Let's Get Cooking!

July 19th

What happens when your freezer dies? You get cooking.

So here’s what happened…my brand new Thermador Freezer either couldn’t take the quantity or the quality of the foodstuffs I had stacked in there, packed to the gills, and got sick—literally started dying a slow death. Of course I called Thermador, and two appliance companies—do you think I’m a ninny?

However, it wasn’t a dark, and stormy night, forsooth, just my luck it was the day before the 4th of July. Yes, today’s date is the 19th…you can count—it took that many days for the total demise. I kept the poor patient sucker going with dry ice.

After several visits from two different doctor techs from two different companies…the prognosis was pathetic. New fan, new computerized panel board, new ice maker, new wiring, new, new, new transplanted everything. Trust me, I wouldn’t be writing this ever so cavalier description if the dang thing weren’t under warranty!

Needless to say, I’ve been cooking lately—for the neighbors, for friends and relatives, for complete strangers, for the uninvited guests from the wedding of Caanan, for the two techs who came to call, for the dogs who come visiting. I only wish that the 4 doe who come to feed on neighborhood flowers were interested in meat or fish. I’d be fattening up their haunches and skinny butts under those white puffy tails for sure.

So here’s what I made—huge pots of sauce with 3 different types of sausage (several pieces of each kind, natch) bought at Caputo’s in Salt Lake City—Barolo, funghi porcini, and parmigiano and fennel—plus two filets of pork, some beef filets and steaks!

Then I made a humongous fish soup: 3 lbs of shrimp, 2 lbs of scallops, 5 lbs of clams (these were fresh), 2 lbs. of mussels (these were clean, out of the shell that I had frozen in their own juice only a week ago!), 2 lbs of calamari, 1 lb. of white sea bass, 1 lb. of halibut. You can see that my freezer doesn’t lack for quality items! You can, of course use other fish, other quantities! Experiment.

All you need to do is make a broth of tomatoes, (I had some fresh, but canned will do), fish stock, a generous glass of white wine, onions, garlic, parsley, basil, a dash of oregano, salt, hot pepper (if desired, but don’t know how anyone could do without it for a zuuppa like this one!) and a healthy serving of good olive oil.

Since I had defrosting peas and corn, I added them to the soup, and since my refrigerator (also Thermador in excellent health, thanks be!) produce drawer held celery and carrots, I added them also, along with one fat Yukon gold potato and two sweet potatoes. Not orthodox, you say? Hey, remember this is my soup—you can do it anyway you like. I almost threw in some cannellini and kidney beans, but thought it might be overkill.

This soup fed the Johnson family of 5, Uncle Chris, Nick’s friend, Nick, Christina’s friend, Natalie, and the ‘Chefess,’ me! There were leftovers for head of the crew, Darrell, and whomsoever opens the fridge at the Johnson’s. You can serve this soup by itself, over rice or small pasta, like tiny shells.

Next exciting episode in my life as hermit-for-a-week in the mountain retreat of the Trails of Jeremy Ranch is the Johnson Family loaded up their camper, 3 kids, a guest, the dog, Cyrus, one guitar, Uncle Chris in another car and the boat in tow and are headed out to Oregon. As a send-off, I naturally gave them two lovely pies—still semi-frozen to take with them. One of spinach and ricotta and one pizza rustica: ham, prosciutto, cheeses, salami, and love! They can “zap” each individual piece…for the hungry and the bored as needed.

Now I’m off to make another sauce: this one with my frozen small meatballs, veal and lamb. My guys should be home from soon the wilds of Idaho, where they were incommunicado for a week of white-water rafting on the Salmon River…guess what’s for dinner, guys? My freezer is now working, but completely empty, washed and dried, and ready for overload once more.

Ciao for now…
La Cuoca (AKA Chefess) di Casa Romano

P.S. Here’s a link—it has a great picture of a typical Italian market stall–not unlike Mercato Trionfale, where I shopped at for my 20 year sojourn in bella Roma.

http://www.tafe.sa.edu.au/Portals/13/files/newsprojects/italian.pdf

A Poet & His Poetry: CK Williams

Today I've had an affirmative response from CK Williams, who is summering in France, to an e-mail note I sent requesting permission to use some of his gorgeous and sensuous poems on my writing group's website: http://www.srewiowa.com/. He will be poet # 4, so look for more of his work. Below is his wonderful poem, "Leaves."

Here's what the poet said about the name of our site: "I like your web-site's name, though it does sound like something from a political battle..."

Leaves

A pair of red leaves spinning on one another in such wildly erratic patterns over a frozen field it's hard to tell one from another and whether if they were creatures they'd be in combat or courting or just exalting in the tremendousness of their being.

Humans can be like that, capricious, aswirl, not often enough in exalting, but courting, yes, and combat; so often in combat, in rancour, in rage, we rarely even remember what error or lie set off this phase of our seeming to have to slaughter.

Not leaves then, which after all in their season give themselves to the hammer of winter, become sludge, become muck, become mulch, while we, still seething, broiling, stay as we are, vexation and violence, ax, atom, despair.

