Link Love 9.30.10

What caught my eye around the web this week:

Not to sure about this one but evidently, if you want perfect jeans you shouldn't wash them.  This article at Smart Spending caught my eye as it came by on Twitter.  Personal hygiene issues aside, if you have jeans with a little stretch in them, they lose their shape pretty quickly and you have to wash them to get it back, don't you?

Eating local is a wonderful idea but have you ever thought about what it would mean to be a strict locavore?  Virginia Postrel has and in this excellent article in the Wall Street Journal she gives us a peek into the reality.

Big Little Wolf is wondering whatever happened to flowers; and notes and chance meetings.  Is it really Match.com or nothing?  I hope not.

Have you ever thought about making your own goat cheese?  Scordo has and he's got a recipe.  Tantalizing!

I'm still making my way west towards Houston.  Right now I'm in Oxford, MS visiting my son.  I should finally arrive in Houston on Saturday afternoon, ready to settle in at my new housesit!

The Coming of Autumn

This month's Stadler Nursery post is about autumn!

Cheryl lives with her husband and their three cats in a 100-year-old house in the beautiful state of Maryland. She has a degree in horticulture from the University of Maryland and has been the manager of Stadler Nurseries in Maryland and Virginia for over 20 years. Become a fan of Stadler Nurseries on Facebook to find out what's going on in the gardening world!

If you would like to submit a guest post for SimplyForties please check the guidelines here.

 Baker Park, Frederic, Maryland

At last.  Fall is here, with its promise of cool nights and warm days.  Perfect planting weather.    Here in Maryland, we’ve just finished with the hottest summer on record.  It was brutal, with 75 days of temperatures over 90 degrees.  Of those, 12 days were over 100 degrees.  These temperatures, coupled with severe drought conditions in which we received less than half the expected rainfall, made for a rough summer for gardeners.

In my own garden, the only plants that did really well were the weeds!  They certainly got ahead of me this year, probably because it was just too hot to take my usual evening stroll around the garden when I got home from work, checking out the flowers and pulling a few weeds.  This habit usually keeps me ahead of the game, but not this year.  Most evenings, I just scurried from my air-conditioned car to my air-conditioned house with hardly a glance for my poor parched garden.

But now it’s Fall.  With temperatures in the 70s and a nice breeze to blow the humidity away, it’s time to assess the garden and plan for next year.  I like to take pictures in the garden throughout the year, partly to help me remember what it looks like at each season.    With different plants coming into bloom and then fading away all the time, it’s hard to remember that last spring I was thinking I needed to add some white to a particular area without a photo to remind me.    This is especially helpful when deciding where to plant more spring-blooming bulbs, such as daffodils and crocus.  Their foliage is long gone from last spring’s show, but I have my pictures to remind me where they were and where I need to add even more. 

My small garden is so full now that in order to add anything new, I have to take something out.  I purchased a shrub a month or so ago that I have been wanting since last year.  It’s a new dwarf form of the popular Hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’ called ‘Little Lime’.  It’s still in its pot on the patio, partly because it’s been just too darn hot to think of digging a hole and partly because I haven’t decided which plant or plants will have to go to make room for it.    I do have some re-seeders in my garden that have taken over more than their allotted space, so I’m sure I’ll be able to do a bit of rearranging and find a home for my new addition. 

I’m happy that Fall is here.  I love the colors of autumn, all the reds, golds and browns.  I am especially happy this year to be able to put this cooker of a summer behind me.   My garden persisted in spite of my inattention.  Now it’s time to get out there and reward it with some TLC and a plan for next spring.  Gardeners are eternal optimists.  There’s always next year!

Decorated Sugar Cookies:The Daring Bakers' September Challenge

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking. 

We were challenged to decorate our cookies to reflect what September means to us.  To me September means change.  At the end I was completely unable to translate that into a cookie. I'm currently visiting my sister in Atlanta and signs of the great Georgia/Alabama college football rivalry are everywhere so ultimately I decided to go that route.

This month's challenge was a bit of an eye-opener for me.  "Decorated Sugar Cookies?", I thought, "I'm a mom, I've made a million decorated sugar cookies, how challenging could it be?"  Mandy asked up to step up our game and I decided that I would make it challenging for me by trying to use professional techniques.  

First up, make the sugar cookies.  These cookies are made without a leavening agent, which makes them easier to cut into intricate shapes and easier to decorate.  

Basic Sugar Cookies: 

Makes approximately 36 x 10cm / 4 inch cookies 

200g / 7oz / ••• cup + 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, at room temperature 

400g / 14oz / 3 cups + 3 Tbsp All Purpose / Plain Flour 

200g / 7oz / 1 cup Caster Sugar / Superfine Sugar 

1 Large Egg, lightly beaten 

5ml / 1 tsp Vanilla Extract / Or seeds from 1 vanilla bean 

Directions: 

Cream together the butter, sugar and any flavourings you’re using. Beat until just becoming creamy in texture. 

Tip: Don’t over mix otherwise you’ll incorporate too much air and the cookies will spread during baking, losing their shape. 

Beat in the egg until well combined, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. 

Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms. 

Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces. 

Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5mm/1/5 inch (0.2 inch) 

Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins. 

Tip: Recipes commonly just wrap the whole ball of dough in clingwrap and then refrigerate it for an hour or overnight, but by rolling the dough between parchment, this shortens the chilling time and then it’s also been rolled out while still soft making it easier and quicker. 

Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface. 

Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife. 

Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30mins to an hour. 

Tip: It’s very important you chill them again otherwise they’ll spread while baking. 

Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up. 

Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C Fan Assisted) / 350°F / Gas Mark 4. 

Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies. 

Tip: Bake same sized cookies together otherwise mixing smaller with larger cookies could result in some cookies being baked before others are done. 

Tip: Rotate baking sheets half way through baking if your oven bakes unevenly. 

Leave to cool on cooling racks. 

