911 call, a nice day, and some good news

Life is never dull. A friend a bit older than me with a bum knee (well, she just had a replacement) had been nagging me to get a medical emergency alert device because she knew I'd fallen several times in the last six months--all, as Colin says, because I don't look at where I'm going. The last time was last Sunday morning when I was alone with Jacob. So now I wear the laveliere religiously when I'm alone (except for the two days I couldn't find it--Jordan found it under my bed, and I suspect the cat!). Tonight I was brushing my teeth, walked too close to the drawers in the bathroom, which stand chest high, hit the button, and it went off. The "home station" began dialing people, and I began frantically trying to hang up (now I have discovered the stop button). Jordan called in a panic, and while I was talking to her a policement appeared at the front door. I had to get the key and unlock the deadbolt, then disarm the alarm system (see how safe I am?) and finally opened the door. He took one look at me, wearing the lavaliere and immediately knew what happened. But he was really nice about it, warned me about keeping the key away from the deadbolt (in case of fire I'd never find it) and left with a cheerful, "Well at least you know the button works." I'd been wondering how to find out and so, yes, now I know. And I'll have to be careful.
Nice day. Jacob was full of spit and vinegar this morning, wearing a Superman cape and running around the house yelling, "I'm Superman." He likes to work in my office, which means he explores a junk tray which has some things he really doesn't need to touch--I left for two minutes to go to the bathroom, and when I came back he had the most guilty look on his face! But I saw no damage, either to him or anything in the room. Then when I settled at my computer, he decided he had to sit on my lap and watch the Disney channel--made it hard to work. He went off with his mom about eleven, and I got ready for company, read, napped, caught up on e-mail.
I thought my dinner tonight was one of my better. Jean brought a good healthy green salad (having asked before, she omitted bell peppers), and my chicken loaf was the best I've ever done, really good. They liked it a lot. Instead of the fruit salad I'd promised, I grilled nectarine halves and fiilled them with feta and put foil over them so the feta would soften and melt--really good. Sometimes my indoor Jenn-Air grill is really wonderful, though tonight I had to soak and scrub the whole thing--a pain!
About six months ago I sent my mystery to a publisher who knew me and my work and asked to see the full manuscript when I queried; having heard nothing, I emailed a couple of weeks ago, but I thought somehow from the web that the woman I knew was no longer doing acquisitiions, and I sent it to someone I'd never heard of. Tonight, just when I was thinking of emailing again, I got a nice e-mail from her asking if she could keep it a little longer. She is waiting, she said, for the green light to acquire for 2011. I happily agreed, explained that as a publisher I knew all about overcrowded schedules. Sounded like a good omen to me. I did send a PS saying I had the sequel written. all that encouraged me.

A full of food blog post

The nicest opportunities come to me with Cooking My Way through Life with Kids and Books. Today I had an email from a woman in Maine, who with a business partner in California, sponsors a Web site for women writing memoirs. They've asked me to be a guest blogger, for review copies, and for a telephone interview. Of course I happily agreed to all and have the guest blog half written in my mind. I don't know how big their audience is--I should probably ask--but check out http://womensmemoirs.com/. If you've ever thought about writing a memoir, here's the site that will encourage you.

