Apparently, many of you have enjoyed reading my French Fridays with Dorie Posts ( http:/www.frenchfridayswithdorie.com ) as much as I have enjoyed preparing them.
Last February I was asked to join an online cooking group that was working its way through Dorie Greenspan’s award-winning cookbook. I purchased her newest blockbuster, Around My French Table, when it was first published in October 2010. To cook my way through it, joined by other foodies from around the world, was a Grand Marnier Soufflé-moment. As good as it gets.
Every Friday we “Doristas” post our assigned recipes to her website and to each of ours. Everyone has a unique take on the recipe and I urge you to check them out here.
Many of you have questioned why I don’t include the recipes. We hope you’ll love these recipes so much, you’ll want to buy the book. In my writer’s world, we call that marketing. But, here’s the SNAP. Google is your friend and many times you can find the recipes on-line. Try Epicurious.com, or do a search for columns Dorie has written or interviews she has given.
Better yet, buy the book.That’s what my friend, Reneé, did, and she is one satisfied customer. “Dorie’s book has a warmth about it, very comforting, it draws you into the book. The recipes are very palpable with wonderful instructions,” she says in her e-mail.
Now Reneé is a pro. She’s forgotten more about cooking than I’ll ever know but she loves this book. What are her favorites?”I have many favorites,” she explains. “Scallops w/ carmel orange sauce, also Salmon and potatoes in a jar, awesome. Thanxs for turning me on to her book”
Here’s an idea, add it to your Christmas or Hanukkah List.
Go Crazy. Go Walking. Go 10,000 Steps. Photo by chewthefataway.blogspot.com
SNAP # 14 – A PEDOMETER
Last week-end my family joined me to celebrate my birthday. Among the many gifts they gave me, there is one I wear everyday: a Pedometer. While my daughter insists she is sending no subliminal message with this present, she did include explicit instructions.
MOM:
1. Wear your Pedometer everyday, all day.
2. Keep a daily log of your steps in a tiny notebook. (She supplied me with the notebook and pen.)
3. Try to walk 10,000 Steps a Day.
She explained that the entire family is wearing Pedometers (True, I checked.) However, her husband, a lawyer, does not wear his Pedometer in Court.
This week I peaked at 17,000 steps (my friend, Ardyth and I walked the 4-mile Loop) and bottomed out, on Monday, at only 4500 steps.
It may not be your birthday but buy the cheapest and simplest Pedometer you can find. Make “Steps” your Mission. You’ll feel better and happier.
When Martin Sloboda was sixteen years old, he gathered, with the thousands of protesters pictured above, in SNP Square in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. It was November 17, 1989, the night before International Students Day, which, that year, commemorated the 50th anniversary of the death of Jan Opletal, a Czech medical student. During World War Two, the martyred Opleta, who was participating in a student peace march, was shot seven times by the Nazis. Following that protest, the German occupiers reacted by ransacking the dormitories, shuttering universities, executing nine students and sending over one thousand students and professors to concentration camps.
Fifty years later, Sloboda, along with other Bratislava high school and university students, organized a peaceful demonstration in the center square. If you remember, after the Nazi loss, the Russians triumphed, taking over the country and ruling it with a hammer and sickle . That there was an assembled crowd at all was a big no-no in Iron Curtain countries. The local Communist Party’s armed forces were put on alert while the students moved somewhat peacefully through the city.
With local street protests increasing in size, along with the collapse of other Warsaw Pact governments, the Czech Communist Party relinquished power and dismantled the single-party state. To the Czechs, the November 17-December 29, 1989, revolution is called the Velvet Revolution.The Slovaks prefer the name, Gentle Revolution (nežná revolúcia). Whatever your choice, within six weeks, Czechoslovakia joined other eastern and central Europe in freeing themselves from Communist domination.
What is even more astounding is three years after the revolution Czechoslovakia split peacefully into two countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Bratislava, near the Danube River, on a warm October day. Photo by Arthur Serating
Do You Remember 1989? George H.W. Bush was President. “Seinfeld: premiered on television. Slugger Pete Rose agreed to a lifetime ban from baseball. A Friday the 13th mini-crash brought the Dow tumbling to 2569.26. The Berlin Wall fell. Nintendo’s “Game Boy” was released in North America. “Breathing Lessons” by Anne Tyler won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Mikhail Gorbachev was named the Time Man of the Decade. The Last Soviet Union armored column left Kabul, ending 9 years of military occupation. We Baby Boomers were in our mid-40s. The first Global Positioning System satellites were placed into orbit. The Exxon Valdez oil spill was a disaster. “Rain Man” won the Academy Award for best film. Protests began in Tiananmen Square. The post-Cold War Period, characterized by American dominance in world affairs, began.
