Getting ready for A Few of My Favorite Things

Our church, First Unitarian Church of South Bend, Indiana, has a fund raiser each fall. We call it a service auction, and it is our largest single source of funds outside of pledges. 

We all try to be inventive, and I love to go through the catalog, and I always buy too much. I get a little carried away with giving too. Last fall I offered a new dinner, which I called These Are A Few of My Favorite Things. 

There are recipes I make over and over and over again, because they taste so, so, so good, and because they are not terribly time consuming to make. Well, I guess a couple of them are, but I make them so often that they are pretty easy for me now. 

So what is the menu? Starters will have to be liver pâté, recipe from a Chicago restaurant no longer there called The Bakery. When the owner Louis Szathmary retired, he closed it. I heard he didn't even try to sell, probably because he thought nobody could do it well enough. I have two of his cookbooks, autographed by him, of course, and once when we were in there, I ended up getting a tour of his kitchen. When one had dinner at the bakery, there was no choice about starters. A small plate with a dollop of this exquisite pâté was brought to each guest with some fresh sour pickle slices and a crusty slice of baguette. There was plenty of unsalted butter available too. But now I have a new favorite starter, so there will be two. This one is so simple that I will give you the recipe right now.

• Slice some garden fresh tomatoes, pretty thick. Heat some unsalted butter in a cast iron or carbon steel pan. When the butter is browned, put in the tomato slices, flip once (just to get them warm), put them on the plate and pour the browned butter (now with fresh tomato juice in it, of course) over the warm tomato slices. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper, and serve. You will definitely need a slice of baguette to mop up the juice. Elixir! 

The salad is one I have made for years. It's from an old Gourmet magazine. It's a happy marriage of Napa cabbage, crispy pancetta and Gorgonzola cheese (I like that better than the blue cheese that is called for in the recipe), topped with a warm salad dressing of Dijon mustard, white wine vinegar, garlic, vegetable oil (not olive oil) and the fat rendered from the pancetta. Yum!!

On to the main course. It's green beans, tossed with light olive oil, salt and pepper, then sautéed on a grill pan until there are some brown bits, and into the serving bowl. And of course red potatoes coarsely chopped, lightly salted and boiled until tender, drained, then back in the pot with lots of butter, where they will stay warm until ready to serve. And the piece de resistance is lemon chicken. It's a pain, and I'm not going to go into details here, except to tell you it is really lemony, and served with a lemon butter sauce. It's a little tough to make, but well worth it.

My apple pie recipe has morphed over the years. You can go to allrecipes.com and find it more than once, slightly different names, but look for Grandma Ople's apple pie. You'll find it, and they are all virtually the same. I've messed with a bit, including adding some cider vinegar to the filling, a touch of my mom's apple pie spice, and a hefty dose of vanilla. I also bake it in a cast iron skillet, which I saw done on American's Test Kitchen. Choice of New York white cheddar or homemade vanilla bean ice cream on top.

So those are a few of MY favorite things!! Hope my guests like them as well.

Health update

I am scheduled to start chemo to reduce the size of a GIST (gastro-intestinal stromal tumor) to prevent -- or minimize -- surgery that would require removing my whole stomach and part of my esophagus.

Now it is down to who pays. Cost of a month's meds is $11,000. There could be help on many fronts. First victory - Humana, after saying it wasn't covered, has given me approval for the name brand med, which is what the oncologist has ordered. However, the co-pay was $3,000 a month. After many calls, it is now down to $950 co-pay a month, still pretty hard to swallow.

Novartis, the maker of the med, may opt to provide it for $25 a month based on my income and the severity of the illness. My fingers are crossed. Definitely the best deal, but it could be up to three weeks wait, and there is a little discomfort that I'm hoping will go away if the tumor shrinks.

In the meantime, I am dealing with this by assuming that anything less than total removal of my stomach is a win. And even if the worst happens, it is not life threatening. So that's where I am.

I'm continuing on my low carb ketogenic diet. I've started drinking Essiac tea every night. My friend Bill reminded me that turmeric has cancer fighting properties. I can do that! Love curried anything, which is loaded with it. My daughter reminded me of the healing properties of frankincense. I rub it on the back of my neck in the morning, put a few drops on the personal diffuser I wear around my neck, and use it in my cute little diffuser that fits in the USB port on my computer and in my car.

Finally, the weather has broken and spring is here. I filled my seedling tray with organic seedling mix and filled 11 cells, mostly tomatoes, in each of 24 rows. There is one row of basil and four rows of flowers, mostly nasturtiums. See, even the flowers I grow have to be edible! And they have already started to germinate.

I spent time in the sun cleaning up my rose garden yesterday. I often say that making a dozen or so French baguettes twice a week are my moments of Zen, but I think flower beds are, too!