My neighbor, Sue, writes a blog called "The Replete Life." Google it, you'll enjoy, because she talks about living the good life without spending a lot of money. She is, like me, a cook, and often when I invite her for supper, she'll say she has a stew on the stove or fresh fish waiting to be cooked. But her recent blog was about all the staples in her pantry out of which she can make a meal. (Sue shares custody of two children, 13 and 8, with her ex-husband, so some weeks she's cooking for herself and like me, she still fixes a real meal.) It got me to thinking about what's always in my pantry--tuna, of course, and canned tomatoes, and canned veggies, which I ignore in this bountiful season. But my stash is in my freezer. Years ago, my brother, who often gives me generous and useful gifts, gave me a Tilia Food Saver (no, this is not an infomercial). It allows me to vacuum seal foods for the freezer--I use it mostly for meat and fish. When Megan and Brandon got one, he tried to vacuum seal everything in the fridge, which was a disaster with green onions. It also doesn't work with breads because it draws all the air out and reduces them to nothing. Like computers and cell phones, I underuse my food saver--you can extract the air from a half-drunk bottle of red wine, seal glass jars of things, etc., but I've never learned to do that. I get a roll of the pastic saver, cut it into the size I need, and seal meat. I always have chicken, ground sirloin, maybe a piece of salmon, leftover stew etc., and some days I come home and think what shall I defrost today? I keep a very few frozen vegetables, and too many tail ends of bread products which I use from crumbs when necessary. Bread keeps wonderfully in the freezer, whereas it turns hard and dry in the refrigerator. Of course, with my Weight Watchers diet, my cooking has changed dramatically and I have little use for the bread, etc. But I do use the meats.
Tonight, I'm cooking a half a leftover hamburger in a piece of bread for Jacob--and a trout fillet for myself. (OK, I just bought the trout this morning--it's not from a food saver bag.) I'll give him a bite to see if he likes it.
And while I'm at it talking about cooking, here's a recipe from my cookbook that I always loved and my kids didn't because they say it's gelatinous (a bad adjective from them). I got this from Carolyn Burk, an old friend, a real estate agent Joel and I met when he wanted to look at a house we could no more afford than Buckingham Palace. We ended up renting a red brick bungalow her son owned, and she and I remained friends until she died a few years ago.
Chicken Loaf
1 hen or two fryers
1 cylinder saltines
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
Stew chicken until cooked thoroughly. Reserve the stock. Cool chicken and pull meat off bones. Chop finely. (Carolyn did it with scissors, but I use the food processor, being careful not to over-process). Grind one clind of saltines in food process and add to chicken.
Soften gelatin in 1/2 c. of reserved stock. Add to chicken with enough stock to bind it together--it should be moist but not soupy. Sometimes I add a chicken boullion cube to give more flavor. I know Caroly never added gelatin--that was my mom's idea. But it holds the loaf together.
Pack into a loaf pan. Cover with clear wrap, put another loaf pan on top, and weigh it down with canned goods. Refrigerate overnight. Serve with mayonniase.
This will freeze, but will not keep after freezing. Still, it's the purest chicken flavor I've ever tasted. I love it and am going to try it on guests tomorrow night, along with a green salad and grilled nectarines filled with feta.
That's my holiday weekend. Hope yours is happy!

Dreams, holidays

You know that school dream that everyone has? It's finals time, and you haven't been going to class, haven't studied? In that dream, I'm often not sure when or where the class meets. (Honest, I was a good student, got good grades, and never missed a class--still I'm always relieved to wake up and realize I'm no longer in school). They say it's a reflection of childhood insecurities--but then, so is almost every dream you research on google. But last night I had the retirement version of the dream. I knew I had to get dressed and go to work, but I didn't know for sure where my office was nor what I was supposed to do when I got there. It troubled me and kept me awake a bit in the wee hours because I saw it as an indication of uncertainties about retirement.
This morning I lingered in bed. I'm reading a novel (a submission to the press) in which the main character forces herself to stay in bed longer so the day won't be so long, and I sometimes feel that way. Did this morning. Thought about the long weekend as a practice for retirement but wasn't encouraged by the thought. But once I got up and going, I was fine, took myself in hand and went to Barnes & Noble for "cowboy" books for Sawyer and Ford. Actually I got them two books in the Hank the Cowdog series which was written by a friend of mine. When Jamie was--oh, eight, nine, or so--he thought they were wonderful, and he still has a personally autographed poster that I had framed for him one Christmas. Now that Sawyer and Ford have been to Wyoming, they reportedly love all things cowboy, so I hope they like the books. Then I did one of my two weekly grocery runs, came home and told Jordan I'd love to accept her invitation to go to lunch with them--only it turned out to be a dinner invitation, not lunch. So we went to the Purple Cow tonight, which is billed as "kid friendly" and is the weirdest place for people watching that I've ever been. I had a BLT which Weight Watchers counts as an astounding 15 pts.--and I only get 19 points a day. But I broke it down into component parts--bread, mayo, bacon (lettuce and tomatoes are free) and it wasn't nearly that bad. Sometimes their point system baffles me.
Anyway what loomed as a big long holiday weekend is now busy and full of things and how will I ever get it all done?