Once completely cooled, decorate as desired. 

I had just under a cup of almond flour left from the pierogi challenge so I successfully substituted the almond flour for an equal amount of regular flour.

After the cookies were completely cooled I made up a batch of royal icing.

Royal Icing Using Egg Whites:

2 large (60 grams) egg whites
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
3 cups (330 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted


Combine egg whites and lemon juice.  Add confectioners sugar until desired consistency.  Royal icing hardens quickly when exposed to air so use immediately or cover with plastic wrap.

Now for the surprisingly tricky part, decorating the cookies.  My brother-in-law is a baker and, since all my things, including my cake tips, are in storage, I borrowed a pastry bag and a tip from him.  The first technique for decorating the cookies is called flooding.  In flooding you use a slightly thicker consistency icing to draw an outline and then "flood" it with a slightly thinner consistency.

I flooded my cookies with white frosting to provide a canvas for my design.  My thinner flooding icing never completed melded with the thicker outline icing so I was left with a distinct outline.

Since I only had one pastry bag and one tip I had to wash them between each color application, which was a little time consuming.  I had chosen to make Crimson Tide "A's", University of Georgia "G's" and footballs so, after I finished with the white I moved on to black for the G's.  Creating black icing defeated me so I ran to the grocery store and bought some black decorating frosting.  That can of frosting proved much more difficult to maneuver precisely than the pastry bag so my G's looked pretty bad.

Next up, red for the A's.  In an effort to get just the right crimson color, I ruined my first batch of red so I added some more colors and it became the brown of the footballs.  I made the red over, settled for a fairly pinkie red and finished up my cookies.  

At the end I was unhappy with my results and had developed a much greater respect for all those beautiful cookies you see in the stores and on television.  Making beautifully decorated sugar cookies is HARD WORK!  I learned that the consistency of the icing is paramount.  My A's looked pretty good until the too thin icing ran together.  My footballs, which seemed easy, suffered the same fate.

In the middle of my move I didn't have time to redo these until I was happy with them but when I get settled I'm definitely giving this challenge another shot!

Thanks Mandy for what turned out to be a trickier challenge than I anticipated!

Roasted Tomato Garlic Mushroom Risotto

Here's a great mid-season recipe.  You're getting ready for fall food but you still have fresh soft herbs and tomatoes from the garden.

fresh soft herbs – oregano, thyme, basil, mint, etc., washed & roughly chopped/torn – approx. 2-3T total – mix together

2T olive oil

1 onion, finely diced

1 fennel bulb, finely diced (optional)

8 whole cloves garlic, peeled (remember, when you roast garlic it becomes sweet and mild, so this isn’t as much as it seems)

2 large or approx. 4 or 5 small tomatoes

Salt & Pepper

1 pkg. dried mushrooms, probably about a 3 oz. pkg.

1 C chicken stock, warmed

1C dry white wine, room temperature

1 C Arborio rice

1 lemon

¾ - 1 C grated parmesan or similar cheese.

Put dried mushrooms in 1 cup hot water, set aside.

In oven proof skillet (or small roasting pan), add olive oil, ½ of the onions, garlic, fennel & herbs.  Core tomatoes.  If they are large, cut in half, place on top of other veg., add 2T chicken stock – put the skillet in the oven at 400º to roast – approx. 30- 40 minutes, let cool, take tomato skins out, rough chop tomatoes, set aside everything from frying pan including juices.

Drain mushrooms, saving liquid.  In a 3 qt sauce pan add 2T olive oil & the remaining finely diced onions.  Sauté until translucent – add rice, sauté until shiny & each grain is covered in oil (approx. 2-3 minutes), add 1 cup dry white wine, let absorb into rice, stirring only occasionally, add reserved mushroom liquid, let absorb, stirring only occasionally, add warmed chicken stock & let absorb, stirring only occasionally.  When final liquid has absorbed, stir in cheese and mushrooms.  Stir in vegetable mixture.  Add juice of 1 lemon (approx. 1T), stir.  Serve, topped with a little additional grated cheese & a little extra virgin olive oil.

2 large or 4 side servings.

CardMobili: A Review

Bucksome Boomer brought this free app to my attention a couple of weeks ago.  I was so excited to hear about it that I immediately downloaded it to my iPhone.  This is an app I've been waiting for!  CardMobili is designed to store all those frequent shopper numbers that everyone has these days.  It's a virtual keyring of the pesky little cards.  I always have my phone with me but I'm forever finding myself in the grocery store without my little membership card.  Or checking into a hotel and not being sure if I belong to their club.  I never know what any of my membership numbers are. I've been trying CardMobii for the past week and I love it so I thought I'd give you a little more detail.   More than just a list of card numbers, CardMobili replicates the card and its barcode.  I even input my frequent flyer card numbers and my AAA card.

Once you add all your cards, opening the app will present you with an alphabetized list.

With the iPhone turned on it's side, the view can be switched to see all your cards graphically.  This view allows you to scroll through the cards.

Choose your card and you'll see the barcode.  Tap again and you'll get a screen-sized view of the barcode that you or the store clerk can swipe across the reader.  I tried this at Ingles grocery store and the card reader would not pick up the image.  The clerk was happy to input the number and we were fine.

CardMobili is available for the iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Windows Mobile.  It's a free app so download it, create your account and start inputting your cards.  It's my new favorite!

Crosby, Stills & Nash in Knoxville

I had an extraordinary experience down front at the Crosby, Stills and Nash concert at the Tennessee Theatre on Monday night.  CSN (and sometimes Y) were a major voice of the late-sixties and early seventies and to those of us who were alive and rocking during that tumultuous period, they are legends.  The Vietnam War, Kent State, Woodstock; they were our voice.  Out front waiting for the doors to open a man worked the line seeking an extra ticket to the sold out show.  I heard someone near me say, "you can't have mine, I've been waiting 44 years for this."  No one was giving up their seat.

