Good Things Happened: home, sweet, home

It's been days and days since I posted.  There was a minor medical issue that kept me at home for a few days - all better now.  Being at home with nothing much to do gave me a renewed appreciation of it, as seen below.

On the first day, niece Amanda and her family sent me flowers.  I can't think of the last time I got flowers!  It was thrilling.  I'm still enjoying them.  The delivery man seemed to enjoy my reaction, "I got flowers!!!"

I was looking for something else in a kitchen cabinet and found these two forgotten items.  The one on the left is a handy thing in which you can pull tarragon through the holes to strip the leaves. Stripping tarragon is kind of annoying, so I guess that's why I bought this.  It doesn't come up that often, but when it does, I'm set.  :)

There was clean out the refrigerator cooking.  Do you ever buy stuff for recipes you end up not making?  I made roasted vegetables, using carrots, fennel and the red onion that is in the bowl in the first photo.  (Yum.)  And yesterday, there was still a bunch of unused flat-leaf parsley, so I made pesto out of it.  That's it pictured above.  Parsley, olive oil, toasted walnuts and Parmesan cheese in the food processor.  I'm having some of it on penne pasta for lunch today.

And I enjoyed breakfast on the back porch yesterday.  There has been so much rain in Georgia, that the trees are nicely leafed out now.  It was cool and lovely.  And a hummingbird whizzed by a couple of times, probably to remind me about putting that feeder up.

I'll be playing a little blog catch up in the next few days.  Hope you have a good week!

Almost home, grinning from ear to ear and recipe of the month

- Around 6pm Thursday evening and on my way home - I had so much time to sit at this red light that I marveled at how beautiful those bare, winter trees are against the darkening sky.

- On Tuesday evening - arriving at my volunteer place, Georgia Public Broadcasting, a young man in a bright blue t-shirt was taking a selfie at this spot with Cookie Monster, grinning from ear to ear.  It took me a minute to figure that was he, since he has fruit in front of him, not cookies.

- My baker's rack, full of cookbooks.  When I bought this thing, several years ago, I had to donate a box full of cookbooks that wouldn't fit (vowing to put them all in this one place.)  My niece and I were talking about this - we both print out recipes a lot (you can see some crammed in there if you click to enlarge).  So my new vow is to cook something out of each of those books at least once a month and I'll post about it here.  I'll start with Alice Waters's Chez Panisse Vegetables there on top and report back!  I told friend Leisa, when we had dinner this week, that vegetables are my favorite thing, so that's a perfect place to start.

It's Friday!  Happy Friday.  Have a great weekend, y'all!

So funny, recycling and it's my hobby

- Get it???  This cracked me up!  I spotted this cartoon by Bec Hill on facebook - posted by another cat appreciator. 

- Making vegetable soup from the broth I saved when I cooked these greens.  I told coworker Bobby how good that broth smelled when I thawed it out, heated it up and started adding stuff to it.  It's for lunch all week.

- I was having a chat at a cocktail party with a woman I know just a little from church.  She told me about her new hobby since retirement, making pottery.  She clearly loves it.  She asked if I have any hobbies and at first I said I really don't, but then caught myself and said, "blogging."  "Blogging?  What about?"  I told her briefly about my format and as an example, used her as a possible "good thing" - saying I might blog about how "my friend's purplish blue beads sparkle in the lamp light."  So there's my third good thing.  :)

My Georgia kitchen, passing the dogwoods and more books

- Very early on Tuesday morning, I got absorbed in David Lebovitz's latest blog post, about the making of his new cookbook.  I've been reading his blog for years - he is an American chef living in Paris.  I need another cookbook like a hole in the head, but ordered it.  I just had to.  But look at how many I already have.  Maybe one more won't hurt.  :)

- The dogwood trees are blooming and really, on the wane already.  I pass one after the other when I'm driving, thinking how I should pull off residential streets and get out of my car to get a beautiful photo of them.  But in the spirit of my blog, things are good, not always perfect, so I snapped this beauty in the midst of power lines and storage business when I was parking somewhere yesterday afternoon.  I love how they pop up like that all over town.

