New Beginnings

     Well, there has been so many changes in my life these days. The job I once had, is no longer. I did bemoan my situation longer than needed for a few days. I soothed myself by watching the entire 5 seasons of Dexter, eating snack size Baby Ruth's and nursing myself back to health. My oldest son caught a cold, and I not only caught it, I nurtured it into a full blown assault on my sinus cavities.

     "You're rundown", my mother says, "The stress finally got you", says my husband. Either way it was fortuitous to get sick whilst looking for a job. I am the kind of person that can't sit still for very long that needs a plan in place. Losing my job in the manner that it happened, threw my whole inner zen off. I am a planner, and I did not plan on this. I was not fired, I did not quit, the business just closed. Plain and simple. In case you haven't noticed the  economy is not so good.
 

     The hospitality industry is just that hospitality, comfy pillows, hot meals, heated pools and turn down services. But when the money dries up, so does the luxuries. Sad, but it is the truth. Small businesses in this economy, have but a sliver of chance of making a go of it. Sadder still, is the state and government agencies, don't seem to give a crap. They would sooner, tax the ever loving stuff out of you. My advice read the fine print, know who you are electing, and realize that some of what they have to offer is B.S.

     Well on a much happier note, I am again, gainfully employed. Going back to my old stomping grounds Putney, Vermont. Tis where the whole journey began. A wee 23 year old, transplanted from culinary school to Vermont. I worked for the Putney Inn for just about a coons age, funny, I picked the state 
 because it sounded intriguing. I still to this day, do not have an explanation as to how and why I set up camp in Vermont.  Now, I journey to the Putney Co op  for a exciting journey into the world of tempeh, seitan, gluten-free and organic. Jasmine, is going to have soooo much fun with me.

      I am so happy to have a cooking instrument back. After 5 weeks, I FINALLY have propane. I can cook again. No more microwaving!!. It has been a grueling 5 weeks without the ability to cook. Me of all people not being able to cook. During the hurricane, flood, loss of job, yada, yada I won a case of ravioli through Star Ravioli that came via Heidi Lee and her into the soup site. Great site, a must in the culinary world.  Tonight was Ravioli Night !!!!

Really Good Meatball Recipe 

2 packages of Catelli Ground Meatball and Meatloaf mix

1  Vidalia onion

10 cloves of garlic

2 to 2 1/2 fresh white bread crumbs

3 ozs olive oil

1 bunch fresh parsley, rinsed and chopped finely

2 tablespoons dried basil

6 eggs

1 cup heavy cream

1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese

healthy grinding of cracked black pepper (if you have a grinder, only way to go) otherwise use butcher grind.

salt to taste

In a food processor, mill the onions and garlic with the olive oil until fine. In a large bowl, add the ground meat with the onion mixture, add the eggs, heavy cream, dried basil, parsley, black pepper, salt and Parmesan and mix well. Add the bread crumbs, if the meatballs seem a little soft add some more. Roll into balls, slightly smaller than an egg. Cook on a greased cookie sheet in a 350F oven for about 45 minutes and then enjoy.

 Those who forget the pasta are condemned to reheat it.  ~Author Unknown

A Rae of Sunshine

   It has been over a week since, the "epic" flood. My readers have enjoyed, some of the great times, I have had this summer. Nothing can prepare a person for the great strength water can bring to the table.

  People that my husband and I say "Hi" to, or greet in the grocery store week after week, now have NOTHING. Businesses, homes lost down the Whetstone Brook. A young man that was supposed to be in my son's class in High School, Marble Arvidson has been missing since Saturday, August 27th. Gone, just like my garden, gone under the mud. My neighborhood is and has been mud lately.

    I or rather "we" were not prepared to handle the raw emotion a tragedy can bring. My mother kept telling me "Don't cry Paige", you need to keep it together for your boys. My husband "Be strong, don't let them pick up on your fear". I literally wandered around the morning of August 29th with a jug of water that my sister in Christ Stephanie Kendall gave me. I was numb, and stunned.

