Storm of Thoughts

Remember that Jingle?

So often, when watching TV, I (and whoever I happen to be watching with) will lament that things just aren’t what they used to be. Whether it’s sitcoms, children’s shows, movies, or, most noticeably of all, commercials - so much of it seems to have changed. Especially commercials. Really good commercials stay with you, well, forever. (I bet you’re calling some to mind right now. Especially effective are the ones with jingles you find yourself singing years down the road.) Now, though, there might be a few commercials that you’ll laugh at, or that will interest you in a product, or even start a conversation - but are there any you’ll be talking about years from now? Probably not.

Which is why I had fun when I discovered The Best TV Jingles last week. There are several, although here are my two favorites:

1973 Oscar Meyer B-O-L-O-G-N-A Commercial, as, naturally, my parents passed this song along to me as soon as I could sing.

Coca Cola’s I’d Like to Teach The World to Sing Commercial, which worked, obviously, because my mom still sings it (and their updated one a few years ago was a smart move)

What’s your favorite?

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Recipe: Leek Tart

This is the type of recipe that is simple enough to make any night of the week (especially if you don’t make your own piecrust), not too heavy but still filling, and definitely a crowd pleaser.

1 prepared piecrust
3 large leeks, white part only
1/2 lb. bacon
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
salt and pepper
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup shredded gruyere cheese (can substitute your favorite!)

Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9 or 10 inch tart pan with the crust. Place in fridge to chill while preparing filling.

Slice leeks lengthwise and place in a bowl to clean. Then slice again lengthwise and then into rounds, about 1/2 thick. Saute leeks in a little butter and olive oil to soften.

Remove leeks from pan and fry the bacon until crisp, then drain, let cool, and break into small pieces.

Take out the bacon and clean the pan with a paper towel. Melt the 3 Tbls. butter, add the flour and cook one minute while stirring. Slowly whisk in milk, and continue whisking 3 to 5 minutes, until thick and smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add the leeks, bacon, eggs and cheese to flour mixture. Then pour it all into the pastry-lined tart (or pie) pan.

Bake for 30 minutes, until puffed and golden brown. Serve warm.

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Wordless Wednesday: A Look Outside

These fun outdoor photos come courtesy of my mom, who has apparently seen a lot of interesting things lately.

A bush that wants to be a cactus:

And the rest of the collection. (Cacti in the snow. Ha.)

Napping swans:

Swan synchronized swimming?

And an eagle:

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I Hate Laundry, But Not As Much As I Hate the Laundromat

Our apartment is nice. It is. A little small, maybe, but reasonably priced for the location. We are, after all, in a city. But every apartment has its drawbacks, which is why my List of Things to Never Live Without Again gets continually updated. One thing on the list is a washer and dryer. (For the record, other items include central air, an icemaker, a dishwasher, and, oh yeah, any amount of counter space at all.)

Now, let me tell you something about laundromats. They do not live up to the pleasant image you see on TV and in the movies. Don’t be fooled. On film, laundromats seem convenient, quaint, and, dare I say, romantic. Laundromats are where perfect couples gather on weekend mornings to play Scrabble and discuss life plans while their designer t-shirts tumble dry. For single girls, the laundromat is even more appealing. It is here that you can catch up on your classic literature and, if you’re lucky, meet “the perfect man,” who just can’t wait to tell you that he’s also a fan of Jane Austen or that he finds it endearing the way you just bumped your laundry cart into his. (This, of course, is sure to lead to a date, a marriage proposal, and a lifelong reverence for laundry.)

But let me tell you, that’s not the truth. In reality, laundromats are hot and crowded. They are places where otherwise good-natured people steal parking spaces, argue over machines, and occasionally elbow each other out of the way. It’s where you wait 50 minutes to find out that the dryer full of clothes you needed dry right now wasn’t working (not even a little), where t-shirts mysteriously disappear, and where you come back from grabbing a cup of coffee to find your wet clothes on the dirty floor in front of the washer. Furthermore, laundromats are overpriced. If I added up how much Pete and I have spent there over the past 10 months – actually, I don’t even want to think about what that might add up to. And as for the convenience factor – it’s true that there are several laundromats we can easily drive to. But on busy Sunday mornings (or even Tuesday evenings), we tend to visit them all as we search for open machines. While doing laundry, I’ve never met the perfect man, fallen in love, read a great book, made a friend, or suddenly realized the solution to a very important problem. And, I’m sorry to say, you won’t either.

Of course, you probably have a washer and dryer in your home. Days of Scrabble-filled trips to the laundromat might be a thing of the past, or even a mere rumor to you.

I can’t wait until I can say the same.

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Happy Birthday, Grandma!

91 years young.

If you haven’t seen my grandma in action, be sure to take a look at my Grandma “Guest Post.”

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A Tropical Recipe: Shrimp and Mango Salad

When Pete and I returned from Turks and Caicos, we were sad to discover the end of warm days, tropical drinks, and meals full of conch, coconut, and mango, not to mention all of the other perks that come with tropical vacation. In our attempt to hang on just a little longer, we made a few meals to remind us of the Caribbean life we’d left behind. Although this recipe didn’t actually come from the Turks and Caicos (it’s adapted from a recipe by Alfred Portale from the Gotham Bar & Grill in New York), it’s very similar to a salad we ate while we were there.

