Friday, November 25, 2016

Questions

Today is the ominously-named Black Friday, the official beginning of the winter holiday feeding frenzy shopping season, and I am spending it as I have spent every other Black Friday of my adult life. In my own home, doors locked, blinds drawn, avoiding anything that even smells like a holiday advertisement. The things I want for Christmas and Hanukkah and even my Boxing Day Birthday, aren't really things at all. I can't purchase them at Walmart or Target, and I know I won't be able to find them even on Amazon.

While I've been recovering from my mad spoon-spending spree (I blew all my spoons on Thanksgiving cooking) certain questions have been floating to the top of my consciousness, causing me a real amount of anxiety. The only thing standing between me and half of a Xanax is my considerable dislike for dependence on any kind of drug. So while I have a perfectly legal prescription, I prefer to save them for something a bit more catastrophic. Like a Donald Trump inauguration.

Which brings me back to those floating questions. At the top of the list:

What happens if Jill Stein successfully demands ballot recounts and it turns out that Hillary really did win the election, both the popular vote and the Electoral College? Does The Donald then have to concede? Will he line up all of his (mostly pathetic) Cabinet choices and bellow out "You've been fired!" Will his whole terrible "transition" dissolve into a mist, to be forgotten like a bad dream?

Will Peter Capaldi continue to portray The Doctor after the upcoming season? Will he be getting better scripts and a companion who hasn't totally confused the Whoniverse with 4 different major storylines, none of which really fit together?

Could it be that this is the last Thanksgiving for which I will be able to do all the traditional cooking?  (Damn fibromyalgia. There was a time I could prepare all the food for 20+ people, work full time while commuting 2 hours each way, and never break a sweat. I don't mind (well, not much) getting older but I do mind getting physically feeble.)
Tiny Turkeys

Tiny Tomatoes

And The Stuffing

Yes, you are correct, I have entirely too much time on my hands.

Something I did for me, just recently but many months in the making: I rather neatly replaced two of my main doctors.  Both my primary care physician and my psychiatrist lost their damn minds, somehow triggered by my disability claim. Not only did they not help me, they damn near sabotaged me.

I guess that means it was my turn to holler "You're fired!"

I'm still knitting lace patterns into squares.  It is very restful except when it's not. Frogging back rows of lace is a royal pain in the psyche, but the good news is that each square is no more that 41 stitches across.


The name of this pattern is "Panicles" but it should be called "Life In The Fast Lane." Wild knitting ride, cables AND lace together!




Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Happy Thanksgiving - Sweet Potato Soufflé

With Thanksgiving tomorrow, I expect many of you are already up to your elbows in stuffing and mashed potatoes (or lasagna or kasha varnishkes.)

Somehow I have managed to pull together the makings of a Thanksgiving dinner, spreading out my tasks over a number of days. Today it was deviled eggs, and now that they're done, I look forward to putting up my feet, throwing back a couple of much-needed pills, and knitting a lacy square.

I've been steering clear of political discourse these past few days, but I do read the news.  Based on several articles I've seen, I sincerely hope that Hillary Clinton requests a recount. And that's all I'm going to say about that; I'm no good to anybody if my head explodes before I get those Cornish hens into the oven.

Here's a recipe I cobbled together yesterday, starting with my mother's much-loved sweet potato pie - which isn't pie at all. Which is, I suppose, okay since my version is not really a soufflé. But it is good.

Sweet Potato Soufflé

2 - 29 oz. cans Bruce's Yams
2 eggs, separated
1 - 8 oz can crushed pineapple
1 - 15 oz. can S&W Sweet Memory Peaches chunks in light syrup with cinnamon and brown sugar
1 tablespoon Apricot brandy or Peach schnapps
1 stick of butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Drain the yams, pineapple and peaches, reserving the syrups.  Reduce the syrups over medium-high heat until just 2/3 of a cup remains. After the syrups have reduced by half, add the apricot brandy and continue until you have the 2/3 cup.  Stir in the cinnamon, ginger, and salt. Take off the heat, add the butter and set aside so that the butter melts and the mixture cools.


