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Oscar night dinner: Spaghetti Western Mac

Posted on February 27, 2011 | 4 comments

Seeing as tonight is the Oscars, I decided to make a movie tribute version of a one-pot family favorite, Western Mac. I got the original recipe in college from the back of a box of macaroni and cheese. I have included both the movie tribute version and the original for your cooking enjoyment.

Spaghetti Western Mac

1/2 lb. Italian sausage
2 boxes mac and cheese (Annie’s Shells & White Cheddar is our favorite)
2-3 tbsp. plain yogurt or sour cream
1 c. spaghetti sauce (more or less to taste)

Brown sausage in 4 qt. pot; set aside in a bowl lined with a paper towel (to absorb excess grease). Fill pot with water and bring to boil; add pasta from box and cook for 8 minutes. Drain pasta and return to pot. Add yogurt/sour cream and stir until pasta is coated; add powdered cheese from package and stir until mixed. Stir in Italian sausage and spaghetti sauce until well mixed, and presto! One-pot Spaghetti Western Mac!

Original Western Mac

1/2 lb hamburger
1 small onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 box Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup canned or frozen corn
1 small (6 oz.) can tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste

Brown hamburger in 2 qt. saucepan; add onion and green pepper and saute until onions are soft. Set aside in a bowl lined with a paper towel (to absorb excess grease). Fill pot with water and prepare macaroni and cheese according to package directions. (If using frozen corn, cook it by placing it in the colander and draining the pasta over it.) Stir in corn and meat mixture; add tomato paste and stir until mixed. Season to taste.

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It’s Groundhog’s Day! (or How I learned to live with the groundhog and love it)

Posted on February 2, 2011 | 8 comments

Today is one of my favorite holidays because it celebrates round, furry people who like to sleep and have the good sense to go back to bed when they wake up to find that it’s dark and cold.  Talk about hitting the sleep switch!

Groundhogs are remarkable creatures, though not much appreciated by most people. They are persistent, deliberate, adaptable, and not easily perturbed. I came to love groundhogs after discovering that we shared territory with one in our previous home. She lived under our woodpile, which was a bit of a mess; we vainly hoped she would straighten it up a bit, but apparently “woodchuck” is somewhat of a misnomer.*

Groundhogs are the bane of many gardeners because they are so cosmopolitan in their tastes: they will eat almost any sort of vegetation, and are particularly fond of garden vegetables, largely because of their moisture content. (Groundhogs are masters of energy economy; if they eat food with lots of water in it, they won’t have to walk all the way down to the creek to drink.) **

I discovered that the secret to living with our groundhog was to make sure she had what she needed. One early summer day, I watched her amble across the yard from the wood pile toward the garden, which was on the other side of the house. We have always had what we call a “freedom lawn” (which means we don’t apply any herbicides or fertilizers to it) and the yard was a sea of bright yellow dandelion flowers. Being energy efficient by nature, the groundhog ate the blossom off every dandelion she passed. About halfway across the yard, she paused for a few moments then turned around and waddled back to the wood pile, apparently full.

When the dandelions weren’t in bloom, I found out that she loved borage. Fortunately for me, the borage had self-sown madly around the edges of the raised garden bed closest to the wood pile. I came out one day to discover the borage had been eaten to the ground on three sides of the bed, but the vegetables and greens in the middle remained untouched. As I had plenty of borage all over the garden and it grew back rapidly, both the groundhog and I were extremely satisfied. I never lost any vegetables, herbs, or greens to her, and she got her fill at all times.

I learned a lot from that groundhog: never pass up a tasty tidbit; always stop eating when you are full; dandelions and self-sown borage are gifts from the garden gods; stop and soak up the sun whenever the opportunity presents itself; and most importantly, some days, the right thing to do is pull the covers over your head and get another forty winks.

Happy Groundhog’s Day!

* It’s actually an Anglicization of a Native American word (Algonquian) for the animal, wuchak.

** I’ve been told by a gardening friend that providing a shallow dish of water between the garden and the groundhog’s burrow will also deter vegetable predation, because the critters are chiefly looking for moisture when they raid the garden.

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Carried along by the wave

Posted on January 13, 2011 | 18 comments

As the school bus drove away with my daughter this morning, both the driver and the monitor waved to me. And I waved back. I live in a part of the world where people wave.

If three or more cars meet at a four-way stop, chances are pretty good at least a couple of the drivers will wave to one another. When I drive through a neighborhood, even if it’s not my own, I wave to anyone I see along the street. I wave at people I see passing by the house when I’m outside; if they’re not in a car, we usually exchange a word or two as well.

