Bitsy

Good Morning,

Here is a photo of Bitsy, Beau' s Mother, after I trapped her and before she was spayed. There is a strong family resemblance.

I have decided that Beaus's full *Pedigree* name is Bitsy's Baby Beau.

I tell her all about him when I see her outside. She seems to be well, and I even caught her playing with a plant, which she never had time for before.

I am waiting in anticipation for my $600 stimulus check. I am very stimulated and in my mind have spent it 600 different ways. Any suggestions???

Question #3 Favorite dish to make

I guess everyone knows that I like to cook. It is a labor of love for me and rarely feels like a chore. Even when I lived alone, I would prepare dinner for myself . All of my single friends were amazed..I hate packaged food and TV dinners and I couldn't afford to eat out. I remember the reality setting in that the kids really were gone (they were away at school) the day that I opened the fridge and found leftover shrimp from the night before.That never happened before!

It's not just the cooking per Se, it's the anticipation, the planning, the shopping, the creativity the coordinating of flavors, the aromas. One might call it an obsession :-). Actually I worked with a Chef once who told me that she had never met anyone like me, who could be eating one meal and talking about the next.

I totally distrust people who don't relish food. Of course I understand in today's world of working parents, soccer Moms, workaholic Dads, quickie meals, tight food budgets and disjointed dinner times that the art of meal preparation has been lost. But it can be a time of conversation, learning and bonding that should be passed down.
Sometimes I get so inspired by cooking shows that I can't wait to try out recipes on Jim, but quite honestly I don't always get the new trends...Foam??? Whatever happened to sauce OVER something and not UNDER it? What's up with Bleu cheese ice cream? And grits, which I have learned to love, ain't just for breakfast anymore and can jack your check up in a restaurant by having something fancy served over them.

We rarely have dinner guests anymore, but when we do I love to set the table, using linen cloths and napkins and my best china. It so rewarding for me to watch others enjoy what I have created. I just can't fathom that some people just eat to live. To me food is joy, and life and celebration. And if people think I am a good cook, then that is my gift.
There are many dishes which I have mastered over the years and some that I haven't. I am proficient in Italian, always make my own sauce from fresh ingredients and have even made fresh pasta on occasion. ( Too much work for more than four). Italian is probably my favorite cuisine, it must be the garlic and the enticing aroma of the sauce.
I love to make soup and can make it out of literally nothing. It's a good way to use up limp celery and carrots , potatoes with tentacles and pieces of meat that are too small for another meal. Add some noodles, rice or barley and there is lunch or a dinner first course. What a neat way to clean out the fridge.
I enjoy baking bread, but it is one of those things that practice makes perfect and I can't afford, (waist wise,) to get perfect by making it every day.
I don't know why, but even though I love salads, I like them best when someone else makes them. They always taste better to me in a restaurant. Maybe that is because we a rarely had them growing up , and when we did it was usually a leaf of iceberg lettuce with a slice of tomato topped with that pink french dressing.

Out daily fare now is usually chicken, pork, ground beef, steaks, chops, fish and other. seafood. always served with a starch and veggie, my favorite starch being a potato of course :-)

Anyway, after much thought I have decided that my favorite dish to make is Sour Beef and Dumplings, mostly because it represents special occasions to me, and secondly because it is a treat for those of us who grew up in Baltimore in the early to mid 1900's. People either Love it or hate it and the people who love it think it is too time consuming and too difficult to make. It is a hardy, savory dish with a sweet and sour flavor, beef in gravy, served with potato dumplings.

I use my mother's recipe which was handed down. She literally wrote it down for me as she made it , estimating the measurements as she combined the ingredients.

I have a theory that this is how every German household learned to make it as they came to Baltimore, using what was available here and adapting too it. Some people use white vinegar, or wine vinegar . It makes a difference in the flavor. When we were in Germany we ate nothing like it save for a venison dish with spaetzle and a similar sauce.

Baltimore still has a large German population, and many local churches sponsor Sour Beef Dinners in the Fall as fund raisers. Some restaurants and Delis offer it as well on their winter menu.

I would love to share it with you, but I feel it would be a better experience if we made it together for the first time Just let me know where and when :-)

Here is a recipe for a refreshing Pasta salad that everyone loves...NO mayo

CORK SCREW SALAD

1 # Spiral Pasta (Rotelle)
1 1/2 cup v1negar

1 1/2 cup sugar
2 t prepared mustard

1 t salt

1 t parsley

1 t pepper

1 medium onion, chopped

Cook pasta in salted water until al dente. You can add a few drops of yellow food coloring if desired. Rinse and drain.

Blend remaining ingredients until liquefied and stir together. add 1/4 cup of oil and refrigerate overnight.

