Old Biddy Loose on the Town

OLD BIDDY COMFORT FOOD...WARM WINTER SOUPS

2011-12-28T15:53:00.000-05:00

Since lunches are now served at my home seven days a week, whether I'm there or not, soup has become a major part of our menu, especially during these cold winter months.

Soup has always been one of my favorite things to both make and eat, at anytime of the year. This year soup has become a staple and a survival food for feeding my elderly parents something warm and filling at their lunchtime. If I'm not going to be home, the soup can go from the fridge into the small slow cooker before I go off to work and, set on "warm", it will be ready for them to serve themselves by noon.

As a recipe collector, my cookbook shelf is bulging with soup recipes screaming to be tried, everything from classic chicken noodle and creamy tomato to deli favorites from around the country such as chowders and chilis. Soup is as varied as any other dish you can name and even when following a recipe, seldom comes out the exact same way twice.

As an added bonus, it's really hard to mess up soup. Many Mothers and chefs have gone through their pantry and refrigerators on a Friday and simply swept everything into a big pot with some broth and turned all those leftovers into a wonderful soup. While working at the Holiday Inn restaurant in my younger years, we all looked forward to Friday lunch because chef made the best soup from everything left in the kitchen during the week.

MAKING MY WAY THROUGH MY RECIPE FILE
This week I pulled out a recipe that's been intriguing me for quite a while - Cheeseburger Soup. The original recipe must make enough soup to feed a small army because even cut in half this made enough for six servings.

Living up to it's name, it tastes a lot like a really juicy cheeseburger. Although I followed the recipe closely for this first time I will be modifying it many times by switching up the cheese (a spicy Montery Jack for the processed American), adding some bacon for something close to a bacon cheeseburger or maybe some swiss for the American and a few added mushrooms. Take a look at your favorite diners burger list and make some variations of your own. But believe me, you'll want to try out this soup this winter - I'm sure it will become a family favorite.

CHEESEBURGER SOUP
1/4 pound lean ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/2 teaspoon dried basil or oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
3 teaspoons butter
3 cups chicken broth
1 pound potatoes, peeled and diced to a small bite size
1 tablespoon corn starch mixed in 1/4 cup cold water
1/2 pound processed American cheese, cubed (I used Velveeta)
3/4 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup sour cream (optional)

Cook ground beef in a 2 quart heavy saucepan over medium-high heat until just cooked through, stirring until meat crumbles.

Add onions, carrots, celery and herbs. Saute 4 minutes or until beef is browned. Drain well.

Stir in chicken broth and potatoes. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer 10-12 minutes until potatoes are cooked tender. Stir in the corn starch mixture and stir until soup begins to thicken. Cook an additional 5-6 minutes until soup thickens.

Whisk in cheese, milk and seasonings and stir until cheese is melted.

Serve topped with sour cream if desired although I didn't because we were so anxious to JUST EAT!

Friday Night Escape!

2011-12-27T11:57:00.001-05:00

Don't get me wrong here, I am very happy that my parents are here in Ohio with me (even though Mom is still in rehab), but cooking at home twice a day, seven days a week is getting to be a bore. This surprises me a bit since I do love to cook, but the issue is that since it's just Dad at the house currently, he doesn't much care what's on the plate, he just eats whats there. What he DOES expect is that SOMETHING is there at lunch and dinner times.

Since I haven't quite yet gotten into the swing of this cooking thing twice a day, I spend a lot of time running to the grocery for missing items or forgetting things like vegetables once the main course is ready for the table. Also, my pantry and freezer are packed and arranged for meals for one person, not two, so my stash is diminishing faster than planned. Let's face it, I simply wasn't prepared for more people in the house. Oh well......

My Grandmother Dessie.
Always in an apron and no
wonder - breakfast, lunch and
dinner for a farm family took up
most of her day.

This sort of coping gives me a whole new perspective on how families deal with mealtimes day in and day out, especially in the days before fast food was available to fill in when Mom might have accidentally forgotten to fix dinner one night. How many of us grew up in a house where Monday was beef night, Tuesday was pasta, Friday was fish, etc, etc? Now I understand more fully why my own childhood was a simple rotation of meals and not given over to creativity very often, at least not until Mom retired and began spending time reading cookbooks.

I'm happy to report that after four weeks of this, I'm finally getting into the groove. Lunches have become soup warmed in the small slow cooker all morning so it's ready to go when I walk in the door and we can be fed and out the door in 15 minutes to get Dad over to the nursing home and me back to work in an hour (whew!). I'm learning to spend an evening or two each week in the kitchen prepping ingredients for both soup making and for weeknight dinners in order to have dinner over before 7pm. It's a whole new set of dynamics for this old biddy to learn.

But I'm happy to report that I'm catching on and with any luck at all will have this ironed out by the time Mom is sprung and able to be home with us - at which time we'll be working out another new routine!

FRIDAY NIGHT ESCAPE
Thanks to in invitation from my friend Nancy, I left Dad a dinner of a pot pie piping hot from the oven on Friday, put my work clothes back on and headed up to Cuyahoga Falls for a wonderful dinner at Samira on the river. Samira has been on the Old Biddy list of places to visit for quite a while but this was my first time here.

It's a lovely building that formerly held LaFever's. Exposed bricks and open beams lend a nice bit of nostalgia to the former mill site. White linens and sufficiently unobtrusive wait staff make this a very pleasant place to wile away an hour or two with a glass of wine and dinner and friends.

Sorry I didn't get any photos of my dinner (I'm remembering to CARRY my camera these days, just forgetting to actually USE it) and it was beautiful as well as delicious. I ordered the Honey Bourbon Cured Center Cut Pork Chop served with Roasted Corn Mashed Potatoes and an Apple Onion Marmalade. The chop was huge and perfectly cooked with a slight pinkness to the center. I've never been served mashed potatoes with corn mixed together (on purpose) before, but it was very good with the corn lending just a hint of texture and sweetness. The dinner went very well with the Diseno Malbec from Argentina I ordered from the short wine list.

Nancy ordered the Rock Fish special and it must have been very good because, contrary to her usual custom, she actually had the remainder of her meal boxed up to take home. My chop was large enough to be cut up and made into a nice fried rice for dinner for Dad and I last evening and the dog enjoyed the bone. One chop....four meals...well done Samira!

WHAT ELSE TO DO ON A COLD WINTER EVENING?
If you live in Cuyhaoga Falls and can skate, or even if you're just visiting the Front Street mall and like to watch people skate, you need to head out to see the rink on the Broad Blvd end of the mall. Even with no snow on the ground yet this winter and temperatures still hovering in the mid- to upper-thirties, the skating rink is open and people are enjoying the brisk air.

Skating is free for Cuyahoga Falls residents or $3 for the rest of us. Bring your own skates or rent a pair for $3. Everyone seemed to be having a great time and there were folks there of all skill levels.

The rink will be open through the middle of February so come out and enjoy it whether you skate or just like to watch those that do.

FINALLY - A Lunch Out with Co-Workers!

2011-12-16T11:14:00.000-05:00

I've been back to work now for about a month and haven't been able to get out to lunch with "the boys" in the office because I'm still taking Dad over to visit with Mom each day. Friday, bless his little heart, one of the guys suggested we take an early lunch so that I can get my Azteca fix for lunch. I jumped at the chance.

Azteca is another of our favorite hangouts for lunch. Located out on East Market Street, it's an easy jaunt from downtown if we hop onto the freeway and it's easy to get there, eat, and be back at work in a little over an hour.

There's nothing fancy about the place, they are slowly adding some new chairs and tables to the rooms to upgrade a little. This is a basic, sit down, order and eat place. You won't find tablecloths or nice cutlery, but the staff is friendly and the place is always packed for lunchtime. Everyone seems to come here - men in business suits, cops on their lunch break, tons of people with Goodyear badges on, and just about everyone in town has been here at one time or another.

I'm not sure whether to be pleased or not that the staff pretty much knows my lunch order. Iced tea usually appears without my saying a word and Jamie asks whether I'm having a lunch #5 or a hot and spicy lunch burrito today (burrito today, thanks!). Those are two of my regular orders, but everything on the menu is good.

Hot & Spicy Burrito - not really spice,
just filled with goodness.

Lunch specials are fast, inexpensive and typical Mexican-American fare. Tacos, burritos, rice, beans, etc arrive swiftly lined up on hot-mitt-covered arms from our wait staff. "Hot plate" is the standard statement as your plate is set in front of you.

The burrito is very filling and it almost always ends up in a "to go" container for me. The leftover beef chunks make a terrific hash on Sunday morning. Speaking of beef chunks, if you stop here, order the Mexican Stew. It's a hearty, beefy dish served over rice. My friend Cathy got it for me once when I wasn't feeling well and it turned out to be the best thing for a nasty cold.

Also, try out their Chicken Tortilla Soup. At $4, it's the best lunch bargain on the menu. The bowl is as big as my head and is filled with chicken, rice and a broth that is just spicy enough to get your nasal passages cleared out.

SATURDAY TREATS

One additional treat for myself this weekend was a trip to see my "hair dude", John. At the holidays, our tradition is that I bring in a bottle of wine with some cheese and crackers and we enjoy the experience of a slightly loopy hair cut and color. John is going through an especially tough patch at home as well as my challenges, so the wine was welcome opportunity to unwind a bit for both of us. A little brie and a new discovery of a stilton cheese with blueberries were great accompaniments to our bottle of malbec from Argentina.

Most of us wouldn't consider wine at the beauty shop, but as long as there isn't any strong perm aroma floating around, it works out well. And even after a glass or two, my hair still looks great. I was only slightly concerned about John's 2:30 appointment though.........

All winter season is covered with
footballs and snowmen on the
Krispy Kreme menu

SUNDAY TREATS

This weekend I got holiday cards for us to sign and send out. More to give Mom and Dad something to do than anything else, but it was great fun once Mom stopped addressing them all to me and Dad finally learned to spell Mom's name with 2 "n's". We managed to get glitter all over everything which for some reason tickled both Mom and Dad.

As our after signing treat, I stopped at one of the best places is town, Krispy Kreme. For the holiday season, they've gone all out and have cream filled snowmen in the case. Who could resist! I got us three snowmen and a small bottle of chocolate milk and we all enjoyed that after our glitter-fest.

The floor nurse heard us talking about Krispy Kreme and stopped in to talk to us. She recalls going in for the fresh, hot, glazed donuts in the mornings with her kids. They were awed by the sheer number of doughnuts rolling on the line and under the glazing bath. Me too, it's always an awesome sight.

From me to you, happy holidays! May they be filled with burritos and wine and snowmen all iced!

Still Stuck at Home...

2011-12-13T11:56:00.003-05:00

And really missing being out and about. The only place I've been out to eat recently (aside from the quick stop at the local Taco Bell for a taco between errands last weekend) was to one of my very favorite places....The Ido Bar and Cafe on South Main Street.

I love the Ido and have been eating here since I was a teenager. Mom used to eat here when she worked at Firestone in the early 70's when they served something called the Mushroom Steak Sandwich. It was a local favorite and extremely popular.

During the 1980's the Ido had a change of ownership and a friend of my Dad's (Bill Brown) ran it for many years. Somehow they managed to take the Mushroom Steak off the menu, but these days there are plenty of other tempting offerings to choose from, including their weekday lunch specials.

When I got my current job working in downtown Akron, one of the first places I introduced my co-workers to was the Ido and it's now a staple on our weekly lunch rounds. Wednesday is a popular time to go as it is half-price burger day. Burgers have been on the menu since 1943 and the Ido serves up a terrific version at any price, but half-off is an exceptional value. They've attempted to duplicate the old Mushroom Steak with their "Ido Burger" covered with mushrooms and grilled onions and while it's very good (if you like mushrooms), I hear it's still not the same. My personal favorite is the Kev Bo burger with bacon and cheese....YUM! And if you're going for the calories, order the onion rings, they are some of the best in town.

If burgers aren't your thing, try one of their rotating lunch specials. I have the link to the specials page on my web browser and check it daily if there's any chance we'll be going that direction for lunch. The specials are a cup of soup and a sandwich and for $7.50 they are a pretty filling meal. My best picks include any day they are serving up their wedding soup or their tortilla soup or their chicken and rice soup or anything paired with their over the top Parmesan Crusted Grilled Cheese sandwich (one of the BEST grilled cheese sandwiches ever made). If you want to try something filling and hearty, ask for a bowl of their stuffed pepper soup, it's always on the menu.

Salads more your style? Try out the Katie's Cobb, it's very good. Looking for a little homestyle comfort food, swiss steak and meatloaf dinners are always on the menu. And if it's Friday, get the fish fry.

Last Friday I tucked into the All You Can Eat Fish Fry and their Long Island Ice Tea drink special (made the real way, not with a mix) and it was the best Friday dinner I'd had in several weeks.

OK, I'm Back. If you've missed me.....

2011-12-05T14:40:00.001-05:00

it's because November was a slightly crazy month and December is shaking out to be about the same.

For those that know me only slightly, you may have read about my parents living in Florida and my concern that my Mother is suffering with dementia. There was a period of time when I finally realized that they had stopped driving completely and that meant that they were not shopping for food. Once that happened it was only a matter of time before the pantry ran empty and they had no food in the house. But, of course being the "we're okay" people that they are, they didn't say anything about this situation to me during our daily phone chats. One day during a chance conversation about what they were having for lunch that day led me to understand what was actually transpiring.

After some panic on my part and many phone calls and internet searches later, I was fortunate enough to find a shopping service in Cape Coral that did the grocery shopping for me and that worked out well for a few months. I made up the grocery list, with Mom's help, they shopped and brought the groceries to the house and even put away the frozen and refrigerated foods for her. With (the shoppers) Ryan and Bethay's help down there I was able to get a remote view of their situation. After a few weeks, it also became apparent that Dad wasn't caring for the yard and since he wasn't driving, I worried that other things such as bill paying and caring for the dog were being left undone as well.

I scheduled an emergency vacation to visit them for an "eye's on" during the first week of November and things deteriorated exponentially from there. Two days into my visit, Mom and I went to walk the dog after dinner, the dog got excited, wrapped her leash around Mom's legs and down she went onto the street - Mom, not the dog.

Luckily the neighbors came out help get her off the road and we got her home and in bed. Mom refused to go to the hospital that night but I insisted she go the following morning and after an x-ray it was determined she'd fractured her hip. The following day she had surgery to repair the bone and was sent to a local rehab hospital.

During these couple of days I finally came to realize that my Father's mental capacity had deteriorated far more than Mom's. He didn't understand what I told him about Mom falling, didn't understand why she was in the hospital and especially didn't understand why she couldn't just come home. When I'd ask him what he was doing, he'd tell me things like he'd been mowing the yard (which he hadn't) or had been out talking to a neighbor (which he hadn't).

What I had been experiencing with him as bouts of annoying repetitiveness was actually full-blown confusion, and no doubt in my mind, dementia.

After some excruciating soul-searching, I decided to pack them up, close up their house and bring us all back to Ohio as soon as physically possible. Although mentally they both are deteriorating, Mom's hip is healing nicely, so the Doctor released her to fly to Ohio at the end of the second week post-surgery. I managed to pack some warm clothes into boxes and have them shipped home, found a carry-on case for the dog, arranged seats at the front of a non-stop flight from Ft. Myers to Akron-Canton and a week later we landed in Ohio dazed, confused, terrified and exhausted. We took Mom directly to a rehab facility here, and Dad and the dog are now residing at my home.

It ain't Florida and it ain't organized, but hey, we're here, we're together (sort of), and we're surviving.

With support from many friends in similar situations, I've learned that it's important to set a daily routine and to stick with it. After two weeks, we have done just that. While it isn't ideal, we're getting through each day. I'm hoping Mom will soon be released to come home from rehab where I have been working to create a "parent's retreat" in my home so that we can all be comfortable without getting on each others nerves. For now, I'm able to get back to my job, Mom has her therapy each morning, Dad goes to visit each afternoon and everyone is fairly safe and are eating regularly.

There are lots of lessons to be learned throughout this process. The first of which is that people in my situation need to really dig hard to find answers to our problems. Government dollars are drying up for many agencies that would normally help us find our way, so asking lots of questions and taking copious notes are essential.

I also know that while it may be rarer to find someone my age dealing with dementia in both parents, it's not a unique situation. And believe me, I feel for anyone doing this while raising children or grandchildren at the same time.

I have also now experienced first hand the lack of understanding that our medical providers have in dealing with dementia patients. Even when told over and over again that the staff of nurses or doctors cannot accept answers to questions from Mom and Dad, they continue to treat them as though they know what's going on and take their answers as gospel.

Even during the process, we still need to take time to stop and
see the beauty around us while it's here.

Anyway, a quick shout out to everyone who has been supportive through this initial phase. The neighbors, Claudette and Peter, in Cape Coral have been kind and extremely helpful before, during and after this ordeal and Jacob has been mowing the yard for Dad for nearly a year (even tho Dad will still tell you he does it himself regularly). My BFF Cathy here in Ohio has been supportive and always available at a moments notice to help out with things like moving furniture around for me, bringing us home from the airport and helping me get the dog squared away. Grant and Lynn provided a wonderful home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner that I would never have been able to pull off on my own. Even the guy that was working on my house came in to install handrailings for me on a days notice.

Hopefully, the blog will get back to normal after a while. Obviously at this point, this old biddy isn't so much loose on the town as cooped up in the house, but that shouldn't last forever. With the holidays right around the corner it's OK to stick close to home anyway. Likely there will be more cooking reported here than running around, which will sort of put me back to the roots of the blog. Meanwhile, to all my family and friends, keep on reading and if you have advice to pass along, please feel free.

WINE DINNER AT THE LOCAL GROCIER?

2011-10-16T13:10:00.002-04:00

Yes, indeedie! I’ve been to some interesting wine dinners in the past – on trains, at old mansions, at wine shops and many, many restaurants, and yes, now that I think about it, one at the upscale West Point Market here in Akron. But my local Giant Eagle? Whod’a thunk it?

Give credit to the folks that organized this, it was a very nice event. Chef Tim Monsman created a five course tasting menu that was paired with five wines from Cline Cellars out of Sanoma. For $15 this was a very economical evening and I walked away slightly wine-happy and extremely tummy stuffed….OK, tummy over-stuffed.

Aside from the food being served on plastic plates and plastic cutlery (completely understandable given the location), this was a first-class event. Also, credit to my fellow diners at the table who made me feel welcome (thanks Nancy for including me with your group!).

A fun thing we learned was that the Cline Cellar family are descendants of the Jacuzzi family - yes, that means that their great-grandfather was the inventor of the Jacuzzi. Neat, huh?

The Cline Cashmere was originally a blend put together by the wife (who'd had no prior wine experience) for a Breast Cancer fund raiser a few years ago. It became a hit with the locals and they have been making it every year since.

Some tasting notes – 1) the soup was a bit spicy and overwhelmed the Zin poured with it, and 2) for me, none of these wines were what I’d term exceptional. Wine, of course, is very subjective and other folks at our table made purchases of some of these which indicated to me that they liked them. The Cashmere was popular as was the Chardonnay.)

Here is the complete pairing menu (with photos - I'm learning to use my camera phone but I won't be making that mistake again!)

Pan Fried Corn Cakes with Sweet Chili Sauce served with a Chardonnay

Sweet and Spicy Pumpkin Chili served with a Zinfandel

Braised Chicken, Roasted Garlic Tomato Sauce, Mafalda Pasta served with Cline Cashmere (a vineyard specific blend)

Beef Short Ribs, Lentils, Squash Dumplings served with Ancient Vines Mourvedre

Orange Poached Pears, Toasted Pecans, Crème Anglaise served with a Viognier

The corn cakes were the hit of the meal followed closely by the tender short ribs - Chef Tim did a wonderful job. An even better thing, he provided recipes for each item so that we can recreate these at home. I’m already imagining corn cakes in my very near future!

For any of my local friends who are interested, there will be yet another wine dinner in November. Get your reservations in early as I’m told these are sold out quickly. Chef Tim is also putting together a Beer tasting menu for October 28th, four courses and four locally brewed beers. If you’re a beer fiend, sign up now! Call the store at 330-342-9995 to get further information.

Cleveland Again? Why yes, thank you!

2011-10-07T11:12:00.000-04:00

Summer seems to be coming to a fast and early end as September sped away. Most of us are trying to keep up momentum with putting as much into these beautiful days we have left, especially as it’s beginning to get dark so much earlier.

Last Saturday was no exception. Although it started out rainy and chilly, my friends, Nancy and Cathy and I, headed up to Cleveland for a visit to University Heights.

This area contains some of the best things that Cleveland has to offer – The Cleveland Art Museum, The Cleveland Botanical Gardens, Case Western Reserve campus, The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Severance Hall (home of the Cleveland Orchestra), MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art), some wonderful restaurants, plus it sits close to Little Italy and all of its eclectic galleries and restaurants.

ONE OF THE BEST LUNCHES EVER!

We began our day with lunch at L’Albatros on Bellfower. Nancy had been here before and it was on her recommendation that we stopped for lunch. L’Albatros is a small space, as so many in this area are, and simple in décor. Visual stimulation is low but the food more than makes up for it with their well prepared French country fare.

We had mimosas to start our lunch and followed up with my croque monsieur with pommes frits. Nancy had the Cassoulet with braised white beans, lamb, duck confit and sausages. Cathy settled on the Roasted Cod served with garlic spatzle and sauerkraut. Nancy and Cathy both agreed these were some of the best meals they’d had in a long time. Cathy’s had to be good - we started eating and I’d taken maybe five bites of my sandwich and when I glanced back her direction, her plate was clean. And not just clean, she was busy using the bread at the table to wipe it completely naked! I’m not even sure the plate needed washing when we finally left. Which was too sad for her, Nancy and I both had restes de repas to take home for later. YUM!

NOW FOR A LITTLE CULTURE
Once lunch was over, we ambled back to Wade Oval and tried to get into the Natural History Museum. We were turned away at the parking lot because the museum was closed for a private party. This actually was really annoying since this museum was our target all along for the afternoon. I’d checked their website the day prior for hours and location – it would have been nice to have been warned the place would be closed.

Fortunately, we had options! A quick trip back around the oval took us over to the Art Museum where we spent a leisurely hour or so browsing the exhibits. It’s funny how different people like different things at a place like this. While I’m more intrigued by the paintings (my favorites are the Impressionists), Cathy preferred the other objects – vases, jewelry, etc, and Nancy liked a bit of both.

The Art Museum is undergoing a huge expansion project and some of the exhibits are quite a distance apart. We also got lost a few times. Still, this is a fascinating place and well worth visiting. Especially since the cost of admittance is FREE!

