corn risotto

Once when I was visiting Deb in Scottsdale she took me to lunch at a restaurant where I ordered corn risotto for lunch. This turned out to be one of those memorable meals that I've never forgotton. Last month I bought fresh sweet corn and Googled a recipe. The recipe called for more risotto than corn. I wanted to use up the corn so I used twice the amount of corn called for. Besides I remembered the risotto that I had years ago being more corn than risotto. Anyway it turned out thicker than I wanted but still delicious. I topped it with a dash of cream and cilantro.



jeweled beet salad accompanied my meal

words

Sticks and stones may break my bones
But words......they really hurt me

the good teacher

Faculty vs students basketball game

Yesterday Jay came home to celebrate his birthday with us. He wanted to eat dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. And so we did. They have a new Skinnylicious menu with lighter fare. He and I both ordered Margaritas off it. B had Riesling. I ordered the White Chicken Chili. I've made this myself a few times but I've never had it so tasty before as this is. It was off the skinny menu too even though it had a bit of cream of it. Jay had a burrito and B ordered meat loaf. One thing about The Cheesecake Factory is that even though the menu is huge and offers so many choices, the food is always excellent.


practising his presentation for his Masters Degree

He spoke of his students while we ate. Jay is starting his fourth year of teaching high school business. He received an A+ on his Masters thesis which was bestowed on him this spring. I like to listen to his talk of teaching. Although there are always a few unruly students who become major discipline problems every year, for the most part I think he enjoys teaching and I think he is pretty good at it.

Last year he told his class a joke every day. He said they always groaned but secretly they liked.

I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger; then it hit me.

Police were called to a day care where a three-year-old was resisting a rest.

Did you hear about the butcher who backed into his meat slicer and got a little behind in his work?

On Halloween he brought them candy and the doll from the movie Saw. He made them talk to the doll as if it were him and answered them through the doll. It sort of freaked them but they loved it.

He told us this year that he informed his Accounting class of celebrities who started out as Accounting majors...among them Janet Jackson, Kenny G and JP Morgan. He said that a background in Accounting probably helped Janet figure out how much money she was making and if she was profitable but probably didn't help her any with her wardrobe malfunction at the Superbowl. His class didn't know who Kenny G was so he played them a Kenny G song on his phone while they were working through an Accounting problem. On Friday, his birthday, he told his class that gasoline was so much cheaper when he was in high school. Someone asked how old he was. He responded "Uh, 29". They asked when is his birthday. He made them guess. Someone guessed September. Yup. What day? Someone guessed the 20th. Nope. The 18th. Nope. The 16th. Yup. There was a long pause and then someone said "Hey, wait, that's today." Jay said Yup...don't make a big deal out of it. Jay told me he made it through the day without any of the faculty knowing that it was his birthday. He thanked me for not posting on his Facebook wall. I don't know why he never wants to make a big deal out of it.




He is an assistant Lacrosse coach at R-H. The team did very well last year.



He likes to cuddle with his two kitties...Brody and Tess



He is a health nut and I knew he wouldn't want a cake for his birthday so I made this healthy one containing no sugar. It does contain carrots, banana, wheat flour, wheat germ, egg, olive oil, vanilla, flax seeds, chia seeds and black walnuts. I did frost it with a little cream cream frosting. He ate some and even took some home. It really is very tasty regardless of how it might sound as a birthday cake.

So we had a pleasant bday visit with Jay. He spent the night and we had a Greek breakfast before he headed home again. I think he had a good birthday. I hope he did.
I'm looking forward to hearing more stories of his classes and students throughout the year.

september song

I love September. Just love this month. Every year I bask in the richness and ripeness of this month. The weather becomes a little bit drier, a little bit cooler, crisper. I get a melancholy feeling that it's not going to last much longer and the dreaded cold weather will be on it's way soon. So I need to love it, drink it in now.