Bon apetit!

Lazy Day

Good Evening,

Beau had a check up yesterday and he did well. he has gained 2 # since he first weighed in. It's amazing how instinctive cats are. The carry box has been on the floor in my room since the last time he went to the Vet. He plays in in on it, opens and closes the door etc.

The minute I moved it into the dining room, he disapperared....I mean for 5 minutes. he is always under foot. I found him hiding behind a big planter in the LR . Now he's on to it!!!

I feel amazingly better, enough so that I even washed the windows in my bedroom and hung new summer drapes. Sorry Gabe, but a week makes a world of difference when you are sick.

BTW, I spoke to my friend Debbie who lives in Atlanta yesterday and I passed on Gabe's offer about teaching her daughter. She's willing to up the ante if she can drop her off and pick her up when she's 18. Every Mother's fantasy !!

Bitsy sopped by today with Voodoo, whom I suspect is Beau's Father as I saw them getting it on under the trailer. I wish I could get a picture of him, he is mostly black with white circles around his eyes , like a mask. Very Spooky., I also think he is Bitsy's Brother, but hell, this is Delaware

Cat Wars

Good Morning,

The above are 2 rare poses

We seem to be having serious cat wars today. Mouse is so jealous of new kitty Beau that she holds him at bay in the crouch position and attacks him when he tries to move. LuLu is much better, she just tries to ignore him and go about her day, eat, sleep, eat, sleep. She is fortunate that Beau hasn't gotten up the nerve to venture into the big part of the house without me. She has lots of places to sun bathe and hide. Jim just yelled at Mouse so loudly that Lu ran and hid behind the sofa like she does when it thunders. Actually, she is our live in barometer and we depend on her for storm reports.

Poor Beau, all 2.5 lbs. of him looking at the gray 12 lb. battleship lunging towards him with claws engaged and hissing, as though Mouse needs to make herself look bigger. It must be frightening

Shower Poop and Thoughts

Good Morning,


I am actually starting to feel normal again, knock on wood. I spent most of yesterday sorting food out in the fridge and putting stuff back from the shower.


I will send pictures when I get them. Namu's husband was kind enough to be the official photographer and he was very paparazzi like... Lots of candid shots and maneuvering, Plus he gets Kudos for being brave enough to attend a co-ed baby shower


Namu came up with some fun games. One was to smell *loaded* baby diapers, 1-4 and try to guess what the kid had eaten. Fortunately it was predigested so it was more pleasant than the real thing. Trin will have to practice on her gag reflex, although having cats is very good training.


One of the other games was to guess her width using lengths of toilet tissue. I came in second as I measured myself and added a sheet :-).


We had tons of food. Aunt Sue had enhanced the menu a bit with some cocktail shrimp and munchies. I brought an extra smoked salmon spread and some deviled eggs.


We had a zucchini /tomato quiche, a lorraine with bacon ( I was originally going to use Spam as an Hawaiian inside joke) a spinach pie and crab souffle along with spiral glazed ham, fresh baked biscuits, mini muffins, mini bagels and a truly delicious watermelon basket, As a last minute thought, I decided to make some mini cinnamon buns which are usually quite successful, but this attempt did not survive the time travel and were more like glazed hockey pucks. No one missed them at all.


Namu brought the cake which had slid off in the box, but was rescued by yours truly who has performed many a cake emergency surgery. It was absolutely delicious and I am still munching on it.


The best part, of course, was the company and it was such a joy to see so many familiar faces from the wedding and prior shower. Skizz and Jen, Michael Bradley, Beth and Christine, Gina, Namu of course and her sister Ranju, Karina, and Kitty, and new faces like Nikail and Jill Wardell. I am truly sorry that Zak and Tessa , and Rob and John, couldn't be there to share in this event hosted by Uncle David and Aunt Sue. There was lots of chatter and interaction. I think I even saw Ranju and Jill exchange phone numbers.


Seeing Kitty again was really fun. We hadn't talked for years, and I feel like we have opened a door. She misses family also so we have a lot to discuss, plus the many memories we have shared.


I've always thought that one of the hardest things about divorce or even breaking up with a long time companion is leaving all the family and friends behind. It's not as final as a death, of course, but is equally painful knowing that they are still around but out of reach. When I look through my old photos I see fragments of my life, some longer than others, that are totally gone except in the pictures. I think that Kitty and I will stay in touch now.

Ah, Jim is back from the store with the Sunday paper. My favorite part of Sunday is doing the crossword and watching Lifetime movies or Law and Order marathons on my little TV while he watches sports, sports, sports on the big screen.

He also bought some some chicken as I have this Norman Rockwell idea that Sunday dinner should always be fried chicken with mashed potatoes and corn. I realy am a true American.