AND A LITTLE ITALIAN FLARE!
After our cultural afternoon, we drove over to Little Italy for a bit of respite. The area was preparing for their quarterly Art Walk so all the galleries and shops were open with wine and some sort of nice food to munch upon. I have two favorite places in Little Italy – one is La Belle Vita which is a store carrying a veritable feast for the senses - bright colors of scarves, pottery and glassware – soothing aromas of fragrant soaps and perfumes – the tinkle of chimes and happy music in the background – the touch of fuzzy hats and cool silverwork. I really love shops like this one. The owner is friendly and chatty and offered us wine and appetizers as we meandered through the displays.

My other favorite place here is the pastry shop Presti’s on Mayfield Road. Presti’s has been a staple in the neighborhood since 1943 and the current pastry chef is the 4th generation of the Presti family to run the business. From traditional Italian breads, pastries and cakes, they’ve now expanded the menu to include a full line of fresh deli salads, pizza, Stromboli. Sitting in the café is to watch a slice of life in Little Italy. People of all ages sit and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea with a pastry or lunch or dinner or just sit and chat like we were doing after a long afternoon.

WINE AND FRIENDS – PIZZA AND WINE – SOME OF LIFE’S BEST PAIRINGS

For the evening, we headed east to Cedar Green Wines where we were meeting up with our good friends Bev, Lynn and Grant for their 2nd Annual Gourmet Pizza Night. Bev had attended this event last year and recommended it for a fun night out.

The wine shop owner partnered with the chef from the neighboring Zeppe’s Pizza to bring us 4 wines and 4 gourmet pizzas. The wine began flowing by 8pm followed closely by fresh hot pizza and a new pairing arrived at our seats about every half hour. The wines were so-so but the pizzas were wonderful. My favorites were the Yukon Gold potato and the butternut squash. I’ll be trying to recreate all four at home but these two will be first on the list!

The full line up was:

Provolone-parmigiano reggiano pizza topped with a baby arugula salad and a meyer lemon vinagerette paired with a Bianco Campania Triade

Ohio Yukon gold-white truffle oil-fontina pizza paired with Palma Nero Grillo

Pistachio-arugula pesto with grilled chicken and asiago cheese pizza paired with a Mandra Nero-d'Avola

Ohio butternut squash-applewood smoked bacon-extra sharp New York State cheddar pizza paired with Vitiano.

Thanks Bev for the suggestion of the evening, I had a great time!

LET'S DO THE EAST 4TH STREET STROLL

2011-09-23T11:30:00.001-04:00

Have you been to The Chocolate Bar yet? No? You need to go. My friend Nancy and I went up to Cleveland on Wednesday to have dinner there and to stroll along East 4th Street. It was a drizzly night, and yes, it was a school night, but we've come to the conclusion that Cleveland really isn't that far to drive for a weeknight outing. Especially if there's chocolate to be found!

We were last to The Chocolate Bar about a year ago. The food was terrific, the drinks were wonderful and the atmosphere was upbeat and cozy. Nancy and I were seated at a window table looking out over the hustle and bustle that is East 4th. We were both pleasantly surprised at the amount of foot traffic for a Wednesday evening, especially in the intermittent rain.

The restaurant was busier than last year and I’m happy to see that. They’re located on the south end of the Hyatt at the Arcade which explains the prolific number of groups of men dressed in business attire we saw. The number of restaurants along Euclid Avenue has grown making this a busy section of town and there were many, many 20- and 30-something couples and groups wandering as well. We mused that it would likely be even busier when the Indians game was over as many of the bars we walked past weren’t quite ‘alive’ yet for the evening.

The dessert case at
The Chocolate Bar

We arrived about 7pm for dinner and still managed to sneak in during happy hour which allowed us half price martinis and $5 appetizers. We ordered Sweet Potato Fries to share plus two sandwiches to share. The Chocolate bar baguette, more dessert than dinner, was a toasted baguette, smooth dark chocolate, and a sprinkle of coarse sea salt, served with an olive oil and chocolate dipping sauce. The menu says it’s incredible and they ain’t fibbing!

The non-sweet part of our meal was their Turkey Berry Panini (roasted turkey. assorted greens. Jack cheese. and raspberry mayo. served on a toasted baguette) and was terrific. To drink I had a Chocolate Banana Cream Pie martini that was totally awesome! For dessert, Nancy ordered a Belgian Chocolate Pyramid (Belgian chocolate mousse with a hint of hazelnut praline covered in a shell of chocolate) to go because we simply couldn’t eat any more. I haven’t heard from her whether it was good or not, I’m assuming it was as awesome as the rest of the meal.

A LITTLE WINDOW SHOPPING
Aside from dinner, Nancy initiated this trek to Cleveland to visit a clothing shop situated on East 4th called Dredgers Union. In June, The Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote: “In a city built around the Cuyahoga River, the word "dredging" is synonymous with hauling up muck and opening the waterways to maritime traffic. But to Danielle DeBoe, dredging means clearing a path for retail in downtown Cleveland. Sean Bilovecky sees it as digging back to a tradition of designing, making and selling things close to home.”

When the pair opened Dredgers Union on East Fourth Street in June, it was downtown Cleveland's first new shopping destination in years. Dredgers Union occupies the ground floor of a former McCrory's department store at 2043 East Fourth St. The store carries a private label of men's and women's clothing, designed in Cleveland and sewn in America. Not every item sold at Dredgers Union will be designed in Cleveland or made in America, but they are committed to finding U.S. made clothing whenever possible.

They also carry made-to-measure suits and dress shirts; other apparel brands that are new to Cleveland or Northeast Ohio; bedding; kitchen gadgets; soaps and candles; and the occasional table or piece of furniture. They don't have a fully functional web site yet, but you can get the basics at http://dredgersunion.com/

Restaurant Week in Downtown Akron

2011-09-21T10:35:00.000-04:00

Last week was Downtown Akron Restaurant Week. It was developed by the Downtown Akron Partnership Junior Board to encourage residents of the Akron area to explore the burgeoning dining scene in Downtown Akron. The four-day event provided reasonably priced prix fixe dinner menus at a variety of Downtown restaurants, making it easy and enjoyable to try something new!

My good friend and fellow food lover, Bev, and I had reservations for Bricco on Tuesday and Cilantro on Wednesday evenings. There were plenty of options as most all downtown restaurants had some sort of special going on for the week. That made choosing among them pretty difficult.

At Bricco we were surprised at the small crowd during the dinner hours. And we certainly had time to take it all in, we spent four hours eating and chatting while watching the busy Exchange street traffic go by from our window table.

Dinner that night was $40 for two and consisted of our choice of appetizer, two soups or salads, and two entrees. We added a nice bottle of red wine to that and it was a lovely meal with more than generous servings. Our meal started with the Goat Cheese with Spicy Marinara appetizer, a salad each and then we ordered a Pizza with Grilled Chicken, Spinach, Roasted Tomatoes and Asiago Cream Sauce and the Tri-colored Tortellini with Marinara or Sauce. We split everything at the table and it was far more food that we could eat. I ate pizza and goat cheese marinara for two days over the weekend!

From our perch in the window we could see the hustle and bustle of the downtown crowd. On a beautiful late summer evening it was good to see people around. The only downside to the night was that someone broke into my car while we were enjoying our meal. Certainly there was no lack of police presence as it seemed that a patrol car turned onto Exchange from Main Street every few minutes. Too bad it was enough deterrent to keep someone from getting into the car.

What I learned from that experience is that if you have a car (like mine) that has a lock/unlock button on the arm rest, don’t leave your window above open any amount – these thieves manage to put a stick in through the window and push open the door locks. After rummaging through the car and taking what they wanted, they were nice enough to relock the doors behind them. How thoughtful.

The following evening Bev and I headed back downtown to dine at Cilantro. Cilantro combines an eclectic atmosphere with excellent and interesting food. Their eclectic menu features specialties from Thai and Japanese cuisines with variety of exotic spices. They also have a sushi bar.

Again, dinner was $40 for two and our meal started with Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce, then our two entrees were Shrimps and Scallops with Sweet Chili Sauce and Chicken in a Pineapple. We shared a dessert of Coconut Ice Cream with Sweet Sticky Rice and Fresh Mango.

Cilantro was a delightfully pleasant experience. I’ve been there twice before and wasn’t quite as impressed as this last visit. The service in the past was extremely slow, which doesn’t make for a pleasant meal. In contrast, last week we were seated in the beautiful back room and our server was astounding to watch. He was attentive and fleet of foot and it felt as though he spent most of the evening running to attend to all of his customers needs. The food was delicious, our martinis well made and refreshing and we’ll be happy to return for another meal soon.

I'll be looking forward to more RestaurantWeeks whether annually or more often. It was difficult to judge how many folks were out on Tuesday for the special menues, but we could tell on Wednesday that the majority of the Cilantro guests were choosing from the prix fixe. Good job DAP Jr., keep up the good work!

Playing hookey on a Monday

2011-09-18T20:11:00.002-04:00

So, it is called playing hooky if your boss tells you to go away for a couple of hours? On what could only be described as the perfect fall day, I was given liberty to go to a luncheon for my boss’ YPO group up in Chagrin Falls. All the President’s assistants were there (or a smattering of us anyhow) and we were treated to a great meal at Gamekeeper’s Taverne and a chat on fall fashions given by the owner of one of the little boutique shops on the main drag in town.

Opened in 1976, Gamekeeper’s Taverne is located in a historic landmark building in the heart of Chagrin Falls. Guests are welcomed by rich wood paneled dining rooms and large stone fireplaces in a classic tavern setting. During the warm months guests can dine outdoors under the sun, moon and stars on an award winning courtyard. Sharing the building is the Inn of Chagrin Falls, a delightful 15 room country inn. Today our lunch was served in one of their private dining rooms. The food was good and our service was excellent.

The bar was quaint and looked like it might hold 25 or 30 thin people on a busy night. As with most buildings dating from the late 1800’s the rooms are small but the quaint factor easily overcomes any feelings of being cramped.

After lunch, I took an hour to wander around the town of Chagrin Falls again. Last I was there was for the art show back in June and today I had the chance to wander into a couple of different shops. One new shop, only open now for four months, is Caravan Splendors.

You’re welcomed by the camel at the door and an eclectic mixture of items inside. Jonathan, the owner, is friendly and was happy to show me around the shop.

He was most proud of their new waterfall display hidden around back made by a company out of Philadelphia, but there were plenty of things to see ranging from table settings to handbags to rugs.

To give another thanks to the women that spoke at our luncheon, I stopped into their shop called "Find Me". They had some beautiful items and one of a kind pieces that were either a bit out of my price range or a lot under my size. Although I enjoyed hearing her talk about upcoming fall trends it's clear that people who run these little boutique shops do not aim for normal sized women to be shopping there. Lots of size 4's and a lot of mediums, but no larges to be found. After a while of wandering with me she just gave up and I ended up walking out. Out of the gals in the room at the lunch, maybe 5 or 6 could have found something to fit them but those were the young 'uns that obviously couldn't afford the pricing. Too bad really.

Just down the street was Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. We’d stopped in here last trip and was dazzled by the ice cream display and flavor variations. We’re not blessed with a Jeni’s shop in the Akron area, but they’re all over the Columbus area. If you happen across one of these, please make sure you stop in. The service is very friendly and the flavor combinations are artistic. The ice cream is also available in fine restaurants and stores throughout the country, and via mail order.

Jeni Britton Bauer, founder of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, was the featured speaker at Our Lady of the Elms Author! Author! series on Wednesday. Bauer is author of the newly released Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home. She and her husband, Charly Bauer, founded Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams in 2002.

Today I was captured by the Sweet Corn and Raspberry ice cream. Fresh corn from a farm in Chillicothe is husked by hand in the kitchen at Jeni’s, scraped off the cob and then pureed to create the sweet cream for the ice cream. Although my palate didn't really pick out the flavor of fresh corn, it was a delicious and refreshing ice cream and not overly sweet.

Chagrin Falls is a definite must for day trips if you're looking for quaint. Put aside some time to wander along the river parks and into the shops lining the main street. Make sure you go hungry and stop for a meal and then some dessert after. Bring some money for the shops, you're bound to find something you'll want to take home - I know I did!

Someday my autograph is gonna be worth plenty! You just wait!

2011-08-24T16:57:00.000-04:00

Friday night I volunteered for a good friend of mine at the Meredith A. Cowden Foundation Six Courses for a Cure at the Sheraton.

Lynne has worked with this foundation since its inception and is a mainstay in its fundraising efforts by putting together the auction for each event. Five years ago Lynne contacted Single Volunteers and we brought a few people out to handle their inaugural event. Although SVWR disbanded several years ago, I keep going back to assist Lynne and the Foundation in their efforts.

The monies raised at this fabulous gourmet event will be used to fund a medical symposium dedicated to Graft vs Host Disease, its complex issues, research, education and resources available to patients and physicians. GvHD, which is a complication of a life-saving bone marrow transplant, results when the patient’s body is attacked by the new immune system created by the bone marrow transplant. Sadly, it can cause death if not controlled. This will be the only symposium in the world solely dedicated to this malady.

Six Courses for a Cure is the result of the creative genius of Roger Thomas, Executive Chef at the Sheraton Suites, Cuyahoga Falls and Pete Olsen, a partner in Purple Feet Distributing located in Macedonia.

Meredith Cowden, Guest speaker
Dr. Steven Pavletic and
Dr. Adrianna Pavletic
Photo courtesy of Ernest J. Aranyosi

After meeting Gerry and Marti Cowden at a family celebration and hearing the story of their daughter Meredith and her courageous battle against leukemia, Roger and Pete suggested the idea of a wine dinner to benefit the Meredith A. Cowden Foundation. Both Pete and Roger have hosted and participated in many wine dinners to raise funding for charities and worthwhile causes in northeast Ohio, specifically the Akron area.

The evening began with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres created by all of the participating chefs. The incredible six course dinner was prepared by Chef Brendan Meeker of Glenmoor Country Club, Chef Rick Carson of Nosh Eatery and Creative Catering, Chef Brian Goodman of The Greenhouse Tavern, Chef Jeff Jarrett of AMP 150, Cleveland Airport Marriott, Chef Kevin Altomare of Hudson’s and 3foodies.com and Chef Roger Thomas of Piatto Novo, the Sheraton Suites Akron/Cuyahoga Falls.

Over 100 items were up for bid on the silent auction tables and a dozen high end items were up for auction by Bob Hale between dinner courses, including a trip to Charleston, SC and a day riding in the Summit County Sheriff’s riot tank complete with shooting practice with laser and real guns.

It’s heartwarming to see a healthy Meredith in her early 20’s after learning of her illness when she was young. Leukemia is terrible, but once you think you have that cured, to find that she had to battle GvHD had to have been devastating for her and her family. Once that battle was won, the Cowdens took their energy and decided to help find a cure for the disease that nearly took their daughters life. The Cowdens are a portrait in people putting their beliefs into action and working hard to make a difference in other peoples lives.

NOW I’M A FILM STAR!

Fellow partiers - We might all be stars!

OK, maybe not – but at least I might be an extra in a local film being shot by my buddy Blue. A shout went out for people to fill a party scene on Saturday morning and I answered the call. What a hoot! I’m not going to give away a plot line but the crux of the scene was based around a group of people eating bbq ribs. Now THAT I could get into! And we did! We were to smear bbq sauce on our faces and really ‘get into’ the ribs. We laughed until the scene was over, we all looked so silly. I think I even had sauce up my nose. I'm told my performace was bording on the pornographic - I'm not sure what they meant by that so will just have to wait to see the scene if it ever hits the airwaves. Whether our performances make it into the film or not remains to be seen, but it sure was fun participating.

And hang onto my autograph - once I hit it big I'll be forgettin' all about the little folk!

Front Street Mall

BACK TO THE FALLS FOR LUNCH AND A SUNNY WALKABOUT
I was so taken by the walk I had last weekend on the Falls Riverfront, I decided to do it again Saturday afternoon in the sunshine. Everything looks a bit brighter in the sunshine, and the river is no exception.

This weekend was R.I.O.T. on the River and I stumbled into the festival around noontime. Sadly, there was little activity on the mall area even around the music stage. On stage was the band Red Letter, which is a pop/rock band of four siblings from Doylestown. They were joined on stage by their Dad, who was filling in on guitar for one of the brothers unable to make it this day. Their stated music goal is “to use the expressive nature of music to communicate that there is hope throughout the highs and lows of life.” Their message mostly relates to teens and young adults of this generation, bringing positive lyrics to a modern pop culture sound. I listened to most of the set and these kids are pretty talented. I hope they continue to do well.

The band Red Letter at RIOT on the River

RIOT is basically Christian Rock - young bands with good music and uplifting things to say. They make a nice change of pace to other music which can be ugly or downgrading. Give these people a lot of credit for putting this together - it's just a shame there weren't more folks there appreciating the performance of the afternoon.

Moving on, however, it was lunchtime and I was hungry. Grumble belly always wins over music - no matter what the message may be. There was a BBQ truck set up on the mall for the evening RIOT festival, but they didn't have any food ready this early so I stopped into the new Firehouse Grill I spotted last Sunday and had lunch.

The Firehouse Grill & Pub on Front Street is in the old spot that was occupied by the Cashmere Cricket a few years back. The Cricket was flooded out and finally closed two years ago, but I see it reopened on the other side of the mall. That is now on my list of “revisit places soon”.

The Firehouse is a local chain of bar and grills and I’ve eaten several times at the East Market location, my good friend Cathy is a fan of their dollar burgers. The atmosphere there is somewhat dingy and dirty, although the food is good if you like pub fare (which I do). I was hoping that the new location would be better and it was. A nice fresh space with a fully stocked bar and a few outside seats along the mall, this will make a good lunch spot as long as the weather holds.

The staff was friendly and service was good. It was a quiet afternoon so the cook was wandering and I personally thanked him for my burger. I ordered the lunch special – bacon, cheddar burger with fries – for $4.99 and it was quite good.

The only issue I had was the fact that smack in the dead of summer I was served a slice of one of those crappy hothouse tomatoes on my burger. Frankly I see no reason why a kitchen of any caliber cannot order up some local tomatoes during the peak of summer to add some real flavor to a plate.

Aside from that short rant, my lunch was excellent. The fries are skinny and well cooked and I definately could taste the bacon on my burger.

SATURDAY AT D'AGNESE'S

Bev and Terri sent out an invite to join them at D'Agnese's to listen to the smooth jazz of the Stingers. The Stingers are an Akron-based band that includes Bill Brauning (bass), Bill Moriarty (keys), and (last night) Jim Yarnell on drums. Seems this group is fluid and at times includes horns and other players. Last night it was just Bill, Bill and Jim and they did a terrific job of trying to keep the attention of five women who where were busy gossiping around the dinner table (that was my group in case you didn't figure that out!).

They moved from samba and cha cha to smooth jazz and we were tapping our tootsies all evening. By breaktime, our table was the only one populated and the guys stopped over for some lively conversation before finishing up the evening.

The food was good, most of us ordered appetizers and shared. There was calamari all around the table, Bev had my favorite - the roasted beets with salad - and I ordered another pizza. Dessert was ordered all around too, with the clear favorite being the banana cheesecake. With a glass or two of wine, good music and lots of chatter, it was a very pleasant evening indeed.

Cuyahoga Falls Riverfront and My Weekly Martini

2011-08-16T18:49:00.000-04:00

This weekend felt an awful lot like autumn around here. Cooler temperatures and rainy days put an emphasis on the fact that summer is winding down. While it’s definitely still mid-August, the cool front that interrupted our summer heat wave was very much appreciated.

And for a change there was nothing on my calendar for the weekend at all. Nadda, zippo, nuttin’. Saturday was good weather for mowing the postage stamp-sized yard around my house and finishing up some paperwork chores that have been accumulating for a few months. By Sunday however I was pinging around the house with a small case of cabin fever. So I picked up my camera and headed out for a short walkabout.

Front Street way back when!
photo is copyright Barry W. Scholles

ON THE BOARDWALK

A popular summer destination is the Riverfront in Cuyahoga Falls. On Friday and Saturday evenings all summer long there are concerts, cruise ins, and more than a few festivals that bring hundreds of people to the plaza.

If you grew up in the Falls in the 1960's (as I did) you will recall this area being a work-in-progress during the 1970’s. Front Street still had automobile traffic, Kippy’s was a popular diner on the south end of the street and the only place for people to congregate was one and a half miles west at the State Road shopping center.

View of the Cuyahoga River from
the Boardwalk

When Front Street was closed off and they began building the pedestrian mall there were great hopes for a revitalization of the area. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s turned out exactly as planned, but the riverfront itself is really very nice.

What I learned on Sunday is that while this place can be hopping on a festival weekend, it’s very calm and quiet on a normal Sunday afternoon.

Between rain showers I took a very leisurely stroll along the upper and lower river front boardwalks. On the upper street level you’re behind the shops and condos that line the pedestrian mall. Among the trash receptacles and power boxes are a few pretty flower gardens and well tended back entrances. I also noticed a new Firehouse Grill on the south end of the plaza advertising their $1 burgers. At the north end was the new Samira's Restaurant. Both places are now on my list of places to visit.

The lower boardwalk was quiet with only a few folks tending fishing poles and me walking the river. The falls itself was rushing and the river was high. Even though we were only feet from rushing traffic along route 8, it was a serene setting. This isn’t a walk if you’re looking for exercise, but if you’re just looking for a quiet place to hang out for a while, this might be the spot. I also imagine the kids hang out here at night so if you really want quiet, try a Sunday afternoon like I did.

ACCIDENTAL MARTINI
It was such a nice quiet afternoon wandering around that I looked forward to a nice lazy night when I finally walked into the house for the evening. I was a bit hungry so headed to the fridge to scout it out. I found the remains of my blackberries from the CSA and decided to prep them for a shortcake. That meant heading to the liquor cabinet to find something to macerate the berries in because, of course, just plain water wasn’t good enough for these gigantic beautiful berries.

The ingredients for a cool martini

My booze cabinet is really full of some interesting stuff. It may rival some small bars I’ve been to in the varieties of liquor found there. I shop at the liquor store the way friends of mine shop for shoes, sometimes more for the looks of the bottle than the comfort found within. But that's fine. I like to experiment and try new things. Mixing up a cocktail is a little like making dinner, a bit of creativity can go a long way to finding a new great experience.

I hauled out a bottle of cherry liqueur that I purchased a while back for……who knows what. While contemplating the effect of cherry liqueur on those blackberries, I spied the Godiva liqueur witting on the next shelf and my mind immediately snapped to chocolate covered cherries.

Chocolate covered cherries are a weakness of mine. They’re super sweet, super gooey and really very good. In fact, they are so sweet that my teeth hurt just thinking about them. The chocolate is mediocre at best, the filling is probably straight refined sugar and those cherries taste more like candy than a real cherry. But I don’t care. I love them anyway. I don’t buy them often because I can go through a box of these in a few short days. Sad, ain’t it?

So why it hasn’t occurred to me to make a chocolate covered cherry martini in the past is a very good question, especially since I had the foresight at some point to purchase cherry liqueur. I remedied that situation immediately. A splash of cherry liqueur on the berries to keep them happy for another night and I reached for the cocktail shaker and some ice. A few minutes later I was sprawled in my chair with a martini in one hand and the TV remote in the other. Perfect Sunday night.