    When we arrived at our home, our yard or what was once our yard, was similar to a creek bed drying up in a drought. The mud or silt just painted a picture of being under water for a long time. The remnants of my herb garden, were the tops of my cherry tomatoes, buried under heavy mud.  My garden was gone. My spruces and goat willow missing.

    The west side of my trailer had so much debris, that it took my husband and I, a week to get it right. On Tuesday August 30th, I raked some much debris out from under our home, some of which was children's toys and blankets, that I actually questioned "Why"?

    We were more fortunate than our neighbors. My neighbor Sandy fell into a sink hole and broke her ankle in 3 places, within just a blink of an eye. I am not going to glass this over, the folks in Melrose Terrace, Glen Park and on Brookwood Street were and will qualify as devastation.

    I felt sick and terrible all at the same time. There was nothing that I could do, but to lean on the shoulders of my church. What I heard from a "very cool source"  there was a convoy or a "semi" heading it's way from Tennessee to Brattleboro, Vermont to help. This was my chance!!!

    I embraced my opportunity to help my neighborhood, whether you needed it or not. The sentiment was there. This was important to me. It distracted me to the turmoil that both my sons displayed. My youngest Kerry age 9, displayed it on August 29th, crying and trying to gather his Mom walking around with a water jug. My oldest Casey, it came out at the end of the week, in very heart wrenching sobs, that just picked open my tentative healing wounds. Nothing can prepare you for this.

     My church seven vehicles strong delivered supplies to those that were abandoned, left behind. I was so happy and strong. The best thing that came out of the storm,  was that I could be a Godmother to an amazing young woman. I pale in comparison to her resolve. I will take care of her to my dying day, as God as my witness, Kalie Rae I will honor my part.

You don't choose your family.  They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.  ~Desmond Tutu

GOODNIGHT IRENE

     Well as usual per my rain cloud somewhere out there,that hangs at the ready to ruin my pre planned plans. We are having not just a little rain incident, but for crying out loud, we are  going to experience in the next 36 hours an event that has not happened on the east coast since 1944. Wow, that is very comforting.

    What is worse is I live in a trailer park, OMG she said it, she lives in a trailer park. Yes I do, and again who cares, I am not throwing money away to a landlord. Wait? that is an idea..perhaps I should be a landlord it is a win win. But seriously our drainage is not the best and now I have to worry about my kitty, home, garden and my newly planted weeping goat willow. Yep figures!  The moment I get a hunger for gardening and actually plant a tree, a major hurricane hits the East Coast in like 100 years, figures.

     My family and I were supposed to travel to Maine and visit my parents this weekend, and between the time that I went to Walmart at 4:30 and the time that I arrived home at 5:30, it was clear that I was going nowhere.  At 9pm Thursday August 25th, they were evacuating nursing homes in New York City. That is a wee bit more than disturbing.

     So here we are in the process of buttoning down our trailer?, however we are a spits throw from the Whetstone Brook, that is even less than comforting. In years past we were evacuated at 2 plus inches of rain, this time around we are facing a minimum of 6 inches.

     This paragraph is the aftermath of the mini hell that I have been through the last 5 days. I am the blessed one.  There are those that are spit's throw from me, that have lost their homes, businesses, and everything in between, due to the awesome force of water.

     Currently, we have a young man missing since Saturday, August 27th, walking up Route 9,  the worst road to repair just in Brattleboro. The last 5 days have been intermittent tears and gratitude. But, at the end of the day it still does not erase those that have lost EVERYTHING. I have a hard time sleeping with power, that is how close the heartbreak touches. There will be no recipe here, because my world has been shaken, and I had a family during it, my husband that has broken his back the last four days to fix what has been broken , my two sons 9 and 15 who have absorbed the tragedy in their own ways. No one should have to endure the emotion that my two boys have had to shoulder. This is why I cry.  No one expected it to hit Vermont, but it did and the people that I care about Virginia, Bob, Antoinette, Beverly, Shirley, the list is endless are left behind to absorb the tragedy and move on? This is what is wrong with our community, we assume that everyone is OK, when inside ourselves we are not OK. Please help the Red Cross in Vermont with the recovery in Vermont.  There is strength in numbers.

