I Feel the Earth Move Under My Feet

Brownstone Beauty

Fort Greene Park Steps

Turkey Carcass Soup

I took the roasted turkey breast carcass and made a rich broth. This time, I made a sofrito and allowed it to develop flavor before adding the vegetables and stock. 

I think turkey soup in particular, can be so celebratory, almost as if it's part of a holiday meal which the bird was but now with a lovely transformation.   

That afternoon I was on my bed lamenting and suddenly it began to shake.  Just before, there was a sort of rumbling sound that rose up from the ground.  We live above the subway, so at first I thought it was just that but it became stronger and the little bottles of assorted beauty products on my vanity began wiggling.  I got up and screamed, 'What is happening??!'.  My mate was running towards me and we both said, It's an Earthquake! and met in the doorway.  After that it was over in seconds and I had to run out to go to therapy but it was interesting seeing the city react in real time.  It's hard to call it a celebration, but since it was not a tragedy and it was a shared city-wide event, there was something cool about it. 

And Show the World All the Love in Your Heart

Beautiful Colorful Tostadas!  Shrimp with purple cabbage with a sour cream dressing for the win!  And then baked ground beef with refried beans falls into second as no slouch.  Tostadas need a bed for the toppings to stick to so when you pick it up nothing goes tumbling off.  I love experimenting with a variety of choices like guacamole, beans, yogurt, crema, hummus, mashed sweet potatoes, so many ideas!  I bake the tostada shells usually but sometimes you gotta fry those puppies to that perfect crisp.  These were special but very simple to make.  Instead of sides, make these the entire meal to simplify even more.  

Carole King is right, you've got to get up every morning with a smile on your face!  And to achieve that, I continue to end my evenings with visions of beefy waves and young surfers enjoying the planet.  My husband thinks I'm going to run off with some sun bleached blonde named Freedumb one day but in reality, I watch like a vampire in my dark cavey room.  Youth enjoying the blue ocean in the sun after the pandemic is therapeutic.  After holing up so long and getting kicked in the gut by life,  I tend to feel like Nosferatu all pale, unattractive and ancient and these guys and gals just help me to remember that you are as young and beautiful as you feel.  

And It Doesn't Help to Know That You're So Far Away

Chicken Cacciatore - An easy recipe for you 

Cooking can be healing because there is a purpose and a start and finish to a dish.  You can perform each of the steps with care and in doing so, it becomes ritualistic.  When it's finished, you can look upon it and decide if it is good.  Then you get to eat it!  

There was so much heartbreak on my trip to Arizona to bury my father recently that it is only now (in June) that I can even begin to think back on any of it.  One of the hardest things is to see people you love at a terrible point in time.  To be your best when so weakened and sad.  I hope that I was able to express to family how much I love them.  Then, coming back to a life where both parents have left this earth, leaves a giant gap.  One I haven't even allowed myself to truly walk around in, until now. I know they are in a better place, I do believe that and so happy they are finally without pain, physically and emotionally.  They both lived incredibly long lives.  But today, I miss them both so much.  I miss the space they filled in my world and their presence cannot be replaced.  

It Would Be So Fine to See Your Face at My Door

I couldn't take it one more day hearing about my sister's homemade delicious tamales.  I have made them, even a few times successfully but now it seems like a dream.  I'm not willing to put in the effort at this juncture in my life but hope to attempt many times in the future.  Other women browse clothes on-line, I browse the Amazon Fresh food aisles.  Whole Foods offered this great package of Frozen beef tamales.  I couldn't click fast enough.

Now normally when you make a huge pot of tamales, it's all about standing at the counter, waiting for them to cool from steaming and getting like 3 of them down before you even consider any kind of a dinner idea.  Actually, I don't think I ever made it beyond that.  You just eat them, as fast as you can.  But with the frozen and no hours of work and waiting behind me, I thought to put together a plate.  However, I'm also not the one to make homemade refried beans and Mexican rice this week, so I did a brown rice and opened a can of vegan beans but also included a side salad with avocado.  So there you have it, an odd Tamale dinner plate served in Brooklyn.  They were great though, of course that little extra magic that just-made, homemade gives was missing.  This was like Methadone to heroin.  It stopped me from dreaming about my sister's and that will have to suffice for now.