For the shrimp:

1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons smoked Spanish paprika
1 1/2 tablespoons grated orange zest
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
shrimp, peeled and deveined (the marinade will work for about a 1-2 dozen large shrimp or 2-3 dozen small shrimp)

For the salad:

4-6 cups mixed baby lettuce
1/4 cup diced red onion
1 cucumber, chopped
1 mango, chopped
1 avocado, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste

For the dressing:

2-3 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon grated lime zest
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons reserved marinade

Whisk together all of the marinade ingredients in a bowl and reserve 2 tablespoons in a separate container to use for the dressing. Add the shrimp and the remaining marinade to a large plastic bag and refrigerate for 3-4 hours.

Whisk together the dressing ingredients and refrigerate until ready to use.

After marinating the shrimp, cook in olive oil over medium-high heat, turning to cook, about 2 minutes per side. Assemble the rest of the salad ingredients, top with shrimp, and drizzle with dressing.

Of course, this recipe is much better served outside, overlooking the ocean, possibly with a mango daiquiri in hand. But I suppose at the kitchen table on a drizzling March day will do if necessary. At least you can feel like you’re at a tropical resort!

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Our Trip to Turks and Caicos in Photos

Well, it took an incredibly long time to gather my pictures and Pete’s pictures, go through them, organize them, and pare them down, but now, here for you, are about 1/5 of our total photos, which cover basically everything we did on the trip and hopefully includes enough pictures of beautiful beaches to make you want to plan a trip to the Turks and Caicos. From getting delayed overnight in Miami on Friday and our arrival in Turks and Caicos Saturday to snorkeling, kayaking, and parasailing to lounging on the beach and lounging by the pool (our favorite activities of all), here is our trip in pictures. (Slideshow can also be seen here.)

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The Homecoming (aka Then and Now)

So, we’re back from the Turks and Caicos (otherwise known, I’m pretty sure, as Paradise). And as soon as all of my pictures are organized, I will have a lot of details to share! But while I’m still getting my bearings, I thought I would quickly share with you the view we were enjoying on Saturday in the Caribbean versus what I saw driving to work Monday morning:

Then

and Now

Good to be home? I’m not convinced.

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Comfort Food - Polish Style

The news media has been saying that with this lousy economy, people are turning again to comfort food. This is fine with me, because comfort food has always been…. well, comforting. It can bring back good memories, or just help get your mind off your day to day stresses, even if just for a little while.

This recipe was from my grandmother, Babchi (Polish for grandmother). She lived with us from the time I was three, when my grandfather died. When I was very young, I remember her making her own keilbasa, sitting in her chair, a large bowl of ground up meat on one side of her lap (that in itself took a long time to prepare) and a 4 inch dog bone looking thing (it was a bone, I guess) in her hands. She had the casing wrapped onto the end, and she would push the meat through the bone and into the casing. Pushing, and pushing, sliding it down, it took her hours just to make this part of the meal.

This meal also takes a few hours, although it doesn’t have to be “watched” the whole time. In fact, if you wanted to speed it up you could, plus you can make it on top of the stove - but I will suggest you rinse the sauerkraut very well, and that you cook it for a long while first, and add the keilbasa last. It tastes better that way. I do warn you, this is not a low calorie, low fat recipe. I don’t think comfort food by nature is, do you?

If you want to eat around 6 p.m. I would start the preparations around 1. Also, I suggest a jar of good Polish or German sauerkraut, but of course, any will do. This recipe feeds 6, possibly more, depending on your appetite.

Ingredients:

2 pkgs. keilbasa (I use Hillshire when I don’t have the real Polish deli kind)
2 lbs. sauerkraut
2 onions
1 garlic clove
Olive Oil
2 cans chicken broth (14 1/2 oz. each)
Potatoes (the recipe is very forgiving, use whatever kind you have) around 6 large to medium sized ones
1 can sliced stewed tomatoes

Cut the onions in half, and then half again, sliced thin.
Fry 1 1/2 of the slices in the olive oil till lightly browned.

Add in the garlic clove after the onions have browned, making sure it doesn’t burn.

Then, add the sauerkraut and the rest of the onion (the raw half) and add a bit more oil to this, (about 1/4 cup) stir well, and add the 2 cans of broth. Simmer on low for 2 hours.

Peel and cut up 6 potatoes, into chunks. Sprinkle them with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and put them in a very large roasting pan with olive oil. Bake them at 400 degrees, about half and hour, till lightly browned. You can turn them once. They like that.

When the sauerkraut has cooked at least 2 to 3 hours, and the potatoes are done, take out the large roasting pan, add in 2 rings of Keilbasa and one can of stewed sliced tomatoes.

With the oven (pre-heated) on 325, cover with aluminum foil (very important) and cook for an hour and a half to two hours.

As you can tell, this recipe can be altered, you can add things or take them away, don’t put in the tomatoes if you don’t want, add more potatoes, don’t add as much oil as I’ve recommended, and cook it on top of the stove. Babchi wouldn’t mind, it’s supposed to be comforting….not stressful! Enjoy!

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Wordless Wednesday

A few of my favorite pictures - to take my mind off the cold, and the snow….
The Little Choptank, Maryland

Turks and Caicos

Key West

Islamorada

John, our new boat and a beautiful sunset….what could be nicer?

Starfish, Turks and Caicos

A double rainbow!

Maryland

This picture is scratchy, not really great quality, but still……….
my favorite
Jackson and Chrissy

Till next time…….Luci

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