Happy Mother's Day

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.- Rajneesh

Godmother... unapologetically spoiling my children silly. Taking them to lunch,

Grandma Theresa ... playing "Make-a-believe" with me. I was ten when a teacher gently told me she thought I meant, "make-believe." Grandma.... the "chef-Boy-ar-dee" story, the Ellis Island stories, the cooking tales.

Grandma Daisy ... exotic because she lived in California. And while she did not cook for me, my dog most decidedly did eat her hat.

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-Grandmas are moms... with lots of frosting.

Great Grandmas and aunts ... sauerbraten, Uncle Otto tales...

Nights at Grandma H's baking pigs-in-a blanket and being sung lullabies.

Nights at Grandma S. being spoiled with pasta and chocolates. Grandma S. forever giving me her odd blessing:

"I hope when you grow up you have a daughter just like you!"

And I was lucky enough to have two children ... sometimes like me....

... and learned that the heart indeed can exist outside your own body.

Happy Mother's Day to all the caregivers out there. Celebrate with - what else? Food, loved ones and laughter.

Work... Family.... Ahhh Food...

There it is - my dieting progress! Great white blobs of fresh mozzarella. I could eat it without the tomatoes or chicken. And as you can see, it is not low-fat. To my credit, there's a lot less of the cheese than it looks. I cut three 1/4 inch pieces and threw it on the chicken and while baking it - it doubled in size! Just like bread. Really! I never lie.

My husband had it over noodles. I was virtuous and had it snuggled up to my salad. It's been a "just a salad is not going to do it kind of a day." I had this idea (which can be frightening to some) that to generate excitement for my Summer Theatre Program at Lakeshore Players - the theatre could post a link to my Kids and Theatre blog (which they did) and I would update my blog 5 days a week with tidbits about The Magic Fishbone, scene excerpts, what I was now incorporating into the play and whatever my little head could think of that might be of interest to my actors and their parents. And that's great! Except for the days when you can't think of anything. Except for the days when you are busy reading blogs and dreaming about delectable dinners and baked goods... wait! No baked goods till June ... dreaming about pasta, and breads.... wait! Dreaming about salads and lentils and mineral water.
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I had one of those days today. What could I post?
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Dear parents and young performers:
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I know I should be updating my blog today but I'm reading recipes and drooling over photos of food.
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It might generate excitement if they were coming to dinner ... but it hardly makes them line-up to do my play.
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So - dinner was easy. I could clear my head of food and fill it with lines worthy of a character from Charles Dickens. Even if Charles Dickens didn't write the character. (I love Public Domain)
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Chicken breasts
2 T olive oil
oregano or thyme or other herb to taste
tomato
fresh mozzarella
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Pound or slice chicken breasts till thin. Salt and pepper them - add some thyme or oregano and saute them in 2 T of olive oil. When almost done, put a slice of tomato and a slice of fresh mozzarella on top of each breast. Stick pan in a 350 degree F oven for about 6 minutes.
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Serve with salad or pasta or both.

I may christen it the "blob meal" because it certainly has blob tendencies. Or I may christen it the "clear your mind" meal because it was so easy, I could research Victorian melodramas (don't ask) on the computer while doing this.

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As is the journey of life, the winter and spring has given our family some ups and downs. Yesterday, this appeared in the sky:

I take that as a sign (I'm Italian - I love "signs") that things are indeed looking up.

A double rainbow= double-luck. My son graduates from college on Mother's Day. I don't know how that happened - he was just born - but he insists he is 22. So, I may not blog about blobs or any such nonsense till Monday. Have a grand weekend, all. May a double rainbow come your way.

To eat (sweets) Or not to eat (sweets)?

After praising my new found ability to credibly bake (NOTE: not smashingly bake or beautifully bake) - but just "simply" bake, I have noted that my chubbiness has been expanding. I had resolved to not bake or eat sweets for the month of May. Oh, I know I had a cannoli ... or two ... or three... yesterday. But they were mini-cannolis, so they don't count. Besides, I walked off the calories stomping around the house.
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And then I went out and bought, radicchio, zucchini, "live" lettuce (yes, I know - as opposed the dead kind), tomatoes, olives, feta cheese, red peppers. And came home resolved to not look at a baked good.