Usually Mouse climbs up and sreads herself out on the paper whenever I sit down, or else sits in my chair when I go for coffee or something. I don't know what today will be like with that crazy Beau around. He has 2 speeds, fast and pass out. hope it is time for the latter.

Ciao

My Dirty House

Mahalo


It has been a whirlwind of a week, but now the dust is settling and I am looking forward to a quiet weekend, re grouping and cleaning up.


Firstly, Segundo son, Gabe and his pregnant wife were scheduled to visit us on the Delaware Shore during their trip to Baltimore sometime around the July 4th holiday. I decided it would be an ideal time for a baby shower as most of their friends are from the Balto/Wash.DC area. and they are currently living in Atlanta. I E-mailed Sue, my sister in law, who lives in Annnapolis and expressed my desire, and then asked if we could do it at her house which would be much more convenient. She was delighted, so we, along with Trin's bestest friend Namu, and Gabe started our last minute invitations. We planned a brunch on the 4th as that seemed to be the only time it would work for all concerned.


Primo Son, Zak called about 12 days ago and announced that he and his Wife, Tessa decided to come for a few days to see Gabe and Trin while they were here so that we could all be together, which is a rare occasion since they live in Missouri. Unfortunately they were unaware of the shower plans and had to fly back before it.


Meanwhile back at the ranch, I am feeling poorly, running a 103 temp (Kinda high for an adult), finally get to my Dr. and am diagnosed with strep. Oh boy...now I have 2 bedrooms to clean,( never got there) meals to plan and shop for, Thank God for Jim, my husband, and Brunch dishes to prepare. After a 5 day course of antibiotics, I got somewhat back on my feet... enough to wash towels and sheets for everyone and point them in the direction of their respective rooms.


Zak and Tessa opted for the blow up bed in the room where the odd furniture goes to die, and off season clothes and future Good will Donations are bagged and stacked, and early Christmas presents are stowed with no bathroom, out of courtesy for Trin as we know how much you pee when you are in that condition.


Segundo, however, was not pleased with his room, which is our bedroom, REALLY wanted the one I was in downstairs ,which used to be the guest room until I broke my leg last year (but that is another story). So, he got the Dyson THE BEST VACUUM EVER, some furniture duster, opened the windows for an *airing out* and proceeded to clean his room to his liking.


I had thought about getting Evelyn to come and clean. She is an 80 yr. old black woman who used to clean for Jim's parents after she retired as a housekeeper from Stokely Facility which is a home for chronically disfigured, mentally disabled, abandoned persons. She has her own way of cleaning and you can't change it. Even if I had called her and said, clean the upstairs, she would still start in the dining room working from the outside in. It takes her an entire day to do my downstairs as she has to touch everything, and you have to go behind her and straighten up the picture frames. By the time she gets to the bathroom, she is really slipping. She has to end up in the kitchen where she insists on washing whatever is in the sink and putting all the drain board stuff away which i have a hard time finding afterwards. Most electrical things, like the TV and stereo have to be readjusted as she always has to clean the knobs. She really has no finesse, just a rote system. It always scares me when I hear glasses falling over, as she also breaks things on occasion, like windows. She also mumbles to herself the entire day. You also have to get one room ahead of her because she just cleans around what is there. She will stack things but not ask where you want something put away. Whenever she comes, I feel like I've done a days work as well. I was just too ill to deal with her last week, Sorry Guys.


Still, in her defense, she is the last of a breed of homeworkers. She usually starts the day with coffee.( we always get her some *sweets*), and chit chat. Then she starts off her work with a roll of paper towels, a bucket of pine sol, a trash bag and various rags and sprays. We have a lunch break, sometimes a sub, always chips and regular soda , no diet, more chit chat, she still thinks OJ is innocent, and that Condolezza Rice, gets the world all straightened out and the THEY go ans mess it up again Obviously I avoid those topics, and we talk about family and such. She was very fond of Jim's Dad Lou, and she considers him one of her own. He gave her advice from time to time, and was probably the first Black person, aside from Charles, that he ever really knew one on one.


Anyway, the visit was short and sweet and hopefully everyone enjoyed themselves. We saw a Movie, went to lunch, had Snowballs and celebrated Gabe's B day in style with a bushel of crabs, corn on the cob and brownies , sans nuts and frosting as requested in lieu of a cake.


After a minor relapse of my fever, and getting a second course of antibiotics, I started feeling much more normal by the time everyone left. The next day I spent a full nine hours in the kitchen getting the brunch together.


More about the shower later, which was a really fun event and quite a mixer. Thank you Sue and Namu for helping us pull this off.


Ciao, Mema

Our New Baby

Introducing Baby Beau!