What saves a man is to take a step.  Then another step.  It is always the same step, but you have to take it.  ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Wind, Sand and Stars, 1939, translated from French by Lewis Galantière

Here We Go Again

     So blogging themes or rather pimping my blogs bling. Can be very addicting. What would have taken ten minutes to do, takes now a minimum of three hours of fiddling, with or without deleting, and we all know how I feel about deleting. The HTML language is a unknown planet for me. HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language, already I am like what??? Basically to a novice, such as myself, it is the "code" behind every web page.

     Gaining an understanding of HTML requires me to go deep surfing.  Which ends up being a Sunday or two with good weather. But a Northeaster with a possible school closing could tip me into the favors of the HTML edge.

     These days I plan in advance the times, that I will teach myself something new. The last time I went too deep into web surfing, in the name of blogging. I caught a nasty Google Redirect Virus. Boy, I can't describe how irritated and desperate, I felt. Problem with that virus was you had to fix it with a browser besides Google. Wow, that was like an hour I wasted, trying to beat the virus from redirecting me, and then Google telling something I already knew. 

     So instead of trolling for blogging bling, I found myself trolling techie sites, to help me out of the pickle that I found myself in. I was not going to call my Dad, because he is way smarter than me. I would have to answer his serious questions : "What were you doing"?, "What sites were you on"? and my favorite "Why"?, that one stings the most.

     My main objective is to avoid Sensai Martin's (A.K.A my Dad) questions. This process took some time, because I had to read the solutions carefully, and cross reference with other sites.To get the overall best solution. I am sure that the computer monitor felt verbally abused during this process, but I don't care.

     Summer is just about over and my son's are preregistered for their annual wake up call. The planned event will kick off on Tuesday, August 30th at 0700 hours. I am taking the day off, so that I can relish in the grunts, groans and and overall apathy, that a new school year brings. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year, and good news I get my house back, squatters 0, Mom 1.

     The weather is changing again, it crept up on us. The mornings are cooler and the days are shorter. I wish I could bottle it, and sell it on EBay, I would make a fortune. When the weather gets cooler, my desire to make hearty meals comes back. In the summer, who cares. Next week the squatters must once again exercise their grey matter, and I get some semblance of order back until June 2012.

Rocking Tomato Pie

1 prebaked  9 in deep dish pie crust
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 egg white
5 or 6 vine ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and sliced
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary
1 tablespoon fresh chopped oregano
2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil
4 green onions finely sliced
1 tsp fresh lemon peel
1 clove finely minced garlic
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated smoked provolone
1/2 cup mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste

 In order to peel, seed and slice tomatoes. Remove stems and cut an x into the bottom of the tomato. In a saucepan bring water to a boil, once water is boiling add the tomatoes for about 30 seconds, or until the skins begin to blister. Remove and cool in ice water. Peel the skins, cut in half and gently squeeze the seeds out. Slice the tomatoes and place in a colander sprinkle with salt and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Brush the pie shell with 1/2 of the egg white and in a 400 degree oven par bake the pie shell. Cool and brush the shell with the remaining half of the egg white, allow to dry and then brush with the mustard. Sprinkle the pie shell with 1/4 cup of shredded cheddar and layer the shell with the tomatoes, green onions, garlic, fresh herbs, and lemon peel. Season with kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper (trust me it is worth it). In a small bowl combine the remaining cheddar, smoked provolone and mayonnaise. Top the pie with the cheese mayonnaise mixture and bake in a 350 degree oven until golden brown.

