By George, I think I've Got It!

After months of walking around the house, exclaiming, "Blimey!' and ""By George!" - Charles Dickens The Magic Fishbone is in the hands of the production staff. Lines will change. Characters may be added or deleted according to the needs of the summer program. But (in playwright lingo) the bones of Magic Fishbone are indeed there and it has legs and will be walking around by the summer. Fish bones, knee bones - I don't care - I just want it up and out of the house!
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And after three years, there is a chance that Pride and Prejudice (my nemesis) will also be completed. In celebration of whatever it is I fell like celebrating that day, I found a recipe for chicken breasts stuffed with goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, shallots and garlic in Calm in the Kitchen's blog.

Look at those ingredients, matey! What's not to like.

The recipe is here. The results are below.

It couldn't be easier. Or tastier. Sweet sun-dried tomatoes, the tang and creaminess of the goat cheese, the savory artichoke hearts - truly a dish served in Paradise. My son demanded the recipe on the spot! I am currently putting together an easy recipe book for him as he prepares for his life in North Dakota. Looking for recipes that have five or fewer ingredients, not expensive (he's on a fellowship-stipend; it's "real-life" time) but he didn't care how many ingredients this had - he is making it. And you know what - it's easy! He can make it. And so can you, by George!

Wishes, Melodrama, Kincaids, Emotion et al

It's been a 'wave-knock-you-down" emotional few days of bittersweet, happiness and work. I wrote of my friend "lost" in 9/11. I had left a paper trail of HANSEL AND GRETEL crumbs for the family to get in touch with me if they ever wanted to. On Thursday, her brother "found" me. You can read about it here - or move on to food! It was one of those weekends where wishes come true.
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In between some manic e-mailing of memories and photos, the family did something we do not do much anymore - we went out to dinner! Getting the four of us home and home-free on the same date and time takes a lot of finagling these days. But we settled on a casual evening at Kincaids - a fish and chop house in St. Paul.
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When the four of us go out together - silliness happens. I can't imagine why! I will confess to being fussier and fussier about food. I noted the dinner wasn't perfect. (Do you do that - because you cook so much? Or maybe it is my (cough) advancing age.) But I also appreciate dinner out in all its imperfections, taste-delights, mix and match and fine company so a good time is guaranteed as soon as the reservations are set.
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We started with an artichoke dip - a must for the 20-somethings. I liked it - because it's laden with fat - I mean what's not too like - but it also had some crab in it which instantly got and held my interest.
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Please note in the photos that my family has no interest in me getting the camera ready. When your reservation is at 7 p.m. on a Sunday eve and you skipped lunch, the forks are in the dish before they are set down on the table!

What really was quite splendid - was the baked brie. Lightly crusted and fried, served in a sweet balsamic-honey sauce and topped with almonds and apple - it made me sing. (Inwardly. The kids cringe when I sing in public.)

Sitting on some lovely garlic bread, this was consumed with vigor!

Kirsten and I had the crab cakes. They were laden with vegetables which was a nice surprise. Kirsten appreciates her food - but seldom moves outside her "food box." As of late - she has. So crab cakes was a huge step for her. She is my hamburger-pasta-chicken girl and fish usually does not interest her. Of course, she did grow up eating crab legs at a young age - because I adore them and when they are on sale - I'm there. Hmmmm .... so maybe she didn't move outside her box after all ...

Do you have a child like that? Will eat tomato sauce but not tomatoes. No coconut. Shrimp cocktail but not cooked shrimp... however, she recently discovered shiitake and portabella mushrooms... so hope is not lost.

Paul has some grilled halibut on some herbal-lemony-shallot-butter sauce. Reminds me to make more halibut.

Matthew had Asiago-crusted halibut. I was trying to figure out the recipe. I will make my family crazy tasting and figuring out the ingredients so I can make it at home. Am I the only one who does that?

And we finished all with some creme brulee. (Does someone know how to get the accents on these words????!!) And came home sated and lived happily ever after. For now. And finishing my touches of Magic Fishbone where the wishes are not made, the melodrama reflects what is going on in Alicia's world and the family will live happily ever after. The melodrama has kept me awake nights. Having committed to it - I could not make it work. It is supposed to be a small "play within a play" that forwards the plot. Mostly it has me stymied and wondering, "What was I thinking?" So for now, happily-ever-after means getting a script out on time and savoring the day planning dinner with my family.

Crunch Time with the Muse

Yes. That's guacamole.

And yes, that is chicken tacos.

And yes, that is a platter of chicken tacos, guacamole, scallions, sour cream, black olives, tortilla chips, salsa and pepper-jack cheese.
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Right now, I am blogging about Tex-Mex food in an Italian-food-blog while writing a play that has immersed me in Victorian England.

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I am multi-cultural! I am global! I am schizoid.

But doesn't it look good? That is, if I could ever take a proper photo; oh - just take my word for it. It was.
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Son is home - usually sleeping. Daughter's holed up in her room studying for chem and physics final. Husband is in some class at the U of MN. I have a deadline and must send Magic Fishbone to staff this week and am living in "Charles-Dickens-Fairy-Tale-World" most of the day and then trying to come to terms with modern new-fangled things like blogging and Facebook in the evenings. After offering up cucumber sandwiches peppered with "blimey" and "fancy," my head is not in a place to work on a complicated recipe. ("Crumpets and tea, anyone?" See, my muse has to get into the act!)

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I came across Chicken Tacos courtesy of Chef Bliss which she got from wonderful Gloria Chadwick's book Foods and Flavors of San Antonio.

So you know it has to be good ("righty-O".. "Shh, muse... shh.") The recipe is, of course, in the links! ("You don't say, guv'nor!" "Oy vey, muse!" say I.)