I went soaring through blogosphere instead. And what did I find?
Cheesecake extraordinaire from Cream Puffs in Venice
Linzer Torte bars from My Tasty Treasures
Strawberry Shortcake from Elyse's Confectionery Creations
and from one whose kitchen strives to be healthy -
Chocolate almond macaroons from Sara's Kitchen
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And that's just the tip of the ice-blog-berg. Really! What's a chubby blogger to do? Devise an Italian salad. (NOTE: All my solutions to problems involve food.)

I dutifully took out my "live" lettuce, sliced 1/2 zucchini, chopped up a red pepper (okay I gave some to Sadie - my chubby blind dog - she loves her vegetables), threw on some olives, tomatoes and feta. Scattered some Italian parsley and radishes. Mixed 2/3 olive oil with 1/3 lemon, some chopped shallots and oregano and voila!




Okay. It's not a cannoli or a cheesecake. But it makes me feel virtuous. That I have a semblance of self-control. That I am master of the hand-to-mouth activity. It will do. Yes, it will do.

And now I will go back to savoring blogs. And bookmarking. For June. Or July ... or August.

Why I love the subway, hate driving and had a cannoli for breakfast

7:50 a.m. - leave to drive my daughter to the bus stop. Beautiful day, on time, not late, not rushing, not speeding. Seat belt on. Obey all stop signs., red lights and yields.

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I need to say - I more than obey those things - I am manic about it. I have been hit:

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- at a stop sign

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- waiting at a red light

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Being slammed into while standing still has made me stay off the highways (a bit fearful now of errant drivers at high speeds), limited my work availability (I have to be able to get there avoiding highways) and a too-cautious driver. (Not long ago, a police officer had to "wave" me to go at a Stop sign when I wasn't sure who got there first - so waited. He was clearly annoyed).

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7:55 a.m. I am in the right hand lane of a 30 mph street so everyone else can speed by me in the left lane. Stop. Turn. Stop. Go. Police lights in back of me.

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7:56 a.m. Stop.

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Officer: "Do you know why I stopped you?"

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Me: "No." (And I had no idea.)

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Officer: "You made a perfunctory stop at the Stop Sign. You did not stop long enough. Do you have insurance?"

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Me: "Yes."

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7:57 a.m. (Going through glove box. Pulled out two insurance cards. Expired. Going through every oil change my husband has left in the glove box. 10 seconds pass.)

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Me: "I have it. I know it's here."

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(Officer gets call and goes back to patrol car. Claudia finds insurance card and hangs it out the window.)

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7:58 a.m. (Daughter calls boyfriend at bus stop to come and get her. The bus to the U leaves at 8:06 a.m.)

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8:03 a.m. Officer returns to car. With ticket. For not having insurance.`

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OFFICER: "I'm doing you a favor. You just need to take the ticket to the courthouse and show them your insurance card and the ticket will go away."

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8:04 a.m. (Aha! So Officer did see my current insurance card hanging out the window. And called it in anyway. As it turns out, there is no ticket for not waiting long enough at the Stop sign. It seems he felt obligated to write me up for something. He clearly did not want this to be a waste of his time.)

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8:05 a.m. Boyfriend picks up daughter.

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(Officer lets me leave with ticket for something that is erroneous and he knows it is erroneous because he gives me directions as to how to go about getting it expunged.)

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8:06 Follow daughter and her boyfriend to bus stop. Watch them park, run to bus and with a sigh of relief go home.

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8:20 a.m. Prepare broth and noodles.

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8:35 a.m. Have pasta and noodles for breakfast.

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9:00 a.m. Still stomping around the house muttering to myself. Call the license bureau. Must keep calling till the ticket comes through so I can have it expunged. (Each call is 15-20 minutes waiting on the phone. It takes 1-7 days for ticket to go through.)

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I wish they would end their "Menu" with, "We appreciate that you have no life and can wait for us to service you."

