Beyond Excited! Life Lesson #14

After several weeks of nothing but bad or sad news I've had two terrific news days! On Friday we were told our first great grandbaby is a Boy and he will likely have my hubby's name in his, how terribly exciting. Not to rush our lives away but come on February!



My other news is kind of a longish story...Sunset Beach, NC, our favorite vacation spot and home to our wonderful little vacation home (actually it borders on Ocean Isle and Sunset), had a lovely old swing bridge. We always enjoyed it, enjoyed even the wait when it was open to allow for taller boats to pass along the intercoastal waterway. Sadly the bridge was removed for progress and safety reasons I suppose; and a new high tech and very high bridge installed.
A group of energetic old bridge lovers formed the Old Bridge Preservation Society and were able to purchase the bridge and have it moved to a site off water but near where it was originally and are proceeding to make it a park like setting and using it for educational purposes and museum type purposes.
A couple of years ago my second oldest grandson and I had our own special beach trip...one grey misty morning we were heading to the beach and were stopped by the opening of the bridge. We pulled over and I whipped out my ever ready camera and took a couple of pictures. I really loved one of the pictures I snapped that day, enlarged and printed it and framed it in my beach home.
When I bought tee shirts from the OBPS this summer they were delivered to me by a member of the board, as I had had to order them and I missed the time frame to go by the bridge to pick them up. Well this nice lady, brought them and I showed her a framed rendition of the picture I had taken that grey misty day with my grandson. She loved it and I sent it to the facebook page of the OBPS for her. After showing the picture to two professionals she wrote me that they had said it was wonderful and one of the best they had seen. So now they have asked my permission to turn it into notecards and things for the purposes of fundraising for the bridge. I am so honored to be able to contribute to the OBPS by allowing this. I suggested a journal and they will likely make framed pictures too. Hmm, just thought about tea towels, will have to write her that one...hot pads? placemats?
It's the little things in life that can just make your day. I have my fingers crossed that they can make a few dollars using my picture and perhaps be able to contribute to their work on restoration and setting up the park like setting for the bridge. I think maybe this could be Life Lesson # 14, always carry your camera because you just never know.

Another Soup Recipe

I found this one in a Cookbook called Tidal Tastings, I bought it at a flea shop in Sunset Beach. They were selling them to raise money for schools in the area. This recipe is attributed to Jayne Mathews. I've made this one three times already, it's easy, it's comforting and it's really good, it passed the Tom test so you know it's a winner.....a great way to get spinach into your family.

Comfort Soup
I pound ground chuck
2/3 cup fresh grated Parmeggiano Reggiano
salt and pepper
mix those and form into small meatballs, small bite size, makes quite a few.
drop those into boiling chicken broth, at least 2 twelve ounce cans or use a large box of broth,
and let boil for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile cook a half a box of frozen spinach in a small amount of water, if you use a whole box
it just seems like too much spinach I think. I used a strainer to strain it, then squeezed out the
excess water and dropped the spinach in the broth with the meatballs.
Then drizzle in one beaten egg...let cook until egg is all cooked and dispersed, swirl as it cooks.
Serve with a nice crusty bread. So easy, so good. Quick ingredients, takes no time at all. I even
did a quick cook then put it in a small crock pot on warm until supper time so I could walk away
and leave it. These meatballs are surprisingly good and with only the few ingredients. I was amazed.

I forgot to add...I added the juice from half a lemon and half a jar of cannelini beans to this soup, then serve
it with a nice rustic bread, either fresh or lightly toasted in the toaster or oven (butter it and broil it).
My husband really enjoys this soup so it goes in the TOMFOOD category.

Recipe and Life Lesson #13

I'll start with this recipe from this wonderful "old" cookbook. It can no longer be found except in flea markets, junk shops, antique shops etc. I love it, it's one of my very favorites. It has signature dishes from cities all over the US including my home town, Springfield, Illinois. The dish I made today is from St Paul, Minnesota. I'll list the recipe followed by my small changes. It's excellent and my husband will enjoy it for lunch today as the university does not yet have their food service in place so he's been coming home, a bonus for me...well mixed blessing, means I cook two meals a day instead of one. I sometimes enjoy that and sometimes don't, I'm sure all you ladies can relate to that one! This is so easy to prepare.




