Monday, August 27, 2007

Is it still Summer?

"Is it still summer?" Frank asked when I called him in out of the yard last night.

"Well, yeah, technically," I said.

The kids are in school, the pools are empty, the State Fair opened, there's a football game next weekend, but it is still summer. Some evenings are cool and pleasant and others are muggy and hot. It's still summer.

This morning I got up early and drove through rolling farmland to get to a 9am hearing. The corn is as tall as it will be. It is well over my head. And the irrigation has stopped. The corn is browning - green but also brown - and it will stand in the fields until harvest time - in the fall.

Farm country makes me sad. I always find myself tearing up as I drive through corn. I think that it is the visual reminder of the passage of time that makes me sad - spring/dark soil, little seedlings - summer/wet soil, talk, green stalks - fall/dry soil, tall, brown stalks - winter/puddles of ice between the barren rows and snow. I feel how fleeting it all really is with the physical reminders of time.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

"L" for "Loser"

They all lost, but I assure you that they taste great. And yeah, I drink martinis with my pie.



Calzones
(These calzones are made with vegetables that are high in anti-oxidants, which can be an important part of a diet plan to lower your risk of breast cancer. The use of low-fat turkey sausage and a high flavor but low-fat cheese like feta, lower the saturated fat in the calzones, another important way to lower your risk of breast cancer.)

3/4 C warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
1 package Fleischmann’s Yeast
1 t sugar
2 C flour
1 T olive oil
½ t salt
½ C of prepared pesto sauce
½ yellow, orange and red bell pepper, chopped
½ C turkey Italian sausage, cooked and crumbled
½ C spinach, roughly chopped
1/4 C pine nuts, toasted
½ C artichoke hearts, roughly chopped
1/4 C feta cheese
1/2 C mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Combine 1/4 C of the warm water with the yeast package and the sugar. Stir to dissolve completely and let sit for five minutes.

Put the flour, oil and salt into a food processor with a steel blade and process for about five seconds.

Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture and process until blended (about ten seconds).

Turn on the processor and drizzle in the remaining ½ cup of warm water through the feed tube. The dough will form a ball. Process the dough until the ball turns about twenty five times.

Put the dough ball onto a well-seasoned pizza pan or a greased cookie sheet. Cover with plastic wrap or a towel, and let stand for ten minutes.

Prepare your toppings while the dough stands.

After the dough sits for ten minutes, cut into four pieces and press into circles.

Pile toppings in the middle of the circle. It works best to start with the sausage and vegetables, pour a tablespoon of pesto over the top and then cover with cheese. Fold the dough circle in half and crimp the edge with your finger. Brush with olive oil.

Bake at 425 degrees until the crust is brown. Approximately 15 minutes.

Serve with marinara sauce on the side for dipping.



One Dish Veggie Bake

4 T butter
2 C broccoli, chopped
1 carrot, diced
1 ½ C small cauliflower florets
1 C minced red bell pepper
1 C corn (fresh or frozen)
5 medium cloves of garlic, minced
salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste
1 C sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 ½ C flour
2 envelopes Fleischmann’s Quick Rise Yeast
½ t salt
2 T sugar
½ t dried oregano
½ t dried thyme
2 T fresh dill, chopped
1 egg
½ C warm milk

Grease the 8 inch baking pan with 2 T butter.

Melt 1 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over high heat and add the chopped vegetables (broccoli through corn). Cook the vegetables quickly and stir until the vegetables are sauteed, but still crisp. When the broccoli turns a bright green, cook for one more minute, and then remove from heat, stir in garlic and add salt and pepper to taste. Pour the vegetables into the 8 inch pan and cover with cheddar cheese.

Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl (flour through dill) and then melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in the skillet and add the milk to warm slightly. Stir in the egg and then add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients in the bowl. Mix by hand and spread over the vegetable mixture.

Bake for 40-45 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Do not preheat the oven.

Remove from the oven when a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean. Let the pan cool for 10 minutes and then invert on a serving plate.



Grand Peach Pie

1 box Pillsbury Just Unroll Piecrust

5 C fresh peaches

1 C sugar

½ C all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

3 T Grand Marnier (or other orange liquor)

2 T butter

2 T sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

1. Stir together flour, 1 cup sugar, and cinnamon and set aside.
2. Wash, peel, and slice fresh peaches.
3. Pour Grand Marnier over the peaches and toss lightly.
4. Mix together peaches with the combined dry ingredients.
5. Turn into pastry-lined pie pan and dot with butter.
6. Cover with top crust, cut slits in it, and seal the edges.
7. Cover the edges with foil and bake for 20 minutes.
8. Remove foil, brush the crust with Grand Marnier, and sprinkle on 2 T sugar.
9. Bake an additional 15 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through the slits in the crust.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

312 Pages

The school librarian called to tell me that my kid checked a book out this morning and read a 312 page book and returned it at the end of the day.

"She's a sweet girl," she said.

"Yes," I said.

"Is it possible that she really read the entire book? It's a shortened day."

"Oh yes. It's possible," I said grimly.