Cyn is coming over this afternoon to practice Tai Chi with me. You can find Brother Raymond teaching Tai Chi here. Cyn and I go to River Bend on Wednesday for first hand instructions.

Brother Raymond leading tai chi class

I am stopping to smell the roses, bake bread and do tai chi with friends. Who could ask for anything more?

Starting things - and finishing things

My counter top is full of projects. A week ago, I started a new batch of fermented mustard pickles. They can be jarred this Friday. Same day, I started a jar of sauerkraut. Forgot to put in juniper berries, but I will do that with my next batch. I'm eating my last quart from last year right now, so this is perfect timing, although sauerkraut just keeps tasting better with time. But even "new" kraut is better than the store bought stuff.

Fermenting kraut and mustard pickles

My two bowls of poolish are doing their thing - flour, water and a pinch of yeast. It will sit until this evening. I give it 12 hours, by which time I'll see lots of bubbles and it will smell divine! Then it will get mixed into my bread dough. The dough will do a slow rise in fridge until I take it out at 5:00 tomorrow morning to make 15 baguettes for Garden Patch Market.

By tonight, it will be spongy and full of bubbles.

I made buckwheat pancakes for breakfast this morning and realized the jar of homemade sprouted buckwheat flour is getting kind of low. So more buckwheat was soaked this morning, then will be rinsed and drained daily until I see plenty of sprouts. Then it goes into the dehydrator for a few hours and is ground into flour for my beloved buckwheat pancakes. I mix it half and half with my low carb baking mix. Sprouting the grain gets rid of a few carbs, so my diet can tolerate a plate of buckwheat pancakes once every week or two, especially after a really intense workout at the gym.

Buckwheat groats soaked and set to sprout

I make kefir for a couple of people and have a delivery tomorrow, so the milk is sitting on the counter, with kefir grains added. By tonight it should be just right. I'll bottle it and take with me to market tomorrow.

By tomorrow morning, it will be thick, creamy kefir made with A2 milk - high nutrients

One of my customers loves my sourdough rye bread (only leavening in the bread dough is yeast that I caught in my kitchen when I moved here three years ago), and the jar of sourdough came out of the fridge for a hefty feeding so that I will have enough to do a recipe for two loaves tomorrow and Friday. Yes, that's right - it takes at least two days to make my sourdough rye bread, but it's worth the wait. He will be at market Saturday to pick up his loaf, and there will be two half loaves for sale along side the French baguettes. Those two breads are at the opposite ends of the bread spectrum, let me tell you, but both mighty fine.

I can already see some bubbles forming!

Last but not least, I'm making Easy Slow Cooker Lemon Custard, a low carb recipe with liquid stevia, fresh lemon juice and rind, egg yolks and heavy cream. It is in my slow cooker in a water bath for three hours. First time I've made it. Hope it turns out well.

Organic lemons, organic egg yolks, heavy cream, a little stevia for sweetening. 

Once a month, my minister and I have dinner here together and talk over church business.  I'm president of the board this year, and we seem to accumulate a few knotty issues that need some extra attention each month. Tonight's the night. He will just have to put up with my low carb stuff - although he is bringing the appetizers, his choice. Menu: Rev. Chip's appetizers, sweet red peppers stuffed with cauli-rice smothered in meat and tomato sauce, sautéed beans with garlic and cherry tomato cream sauce, and the lemon custards for dessert.

Well, back to work. Christina will be here to work in the soap room in an hour, and I have to get the work schedule together, get labels printed, jars set out, etc. so that we make the best use of our time today. In three hours, we put out a LOT of product!

Wilma and Estelle

I was wandering the halls of the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly, a.k.a. the GA, when I heard a couple of women in a conversation with someone about where to eat in the center. I caught up with them to ask them if they had learned anything useful, and I had the privilege of meeting Wilma and Estelle - two delightful ladies who belong to a UU church right here in New Orleans. They asked if I would like to join them while they tried to find the food court.

Wilma bragged about being 81 (and if I do say so myself, she looked pretty youthful, wouldn't have guessed it). She whispered to me that Estelle is 95 but didn't want people to know, then added, "I don't know why I'm whispering. She is deaf as a post." Estelle certainly didn't look 95. Both were decked out, definitely not the typical Midwestern women I am used to being around. Jewelry, makeup, coifed hair, although how they managed the hair in this climate is beyond me! Every morning, I fix my hair in the hotel room, think it looks great, and by the time I have arrived at the restroom at the Convention Center, I all but scream when I look in the mirror! What happened?

So anyway, Estelle, Wilma and I meandered towards this hypothetical food court, which seemed ever out of reach. Estelle walked over to a table where a man sat alone. She yelled, "HELLO! HELLO! HELLO!" Then she and the gentleman started talking at the top of their lungs to one another. Wilma suggested we have a seat, because she knew this was going to take a while. She said the guy is deaf, too, so it would take them a bit to get through their conversation.