We’re not talking big, showy gestures here, a great flailing of arms or flapping of fingers. More often than not it’s a simple raise of the hand, palm facing out, with a slight movement of the head and maybe a smile

I hadn’t really given this much thought until a couple years after we moved here. I was running an errand on the other side of town with my sister, who was visiting from out of state. As we came to a stop sign, I waved and nodded to a man walking his dog. He waved and nodded back, and we drove on.

“Do you know him?” my sister asked, sounding surprised.

“No,” I replied.

“Then why did you wave to each other?”

I shrugged, a little puzzled myself. “It’s just what people do here,” I finally offered, rather lamely.

Some of the reason for these mysterious exchanges, often between strangers, dawned on me later that summer. We live on a corner near a small neighborhood park. I was working in the yard near the street early one evening when I heard a vehicle approach. Looking up, I saw a sleek black sports car stop at the intersection. I raised my hand in greeting and stood as the car turned the corner and passed me, but the driver didn’t acknowledge me. Suddenly wary, I made a note to report the encounter to the neighborhood watch when I saw the car turn toward the entrance to the park.

For all I know, the young man driving the car wasn’t a drug dealer or scofflaw and had a perfectly legitimate reason to go to the park that day. But his failure to make eye contact or in some way recognize me rendered him instantly suspicious in my mind.

At least one of my college professors described greetings and other social gestures as the oil that keeps the wheels of society turning. A willingness to see others and be seen by them indicates you have nothing to hide; an open hand, extended or raised, shows that it holds no weapon.

It amazes me how warmly I feel toward another driver who lifts a hand to notice my yielding the right of way, even when it was most clearly his to begin with. I marvel at the sense of community such tiny gestures generate, the feeling of belonging that arises from acknowledging another person and being in turn acknowledged. It’s a miraculous kind of shorthand, a way of saying, “Here I am, there you are: everything is just as it should be,” with a single, concise movement.

Wow.

I leave you to ponder this, dear reader, with brief flash of my hand and slight nod of my head.

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These are a few of my favorite ornaments…

Posted on December 19, 2010 | 10 comments

…today.

Many years ago, one of the kids brought home a lovely ornament made of simple construction paper triangles. Inspired by the clever but easy fabrication technique, we made a bunch of triangles and came up with some fun designs of our own.

This is the original ornament: twelve triangles glued together, one side of the finished snowflake/Star of David dipped in glue and then in glitter. Elegant and beautiful in its simplicity.

The Kitty-Cat variation: pipe cleaner whiskers instead of glitter.

The Christmas Tree variation, in dark green; it shows up much better when NOT on the tree.

The Christmas Tree variation in colors that work better on the tree. Probably could use some glitter.

If I get industrious, I may post a how-to, with photos.

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Snow day

Posted on December 16, 2010 | 14 comments

Today we have ice on top of the couple inches of snow that fell before the “warm” front moved through, so naturally school was closed. (Whatever.) That means the kids were home with me today, so we took advantage of this opportunity to get some holiday baking done: specifically, cookies for teacher gifts and classroom parties.

In two hours, we cranked out what my son very eloquently described as a “crapload” of cookies — 120-some, to be more exact. We only had to put four out of their misery: a reindeer with a broken leg, two maimed gingerbread men, and a decapitated angel. We will decorate them this evening, as they will be completely cooled by then.

Just as we finished baking, the doorbell rang and a several neighborhood kids invited them to play outside. After about an hour of chasing each other around, throwing ice at one another, and cleaning off my car (!), the boys flocked back inside to chase each other around imaginary worlds on the Ninetendo and throw virtual grenades at one another. (I detect a pattern here…) In addition to a symphony of surprisingly high-pitched shrieks, I just overheard the following dialogue:

M: I just have one question: why did we all die?
E: Because I blew us up.
M: Oh.
E: This time I promise to THROW the grenade.
[A moment later…]
Run away! Run away!

screenshot from GameSpyAhhh…there’s nothing like a houseful of 12- and 13-year-old boys. Good thing I put the cookies away before they came inside.

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Carl Sagan visits my blog!

Posted on December 1, 2010 | 7 comments

There are — AS I WRITE THIS — millions, no wait, billions and billions (thanks, Dr. Sagan!) of starlings in my neighborhood. Every roof and tree is covered with them, and the sky is a constant swirl of stubby-winged black silhouettes. I would go outside and take a video, but the chances of being shat upon are exponentially greater than normal.

 

You’ll just have to take my word for it, somewhat substantiated by these feeble photos I was able to shoot through the skylight and various windows. (The birds are moving around A LOT so the still photos don’t really do them justice. Besides, the light is all wrong and there’s bird do on the skylight. Bleh.)

The cats are on overload: the older, calmer 0ne, having commandeered the window seat in my bedroom, has decided to squinch up her eyes and just listen to the cacophany; the younger, more hyper one is crouched beneath the skylight in my bathroom, eyes big as saucers, intent on the chaos wheeling overhead. The skittering of tiny bird claws on the skylight and the gutters is about to drive her bonkers. (A very short trip, as she is more than halfway there all the time anyway.)

