Month: March 2013

Spring: When A Young Girl’s Fancy Turns to Bugs…

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As I sat on my deck this morning, wrapped in my jacket coffee in hand, I was hoping to entice Spring to finally arrive. Although the temperatures were not as mild as I would like, the birds were chirping feverishly, a sure sign Spring is just around the corner. The trees are trying to bud but still wary, the lilac bushes are close to popping their greenery but are hesitant and the irises are starting to poke their stalks above the ground but just barely. They all are being very cautious, all except for one segment of the springtime population, the bugs.

Why is it that the bugs will make themselves known even in the most tenuous kinds of weather? I think they feel the need to assert their dominance and do so at the mere presence of a slightly warmer sun. Bees, hornets, flies, gnats – how do they just all of a sudden appear out of nowhere and right off the bat make dive bombs on human beings? Or at least on one human being, me.  I think bugs are like dogs in a way. They know if you fear or disdain them and it’s at that point they consciously decide you will be the recipient of their all-out focus. This is my fate. But I guess I should have realized that years ago when I fought the war of the cockroaches. It was a long bloody battle and one I hope I will never fight again.

The American Cockroach

The American Cockroach

One of the first buildings my husband bought in Chicago before we were married was a three flat with a coach house in the rear. It needed work but my husband’s hobby was remolding buildings. He got if for a steal at the time and he was anxious to move in. Of course we would live in the coach house and rent out the three apartments in the front building. I worked late on the day he closed on the building but he wanted to show me the coach house right away so after work my friend Jim and I met him to look at the new digs. The coach house had a ground floor entrance to the basement and a stairway to the first floor. We decided to go in the basement entrance. The light switch was in the middle of the room so Jim and I waited in darkness until my husband turned it on. The second the light went on we knew something was strange. The floor was moving. It was then we realized we were standing in the middle of a cockroach carpet. We were infested.

Up to that point, cockroaches were only something I had heard about. My mother was a neat freak, our house was always immaculate. I didn’t even know what a cockroach looked like until that very moment. And this was where we were going to live? No way. “No worries,” my husband said. “I’ll call in an exterminator and we’ll get rid of them before we move in”. Ok, that works for me. And in my naiveté I believed him. The exterminator came, the deed was done and it was finally time to move. I should have known I was in for big trouble on moving day as I warmed the pot of chili on the stove and this little brown bug with these nasty tentacles waltzed out from behind the pot. A cockroach. Ok, I thought, probably just one last die hard who escaped the hands of the exterminator. No need to worry. There would be no more.

The next day my husband left on a business trip and I was left alone in our new home with our new puppy. Time to unpack. First things first – get dressed and start organizing the kitchen. I opened the drawer to get a pair of underwear and who should be nestled in one of my panties, a cockroach. I screamed but only the dog could here me. Oh, this is not right. I thought we had gotten rid of them. I got my bearings and went to the bathroom. After relieving myself I pulled on the roll of toilet paper and who pops out, another cockroach. I was beside myself. How can I live this way until my husband gets home? The cockroaches must have decided to cut me some slack because I did not see another one until my husband got home the next day. I was still edgy since I felt we had not seen the last of them but decided to tough it out until he got home. After all, where was I going to go with the puppy. The day he got home I remember sitting in the kitchen with the puppy, jumpy and on edge, looking for any sign of those dreadful bugs.

All of a sudden I head a scratching noise and I looked down just in time to see a mouse scurry across the floor and run behind the refrigerator the puppy in hot pursuit. That’s it! I doomed to a life of dealing with abominable creatures. What did I do to deserve this? My husband got an earful the moment he walked in the door.

But take heart, the story does have a happy ending. Yes we finally got rid of the cockroaches but we had to tear down a wall in the basement to dismantle their main nest and peel away the wallpaper in the kitchen where they were building another one.  And my friend Jean, who was not afraid of cockroaches God bless her, came to the rescue by putting powder along the baseboards of our cabinets so that if any of them did survive they’d bring the poison back to where they were trying to reestablish themselves.  When we sealed off the foundation of the house we no longer had to deal with mice. In the interim, we got a cat and never saw a mouse upstairs again. All in all we eventually got rid of the pests. It did take some time and it was not fun.

So, with this auspicious introduction into the world of bugs I shouldn’t be surprised that when I sit on my deck and the bugs of Spring seek me out and try to torture me. They know I am powerless to get rid of them and their mission is to avenge the lives of their fallen compatriots. They are like elephants, they never forget. I’ve accepted the fact that I am doomed but I still want Spring to come. If I have to deal with bugs to have Spring then so be it. Let the games begin!

Mock Whipped Cream Frosting and Easter…

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Easter is such a strange holiday. I think it has an identity crisis. It doesn’t happen on the same date every year like other holidays, it can’t hold a candle to Christmas and it quite often gets lost in the shuffle of spring break. And for the life of me I can’t figure out why, but some of my most treasured memories are centered around Easter. My grandmother sitting on the back porch with windows wide open grating homemade horseradish, tears running down her face from the pungent root. The smell of vinegar as we prepared to color the Easter eggs. My grandmother bent over her sausage making machine attaching casings to it and using her breasts to push the lever that forced the sausage mixture into the casings. Peas and carrots sauteed in butter and cream and homemade bread, loaves with and without raisins.

