who loves him dearly, just turned 34 last Monday. He is a whole continent away, so I had to pull out a stock photo. He celebrated this weekend by watching the Lakers win the NBA finals. Thanks Kobe and crew for a perfect gift for my son.

Julie is also on the other side of the country. She spent this weekend getting her BA diploma from the University of Oregon in Eugene. Her three boys (includes Adam) and the rest of us who love her dearly could not be prouder. She took time off from getting that degree to produce and nurture Palmer and Torin. It was their turn to support and cheer her on. Guess they all did a good job.

Finally, Kate and Nate are back from their whirlwind tour of the South to visit his family before he goes off to train for Iraq or Afghanistan. With luck, he will just get to spend a year in Hawaii training and then everyone will see the light and realize that Afghanistan is unhelpable with military. Maybe if we just all stop buying cocaine for a while, things would slow down there. But on a lighter note, it's nice to see these two looking so happy, under the watchful eye of the two dour ladies at the right of this picture.

My friend, Jackson, and I were talking about books and he could hear how much I like William Manchester. This was when I was reading the second of the Churchill books and bemoaning the fact that there would be no third. Jackson was born in December, 1931. The Glory and The Dream is about America from 1932 to 1972. Jackson calls it the story of his life. I enjoyed this book as much as the other Manchester books that I read. That is, until I got to the story of MY life.

I came of age in the late '60s. My first vote was for Hubert Humphrey. I protested against Dow Chemical. Actually, I didn't protest against it, I watched the demonstration while my friends, the organizers, protested. But the FBI took lots of pictures of me and tried to show that my room mate, Elaine was up at the front of the demonstration. They all sat back somewhere, some secret headquarters so the FBI couldn't take pictures of them. And one long haired blonde must have been pretty much like any other to the Fibbies. Exciting times. Which Manchester makes sound like inconsequential froofrah wrapped around sex, drugs and rock and roll. Yea, there was all that, but it was never inconsequential. There was a lot of things that needed changing. Most importantly was that stupid, inane war started for no very good reason that was never going to end. In those days, our friends were being drafted out of college. Today we are rotating National Guards folk into another inane war. I don't wonder, like Manchester seemed to, about why WE rebelled, I wonder why more people aren't doing it now.

Or did we, by electing Obama? That battle we fought seems to be moving in a somewhat positive direction. Racial and sexual equality are heading on the right path. Not there yet, but not all the old believers have died off yet. 'Course the new far right is just as creepy. Let's just say that if you were born before 1960, this is a good book to read. Whenever your life started in those 40 years, this book will bring back a lot of memories. And it's always good to learn about what happened before. One thing I found when reading this book was a lot of what happened before is happening again, so maybe it isn't bad to learn about what just happened and what could happen again soon.

If that makes sense.

We had dinner last night at the most fabulous place, Eventide. Natalie's parents know the people who, hum, own, cook at, bartend here? I'm not sure of what the people they know do, but I do know this: This is one fantastic place. Click on the link above to see the menu. K&P, K&N, ACN, we must eat here next time youse guys are in town. Cindy's birthday is next week and they will be in Kansas for a wedding. I wanted to celebrate before they left. This could be my new favorite place, but we have promised ourselves that we will try all the highly recommended places in the area before I leave. Now, that's a promise I can keep.

Growing Things

Cindy has a wonderful eye for creating "beauty spots" all around the house. For example, there are new sliding doors in the dining area that lead out to the back porch. As you look through the sliding doors, you see this hanging basket, filled with petunias and sweet potatoes. Yes, sweet potatoes; because they have pretty dangling vines, they are perfect for this arrangement. I didn't know that. And I never would have thought about creating this pretty eye catcher.

Remember those "helicopter" maple seeds. They don't just land everywhere in the yard, they also fill up the gutters. Eric had removed the covers to the gutters for a reason I didn't understand. Today he had to climb this very long ladder to remove the new maple trees from all the gutters. It was heart stopping for those who were watching. Me. See the long drop to the ground in the picture that follows. I know, you can't see the ground, but is is one story below the porch level. I'm glad he made it down. I told him that I didn't want to delete these pictures because they were the last taken of him before his tragic fall.