I just had to share. My apologies to those who are a bit squeamish about this many birds all in one place.

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Pardon my lack of enthusiasm

Posted on November 19, 2010 | 2 comments

Recently a friend asked me if I was getting excited about our upcoming vacation. I was a little surprised to be asked that; why should I get excited? What is there about a family vacation to get excited about? I shrugged my shoulders and said, “No.” He looked puzzled and mildly disappointed.

In reflecting on this exchange, which was clearly unsatisfying for both of us, I recognized some fundamental differences in our perspectives. As the primary breadwinner in his household, my friend holds down a full-time job at a place of business; when he goes on vacation, he doesn’t have to go to work. Whatever he does on vacation, it’s guaranteed to be entirely different from his usual daily/weekly routine.

When I go on vacation, my job comes with me. I still have to work, doing what I do every day. The setting and circumstances are different, but I’m still responsible for making sure people get up, get dressed, and get where they’re going on time. I still have to plan meals, even if I don’t prepare them or clean up after them. I still have to coordinate transportation and schedules, and I still have to enforce rules and arbitrate disputes.

This isn’t a bad thing; a change of scenery can be refreshing, as can a change in routine. But it hardly qualifies as “getting away from it all” when you bring most of it with you, now, does it?



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Four-and-twenty (thousand) blackbirds

Posted on November 3, 2010 | 5 comments

The fruit from ONE blossom cluster

Our trees are MUCH fuller than this one

The streets of our subdivision are lined with ornamental pear trees. In spring, each tree is so completely covered with white blossoms that it resembles a giant wad of cotton candy on a stick. These blossoms aren’t sterile, however; the fruit they produce is very small – about the size of a marble – but there are a LOT of them, hundreds (if not thousands) on each tree. Nearly all of the neighborhood streets in our quadrant of the city are lined with ornamental pear trees, hundreds (if not thousands) of them. That is a heck of a lot of fruit, even if they are small.

Monstrous murmurations of starlings (isn’t that a great collective noun?) gather on our side of town during the fall migration, drawn, I am convinced, by the bounty of fruit available to them here. They fill the sky from horizon to horizon at dusk as they begin to settle in for the night, wheeling and swirling like a great host of large, black leaves caught in a whirlwind. It’s dazzling to watch and quite mesmerizing. The din is very impressive, too, though not quite deafening. Starlings are sophisticated vocalizers (mynas are a species of starling) and have been known to include sounds such as human speech patterns and car alarms in their repertoire. The cacophony of thousands (if not millions) of them whistling, tweeting, chirping, squawking, and trilling at once is enough to leave one speechless with amazement.

I bring all this up because a smaller sub-murmuration (consisting merely of a few thousand birds) has landed in my neighborhood this morning. The pear trees, most of which still have their leaves, are a-quiver with the dark, fluttering forms of feeding birds. The branches of the shade trees, most of which have lost their leaves, hold rank upon rank of black silhouettes, preening and visiting with neighbors. All of them seem to be chattering, and it was the commotion of their conversations that first alerted me to their presence.

(photo by John Tittle)

I’m glad they’re here; I find them immensely cheerful and entertaining. I do confess, however, to having some Alfred Hitchcock flashbacks. I’ll probably stay inside until they move on to the next neighborhood, just to be on the safe side.

(Many thanks to John Tittle, of Red Wing Nature Notes, who so graciously gave permission for the use of his photo.)

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Facing facts

Posted on November 1, 2010 | 4 comments

Today is the first day of NaNoWriMo 2010 — National Novel Writing Month, although it is quite the international movement at this point. The idea is to complete the draft of a novel by the end of November: 50,000 words in 30 days. It’s fun, it’s insane…and it works. I’ve wanted to take part ever since I found out about it, but certain inconvenient facts stand in the way:

Fact 1: I work in short media/genres.

I’m a short-work writer: poetry, flash fiction, blurbs, reviews, letters. I don’t think I even have anything novel-length in me. That’s why blogging appeals to me and actually sort of works for me: it’s perfectly structured for shorter pieces. But even then I have difficulty showing up at times.

Fact 2: I work as an editor/proofreader.

That uses the same parts of my brain as writing. Today, for example, I easily wrote the daily NaNoWriMo target number of words (about 1600, as I recall) in comments, corrections, suggestions, and correspondence with clients. The written language portion of my brain is pretty tired right now. I love what I do, and my clients seem to love it, too; I don’t resent or regret that my work on other people’s writing makes it very difficult to work on my own writing. But it is a factor that affects my identity as a writer and my ability to pursue writing as an activity (let alone as a career).

