Finding Treasures

I had a pretty useless day today. As you may know, when I moved to NYC in 2002, I had to put most of my possessions in storage, since city apartments are very small and cramped.  So for 7 long years, all my mementos, furniture, baby clothes and toys, garden and power tools, and a host of other items were put into storage.  After I left NY, I hired a moving company to repack and move everything out to my new home in upstate NY.   Now I had 2 truckloads of stuff to unpack.   And I still have even more at my brother's house in FL, things I didn't want in storage.  Some day I will get it all back. 

A box of books was staring at me this afternoon, so I unpacked and sorted them and put them up on shelves. I was happy to find my gardening and herb books in great shape.

It wasn't until after dinner I got a wild hair and decided to unpack a few more boxes downstairs, the ones from storage.   This is the mess downstairs.

So anyways, I'm happily unpacking all kinds of linens, some of them dating back to my grandmother when she came to the US from Russia.  Stacks of dresser scarves, doilies, embroidered table cloths, mostly handmade by past relatives.  Again, everything is in great shape, no mouse or moth eaten holes.  The next box was filled with VCR tapes of both my kids' 5th birthday parties, recitals and Disney cartoons.  It will be fun looking at them sometime. 

The last box I opened for the evening had some more books, and as I removed them, I looked down and saw my original Woodstock 3 album set!  I was stunned - there is was, right there.  I knew I had found treasure.

I quickly dug out the pile of albums to see what I had.  Jimi Hendrix,  Elton John, Phoebe Snow, Moody Blues' Days of Future Past, Joan Baez, ..... O my, I'm breathless.  I even have the very first album I ever bought:  Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.  Yes folks, that was in 1968.  I know my ex has most of the hundreds of albums we collected in the 70's, but I managed to hang on to a few of the good ones.  Maybe I'll find another box of albums in the myriad of boxes yet to unpack.  I remember King Crimson, Frank Zappa, Cream, Joplin, Oingo Boingo, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Carole King, Carly Simon, oh, and I have Meet the Beatles somewhere (perhaps that was really the first album I ever bought after all).   So much of this music has deep meaning and memories for me.  My life is played out in music, and when I hear a song, I remember where I was in my life at that time. 

It was like a trip down memory lane.  Share some of your favorite 70's albums.  Now to find a turntable.  Nina?  Have an extra turntable I can borrow??

My Version of Potato Leek Corn Soup

I rarely follow a recipe verbatum. I always take out a couple books at once and spread them out before me when I want to cook. I'm not much for inventing recipes as modifying from several sources. I start out with an idea of what I want to make, get out my books, sometimes check online, compare, then go.




Today I had fresh corn on the cob and leeks. I would have just made my traditional potato and leek soup, but I had this corn, 30 ears of it. I blanched and froze most of it, but left out 5 ears to make soup. I thought corn chowder sounds good, but hey, I have these nice-looking leeks too. So I pulled out my standard reference, Joy of Cooking, and my soup book, Soup, A Way of Life by Barbara Kafka. I compared recipes for corn chowder which had similar ingredients. This is my version of Potato Leek and Corn Chowder. Amounts are estimated, as you can add or subtract the amount of ingredients to suit you:

Ingredients:
3-4 leeks, white and some green
4 potatoes
1/4 c salt pork or bacon (optional)
celery - 2 stalks
green pepper
salt
paprika
bay leaf
2 c milk
fresh corn - 3 or 4 ears (you can substitute canned or frozen)
fresh parsley

Prep:
Dice 1/2 green pepper and a couple stalks of celery
Slice leeks (white part and some green) and place in bowl of cold water, separating the rings to rinse. Lift out gently and drain, leaving dirt on the bottom of the bowl
Peel and dice potatoes, maybe 3 or 4 cups, 1/2" cubes
Dice 1/4 cup of salt pork (you can use bacon, or leave it out for a vegetarian soup)

Now for the fun part:
Saute the salt port until browned and crispy in a hot pan. This takes about 10 minutes to release the oils into the pan.
Add the leeks, celery and green pepper and continue browning. Cook off any water that collects.



Add the potatoes, 3 cups water, salt, paprika and a bay leaf. Simmer until potatoes are soft, about 10 minutes.
Turn off the heat and hand mash the mixture in the pot. The potatoes will thicken the soup. It will be lumpy.




