Fun and food

With some books, the fun just goes on and on. Tonight several of the contributors participated in a panel on Grace & Gumption: The Cookbook, the book that grew out of Grace & Gumption: Stories of Fort Worth Women. The evening began with wine and refreshments--potato soup, cheese grits, and chicken enchiladas, all cooked from recipes in the book--at the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. We mingled, talked, laughed and had a great time meeting people we hadn't known. Then we moved across a small plaza to the new Museum of Science and History, where dessert was applesauce cake, again from the cookbook, and coffee. Six of us presented ten minute sketches on our chapters and then signed a fair number of books for people who thanked us enthusiastically for an interesting program. It was a lively evening with a receptive audience, and we felt free to offer comments to the speakers--when Joyce Williams said something about my reaction to her chapter on frontier cooking, I called out "I don't cook squirrel," and when Joy Donovan said she didn't know why she was picked to be part of the cookbook, Katie Sherrod said, "It's because you're so cute," and I added, "It's your pearls"--she had on huge overkill pearls. We have this wonderful camaraderie in the group, a closeness that I have found only one other group--my memoir class. There's something about women sharing food, wine, and stories.The top picture above is Brenda Sanders-Wise, second from left, with her husband to the left, and to the far right her brother Drew, who is a great storyteller. I'm sorry but I don't know the fourth person. Brenda wrote the chapter on The Garden of Eden, representing the black community, and we are all waiting for Sunday dinner in The Garden. I don't know the two ladies below but they were obviously having such a good time. Participating in those two Grace & Gumption books and their continuing public appearances has been one of the richest experiences of my life.

A note from the puppy kingdom: this is our third day with only one accident. That perfect day is within reach. If I'd paid attention tonight, I could have prevented the accident we had. I was by the vet's today to pick up supplies and was reassured that I'm doing very well. Poor Sophie feels like she's been in her crate all day--she has been a good part of it. I'm trying to give her love and company tonight.

Ever skin, butcher and cook a squirrel?

This picture is me with my son-in-law, Christian. I'm quite sure he has never shot a squirrel, nor skinned and butchered one, and if I went to all that trouble and served it to him, he'd politely say, "No, thanks." But the contributing authors (some of them anyway) of Grace & Gumption: The Cookbook spoke last night to the Women's Arts League of Colleyville. The meeting just happened to be in the training room at Christian's office, and he was the designated host who stayed to lock up. Such fun to claim him when people saw us talking. He gave me a big hug when I came him, and one woman said, "I guess you two know each other."

The G&G Cookbook is a social history of Fort Worth told through food, and believe it or not there were two women there who had cooked squirrel. Some of the ladies had cooked recipes from the cookbook for the event. Not squirrel, but chili biscuits (a favorite of mine), eggplant caviar, molasses cake, mousse and puddings, and I can't remember what all. I wish I had a picture of the beautiful table. Chili biscuits are a favorite because every hostess in West Fort Worth served them in the '50s and '60s--women would pop them out of the oven like they'd just made them but everyone knew better. They came, frozen, from Roy Pope's Grocery and were made by Lucille Bishop Smith, an African American educator and caterer who was a city institution. And they were delicious. The recipe is in the cookbook but seems a lot of work--the woman who made them admitted it was.

We each talked about our chapters, and as one of the editors, I talked a bit about how the book as a whole came about. It was a sequel to Grace & Gumption: Stories of Fort Worth Women, designed to tell about women's contributions to the development and growth of our city. The story has always, like so many, been told in men's terms. Women's stories are hidden away in attics and correspondence and handed down by word of mouth, but they have rarely,  until recently, been written. We followed that groundbreaking book with a cookbook, which led some to say, "We just got women out of the kitchen! Why are we putting them back in there?" My reply was because cooking is what women do with one hand, while they're building communities and museums and political careers and theatrical careers and also sort of other things with the other hand.

The audience last night certainly seemed to agree with that. They were a most receptive group, listening attentively, laughing a lot, asking good questions. It's such a pleasure to talk to groups like that that I forget the shy girl inside me.