Belated thoughts on the media, a funny dinner

I've noticed that several other blogs have beaten me to the topic I meant to blog about a couple of days ago: the media coverage of Michael Jackson's death. I grieve for him, I really do, for the enormous talent he had, for the impact he had on music around the world, for what seems a wasted life. His personal life became so bizarre, and he seemed to waste his talent, and it's hard to overlook that. There were other celebrity deaths last week--Farah Fawcett, who fought a brave, public, and open battle against cancer; Ed McMahon (spelling?) who remained fairly active into his later years though apparently in financial troubles; Billy Mays who sold everything he could on TV (did you know there are now stores called As Seen on TV and they sell lots of the products Mays pushed? I found that amazing); and a great impersonator, whose name escapes me. But for days, the news was all about Michael Jackson--four solid days on the TODAY show, which I really like, plus often the lead story on NBC nightly news, and every time I opened the newspaper there was the blaring headline, pages devoted to the story. Today I've noticed it slowing down a bit but there will continue to be news about the custody of his children, the legal battle over his destitute estate, and so on. Meantime I wanted to know what was going on in Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, all the troubled places of the world; what was happening to the health care reform bill, the energy bill? All those were buried in the back pages of a thin newspaper. It's not original for me to say that Americans have skewed their sense of values, but I feel it nonetheless. We are still losing soldiers in the Middle East, we face terrible threats from North Korea and other countries, our economy is in a mess, an unbelievable number of our citizens are without health care or insurance, and we're reading about Michael Jackson. I give up!
I thought Jordan and Jacob were coming for supper tonight, but luckily I hadn't done much advance preparation for a lovely meal. It turned out Jordan was going to a happy hour and I was feeding Jacob. She did come back a little after 7:30 and eat her dinner, which made Jacob finish a bit more of his. Lesson learned: don't give him blue berries with his dinner. I had been doing that because he loves them and they're good for him, but he eats the blueberries and ignores the broccoli, mashed potatoes, and chopped sirloin.
Two weeks from today is my last day as director of the press. I will still be doing contract work, primarily acquisitions but maybe some editing, but I will no longer be "the director." It's a funny feeling, and yet I'm looking forward to retirement with a great deal of joy.

Recipes, weight gain, and water slides

Tonight I'm editing a portion of a cookbook with many recipes from an African-American woman who really broke color barriers and built a career for herself in the '50s and '60s as a teacher, caterer, and producer of food products. She was Lucille Bishop Smith, and I remember when I first moved to Fort Worth in the mid-sixties people used to serve Lucille's chili biscuits as appetizers. You bought them frozen at Roy Pope's grocery store (a still-existent stand-alone where "fashionable" Fort Worth shops, although they may suffer from Central Market now). Carol, who compiled this chapter found no recipe for chili biscuits, but I am tempted to try to recreate them with refrigerated biscuits and canned chili--Lucille would, I'm sure, squirm in her grave. But the recipes are wonderful--some I remember my mom making, like Seven-Minute Icing and Pumpkin Chiffon Pie. Others sound really weird--Japanese bean pie--yes, mashed pinto beans but mixed with sweet ingredients--and Banana and Pineapple Surprise Salad--the surprise is the addition of peanut butter, which sounds fairly awful to me. And do you know what dovering eggs is? It's beating them with an old-fashioned, hand-cranked egg beater. There are some recipes which completely baffle me--like the pumpkin chiffon pie which calls for serving it with Plymouth Sauce. What's that? My mom never did that for sure. Deviled round steak sounds pretty good. I am having such fun with these recipes.