Wilma gave me her history while we waited for Estelle to return. She was originally from New York City (I detected the accent), then moved to Urbana, Illinois, home of the University of Illinois, where she and the man she married were both educated. Her husband became a college professor, had taught at Indiana University in Bloomington at one time, then DePaul University in Chicago. He retired from there and they moved to New Orleans for their golden years, a place she obviously dearly loves. Her husband passed several years ago.

Finally Estelle was done with her conversation, then brought her friend over to our table to meet both of us, and after much shouting, introductions were complete.

The three of us continued our wandering towards the food court. It became obvious that it was too long a walk for Estelle, so my new friends headed back, while I went on towards the court. We parted, said we hoped to run into one another at the Sunday morning service, and we were on our way. I do so regret that I didn't get a picture of my new friends. Maybe I will run into them today, in the midst of the 4,000 people who will be attending the service this morning. If I do, I will get a picture if they will allow - and something tells me they would LOVE to have their picture taken.

I enjoyed meeting them, and I think the feeling was mutual.

Prologue: I didn't see them Sunday morning. Since Wilma, obviously a sharp shopper, told me there would be bargains in the bookstore right before the convention closed, I went there in the hopes of running into them. But alas, they were not to be found. But I got a few good bargains. :)

NEW RECIPES - three low carb recipes for the holidays

You will not have to feel left out at the Thanksgiving table with these three treats.

Crackers:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Line a half sheet or cookie sheet with parchment or use a silpat sheet. Put six to eight piles of shredded cheese, evenly spaced, on the sheet. (You can get eight on the sheet if you form them into ovals.) I use about two tbsp. per cracker. Put in the hot oven for 7 minutes. Watch them closely so they don't burn!

Remove from oven and immediately put on cooling rack. Experiment with size, also with types of cheese. Even the brand of cheese will affect the outcome, so when you find one you really like, make note of it for future batches.

6 of these crackers provide ONLY 1 GRAM OF CARBOHYDRATE! And they will stand up to dip.

Faux mashed potatoes:

Boil a head and a half of cauliflower (or two smallish heads) roughly chopped in a large pan of water with 1-1/2 tsp. sea salt. Drain thoroughly. In fact, I put the cooked cauliflower in the sink in a colander and forget about it for an hour or more so it gets good and dry. Put the drained cauliflower back into the pot you used to boil it. Throw in half (or more) of an 8 oz. package of cream cheese. Use a stick blender to thoroughly blend, or use a food processor and do in batches. When ready to use, heat in a heavy bottom sauce pan over very low heat, watching to make sure it doesn't burn. Use like mashed potatoes.

Four ounces of cauliflower provides 3 net carbs, and the cream cheese will add about another gram to that four ounce serving.

Gravy:

The better the stock you use, the better the gravy will taste. I have even used canned broth, and it's pretty good. Start with two cups of broth or stock. Heat it and reduce it by about a fourth to enrich the flavor. Lower the heat and add about a tbsp. (or to reach the consistency you like) of xanthan gum. Beat well with a wire whisk while you increase heat and bring it back to a boil. It takes a bit before it thickens. Start on the low side with the xanthan gum, as it will thicken as it sits. Last thing, add some heavy whipping cream. I put about a half cup of cream in the amount listed here. Bring back up just to the boil and immediately remove from heat.

So now you too can have "potatoes" and gravy on Thanksgiving Day. What a deal if you can get the hostess to give you a bit of turkey stock, a pan and a whisk (bring your own stash of xanthan gum) and make your own gravy. I doubt the diners will know which is the low carb gravy!

Per 1/4 C. of gravy  - less than one carb.

Let's talk dessert:

Forget the pie. Just cross it off your list. But how about a big bowl of whipped cream with vanilla? You can add a tbsp. of sugar free vanilla pudding, or go all natural and add a tsp. of real maple syrup. If you are really, truly minimizing carbs and using little or no artificial sweeteners in your diet, that tsp. of maple syrup will add only 4 carbs and will provide an explosion of sweetness! The cream is about 3/4 grams carbs per ounce. You do the math and decide how much you want to splurge.

For a point of reference, a piece of pumpkin pie has 43.4 net carbs. Does that help you make a choice?

Oh, one last note - a slice of turkey, any size - 0 grams carbs. :)

What is Samhain?

Samhain (pronounced Sow' en) is one of the eight Sabbats on the Pagan Wheel of the Year. It is also known as All Saints Day, Dia de los Muertos, and All Souls Day. It is the Sabbat when the veil between the living and the dead is very thin, connoted by the many skeletons we see in celebrations.