One recipe from my chapter which always boggled my mind is Hollandaise sauce made with mayonnaise, French's mustard, soy sauce, and melted butter. Most of the ladies laughed and agreed with me: it's not the way we make Hollandaise. But afterward two ladies said they'd made it that way and it's just a shortcut: the mayo gives you the creaminess, the mustard the color and a bit of bite, the soy the salt and the butter is the richness. Learn something new every day, but I still think I'd want a bit of lemon.

A delightful evening.

A book signing and a cooking/holiday day

Eleven of the contributors signed Grace & Gumption: The Cookbook at a local Barnes & Noble today and sold a respectable number of copies, plus three copies of the original book, Grace & Gumption: Stories of Fort Worth Women, which is hardback and much more expensive. I think, however, with the exception of one man, we got no takers from drop-in buyers. We tried to talk to several who passed by, but those encounters only end with making you look a bit foolish--at least to me. Those who bought were friends of one or more of the contributors. Still, it was a jolly get-together--those women are so much fun.
Otherwise this was a domestic day: a load of wash, run the dishwasher (I only have to do that every five or six days), and cook. I baked the gingersnaps from the dough I made yesterday--if the dough is any indication, they'll be delicious. But the recipe says roll into walnut-size balls. Mine were too big, because they spread and ran into each other, and I ended up with the weirdest shaped cookies. Then I made a small squash casserole, and cooked fresh asparagus and Dover sole for my dinner.
Tonight I'm off to wrap a few more presents. The holidays are firmly planted in my mind.
It's cold in North Texas tonight, with a threat of frost in outlying areas, though I doubt we'll get it in the city. Still my sweet potato plants are looking pretty pitiful. My neighbors put up a g-normous metal trellis between our houses (at some points, they are very close together, and they've been training ivy up the hurricane fence, so now they twisted some of the ivy on to the trellis). It's pretty, but I'm not sure how I feel about it--I'll wait to see how much ivy grows on it. I know that tiny strip on my side is ugly--a bunch of volunteer trees, but as Greg the botanist says, "They're trees, aren't they?" I figure they cool the house in summer. Beyond that, nothing will grow because no sun ever penetrates back there. I do keep that area cleaned up after the dog--it seems to be one of his favorite places.
You'll note I've ignored internet fame and fortume for the day.

KIndle publishing, self publishing, promotion, memoirs--my brain is in a whirl

Spent much of the day studying various hints on promoting your e-books, formatting them to publish--did some investigation and found that Kinko's will scan existing books without damaging the spine for $1.00/page. Wonder if I'd ever make that much back if I posted one, short (182) word-book on Kindle and Smashwords. Also, everytime I see a new small press mentioned, I check out the web page--so many are interested in sci-fi, horror, vampires, etc. Doesn't seem to be many that want cozy mysteries, but I have starred a couple to query. Waiting on that until after Fred re-reads the manuscript. Meanwhile my desk is still loaded with tips for promotion and that book on how to build your platform. I'm only half way through the book--think what wondrous things I might do if I ever finish it! All of this takes most of the day--well, there was the grocery this morning, lunch with a friend, class tonight, and of course my nap. Point though is that I'm not anywhere near going back to concentrate on the novel in progress. I figure when I get back to writing it, I need to give it my full attention. I started to say I'll be grateful for the holidays--but what am I going to be on holiday from?
Holidays, however, do mean more of a disruption--I planned to bake all weekend, stocking my freezer for the holidays. Forgot, however, a nice dinner invitation for Friday night, a trip to Central Market on Saturday, a stop at Origins for cosmetics, and a 1:00 p.m. book signing with the contributors to Grace & Gumption. If you're in the area of the University Village Barnes & Noble, come on by. Grace & Gumption: The Cookbook is a wonderful mix of social history and recipes--some tempting, some not so. But should you want to stew a squirrel, this book tells you how. Great gift for women in Fort Worth.
My memoir class met tonight, and as always I'm enthralled. They are so open and honest about their lives. One class member, a minister, read us a eulogy she delivered for a very young woman--I don't know how she got through it without crying, but she says she tries to think of things that make her angry. If someone died of cancer, she thinks how much she hates cancer--when she's angry, she doesn't cry. Another described a year-long experience living in London in terms of the language difficulties and had us all laughing. Still another described a couple of heartbreaking incidents from her childhood. At the end we all stand in a circle and say how we're feeling--in one word. I couldn't help it: I had a sentence. I was feeling happy for the good things we heard tonight, but sad that there is so much unhappiness in the world. One more class, and then we'll have a reunion with previous class members.