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9:15 a.m. remembering the olden days when customer service included the customer.
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9:16 a.m. Stomped around the house some more. Dog went out. Cats disappeared.
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9:17 a.m. Remembered the cannoli filling in the fridge.
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9:18 a.m. Prepared and ate a mini cannoli.
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CANNOLI FILLING:
One 14-16 oz. container of firm, whole-milk ricotta cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp citron (I don't use citron)
1/4 cup small chocolate morsels (oh! I use more - do I ever!)
Optional: crushed pistachio kernels, chopped dried fruit; sprinkling powdered sugar over filled cannoli
Beat ricotta and sugar till combined and almost smooth (too smooth and it may be a bit runny - it will taste great but be liquid-y).
Beat in vanilla and Cinnamon and citron (if using). Fold in chocolate chips or dried fruit or pistachios.Fill just before serving (or shell gets soggy).

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9:30 a.m. Sat down to vent on blog. Sated. My chubbiness grows.
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I ponder life. I wonder why 30-something police officers feel compelled to speak to middle-aged women as if they were scattered five-year olds? Do they take a class on that? "Middle-aged women badgering 101?"
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In my chubbier state, I dream of subways. Crowded, smelly, dark and inviting. There are no stop signs where you need to count "One Mississippi, 2 Mississippi" before you go on. There are no bored police officers. Wait! I take that back! That brings me to a NYC memory of the time my daughter (dressed to the 9's in high heels and a long dress) needed to jump the turnstyle after swiping the E-Z Pass three times - without it going through - and we got approached - by a bored officer in the subway who wanted to have some fun ...

A Tale of Ugly Food

It's not p.c. to say flat out in public, "This is ugly." But you know - it is. It just is. It is possibly the ugliest appetizer I have ever made. Next time, I shall have to disguise them in pillows of cotton in the same way I disguised my ugly drawings in grade school. Even if I spread them around a gorgeous dish of mixed greens, they would still be ugly.
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But - they're tasty. Maybe I can only make them for family members who still trust me and close, really-close, extremely-close friends. I don't know the future of the recipe - I only know it was tasty enough that my husband asked me what sort of meat I used. When my husband is eating mushrooms and thinks its meat - that usually means pretty tasty.
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In another lifetime - (this would be my actress days when I stopped waitressing and was typing in an engineering office - oh - you do get the picture... how I never speak about my "acting" jobs ...) - anyway - in my past, I was inspired to make chocolate truffles. I don't know why - I saw a recipe and thought, "I could do that." Well. No. I couldn't. I mean - it tasted really good and I had the nerve to bring a platter of them to all the engineers I worked for and stepped aside to listen to the critiques. Some remarks were not G or PG rated and since I write for children, I shall not dwell on the exact words - you can imagine. But by the end of the day, all the truffles were eaten. By the end of the year, I married one of the engineers.
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Ugly food can win hearts.



An hour ago, I made fifteen of these little tartlets - filled with mushroom mousse. My husband, daughter and I are the only ones around today. My daughter (just before she popped one in her mouth) mentioned, "I'm not going to lie to you. These look disgusting." Well, there are two left.
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In the interest of being politically correct and standing up for ugly food - below is the recipe. It is from Tastes of Italia.
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MUSHROOM MOUSSE TARTLETS
You need: (Serves 6 - or in my case - 3)
8 oz mushroom
1/2 medium onion
2 T olive oil
2 T Italian parsley
1 T butter
salt and pepper to taste
1 package of frozen phyllo dough tarts (15 to a package)
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Coarsely chop the mushrooms and onions. Heat the olive oil to medium high and add mushrooms and onion. Salt and pepper the mixture. Cook till browned - about ten minutes.
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Cool. Transfer to food processor. Add butter and parsley. Pulse till the mixture is smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings. Fill tart shells.
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Note: They tell you to fill a pastry bag to pipe it into the shells. I didn't. I saw their photo - it was still ugly. They also tell you to serve it a room temperature - which I did. Tasty - but I think next time (see, I am thinking of next time), I will warm them briefly in a 250 degree F oven.
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Anyway, ugliness is in the eye of the beholder.