Precious memories really but time marches on and traditions change. When my grandmother passed so did the days of homemade horseradish and sausage. The family grew older, spouses appeared on the scene and new traditions were born. And for me, the single most memorable new tradition became the making of the lamb cake. With an expanded family we now had two family dinners to attend and two lamb cakes were needed. They were lovingly made the day before, consisting of a boxed pound cake mix to construct the body and homemade mock whipped cream frosting for the lamb’s wool. The lamb was then dotted with coconut, adorned with a pink ribbon collar and placed on a beautiful platter surrounded by green Easter grass and multi-colored jelly beans. With my family it was given a place of honor on the table and was ceremoniously cut at dessert time. At my husband’s house, it was the battle of who could sneak in first and bite the head off the lamb. Initially I was appalled at the barbaric ritual but I eventually got used to the tradition and soon reveled in it.

Pound cake with mock whipped cream frosting

Pound cake with mock whipped cream frosting

And time continues to March on. Now our families are spread out all across the country and Easter for me has become a dinner for two. No need to make the lamb cake but I still wanted some of that tradition. So now, instead of a lamb we have a loaf cake but it’s till covered with that same homemade mock whipped cream frosting and dotted with coconut. Different package, same wonderful dessert treat. Whenever I post pictures of the cake, I am always asked for the recipe for the frosting. So here it is, enjoy and who knows, maybe it will become an Easter tradition in your family as well.

Mock Whipped Cream Frosting

  • Servings: two 9 inch loaf pans or one 8 inch cake pan with border
  • Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

3 Tbs. corn starch

1 cup milk

1/2 cup butter or margarine

3/4 cup shortening (preferably butter flavored)

1 cup sugar

3 tsps. vanilla

DIRECTIONS:

Combine corn starch and milk in a saucepan. Cook, stirring until thick. Remove from heat, stirring occasionally until cool. Combine butter, shortening, sugar and vanilla and beat until creamy. Add cooled mixture and beat until like whipped cream. This recipe will cover an 8″ cake with one border or two 9 x 2 loaf cakes.

Equality doesn’t necessarily mean equal…

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I’ve blogged about the fact that early on I lived a very sheltered life. I will never forget when I learned that homosexuality existed. I was a Freshman in college (yes, that’s right) and being a Theatre major I was sitting in the audience of the main stage facility watching the rehearsal of a scene that I was not in. One of the actors on stage was a super gorgeous guy, and I remember sitting next to a fellow actor, a young black man, and remarking on just how gorgeous I thought he was. He turned to me and said, “I know, we’re lovers.” I almost fell off of my chair. The idea of same sex love making had never occurred to me, ever! I couldn’t fathom the concept.

I remember going back to my dorm room and calling my mother asking her if she new that homosexuality existed. I was surprised at her matter-of-fact answer and when I asked her why she never told me, she simply said that the subject just never came up. That’s it, cased closed. So, know I knew about it. The next step was to determine how I felt about it.

Initially I was conflicted. As I mentioned earlier, the thought of same sex couples never crossed my mind. I was genuinely heterosexual there was no doubt. But how would I feel if someone judged me, persecuted me, denied me rights simply because I was heterosexual. I certainly would not like that. And what about my fellow actors? I liked them before I knew this about them, should I not like them now? The decision was easy to make. Who was I to judge anyone.

And now, so many years later, we are debating whether same sex couples can constitute a marriage and whether they should be afforded the rights and benefits that marriage creates. Equal rights under the law is the foundation of our constitution. And yet it all boils down to how human beings define equality. For years we defined it by white males. Then in 1963 with the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, we determined that we would “allow” equal rights to other races and we would “allow” equal pay for equal work to women and well as men (a right we are still struggling to achieve). Now in our infinite wisdom we feel that we have the right to define what marriage is and who we will “allow” to have marital rights and benefits. And although these decisions have been a long time coming, the mere fact is if we are truly the land of the free these rights should not have to be legislated in the first place. But we have given away the power to define equality under the law to human beings and what winds up happening is equality becomes defined by social or religious beliefs. The last time I heard, our founding fathers worked diligently to ensure the separation of church and state in running of our country.  But it is playing out in this debate big time, and it makes me wonder if we’re imposing the same bigotry on a segment of our population that we fought so hard to overcome in 1963.

Thank goodness the debate continues and it appears to have an unstoppable momentum. And like Roe v. Wade, it will probably be debated ad infinitum. But Roe v. Wade is the law, whereas same sex marriages are not. Let’s continue to fight until it’s the law so once again we can unequivocally state that our constitution truly supports equal rights under the law.