An international buffet

The Bookish Frogs met at my house tonight for a buffet (they're a community support group for TCU Press). Food was to be supplied by contributors to Grace & Gumption: The Cookbook, but as more than half of them were unavailable, I panicked--in my usual manner--about having enough substantial food. I could see a buffet of desserts with only my spaghetti chicken. Turned out the other way, and we had an international buffet--chopped chicken liver (do you know how much I love that? Even really made with schmaltz--oh, my gallbladder!) and chicken soup from the Jewish community, enchiladas from the Hispanic community, brisket from the African American community, and a Middle Eastern platter of snacks from Dan, the new director of TCU Press, and his wife, plus chicken spaghetti that I made (enough for Cox's army), pork spareribs, wonderful biscuits, a great bok choy salad. It was a happy evening, and everyone enjoyed it immensely. Some sat on the porch--it was warm but not too hot. Others perched at varioius places. Susan Petty, my former and still colleague, did a great job of organizing and also of moderating a discussion from the contributors who were there. Fun for all.
I had spent much of the morning "straightening" the house, looking at details I normally overlook and trying to fix them. Wore me out. I even vacuumed when I realized how much dog hair there was on the rug in my study. Made a queso-type dip, still have about 2/3 of it left, plus a lot of chicken spaghetti, even after Susan took some home. But it was a fairly quiet day--I got to read, had a good nap. Still tired tonight, after everyone left.
But much credit to Susan  for helping get everything together and to the contributors who were here plus to Dan's wife, Cynthia, for helping clean up. Susan expected to be here until nine but was out the door at eight, and other than dishes in the drain basket and dirty flatware in the dishwasher, you'd never know I had a crowd in my house. I'll tackle those tomorrow, when I plan to have a slow and lazy day.
The evening was one of those that makes me feel blessed, for being involved with such wonderful people, for having them in my home, sharing good food with good people. Between yesterday and today I have had a full but wonderful weekend. And I am, as the saying goes, bone-weary.
But I think Susan sold quite a few books, which is quite a good thing.

The world's biggest chicken casserole

Sunday night I'm hosting a Bookish Frog (supporters of TCU Press) pot-luck to celebrate Grace & Gumption: The Cookbook. Contributors are to bring dishes made from recipes in their chapters, so we might have some interesting food. Really too bad Joyce Williams, who wrote about pioneer women, is in Switzerland celebrating her 50th wedding anniversary--I did so want stewed squirrel. I chose a chicken/spaghetti casserole that has everything but the kitchen sink.The recipe is from a Women's Club cookbook or some such years ago, so old that it calls for a No. 2 can of tomatoes. I had to Google that to find out how much and then I sort of guessed. Remember when that was how cans were measured? It made no sense.
Since my weekend is busy, I stewed the chicken last night and boned it; then this morning I put the whole thing together, except for the mushrooms and oregano which I forgot. I can do those on Sunday. But this recipe has everything: spaghetti, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, one large hen, onions, celery, chicken broth (after you boil the spaghetti in it), mushrooms, hard-boiled eggs (I couldn't do it--I diced up the whties but I threw the yolks away), and grated cheese. I was going to put the cheese on top, but  I decided the casserole probably needs it as a kind of binding/sauce agent. What I've got now, before the mushrooms, completely fills my large Dutch oven. No wonder it cooks for an hour and a half! Note: it called for canned mushrooms, which you then sauteed. Come again? I bought fresh mushrooms, will probably saute then tonight while watching Jacob.
Had lunch with an old friend today who really wanted a Reuben, so of course I took her to Carshon's. I gently asked if she wanted a whole sandwich, and she said no, probably a half. They don't do half orders on special sandwiches, so sacrificing good friend that I am, I offered to split it, though I did order so we got corned beef instead of pastrami and toasted instead of grilled. Honestly, how bad can half a Reuben be? Don't answer that. I got on the scales after lunch, and it wasn't good. But oh my that sandwich was delicious.
Jacob is here tonight. When he was a baby, someone sent a flower arrangement with a mid-sized stuffed frog. Somewhere along the way, he latched on to Froggie and became inseparable. Jordan has been back to that florist to order a whole stash of replacement Froggies. But tonight Jacob came to me in tears--he'd left Froggie in his mom's car. I was going to take him and go get it, but she said that wouldn't work because he'd see her company and want to come in. So Froggie mysteriously appeared on my porch a bit ago. Kids and their attachments are funny--Jordan had a quilted small blanket someone made for her, and I had to restuff it three times. I think it's still in the attic.
Busy weekend. I think I wear myself out planning how to handle such times. Yoga doesn't seem to help me relax and let it all flow, especially when a poor pitiful little kid, maybe six at best, interrupts by ringing the doorbell and saying "We need money for a walk-a-thon." He kept looking around like maybe his parents would come rescue him. I hate it when parents do that to their children! I just settled back down to finish my routine, got to the relaxation part, and Jacob and Jordan arrived earlier than she had predicted. But I'm still trying to go with the flow. And lots of advance planning.

