Cold Comforts

Well, it is officially – and finally – cold in the Twin Cities:  Even with her little coat on, my little papillon-chihuaha walking buddy does a super model-like pivot when her foot hits the front step in the morning, zipping right back into the warmth of the living room.  I sympathize.  It is a bit of a challenge adjusting to a wind-chill factor of 14° when it was around 48° just last week.  

Now, I would assume that summer would win easily in a poll on favorite seasons because in Minnesota we tend to treasure every shirtsleeve day we can get, but I understand that nationally, respondents actually chose fall.  My thinking is that, for many, crisp autumn weather brings with it a yearning (and an excuse) for long-simmering stewpots filled with tummy-warming concoctions into which warm bread can be dipped, to sop up every last bit of goodness – a pretty sound reason for welcoming October.  Logic then leads us to conclude that the bite of winter would only intensify that natural inclination, right?  I like that theory, and so did my dinner guests when we took this rationale to the table with us, diving into Cider Pork, Cheddar Smashed Potatoes, Roasted Green Beans, Tossed Romaine Hearts with Light Ranch Dressing, Tomato Parmesan Foccacia from my wonderful neighborhood artisan bakery outlet, and – for the especially convinced – Death by Chocolate Parfaits.  I would say that this meal gives new meaning to the phrase “bite of winter.” 

Strengthening Family Ties

   Make it a top priority to work together as a family and keep in touch with one another.  Grandchildren and great-grandchildren learn a lot from sharing with each other.  Plan picnics and family get-togethers, and keep family traditions alive:  prepare beloved, old family recipes – everybody likes to eat!  But above all, be there for family emergencies and help each other out as much as possible.  Parents and grandparents, muster the patience and understanding to keep the doors open to all who want and need your help – or simply need to be listened to.  (5)

Try to visit parents or grandparents at least once a month.  They won’t always be there.  (53)

Flowery accolades every five years at milestone birthdays are nice, but don’t neglect grandma and grandpa in between these major events.  (54)

Uncommon Autumns and Simple Pre-Holiday Fare

   I don’t know if you ever do this, and I probably shouldn’t admit to it, but I occasionally find myself totally at sea as to where I am on the calendar.  For example, I’ll be making out a check in early July, but I start to write “September” as the date.  Even when I stop to think about it, it may take a few seconds before I’m back in touch with the reality that we did, in fact, just celebrate Independence Day, for heaven’s sake. 

Following an early-October snowfall that left us quaking at the prospect of having two extra months of winter tacked onto the front end of the season, we Twin Citians now find ourselves finishing off a November which will go down as the second warmest in recorded Minnesota weather history. So as I walk the neighborhood on my daily constitutional in 50+ degree temps, I look down to see rusty tree leaves damming up the street gutters, and up to see Christmas wreaths and crèche scenes slowly rising around me as neighbors take advantage of warm weekends to install decorations before our weather luck runs out.  It’s another calendar disconnect.

To confuse things even more, I decide to do a holiday-style dinner two days before the 26th, and bake a nice, plump lean Boneless Ham or Turkey Breast to serve with Mashed Potatoes and Squash, Steamed Broccoli with Roasted Red Pepper Strips, a Four-Fruit Medley, and Amaranth Date Muffins.  In anticipation of feast day later in the week, no indulgent dessert, just a nice big slab of Queso Fresco to complement the fruit and muffins.  Heck, that is dessert – if not ambrosia, then at least a heavenly combination of  flavors.  And with the amaranth being a good source of manganese, iron, magnesium, and phosphorous, I am hopeful that this high-quality fuel will keep my neurons firing efficiently and perhaps strengthen my grasp of where I am in time. 

Cucina Rustica

This day broke with a frosty, sun-infused, crystal blue morning – perfect weather for a brisk pre-breakfast dog walk.  As my feet amble, my thoughts wander, and today that mental trek took me back through a cooking segment I happened to catch on T.V. last week, while working on a sewing project. 

By way of introduction, Rachel Ray called the combo of baked sausages with grapes a classic;  “Been around forever,” I think is the quote.  I’d never prepared it personally, but I was intrigued by her idea of adding chicken to the mix, and of course I fiddled quite a bit with the preparations.  My lightened version was a big enough hit at my Tuesday night in-law supper that I can highly recommend to you a menu of Baked Chicken with Italian Turkey Sausage and Black Grapes, Baked Brie with Multigrain Toast Triangles, Steamed Green Beans, some perhaps redundant Pan-Stewed Apple Slices, and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake.   

Based on crowd approval, I envision this adaptation of the main dish recipe becoming a re-run in my household.  Gotta’ love those rustic Italian cooks.

Phobic Phriday Pheasting

   I wish I could say that this gloomy Friday the 13th forenoon had unfolded into a glorious Autumn afternoon, but it didn’t.  Still, there’s one good thing about an overcast day:  it can make for excellent walking weather, and a brisk outdoor walk is one of my favorite ways to work up an appetite for something warm and comforting from the kitchen.  With the pupster along, this turns into a walk/jog, so a big bowl of homemade soup sounds mighty enticing by the time we’re headed back up the driveway at the end of our three-miler. 