Do you remember that my friend Teena was pregnant when I went to India for the last time? That was a year ago last November. Here she is with little Nihal. Too cute. He looks just like his dad. Teena tells me that her friends call him Little Shini after his dad. I'm very happy for her.

Not so happy that Clif and Lynda were asked to leave The Times last Wednesday. Yes, one more layoff. Can you cut your way to happiness? I hope those two are happy. The Times is much poorer for them leaving. I'll just keep looking at little Nihal and remember that life goes on.

Baseball X 4

Baltimore

Adrian arrived on Saturday after a very long red-eye flight. By Tuesday, we were ready for our first baseball game. This was Baltimore Orioles v The Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim. I wanted to be a good visitor and cheer on the home team, but I was very happy that the Angels won. We had gone to the wharf area and got caught up in traffic that was horrendous due to a burst water main. These cities are very old. Their infrastructure is crumbling, since some of it is 200 years old. Their streets are all one way, since they were made for walking or horses. You can imagine my joy when we drove into our hotel before the game and it was directly across the street from the stadium.

We had wonderful seats, too. This is the view from the clubhouse level. The city looks pretty from this view. Actually, it's a nice looking city. We know from The Wire that not all parts are nice. Adrian

 and I had talked about taking a Wire tour that I found on the Internet. The trial with the water main knocked that off the agenda. Most of the downtown was re-routed for the day.

This is Adrian, wondering why his silly mother wants to take his picture. I wasn't the only silly one. Adrian wanted to try a trout sandwich. I guess the kids on The Wire were always eating those things and he said he thought it would be interesting to try something that was unique to the city. I asked around and was told we could find them at Lexington Market. Seems this is a pretty famous market.

 It's sort of like the Central Market by The Times building in LA. Lots of stalls for meat and produce and lots of little food stalls. Adrian wasn't sure his trout sandwich was authentic. My crab cake was. We ate these as we drove to Philadelphia for the next game.

Philadelphia

This time our hotel was way across town from the ball park. We drove past the stadium on our way to our hotel in the historical district. AAA maps told me to go down a narrow one way street. It was fascinating. It passed the two most famous cheese steak stand in the city. We weren't hungry andevery ingredient in the sandwich is off my diet, so we drove on to the hotel. The neighborhoods were very inviting. Old friends used to live here and missed it a lot. I can see why. No broken water mains.

We watched the Nationals of D.C. beat the Phillies. Once again I was torn between being a good visitor and cheering for a team more local to where I currently live. So I cheered all good plays. The Nationals won.  That is a rare occurance.  Or it was. They seem to be doing better now. Our seats were in the seats just above first base. People were in the aisles the whole game. Our seats were on the aisle. We saw very little of the hitting and pitching part of the game. It was freezing so we left early and saw the end of the game on TV. We had much better seats there. Or, we saw more of the pitching/hitting part of the game.

Washington, D.C. 

We went to the Nationals game against Cleveland on Sunday.  See the tarp covered field above. See the hugely bored people below. They do have the best food of any ballpark. We should know because we sampled it all as we waited for them to call the game.

Adrian, Eric and Cindy watching the Atlanta game on the TV in the clubhouse.  Oh well.

Adrian and I went back for the game on Tuesday. Hum, I can't remember who they were playing. No tarp on the field meant that the running president's could race each other. You can see them nearing the finish line. Abe won, Teddy was in last place. And no wonder. Look at the commemorative tee-shirt they handed out. It was May 5. Poor Teddy. Actually, he looks a bit like my friend, John. We were too late to get one. So sad. 

This game was called in the 10th due to rain. The score was tied 10-10. The Nationals scored 3 runs on walks when the bases were loaded. A batter was hit, scoring one of those runs. Lots of excitement and very good seats. We may do this again when Adrian returns.

A Lush Life

Richard Price wrote Lush Life. For some reason, I told Karen that I didn't want to read it. Silly me. Since it was nominated for some awards, I realized that it might be good, so I did read it. He is such a good writer. This is about a crime committed in lower Manhattan. The crime is the there, but NYNY and the neighborhood are the center. Price and the reader have a good ear for the sounds of the city. And Price caresses that part of the city. Enjoyable.

