Mom and Alice

Well, many of you have asked for more on Mom and here is another fun story. As you can imagine, Mom has lost many of her friends and family – she is after all 85 and many of her cronies are not blessed with her great genetics and good health.

Anyway, since her sister-in-law and pal is now in an assisted living place, Mom has been spending more time with an old friend, Alice. Alice had a large family like ours and we have known them for years. Currently Mom and Alice have “re-discovered” each other and have been spending a lot of fun time together.

On Friday’s they go for “fish” at our local Slovak home. This is after all, Lorain, the land of nationalities that each year sponsors a “princess” in the annual International Day Parade. No, I was never a princess but my sister Bonnie sure was the Macedonian Princess of 1975. Another story.

A few weeks ago, Mom made her usual call to Alice on Thursday evening to check on fish Friday and Alice did not answer. So, Mom called Alice’s daughter-in-law and was told Alice was in the hospital, suffering from shortness of breath. I ask Mom what the treatment was and she said, “they gave her a colostomy” and I said “Mom, are you sure? That doesn’t sound like treatment for a breathing problem.” The Mom says, “Oh, what’s that other thing that sounds like that” and I responded with “a colonoscopy?” Mom says yes and again I said I didn’t think that made any sense either.

Now, Mom is impatient with me for questioning her and she says,” Hell, I don’t know, maybe she breathes out her ass.” I laughed so hard I cried.

The story goes on – Alice is released from the hospital and proceeds to break her toe. Mom is trying to reach her and calls her cell phone. Alice, (who is 86) has a voicemail recording that says, “This is Alice, I am at the Irish Pub, LEAVE ME ALONE!

So, Mom is now hanging out with a friend that shares her great sense of humor. How much more can you ask for at 85 years of age? May we all be so blessed!

Becky's Original Flank Steak Salad

A long time ago, I came up with a delicious flank steak salad recipe that I have tweaked over the years. Today I made the current version and it was so perfect I will never “fix” it again.

Early in the day, marinate a flank steak in the following mixture:

1/3 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. oil
1 T. brown sugar
4 green onions, chopped or ½ of a regular onion
1 clove garlic, minced

Mix all these together and make sure the sugar is dissolved. Place the flank steak in a plastic bag and add the mixture. Let sit in fridge all day. When I make this for me and Mike, I only use ½ a flank steak since it is only part of the salad, not the star. Freeze the remaining half for flank steak and broccoli stir fry or just to marinate and grill.

On a large plate, put a nice heaping spread of chilled, chopped romaine lettuce you have rinsed and dried. In sections on the plate, arrange chopped hard boiled eggs, red onion diced finely, pretty chopped tomatoes and a green or yellow vegetable. I like asparagus or yellow or green beans you have cooked until not crunchy but not mushy either.

Grill or broil flank steak about 6 minutes each side. Let rest for 10 minutes on your cutting board. Slice across the grain and then cut again into smaller pieces. Arrange on plate. Sprinkle crumbled bleu cheese on top. Make the dressing and spoon on lightly.

Dressing: Mix together 1/3 c. balsamic vinegar, ½ c. olive oil, 2 tsp. Dijon mustard, salt and pepper.

This is such a pretty, great summer dinner. I serve it with fresh French bread or rolls.

Becky (Baba) and Jackson Together Again

Recently I traveled to Boston to help Adrienne get ready for the arrival of her first baby, due at the end of Sept. My fun trip became even better with the announcement that Stephanie and my first grandson, Jackson Daniel West Barras, were also coming. For my birthday, Mike arranged for Stephanie and Jackson to travel from LA to Boston. Adrienne was even happier than I was as she had never met Baby J. before.

Well, we had just the best time. Stephanie pretty much had to give up any control of the baby as Adie, me and her husband Jimmy were always eager to hold him and feed him and play with him and pretty much just stare at him! He is of course the cutest baby in the universe (and will be joined by his cousin very soon). He was 11 weeks old when we saw him and he is just that perfect combination of smiles, and chubbiness and he will always fall asleep with his little face in your neck and HE SMELLS GOOD TOO!