This is a time when we may try to get in touch with someone who has gone before us. How do we do this? At our Unitarian Church, we celebrate the Sabbat with a silent supper, during which no one speaks. The tables are set with one place setting unused by the living, but hopefully visited by those who have passed before us. Those wishing to remember a loved one may bring a picture or some small amulet as a reminder of him or her. Some bring favorite foods that are put on the plate in the place of honor.

Our great room is lit with candles only. Once we invoke the spirits of the four directions and cast the circle, then there is silence throughout the meal. It is a solemn time, with the only noise the clink of silver on plates.

This Sunday evening, we will celebrate Samhain at 4:00 pm with a potluck dinner, empty places at each table, and a myriad of candles throughout the hall. Who will join us?

It is a sacred time. If you are interested in attending, send a comment to this post.

Pictures from the past . . .

 

NEW RECIPE - Amy's Pork Carnitas

Amy and I met at my booth at the market. I think it was when I was selling lamb. She LOVES lamb, so that's a good guess! Anyway, we both enjoy food and cooking. We've exchanged several recipes.

Amy loves to garden. She invited me over one Sunday afternoon and I got to see her lovely city garden. I was impressed by all she grew in a small space. She had loads of tomatoes and tomatillos. So what do you make at season's end? Salsa verde, of course. And she blessed me with a pint jar of it, as well as her recipe for pork carnitas.

Ready to eat

If you use wraps and rice, this is NOT low carb. However, there are some low carb options for wraps, or just make up a big plate of cauliflower rice and top it with the spicy pulled pork.

Here's Amy's recipe.

Mix a dry rub:
1 tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. ground cumin

1. Rub on pork butt or shoulder, about 4 pounds.
2. Coarsely chop one yellow onion and place in bottom of a crock pot.
3. Place pork on onion,
4. Pour jar of Amy's salsa verde over the top (or store bought if you don't know Amy!)
5. Cover and set on high for 5 to 6 hours,
6. Break pork apart and mix. Taste and add salt if needed.
7. Serve with hominy or rice (cauliflower rice for us low carbers), roll in burrito (or a coconut wrap for us low carbers), or just pour over chopped lettuce.
8. Crumble or chop Mexican cheese on top, such as Oaxaca or caso blanco, and add some avocado slices or cilantro. 

Nutritional values are for the meat and cauliflower rice only. Be sure to add in your carb count for other accompaniments if you are using them.

Per serving:

		Carbs	Fat	Protein	Calories
	TOTALS	4.23	35.04	42.66	515.69
	% of total calories	5.2%	42.8%	52.1%

Cauliflower rice:
Per serving: grate 3/4 C. cauliflower and brown lightly in 2 tsp. olive oil for 2 minutes. Add salt and red pepper flakes to taste. Put on plate and top with pulled pork from crock pot.

Carbs  Fat  Protein  Calories TOTALS 1.70  2.96 1.10 38.40 % of total 17.7%  69.4%   11.5%

This is a great fall treat. Enjoy!

C'est tout

The First Unitarian Church of South Bend holds a service auction each fall, and one of my offerings for the past two years has been Dinner on the Deck.   First one wasn't on the deck because rain kept us inside.  This year it was COLD!  But no one seemed to mind that we weren't on the deck.  The dinner is a celebration of spring, featuring wild Pacific salmon, asparagus and strawberries.  That makes a tasty meal indeed, whether inside or out.

My dinner party seemed to be enjoyed by all.  I was able to sit and eat with my guests, always a pleasure.  That is really the best part, the good company.  It was a leisurely meal, and we spent more than two hours at the table, then wandered down to the river where a few of us enjoyed cigars, a gift from Jim Curlee.

Jim was also the photographer.  As usual, I have pictures of food before the meal, and then of the mess and cleanup afterwards, but during the meal, the camera is the last thing on my mind.

Here are Jim's pics from the dinner.

The bar is open.

French cheeses, terrine, fruit and nuts and the first baguette

Spring salad, with the second baguette!

Main course, wild salmon, asparagus, fingerling potatoes

Strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert

Now for the "afterglow," evidenced in my pictures of the rubble and the cleanup.  I'm sitting in the kitchen at my computer now with another cup of coffee.  The cleanup is done, last load of dishes is in dishwater, self cleaning oven is at work.  I hand washed and dried the crystal and silver, which I find pleasurable.  All's right with the world.

Kitchen wreckage in background

Dinner's over

Crystal is shining, silver and china are already put away.

C'est tout.

Passionate Phoenix can feel it coming on . . .

A few days before my sixty-first birthday, I was croned by my dear friends.  There were about 50 women and men there, from four states, from old jobs, family, fellow drumming women, young, old - and of course the first two crones in our group - Sparkling Wisdom (who has since passed to the Summerland) and Flowering Creatix, also known as Butterfly Peggy, a woman who has a way with words.  We wanted to capture the poet in Peggy, hence her crone name Flowering Creatrix.