Today, the 37-year old Sloboda, who has a wife and two children, lives in Bratislava, belongs to Rotary, joined “Linkedin” recently and owns a Leisure, Travel & Tourism Business. He is an author, guide, photographer, lecturer, travel consultant and event coordinator, focusing on promoting Slovakia as an attractive tourist destination. In 2007, during the European Union’s 50th Anniversary in Berlin, Sloboda was selected into the European Union Panorama of ” 27 True Europeans” representing Slovakia among 27 member states.
I met this young Slovakian entrepreneur when he addressed our touring group during a day’s visit in Bratislava, the capital city. No longer a “freedom fighter”, although he had taken his share of abuse during the Soviet occupation, Sloboda, casually dressed in a polo shirt and blue jeans, spoke perfect English and was bursting with pride over his country’s progress the past 18 years since the Czech/Slovak split.
“Were we scared?”, he said, replying to a question from his audience.
Although noting that the student demonstrators in Prague were severely beaten back by riot police, he shrugged, adding, “Nah. We were kids. We were invincible.”
Reminiscing that his grandparents survived Nazism and his parents and siblings lived under Communism, he admitted, as a youth, to chafing at the restrictive lifestyle. “If things went wrong during these protests, we were putting not only ourselves but our families at risk,” he admits. “When we cut classes, our teachers knew where we were. Our parents even knew where we were. No one stopped us. I don’t think they could have stopped us”
Unwilling to dwell on the past, he’s eager to tout the virtues and strengths of Slovakia, a country that in 1997 was called by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, “the black hole in the heart of Europe.”
OUCH!
Those were fighting words to the Slovaks who, in 2004, joined the European Union and in 2009, because of their growing economic prowess, were invited to adopt the Euro currency, beating “bigger bordering brothers”, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic who still use the forint, zloty and koruna. Therefore, this tiny land-locked country of 5.5 million, the second-poorest in the Euro Zone, sits at the table with a vote as powerful as the other 16 members, including France and Germany.
When I was in Slovakia, the jury was still out on whether their government was going to approve, like the other 16 EU members, a collective EU bailout fund to guarantee the debt of their richer neighbors like Greece, Spain and Italy. Although the Slovakian parliament did eventually pass the measure, the Slovakian people are outraged.
Nicholas Kulish, an International Herald Tribune reporter, relates the following:
In a television advertisement for the popular Slovak beer, Alzty Bazant, a grinning Greek man with a paunch stands on a sunny beach, nodding his head, as the narrator says, “To want to borrow from everyone: That is Greek.” The ad then cuts to a skinny Slovak man, standing in a field, who shakes his head back and forth. “To not want to lend to anyone,” the narrator says, “That is Slovak.”
Is it just me or does much of this sound familiar?
Bronze Sewer Sculpture. Slovaks have Fun. Photo by Arthur Serating.
Judy and I chatting with Napoleon in Bratislava. He’s fine.
When traveling solo, whether domestically or internationally, it’s difficult to remember everything. Staying organized is key to a successful and productive journey. To avoid leaving important items behind and spoiling an adventure, Sofia Bartlett, a tour guide extraordinaire from Hungary, offers this suggestion.
“It’s always important, when traveling, to put your valuables in the Safe available in your hotel room,” she says. “But, it’s more important to remember to empty that Safe before leaving.
The night before you are checking out of your hotel, stick one shoe in your Safe, joining your other things, be it jewelry, cash, a passport or airline tickets. In your rush to check-out the next morning, you won’t forget to empty your Safe because you need to find your other shoe,” she explains, with a shrug.
What a great idea! I can apply the “one shoe rule” to many of life’s situations and avoid a misstep or disaster. So, if the shoe fits……………………..
To Avoid At All Costs…………… Photo by Arthur Serating
For the last month, as Lights were dimmed on this Blog, they were shining brightly elsewhere. These past thirty days, I’ve had the opportunity to visit seven European countries. Two, France and Germany, are old and familiar friends. The others, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria ( post-Communist Central Europe ), are, for me, new kids on my block.
Foreign travel is not for Sissies, as I reminded myself every day. Flying Solo, as I did, adds yet another layer to an international adventure. And, to my mind, a worthwhile one. Whether this was a “vacation”, “educational experience”, “trip-of-a-lifetime” or “challenging slog” – take your pick – it was not a trip to the beach or a walk in the park.