My Version of a Chocolate Covered Cherry - Martini Style
1 shot Cherry Liqueur
1 shot Godiva Dark Chocolate Liqueur
1 1/2 shots vanilla vodka
maraschino cherry for garnish

Put ingredients in a small shaker, add 3 cracked ice cubes, shake for a full minute. Strain into a chilled glass, add the cherry and enjoy.

Savoring Summer

2011-08-07T11:44:00.000-04:00

This past week was our last evening out at Porthouse Theater for the 2011 summer season. As always, we are sad to have this come to an end and it all goes by so swiftly it's difficult to believe summer is winding down.

The evening began with our gathering in the pavilion on a perfect summer night. As is tradition for the final performance, the cast wandered through the crowd and entertained cabaret style. This is always fun - the kids are so talented and the crowd sings along.

The summer series ended on a very up note with the ever entertaining Hello Dolly! Porthouse artistic director, Terry Kent stepped into the shoes of Dolly Levi and did a splendid job. Our group has been to these performances for several years and this is the first time we've been graced with Ms. Kent on stage. While her singing was nothing to write home about (which perhaps was not at all out of place for the role) her stage presence as Dolly was terrific.

Terry Kent and cast taking their bows
for Hello Dolly!

The cast carried off their roles with the usual style and grace - including a bit of a wink by Eric van Baars, who plays Cornelius Hackl. He earned a big laugh when he had a line dealing with the fact that his character is 33 years old when it's obvious he's a touch older than that. One of my favorite Porthouse cast members, van Baars did a wonderful job in his role. Another crowd favorite was Jessica Cope who played Irene Malloy. Her singing voice had everyone sitting up and taking notice of her performance.

Getting out and about
Two more favorites to add to the long list of great places to eat in Summit county. This past week I had the pleasure of meeting friends at The Office Bistro and Lounge located in the historic Temple Square district of North Akron. I've been here a couple of times now and it gets more comfortable with each visit. At their suggestion, I met my friends Blue and Joanne there for a catch up session after work. Bartender Valery made my favorite Office martini, The Flirtini, which is set ablaze and topped with a shower of cinnamon sparklers. Happy hour is weekdays 3-6pm and appetizers are half price. I ordered the Mango & Avocado Salsa (mangos, sweet bell peppers, red onion, cilantro, peach yogurt) with fresh tortilla chips and it was very different and quite good. This is something I'll be trying to replicate at home at some point.

Friday night I met my friend Lynne out at D'Agnese on White Pond Drive. This place has been a variety of restaurants in the past several years and they may have hit upon a keeper in this iteration. The atmosphere is casual chic, the service friendly and informative and the food was wonderful. We shared one of their flatbread specials and I ordered the roasted beets appetizer as my entree. The salad was of red and golden beets, greens, candied walnuts, goat cheese, and a fig balsamic reduction that was out of this world not only on the salad but just as wonderful with the warm bread brought to the table dipped in. The salad was as big as my head and easily could have been shared. I'll definitely be back here again soon.

Summer Bounty
This week began the next steps in my learning curve on preserving the summer harvest. My City Fresh shares have been abundant with zucchini and yellow squash and I will admit that I'm just not that big a fan of these fruits (and YES, squash is a fruit).

Zucchini abandoned on my doorstep!

I've done my best to make some interesting meals with them (ie my pepperoni and yellow squash pizza) but I'm simply outnumbered. There's only one of me and only so many meals I can make at home in a given week and this squash seems to multiply when I turn my back on them. As if it's not enough that I get them two or three at a time in my Fresh shares, last night I came home and there was one sitting on my back steps. No note. Poor thing had been abandoned and I HAD to take it in. In all good conscience, you can't leave an innocent zucchini sitting out in the big world all alone.

My food preservation technique of choice is freezing. Nearly anything can be frozen with some degree of success but, in my experience, not always. Zucchini is one of those items. I can grate it and freeze it for use in breads and cakes and it turns out fine, but I've learned that if I simply want to use slices or chunks, freezing tends to make them a bit mushy and I really cannot stand mushy foods.

To counteract that mushy-ness, last summer I turned to my food dehydrator. Thin slices of zucchini dried to a lovely crisp chip and are easily stored in bags or containers in the pantry. Kept this way they are perfect for tossing in soups all winter long.

As you can see here, my first batch were a bit too thin. These were sliced about 1/8 inch thin. I moved up to about 1/4 inch and they turned out fine for storage.

Simply wash and dry your zucchini, use a mandoline or slice by hand to 1/4 inch rounds.

Use a light spray of cooking spray on your trays to keep the zucchini from sticking as they dry, my first batch crumbled to pieces when I tried to pry them from the try. Place on the dehydrator trays and process until chips are brittle.

Once dry, store in an air-tight container.
Last year my dried zucchini went into minestrone and my beef vegetable soups.

BAKING IN 90 DEGREE HEAT?

2011-07-30T15:50:00.000-04:00

No, I'm not totally crazy, I'm simply hungry for some homemade treats. Especially since I got involved in the Big Loser contest at work, my intake of sweets has been limited. What I'm finding is that when I do get a treat, they tend to taste a bit too sweet. My taste buds must be adjusting and I suppose that's a good thing.

That said, when a sweet tooth begins to ache, it doesn't much matter what the temperature outside is at the time, I'll head to my non-airconditioned kitchen and whip up something to make me happy.

Even though I'm watching my calorie intake, one of my favorite evening pastimes while watching television is to browse through my copious collection of cookbooks. My collection has been growing since before I left home to set off for college. Some of these came from friends, others were purchased at various fund raisers around the area and not a few came from travels and act as a souvenier of my time in cities I've visited. Tagged and retagged over the years are recipes that I think I'll get around to "someday". Recently I've begun shrinking my collection (along with everything in my house that I'm downsizing these days) and I've tossed out pounds and pounds of magazines that I've ripped specific pages from. The pages first went into binders for safer keeping and more recently have been scanned and turned into pdf files for storage on my computer. Less paper and easier indexing are my main goals these days.

One such recipe that I've tagged a bunch of times and never got around to making is the following bar cookie. Not filled with sweetness nor covered with ooey chocolate, this looked as though it would easily satisfy my recently downgraded sweet tooth.

Raisins and their perfect partner - RUM!

This is an adult recipe due to the double addition of rum. Rum soaked raisins and a bit of rum in the glaze make this seem a little indulgent but it really serves to cut the sweetness. I've long ago lost track of where I found this recipe, it had been cut out of magazine and pasted onto another page and a quick search on-line turned up nothing similar. So for now, I'm claiming it as my own. Best of all, if cut as indicated into 32 pieces, each bar is a measly 75 calories.

RUM-GLAZED RAISIN BARS

Bar:
2 tablespoons gold rum
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup butter, softened
6 tablesppons sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
Glaze:
2 tablesppons butter, softened
1 tablespoon gold rum
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Rum-Glazed Raisin Bars

Sprinkle rum over the raisins, set aside.

Mix flour and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside. In a mixer, beat butter, sugar and egg till fluffy. By hand, stir in flour mixture alternately with milk, just until blended. Stir in raisins and their rum.

Spread evenly in a greased 9-inch square pan. Bake in 350 degree oven 20-25 minutes or until tests done with a toothpick.

Cool slightly in pan. Meanwhile, mix glaze ingredients together adding rum till a spreading consitency. Once bars are cool, spread glaze evenly over the bars. Cut into 32 pieces.

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO ME

2011-07-29T15:22:00.000-04:00

This past week was my birthday week. I only mention this because my share of ups and downs sort of centered around that fact.

One of the ‘ups’ – I’m still here and celebrating birthdays.

One of the ‘downs’ – my Mother, bless her soul, didn’t remember. I know her memory is wonky at best these days, but I also know that I sent her a personalized calendar with everyone’s birthdays on it (including hers and mine) and I know that she faithfully crosses off each day on the calendar so they are better able to keep track of what day it is. Or at least, she used to. So now I’m guessing that time tracking is also losing its appeal. Heavy sigh. I know I’m still lucky to have both parents alive at their age, but I’m also sure that there’s little more disheartening than them forgetting about your birthday. It’s just another in a long line of steps we take as we get older.

Another birthday ‘down’ – the long awaited boat ride on Lake Erie planned by Nancy and I was (once again) canceled. We’ve had this planned since last summer and I was really excited about this. I’m not a huge boat lover, but this promised to be a fast boat allowing wind in our hair and water splashed on our faces. That would be fun!

Another ‘up’ – instead of the boat ride, we ended up at Rosewood Grill in Hudson for dinner that night.

Rosewood Grill

Situated in the basement level of Turner’s Mill in Hudson, this place is rustic, popular and terrific. From the atmosphere to the food, our dinner was perfect for a birthday meal. My only complaint was that it was noisy. Cathy, Nancy and I were seated off to one side of the main room and could barely hear our own conversations. Otherwise, the staff was friendly and very accommodating and the food was delicious. Cathy declared it the best trout meal she’d ever eaten. Nancy’s walleye was good and my French Dip roast beef smothered in Grand Cru Gruyere Cheese was everything I’d hoped for. We each had a signature cocktail, Nancy and I had the Moscow Mule made with Ginger Beer and Cathy had the Peach Mojito. In honor of my birthday we each even succumbed to the call of the desert.

There’s a funny story lurking here somewhere but it’s better told in person. Ask me about it sometime and I’ll tell it. The upshot of the thing is that this young 20-something guy asked Cathy and I if we needed a ride somewhere – and he wasn’t trying to pick us up! Somehow (don’t know why that would be CATHY) he had the impression we were unable to drive a vehicle. Humpf! When I retorted that we were going to walk across the street to First and Main he quite seriously asked if we were OK to do so. Young kids these days! No idea of how old biddies giggle when we’ve had one little martini.

Anyway…we did manage to stumble over to the commons at First and Main and found their Friday night concert in full swing. Carlos Jones was playing and I very much have found a new local band I like. Known as the “iron-man” of the reggae scene in Cleveland, Carlos focuses on uplifting reggae music. The crowd was swaying and moving to the music and everyone was happy.

So my birthday 'down' got turned upside down. I had a very pleasant evening with friends and that's what it's all about anyhow.

My version of the Rosewood Grill Moscow Mule
I'm not exactly sure what the difference is between ginger beer and golden ginger ale, but I found a 4 pack of Ginger Beer at the grocery, so with that I think I came very close to the drink served us at Rosewood Grill. I'll have to open a bottle of the beer and a can of my Vernor's to see how they differ.

This was perfect in the heat of the evening when I had little to do and could simply relax.

2 shots Smirnoff Vodka
juice from 1/2 a fresh lime
bottle of Ginger Beer
Squeeze the lime into a tall glass filled with ice, and then add the Vodka; finally, add Ginger Beer to taste, remembering that this is meant to be a long drink.

Pittsburgh Weekend

2011-07-21T10:41:00.000-04:00

My good friends Lynn and Grant have just returned from their summer vacation in South Carolina. They shared a couple of photos they took and also included some of a great weekend trip we took together to Pittsburgh in early June.

I never got around to blogging about the Pittsburgh trip because, frankly, it was so terrific I didn't quite know where to start. Pittsburgh is as close as Columbus and yet, for some reason, I just don't think of going very often. Nancy theorises that there is something about crossing a state line that makes the trip seem 'so far'. She may have something there.

Pittsburgh is a city of tangled, constantly-under-construction roads, but if you feel you can get lost a bit and not be too upset about it, it also holds many wonderful places to discover. By far my favorite part of Pittsburg is The Strip. The Strip District is a one-half square mile area northeast of downtown Pittsburgh. It is a narrow strip of land in a flood plain confined by natural boundaries: the Allegheny River to the north and the extension of Grant's Hill to the south. The Strip District's east and west boundaries are 11th and 33rd streets; the produce district runs from 16th to 22nd streets. Running all along Smallman and Penn Avenue there are dozens of shops, restaurants and quirky little dives. Since my visit a few years ago, they've opened a new Public Market which is a smaller (but still growing) version of Cleveland's West Side Market.

I'd booked rooms for us at the new-ish Hampton Inn on Smallman Street that sits directly across from the John Heinz History Center and is well situated between The Strip and the downtown Cultural District - both within easy walking distance.

Feel free to browse my photo album of Pittsburgh here.

Nancy and I arrived into town ahead of Grant and Lynn so we ventured out on a rainy Friday evening to find a place for dinner. We stumbled over a local Pittsburgh icon - Permanti Brothers which is well known for their huge sandwiches piled with cole slaw and french fries. We shared a sandwich and some cheesy fries and while I can see where really hungry guys and kids might like the novelty of all that stuff in between two slices of bread, it was lost on me. I didn't find it that tasty, but we didn't leave hungry.

After a dash back to the hotel in the rain, our fellow traveller arrived and we decided to venture back out for a couple of drinks. The front desk clerk recommended Crystal's up on Penn Avenue, only two blocks away, so we stopped in for a few nightcaps. Crystal's is just a neighborhood dive bar and the barkeep was friendly. Since we were the only four people in the bar when we arrived at 10pm we had a chance to chat a bit and look around at the family photos on the walls. By 11pm, the place was crowded with local restaurant and hotel staff just getting off work shifts.

This part of Pittsburgh is littered with bars, so take your pick when visiting the city. Crystal's was nice simply because it was not fancy and made no bones about just being a nice bar. If you want fancy - walk a bit further into the Cultural District, there are lots of nice places there for a drink or two.

A FULL DAY ON SATURDAY

An early start found us on foot heading along Smallman Avenue. If you get down here on a weekend morning, make sure you carry something to bring home some produce or foodstuff from the Public Market. Literally we found things from Soup to Nuts - prepared foods, clothing, crafts, handmade pastas and even a booth with Kent purveyor Lucky Penny Creamery.

I hung out at the booth with all the beautiful pastries and my big mistake was not having anything to carry any around with. Note to self - bring a shopping bag next time. Nancy bought a beautiful bottle of Lime Olive Oil and although I saw plenty of things I liked, I walked out empty handed.

We wandered the shops along Smallman and then made our way up to Penn Avenue. In and out of shops we checked out fabrics, books, candy stores, trinkets and food galore. Lynn and Grant liked the book shops and the Mexican market. Nancy got lost in the fabric shops and I liked the Chocolate store and the Italian market where you can buy olive oil in whatever containers you bring in.

At lunchtime we settled on the balcony overlooking the crowds at Roland's Seafood Grill where we dined on pizza from their wood fired oven and local beer. This was a great vantage point to watch the people and the traffic along Penn Avenue. The pizza was good, the beer was good and the weather was perfect for al fresco dining.

After lunch we walked back to the hotel and hopped in the car to go out to the Phipps Conservatory. We got lost (of course), but the drive into the city was worth the trip.

The Phipps

I've become a big fan of these over sized greenhouses spotted around the country. The Franklin Conservatory in Columbus is one of my favorite places and The Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory located on Detroit’s Belle Isle are two that I've visited recently. I have an ex-boyfriend to thank for turning me on to these places. Years ago we went to Columbus to see the Chihuli exhibit at the Franklin and I was completely captivated by the plants and flowers under the big domes. The boyfriend – long gone - the Conservatories, always in my heart.

I took a ton of photos at The Phipps, feel free to browse my album here.

Pittsburgh skyline at dusk

SATURDAY NIGHT ON THE HILL

After our afternoon wandering the garden rooms at the Phipps, we had reservations for dinner at The Shilo Grill over on Mt. Washington. Although the website implies that there is a view of Pittsburgh from this dining room, it did not. However, the food was really good and we were within walking distance of the overlooks and the Inclines.

After dinner, we left the car in their parking lot and walked to the overlook to watch the sunset over Pittsburgh. This spot overlooks the rivers and the ballpark which was lit up for the Pirates game that night. We decided to take a trip on the Incline and as we stepped in, fireworks lit up the sky from the baseball game, it was very beautiful and I wish I had the expertise to have gotten photos of that.

WAY BACK SUNDAY

Photo from the Warhol website

Sunday morning we took a trip back downtown to visit the Warhol Museum. My friends at work who visit Pittsburgh had recommended us stopping here and although I'm happy we did, it really wasn't my cuppa tea. The others in my group liked the exhibits so maybe I just wasn't in the mood for modern art that day.

The Warhol is a 6 story block building filled with art of all mediums. In addition to the thousands of paintings, drawings, photographs, prints, sculptures, films, and videos in the permanent collection, the Warhol Museum houses Andy Warhol’s archives. By exhibiting this archival material with Warhol’s artwork, the Museum provides a unique museum experience.

BRUNCH AT CHURCH
After our trip through the art world, we set out for home by way of The Church Brew Works. I'd heard about this place from my co-workers who have been here and I'm really glad we made the trek for brunch.

On June 1, 1902 the cornerstone of St. John the Baptist Church on Liberty Avenue was laid. The church saw its congregation through fires, floods, world wars and the eventual deterioration of the great Iron City. By August 1993, the church was put under an act of suppression by the Bishop of Pittsburgh and its doors were closed.

Almost three years to the day, The Church Brew Works reopened the doors of St. John the Baptist for business in August 1996.

Attention to detail and the reuse of existing fixtures create a spectacular atmosphere. Original pews were hand cut from 24' length and hand finished to the present 54" lengths. These "mini pews" were intentionally designed to be longer than the tables to facilitate ease of entry. The bar has been built from the oak planks salvaged from the shortening of the pews.

The reddish orange hue of the flooring comes from the original Douglas Fir floors. These floors were uncovered and meticulously restored after lying dormant under plywood for 50 years. The original eight lanterns in the center bay were removed, repainted gold and reinstalled after complete refurbishment. The lanterns now illuminate the detailing of the ceiling.

The former confessional in the dining room was removed to provide a necessary link to the kitchen. The bricks salvaged from the removal of the confessional have been reused for the pillars on the outdoor sign, the facade on the outdoor ramp and the facade of the new kitchen link. The other confessional remains intact behind the bar and houses "The Church Brew Works" merchandise counter. Attention to detail and the integrative reuse of existing fixtures all help to enhance the brewpub experience. By far, the most interesting element is the position of the brew house on the altar. Because the altar was built as a centerpiece of the church, the steel and copper tanks gleaming with the celestial blue stained glass windows behind is nothing less than captivating.

I wanted to try their new beer - it was described as being "wine-like" but they had it stuck in the tank because their bottles hadn't arrived yet. I suppose this means I'll have to come back again when it's available.

"Red Roses" on the piano

2011-07-07T20:30:00.000-04:00

I haven’t been anywhere interesting this week and have very little to relate but I’m in the mood to write so I’m off today on a stroll down memory lane. Feel free to walk along.

I take a lot of good-natured chiding about the choices of music I have on my iPod. Admittedly it’s an odd mix of music that spans most genres and generations. Most of it is music I know, some of it is music I’m learning about. Some of it makes me happy, some has me looking like a fool singing along as I drive down the road, and some makes me sad.

One thing I do love about music in general, and in particular about my collection, is that it brings back memories. In that way, for me at least, music is a lot like food. Food easily triggers memories of people and places. Roast beef reminds me of my Aunt Eunice – she made the best ever pot roast. Zucchini recalls memories of making my first chocolate zucchini cake with my BFF Dorothy back in high school. Archway Lemon Cookies remind me of Aunt Fanny who always had a stash of these in her refrigerator. Countless foods remind me of being a kid in the kitchen with Mom or her Mom, Grandma Mealey.

But I digress (the mention of food does that to me often). Anyway, it wasn’t particularly surprising this morning when my iPod shuffled to a song and I was whisked away to my childhood sitting in my Grandma Krannich’s front room. And quite the front room it was. Grandma had lipstick red carpeting and a white leather sofa along with a little Victorian chair done up in red velvet. I wish to heck I had color photos of that room.

Garnet Bush c1930's

And Grandma was a piano player - a really good one. She could rock the house with a little boogy woogy and she had sheet music to all the popular songs of the 60’s which she could play for hours on end on her little white piano sitting on that red carpet. Although I never heard music come from a radio or phonograph in her house, we did watch Lawrence Welk on Saturday nights and Andy Williams on Sundays (or vice verse, I don’t really recall) which is likely where she heard all the current popular songs. Every few weeks we would get in the car and go to a music store where she would look through all the sheet music and bring home one or two pieces for her collection.

One song I particularly loved for her to play was “Red Roses for a Blue Lady”. Originally written in 1949, it was eventually re-recorded by Vic Damon when it hit #2 on the Easy Listening chart in in 1965. It's also the recording on my iPod that popped up this morning and prompted this little memory trek.

Every time she’d sit at the piano I’d request that song. Sometimes twice during one session – and she always happily acquiesced. I’m not sure I understood the meaning behind the words when I was 9 or 10, but I memorized them all and would sing along while Grandma played. Something about a man hoping that red roses will chase his loved one's blues away seemed charming at the time. Still does, I suppose.

Invariably, when memories of Grandma Krannich come to mind a couple of stories come along for the ride. Keep in mind that not only was she a terrific piano player, but she was a tailor and seamstress extraordinaire and she crocheted by the hour turning out lovely afghans (some of which I still own). (And by the way, NONE of that talent made its way to me. I cannot play the piano. I sew, but not particularly well, and crocheting is way out of my league. )

The sheet music passed down to me when
Grandma died. Can you believe they still
make Milk Maid and those little
pink candies?

One thing Grandma was NOT known for was her cooking. She hated to cook – didn’t really even like to eat. She ate only because she had to. The only constants in her pantry were bags of potato chips (I got THAT gene from her honestly), pink candy mints, Brach’s Milk Maid candies and Sarah Lee cheesecakes in the freezer. I’m pretty sure she must have fed me when I stayed with her during my summer vacations, but I don’t recall a single meal. I’m betting we ate sandwiches and I do remember going out to eat over to the “sisters” (Dad’s surviving sisters who were scattered around Akron) or at a local IHOP. This is not to say she was a BAD cook, she did OK when she fed the family from time to time, but she certainly didn’t like it.

Bill and Garnet Krannich c1960

In any instance I digress again (surprise!). The story that comes to mind about her cooking was one day Grandma had made Bean Soup for dinner for her family (must have been many years earlier because Dad was still living at home). At this point I’m assuming that Grandpa Bill wasn’t much of a food gourmet either because it’s well known among family that he would put ketchup on everything he ate. This particular day Grandma must have been in a bad mood. No doubt unhappy that she had to cook, but then to see her hard work slopped up with ketchup must have been the last straw. So...when she put the bowl of bean soup in front of Grandpa and he proceeded to smother it with ketchup, Grandma picked up the bowl and upturned it over his head.

Nuf said.

There’s no recollection to any more of the story such as what Grandpa’s reaction was or how quickly the five kids must have scattered, I can only imagine. And laugh.