What do I do?! Ground her from reading? I know that she's reading in math and social studies and science and even that Spanish class that she worked so hard to get into.

It makes me want to throw a book at her.

Foreign Language and the Public Schools

Hannah is excited to have a "real" French woman teaching her class this year while her teacher is on sabatical.

Anna is excited to get accepted into an advanced Spanish class.

Mary and Frank are riding the bus this year while their school is being remodeled. So far they like the social aspect of riding the bus. The bus lets kids hang out with kids and exchange information. Sometimes they even learn new languages. On the way home from soccer practice my dog tried to put as much of her body in the front seat while staying in the back seat.

"Omsmay ogday isway oofygay," said Mary.

"Esyay," giggled Frank.

"Ehay! Ymay ogday isway otnay oofygay!" I said.

"Ouyay owknay igpay atinlay?" asked Mary in surprise.

"Ouyay owknay igpay atinlay?" copied Frank.

"Oodgay iefgray," I said. "Ouyay idn'tday inventway itway."

"Yeah, but I thought it was so grown ups couldn't understand what we were saying."

"Nice try," I said. "It's still fun though. Oodgay occersay acticepray?"

She paused. And then she answered. And we chattered and giggled in Pig Latin all the way home.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Later Has Come

Mary could not find her soccer cleats. She looked the most logical places - under the bed and in her equipment bag. I suggested the closet. She insisted they weren't there. When I looked in the closet I saw the plastic sack with the red, shiny cleats and I remembered why they were in a plastic sack. There was about an inch of dried mud on the bottom, which is how she came home from soccer the last time she wore them. I put them in the sack to take care of later and what do you know, later has come.

They're soaking in an inch of warm water right now while she looks for her shin guards. No, those aren't in her drawer or equipment bag either. I think she is checking the dress up box since someone wore them as part of a warrior costume in a play this summer.

Soccer practice and game today and then later a football practice. I think I will finish reading my book.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Next Year in a Stone School

We rode the bus tonight for back to school night. It kind of makes me sick. I mean, an un-airconditioned bus with a bunch of kids and parents when you haven't really been home for four days and you went to work anyway, is really a lot to ask of anyone. But then tonight, back to school night, which usually means an evening at the beautiful stone building that is my kids' school, was a bus ride to the suburbs and a crazy, loud tour of what is really a strip mall on the edge of town. The public school system leased the building because they are doing major renovations on schools and they need somewhere to keep the kids in the meantime. There is a schedule for the renovations. Last year it was a different neighborhood school, and this year it is my kids' school.

As the bus pulled in the parking lot of the strip mall/temporary school, my friend, who is Jewish (and this is important to me right now), looked at my forlorn look, shrugged her shoulders, and said, "Eh, it is still their school."

The teachers, who I know as well as the teachers of my childhood, fill the strip mall. My son is being taught by the same 3rd grade teacher that my oldest child and my middle child had for third grade. I want this consistency and history for my children. It makes my heart full and mournful.

"Go introduce your brother," their father urged when we got to my son's new classroom.

I watched my son move forward through the crazy fray with a sister on each side of him. The teacher saw her former pupils, and met Anna's eyes first, and they embraced, and then the teacher saw Mary, who hangs back and doesn't hug, but the teacher smiled at her and put her hand on her shoulder, and I saw the sisters push Frank forward with his hand out stretched and he formally shook hands with the teacher that he would spend time with in this bizarre makeshift school.

I thought about my friend's comment and I thought about the historical plight of the Jews and I thought, you know, we should all have such perspective (without the Holocaust). Your school is where your friends and teachers are. That's what I decided by keeping them at the school in this year of transition and strip malls on the outskirts.

From the book I am reading, The Yiddish Policeman's Union, which takes place in the fictional district of "Sitka," a temporary safe haven created for Jews in Alaska after the collapse of Israel in 1947, "You have to look to Jews like Bina...to explain the wide range and persistence of the race. Jews who carry their homes in an old cowhide bag, on the back of a camel, in the bubble of air at the center of their brains. Jews who land on their feet, hit the ground running, ride out the vicissitudes, and make the best of what falls to hand, from Egypt to Babylon, from Minsk Gubernya to the District of Sitka. Methodical, organized, persistent, resourceful, prepared. A mere redrawing of borders, a change in governments, those things can never faze a Jewess with a good supply of hand wipes in her bag."

I really mean this all in the most respectful way, but I would never explain to my friend why her perspective struck me as so wise. And it really doesn't matter why I thought what I did. What is important is that I embrace this school year positively and that my kids and I come through this with a sense of humor.

Next year in a stone school with real landscaping.

That is my prayer.

Saturday, August 04, 2007

Yo, Adrian!

Frank and I watched "Rocky" on TV this afternoon. It's actually not the first time we have watched the movie. He loved it the first time, and when I saw it on the movie schedule I made sure to tell him and we watched it again. An ad came on for "Rocky II."

"There's a Rocky II?!" Frank exclaimed.

"I bet he wins that time," Anna said cynically.

"Rocky doesn't win except in his heart," Frank said confidently.

Sequels are usually a bad idea.