But recipes get me into trouble. Instead of losing weight last week, I gained over a pound. I thought I'd been pretty good until the weekend, but that must have been enough to get me into trouble. Still, I was astounded when I stepped on the scales this morning. It can't have been the two handfuls of potato chips I ate at the party Saturday night. Maybe it was the salmon croquettes--another of Mom's recipes and a perennial favorite of mine. I gave a bit to Jacob Saturday night, and he said, "It's good, Juju!" And then I had one for lunch in a sandwich--add points for bread and mayo. And last night I fixed us lamb burgers with buns--okay, I really went over on points. So today I was fairly careful.

Last night we had a sort of late b'day dinner for Jacob because my present for him finally arrived. It's a Spiderman (what else?) water slide but of course he wasn't much impressed last night. Jordan just called to say that at 8:30 they hadn't had dinner, hadn't done anything but play with the water slide--and Jacob absolutely was having the best time ever. Nice to score a home run from time to time.

Success as a grandmother, a scary fall, and cooking

In spite of Jacob's screaming fit early in the evening last night, I am feeling like a success as a grandmother. Jacob went peepee in the potty twice last night and twice this morning. Then he insisted on putting on his "big boy" pants--you can't tell from this blurry picture (I had a moving target) but they are Spiderman, of course.


Just after this Jacob slid on the rug in front of him and kicked up a corner; I tripped on it and went flying so hard that I had to sit there a minute. He kept saying, "I want to help you up," and holding out his little hands, which gave me a vision of both of us going down in the other direction. Landed on an elbow and a knee which hurt at the time but now are fine. But I apparently pulled muscles in my back, so that it hurts to stand up, turn a certain way, etc. Most of all it scared me. I predict a long nap coming.

This has been another cooking weekend. I worked much of yesterday morning making mashed potatoes and salmon cakes--I ate a salmon cake and Jacob ate a small portion of one. One will make my favorite sandwich at lunch, and Jordan will take one home tonight for her lunch tomorrow. Jordan and Addie came back from the party after eleven last night, having eaten pizza and not interested in my cooking. We sat on the porch for one last sip of wine, and it was most pleasant. Jacob, bless him, slept until 8:15. Apparently he does better at my house about sleeping late and using the potty. No wonder I'm proud.

Hope I do better with a cooking audience tonight. I spent part of the morning mixing lamb burgers (they have mint in them) and making a French potato salad (vinaigrette, no mayo). Still have last night's broccoli, which Christian won't eat, but he'll eat the spinach/red onion salad that goes on the burgers.


Doing a lot with recipes lately as we're editing Grace & Gumption: The Cookbook. Katie's editing text, and I'm scurrying around helping one contributor get recipes from Mexican American restaurants--she says it's very hard because so few are written down. This morning Carol, who wrote the career women chapter, brought me the recipes (original plus Carol's version) of recipes from an African American woman who made a career for herself as a chef and caterer in the 1950s and '60s. I particularly remember her frozen chili biscuits when I first moved here--you just popped them in the oven and you had an appetizer. Carol never could find the recipe, so I'm going to call some other old-timers and make sure I't not imagining things. I may take a crack at the recipes today--or I may read a novel that someone sent us to reprint.

Later: my lamburgers, mixed with mint and paprika, topped with a salad of spinach and feta, were a success--and delicous if I do say so, so now I'm way over my Weight Watchers points for the day, because we also had potato salad with vinaigrette dressing. But it was good. Jacob was full of himself, mostly because his daddy was here, and he laughed and played and screamed and swept the floor endlessly--we kept having to tell him the floor only, not walls or tables. My potty training of earlier has gone to pot (sorry about that pun) but maybe it will have some longlasting effect. And he gave sweet kisses and hugs as he left.

When I got up from my long and happy nap, I thought my back was better, but soon realized it had stiffened up while I lay there. But now, by the time I've moved around a lot, it really is better. Christian fixed my alarm system for me, and all seems well.