Squirrels start to fatten up, a few crispy leaves start to fall from trees, spiders spin intricate webs, fuzzy caterpillers precariously make their way across country roads, school children are excited about their new supplies and enthusiatic to start classes...the drudgery of attending those classes yet to set in.

Everything that grows is at it's peak of maturity. Seed pods burst open and seeds float through the air on delicate feathery parachutes. Crops are harvested. On this day 29 years ago, I was at my peak of maturity also. I was harvested and produced a healthy 7 lb 10 oz boy baby that we named Jay. Happy Birthday Jay! Just another reason to love September.

s-a day 14

The secret of self-acceptance is....

not giving yourself too much importance, nor taking yourself too seriously.
Your true importance will increase proportionately to how little of it you claim for yourself.

Easier said than done.

by the light of the harvest moon

I was blogging my recipe for pumpkin coffee cake last night. While listing the ingredients I came to pumpkin. How much pumpkin did I use? I used approximately half a can. But how many ounces were in that can? Well, it was garbage night and that can was out in the recycle bin alongside the street. I dashed down the stairs past B working at the kitchen table and out the door to retrieve that can. I didn't even tell him where I was going and I didn't return until at least twenty minutes had passed by.

As I reached the end of my driveway, my path crossed with a lady walking her two Springer Spaniels. They looked exactly alike except one was half the size of the other. I stopped to pet them and inquire about them. She told me that they were from the same litter but the girl, Eleanor, stopped growing at six months while the boy, Rigby, kept on going. I told her that she looked familiar and she said we were in Girl Scouts together. I told her that couldn't be it because I only had a boy. I asked her name. She told me it is Julia. She remembered that I had an exotic name like Helena. I laughed and told her it was Ramona. We figured out that we were in PTA together when our kids were in grade school. I told her why I had come outside. She told me that she loved to cook and was a retired nurse who now worked in the prepared foods section at Wegmans. I told her that I dreamed about working at Wegmans. She told me it wasn't all that great. You work hard and it is intense. I told her my sisters were nurses. We talked about how we still live in the same houses. She lives on the street behind me. I told her that we have talked about moving to Arizona. She told me that she and her husband bought a house in Green Valley AZ a couple years ago. I told her I had nieces in Tucson and a sister in Scottsdale. She told me that her husband left her last year after 32 years of marriage so she doesn't have the house in Green Valley anymore. He has it. She lives alone. Her daughter moved to Ireland and her son lives near Hertel Avenue. I told her my son lives in Rochester and teaches at Rush-Henrietta. She told me that is a good school district. She told me that she is from Rochester. I told her that my best friend moved away to Rochester and that we should get together sometime and do something fun. She told me that she would love to because her husband had never liked having fun.

Then my neighbor, Karen, crossed the street and came over. She petted the dogs and we talked some more and looked at the harvest moon. Then Karen's husband, Bob, came out to find Karen and he came over and we talked and looked at the moon.

It was nice and friendly and a warm fuzzy feeling under the orange glow of the harvest moon.

sour cream pumpkin cardamom coffee cake

I was going to make Carla's cookies but they called for more pumpkin than I had. So I started perusing cookbooks. I came across something called Sour Cream Cardamom Bars. I love cardamom. It's a flavor that I thought would go good with pumpkin. So I adapted the recipe. Because I was adding pumpkin I left out one of the three eggs. Also with more liquid ingredients I needed to add more flour. What I came up with turned out more like coffee cake than bars. But the important thing is that it turned out good.

here is my adapted recipe....

2 c all-purpose flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t cardamom
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
2 large eggs
3/4 c pumpkin
2/3 c sour cream
confectioners' sugar for dusting

Sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda, salt and ground cardamom.
Beat the butter until creamy. Gradually beat in the sugar and continue beating until the mixture is very light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the pumpkin. Fold in the flour mixture in three batches alternating with the sour cream.

Spoon the batter into a 9 x 13 prepared pan and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until golden brown and firm to the touch.

Remove from oven, let cool and dust with confectioners' sugar.