Since Valentine’s Day is less than three weeks away, it’s time to remember your heart not only belongs to Daddy. Use this holiday to touch base with those other important people in your life. Or, maybe it’s time to fix a broken relationship, nourish a fatigued friendship, or tip your hat of hearts to friendly and helpful neighbors. If a friend has lost a loved one this year, a spouse or parent, send a card. It’s a bumpy year for them. You’re acknowledging that with kindness and affection.
So here’s a heart-shaped SNAP:
Valentine’s Day can be more than store-purchased cards. Make a card. Bake a sweet something. Go to antique and thrift stores to purchase cheesy, cheap, glittery, heart-shaped jewelry – earrings, necklaces or bracelets. Done it, it’s fun, may repeat that! Write a “Valentine List Card” – telling a friend the 10 things you love about him/her; recalling ten Together-Memories or making a Wish List for Future Adventures. Or, participate in the Sierra Club’s Valentine venture, “ I Love Wild Places”, and support one of twelve national parks in your recipient’s name.
Be Creative. Be Filled with Love. Make someone HAPPY.
Last week you may have noticed there was no French Fridays with Dorie Post. My version of the chosen recipe, Quatre-Quarts, a delicious, one-layer, plain-and-simple cake, flopped. It was un désastre. While I have no problem embarrassing myself, and do it often, why do that to Dorie Greenspan?
Let’s just say that you cannot forget to include sugar in this recipe, then, try to add it to the batter as the pan is headed into the oven, stir frantically, and expect to get a good result. If you want to see the successes of other Dorista’s who did include the sugar, according to Greenspan’s instructions, check out:
If you’d like to pull on an apron and jump into an international, group-cooking adventure, here’s your small window of opportunity. Now is the time to register for “Tuesdays with Dorie” which kicks off February 1st. This group is going to whip, knead and sift through the recipes, methods and techniques in “Baking with Julia”, a cookbook written by Greenspan in 1996, in collaboration with and based on the memorable PBS Series hosted by Julia Child.
TUESDAYS WITH DORIE, Baking with Julia
As of today, 210 bakers have registered to join in this on-line recipe romp – a group living throughout the United States, eleven countries and six continents. Hey, Antarctica, we need you! The range: a myriad of ages, professionals and amateurs, bloggers and bakers. While channeling Paula Deen and ever conscious that “baking” does translate into extra, unwanted calories, this group will only bake twice a month. Remember, Julia was all about moderation and portion control. She never deprived herself of enjoying good food.
(UPDATE: Wednesday, January 25: Laurie and Jules, the two women monitoring “Tuesdays with Dorie” just gave me this update: ” So now we are up to 258 blogs with about 270 bakers. We’re still missing folks from nine states (DE, KS, MI, MT, NE, NM, ND, WV, and WY). Countries with bakers outside the US include Australia, Netherlands, South Africa, Taiwan, Canada, Philippines, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Germany, England, Austria, and India! Our youngest baker (that I know of) is nine. Our first recipe posts in two weeks!”
If you wish to be invited into Greenspan’s kitchen, and, lets hear it from the nine states that aren’t represented, go to: http://tuesdayswithdorie.wordpress.com/
My Love Fest with French Fridays with Dorie
Last May, when I joined FFWD, my on-line group cooking its way through Greenspan’s newest recipe book, “Around my French Table”, I held no expectations. Since I had been doing little cooking and no entertaining for the previous six to seven years and never really adjusted to eating alone, I realized my culinary skills were rusty and my cookbooks, dusty. In other words, joining a cooking group with a weekly purpose would, possibly, “force my issues”.
Whether being force-fed or spoon-fed, a little of both, I think, this nine- month instructive food feast rates 5-stars from me. After reviewing Basics 101, replenishing my ingredient staples and supplies and purchasing new pots ‘n pans, I am remembering everything I love about kitchen living.
More importantly, each week I also must plan who, what, where, when and how, this food is going to be eaten. If it’s Thursday and I’m knocking at my neighbor’s door, they know it’s food. When I invite friends to share supper, odds are, it’s a “Dorie recipe”. When I’m at Trader Joe’s looking for “weird” ingredients, they realize it’s almost Friday. To their credit and my benefit, my friends have become culinary critics. My shoulders are broad!
An unimagined bonus has been my simpatico with other Dorista’s throughout the world, most of whom write blogs. Because we cannot post until 12:00am, (PST, for me) on Friday, it’s the Australian bloggers who post first, followed by an international roll-out of the week’s recipe. Readers, you cannot imagine the cuisine creativity, innovativeness and ambition in the food blogosphere. These cooks, unlike me, are always tweaking and twisting Greenspan’s recipes into something even more delicious or nutritious or less-fattening. We all comment, suggest, help and encourage each other. Ideas. Light-bulb moments. FFWD has it all.