We took Jackson everywhere – shopping, out to lovely lunches and for a few nice walks to Boston’s fancy baby stores. He just took it all in stride, never complaining unless he was hungry (every three-four hours) and wow, that was a show. He would go from the calm, peacefulness of sleep to the full volume of hunger, with the clenched fists, and kicking in frustration and the cry. Of course he was even more adorable then and we all argued over who got to feed him.

We took him to get his first professional photos taken and he was so cute in his white t-shirt and jeans and I can’t wait to see the prints. Anyway, a new blog will come soon on Adie’s baby’s room, but I just had to be the typical grandmother and talk about Baby J.

A Pretty Summer Salad

Mike and I hosted our good friends the Bradley’s last Saturday night for dinner and a movie (except the movie was at the theater and by the way it was so bad it would have been way better for us to get a rental).

We saw Eat, Pray, Love and if all you want is a huge close-up of Julia Roberts’ big teeth, than this is the movie for you. I slept through Italy, Keith slept through India and Mike through Bali. Debbie was the only alert one and I am not sure why since she didn’t like it either.

Anyway, back at our house I served appetizers (the movie is very long so we were all starving) and then a simple dinner of the Barefoot Contessa’s Shrimp Scampi, garlic bread and a really pretty fresh summer salad.

Here is the salad recipe and ingredients for four:

3 large freshly grown tomatoes (only really available in the summer of course)
8 very thin slices of red onion
Small can of slice black olives
4 oz. feta cheese crumbled (try to crumble yourself –the other stuff is dry)
16-20 asparagus spears you have lightly blanched, placed in ice water, drained and chilled

Dressing: Mix together 1/3 c. red wine vinegar, 2 tsp. sugar, ½ c. salad oil, ¼ tsp. basil and oregano and 2 tsp. fresh chopped parsley. Shake it all together until sugar dissolves.

On a nice large salad plate, lay tomatoes and onions in a pretty curve. Top with feta cheese. On the other side of the plate, lay the asparagus. Drizzle with dressing.

I assembled everything before we left and drizzled on the dressing when I was ready to serve. Try this – it is pretty and delicious!

Great Do-it-Yourself Websites

My great Mom, who you are all familiar with, accidentally sent herself two subscriptions to Ladies Home Journal magazine. When she called and tried to cancel one, they refused, so she had them send one to me instead. I haven’t read this magazine in years and imagine my surprise when I found some very good articles on design and a few great websites I checked out for you.

In this month’s issue, (September) on pages 76 and 78 there are great design ideas. On page 76, they feature wonderful urethane moulding. Now crown moulding, chair rails etc. always had to be cut and installed professionally because of the corner mitering issues, but now you can order pre-moulded pieces that can be painted and installed easily with adhesive and nails from Fypon. The website is amazing – if you click on the e-catalog from their home page you will see a bunch of different moulded millwork products. They also have a ton of other ideas, how-to instructions and fun looks.

Next, check out DIY Upholstery Supply. Ladies Home Journal shows an ottoman with nailhead trim which is impossible to install, but this site sells nailhead trim in nickel and brass in a strip where you only have to nail every fifth tack. YES!! A great way to customize a store-bought thing and make it special. They also sell furniture legs and frames. Lastly, and I loved this one too, check out Hollywood Lights. You can purchase lampshades in assorted sizes that are SELF-ADHESIVE and you can easily cover them yourself. They even show a self-adhesive nightlight for $4.79 that I recently purchased at Hobby Lobby for $8 two weeks ago and covered for Adrienne’s baby’s room. You will be seeing a photo of that soon in a new nursery blog. Anyway, take a moment to check out these sites - they are grand!!