Labor Day is a glorious holiday because your child will be going back to school the next day. It would have been called Independence Day, but that name was already taken. ~ Bill Dodds





    

When Life Hands you Lemons, Make Cheesecake

     Today was a day, that should have been spent with the covers over my head. In pajamas, with a chick flick (as my Dad, so eloquently puts it), Kleenex, various bad choices in food, air-conditioning pushed to the max, and all the remotes, plus the neighbor's remotes.

     Ever have those days when, if you acted on what you were thinking there would be a lot of people with holes bore into the back of their heads, and the bumper stickers "If you can read this, then you are too close" or "Tailgater's Suck", was the only rational choice in bumper sticker flair for you.

     Yes I know, we all have wanted to flip a few hundred birds in a day. But we have to just imagine it. I read a post earlier about, when you are running late, then everyone else is taking their time. Been there, done that. I found through experience, it is just better to accept and move on. Don't nerve yourself up on your way to work, there is enough nerving up waiting for you at work, so why waste it on someone that you don't know. At the end of the day it is better to have not flipped the bird than to flip the bird.  Plus you will have a lot less enemies. So, my finger rests at the ready for today.

    Changes are in the air, not only is Summer giving into Fall, but children are going back to school. This is a very anti-climatic moment for me.  I feel bad about it more than my sons do. My sons are 6 years apart, so I have a grueling two hours of shuffling kids off to their predetermined destinations. My oldest is in High School and my youngest is going to be fourth grader.

     Windham Southeast Supervisory Union or to the locals WSESU, is a whole bunch of unnecessary initials, is a group of schools in the Southern and Eastern part of Vermont. See what I mean, just get to the point already. Change blew up WSESU's skirt, and now all the counties in Southeastern Vermont are forcibly impacted by this change. I bet you are thinking, get to the point already! In a nutshell, the high schoolers, according to some remote testing, fair better going to school an hour later. My only response to that is WTH!

     Again I have to say" What the Hell". I would rather use another response, but I am a lady. Where were the bleeding hearts for me, when I had to tuck my keyster in the seat at 8am? Are you kidding me? I did just fine, in fact I was in the honor society, it taught me discipline. The only thing this will teach students is it is OK, to hit the snooze button, because some pony-tailed scientist wrote his thesis on the effect of one additional hour of sleep on the teenaged brain. WTH!

     My family is mildly impacted by this ridiculous brain fart.  But my friends that have small ones can add the facet of buses only being funded one way to school. This makes it hard for anyone to work? What about the single mother with no car,  that desperately needs to work? I would like to ask if they included that in their study? Give me a break, we are giving the youth a reason to hit snooze and call in sick.

     The more I think about it, the more I need Pepto-Bismol. If there was anything desperately, I wanted to convey to my readers is this: FAMILY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO OUR EXISTENCE. Things and situations fall away, but family stands beside you, to fight the good fight. We can rest there, gain strength and push forward.When times get rough, it is time to eat cheesecake, in the dark, in the middle of the night, when no one else is watching, because it makes every thing better.

Traditional New York Style Cheesecake
makes one fat 9 inch cheesecake
Crust
3 2/3 cups graham crackers crumbs
3/4 cup melted butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Filling
36 ounces softened cream cheese(bring the cream cheese to room temperature)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
5 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp fresh lemon peel
2 tsp lemon juice