So there is this thing about crone names.  We don't get to pick our own; we are named by the group.  The woman being croned has to leave the circle while the group deliberates on what her name will be.

Before I left the group to their task of choosing my crone name, I read a couple of letters, one from my sister Lynn who wrote about how as a young child, I had always opened green beans to look for worms before I ate them.  She related how my mother tried to break me of it, but even if she put a cream sauce on the beans, I still broke them open in spite of the mess.  One day I found one!  Whoa!  Lynn recounted my mom saying, "Well, I'll be darned!"  It got a laugh.  And of course, having found one worm just once, the deal was sealed.

My daughter Valerie couldn't be there, but she wrote a lovely letter and said that my name should be Passionate Flower, because I am passionate about everything I do and I loved to garden.  Her suggestion was taken into consideration, but she wasn't there, so the others would have their say. My friends sent me for a walk in the woods while they took up their task.

As I left the circle, my friend Matt said, "How about Worm Seeker?"  THAT got a laugh, even from me, but fortunately the group kept working on my name while I walked until I was out of earshot.

I heard someone shouting that I should come back, that I had a new name.  I returned to the circle, stood in the middle, and learned that my crone name would be Passionate Phoenix.  They all agreed with Valerie on the Passionate part, but given that I remake my life every few years, they came up with Passionate Phoenix, which I find very appropriate!  I love my crone name, and feel comfortable calling myself Phoenix every now and then.

It is true that I have reinvented myself more than once.  Wife and mother in my early 20s, I became a single mother at 27, worked hard at whatever jobs I could get (why did I quit college?), started taking some night courses, eventually remarried, sold real estate, then fell in love with a little Victorian house and put a restaurant in it.  Next I followed my husband to Chicago where he had taken a new job.  At that point, I got serious about school and transferred my credits to the University of Illinois at Chicago and got a degree in statistics.  When my husband moved to Florida for his job, I remained in Chicago to finish my degree and decided to stay there after graduation.  The salary for my new job seemed like a lot, until I tried to live in Chicago on it.  So I started my graduate degree at the ripe old age of 55, at Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

I moved to Indiana, where the cost of living wasn't so prohibitive, and drove back to Chicago one night a week to finish my MBA at Northwestern.  At last, I was able to get a really good job as a program manager in the aerospace industry.  I was making good money.  But of course I couldn't leave well enough alone.  There were some things about the corporate world that didn't sit well with me, and when I got the opportunity to take early retirement with some pretty good benefits, I jumped at it.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I had bought a farm, designed and built a house, put up a barn to store a couple of tractors, and had moved there a couple of years before the early retirement.  On the farm full time, I got organic certification, bought a small dairy herd, put up a dairy barn and a greenhouse - yup, another reinvention of my life!  But it was hard work, and when I reached 72 and got a new knee, the work started getting to me.  I put the farm up for sale, and after a long search for a house in town, I got the farm sold and the house in town habitable at about the same time.  That was a stroke of luck!

I still have my booth at the farmers market.  I am a one-woman manufacturing department, making soap, skin care and herbals, and bottling essential oils and aroma therapy formulas.  There are no more greenhouse plants or garden produce to deal with, but I'm tired.  My 75th birthday is just around the corner and I'm beginning to feel my age.

I can feel it coming.  The Phoenix needs to rise again from the ashes.  I think I know what my next reinvention will be.  It has been gelling in my mind for several years, but I have repeatedly pushed it aside.  There were always other things to do.  But most of those take more energy than I have to expend.  I was thinking about doing cooking classes, but I did one Sunday and it took me two days to recuperate.  This other idea churning around in my mind takes less energy, and it is rearing its head more and more often.

I envision myself lying in the settling ashes of my life as it currently is, the Phoenix bowed but not dead.  My wings are moving, brushing aside those ashes and the cobwebs in my mind.  I feel it rising - another incarnation, another challenge, another reason to look with relish and purpose to the days ahead.  Soon, soon . . .

The magic of family

Today, my family was here for dinner, including my great granddaughter Natalie.  Her mom and dad, Bethany and Bob were here, and we celebrated Bob's birthday.  In addition since Bob's job meant they couldn't be with us for Christmas, we gave them some belated Christmas gifts.

And what a feast we had!  Turkey, dressing, scalloped oysters, mashed potatoes & gravy, salad, and homemade French bread.  I made an apple pie, and Joe made this fantastic cheesecake concoction surrounded by graham crackers and chocolate chip cookies. 

 

We took a long walk, since my new dog Figgy needs to be walked often.  He is still not quite housebroken.  So it was an excuse, and we enjoyed the walks.

Kate, Andrea, Figgy , Val & Tashi taking another walk

The weather was quite nice -- no sunshine but really almost balmy.  Natalie got to sit in grass for the first time, and she was a bit puzzled by it, but she got with the program.