The house erupted when the guys walked on stage and didn't quiet down for at least ten minutes.  With a big, "hello Knoxville", a comment on what a spectacular place the Tennessee Theatre is for making music and an urging by David Crosby not to ever let it be turned into a McDonald's, the boys swung into "Woodstock", which brought the house down again.  One after another they belted out the old favorites, urging us to sing along, which we did with much enthusiasm.  In one particularly touching moment, Crosby joked about how, before they go out on tour they always decide what song by "a certain tall Canadian" they are going to sing, which led into "Long May You Run". Crosby said it was to let Neil know how they feel about him.  Beautiful

After a short break Graham Nash said they had some surprises for us, which led into a set of mostly Beatle covers with a little Allman Brothers mixed in.  Crosby laughingly said they were going to make a record of all the songs they wished they'd written.  If we liked them, he said, they'd record them.  We liked them all!  

Graham Nash is 68, Stephen Stills is 65 and David Crosby is 69 and they all look their age.  They don't sound it.  Stills remains a talented guitarist who doesn't seem afflicted by the arthritis that is distorting the hands of some of his contemporaries and Crosby's voice is still full and rich.  Nash urbanely sipped a glass of red wine onstage and they all joked and laughed throughout the show.  These guys have been together for over forty years now and clearly are at peace with each other.  They were a pleasure to watch.

After three encores and Crosby entreating us to please let them go to bed, the show ended with at least fifteen minutes of shouting, clapping, hollering and stamping by an exhilarated audience.

As I listened to this folk rock supergroup going through their greatest hits I was struck by how topical their anti-war lyrics and their pleas for us to be aware of "what's going down" in Washington are today.  Thirty years later we're still in need of the message and they're still delivering it.  Guys, long may you run!

Link Love 9.23.10

I'm in the middle of packing up and moving away from East Tennessee this week and I haven't done a whole lot of Internet browsing.  Having said that, I did manage to find a few interesting things to share -

Anthony Bourdain has a new book, Medium Raw, on the market.  Michael Ruhlman has excerpted Bourdain's answer about the value of culinary school in So You Wanna Be a Chef?  Whether or not you are a fan of Bourdain's, it's good advice.

Following the culinary theme, did you ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes in the best restaurant in the country?  A San Francisco Chronicle writer goes backstage at The French Laundry.  Fascinating.

Pur aside your expensive beauty products and give honey a try.  That's right, honey!  Over Forty and Loving It has some great uses for honey.

Did you know we had a week?  I sure didn't but this is it!  Happy Unmarried & Single Americans Week! :)

All the Wrinkled Ladies - :)



I snagged this from Time Goes By's Interesting Stuff post and it's just plain funny -

Living Retired

This is a guest post by Carma who is joining the team here at  SimplyForties as a regular monthly contributor.  Carma is a very active retiree, living a good life down in Florida.  She's also my mother!  I think you'll enjoy her point of view.

The time you’ve been waiting for has arrived - you are retiring! Now what? You

will revel in not having to set an alarm, in having all this time to yourself - time to read, lay at the pool, walk, workout on your own schedule, take an afternoon nap, stay up late with a book or movie. When this “freedom” starts to pall a little bit, you clean closets, drawers, sort clothes - well you get the picture - and then you gradually shape your new life.

If you have been involved in a sport, hobby or volunteer activity prior to retirement, that is something to be going on with. If not, I recommend making a start at finding that special extracurricular “something” so you won’t have to start from scratch when you do retire. It’s easier to take on more activities than it is to start from nothing and I suggest to you that your life now will be richer for having added this new dimension.

My husband and I are in our 74^th year and he has been retired for 20 years (me nearly as long from my last job, which was part-time) so we have this lifestyle down pretty pat. We’ve been married 54 years, love each other and even like each other most of the time. We are very fortunate in having adequate financial resources to live as we wish. We do things together but also have a lot of separate activities, which makes for good retirement living.

Reading is a big thing for us and we make good use of our local library. There is golf, bridge, some volunteer work, travel and an acceptance of the fact that we don’t have to be “doing something” all time. Also, an afternoon nap never hurts! Sound boring? It suits us.

I try to schedule at least an annual visit to each of our scattered children, and am happy that one of them lives nearby. We like our children and their spouses and consider them friends, as I hope they do us. Our grandchildren (mostly adults now) are terrific, too.

We are in our third home as retirees and who knows what will happen next? Life’s adventures don’t stop just because we have retired.

How well does the retired life function if one needs to supplement an income, be a caregiver, is in poor health? I have no personal experience of this yet but do see changes around us. The severity of today’s economic problems has affected acquaintances here in our community; some more than others. There are several homes here that are in foreclosure. There are couples who have moved away, those who have resigned the country club, or have changed their memberships to a less expensive level. Some people are now working who did not work before or are working longer.

Are you or your parents living the retired life? Are you a caregiver? How do you manage your time if you are? Does this life sound foreign to you? How you will arrange your time when you are retired?

Asheville, NC - The Biltmore Estate

On the second day of my Asheville adventure, I went to the Biltmore Estate.  The largest private home in the country, going to the Biltmore is what you do when you are in Ashevile.  Completed in 1895, Biltmore House was designed as a country getaway by architect Richard Morris Hunt for bachelor George W. Vanderbilt.  This place is crazy.  Biltmore features 4 acres of floor space, 250 rooms, 34 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms (at the time when indoor plumbing was still a rarity) and 65 fireplaces.  The basement houses an indoor swimming pool, gymnasium, changing rooms, bowling alley, servants' quarters, kitchens and supply rooms.  There are two large rooms devoted exclusively to flower arranging.

For such an enormous house, the living spaces felt warm and cozy, which is quite a feat.  I took the audio tour, which I recommend.  You can move along at your own pace, listening to descriptions and anecdotes.   There are knowledgeable docents throughout the property ready to answer any questions the audio tour doesn't cover.  You weren't allowed to take photographs inside the house so I have none to share.

