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It’s new year’s eve, and I’m finishing out the year exactly where I want to be - with LJ at the lake. It’s sunny, in the 50’s, and just beautiful. I’ve been pondering the year soon to be past, and like the others, there have good times and not so good.

We started the year on a very sad note, with our life-long friends Dot and Neill English dying within one day of each other in January. It was unexpected, untimely, and heartbreaking. They were only in their 70’s, and it was ironic that they died one day apart. They were inseparable in life; it’s only fitting that their end was the same.

In March, we celebrated my brother’s birthday with him and his wife here at the lake. It was a lovely weekend and made me very aware of how it seems Steve and I grow closer each year. It’s nice to have that kind of relationship with a brother.

April brought a huge thrill for LJ and me. One of our favorite jazz singers, Stacey Kent, and her husband, jazz saxophonist Jim Tomlinson, came to Edmond, Oklahoma. They headline Ronnie Scott’s in London and Birdland in New York City, and here they were coming to the University of Central Oklahoma of all places! We grabbed reservations and hightailed it. And they did not disappoint. They put on a beautiful show, and we met them and got CD’s signed after the show. If you’re not familiar with them, I highly recommend them.

In May, we took one of the trips a lifetime to Italy with LJ’s sister, Janet. We went to Rome, Tuscany and Bellagio. It was a beautiful journey and it was really good to spend it with Janet. I loved Rome, but San Gimignano and the surrounding area is still my favorite. I will say, though, that my only disappointment with Bellagio was that I didn’t run into Mr. Clooney. I’m sure he’s disappointed, too.

June brought our 39th wedding anniversary. We spent it at the lovely W Hotel with dinner at Lola. I still can’t believe it’s been that long. In some ways it only seems like a few years. I’m ready for many more.

October was a huge month. First, you know if you read this blog that October brought Hurricane Ike which wiped out Bolivar Peninsula and Crystal Beach. It still makes me tear up to think about it. However, we went with the Barnetts to Lake Murray, Oklahoma and had a wonderful time with them like we always do. We’re already talking about trying to get back to Galveston next year even though Crystal Beach is gone. And finally, we had the Hawkins cousins’ reunion at Country Woods Inn in Glen Rose. What a blast. And what a month!

November brought the best news of the year - the election of Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Even though the economy is tanking and the Middle East is teetering on annihilation, there is hope for the future.

I am finishing the year bittersweet. We spent Christmas with my family in Kansas City. While it was really wonderful to be with my Mom and my sisters and their families to celebrate, it is just too difficult to witness how Alzheimer’s destroys a human being from the core out. My Dad is no longer a person I know. It is painful to have your father ask what your name is and whether or not you finished college. I can only hope that this doesn’t drag on for long. As he said when we were there, “I am lost.” I don’t think he’ll be found again on this earth.

But life goes on, and tomorrow will be a new year. It will bring good and bad as it did this year, but it always brings new hopes. And that’s what keeps us all going. HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE.

My favorite new year’s dinner, Chili and Cornbread.

Beef Chili

3 T. vegetable oil
3 lb. ground chuck
3 yellow onions
8 garlic cloves
1 jalapeno
1/2 cup chili powder
2 T. cumin
1 T. oregano
2 t. coriander
1 1/2 cups lager beer
2 1/2 cups beef broth
1 can (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes
1 can kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
1 can pinto beans (rinsed and drained)

Brown ground chuck in 2 tablespoons oil. Drain thoroughly. While meat is draining, saute onions, garlic and jalapeno in remaining oil. Add meat back to pan and add remaining ingredients (through beans) and stir completely. Simmer over low heat for at least one hour or more if desired.

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything.  Busy, lazy, lethargic, otherwise involved, you name it.  So anyway, what’s happened in the last 10 days?

The Obama Biden ticket won by a significant margin, leaving me happier about the election and the direction of this country than I have been in 8 years.  It truly is wonderful to have a president who can speak English and actually reads.  President elect Obama has a huge task in front of him, but I believe he has the intelligence and the demeanor to make the decisions and carry the influence necessary to make some long overdue changes in this country.

Next, as happy as I am about the presidential election outcome, I am just miserable about California’s Prop 8.  I know that eventually this will look as backward as laws against racially mixed marriages, but I was really hoping California would come through on this.  I have never understood anyone who believes that granting rights to another person could somehow diminish their own.  That’s small minded, backward thinking in my opinion.

I had a dinner party recently.  It went really well.  I had Asparagus & Leek Soup to start, Normandy Veal Chops with Apples and Calvados, and for dessert an Almond Tart.  It tasted delicious but I had to be really free with the garnishes or it would have been a completely white meal! 

Speaking of cooking, Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and that’s my favorite time to cook.  I’ll be making pumpkin breads and zucchini breads to share with friends.  We’ll have a small Thanksgiving dinner with LJ’s mom, so I can’t decide if I will do just a turkey breast or Cornish game hens.  I’m open to suggestions.  Fire away.  I like to be at least partly old fashioned, but then I love to throw something in unexpected.  I’d like to be cooking for more than 3 people, but I think I’ll just make a big dinner and then take the leftovers to the lake and share them with friends.  After all, that’s what cooking is all about.

Recipe of the Day:  Normandy Veal Chops

4 Golden Delicious apples (about 7 oz. each) (I used Granny Smith and used 3 large)

5 tablespoons butter

4 veal chops, about 7 oz. each

salt and pepper

2 tablespoons calvados

¾ cup heavy cream or crème fraiche

Peel, core and quarter apples; divide each quarter into 3 slices.  Melt half the butter in a large skillet.  Add apples a cook over moderate heat for approximately 10 minute, turning after 5.  Remove and keep warm

Melt remaining butter and sauté veal over moderate heat for 5 minutes on each side.  Remove veal to pan with apples and keep warm.

Pour calvados into pan to deglaze and boil until reduced to a glaze.  Add cream and boil until reduced by half.

Arrange veal and apples on serving plate and drizzle with sauce.