Minnesota Wild Rice Soup
1/2 cup uncooked wild rice (I used a mixture of different rices)
1 large onion diced
2 large fresh mushrooms, diced or 1 can (4 ounces) sliced mushrooms, drained (I used a whole package of fresh mushrooms, sliced)
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
8 cups hot chicken broth (I used 3 cans...Campbell soup size)
salt and pepper to taste...go easy...broth often is salty
1 cup half and half or light cream (I used about 3/4 cup low fat milk and about 1/4 cup evaporated milk)
2 tablespoons sherry or dry white wine

Add rice to 2 cups salted water, simmer until rice is cooked, about 30 to 45 minutes.
Saute onions in butter, add mushrooms, only takes about 3 to 5 minutes to cook them until soft. Stir in flour a little at a time, add chicken broth (I didn't heat it, just from the can, added slowly). Do not let any of this brown. Stir in cooked rice, season to taste with salt and pepper. Heat through, add half and half or milk etc. Add sherry and heat through but do not boil.
It can be prepared to the half and half point, then set aside as needed then reheat once half and half and sherry are added.

Now I've had a "revelation" about this soup. I am going to make chicken palliards...slice a boneless, skinless, chicken breast in half with a good sharp knife, layer between sheets of plastic wrap and pound it to 1/4 inch thick...dredge it through egg white..whip them until they just begin to froth, then dredge through Panko bread crumbs to which you've added salt and pepper to taste, and a bit of poultry seasoning, then fry them up in a very small amount of canola or other vegetable oil (only lightly cover the bottom of your skillet) until nicely browned. Okay...so I will do that, then I will warm up a good portion of this soup..it gets really thick...then I will drizzle that over my palliards, serve that up with a nice fresh veggie, steamed. smart eh?
The soup made so much that I can get probably 4 meals from it for two people. I had to keep adding milk as the entire cup of flour makes it really thick. We can add this soup to the TOMFOOD list...in fact everything I make is pretty much in that category...TOMFOOD means he'll eat it...it must be heavy and fill up those long legs.





Life Lesson #12
Stay in touch with old friends. My girls (now 37, 42 and 43) had a wonderful friend all through junior and senior high school. We moved away and though there were visits until about mid 20's the years and marriages, jobs, and family obligations slipped in the way of continuing that beautiful old friendship. This week their friend passed away, we don't know what happened to him. So young. We knew so many in his family and his wife's family. I cannot even imagine their grief. The memories of him are so vivid, he was so delightful, so full of life and from all reports turned into one fine adult with a nice family. It saddens me to think we know nothing of the last 20 years of his life and did not know his children. It's a life lesson to stay in better touch with those we really have cared about and shared so much with in our lives. I did stop by his work the last time I was in town but had just missed him, that was 2 years ago.....now I really wish I had seen him, seen pictures of his children, had a chance to catch up.
I've had so many memories of this kid and my girls hanging out together, laughing, getting in trouble, being kids, they have been swirling in my head. He was one of those kids you just enjoyed...he was so charming, so funny, so onery.
I know that I am guilty of losing touch with many of my friends too, this has served as a reminder to me to keep in better touch with all those I care about. I think really good good friends are so rare, we must cherish them better. I will really miss just knowing that this young man was a part of this world.

