First Fruits

I seem to be aware of my surrondings,
people tell me do not plant until such and such date,
but many times i do not listen,
The result is i have my first "harvest"...
Radishes and scallions.

There are more coming...
lettuce and cabbage and parsely and more
Mint and anise has been up and use them often.
Peppers are in and they have flowers.
The pollenators are out, bees and wasps and butterflies.
The cold in the morning reminds me of the mountains,
but i have a first harvest with more to come...
i guess i am a stubborn cuss!

How to handle a critic

Resently a  friend on face book commented on a photo by a local restaurant,
that i had not been impressed with it.  Now it my confusion in facebooks, i thought it was my friends posts and commented on it.
The restaurant responded, but not in a bad way, but with simple questions about the kind of food i liked.
I was encouraged and responded back in a kind of off handed way, but they came back in a positive way.
I reponded back more positively and now write this post.
When you eat out, you are a critic, if you write about it, it counts even more.
When a restaurant responds in such a mature manner as this one did, you give them accolades as i am doing now.
It also means i will go back and if things are good, will shout it from the house tops.

Cooking calms my nerves

I did not have a good week at work,
I have a lot going on in my head about life,
memories that are not quite right keep poping up and confusing me.

So tonight it is vinegar pepers and pork chops

Tomorrow i go back to smoking - this time a first for me:
chicken.
Not that i will have trouble -
a few weeks ago i smoked a small turkey to good effect

The pork chop recipe - for those who are interested:

Pork Chops

with vinegar peppers and black olives

 4 pork chops (thick cut is best)

olive oil to cover the pan

1 can puréed tomatoes

1 cup wine (rose or white, cheap)
1 can Pepperoncini peppers
1 can pitted black olives (oil cured are best, but regular black olives work well)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 lbs linguini

for the sauce (i make my own)

Begin tomato sauce by heating garlic and oregano in olive oil.

When garlic just begins to brown, add tomato sauce.
Bring to a simmer and cover.

for the chops
empty cans of olives, peppers, wine and crushed red pepper with all the liquid into a large baking dish.
Place pork chops on top of olive and pepper mixture and salt top of chops.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Turn chops and add half the liquid to the sauce.

Continue baking until brown and 165 F inside the chops.

Remove from the heat and let rest.
Bring pasta water to a boil, salt the water and add pasta to cook for 6 minutes.
Drain and add the remainder of the pork chop liquid to the drained pasta.
Serve the linguini with the tomato sauce and the pork chop with peppers and olives on the side of the linguini.

Our fragile planet

(This post would have normally been found in my Environmental blog, but the word play was too pretty!)

We did not feel the tremble of the earth from the eruption,
we did not hear the roar as the plumes of gas and ash shot high into the air.
We did not see the ash cloud (save through what was posted on the web)
nor taste the foul air in our lungs...
The gases from that volcano so far south,
might it have caused a change in our weather, even up here in CT?
It seems so coincidental that we have gone from hot to cold only after this small eruption.
How fragile is our Earth!

still a few dark clouds

yes, i am enjoying the memories and photos of my family,
now passed, but i forgot...
the specter of two Hallmark holidays approach.
It was as some friend was talking about what they were going to do,
that is when it hit me, hard...
another day i will not be able to celebrate...
first father's day,
now mothers day.
It is not that it was any more special than any other day
but it took time after my dad passed,
a lot of time,
before i could ignore the banter around me
and celebrate his life.
It will be the same again, i now see.
It is okay,
i will be fine,
life is not permanent
and we all will celebrate again.

Spring cleaning

For a moment the Cherry blosoms made this early,

 long lasting Spring, a joy to behold

One quick storm and the flowers were all on the ground,

making a beautiful carpet for us to walk on.

