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When seasons change, I always start thinking about dishes I will cook that I haven’t done in awhile. It’s finally what passes for winter in Texas now (4 days of increasingly moderate weather in the 60’s to 70’s followed by one or two -at most- of freezing temps with or without ice) and I’m thinking of winter foods. One that is a staple in my house is a Chicken Noodle Soup that has potatoes with the usual veggies and is creamy. I adapted it from a Cooking Light Soups and Stews book. Here goes.

Chicken Noodle Soup
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrot
1 cup chopped celery
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
6-8 cups fat free chicken broth
4 cups diced red potato
1/2 rotisserie chicken, shredded
1 cup evaporated skim milk
4 oz. uncooked egg noodles

In a Dutch oven, saute onions, carrots, celery, and garlic seasoned with salt and pepper in oil over medium high heat for about 5 minutes or until softened. Sprinkle with flour and poultry seasoning and stir for one minute. Add potato and enough broth to cover completely. Bring to a boil, lower heat and partially cover. Cook 20 minutes or until potato is tender. Add chicken, evaporated milk, and noodles and cook for 10 minutes or until noodles are cooked.

When I was with my family over Christmas, my Mom and I got to reminisce about the dinner parties we used to do for each other before she and my Dad moved to Kansas City. We would find wonderful recipes and really try to make the dinners elegant. We had such fun. She told me that she thought my Orange Chicken was one of the really good dishes she remembers. I hadn’t thought of it in years, so I came home and looked it up in the old New Orleans La Bonne Cuisine book from the 1970’s. The cover of my book is long since torn off so I don’t know the exact publication date, but my friend Will Crocker did all the photography in the book and that’s good enough that I’d want it even if it didn’t have some great recipes. The interesting thing about the book is that it’s a collection of recipes from local New Orleanians, as well as some from some of the famous restaurants. You have to be careful because some of the folks (on purpose?) were really vague and non-specific in their instructions, and I noticed a few seem to have missing ingredients. I’ve had to really soft shoe around some of them to make them work. But the Orange Chicken is great. I’ve done it with a whole chicken cut up and with only chicken breasts, and it works equally well with either.

Orange Chicken
Juice of 1 lemon
1 fryer chicken, cut up
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups orange juice
1/4 teaspoon oregano

Pour the lemon juice over the chicken pieces. Sprinkle with garlic salt, pepper, and cinnamon. Let stand for 30 minutes. In a large skillet, heat the butter and olive oil. Add the chicken pieces and brown them skin side down. Turn the pieces over, add the orange juce, and sprinkle with oregano. Cook over low heat for 45 minutes until chicken is cooked and sauce has thickened. Serve over rice.

I’m going to go looking for more winter soups. They are always wonderful and homey. If I find any good ones, I’ll post. Enjoy!

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 the day after Thanksgiving and I’m sitting in the dining room in my lake house looking out at the lake as it rains like mad. It’s loud and windy and crazy wonderful! The rain is knocking all the gold and yellow leaves off the trees, and my big yard is just covered with them. I hope this goes on for hours.

Thanksgiving dinner went off without a hitch, and everyone was happily sated and napping by 3:00. LJ pronounced the turkey perfect and said this year’s cornbread dressing was the best ever. The pumpkin creme brulee will get asked back, too. It was a small, intimate celebration, but a very good one. And we got really great news right before dinner, too. LJ’s niece in Seattle called and they’re expecting their first baby. We’re really happy for them.

When we got to the lake today, I decided to turn on the TV to the only soap opera I’ve ever watched, The Days of Our Lives. I started watching it in college. Some girlfriends and I would have it on in our dorm room while we played bridge. Even as background noise, it was addictive. I’ve followed it ever since by reading the daily updates that run in the paper or on-line and watching it about twice a year. I’ve found I like to read about it better than watch it because it goes by faster and the acting’s better. Nothing’s changed, someone is lying about being pregnant and someone else has temporary amnesia. Miscommunication is rampant. Oh, what rainy day fun!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I’m now looking forward to 2 days of complete boredom. There’s no recipe today. We all need to go on a diet.