It was incredibly impressive and I'm glad I went through the house.  Amazed as I was, as I walked through, marveling at the beautiful artwork, furniture and knick knacks, all I could think was - why?  What would possess someone to build this place?  And a single man at that.  I understand house parties, I understand large numbers of guests but I just don't understand this enormous house.  As a point of comparison, Bill Gates' house is 66,000 square feet.  Mar-A-Lago, a former home of  Donald Trump, built in the 20's by Marjorie Merriweather Post is 110,000 square feet.  Bilmore is 175,000 square feet.  Crazy.

The grounds of Biltmore, created by New York Central Park designer Frederick Law Olmstead are a completely different story.  Covering 120,000 acres (Central Park is 843 acres), the gardens are a magical place.  As much as I don't understand the house, I totally get, appreciate and am thankful for the grounds.  What a fabulous place.  Near to the house are beautiful formal gardens.  There is a large conservatory, water gardens, rose gardens and, while I was there, the famous flower carpet display.

Water gardens visible from the house.

Flower carpet

For me the real magic existed away from the house.  If you go, walk all the way to the waterfall, stopping frequently to look back and appreciate the different angles and views that Olmstead incorporated into the garden's design.  This is a garden built on a grand scale.  With 120,000 acres to play with, Olmstead was thinking about enormous trees and great swathes of grasslands.  In addition to the big views, enchanting little spaces are tucked in everywhere.  Little creeks, bog gardens, azalea displays, and wonderful little nooks with stone benches set in the best place to appreciate the beauty are scattered throughout the grounds.

bass pond and boat house

My pictures definitely don't do justice to the gardens.  They were just too big for me to capture.

I visited the estate on a weekday after school was in session so there weren't that many people about.  Even fewer took the 3/4 mile walk from the house to the waterfall.  Most of the time I was completely alone and the peace and tranquility of the place was amazing.  At one point I chanced upon a dozen large pileated woodpeckers, flying from tree to tree, calling to each other.  It was incredible.

I finally tore myself away from the gardens, feeling very calm and centered, and drove to Antler Hill Village for a late lunch and a visit to the Biltmore winery.  I had originally planned to eat at the Arbor Grill but because it was a beautiful day I chose to eat outside at the Bistro instead.  The menu was enticing but the food was disappointingly mediocre.

The colors in the formal gardens were bold and eye-catching.

After lunch I headed into the winery where I joined a short, interesting tour, which finished up in the tasting room.  Biltmore Estates produces about 50 different wines and I imagine thousands of people trail through there so the tasting experience is a little different than that with which I am more familiar.  You start out in the "free" tasting room with a list of wines and a whole lot of other guests bellied up to the bar with you.  You are allowed to request tastes of however many wines you'd like to experience in whatever order you request them.  When you're finished in the free tasting room you proceed into the shop where you can purchase the wines and wine-related gee-gaws.

The shop also features a premium wine tasting area where you can purchase tastes of Biltmore's premium wines at $3 each or 3 for $8.  The tasting experience in the premium area was a lot more pleasant.  Staffed by a very knowledgeable winery employee, you again made your choices and were presented with your tastes.  There were only two other tasters with me in the premium area.  I probably tasted 7 premium wines and, presumably since I was clearly buying, was only charged $8.  I ended up with a mixed case of very nice wines, including an impressive cabernet franc.

When I wrote the original article about choosing my destination I posed the question, "Is Biltmore Estate worth the $55 entry fee?".  The answer - definitely!  I had a great day.  I wouldn't go into the house again but was really glad I saw it.  I arrived at Biltmore House about 10:00 a.m. and finally headed out around 4:30 p.m.

Flower carpet close-up.  The bright blue center is crushed glass.

As I said yesterday, I'm only sorry I didn't get to Asheville sooner so I could go back.  I met a lot of friendly people who are proud of their town and what it has to offer.  I also met a lot of visitors who had made multiple trips to the area and planned to keep coming back.  It's a charming place with the youthful vibrancy common to small towns with colleges.  If you're anywhere around, be sure and make a stop in Asheville, North Carolina, I know you'll enjoy it!

Asheville, NC - A Fun City!

A couple of weeks ago I was trying to decide between a visit to Asheville, NC and a visit to Nashville, TN and I asked you what you thought.  The response here, on Twitter and on Facebook was resoundingly in favor of Asheville.  Now I know why.

I took a two-day trip to Asheville and really liked it.  My only regret is that I didn't go sooner so I could go again!  I booked myself into the very cool, very contemporary Hotel Indigo in downtown Asheville.  My plan was to spend the first afternoon exploring downtown and the second day out at the Biltmore Estate.  I booked a walking food tour for 2pm my first afternoon and headed out on my drive through the lovely Smoky Mountains National Park.

When I got to Asheville it was too early to check into the hotel so I left my car in their garage and walked over to the Grove Arcade to meet my tour guide.  The Grove Arcade was built in the 1920's by E.W. Grove who understood the value of a vibrant downtown and wanted to create the most elegant building in America.  Today the Grove contains shops, restaurants, offices and living space.  At 269,000 square feet it remains one of the largest commercial buildings in western North Carolina.  I bought a pair of simple Stuart Nye earrings at Mountain Made and tried on some shoes at the Jazzy Giraffe.  It's an neat place to wander around.

I met Chris from Asheville Food Tours and the two other couples who were taking the tour and off we went.  What a great way to see downtown Asheville!  Our first stop was Kilwins candy and ice cream shop.  After a brief introduction by the manager we were treated to a scoop of Asheville Mud ice cream, delicious, and a piece of handmade fudge, also delicious.  Our next stop was The Spice and Tea Exchange.  No food to eat here but so many fantastic smells!  The shop owner told us about her business and then turned us loose to wander around smelling teas, spices and salts.  Next up was Mela Indian Restaurant where we were served an array of small bites of delicious Indian dishes.

