Queenly Things

An Arabian Night

Open Sesame!

All that was missing was the belly dancer.

I rubbed the lamp, talked to the genie and here we go. Hold on to your magic carpet.

Pork loin with a rub of 1001 and one spices. I think this might even be a Weight Watchers recipe. 

Zucchini, tomatoes, onion and feta tossed with arugula, lemon juice, salt and pepper

Yogurt sauce with mint and garlic for the pan sauteed eggplant. Also, pretty low in fat.

Tender baby artichokes with shallots -just seasoned and lightly browned with a little chicken broth for moisture.

And abracadbra, dinner fit for Scheherazade herself.

Spiced Pork Medallions

Pork loin cut in medallions ( one to one 1/2 lbs) I used pork loin chops because I had them.

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. thyme leaves

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

1/8 tsp. cloves

1 Tbsp. oil

1/4 cup red currant jelly (or something tart, I used cranberry)

2/3 cup chicken broth

Mix the spices and rub on pork. Refrigerate a few hours or even overnight. 

Heat the oil in a pan. Brown the pork then remove from pan. Add chicken broth and jelly to pan. Mix then return meat to pan. Cook until done to your likeness.

Eggplant with Yogurt

1/2 cup of non-fat Greek yogurt (easy to get at Trader Joe's) Any plain yogurt is fine but will be a little waterier

3 big cloves of garlic, mashed

1/4 cup fresh mint leaves chopped

salt

Small eggplant

olive oil

Mix the yogurt, garlic, mint and salt. Chill to let flavors blend.

Peel and slice eggplant. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Saute on low heat until tender.

Now take your veils off and sit awhile. Ali Baba and his forty thieves just might come by. That could be fun.

In My Room

There's a world where I can go and tell my secrets to

I've been asked to show off my favorite place in the house. This is it. My room.

Everything that I love is in my room. I can look in any direction and see places that make me smile

In this world I lock out all my worries and my fears

Friends in every nook and cranny

It's a place where everybody knows my name.

Do my dreaming and my scheming

Where I think up all this stuff.

Except for the pile of shoes in the trunk over in the corner which you won't see, each little object is dear.

I keep these treasures near.

On every shelf,

and adorning every surface are bits of my friends

The all-important work surface.

1/100th of my books and magazines.

So much that just makes me smile

My little family and my inspiration.

This is, without a doubt, where I am Queen of the World.

Find other people's favorite rooms over here.

Be Sure to Wear a Flower in Your Hair

Ever true to my hippie roots, I present to you the finished peasant blouse. Thank goodness the picture I took captured the part with perfect stitching. I used some lovely white linen that i picked up for a song at an estate sale. I feared it might be too heavy but the weave was loose enough to make it work.

This blouse could take me to Greek islands where I would sip ouzo and nibble on prawns and feta cheese and freshly baked bread. There would be the tiniest of gold chains around my neck set off by my perfect tan. Men would dance around me holding tables in their teeth, snapping their fingers to the music. Hoop- pah!! 

Too much? Well, I will definitely wear it out to dinner next week. How's that? Perhaps it will inspire a refill of my ice water.

Perhaps My Name is Rumplestiltskin

In my mania to organize everything this summer, I sorted out three bags full, (yessir, yessir, three bags full) of fabric scraps yesterday. There were piles and piles of scraps

I'd just read this post and determined to spend some time, well not exactly spinning straw into gold but something rather like that.

Whir, whir, whir, strips of fabric wound around and around.

All day long spinning and spinning...

.

and spinning.

And at the end of the day, Her Royal Highness had some new kicks plus a couple dozen more pom-poms to use as she pleases.

Better Together

Peanut butter and jelly, bacon and eggs, tables and chairs, Fred and Ginger. Yin and yang, milk and cookies, birds and bees, mac and cheese.

Sonny and Cher, salt and pepper, rum and coke, fish and chips. Bells and whistles, green eggs and ham, Law & Order, smoke and mirrors, song and dance.

Piss and vinegar, Sears and Roebuck, Batman and Robin, pork and beans.

Peaches and Cream

8oz. cream cheese

1/2 cup sifted powder sugar

1/3 cup whipping cream

2 tsp. vanilla

1 tbsp. Grand Marnier (or amaretto, frangelico, kahlua or an Italian syrup of some sort, even maple syrup is good)

Blend the cream cheese and sugar until smooth then add the cream, vanilla and flavoring. Whip until light. Cover and chill

Peel the peaches and slice into a bowl. Add a couple spoonfuls of brown or white sugar and a little of the flavoring you put in the cream (or not) let sit so that a nice syrup surrounds the fruit. Serve as shown. 

I often use berries for this dessert or even pineapple. Whatever's fresh is good.

The cream makes a good filling for cakes, a spread for scones or to stick two cookies together.

Dessert's made, now on to rest and relaxation. 