Now, early Dogwood grace our eyes...

can you that i love Spring?

i now know things are better

February, March and through Easter -
those were not the best,
I was still living in the missing her moment...
it is a moment that has passed
and replaced with all the good and strong memories
of the fun times.
I always have trouble with deep emotions
they are like undercurrents,
as if rip tides,
carrying me where i do not want to go,
without me truly knowing.
I surrendered to those currents,
for you know that is the only way to be free of them,
and have come out on safer waters,
where the shore is always available
and nothing blocks the way.
Instead of just missing my mom,
i now can enjoy the memories of the whole family,
this is good...
i have a lot of pictures to sort through....

Joey the cowboy

I think i have been searching for these pictures
for they tell a story that even i do not belive sometimes.

getting ready summer of 1957

 The last picture, i have placed first
for it is just before i ran away,
taking my newly washed tricycle west,
along I 10,
till some kind motorist saw me and brought me to a Brennan's restaurant,
(yes, the same people who sponsered Emrel)
where they fed me ice cream until a sherif brought me home.
I have 2 and about 1/2 years old, when i took my journey.
Running or exploring,
i do not know,
but i took a trek and scared my parents.

Why?

I look happy in these before pictures...



Cowboy Joey and Mom

Cowboy Joey (me) and Dad



Of course, my be not so at the zoo with this big fellow!



Buffalos early on in the family



Before you know it

Yesterday or at least Friday,
they were not here.

now the Cherry trees are in blossom all over.


The small wild violets have been up a while.
I am enjoying it now, but thinking with foreboding of what is to come.

the issue of fear

i have a dear friend in another state,
a member of out long lasting community,
who is facing a serious operation on his heart.
I have known him 35 years
 and tonight he spoke of being afraid,
three days out from the operation.
This i understand -
much too vividly,
i remember being so afraid before my operation
that i could not even speak of being afraid.
I believe that he is in a better place because he knows his fear and i told him so.
And so i also belive there is hope
that whatever the outcome,
he will be olay and i told him this also.
And because he is a person of faith,
i believe that God has for him what is best for him
and i told him so.
This is all from my own experience...
it is the best i have to give.

Living

did we miss it?

did it pass us by?

or were we only unaware?

That breath we took,

without calculating

or thinking,

we were unaware

or were we?

For with that breath we brought oxygen to our lungs

and that revived us

brought our senses back to life

and we saw

and we felt

and we heard

and we tasted

and we smelled

all the wondrous (and not so wondrous) things around us.

the photos

These pictures are from 1961 at Galveston Bay, Texas

For those who have asked

or wondered,

these pictures that i have posted have been wonderful for me.

I can easily follow my Dad's life from just before he came to this country

and my mom's from when she was a little girl.

Then there all these photos of the things we did...

I have not scratched the surface and more will be posted,

as time allows.

This has been a wonderful part of it all...

This was my Mom and Dad in Colorado with friends enjoying themselves...

i know most of the years

here it comes

I made a very small dent in the, quite literally, hundreds of thousands of photographs that i have from my mom. Here is a smattering of the gems i found :

Dad's Parents in France - 1950's

Mom Fishing with my Dad

Dad fishing with my mom

Mom and Dad in Washington DC - 1950ish

Me and my Dad on Lake Houstin - Uh, fishing - 1950's

Dad Fidshing - Galveston 1970's

Dad and his favorite Buffalo in Colorado

Some of the photos are photos of photos - there were just too many to include them all - but this is a good span.

Good Friday

Easter for most of the western world will be on Sunday, but not yet for us "Orthodox" Christians. 
The difference is all about the moon phase and changing calanders, but it is not a big deal - at this time i celebrate this one, with a smaller celebration next week.
I think it is good to bring to rememberance all that has past, in church history and in my own life, so this is a difficult time because i am remembeering times and things from last year when i could barely think.
Some one sad to me the pain never passes, it just suck at little bit less each daay.
There is truth to that, people pass on and so we no longer see them here, but they are always present in our hearts and our actions.
I have decided today will be a day where i go through more "stuff" of my mom's.
Pictures will bring back memories and memories are not bad, but very good.
So it really is a good Friday.