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The guacamole has been lightened up a bit:

1 avocado, peeled, and sliced and mashed

1 English cucumber (really, the muse had nothing to do with this) chopped small

4 small tomatoes - seeded and chopped (I rarely seed; I'm on deadline, "What a fine fettle you are!" Sorry. The muse will do what muses do)

Generous squeeze of lime

cumin powder to taste

Tabasco or other hot sauce - to taste

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Mash. Eat. ("I dare say, that's first rate." "I'll never blog with the muse again)

salt and pepper - to taste
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Back to the play. Ta ta! I mean, "ciao" or do I mean "adios?"

For now.

Go Fish!

The Fishing Opener in Minnesota (a big thing here - it is the "Land of 10,000 Lakes") is always Mother's Day weekend. I'm not even going to comment on that fact - I could have too much fun with it and I'll never get to the food. The Governor always picks a lake and goes fishing in it and I guess it is a big deal. I never thought about it until the Governor picked White Bear Lake to open the fishing season. White Bear Lake! A once sleepy resort town where gangsters and the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald mingled. A lake of Legends from the Chippewa and the Lakota. A lake with enough charm that Mark Twain rewrote the old legend and it is now inscribed at Matoska Park - a park of bicycles, dogs, Frisbees, ticks and a time machine that takes you back in time by gazing at the lake.

Over night, White Bear Lake was planted, streets were closed, parking not possible and the Lion's Club fed 5,000 people. As I bravely tried to get to the grocers. I came across this by the docks:

Yep. Green elephants for the fishing opener. O-kay. I know the governor is a Republican - but maybe a walleye? A northern? A sturgeon? A fish????? And where do they go next? What do you do with elephant topiaries once they have outlived their use? Food for thought.
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And speaking of food, I did think fish was appropriate for the weekend even if we were not going fishing. I found some nice halibut (I couldn't find walleye in the stores this weekend - go figure - the fisherman are loading their coolers with frozen walleye - in case nothing bites???). And I found a lovely recipe at ALL RECIPES: Halibut with Crusted Hazelnuts over Creamy Garlic Potatoes.

I used less butter than was called for and could have cut even more of it. And I could have used more garlic -but that's me - I can always use more garlic. All in all - it was just fishy enough for the Fishing Opener, easy enough for a busy weekend and warm enough for a wet, cold, rainy day. Oh! Did I forget to mention that Fishing Opener weekend is always chilly and rainy? Not a lot of fish get caught. Perhaps that's why the grocers do a landmark business selling fish during the opener. You can't go home empty-handed. Not after spending Mother's Day weekend fishing.

All Growed Up

There are two truisms:

1. Kids like to do thing when you aren't looking. My children only poked each other when I left the room. And they were fast. Too fast. They made faces at each other when my back was turned and had innocent smiles when I looked back at them. My son disappeared into a busy mall - while I briefly attended to his sister. It's a blink, a hummingbird wing flap. Children move more quickly than the experts say. But their most stupendous achievement - was they they managed to grow up - when I wasn't looking.
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2. It may be said - being Italian - we eat our way through life. Feeling low? Chocolate! Need comfort? Pasta! Birthday/anniversary/holiday/vacation/promotion/any event: Mangia! And so I did. All day - I ate my way through Mother's Day and through my son's graduation. And when I was poring over the dessert tray and not keeping an eye on my son - he grew up.
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I wasn't feeling teary - just excited. I didn't feel overly sentimental as is my want. Or I didn't think I was - until I came home and noticed most of my photos were blurry. Shaky hands? Could my emotions have slipped into my hands - when I wasn't looking?
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St. John's University starts graduation day off with a church service. Then a brunch. So we ate our first meal of the day. And posed for photos. Oy! Did we pose for photos! So what if I was a chubbo - I was going to be in those photos!
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We then got Matthew dressed (incorrectly - who remembers how the shawls goes on the gown?) And posed for incorrect-shawl, blurry photos. And then we went to the ceremony. And sat. Not exactly running off the calories consumed at brunch. It seemed that we sat and we sat and then I blinked and I had a graduate.
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After the graduation, there were cookies and punch on the lawn. I thought it was extremely civilized. And did partake. I blinked my way through photos, cookies, punch, diplomas, kisses, hugs, a blur of caps. A sea of shawls. A gaggle of gowns.

So my first photo of the new-grad was with cookies and not a diploma. First things first. And we continued to pose for photos. And they continued to be blurry. But me? I was feeling fine - no lumps in the throat. I was happy munching on cookies. I was watching everything. I wasn't going to turn around and miss one moment.

I even managed some non-blurry photos. (Above - not below!)

Matthew's entourage: Aunt, Grandma, Dad, sister. And I only took 75 other ones. Still feeling good. Cookies consumed. Photos done. What's next? Dinner!

And we found this darling diner in St. Cloud.

We were feeling loopy by this time. So I took a photo of a mirror showing the reflection of me taking a photo of me..... while Kirsten made faces.

Matthew - knowing there was no food left in his apartment as the roommates were determined to consume it all before graduation - checks out the menu.

Kirsten gets a milkshake. Matthew got a malt and the photo seems to have flown away .... with my emotions.

Burgers....

Chicken fingers... good old fashioned diner fare....

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And we kissed Matthew good-bye, left for home and I felt good knowing I would have my son home for one month before grad school kicks in. Matthew's parting words to me were, "I'll have the photos on Facebook ready for you by the time you reach home. Arrived home and I log onto Facebook.
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The caption to the photo album reads: "All Growed up."

And there he was - "All Growed Up." And the lump appeared in my throat. The tear ducts opened. A thought flashes through my mind. "I turn my back for one minute and look what he did! He grew up!"