In a large mixing bowl, beat the yams until they are completely broken down. Add the 2 egg yolks and beat until smooth.  Fold in the pineapple and the room temperature syrup-butter mixture. Taste and reseason if desired.

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks can be formed. Gently fold the egg whites into the yams. Spoon 2/3 of the mixture into a 2 quart glass soufflé dish.


Layer in all of the peaches, then add the remaining yam mixture.


Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour.







Happy Thanksgiving - Sweet Potato Soufflé

With Thanksgiving tomorrow, I expect many of you are already up to your elbows in stuffing and mashed potatoes (or lasagna or kasha varnishkes.)

Somehow I have managed to pull together the makings of a Thanksgiving dinner, spreading out my tasks over a number of days. Today it was deviled eggs, and now that they're done, I look forward to putting up my feet, throwing back a couple of much-needed pills, and knitting a lacy square.

I've been steering clear of political discourse these past few days, but I do read the news.  Based on several articles I've seen, I sincerely hope that Hillary Clinton requests a recount. And that's all I'm going to say about that; I'm no good to anybody if my head explodes before I get those Cornish hens into the oven.

Here's a recipe I cobbled together yesterday, starting with my mother's much-loved sweet potato pie - which isn't pie at all. Which is, I suppose, okay since my version is not really a soufflé. But it is good.

Sweet Potato Soufflé

2 - 29 oz. cans Bruce's Yams
2 eggs, separated
1 - 8 oz can crushed pineapple
1 - 15 oz. can S&W Sweet Memory Peaches chunks in light syrup with cinnamon and brown sugar
1 tablespoon Apricot brandy or Peach schnapps
1 stick of butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Drain the yams, pineapple and peaches, reserving the syrups.  Reduce the syrups over medium-high heat until just 2/3 of a cup remains. After the syrups have reduced by half, add the apricot brandy and continue until you have the 2/3 cup.  Stir in the cinnamon, ginger, and salt. Take off the heat, add the butter and set aside so that the butter melts and the mixture cools.


In a large mixing bowl, beat the yams until they are completely broken down. Add the 2 egg yolks and beat until smooth.  Fold in the pineapple and the room temperature syrup-butter mixture. Taste and reseason if desired.

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks can be formed. Gently fold the egg whites into the yams. Spoon 2/3 of the mixture into a 2 quart glass soufflé dish.


Layer in all of the peaches, then add the remaining yam mixture.


Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour.







Thursday, November 17, 2016

Perspective

Yes, I'm sore from Tuesday's spectacularly graceless slip and fall.  Even worse, fibromyalgia, that miserable m*therf*cker, has joined forces with the Donald "Orange You Glad You Voted For Me" Trump to send every nerve ending in my body into High Alert. I am in extraordinary pain, both physical and emotional, to the point that I cannot get out of bed. I missed breakfast and I'm on my way to missing lunch. My pets have all realized that I am not going to make it downstairs and with the exception of Chelsea, who is still glued to my side as usual, have all returned to keep me company in my second-story Fortress of Solitude.

This post is going to be short, I'm afraid; I'm having trouble staying awake even though I have yet to take so much as a single Advil, much less a muscle relaxer. As I am typing this, I keep drifting off to sleep and the iPad keeps slipping off my lap. Let's face it, I'm one hot mess.

But before you send me your much-appreciated love and prayers, I'm going to ask you to please redirect all that positive energy to someone who needs it even more than I do.

I have a good and dear friend, from my earliest days as an attorney here in Osceola County, who has been battling cancer for too many years. Her strength is amazing, in fact it is inspiring. Unfortunately this week she had a bad scan and this morning got the terrible news that the cancer had spread again. My heart hurts for her and for her family, especially her children. That's all I'm going to say, out of respect for their privacy.