Grandpa Bill was a good natured kind of guy. Although he died when I was only 5 years old, I remember him always laughing and joking around. It’s hard to imagine keeping a smile on your face with soup on your head, but I’d like to think that’s what he did.

Bless you both Garnet and Bill. I miss you still. But I have my music and memories to keep dear. And everytime I serve up my own Bean Soup I get a chuckle. No ketchup for me please!

City Fresh - Bringing Healthy Foods Into Akron

2011-07-01T10:16:00.000-04:00

Today I'm going to put something a bit different in my blog space. I wrote this article for our local Citizen Journalist outlet "The Akronist". I have blogged here a few times about The City Fresh program and was lucky enough to spend some time chatting with the local Director, Christina Wagner this past week. She is obviously passionate about that she does and I'm happy to be a part of the City Fresh community.

Putting fresh, local, sustainably grown vegetables on the table of everyone in our community is the aim of an organization called City Fresh.

City Fresh is a Cuyahoga County nonprofit program of the New Agrarian Center that supports the creation of a sustainable local food system in Northeast Ohio. Founded by Brad Masi, the program was meant to address the needs of those who are most at-risk within our community.

The New Agrarian Center is committed to building a stronger and more sustainable regional food system in Northeast Ohio; a food system that promotes health in the broadest sense of the word: healthy land, healthy communities, healthy individuals, and a healthy economy.

The goal of City Fresh is basically two sided. One is to improve access to fresh, locally grown food for people in urban areas who normally would not have easy access to it, and second, is to increase market share in the city for local farmers who normally could not reach those customers on their own.

Bringing together local farmers and local customers with a network of volunteers, organic farmers, youth and community members, City Fresh provides produce from area farms to neighborhood food centers called “Fresh Stops” throughout their target neighborhoods.

A Fresh share from last Fall

Similar in nature to a CSA program (Community Supported Agriculture) that allows a person, or family, to purchase shares of a single farmers' garden over the course of a summer, City Fresh simply multiplies the number of farms to create a broad range of produce and then disburses the food based upon the number of people (shares) sold for that week.

City Fresh operates by organizing many farms together to generate a share that is open to anyone wishing to buy in during the summer. Originally working only in Cuyahoga County, City Fresh has grown to over 22 supplier farms in 5 counties, providing produce to 16 stops in Cuyahoga, Lorain and Summit counties.

Creating a direct money link between a farmer and his customers keeps our food dollars local and helps foster and maintain our regional food providers. The squash or beans you may bring home aren't from Mexico or Chili - they're sown and harvested within a 40 mile radius of Akron. Your money goes to support a family close by who is working to maintain a local business rather than a half a world away with portions of each dollar being allocated to distributors, wholesalers and resellers.

The produce in each share travels less than 40 miles and you may be eating corn or lettuce or beans that were on the vine less than 12 hours earlier. Compare that to produce coming from Chili or Mexico, or even California that require days or weeks to arrive at your local market.

Summit County City Fresh Director Christina Wagner tells us “we began in Summit County as a pilot program and have done very well in the past few years. This program is meant to be replicated wherever there is a need and we’ve seen City Fresh programs crop up in cities all across America.”

THE FARM STORY

Not all City Fresh farmers are certified organic, but most do follow organic production standards for sustainable, low-input methods that minimize the use of chemicals. Currently Wagner works with eight to nine farms, most of which have been in the City Fresh program for the entire three years the program has been active in Akron. “We really know our farmers” states Wagner. “We work with them to transition from conventional growing methods to sustainable, natural methods.”

Ms. Wagner says “Farmers understand people are hungry and their job is to grow food to feed those families. And since City Fresh targets its stops in the more under served areas, we feel our farmers are growing for a just cause, not simply for profit.”

Often farmers will also share their extra harvest, or ‘glut’, for distribution into the system at no extra cost to shareholders. This may be items on the verge of over ripeness or a crop item that was simply unexpectedly plentiful. If the bounty cannot be distributed to shareholders, many times it will make its way to neighborhood food pantries or homeless shelters for immediate use.

Share bag from last Fall

LOCAL FRESH STOP

Most of the Fresh Stops are placed into urban food deserts where residents may not have access to fresh produce because stores in their neighborhood simply do not carry fresh fruits and vegetables. (Learn more about the food desert in Akron here.) Fresh Stops offer weekly “share bags” which include a mix of produce available from local farmers each week. The contents of each bag will vary according to what produce is ready for harvest that week. Spring and early summer shares contain leafy greens, spring onions, garlic and other spring vegetables while summer produce is more varied and plentiful. Shares also may contain special items produced on the farms such as honey, maple syrup or jams and jellies.

The Fresh Stop last year at
Highland Square

In Summit County there are six Fresh Stop locations, each run by local resident volunteers and partnered with a local business that allows the Fresh Stop onto their property. Each Thursday, June 16 through October 27 between 4:30-6:30, volunteers hand out produce to share holders. The stops are found at: Akron Children’s Hospital downtown Akron, North Hill at 841 N. Main St, Cascade Village and Highland Square which are staffed with Americorps volunteers, Southwest Akron at the Ritzman’s Pharmacy at Copley and North Hawkins, and Firestone Park located at Ms. Julie’s Kitchen on South Main Street. A seventh stop was planned in East Akron but they were unable to secure a volunteer at that location this summer.

FUTURE PLANS

Wagner is excited about the future of the program. She plans to expand services to include canning and nutrition classes where possible, provide education in creating and maintaining community and family gardens, and possibly other cooking classes. All of which will help to empower participants to feed their families healthier food and, in turn, promotes a healthier society overall.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

A weekly family share (for 3-4 people) costs $28, a single share (for 1-2 people) is $15. They offer a discount for income-qualifying customers and they accept Ohio Direction Cards, WIC FMNP vouchers and WRAA Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program Vouchers. There are also discounts if you purchase your share for the entire season of 22 weeks up front.

Unlike other CSA programs, City Fresh allows buy-ins for a single week, multiple weeks, or the entire season based upon income available from the participant. To find more information about participating in City Fresh visit them at www.cityfresh.org or email to summitveggies@gmail.com

LUNCH WITH A LOCAL ALIEN

2011-06-22T14:53:00.000-04:00

Today I struck up a conversation with a man I’ve seen many times at one of the fast food places I go to for lunch. He’s spoken to me before when he sees me there reading a book and we’ve exchanged the occasional word or two. Today I asked him to sit with me for a few minutes and it managed to help me put my little problems into a bit of perspective.

A little background. Once every few weeks or so I end up on my own for lunch and I have one or two places I go so that I can grab a quick bite and sit for an hour and read a book. It’s quiet time for me and I enjoy that since I normally lunch with co-workers or friends. One place I go is a fast food burger place on East Market that is usually quiet and I seldom run into anyone I know there.

Over the past few months when I stopped here for lunch, I’d noticed this same man sitting at a table drinking coffee while I would sit reading and picking at my lunch. One day as I was leaving with my book tucked under my arm, he asked me what I was reading. It happened that I had a copy of Mark Bitman’s book ”Food Matters” and that started a short 2 minute conversation about food and what we eat. I’m embarrassed to say that I was surprised at his articulation and that he had something to say on the subject. Shame on me.

It struck me that the man was probably from the housing unit down the street, if not possibly homeless, obviously jobless with nowhere to go, and most definitely part of the “tapestry of life” we so easily joke about while walking around downtown Akron.

Today, when I found myself on my own again for lunch, I tucked a book under my arm and headed to that same place for a burger and some quiet reading time. It happened that I plunked myself down at the booth where I generally see this man sitting (it was busier than normal and seating was limited). I managed to get through most of my lunch when I heard someone say hello to me….it was this man. He said he’d remembered talking to me before about the book about food I was reading and just wanted to say hello, which he did, then excused himself and wandered over to a booth across the room.

As I finished my lunch I became more curious about this man and why he was here all the time. I overheard him speaking to the cashier asking if he could exchange the last 20 cents he had for another cup of coffee and it appeared that she knew him well enough to call him by name and try to find a way to accommodate his request. By this time I was finished with lunch and had marked my book to prepare to leave when the man walked by me again with his coffee. I stopped him and asked him to sit with me since I recognized I was in his booth.

I wasn’t quite prepared for the next 20 minutes but I can say that I was totally blown away by this guy. We introduced ourselves, his name is Tom, and he said “let me guess what you do” and came surprisingly close by stating he thought I was a secretary in either a bank or a real estate office. Then he asked about my new book and that’s when the quirkiness came out.

I have a very old book that I keep in my car for days like this called “Boat of a Million Years”. It’s science fiction and very long but is broken up in sections that makes it easy to read a little one day, shove it in the back of the car, and pick up a month later with no problems. Tom said he liked science fiction too and his three favorite movies were Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and Mission from Mars. So we chatted a bit about movies and I it was then that I began to see the struggle between real life and science fiction in my new friend.

He said that when he was 13 he went to counseling because he thought he had been abducted by aliens but that the doctors worked with him to help him learn that that wasn’t true and to help him understand that aliens didn’t come to Earth because there were no such thing. As he explained this I could see him waiver between trying to believe what he was being told and what he truly believed had happened to him. He talked to me about the stars and how far away they were but that he’d come up with an idea for a space craft that would work on solar power but the problem he couldn’t overcome was how to get outside the Earth’s atmosphere.

As we talked I could feel my heart about break for this man who struggles to understand the difference between reality and fiction. I know that he’s one of thousands of men and women out on the streets trying to live in our world with very little support. Whether from another planet or not, these people must feel very alien.

I can only wonder about life as a child for someone like Tom. I can recall times when I was a little girl that I imagined that I was truly a princess and had been taken from my real parents and somehow given to these people who didn’t care for me much. Someday all would be clear and I would be a real princess with everything my heart desired. Tom had similar thoughts. He, however, was pretty convinced that he was an alien child sent to Earth to live out his life here among humans. I could see him repeat what he’s been told about the event only being a hallucination, but after 38 years he is still is not quite convinced it didn’t happen. How sad it would be to really think you were something foreign that didn’t belong in this world.

So, today I had lunch with an alien. I’ll take Tom at his word that he was abducted as a teenager and that aliens are living among us and that it’s possible he is one of them. He’s certainly made my life a bit more interesting. It also took my mind off of my own problems for a while and made me realize how many others struggle with issues I can know nothing about. I look forward to seeing him again at my local burger joint and next time maybe we can talk about space travel. Perhaps he'll have that inertial thrust issue solved by then.

MEDINA LADIES NIGHT OUT, DUCKS AND CHICAGO!

2011-06-20T22:02:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday evening was Ladies Night on the Square in Medina and Nancy invited me to drive over with her to take in the sights and have a little late dinner. Medina truly is a charming small town with lovely shops lining the square and people wandering in and out. The square was crammed full of things for kids to do - ring tossing, coloring contests, and other games.

Most of the shops and restaurants lining the square were open for business and were enticing guests in their doors by serving up little munchies and wine for the adults. We often ponder over how these little places manage to stay afloat in today's harsh economic climate. Many shops sell cutsie little decorative items that are very adorable to look at in shops, but seldom practical or appropriate for our homes. There are times when I consider setting up little displays similar to the shops, but then I stop and think - hey, someone has to clean all that stuff - and the idea pops right smack out of my head.

We strolled through the Potomac Bead Shop where beads hung in rainbows of colors on walls of two floors where ladies were busy working projects for Ladies Night. We also stopped in the Medina Gem Company where they had some of the most stunning jewelry on display I've seeen in a while. Nancy and I were both attracted to a glorious necklace that priced out at a little over $2,300. I was embarassed to ask if they would sell me earring backs (14K gold of course), but the proprietor was most accomodating and happily sold me four clasps. She was as nice to me as if I had purchased the $2300 necklace - what a lovely woman.

Since dinner was the main objective of the evening, we asked for recommendations from shop keepers and were directed a little bit out of town to Thyme the Restaurant, located just beyond the main square on North Court Street. This isn't really walkable from the square, but it's well worth the drive north to find this little gem.

The 65-seat spot features what Chef John Kolar calls “contemporary cuisine with worldly influences”. We didn't have difficulty in deciding to choose a table on the charming front patio but we did have some problems in choosing our dinner. The menu is full of wonderful items such as Pan Roasted Thyme Chicken, Lobster Newburgh Fettuccini and Chipotle Cream Steamed Mussels. We were both intrigued by the Grilled Chicken Mac 'n Cheese (although neither of us ended up ordering it). I settled on the Warm Asparagus salad and a small Italian pizza - both delicious paired up with the Malbac wine I ordered. I'm not sure what Nancy ordered but it must have been good because when I stole a glance at her plate it was completely clean.

Although it had threatened rain all evening, we'd spent the entire time walking the square under sunny skies. It only begin raining during our dinner and we moved to a table away from the edge of the patio, but it really was a lovely setting and a terrific meal. A perfect summer evening.

DUCKY DAY
Saturday morning was Canal Day at the Cascade Locks Park, "Akron's Urban Park". Set over at the new Schumacher Cascade Mills site, which is located on North Street across from the Mustill Store, there were a few dozen craft vendors set up and several tents with things for the kids to do. Today was the Park's annual springtime fund raiser and their 4th Duck Derby.

CLPA has a unique partnership with Metro Parks, Serving Summit County and the City of Akron allowing them to promote the historical value of the park while also encouraging residents of Summit County and beyond to get out and about and enjoy nature. Their stated mission is to preserve, protect and promote Cascade Locks Park along locks 10-16 of the Ohio & Erie Canal.

I've been volunteering for these annual events for many years, as early as the second picnic back in 2002. They've morphed a bit from ice cream socials to barbecues, and now into Duck races in the canal. This little park association is truly a grass roots organization and the people are like a family. I've enjoyed being a peripheral part of them for so long and look forward to staying involved for many years to come.

CHICAGO!
Saturday night I went to Chicago! No, not the town, the stage play. Saturday was the first of our ladies summer season at Porthouse Theater and the show was Chicago! We had a lovely evening for our regular picnic and performance. This year there are 11 in our group (we seem to add one or two each summer). We all brought along some food to share and some wine. We have tables reserved in the pavilion (in case of rain) and we set up in there.

This week we had shrimp, meatball sandwiches, sushi, waldorf salad, ginger cookies, rice krispie treats, melon in proscuitto, pasta salad, little meatballs, orange fluffy salad and 4 or 5 bottles of wine. Yee goodness, we ate well! Conversation flowed nicely as did the wine - and I'm not intimating one had anything to do with the other.

What I like about this group is our diversity. Although we're all about the same age (40's - 60's), we come from many backgrounds and everyone has something to contribute to the conversations.

This is our 5th summer at Porthouse enjoying picnics prior to the show and this seems to have caught on to many others in the audience. The first couple of years we did not reserve spaces and yet had no difficulties finding tables on the grounds. Each summer there seems to be more and more tables set up, each with a brightly colored umbrella for their patrons to use. This summer there is even a new pavilion for additional seating - and they're all filled!

I think this is a fantastic way to stretch a simple theater experience into a full evening of enjoyment. That being said, our next performance in July will find us over at Sarah's Vineyard prior to the show. As much fun as it is to prepare our own picnic, it's just as much fun to let someone else do the pampering!

This week the show was phenomanal! Directed by Terri Kent with choreography by Mary Ann Black, the production was lively and well done in the space allowed. The music was wonderful under the direction of Jonathan Swoboda. There is a terrific full review by blogger and local critic Roy Berko here. My personal opinion is that Dylan Ratell who played Mary Sunshine stole each scene he was in - yes, WOW! Also, although I thought Ms. Black's portrayal of Roxie was spot on, she felt miscast in the part that seemed to require a younger actor.

I'm looking forward to our next performance which will be The Sunshine Boys. Anyone out there who hasn't had a Porthouse experience yet needs to get out and get there!

Art Fest in Chagrin Falls

2011-06-17T09:43:00.001-04:00

This past Saturday a couple of friends and I ventured to Chagrin Falls to visit the 28th annual Art by the Falls. More than 100 artists presented their work at the juried fine arts and contemporary craft festival, presented by the Valley Art Center in Riverside Park.

A co-worker mentioned this show on Friday telling me that his wife, the gallery director for the Valley Art Center, is the woman that organizes this show each year, which is the Center’s largest fundraiser. There were artists showing textiles, paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, jewelry, weaving, ceramics and more.

Art by the Falls began 28 years ago in Triangle Park when a small group of artists wanted a venue to show their wares and raise money for the art center. It has since grown into an annual community event that attracts artists and visitors from across the region, and even across the country.

Many artists showing at the festival are local, though some traveled from as far away as Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Florida. The free two-day festival also featured live music, entertainment, food and drinks and raffles.

We wandered the booths and then headed onto the Main Street for some lunch at Joey’s. Joey’s is a quaint tiny space serving up pretty terrific Italian food. My fried Perch sandwich was very good, Lynn had the Portabella Grill, and Nancy had the Turkey Reuben (mostly minus sauerkraut since they’d just run out) and both enjoyed their lunches. The service was a bit slow but I think it was mostly due to the overly large crowd piling in from the Art Show so I’ll give them some leeway on that.

White Magnolia Window Shopping

After lunch, we set out to tour some of the little shops along Main. My favorite by far was the White Magnolia. This shop is a combination boutique and cupcake shop – by far the most interesting combination I’ve seen in one location. The shop is filled with beautiful antiques, replicas, china, candles, lawn art and just plain loveliness it was hard to say which items we liked best. Artfully put together, this shop is well worth spending an hour browsing in. Then comes the best part – decadent cupcakes arranged in a case by the door where I ooed and ahhed over them trying to decide which to bring home.

Beautiful displays at White Magnolia

The Cherry Cheesecake cupcake won by a slight edge over the Chocolate Mint. This pretty little cupcake had a cherry cheesecake filling and was piled high with icing and covered with cherry sprinkles all topped off by a Marciano cherry. This was well worth carrying home with me. Realistically, I think I'd have room for two cupcakes next trip up.

This pretty little cupcake gives me the urge to bake some of my own versions up but since we're smack in the middle of the Biggest Looser at work these will have to wait a while. I thought of perhaps baking some and giving them out to all the other contestants, but then figured they'd find a way to pay me back somehow. So stay tuned, I'm working on a couple of recipes that sound pretty good for sometime AFTER the contest is over. Maybe a treat for all of us Loosers!

SUNSHINE AND SUDDEN SHOWERS

2011-06-05T20:58:00.003-04:00

Unless you lived in Orrville, this weekend was pretty fantastic, weather-wise. Plenty of sunshine all over the place, so I put on a happy face, much as the song suggests.

After several days of long-distance arguing, cajoling and repeated explanations, I finally got some issues taken care of with my parents. This must be what it feels like to be a cat trainer. The cats will only do what they feel like doing and only when they feel like doing it and every time you begin a training session it's as though you've never been down that road before. A small victory on my part on Friday lead me to a more relaxed weekend without worry - at least any immediate worries.

A good nights sleep on Friday and all of the sunshine peeking in through my window on Saturday morning prompted me to get out to the community garden and get busy bright (literally) and early. The garden had just been plowed this week and marked off into plots on Friday, so I am one of the first to get anything in the ground.

Last year's garden plots

My garden neighbors, Burt and Joyce, were out ahead of me busy working the ground and working out their plan. This couple are gardeners from way back so I'm looking forward to picking their brains a bit as the season goes on. Generally pretty conservative gardeners, this year they are trying a few new things like leeks and celeriac. It will be fun to see how it all turns out.

For me, I spent my time this weekend planting tomato plants. And more tomato plants. And some more tomato plants. To say that I got a bit carried away at the greenhouse this spring is a bit of an understatement. So far I've got 25 plants in the ground and still there are a few more in my box to put out. With a bit of luck I'll have tomatoes of all sizes and colors and frankly I'm really looking forward to it.

MUSIC IN THE VINEYARD

Patio at Gervasi

Saturday evening I'd been invited to join friends at Gervasi to hear our friend Stan Miller perform. Both the setting and the entertainment were lovely.

I've been to Gervasi a couple times already and by far the best place to enjoy the place on a warm day is on the patio. With views of the lake and lawns where people are playing cornhole and boccie ball, it's a very tranquil setting. They've recently built new B&B's across the lake and while I think it's sort of screwed up the view, I'm sure it's a quaint location for an overnight retreat.

Meanwhile we enjoyed some wine, a salad and some pizzas. The food here is good but the menu on the patio is limited. The menu inside is more adventurous and quite delicious. The wines are OK but a bit sweet for my own taste. The main attraction here is the setting and, for us, the entertainment.

We met Stan Miller a year or so ago at Riverside Wine Bar out in Kent and met Terri at the same time. Stan and Teri are good friends and I've been invited often to hear him perform around town. Stan plays sax and sings, mostly an easy listening set of tunes ranging from rat pack favorites to cool jazz and does them all quite well.

Stan MIller at the microphone

Saturday was a bit special as he'd been asked to sing a special dedication to a young couple to set the mood for a marriage proposal (she said yes) and it brought tears to eyes all around the patio. After a beautiful song that I don't think I'd ever heard before, the young man got down on one knee and proposed. It was really very romantic. Well done by him and by Stan.

By 10 pm the sky had been lit up by distant and then not-so-distant lightening and the skies opened up a torrent shortly thereafter making the drive home challenging. Joke was on me since I got home and there was no sign of rain here. Too bad it chased us out of Gervasi for the evening.

ANOTHER TERRIFIC WEEKEND IN THE COLUMBUS AREA

2011-06-01T11:06:00.002-04:00

Saturday and a good portion of Sunday found this Old Biddy and a buddy down in Columbus once again. After our trip last spring to the Short North, it's been on my to-do list to get back down to the Worthington area for a weekend.

This is where we ate this week.

Nancy and I set out Saturday morning bright and early with the thought of stopping in Mansfield for breakfast. We did this last time and had a charming time at the Coney Island Diner. Thinking we were duplicating our stop, we came upon the town square in Mansfield and promptly found Coney Island Inn Diner across the square with parking directly in front. Once through the front door we realized we were in a different place but stuck around anyway for a pretty good breakfast and some nice conversation.

This is where we ate last time in
Mansfield. How many Coney Islands
can one little town have?

It's hard to imagine a town the size of Mansfield having two distinct diners with nearly identical names, but that must be part of the quirkiness of smaller towns. I had corned beef hash at both locations and will give two thumbs up to the first meal at the Coney Island Diner. However, the Coney Island Inn Diner was a bit friendlier so I'd suggest tossing a coin if you are trying to choose between the two. My next trip down will be to spend the entire day in the Mansfield area. I really want to see the reformatory and get out to the gardens at the Kingwood Center. Maybe yet this summer.......

Vendors lined up along High Street

WORTHINGTON BOUND
Once we got back on the road we headed directly to Worthington which is a northern suburb of Columbus. Founded in 1803, Worthington was one of the first planned communities in the midwest.

