SUMMER STEW

There’s no getting away from the fact that I cook a lot, in part because I like to. There is a difference however in being creative in the kitchen, deriving joy from coming close to replicating the Holiday Snack Bar Fluff Cake from Long Beach Island’s famed snack bar or in watching the clock tick the afternoon away, knowing at 6:00 pm the expectation is that I’ll have dinner on the table, regardless of my desire to cook or even to eat.

Some dinners are so routine that even on hot summer days when I’m feeling half-baked I can cook them on autopilot. Those meals involve the grill, not a simmering pot on the stove or another hot spot. The simmering can occur when an outside source, adds a most volatile ingredient, anger. The appearance of anger, an emotion that works as a toxic spice is not good for digestion. The oxymoron here is that anger is an emotion that REQUIRES feeding. It takes quite a bit of energy and self will to create this constant stew. It is easy to deceive oneself into thinking that something that erupts so suddenly can actually be what it is. Usually it’s simmering right along until the pot gets stirred.

I collect beautiful wooden spoons and my favorite is called a double love spoon that my mother brought me from Wales. The beauty of the carved artwork intended to feed newlyweds in love can’t alter the blend of ingredients once anger is infused in a simmering pot, nor can I beat it out with my wire whisk or favorite French rolling pin. I suppose that technique is in a cooking class I’ve yet to master.

The paradox is that the feeding of anger is as addictive as eating chocolate. It doesn’t taste as good though and I much prefer chocolate, especially if it’s from France.

Tonight’s menu will be ‘Take Out’. I am still on a mini vacation that has turned into a staycation at my brother’s house on Long Beach Island, whisking away any desire to be in a hot summer kitchen, happy to have a break from summer stews and looking to carve out a new kitchen view.

As I said, I like to cook, so I’m always on the outlook for a new recipe, and it’s all the better if it includes chocolate and doesn't simmer.

Recipe for Happiness

Well not exactly…….. but it may make you momentarily smile. I never wanted to blog about food. There are a million great food blogs out there and I can’t hold a candle to most of them. I have a few recipes that I can say are really good but I think cooking is an art. On the days when I’m feeling inspired by ingredients or a new recipe, I find my kitchen to be a happy place and whatever I’m making reflects that spirit. I remember reading once that Carl Jung used to speak to his wooden spoon and ingredients when cooking. He was actually turned on to his own energy and to the energy around him, just as successful gardeners know that Classical music helps plants to grow. Anyway I digress. Today was the last day of Ramsey’s Farmer’s Market until next spring and I will sorely miss it. I prefer to buy in small quantities and eat seasonally. My favorite vendor, Blooming Hill Organic Farm may begin to home deliver and that will surely be a recipe for success! Guy Jones of Blooming Hill Farm supplies many restaurants in NYC with his produce. When I was trying to organize the catering for the upcoming 30^th Annual John Lennon Tribute at The Beacon, I inquired of him to see if he could recommend a caterer. He recommended two and offered to donate the veggies as well. Each year the tribute benefits a charity so his generosity and that of Fancy Girl Table Catering is a wonderful help to Playing for Change Foundation. Backstage there will be at least 75 artists, management and crew to feed. It is still coming together but I am confident it will and have no fear ;) For those of you who do fear cooking and would like a foolproof recipe that is easy and wonderful, go to your kitchen and try this. After all, John Lennon spent 5 years being house husband occasionally cooking for Sean and Yoko, and maybe he once made~

Rice Pudding

4 cups of milk

½ cup of rice

½ cup of sugar

¾ tsp of salt

Stir, (with a wooden spoon you are friendly with) over medium/high heat, until sugar is melted. Lower heat, cover and cook for 1 hour. Every 15 minutes stir.

Mix in a small bowl 2 egg yolks, 1 cup of light crème and ½ teaspoon vanilla. After rice mixture has cooked for 1 hour add this mixture, whisking it in and continue to cook for 7-9 minutes more. Pour into a dish and sprinkle with nutmeg and cinnamon.

Dressing Rooms, Antique Genes and Reflection

I went shopping last week needing jeans, wanting a jacket and looking for boots. I was really pleased to find a couple pairs of jeans I really liked. That doesn’t always happen. All bets are off when a woman walks through the threshold of a dressing room. The smoke and mirrors can cast a poor reflection or a good one that actually tricks you into believing you look good. Ever notice how the word LIE is placed center stage in the word BELIEVE? The right pair of jeans can be as challenging as choosing the right bathing suit or the perfect dress. But I was lucky and Lucky Brand works well for me. I came home from shopping, made rice pudding and called my Dad to tell him to come by and pick it up. He was a little bothered about an argument he had with his Uncle, which I actually thought was comical. I feel I have a picture to paint here. My Great Uncle Ralph lives on 8 acres in Oakland in an area called Ramapo Park. It is off Skyline Drive, located by a mile marker, down a single lane road. There are six other houses that share the Park with my Uncle’s. It’s adjacent to state land and a reservoir. The house is perched off a cliff in a very private location that sits in juxtaposition of my Uncle, who is very outgoing, interesting and loving. He is 100 years old and has lived there 50 years. Each week he entertains, cooking for a group of friends that come by to play cards, my Dad arrives once or twice a week to eat lunch and shoot the breeze and Uncle Ralph’s girlfriend stays several days a week, unless it’s summer. Until he turned 100, Uncle Ralph spent summers at his house on Cape Cod. This year he gave the house away to my Aunt Jodie’s family. Well you get the picture. He is very special and he follows the footsteps of his sister Marie and his mother who both lived till they were close to his age. My father is 86, has vision problems and walks with a slight limp from an injury to his foot. The argument was because my 100-year-old Uncle wanted my 86-year-old father to go in the basement (which is outside down steep stone steps like Aunt Em’s Farm in Kansas) and change the water in the furnace. My Dad said not until November because then the snakes will be hibernating. My Uncle terse response was “What are you afraid of, they’re only black snakes?” My Dad said to me he can’t see well and moves too slow to be in the basement (snake den) changing water on any furnace. Apparently Uncle Ralph has seen the shed skin in the basement and his 89-year-old girlfriend saw a snake on the stairs in the house going to the second floor. My Great Uncle is unfazed. He was also unfazed two summers ago when he was driving up to Cape Cod and was pulled over for speeding. That was the only other argument I’ve heard my Dad have with him. My Dad now prefers to drive but Uncle Ralph likes to as well. Maybe because my Dad has limited vision in his left eye………

Anyway, later that night as I put my Lucky jeans away I couldn’t help but think how Lucky I am to have some great family gene’s too. There’s no smoke and mirrors here and it is clearly a part of my own reflection. My Uncle is amazing. There’s so much more to his story than I’ve written today. In two weeks when the weather cools I’ll make him some rice pudding and stop by to visit with my Dad. Meanwhile, here is the link for Great Uncle Ralph's birthday story published in The Record. My next post will include the rice pudding recipe, after all I will be making it should you decide to visit me when I'm One Hundred.

http://www.northjersey.com/community/89661037_He_apparently_has_the_century_mark_in_the_corner_pocket__too_