I would be honored if you would send those prayers that you intended for me over in her direction. You may already be praying for her, but even if you don't know her name, please pray for Cindy's friend to beat her cancer yet again.  I am absolutely certain that God will sort things out and know who you are praying for. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart ❤️


Some more photos of the Asian-inspired sliders, under construction and as completed:








Perspective

Yes, I'm sore from Tuesday's spectacularly graceless slip and fall.  Even worse, fibromyalgia, that miserable m*therf*cker, has joined forces with the Donald "Orange You Glad You Voted For Me" Trump to send every nerve ending in my body into High Alert. I am in extraordinary pain, both physical and emotional, to the point that I cannot get out of bed. I missed breakfast and I'm on my way to missing lunch. My pets have all realized that I am not going to make it downstairs and with the exception of Chelsea, who is still glued to my side as usual, have all returned to keep me company in my second-story Fortress of Solitude.

This post is going to be short, I'm afraid; I'm having trouble staying awake even though I have yet to take so much as a single Advil, much less a muscle relaxer. As I am typing this, I keep drifting off to sleep and the iPad keeps slipping off my lap. Let's face it, I'm one hot mess.

But before you send me your much-appreciated love and prayers, I'm going to ask you to please redirect all that positive energy to someone who needs it even more than I do.

I have a good and dear friend, from my earliest days as an attorney here in Osceola County, who has been battling cancer for too many years. Her strength is amazing, in fact it is inspiring. Unfortunately this week she had a bad scan and this morning got the terrible news that the cancer had spread again. My heart hurts for her and for her family, especially her children. That's all I'm going to say, out of respect for their privacy.

I would be honored if you would send those prayers that you intended for me over in her direction. You may already be praying for her, but even if you don't know her name, please pray for Cindy's friend to beat her cancer yet again.  I am absolutely certain that God will sort things out and know who you are praying for. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart ❤️


Some more photos of the Asian-inspired sliders, under construction and as completed:








Perspective

Yes, I'm sore from Tuesday's spectacularly graceless slip and fall.  Even worse, fibromyalgia, that miserable m*therf*cker, has joined forces with the Donald "Orange You Glad You Voted For Me" Trump to send every nerve ending in my body into High Alert. I am in extraordinary pain, both physical and emotional, to the point that I cannot get out of bed. I missed breakfast and I'm on my way to missing lunch. My pets have all realized that I am not going to make it downstairs and with the exception of Chelsea, who rarely leaves my side, have all returned to keep me company in my second-story Fortress of Solitude.

This post is going to be short, I'm afraid; I'm having trouble staying awake even though I have yet to take so much as a single Advil, much less a muscle relaxer. As I am typing this, I keep drifting off to sleep and the iPad keeps slipping off my lap. Let's face it, I'm one hot mess.

But before you send me your much-appreciated love and prayers, I'm going to ask you to please redirect all that positive energy to someone who needs it even more than I do.

I have a good and dear friend, from my earliest days as an attorney here in Osceola County, who has been battling cancer for too many years. Her strength is amazing, in fact it is inspiring. Unfortunately this week she had a bad scan and this morning got the terrible news that the cancer had spread again. My heart hurts for her and for her family, especially her children. That's all I'm going to say, out of respect for their privacy.

I would be honored if you would send those prayers that you intended for me over in her direction. You may already be praying for her, but even if you don't know her name, please pray for Cindy's friend to beat her cancer yet again.  I am absolutely certain that God will sort things out and know who you are praying for. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart ❤️


Some more photos of the Asian-inspired sliders, under construction and as completed:








Tuesday, November 15, 2016

The Bigger They Are - Asian-Inspired Teriyaki Chicken and Kimchee Sliders

Okay, let's get to the good stuff first:

