Ciabatta

My family knows I am not a bread eater. When I was single, I went for months and months without ever buying bread. I married a guy who can practically survive on bread alone.

This year my bread-loving guy gave me (us) a gift of bread from Zingermann’s in Michigan, home-delivered, along with various varieties of olive oil. The latest rustic loaf arrived on March 26, and included Olave organic olive oil from Chile. After warming up the bread in the oven, we served it with the oil. Instant party, and – oh, so good.

Today we bought a loaf of Red Hen Ciabatta, and we enjoyed it drizzled with the Olave. If I’m going to become a true bread eater, this is definitely the way to go. The Ciabatta from Middlesex, VT is made from organic wheat flour mixed with water and yeast, baked in a jet-steam 500 degree hearth to give the loaf a crunchy crust. With a glass of red wine, Saturday afternoon lunch has notched upwards to a new level. Thank you, Geo.

(For a link, click on title.)

Easter Surprise

An amazing Easter lily was delivered to our family on Friday, a gift from Sean. It’s actually three Easter lily plants in one container, and it’s the most beautiful Easter arrangement I have ever seen. It brought a lot of sunshine into our home on an otherwise rather gray Friday. We will enjoy the flowers all Easter season, and I look forward to planting it outside, hoping for more Easter blooms during the summer. Thank you, Sean, for your very thoughtful amazing gift. Happy Easter to you and your family from all of us.

#24

The 25th is our 24th wedding anniversary. Daughter Addie gave us a wonderful gift – a full year’s membership for two at The Shelburne Museum. We look forward to the 2008 Mary Cassatt exhibit, the members’ tour of the Electra Havemeyer Webb VT home, and the 10 Thursday evenings series of events Sunsets at Shelburne Museum. We may even take in the annual members holiday party promising “ warm fires, cocktails, hor d’oeuvres, and holiday cheer.”
Thank you, Addie, for a gift that keeps on giving!

If the campaign comes to town…

Geo and I will be there. And today the John McCain campaign came to South Burlington. Of course, we made our way up to the front. We shook hands with the Senator and he signed not one – but two – of Geo’s McCain cover magazines (Newsweek and US News and World Report).

We were impressed that he makes good eye contact with each person he greets, that he is warm and genuine. In his speech in person, he comes across with more passion than on TV, and that was fun to see. One piece of news he brought with him - the morning edition of the Washington Post noted he has a record of zero dollars of “pork barrel” spending earmarked for Arizona, while Senators Clinton and O’Bama have millions and millions going to their states. Also noteworthy, today is the day Mitt Romney will endorse his candidacy.

This was the fourth time we have seen Senator McCain. Prior times were in Burlington, Hinesburg and Montpelier. We will frame Geo’s covers and add our McCain memorabilia to our collection.

After the rally we headed to Tiny Thai for a valentine celebration. We stopped at Quality Bakery on the way home to buy a cake to share with Adriene.

Jim, This one's for you...

We had a white-out driving home from church today. Cars were slipping and sliding…Glad to be home.

Jenn had knee surgery, repair of torn meniscus. Is recovering nicely. BF Sean is taking good care of her. Today they plan on seeing CHICAGO at the Flynn.

Geo is invited to an overnite conference on Wed and Thurs, near WRJ, on self-employment. He has a telephonic hearing on Tues. And I need to be on the road 2 days this week, post-poned due to hazardous driving last week. Weather has a way of changing plans.

Addie’s working full-time, plus volunteering at ECHO on Saturdays. She’s applied for a residential museum fellowship, so now it’s pray, wait and see. Plan B is in place, so life is good.

Lucy’s loving her romps in the snow, then stretching out in front of our gas heater. Winter has got to be her fave season of the year.

Most of all, we are really looking forward to our trip to visit friends in FLA. We haven’t taken a vacation by plane since 1999! We are soooo happy to have been invited and to share good times.
Thank you, J and K!

Jenn’s Amazing Cookies

Jenn shared a recipe with me, so easy and so very good:

1 box cake mix
2 eggs
scant 1/3 C. oil

Mix into a batter. Spoon onto cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.
Yields 2 dozen cookies.

She loves these because cookies AND cake are combined for one great homemade treat.
Her favorite variation is using chocolate cake mix, then swirling a little peanut butter on the cookies before baking them.
I just whipped up a batch for Geo using spice cake mix and adding a little molasses to the batter. Perfection.
Next I’d like to try vanilla cake mix, add some almond flavoring, and top each cookie with a slivered almond.
Thank you, Jenn, for another classic!