I miss my sister and want so much to taste her tamales.  Best case scenario would be for her to visit with a few dozen in hand. 

So Far Away, Doesn't Anybody Stay in One Place Anymore

Click on this!

I don't have a bucket list but if I did, climbing a mountain wouldn't be one of my top five. One would be getting to know each of my siblings better.  If the universe worked as it should, my brother E and I would be much closer, just naturally.  Of all the people I meet, I do admit family members are some of the most fascinating.  E was always so full of energy and fun, a joyful personality.  When he finally came home from Vietnam, he lived with us for a short time but was gone a lot.  He was not one to sit still.  He had been a sergeant in the Marines.  So in the few weeks or months he was there I recall learning how to make tight bed corners and how to fold his socks and t-shirts neatly in compartmentalized drawers for him. You see, now things were much different and he needed everything to be just so.  And he was cool in addition to being awesome.  He rode his motorcycle in his army jacket and pulled up real loud so the neighbors came out.  That gave me some street cred, in my mind.  He had a guitar that he'd strum like in the movies and seemed to have a bunch of new layers on him.  Sometimes I'd just lay on his bed and daydream while he was gone because it felt like he brought that someplace else with him and you could feel it in that room. 

I felt so close to my brother when I was very small.  He seemed to acknowledge me like a real person, not just some kid.  That made me feel important. Doesn't sound like much but it was everything at that time.  He found a steady girlfriend pretty early on and I wasn't all that keen on sharing him but whatever he was doing out there at night was gaining him popularity, so much I hardly had any time with him to myself anymore. Eventually I had to let him grow and go.  And he did go, all the way to Vietnam for what felt like forever.

His return pretty much changed up my entire boring existence in that house.  I was pre teen and pre everything else. Not quite old enough to do squat.  Any outing was with my parents and I don't recall having friends.  When we went away to buy groceries or go to church he would enter little comedy sketches on my tape recorder and we'd find them when we came back, like little gifts.  We laughed and laughed and I was surprised dad got a real kick out of them too.  It was Saturday Night Live skit stuff before the show existed. Mom was always more skeptical.  She'd ask what was he doing to be so happy and different?  Of course she was probably right but I was all for it. Anything for a little excitement around there. 

You have to bring the party to your food on these boring days as well. I made a kick ass simple little coleslaw using cabbage and capers, a bit of vinegar with mayo and lemon.  And these spicy baked potato chips alongside a naked cheeseburger hit the spot.

You're Gonna Find That You're Beautiful As You Feel

Low cal mini pizzas for P on one side with fresh veggies and just a smidgen of mozzarella cheese. On the other side are my pizzas, what I'm calling So-Cal pizzas. As in, so loaded with calories, double cheese, pepperoni slices, crumbled sausage AND veggies.

I'm not advocating gluttony but my reasoning is that if you're going to eat wonderful foods like pizza, then make them how you like them, sinfully delicious! Just don't eat too much. I think people should generally eat lighter and take steps to cut out unnecessary fat when they can but I don't believe you need to eat sugar-free cookies or fat-free sour cream. If those things make you happy, then have yourself a little cookie darling. If you find yourself buying boxes of cookies, then you gotta shut it down. Like me with liquor. I used to drink non-alcoholic beer and let me tell you, not exactly a party starter. They call it near beer and it usually is, literally but certainly that's where the comparison ends. No thanks. I'll make my own better tasting drink and take a shot at creating my own good mood. We've got but this one life to live. Why take the fun out of it if you don't have to? I'm happier when my pizza has all my favorite flavors. Therefore I appear content and maybe in the right light..... near beautiful.