Speaking of Karen, she and Peter came out to this coast to see the same Cezanne exhibit that Eric and I went to last month. It was wonderful to see them. Karen and I chat almost every day. It's strange to talk with her, face to face. I could almost feel my finger thrumbing because they should be busy when we are communicating. They liked the exhibit and had a good time driving through much of Virginia after the time in Philadelphia.

The Cardinal is the state bird of Virginia. I felt they might be too rare for me to see one. But on K&P's first night here, we saw one as we were eating dinner. It was a fun dinner anyway. This made it almost magical. The food was good, but we had so much fun after. We all wanted dessert. All of a sudden, Cindy and I were pulling chocolate, marcona almonds and cookies out of hidden places. Eric will polish off anything left open and regret it later, so we hide. Hidden treasures and lots of wine made us giddy and chatty. Good evening. Actually, that seems more like a lush life.

The Last Lion?

Wow. What a great book for generating discussion. Karen and I have been reading The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932. And we've been discussing it, except I was way behind her. Then Adrian has strong feelings about Churchill, so he and I talk about him. Of course, I really only know stuff about him up to the point where I am in the book. Adrian has read a lot more about him AND he remembers everything that he reads. So, what do you think about Churchill? Here's a few words that have come up: Victorian, duplicitous, conservative, liberal, opinionated, great speaker, bad listener, 19th century man to the end (at least the end of this book.) Okay, the word that describes him the most is fascinating. He knew he would be Prime Minister at some point. Never a doubt. I'd heard bad things about his dad in the past. Two things were bad: he was a horrible, uninterested father and he died of syphilis. But he was also a powerful speaker and member of Parliament. I thought he was just a loser. Winston spent much of this book trying to live up to his father's ideals in Parliament.

His mother, Jenny Jerome, was a piece of work. Both she and her husband were so self-centered they left their son pretty much to himself. Jenny died in her 60's, running down stairs in fashionably high heels and falling. Got gangrene in her broken ankle, it spread, she died. Now you know why I am always careful going down stairs. William Manchester wrote this book. He is always interesting. Read this book.

The Keepsake is a nice little romantic thriller. I don't know if I've ever read Tess Gerritsen before. I will read another. This is about a woman and her daughter who are running from unknown things. We find out what these things are by the end of the book. What could be more satisfying?

Karen and Peter are flying to Virginia at this moment. They will be going to Philadelphia to see the Cezanne exhibit that Eric and I went to recently. Most important to us is that they will be visiting here on Sunday and then next Saturday. Next Saturday Adrian arrives. In between, I will be working my last week in this block of work. Hurray to all that.

The Flowers That Bloom

Things are looking beautiful around here. The picture above is in our front yard. Cindy doesn't think these hyacinth are giving there all, but I think they are very pretty. And the daffodils are in drifts throughout the yard. They bow down when it rains. "The Ladies" lift up their faces when the sun shines. Lovely.

It is cherry blossom time in DC. And it is spring break for some schools. On Wednesday Eric and I drove around the tidal basin to see the trees and their blossoms. And the buses of people. And the traffic. The trees are beautiful and in full blossom. No cherries will come of all this. That's too bad.

Then we went to the arboretum. I'd read that they have cherry trees, too. They do. Not nearly as many as the tidal basin, but enough. What I thought was special was the tulip magnolias. They have so many varieties. All the trees above are of that genus. Stunning. I understand that the azaleas at the arboretum should not be missed.  Okay, I won't miss them.

Eric is standing by one of the magnolias. He would have loved to have rambled over the grounds. He wanted to dump me out of the car at the tidal basin so I could see the cherry trees close up. But my knee has been very painful lately. I would have loved to make him get out of the car so he could walk off some of that energy, but he had to be content with driving.  