So there they are, the facts that face me on this first day of one of the coolest celebrations of writing ever devised. I have to remember that I am a part of it; my part just comes after the drafting stage, and sometimes not until right before publication. And for right now, at this time and place in my life, that will have to suffice.

I somehow think it will.

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Lazy Friday blog post: “Stuff about me” quiz

Posted on October 22, 2010 | 6 comments

Seeing as this is Friday, and I am lazy AND running late, I decided to take a short-cut. I hope it is at least mildly entertaining.

A Facebook friend “tagged” me with the following, but since I have no idea what that means or what to do with it, I decided to copy the quiz and use it for a blog post. I may not be tech-savvy, but I’m resourceful!

Please feel free to do the same. If you do so and want me to read it, just leave a comment to let me know where to find it. Have a great Friday!

1. What time did you get up this morning? Alarm went off at 5:45 a.m. Feet hit the floor ten minutes later.

2. How do you like your steak? Medium. Pink in the middle is nice.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Toy Story 3 at the dollar movies. (I don’t get out much.)

4. What is your favorite TV show? Don’t watch TV.

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? Someplace where I didn’t need a car.

6. What did you have for breakfast? Smoothie made with strawberries, hemp milk, whey protein, and flax seed oil. Yum!

7. What is your favorite cuisine? Malaysian, because it incorporates elements of so many other delectable cuisines.

8. What foods do you dislike? Too salty and too sweet.

9. Favorite Place to Eat? Gunan Tahan, Malaysian restaurant in Amity CT that is no more. Alas!

10. Favorite dressing? My friend Dawn’s homemade Italian.

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive? Toyota minivan with automatic sliding door on passenger side.

12. What are your favorite clothes? Loose and flowing, like robes or muu-muus.

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? Anywhere extraterrestrial

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? By definition it has to be both (I’m a double Libra, after all), but the empty half isn’t really of much use now, is it?

15. Where would you want to retire? Somewhere that I didn’t need a car.

16. Favorite time of day? Evening/late night (10 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. is my peak time.)

17. Favorite Season? Autumn

18. What is your favorite sport to watch? Baseball

19. Who do you think will not tag you back? What is this “tag” of which you speak?

20. Person you expect to tag you back first? Again I ask, what is “tag”?

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? I’ll be thrilled to death if anyone even READS it.

22. Bird watcher? When they are in my field of vision, yes.

23. Are you a morning person or a night person? Isn’t that covered in #16?

24. Do you have any pets? Two cats: one middle-aged and very sweet, one young and very stupid.

25. Any new and exciting news you’d like to share? I’ve been nominated for the Nobel prize in bulls**ting.

26. What did you want to be when you were little? First a doctor, then a pilot, then an astronaut. Didn’t follow through on that too well, did I?

27. What is your best childhood memory? My relationships with trees, the big maple in the back yard and the ancient juniper at church camp in particular.

28. Are you a cat or dog person? Yes.

29. Are you married? Yes. (Is it just me, or are some of these questions pretty uninteresting?)

30. Always wear your seat belt? Yes, and my car doesn’t move until everyone else is wearing theirs as well.

31. Been in a car accident? A couple: one very traumatic in childhood, though no one was hurt, and one minor fender-bender (literally) in adulthood. I was not driving in either case.

32. Any pet peeves? “all about me” quizzes that ask stupid and uninteresting questions.

33. Favorite Pizza Toppings? Anything but anchovies, though I’m rather partial to a white pie with fresh tomato, fresh basil, and garlic.

34. Favorite Flower? Whatever is blooming where I am. In my garden right now that would be marigolds, mums, Verbena bonariensis, hyacinth bean, and roses.

35. Favorite Hobby(ies)? Reading, crocheting, writing, cooking, eating, talking.

36. Favorite fast food restaurant? Chipotle

37. How many times did you fail your driver’s test? Zero

38. From whom did you get your last email? I believe it was from a gentleman in West Africa who wanted to confirm my contact information so he could send me my inheritance.

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Joseph-Beth Bookstore

40. Do anything spontaneous lately? Decided to answer this quiz

41. Like your job? The question is missing a subject and quite possibly a verb.

42. What’s your eye color? Gray/green with flecks of orange when I’m angry, or so my sisters tell me.

43. What was your favorite vacation? The time we went to Vail and I got to hike and read all day and we slept with the French doors wide open all night because there are no mosquitoes at that altitude.

44. Last person you went out to dinner with? We all dragged our sorry tails to KFC buffet last night because everyone was too tired to cook. Does that count?

45. What are you listening to right now? My great-grandparents’ clock ticking in the living room and the distant roar of the interstate.

46. What is your favorite color? Periwinkle blue. The color of cornflowers (chicory)

47. How many tattoos do you have? Zero

49. What time did you finish this quiz? 9:17 a.m.

50. Coffee Drinker? Only socially.

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