Vicki and Pudgie - The Annual Summer Visit

Yes, Pudgie and Vicki, my college friends of 40 years returned to Rochester for the THIRD time for a recent visit. This makes three summers in a row these two have traveled from Cleveland and Middletown, OH to visit Mike and me. Apparently there is some attraction here of which I am completely unaware!

Could it be my cooking? Neither of these two (especially Pudgie) are really into cooking. Vicki has a super retired husband that COOKS AND CLEANS AND GROCERY SHOPS. What the hell is this? Mike has been in the grocery two times in 38 year – when I had the two kids. And then he complained that my list was not aisle by aisle and he managed to run into two food displays and topple them!

Anyway, I tried my best to make Pudgie and Vicki some delicious dinners and a few appetizers that were new. I made a good chicken, tomato and angel hair dish and a sausage appetizer from my favorite Cincinnati cookbook, “When Pigs Fly.”

We did the usual – one afternoon in my neighborhood and one day in Canandaigua at the gigantic TJ Maxx/Homegoods and the casino (Pudgie was the winner). After shopping, we had a very nice lunch at the New York Culinary Institute. On Sunday we shopped locally again and had a great time. I made my favorite brunch dish, Macadamia Nut French Toast, with sausage on the side.

These two are the BEST HOUSEGUESTS! They entertain each other if I am busy cooking or go to bed early. They eat anything I make and they also make me laugh all the time. We always reminisce about our goofy college days (Pudgie was really quite wild) and we call our other old college friends to see what’s going on. I guess it’s no surprise they rarely answer the phone! Anyway, I feel so happy when they come. Having such good friends for such a long time is the best blessing of all! I hope all of you have true friends like these – they like the people you like, they share their real lives and they love you no matter what!

DESIGNSTAR

Have any of you ever watched the HGTV show, “designstar”? It is a reality show that usually starts with about 16 designers and after each week's challenge, one contestant is eliminated. You know, just like “Celebrity Apprentice” or “The Next Food Network Star.”

Well of course, as a designer, I am a weekly watcher of this show and I have a lot to say about how the designers are judged and the way the show is structured!

First of all, there is rarely a design challenge in which the designers can work individually to showcase their talents. They are always in teams and I know from personal experience that “design by committee” can be a disaster.

The latest challenge involved designing a kitchen using appliances from Sears, followed by a photo shoot for the Sears catalog. The design teams chose baskets representing different countries, France and Italy. Each designer had to choose an item from their basket that would represent them in the finished product. Both teams pretty much used the same basic materials - hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances and granite countertops.

The “Italian” team chose parmesan cheese and garlic as their inspiration. Aren’t both of these products beige?? They had some nice colorful things in their basket – fruits, leafy red lettuce, wine, cheese etc. etc. but they chose the simplest colors. The walls were done in a rustic faux no color finish (I hate this) and the granite was that mixed beige color (no inspiration there). Then they COMPLETELY COVERED THE COUNTERTOPS WITH STUFF!! One member of this team is a photo stylist in real life and you never saw so much stuff on the counters! Well, that is until I saw the other team’s “French” kitchen. This team chose for their inspiration a corkscrew (Alex), escargot shells (Michael, another beige thing) and a baguette (Casey).

The judges, Vern Yip, (who is this guy?), Genevieve Gordon who hosts a show called “Dear Genevieve” and someone else I never heard of were SHOCKED at the clutter on their counters. Genevieve said “I see cupcakes, hydrangeas, mussels, artichokes, wine, herbs and fabrics – what am I doing in this kitchen?”

Good question. Anyway, Casey won, and the other 4 had to “host” their kitchens on camera for the judges and defend them - Alex was eliminated. I mean really, how do you choose a corkscrew for inspiration and then give the judges something to understand? I guess it didn’t work since he is gone now.

To catch this show watch HGTV on Sundays at 10, unless you can DVR it while watching “Army Wives” or “Mad Men” instead.

Photo from HGTV