I am obsessive/compulsive when it comes to cooking for parties or at holidays.  I have been planning Thanksgiving for 3 weeks now.  I have gone through at least 3 different menus, and read recipes galore.  I compare techniques and ingredients and try to figure what’s going to work best for my situation.  Well, it’s the day before and I’m in serious mode now.  Here’s the final menu:

Cranberry Orange Salad

Herb Roasted Turkey Breast

Cornbread Dressing with Turkey Gravy

Haricots Vert with Roasted Shallots and Cremini Mushrooms

Ciabatta Rolls

Pumpkin Creme Brulee

I did my big grocery shopping last Thursday so I wouldn’t have to fight a crowd.  I bought the things that would stay frozen or stay fresh until the Day.  This afternoon, I’ll go buy the perishables.  Then I’ll come home and make the creme brulees and the cornbread for the dressing, and then cook dinner for my mother-in-law who will be joining us.  For dinner tonight I’m having an Italian casserole with a green salad which is as far from traditional Thanksgiving as I could get.

Tomorrow morning, I’m making individual Quiche Lorraines with Stewed Fruit and Spiced Pumpkin Bread.  After breakfast I’ll put the shallots and mushrooms in to roast because they’ll only take about 20 minutes.  I’ll but the turkey in to roast after that, and while it’s cooking, I’ll mix up the cornbread dressing and par cook the haricots vert.  When the turkey comes out to rest, I’ll bake the dressing.  When it comes out, I’ll put the rolls in and toss the haricots vert, mushrooms and shallots in a skillet with melted butter just to reheat.  It should all come out at one time - with any luck at about 1:30.  After we eat that, I’ll let LJ dazzle us with his magic chef’s torch on the pumpkin creme brulee’s and then we’ll all waddle away from the table.  With any luck at all, the weather will be mild enough to let us take a walk in the afternoon.

I’m really looking forward to this.  I love Thanksgiving because it combines two of my favorite things, family and food.  I won’t have my family with me this year, but we’ll talk on the phone and moan about eating too much.  And we’ll have LJ’s mom, which is good.  I wish you and yours the best this year!

Pumpkin Crème Brulee

1 ½ cups heavy cream

1 ½ tsp. freshly grated cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground allspice

½ tsp. freshly grated ginger

¾ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

5 egg yolks

½ tsp. vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

6 Tbs. pumpkin puree

1/3 cup plus 4 tsp. granulated sugar

1 Tbs. firmly packed light brown sugar

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 300°F. Have a pot of boiling water ready.

Pour the cream into a small saucepan and whisk in the cinnamon, allspice, ginger and nutmeg. Set over medium-low heat and warm the cream mixture until bubbles form around the edges of the pan and steam begins to rise from the surface, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand for 15 minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, vanilla, salt, pumpkin puree, the 1/3 cup granulated sugar and the brown sugar until smooth and blended. Slowly pour in the cream mixture, stirring until blended. Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl. Divide the mixture among four 8-fl.-oz. ramekins and place in a large baking pan. Add boiling water to fill the pan halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover the pan loosely with aluminum foil and bake until the custards are just set around the edges, about 30 minutes.

Transfer the ramekins to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 3 days.

Just before serving, sprinkle 1 tsp. granulated sugar evenly over the surface of each custard. Using a kitchen torch according to the manufacturer’s instructions, move the flame continuously in small circles over the surface until the sugar melts and lightly browns. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

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.

Where do I start? A long time ago, there was an itinerant Presbyterian preacher and his wife and 4 daughters, Betty, Teasa, Deedy, and Wee Wee. They would pack the four girls and all their possessions in the car and ride through Texas spreading the Word. In 1936, this preacher took his wife and girls to Itasca, Texas to become Director of the Presbyterian Children’s Home (I believe it was actually called an orphan’s home back then). Well, the four girls grew up, and three of them married Presbyterian ministers and the fourth, being a bit of a slacker, married a lay Presbyterian who worked at the Home. Anyway, over the years, those girls had a total of 14 children, one of which was LJ. He eventually married me, which is how it is that I’m writing this.

These 14 cousins along with their spouses, significant others, and assorted cohorts have kept in touch and close all these years. Back in 2003, they started having cousins’ reunions at a wonderful B&B in Glen Rose, Texas called Country Woods Inn. We just got back from this year’s reunion, and it was a resounding success - again.

We started as we usually do having a picnic lunch on the grounds at Grace Presbyterian Village in Dallas where the two remaining daughters, Deedy and Wee Wee, live. Sadly, the other two daughters and all of the spouses have passed away. This year, there were 12 of us who could make the trip. We came from Wisconsin, Colorado, Washington, Florida, and, of course, Texas. After we ate our sandwiches and brownies, we piled into cars and made the trek to Glen Rose.