Gluten free

I don't want to crow prematurely but this, my first gluten-free day, was easy. Cottage cheese for breakfast (I may have to change that, since it's high sodium and dairy). Then a luncheon at TCU for our new book, Grace & Gumption: The Cookbook,--I worried about the food and since the first chapter, on pioneer times, gives directions for cooking squirrel, everyone in the office was joking that the entree would be chicken-fried squirrel. It wasn't. Tossed salad, chicken strips (with onion and bell pepper which I ignored), guacamole, and corn chips. I bypassed the peach pudding dessert. The luncheon had the best attendance of any of the "What's On Your Book Shelf?" luncheons sponsored monthly by Human Resources--82 people and 35 books sold.  And it was a lot of fun, with lots of laughter.
The book was, I think, my idea, because I love to cook and I love cookbooks, thought it would be interesting to see what the women of Grace & Gumption: Stories of Fort Worth Women, cooked. And besides, we'd had such good luck with that book that I thought a cookbook would sell well. There was some conceern that the original book had been trying to draw attention to women's roles beyond being housewives and here we were putting them right back in the kitchen. But we got past that and general editor Katie Sherrod dealt with it nicely in her preface. Let's face it, for all of the 20th Century, women were expected to do the cooking and feed their families--though some welcomed the advent of fast food, frozen dinners, and the like. The book is much more than a cookbook--it's social history and in that sense it extends beyond Fort Worth. There are some recipes I might cook--and some I never will, like the squirrel or the most bizarre hollandaise sauce mixture I've every heard of.
Tonight I had still more tuna and stir-fried mushrooms, green beans, and cherub tomatoes. I think I can get the hang of this gluten-free thing. Otherwise it was an unremarkable day--working on my chapter on Wolf Brand Chili and tonight writing a piece for my writing class on adoption. It's fun to write when the words just seem to flow--as opposed to cases when you have to squeeze each one out.
I've joined yet another Sisters in Crime sub-group, so my email is crammed every day. May have to do something about that. But I sure am busy from dawn to dark these days.