We came upon the center of town during their Memorial Day weekend celebration and there were vendors lining the main street selling things ranging from jewelry to plants to farm produce. One stand was selling maple syrup products and I picked up a small package of maple sugar (which is for a specific recipe I saw that looked really terrific.....wonder where that was?) We parked at the northern end of town and wandered the streets and shops, stopping for a break at a local coffee shop where we found a table out on the sidewalk and watched the locals stroll by.

Cupcakes at the Blue Frost!

High Street is the main drag through town and shops and pubs line this central part of town known as Old Worthington. Consignment shops, dress shops, pubs, coffee houses, a wine shop and several little nick-nack shops were all open for the busy day.

There were lots of fun things to see and, for today, this appeared to be the place to be seen if you were a local. Nancy found a fantastic little dresser in one of the shops that she was fascinated with and I was taken by the Irish Chocolate Guiness Cupcake I found at the Blue Frost cupcake shop.

OFF THE BEATEN PATH
A couple hours later, we headed back to the car and took a drive through the community. I had found mention of Rush Creek Village on the internet and we wound our way through it ooohing and awing over the houses. Rush Creek Village is a community in which each house is uniquely designed for the lifestyle of the homeowner, but also fits into an architecturally integrated pattern, inspired by the organic architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright.

The quilt pictured here was likely the
largest of the group at about 3ft x 4ft.

A LITTLE ART INFUSION
After our tour of the Village, we headed a bit north to the McConnell Arts Center to view the newly installed Basted Vision exhibit. According to the website, "Basted Vision is the latest in an ever growing body of work by Off Our Blocks, an informal group of fiber artists who are basted together through a shared interest in the creation of art quilts". They were lovely and quite unique. Vibrant colors on most, some subdued and softer.

After the Art Center we headed to our hotel for a quick refresh and then were back on the road again, this time going south on High Street seeking somewhere to settle in for a drink and a chance to do some more people watching. We landed at Mad Mex mexican restaurant on High Street in the South Campus neighborhood where we snagged a table outside and ordered a lovely, cool sangria to sip on.

The crowds were mostly college students who had stayed in town for the holiday weekend and the atmosphere was laid back....really laid back. Service was slow as they were shorthanded, but it was fine since we had nowhere to be until our dinner reservations at 7:30. We ordered a late lunch of their Picadippa (3 of their dips with chips) and a plate of fish tacos. I'm becoming quite a fan of fish tacos and these were delicious. Grilled talapia in a crispy, freshly fried tortilla. One of the dips was an unusual item made with pumpkin seeds, garlic and peppers in hummus that was very tasty and might be worth trying at home sometime.

Where are all the PEOPLE???

With our leisurely lunch over, we headed back to the Worthington area and a quick shopping stop at Worthington Square. This older shopping center is absolutely beautiful and I was shocked that we were the only two in the entire complex on a Saturday afternoon. With stores like Talbots, Chico's, Black and White and Jos A Banks, this seemed like it ought to be a hopping place but I think a bowling ball tossed down the center court wouldn't have disturbed anything.

DINNER ON GRANDVIEW
We had dinner reservations at Spagio's on Grandview Avenue. The on-line menu looked very intriguing and we assumed from the description that this would be a bit of an upscale restaurant. We arrived a little bit early to find people strolling up and down Grandview. Lots of people. Families with their kids. Families with their dogs. Lots and lots of people and cars cruising up and down looking for a parking space.

It might be a testament to my clean living and sunny disposition that we found a parking spot directly in front of Spagio's. OK - probably it was only due to sheer luck, but still, I pulled in front of the valet guy who said "ma'am, feel free to pull up into the next spot and it's free for the evening". Wow. I was totally anticipating paying $4 for valet but hey, free is ALWAYS better.

Spagio's - our table was straight
up front by the big windows.

Spagio's is a bit of a strange place. They've managed to mix together white table cloths, hammocks hanging from the ceiling, fine art and oddball posters into one location. The service was very good, the menu a little out of the ordinary as a mixture of pacific rim and European, and our seats directly in front of the main windows were perfect for watching the multitudes wander by.

My meal began with a Roasted Red Beet Napoleon appetizer- layers of sliced beets and whipped goat cheese served with candied walnuts, arugula, and an herb vinaigrette. Really very yum! The sweetness of the beets with the tartness of the salad is a perfect combo - no wonder these are classic pairings.

My entree decision was between the Bacon-Wrapped Berkshire Pork Tenderloin - with roasted smashed red skin potatoes, collard greens, and a jalapeño buerre blanc sauce or the Grilled Chicken and Spinach-Filled Ravioli - served with Parisian carrots, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, creamy pesto sauce, all topped with shaved Parmesan Reggiano. The pasta won. And it was very good. It took Nancy and I a little while to define the little round orange balls in our pasta as carrots. I have no idea how they managed to get carrot balls created but it was a unique (at least for us) addition to the plates and a little whimsy while we chased them around the plate with a fork.

AT THE HOP!
Once dinner was over and we wandered back outside, we discovered that we had stumbled into the monthly Grandview Hop. According to their web site, "the Grandview Hop is a celebration of all of the best that Grandview has to offer. Come check out the unique mix of food, drinks, shopping, live music, art, and fun along Grandview Avenue between 1st and 5th Avenues. The Grandview Hops will be held the last Saturday of the month from April through November from 5 to 9pm".

Seated at the front windows of Spagio's on Third, we were definitely in the center of it all. Across the street was a live band. Up and down the street were vendors selling jewelry, handmade soaps and oils and many other things. Once we got outside we decided to join the parade. Up the street we discovered a newly renovated movie theater showing the new Johnny Depp Pirates movie. Nancy is a big movie goer, but I am not. However it's really hard to pass up a chance to see Johnny Depp on a big screen, so it we went in for the 9:30 showing.

I had a nice chat with Jennifer (who, along with her husband David, are owners of the Grandview), about their renovations and plans for the future. Since I hadn't been there before I had no concept of how far they'd come, but the place was clean, modern and comfortable. Oddly enough, even with the hundreds of people that had packed the streets earlier, there were exactly four people in the theater for the movie. What surprised me even more was that when the movie was over around midnight, the lobby was filled with people. Jennifer explained that they were getting ready to host a free midnight movie (The Terror with Boris Karloff) and people flocked in for that sort of thing. Frankly if I hadn't already been exhausted, I might have asked if we could have stayed for that too.

The patio at Le Chatelaine in
Old Worthington

A LAZY SUNDAY

Sunday morning was actually the main reason we were in Worthington for the weekend. We had looked forward to having an al fresco breakfast at Le Chatelaine French Bakery and were not at all disappointed. We'd stopped here on a whim last year and were so happy to have found this that we made a point to return. This is a gem of a place with a beautiful dining room inside (imagine sitting in front of a cozy stone-faced wood fire in the winter in their main dining area) and ample seating outside for warmer weather.

La Chatelaine opens its doors on Sundays at 8am to offer fresh baked croissants, beignets or bread and its variety of coffees, teas or juices. You can also choose eggs with roasted potatoes and bacon or sausages, or specialty omelettes, as well as quiches and fresh fruits. Just inside the front door is a pastry case filled with these tempting treats - apple turnovers, croissants, boules, baguettes, Napoleons and cute little chocolate mice. You have to stop and stare at the beautiful tarts lining the next case but a little further on is the breakfast buffet.

This morning I chose a tender spinach quiche and fresh fruit pour ma petit dejeuner. Tender, flaky crust with eggs cooked just so - fantastique! We settled in on the patio with all the others who were enjoying their morning papers and cafe and felt very "French" smack in the middle of Ohio.

Millersburg courthouse as seen from
front window of a shop across
the street.

HEADING HOME THE HARD WAY

We had tentatively put the Barbecue Festival in Columbus proper on our schedule for Sunday but the temperature was already well into the 80's and sunny by 10am and Nancy nor I are very well suited to the heat. A quick consultation and we decided to simply head home but to take the "scenic route" rather than the interstate. We headed out of town on Route 62 and wound our way up through Millersburg right around lunchtime.

Parlor of the Millersburg Hotel

Amish country is a big destination and I've been many, many times, however I think this was my first stop in Millersburg. Much like Wooster, there is a charming downtown area with a beautiful old courthouse, a few antique shops and a restaurant or two. We strolled down the main street and wandered through the open shops and decided to have lunch at the

If you get the impression after reading this entry that we managed to eat our way through the weekend - you'd be accurate in your assessment. However, I'm proud to say that I still managed to loose an additional 2 pounds so I must be doing something right.

Weekends like this are always fun and relaxing. Getting away from worry about family or house projects is good therapy but I think it might be time to stay close to home for a few weeks to clear away some of the things that need done. Two fun projects in the immediate future - insulation installation in the upstairs sewing room and getting the garden planted out in Springfield. Oh boy - can't wait.

GARDENING 2011

2011-05-27T14:53:00.000-04:00

I’ve signed up again for the Springfield Community Garden and I’m excited about getting that rolling. This year I promised myself to NOT miss the starter class like I did last year. I drove out to the Senior Center in the pouring rain and sat for 20 minutes for someone to show up before finally checking my voice mail only to discover the class was cancelled. Geesh. At least, I still made it out to the garden opening day the following Sunday. It was nice to meet some of the other gardeners and find out what they have planned for this summer.

Last year we didn’t really see many of the others out at the garden but it feels as though the organizers are trying harder to make more connections among us. For me, that is what makes a community garden better than just having a plot of dirt somewhere that one would tend alone. Maybe it is odd to think of gardening as a social thing, but for me I’d rather be out working and chatting with the neighbors than being a solitary person digging in the dirt.

Over the past few weeks I have been picking up seed packets and it suddenly occurs to me that I have to actually PLANT them so they will sprout. It has been so dreary during this spring that seed planting seemed a long way off, but all of a sudden the sun is out, it’s time to start planting in the ground and OOPS my plants are still in seed versions!

One evening a week or so ago, I spent an hour getting a few things in pots and some seeds into dirt and set out to catch a little sunshine. Then it rained. And rained again. And then it poured. My poor seeds are literally swimming in their pots. A week later and they are only just beginning to dry out but to my utter amazement there are actually sprouts popping out of the muck!

Planting day in the actual garden will be in the next couple of weeks, so here's hoping my little seedlings are hearty enough to move by then. Meanwhile, I did what everyone should do when planting time is upon them and they've given no thought to the process - I went to Becker's Cottage Herbs and bought plants. $50 and an hour running around Jan's greenhouses, I came home with about 20 tomato plants, a couple of peppers, some chard, bok choy, and all my little herbs.

If I'm lucky, between what sprouts in my muck trays and what I got from Jan will produce enough to keep me busy this summer. I recall talk from the garden organizers of maybe a mass group planting of corn which sounds terrific to me. I love corn and since so many farmers are struggling this year to get planted, the price of purchased sweet corn could be prohibitive.

CORN COB PIPES
Now, speaking of corn - I had a conversation with the garden organizers about corn and what we do with it when it's in season. I shared a secret which I learned during my culinary schooling that is so simple and so common sense and yet is so not considered by anyone that cooks corn on the cob.

The question - what to do with the corn cobs? I'll bet that 99.9 percent of you will say you toss them in a compost pile or into the trash. I did the same thing up until about 8 years ago when I learned to make Corn Stock.

Yes, I said Corn Stock.

Hidden underneath those lovely little kernels of sweet corn is a cob that is full of flavor if we would just coax it out. When I am done eating my corn off the cobs, those cobs go directly back into the same pot I cooked them in, add a bit more water and then cook them for another 45 minutes to an hour. No need to add anything more to the pot, just the water and the cobs - and an hour later you have sweet corn nectar.

And yes, I use the cobs right off my plate after I've chewed the corn off. By the time these cobs are finished boiling away, any of my icky cooties are gone from the pot. However, if you're cutting the corn off the cob, please do the same and use these up!

I put this stock into containers and store it in the freezer for soup making in the fall and winter. This is truly hoarding the summer bounty for use in the cold, dreary months of winter. Use corn stock instead of chicken stock to make vegetable soups or to give extra flavor for vegetarian dishes instead of using plain water.

Dreaming of fields of sweet corn!

By far my favorite use of corn stock is to make Corn Chowder. I'm not going to share a recipe for this here today since it's spring and chowder is meant for cooler weather (at least for me).

Do yourselves a favor over the summer and delay tossing those corn cobs into the compost until you're sure you've extracted all the goodness from them that Mother Nature provided.

Meanwhile - I think it's time to really consider those corn rows in the community garden........

A Visit to the Doctor

2011-05-25T14:52:00.000-04:00

My doctor, bless her heart, decided that it was "time to do something" about my weight. And in truth, I have to admit she's right. I'm not in prime "Biggest Loser" territory, but I do have some health issues that should be a lot better if there was less of me. So, while I wouldn’t commit to being on some really controlled diet, I did agree to try to make the numbers on the scales head in the downward direction.

Looks healthy, but at 840 calories
I need to skip this at Arby's..

Diet has always been a nasty word in my vocabulary. “Diet” conjures up thoughts of strict calorie counting (omg! that ‘healthy’ chicken salad sandwich has 800 calories!), limitations of certain foods (whaddya mean, no bread?) and drink (oh no! not my wine!) and in general a sense of a feeling of dissatisfaction. So I simply refuse to go on a diet.

My doctor suggested that I might give up carbs, meaning rice, potatoes, pasta, and bread. I countered that this would be an issue since half of me is hillbilly and hillbillies practically live on potatoes, it’s simply in my genetic makeup. Bread would also be an issue since I'm an avid home baker and this is a big part of who I am (obviously literally as well as figuratively). For heaven’s sake I have eight different types of flour in my pantry!

Finally, after a bit of well-intentioned prodding, she agreed to let me come up with a solution on my own so I promised to give it some thought and we’d see how things were coming along in a month.

Well, I tend to put my deep problems on the back burner and let my subconscious work on them for awhile. Or, put another way, I had other things to worry about. After a week where I thought I had been half-heartily watching my food intake, I stepped on the scales and nothing had changed. No gain, but more importantly, no loss. Somehow I must have thought that I could simply will the pounds off without making any modifications to my very comfortable world.

Friends and food - part of my
social life.

So I began to think more about my food world. Anyone that knows me can tell you I love food. Food and I get along pretty well. I like to cook, I like to eat out, and meals with friends are a big part of my social life. Still.....there are many times when my relationship with food is somewhat less than healthy. To paraphrase Othello, I have dined well but not always wisely.

The difference between dining and eating doesn't seem all that great. Truly, when you dine you are eating. But most of us eat without dining. The difference is the mindfulness we bring to the table. All too often, I find myself eating at the computer or sitting in front of the television. Eating without noticing what, or how much, I am eating and it is a waste. It is a waste of the good food Providence blessed us with. It is a waste of the joy that could, and should, have come from the food. And it is waste of the health of the person who eats negligently – namely me.

I had a similar conversation with myself last year when the Fibromyalgia diagnosis hit, so I’ve already been working to eat healthier foods in general. Plus, as I’ve gotten more involved in the local food community I do my best to promote the idea of local foods and sustainability. What I seemed to be missing was the quantity discussion, as in ‘too much of a good thing’.

So, beginning this week, I am trying to eat mindfully and with awareness. To continue to pay attention to what I am eating…where it comes from…how it was prepared… what it tastes like…whether it is building me or damaging me…whether it is sustainable, and whether it sustains me. I will try to differentiate between just plain food and GOOD FOOD and aim to consume only food that is appropriate for me and food I genuinely like. And overall, to eat just a little bit less but try to enjoy it more.

CHARMING EVENING IN MASSILLON

2011-05-22T13:43:00.000-04:00

Most people living in the Akron/Canton area would no more consider a weekend getaway to Massillon that they would to Ravenna. No disrespect to those in Ravenna or Massillon, but tourism isn't exactly the first thing that comes to mind when considering either of these close-to-home cities.

Thanks to an invitation by a co-worker who co-manages the Hampton Inn in Massillon, I was to spend Friday night at the hotel to do a sort of inspection of the property. Believe me, I'm no secrect shopper, but Alan figured it's always good to have a fresh pair of eyes when considering overall property cleanliness, staff hospitality, etc.

I invited my friend Nancy to join me since she is a world traveller and always good for an opinion or two. Neither of us had been to Massillon for more than an evening a couple of years ago when a few friends ventured down for an F Scott Fitzgerald event at the local library and a showing of The Great Gatsby at the old big screen theater.

Before heading south we both did a little research to find out what we might find to fill our evening and although the pickings were a bit slim, we did manage to have a very pleasant evening. To our favor, the weather cooperated with us and it was a warm, dry night so that we could wander on foot until well after dark.

GALLERY OPENING RECEPTION
The hotel staff had some recommendations for dinner and we already knew that we were going to visit the MassMu (otherwise known as the Massillon Art Museum) for a gallery opening of their Studio M exhibit by local artist Diane Belfiglio. We had been to the MassMu during our last visit to veiw paintings on exhibit by Zelda Fitzgerald so we were familiar with the museum. Located in the center of town in an unassuming building, the museum is one main gallery on the ground floor and a small gallery (called Studio M) in the lower level. Taking in the entire exhibit space set us back about 25 minutes.

We then contemplated walking over to the old theater which was hosting the movie 84 Charing Cross Road but determined that the evening was far to lovely to spend it sitting in the theater.

OUT FOR DINNER

We took a stroll along Lincoln Way (Massillon's main street) peering into store front windows and getting the lay of the town. We walked back to Kozmo's Grille for dinner which is directly across the street from the hotel on First Street SW. The food at the restaurant was pretty good and extremely filling. We began with an appetizer of their Santa Fe chips that came with an overenthusiastc serving of jalepeno peppers. These are house made chips topped with melted cheese, bacon, tomatoes, jalapenos, and scallions.

Nancy also had a cup of French Onion soup followed by a bowl of Cilantro-Lime Linguini with Cajun Shrimp and Scallops and I tucked into one of their Stone Hearth Pizzas, theTuscan, made with pepper jack cheese, grilled chicken, roma tomato, red onion and fresh basil and a drizzle of balsamic reduction sauce all of which was very good.

All of that being said, the service was extremely slow and disorganized. Our waitress mananged to ask us if we were ready for refills and hadn't bothered to actually take our drink order yet. The restaurant was not filled and yet we were seated in the back of the place next to the ladies room even though I specifically asked for a table in the front near a window. We also had front row seats to the wait staff station where our perky little gal spent most of her time flirting with the male staff. Good food and poor service tends to make for a mediocre meal. If we manage to get back to Missillon at dinnertime again I think we'll find somewhere else to go.

EVENING STROLL
After dinner we dropped my boxed up pizza at the hotel and headed back out onto the streets. We walked through the close by residential streets taking in the old Victorian-style homes and the churches along the way. Once it got dark we stopped by the Chit Chat Coffee Shop next to the MassMu where we sat outside and listened to local sax player Patrick Munford play jazz on the patio.

The only other two enjoying the al fresco performace was an elderly couple that kindly invited us to come back on the 4th Thursdays of each month to listen to live jazz concerts at the Senior Center. We weren't quite sure what to make of that so we put it down to just being friendly.

BAKERY DISCOVERY

Across the square from the Chit Chat and tucked into an unassuming old building, we discovered Liebermann's Bakery. Although it was obviously closed Friday night, we made a point to stop there on the way home Saturday morning. This is a very popular place with people lined up out the door and taking home fresh baked donuts by the dozens. Despite my diet I could not walk out without a small purchase of one of their delicious cream sticks. They also had freshly baked bread and rolls but the donut display was by far the most impressive.

Because we had to be home early on Saturday, we didn't get much chance to do some other things in town we could have done. Massillon has some beautiful murals and some lovely old homes and churches. It will be well worth revisiting with camera in hand. Perhaps on Fathers Day weekend when the annual Cruise In rides to town.

WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON?

2011-05-20T14:58:00.000-04:00

My friend Ruth reminded me today that I’ve been pretty quiet here on the blog lately. Have to admit that being busy is taking its toll. Spring is finally here and so there’s a lawn to mow and plants to get ready for the summer. I’ve also demolished a room (hopefully the last one ever) in my house in preparations of adding insulation and updated electric and maybe even some new windows come fall.

Chip Eddy on his horse in
Jamaica with me standing by

On a sadder note, my Uncle Chuck Eddy passed away this past week. I have many happy memories of our family spent with the Eddy’s. Chuck worked for Goodyear International and was assigned to some pretty interesting places. My parents began taking vacations to stay with them when I was still at home and so I was treated to two winter vacations in Jamaica. I have many happy memories of spending time with them as I grew up. Their son, Chip, is 5 months my junior so we got along well as kids.

After I graduated high school and left home, my parents traveled more extensively to visit them to places like Lima Peru, Mexico City, Caracas Venezuela, and Manila in the Philippines, sometimes spending several months with them at a time. I know that they never would have had that opportunity if it wasn't for Chuck being there for his job. In later years, the Eddy's co-owned a condo with my parents in Ft. Myers and I know they all spent many happy days in the sunshine together.

Chuck and Darlene riding the Ft. Myers
trolly with Mom and Dad

Chuck’s wife Darlene passed away about a year ago. She was diagnosed about 6 years ago with Alzheimer's and he cared for his "babe" at home until she finally succombed. Chuck made sure Darlene was up everyday, fully dressed, hair done weekly and fingernails always manicured. The two of them were inseperable to the end. Although I didn't see much of them in the past several years, I will miss them both.

On a tagent note - any of you reading this and wondering why I always make restaurant reservations under the name Eddy will now know where the name came from. As our families did many things together it was always easier to use their name than ours.

And...speaking of Alzheimer's - this has been the season of the local Alzheimer's Association benefit galas. My good friend Grant (who lost his Mother to Alzheimer's last year) is very supportive of this organization and I tend to tag along where I can be helpful. The regional AA group holds three galas within a couple of months of each other, one in Stark county, one out in Youngstown and one here in Akron. As graduates of the Single Volunteers school of hard knocks and silent auctions, there are a few of us in the area that specialize in assisting groups like this manage their auction closeouts and AA is one of the few non-profits that still benefit from our services.

Grant working his magic at the
auction checkout table

I've listened to a lot of speaches about this disease and done quite a bit of reading. If those of you reading this blog have not yet been touched by this terrible condition, please brace yourselves because the numbers of those inflicted are staggering. The three county area covered by the AA group we work with estimates there are currently over 60,000 people with Alzheimer's within their care range. As our population grows older and medical care keeps our physical bodies from dying, it is inevitable that Alzheimer's patients will also grow in number.

Frankly, this is also a silent epidemic. Those with the condition are being cared for by family members for the most part and so many of those family members are in complete denial. "Mom is just forgettful." "Dad is just a little confused." As the disease progresses it becomes harder for the family to come to terms than it is for the patient. Support services for family members are what our local Alzheimer's Association is all about and they are trying to help so many people with so few resources.