Back to reading and a lazy evening.

If this is what retirement is like . . . .

I may give it up before I begin. This morning I did sleep late and laze a bit over the paper and coffee, but then I did a grocery, hardware, jewelry shop (battery for a watch) run, unpacked groceries and spent about an hour and a half making salmon cakes and mashed potatoes for dinner. Oh, and I did two loads of laundry. I was really ready for a nap. After I napped, Jordan and Jacob arrived, all ready for the potato chip/beer party next door at Jay and Susan's. I took a small bottle of white wine, so I could sip out of the bottle like all the beer drinkers, but it was soon clear that Jacob was not enjoying the party--too many people he didn't know, too hot outside. So of course I was delegated to take him home and fix supper. I cooked all the salmon cakes (having been assured Jordan and her friend Arden would be back in an hour to eat), heated the mashed potatoes, cooked some broccoli, and added blueberries to Jacob's plate because he loves them. He ate one blueberry, spit it out, and said "It's yucky." Thereafter he proceeded into a screaming fit because he wanted Mommy and Addie--I explained they'd come back soon (good thing he didn't hold me to my word bcause at 10:30 I haven't seen them yet). I let him cry a while, then almost dragged him back to where I was eating dinner (darn it, I was hungry if he wasn't); he went back to the front door for some more screaming/crying (worse I've ever seen him do) and finally came to the back room because he wanted his pacifier (he's way too old for that) and froggie, his can't-live-without stuffed toy. He watched TV, I ate dinner and cleaned the kitchen, and then he came into th kitchen and said "I want my dinner." He ate all the blueberries and some of the salmon cake and said, "It's good." His mood improved considerably and, oh great triumph, he used the potty twice. We actually had a fun and pleasant evening, though he is fanatical about finding bugs on the floor and saying, "Get it, Juju." I will have to teach him about Alber Schweitzer. Also he found a plastic gun in the back of my closet that shoots stryofoam bullets, so I spent a lot of time talking about not pointing it at himself or others. Now he's sleeping (I have taken the gun out of the crib--sounds terribly uncomfortable to me), and I'm about ready to follow him. The girls are going to spend the night in the guest house, and I hope they're quiet about coming in.
Have I done a thing today that makes me feel like an author or intellectual person? Nope, except I'm still reading the mystery set in Norway--got to finish it before I go to sleep. And Lisa, with her mother born in Norway and the Norwegian relatives who visit every year, has got to read it. It's The Body in the Fjord by Katharine Hall Page. Full of Norwegian culture and food--the latter being why I started it.

Bookstore signing and the new slim me

Tonight I signed books at the Barnes & Noble in University Village near my house--sat right inside the door at a table with a stack of books, a huge poster, etc. And sold four books. How could all those smiling people resist that adorable picture of Jacob on the cover? Cold bookstore signings are often that way, though I know I got one customer because I posted the signing on Facebook. Friends Elizabeth and Weldon came by and though they've already bought two books bought a third for a friend. Biggest surprise--the daughter of an old friend came by and brought a friend--they each bought a book. Sidney's mother was one of the best friends I ever had and is mentioned in the book, even with a picture. She died about eight year ago. Sidney asked me tonight if I still missed her, and I said honestly that I really did. Sidney's youngest son--a lovely young man, bright, outgoing, cheerful--was with her, and I was delighted to see him. He's studying environmental science at Texas Tech. One woman stopped and said, "You're Judy Alter. I"m a fan!" I thanked her, and she stayed to talk--seems we belong to the same church and she talked a lot about that. And she knew about Grace & Gumption: Stories of Fort Worth Women, the TCU Press book in which I have a chapter. But she baffled me when she said she didn't read but she liked to own books. And then after all my chatting she left without buying. Some other old acquaintances came in, spoke to me about the pictures, and left without buying a book. As Jordan would say, rude, rude, rude. So really all four books went to people I already knew.
I bought some new gray pants, thinking they'd replace the worn ones I wear around the house, but they are so neat and make me look so skinny that they'll become daytime wear. For the first time today I could see that I was losing weight, and it felt good.
I have decided I'm going to coast through these last two and a half weeks of work--this morning I got my hair cut at 8:30 (it's finally really taking shape as longer hair, and I love the cut!) and then I went to Central Market because it's between the haircut place and the office. So I didn't get to work until ten o'clock. Had to call Melinda to come help me in with groceries. I can feel myself moving away, detaching from work--and strangely, I can feel myself learning to slow down. And so far I like it a lot. It was a good day--one of those when I woke up feeling good about myself and my world. Such a pleasure, because I haven't always felt that way in recent months. And tomorrow? I can sleep in!