Food thoughts

My mind still seems to be on food, though I've managed to work my way through the delicious leftovers I had--the ham salad is gone (but not the ham), the chocolate chip bars are all gone but scraps, and I ate the last of the hoppin' John tonight--you know how hot things sometimes get hotter as they sit? The hoppin' John did because it burned my mouth tonight. Those Rotel tomatoes.
I made scalloped potatoes tonight for dinner tomorrow night--Jordan, Christian, Jacob and Susan are coming for Twelfth Night. I put ham and cheese and onions in between the layers of potatoes, followed a recipe carefully (from my mom's old, old, old copy of the Good Housekeeping cookbook--so old it has no spine, half the index pages are missing and so is the front cover but it's still a great reliable guide for basics and I consult it often). Well, even with the recipe it didn't work--when supposedly done, my potatoes were soupy. I turned the oven low and let them bake (and evaporate) another half hour. They seemed lots better but tomorrow, when they're the only dish plus salad, will tell the trick. And there's still a good bit of ham left. I could make more ham salad (I really like it) and a good split pea soup, but no one would eat the latter with me. I love it, my kids all hate it. We'll see.
Meanwhile I have discovered that thin-sliced deli turkey wrapped around a bit of cream cheese makes a delicious low-calorie snack, so I fixed that about 8:30 tonight, with a half glass of wine. Tripped over a rug, spilt the wine everywhere, and went to get paper towels to wipe it up. When I came back Scooby was just finishing the last of my turkey snack and was not at all impressed by the fit I threw. He looked at me as if to say, "You left it here. What's a dog supposed to do?" So now I've refilled the spilled wine glass and fixed another snack and am a bit happier.
Through all this holiday food saga I've been registering Weight Watchers points. Last week when I weighed I'd lost quite a bit and was elated, but Jay reminded me you always lose weight at altitude. In the intervening week, I've gone over points but I've earned enough activity points to balance that--I'm never quite sure how that works. I don't weigh again until Thursday morning, so meanwhile suspense.
Along that line, I had a gyro sandwich in Breckenridge--ate it without the bread--and wanted more. So Jean and I went to Chadra, the local Lebanaese/Italian place, and had Greek wraps and tomato basil soup for lunch. The soup was maybe the best I've ever had, and the gyro was much more generous than the one in Breckenridge. Again, I didn't eat the pita, just the meat, tomato and feta out of the middle. But when I looked gyro up in Weight Watchers, I nearly fainted. I guess my taste for that is squelched for a long time.
Food is on my mind also because I'm proofreading Grace & Gumption: The Cookbook--found out belatedly that proofing wasn't my responsibility, just indexing the recipes (I had thought I had to proof, index names,and index recipes). I proofed anyway because I found lots of things of concern, prime among them amounts that came through as ?. By checking I've found most of them were meant to be 1/2. I've decided also to make a list of cookbooks consulted, because there are some wonderful cookbooks mentioned--many those produced by local women's groups and probably only accessible now in the library. Cookbooks provide a wonderful record of a community, and I'm hoping that's what the G&G Cookbook will do.
Happy cooking! Wish I could find an outlet for some regular food writing. I have always said I travel on my stomach, wondering what wonderful restaurants I can eat in (though that was not true in Breckenridge).Now I'm afraid I live, not exactly for my stomach, but for my taste buds, for the delightful invention of foods I enjoy.

Guests and cooking, cooking, cooking

This morning I piddled, spent the entire morning doing this and that around the house, including finally emptying the bird feeder with wet food at the bottom. Turns out the wet food had turned to concrete. It was an inexpensive feeder, so I threw the whole thing away and will get another next year. Another result of all the rain we've had! But I washed kitchen towels, napkins and place mats, did my yoga, answered emails, set up for tonight's happy hour, and before I knew it, it was lunch time.

It dawned on me I haven't been out of the house except to the garbage bins and dog's yard for three days (I can hear my brother grinding his teeth), but I've had a stream of people--my lunch guests Sunday, Jordan and family Sunday night, twelve or thirteen women for happy hour tonight--so I've been neither bored nor reclusive. I have done a lot of cooking, but in retrospect I'm not happy with it. I didn't really think the soup I served Sunday was that great nor the salad, though Jordan emailed today that the salad was delicious for lunch, so maybe it was okay. I threw both recipes out. Tonight the women who contributed to Grace & Gumption: The Cookbook gathered for a group photo for the back of the book. Last time, we had our picture taken on the porch, but it was gloomy, rainy, and cold tonight. We pushed the library table away from the couch, some sat on the couch and others stood behind. Wywy the cat made it into the picture, sitting contentedly on the lap of my friend Carol, who knows and loves Wywy.

Tonight's happy hour was potluck, so we had everything from dips and fruit salad to macaroni and cheese, a tossed salad, and a dump cake--you dump everything in, all the batter ingredients and put a can of fruit on top; when it cooks the fruit goes to the bottom and a cake rises over it. I made a dip with Velveeta, Rotel tomatoes, and mushroom soup--and scorched it. I could taste it and said so, but everyone else said it tasted good and I should have kept my mouth shut. Still, I pitched it tonight. I have pitched a lot of food this weekend, cleaning out my refrigerator, and I wish I'd learn to plan better or choose my recipes better or something. Haven't figured out what to do with the rest of the soup but I suspect it will go in the garbage tomorrow. The woman who brought salad tonight wanted to "pitch" the leftovers before she left and was astounded that I don't have a disposal and simply put things like that in the trash. I explained about the pipes in my old house and how they didn't handle disposal waste well and I kept having to call a plumber, but I'm not sure she heard me. And I suspect many women today think they wouldn't want to live without a disposal and wouldn't trade the charm of an old house for convenience--but I sure would.