· From The Singing , by CK Williams, published by Bloodaxe.

Cooking Lessons

Nina's 13 easy basic lessons for excellent gourmet cooking


Lesson #1
You must want to cook, and keep your kitchen pristine, all receptacles: pots, pans, dishes, platters, bowls, etc. as clean as if you expected Elijah to swoop down from Heaven and be your surprise guest

Lesson #2
Be creative and enthusiastic--use your energy wisely! Recycle your anger and slap together a gourmet dinner to avoid abusing your spouse!

Lesson #3
Be generous with portions and be willing to please those who are going to eat all your foods and delicacies at your table. Never skimp on anything. Who knows what tomorrow brings? Remember Auntie Mame's motto:"Life is a banquet and most poor fools are staving to death." Blessings upon Patrick Dennis, her creator.

Lesson #4
Enjoy the cooking process, or get the hell out of the kitchen. If you're cooking, use the time wisely, thinking of words or phrases for poems, a bit of dialogue for a scene, the colors you'll use to paint a canvas, the threads to weave, the materials to quilt, etc. So that when you step out of your queenly, domestic space, or if you are a guy, your kingly kitchen with the cabinets too high, you're ready to write or be productive in another way: perhaps playing checkers or tennis. Your mind is always active even when you're adding salt and pepper--use brain and seasoning wisely.

Lesson # 5
Taste what you prepare--if it's garbage, toss it out the window. (This is not good advice if you live in an apartment building, so disregard. On the other hand in a private home, you could really start a great compost pile.) By the way, I do not taste ...ever, but I know what I'm doing, so do as I say, not as I do.

Lesson #6
Always buy the freshest of everything--from fish to veggies to cuts of meat!
If it's been frozen, is that fresh? Bull roar!

Lesson #7
Steal recipes from everyone--be forthright and ask them what is that unusual flavor in the soup or sauce, and be open and accepting when they say: pagliata, which translates to baby veal intestines.

Lesson # 8
Share your recipes with everyone, lest they think you are a sorceress, trying to steal their mate.

Lesson # 9
If possible, shop in Farmer's Markets, Open Markets, Restaurant Depot, Costco, Sam's, Walmart, Albertson's, Publix, Safeway, or wherever they sell real groceries.

Lesson # 10
If you're not baking bread yourself, then buy it freshly made from a bakery, never already packaged and never, ever under any circumstances buy canned whipped cream--it's so easy to make with fresh and delicious good and nutritious Whipping Cream!

Lesson #11
You don't have to spend a great deal of money to make a great meal: simple can equal excellence! Inventiveness is the key--most "peasant food " is the new chic dining. The Four Season's serves grilled octopus, mind you, (you can fish these free from the ocean!) and wild arugala. Now come on, folks, I used to pick the stuff in any field in Rome, San Felice Circeo or Netunno.

Lesson # 12
Have as many spices and condiments, dried nuts and fruits, etc. always handy. This includes, capers, champagne vinegar, fillets of anchovies, and truffle oil, sesame seeds, but of course, this goes without saying.

Lesson #13
Try eating exotic foods and determine how they're made without asking the chef of the restaurant or your hostess, and then go home and cook them. Of course this doesn't apply to those restaurants where the wait-person delivers a prepared speech with a phone book's worth of ingredients--in which case, stop them and say, I'd rather not know, surprise me.

Happy 4th of July

Today I went for a walk for 45 minutes in Jeremy Ranch. I walked from North Trails to Sackett (don't you just love the names?) all the way to the mailboxes, and when I reached them I said, "Ollie, Ollie Home Free, All come Home" Now where did that come from? Ah! from the hidden and secret recesses of my brain, I remembered we used to say that playing Tag or Hide and Seek on the streets of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn when I was a girl ... many, many 4th of July moons ago.

Quite some time back, I learned that before this expression, there was another similar one: "Ollie, Ollie, oxen free" during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Then I read somewhere that the expression goes all the way back to the German: Alle, alle, alle sind frei. German, literally for: "All, all, all are free." The earlier English expression was then, "All ye, All ye, All come free," and was probably bastardized into the expression "Ollie, Ollie, Oxenfree," followed by "Ollie, Ollie Home Free," with the addition of: "All come home."

Which for some reason, I know not what, reminds me of a song title from 1954: "Gilly Gilly Ossenfeffer Katzenellen Bogen by the Sea." I haven't a clue why, so don't ask--what's worse is I still remember the words to it! Does anyone else recall this? it was sung by The Four Lads.

There's got to be a poem in here somewhere! There sure as hell ain't a recipe.

IWWG 2008

A little bit about IWWG ...

This year I was only able to attend one June weekend at Skidmore College host to IWWG's Conference: "Remembre the Magic 2008" (about 65 workshops are offered over the week!)

Foundress and foremost devotee of women for woman's sake and an astute business woman in her own right, Hannelore Hahn conceived of IWWG (International Women's Writing Guild) over thirty years ago. Kudos and hats off to Hannelore!!!