Natalie crawling in grass for the first time

Natalie - "What is this thing?"

My son Jim (Bob's dad and Natalie's grandfather) was here, as well as Joe and Kate, Bob's siblings.  Abby, Bob's other sister, was on duty in the emergency room this weekend, so she couldn't be here.  Kate enjoyed holding Natalie.  Here are a couple of my favorite pics of the day.

Grandpa and Natalie

Aunt Kate and Natalie

 My daughter Val and her youngest daughter Sarah made it, too.  Val's husband Mike had to work, and two of her daughters were away.  Kate's special friend Andrea joined us as well.  He regaled us with stories of his experiences here in the USA.  He is from Italy and of course brings a different perspective to our conversations.

Andrea and Val in deep conversation

Anyway, just about everyone made it, and we had a lovely and very noisy time.  I'm not often blessed with their presence here; it's much easier for me to go their way than for them to come mine.  However, as the kids are growing up and on their own, we are so spread out that it really doesn't matter so much where we meet anymore.  I am hoping that they find their way here again soon.

Figgy was a great hit, and I made sure he didn't go home in the pocket of one of their coats.  He was very much in demand.  Kate and Val pretty much fought over who got to hold him all day.  Spoiled little boy he is!

Val & Figgy.  No, Val, you cannot take him home!

You can't, either, Kate.

Well, that is what happened today at the river house.  It's awfully quiet this evening, but the memory of their laughter and chatter is hanging in the air.  One more load of dishes into the dishwasher, and then we are heading to bed, a nice finish to a great day.

SPIRAL celebration of Imbolc tonight

SPIRAL is a part of  the First Unitarian Church of South Bend (click on the link for more about us), and we celebrate the eight Sabbats, sometimes at my house on the St. Joe River, and sometimes at the church.  Tonight we celebrate Imbolc here on the river, gathering at 6:00 pm.  (By the way, I just found out that it is pronounced ee' molc.  Who knew?  It took me forever to learn to say Sow' en at Samhain, now I have another one to re-learn.)

I am making chili for tonight's potluck, and have plenty of kefir .  So the chili represents fire (it's pretty hot), and the kefir represents dairy, two thing associated with Imbolc.  

I'm cleaning now.  Pets make a lot of work.  Just finished doing a complete take-apart-wash-everything bird cage cleaning. Changing the paper in the bottom tray only works so long, and then it has to be the big one.  Figgy had to do a time-out while I did it because birds have been known to escape while taking the cage apart. He was unhappy!  But it is unwise to have a loose terrier and loose parakeets in the same room.

Now down to the basement to clean up the dog and cat footprints from their door with backyard access all the way to (and including) the stair steps to the kitchen.  My maid is nowhere to be found, so off to the basement as soon as I post this.

I cleaned up the poop from the backyard yesterday, will take another swipe this afternoon so that everyone can get to the fire unscathed when we go down to the river for our Imbolc ritual.   But looking down as you walk is still advised!  

My city-born and bred second husband made fun of me for always walking with my head down.  One night after visiting my folks on their farm, he complained that someone must have poop on their shoes because it sure stunk in the car.  I and my two children, all being farm-born and bred, are pretty careful.  My daughter suggested he check his own shoes.  Hah!  There it was, a pile of it filling in the space between the heel and the foot of one of his shoes.  We laughed.  We shouldn't have.  He didn't have much of a sense of humor, especially when my daughter called him out!  But he did quit telling me to keep my eyes up when walking.  LOL  

Back to the business at hand - tonight's celebration.  Catherine and Antonette have been working on our Imbolc (ee' molc, just a little reminder) ritual.  Brigid will be called upon, and they say that she will be bringing a wishing well.  Are you going to be here to drop your wish into the wishing well?

Right now, the weather is spectacular!  Hope it holds for this evening.  Imbolc is such an important Sabbat.  For the Pagans of old, it marked the end of eating the meat that got hung at Third Harvest, Samhain, to get them through the winter.  Now, at Imbolc, there would be spring lambs and fresh milk.  Yay!

Whatever you bring to the potluck will be welcome.  It is always good.  We love to eat, and there will be a bounteous feast as usual, I'm sure.  See you tonight!

My dear Ayn Chee

Ayn Chee, my lovely little terrier, has not been feeling well for several months. It seemed to start with her stomach becoming a bit distended. Then I noticed that she was no longer cuddling with me, seemed to need to be by herself. I took her to the vet. She was put on a short course of antibiotics due to an inflamed bowel, most likely from eating something she shouldn't have in the yard.

She continued to distance herself from me, and she began to fall asleep on her feet. It was funny, but it wasn't. She would start to sway, her eyelids would get heavy, and occasionally she would fall over. Sometimes I would hear a thump in the other room, would run into the room forgetting the "problem" and there would be Ayn Chee, standing already and shaking herself, and I would know the thump was because she had hit the floor.