A Short Stop in California

One of the reasons that I flew out of Virginia on inauguration day was because I wanted to visit with my friends at their monthly confab. I used to be a part of this group, but it is too difficult to visit when you are a continent away.  I wanted to surprise them and just show up, but I did let Tom and John know. They Gchat with me, so it was easier to let this slip. They were meeting at Phillipe's, one of my favorite dives. The waiter took this picture. Let me tell you who they are. Jackson is at the left rear. He left The Times when he was 75. Still doing well. He travels to Japan twice a year for over a month each time. Go Jackson. Next is me, then Jim, who was a supervisor of the Helpdesk with me at one time . Tom is next to him.  I saw Tom 3 times on this trip. I also went to The Times twice to visit with friends and have lunch. Russ is next. His wife, Toni, is front left. He worked for Jim, then me and left to get a job at Long Beach State. John is on the far right. Banjo man. He gave us a concert in the parking lot after dinner, using Russ's banjo. Idalia is in front with her husband Guillermo. It was great fun.

It took no time at all to get my car registered. The DMV was very efficient, my total time in the office must have been 45 minutes max. That means that the rest of the time was spent visiting. Marilyn, Peggy and I met at The Farmer's Market. While we were getting our lunch, Marilyn was telling us about this fabulous doughnut place, Bob's. She said "everything in the world revolves around Bob's" quoting a favorite TV personality. It just happens that Bob was standing next to us at the time. He was getting his lunch too.  What a sweetie. He treated us to coffee and doughnuts to go with our lunch. So, if you are ever by the Farmer's Market next to The Grove, stop by to get something from Bob.  And think about the benefit of always saying nice things.

Later in the week I ate with Peggy again. This time we had breakfast with Maggie. I call us the Margaret Derivitives. Maggie and I would have breakfast every now and then before I left for Virginia this spring. She is one of my many conservative friends. Our last talk before I left was how the conservatives were left without a dog in the current fight. Obviously that was before Sarie was selected as veep candidate. Now that was a dog.

Adrian and I drove up to Albany for the, hopefully, annual German Potato Salad festival. We stayed with Karen and Peter. Peter has been building their back deck for some time. Talk about an adventure fraught with inspectors and unforeseen issues. It is coming along very well. Karen doesn't just add support by eating her lunch while Peter slaves. In fact, this is a rare moment of quiet for her.

I got no pictures of the event at Natalie and Kevin's. Besides the salad, we had a wonderful time. Almost everyone was there, including Jeff and Sandi. That was a treat. The ham and salad dinner used to always follow Thanksgiving. This year, people celebrated Tday all over the U.S. I'm glad the Northern Cal group decided to move the second get-together of that holiday to a later date. It was a beautiful day, we had a ton of food and got to celebrate the togetherness of our family.

The next day we celebrated the togetherness of the National and American Football Leagues. That was an exciting game. Maggie came over dressed as a cheerleader, but during the very long game switched to bride. Go team.

German Potato Salad

My family loves my German potato salad and have all been given the recipe.  But they continually lose it.  I promised Kevin that I would post the recipe on my blog. I even gave it a new label so they won't lose it.  I've been making this for about 40 years.  I got the recipe from a cookbook I would probably not use anymore because none of the recipes take 5 hours and 9 pots to make.  But here it is:

Potatoes - should be russet because they soak up more stuff.  Peel, put in cold salty water and boil until you can stick a knife through them.  How many?  How many are you feeding?  How many left overs do you want? Really, I can't tell you everything.  Should you cut them before you put them into the water?  That depends on how soon you are eating.

Eggs - hard boil them.  I can't stand eggs, so I push them through a sieve until they disappear. You can also just cut them up if you don't mind seeing those egg whites in your salad.  Ewwwwww. Oh, there you go again.  How many?  If I use a full five pound bag of russets, I'll use a full dozen eggs.

Bacon - fry and break into pieces.  Everyone likes bacon, so a pound goes well with even two potatoes.

Green olives -  You know, the kind with pimentos in them.  Chop them up.  I emphasize green because one nephew tried this recipe and used black olives.  Ugh.  