What i will do for Easter

So besides going to church, i will cook.
There is a great line in MY FAT GREEK WEDDING, when the boyfriend is introduced as a vegetarian and the Greek lady says, "Okay, we will serve lamb!".
Greeks and lamb are fairly synonymous and here is my take.

Joe's Greek Leg of Lamb with a Rub

yea, i am Greek

 Intro - I always think that Greek cooks treat lamb different than any one else, mostly because anyone who has eaten my lamb always tells me they do not like lamb, but they like mine and i use mint which i very plentiful in my Garden (already!)

The rub -

equal amounts of black pepper, oregano, garlic powder, fresh spearmint leaves and salt
equal amount to that total of dried spearmint mint leaves.
Grind to blend.

Other stuff

1 semi boneless (or boned) leg of lamb
4 lemons - juiced
2 whole garlic buds
2 cups white wine

The leg of lamb is carefully covered with the rub 2 days before it will be cooked, reserve about 1/4 of the rub

Additionally multiple slits will be made with a thin knife, whole cloves of garlic will be placed at least 1/2 inch below the surface of the lamb.
Let the lamb sit in the refrigerator for a minimum of 24 hours.

Bring the lamb out and let it get to room temperature.

mix the lemon juice and wine and carefully pour the lemon juice over the lamb, covering all of it.
Add more rub if some washes off
Cook the Lamb in for 15 minutes at 450 F then reduce the heat to 325 F.
bake at 325 for 1 1/2 hours, basting the lamb with the juice every 30 minutes. 
Add more wine if necessary to keep liquid available.
The temperature inside the lamb will be 140 for rare and 145 for medium (i like mine just past rare).

simple things

Bright nights and brilliant days
The moon slowly turning
or reaching its Easter full.
The day time skies dry and clear,
so the full strength of a newly roaring sun,
as it leaves its solar minimum,
is fully seen and felt.
Bees, birds and butterflies
and i no longer feel like i am in New England,
rather fully south in Virginia somewhere.
A garden beging without me,
volunteer sprouts spring without my bidding.
I in turn am tired,
no more adventures to puch
or risks to take.
i'll wait for another time again.

Taking Risks

I can not lose weight.
It is because i find great comfort in preparing and eating the food i prepare.
It is not super fatty, but it would not be considered low calorie.
My Doctor, the one who looks after my vision and head, worries about me cooking...
because i am using things that i could hurt myself with because of my vision.
Of course i think i take great risks each day i work where i do.
I think the danger is greater.
I am stubborn and willful
and i have tackle my issues head on.
I do not dance around them.
For severla days, i have been driving solo.
In the morning, when there is not a lot of traffic.
i did it ...
with ease.
I took my self off of driving because i did not trust my vision.
I am trusting my insticts to be careful more.
I will not be taking the car to work...
the end of the day is much too draining for me to try it,
but for short hops,
I think i can.

After the fun, back to reality

Taken last year during stormy weather

The meme in my last post was a bit of fun
and i think i needed that,
for there is still turmoil in my heart and life.
A movie, The Green Lantern, kinda got me started.
It pits will versus fear.
Human frailtyand the acknowledgement that we are full of fear,
to overcoming that,
but fear and will are not opposites.
Love (real Love, not what most people water down and call Love) is the opposition to fear and it does win - always.
Doubt and shadow can erode Love and allow fear to creep in
and me, i am still in that place.
Still battling the things that would steal that which is most important from me.
People do stupid things, but they are not my battle,
but sometimes i believe those things
and so think i am nothing,
worthless,
useless.
They are lies and i must stuggle to beat them.
And then there is Love,
not selfish,
wanting only the best
and not to do harm.
I seek this,
i thirst for this.

I guess i got a bit deep after being so lite.
This is life tho, it can not always be a struggle,
it can not always be lite.
It must be a mixture of both
or it is not a life.