Eating pasta at Fiore's Ristorante Toscanna we managed to wheedle a glass of wine from their excellent cellar.  Next up was Posana.  Posana uses locally sourced, antibiotic free, organic products to create an exceptional menu.  Upon arrival we were served a glass of their homemade peach soda, which is probably the most refreshing thing I've ever drunk. and some chicken satay.  While we walked from place to place, Chris shared his vast store of local history in an interesting and entertaining way.   Our final stop was Barley's Taproom and Pizzeria.  Barley's claim to fame is 27 taps of local and regional craft brews.  We were served a slice and a glass of local beer.

The tour was complete at 4:30pm and we were turned loose with a good idea of what there was to do in downtown Asheville.  Lots of cute shops and great restaurants to visit!

Having some experience with hip, young people in a trendy place (the very arty Marfa, Texas being just down the road from my old hometown) and their tendency to look down their noses at less cool, older people like me, I was not sure what to expect when I walked into the extremely contemporary lobby of the Hotel Indigo, which appeared to be staffed solely by twenty-somethings.  Much to my surprise and delight every single person I dealt with from front desk to housekeeping to bistro staff was warm, friendly and welcoming and made me feel like they were thrilled to be able to share their neat hotel with me.

I ended up having dinner in the Indigo Bistro, which was exceptional, before turning in for the night.

Tune in tomorrow for the Biltmore, an adventure in itself!

Cherry Tomatoes Packed in Oil

This month's Daring Cooks' Challenge was about preserving food.  Unfortunately I had to decline participation as I'm right in the middle of moving and just couldn't get this one together.  In the spirit of the challenge here's a good way to keep some of summer's bounty going a little longer.

My cherry tomatoes, in fact all of my tomatoes, did very poorly this year.  If you had better luck you're probably up to your ears in the little buggers by now.  Try this method to preserve a whole bunch of them easily and quickly!

Cherry Tomatoes
Small onions (baby or maybe pearl) or shallots
Cider vinegar or lemon juice (1-2 tablespoons per 16 oz jar)
Fresh basil, tarragon, oregano etc to taste
Coarse salt
Olive oil
Canning jars and lids

Tomatoes must be firm and ripe. If you're using another type, select the smallest ones (no bigger than a tangerine).

Wash and dry the tomatoes. Peel several of the onions or shallots.

Prepare scalded or sterilized 16 ounce jars. Fill them with tomatoes, alternating with a few onions and herbs. When the jars are filled to about one and a half inches from the rim, sprinkle with a pinch of coarse salt. Add one or two tablespoons or cider vinegar or lemon juice, and cover with olive oil.

Close the jars with a very clean lid, and store them in a rather cool place (50 to 59 degrees F) (think fridge). The tomatoes will be ready to eat in two to three months and will keep for up to a year. They go well served with grains or with meat.

Ann Duran, St. Front France

From Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning

Plantar Fasciitis - the new black?

Do your heels hurt like you stepped on a rock but the pain will not go away?  Do your feet hurt when you get out of bed in the morning and then slowly get better as the day goes by, only to flare up again after periods of inactivity?  Are you exercising a lot or are you heavier than you used to be?

You may be suffering from plantar fasciitis and if you are, you are not alone.  In fact, based on the small and informal poll I’ve been taking lately, it seems like everyone has this problem.  Obviously that’s an exaggeration but every time I bring it up, every woman around me says they're suffering.

Plantar fasciitis is irritation and swelling of the thick tissue on the bottom of the foot, the plantar fascia.  This tissue runs from the heel bone towards the base of the toes.  Its job is to support the arch of the foot.  It’s important to know that even though the pain is in the heel, the issue is with the arch.

Luckily there are lots of ways to deal with plantar fasciitis.  Some remedies are very expensive and some aren’t.  The main issue is supporting the arch, stretching the muscles and being patient.

           

Shop around because many seemingly identical products are available at both ends of the price spectrum.  For example night splints designed to hold the foot at the correct angle:

can run anywhere from about $50 to over $200.  According to a study done by the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine custom orthotics are no more effective than off-the shelf orthotics so you might want to try the $50 Dr. Scholl's variety before investing in pricier models.

I don't know if plantar fasciitis is genetic (or the causes are just extremely common) but my mother, both my sisters, my younger brother, his oldest daughter and I have all suffered or do suffer from this ailment.  My mother and one of my sisters bought expensive speciality shoes, my other sister and my niece used custom orthotics, my brother, who was trying to walk a million steps, eased off.  I decided to halt my five-mile-a-day walk for a month, wear arch support bands all my waking hours and use the Dr. Scholl's orthotics in my tennis shoes.  All of us have had varied success with our chosen remedies.

The arch support braces or arch bandages, which have helped me, are about $6 each and can be found at drug stores like Walgreens.  They look like a little loop of Ace bandage.  Here they are on Amazon - 

I was getting my hair done the other day and one of the women in my area noticed and commented on my arch bands.  During the course of the conversation every woman within hearing distance (all of us about the same age) said they had this problem.

Stretching, which is free, helps a lot too.  Concentrate on stretching your calf muscles by flexing and pointing your feet.  Stretch in the morning before you get out of bed and then stretch throughout the day.

I'm certainly not advocating that you skip seeing your podiatrist for foot pain but if you have heel pain that will not go away you might be suffering from plantar fasciitis.  Don't ignore it.  Do some research, shop around and get yourself some relief.

Link Love 9.16.10

Here are some of the articles I enjoyed around the web this week:

Alunatunes is thinking about the fire that needs to burn within each of us to keep us moving forward.

I have been waiting for this for quite a while!  Bucksome Boomer turned me on to a new app that allows you to input all those little frequent shopper cards you have on your keyring.  It's called CardMobili and I'm testing it out.

Jeff over at My Super-Charged Life has a good article on how to recognize if you're living too small of a life and what to do about it.