Snow Day, Crank Up The Oven…

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It’s March, it’s Spring and it’s snowing, tons… I decided not to go to work today, something that is very hard for me to do but given the conditions outside I think it’s best. So now I have a whole day of unplanned time. What’s a girl to do? I decided to go treasure hunting in my pantry to see if there was anything I could whip up. After all it’s cold and snowy outside and that only means one thing, time to crank up the oven!

I belong to a recipe share group on Facebook. One of my former students is a closet foodie as well and she invited me to join. The group shares a lot of good ideas and yesterday I came across a recipe for “Red Lobster’s Cheese Biscuits” done as a loaf. A member of the group posted a picture of it and I was intrigued, plus I happened to have all of the ingredients to make it. I think I may have eaten at Red Lobster only once in my lifetime so I was not familiar with their cheese biscuits but the snow on the ground and the chill in the air compelled me to give it the old college try.

Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised, the bread turned out beautifully. The ingredients almost make it cake-like and the sour cream gives it a nice little tang. There is only one thing I would change about it when I make it again. The recipe calls for 4 ounces of cheddar cheese cut into 1/4 inch cubes. For some reason even with a 350 degree oven the cheese did not melt. Next time I’ll used shredded cheddar instead of cubes and see if I like it better that way. The best reviews come from my husband and he gave this one a thumbs up (he agrees about the cheese) so I suggest you try it. It’s easy and it is delicious.

cheese bread

Red Lobster Cheese Biscuit Bread

  • Servings: 1 Loaf
  • Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

3 Cups Flour

1 Tbs. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

4 ounces cheddar cheese, cut into 1/4 inch cubes

1 1/4 cups milk

3/4 cup sour cream

3 Tbs. butter, melted

1 egg, slightly beaten

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan with oil. In a bowl, whisk together the first 5 ingredients. Carefully stir in the cheese cubes until covered in the flour mixture. (this will prevent the cheese from sinking to the bottom of the loaf). In a separate bowl whisk together the remaining ingredients. Fold the wet mixture into the flour and cheese mixture and stir until just combined. (do not over mix). Spread the mixture into the loaf pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes and then remove from the pan. Allow to cool for one hour before slicing and serving.

Grilled Marinated Swordfish…

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Probably the thing I dread cooking the most is fish. If you’re like me, you never know when it is done and because of that one of two things almost always happens – you undercook it or you overcook it. Undercooking fish, well lets not even go there, too scary to even think about the issues it can cause. And overcooking fish, well that’s even worse since normally you pay a pretty penny for the fish and eating dried out rubber is something no one savors.  But this week I hit the jackpot and actually cooked some swordfish steaks perfectly. What’s my trick… luck, total luck.

I find that at times cooking can be a waiting game, you wait and see how many times you can cook something before you get it right, that is if you don’t lose interest in it first. I’ve mastered the art of the juicy boneless chicken breast, the juicy and tender pork loin roast, the tender and crisp beef and pea pods stir  fry, but fish has always been the bane of my existence until just recently.

My saga began when I purchased a couple of swordfish steaks at Whole Foods (the pressure is already on because the wallet took a sizable hit on them). I began the process of pouring over recipes to determine the best way to cook them on my stove top grill pan. I found a great recipe at allrecipes.com (I will share below) for a simple marinade and started preparing the fish. The recipe was easy with clear cooking instructions. All you have to do is follow them, right? Wrong.

I have finally learned to trust my judgement when cooking and now have enough knowledge just to be dangerous. It occurred to me that the recipe was written for swordfish cooked on an outside grill with times of 5-6 minutes per side. Cooking it inside would take less time, how much to be exact I wasn’t sure. But gone are the days of just blindly following a recipe. I have arrived! After marinating them for an hour, I preheated my stove top grill and began grilling. I flipped them at 4 1/2 minutes and had fabulous grill marks. I cooked them for another 4 1/2 minutes and clear juices began to rise to the top of the steaks. Out of the pan they came and voila, perfect indoor grilled marinated swordfish steaks! The steaks were about an inch think and they were juicy, tender but not underdone.

So after many tries the formula for grilled swordfish steaks is emblazoned in my mind. Yahoo, one fish down, so many more to go. But I can tell you first hand that there is nothing as good as perfectly cooked grilled swordfish steaks. Enjoy the recipe!

Grilled Swordfish with pasta and parmesan roasted asparagus.

Grilled Swordfish with pasta and parmesan roasted asparagus.

Grilled Marinated Swordfish

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: Medium
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INGREDIENTS:

4 cloves of garlic

1/3 cup of white wine

1/4 fresh squeezed lemon juice

2 TB soy sauce

2 TB olive oil

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1 TB poultry seasoning

4 swordfish steaks

1 TB chopped fresh parsley (optional)

lemon garnish (optional

DIRECTIONS:

In a glass baking dish combine the garlic, white wine, lemon juice, soy sauce, olive oil, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Mix just to blend. Place swordfish steaks into the marinade and refrigerate for 1 hour, turning frequently.

Preheat your stove top grill pan using medium high heat.

Place swordfish in grill pan and lower heat to medium. Grill 4 1/2 – 5 minutes on each side. Garnish with parsley and lemon wedges.