If you're finding yourself in this situation, please take a few moments to seek out assistance. Whether it is simply someone to talk to about your frustrations or finding help to keep your home together with day care or home health aids, there are people out here that will try to help. You can find more information on their web site at www.alz.org/

The Bells of St. Clements (an English nursery rhyme)

2011-04-11T16:27:00.000-04:00

Note: I'm a bit behind in posting to the blog these days. Busy, busy, busy but nothing much worth reporting. Meanwhile I had this entry about ready last week and for some reason never got around to posting. Oh well....hopefully the recipe at the end is worth the wait! Enjoy!

Gay go up and gay go down,
     to ring the bells of London town.
Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St. Clements.
Bull's eyes and targets, say the bells of St. Marg'ret's.
    Brickbats and tiles, say the bells of St. Giles'.
    Halfpence and farthings, say the bells of St. Martin's.
      Pancakes and fritters, say the bells of St. Peter's.
        Two sticks and an apple, Say the bells of Whitechapel……
    ….Here comes a candle to light you to bed, here comes a chopper to chop off your head.
           Chop chop chop chop - The last man's dead!

Funny how our minds wander to make odd connections. Today was one of those where my brain synapses managed to connect with this old English nursery rhyme when I saw that April 1st was “Oranges and Lemons" observance day.  (Don't ask me where I dig this stuff up from, but I assure you I'm not making it up!)

It seems that my brain wasn’t far afield, for although all of the observance calendars I checked list this as a legitimate American food holiday, there is no mention of why, other than a reference to an English holiday that points to this old nursery rhyme.

It seems the rhyme was repeated to prisoners on the morning of their impending execution by beheading by the man that lights the early morning candles in the dank cells of 16th century London. Somewhere along the line it became a children's rhyme. Gruesome, huh? What any of this has to do with food is unknown to me.

Anyhoo….this did make another off-the-wall connection in my head to a movie that is one of my favorites, actually two old movies, both by the same title of “The Old Dark House.” The original film with Boris Karloff and Melvyn Douglas in 1932 has nothing what-so-ever to do with oranges and lemons, but the second one with Tom Poston filmed in 1963 did. The film begins with an American (Tom Poston) being invited by his English friend to come to spend the weekend at his ancestral home in Dartmoor. However, once he arrives, he finds that his friend is dead--lying in state in the creepy old mansion. But, like any scary old house film, the car is damaged and unable to take him home AND the rain is so bad that he really can't leave anyway. That is when the murders begin and it becomes obvious that the house is filled with a bunch of nuts.

Somewhere during all this craziness the nursery rhyme “Oranges and lemons” is repeatedly recited with a new murder for each line of the verse, leaving us to believe that “The last man dead” would be our main character, so he needs to find out who’s out to get him before he gets got….or something like that. It’s not a particularly good movie, but I like it and I have at least one friend who was frightened enough by it as a youngster to have nightmares for about 2 weeks.

One thing leading to another FINALLY gets me around to a recipe for today (bet you thought I’d never get here!) This recipe came to my collection via the Joy of Baking webpage. It seems highly appropriate for a celebration of Orange and Lemons Day with the addition of a lemony glaze on top. Sorry I'm so late in posting this, I missed April 1st by several days, but these muffins are good any time you want to try them.

These were declared delicious by my co-workers and a friend who was the recipient of two said they were "awesome." Gotta love that! So, here’s to Oranges and Lemons Day!

ORANGES AND LEMONS (AND PINEAPPLE) MUFFINS

1/2 cup pecans, toasted and chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1 teaspoon pure orange extract
1 tablespoon orange zest (1-2 oranges)
1 - 8 ounce can crushed pineapple, drained

Lemon Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2-3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place rack in center of oven. Toast the pecans for 8 minutes, or until lightly browned and fragrant. Set aside to cool and then chop into small pieces.

Grease, or spray with a nonstick spray, 12-muffin tin. Set aside while you make the batter.

In a separate bowl, whisk to combine, the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

In the bowl of electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Add the egg and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then beat in the sour cream, orange extract, and orange zest. Add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. Fold in the toasted pecans and drained pineapple.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

While the muffins are baking combine the glaze ingredients (sugar and lemon juice) in a small cup.

Remove the muffins from the oven and place on a wire rack. When the muffins are just barely still warm, drizzle with the glaze.

FOOD SUMMIT AND A THINK AHEAD SUNDAY

2011-04-06T14:12:00.000-04:00

In a past blog I've discussed the Summit Food Policy Coalition group that I am volunteering with in an effort to bring about all things better when it comes to food in our area. The group is made up of a diverse number of people from all walks of life, many non-profit organizations in the community and some interested individuals such as myself.

After the release of the Summit Health Initiative Report last month, it was determined that it might be in the best interests of the community if we could create a "Food Charter" that can deliver to our policy makers and health organizations ideas and directives they can use when making decisions that affect us all.

Friday and Saturday were the days that brought the community together to begin this process. Friday night the Akron Summit Community Action sponsored a viewing of "Fresh, The Movie" to a packed house of nearly 250 people who were there in preparation for the discussions to come on Saturday. The movie was meant to inspire each attendee to contemplate the entirety of the food we eat, from the growing, processing, distribution, and preparation of it.

According to the Fresh website, "FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet."

Saturday, mostly these same folks reassembled to have the discussion. Each participant was set into a table of up to 8 others, including a facilitator, and given a series of topics to consider and then to regurgitate (if you'll forgive the term) back into a cohesive list of issues they felt needed to be addressed by the Food Charter. Broad topics included Health & Nutrition, Access to fresh affordable foods, and Local food economics.

Chris Norman, John Moore and
Cleveland Councilman Joe Cimperman

Several speakers arrived to help set the tone of the summit, including Beth Knorr of the Countryside Conservancy, Chris Norman of Crown Pointe, Malcom Costa of Akron Summit Community Action, Suellen Roberts, Dietitian at Cuyahoga Falls City Schools, Anisi Daniels Smith of the Akron Office of Minority Health and Phillip Nabors, owner of Mustard Seed Market. Several local legislators were represented as well including John Moore, Director of Planning from the City of Akron and head of Akron Grows, the organization that organizes the Akron sponsored community gardens.

Undeniably, the most enthusiastic speaker of the day was Joe Cimperman, Councilman from the City of Cleveland. As a local legislator, Mr. Cimperman has been working within his community to change things for the better through modification of zoning laws, use of public lands and promoting urban gardening throughout the city. One of his goals is the limitation of what he terms our "high fructose economy." As pointed out by Beth Knorr, our Federal Government heavily subsidizes corn farming and yet offers no subsidies for the growing of other fruits and vegetables with the result being that the cost of vegetables we buy at the grocery now rising two times faster than the cost of foods such as soda pop containing high fructose corn syrup. Between lobbying at all levels of our government by HFCS money, and the pervasive use of the product throughout our diets, the product shows up everywhere throughout our diet. Whether or not you believe it's healthy for us physically, it definitely has an impact economically as well.

GETTING INVOLVED
There are plenty of opportunities for all of us to get involved in the process as it moves forward. Urban gardening, industrial kitchen incubators, farm markets, cooking education - all have room for additional helping hands. Visit the website for more information http://www.cvcountryside.org/food/SummitFoodPolicyCoalition.php The next meeting will be on April 26 and the topic will be local food in institutional settings.

AFTER ALL THAT EDUCATION...SUNDAY WAS A DAY FOR DOING SOME GOOD DIETARY THINGS FOR MYSELF
Sunday was one of those days that I couldn't quite bring myself to leave the house. Dreary and damp and cold, it seemed best to stay indoors and prepare for the upcoming week.

Taking some inspiration from all of the discussions yesterday about healthier eating, I took the opportunity to make some grab and go breakfasts for myself, a loaf of wonderful garlic and rosemary bread and a crisp pea and cucumber salad to take in a lunch or two this week.

See the full account of my Honey Oat Bars over on my other blog for full directions and stick around for the bread recipe a little later in the week. Hardly anyone would require directions for my favorite "Yogurt and fruit parfait" but you can see the process here.

Fresh ingredients make for a healthy portable breakfast to grab on the way out the door in the morning. I used to struggle with what to transport this in until someone suggested using a pint jar with reusable lid. This makes the perfect vehicle to take to work every morning with no chance to spill contents or to waste plastic containers when I can wash and reuse these so easily.

For two parfaits, chop 1 kiwi, 5-6 strawberries, a handful of blueberries and about 3 inches of a banana. Layer with 1/2-3/4 cup nonfat organic yogurt per jar, just enough to come to the top of the jar. I use homemade granola to top mine off with, but you can certainly buy a good product from your favorite grocer. Here is the recipe I used.

Ready to travel with side containers of granola. Don't try to add the granola to the jar, it will be horribly soggy by the time to are ready to eat. Sprinkle the granola on as you eat.

CRISPY SNAP PEA, CUCUMBER AND RADISH SALAD
Makes 2-3 servings.

This salad is simple, quick and requires just a little chopping work to get rolling. It lasts in the fridge for quite a while also. Perfect to pair along side a sandwich for a workday lunch or as an alternative to a green lettuce salad for dinner.

3/4 cup snap peas, cut into bite-size pieces
3-4 inch piece of English cucumber, cut into bite-size dice
4 radishes, sliced
1 Tablespoon sesame, sunflower or poppy seeds
4 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
4 teaspoons cider vinegar

Assemble all the ingredients in a small bowl, toss together and serve. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

IT'S ALMOST SPRING!

2011-03-14T22:25:00.000-04:00

The view outside my back door on Friday

Everyone is remarking about hearing the birds chirping away in the backyards already and we're all anxious to put the snow shovel back in the garage to rot until next winter. As it is only March we're bound to have some more snow so I'm trying not to get to excited when we peek out the back door and find another 4 inches of snow on the darn ground!

Lucky us, it came and went fairly quickly, some of us not even having time to get the shovel out. I know we weren't all so lucky so for you poor folks stuck in the snow belt....spring really is around the corner, have hope.

VIKING VINEYARD
Meanwhile, to put us all in happy moods a gaggle of gals gathered at Viking Vineyard last Sunday to eat, drink, be merry and listen to some happy music from Tequila Bob and the Flip Flops. We settled in with an abundance of snack foods on the table, a couple bottles of wine and sang along (to the consternation of the band and the rest of the guests) to the band as they played some great tunes ranging from Jimmy Buffet to The Eagles to Eric Clapton to Garth Brooks. Delores had several up line dancing while the rest of us cheered them along.

A few good friends at Viking

Viking is a nice little piece of property out in Tallmadge with a small lake (a pond really, but we'll call it a lake since it sounds more important), a nice family running the joint and a very nice room where you can take some food and relax while you enjoy the wines made on property. Sunday afternoons they have a live band like Mr. Bob and Mr. Flip and Mr. Flop (I'm still a bit confused as to which was which). In summers they have bonfires and hot dog roasts and a number of other events that make visiting Viking a fun experience.

Most Ohio-born wines are far too sweet for my tastes but Viking's North Star works for my palate. It's a nice Syrah/Sangiovese blend that is fruit-forward, with a soft mouth feel and aromas of cherries and strawberries. For those of us that prefer drier reds to the sweet whites, this was a good choice.

WHAT A SURPRISE....KAF COMES THROUGH WITH ANOTHER RECIPE HIT
Looking for something to take out to the vineyard as a sweet, I used this recipe that I found in (surprise!) a King Arthur Flour baking catalogue. Seems I've been obsessed with their recipes, but when you find a source you can trust each and every time, well, that's all you need to know.

These little cookies were terrific. I took the remaining half of these to work this morning and was told they were "really good" by everyone, so that's quite a compliment. Not quite as crisp as a traditional ginger snap, but not soft like a molasses cookie, these are a good cross between the two. Delightedly crunchy since they're coated in sugar before baking, these are wonderful little tea accompaniments.

GINGER COOKIES

2 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
3/4 cup butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
1/2 cup turbonado sugar for rolling cookies prior to baking

Whisk together the dry ingredients; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, spices, and salt. Beat in the molasses and egg, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl. Add the dry ingredients and mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator overnight.

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease two baking sheets, or line with parchment. Use a tablespoon scoop or a spoon to scoop walnut-sized balls of dough. Roll the balls in the sugar and place them on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, until they are golden brown and set. Remove them from the oven, and cool right on the pan for a few minutes. Remove from pan and store in an airtight container.

THE MORE WE KNOW...

2011-03-14T11:01:00.000-04:00

...the more there is to learn about. This past month or so has been a learning experience for me here in Akron. As most people do, I tend to go around seeing the things I normally see and doing the things I normally do without much thought to all the other people swirling around me doing their own things.

So, occasionally, getting nudged out of my comfort zone can be a good thing. I was nudged out last summer when I decided to become involved with the ADMC as a Citizen Journalist. Although it hasn't turned out exactly as I imagined, it has been a tremendous experience and one that has opened my eyes to some new people and ideas.

Making healthy food choices
available to everyone

Last month I was introduced to a vast network of people in Akron who are working to provide healthy foods to those that might not have easy access to it. Discussions abounded about urban gardening, food deserts, grocery accessibility and the ability to make healthy food choices. Forming a somewhat cohesive umbrella organization is the Summit Food Policy Coalition which in turn is managed by members of other local organizations such as Countryside Conservancy Association (CCA), Crown Point Ecology Center, Ohio State University Extension Office, and many others who have a general interest in local food policy.

Food Policy Councils are made up of a broad based group of dedicated individuals from both the public and the governmental sectors, each of which bring different talents and knowledge to the table. In the United States there are many cities beginning such Councils, as the topics of healthy food access, school lunches, urban agriculture, and farmland preservation continue to pop up in news across the nation. The broad goal of many Food Policy Councils is to examine the function and operation of a regional or local food system, and to provide recommendation and guidance for improvement of those policies that relate to food production and consumption.

Through this organization I am expanding my education on food and how it arrives on my plate, and as an aside am meeting new people and being exposed to other ways to approach food. This is one of those groups that forces me stop and think about things and ask questions that most of us don't ask. It's becoming an "if I were in their shoes how would I react" experience.

Akron Art Museum after dark

FROM FOOD TO MOVIES
Last evening, my friend Nancy (ever a terrific resource for my meeting new people) and I attended a Film Club put on by Akron Film. These young people strive to present interesting films to the community for free (or nearly free) and to promote the film industry here in Akron (Yes, we DO have a film community here, who knew?) The Film Club is like a book club for movies. We watch the movie once straight though, and then let it play again while we discuss it.

This week was a screening of 1945's Detour at the Akron Art Museum. This classic 68 minute film puts the noir in film noir. It was directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and stars Tom Neal and Ann Savage. Roger Ebert said, "No one who has seen it has easily forgotten it."

Although I'm an old film lover, I generally watch movies much in the same manner as I read a book...purely for entertainment value. The attendees at this Film Club were obviously more film gourmands as they talked about lighting, use of symbolism and film techniques, all of which was way over my head. However, even though I was out of my element, listening to this discussion made me think in new ways about looking at movies.

And, I suppose that's what it's all about - being asked to look at the same old things in new ways.

A NEW WAY TO LOOK AT....PANCAKES!
In the spirit of new twists on old things, did you know that this week was National Pancake Week? Don't feel out of sorts, neither did I. I nearly let this slip past me without comment for the pure reason that I really do not like pancakes. Never have. Waffles, I love! Pancakes, not so much. Must be one of my weird texture issues. Give me a crispy, airy waffle over a floppy pancake anyday.

But - I decided to visit my favorite King Arthur Flour website to see if they had any recipes that might tempt me to change my mind. And....not surprisingly, they did.

I picked out a couple of recipes that I will eventually be trying out but the one I am giving here is a definate winner in my book. Pancakes are back on my list of good food, how about THAT! Old biddies really can learn new tricks!

Malted Oatmeal-Cinnamon Pancakes
This is the original recipe as published by KAF and makes 16 cups of mix because it was meant to be a gift in a jar idea. Check out my Simple Meals For One blog for my scaled down ingredients list. Use this original to give something nice to your Mom for Mother's Day or to a friend as a gift. Divide the ingredients by half if you don't have that many friends to share with :)

5 1/2 cups rolled oats, ground in a food processor or blender
8 cups (2 pounds) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
3/4 cup non-diastatic malt powder, for best malt flavor; OR sugar
5 tablespoons baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 1/2 cups malted milk powder
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups cinnamon chips (optional)

Whisk together all of the dry ingredients except the cinnamon chips. Drizzle in the vegetable oil and mix until evenly distributed; the mixture will remain dry and crumbly. This is most easily done in a stand mixer. If you don't have a stand mixer, you may want to work with half the mix at a time. Stir in the cinnamon chips. Spoon into jars or airtight containers, and attach instructions (below).

Instructions for pancakes: To each cup of mix, whisk in 1 egg and 1/2 cup milk. Let stand for 10 to 15 minutes to thicken. Cook pancakes as you usually do. Yield: about a dozen 4-inch pancakes.

Instructions for waffles: Prepare batter as for pancakes or, for crispy waffles, add 2 tablespoons oil when mixing the batter. One cup of dry mix will make three or four 6-inch waffles.

BAKING UP ANOTHER MEMORY

2011-03-06T14:05:00.000-05:00

This weekend I was determined to stay home and get some things done around the house.

OK, now that you're all done laughing, I'll admit I didn't really get much done. At least not what I set out to do. But then there's nothing unusual in that. A little laundry, a little house cleaning, a little car maintenance, a little shopping for next weeks meals....but I did manage to satisfy my baking urge by turning out a couple of loaves of raisin bread.

Looking through cookbooks is one of my favorite pastimes. When watching a movie on TV, you'll ususally find me curled up in my chair with a cookbook or five on my lap. Armed with a batch of sticky flags, I browse these books for ideas for my own table or just to live vicariously through other peoples food ideas.

My collection of Marcia Adams cookbooks

One such cookbook that I've read many, many times was written by Marcia Adams. Ms. Adams wrote 3 cookbooks about Amish cooking. Her books were well researched, beautifully photographed and tell some wonderful stories about her subject matter. Mostly, her recipes are down to earth and the sorts of foods I actually grew up eating. Meat and potatoes, homemade breads, cookies and pies. I love using her recipes when my parents come to stay with me as this is the type of food they like and will eat.

Unfortunately, Ms. Adams is no loger alive, she passed few years ago after being diagnosed with a heart problem. She wrote her cookbooks, some of which were made into PBS programs, in the 1980's and 90's. She said "I have loved writing all my books, for they are more than just a collection of recipes since they are accompanied by researched history and personal narratives. I’ve learned so many new things and met so many interesting, great people that I would have missed had I not decided to be a food writer.”

I've been trying out some of her bread recipes recently with varying degrees of success. Last week I tried out her Kentucky Cornmeal Bread as written in the book and I think this could use some tweaking before I'm ready to say it's one to be used again and again. This weekend, however, I may have hit upon a keeper with her No-Knead Country Oat and Raisin Loaf. With some whole grains in the form of oats and dark molasses for flavoring, this bread raised nicely, was easy to prepare and tastes very good toasted with cinnamon and sugar on top. Although I use my KitchenAid to prepare all these doughs, if you have strong arms and a sturdy wooden spoon this can be done by hand.

NO-KNEAD COUNTRY OAT AND RAISIN LOAF

Biga (or starter)
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup dark molasses
1 cup raisins
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon salt

Prepare the Biga by combining all the ingredients into a large mixer bowl and mix well. (I put this in my kitchen aid work bowl and mix with a large woden spoon.) Cool to lukewarm while preparing the remaining ingredients.

Dough
2 packages active dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 3/4 cups bread flour

In a small bowl, combine the yeast and water, mix to dissolve the yeast and set aside for 5-10 minutes until it foams. Add the yeast and eggs to the biga and combine thoroughly.

Combine the flours together then gradually add to the yeast and oats mixture while stirring to combine. I set my kitchen aid on low to do this - be careful with adding the flour, it can easily end up all over the kitchen! Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Prepare 2 pans by spraying with cooking spray. I used one 8-inch round and 1 9x5-inch loaf pan. Pull the dough out on a lightly floured counter and divide in half. Lightly roll out one piece into a 7x14-inch rectangle (I used my hands for this, not a rolling pin). Starting at one short edge, roll up tightly, jelly-roll fashion. Turn the ends under and seal before placing seam side down in the loaf pan. For the round loaf, lightly pat out into a square, pull the corners up into the center, turn the dough over and continue to tuck to the underside while smoothing the top of the dough, making a 6-inch round. Place seam side down into the round pan. Cover both loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the loaves for 50 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 200 degrees. Turn out of the pans immediately and cool completely on a wire rack. To keep the top of the loaves soft, rub lightly with butter over the top.

I topped mine with a glaze made from 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 1-2 teaspoons milk.

STUPID SNOW WON'T KEEP ME IN THE HOUSE!!!!!

2011-02-24T11:10:00.000-05:00

Winter time is no less entertaining than summer when it comes to theater and concerts in the Akron area. Sometimes they cost a bit more since the venues are inside rather than in the great outdoors, but trust me, there are no end to the options to keep me running hither and yon over the snow covered roads.

Sixth floor theater at Greystone - new
home to the Actor's Summit Theater

Last week I took in my first play at the new home of the Actor’s Summit Theater on the sixth floor of Greystone in downtown Akron. Friends and I went for a ride in “Becky’s New Car”. This new play, commissioned just two years ago, takes place in Seattle where Becky lives and works for a local auto dealer. Although happily married, Becky accidentally becomes entangled with a recently widowed, well-to-do gentleman who gets the mistaken impression that Becky is also widowed. The confusion goes from there and Becky takes us on a sometimes amusing, but still thought-provoking journey as she finds her way through this dilemma, at times with a little help from the audience. Telling you more would be giving away the plotline and frankly I think you should see this yourself.

As always, Actor’s Summit puts on a nice show and the new location adds a touch of ambiance to the performance compared to their last location.

After our matinee performance on Sunday, dinner was served in the third floor Garden Room. I’m used to eating lunch here on Tuesdays, so having an opportunity to try out their prix fixe menu for dinner was too good to pass up. For $25 (all inclusive, except alcohol) we had our choice of four entrées. Between the six of us we tried them all and declared all main courses delicious. Although the vegetable sides seemed under seasoned and most likely directly from a can, the rest of the meals were quite good.

GREASE is the Word!

SLIDING ON OVER TO KENT STATE THEATER

Wednesday evening completed my third in a ticket series for the season at Kent State Theater with a performance of Grease. The Kent State Theater department does a terrific job and this was no exception. The students were energetic and most carried off the singing and dancing terrifically. My toes tapped along to songs like "Greased Lightning", "Summer Love" and "Hopelessly Devoted to You" and I could hardly keep my hands still during the rendition of "We GoTogether" when they started with Ramala Ding Dong, Boogity Boogity, Boogity. What fun!

Hand jive baby!

Although the live band was a bit loud and at times we had difficulties hearing the lead singers over the music, in general it was a very delightful performance. Only having ever seen Grease in its big screen version, the stage production was an adjustment. With limited scenery and no fancy gimmicks like car races in the waterways, the stage crew still did very well and after a while I stopped drawing comparisons to the movie version.