In my travels, I:
flew on seven airplanes;
drove my rental car over 1,000 Kilometers (621 miles);
negotiated repair of same rental car (dead battery) in French;
Rental Car Broken, Mechanic Speaks no English, I Practice my French
survived one bus/truck crash (I was a passenger in the bus);
stayed in ten different locations;
needed five different currencies;
climbed hundreds of stairs;
spent $250 American dollars on laundry service at the Warsaw Bristol Hotel (filed under “Lessons Learned”);
enjoyed the hospitality and generosity of old friends and made many new ones;
saw, as I journeyed through these countries and their histories, Mankind at its best, and, at its most vile.
Old Friends, Jean, Kent and Ardyth, plotting the route in France
New Friends, Cruising on the Danube in Budapest Photo by Arthue Serating
During my next seven Posts, I will be writing about my personal experience with each of these seven countries. Don’t expect a Travelogue. There will be no Slideshow. No List of Top Ten Sites to Visit. Just some reflections of these places as viewed through American eyes.
Acknowledging Breast Cancer Month Worldwide, Vienna Photo by Arthur Serating
Teens are Jeans are Teens, Worldwide Photo by Arthue Serating
Usually, when flying, I try not to engage in conversation with my seat mate. Since I’ve been in a plane crash, I’m a bit afraid, actually, a lot afraid. I don’t want to chat. I just tighten my seatbelt, clamp my Bose Noise-Canceling Earphones on my head, and pray to God for “calm air, no bumps.” However, on my first leg, a five-hour flight to Chicago, my headgear lost out to Mr. 5A , a professional motivational speaker. Unfortunately, I was 5B. He motivated me for the entire trip and, obviously feeling I had potential, gifted me, at the end of the journey, with his autographed book.
Here’s the thing, he earned the Best-Tip-of-the-Trip Award.
“Do you worry?” he asked me, about two hours and a few bumps into the trip.
“Look at me,” I responded. “Look at these wrinkles. Do I LOOK like I worry?”
“I knew it,” he replied happily. “I can help you with that. It’s simple.”
He went on to explain that most people worry about things that really never come to fruition. He suggested that 95% of the things we worry about actually never happen. (Personally, I question that number. Many of the things I worry about I should be worrying about.)
“So, let’s just pick a time for you to worry,” he continued. “I’d say a good time for you is Thursday from 4pm to 7pm. Every time you start to worry about something, just park it in that Thursday slot and forget it until then. By the time Thursday rolls around, you’ll have forgotten most of them anyway.”
Brilliant. I’ve been re-born as a new un-Worrying Woman. Occupied, Thursday, 4pm-7pm.
Happy Labor Day, The month of September is a good time for me to labor less and take a month off from writing these Blog Posts. I began this Blog eight months ago, not understanding the likes of Word Press, Go Daddy, perma-links nor widgets. Don, my Blog designer/technician, who sits at his desk in Sacramento, has enabled me to limp through this social media maze of mass confusion quite successfully. It still amazes me that I can “totally mess up”, while writing/posting in Las Vegas, Aspen, Flagstaff or Mammoth, send Don a slightly panicky e-mail, and, in a flash, he rights my wrongs, no matter where in the West I am located. Don is a calm man.
This is trite, I know……. but, the past eight months of writing this Blog, have been not only a love labor for me but a purposeful adventure and ongoing healing process. Aren’t we all needing to heal from something? My life seems to move along more smoothly when I can write out, in words, or cook through, with new recipes, my somethings, ponderings and ideas. That anyone would choose to read those words (yes, I know, it’s free) is very flattering.
I won’t be idle. I have a list, of course.
Just a few September suggestions to kick-start Fall 2011:
Read “One-Hundred Names for Love”, author Diane Ackerman’s new memoir.
See “The Debt”, an espionage thriller now in your local theatre. Bravo to Helen Mirren for not only acting her age but “showing” her age. Very classy, Helen.
Attack your closet with a vengeance and let a clothes-purge set you free. Then, work out a Budget and choose 5 items to enhance your Fall Wardrobe. There are all sorts of fashion clues at on-line sites and in fashion magazines. Shop carefully, try different stores, and insist that quality be your guide.
Get a new hair cut.
Re-connect with an Old Friend.
Set One Goal for the Fall. Just one. (My Goal is to do better with the life I’ve been dealt…….to accept it as “my normal.”)
When you’re at the grocery store, buy some products or items you’ve never used before. Experiment and be creative with new foods.
Learn to pick out two or three constellations in the Fall Sky. Choose a clear night, do some on-line homework, and gaze at the stars.
Worry less. Be gentle with yourself. Be kind to others. Smile more. Laugh often.