Country Woods Inn is a wonderful place with a big Main House on the property which has 4 B&B bedrooms with private baths, a large living room, dining room, and kitchen. On the property are several other small houses, most of which have been divided into 2 sides to rent. This year we rented the entire Main House, the Saddle House, and the Farm House. We always get the Main House so that we can use the kitchen and large patio to do what we do best, eat and drink.

Upon arrival, we started upacking food and drink in the kitchen, and you would have thought it was for a group of 12 for a week! Assorted chips, dips, veggies, fruit, cookies, brownies, cheese (from Wisconsin, of course), soft drinks, wine, beer, vodka, and tequila for margaritas. When we come to party, we come to PARTY! Then we ensconsed ourselves on the patio and proceeded to reunite. As the laughter was just beginning to get raucous, cousin Dan rolled up in his 1955 Greyhound Scenicruiser Bus. It was just amazing!

Saturday morning, we all gathered in the Main House for Breakfast. I brought my traditional Southwestern Breakfast Casserole and Judy brought tons of fresh fruit. Mary and Kalleen brought coffee and cheese from Wisconsin and Al brought juice. We feasted, and then proceeded to prepare the bus for the journey. At 11:00, we all piled into the Scenicruiser and took off for our Hawkins history tour. We first drove to Hillsboro where we had the BEST Mexican food at a little local place called Montes Cafe. This tiny place pushed tables together and welcomed us with open arms. After mounds of chips and salsa, enchiladas, tamales, chalupas, migas, and a sampling of just about everything else on the menu, we boarded the bus and headed to Itasca.

We went past the grandparents old homestead they had nicknamed “Hilltop” on the way to the Home. At the Home, we got out and roamed the grounds. It was fascinating as an “outlaw” to this bunch to eavesdrop on the reminiscing. The Home has a swimming pool and horses to ride, and, as a child, LJ thought it wasn’t fair that he couldn’t be an orphan, too. It was his considered opinion that they had all the fun. We took the traditional photo of the cousins arranged in order of age, and then headed back to Glen Rose.

That evening all of us invaded a local restaurant in Glen Rose for dinner. It was there that things started to get really goofy. The restaurant specialized (as all good rural Texas restaurants do) in chicken fried steak. A missing word on the menu started it all. Under House Special, it stated, “4 oz. hand battered, fried with mashed potatoes and dinner salad.” Someone immediately figured that we were having fried hand for dinner. About that time, a waitress who was cleaning a nearby table ran her hand between the seat and the back of the banquette and let out a loud yelp. Something had stabbed her. Martha opined that that’s where the restaurant got the hands.

We started getting really giddy over Texas street signs. We imagined cactus prancing across the road at “Plant Crossing” and at the sign warning about “Loose Cows” Martha wanted to know how they knew they were loose. (Red stockings is the give-away.) At this point, Donn, a REAL Texan, said he was getting embarrassed. I was trying to keep from spitting up when an “outlaw” from Colorado via Detroit was asking the waitress to explain the difference between a hamburger and a hamburger steak. I can tell you, if you don’t know, it has to do with buns and sweated onions. I’m just happy the restaurant let us finish our meals instead of tossing us out.

I feel privileged to be a part of this big, loving group of folks, so incredibly diverse and yet all from the same uniquely wonderful gene pool.

Recipe of the day: Mom’s Southwestern Breakfast Casserole
1 1 lb. loaf French bread, cut into large chunks
1 lb. sausage, browned and drained well
1 can green chiles
1 8 oz.package cream cheese, cubed
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
12 eggs beaten with 2 cups milk

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with Pam. Layer all ingredients in the order given. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

I’m married to a pacifist. An animal loving pacifist; an animal saving, animal loving, real blue pacifist!  But he’s no PETA nut.  He loves a good steak.  When we take walks on the walking trail in our neighborhood, he counts the rabbits.  Our best walk was a 26 bunny night.  He gets a little irritated when we see a bunny up ahead, and further up is someone walking a big dog.  He knows the dog will scare the rabbit away before we get there.  I never know whether to count that rabbit or not.  We saw it, didn’t we?  I think it counts.

He’s always on the lookout for birds.  His father was a serious birder and counted for the Audubon Society.  When he passed away, we found his “life list” which contained over 500 varieties that he had seen.  So over the years, LJ learned to recognize countless varieties of birds.  Since we’ve been married, I’ve learned to recognize, oh, maybe 5.  But he keeps pointing them out to me.  I just know we’re going to run off the highway one day when he spies another hawk at the top of a telephone poll.  “Look, look, it’s a Red Tail Hawk! Did you see it?”  By the time he’s voiced the question we’re way past the hawk and I didn’t even see brown, let alone a red tail (which it really doesn’t have, I’m convinced).