I'm already looking forward to seeing some of these kids in the summer productions out at Porthouse.
BAKING MY WAY THROUGH A SNOW STORM

What is there to do when you’re stuck in the house during a snow storm? Well, aside from go out and run the snow blower I choose to get into the kitchen and turn out something yummy to eat.

King Arthur Flour did it again by providing me with a recipe in their catalog that made my mouth water. What could possibly be better than a combination of bread and chocolate! Oddly enough, when I visited their website, the Pain au Chocolat recipe posted there is not the same as in the catalog. However, both featured their mini-chocolate logs (which I did not have), so I substituted some Ghirardelli chocolate squares instead. With a combination of raspberry or caramel filled, or just plain dark chocolate, these turned out to be a great choice inside these little bundles of dough.

Best eaten while still warm, the one or two that lasted until afternoon were still terrific. I had compliments from everyone in the office that tried one. Thank you KAF, you've made me look like a baking genius yet again! Here is the recipe as I made it (not quite as published, but very, very close.

PAIN AU CHOCOLAT

Pain au Chocolat - a favorite breakfast or
after school snack in France and a
BIG hit here in Akron at my office.

DOUGH
1 cup lukewarm water
3 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons nonfat dry milk
1/3 cup dried potato flakes
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons yeast

FILLING
12 squares of individually wrapped Ghirardelli chocolates, unwrapped*

TOPPING
2 tablespoons milk

Combine all of the dough ingredients. Allow to rest for 20 minutes, then mix and knead to make a soft, sticky dough. Allow dough to rise, covered, for about 90 minutes, until puffy.

Gently deflate the dough. Divide in half. On a lightly oiled surface, roll each half into an 8x9 inch rectangle. Cut each rectangle into 6 even pieces. Place 1 chocolate square on each dough piece. Wrap the square in the dough and place seam side down onto a greased or silpat lined baking sheet. Let rise again for 90 minutes until puffed up.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush each roll with milk. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 14-18 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven, transfer to a rack to cool and dust with powdered sugar.

* I used a combination of flavored and plain chocolate candy. Some had caramel centers or raspberry filling. All were fantastic! Change it up as you wish or order the real chocolate pieces from KAF here along with a different recipe for the same sort of bread.

NEW BLOG DEBUT THIS WEEK

2011-02-22T15:40:00.000-05:00

A little shameless self-promotion this week as I have launched a new blog page dedicated to Simple Meals for One. As my friends know, I'm a huge fan of cooking at home and I've been working for over a year trying out recipes and ideas to share on how to best manage the process of cooking for myself.

I have a lot of single friends, some that like to cook, others that do not. Some are nibblers - nibbling away at bits and pieces of foods as their meals. Some are great salad eaters. Some simply eat fast food. Others, like me, would like to cook, but have found it difficult. Portion control is hard, buying ingredients in small quantities in nearly impossible and looking at a great recipe that is portioned for 6 people is dizzying when you try to scale it down.

So I'm taking some of the lessons I've learned and recipes I've reworked and am putting them on the new blog. From really simple, practically no cooking to using my slow cooker for all-day long cooked flavors, we can all turn out meals that we can be happy to sit down to and not HAVE to share with anyone else.

So check it out and comment back. It's always fun to know I've caught someones attention.

BAKING MEMORIES

2011-02-18T11:19:00.003-05:00

I admit that I’m not much of a cake baker. Growing up, my Mother and I learned the art of cake decorating so that meant that for the most part, the cakes had to LOOK pretty and taste was secondary. We always used boxed cake mixes and added some fillings for extra uumpf, but that was the extent of our cake baking with one major exception – my birthday cake. Every year I requested a German Chocolate Cake and each July Mom would trot out this luscious, tall, chocolatey and oooey goooey cake for its annual starring role.

One year I got TWO cakes!!!!!

For nearly my entire life, I’ve had this cake on my birthday (although sometimes it was months early or late due to the fact that my folks lived in Florida and I did not, or vice versa). Oddly enough, it was the disappearance of this annual cake tradition that triggered my realization that my Mother’s memory was not good. The first year that the cake came from a box and a can should have been my first inkling of trouble.

When she asked me a year or so ago if she could bake me something and I said “German Chocolate cake”, she looked at me and stated she didn’t know what that was, but she could try if I could find it in the store. I think I cried for an hour. With the realization that those memories were gone for my Mother, I’m not sure whether I was more upset for her or for me. In any case, my craving for German Chocolate cake has pretty much been squashed. Somehow I don’t imagine it would ever really taste the same again.

BAKING UP NEW MEMORIES

One of the hundreds of cakes
I did as a kid

So on a much better note…..if you know me at all you know that I do love to bake. Cakes, however, aren’t on the top of my list. Maybe it was that sweet icing I made for all those years of decorating that turned me off of the process. Recently, however, I’ve become a little more fascinated with cakes in all of their forms.

I’ve learned that cake baking can be a bit tricky. Not because of the process, but because of the fact that people have become accustomed to box-made cakes that are airy and fluffy and (to my mind) generally lacking in texture and taste. They really are nothing more than a vehicle for whatever frosting is on top.

Frankly, there is little more deflating that spending a couple of hours and money on good ingredients to turn out a wickedly delightful cake only to be greeted with tepid response because the cake isn’t what folks are used to. So I’ve given up on the idea of layer cakes and turned to the idea of baking types of cakes that not everyone has. Snack cakes are always a hit in the office and usually pretty manageable when it comes to dealing with the inevitable leftovers since they freeze quite well.

So, I was really intrigued this past month when my new KAF Baking Sheet arrived and there was a recipe for a pound cake that was shouting to be tried.

Again, I state – I’m not a cake baker and maybe, just maybe I’ve turned out a pound cake once upon a time after taking a class with Nick Malgieri. But I kid you not, there was something about this recipe that kept calling to me. So on Monday evening I stopped for a fresh carton of sour cream, grabbed some pecans from the pantry and got busy.

The result was over the top good! I made one major and one minor substitution in the process when I got to the pantry and found that the pecans I had were actually some sugar glazed pecans I’d made up a month or so ago for a party. Not to be stopped, I chopped them up and added them to the cake. Frankly, I think this was a clever addition due to the hint of salt on the nuts. The nuts were super crunchy, and slightly salty that lends an interesting texture to the cake. The other substitution was using maple flavoring since I don’t have pecan in the cupboard.

With permission from KAF, here is the recipe. If you only have boring old pecans in your pantry, I’m sure it will be good too :)

BOURBON PECAN POUNDCAKE

Pretty as a photo and twice as tasty!
Bourbon Pecan Poundcake

3 cups KAF all purpose flour
¼ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 cup unsalted, softened butter
2 ½ cups sugar
6 large eggs, room temp
1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
1/8 tsp. maple or pecan flavoring
½ cup bourbon
2 cups finely chopped pecans, toasted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare (grease and flour) a 12-cup bunt pan or two 9x5 inch pans.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar and butter until creamy. Add the first three eggs at one time, pausing the mixer to scrape down the bowl occasionally. Add one third of the flour mixture and mix to combine. Add the remaining eggs and combine. Add the remaining flour mixture. Scrape down the bowl to ensure even mixing. Add the sour cream, flavorings, bourbon and then the pecans.

Give the bowl a final scrape and turn the batter into the prepared pan(s). Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the cake tests done with a wooden pick. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pans for 20 minutes before turning out on a rack to cool thoroughly. Dust with powdered sugar for a pretty presentation.

If you have an interest in getting your very own copy of the King Arthur Flour Baking Sheet - sign up here. A little birdie there told me KAF will be running a promotion this coming Tuesday Feb 22, where people can get a free 3 month subscription with a $60 catalogue purchase, check out their web site for more information.

SUCCESSFUL REOPENING

2011-02-10T12:04:00.000-05:00

Last night for our monthly Ladies Night Out, we ventured over to Munroe Falls to have dinner at the recently re-opened Triple Crown at 335 S Main St. (Rt 91). I have a vague recollection of eating inside this restaurant back in the 80's. The food at the time was not memorable and it closed several years ago allowing the building to sit dormant until this past year.

At the suggestion of fellow ladies night participant, Delores, we decided to give this newly reopened restaurant a try. The staff is friendly and our evening started out on the right hoof with Josie serving us in the equestrian-themed bar. They do not have an extensive wine list, but they do have some good top shelf liquor selections and Josie (our barkeep) introduced us to their Kentucky Bourbon Ale which is served in snifters rather than a typical beer glass. The narrow opening concentrates the aromas and the short stem offered a little touch of elegance to the tasting. The Ale itself ages in barrels used to distill bourbon which gives this ale a slightly smokey, somewhat fruity quality. Yum.

After our little tasting and good natured conversation in the bar, we were shown to our table which was situated directly in front of the oversized stone fireplace. Our reputation may proceed us as we were seated in the room all alone while the rest of the diners were in another area far far away. I really wonder what's up with that????........

In any case, Nick, our server, was extremely attentive and all around the table our food was delicious. From the Bacon and Shrimp Flatbread appetizers to the Broccoli Alfredo, Beef Stroganoff or Sea Scallop entrees to the Lemon Drop Cheesecake and Italian Almond Cake for dessert, the food was very good and serving sizes were plentiful.

The building itself is intended to resemble something akin to a horse stable and carries a race theme throughout it's decor, including the brass horse head decorations along the bar and mammoth-sized wreaths of roses over the fireplace. A close inspection of the building will show it's age and hopefully the ownership will continue to spruce the place up a bit (including, hint hint, the ladies rooms.)

Triple Crown will definitely be on my list of places to revisit. Even a quick stop to have one of those tasty Bourbon Ales! They're liable to turn me into a beer drinker after all!

LUNCHTIME ON THE RUN - BACK TO LUIGI'S

Since I'm speaking of eating out....I thought I'd take a few minutes here to chat about lunch. Probably because I do tend to fall into a routine at lunch and we hit the same places week after week after week, lunch isn't anything "special" to write home about. I lamented in my last entry about the service at some downtown places so today I thought I'd take this spot to start to talk about some of the BEST places for lunch. And I'm going to start straight at the top by mentioning Luigi's again.

The place itself is hard to describe. Tucked away on a tiny little section of North Main Street that was severed from the rest of downtown years ago, Luigis shares the street with Northside Bar (a local jazz hangout most nights), a couple of odd shops and the ever empty Northside Loft Condo's. But once you've spotted the giant pizza pie on the building, you know you're in the right place.

The interior decoration is best described as eclectic. The walls are covered with murals of (what we can assume) are Italian hillsides and the wall in the bar is plastered front to back with signed photographs of celebrities ranging from the was-known to the who's-that all topped with years and years worth of trophies for bowling teams and softball teams sponsored by the eaterie.

Lunch at Luigi's is an experience. Day after day, week after week, month after month and so on, Luigi's continues to be the "in" spot for downtown lunch. Dickie greets you at the door and on any given day instructs you to 'stand aside' in line while people filter in and out of this bustling place. If you're lucky you might get seated in Alice or Sue's section where service comes with a slight attitude (all good if you don't mind a little good natured fun.) Salads come piled high with cheese and pizza can come by the slice or the whole pie. IF you're lucky enough to arrive during Wedding Soup week - ORDER IT! It's the best in town.

Even if you stand in line for a table, the entire lunch experience seldom takes an hour. They do NOT accept reservations and they DO NOT accept credit cards. It's all a part of the charm of this place. If you don't come here often, you should.

GOOD PEOPLE AND A FAVORITE HAUNT

2011-02-01T16:30:00.001-05:00

Seem as though the holidays bring about a desire to touch base with people we don’t see often enough. Christmas cards are nice (not that I actually SEND any), but a face to face meeting is always best.

Me, Becca, Kathy and Pat at Luigi's
Notice the wall of fame behind us-
a staple at this great place.

So yesterday I met with a former co-worker at one of my favorite local eateries, Luigi's on South Main Stree, for dinner. Kathy and I used to share the third floor under the skylight so we had the sunshine to keep us company most of the year. Kathy was always a good source for scuttle-butt on what was going on politically around town and I miss that – these days I have to scrounge around on my own to find out what’s happening.

Our mutual friends Rebecca and Pat joined us for dinner and the conversation was lively and the food (as always) was good. We’re of an age now where we’re most of us dealing with the generation up from us in some manner or another. Rebecca’s parents, my parents and Kathy’s Aunt. By the time dinner was over it almost felt more as though we’d formed our own support group than anything else. And truly, there’s not a thing wrong with that. Strength is in numbers!

A downtown staple for many year!

Otherwise it was old biddy chat time and it was really nice spending time with people I don’t get to pal around with very often.

Dinner at Luigi’s would not have been complete without the good natured chiding by Dickie at the front door when we arrived. He’s a staple at that position and arriving there at lunch or dinner and not finding him there somehow diminishes the entire experience. And yes, diet be darned, I ate pizza and a glass of wine and enjoyed every bite and sip.

LUNCHTIME AT 3 POINT
Today the guys at the office and I trudged through the snow to visit 3 Point, which is in the next block from our office. Frankly, eating here is an adventure every time I walk through the door. Fortunately, the food is terrific; it is the single constant behind this fairly new establishment. Unfortunately, the service is generally very substandard. I’ve eaten here three times at lunch and twice have spent well over 90 minutes to eat a simple salad.

I am seldom one to complain in the blog about places I visit, but realistically, poor service really should not be tolerated in a restaurant where a salad and a drink cost nearly $14. Sad to say, this is not the only establishment downtown where good food meets poor service. I love Lockview, but eating lunch there is ALWAYS well over an hour. Same for Cilantro. I cannot help but think that with better trained wait staff these places would be much busier, at least for lunch.

Feel free to eat at any of these places when you're not in a hurry. The food at all three is good and as long as you're not dining with someone you don't like, it will be fine. Sit back and relax and enjoy the prolonged meal.

GOOD IDEA GONE MUSHY

Pretty little sprouts! How could
something so cute go so wrong?

Well, there’s no recipe here today because what I thought was a terrific idea turned out to be...well, inedible. Once upon a time a friend had me to dinner and served something from her slow cooker that was Brussels sprouts, chicken and some sort of tomato sauce. I thought it was pretty good and frankly it was because of that I am a true Brussels sprout fan today. I’ve searched for such a recipe and this week I thought I’d stumbled over the right thing when I picked up a small can of dice tomatoes with peppers.

Last night I excitedly cut my sprouts and put them into the slow cooker along with about half the can of tomatoes and a bit of oregano. This morning I added a chicken breast, a little more tomatoes and oregano and came off to work looking forward to a good dinner tonight when I got home.

It was a sad realization that sprouts just do not belong in a slow cooker. I’ve come to love these when they are quick cooked in a sauté pan so that they still have a bit of a bite to them. Many a friend has become sprout lovers after eating them from my kitchen. However, these poor little things that I found swimming in the bottom of the cooker were nowhere near edible. These must be the slimy little creatures that other people are served who are confirmed sprout haters.

The chicken was delicious but the sprouts hit the garbage. So today’s advice from the kitchen – do not try this one at home!

LEARNING ABOUT THINGS ORGANIC

2011-01-26T20:37:00.002-05:00

If you follow me here at all you know that part of my new food quest is learning (and sharing) more about where our food comes from. Last night I took the opportunity to visit Ms. Julie's Kitchen on South Main Street where the good folks from TreeHouse Organics chatted with us about their family of local organic farmers, master gardeners, green growers, bee keepers, and craftspeople. Most of what I saw this evening were products made from their gardens and farms, such as honey, maple syrup, flavored vinegars, tomato sauces and fruit preserves.

Topics ranged from crop rotation to the use of bio diesel fuels on the farms to sea salt mined in South Carolina. Farmer Ben and his family talked to us about tilling the earth the good old-fashioned way without the use of tractors that pump toxins into the air and drip pollutants into the soil. He tells us how they break the sod up by walking the fields barefoot so that they can feel how thoroughly the soil is being worked under their feet.

These are folks that not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. They believe in growing products without the use of pesticides, herbicides, steroids or other chemicals. They work hard and are willing to share the bounty of their efforts with anyone that appreciates it. My mouth watered when Ben spoke of sweet corn, fresh tomatoes and other summer vegetables that we simply cannot get this time of year. Learning to eat seasonally is one of the big adjustments we must make if we begin to follow the local food chain.

The more I read and learn, the more convinced I am that it's a healthy thing for both myself, and the earth as a whole, to seek out vendors such as TreeHouse Organics. Eating closer to the ground, as some call it, should become a way of life, much as it was for our Grandparents and their parents.

I will definitely be back to pick up some of their products at Ms. Julie's Kitchen. Kimberly Beckett from the Downtown Akron Partnership was on hand this evening to tell us that their market will be open again this year at Lock 3 beginning in July and we hope to see TreeHouse Organics there.

Check out The Akronist for my full-blown story on TreeHouse in the next couple of days.

LATE NIGHT SALAD DINNER
After listening for two hours of the benefits of organic foods, I felt too ashamed to come home after a long day and eat a hot dog for my dinner (which truthfully was my original plan). I blatantly love a good hot dog and have waxed poetically about them on several occasions in this blog. But heck if I wasn't inspired to come home and toss together something a little closer to the earth.

Now I'm not too sure of the origin of most of my salad ingredients tonight, except that I know the carrots and broccoli were local. The cauliflower has been rolling around the bottom of the fridge so long I could easily have gotten it locally when they were available. I'd take a guess that the pineapple came from Hawaii (or maybe South America). BUT, I'm feeling pretty good about the fact that this is vegetarian AND that I was able to bypass those hot dogs screaming my name from the fridge door, AND it tasted good to boot!

A sunny day in a bowl!
Broccoli Carrot Salad

BROCCOLI CARROT SALAD

Salad:
1 cup broccoli flowerettes
1/2 cup cauliflower flowerettes
1 cup shredded carrot
1/4 cup fresh pineapple bits
1/2 shallot, minced
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
Dressing:
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar

Mix up all ingredients except mayo, sugar and vinegar in a medium bowl. In a small bowl combine the dressing ingredients and mix well. Pour over salad and toss to combine.

TIME FOR A GOOD CLEAR OUT

2011-01-23T17:55:00.001-05:00

One of the shows that I watch when I'm really bored or awake late at night is Hoarders. If you haven't seen this program yet, believe me it can really make you think about the stuff you have in your own house. Everytime I see this I begin to panic about the sheer number of THINGS I have cluttering up my house - and even in the middle of the night, I tend to get right up and go pick up some things to toss into the trash.

Attic 20 years ago when I moved in

It's so easy to accumulate 'things' that just seem either too good to toss in the garbage or sentimental to pass on to someone else. I got a laugh this past week when looking through some old photos of my attic right after I moved in and compared it to how it looks today. Well, it is funny, but then again.....not so much. Over the course of 20 years I've managed to clutter up the space with bits and pieces of things that seemed to make sense keeping at the time. Extra ceiling tiles, old doors and moulding trim, old suitcases, 3 or 4 christmas trees, 4 or 5 boxes of holiday decorating stuff (note here that I haven't decorated for the holidays in over 5 years now), an old gas heater and a bunch of stuff that mom and dad left here when they moved to Florida several years ago.

Attic 2011 - where did it all come from?

So this month I'm challenging myself to lessen the burden of my attic and see if it can't be put back into some sense of spaciousness. Let's see if I can report back here with success in 3 or 4 weeks.

FINALLY GETTING OUT AND ABOUT
Yesterday was a bright, sunny 17 degree day here in northeast Ohio and I took every advantage of the sunshine to try to perk myself up a bit. I got out of the house fairly early and headed up to the Countryside Conservancy Indoor Farm Market at the Old Trail School on Ira Road. This was the first indoor market this winter and I looked forward to finding some fresh winter vegetables.

I think everyone was surprised to see that the place was packed with people - and packed EARLY! By the time I arrived most of the good stuff was already gone. I still ended up with some rapini, a couple sweet potatoes, a wedge of locally produced havarti cheese and some badly needed fresh eggs from Brunty Farms. I had a nice chat with the people from Red Run Bison Farm when I picked up a nice strip steak to try, and a friendly chat with Kevin Noon, the gentleman that does on-site knife sharping. Sad to say I missed out on most of the items on my shopping list.

ARE YOU TIRED OF HEARING ME TALK ABOUT EGGS YET?

Pasture raised egg next to mega
egg farm produced

Well, too bad. I mentioned above that I was in need of eggs and now that I've become a "local" egg shopper, it's not as easy to get a dozen when I want them. Two weeks ago I had to find some eggs at the grocery to do some baking with and I thought I'd take this opportunity to show you what the difference is in these.

I cooked a couple eggs today for my breakfast and grabbed one from the mega-grocer and one that I picked up yesterday at the market. Just by looking you can see there is a difference. The egg on the right is the egg from Brunty Fams where the chickens are pasture raised on good feed. Compared to the lighter yellow of the other egg, it simply looks more appealing, don't you think?

EJ THOMAS STAGE DOOR

Earl Klugh at Stage Door in Akron

Saturday evening my friend Bev and I headed out for the evening to celebrate her birthday. We stopped at The Office for a nosh and a glass of wine and then back downtown to EJ Thomas' Stage Door to spend an hour with jazz guitarist Earl Klugh. This was a solo appearnce for Mr. Klugh and it was what we've come to appreciate from a Stage Door performance, both professional and yet intimate. With mentors like Chet Atkins and George Benson, this man is definately in his element. With tunes ranging from American Standards like The Shadow of Your Smile, jazz standard 'Round Midnight and a nod to South American Bosa Nova and some blues tossed in to round out the hour or so that he played to this sell out crowd. This was an enjoyable, friendly evening.

Mr. Klugh is traveling to Japan and Asia for the next couple of months - but be sure to look for his CDs (there are several at the Akron Public Library) and for him to return next year or the year after.

WINTER BLAHS

2011-01-19T20:00:00.000-05:00

This year, more than ever, I'm beginning to feel like a real biddy-bump on a log! 2010 wasn't the best of years for me healthwise but I think I'm ready to slough that off and try to get back to a more active, better feeling 2011.

Somehow between all the viruses, bumps and bruises, worry over things I don't control and a general malaize, my mind and body have just gotten totally out of control. Instead of the Old Biddy Loose on the Town, I've been more Old Biddy Slouched in a Chair. And what kind of fun was that? None!

Overall though, I did do some new things in 2010 like getting involved in the Akron Digital Media Center (now known as The Akronist) which brought some good things into my life. I was sitting in the Media Center last weekend and I took a look around me and started to giggle a bit. Here was this old biddy white woman sitting in a room with four young black guys and one off-the-wall type video guy listening to hip-hop and watching a video one of the other guys was working on about AIDS. I loved it! I freely admit that I don't mingle outside my stereotype very often so it was refreshing to be with new people. note to self: I gotta do more of that in the future.

