Serenity

Lots going on at work and at home. Kids keep you in check with their love and cuteness. Hubby and I welcome that relief in our hectic lives. Time is flying. I remember being a kid and a day seemed like a week long, especially when nothing good was on TV. Time would crawl by. I wish I could bring that pace back. I'm dreaming of warm weather and a trip to Rhode Island, which we didn't make last year, as I was preggers and finances didn't allow a trip. I also wish I could spend a full day cooking. There is serenity in chopping and stirring. Hubby is making a chicken and veggie stir fry tonight. Nonna's lentils were very good over pasta and a drizzle of olive oil. Hubby and I enjoyed 4 meals. Simple food can bring such pleasure. A dish I love that is very simple is pasta with garlic and oil. I don't like too much of a broth and I'm liberal with grated cheese along with a touch of black or red crushed peppers. And some fresh basil. Don't forget to cook the pasta al dente. I hate overcooked pasta. I always cook my pasta 2 minutes under the suggested cooking time. Very few pastas need the actual time they tell you and if you use a few of the cheaper, but well known brands, and cook the pasta to the time you suggest, your pasta will be overcooked. Yuck!

Sunday Nights

Dear Sunday Night, why must you creep up on us way faster than we want you to? It should be a day of rejoicing, not panicking that off to work you go in the am and that you did not get enough sleep or get enough time to play with the kids or that you still had a gazillion things to do or that the really delish recipe you saw went unmade. Please reconsider slowing down and letting Monday am creep up on us less quickly. Please. Thank you.

The World

There seem to be way too many natural disasters in the past several years. From Katrina to the quake in Haiti to today's quake in Chile and tsunami watch in Hawaii. Is it really a slow version of Armageddon or is it all just coincidental? It is scary and it makes you very grateful not to live in those places and hope you live in a safe place. It really makes you appreciate each day and makes you want to live it to its fullest. Today, I feel like I hit a brick wall. I actually needed to lay down while my baby napped today. I usually try to cram everything into nap time, but today, I had to just chill. I loved watching the snow melt and drip off of the deck, while my son was being goofy and thought the word "sugar" was hysterical. His laugh was infectious and the cuddle time was just what I needed. We were reading and then he just got all silly and it was the best medicine. Hubby right now is watching a show on Elvis' love songs. What if Elvis never overdosed? What kind of career would he have had and would he have let Lisa Marie marry Michael Jackson? I now hear the Olympics back on. I wish I was 1/100th the athlete that Olympians are. I watch in awe as they skate and snowboard. Such talent and a true testament that practice, practice, practice does pay off. Perseverance to be the best. So, as another Saturday comes to an end, I am hopeful that the world can provide a safe place for our children and that the opportunities they have be endless. They will have come a long way from the farm in the hills of Sicily that my ancestors tended to.

Snow

Snow! WAY too much! It has been snowing for almost two days. The piles of snow are so high, we almost cannot see the car outside. And the trees are so heavy with snow, we have had some in the complex fall down. We have a huge branch on our deck that looks like it will snap if any more snow falls on it. It looks pretty, but being snowed in does cause cabin fever. And then in NYC, it just gets to be a big, slushy mess. Tomorrow, I am excited to heat up Nonna's lentil soup. My sister said it needs salt, so I will be sure to add that and then some olive oil and serve over some pasta. And don't forget the ground black pepper. This is one of my fave dishes. It is comforting and tasty to me. I made chicken for dinner tonight. Breaded with some spices. Nothing special and I do need a chicken break soon. Yesterday, at work, my guest was Ree Drummond aka the pioneer woman. She has a cool blog (thepioneerwoman.com) and it was neat to get a shout out in it. She said she wanted to be me when she grew up. That made me laugh and also made me happy that my professional side does come thru at work. Thank goodness for those acting skills. LOL! Seriously, it was a nice compliment and I am glad that I do my job well and make the guests feel comfortable for their few minutes on the air. I am glad Ree got back to the ranch okay and did not get stuck in NYC with the snow. She has 4 kids, a hubby she calls "marlboro man", cattle and horses to tend to. A former city gal who traded her Manolo's for equestrian boots. Check out her blog and enjoy being snowed in.

Anthem

I'm not a fan of mincing words. Mincing is for garlic. It is either black or white. You can either make a decision or you are the type who cannot. You can contribute to the world in small ways. Make it a safer, better, happier, smarter place. I'm not a fan of people wasting my time or talking to me to either be nosy or just when they need something. I'm not a fan of lateness. It shows blatant disrespect. I'm not a fan of people who think they are better than you. I'm not a fan of people who cannot respect each other. You don't have to have the same beliefs to respect each other. I'm not a fan of people who are close minded and who cannot see beyond what they believe in. Those qualities are ignorant and selfish. It would be nice not to have a world full of war and fighting. Maybe one day, even for just a moment, the world will be a peaceful, loving place. One can hope and teach future generations to embrace differences and exercise tolerance. That is the best we can hope for.

Slicing and Dicing

And I do not mean those words in the cooking sense. I mean job cuts at work. Up to 400 people. A little unsettling and who knows what the coming days will bring and what it will be like 6 mos from now. Rolling with the punches. Enough said. Too much to digest for one day.

Dinner is Served

come from a family that can cook. No one has had formal training. The talent to create delicious food must be a gene. I'm thankful to know what a good meal is and that I'm able to boil water and then some. On Saturday, we went to my parents' house and we were joined by my sister, Uncle Tony and Nonna (grandmother in Italian). It was pretty funny to see my parents, Uncle Tony and me cooking. Nonna was smart and arrived with homemade bread and sun dried tomatoes stuffed with bread crumbs and grated cheese. My sister was smarter and arrived just before dinner. Dad manned the calamari marinara. You know how I feel about that dish, so I just stuck with plain marinara. There were scallops and there was bacon. I took the bacon and coated it with brown sugar and cayenne before I wrapped it around the bacon. A hint of sweet and spice. Perfect! When my sister and I lived in NYC, I would sear salmon in chambord. A tasty caramelized raspberry sauce was a tasty companion to the salmon. Uncle Tony kicked it up with meyer lemon juice and then dad added maple syrup. YUM! Mom ran around acting as sous chef. And the smell of meyer lemons made me want a cocktail. Something it the way the aroma wafted from the juicer. No cocktails were had, but next time for sure! It was great fun to cook with the famiglia in a ad hoc kind of way. The result was an amazing dinner and more fond memories.