Food Network’s Shining Star, Paula Deen. mepunky.com
We discovered yesterday what has been rumored since 2008, that popular Food Network chef Paula Deen, the doyenne of southern-ness, has Type 2 diabetes. While I love watching Paula, am captivated by her “bouffant” personality and applaud her rags-to-riches personal tale, I’m not a foodie-fan nor follower. Her most recent cookbook, “Paula Deen’s Southern Cooking Bible,” was chosen one of the five unhealthiest cookbooks of 2011 by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Why? Read on. Elizabeth Kelly, a Knoxville, Tennessee, health writer cites five recipes (the titles hint at the finished product) that represent everything that is askew with Deen’s repertoire:
Deep-Fried Lasagna
The Krispy Kreme Burger
Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding
Deep Fried Stuffing on a Stick
Savannah Sloppy Joes
(My Cholesterol just shot up twenty points while typing this!)
Who Doesn’t Love Krispie Kremes??????
Who Doesn’t Love Krispie Kremes??????? stylezink.hubpages.com
According to the American Diabetes Association, more than 25 million Americans (8.3% of the population) are believed to have Type 2 diabetes. Throw into the mix our concerns about colon cancer, heart disease, cholesterol, Alzheimer’s and obesity, all ailments that play hell and havoc with we aging Baby Boomers. Deen, by the way, is 64 years old. Maybe her humiliating admission, tardy though it may be and laden with a tacky drug endor$ement, will make us less anxious to substitute glazed donuts for hamburger buns (her Lady’s Brunch Burger).
So, here’s the SNAP. Every week, choose ONE, just ONE healthy recipe, for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, to make and serve to those who sit at your table. Some, you will like, others you will discard, but, by the end of the year, you will have tried 52 new healthy ideas for feeding your friends, family and self.
This month I’ve made Sausage Sandwiches (Apple & Gouda Cheese, Chicken Sausage) with Roasted Veggies; Turkey Burgers with the Works, served on Whole Wheat Buns; and M. Jacques‘ Armagnac Roasted Chicken & Vegetables. All three nutritious, low-calorie recipes are “keepers” although each had to be tweaked-and-twisted to taste.
Remember, don’t be unnecessarily ambitious, the goal is one new meal a week.
And, good luck to Paula and the 25 million other Americans who are managing this disease. But, let’s not join their Ranks.
‘Meet at the Community Center at 6:45am to caravan (50-miles round trip) to the Port San Luis pier by 7:30 am. The boat does not wait for late arrivals. You must be pre-registered. Spend a day in the Pacific with Tom Edell, Brad Schram, Jon Dunn, and Curtis Marantz, searching for albatross, shearwaters, kittiwakes, alcids, jaegers, gray whales, and much more. Dress for cold and wind, including gloves! Weather conditions may cancel. Bring lunch, liquids, sunscreen, and motion sickness medication.”
I signed up for this Saturday trip. WHAT WAS I THINKING?
A Hearty Birding Group, Waiting to Board the Vessel
Birders at the Morro Bay Winter Birds Festival, Bundled Up and Ready-to-Go
Let me explain. I am attending the four-day Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival. As the festival brochure states,
“Every Martin Luther King weekend over 450 birders visit Morro Bay, California, a Globally Important Bird Area, to see, photograph, and learn more about birds. Morro Bay is located halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco on the Pacific Flyway. The area offers pristine beaches, beautiful state parks, an excellent natural history museum, panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean and, best of all, thousands of birds. Over 200 species are usually sighted during the Festival weekend.”
During the first three days, with the help of experts, I’ve spotted 100 of those species, which, incidentally, I think is worth crowing about. But, I digress…..
This is a Post about “Enthusiasm” and “Passion”. I would call myself “an enthusiastic” Birder while most of the other 449 Birders here at the Festival are “wildly passionate” about our feathered friends. I had signed up for the Pelagic trip with my friend, Bill Auberle, who is capital double-“P”, (Passionate, Passionate) to my lower-case “e”,(enthusiastic). This was his tenth time at the Festival and his tenth Pelagic trip here. That was another “What was I thinking-moment?”
First, I don’t swim and this small boat is heading into the wild blue Pacific yonder. I tried not to think about that as I prepared and prioritized for my adventure. My mantra to myself was “Stay Warm, Think Layers; Keep Healthy, Pills and Patch; Take Food.” So last Friday evening I laid out all the warm clothes I possessed. Bill had told me I could not wear my red wool hat because other Birders would think I was trying to attract hummingbirds. He handed me his “Guinness Beer” wool stocking cap. Yeah….. I made enough food to feed five and Bill gallantly offered to carry it in his budging backpack. This lightened my load enough to stuff an extra sack of Trader Joe’s caramel corn into mine.
The next morning I was up at 5am (pitch-black outside), ready to roll by 5:45am, mustered with the caravan by 6:45 am, swallowed 2 seasick pills en route and was at the dock by 7:30am. One look at my bundled birder buddies and I already knew “warmth” was going to be an issue for me. Perhaps I could barter a sandwich or two for a heavy sweater.