- Tuesday is my long day - I go to volunteer work after my paying job.  We record publications and books for the blind there.  And this week is volunteer appreciation week, with the most exciting part for me being the stacks of books we could purchase for $1.  Here's what I got (see above stacked on the leaf shaped platter):  "Mockingbird" by Charles J. Shields - a portrait of author Harper Lee, "Cumberland Island" by Charles Seabrook - a history of the island off the coast of Georgia, and "Celestine - A Granddaughter's Reminiscence" by Celestine Sibley Fleming - a portrait of the late Atlanta journalist Celestine Sibley.  I used to read her column every day - it was a perfect start to the day.  And this was a perfect (almost) end to this one:  forking over my $3, not eating the appreciation cake, getting my recording done and heading home with takeout dinner.   A lovely day.

Sparkling morning, staff favorite and blame it on the rain

- Saturday morning sparkled.  An early morning walk with friends, coffee and catalogs on the back porch (view is from there.)  Early voting, which took ten minutes and not three hours like four years ago, and the library to pick up reserved books.  Perfect.

- The November issue of Cooking Light is a celebration of the magazine's first 25 years and they included their most celebrated recipes.  And out of all of them the staff loved this one the most:  "Rich Chicken Soup with Fresh Noodles."  It was delish and perfect for a windy, drizzly Sunday night.  Here's the recipe.  And I only had to go to two stores (Publix and Whole Foods) to get all the ingredients.  :)  I never did find Fresh Poultry Mix Herbs, so made a bouquet of sage, tarragon and thyme.

- Earlier on Sunday morning, after my walk, I stopped by Publix for the first of the soup ingredients.  A woman was putting out these small fruit pies, still warm from the oven.  "Did you bake that?"  "I bake these every day," she said dryly, and turned away, her manner telling me she was tired and took no joy from her job.  I thought the least I could do was buy one, and chose apple.  And had some when I got home, before showering for church.  Yum.

Thinking of all my friends in the northeastern US and beyond, who are affected by Hurricane Sandy.  Be safe!

Slow cooker lasagna, signs of fall and dancing

- This is slow cooker lasagna, after being cooked for four hours in the slow cooker and then a final six minutes under the broiler to give it that golden look.  I found the recipe on the Williams-Sonoma website - you can find it here.  It makes A LOT - so my freezer is full of portions for future lunches and such.  This was a practice run for making it for guests.  It's very good, but a little salty tasting to me, probably because of the Italian sausage.  I might do half as much sausage next time or even leave it out and go vegetarian.

- Leaves crunching underfoot and the need to throw a wrap on when I leave on these brisk mornings here in the South.

- Watching the delightfully silly Dancing with the Stars.  I loved that guy's "Bollywood" style dance.  I am a passable dancer, and that rarely comes up anymore - usually just at wedding receptions - so I admire great dancing skills.  :)

Almost forgotten, rain and sofa time and parm

- These dark red beauties were purchased more than a week ago and had gotten pushed to the back of the refrigerator. They look so pretty in my pottery colander and they are sweet and luscious.

- A discussion with coworker Joanne - is that loud rumbling noise the recycling bins being pushed to the loading dock door, or thunder? I hope it is thunder and it is. Rain and sofa time at home ensue.

- Writing down the ingredients for Eggplant Parmesan - a recipe spotted on the Cooking Light website. I missed the Eggplant Parm at the hot food bar at the natural foods grocery this week - they ran out before I got there. So I'll just make it myself this weekend - as it should be anyway. Referring to it as "parm" makes me feel so Carmela Soprano!

Looking forward to cooking and sofa time this weekend - maybe a little movie watching, too. Hope you have a great one, too!

Cosette, the Eiffel Tower and French cooking

It's Random Photo Thursday and also Bastille Day in France. So here are three photos that are kind of French in nature. :)

- My company prints posters and such for Wolf Trap - I grabbed this one of Cosette from Les Misérables as I was coming in one morning and they were printing it, and hung it in my office. I love her face, taken from the portrait "Cosette" by Emile Bayard in 1862.

- This image of the Eiffel Tower is hanging in my kitchen. It is said that plans for the Eiffel Tower were originally met with extreme skepticism. A petition against its construction read, "We, the writers, painters, sculptors, architects and lovers of the beauty of Paris, do protest with all our vigour and all our indignation, in the name of French taste and endangered French art and history, against the useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower." Of course, Gustave Eiffel's Tower is now regarded as one of the most innovative structural monuments in the world. I have read that most Parisians still don't like it, but I would love to see it in person.