I did actually read all the notes I've made on my novel today plus emails from Fred Erisman, who's read it carefully, so I'm ready to start reading the manuscript. But I have to finish the Crombie novel first. Meantime, Southern Living came in the mail and that always means I drop everything else to look at the recipes.

PIcky eaters and good food

Yesterday at staff meeting the subject of picky eaters came up--yes, we do digress a bit, though now that June joins us, she really tries to keep us on track. But I had found directions for scooping seeds out of half a melon--cantaloupe or honeydew--and filling the half with a mixture of Jell-O and hot water (not the usual proportions), applesauce, and chopped fruit. Let it jell in the fridge and then slice. I thought grandkids would love it, and Melinda said she'd do it for her grandson but she "didn't do" Jell-O. Susan chimed in with a comment that neither did she because after all it came from horses' hooves. I accused them of being picky, and Melinda countered with "I"ll eat any hot pepper you give me," which she knows full well that I won't. Then somehow Susan had stapled a dip recipe to a letter that she handed June--the recipe sounded really good: corn, black beans, picante sauce, onion, green pepper, and I forget what else. I said of course I'd cut out the bell pepper and there were cries of picky eater. Then they began to recount all the weird things I will eat--tongue sandwiches (I grew up eating corned beef tongue), chopped liver, marinated herring, and I don't know what else. (Christian once said to me, "Juju, you do eat a lot of weird things!). We went to a luncheon yesterday and I was sitting next to our intern, so I whispered to her not to let them see me picking the bell pepper out of my corn and tomato salad--they'd fuss!

But today I had a wonderful tongue sandwich, okay only a half--it's high in points--when my friend Dick Hoban and I lunched at Carshon's, and he, as always, ordered smoked trout. And tonight Betty and I went to Winslow's Wine Cafe where we had a crab cake each with blue cheese remolaude--absolutely delicious. But we had to perch at a bar table on high stools, and Betty's knee was really hurting, so we didn't linger over more wine. On Weight Watchers, I find I'm a bit hungry a lot of the time--and even so I went over my points today, but not badly.

I thought I was through editing chapters of the cookbook except for one, but discovered to my dismay today that there were two more chapters that I hadn't edited (plus the one I have to write part of) so I've spent the day editing. This morning, I was a bit lackadaisical about it--when I talked to Katie, who edited the original copy but refused to edit recipes, claiming I knew more aout it, I said that truthfully I was watching Michael Chiarello cook--he's one of my favorites. But this afternoon and evening I've gotten very busy about it and got one more chapter sent out to the author. Sometimes I feel like this project will never end. But then I enjoy it.

Now, I'm going to quit and read. Have to go to the office tomorrow but will make a grocery run first and that's my outing for the day. Jordan, Christian, and Jacob come home tomorrow and, as always, I'll be glad to have all my chickens where they belong.

Mysteries and food, Jacob

With my ongoing interest in food and mysteries or the use of food in mysteries, I'm reading Virginia Rich's The Cooking School Murders, which is said to be one of the pioneers in this particular sub-genre (of course, Nero Wolfe precedes her, but . . .) It's a good, if slow paced novel, perhaps reflecting its 1982 pub date. After the first night of a cooking school class, three people die--one by obvious murder, a brutal stabbing; the second of carbon monoxide poisoining in his garage with his car running, and everyone assumes it's suicide; the third of drunkenly plunging into a lake and drowning. Mrs. Potter, the amateur sleuth, sometimes called 'Genia,' doesn't believe either of the last two deaths were suicide or accidental. But what I find most interesting is that she writes up scenarios of what she thinks could have happened if various people, some lifelong friends, were the culprits, including her own nephew who is living with her. I can't tell you what happens--and wouldn't--because I haven't quite finished the book. But the cooking school disappears after one session--cancelled because of the deaths. And food appears throughout--the menus people eat, etc., but it it used to create atmosphere, not as an essential part of the mystery. I'm learning that's the difference in many food-related myseries, but I still have a lot of mysteries to read. Not a chore I mind at all.