The Fur Kid

I heard somewhere that pampered pets are known as the fur kids of the household. That would be Lucy. But our fur kid Lucy got into big trouble when we were in church on Sunday. She knocked over one of my potted plants - dirt all over the carpet, reached up to the counter to pull down a few slices of bread, and even managed to bring down a plate of oatmeal cookies to devour them in the living room. (She spit out the raisins.) I was not happy. She and I were not on good terms for the rest of the day. I mostly ignored her. Then Sunday night I started thinking about forgiveness, and that forgiveness is not for people only. I knew I needed to forgive the fur kid. So Lucy is back in my good graces again, the plant is re-potted and the dirt scrubbed out of the carpet. Addie says Lucy had a great time on Sunday, a rowdy party of one.

Tiny Jenna's

One of Jenn’s Christmas gifts to Geo was a home-cooked Thai meal – a gift the whole family enjoyed. She prepared Pad Thai, Chicken and Rice, Sticky Rice with Mango, and a Banana Coconut Milk dessert. Recipes were authentic, those she learned from the Pad Thai Cookery School in Chiang Mai. In the center of the table she was sure to include fresh limes, salt, sugar, and hot sauce that we could add to taste. What a feast! One of our fav restaurants is Tiny Thai; George said we were dining at Tiny Jenna’s. I’d say we need to include a Thai meal as one of our holiday season traditions. Hopefully, Jenn, this was the First Annual. Thank you so very much.

Pajama Packing

A wintry evening last week found Addie and me at the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory, together with over thirty other supporters and members of the Vermont Council of the Blind. This is the time of year when orders are flying out of the factory with help needed to make sure those deliveries are on time. The Teddy Bear Factory invites volunteer groups to help with packing orders, then donates a generous amount of funding to the groups. We were a hard-working crew with even a few guide dogs in tow.

Our assignment was the Pajama-grams, to pull boxes off the assembly line, take pajamas out of packages, check the orders and to repack for shipping. I was amazed at the wide variety of pajamas, the quality, and the personalized way they are folded into “hatboxes” and totes. Personal gift cards were included with many orders – we had a fun time reading them as we packed. I just know that each person who receives one of these gifts will be very happy and very cozy this holiday season. I had so much fun, I know I’ll want to do this again.

Okay, VCB, how about the Valentine’s Day rush? We’ve done it once, and we can do it again!

Toots

A & J keep introducing me to new music, new sounds.
J seems to like the reggae beat and lyrics. I’ve been a James Brown fan, and so I’m recently drawn to reggae Toots and the Maytals – and where it all began in the 60’s – a great mix of Jamaican soul, rock and gospel. Toots “invented” the genre and gave it its name.
What I appreciate is that an artist of another generation is current, like Tony Bennett and Paul McCartney. I’m not familiar with much reggae, but this is one artist I want to be hearing more of.
For the official check it out here: http://www.tootsandthemaytals.com/

Mini-vacation

Ok, it wasn’t an official day off, but Saturday evening was Pinochle night at the Richmans’. Partner Michael and I took all three games - a first for me.
Sunday eve Geo, Addie and I drove to The Black Sheep for dinner - another first - and it was excellent.
Monday was spent up at the Kamp on the Lake where Geo and I finished closing for the season. First time I can recall closing when the weather was mild enough to pull up a beach chair to the shore, stay awhile and enjoy the wave action and the late afternoon sun. Peace.
Geo gave a talk on Tuesday at the Community College of VT, so Tuesday was a day for me to amble around Burlington. I didn’t shop for anything, but it was nice being downtown without needing to rush around, and that does not happen too often.
On Wednesday Geo and I took in an event at UVM on health issues of Vermont farmers. Very informative. Many of the talks touched on farmworker disabilities and on the unique problems of migrant farmers. I learned a lot, and Geo did some networking, especially with a contact who could speak at the Gov’s Committee on the Employment of People with Disabilities.
Best of all, I've got lots of vacation hours left. Am looking ahead to much more time off and many more firsts.

What I’ve Seen the Past Few Days

A red fox - Yes! Directly in front of our Kamp on the Lake.

A coconut curry potato crepe at the Skinny Pancake, not only seen, but
savored.

A Dunder Miflin bright blue t-shirt. A & J, you know I’d like one.

Archer Mayor AND Joyce Carole Oates, in person - what a literary treat!

My checkbook and a load of laundry at 4AM. (Me, needing to catch up on
household chores.)

A Bit of Trivia

Question: How did the Skinny Pancake get it’s name?
Answer: Seems that the restaurant was originally a Church St. pushcart business selling crepes. This was around the time of the start of the war in Iraq when the French were not very popular with Americans. French fries became the politically correct “freedom fries,” and the French crepe became the “skinny pancake.” When the restaurant opened at College and Lake, it was named the Skinny Pancake. And now you know...