Donna Friedman is sounding off about immigration at Surviving and Thriving.  I agree that there is way too much anger and way too little information out there.

and in a somewhat similar vein

Funny About Money is also worrying about Fear and Loathing in America the Beautiful.  I don't know how we're gong to turn this around and it scares me.  One of her commentators said it perfectly, "Things just seem to be getting uglier in America these days".

Carnival Cruise Lines

My mother, my two sisters and I recently took a cruise to the Bahamas.  This is our second cruise together, the first one being on Norwegian Cruise Lines.

This time around we had some pretty specific criteria.  We all wanted to drive to the port and, coming from Maryland, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida that limited us to Charleston.  We also had a small window in which all of us were available for travel.  Carnival was the only cruise line that had a trip to fit our needs.

Well aware of Carnival's reputation as a party line for 20-somethings, we were a little nervous about booking with them but we figured we could manage.  We booked a 6-night cruise that included Nassau, Freeport and Key West.  Price-wise Carnival is 1st tier and at approximately $500 per person for two connecting outside cabins, it was a pretty economical trip.

Worried about excessive drunkenness onboard ship and lots of noise late at night (we're getting a little old for that sort of thing), we made our plans and headed out.  We arrived in Charleston the night before we sailed and had a delicious dinner at Poogan's Porch in downtown, historic Charleston.  As an aside, Charleston is one of my favorite cities and I was sorry I didn't have more time to spend there.

Having done extensive research online, my sisters had us booked into a large room at the Hampton Inn, North Charleston, which offered free breakfast and a free shuttle to and from the port with the ability to leave our cars in the hotel parking lot, saving us the $15/day it costs to park at the port.

The Port of Charleston is primarily a commercial port that is struggling to bring in cruise traffic.  Along those lines they are building a new terminal, which should help with the problem of dealing with 2,000 people arriving at the same time.  Again thanks to the research, we knew to arrive very early and basically strolled right through the embarkation procedures.

We had fun on the cruise and were pleasantly surprised that our fears of loud, hard partying young people were unfounded.  Most cruise lines push their "Drink of the Day" and Carnival was no exception but they weren't overly intrusive about it.  The onboard activities were pretty standard; trivia games, talent shows, parties on the Lido Deck, karaoke, etc.  You were free to participate or not, as you chose.  We took some time to find a quiet, comfortable place on the ship and played cards most afternoons.

In an effort to respond to NCL's popular FreeStyle Dining, which allows you to eat anytime you want at any of the numerous onboard "restaurants", Carnival is trying out MyTime Dining.  While most passengers are still choosing between early and late dinning and are assigned to one of two big dinning rooms, MyTime diners can present themselves at the maitre 'd stand at the larger of the two dining rooms and ask to be seated.  We chose MyTime dining and were happy with the result.  Several evenings we didn't have to wait at all and when we did, our maximum wait time was about 15 minutes.  They give you a buzzer a la Olive Garden, which goes off when your table is ready.

Debarking at the various destination ports was pretty simple and all of our shore excursions went off without a hitch.  We had a good time and would certainly do it again.

On the negative side, Carnival has a more liberal smoking policy than many lines and as a result, there are a lot more smokers onboard.  We don't smoke so that was kind of a problem.  Every cruise line has several bars, each with a different sort of music.  When we cruise we like to find one that has comfortable seats and quieter music (we really sound old don't we?!).  Unfortunately, all the places like that on the Fantasy were smoking places.  You even had to walk through the cigar bar to get to one of the performance lounges.  That was pretty off-putting to us.

We were surprised that there was not a big show every night as we like the flow of sushi and drinks, then dinner, the big show and finally the late show.  There were only big shows and late night shows on 3 of our six nights.

The food was only okay; with some excellent exceptions, it was unremarkable and that was disappointing.

At the end of the cruise most lines allow you to choose between walking off with your luggage early or putting it outside your cabin the night before for the porters to take and then walking off the ship when called, picking up your luggage in the terminal.  We chose to let them haul our baggage and were still off the ship by 10:00 a.m.

We met our niece, who lives in Charleston, for a pleasant and delicious lunch downtown at Slightly North of Broad (known as SNOB), collected our cars and headed for our homes.  Overall a successful trip.

If you are attracted by Carnival's bargain prices but concerned about the atmosphere onboard ship, don't be.  It was fine.  We'd all do it again!

Reverse Ageism

Reverse ageism, those little comments we make that subtly put down people who are younger than we are.  You know what I'm talking about.  "You're so cute", to the 20-year-old sales girl.  "Oh honey, you have no idea", to anyone younger than us making a statement about something with which we feel we have more experience, based solely on the fact that we've been dealing with it longer.  "You're so lucky, I'm getting a little too old for that!", said smilingly because we know we're not too old for it, we're just older than the person with whom we're speaking.

Reverse ageism smilingly invalidates anything that the younger person has to say.  It clearly and pointedly says, "you're not old enough to know what you're talking about".  It doesn't matter how old the person on the receiving end is, they just have to be younger than the person delivering the put down.  In my experience it's those who are just a little older that tend to be the worst transgressors.  Eighty-year-olds don't seem to feel it's necessary to put a forty-nine-year-old in her place, that's the job of the fifty-three-year-old.

It's like a sorority where you hated being hazed when you were a freshman but couldn't wait to join in as an upper-classman.  I don't think most of us even realize we're doing it, or what a put-down it is.  When you're consistently the youngest in your crowd you consistently receive the treatment.  When you're the oldest, you tend not to be aware of it.

Why do we do it?  Is it some sort of signal that "we" have arrived, while the younger person is still struggling up the hill?  Getting older is hard work but do we really want to celebrate our arrival in this fashion?  Must we validate ourselves by invalidating someone else?  While I can't stop it from raining down from above, the buck is stopping here, as it were, for me.  I'm pledging to be aware of what I say and, even if it is not meant in a negative way, no more reverse ageist comments are coming out of my mouth.