Asian-Inspired Teriyaki Chicken and Kimchee Sliders

Makes 12 slider-sized sandwiches

1/2 to 2/3 of package frozen cooked, cubed chicken (I found Tyson brand at Walmart)
1 bottle Panda Express Mandarin Teriyaki Sauce
Sesame oil, optional
Clover honey, optional
Red pepper flakes, optional
1 small onion, halved lengthwise and sliced fairly thin
1 package Pepperidge Farm slider rolls left attached, sliced through the middle
8 leaves mild kimchee cabbage, drained, sliced crosswise into strips. Pat dry before assembling sliders.
Freeze dried or fresh chives, to taste (optional)
6 slices Havarti cheese, cut in half
2-3 tablespoons butter, melted
Sesame seeds, light and/or dark

Combine the frozen chicken, onions, and about half of the bottle of Mandarin Teriyaki sauce in a crockpot. Taste the teriyaki sauce and if you like add a small amount of the sesame oil and/or the honey. Also optional, add some of the pepper flakes. Cover and cook on High for 1 1/2 to two hours stirring a few times during the cooking.  When done, set aside to cool at room temperature.

Set the bottom layer of the rolls in a rectangular baking dish. Remove the chicken and onions from the crock pot with a slotted spoon, allowing excess sauce to drip off. Distribute evenly on each roll bottom, then top the chicken with the kimchee. Sprinkle on the chives and place the half slices of cheese over each slider. Lightly brush some of the remaining teriyaki sauce on the underside of the roll tops, and place the tops over the cheese. Press down gently.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush the tops and visible sides of the rolls with the butter. Sprinkle on the sesame seed. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool for 10 - 15 minutes before cutting and serving.

I took several photos but cannot figure out how to find them and store them so they can be inserted onto the page. Google forced their new photo service on me, and it is nothing like the easy, breezy Picasa.  For now, this is all I got:


Wait, wait, a few more just showed up:


Tuesday is not the busiest day of my usual week, and like Monday, I rarely stir from the house. Except on Tuesday evening I have tai chi class, which means that during the day I need to maintain some semblance of normality. So this morning, instead of pulling myself together physically and mentally, I took a fall in the laundry room, landing so hard that Robert ran upstairs to see what had happened. Miraculously I did not break or even sprain anything (at least nothing that I am aware of) although I managed to simultaneously hit my right knee, hip, and shoulder against the ceramic tile floor.

Wherever my guardian angel is hanging out, thank you thank you very much.  However, what I am concerned about, now that several hours have passed, is that my clumsy inadvertent attempt at breakdancing has set off a fibromyalgia flare. Since I was already dealing with some back and right leg pain, it becomes a matter of degree, i.e. I hurt a lot more than I did before the fall.  Most excitement I've had since Election Day night.

Speaking of elections, the President-elect is attempting to assemble his Cabinet and close advisers team, relying on many of the same Washington insiders and big-money banking types he scorned during his campaign. Whenever I read news relating to the Presidential transition of power, I experience a combination of anxiety and indigestion. For one thing, I can't pretend that on December 19th, the Electoral College is going to flip the victory to Hillary Clinton because she garnered far more of the popular vote than Trump, and that means this is really happening. The final curtain is coming down on the Barack and Uncle Joe Show, Hillary and Bill are heading back to Chappaqua, and Trump is going to name Steve Bannon from Breitbart News as his Chief of Staff. If that doesn't scare you, you must not be a Jew or a person of color or Latino, or a female (especially of childbearing age), or a Muslim, and you get the idea.


As we get inexorably closer to January 20th, I can't help but feel that I am watching a terrible, horrible, no-good play, and even though I paid dearly for the tickets I can't just stand up and leave the theatre.

Hope you like the sliders. I've been playing around with different combinations of the main components. So far the best have been my pastrami reuben sliders and my muffuletta sliders. I think I also made meatball sliders.

Monday, November 14, 2016

Be Careful What You Wish For (You May Get It)

It's been 4 months since I paid any attention to the blog, and if you were a regular reader, I apologize for the absence. I actually drafted a post back in September, but for reasons I can't readily recall, failed to finish and publish. You can read it at the end of today's blog entry.

It is no coincidence that I am back the week after Election Day.  For a year and a half I have been captivated by the Presidential campaigns, but never more so than since the conclusion of the party conventions. At which point I bypassed captivation and headed straight to reasonable obsession.