Add the corn and 2 c hot milk. Simmer until corn is cooked through.



Add fresh chopped parsley and season with salt if desired.

Serve with a sprig of fresh parsley. Voila! It was filling and delicious!

I love my new kitchen

I made grilled panninis tonight with roast beef, tomatoes, fresh basil leaves and chives from my little herb bed, and fresh mozzarella on whole wheat pitas. mmm they were good.



In other news, Yoda has been pretty listless and not eating much for the past few days. We thought he was getting better, but he's not back to normal. So we're off to the vet tomorrow to see what's up. He's lost some weight since this pic was taken.

Bought a car, Wolf Trap, Campfires and other stuff

It's been a busy couple weeks. Things are finally back to normal and I'm back to my retirement mode, still unpacking for good measure.

So I finally bought a new car last week. I had rented a car for a month when I moved, and it cost me a small fortune since I didn't drop it back off in Manhattan. When it was getting close to returning it, I dragged my butt out to shop for a car and bought a 2009 Kia Sportage. I originally went shopping for a Suburu because they have such a good reputation and gets around in the snow, which I will definitely need here in upstate NY! I ended up with the Kia because it's been redesigned and is better quality than when they first came out, and it was about $5000 less than the Suburu. In addition, I got a 10 year 100,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty for about $1300 extra which gives me peace of mind since I plan to keep it forever. Anyways, it's a sturdy little SUV and I think I'm going to like it a lot.
So I took my new Kia to Vienna WV to pick up my daughter Carla, who was an opera intern at Wolf Trap this summer. She reserved a ticket for me to see La Boheme Friday night and it was absolutely lovely.

I have to rave about Diego Torre, a Filene artist who played the part of Rodolfo; shades of Pavarotti. I was absolutely mezmerized by his talent. I met him at one of the after-parties, and he is the most humble and nicest guy you could hope to meet. He is going to be such an influence in the opera world. He is making his Met debut later this year, and I plan to be there. I enjoyed myself immensely. Sorry the picture isn't the best, but it's the only one I have.
The next day, we packed up the car and headed back home. Carla stayed a few days with me to regroup before heading back to NYC. Nina and her boyfriend Marcus also came up that weekend from Philadelpia and we all had a grand time, barbecuing, and had a couple campfires in the fire pit in my yard.

I loved having my 2 kids here for a few days, and I'm loving this small-town life where I can get to the post office or grocery store in less than 5 minutes. Last Monday, I had my things which had been in storage for the past 7 years delivered from PA. So the unpacking continues. I still have time to relax and take time to get acquainted with my new home.

Today was a sunny day - finally!

Yesterday rained all day, so imagine my delight when I woke up this morning with the sun streaming into my bedroom! I was up at 7, and as is my usual routine, drank a cup of coffee while watching the morning news, and got a 2nd cup, checked my email and FaceBook and other sundry items. We went to Lowe's the other day and I bought a bunch of herbs, but couldn't plant them yesterday because of the rain. But I had no digging tools! A kitchen spoon just doesn't cut it. So off to Ace Hardward down in town I go to pick up a trowel and a new spigot that was broken due to ice last winter.



I decided to clean out a big flower box on the deck. It was filled with dying strawberry plants and chives. So I dug out most of the berry plants, trimmed up the chives, and had a nice big space in the center for my 8 herb plants. It was nice sitting in the sun, playing in the dirt. I got them all planted and hope they survive until next spring when I can move them over to a kitchen garden I'm planning on the other side of the house.



While I was busy planting, Shelly fixed the faucet and it doesn't leak! So, being as it was such a nice day, we decided to finally fill the hot tub on the deck. It took about an hour or so to fill. Looks good so far. So we flip the breaker and turn it on and voila! it works! Mind you, this is a new house, so we're still trying out all the toys.



Well, it immediately turned an awful green within the hour. We seem to have a slight problem with the filter, plus we think there was old water in the lines, so tomorrow we're off to the dealer and will probably drain the icky water and start over. Fortunately we have a well, so the water is free, but cold. brrrr 57 degrees!



Well, after a long eventful and beautiful day, it was time to relax with a long tall gin and tonic. It was the first this season and it was sooo refreshing! What a wonderful day.