Mini Fried Peach Pies

10 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced...I chopped them actually...and only used 8...put them in boiling water a few minutes like you
would tomatoes and the peels come off very easily also the pits are easier to get out of the opposing side.
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter
mix all but the peaches until crumbly, add peaches and stir

Fried Pie Crust
This was in Better Homes and Gardens Sept 09
1 cup unsalted butter (that's two sticks, I cut them in slices)
1/4 cup lard (I also cut it in slices)
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon sugar
8 to 12 (or more) tablespoons ice water (I probably used more like 20 tablespoons)
Peanut oil for deep frying

Mix the salt and flour and sugar and add the butter and lard using a pastry blender.
Add the water a few tablespoons at a time until dough holds together.
At this point they recommend rolling it out and folding it then sticking in the fridge for a bit to
harden it up a bit and it does help with the cutting out bit.
I used a large plastic glass and cut my circles after rolling the dough about 1/8 inch thick, secret to
getting it up is keeping it cold so cut those circles fast.
Preheat your fryer for about 15 minutes using peanut oil.
Put a dollop...less than a tablespoon of filling on your dough...recipe says to seal the edge using a
bit of water...I didn't bother with that, I pinched them then just used fork tines to seal it...deep fry until
golden brown then drain on paper towel quickly then roll in sugar...eat while hot! Yummy!
I have a small fryer so only made 3 to 4 at a time...but it allowed time to work on the sugar rolling and
the filling for the others.

The peaches recipe makes quite a bit, I would suggest making another dough recipe. I think you could
use other fruits easily. I also think you could freeze these and reheat in a slow oven, like around 300 degrees
for about 15 minutes with good results. I also think you could make them to the ready to fry stage and freeze with
success.

One more thing...I thought that a bit of cinnamon would give some zing and I was right, I added about 1/2 teaspoon to
the peaches. These were so delicious. I think it made around 30 or so but I lost count. I shared them with my neighbors
at the beach.

Smokey Beach Marmalade and Life Lessons #11 and #12

Oh I so don't keep up well with blogging...I do believe though that I am at about Life Lesson #11....I know I'm awfully close to that. No pictures today...ha...no one wants to see the dark flecks of char in my marmalade....but the Life Lesson learned is rich, and that I will share with you all as well as this gorgeousmous recipe for Beryl's Marmalade. Beryl is the Mother of my friend and she currently is a retired gem living in New Zealand. Here's the recipe...oh the Life Lesson? well it's never quit stirring...my daughter and I and her hubby are enjoying a peaceful Fourth of July American Holiday at our little beach place...we've been most content and have had a grand time thus far in spite of ever so slightly scorching our first batch of Marmalade...this is how we did it....my daughter knows I have terrible troubles with my feet...well we cut up all our stuff, got our Marmalade cooking away and then she decides to rub my feet...oh ecstasy! Oh my it felt so good...we had asked her dear sweet hubby to stir every ten minutes and me forgetting that near the end you must stir more than that...well she's rubbing my feet, hubby is nose in the computer absorbed in a new furniture daydream and quite suddenly I smelled burn...well shoot if we didn't just sit there like fools and let it scorch on the bottom of the pan...life lesson...no foot rubbing whilst making Marmalade! Otherwise the batch was so perfect...so completely perfectly perfect. Okay so no ecstasy foot rubbing until the Marmalade is in the jars! So we're going back to get more of those perfect oranges, no seeds, the perfect grapefruit again no seeds and more sugar....so here's the recipe...

Beryl's Marmalade
2 pounds of orange, lemon, grapefruit or more if you wish.
We used an entire bag of wonderful Florida Naval Oranges, seedless and 1 grapefruit, again Florida and seedless, and 1 lemon....we cut the whole mess up into 1/4 inch dice. Then you put it in a very large, deep and heavy bottomed pan if you have it...and bring to a boil...you boil for 1 hour, (this was where we messed up with the foot rubbing....twas near the end) then add about 7 pounds of sugar and bring to the boil again and boil for 40 minutes. Is this simple or what? Yes if you're not getting a foot massage! Now once it's boiled for 40 minutes, it should be like thick syrup dripping off a wooden spoon, ladle into hot sterilized jars and seal with hot sterilized lids and rings....
Should make about 12 jars, those tiny jelly jars of Marmalade and it's really and truly delicious...so was the foot rub by the way.
Oh Jeepers Creepes...Life Lesson #12...pay attention to where you are posting...my first post was on my high school blog... that was one terrific foot rub!

We've Moved!