In a bowl combine the graham cracker crumbs, vanilla, cinnamon and sugar and mix with a whisk, add the melted butter and mix thoroughly. Prepare a 9 inch spring-form pan. By this I mean spray liberally with pan spray. Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of the pan, and somewhat up the side. Bake in a 375 oven for 10 minutes to set the crust. Set the crust aside. In a standing mixer beat the softened cream cheese. Let it mix for at least 5 minutes. Then gradually add, and I MEAN GRADUALLY add the sugar until it all is incorporated. You will notice that the cheese and sugar now has a sheen to it (this is good). Add the lemon peel. lemon juice and vanilla and mix. Now turn the mixer down to low and add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Somewhere during this process, you need to pull everything stuck at the bottom and sides of the mixer into the mix. When mixing you will see it. After all the eggs are in, turn off the mixer. Line the bottom and sides of your pan with heavy duty aluminum foil( this prevents the water from messing the crust up). Find a pan that will facilitate this spring form pan ( meaning it will fit nicely into the said pan). Pour the cream cheese mixture over the crust and place into your predetermined pan. Add some hot water, that only covers the spring form halfway. Cook in 375 degree oven for 1 hour or until the center is slightly jiggly. Pull from oven and remove from the water bath. With a sharp knife, run the blade in between the pan and the cheesecake to prevent cracking in the middle and allow to cool overnight before you remove the pan. After that, grab your remotes, Kleenex and cherry filling. My advice unplug the phone it messes with the ambiance.

There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want.  ~Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes   

  

It is Hard to Run Uphill With the Enemy

     So guess what? My small town, is kinda not so small anymore. Not in the respect that it grew triple fold overnight, but rather it has turned down a very dark path. When I first moved here 20 years ago, I thought to myself, "OK this is a lot like Alaska". Nobody locked their doors at night, and everybody knew your name. That was attractive to me, the chance to belong, finally I was steering my own ship.

     Many of my readers do not know, that I was what you called a "Military Brat". Meaning that my father was an officer in the Coast Guard and we moved a whole bunch. That is how I ended up in Alaska, from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. We hung our hats just long enough to become attached. It was exciting and painful all at the same time.

     Since then, I have rooted myself in Vermont and kept a promise to myself. To allow my children to grow up with the kids they attended kindergarten with and see it through to graduation.

     Lately, this decision has been a bitter pill to swallow. Interstate 91, has become a breeding ground for drug trafficking. Now, instead of just driving by, they are moving in.  Drug related murders are a new symptom to an already uncontrollable situation. The statement getting caught in the crossfire is a very real possibility these days.

     It just doesn't end there, our economy is going down the toilet, and unfortunately we all get a ticket to the show. In the last two weeks, we have had two very senseless murders. This makes you want to lock your door, pull your shades and being anonymous is a lot more attractive than being neighborly. Try this little experiment, smile at everyone you meet, you will be surprised at the number of people that don't smile back. What has happened to us?

     Some say it is the summer, the heat and blah, blah, blah. I kinda have to agree. Time to close the bait shop, put the tanning lotion away, and take inventory of ourselves again. When was the last time, that you sat down and played a board game with your family?  Without all the outside stimuli? For us the Gould's, a really long time. Been too long.

     We played Monopoly yesterday, and it seems that my husband, could have taught our oldest son, the fine art of total world domination. Within the first half hour, I managed to hand my entire game strategy to him, how does that happen?
But I have to say it was entertaining watching my husband, pass the torch.

Summer has flown by, the mornings are feeling a bit cooler. I am so bummed that I saw Halloween decorations at the Dollar General. While I do enjoy the seasons, gardening has become more enjoyable. I should move to Arizona. Nice weather all year long. Florida is too humid, and I don't like to sweat.
 
     Our internal clocks must be connected to some remote season detector, because everyone was in the house by 6pm last night. I was able to get the laundry done, dinner cooked, dishes cleaned, and still have time to do a little blogging, before my guilty pleasure HBO True Blood at 9pm. Can't help it I heart True Blood.

     Speaking of hearts, I should be loving what's left of the summer, just about two weeks left. I signed up for this challenge the I Heart Summer Slim-Down Challenge. I have two weeks to drop a size, by doing 6 small steps to a smaller me. This should be interesting. I might get grumpy, I am just warning you all.