One of the best things he does is save animals from each other and that bitch, Mother Nature.  We have billions of earth worms in our neighborhood.  I don’t know why, but sometimes when we go out for our walks, there will be dead earthworms all over the sidewalk.  Well, occasionally there will be one desperate earthworm, barely squirming on the cement.  You can almost hear him like The Fly in the movie, “help me, help me… .”  Anyway, LJ will carefully scoop the little fellow up and toss him back into a yard, smugly satisfied that he’s just saved another creature from the bitch.

Scout & Zooey

The one thing that is totally unsafe in our house is a gecko.  And the little tiny ones come in some way (we haven’t figured that out yet) and are gecko patties before they know what pounced.  Scout and Zooey play with them until they don’t move any more and then leave them in the floor for me to find and throw away.  Well, the other night, LJ saw a big gecko, probably 4 inches long, way at the top of the wall in our foyer.  The ceilings are 18 feet in there, and this sucker was at the top.  LJ grabbed a fishing pole and a couple of bath towels and rousted me from my “Archie’s chair” to go on a save the gecko mission.  We wound up forcing the gecko off the wall (he fell actually), and LJ threw a towel over him.  He escaped the first towel, but I was a hero with the second one and LJ was able to scoop the little bugger up and throw him back into the night.  He was so proud.  He came back in the house grinning and exclaiming that it didn’t even lose its tail.  Wow!

In honor of the animal kingdom, today’s recipe is vegetarian.

Baked Eggplant with Mushrooms

1 peeled eggplant, cut into ¼ inch slices (about 1 ¼ lb.)

Cooking spray

1 cup chopped onion

½ teaspoon Italian seasoning

¼ teaspoon salt

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 8 oz. package mushrooms, sliced

black pepper

1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce

2/3 cup shredded part skim mozzarella cheese

¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan

Preheat broiler

Arrange eggplant slices on a baking sheet coated with Pam.  Broil 3 minutes on each side or until lightly browned.

Preheat oven to 375 ° .

Heat a large non-stick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium heat; add onions and next 4 ingredients (onion through mushrooms).  Cover and cook 7 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.  Increase heat to medium high.  Uncover and cook until liquid evaporates.

Spread half of mushroom mixture in bottom of 1 ½ quart baking dish coated with Pam.  Arrange half of eggplant slices over mushrooms. Sprinkle with pepper. Top with half of tomato sauce and half of mozzarella.  Spread remaining mushroom mixture; top with remaining eggplant.  Sprinkle with pepper and top with remaining tomato sauce and cheeses.

Bake, uncovered 5 minutes or until cheese melts.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

4 servings.

My Dad has advanced Alzheimer’s and is going downhill fast.  Late in the day or evening, he is starting not to know who my Mom is.  But that’s not the half of it; he thinks she’s a man.  At night he tries to throw her out of the bed because he “doesn’t sleep with men.”  It would be funny if it weren’t so fucking sad.  Believe me, my sister doesn’t think it’s funny when she has to go over to their house in the night and calm him down so he won’t throw Mom out!

I idolized my Dad.  He was an English major in college, and the world of words was a treasure to him.  He prided himself in perfect grammar, and he never misused the verbs “to lie” and “to lay.”  (It’s lots harder than you think when you get out of present tense!)  He was a collector of jazz records, and has upwards of 5,000 LP’s and 78’s.  He has every song Billie Holiday ever recorded and just about every one Ella recorded.  He had an encyclopedic memory of all the musicians who played on each recording, and where and when they were recorded.  Today, he picks up the records and looks at them like he’s never seen them before.  He swore to me that someone sent some of them to him in the mail, unsolicited.  It just makes me cry.  However, he still corrected my brother-in-law’s grammar just a few weeks ago.  I think that will be reflexive with him to the end.

He’s always had a phenomenal memory.  He was very politically astute and when he got into discussions with people over political issues, he was able to site facts and quote the pertinent authorities off the top of his head.  In fact, that was when we began to realize he had Alzheimer’s.  He would be in the middle of a political discussion, and all of a sudden no one’s name would come to him.  He would become so frustrated, it would send him into a depression.  I had no idea it would devolve to where we are today.  What a nasty, senseless disease!

For the recipe today, I think we need something comforting (and trouble free) - like soup!