Gosh I don't even know what to write about that...we've moved to Abu Dhabi. I must say, first impressions I don't like it so well. We seem to be out in the middle of nowhere. We've found one gas station and one grocery store in this area, everything else is about 20 minutes away. Nothing is as convenient or handy as it was in Dubai. I love the villa, just don't care for the area. The villa is about 4000 sq ft with 5 ensuite bedrooms, a small maids room and bath, plus a nice laundry area, two half baths...now if you're counting, that's 8 toilets total, there are 3 showers and 2 tubs total. There are 2 family rooms, 1 formal living room, 1 formal dining room and a large kitchen with a huge center island. Why is it no matter how large a kitchen there are never enough cabinets? I don't get that. Quite honestly if there were more cabinets here I would likely never find anything. I might need a map now. We have a private garden and pool. This complex is on a golf course, it has a large community pool, sauna and steam rooms, gym with equipment, a small grocery store, a nice cafe that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner courses along with coffee and pastries. There are some meeting rooms in the clubhouse too and all of that is just 4 villas away from me. Very convenient just remember we're in the middle of nowhere! I've hired a maid service for 2 days a week and for the moment have a friends maid with me for a few days. So helpful....the floors and dust here are a constant problem and I'm too old for all of that...or at the very least my body is too old.
The move certainly pointed out a few things to me...one we're too old for this stuff! two it's a lot of work and three I really need to downsize. I've been doing my best to toss with wild abandon. As you all know I quilt, that seems to be the worst of the boxes and moving mess...sigh...I will definitely downsize all of that fabric and those books and supplies. I've begun the process. For now I need to concentrate on packing to come home for the summer...oh much to do.
This is the outside of the villa...a small garden is in front along with a garage, then two kind of narrow walkways to the back, one on either side, then a nice sized pool in the back...large enough to get some good exercise and thus far we've found early mornings and early evenings to be quite enjoyable...sort of like taking a warmish bath...the pool is about 5 strokes long...not bad.
So the maid service I have (never had that before) is a man and his wife...they are so sweet, Sri Lankans....he does gardening and odd jobs and will wash my car too. They have a 4 year old daughter who comes about 1 day a week. She loves to draw, she's at that age...so I've bought her an easel and thus far just the magic pens and a roll of paper...there is also a chalk board and one of those magic wipe boards on the easel...I can't wait til she comes again and plays there. She's the same age as my grand daughter and though it's not exactly the same, it's kind of nice just having a little giggler around now and then. Her parents are just marvelous, fast, efficient...lovely cheerful people. They will look after things while we're gone too...so nice. They were very highly recommended by a colleague of Tom's and they actually live with them, though they needed extra work...so they come here twice a week for about five hours...perfect for me! Also gives me company. Our other friend is in the states for a month so her maid agreed to come and help me for a few days...she's staying with us in the guest room though, those maids rooms are only about the size of a small walk in closet and would only hold a cot...I can't have anyone sleeping in my house like that! She's also lovely...very beautiful Ethiopian girl...she works at a nice steady pace. We have actually been working together to get us settled in here. I briefly showed her how to single crochet this am and told her once we quit for the day, after supper, I will help her begin a project...she's so excited, she's beside herself. How grand is that? Typically at the end of her day she just goes to her room...I don't know if she reads or writes or anything...some of these folks live such a sad sad life...this beautiful child is only 25 years old and has been here as a maid since she was 16, she sends all of her earnings home to support her mother, father and two sisters and a brother. We hear this story all the time...for us as middle class Americans it is just unimaginable how these folks live every single day! My heart cries for them. This weekend we packed her off to visit her cousin here and as we were preparing...I looked at her and just went and hugged her...then hurriedly walked away so she could not see the tears. Just giving her extra work makes a huge difference in her life, also the other maid/gardener/handyman couple...same thing. Most American's have no inkling how truly fortunate they are...these folks are a daily reminder for me and I treat them as I would want to be treated and i work right along with them...until I wear out then I quit and something in them just keeps them going...they are truly amazing.
A couple of books worth reading....The Help by Kathryn Stockett about maids in the deep South during the mid 60's...shame on those senseless folks who employed them, also The Island by Victoria Hislop about the Spinalonga leper colony off the coast of Crete the book goes from modern times back to WWII...amazing what those folks endured.
I have much to do....will post pictures as my progress increases...I'm done with three bedrooms, l/r d/r f/r 1 and all the bathrooms...am working on my sewing room. After the curtains are in I'll take some pictures and post them.