What do you think?  Do you make these little comments?  Are you aware of their impact?  Or are you more frequently the recipient?  How does a reverse ageist comment make you feel?

Hands vs. Machines

Cooking consists of numerous steps requiring several skills. Some of the steps can be carried out with a machine and some by hand. There are certain steps which, while they can be carried out with a machine, the ability to do them by hand is still valuable.

Which skills are important to master by hand and which can and should be delegated to a machine? Deciding can be both subjective and personal. In 1961 Julia Child, writing about making pastry dough in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, said, “A pastry blender may be used if you wish, but a necessary part of learning how to cook is to get the feel of the dough in your fingers.” Seventeen years later in Julia Child’s Menu Cookbook, Ms. Child said, “Of course you can make the dough by hand or in an electric mixer, but the food processor is sensationally fast and foolproof…” I guess even the venerable Julia Child never stopped learning and adapting and neither should we.

I never make pastry dough by hand, preferring to use the food processor. On the other hand, although I normally use machines to whip egg whites to stiff peaks and make mayonnaise, I believe it is important to be able to do both by hand. It’s hard work and not something I do as a matter of course, but I have successfully conquered both skills.

It’s easy to make perfect rice in a rice cooker or bread in a bread machine but can you do both without these specialty appliances? I knead bread dough with my KitchenAide stand mixer. I can certainly do it by hand and I have but normally I don’t. Knowing how the dough feels when it’s ready is important, kneadng it until your arms are ready to fall off isn’t something that is important to me. I’ve never had a rice cooker but the principal’s the same. I’d want to know how to do it in a saucepan on the stovetop before I gave it up to the appliance.

Even for home cooks, good knife skills are extremely important. Uniform dicing leads to uniform cooking. The proper use of sharp knives leads to less injuries and better looking food. Mastering the art of the mandoline is also a skill but I think it’s important to be able to turn out thin, uniform slices, dices and juliennes with a knife before you turn to the handy, time-saving mandoline.

The passage of time plays some part in the evolution of cooking skills. I've never churned butter and, other than grilling, don't cook on a fire. I'm perfectly content with my oven and store-bought butter. Neither of these are skills I'm particularly interested in mastering. If you've ever read a really old cookbook you know how hard it is to even understand some of the instructions.

Would you like to try mayonnaise by hand? Here's the recipe I use. It's copied verbatim from my old Mastering the Art of French Cooking (italicized notes are mine and yes, this is exactly the way this wonderful, classic book is written):

For 2 - 2 3/4 cups of Hand-beaten Mayonnaise

Use a round-bottomed 2 1/2 - 3 quart glazed pottery, glass or stainless-steel mixing bowl. Set it in a heavy casserole or sauce-pan to keep it from slipping (I put it on a damp, folded dish towel).

3 egg yolks

A large wire whisk

1 tablespoon wine vinegar or lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon dry or prepared mustard

2 tablespoons boiling water

1 1/2 to 2 1/4 cups of olive oil, salad oil or a mixture of each, if you are a novice, use the minimum amount

Points to remember when making mayonnaise by hand:

Temperature - Mayonnaise is easiest to make when all ingredients are at normal room temperature. Warm the mixing bowl in hot water to take the chill off the egg yolks. Heat the oil to tepid if it is cold.

Egg Yolks - Always beat the egg yolks for a minute or two before adding anything to them. As soon as they are thick and sticky, they are ready to absorb the oil

Adding the oil - The oil must be added very slowly at first, in droplets, until the emulsion process begins and the sauce thickens into a heavy cream. After this, the oil may be incorporated more rapidly.

Proportions - The maximum amount of oil one U.S. Large egg yolk will absorb is 6 ounces or 3/4 cup.  When this maximum is exceeded, the binding properties of the egg yolks break down, the sauce thins out or curdles. If you have never made mayonnaise before, it is safest not to exceed 1/2 cup of oil per egg yolk.

Warm the bowl in hot water. Dry it. Add the egg yolks and beat for 1 to 2 minutes until they are thick and sticky.

Add the vinegar or lemon juice, salt and mustard. Beat 30 seconds more.

The egg yolks are now ready to receive the oil, and while it goes in, drop by drop, you must not stop beating until the sauce has thickened. A speed of 2 strokes per second is fast enough. You can switch hands or switch directions, it makes no difference as long as you beat constantly. Add the drops of oil with a teaspoon or rest the lip of the bottle on the edge of the bowl. Keep your eye on the oil rather than on the sauce. Stop pouring and continue beating every 10 seconds or so, to be sure the egg yolks are absorbing the oil. After 1/3 to 1/2 cup of oil has been incorporated, the sauce will thicken into a very heavy cream and the crisis is over. The beating arm may rest a moment.

Then beat in the remaining oil by 1 to 2 tablespoon dollops, blending it thoroughly after each addition.

When the sauce becomes too thick and stiff, beat in drops of vinegar or lemon juice to thin it out. Then continue with the oil.

Beat 2 tablespoons of boiling water into the sauce. This is an anti-curdling insurance. (I've never done this.) Season to taste.

If the sauce is not used immediately, scrape it into a small bowl and cover it closely so a skin will not form on its surface.

--

Unlike store bought mayonnaise, because of the egg yolks handmade mayonnaise will be yellow. Fresh mayonnaise can be flavored with any number of things. To make aioli, which is a garlic mayonnaise, mash one peeled clove of garlic to a fine paste and add it at the beginning of the recipe before you start adding the oil. Try various herbs and seasonings for different mayonnaise flavors. I like to add a few drops of Sriracha hot sauce to an aioli - delicious!

What cooking skills have you mastered by hand even though you could do them with a machine? Do you think it’s important to know how to process food by hand even when you have a time-saving device? Do you regularly practice your knife skills? Are you more about the techniques or the recipes?