I did a Google search on "my dog falls asleep standing up" and got about 10,000 hits in the first few seconds. As Ina would say, "Who knew?" I thought it might be Addison's disease, and made an appointment to take her in for testing. That is an easy test, one quick blood test, and it came back negative. The vet, Dr. Hoeffler (my hero, the best vet in northern Indiana) of Parrett Animal Clinic in Plymouth, suggested doing an abdominal ultrasound. He also wanted to do an EKG while she was sedated, since there is a heart problem called syncopy that causes the blood pressure to drop, lowering oxygen, which could cause her to faint.

When I picked her up after the tests were complete, I learned that her heart was fine, but there was a mass in her liver. All tests pointed to cancer, but without a biopsy, that is just an educated guess. They also found a tumor in her brain stem. He said that tumor, malignant or not, would not explain the fainting or her withdrawal. The EKG was normal, so by means of elimination, that leaves dementia as the probable cause of the odd behavior, the way she has distanced herself from me, no longer sleeping with me but spending the night on the sofa downstairs by herself, occasionally standing halfway down the stairs staring at the wall. And she has become very sensitive to any kind of stimulation, whether it be a gentle petting on her back, a light pat on the head, or talking to her. Noise in particular bothers her. But she still loves to take her walks. I forget that there is anything wrong while she is tugging on the leash, tail wagging, smelling a little bit here, a little there, and squatting to leave her mark.

I have been doing a lot of research while waiting for a last test on her elevated calcium levels. If it was ionized calcium, it could be causing her odd behavior, including the fainting. It can be controlled in some cases with a shot of prednisone. I was so hoping! It wasn't going to make the liver problem go away, but it could make her more comfortable and give me back my cuddling pup.

Due to the holiday, the lab was a week late with the test results. While I waited, I learned that a low carb diet is helpful for cancer in dogs, just as it is with us humans. So Ayn Chee is getting a diet of Hiatt's turkey - broth and meat - in several small meals each day to prevent the vomiting that had begun. Her mood seems to be better, and I took a selfie a couple of nights ago with her actually lying against me on the sofa - first time in a month! She stayed there for more than 40 minutes, a real gift. The change in diet seems to be agreeing with her.

I have started doing healing touch on her at least twice a day. It can't hurt. At first she squirmed away, but now she lets me hold my hands over her liver and neck for a minute or two. Who knows what good it might do, even if it is just good for me.  I continued to hold out hope that there might be something that would make it all better. I think that is called denial.

Last of the tests came in for Ayn Chee today. It wasn't good news. In a nutshell, the calcium isn't an issue, and there is no treatment short of chemotherapy that will do anything for her. If I want to go that route, it would first require a biopsy to confirm that it is indeed cancer. The chemo would make her very ill. Liver cancer is one of the least treatable, and the most it might give her is a few more months. Quality of life would not be good.

And so we are just riding it out, Ayn Chee and I. Dr. Hoeffler agrees with me that she is in no pain. She wags her tail when we go for a walk, and she loves each bowl of broth and turkey. Occasionally she blesses me with some snuggling.

Given the comparative life spans of humans and our pets, I know I am going to have to face this again and again. And yet I don't regret it, not even now when the pain is so intense. I love her, I love them all, and I will deal with it when I need to. Now Ayn Chee, Tashi and I are going to take a walk to the end of the block and back. There will be much tail wagging and sniffing, and if I'm lucky there will be some cuddling before we all go to sleep.

Today is the dinner party . . .

I have already done all of the pre-work in the kitchen that I can do.  This morning it's cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.  And I'm still at it.  One of the guests is allergic to cats and has asked that I put the cat outside.  I will have to take off her magic color, which allows her to come in through the Solo door in the basement whenever she chooses.  Knowing cats, she will want to find this guy and plop down on his lap and stay there!

As for dinner, at noon I will take baguettes out of the freezer and then make the apple pie.  While the pie is in the oven, I'll get the dining room set up.  Just enough mismatched chairs to go around my mom and dad's first dining room table.  I feel so blessed to be the kid who got it!  It's a gate-leg table, and fits against the wall taking up very little space.  But it will easily seat the seven people who will be here.  In fact, last Thanksgiving it seated eleven.  Practical and beautiful, just like my parents.

So once the table is set up and the bar is laid out, I will commence with making the main course dishes.  My favorite line in the braised sauerkraut recipe is "saute the chopped bacon in butter."  Oh, yes!  Then there are sliced carrots added to the saute pan, and finally white wine.  Then herbs, fresh ground pepper and two to three cups chicken or vegetable broth.  (I made vegetable broth Thursday, throwing all of the vegetable and herb trimmings into the soup pot while I made the veal stock.)  Then add the sauerkraut and turn into a Dutch oven.  Into the oven it goes for a slow braise.  Potatoes are added about half way through.