Italian Sausage Soup

2 lbs. Italian sausage (half hot and half sweet, or all sweet, your preference)

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 cans artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

2 cans diced tomatoes (undrained)

1 package Lipton onion soup mix

1 teaspoon each basil and oregano

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/2 cup orzo

In a large soup pot, saute sausage until no longer pink.  Add remaining ingredients and thoroughly mix.  Add water just to cover and simmer at least one hour.  It’s even better made ahead a day and reheated.

LJ asked recently if it was a hint from mother nature that you are too old to be in a band when you have to take a break because one member is getting treated for prostate cancer and another had a stroke.  But no matter, they are still together and playing for one member’s 60th birthday party this weekend.  It’ll be great!

It’s been fun having LJ in a band.  Back in the good ole days, the band was playing at what was then Strictly Tabu.  (Boy, do I have stories about that place!) I was there admiring my hot looking guy with his bass strapped across his nether regions, gloriously decked out in wrap-around sunglasses and army boots.  At the end of the evening, I was in the ladies’ room when two young beauties walked in.  Imagine my surprise when one of them informed the other that she was taking home the bass player that night.  I just smiled sweetly and left the room.  It made me so proud.

I’m still proud.

In honor of birthdays, here’s a chocolate dessert that beats any birthday cake you EVER had.

Chocolate Bread Pudding

With Walnuts & Chocolate Chips

4 cups 1-inch cubes egg bread with crust

1 ¼ cups semi sweet or bitter sweet chocolate chips (divided)

½ cup walnuts, toasted and broken into pieces

1 cup heavy cream (divided)

1 cup half and half (divided)

5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

4 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

½ cup sugar

Lightly sweetened whipped cream for garnish.

Toss bread cubes, ½ cup chocolate chips, and toasted walnuts in a large bowl.

Whisk ½ cup cream, ½ cup half & half, and cocoa in a heavy medium saucepan to blend.  Add remaining ¾ cup chocolate chips; stir over low heat until melted and smooth.  Gradually whisk in remaining cream and half & half.  Whisk eggs, egg yolk and sugar in a medium bowl.  Whisk chocolate cream mixture into eggs.  Stir into bread mixture.  Let stand for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 325°.  Butter 6 (1 to 1 ¼ cup) ramekins.  Divide pudding mixture among ramekins.  Bake puddings until set in centers, about 40 minutes.

Top warm puddings with whipped cream and serve.

6 servings.

Today I am just very, very sad.  Hurricane Ike landed on the coast of Texas Saturday morning and laid waste to a huge stretch of coastline from Louisiana to South Texas.  It’s devastating for all those who live there, but it’s a bit of a personal loss for me, too.  Every year for the last 6 or so years, LJ and I have been going to Crystal Beach with our best friends, Kim and Keith.  Crystal Beach is on Bolivar Peninsula, and according to the report in the Dallas Morning News today, none of the businesses only a few of the houses survived the storm.  NONE of the businesses!  Think about it.  That’s a community wiped out!

In years past, the four of us would rent a beachfront cottage from Swede’s.  We had our favorites - Herman’s HIdeaway, Rhea’s Retreat, the blue one I can’t think of the name of right now.  

LJ on deck at Crystal Beach

We had a routine, being creatures of habit the four of us.  We would arrive on Thursday and have a huge, juicy burger at Bob’s.  We’d go the grocery store and load up on food, and then go to Milt’s for freshly caught shrimp.  Thursday night was always a shrimp boil and beer on the balcony overlooking the gulf.  What a way to kick off a long weekend!

Friday we would take the ferry back over to Galveston and just knock around.  The ferry rides back and forth between Bolivar and Galveston were a huge part of the fun.  You never tire of watching the dolphins leaping gracefully out of the water.  In Galveston, Kim and I would go to the antique stores and we’d stop in the beach shops and buy T-shirts and flip flops and other trivia we didn’t really need.  Right now I’m wearing my Flo-Jo flip flops I got in Galveston a couple of years ago.  Friday night was always steaks cooked outside on the grill.  Nights on the beach just listening to the water are hypnotic.  LJ and Keith would stay out way after Kim and I would hit the sack.

Saturday nights we always went to Stingeree for dinner.  They had the BEST killer margaritas ever!  And great seafood.  There is something to be said for overindulgence.  Overindulgence in moderation is a good thing.  (I’m sending that to Martha Stewart.  Do you think she’ll thank me?)  Our last night on the beach was always bittersweet.  We’d had so much fun, but we knew we’d come back the next year.

Until now.  I’m really afraid Crystal Beach is gone.  Even if it does come back, it will be years, and it will never be the same.

No recipe today.  Just boil up some shrimp and eat it with red sauce.