- And I have neither mastered the art of French cooking or made anything from Dorie Greenspan's around the French table cookbook, but there's still hope.

In the mist, protection and seasoned with love

- Buildings in midtown Atlanta looming ahead in the mist. It was a gray sort of weekend in Atlanta, but there is beauty in that, too.

- In another town on Saturday, my mother and I are off to lunch and during the trip someone in a hurry makes a too close left hand turn in front of us. I am touched that my mother throws her arm protectively in front of me when I slam on brakes, even though we are wearing seat belts.

- Pulling out an indoor grill pan that belonged to my father. The grilled red sockeye salmon was all the better for being cooked in a pan that had been seasoned with love.

Mastering the art, scent and peace

- My copy of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia Child has arrived from the used book seller. Always intending to get a copy, the inspiration to finally order came in the form of the book and film "Julie and Julia." I like this one with its tattered cover, a sign that it was well used.

- The way the scent of eggs cooking mingles with the smell of coffee brewing - making the house smell good all day.

- Finding myself in the unusual position of scheduling visiting preachers for our church without a pastor, a delightful email reply from an invitee, "Greetings from Palestine! Salaam in Christ." He is a Palestinian American Presbyterian preacher and is in Palestine and Jerusalem on a peacekeeping mission.

Bella, dinner at home and peaches are in

- This angel, a favorite in my angel collection, was created by Simone Wilson. When I purchased Bella, I asked why she had this name. "Because she is so beautiful, of course!" said Simone. Bella is made from piano parts! Simone is a self-described "rescuer of materials from the past." Her Pleasant Hugh Studio is in Asheville, North Carolina and is named for her grandfather, who surely must have been a lovely man to wear the name of Pleasant Hugh and to be given this tribute.

- A lovely dinner at home of Tomato, Basil and Mozzarella whole wheat ravioli on top on field greens and broccoli, drizzled with olive oil, Dijon mustard and lemon juice dressing, and shredded Parmesan cheese on top. Yum.

- The peaches from Sherry's Produce were beautiful and one of Sherry's sons rhapsodized about how good they would be and that they pick them up from South Georgia themselves. I just thought they smelled good. And they were delightful on my morning oatmeal.

Paper, profiled and star

- Pouring over paper swatch books with two co-workers looking for just the right paper to use for an estimate. We offer recycled options every time someone is willing to pay the extra money for it. I just wish it did not have to cost more, but the recycling process makes it so much more expensive for paper companies to produce.

- Laughing at how Amazon.com has so pegged me with this: "As someone who has recently purchased cooking titles from Amazon.com, you might like to know about these comfort food cookbooks." It is funny because I always order sort of high brow cookbooks and never really cook from them, so Amazon.com sees through that and knows I am a crockpot user at heart.

- A gracious and loving friend has passed away suddenly and too soon. But knowing that Heaven has a bright new occupant today.

"In one of the stars
I shall be living
In one of them
I shall be laughing
And so it will be
as if all the stars
were laughing
when you look
at the sky at night."

- The Little Prince
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Postcard from Germany, favorite magazine and flying emails

- My latest Postcrossing card is from Felix who attends university in what surely must be one of the most beautiful places on earth - Passau, Dreiflusse-Stadt - the City of Three Rivers. He says it is called the Bavarian Venice.

- The December Cooking Light magazine has come in the mail - my most eagerly awaited issue. It contains a section with recipes involving Ginger. I think I will make the Double Ginger Cupcakes with Lemon Glaze for the Thanksgiving weekend.

- Emails are flying back and forth about our family Thanksgiving celebration next week - we will have 50 for dinner. My Aunt Sallie says she is bringing "my meticulously and obsessively put together photo album of Turkey -- only a small portion of the 7-800 photos I took." I can't wait to see it and her.

Successful experiment, evening air and so good

- Making a side dish of steamed green beans to take to my dinner group, with a sauce of olive oil, Italian parsley, stoneground mustard and chives from my herb basket.

- The delicious fragrance of a Tea olive bush making me want to linger on the back porch.

- A glorious dessert of chocolate covered cheesecake with a praline layer in the middle topped with chocolate dipped strawberries.