About an hour before dinner, the rabbit gets put into the oven with a gazillion shallots.  During the last 20 minutes, it is basted with the veal stock.  Eventually it becomes a glaze on the rabbit.  The sauerkraut, some sauteed zucchini and leek toast round out the main course.

Well, back to the vacuum cleaner.  Gotta get that cat hair cleaned up!

Stock to use for today's meal

I love to cook

Bouquet garni on cookbook

Six of my friends are coming over Sunday, late afternoon, for a Harvest Moon Feast.  I have been toying with several different menu options, but as of now, this is it.  It is getting too late to change my mind again!

Bar opens at 5:00

Dinner at 6:00

French lentil salad in Boston lettuce cups

Rabbit with shallots and pickles, basted with brown stock
Sauerkraut with bacon, potatoes and white wine
Courgettes in olive oil and butter
Leek toast

Apple pie with 7-year old white Cheddar or vanilla ice cream


I am just starting the brown stock, and I went outside with a flashlight and scissors to harvest rosemary, thyme, basil and parsley.  I tied them together with some bay leaves tucked into the bundle.  The scent of the bouquet garni is about to make me faint with hunger!

Are you hungry yet?  I haven't had supper, but who wants to eat plain food when this is on the horizon?  Think I'll just have some homemade chevre on rye crisp to go with my Martini and call it a day.  .

Apples, apples, apples!

Since I follow a low carbohydrate diet, I limit my apple consumption to a slice or two when I am baking a pie for someone else.  That is not a slice of apple pie, but rather a slice of apple.  Even the tart, crisp baking apples have way too much sugar in them.  If I were to eat a whole apple, it would be akin to handing a beer to an alcoholic.  There is no stopping me once that sugar hits my brain.

Each fall, we have an apple pie contest at the market.  I submitted my favorite apple pie last year.  It looked beautiful, but I was having trouble with my oven, and it didn't taste nearly as good as it looked.  I didn't win a prize, no surprise.

This year I feel like I have to redeem myself.  I have found some workarounds to get the results I want from my oven, and I'm trying again, this time with a new recipe.  I've made this pie once to rave reviews.  But can I repeat it?

Is it a winner?

I baked the first pie with organic Gravenstein apples.  They are very hard to find.  When I got such good reviews, I went back to the store for more Gravensteins.  They were not to be had.  But lo and behold, there was a flat of organic Cox's Orange Pippins.  They are even harder to find, and some believe them to be THE best pie apple in the world.  So I bought enough for two pies, one for the contest at the market and the second one for a dinner party I am having the day following the contest.

Then I got an invitation to a dinner meeting for Purple Porch shareholders, and they are having an apple pie contest.  So I thought, why not?  I went back to the store for more Cox's Orange Pippins. But they, too, were not to be had anymore.

I started reading labels, and what did I find? Be still my heart --  Roxbury Russets!  Too good to be true, but there they were, staring up at me in all of their russeted beauty!  So I bought enough for another two pies.  Mixing the two apples in each of the pies will only make them better!

If you live around Mishawaka / South Bend, it is worth the trip to Martin's.  I'm not sure if they are carrying these antique apples at all of their stores.  Call first, or mosey on out to the Martin's just east of Capital on Lincoln Way East.  But you had better get there fast.  There are people in the "apple know" snapping up these flavorful fruits.

A local artist

On Sunday mornings at church, if I am sitting anywhere near Fern Hamlin, I watch her stitching away on her quilt squares.  She recently brought several of her quilts for display in our foyer and the worship area.  If you love to quilt or appreciate such handiwork, it is worth the trip to First Unitarian Church at 801 East Washington, in South Bend, Indiana to view her work.  Church is open for services from 10:00 am to noon every Sunday.  No need to attend the services to see the quilts, but while you are there, we'd love to have you join us for services as well.

Here are some pictures I took with my phone.  To appreciate her work, you need to see them up close and personal. Some squares are only 3/4" across, and every last one of them is hand stitched.  If you love what you see, they are for sale.  Prices range from $50 to $450, a real bargain!

Oh, one more thing - we are celebrating First Friday from 6:00 to 8:00 on October 2.  It's game night - bring your own or join in with someone else.  Or just wander around and look at these beautiful works of art.  Here is a preview.

My hand is in a few of these just to give perspective on the size of these squares - each one hand stitched!

I bought this one.  Fern is putting a sleeve in the back so that I can run a dowel through it and hang on the wall above my bed.

This is just breathtaking!  

My friend Jim bought this one.

We get to look at this one during services.  It's a good thing Rev. Chip's sermons are interesting, or we might lose focus.

The artist - Fern Hamlin.  Brava!!