My busy social life

For about five minutes tonight I had the most hectic social life. Jordan called to ask if she could take me up on an invitation to dinner that she had earlier rejected--Christian had a meeting or social function tonight. I said sure, and it turned out she wanted to leave Jacob, go have a drink with a friend and come back for dinner--maybe bringing the friend. I said okay, but thought that would really deplete the chopped sirloin I had on hand for dinner tonight. Not two minutes after she hung up, my good friend Linda called and asked if I had dinner plans--she was one her way from Dallas to spend the night with her mom in Fort Worth. I told her Jacob would be here but she said she always enjoyed his company. Then Jordan called and cancelled, so Linda and I had choppd steak, spinach and snow peas--and a good visit.
My computer acting really weird and I give up. Goodnight.

Technology--or why I'm glad I'm retiring

Technology frustrated me today. Amazon still lists Cooking My Way through Life with Kids and Books as a children's book available for pre-order. It is NOT a children's book, and it's been available for what? Two months? So I asked A&M to deal with that. Then I wanted to post a link to order the book from A&M on my blog, but it's not live yet on the A&M website. Another call down there, wherein my good friend Gayla assured me their new wonderful do-all-things database, called Firebrand (something I will never understand) should be up and running by next week. She was, she said, having a nervous breakdown over the glitches of transition--I urged her not to do that. Transitions to new systems are always hard, I know that. Melinda and Susan are excited about Firebrand; I am simply puzzled.
I printed out directions today for getting my phone set to receive my emails. It once was, but TCU changed the domain or server or something, and now it doesn't get them. Even Jamie couldn't figure it out this weekend, though he kept saying, "I did it before. I don't know why I can't do it now." So I brought the directions home to work with it, but you know what? I haven't had the courage to try, and by now, it's late at night and I'm just going to read. Christian is coming for supper Sunday night--I finally have Jacob's b'day present, so we'll have a belated b'day party for him--and maybe he can program my phone. He's smart about such things.
With apologies to Melinda, I also haven't gotten to the proofs for her book on Texas wineries, but I'm just not going to try tonight. It's late and I wouldn't be bright about proofing.
Had a nice dinner with Betty at the restaurant where we usually order and split the tapas platter--only tonight it was stuffed peppers (I hate peppers) and clams (never eaten them, not sure about them, though I do love shellfish and seafood). We split trout with cream sauce, mashed potatoes, and steamed vegetables. I only ate a tiny bit of the potatoes, and the whole meal came in under my Weight Watchers points--okay, I neglected to tell the computer about the cream sauce because I didn't know how to classify it and besides, it wasn't that much! The restaurant where we went, Sapristi, specializes in mussels, which Charles loves. I have promised to take him soon. The first time I took him there for mussels, he was puzzled by the menu--there was green sauce, white sauce, red sauce, and so on. When the waitress asked what he wanted, he said, "I don't know. They didn't come in colors when I was a kid."
Three more weeks, to the day, until I retire. I'm beginning to get excited about it--and my balance has greatly improved. I think retirement really will be a new adventure--and I won't have to keep learning new technology. As I filed some stuff today, I thought "Who's going to take care of these things when I'm out of here?" but I also felt a sense of relief that it wouldn't be me.