Salad dressing - The original recipe called for Lawry's dry Caesar Salad dressing mix.  I like any of their dry dressings for this and have used any number of them because they don't always have that one.  I use the prescribed amount of olive oil and red wine vinegar.  Quantity depends on the number of potatoes.  Two packets is usually enough.

Final prep - Cut the cooked potatoes into wierd shapes by running a knife through the drained potatoes.  Throw in the eggs, bacon, green olives and dressing.  Fold everything together.  Try not to be too vigorous or you will have well flavored mashed potatoes.  

If it seems too dry, you can make more salad dressing or add more olive oil or water.  Just taste to make sure that it is really salty and not too vinegary.  I've added chopped green onions and that is good.  And chopped fresh flat parsely adds a nice color.  Just know that if you are making this for my nephews and brothers, you'd better make a lot.     

Happy New Year*

We had a great New Year's Eve.  Eric, Cindy and I had dinner in Georgetown and then went to the Kennedy Center to see the gentleman above, Slide Hampton, and his jazz band.  None of us had ever sat through a jazz performance before.  This was trumpets, trombones and saxaphones accompanied by a piano, a guitar and drums.  They were great.  I enjoyed it, even though my mental singer couldn't pick out a melody anywhere.  The band was accompanied by a quartet at times. Fortunately it was just "at times."  I do not like that type of singing.  It reminded me of, well, I won't say what because I'm sure to insult someone else's taste in music.  

*I just read a review of the concert.  The reviewer seemed to like New York Voices more than Cindy and I did.  First, see that picture of them above?  The two women did not look like that.  They looked like they had just rolled out of bed into ill-fitting dresses.  The cute one on the left had a huge bushy natural that she liked to whip around a lot.  She also reminded me not to wear low-backed dresses where your fat hangs over the top of the dress back.  And heaven only knows what the lady on the right was wearing.  I won't get started on her uncombed hair.  And that blended "bop-bred" harmonizing singing reminded me of too many old groups from the 50's that Mom and Dad used to watch on TV.  Yuck.  The reviewer also talked about an a capella version of I'll Be Seeing You.  Isn't a capella all alone?  What was the smaltzy piano doing?  That was the most belabored version of a sweet, simple, sad song that I have ever heard.  So.  I guess you could just say I didn't like them. But I loved the Dizzy Gillespie All Star Big Band.  

Before the music, we had dinner at Hook in Georgetown.  As the name would imply, this was all seafood.  Look at some of the starters.  They are served in flights - one raw fish prepared three ways.  It was sushi at its best.  They don't have what I ate on this internet menu.  It was tuna.  In fact, I had two kinds of tuna for dinner.  The main course was yellowfin tuna with white beans and baby bok choy.  That was seared on four sides - otherwise raw.  Heaven.  It was so much fun to be there with Eric and Cindy.  They like to try new things.  In fact, we decided to try a new restaurant every month.  I usually cook a very healthy meal to keep us fit.  That makes this especially fun.

Crudo

King Salmon smoked black olives, dill crème fraîche, shiitake mushrooms

Oysters champagne gelèe, bloody mary, dirty martini

House Cured Sardines parmigiano reggiano, capers, Smoked Salmon fennel, Boquerones sauce rouge

Mahi Mahi pickled squash, juniper cilantro oil, crispy fingerling potato

Suzuki curry salt, crispy shallots, pickled fennel

Kona Kampachi watercress, pickled red onion, chervil & lime

Horizontal Snow

Once, when I was in New York for the Book Prize announcement, I decided to stay in my hotel room for a morning.  I could see a snow storm out of my window.  The snow was blowing horizontally down the street.  This was too strange for a California Girl.  (That is, by the way, my name in Kansas.  I spent the whole time there experiencing weather I'd never seen before.  Carina said, "Come on, California Girl" as I carefully walked down a frozen driveway.)

Today Eric and I went to the Barnes and Noble to buy books with the generous gift cards given us by the Clancys.  We drove into the outdoor parking area in windy, but clear weather.  As we approached a parking place we were looking at a grey/white cloud blowing toward us.  Then we were pelted by horizontal snow.  It was blowing so hard I almost couldn't get out of the car.  I asked Eric if we could just stay in the car and let it blow past us.  But we couldn't see an end to it.  It was exhilarating walking to the store.  