Risque by Toad Hollow

In the spirit of Drinkers Living Longer, I wanted to share this new find with you.  In an effort to minimize alcohol smuggling, Carnival Cruise Lines now allows each person to openly bring one bottle of wine onboard with them.  I offered to pick up a bottle for my younger sister and, thinking prosecco would be the perfect choice for our afternoon tipple, headed out to the local wine and spirits shop.

While browsing the sparking wine section I came across Risque by Toad Hollow.  Described as crisp and fruity with a low alcohol content (6%) it seemed like the perfect thing for my sister, who is not much of a wine drinker.  At $15 it was a good price too.

Produced and bottled in France, I guess Toad Hollow is the importer.  I'm not too sure on that point.

We thoroughly enjoyed Risque.  As promised, it was light and crisp.  I don't care for sweet wines and was pleasantly surprised to find this wasn't one.  We all enjoyed it immensely.  The perfect summer wine, it would be great for a ladies luncheon.  As summer draws to a close, I'm only sorry I didn't discover it sooner!  I imagine there are still a few hot days left for most of us so grab a bottle to enjoy on the next one!

September - The Month of Change

I'm currently involved in a project that requires me to ponder what September means to me.  Translating that awareness to fit the project is another story, but I have a clear idea that for me, September means change.

This September that change is literal since I am moving from East Tennessee to Houston this month.  On a broader note, September has always been about change.  I grew up in Maryland and even after thirty years in West Texas, September still means back to school.  It means cooler weather. It means shaking off the torpor of the long hot (and this year humid) summer and springing into action.  It means packing away summer clothes and thinking about winter ones.  I don't care what any fashionista says, September means no more white shoes (or white shorts, jeans, or dresses).

September means the summer annuals are spent and it's time to start getting the garden bedded down for its winter sleep.  If you have kids in school, September means the whirlwind of activities is starting up.  Even if you don't, the holiday season is looming large.  Halloween, Thanksgiving and even Christmas have stated to show up in the stores, reminding us that even though temperatures are still in the 90's in a lot of places, fall is right around the corner.

All those uncompleted tasks that seemed so possible in May have to be moved down the list and new ones added.  Lawn mowers drained and snow blowers checked.  Like April, September means optimism and hope.  Even if there is no physical difference in your world, September is the start of something!

What does September mean to you?  Football and bonfires?  Holiday parties?  The start of soup season? Wherever I am, wherever I"m going; September means change!

Link Love 9.9.2010

From the Gatlinburg Aquarium

Some of my favorite articles around the Web this week:

One of my friends introduced me to Orangette.  Her photo essay of What This Summer Felt Like is just really perfect.

My Tennessee homeowners are getting close to home.  Check in with them and read about their wonderful Alaska trip.  What an adventure they're having!

Truly the most extraordinary thing I've ever read, Hanna Rosin's "The End of Men" in the July/August issue of The Atlantic outlines the decline of men in our society over the last several decades.  It's an amazing read.  I'll be responding in a separate post but I'm going to have to re-read it and ponder it for awhile.  The possible ramifications are mind-boggling.  It's an amazing piece and deserves the time it takes to read.

Congratulations to my niece and her new husband who just won a position in the U.S. Army Ceremonial Band.  The competition is fierce but he made it through!  They're neat people and I'm so happy for them!

Thanks for all of your input on my Nashville vs. Asheville vacation decision.  I'm in Asheville right now!  Look for a review next week!

Have a great weekend everybody!

Cutting the Umbilical Cord: Some Tips on (Not) Parenting Young Adults in their Twenties

This guest post is contributed by Roger Elmore, who writes on the topics of hospitality management degree.  He welcomes your comments at his email Id: rogerelmore24 @gmail.com.

Although children go through various developmental stages, a mother's role as a parent stays remarkably active and stable from birth until about the early twenties. While of course parents will be faced with different challenges inherent in each different life stage, nothing quite prepares us for when our younguns finish college and for all intents and purposes, don't really need us anymore. Here are a few tips for parents with kids who are in the process of establishing independence.

1. Wait for your child to call you.

Although I no longer lived with my parents, when I was in college they still called me incessantly. Freshman year it was a few times a day, then it slowly dissipated to once a day the following year and then again to a few times a week in subsequent years. Once your child is on her own, it's best to wait until she calls. Conversations with grown-up children are much more enjoyable and substantive when your kid takes the initiative to call herself.

2. Give advice only when asked.

When your child was directly under your auspices you probably told her what to do. As she grew older you may have transitioned to telling her what she should do. Now it's a completely different ball game. While your motherly instincts will tell you to give unsolicited advice on nearly every decision your child makes, now the responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of your grown up kid. Even if you think your kid may be making a bad decision, bite your tongue and don't pass judgment or offer suggestions unless asked. Young adults in their twenties are eager to learn through experience and even if they make the wrong decision on something, they'll learn life's lessons better if they figure out on their own that what they did was unwise.

3. Encourage independence.

A mother's job never ceases and one task with which you are now charged is to assure and protect your child's independence. While some young adults will eagerly take the plunge into freedom and responsibility, others will do so with hesitation. Because of the economic recession many recent college graduates are moving back in with their parents while they try to find gainful employment. This situation is sometimes necessary, but make it clear to your child that living at home should be temporary. Even though it may be delightful for you to have your kid back home, you'll only be doing them a disservice by housing and providing for them for an inordinate amount of time.

Renowned social psychologist Erich Fromm once said, "The mother-child relationship is paradoxical and, in a sense, tragic. It requires the most intense love on the mother's side, yet this very love must help the child grow away from the mother and become fully independent." In so few words, Fromm captured the heartache that invariably accompanies watching on the sidelines as your kid enters independent adulthood. So if you feel down because your role is no longer as involved, take heart in the fact that the feeling is natural. And know also that even though your former duties have been diminished, your role as mother still exists, just in a very different way.