Healthy Chicken Soup

2 ready roasted chickens from your local grocery store
1 stick or 1/4 cup butter
1 pound rough chopped celery
1 pound peeled, rough chopped carrots
2 medium onions rough chopped
5 cloves garlic roughly chopped
2 32 ounce containers of chicken stock
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup brown rice
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp black pepper
salt to taste
1/2 cup corn starch
1/2 cup water

Pull off all the meat from the grocery roasted chickens, keep the bones if you are completely ambitious, otherwise toss, set the meat aside. In a soup pot, melt the butter add the vegetables and sweat until translucent. Add the can of tomatoes and chicken stock, bring to a boil. Add the brown rice and simmer the soup until the brown rice is soft. When the rice is soft, combine the cornstarch and water and thicken the soup and season with the thyme, pepper and salt.

In my humble opinion, the world is in need of a good spanking.

Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.  ~Thomas à Kempis, Imitation of Christ, c.1420

 


     

A friend will do Voodoo BBQ with you, or is it Hoodoo BBQ?

     Well today went tremendously better, because one, my constitution leveled itself off, and second my friend, Ami surprised me. I thought she was in Florida, and boom there she was, standing right in front of me.

     Ever meet a person that you automatically feel comfortable with? I met her, when I began water aerobics at the Colonial Motel. Water aerobics are just about the funnest thing going. But the Motel shaved the hours of the class, and I think at one time, even postponed it. When they resumed the class, it was much later and only two days a week. The classes in the evenings are actually for those that want to do the exercises,and benefit from the program. My one complaint about water aerobics at the pool was the day class, somehow it dictated the fate of the evening class? When I went to the ONE class during the day, I could not hear the instructor, but I did hear about other people's business.

     But that is a whole separate post, made for a cold winter evening when I have no better place to go, but to blather it to the Internet super highway. It was beyond great to see Ami's grandson Ashton, I almost did not recognize him, if it was not for his eyelashes. My big bad, I gave him sugar. Sorry Ami, but I am a chef, I give food when I love you, does not matter what form it comes in.

     So today, day number five on my quest to become the next Top Model, ha, that sentence still cracks me up. I try to say it to myself, and I have a hard time not laughing. But joking aside, when I become the next Top Model, I plan to ask all people to spell their names backwards first. Then if it is not too much trouble, we will all play "Duck, Duck, Goose". The models I think will feel sorry for the goose, just saying...

     So it seems to me, that the carbohydrates must have had some psychological hold on me. Because I am talking nonsense all the time. Can this qualify as a disability?  I'm kidding, but one thing that I am not kidding about is food. Tonight I made Haitian Voodoo Sticks, only without all the Hoodoo.  When I say no "Hoodoo", I mean no spicy, spicy because we have acid reflux. It happens when you get older, you have to be aware of the Voodoo, and carry at all times the Nexium. It is the difference between a good night's sleep, and tearing your medicine cabinet apart in the middle of the night, looking for that Rolaids that "you stashed" in case of an emergency.

Haitian Hoodoo Sticks, or was it Voodoo, Gosh Who knew?

2 1/2 pounds Angus beef sirloin boneless tips
10 bamboo skewers soaked in water for at least an hour
3 tablespoons of beef bouillon granules
3 tablespoons beef stock
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1/4 cup chopped green onions
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
kosher salt to taste
3 tablespoons Tamari
4 tablespoons Sweet Chili sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil

In a bowl, dissolve the beef bouillon granules into the beef stock. Add the garlic, Tamari, chopped green onions and mix well, al
low to set for 10 minutes.Add the rest of the ingredients and mix.  Take your pre-soaked skewers and thread the boneless sirloin evenly. Pour the marinade over the skewers and marinate for 30 minutes. Grill according to preference. In my case serve with a fully-loaded salad, and maybe a few pork rinds, because of course they are 0g Net carbs.

 In the Middle Ages, they had guillotines, stretch racks, whips and cahins.  Nowadays, we have a much more effective torture device called the bathroom scale.  ~Stephen Phillips

p.s. Kalie~I ate a whole lot of jelly bellys :)