Women's Work

On NOT taking care of business

Although I belong to the generation which has made taking care of oneself (both physically and mentally) into a religion, I do NOT worship in that church.  In fact, quite a few of my pet peeves have to do with my fellow boomers.

I really can't be bothered with constantly taking my emotional or physical temperature.  What I've been doing for sixty odd years seems to be working just fine and if it stops working,  hey, guess what?  I've had a good run for my money and I'm satisfied.

Random Musings From A Curmudgeon

I would like to know why the new year starts in January.  And no, I don't want to receive a ton of emails giving me all the history.  I just want to kvetch about the supposed new beginning coming at the bleakest, deadest time of year.  I know things are working away underground but of this we have no ocular evidence.  March would be much better.  At least then you can see things starting to happen.

Speaking of the new year, once again I am not making any resolutions.  They get made only to get broken.  After all, resolutions are only good intentions with delusions of importance and we all know what is paved with good intentions.

As I get older (and believe me, I feel like I'm getting older by the minute), I find myself increasingly annoyed by a culture that doesn't seem to want to let us age as we may want to.  Men, as well as women, are urged to cover up the gray. Amusingly, in the case of men, the product promises to leave a little gray so they may seem mature and experienced.  I'd like to see them try that sales pitch on women. I'm not going to cover up my gray hair.  I earned it and consider it a badge of honor.  But it's not just the cosmetic aspect that I find troublesome.  It's the whole think young,act young, drink your V-8 juice so you can go hang gliding at 90 that's so irritating.  If I want to spend my so-called golden years sitting on the porch in my rocker doing nothing more strenuous that cross stitching, t'ain't nobody's bidness if I do.  I guess what really bothers me most is that there are whole groups of people out there who seem to think that they know what's best for me much better than I do.  Well, in the words of the old New Yorker cartoon, I say it's spinach and I say to hell with it.

Is anyone out there as tired of political correctness as I am?  I think what we have here is a classic case of throwing the baby out with the bath water and I, for one,  will be very glad when the pendulum swings a little bit the other way, if it ever does.

Having just spent a weekend in New York city with my seven year old granddaughter, I really have to question the sanity of the  fifty- something year old women we occasionally read of in the news who deliberately, and sometimes at great cost, have babies.  The idea of starting all that over again makes me view hanging myself with favor. Grandchildren are another matter.  You know that eventually you will give them back and that makes all the difference.

I'm getting very bored with movies that are all style and no substance.  Too many movies today seem to rely on special effects to carry them rather than plot and character.  I'm not saying I dislike movies just that it seems harder to find ones that I do like.  Thanks the powers that be for DVD rentals because I'm too miserly to pay theater prices for a movie that I may not like.

I've run out of things to complain about for now so I'll close by wishing all of you a happy, healthy and prosperous new year, although I still think it should begin in March or April.

With Apologies (And Credit) To Erma

Ah, families, the ties that bind and gag.  I've been lucky.  My family mostly binds, in the good sense.  Not to say it doesn't gag occasionally.  After all, nobody can push your buttons like your nearest and dearest because they know you (and your buttons) the best.

But when push come to shove, when the fecal matter hits the proverbial fan, when you really need somebody,  family is there.  We may not always be in touch, but we're there when it matters.  And to me that's the basic, real definition of family.

And speaking of family, I've just learned that I will be a grandmother for the second time in July.  October generally was a miserable month for various reasons, but that news salvaged the month.

Food, Glorious Food, Part Deux

So here we go again. I feel like I've been writing about food all month.  I don't really have a favorite food, although shrimp is probably the closest to being the top choice.  What I have is favorite food groups.  I don't think I've ever met a bread that I didn't like.  I am also a confirmed and unashamed carnivore.  Put a nice juicy steak or a slab of venison on my plate and I'm in seventh heaven. In fact I'm so carnivorous that my Thanksgiving turkey is stuffed with a meat stuffing with, I always hope, enough left over to make meat pies.
Pasta is also a favorite, if only for its versatility.  I'm not so impressed with veggies although I seem to like them more the older I get.  Maybe I'm finally growing up?