But this is a pre-lunch walk, so there’s not a lot of time for complicated compositions.  Quick Vegetable Bean Soup has everything in one pot, and Kasha Muffins bake up in 25 minutes.    Set out some nice, crisp Apples and Red Pears and a wedge of White Cheddar to round things out, and you’re good to go – or “good to stay,” now that you’re tucked back into your nice cozy lair, enveloped by all those good aromas. 

Frosted Cakes and Frosted Pumpkins

   There was a coating of frost on everything in sight at seven o’clock this morning, but oh, the golden afternoon.  As my little canine companion trotted along beside me, crispy windblown leaves chasing her in her exuberant zigzagging trot to the park, I started to line up the cast for tonight’s dinner.   In deference to my husband’s low-carbohydrate needs, a recipe adapted from the very helpful book The Diabetes Diet, by Dr. Richard K. Bernstein, Chicken Breasts in Celery Wine Sauce, took center stage.

Co-starring, a quickie vegetable dish of Eggplant Sauté, Three-Cheese Pita Melts, a little pasta side dish (pun semi-intentional) of Orzo with Peas, Baked Sweet and Sour Plums for a fruity counterpart to the poultry, and for dessert, a hearty, semi-healthful Oatmeal Banana Cake.  To up the “healthful quotient,” eliminate the chocolate frosting on the cake – just as the glorious midday sun eliminated the frosting on the neighbors’ leftover Halloween pumpkins.  (Yes, I do enjoy a good stretch now and then…) 

Edu-Smarts

   Work hard in school and get a good education.  Good students are not nerds or geeks!  They are the future; you want to be part of that.  (1) 

I believe in telling your children from early on that advanced education is necessary to succeed in life.  It isn’t necessarily college.  It can be a trade school or classes that will help you advance in the field you are interested in.  Those “pieces of paper” do count.  (2)

Be curious and ask a lot of questions.  Learn about things that may not be within your usual areas of interest.  This is the definitive example of thinking outside the box.  If someone says “no” to a reasonable question, ask them why.  (2)

Read to your children at a very early age and encourage much reading, as most of your education stems from reading.  (44)

 

Fall Fiesta

   When a mostly cloudy week starts to dribble over into the weekend, then gets blasted aside by a burst of midday sunshine beaming down onto vibrant late-turning leaves, it’s time for a celebration.  We invite our Hispanic friends over for dinner, set up a centerpiece of gathered cattails, and put some Corona Extras on ice.  While I am not about to compete with the marvelous cooking skills of our El Salvadoran and Mexican acquaintances, a touch of spiciness does seem in order for this spread.  

Thus, a menu of Baked Chicken, Chorizo Stuffed Acorn Squash, our old standby Roasted Potato Wedges (see 8/28/09), crispy golden Corn Sticks, Tossed Vegetable Salad, and a colorful, glistening bowl of Cubed Fruit.  For a sweet finish, I pull out a decades-old recipe for hearty Coconut Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and offer Scoops of Vanilla or Coffee Ice Cream with a Drizzle of Crème de Cacao.  No clouds over this fiesta night. 

The Wounded Healer

  It is 1962.  The Cuban missile crisis has thousands sitting on the edges of their seats, anti-apartheidist Nelson Mandela is jailed in South Africa, and a baby named Suzanne is born in a Midwestern U.S. capital.  The nation’s children are not yet being exposed to an amoral, uncensored media blitzkrieg, but American society is on the threshold of an aggressive assault on traditional beliefs.

Meanwhile, Suzanne’s family is being led in a different direction.  Her older brother becomes a believer and a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in high school, and Suzanne, at age nine, finds herself moved by Billy Graham television specials.  Their changing hearts reflect a process that, “went beyond religion.  God was pursuing our family.  Looking back on the family’s history, you can clearly see it,” she explains. 

Suzanne’s 1980 graduation from high school is accompanied by a growing passion to do mission work, and a sense of urgency inspires her to finish her education quickly, without amassing an ocean of debt.  A three-year program in biblical studies that allows her to attend classes at night and work during the day fits the bill.  And things do hasten along, with graduation followed closely by marriage, the birth of her first child, and a call to India.

Ah, The Smell of Cinnamon in the Air

  Okay.  So I’ve moaned about getting our first snow a month before usual.  I’ve also griped about missing out on the beautiful spectrum of autumn colors that usually precedes that first snow fall.  And the morning of this writing, I look out my study window to see a low, heavy blanket of gray clouds which seems to be threatening me personally,  “You’d better quit whining or we’ll really let loose with something for you to complain about.”  

So, I’m turning over that proverbial new leaf – as in flipping pages in a book, not as in making a bad pun about those poor, tired green bits of foliage still hanging limply from every tree limb in sight:  I decide to stop whining and instead search my larder for ways to bring a little snap and color to the dinner table.  With a rather ordinary main dish such as Glazed Baked Ham, I opt for a lively mix of  Stir Fried Pea Pods with Yellow Peppers and Jicama, some Roasted Russets and Sweet Potatoes, a  pan of warm Cheddar Spoon Bread, and a serendipitous version of Over-Stuffed Baked Apples for dessert.  Fall colors may be fickle, but fall flavors have never been more reliable.