I did work today on editing Grace & Gumption: The Cookbook. I am hampered by not having electronic files at home, although I should soon have access to the press files. Meantime I think I'll ask them to send me the individual files Monday. But one of the hazards of retirement hit me Friday when a woman called and wanted me to come help edit a book that either she or her husband had written--I couldn't understand her clearly but it was about Shakespeare, perhaps local productions of the plays. When I said I was retired, she replied, "All the more reason for you to come help me," as if I didn't have a desk full of work in front of me--the cookbook, and three books to review for a presentation August 5, plus planning a recipe for a cable TV live demonstration on July 31. No, folks, so far I'm not finding retirement boring.

Jacob is here tonight, having arrived in tears because his arm hurt--we had no clue what was wrong with it, and it was soon better. Then as Jordan left, her friend Addie came in, and Jacob once again dissolved in tears because he wanted Mama and Addie. After a bit, he deicded Juju was okay. It took him a long time to get to his dinner and he ate, I think, one piece of a chicken hot dog (the cat got two pieces), and a quarter of a banana. I ate his blueberries (no points on Weight Watchers if you eat a small amount). I was a softie and gave him strawberry ice cream even though he hadn't eaten much dinner (he really wanted a waffle but I knew he'd get that in the morning). He was cheerful and funny the rest of the evening, and we're making progress on potty training. Now at 10:15, I can still hear him moving about in his crib.

Last night I had a lovely dinner with Jay and Susan, my neighbors, at Chadra a local Lebanese-Italian resturant we all like. Susan says they only eat there occasionally, but the staff all greet Jay like a long-lost friend, with hugs, etc. It's his salesman's personality, the same thing I see in Jamie. Anyway, it was a pleasant evening and a good dinner, and I am feeling spoiled--my birthday lasted for an entire enjoyable week. Today is Susan's birthday, so it was a double celebration.

Thoughts on Retirement

I know one week is a little soon to comment on retirement, but so far I am so enjoying it. I had lunch with an old friend today (like 50 years) and she said I seemed so much more relaxed than I did the last time we had lunch. And I feel that way--sort of like I'm floating through my days, and yet my calendar for the next week and a half or so is full. Today was pretty much what retirement should be, except with one unusual incident. A photographer sent by the Star-Telegram came to take pictures of me (do I dare call this a photo shoot) for a piece they'll do on my cookbook, probably for Panache, the once-a-month insert for middle income families (I found out recently there's a high class insert called I think Insight for people whose homes value at over a certain price--talk about distrimination!). Anyway the photographer was a nice guy who, it turns out, knows my neighbor Sue. Then I had lunch with my friend Georgia and spent the rest of the day at the computer and editing recipes for Grace & Gumption: The Cookbook. Some sound delicious and some are really weird like a "Japanese Bean Pie" made with mashed pinto beans but sweetened with sugar and meant for dessert. Or mock chicken croquettes made with ground veal and oyster--wouldn't it be easier to use chicken?
I did do laundry loads five and six today--only have the kids beds in the playroom to strip and wash, have put the linen back on the guest room, and have the linens all clean for the guest house--a chore I dread. Maybe I can talk Jordan into helping me. I also mopped the kitchen floor and feel quite righteous about having reclaimed my house.
Tomorrow I actually have to go to work--bummer. They moved staff meeting from 10 a.m. to 8:30, which means I'll have to get up--plus I need to do a grocery run first. But tomorrow is my birthday, though I feel I've already had the celebration this weekend. Jordan and Christian will come for leftover flank steak, and one of the items on my grocery list is a potato to bake for Christian and Jacob to share. I'm back big-time on Weight Watchers--plain meat or fish and a vegetable, with no butter, etc. But after staff meeting we're all going to lunch for my birthday--I feel very feted since I thought lunch last week was a combined birthday/retirement lunch.