Our four leaders, Tom, Brad, Jon and Curtis, made introductory remarks and provided safety instructions prior to boarding. I already knew that these four ornithologists, running this trip as volunteers, were authors, educators and four of the most preeminent scholars of pelagic birds in North America. Even better, they appeared to be very nice guys.
Upon boarding, the first thing I did, after stowing my backpack, was locate a life preserver and spot the toilet. Then, I grabbed my binoculars, headed for the bow, and was good-to-go. Is this the time to mention there were no seats on this boat? Yes, there were two booths in the tiny galley area but those were soon commandeered by birding gear and people who did not take their seasickness pills one hour prior to take-off.
We stayed on the boat from 8:00am to 4:30pm, close to sundown. I had eaten all my sandwiches by 10:30am. It was the caramel corn, allowing myself 1/2 cup per hour, that saved me. I was never warm. Standing, for hours and hours, holding binoculars, is tiring. I would have killed for a nap. No one really wanted to chat, not even Bill. No! No! No!
But, what was amazing to watch and the reason I feel phenomenally privileged to have gone on this trip, was watching these four Masters at work. Thanks to them, we saw more than thirty different varieties of pelagic birds, caught a glimpse of one whale, a pod of Dall’s porpoise and a pod of dolphins.. While we saw hundreds of Rhinoceros Auklets and Common Murres and six different kinds of Gulls, it was the occasional and rare species’ sighting that was noteworthy.
Rhinoceros Auklet homepage.mac.com
Common Murre Sdakotabirds.com
For example, Jon Dunn, whose sixth edition, groundbreaking National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America was just published, would spot a “Shearwater” zooming across the horizon and call it out so most Birders could get their binoculars on it. The Birders on this boat did just that. By the time the bird got close enough so I could focus on it, they had already decided if it was a Pink-footed, Sooty or Short-tailed. I would think, ‘How could they possibly know?’ as it went whizzing overhead. Since birds do not slow down for photographic or ID-ing opportunities, one can only imagine the investment of time and committed focus that has gone into this level of expertise.
We didn’t just glimpse a Jaeger, we saw both a Pomarine and a Parasitic. The Tern was Royal, the Loons, Red-throated, Pacific, and Common. But I’ve never experienced four men so exuberant, thrilled and kid-like joyful, as when Curtis picked out, pursued and positively identified the Manx Shearwater, a rare visitor here and seabird of the Atlantic. It was definitely party time on the Birder Boat. And, to his credit and earning my everlasting respect and admiration, Jon went to every participant, making sure they had viewed the Manx. One woman, particularly shy and a novice, like me, had not. We spent another one-half hour finding the bird and letting her watch it. No one begrudged the delay.http://www.flickr.com/photos/billbouton/6701796007/
Manx Shearwater rspd.com.uk
While I may never rise to the level of Passion of the Birders I am meeting here, I certainly can admire them and encourage their ardor. As Patrick Merrell wrote,
“Birds are one of the most successful animals the world has ever seen. They have survived for over 100 million years, singularly mastering without aid the land, sea, and air. They live in almost every environment the planet has to offer, from harsh Antarctic expanses to barren deserts, from bustling cities to remote and unforgiving seas.”
Today, many species are in peril and even facing extinction. It’s only because of people like I am meeting here that our feathered friends will survive to fly another day.
As will I. In spite of the Bobcat who crossed my path, leaping over my hiking shoes, yesterday, as I was alone and finishing up a Birding Field Trip at Montana de Oro State Park! A story for another day.
Dorie calls this dish, “une petite merveille” and, that’s just what this chicken roasted in brandy is, a little marvel.
Just out of the Oven, Roasted Chicken with Potatoes, Carrots, and Onions
“It’s one of those remarkable dishes that is comforting, yet more sophisticated than you’d expect (or really have any right to demand, given the basic ingredients and even more basic cooking method),” she says.
Translated, that means four major ingredients, one whopping big pot (I used my Le Creuset 9 1/2 enameled cast-iron Dutch Oven), 1/2 hour of preparation and one hour in a 450-degree oven. In fact, you can find the recipe at the link below:
Remove the Chicken from the Pot (Cover with a Foil Tent) while thickening the sauce with the vegetables.
Bowl of Potatoes, Carrots and Onions, ready for the table
I made this dinner-for-two on a particularly busy day and was able to leave the house, worry-free, after I stuck it in the oven. Although dinner was delayed, I just shut off the oven, without removing the casserole pot. That kept the chicken warm, moist and tasty.
Enhanced by brandy, and very little else spice-wise, this was one tasty and nutritious dish which we both enjoyed. Although two of us finished this quite handily, served with a salad and crusty bread, this would serve 4 nicely.