So, if I'm not giving out favorite food recipes what am I giving?  Well, what I have to offer are two recipes that I've been cooking for years, One because it's not only good but can also be played with and customized so to speak and the other because it's easy and can be done ahead of time.                        

First my tomato sauce recipe:

1 large (28-32oz.) tomatoes   
2 cans (6 oz.) tomato paste                                                                                                                   
12 oz. of water
3 heaping TBSP Parmesan cheese
3 cloves garlic minced   
parsley
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
salt & pepper to taste
Puree tomatoes in blender add all the other ingredients and simmer for 2-3 hours.

I realize everyone has their own favorite sauce recipe but what I like about this one is that it can be played with. Like your sauce chunky? Break up the tomatoes instead of using the blender.  Want a sweeter sauce ?  Toss in a little sugar or some onions. Want to spice it up?  Add fennel,oregano, basil, rosemary or whatever your little heart desires. 

I got the second recipe from, of all places, the little newsletter that came with the diaper service delivery. Since you put it together the night before and stick it in the oven next morning this has been our Christmas breakfast for years. Put it in the oven when you get up and food is ready by the time you've finished tearing into the presents

Breakfast Casserole
1 lb. sausage, crumble cooked and drained
6 eggs beaten
2 cups milk
2 slices white bread, crumbled
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. salt 1 cup sharp cheese
Combine all ingredients and pour into 9x12 Pyrex casserole and refrigerate overnight. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes testing at 30. Casserole is done when knife comes out clean.  Serves 6.   

I know these aren't really exotic or impressive recipes but as I said, they have been part of my food life for years and I hope that if you try them you will enjoy them.  Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go figure out what I'm going to give them for dinner tonight.

Travel Food Adventures

This is not the requested post with recipes.  We've just come back from 14 days in the Baltic and I thought people might be interested in heating about some of the food we ran into. If you're not interested, just ignore me.  I promise there will be recipes later in the month.

We started off in Denmark, Copenhagen to be exact, where we found that they serve capers with almost everything.  Every plate of food I had there (except breakfast) was garnished with capers.  And I'm not talking about the little round things you find here.  Those were there too but the capers I'm talking about looked sort of like a cross between a fig and a jalapeno (sp?) pepper.  Very interesting and quite tasty.

We really didn't get to sample much in the way of Russian cooking.  The problem with Russia is that if you want to go anywhere by yourself i.e. other than part of a sanctioned tour group like the ones arranged by the cruise line, you need a visa.  For the two of us this would have cost over $500 so we skipped it.  We were fed lunch on one of our tours but it was really boring, cabbage soup and beef with boiled vegetables.  We did get caviar and wine at one thing we went to so it wasn't a dead loss.

Estonian cooking was very interesting.  It's quite a mixture of influences since Estonia has been under the thumb of so many other nations.  Other than that it is very much what I think off as peasant cooking, with a lot of reliance on root vegetables and meats that would be common in an agricultural setting.  A lot of pork and sausages, including the only time I think I've ever seen blood sausage on a menu.  Estonians seem to be really into garlic. In fact we saw one restaurant called The Garlic Restaurant.  When you get garlic bread there, it's black bread that's been rubbed with garlic then fried and it is served with additional cloves of garlic.  And for those of you who are into mustard, theirs is fantastic, very hot and full-bodied.  The dish I had for lunch was called Old Witch's Casserole (I thought it was a good fit) which was a combination of mashed potatoes, onions, mushrooms and cheese. You can see what I mean about peasant cooking and stretching what you have.  It was delicious and the portion was very large. In fact, for any of you who ever go there, if the menu lists small dishes and large dishes, order the small dishes unless you're absolutely famished.  We had spent the whole morning walking around Tallinn and I still couldn't finish my lunch.

Finnish food was a lot like Estonian, only with more variety.  We had an absolutely delicious buffet lunch at a restaurant called Krapi Hovi, a converted farm house half way between Helsinki and The Jean Sibelius house.  I had a savory carrot pie there that I'm trying to find the recipe for. If I do I'll send it along.