I'm currently reading Outliers.  That's a very good book.  I'll write more about it when I finish in a few weeks (love paper books and the slowness of my reading.)  I bought two books - Loving Frank, about Frank Lloyd Wright and one of his wives, and Shadow Country, the winner of the National Book Prize.  I have several friends who have recommended the Wright book.  I seem to recall that the docent at Taliesin didn't like it, but she was in love with Frank herself.  This is what was written about Shadow Country when it won the prize:

Shadow Country is an epic of American rise and descent—poetic, mythic, devastating. From his Everglades trilogy Peter Matthiessen has coaxed a masterpiece, a wrenching story of familial, racial and environmental degradation stretching from the Civil War to the Great Depression. His E.J. Watson emerges through a dazzling array of voices as a singular figure in our national literature, the looming personification of manifest destiny within the dark reaches of our history.

Doesn't that sound interesting?  But I can only read one paper book at a time.  Outliers is an easy and interesting read.  Maybe it won't take that long to finish.

Christmas 2008

As I mentioned before, we drove from Virginia to Kansas for Christmas. One of the highlights was seeing the St. Louis Arch.  I'd seen it once before.  That was 43 years ago.  The arch is the same, so is the Mississippi.  The city seems to have grown up around it, though.  

Another highlight was the snow.  The

 first day in Kansas was slippery.  It 

snowed the night before Christmas. The snow was a little better than ice.  I felt like more like Peggy Fleming with the ice than I would like.  The mutt face on the right is Bailey.  She was my companion in the car.  Katie was in charge of walking her and giving her water and, well, taking care of her.  My job was to pet her.  We became fast friends.  She is now sleeping in my room.  Strange.

Life at the Clancys was great.  Mostly I cooked.  But Cindy was a cookie making storm.  She,

 Carina and Cael are making stained glass cookies.  Cael and his great-grandmother are helping.  


They also made haystacks, fudge and lemon cookies.  There were about 4 people in the house who should really have been allowed to eat any of that, but we ate a lot of them before we left.  The

dogs helped.  May I just say that using Google Chrome is not very compatible with Google's Blogspot?  I had a very cute picture of Carina up there and it kept getting deleted.  She has a lovely smile as well as a nice arm.  You will just have to believe me.

Carina and Sean have a dog named

 Henry who has long enough legs to see every new cookie added and he does not have any sense in knowing that they might be bad for him.  Why should he be different from the rest of us.  This is Henry with Caitlin and Eric.  

Sean's sister and her boyfriend swapped Christmas outfits with them. This is their elf clothes.   

I didn't get any pictures of my favorite thing to do.  Cael wanted to listen to my iPod ear buds, so I played Riki Tiki Tavi for him.  But it is hard for a 2.5 year old to just listen to a book, no pictures.  So I found the book on YouTube and we watched it about 5 times.  He loved that book.  It was more like watching a three part cartoon, but you could hear Kipling in there every now and again.  

Of course, my ear buds were out because I was listening to two books. I read The Private Patient, which was an Adam Dagliesh mystery and American Lion, an Andrew Jackson mystery.   Both were well-written.  I found PD James' writing a little more satisfying than Meacham's.  American Lion seemed a little stuck in the soap opera of the day.  I suppose that's because Jackson was stuck in that soap opera.  One of his cabinet members was with a woman before her husband died.  The women of the capital shunned her, but Jackson was a little sensitive about the topic.  His relationship with his beloved Rachel was probably consummated before her divorce.  Oh well.  We would never get all caught up in irrelevant things today, would we?  It seemed to take a lot of his energy and the focus of the book.  Then there was his unfortunate method of dealing with the Native American "issue."  I really wanted to like this guy, but many of his actions made that difficult.  Much better to like the murdered Private Patient.  She had her scar fixed at a private hospital, but did not live to see a scarless face.  I'm not spoiling anything, this is mentioned from the beginning.  She seemed to be very serene when she died, though.  Maybe if the early America of Andrew Jackson was just a little more serene.