If you happen to be a Facebook friend, then you already know that, as much as possible, I campaigned vigorously for Hillary Clinton, at least as much as I could being homebound quite a bit.  As you know, it was a brutal campaign and I would be lying if I told you I wasn't bitterly disappointed. I'm still not up to reliving the horror, and I certainly don't want any part of the post-mortem, but I will say that I am furious with large swathes of the American adult population, half of which could not be bothered to vote, and with the ones that did vote for Donald Trump. Okay, I'll take your word for it that you are not a racist, misogynist, litigious, anti-Semitic, xenophobic, personality disordered sexual predator. What I'm getting stuck on is that you are willing to tolerate someone with all of those negative attributes.

So you tell me, "we wanted change! We wanted an outsider not part of the Washington establishment!" To which I reply, are you effing kidding me? Do you remember the last time this country elected a President who would provide a change from The Old Guard? Someone who was above the scandals, political schemes, and the in-fighting? Someone who wasn't beholden to lobbyists or special interest groups? Well, do you?

For those of you who were born after 1970, let me cut to the chase: did you ever hear of Jimmy Carter? Yes indeed, that nice old man who builds homes - literally - with Habitat for Humanity? A sincere man of God, a good man with a good heart, a man who had executive experience as the Governor of the State of Georgia, yet still from outside the Beltway? Worst President in my lifetime? Fortunately he was a One Term Wonder, but still there were those four cringeworthy years during which people began to think that Gerald Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon wasn't so terrible after all.

Things are going to change, alright. Starting with a President-elect who doesn't really want to live in the White House.

And that's all I'm going to say about that, for now.

The fibromyalgia continues to kick my butt from here to wherever. I tire very easily but still cannot sleep. What can I say, it's a life. My world is much smaller now, and there are more than a few bucket list items I will never be able to fulfill, but it could be a lot worse. I can still cook (just not as often), I can read, and I can knit. Oh, and I can see without my glasses! After so many years, when I wake up in the morning the world around me is no longer one big, fuzzy blur. Look Ma, no cataracts!



From September:
I cooked yesterday. Mussels in Wine Sauce, an old faithful recipe that never feels to please my jaded palate. Never mind that I used to use mussels for fish bait back in the old days at Camp Anawana; that was several lifetimes ago, and it is now common culinary knowledge that mussels rock. Better than clams, if you ask me.

The only problem with cooking is that I have to stand up to do it, and there is invariably a price to pay for such physical extravagance. My plan to spend time downstairs watching TV with my husband flew out the window and it was all I could do to creep upstairs, swallow a muscle relaxer, and collapse onto the bed. Sometimes it's a hard-knock life. I woke up with a nearly blinding headache, took some Advil, and re-collapsed (if there is such a word) on the bed. Boom! There went my Saturday.

Speaking of boom, several bombs showed up yesterday, two in Manhattan and one in nearby New Jersey. A number of people were hurt, and no one has stepped up to claim responsibility. New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio tells us that the bomb was "an intentional act" (no kidding) but "not related to terrorism." Right.

I've been trying to figure out how the new Google photo app, which replaced Picasa, can work for me and my blog, and so far doing a crap job of it. I am reduced to hitting buttons displayed on the screen and hoping for the best.


So here is one of the lace squares I wanted to post yesterday. The pattern is called "Spanish Windows", and I found it in one of Barbara G. Walker's Knitting Pattern Treasuries.

 

And here is my rendition of "Frost Flowers", also from Barbara G. Walker. I am particularly pleased with how this one turned out, although it is nowhere near perfect. Knitting perfect lace is beyond my abilities, but I still enjoy trying. I'm not sure how these photos finally showed up in Google, and I'm still having to access my pictures by stopping first at Picasa, but here they are, at least until Google changes something else causing me yet another mini micro meltdown.

I am trying desperately not to start writing about politics, and more specifically, about the upcoming election.