And of course, everywhere we went the local breads (my weakness) were absolutely fantastic.

The food on board ship was very good but to me the food high point of the trip was trying all the local cooking. Now all I have to do is get use to eating my own cooking.  More to the point, get back to doing my own cooking.  Two weeks off kitchen duty can certainly spoil you.

Food, glorious food!

I could go on and on about my feelings about food.  Like most fat ladies, there is definitely a love/hate relationship.  There is also the war between I love to cook and what the hell am I going to feed them for dinner today.  I've been cooking since I was thirteen and that is one heck of a lot of dinners.

But what I find fascinating about food these days is the sheer variety that is available compared to what was around when I was growing up.  Of course you have to remember, that was quite a while ago (I'm 61 years old) and also that I grew up in a very, very rural part of Connecticut. Also, my mother was a good cook but adverse to adventures in cooking.  It was not her main interest by a long shot and as you all know where there is no interest, there is no adventure.

I can't remember how old I was before I even saw a bagel and didn't get introduced to Chinese food until after I was married. As far as what was in the supermarkets, well the best you can say is adequate.  The only thing that was better in the country, was that when you got seasonal fresh produce it was so fresh it practically spat in your eye. Nothing is better that corn on the cob that you actually watch being brought in from the field minutes before you buy it.

Nowadays, the grocery store abound with all sorts of fruits and vegetables unknown to my childhood and even in a relatively small city like Manchester ethic restaurants are everywhere. And I think it's great  as I experiment in cooking (the love part of the relationship) and in dining out.  So bring on all the food, glorious food and let me enjoy.  Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks.                              

Hobby, hobby, who has a hobby?

Not I.  I've always though of a hobby as something requiring much more time, effort and money than I have or can afford to spare.  Most of my spare time is given to reading but reading is not a hobby, reading is a way of life.

I do however admit to having interests and pastimes and sometimes even projects but these vary. For example, I used to do a lot of baking.  Now with no children demanding snacks and a husband who seems to have decided he's on the South Beach diet for life, I bake maybe once or twice a year for holidays or special occasions.  That's not often enough to even merit being called an interest.

Stitching, crossword puzzles, furniture refinishing all go in and out of my life on a semi-regular basis.  I guess what it boils down to is that I'm too lazy and without the necessary focus to sustain any activity to the point of it being called a hobby.  I must say I'm impressed by all the things you ladies out there accomplish.

As a side rant, I've always disliked be asked "What are your hobbies".  This is probably because every application I've ever filled out, from school to job, has wanted an answer to that question.  The idea that knitting, or bowling or bungee jumping would have an effect on studies or job performance because hobbies make you "well rounded" is pure poppycock.  Social scientists and psychologists  have really managed to sell a bill of goods to institutions, haven't they.  Oh well, I guess it gives the little darlings job security.

Another county heard from

Hi, everyone.  I'm Andi or Andrea, whichever your prefer.  I'm 61 years old, married for 40 years (this June),  mother of 4 with only one left to get out of the house, an avid reader of almost anything, stitcher(mediocre), crossword puzzle fan, music lover, my favorites being classical, jazz, big band and opera, although I'll listen to almost anything depending on my mood (except rap).  I also enjoy cooking and just plain being lazy.  And as of Feb. of this year I am retired.  At least for now.

At various points during my life, I have been a student, a fabric store clerk, a factory worker (sewing collars on shirts for 8 hrs a day was sooo much fun, as was testing relay switches) an army wife (3 yrs. during which I learned such life skills as how to spit shine boots and brasso a belt buckle), a teacher, and an inventory manager at Borders Books. I also spent a lot of time as a stay at home mom (4 kids, remember.)  I'm a native of Connecticut and have lived here all my life. 

That's about it for me, except I have to reply to Emily's comment about going back to what you wanted when you were a little girl to figure out who you want to be.  If I were to do that, I'd have to divorce my husband and get me to a nunnery, which I don't think is going to happen at this stage of my life.  But it will be interesting to see what comes next and who I"ll be this time.