The ADMC has allowed me to stretch in other directions, much the same way that Single Volunteers did during it's lifetime. Getting out of a fixed routine, meeting new people and finding new interests is what keeps us moving forward. I've gotten more interested in my new camera and going out taking photos. I've taken on a new love of bread baking by experimenting with whole grains. I've learned to ask questions about the food I eat and in the meanwhile have learned a lot about where it comes from, how it's processed and how it reaches my kitchen. I've learned a lot about writing and telling a story. All of which has been fun and, frankly, just the beginning steps to learning even more.

This year I've challenged myself to learn to cook at home in a more healthy manner and to try to stop eating all of the junk I tend to eat when I'm out to a restaurant. Loosing some of the weight I gained last year is a big priority as is getting more exercise. However, I'm tempering that with a need to continue to hone my bread baking skills. Look out friends and family - there will be bread coming your way this year! AND, let's not forget my lonely pizza oven sitting in the back yard awaiting it's destiny. Mmmmm....pizza! Hopefully whole grained and less calorie-laden versions.

Of course, there is the typical Old Biddy stuff to look forward to. Theater, concerts, out with the other biddies, etc. We're already contemplating the summer series at Porthouse and a few shows at the newly relocated Actor's Summit at Greystone. Still a performace to see at Kent State Theater and then the University of Akron Jazz concerts begining in March. Also, let's hope that the City reprizes the Blues at Lockbottom this summer, it got off to a terrific start last year.

So, it should be a busy year full of fun new things and a lot of familiar events. Let's get rolling!

CHICKEN IN A POT

Simple ingredients come together sweetly

Well, a biddy does still have to eat, right? I've been sifting through my recipes trying to find ones that are healthier and lighter PLUS are still easy to make. This one uses my itty-bitty slow cooker so that dinner was ready when I got home tonight. A dig through the potato patch in the pantry netted a nice sweet potato and believe it or not, the thyme plant in the pot out by the garage is still alive, even after having been snowbound a time or three already, so a sprig of that went into the pot.

This is simple, slightly sweet and easy. I used a bone-in chicken breast (skinless) because these are generally tastier but I suppose you could go boneless. The entire meal (including peas) weighs in around 550 calories, is low in total fat and has an abundance of Vitamin A.

MAPLE AND BROWN SUGAR SWEET POTATO AND CHICKEN IN A SLOW COOKER

Add potato, syrup, sugar and thyme in cooker

1 skinless, bone-in chicken breast
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into 2 inch chunks
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1/3 cup chicken broth

Put the sweet potato, maple syrup, brown sugar and leaves from 1 thyme sprig in the bottom of the slow cooker. Add the chicken breast on top, season with salt and pepper and remaining thyme. Pour in the chicken broth, cover the cooker and cook on low for 8-9 hours.

Add the chicken to the pot

Remove the chicken and remove the bones. Slice or shred to serve with potatoes.

Put a small skillet on high heat and strain the juice from the slow cooker into the skillet. Boil on high to reduce by half. Add a pat of butter to the sauce to finish. Spoon over the chicken and potato on the plate.

If you could tell from the photo above, the chicken I bought must have been a bra size DD or E (very large!). Although I was aiming for a single meal out of this, I ended up with extra cooked chicken. No problem, just save it plus the extra sauce for a salad and dressing tomorrow night!

This was a really good meal, but certainly didn't need to cook the 10 hours I ended up leaving it. But even though I was late coming home, that is part of the charm of the slow cooker, it doesn't overcook too quickly.

BAKING IN THE NEW YEAR

2011-01-01T13:20:00.002-05:00

Who would image that after all the snow we had during the month of December, that our New Year's would be 54 degrees and rainy? It was so lovely yesterday I wandered out to the local mall to do some post-holiday shopping - along with the rest of the local population! The stores were crowded and the cash registers were hopping. It's nice to see people out spending some money and I certainly did my share.

The best part about the day was the ability to wander from far in the parking lot to the mall entrance with no coat and with the sun shining on my face. Even the breeze felt good. Too bad it's raining today BUT that put me in the mood to do some baking.

PATTY CAKE, PATTY CAKE, BAKER'S MAN.....

Three batches of scones and 3 loaves of bread later, I couldn't be more pleased with the finished products. Scones are something I've been working on for a couple of years and I think I've finally got the knack. Today I made my infamous Cinnamon Schmear scones, a batch of Maple Walnut and one batch of Cranberry Orange scones. Scones are so much like biscuits that I use the same technique for both. I jokingly say that the biscuit gene is passed down from generation to generation. My Grandmother made killer biscuits and my Mother makes them the same. I learned from them and my biscuits are always tender, high, light and golden brown, just like theirs.

Although my Mother and Grandmother made their biscuits totally by hand, I've worked them to be prepped in the food processor. It cuts down on the prep time as long as you don't mind cleaning up the processor when you're done. I use the exact same technique for my scones. And it's easy to say that neither my Mother nor her Mother would have put flavorings in their biscuits to turn them into scones, but if they had, I'm sure they would have been wonderful.

Grandma in her apron - no doubt
about to make something to feed
an army.

My recipes are not originals, like most of my baking research, the recipes were found on the King Arthur Flour web site. It's full of wonderful baking hints, how-tos and recipes. They have a few terrific blogs, a monthly baking sheet that comes in the mail, and it's so easy to spend hours browsing their site, if I get caught up in looking at these at work (during my frequent down times), sometimes I cannot wait to get home to try something new.

While both the Cinnamon and Maple-Walnut scones came from this site, the Cranberry-Orange scone recipe must have been out there once upon a time but is gone now. Let me know if you'd like to try these and I'll share the recipe.

ROLL IT, SHAPE IT, MARK IT WITH A "B" AND PUT IT IN THE OVEN FOR BOBBI AND ME!

Funny, I can still sort of remember Mom doing this little nursery rhyme with me, maybe that's where I got my love of baking from. In any instance, I've been baking since I was a young 'un. Cookies and cakes where always popping out of the oven. A few pies and, of course, quick breads for dinner like cornbread and biscuits.

Today's bread ready to eat!

Grandma Mealey was the bread baker in the family. She turned out many loaves of white bread on a regular basis -they did not believe in buying store-bought bread. And at the time she didn't fool with any of that fancy whole grain flour like we might today. We ate generous fat slices of her white bread toasted in a hot cast iron skillet and then draped with applesauce or apple butter. Oh goodness, I still crave this stuff. It was truly a study in contrasts - soft white bread toasted in butter to create a crunchy crust hot out of the skillet with a spoonful of ice cold apple butter. Soft and crunchy, hot and cold all in one bite! Those were the days!

As for the bread I baked today, I'm not sharing those recipes. Sorry. If you're lucky enough to take a bread class from local bread guru Kathy Lehr you will also soon be able to turn out terrific whole grain breads from your own oven. Where I used to make bread-shaped door stops, I now am baking light, airy loaves of nutty whole grain goodness. And, no apologies needed to my Grandma - she would have loved this stuff too.

STAYING PUT

2010-12-29T21:57:00.000-05:00

Sorry to say, with the onset of winter, this old biddy has been sticking very close to home. With the exception of a wonderful Thanksgiving at a friends home and the unanticipated trip of a week in Florida (where it was cold and rainy), the majority of my time has been spent in the house bundled up keeping warm.

My view for this week, cat on lap
and tv on. Ah, the holidays!

The highlight of this past week has been my cat-sitting duties while a friend visits with her family in Minnesota. No complaints here, James is always a welcome addition to the house. He reminds me of the years when the little pitter pat of cat paws regularly paraded around my house. A co-worker keeps telling me I need to get a cat or dog of my own, but since the house is empty a lot of the time, it just doesn't make sense to get one at this point. Some day maybe.......

MEANWHILE
Since I've been sticking close to home I've been cooking a lot of meals for myself. Still frustrated by my own inability to prepare meals for one person on a regular basis, I've been doing some further research on the subject. It makes sense that some foods lend themselves better to single serving versions than others...casseroles are too much effort as is anything that requires more than 30 minutes of prep and cooking time.

What I've discovered for myself is that if I can get a meal on my plate in under 20 minutes, that is just about perfect. Whether that means 20 solid minutes of cooking time spent in the kitchen at once or 10 minutes prep the night before and 10 minutes at dinner time, this amount of time makes it "worthwhile" in my mind to turn out my meal. Less time than that is usually some sort of frozen food shoved in the microwave and more than 20 minutes feels too daunting to be worth the effort.

My continuing task this year is to perfect a repertoire of meals that I can have ready in short order without serving up leftovers over and over and over again the following week. I've already blogged about some of those I've been using and you can read about them here. Keep checking in as I work my way through some more of my favorite things in single serving portions - and if you have anything you make for yourself (or for two) and want to share, feel free to comment and let me know.

MY FAVORITE COOKING APPLIANCES

Pretty slow cookers all in a row

Whether cooking for just me, or turning out a big meal for a bunch of people, one of my favorite cooking utensils is my slow cooker. Or should I say, my slow cookers...I have 3. Ranging in size from large to small, these have turned out meal after meal of good, homecooking goodness over the years. I got my first 5 quart cooker before I ever got married and used it to cook for myself and my roommate or my family on many occasions. Later, after my divorce, I obtained a smaller 3 quart version that rarely saw the light of day unless there was company coming or my parents were staying with me. I still loved these cookers, but they were too large for the small amounts of food I was needing on a regular basis. The few times I attempted to cook a single chicken breast or a small piece of beef roast in these, I came home to burnt, dried out food that was completely unacceptable Consequently, they mostly gather dust on the top shelf of the kitchen pantry.

SIZE TRULY DOES MATTER

In frustration over the inability to turn out a decent pot roast or a chicken dish for one, last year I finally did some more research and ended up purchasing my third slow cooker, a small 1 1/2 quart version that has been my best buddy in the kitchen for months now. Soups for one or two meals - no problem! Tiny pot roasts for one or two - no big deal! Chicken dinners of all kinds - fantastic! With a little pre-planning and prep work the night or morning before mealtime, eating a home cooked, comforting meal is a snap.

SOUPS ON!
One challenge I hear most of my single friends dealing with is making soup for themselves. We all love soup, and cold weather definitely cranks up the comfort factor of a warming bowl for dinner, but "too much work to make soup for one serving" is what I hear constantly. Hmmmmm....not for me! With my trusty slow cooker standing ready and a few minutes of slicing and dicing the night before, the heady aromas of fresh soup greet me as I stumble through the back door on a cold evening.

After my foray to Al's Market last week, I've been contemplating those bones I removed from the smoked pork chops. For me, the logical use for these is in bean soup. Last night, I rescued one of the bones from the freezer and grabbed a cup of navy beans and a box of chicken stock from the pantry and set up my dinner for tonight. The following prep work took all of 10 minutes. With a stop at the fridge in the morning to toss everything into the slow cooker, total prep time was about 15 minutes. A snap decision to make a batch of corn bread to go with the soup when I got home took another 5 minutes plus 20 minutes of baking time, still putting me within my 20 minute hands-on cooking time frame. When the fresh hot bread came out of the oven, my soup was ready and dinner was served.

OLD FASHIONED BEAN SOUP

Notice that little pork bone I had
saved from the pork chops earlier
this week? Perfect for this!

There are many versions of bean soup - bean and bacon, black bean, italian bean, to name a few, but this version is what I grew up eating. In our house it was always served with corn bread which usually ends up being crumbled into the soup bowl over the beans. Yum!

And by the way, this makes enough for two servings, soups of all kinds are good left over for lunch another day so I do not fret over the extra serving here. And if there are two of you in the house, well...this is perfect then, huh?

Ingredients:
1 cup dried navy pea beans, rinsed and checked to remove bad beans or stones
2 cups chicken stock
1 small smoked ham or pork bone
1 bay leaf
1 medium carrot, peeled and grated
1/3 cup finely diced red onion
1 garlic clove, whole but slightly crushed
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Prep time:
The night before, rinse and sort through the dried beans. In a medium sized bowl, put in the beans and about double enough water to cover them completely. Add in 2 teaspoons salt and stir to dissolve the salt. Let beans sit overnight.
Gather up the remaining ingredients, except the stock, and put in the crock of the slow cooker and store in the refrigerator overnight.

The next morning:
Remove the crock from the fridge and put in the cooker. Turn to low heat. Rinse your beans thoroughly and add them to the pot along with the 2 cups of stock. Stir around to ensure everything is covered in stock. Leave the pot to cook on low for 8-10 hours.

Old Fashioned Bean Soup
& Cornbread

Test to see that the beans are cooked through. Remove the bone, garlic and bay leaf. Pull off any meat left on the bone and add it back to the pot. Add salt and pepper to taste.

CORNBREAD

makes 4 servings or enough for two meals if you do as I do and eat one for dessert with apple butter on top...YUM!

I love fresh bread with soup and it seems as though some soup and bread combinations simply go together. Such is this bean soup and cornbread. Slightly sweet and crumbly, you can either eat this out of hand with a bit of butter on it as it emerges from the hot oven, or crumble it into your soup bowl as is tradition in our home.

I bake my cornbread in a 6-inch cast iron skillet that I purchased specifically for baking this bread. I use it for other things as well, but it is the perfect size for this amount of cornbread batter and fits neatly into the toaster oven to bake.

My favorite little skillet and some
golden cornbread!

This recipe is the one my Mom used forever and is best baked in a cast iron skillet to form a deep golden crust. The other family trick is to use bacon drippings as the fat and to melt it in the skillet on the stovetop in order to pre-heat the skillet as well as the fat. Pour out the grease into the batter but make sure you leave a little in the hot pan - when the cool batter hits it, it will begin to form that crust immediately, even before it gets to the oven. Mmmm, mmmmm, good old fashioned magic!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup yellow corn meal
1 Tbls. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk (more or less)
2 Tbls. corn oil or bacon grease, melted*

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Put your skillet (with an ovenproof handle) on the stove and heat, adding the oil or grease (be careful if you use oil, it will burn very quickly if left too long). The idea here is to heat the pan so be careful, the handle will get hot.
In a small bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Add the egg and enough milk to make a loose batter (it will resemble cake batter). Add the melted oil or butter and stir to combine. Immediately pour into the hot skillet and transfer to the oven to bake for 15-20 minutes until the top is puffy and golden brown.

*A note about bacon drippings - as the granddaughter of a farm wife, my refrigerator is always home to a jar of bacon drippings. Every time I make bacon, the grease is poured into the container for future use. Although I know my Grandmother used this as her main source of fat for many dishes, in my house it's used as both a fat and a seasoning. It's main use in my kitchen is in cornbread as I've described above.

When I was younger and not as wise, I substituted oil or shortening but the bread never tasted the same. Now, I'm older and somewhat wiser and the little jar of grease is a constant in the fridge. Add a spoonful to things like green beans when they're cooking, use it as the grease for frying potatoes in a skillet, pan fry your eggs in it....use it anywhere that you would use a pat of butter and a hint of bacon flavor would be acceptable.

And don't say eeeuuuwwww...your great-grandparents were cooking with pork fat long before a can of Crisco or margarine showed up on their pantry shelves. If used sparingly as a seasoning, this still has a place in today's modern kitchen.

HOLIDAY CHEER

2010-12-26T17:57:00.003-05:00

Our office holiday party put a nice beginning to the weekend. The boss and his wife hosted us at their home in Hudson and it was a lovely evening relaxing with co-workers and sharing some laughs.

There's very little more holiday-ish than a drive through Hudson with the Main Square Clock Tower lit to spread the season's festive mood. Hudson is always beautiful, but the trees in the square and even more beautiful with lights and snow on them.

Coming home, I drove past this remarkable home near the entrance to route 8. These people take the blue ribbon for house decorating. If you get an opportunity to drive by Rt 303, turn into Heather Lane and go to the first cross street to the left. You cannot miss seeing this house! I was first told about this two years ago and it seems they still go all out. Rumour has it this guy is a professional lighting decorator and it's easy to believe this would be true.

HELP! I THINK MY TEETH ARE FALLING OUT!
After eating so many sweets over the past couple of weeks, I sometimes feel that if I put anything more made of sugar in my mouth, my teeth are just going to fall out of my head. For one time a year during the week between christmas and new year, I simply feel that if I see another sweet treat I'm simply going to toss my cookies.

photo courtesy of asteofohio.com

With that thought in mind, my culinary thoughts turn to heading into the kitchen to make something to eat other than candy, cookies, cakes, or pies. What I tend to crave during this first really cold snap of winter are some foods that can be put into the slow cooker to simmer all day so that I come home to the aroma of dinner waiting for me. In anticipation of this type of cooking, I made a trip this week to my absolute favorite meat store in Barberton - Al's Quality Market on West Tuscarawas Avenue.

Al's Market is known throughout the area for their smoked meats - Hungarian, Slovene, Slovak, Polish sausages, salamis, bacon and pork chops, and a beautiful array of fresh meats. When you walk in you're assaulted with the heady aroma of smoked meat, garlic and spices. The counter help are always friendly and knowledgeable about their products and the customers always know they can find the best smoked meats here. One young girl waiting in line with her Mother commented that she loved the smell of the place (no doubt a future next generation Al's shopper in the making).

Slovene smoked sausages rich
with garlic and spices

Another big plus in my shopping book is that this is a locally owned shop that's been around for quite a while. Meat smoking is an art that not many in our area are doing. Al's turns out quality products at good prices with small neighborhood charm. This is one of those local shops that we'd be sorry were gone should they disappear.

Although Barberton is not a long distance from home, I only make it out this general direction once every few months so when I make the effort to go to Al's I tend to buy with the intent of feeding myself for several weeks . Everything looks so fantastic in the case it's easy to get carried away.

This trip I ended up with Slovene smoked sausage (terrific in the slow cooker with sauerkraut or stuck in the pot to cook with stuffed cabbage), some really fantastic looking bacon, one small beef chuck roast, 2 pretty chopped steaks, and 4 super sized smoked pork chops.

Even at a little over 1 pound, this roast
is too much for one meal.

I really like shopping ahead like this - about an hour in the kitchen yields about 15 prepacked meal-sized freezer portions. When cooking for one person, the easiest thing to do is have meat pre-portioned out for meals. The only trick is to think far enough ahead to pull something out of the freezer to thaw for your meal preparation. Sausages and pork chops already come in single portion sizes, bacon can easily be separated out and frozen in small quantities.

A little knife skill turned this into
3 nicely portioned roasts

The biggest item I brought home that required a bit of knife magic was the 1 pound chuck roast. I cut out the largest chunk of fat and cut the rest up into 3 portions, rewrapped, marked and packed for the freezer.

Each roast will be terrific in the slow cooker. Add with some root vegetables and seasoning depending upon mood, and my dinners will be ready and waiting for me on a cold winters evening.

Rewrapped and ready for the freezer

Beautiful smoked pork chops

These lean smoked pork chops will serve two purposes - I removed the bones and set them aside to be used in bean soups and the chops themselves will be delicious served with sweet potatoes in place of ham later on this month.

If you haven't had the privilege of having smoked pork chops in the past, give yourself a treat and check these out. Once the holiday season is past, it's not likely that most families will buy a ham to fix for dinner. Smoked chops are a delicious substitute, giving you the smokey flavor of ham, without the need to dish out $50 for a whole ham.

Bone set aside and chops ready for
the freezer.

I'll be fixing mine soon and will share my recipes with you. If you have had these and know a wonderful way to prepare them, please feel free to share with me, I love new recipes.

HEY, HAVE YOU MISSED ME?

2010-12-24T19:25:00.000-05:00

It's been a few weeks since I had time to get any writing out here. There has been a flurry of activity on my part to begin the process of taking over my parents business affairs and to attempt to determine the extent of their ability to continue to live independently.

Dad is 83 and Mom is 77, both are in fine physical health, but both are suffering from dementia manifesting itself in memory loss, both short and long term. After a chance phone call to my Mother a few weeks ago where I accidentally discovered that she no longer knew how to write checks, I took a hurried trip to Florida to determine their status.

Mom& Dad at our picnic
lunch last week

Long story short - I've discovered their daily activities are fine; they eat three meals each and every day, walk the dog a couple times a day, and get to church most Sundays. They stumble over things that were routine in the past such as paying bills, handling correspondence, dealing with new situations. Mom used to be quite proficient on the computer, creating her own greeting cards, banking on-line, emailing with friends and family, etc, but now cannot recall how to turn it on. It's due to her that I developed my love of all things kitchen-related and she was always turning out baked goods and delicious meals. Today their diet is made up almost exclusively of store-bought cookies, rotisserie chickens and canned vegetables. Dad was the go-to guy for car related issues; always changing his own oil, changing brakes, fixing most anything that went wrong - now he has difficulty with the simplest of chores except washing the car.

Carrying on conversations of any kind with parents who suffer with memory loss range from the quaint to the frustrating, depending upon my mood at any given time or the topic at hand. Trying to get Mom to get beverages on the dinner table while I prepare the meal is quaint - trying to explain over and over again that her driver license has been suspended due to the uninsured car sitting in their driveway is frustrating. Telling Dad for the 5th time in 10 minutes that there is snow on the ground in Ohio (it IS December Dad) - telling him for the 10th time in 20 minutes that he has to sign paperwork to redirect funds from his IRA is frustrating.

ANYWAY - life is what life is. Learning to deal with it one day at a time will be my new challenge as I try to convince them to move back to Ohio to live with me and allow me to care for them.

JUST WHEN YOU THINK IT'S BAD IN YOUR OWN HEAD...
You have a conversation with someone who truly is having a difficult time with life: an acquaintance dealing with not just one, but two family members with cancer; another who lost her father just in time for the holiday; good friends with children serving overseas in danger zones.

Obviously my life is not difficult in comparison and for that I promise I will be thankful.

AS THE SONG SAYS....and so this is Christmas....
After many years of trying, I've finally given up almost all shreds of commercialized holiday revelry: I stopped decorating the house a few years ago; stopped sending holiday cards that support no one except the post office and the greeting card industry; and this year I finally solved the gift shopping dilemma. Giving and receiving gifts simply because it's the thing to do seems like a waste of money and energy by both givers and receivers, this year I totalled up the money I would normally spend buying gifts no one wants or needs and gave it to two local deserving charities.

It's certainly not that I don't appreciate the things people give me, whenever someone takes the time to think about you it's appreciated. But if the true meaning of the holiday is about peace on earth, goodwill to mankind, then my giving or receiving another scarf or bottle of wine will not go to promote those sentiments.

This has gone over with varying degrees of success this year. I had one or two people truly understand the gesture and a few that probably think I did it simply to get out of shopping (well, yes, of course that was a terrific by product) and some that probably didn't quite understand the concept. But, I feel pretty OK with this and for the first time in ages, the gifts I gave truly made me feel good about the process of giving.

I chose two local organizations for my gift giving this year allowing me the satisfaction that even though my money was not in my personal pocket, it remained local. Check out these in case you feel like doing a little charitable donating of your own before the tax year ends. Countryside Conservancy's Don't Buy Food From Strangers campaign and One of a Kind Pets Rescue Clinic and Adoption Center.