Oh let me see....memories of Gabatoni's pizza

Thursday evenings begin our weekend here in Dubai and about 3 weeks ago I tried these two recipes from this book I had bought Tom for Christmas. I got him pans too and a pizza peel. We had been so frustrated trying to find a decent pizza here, it's not easy to be sure. There is one restaurant called Il Forno in Mirdiff Mall that is not bad but they do not use proper pepperoni. They do however have this wonderful very thin and crispy potato strings they add to certain pizzas we rather like that. But if you're from Springfield, Ilinois, USA and we are, you should know Gabatoni's Pizza. We never miss a trip to Gabbie's on our trips home. We've gone there since high school days over 45 years ago. Of course we always go to Joe Roger's too...oh Marianne if you stumble on this silly little blog, we do miss you! Now if I could even come close to her chili my work here would be done...
We did notice last night that Dubai Mall has a new pizzaria, we must try that place, we noticed it has a proper brick oven with a live fire...oh wish we had one of those to be sure!
If you want the best pizza on earth please visit Pompeii, Italy...there is a medium sized restaurant just to the right of the entrance to the ruins...sort of back a tiny bit on the right, totally family run place, sadly I do not know the name of it. But the brick oven was first and foremost in the restaurant....and the place was so simple and the pizza was simply magnificent! I took pictures of that pizza but they're not on my computer...those authentic brick ovens the pizza gets little tiny burnt crispy bits on top...oh it's just marvelous. Worth the trip. We ate pizza all along the Amalfi Coast...wow what a trip!



Start with this book and pans like these. The book can be purchased at all major bookstores and is online at Amazon. I use the Sciilian pizza dough recipe it has lemon juice in it. The recipe will easily make four 10 inch thin crusts.. I lightly grease the pan with olive oil and a paper towel before putting the crust on it. Another wonderful thing is you can so easily divide this dough into rounds, refrigerate them in zip loc bags, use within a few days. I bet you could freeze it even though I have not tried that. When I did refrigerate it, I let it come to room temp, then rolled it out. I roll it up onto my rolling pin to put it on the pizza pan. Once the pizza is thoroughly cooked it slides off onto a cutting surface very easily. I think it is the lemon juice that makes this dough so perfect...it truly is perfect. At this point this is the best pizza we've had in Dubai, they don't know pizza here.


Bake naked pizza 3 to 5 minutes.

I make my sauce exactly like the recipe in the book for pizzaiola sauce except that I am rather fond of shallots so I add two finely chopped shallots to my sauce and I just used Green Giant brand whole peeled roma tomatoes and squeezed them into the pan, I do not strain etc as the recipe suggests as I rather like a small chunk of tomato here and there.


This pizza is mushrooms, sliced shallots and wonderful tangy green olives, they have nothing inside them. I use fresh mozzarella that you can buy in a loaf here in Dubai, they will happily slice it for you, so I get about 1/3 of a loaf sliced.
I have also made a white pizza, I brush the crust with olive oil, add finely chopped garlic toes, my fresh garden basil and cover with mozzarella...ummmm good. I can't resist these wonderful olives so I add them too.


This is half of Tom's pizza or nothing but pepperoni...in the states it would also have sausage but he's not fond of any of the sausages here in Dubai. I also sprinkle the pizzas with parmegiano reggiano before adding my mozzarella, it's a bit cheaper here than at home in the states, but now I'm spoiled by it and will always use it. I didn't post the actual recipes due to copyright issues...wouldn't want anyone mad at me. A friend or relative can email me and I will send it though. The book is nice and you will enjoy all the recipes. I'm making focaccia next. This recipe is so near to Gabatoni's that we feel we have that wonderful "taste of home" that we miss so much.