The guild has something for everyone from the feathered and flowered women seeking their inner goddesses to the serious writers seeking the "nuts and bolts" of good writing and craft.

I attended Lynne Barrett's seminar on PLOT! Lynne is author of two wonderful short story collections, the latest is The Secret Names of Women. She is a professor in the MFA program of FIU. I'm fortunate to say that I've known her since 1991. If there is anyone who knows anything about plotting a short story or novel, it's Lynne, and she does this with wit, aplomb, and a great sense of humor.

This year I was pleased to meet W. Hope Player, a CPA, whose interesting workshop covered business advice for writers. Visit Hope's website: http://www.thearcadiangroupcpa.com/

I also had the pleasure of meeting Heather Cariou, author of Sixtyfive Roses: A Sister's Memoir, a nonfiction book about her sister's illness, Cystic Fibrosis. Heather's informative workshop was about marketing a published book. (Buy her book on Amazon.com!) And be sure to visit her website: http://www.sixtyfiverosesthebook.com/

There are so many other wonderful workshop leaders, but Zita Christian's romance writing instruction is fun and doesn't only work for genre, but is applicable to all kinds of writing from literary fiction to poetry.

So little time and so many great teachers, but I couldn't attend them all, such as Pat Carr's fiction writing and also missed Susan Tiberghien's nonfiction, but I did catch one of Kathleen O'Shea's "Writing from Our Religious Pasts," which stirred up some interesting memories.

I did however make it to both weekend sessions by June Gould. What can I say about a woman who sets off firecrackers and lights bonfires without striking a match to get you thinking and writing? Her prompts and quotations are wonderfully evocative and suggestive, running the gamut from the Torah to Billy Collins. I have been inspired by Gould since 1999 to write several poems that have seen publication.

I crossed paths with so many other intriguing, intellectual, and ingenious women but http://www.evilslutopia.com/ bears mentioning. Don't let the name fool you, this is a group of smart and funny women that are are bringing a new perspective to the writing world. Check them out!

And last but never least, allow me to mention and give a public thanks to my travel mate, Lauren Small, author of Choke Creek, editor and publisher of Bridal Path Press, forward thinker and member of the Screw Iowa! Writing Group ... (check out: http://www.screwiowa.com/) for her thoroughly scrupulous critique of my novel according to Lynne Barrett's plot class!

... and now back to the revision!

Signings and Readings

May 19, 2008

Leonard Nash (You Can't Get There From Here, silver medalist of the Florida Book Awards for short fiction) and I had a book signing at Waldenbooks in Pompano Beach, on May 10th.
He sent me some pictures, but I can't access them due to serious lack of my son's presence here to help me! So they'll get here on the blog eventually! Anyway, the signing was fun and we ate too much Italian pastry!

Thanks to Kim, the manager, and all the other wonderful salespeople who made the signing fun!

On another happy note, Lynne Barrett, Leonard Nash and this blog-writer are reading at Open Doors in Miami tomorrow night, May 20th! All are welcome--it's a cheese and wine event ... so bring your friends. Consider this an open invitation to come and schmooze and enjoy a cup of spirits.

My novel, The Secret Language of Women, a work-in-progress, will be discussed by the very kind and generous Lighthouse Point Reading Group at the Lighthouse Point Library on May 23rd! Actual readers, not writers are going to discuss my book with me present--how cool is that?! Now that's a lovely!

Due to a lack of time, these announcements never made it to my website Media Page, sorry to say.

I have tons of pictures and recipes from our whirlwind two week trip to Italy in April and will be posting lots of goodies soon, I hope, that is in-between two writing conferences ... IWWG "Remember the Magic" in Saratoga Springs (actually the Skidmore Campus) mid-June, where Lynne Barret will be teaching a writing seminar; and then another private conference with the Screw Iowa Writing Group! in Fraser, CO towards the end of June. Hotsy-totsy!

Don't you just wish you could be a little bird in order to fly onto that porch overlooking the Rockies when we discuss our novels, talk of nothing but writing, sex, men, and the possibility of becoming nuns when we're widows to gain immediate entrance into cloisters where we can continue our scribblings like St. Therese of Avila, and at the hour of our death be carried on fiery chariots by a host of angels into the Heavenly Realms! Ok, so maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration ...

Park City, Utah

April 6, 2008

Change of pace today! No food talk, no recipes ... well at least not for the moment—maybe later. Since this is "A Writer's Blog" right now I wanted to share a scenic view so you can see what inspires me to write when I've parked my duff in Utah for a bit. (John Dufresne’s First Rule of Writing is: “Sit your ass in the chair!”) While I was revising out west in February and March, for instance, I needed a winter scene for my novel.


This novel isn't set in the US west, it's actually in the East—the FAR EAST—China to be exact. But snow is snow and winter is winter and there you have it. I can look out any window and see splendid nature. As I was struggling with this snowy section of the manuscript, lo and behold if the Universe didn't conspire to give me precisely what I wanted—a view—actually several views, but for now this is all I'm posting.

Photo : Stefan Scimone