A Sundae Kind of Love

I do my sundae dreaming, oh yea

Clint's Ice Cream - the place with the 10 foot cement ice cream cone on the roof above the entrance. The place where families went to celebrate a birthday or a homecoming with a banana split. Clint's was right at the entrance to downtown, on First St. (the town is so small it still only goes up to 3rd Street). The handful of chairs inside were old school chairs, the kind where the desk is an extension of the left arm so adults usually ate their ice cream standing up. There was a big apothecary jar of chicken bones (the candy) on the counter by the cash register. The floors, of course, were black and white linoleum checkerboard squares. There were no calories back in those days.

And all my sundae scheming

Other ice cream stores came to town; Baskin & Robbins, Shaw's and Edy's but the favorite of our teen years was The New Englander. This place not only offered ice cream but had the revolutionary idea to offer a Sundae Smorgasbord. You ordered your ice cream flavor which came in a footed heavy glass or a sundae dish, then you placed the dish on a tray and  whirled around the counters ladling all manner of sweetness on top - hot fudge, caramel, marshmallow whip - you name it they had it. Chopped nuts, cherries, strawberries, sprinkles of all ilk. You could pile the goodness as high as the ceiling, the only caveat being that nothing could drip onto the tray. If anything overflowed the bowl, you were charged extra so we became supreme architects of the foot-tall sundae. We walked everywhere we went in those days so never a pound was added to our still slim hips.

Every minute, every hour, every day

When I moved to Omaha in the 70's I was introduced to the Goodrich Dairy. My father-in-law's idea of a Sunday drive was to take us all (seven kids, a daughter-in-law and two granddaughters) first to King's for cheese frenchies (deep-fried cheese sandwiches) then up the hill to Goodrich's for a banana split - three huge scoops of ice cream, one banana, three kinds of sauce, four when he sweet-talked the girl behind the counter, whipped cream, nuts and a cherry on top. Clogged arteries? Never heard of 'em. I had two very active baby girls to run around after, not to mention dancing on a Saturday night. I got tons of exercise.

I want a sundae kind of love, a love to last past Saturday night.

But alas, nowadays ice cream sundaes with the works and french-fried cheese sandwiches are somehow not good for you anymore. They make you fat. Nowadays it's all about cardio workouts and cholesteral levels. Really, the world has just taken the joy away from simple pleasures. 

How many calories do you think I can burn floating in the pool? Or I could just let the water wear away at my hips. Exercise is just such an ugly word.

Shining Through

You know you have a true friend, a friend for life, when for 24 hours you've been mooning over this color scheme,

working on this bracelet,

drawing pictures from your memories of Mexico and you go out to the mailbox where you find a puffy little envelope which you open...

and inside, two of these. Just pulls the whole thing together, huh? How does she do it?

Just Another Day in Paradise

Day one of my vacation. While I drink coffee and do some cooking before it gets too hot, Miss Opal is already in the kitchen window catching herself some rays. Yes, in the kitchen window.

""Did you not notice someone was napping? Hel-lo, you're not the only one on vacation here." 

So, while I was getting scolded by the cat, I made a list of errands I wanted to get done today; a couple of thrift stores, Michael's and the bank. Then I swept the back patio and did some laundry. Do I know how to have fun or what?

 

Got back from my errands and here's Opal just rousting herself from the window. She musta had other things to do like eating two bites of her food and finding another nice spot for nap. I got some good stuff at the thrifts, the bank - not so much. 

"Don't you have some crafting to do or something?"

On my way Opie, I'm on my way.

And the Living is Easy

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to do. I'm on vacation!!! Let's hear a whoot whoot! Last Thursday was the last day of school, today was the last working day for me. I am on vacation!!! Eight lovely, sunny weeks of vacation!!! I'm on vacation!!! Hey, did I tell you? I'm. On. Vacation.

What lays before me? Long, warm days to craft, to read, to cook, to take naps. Spontaneity. Nothing. Visits with friends. Movies. Languorous luncheons under the trees. Nothing. Whole days to sew to paint to create. Or do nothing.

The list of possibilities seems endless.

Up a Lazy River

Another recipe from the lazy chef; something simple, delicious and quick. This is nice enough for company but quick, too, so it's good for a weeknight dinner. After the marinating, it takes all of ten minutes. I mean, I've got lots of other things to do, don't you. Are you ready?

Seedy Salmon

1 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup soy sauce (I have used regular soy or even thick sweet soy sauce, whatever you have is good)

24 oz. skinless salmon filets

2 Tbsp. cracked black pepper (Tellicherry pepper is very nice and spicy to use)

2 Tbsp fennel seeds.

Mix the syrup and soy sauce together. Pour over salmon filets. I put everything in a baggie. The salmon can marinate for as little as an hour or up to 24 hours. When you're ready to eat, crank up the broiler. Mix the pepper and the fennel seeds and put on a plate or waxed paper. Take the salmon from the marinade and press one side into the seeds. Broil for 5 - 7 minutes until salmon is done to your liking. 

I made a little spinach salad with toasted almonds, mandarin oranges and green onions tossed with a sesame ginger dressing. I heat the remaining marinade to dip the salmon. A little rosé and you're up a lazy river with me.

How happy we can be.